Ever increasingly, the ‘church’ is blurring the lines; one denomination from another, Christians from Catholics, Christians from cults, the God-fearing from eastern mystics and the New Age movement. I may be dating myself, but I remember when people like Walter Martin stressed the importance of understanding the error in these various teachings. Today it seems that Christianity has become a virtual smorgesborg of beliefs without an adequate understanding of any of the doctrines they are based upon.
Seeking out and adhering to the truth has become decidedly unpopular these days. It seems like every day I’m hearing about some “new” teaching, or some “new” way of reaching God or some new “powerful” spiritual experience we can have. (And in saying that, I’m not saying there aren’t genuinely powerful encounters with our all powerful God, only that experience ought not be what we are seeking after.) Christianity is hardly recognizable from what I once knew. When I ask questions about these new teachings that people are so happy about, I’m greeted with blank stares and long frowns and I get responses like, ” Changed lives are all that matter!”, “It is such an amazing experience!”, or “Well, I’m convinced that it’s true!” and other non-answers. What about the gospel of Jesus Christ? Isn’t the great commission what we are supposed to be all about? I am no theologian, but I am smelling a rat. And I’m not the only one who does.
Interestingly, when you look into what’s behind this trend to cast discernment aside and be ‘tolerant’ of other ways, from creating the World Council of Churches in 1948 to promoting modern day Ecumenism, you find the Roman Catholic Church.
After years of darkness where the average man was not able to read the word of God for himself, the reformation brought the true gospel back to the church. Many people (protestants) paid the ultimate price to bring truth to light which had been deliberately hidden for the sake of power and greed.
So can you tell me why Christians are jumping on board with a movement that has the church arm in arm with the church of Rome … (not to mention Buddhism… And Islam…) in this great and world wide move toward Ecumenism and Tolerance? Is it in hopes that the people of these other beliefs might be saved through exposure to these ‘enlightened’ and ‘tolerant’ Christians? Hardly. More and more it is the other way around.
What we are witnessing is the birth of the great church of the New World Order. “The Great Whore” of “Babylon”, in Revelation 17, and we have been told to:
“Come Out From Her My People!” Revelation 18:4
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The Ecumenical Movement Building the False World Church Pastor Jannie Viljoen
THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT.
“The attainment of the ‘Coming Great Church,’ proclaiming one Gospel to the whole world … implies the surrender of distinctive evangelical truth … The one Gospel to be preached certainly will not be the Gospel of salvation through the exclusive merits of Christ …”(1)
“Already we can see the beginning stages of what the Bible prophesies. An incredible worldwide delusion is gathering momentum.”(2)
When the Word of God is not accepted as the final and complete revelation of God to man, when it is not the basis for faith, life and doctrine, when the very foundation of Christianity, namely the Bible, is denied, then compromise and confusion is a natural result. That such a result is not an accidental outcome, but rather a deliberate strategy of the Ecumenical Movement, with its ultimate aim of bringing about a world-church, shall be revealed.
Ecumenism sets aside the authority of the Bible, doctrinal differences become blurred and the distinction between truth and error becomes irrelevant in this quest for spiritual unity. In this venture to establish a world religion, the World Council of Churches can be seen as the headquarters, whereas the Ecumenical Movement comprises the ground-troops in the field of battle.
(List of members – World Council of Churches: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/list – HHA)
The word “ecumenical” comes from the Greek word, which means “the inhabited world.” The Ecumenical Movement had its inception in 1910 at the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, England. From this conference the growing desire for unity among churches was kept alive and eventually led to the inauguration of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam in 1948. The World Council of Churches can rightly be regarded as the visible expression of ecumenism. Where initially the emphasis of ecumenism was to bring about a visible, outward Christian unity, by removing divisions between the churches, its hidden agenda, which it had since its conception, is now openly propagated, namely the unity of all faiths into a super world-church for all people.
“The genius behind the World Council of Churches has been liberal Protestantism. Its exponents do not accept the full inspiration and authority of the Word of God. They have no sure standard of reference. Thus it is only a step further to think of Christianity as a whole to be itself but an insight into an even larger Truth. That which is best in non-Christian religions may find a place with Christianity at length in the gradual development of a World-Faith…”(3)
On 19 June 1955, a “Festival of Faith” was held in San Francisco with its theme, “The United Nations and World Faith.”Those who took part in this festival included “Christians,” Hindus, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists and some other faiths. The service The service was conducted by Reverend O. Frederick Nolde, a Lutheran minister from Philadelphia. He was also the Director of the Commission of churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches at that time.
