The RADEN Report… SBC extra!

May 25, 2000

Ecumenical Entanglements...

Ever-so-gently shaking the tree, but will any apples fall out?

In response to a request by the SBC Executive Committee, Convention entities are trying to deal with questions raised about possible ecumenical entanglements. At least one seminary trustee board has already approved their administration's report; other agencies are forming committees and drafting reports.

While much attention is being focussed on the more obvious areas of concern... such as NAMB's involvement with Mission America and the IMB's involvement with AD2000 & Beyond… the narrow scope of the Executive Committee's "request" may mean that Southern Baptists will not hear about some areas of ecumenical activity, at least not yet.

"We're the two largest Christian denominations in the United States" says Jeffry Gros, associate director of the Catholic bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (SEIA).

One such ecumenical involvement is known to Southern Baptists as the "RCC/SBC conversation." This same effort is labeled an "official dialogue" by the Roman Catholic Church’s Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (SEIA). Jointly conducted under the oversight of SEIA and NAMB, participants include several SBC entity leaders, along with an equal number representing the RCC hierarchy. This year's RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue meeting is being held at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, hosted by Dr. Paige Patterson. Are Cooperative Program dollars paying for this? Who will be involved? What is the history of this "conversation"? These are all legitimate questions which may lie outside of the scope of the SBC Executive Committee’s "requested" reports.

"Those converted... having experienced the reawakening of the new birth originally bestowed in the sacrament of baptism...." says Charles Colson in ECT-I.

Another highly ecumenical effort is known as the Evangelicals and Catholics Together dialogue (ECT). Over the past eight years, individual SBC executives have been involved with this ecumenical effort, initially participating without the knowledge of their agency trustee boards. Reportedly, some Cooperative Program funds have gone into the formulation and promotion of ECT. Foundational to the ECT is tacit acceptance of the Roman Catholic sacramental system as a valid form of Christian discipleship, a heretical position. The Vatican’s chief of worldwide ecumenical efforts, Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, has had a strong influence in the work of "the ECT alliance." Roman Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus and Southern Baptist Charles Colson are the co-founders of ECT.

"...God works through... the sacraments...." says Charles Colson in How Now Shall We Live, a book actively promoted by LifeWay and NAMB.

Recently, on his nation-wide radio "Breakpoint" commentary, Charles Colson stated, "The ECT alliance... is the most important religious and social alliance in American life today." This might be excused as just one man’s opinion except that Mr. Colson also promotes the ECT heresy through his most recent book, "How Now Shall We Live," >AND< this book has been highly recommended by NAMB president Robert Reccord >AND< this book is now featured as the foundation of a new LifeWay Bible Study curriculum by the same name, >AND< this "Bible Study" was recently a featured promotion in NAMB’s "On Mission" magazine. Thus, indirectly but quite effectively, two SBC agencies are promoting the ecumenical work of Mr. Colson and his ECT alliance whether they intend to do so or not.

Even so, amazingly, SBC agencies' reports may not include an investigation of the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue and SBC leaders' past or present involvement with ECT. The original motion referred to the Executive Committee by the Convention referenced Bylaw 18, which calls for the Executive Committee to conduct such studies. Also, importantly, the original motion called for the investigation of individual SBC employees' ecumenical involvements at Cooperative Program expense, not just entity endorsed involvement. The way the Executive Committee's "request" reads, an entity can report that their agency is not involved, even though agency employees, as individual executives, may be involved in major ecumenical activities. Thus, the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue and the Evangelicals and Catholics Together alliance are two obvious examples of serious ecumenical involvements that could easily go unreported. There are others as well.

It would seem that hope for looking into the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue would lie with NAMB, since this activity has been managed for the SBC by that agency. NAMB President Robert Reccord has selected seven trustees and one executive to make up the NAMB study committee on possible ecumenical entanglements of the agency. This committee was then presented to NAMB’s Executive Committee for approval. The NAMB executive selected by Dr. Reccord to be on this committee is Dr. Phil Roberts, who is also the co-chairman of the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue.

According to SBC Bylaw 18, "The Executive Committee is to maintain open channels of communication between the Executive Committee and the trustees of the entities of the Convention, to study and make recommendations to the entities…." Thus, it would seem appropriate for agency executives to step back and trust the elected trustees as an entire board to select the individual members of their own agency’s internal investigation committee. Of course, trustee boards, like all men, are capable of making mistakes. For instance… In 1994, a majority of CLC trustees and half of HMB trustees voted to affirm two SBC executives in their endorsements of the heretical ECT! This was not only out of step with the historic stance of Southern Baptists, but the ECT is utterly contrary to Scripture.

Judging by the way SBC leaders have mishandled the ECT "fiasco" (to quote a former HMB trustee from Louisiana), it is doubtful that agency committees are going to be anxious to thoroughly investigate and report on involvement with the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue or the ECT alliance. Is NAMB willing to scrutinize these involvements? NAMB executives and leaders of other agencies, as well as notable, popular Southern Baptists have been involved, and some of these individuals are still involved in both of these ecumenical efforts.

