The
RADEN Report May 28, 2001R
ome And Daughters Ecumenical News
special...
Continuing coverage of the announced suspension of the RCC/SBC Dialogue.
Without an "official conversation" ECT is all the more important, claims RCC priest Richard John Neuhaus.
From FIRST THINGS, June/July 2001...
"I am assured by Baptist friends that not too much should be made of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) recent announcement of a temporary suspension of official conversation with Roman Catholics. It is mainly a matter of program priorities, I am told, and there is no doubt that the SBC’s 1994 resolution taking note of ‘Evangelicals and Catholics Together’ and urging ‘ongoing Southern Baptist-Roman Catholic conversation while maintaining our Southern Baptist confession without compromise’ is still very much in force. The temporary suspension of the official conversation, says a leading Southern Baptist, ‘makes Evangelicals and Catholics Together all the more important.’ We will be proceeding on that understanding."
Roman Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus is the editor of FIRST THINGS, the bi-monthly publication of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, a Roman Catholic think-tank for ecumenical activism.
Mr. Neuhaus’ "understanding" of this issue is not surprising. Ironically, even while a majority of Southern Baptists have proclaimed their loyalty to an inerrant, authoritative Bible, ecumenical involvement by some SBC leaders and agencies has flourished. Although the biblical command is to "show no favoritism" and to "mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them (Romans 16:17)," some SBC leaders have publicly tolerated serious errors of fellow "conservative" leaders. Such inconsistency undermines the credibility of biblical conservatism. An authoritative Bible is just that; it is AUTHORITATIVE. Thus, when Scripture says that we are to confront and expose error within the Church, then to not do so is to resist the Bible’s authority.
As a glaring example of this lack of biblical accountability, consider the fact that there has been no public correction though several Southern Baptist leaders have been involved in the heretical ECT Alliance. Mr. Neuhaus is co-author with Charles Colson of the infamous ecumenical document Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium. This document is so obviously heretical that even one of its drafters, a recently retired SBC agency head, has admitted
"...it appears that those of us who have endorsed the document are lending credence to that heresy [the perverted doctrine of baptismal regeneration]." With this being true, ECT proponents are in fact promoting a false gospel, regardless of their purported good intentions.Obviously, Mr. Neuhaus understands the SBC’s promotion of leading ecumenists such as Charles Colson to indicate that Southern Baptist leaders are generally open to the ecumenical agenda. This is only reasonable given that LifeWay Christian Resources, the publishing arm of the SBC, has even produced its own Discipleship Training curriculum designed to influence Southern Baptists of all age groups to embrace Charles Colson’s supposed "Christian worldview." The curriculum is based upon Mr. Colson’s book, How Now Shall We Live?, in which he openly promotes the ECT with its ecumenical agenda.
According to Mr. Colson,
"Christianity is represented largely by evangelicalism, conservative Roman Catholicism, and the Orthodox church." and thus "Catholics and Protestants must stand side by side... together as the people of God... to win the lost and build a culture...." Colson claims that such "Christian unity is the key to evangelism and cultural renewal." Tens of thousands of copies of this curriculum have already been sold to trusting SBC churches. Some LifeWay leaders privately admit there are dangerous errors contained in Colson’s textbook, but they have refused to discontinue publication or to issue a warning.In his recent "Breakpoint Commentary," Charles Colson said,
"Richard Neuhaus will be a keynote speaker at our Wilberforce Forum conference in Chicago this coming June. God in his sovereignty is raising up some mighty warriors like Neuhaus -- armed with a biblical view of life and a keen intellect to contend for Christian truth. And this is one reason I think we'll experience a great Christian renewal in this century."The world certainly does need to witness a great Christian renewal, but not of the sort that Colson and Neuhaus are working for. Any "great Christian renewal" that promotes as Christians those who trust in a sacramental system of grace (Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox) is nothing more than a dangerous renewal of false religion.
In view of the prophecies of Scripture (such as 2Thessalonians 2:3), I believe as time progresses toward our Lord’s return we can expect to see "a great falling away," a movement towards betrayal and compromise of the Gospel. This had already begun in the first century churches with the compromising other-gospel of the Judiazers. How much more might we expect to see this today! And how much more ought we to be publicly confronting such error, just as the apostle Paul did nearly 2000 years ago. Scripture warns that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth...." (2Timothy 4:3-4) The biblical injunction and example still stands inerrant and authoritative.
Rather than contributing to "a great Christian renewal," Mr. Colson and Mr. Neuhaus, with their presentation of an ecumenical false gospel that can not save, are helping to lead millions toward eternal disaster.
Should the Lord’s people take this seriously? Mr. Neuhaus concludes his statement with a veiled threat...
We will be proceeding on that understanding." In context, doesn’t that translate "We ecumenists will be continuing our work through the ECT Alliance on the understanding that SBC leaders are generally open to the ecumenical agenda"?