In Part I we traced the beginnings of the ecumenical movement between the various branches of Christianity and within those churches embroiled in the liberal-fundamentalist controversies of the early 20th century. In Part II we examined the conflicts and controversies in the 1950s and 1960s surrounding ecumenicalism’s push into evangelicalism in an effort to achieve reconciliation and unity among evangelical, non-evangelical, and liberal churches in America and England. As was stated in the conclusion of Part II, the 1950s and 1960s were a major turning point for evangelical churches as they embraced ecumenicalism which determined their course for decades to follow.
The evangelical church’s pursuit of ecumenicalism over the last half century has blurred the once sharp line that distinguished the Christian from the non-Christian. When that line was sharp and clear, the church the church was holy, powerful, and effective in its mission of impacting culture and winning the lost to Christ. When the line between what is Christian and non-Christian became blurred, the meaning of Christianity and evangelicalism also became blurred. Iain Murray described what form this blurring took.
“…liberalism was ‘Christianity’ harmonized with the moral aspirations of all men. It was truth modified to give offence to none…it assumed the goodness of human nature and portrayed Christianity in terms of doing rather than of believing. In so far as it spoke of hope after death, it was with a promise of universal comfort—heaven not as the exclusive home of the redeemed but as the ultimate destination for all who pass through this world. It denied (along with the false prophets) that “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it.”[1] [Matthew 7:13, 15] [emphasis added]
Remember the words of Michael Ramsey in Part II when he spoke to the evangelicals in England who wanted acceptance within the larger body. He warned them that they must accept those confessing Jesus Christ as “God and Saviour” as Christians in good standing. Therefore, evangelicals had to “turn their back on their old exclusiveness.” That is what has happened in America. A large part of Evangelicalism has turned its back on its old exclusiveness.
Following the 1950s and 1960s, the ecumenical movement was effectively advanced by incorporation into the church’s message the themes of the humanistic spirit of the world: relativism, tolerance, and inclusion. This compromise and accommodation led to ignoring, changing, abandoning, or adding doctrines, beliefs, and activities in ways that conflicted with two hundred and fifty years of evangelical thought, belief, and practice that mirrored first-century New Testament Christianity.
The great fault of fundamentalism’s past was its periodic failure to consider the weak and inconsistent Christian. This occurred because they left the straight and narrow path resting on a fervent adherence to the uncompromised truth found in the Bible and fell into the ditch of legalism. But in the modern age which has encompassed the church for most of a century, the great danger has been compromise and accommodation rather than legalism. Ecumenicalism’s compromise and accommodation has brought multitudes into the church membership and leadership who have not repented of their sin and bowed in submission to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Iain Murray called it a “popularized definition of Christian with no biblical authority at all.”[2]
But Satan is not content with a just a popularized definition of Christian and a Christianity that only demands a hollow confession of Jesus Christ as “God and Saviour” devoid of the meat of doctrine. The outworking of Satan’s Trojan Horse of ecumenicalism requires that the church recognize the priority of unity without limit. The acceptance of this further apostasy within the church has become the norm rather than the exception, and this limitless ecumenicalism is promoted at the highest levels of leadership in the both evangelical and non-evangelical churches. If one doubts this last statement, five examples will confirm the truth that ecumenicalism now reaches far beyond the borders of the church however one may define Christianity.
• On July 4, 2009, Rick Warren spoke to a crowd of 8000 Muslims at the nation’s capital during the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America. His message was that Muslims and Christians can work together for the common good without compromising their respective convictions.[3]
• Reverend Canon Gina Campbell, pastor of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., permitted the Episcopal Church to host a Muslim prayer service at the Cathedral on November 14, 2014.[4]
• On August 11-12, 2016, Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church broadcast his annual Global Leadership Summit by live telecast to over three hundred thousand participants worldwide. He recruited Melinda Gates as one of the main speakers for the event.[5] Gates is co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has contributed tens of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood of America and other organizations around the world that have aborted millions of babies.[6]
• In 2007, Leith Anderson signed the infamous Yale Covenant. Anderson was President of the National Association of Evangelicals which represented more than 45,000 local churches from nearly forty denominations with a constituency of millions.[7] The Yale Covenant was the signors’ agreement in response Muslim religious leaders’ call for unity and understanding between Christianity and Islam that would serve as a basis for dialogue and reconciliation. The Yale Covenant was signed by over three hundred prominent Christian ministers, professors, and leaders from various organizations including Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Robert Schuller, David Yonggi Cho, and NAE’s Anderson.[8]
• In May 2013, Pope Francis stated that all people who do good works, including atheists, are going to heaven. The pope stated that the Lord has redeemed all of us with the Blood of Christ. Not just Catholics but everyone including atheists. The Pope said that all have a duty to do good, and if we “…do good, we will meet one another there.”[9] Pope Francis is preaching universalism which is a hyper-ecumenicalism in which all roads lead to God whether it is humanism’s Nature, a host of pantheistic Gods, Allah of the Koran, or the Christian God of the Bible.