So, what am I saying? Well, just that the "RCC/SBC conversation" is one of the most obvious efforts in the SBC related to the modern ecumenical movement. This involvement actually helped to pave the way for several SBC leaders’ endorsements of heretical ECT documents, creating an ecumenical turmoil that continues to build. I don’t say this to be mean-spirited or pridefully critical. I certainly have made my mistakes, too. But I say this because I have legitimate biblical concerns regarding modern ecumenical compromise of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In fact, the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue is an ecumenical entanglement that stretches back to the late 1960's under more liberal SBC leadership. The Convention did not establish this "conversation" but rather, it was initiated by the Roman Catholic Church in response to the ecumenical initiatives set forth by Vatican II, and was enjoined by several liberal SBC seminary professors and leaders. The conversation-dialogue was maintained under the administration of the HMB. Mention of it as an "ongoing" activity was simply tacked onto a resolution at the 1994 convention by an SBC leader who was and still is an ECT endorser as well as a RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue team member. Roman Catholic leaders quickly publicized this as an "official" endorsement by the SBC of this ecumenical effort. Actually, no motion voted upon by the Convention has ever given official status to this ecumenical involvement.

As recently pointed out by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, the Convention has no authority to speak for SBC churches with any "ecclesiastical authority." This is simply the historic position of Southern Baptists which stems from our biblical beliefs regarding the autonomy of the local church. Currently, the SBC is out of step with its own historic stance by maintaining involvement in the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue. This involvement obviously gives the false impression of an "official dialogue" between members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and SBC leaders. Indeed, for years SEIA official publications and media reports by the RCC dialogue team have clearly broadcast this false and misleading impression.

So, what can we expect? Personally, I hope I am wrong, but I think it is doubtful that we will hear of any thorough investigation in agency reports regarding these particular involvements. Eventually, if there is enough liability attached to the RCC/SBC conversation-dialogue, conservative leaders will simply disappear from the team and it will quietly go on in apparent insignificance. Perhaps CBF leaders will become interested in this lingering vestige of their former liberal leadership of the SBC. (I say, let them have it, PLEASE!)

And what of SBC leaders’ involvement in the ECT alliance? Conflict between Biblical Christianity and ecumenical compromise of doctrine will continue within the SBC until the course of ecumenical entanglement is dealt with openly, honestly, and decisively.

But on the other hand…

Maybe I'm sort-of jumping to conclusions here. Maybe a full disclosure is right around the corner. Maybe history won't repeat itself. Maybe we'll all live long enough to see this ecumenical trend headed off and reversed. Maybe, but the visible truth right now is that...

SBC leaders rightfully decry the liberal heresy of such men as Kirby Godsey, Barry Lynn, and Paul Simmons… but then these same SBC leaders continue to defend and shield from accountability such men as Charles Colson, Timothy George, Larry Lewis, and Richard Land who have compromised the very Gospel of Christ by their endorsement of ECT and other ecumenical involvements (regardless of what their intentions may be). A double standard is being applied here that does not benefit the Lord’s work through the SBC.

May God help us to wake up to Satan's ecumenical plot and join together without compromise in defending and contending for the Faith once for all delivered unto the saints! It is this one Faith, this one Gospel that can unify God's people and bring about the true fulfilling of the Great Commission. No ecclesial dialogue or alliance with those who promote another gospel should be misconstrued as obedience to the Word of God. In the end, ecumenical entanglements do not bring "Salt and Light" but rather decay and darkness, for such compromising associations are contrary God’s inerrant Word.

-- Jerry Moser

1. http://www.nccbuscc.org/seia/dialogues.htm Scroll down the page under "A. Official Dialogues" until you come to Southern Baptist Convention-Catholic Dialogue

2. "Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ." (ECT-I, Section I., paragraph three) "…we thank God for the discovery of one another as brothers and sisters in Christ… We promise one another that we will work to deepen, build upon, and expand this pattern of convergence and cooperation." (ECT-I, Section IV., paragraph four) "…there are different ways of being Christian… distinctive patterns of discipleship, it should be noted, are amply evident within the communion of the Catholic Church…." "Those converted – whether understood as having received the new birth for the first time or as having experienced the reawakening of the new birth originally bestowed in the sacrament of baptism…." (ECT-I, Section V., paragraphs four and ten)

3. "It was in recognition of this common worldview that in 1992 Father Richard Neuhaus and I organized Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT), a nonofficial group seeking common ground in our witness to the world and our defense of Christian truth. ECT’s joint statements have emphasized the great truths of the faith we hold in common…. standing side by side as the people of God, we must obey the two great commissions: first to win the lost and then to build a culture." How Now Shall We Live, by Charles Colson, 1999, Tyndale, pages 304-305.

4. "On May 8, 1967 in Winston-Salem conversations with Southern Baptists opened under the aegis of the Ecumenical Institute at Wake Forest University, later to be taken up by the Department of Interfaith Witness of the Southern Baptist Convention Home Mission Board." http://www.nccbuscc.org/seia/history.htm

5. Again, see http://www.nccbuscc.org/seia/history.htm. Also, see John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint. Vatican City, 1995. Encyclical On the Commitment to Ecumenism.

6. http://www.sbts.edu/news/archives/spring2000/sbcandecumenism.html

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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