From 7 – 20 February 1991, the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches took place in Canberra, Australia. During the opening sessions the delegates had to move through smoke made by burning gum leaves, which is a heathen cleansing ritual of the Aborigines, and was compared to the cleansing and refining fire of the Holy Spirit. During one of the sessions, one of the speakers, a South Korean feminist theologian, professor Chung Hyun Kyung, called up the spirits of the many people in history who had died at the hands of oppressors. She linked these “Han-spirits” with the Holy Spirit and holding up a list of names of these spirits, ritually burned it. At this conference, mission work was said to be a waste of time as God cannot be taken anywhere, because, according to the conference, He is already everywhere. It was also added that all claims of uniqueness, as for instance, that Jesus is the only way to God, or that Christianity is the only true religion, are harmful in a world of religious pluralism.
William Jasper, in his book,“Global Tyranny Step by Step,” says the following of the June 1992 United Nations Earth Summit which was held in Brazil:
“True, there were also ‘Christian’ participants in the summit celebrations. Ministers from the World Council of Churches and Catholic clerics such as Dom Helder Camarra (known as Brazil’s Red Archbishop because of his blatantly pro-communist sympathies) could be found amidst the cymbal-clanging Hare Chrishnas, diapered swamis, saffron-robed gurus, and witch-doctors in loincloths. But they were there because of their affinity for an ecumenical ‘spirit’ that promotes an anti-Christian and syncretistic blend of Christianity and paganism.”(4)
It is also interesting to see that whenever different religions come together, there the representative hand of the Roman Catholic Church is seen in one way or another. The director of International Programs of the United Nations of World Religions, is Louis M. Dolan, a Catholic priest. The Geneva-based World Conference on Religion and Peace, with its aim of bringing all the major religions together, had for its first eight years as President, the Catholic Archbishop Angelo Fernandes. At the 1993 Parliament of World Religions, the Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Bernadin, together with the Delai Lama (the Tibetan man-god), were amongst the signatories of a declaration that called for greater co-operation between different faiths.
“Roman Catholicism is proving to be the bridge that brings together all faiths. That fact alone is not surprising, but it is astonishing to see evangelical Christians stepping onto that bridge on the one end while at the same time Hindus, Buddhists, and pagans of every stripe are stepping onto it from the other … it will not be long until all sides meet in the middle.”(5)
While on the one hand the pope and the Roman Catholic Church are bringing other non-Christian faiths under its wing, it is also endeavouring to bring back to its fold the so-called “separated brethren,” i.e. those Christian groups who, through the Reformation, had left the Roman Catholic institution. They are not seen as “heretics” anymore, but rather as lost or separated brethren of the one true faith, who must be brought back into the fold of the only true Church, which is not only Catholic, but Roman Catholic. A newspaper article in 1989 carried the following heading: “Runcie, Pope sign pledge to unite churches.”
“Vatican City – Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and Pope John Paul signed a joint declaration yesterday on which they pledged to work to reunite the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches.”(6)
The one thing that must be remembered, is that although the Roman Catholic Church, under its Pope and priests, are working towards bring other Christian Churches and other faiths together, it has stated time and again that it will never change or compromise its own theological stand or doctrines. It is willing to accommodate other faiths, but always under its authority and unchanging Roman Catholic teaching. Rome has no desire or intent to compromise. Indeed, it does not have to, because, as we have seen, its teachings and doctrines are a mixture of Christian and heathen practices anyway. In a newspaper article of the Sunday Times of 29 May 1994, the following was reported:
“The Vatican has been urged to accept ancestor worship in Africa as part of a move towards embracing cultural practices previously condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. Fourteen cardinals and 122 bishops from Africa met in Rome from mid-April to mid-May with members of the Vatican bureaucracy in a special synod to discuss the state of the church on the continent. They called for more ‘inculturation’ through the Africanisation of liturgy and church values; and discussed dialogue with other denominations and faiths, and evangelisation within the African context. The synod suggested ancestor worship should be reinterpreted and viewed along lines similar to veneration of the saints.”(7)
Other newspaper headings and articles continue to confirm the ecumenical effort of the Roman Catholic Church: “Pope calls for closer ties with Muslims” (The Star, 17 April 1996), “The main features of the document the Pope would deliver to the bishops were those of bringing the church closer … to other faiths” (The Citizen, 11 September 1995), “In a statement released on June 1, 1998, 550 high church Anglican clergymen called for unity with Rome under the primacy of the Pope”(Bible Based Ministries Newsletter, June/July 1988, No. 33), “The Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said on August 3, that the prospects for eventual union between the Roman Catholic and Anglican institutions are good”(Southern Cross, September 1, 1991).
