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THE EVANGELICAL & CATHOLICS TOGETHER DOCUMENT
A formal declaration boldly documents the Evangelical and Catholic commitment to work together to evangelize and bring about social reform in the world. The Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium (28) has, in effect, laid the groundwork for Evangelicals to set aside their distinctive doctrines and unite with the Catholic Church and other religions which are coming together by 2000 A.D. The ECT Document was authored and presented in May of 1994 by Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship and Roman Catholic priest, Richard John Neuhaus. In 1993, Chuck Colson was the recipient of the $1,000,000 "Prize for Progress in Religion," given annually at the Parliament of World Religions by New Age financier, John Templeton. Father Neuhaus is the director of the Institute on Religion and Public Life who, as former Lutheran and a seminary student, rejected the doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ. (29)
The ECT Document
was signed by 20 Catholic leaders and 20 Evangelical leaders including Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, Pat Robertson, President of CBN, J.I. Packer of Christianity Today, Richard Land and Larry Lewis of the Southern Baptist Convention, Jesse Miranda of Assemblies of God, Dr. John White of the National Association of Evangelicals and President of Geneva College, Os Guiness of Trinity Forum and Dr. Mark Noll of Wheaton College.Supporters of The Evangelicals and Catholics Together Document maintain that it is not a statement of theological agreement, but of unity for the cause of moral and social reform. However, ECT states, "Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ." And "existing divisions that obscure the one Christ and hinder the one mission of the Church" are confessed as "sins against the unity that Christ intends for all his disciples." (30) The Scriptural support presented for cooperation and unity between Evangelicals and Catholics is Jesus' prayer for his disciples in John 17:21: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may also be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." ECT conveniently removes this verse from its context and misinterprets it by failing to mention verses that identify Jesus' disciples as those who "received His words."
"For I have given unto them the words which thou hast given me; and they have received them. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine… Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one…that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." ( 8,9,20,21)
Reception of the Word of God is an essential condition of Christian discipleship and reveals the true nature of a church or individual. Those who would cooperate and unite with the Roman Catholic Church should first examine its doctrines and practices and compare them with the doctrines of the Christian faith presented in Scripture. Although the ECT Document declares, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved," it also rejects Jesus Christ as Savior exclusively by recognizing the multitude of mediators and means of grace that are encouraged by Catholic doctrine:
The Roman Catholic faith elevates the Pope above Jesus Christ, the Word of God, by conferring on him the arbitrary right to nullify Scripture through papal decrees. (It is noteworthy that the antithesis of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was highly exalted by God [Phil. 2:9], will be the Antichrist, who "exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped."[II Thess. 2:4]) After receiving infant baptism, the Catholic faithful are carefully indoctrinated in unscriptural works such as:
Few Christians understand the true origins of the Catholic Church and its aberrant doctrines, which have occult counterparts in the various ancient heathen religions. Another Bible, Another Gospel, by Robert Baker, gives a brief account of the pagan origin of Roman Catholic doctrine:
"In A.D. 331, the Roman Emperor Constantine commissioned the historian Eusebius to create a "new" bible which would unify Christianity and the pagan religions of the Roman Empire. For this bible, Eusebius used revised New Testament manuscripts from the Alexandrian School of Egypt, a cult of Gnostic and Platonist philosophers led by Clement and Origen. Eusebius also used the Septuagint, a corrupt Old Testament revision authored by Origen. This 'ecumenical' bible facilitated the merger of paganism and apostate Christianity and subsequently led to the establishment of Roman Catholicism as the official religion of Rome." (31)
THE COUNTER-REFORMATION
"A main purpose of Roman Catholic ecumenism is to lull non-Catholic Christians asleep in order to thwart evangelization of Roman Catholics," states Al Dager of Media Spotlight. To this end, the ECT Document censures the Evangelical practice of "proselytizing or sheep stealing" from the Catholic Church: "We call upon Christians to refrain from such activity." The Christian Coalition is one of many ministries which is comprised of Catholics and Evangelicals who are working together to achieve political and social reform. However, Dave Hunt writes,
"…an uncompromising witness for Christ must be avoided because it would offend some members and break up the coalition. In many such groups, Christians must remain silent about that which is eternal in order to devote themselves to good causes which are only temporal." (32)
Doing obeisance unworthy of ambassadors for Jesus Christ, some ministries which seem ashamed of the Gospel, are now humbly repenting for leading other "people of faith" to Christ. In 1993, responding to objections of Catholic and Jewish leaders in Colorado Springs because "Jewish and Catholic youth were being evangelized at school," Christian leaders signed a "Covenant of Mutual Respect." In this covenant, Focus on the Family, Young Life, International Students, Inc., and the Navigators agreed to cease such activities out of respect for other religious beliefs. We must inquire as to the purpose of these ministries if it is not to fulfill the Great Commission, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?" (Matt. 28:19) Would Peter or Paul have signed such a Covenant or ECT?
