ECUMENICITY

THERE WILL BE UNPRECEDENTED MERGERS OF VARIOUS RELIGIONS INTO A SUPER WORLD CHURCH AT THE TRIBULATION—STARTING WITH THE MERGER OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT CHURCHES.

1301 Alleged Necessity For Mergers

Protestant are now divided into over 200 denominations, and most of these denominations are further divided into many factions. For instance, there are some twenty kinds of Baptists.

Taking an extreme example, there were 172 missionaries in Palestine before 1948, and they represented as many churches and missionary societies. When a Jew was converted to Christianity, the missionaries engaged in a heated battle to proselyte for his allegiance, thus bringing reproach to the cause of Christ.

An Anglican bishop therefore said: “Divided Christendom is a source of weakness in the West: in non-Christian lands it is a sin and a stumblingblock. If the non-Christian world is to be won for Christ our message must be one. If our message is to be one, we must be one.” The Greek Orthodox primate, Archbishop Lakovos, said: “Those who oppose Christian Unity must ask themselves frankly whether they are Christians.”

1302 Roman Catholic Ecumenical Feelings

After Vatican I and Vatican II, tremendous changes were seen in the Roman Catholic Church towards “religious union” with Protestants especially. Mariolatry was soft-pedaled, the title “heretics” was changed to “separated brethren,” the mass was liberalized and the Bible even taught over the pulpit in some places.

Pope John XXIII said: “There burns in my heart the intention of working and suffering to hasten the hour when for all men the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper will have reached its fulfillment, ’That they may all be one! ’ “

Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Counsel in 1963 said: “If we are in any way to blame for that separation, we humbly beg God’s forgiveness and ask pardon too of our brethren who feel themselves to have been injured by us. For our part, we willingly forgive the injuries which the Catholic Church has suffered, and forget the grief endured during the long series of dissensions and separations.”

1303 Evangelical Warnings On Mergers

The originator of “The Lutheran Hour,” Dr. Walter A. Maier, declared: “Give us a united Protestant church; I ask you to pray for it. But let it be fully and honestly united in its acceptance of the faith once given, rooted in the Bible, and climaxed in Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the world.”

Dr. L. E. Maxwell wrote in The Prairie Overcomer: “Let’s face it. The fever of one universal church fills the air. The plague spreads. It sweeps Christendom and is appealing even to the Mohammedans. It often manifests itself in ominous outbursts of deep religious emotion … What will be the consummation of this religious fever? We can expect only a huge religious monopoly, a veritable juggernaut, to emerge from this obsession for a super church … ”

1304 World Council Of Churches

The World Council of Churches (WCC) was formally constituted on Aug. 23, 1948, at Amsterdam by an assembly representing 147 churches from 44 countries, mostly Protestant liberals. In 1973, member churches numbered 263 from 90 countries—from the Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Old Catholic Confessions.

The WCC now has a constituent membership of over 400 million members—almost one-half the total Protestant and Roman Catholic peoples of the world. The motto “ONE WORLD-ONE CHURCH” was adopted at its first Ecumenical Assembly held in Amsterdam in 1948.

At the Council’s Third General Assembly in New Delhi, India, in 1961, the Eastern churches—Russian, Rumanian, Bulgarian and Polish Orthodox churches—were accepted into full membership in the WCC. They claimed a membership of 70 million. WCC leaders were jubilant at this great Christian “advance.”

Later, the WCC General Secretary, Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, told newsmen in Rome that if the Roman Catholic Church wishes to become a member of the WCC, the Council will make the necessary changes in its structures. “If the Church reaches this decision,” Blake said, “we will do what is necessary to make its accession possible.”

1305 WCC’s History

Mr. J. Oswald Sanders, the General Director of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship gives this brief history of the Ecumenical Movement.

“In terms of inter-church relationships the Ecumenical Movement had its rise in the World Student Christian Federation (1895), and its development was accelerated by the inauguration of The Life and Work Movement of Stockholm (1925) and The Faith and Order Conference, Lausanne (1927). These movements resolved to unite at Utrecht (1938). The first Ecumenical Assembly was held in Amsterdam in 1948 with 352 delegates from 157 churches, and the World Council of Churches was formally constituted on August 23, 1948.