The continuous call from the Roman Catholic Church to all other denominations is to return to “… true unity, under one shepherd of the one flock … (and) the seven sacraments”(7) By this, of course, they mean the “one shepherd” to be the Roman Catholic Pope, and the “one flock” the Roman Catholic Church.
The Ecumenical Movement is un-Biblical and anti-Christian. It has come far in establishing its goals. In his newsletter“Gospel Defence League” of August 1995, D Scarborough makes the following observation:
“The International Fellowship of Christian Churches (IFCC), the Dutch Reformed Church, and the Salvation Army have recently joined the South African Council of Churches (SACC) as observer members, and the Roman Catholic Church as a full member. There are no theological objections to joining the SACC and becoming a satellite church of the World Council of Churches? … Has the Ecumenical Movement … turned from the inter-faith movement with its downgrading of Christianity? … The South African Council of Churches (and its mother-body, the World Council of Churches), is heavily committed to the Inter-faith Movement, the New Age Movement, the New World Order and the One World Government.”
Isn’t it time to take an honest look again at the Gospel truths of the Word of God? Unless we take a stand on the eternal truths of the Word of God, we will be dragged along into the compromising and confusing flow of ecumenical deception and ultimate destruction. To those who will stay true to the Word of God the following will apply:
“I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my Word and have not denied my Name … Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Revelation 3:8b,10).
To those who are caught up, through their church affiliation, in the Ecumenical Movement, the Word of God says plainly:
“Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues …” (Revelation 18:4).
1. Unity in the Dark, Donald Gillies, Banner of Truth Trust, London, 1964, P. 67.
2. The Seduction of Christianity, Dave Hunt, Harvest House Publishers, Oregon, 1985, P. 60.
3. Unity in the Dark, Donald Gillies, Banner of Truth Trust, London, 1964, P. 52.
4. Global Tyrrany Step by Step, William F Jasper, Western Island Publishers, Wisconsin, 1992, P. 221.
5. A Woman Rides the Beast, Dave Hunt, Harvest House Publishers, Oregon, 1994, P. 427.
6. The Citizen, Tuesday, 3 October 1989.
7. Unity in the Dark, Donals Gillies, banner of Truth Trust, London, 1964, Pp. 30,31.
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Excerpts From –
Emergents leading evangelicals into Catholicism, then the Interfaith Movement/Interspirituality, then the one world religion of the Antichrist
January 11, 2012 by davemosher
The following seems to be the strategy most commonly used by Emergents in destroying evangelicals (particularly the youth):
Step 1)
Introduce evangelicals to the devotional writings of heretical so-called Christians throughout the ages. Use the endorsements by numerous born again Christians to persuade evangelicals that these heretics are acceptable. One such born again Christian who naively quoted nonchristian heretics in more innocent times (before the advent of Spiritual Formation) was A.W. Tozer. Another was the otherwise wonderful Nazarene theologian H. Orton Wiley, who wrote:
The literature of devotion which makes the greatest and most direct contribution to the spiritual life has been built up from the rich spiritual experiences of the saints in all ages… Among the devotional writers, whose works have been generally accepted [emphasis mine] throughout the church, may be mentioned the following: Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ; Theologica Germanica, first discovered and published by Martin Luther; Francis de Sales, Defence of the Standard of the Cross, and An Introduction to the Devout Life. Among the Quietists we may mention, Molinos, Spiritual Guide; Madame Guyon, Method of Prayer; and Fenelon, Maxims of the Saints… Among the Friends are the writings of George Fox, Robert Barclay, William Penn and John Woolman. (Christian Theology, Vol. 3, pp. 63,64)
Step 2)
Introduce evangelicals to Spiritual Formation. Specifically, the discipline of contemplative prayer – which technically is not prayer but occultish contemplative spirituality. Richard Foster, influenced by “Catholic Buddhist” Thomas Merton and others, built upon the writings of the devotional heretics mentioned in Step 1 above, popularizing his unique occult perversion of biblically sound prayer practices.
