Seminar Notes 65 - History of Ecumenism
Satan's Master Plan - mystery of iniquity (2 Thes 2:7) vs 1 Tim 3:16
Satan's ambition - Isaiah 14:14
Satan's problem - God was Omnipotent - changes arena like any bully
Adam and Eve defeated - Satan thought he had won
Satan's problem - Genesis 4:3,4 - man was incurably religious
An alternate form of religion (as Jeroboam) - 1 Kings 11:26-29
Satan was finite so he could not make anything that was infinite
Satan's First Goal - to form an anti-God religion (paganism)
Polytheism - Finite Deity - Man becoming God (Genesis 3:5)
Genesis 11:1-4 - Man's disobedience was Satan's opportunity. (Brick instead of stone, slime for mortar) Brick speaks of Bondage (Exo 1:14); and idolatry Brick altars (Isa 65:3) Bitumen is waterproof, not fireproof. Temple Towers in the Near East show pagan idolatry.
Man (and his religion) was scattered at Tower of Babel
Similarities of paganism throughout the world - Isis/Astarte/Diana/ShingMo, etc.
Solidified through Rome's conquering the world - they brought the best pagan concepts to Rome
The most sophisticated paganism was found in Rome at the time of Christ
God was not idle - He was starting His Mystery of Godliness
Abraham called out of Ur - a city in the midst of paganism
Abraham/Isaac/Jacob - Israel in Egypt - lived in the land Goshen because shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. Kept from Egyptian idolatry
Coming out of Egypt - Warned about paganism in Deuteronomy 7:1-7
When Israel disobeyed God, they fell into idolatry (Ju 2:13, Jer 44:17, Eze 8:14)
Satan had defeated Israel - no earthly blessing - but Messianic Promise intact because it was not conditional
Early church in same geographic location
Paganism still alive and well - 1 Cor 10:21
Paul's prophecy - Acts 20:29,30; Peter's - 2 Peter 2:1
Heresies attack church; ruling bishops are elevated contrary to Mt 20:25,26
Satan could not defeat Christ as Head, but has no trouble with "My Lord Bishop"
Heresies started to creep in - baptismal regeneration, gnostic sacraments, purgatory
Invisible Church - all born again people
Visible Church - became more corrupt, fewer and fewer true Christians
Constantine's vision of Cross; he needed a "Christian" army, so he marched them through the river to baptize them
The Empire's had problems with internal strife, immorality
Diocletian sought solution by persecuting; Constantine in "embracing" Christianity.
Richard McBrien, Notre Dame: "The conversion of Constantine allowed the Church to be less defensive about pagan culture, to learn from it and be enriched by it.
Cardinal Newman admitted that Incense, lamps, votive offerings, holy water, vestments, images are all of pagan origin.
Constantine convened Council of Nicaea in 325 while he was still an unbaptized pagan
Theodosius (385 AD)made Visible Church the State Religion of the Roman Empire.
Already those who took a stand against the institutional church had been persecuted; now it became even worse
Satan's Second Phase was complete. He united Paganism with professing Christianity.
Now Satan's Third Phase begins: The Final Flock - bringing them all together.
Common author/theology/humanistic concept/destiny
Madame Blavatsky's statement - All world religions have a commion truth [or error?] that transcends potential differences
Foundation of uniting religions: Roman Catholicism, a political and religious power.
Development of Rome from 385 to 16th century. High water mark: Trent, where they consolidated all doctrines
Every present doctrine present at Trent; new Catechism has over 200 quotations
During this time Christians protested, left (and died).
2nd century - they rejected rule of Bishops
4th century - Vigilantius condemned prayer to saints, celibacy
8th century - Iconoclasts condemned veneration of images
9th century - Claude, Bishop of Turin - worship of the true cross
11th century - Berengarians opposed transubstantiation
12th century - Petrobrusians rejected baptismal regeneration
13th century - Albigenses believed in Justification by Faith
Of the Etruscans it was said: Unfortunate is the civilization that dies before writing its history; doubly unfortunate if its history is then written by its enemies
Historians can do what God cannot do - they can change history.