In 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a, the Apostle Paul cautions that Christians should not be mismatched with unbelievers.
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? [2 Corinthians 6:14-16a. NIV]
In his commentary, Donald Stamps explained Paul’s use of being unequally yoked as a word picture for describing human relationships. In God’s accounting, there are only two types of people—Christians and non-Christian.
…those that know Christ must not be in voluntary close partnership or association with unbelievers because such relationships can compromise and corrupt their relationship with Christ. Paul was likely attempting to discourage the Corinthians from cooperating with the false teachers who had infiltrated the church and gained influence with their persuasive words. But this principle certainly applies to dating, marriage, business partnerships, secret orders (lodges) and close friendships. A Christian’s relationships with unbelievers should center on what is necessary and appropriate for the social and economic purpose of daily life and to show people the way to spiritual salvation, and a personal relationship with Christ. But a Christian’s closest relationships should be with other followers of Christ with whom they can relate on a spiritual level.[10]
Given the plain words of Paul to the Corinthians, should the rise of ecumenicalism and the subsequent decay of evangelicalism in Western civilization come as a surprise to Christians? It should not for the Apostle Paul also told us that this must come. In his letter to Timothy he wrote of the coming apostasy in the last days in which men and women who once knew Christ would reject or abandon their faith. Paul described these Christians-in-name-only of the last days as “holding the form of religion but denying the power of it…” [2 Timothy 3:5. RSV]
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Without a doubt there is occurring a rapid cultural decline in America caused by the abandonment of the biblical foundations upon which the nation was built, the ascendance of humanistic and secularized influence over the institutions of American life, and the general decline of morality within Western cultures. At the same time the church has entered the time of the Great Apostasy which is engulfing many of the once faithful.
The inevitability of the trials facing the true church and the culture within which it resides does not release the church from Christ’s mandate to speak the truth in spite of cultural opposition and to share the gospel until the end of the age when He shall return. Those that remain true to the faith should not be shaken in mind, distraught, or troubled in heart. The consolation for the suffering of the faithful is found in the words of James.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. [James 1:2-4. RSV]
Larry G. Johnson
Sources:
[1] Iain H. Murray, Evangelicalism Divided – A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950-2000, (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), p. 295.
[2] Ibid., p. 297.
[3] Michelle A. Vu, “Rick Warren to Muslims: Talk is Cheap, Let’s Work Together,” The Christian Post, July 5, 2009. http://www.christianpost.com/news/rick-warren-to-muslims-talk-is-cheap-let-s-work-together-39543/ (accessed December 5, 2014).
[4] John Blosser, “Franklin Graham slams Muslim service at National Cathedral,” Newsmax, November 17, 2014. http://www.newsmax.com/US/Franklin-Graham-Billy-Graham-Muslims-Washington-National-Cathedral/2014/11/17/id/607906/ (accessed December 25, 2014).
[5] “Faculty,” The Global Leadership Summit, https://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/#about (accessed September 16, 2016).
[6] Susan Berry, “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations says it will no longer fund abortion,” Brietbart, June 12, 2014. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/06/12/bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation-says-it-will-no-longer-fund-abortion/ (accessed September 16, 2016).
[7] “About NAE,” National Association of Evangelicals, http://nae.net/about-nae/ (accessed May 2, 2016).
[8]“‘A Common Word’ Christian Response,” Yale Center for Faith and Culture,
http://faith.yale.edu/common-word/common-word-christian-response (accessed April 27, 2016).
[9] “Pope at Mass: Culture of encounter is the foundation of peace,” Vatican Radio, May 22, 2013. http://en.radiovaticana.va/storico/2013/05/22/pope_at_mass_culture_of_ encounter_is_the_foundation_of_peace/en1-694445 (accessed September 14, 2016).
[10]Donald Stamps, Commentary, Fire Bible: Global Study Edition, New International Version, Gen. Ed. Donald Stamps, (Published by Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, Peabody, Massachusetts; Copyright 2009 by Life Publishers International, Springfield, Missouri), p. 2207.
