I have just returned from a conference at Beeson Divinity School entitled "Pilgrims on the Sawdust Trail; Evangelical Conversations." Advertised for the past few months in Christianity Today, FIRST THINGS, WORLD Magazine, and various state Baptist newspapers, the conference attracted my attention due to its list of speakers and topics.

Speakers included ECT endorsers Timothy George, Richard Mauw, and Richard John Neuhaus, as well as other ecumenists such as Jeffrey Gros of the National Council of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

The denominational affiliation of speakers included Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, United Methodist, American Baptist, United Church of Christ, Church of God in Christ, Pentecostal Church of God, Reformed, and Southern Baptist.

Among the topics offered were "What Evangelicals Can Learn From Fundamentalists" by Richard Mauw, "An Ecumenical Perspective on Evangelicals" by Gabriel Fackre, and "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" by Richard John Neuhaus.

A desire for ecumenical unity was the theme throughout the two-day conference. There was a common-cause comradery emphasized by those invited to speak... with one obvious exception; Dr. Kevin Bauder, a professor at Central Baptist Seminary, was asked to respond to Richard Mauw’s address "What Evangelicals Can Learn From Fundamentalists." Bauder, with a combination of respectful kindness and articulate boldness, made no pretense of agreement with several points in Dr. Mauw’s address.

From my personal perspective, Kevin Bauder’s defense of the Faith in the midst of so much ecumenical mumbo-jumbo was like a clear trumpet blast sounding above the din of a dozen horns blowing inharmonious notes. Questions from the floor and several subsequent private discussions among participants indicated considerable interest in Bauder’s response.

Later in the program two speakers aimed criticism at Dr. Bauder for his questioning the salvation of those who trust in the sacramental faith of Roman Catholicism. In a thinly veiled reference to Bauder’s comments, participants were warned not to "bear false witness."

A few moments of obvious tension came after Thomas Oden angrily spoke in reference to the National Council of Churches’ retreat from an ecumenical statement on marriage earlier this year. Oden warned that his comment would be controversial, then harshly stated his belief that mainline denominations ought to stop bailing out the faltering NCC. He suggested that member denominations immediately pull their support from the National Council of Churches. Interestingly, this was forcefully countered by Jeffrey Gros who questioned whether Oden had done his homework before making allegations against the NCC. Gros stated from the floor that some of Thomas Oden’s comments were simply untrue.

Keynote speakers were unapologetic regarding their promotion of ecumenism. Thomas Oden openly promoted what he termed a "new ecumenism." Richard Neuhaus was candid regarding Roman Catholicism’s ultimate goal of ecumenism, full visible unity between evangelicals and Catholics. That this would require acceptance of the pope as head of the visible church and that the sacrifice of the mass was also essential were points frankly declared by Mr. Neuhaus.

The basis for the conference was an acceptance of both evangelical believers and practicing sacramentalists as brothers and sisters in Christ. Given this assumption of a common bond of salvation in Christ, Richard Neuhaus insisted that all professing Christians are obligated to work together toward visible unity. Neuhaus lauded the ecumenical work of Charles Colson, Timothy George, and others, at one point openly admitting that his ultimate goal for the ECT initiative is "full visible unity, whatever that might look like."

Neuhaus, a RCC priest, and Jeffrey Gros, a representative of the National Council of Catholic Bishop's Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs gave strong appeals to the validity of RCC sacramentalism, sacerdotalism, etc. Not only was there no rebuttal of this perversion of biblical truth, but in his "response" Dr. Timothy George repeatedly and pointedly referred to both of these professing sacramentalists as fellow brothers in Christ.

Richard Neuhaus and Timothy George stated that a new ECT statement called "Your Word is Truth" would be published in book form in the spring of 2002. The subject of the statement will be finding common ground regarding Scripture and tradition.

To launch his address on Evangelicals and Catholics Together, Richard Neuhaus referred to the Baptist Hymnal found in the pew racks. Neuhaus read from a page entitled "How to become a Christian" and asked rhetorically if the sequence of first becoming a Christian then being baptized and joining a church was indeed in correct order. Most in attendance probably missed this appeal to his Roman Catholic belief in the efficacy of baptismal regeneration, whereby a Roman Catholic is taught that he is saved through the very act of baptism. It would seem unlikely that the leaders of the conference would have missed this.

The acceptance of professing sacramentalists as genuine Christians runs counter to the Word of God. Much of the New Testament was written to oppose the inclusion of sacramental faith as proposed by the Judiazers.

Those who do not know me personally may be surprised to discover that I am not the sort of person who likes confrontation or who enjoys making others angry. I prefer to be known as a kindly person. But then there are passages of Scripture that demand I move beyond my comfort zone... passages like,

But I do assume Satan has an agenda to pervert the Gospel. Satan is the master of deception, even deceiving God’s own people from time to time. When I compare the work of many modern ecumenists to the commands of Scripture, I find there is a desire on the part of many to be overly "generous" with the Gospel. This "generosity" may appear kindly and may come from pure motives for benefiting others, but no one is given latitude to be more generous than God is with His own grace. No one, either by bad motives or good, may change the grace of God from exactly how He has described it. To do so can be a dangerous perversion of the Truth.

Sound strange? Please hear me out...

God has placed clear boundaries that define a very narrow path that leads to eternal life. We are not at liberty to broaden that path or change God’s boundaries. Modern ecumenists seem bent on gathering as many people as possible onto a very broad path of theological inclusiveness. In spite what may well be their kindly, generous intentions, the Bible indicates that such a broad path leads to destruction, not to eternal life.

Those who trust in a sacramental faith may certainly be sincere; so were the Judiazers. Even so, the harshest words of condemnation in all of the New Testament were penned to oppose those who claimed Christ while teaching the inclusion of a sacramental faith. (See Galatians for a rebuttal of the Judiazer’s sacramental faith.)

Again, any way you slice it, the acceptance of professing sacramentalists as genuine Christians runs counter to the Word of God. And to say this with a correct, loving motivation is to speak the truth in love, which we are commanded to do.