ECT acknowledges the incompatibility between Catholic and Evangelical creeds on the "new birth" and broad-mindedly proposes that those who evangelize present both the Catholic doctrine of "new birth through baptism" and the Evangelical doctrine of "new birth followed by baptism." According to the framers of this accord, "Those converted … must be given full freedom and respect as they decide the community in which they will live their new life in Christ…and we dare not interfere with the exercise of that responsibility."
Al Dager, protests this sabotage of the Great Commission, which requires"…teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:20) This subtle neutralization of the demands of the Gospel is unilaterally disarming the Evangelical Church, and is fundamentally a calculated attempt to exploit Evangelicals to conduct Catholic evangelism!
"If this rule of presenting both views applies to baptism, why should it not apply to all doctrines? This is the only logical conclusion to such a proposal… …What this amounts to is the Roman Catholic Church using evangelical Christians to indirectly proselytize for Roman Catholicism…Are we to be agents of the Catholic church at the expense of truth?…"
THE APOSTASY
Signatories of the Evangelicals and Catholics Together Document wash their hands of this violence to the doctrine of Christ and, like Pontius Pilate, would sacrifice the Word of God on the altar of political expedience. In January 1995, a formal debate was held in which D. James Kennedy, John MacArthur and other Christian leaders challenged the Evangelical position in ECT as unbiblical. Commenting on the debate, Pat Robertson said that the dispute over "minor points of doctrinal differences" shouldn't obscure the document's goals. (34) Robertson's political action organization, Christian Coalition, defends his endorsement of ECT because its objective is to fulfill the Church's "responsibility for the right ordering of civil society." (35) Judas also had a political agenda and, like the Pharisees, expected Jesus to establish a temporal kingdom. Al Dager properly asks,
"Should Christians sacrifice the purity of the faith for the sake of political action?…The Church does not have a 'responsibility for the right ordering of civil society.' This was the rationale behind the Holy Roman Empire…Christians who think they can join with anti-christ philosophies to save the world from God's judgment are fighting against the very work of God." (36)
Scripture is clear that moral and social reform of the world will only be realized when Jesus Christ returns to earth and establishes His Millennial Kingdom. Historian Edward Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire records,
"The ancient and popular doctrine of the Millennium was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ."
Bible prophecy affirms that, indeed, the Counter Reformation strategy of the Roman Catholic Church will succeed at the end of the Church Age, when many will then fall away from the true faith into a unified religious system led by Rome. (II Thess. 2:3; Rev. 17:9)
(39) These apostates will reject the prophetic warnings of Scripture and believe the false prophets who call unity with the world's religions a Christian revival. Such is the deluded mindset of the present "word of faith" generation aptly described by Don Classen in the Kingdom Gospel Messenger --"Gone now are all the shackles of that old traditional Pre-Millennial view with its "negative" references to a bloodbath of martyrdom, the greatest upheavals history has ever seen (Mt. 24:21), the wrath of God poured out on the followers of the Antichrist, and the necessity for Christ to return and save the day lest "there should no flesh be saved" (Mt. 24:22), Christian or otherwise. Such is considered too unbelieving to a generation raised on the mantras of "positive confession" that, literally nothing is impossible to them that believe; a generation that thinks -- if you thought you'd ever live to see the day -- that rejection of the prophecies and warnings of the Scriptures is somehow "faith"; and a generation that, nonetheless, predicts that they will be more consecrated and holy than any other in history."
