Ecumenism
An eight part teaching series looking at the widespread infiltration of an ecumenical spirit into the evangelical Church that is seeking not only to unite all Christians to Rome, but all religions and ultimately all mankind. Please click on the PDF links to read each article in full.
Part 1 – An Introduction to the Ecumenical Movement
We are seeing in these last days a wholesale sweeping aside of key fundamental doctrinal differences that for centuries have served to differentiate between truth and falsehood in the quest for Christian ecumenical unity. At the heart of this movement lies the Roman Catholic Church that is seeking with all its stealth and might to undo the divide that succeeded in severing the Protestant Church from Rome in the 16th Century. True Biblical Christian unity always has at its foundation the truth of Scripture. To dispense of doctrine is to dispense of the hope of ever achieving true unity!!
In this teaching we shall see that one can never have true unity at the expense of truth.
Part 2 – The Advance of Ecumenism within the Evangelical Church (Pt. 1)
In this teaching we survey the growing infiltration of ecumenism into the evangelical Church ranging from the Alpha Course, to Catholic Charismatics, to the Emergent Church which in the name of “experience” is rediscovering many ancient Catholic mystic practises which sadly many evangelicals are swallowing up to the detriment of their own soul!!
Part 3 – The Advance of Ecumenism within the Evangelical Church (Pt. 2)
ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) is a 26-page double spaced document released in 1994 with twenty leading Evangelicals and twenty leading Roman Catholics signing the document. In this teaching we examine and refute this historic ecumenical document which seeks in its essence to find common ground with Rome and the Evangelical Church. We also examine the words of Billy Graham, the Ecumenical Evangelist for Rome, who was a good friend of Pope John Paul II and who at many of his crusades, pointed those coming forward for salvation to the Roman Catholic Church.
Part 4 - The Advance of Ecumenism within the Evangelical Church (Pt. 3)
The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s blockbuster film covers the final 12 hours of Jesus' life (known as the Passion), beginning with the Agony in the Garden and ending with a brief depiction of his resurrection. Many evangelicals hailed this film a success and actively promoted it as a means of evangelism. Yet… Mel Gibson is a staunch Roman Catholic who belongs to a traditionalist Catholic sect that performs the mass in Latin. Although at first glance, it may appear that Mel Gibson’s inspiration for The Passion was the Bible, upon closer inspection this has been proven not to be the case. Perhaps his greatest inspiration for the film was an 18th Century Catholic Mystic Nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich who claimed to have carried in her body the Stigmata of Christ and received multiple extra-Biblical revelations via visions of the life and death of Jesus Christ, many of which have found their way into Gibson’s Passion.
In this teaching we examine the Catholic roots of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ and ask the question…how could so many Evangelicals have embraced the spirit of ecumenism in praising and promoting this film.
Part 5 – From Ecumenism to Interfaith (Pt. 1)
Interfaith works under the clever guise of promoting ‘religious harmony’. The saying goes as something like this…‘Look at all the wars and bloodshed that has occurred because of religious intolerance. In order to stop this we must better understand one another’s religions and their shared common values/principles. In order to this we must open up the table for dialogue’. Spearheading this movement is the Pope of Rome himself.
In this teaching we track the infiltration of interfaith into the Evangelic Church by many leading “Christian” figures who are seeking to unite with other religions through a common spiritual experience in the name of peace and tolerance.
Part 6 - From Ecumenism to Interfaith (Pt. 2)
An open letter, which is entitled ‘A Common Word between Us and You’ is a 29 page document authored by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan calling for unity amongst Christians and Islam.
In this teaching we explore this document and the document written by evangelicals in response, titled “Loving God and Neighbor Together”
Part 7 - From Interfaith to Universalism (Pt. 1)
Once the ball of ecumenism has begun to roll it does not stop at merely ‘Christendom’ being united but will ultimately lead to all religions being united and then finally all of mankind!! In this teaching, we look at an eastern concept of universalism called ‘Oneness Universalism’, which puts forward the teaching that the spark of the divine is all of mankind. We look at the Roman Catholic connection to this mystic concept and the role that key leaders within the Emergent Church are playing in popularising the teachings of many leading Catholic mystics such as Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton.
Part 8 - From Interfaith to Universalism (Pt. 2)
Christian Universalism is that doctrine which teaches that irrespective of ones beliefs, religion or lifestyle ultimately all mankind shall be saved through the atoning work of Christ on the cross. They would assert that salvation was purchased for all and so all shall one day be saved, irrespective of whether one chooses in this life to repent and place their faith in the Lord Jesus.
In this teaching we conclude the series by looking at Christian Universalism and the position of many of the leaders within the Emergent Church such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell who deny a literal hell and promote the doctrine of universalism. We also examine the position of those outside the emergent movement such as Carlton Pearson and Billy Graham.
