The RADEN Report    April 7, 2000

The web of ecumenism:

Charismatic/Catholic connections...

 

Entangled in the web... Franciscan University, NARSC's Celebrate Jesus 2000,

Mission America, NAMB, and the Brownsville "Revival"!!! 

Among the several publications of the Catholic Answers, Inc., organization are two periodicals aimed at combating the witness of evangelicals. One is called "Be" and is endorsed by Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago. (Interestingly, Cardinal George is also an ECT endorser, having worked closely with Charles Colson in the drafting process of that ecumenical document.) Another magazine is named "THIS ROCK" and bills itself as "the magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization." Catholic apologist Karl Keating is the guiding hand behind both of these magazines.

Mr. Keating’s published materials reveal that he is as opposed to evangelical belief as genuine evangelicals have historically been opposed to the Roman Catholic sacramental system. (As with most modern Catholics and Protestants, Mr. Keating mistakenly groups evangelicals with Protestantism.) A discussion of Mr. Keating’s vitriolic attacks against evangelical belief will wait for another day. But…

Something that caught my eye in the most recent edition of THIS ROCK (March 2000) was an article entitled "Apologetics is Where the Action Is, But Ecumenism is Equally Important." The title was intriguing enough, but also, I noticed it was written by "Father" Ray Ryland, a professor of theology at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. Ryland, a former Anglican minister, works with the "Coming Home Network," an organization functioning "In cooperation with the Catholic Bishops, to help inquiring clergy and laity of other traditions return home and then be at home in the Roman Catholic Church...." In other words, this group is one expression of obedience to Vatican II's call for assertive ecumenical activity to draw in the "separated brethren." This organization’s website says they exist "To assist the Catholic Church in fulfilling its mission of evangelization and its call for Christian unity, as most recently proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint." Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One) is a handbook of instructions on how Roman Catholics are to carry out Vatican II's ecumenical agenda, both covertly and overtly.

Ryland's THIS ROCK article states that…

"The goal of Catholic ecumenism is to restore unity to the separated traditions by bringing them within the unity of the Catholic Church (Decree on Ecumenism, 24). The Pope assures the world that full communion, the hallmark of restored unity, 'will have to come about through the acceptance of the whole truth into which the Holy Spirit guides Christ's disciples (That They May Be One, 36).' And where is that truth to be found? Vatican II's answer: 'It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained.' " ...."The Church uses the services of both ecumenists and apologists to help the outsiders find their way to that treasure -- the fullness of unity in the faith, in their true home."

Interestingly, Franciscan University is coordinating an ecumenical event June 22-25, 2000, called… Celebrate Jesus 2000…

(Sound familiar? Read on!)

This organization’s www.CelebrateJesus2000.com website says this event is being administered by "Christian Conference Office, Franciscan University, 1235 University Blvd., Steubenville, OH 43952."

Actually, this event is only the latest of several large nation-wide gatherings organized by Charismatic and Catholic ecumenists. The first was held in Kansas City in 1997...

" 'The body of my Son is broken.' These prophetic words rang out through the stadium in Kansas City, 1977 at the first Spirit-filled ecumenical conference in the USA. Since then the North American Renewal Service Committee (NARSC) has been bringing together Ecumenical Congresses on the Holy Spirit and world Evangelization in New Orleans ‘87, Indianapolis, ‘90 and Orlando ‘95.

"The year 2000 is here! Come celebrate the 2000th anniversary of our Savior Jesus Christ with thousands of Christians from the streams of Charismatic Renewal; Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostals and non-Denominationals."

Speakers at this year's event include preachers and preacheretts, prophets and prophetesses, bishops and bishopetts… a roster theologically broad enough to draw in a wide range of people involved in charismatic and ecumenical circles. Some are also endorsers of heretical ECT documents, and several are proponents of the Toronto/Brownsville "revival." Others are professional Roman Catholic ecumenists. This year's charismatic/ecumenical indoctrinators include (among others)...