20th century - religious movements back to Rome.
Professor Toynbee: The Western world must produce a new religion, a universal cult, and it must be made up on Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.
Speaking over Radio Veritas, Manila, Pope John Paul II said that the Roman Catholic Church accepted the truth and goodness found in Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, Paying warm tribute to the many moral values enshrined in the three non-Christian religions, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church invited their adherents to common prayer that mutual understanding may grow and moral values be strengthened.
The late Dean Inge wrote of Buddhism and Christianity. "There is a cardinal affinity between the two religions. There are differences but the historical foundation of both is the same."
A 1/5/61 report from the AP quotes Abdel Rahmah Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, "A spiritual alliance of the Moslem and Christian world would group more than one-half of the men of the earth against a common enemy. The two religions are founded upon an exquisite high spirituality and are menaced by the same enemy, atheistic materialism."
Elton Trueblood wrote, "The chasm between a merely secular conception of the world and any conception in which (God) is recognized is so great and so crucial that those who believe in the latter are foolish to let any particular difference divide them. Moslems and Christians and Jews and many more need to know that they have the greatest things in common. The question of a particular banner is secondary."
The Vatican Council also made it clear that other Christians, Jews, non-Christians and even atheists are united to the church as the people of God in varying degrees. For example, "Those also can attain to everlasting salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church yet sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, strive by their deed s to do his will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience."
Ecumenical prayer meeting at Assisi. AP report: 10/26/86. The Dalai Lama, Christian patriarchs and snake-worshipers are among the religious leaders gathering in Assisi on Monday at the invitation of Pope John Paul II to fast and pray for an end to war.
A desire for peace is universal; common prayer recognizes validity of the prayer of others. (If there are not enough in the Baptisdt Church, should I go to Kingdom Hall to ask for prayer for CEC)
About 200 representatives of 12 religions - Christians, Moslems, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Zoroastrians, African animists, Sikhs, Shintoists, Jaims, Bahais and an American Indian (Johnny Pretty-on-Top) plan to join the pope in 9 hours of fasting and prayer at Assisi.
Karl Adam, The Spirit of Catholicism, 1928: "A religious historian of the fifth millennium A.D. will without difficulty discover in Catholicism conceptions and practices which will derive from India, China and Japan.
Archbishop of Canterbury Carey: Make the Church of England more biblical by having more women priests, and closer union with Rome
His latest statement "While the vision of one, great Church may be unachievable, a different type of unity is possible among the world's Christians. I abandoned a long time ago a theology of unity that assumes it means uniformity and sameness"
Pointing out that New Testament scholars now consider diversity to be key to studying the origins of the faith, Carey talked about what he termed an "ecology of unity, as the word ecology refers to a variety of living organisms living together and contributing to one another's welfare."
All great religious traditions accept expressions of diversity. Ecological unity, the archbishop said, "may encourage us to move in stages toward whatever final form of unity God may have in store for us."
(ECT - see #35)
Evangelism or Ecumenism
Historic Ecumenism (Satan's False Religions) demands Evangelism which thwarts Satan's plans
Satan muddies the water - ECT/Colson/Dobson/VanImpe/ECTII/EC
Modern Ecumenism Discourages Evangelism
Evangelistic Thrust or Ecumenical Disobedience?
Chester Tulga, The Case Against Modernism, 1950: A world religion is on the way, which will be religious rather than Christian; it will be human rather than divine; it will be natural rather than supernatural. Its God will be its servant and not its sovereign- its Christ will be its leader not its king; its political economy will be a democracy not a theocracy; its saints will be its socialists not its seers- its goal will be a human utopia not the kingdom of the Coming King. The coming world religion is envisioned by liberals as the harbinger of the 'Kingdom,' but by biblical writers as the forerunner of the antichrist. "