Step 3)
Introduce evangelicals to the contemplative practices and sacraments of Roman Catholicism specifically. Persuade evangelicals to accept Catholics as being “born again Christians” (even though, in reality, Catholics hate the term “born again”).
In this 3-part series of articles, Richard Bennett discusses Emergent Brian McLaren’s emphasis on Catholicism: http://www.the-highway.com/emergentchurch1_Bennett.html (Click on “next” at the bottom to go to the second, then third article.)
In part 2 of the series Bennett says:
“McLaren is at no loss to demonstrate how his “emergent thinking” works. The object of his book [A Generous Orthodoxy] is to lump all Protestants and Catholics together, which would be the new ring around the Protestant Catholic split, and to move beyond that into Eastern mysticism, which would be the new ring around Catholicism.”
Bennett apparently is contending that McLaren’s goal in pushing Catholic contemplative practices and rituals on evangelicals is not Catholicism itself, but Eastern mysticism, aka occultish contemplative prayer/ contemplative spirituality).
Step 4)
Introduce evangelicals to the contemplative practices of other religions as well as the New Age movement (labyrinth prayer, for example).
Step 5)
Introduce evangelicals to the Interfaith Movement/ Interspirituality. Several examples: The Taize pilgrimage and the Wild Goose Festival. Note – the “theology” of the Interfaith Movement is very similar to the “theology” of Unitarian Universalism.
At first evangelicals were fellowshipping with Catholics. Then we made the interfaith jump to establish ties with Jewish groups as well. Now we are dialoguing with Islam organizations. What’s next? Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. etc.? Unfortunately, according to End Times prophecy, this is coming.
Step 6)
Introduce evangelicals to the teachings of Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet, Phyllis Tickle and other Emergent/ Emergence leaders regarding the One World Religion (which will eventually become the one world religion of the Antichrist).
FOR FURTHER READING
The Emergent Church Teaches One World Religion!
The Goal of the Journey – to be one
New Age Sympathizer Leonard Sweet to Speak at Seventh Day Adventist Conference
One Lie to Rule Them All (includes links to many additional articles about the Interfaith Movement)
Shane Hipps, Co-Pastor With Rob Bell, Says All Religions Valid
ADDENDUM – Involvement in the Interfaith Movement by Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, etc.
Personally, I do not believe postmoderns (Emerging/Emergent/Emergence leaders) are pulling us back to a pre-modern form of Roman Catholicism. That being said, it’s actually a win-win situation for postmoderns to push Catholic contemplative practices and sacraments on evangelical denominations. Why? Because Roman Catholicism itself “ain’t what it used to be.” As you probably are aware, there is a huge emphasis at the highest level of Roman Catholicism on the Interfaith Movement.
In light of End Times prophecy, the Interfaith movement in my mind is where the real danger lies. And yes, I would say Roman Catholicism is the most power proponent of the Interfaith Movement. Here’s an interesting article about the jump from Ecumenical to Interfaitlh. And guess who is a major playor? Catholicism: http://www.letusreason.org/Emerge10.htm
There are also other major players:
Interfaith ventures by the National Association of Evangelicals:
http://www.cephasministry.com/world_church_evangelical_manifesto.html
Interfaith ventures endorsed by CotN professor Dean Blevinshttp://sadnazarene.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/dean-g-blevins-nazarene-theological-seminary-religious-education-association-north-american-interfaith-network-youthfront-nain-rea-john-1518-20-18-if-the-world-hates-you-you-know-that-it/
Interfaith venures endorsed by Nazarene Theological Seminary:http://reformednazarene.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/does-nazarene-theological-seminary-support-the-interfaith-movement/
Another link – the United Religions Initiative:http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/n1094.cfm
A good Christian response to the Interfaith movement:
And yet another discernment article that mentions Catholicism and other interfaith ventures:
http://www.wordconnect.org/page_article14.php
The history of the Interfaith Movement:
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/forcing-change/11/interfaith.htm
An expose of Interfaith “rules of conduct” for promoting conversions:
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/forcing-change/11/10-commission-pluralism.htm
