Keith Green wrote:
There has never been such widespread acceptance of Catholicism among Protestants and evangelicals as there is today. I don't mean that there are large numbers of main line evangelicals becoming Catholics. But today, for the first time in church history, an increasing majority of Protestants are regarding the Roman Catholic Church as simply another valid Christian denomination. Meanwhile, gleeful shouts of "unity" are being heralded worldwide in ecumenical gatherings, festivals and conventions. [225]
Please note that Green died in 1982, so this was written before that. Despite this quotation being over 20-years-old, it is even truer today than when Green noted it.
Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium (ECT) is a 26-page, double-spaced document released in 1994. It was written by well-known Evangelical and Catholic scholars, and claims Catholics and Evangelicals are "brothers and sisters in Christ."
Evangelical supporters included: Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson, J. I. Packer, and Bill Bright. Catholic supporters included: Richard John Neuhaus, and Peter Kreeft.
Critics included: John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, D. James Kennedy, John Ankerberg, and James White.
ECT said:
All authentic witness must be aimed at conversion to God in Christ by the power of the Spirit. 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 - must be given full freedom and respect as they discern and decide the community in which they will live their new life in Christ. [226]
Please note what this paragraph is claiming. It makes a distinction between two types of "converted" people:
As we have seen, the Bible does not recognize the second group of people. It is unbiblical to believe that one can receive the "new birth" in the sacrament of baptism. This is the heresy of baptismal regeneration, dealt with in this essay.
ECT continues:
Three observations are in order in connection with proselytizing. First, as much as we might believe one community is more fully in accord with the Gospel than another, we as Evangelicals and Catholics affirm that opportunity and means for growth in Christian discipleship are available in our several communities. Second, the decision of the committed Christian with respect to his communal allegiance and participation must be assiduously respected. Third, in view of the large number of non-Christians in t he world and the enormous challenge of our common evangelistic task, it is neither theologically legitimate nor a prudent use of resources for one Christian community to proselytize among active adherents of another Christian community. [227]
ECT is saying that it is an inappropriate use of resources for Evangelicals to share the gospel with Roman Catholics, since "opportunity and means for growth in Christian discipleship" is available in the Roman Catholic Church. "Opportunity and means for growth in Christian discipleship" is available through the Roman Catholic Church? How? By visiting and praying to pieces of bread? By praying to and worshipping dead saints? By paying for indulgences to lessen your stay in Purgatory?
ECT continues:
It is understandable that Christians who bear witness to the Gospel try to persuade others that their communities and traditions are more fully in accord with the Gospel. There is a necessary distinction between evangelizing and what is today commonly called proselytizing or "sheep stealing." We condemn the practice of recruiting people from another community for purposes of denominational or institutional aggrandizement. At the same time, our commitment to full religious freedom compels us to defend the legal freedom to proselytize even as we call upon Christians to refrain from such activity. [228]
ECT says that sharing the gospel with Roman Catholics is engaging in "sheep stealing." How tragic! How unloving to see one billion+ Roman Catholics who do not know the light of the gospel of grace, and turn away from them under the delusion that they're growing in Christ in their own way.
The following is from the website for InterVarsity Press:
As an extension of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, InterVarsity Press serves those in the university, the church and the world by publishing resources that equip and encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of Life. [229]
Despite claiming to publish resources that "encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of Life," IVP publishes a booklet called One Catholic to Another by Peter Kreeft. This booklet is commonly disseminated by InterVarsity staff members on university campuses. The booklet is a fictional conversation between two Catholics.
Dusty: Why do you go [to Mass], Sonny?
Sonny: Jesus is there.
Dusty: How is he there?
Sonny: He's really present in the Eucharist and he's really present in his people. They're both called the body of Christ, you know. [230]
Here we see the heretical doctrine of transubstantiation, which we covered in detail. This heresy, which leads to the worshipping of bread and wine, is clearly promulgated by a booklet published by a so-called Christian publishing house. Shame on IVP.
Shortly after the death of Pope John Paul II, John MacArthur rightly said:
The doctrinal ignorance of the Evangelical church is shocking, matched only by its cowardice, I fear. And that has certainly been revealed to everybody in the recent response to the death of the Pope and the installation of his successor. [231]
In regard to the death of Pope John Paul II, self-proclaimed Evangelical George W. Bush said:
The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd, the world has lost a champion of human freedom, and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home. [232]
Evangelist Franklin Graham said of Pope John Paul II:
We did agree on the fundamentals that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God who came to this earth to die for our sins and when he died on that cross and shed his blood he took the sins of the world with him on the cross; and if we confess our sins and repent and by faith receive Christ into our hearts God will forgive us and cleanse us. These are fundamentals of the faith we agreed on and support and we appreciate this man and the stand he has taken on so many of these moral issues. [233]
When a Mormon prophet dies, should we say:
Of course not! Neither should we say that of a Roman Catholic Pope.
In regard to the death of John Paul II, John MacArthur said:
We should grieve for that man, because he gained the whole world but lost his soul. The most loved and admired man by Catholics in the world, blinded by the prince of this world, never saw the light of the true gospel. [234]
Next: The Foundation of Christian Unity
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