(40)Evangelical leaders who promote unity with Roman Catholicism are either ignorantly or intentionally leading Christians into the apostate religious system of the New World Order. This final earthly kingdom will be the political-religious beast of Revelation 17 and Daniel 7, which "shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces." Will Christians will be led to worship the Antichrist because their spiritual leaders encouraged unity with pagan religions? That the elect may be deceived is truly a hard saying (Matt. 24:24) -- until it is understood that the deception will come from the highest ranks of Evangelicalism.
Columnist George Will has called the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision "an intellectual trainwreck." Comparable to this legal landmark in its diabolical character, The Evangelicals and Catholics Together Document is void of intellectual and Biblical integrity. Those who are carried about by its "every wind of doctrine" will eventually abandon the narrow course of faith and experience "spiritual shipwreck." (I Tim. 1:18,19) The spiritual compass of the Christian is unwavering on the subject of ecumenical unity:
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God… Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate…"
CONTEND FOR THE FAITH
While a great multitude of Christians are intensely focused on the spiritual war that is raging in our government and society, most are failing to discern that a more insidious and costly battle for souls is being waged against the Church. In their driving zeal for social transformation, these ecumenical reformers seem unaware of their departure from the Word of God. Christian doctrines that were recovered at great sacrifice during the Protestant Reformation are now being carelessly surrendered in search of a modern and more utilitarian redefinition of Christianity. Yet, it is the divinely instituted Church of Jesus Christ, rather than the political or apostate systems, which is "the pillar and ground of the truth." (I Tim. 3:15) The Great Architect of the New Covenant has proclaimed that it is the supreme duty of the Church to preserve the fundamentals of the faith for, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Social action is truly within the scope of Christian service; but only within its proper context of the objective truth established in Scripture:
"It is important that in all we do – whether in the secular realm or the religious – we maintain purity in doctrine. Purity of doctrine does not mean dogmatism apart from good works, but insistence upon a biblical framework for those good works. Faith without works is dead, says James; and works without faith are wood, hay and stubble – likewise dead. The disciple of Jesus Christ is called to both true, biblical Faith (which demands a defense [Jude 3]) and sacrificial acts of love toward all, whether brethren in Christ or enemies."
Pro-life activists spare few efforts on behalf of unborn children. For these "doers of the Word," the unending toil of letters, marches, meetings, political campaigns, protests and demonstrations are a small sacrifice of time and often reputation to secure the right to life. Proverbs 24:11 requires Christians to "deliver them that are drawn unto death." Yet surely our highest calling is to preserve the pure gospel of salvation unto eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. In his classic work, Christ in Isaiah, F.B. Meyer describes another march…
"Through this world, unseen by mortal eye, a procession is passing, threading its way across continents of time. It bears holy vessels. The forms of expression in which Divine truth is enshrined may be compared to the vessels of the old dispensation, God's truth, the affirmation of things unseen and eternal, the announcement of the facts of redemption -- such are our sacred charge. We must contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Take heed to thyself and to the doctrine. The greatest service the Church can give to the world is its perpetual witness to the truth of God's being, the facts of redemption, of judgment, and of the world to come. Concerning all these, the olden charge is given us, "Watch ye and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and of the Levites, in the chambers of the house of the Lord."
WATCH UNTO PRAYER
Concerning Jerusalem, Ezekiel 22:25 tells of a "conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof; like a roaring lion ravening the prey, they have devoured souls." Those who have realized with growing alarm that a similar conspiracy is overtaking the Church must protest as Paul did, "Who is sufficient for these things?" However, like Paul we can acknowledge, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." (II Corinthians 2:17;3:5) Although each of us may sense a certain inadequacy for interceding effectively for the Church in these perilous times, let us pray that God will supply all of our sufficiency for this ministry of prayer.
ENDNOTES:
The United Religions Organization
