The RADEN Report                                May 30, 2001

Rome And Daughters Ecumenical News

This is just too strange to ignore! I guess ecumenism cuts both ways sometimes...

Catholic Fury
Over Archbishop Wedding

A Roman Catholic archbishop who married a Korean acupuncturist in a group wedding conducted by Sun Myung Moon can no longer be considered a bishop, the Vatican said Monday.

Vatican chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo "could not be considered a bishop of the Catholic Church" and would be subject to "foreseen canonical sanctions".

Navarro-Valls' statement said the marriage put him "outside the Catholic church and inflicted a serious wound on the communion" that bishops must show with the church.

Milingo was wed in a group marriage ceremony Sunday at the New York Hilton. The 71-year-old archbishop, a controversial faith healer and self-proclaimed exorcist, married 43-year-old Maria Sung who was chosen for him during the past few days by Moon.

In a prepared statement, Milingo said that he had kept his priestly vow of celibacy since 1958 but has decided it’s time for Catholicism to change.

According to Canon Law, priests cannot marry without first leaving the clergy. Milingo -- a Zambian -- will most probably be excommunicated if the Vatican considers him guilty of apostasy or violating the Church's strict celibacy laws.

Zambia's Roman Catholic bishops said they would meet in Lusaka Tuesday to discuss what they see as a crisis. "Bishops are shocked. It is stunning," a spokesman for the Episcopal Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops told Reuters.

© 2001 Maranatha Christian News Service

(Post date: May 29, 2001)

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For those of you who don’t get Baptist Press news, here’s a short article that points out where unbiblical ecumenical inclusiveness can lead...

His mission isn't to 'save people,' pro-CBF pastor tells newspaper
By Staff

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)--A Southern Baptist pastor who identifies himself with
the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship told a Birmingham, Ala., newspaper his
mission is not to see people saved and that his church will discuss the
possibility of severing ties with the Southern Baptist Convention.

"My approach to mission is not to save people," said Southside Baptist Church
pastor Steve Jones in a May 26 interview with The Birmingham News. "I don't
like this 'win-them-at-all-costs' attitude."

Jones was referring to Southern Baptist efforts to share the gospel of Christ
with all people, including those of the Jewish faith.

Jones told the newspaper he has a harsh view of current conservative leaders
within the SBC and disagrees with many of the denomination's recent
pronouncements, including the 1996 call to reach out to Jews.

"The whole mindset -- that Jews are lost and we need to convert them -- it's a
very condescending relationship," Jones told the paper.

Jones said he identifies more strongly with the CBF, a 10-year old group
disgruntled with the SBC. He said his church will discuss the possibility of
severing ties with the SBC at a June 24 meeting.

Jones' comments on Southern Baptists came during a story about Southside
embracing a Jewish congregation in search of a temporary worship site.

Temple Emanu-El, a Reform Jewish temple, will hold services at Southside during
a 14-month renovation project. The two congregations celebrated the Jewish
festival of Shavuot -- commemorating Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on
Mount Sinai and God's gift of the Torah to the Jewish people.

Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Jonathan Miller told The Birmingham News he's never heard
of Baptists and Jews worshiping together.

"It's very significant," he told the newspaper. "It really will be a joint
worship service."

Miller said he was originally leery of sharing a Baptist church.

"For our members there was a bit of fear -- that they'll want to convert us,
they won't respect us, that they'll proselytize us," Miller told the paper. "We
believe there are many ways to get to God. Christians have a true view of God;
Muslims have a true view of God; Jews have a uniquely Jewish view of God that
we believe is true for us."

A spokesperson for the CBF declined comment to Baptist Press May 28.

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Can’t we all just get along? Apparently not...

More than 200 evangelical Christians have been given a June deadline to renounce their faith or be forced from their homes and community. Similar threats to the one made to believers in San Nicaolas, Ixmiquilpan, in the central state of Hidalgo, have been issued to Christians in other parts of the country who have turned their backs on traditional religious customs.

According to Assist News Service (ANS), Open Doors has reported that local authorities in three small towns have told evangelical Christians that if they do not revert to traditional Catholicism, they could face "jail, expulsion, the removal of public services such as water and drainage, and even death." In Arroyo-Arena San Lorenzo La Lana, in Oaxaca state, two recent converts were jailed for 36 hours in March when they were asked to deny their new faith. The following month the two men were imprisoned again, this time for 24 hours, along with two others.

Earlier this month in Chiapas state -- where evangelicals have faced long-term harassment -- authorities in Los Llanitos decreed that evangelicals who did not agree to take part in all Catholic festivals would be expelled. Two members of a Pentecostal church were jailed for 48 hours for refusing to take part in one event.

ANS said that many of the conflicts in Mexico stem from evangelicals' refusal to participate in town festivals, an important source of local income that include "activities that evangelicals find unacceptable."

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Some have criticized efforts to reestablish the biblical stance of SBC agencies. Serious problems demand serious solutions. The following quote points out the depth of the problem that has been faced and the need for decisive action to secure a solution.

"Today, it would appear, the covenant and thus the mission of the church could be defined with a greater measure of tolerance. This would not necessitate an abandonment of monotheism nor of the conviction that some sort of special revelation occurred through Israel and Christ and the church.

"It might necessitate, however, the acknowledgment that the one God has disclosed himself in particular ways through other cultures and religions besides these. Thus, as one discerns in the thought of Vatican II, Christianity might see its mission not so much in competition with the other world religions as in cooperation or in conjunction with them."

(From: Hinson, E. Glenn. The Evangelization of the Roman Empire, (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1981), p. 287.)

Hinson is a former professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBC) and, more recently at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. BTSR is a CBF sponsored seiminary and is obviously very liberal to employ a professor who holds to such a perverted belief.

Although this quote of Professor Hinson is 20 years old, it does point to why it is sometimes necessary to openly confront wrong beliefs and secure a decisive correction. Those who have broad influence among the Lord’s people must not go unchallenged when they publicly promote perversions of theological truth.

Ecumenical inclusiveness is a much overlooked element that contributed to the theological liberalism of SBC agencies in the past. An unbiblical ecumenism is simply one result of a liberal view of Scripture. This element has been much overlooked by many Southern Baptist leaders today who continue to promote ecumenists, who in turn promote their own adapted versions of the theologically ecumenical agenda.

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Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics Join Forces in Northeast Ohio

(ReligionToday News Summary for Friday, May 18, 2001)

In an historic pact that would have been unimaginable a generation ago,
the Northeast Ohio region's Lutheran, Episcopal and Catholic churches
are pledging to worship, lobby and pray together as a sign of Christian
unity. While the agreement stops short of addressing divisive issues
such as shared Communion, the covenant concludes with the vow, "We
hereby agree to strive toward the removal of impediments to the cause of
unity, and place no impediment in the way of reunion."

"This is another level of ecumenism, and mutual respect," said
(Catholic) Bishop Anthony M. Pilla. "We're all publicly committing
ourselves and celebrating it." The Rev. Lloyd O'Keefe, ecumenical
officer, Episcopal, stated, "I think it's a breakthrough for ecumenical
relations and promises to be a wonderful working relationship." Bishop
Marcus J. Miller (Lutheran) said, "I'm always so moved by...how deeply
important it is to so many people to see us together."

The agreements are with the more moderate Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America; the more conservative Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has
expressed concerns that the Lutheran faith may be compromised.

(This is unity alright... an un-Christian unity.)