John Arnott
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship
Toronto, Canada

Bishop Barbara Amos
Pastor Faith Deliverance Center
Co-Chair, PCCNA (Pentecostal & Charismatic Churches of North America)

Fr. Tom Forrest, CSSR
International Director of Evangelization 2000

(works under direction of the Vatican)

Fr. Stan Fortuna, CFR
Youth Evangelist,
Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

Pat Robertson
Founder, the Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent University
(ECT endorser)

Jack Hayford
The Church on the Way, the Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, CA

Bishop Sam Jacobs
Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, LA

John Kilpatrick
Brownsville Assemblies of God
Pensacola, FL

Fr. Michael Scanlan
President, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Thomas Trask
General Superintendent of The Assemblies of God

Gary Moore
Aldersgate United Methodist Renewal
Conference Chairman

Ralph Martin
Renewal Ministries
(ECT endorser)

Bishop James Leggett
General Superintendent Int'l Pentecostal Holiness Church

Stephen Hill
Together in the Harvest Ministries
(Brownsville Assemblies of God, Pensacola, FL)

Fr. Francis Martin
Professor of Biblical Studies, John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Washington, DC
(ECT endorser)

Sounds like a bizarre ecumenical mixture, doesn't it? Have you seen any publicity on this yet? Probably not -- unless you are involved in the Charismatic/ecumenical movement, or unless you are a studious "watcher" of this movement. Advertisement of this event came to me in a nation-wide email publication that is put together and sent out by a NAMB employee, another SBC agency employee who works with Mission America. Also, regularly promoted through this email "ministry" are various other ecumenists and charismatic proponents... Morris Cerilo, Rod Parsley, and John Eckhardt are but a few examples.

The link might be dismissed as a mistake except for the fact that Dr. Paul Cedar is also on the program at this particular "Celebrate Jesus 2000" event. Paul Cedar is president and CEO of Mission America, an ecumenical organization that claims to be "evangelical" and that also claims the willing participation of every SBC church, which of course is another deception. The SBC’s North American Mission Board is contractually linked with Mission America even though this sort of affiliation is contrary to NAMB’s own "Guidelines for Interdenominational Cooperation" and Resolution #13 "On Southern Baptists and Ecumenism" from the 1996 SBC annual convention.

There's more... the web of ecumenical activity is widespread and complex. It often operates covertly for years before surfacing in a group or denomination. The fact is, though, that this entangling web exists, and it has attached itself to some SBC agencies. Ecumenism is deceptively living off of Cooperative Program funds that are given by thousands of unsuspecting SBC churches. Many SBC leaders, embroiled for years in an internal struggle within the Convention, seem completely unaware of this reality.

The purpose of this information is not to embarrass anyone, but rather to inform the Lord’s people of the dangerous infiltration of ecumenical activity, even within "conservative" SBC ranks. Some other denominations are even more infiltrated and influenced by the deceptive strategies of the modern ecumenical movement. According to our Lord’s instructions, we are to "earnestly contend for the Faith" against such deceptive perversions. The facts placed together with the biblical injunction reveals that a course-correction is called for.  

It is an incredible loss to the Lord's work when genuine Gospel mission agencies throw away their credibility through compromising associations and unhealthy ecumenical entanglements.

*Further documentation of these facts is available upon request.

The RADEN Report is a news and commentary service purposed to inform and educate the body of Christ regarding the dangers of ecumenism. For our purposes, ecumenism is defined as cooperative ventures of an evangelistic nature with individuals and/or groups which promote errant doctrine. Much of the New Testament was written to oppose the false doctrines of men who claimed to be Christian teachers, yet were bringing in "destructive heresies." According to Jude we are to "earnestly contend for the Faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints." This we aim to do and to encourage others in this part of God's work. If we can be of assistance to you in this way, please let us know. Additional copies (hard-copy) of RADEN are available, as well as other resources. Why not pass RADEN on to a friend? If you would like to read the ECT document, click here.  We also have the ECT put together into booklets, if you would like for us to send you one or more, request it by email.   Please include your home address and how many you would like.

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