“In terms of inter-mission relationship, the Edinburgh Missionary Conference (1910), with 1,200 delegates representing 160 societies, marked the beginning of another stream of cooperative activity. This led to the formation of International Missionary Council. Further conferences were held in Jerusalem (1928), Tambaran (1938), Whitby (1954), Ghana (1958), and finally in New Delhi (1961).

“The strong emphasis on the evangelization of the world at Edinburgh (1910) was gradually diluted at each successive conference. The mood for external union has increasingly taken place in the Movement. The climax was achieved at New Delhi (1961) with the merging of the International Missionary Council into the World Council of Churches as its Division of World Mission and Evangelism. In this merger the WCC has assumed the dominant role.”

1306 First Time Ever

Meanwhile sixty-three of the world’s one billion Christians met April 21–27, 1968 in Beirut, Lebanon, for closed-door strategy on economic development. This was the first time Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholics had met officially for such discussion, and some enthusiasts said it was the biggest cooperative effort since the East-West Schism of 1054.

It also asked the Vatican and the World Council of Churches to set up the Beirut planning committee permanently as an “active agent of Christian education and action.”

The executive of the conference planning committee, Father George H. Dunne, is the first Roman Catholic to have headquarters at the WCC Geneva offices and the first person jointly appointed, paid, and directed by the Vatican and the WCC. Summing up Beirut, he said that for the first time the world’s three Christian groupings “are joining forces and pooling resources in a worldwide campaign to awaken mankind to a realization that an increasing chasm divides the rich from the poor, and to quicken the Christian conscience to a sense of responsibility and of moral obligation.”

—Christianity Today

1307 A General Church Membership

In l989, the director of Ecumenical Affairs for the National Council of Churches wrote that the Roman Catholic Church and the major Protestant Churches—as a start—should recognize the existence of a “general church memberships.” This would hasten the unification of all churches into one super body. He said:

“This means that, if you become a Christian, other Christians will acknowledge that you are fully a Christian … anyone who belongs to one church belongs to all! Thus if you should become a member of the Methodist Church, you would become simultaneously a full member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church.”

1308 “No Basis For Disagreement”

A Jesuit theologian declared in New York that “after 400 years Anglican and Roman Catholic scholars finally sat down together to study their churches’ ordained ministers and found they had no basis for disagreement on the doctrine of the ministry.” “It’s astonishing, we believe exactly the same thing,” said Father Herbert Ryan, S. J, professor of historical theology at Woodstock College and Union Theological Seminary.

—Pastor’s Mannual

1309 Papal Primacy Not A Barrier

A UPI report from Washington, D. C., in l974 said that a group of American Roman Catholic and Lutheran theologians have declared the issue of papal primacy may no longer be a major barrier to reconciliation of the churches. In a 5,000 word “common statement,” the group called on their respective church bodies to take specific action toward reconciliation. They also suggested that Lutherans could move toward a greater degree of acceptance of the primacy of the Pope. The role of the Pope has separated the two churches for nearly 500 years. The present-day clergymen agreed that the bishop of Rome can in the future function in ways which are better adapted to meet both the universal and regional needs of the church in the complex environment of modern times.”

1310 Role Of Clergy Settled

A United Press International report from London in December 1973, says that leading theologians of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches have agreed on the role of the clergy in their churches. In a 3,000 word statement, the theologians are said to have reached a “doctrinal consensus on the position and function of the clergy in each church.”

One of the main dividing points of the Reformation had been the nature of the Christian ministry. Roman Catholics had maintained that ordination of priests by the Anglicans were “absolutely null and void,” and that this was final and forever settled. The present-day theologians of the official Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission declared: “Even though there may be differences of emphasis within our two traditions, yet we believe that in what we have said here both Anglican and Roman Catholic will recognize their own faith.”

1311 “Engaged” to Be Married

Edward B. Fiske recalls in the New York Times that “when Pope Paul VI met Arthur Michael Ramsey, the archbishop of Canterbury, in Rome in December 1966, he gave his guest a papal ring and reportedly remarked: “This is not yet a ring of marriage, but it is a ring of engagement.” “

1312 “If You Have Not Been Baptized”

“If you have not already been baptized, then I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

These were the words used by the Rev. James Montgomery in administering the conditional baptism upon Luci Baines Johnson. It was a relatively simple ceremony lasting twenty minutes.

The following day, in the tiny chapel of St. Ann’s Infant Home in the Washington suburb, Hyattsville, Maryland, Luci received her first communion as a Roman Catholic.

—Christianity Today

1313 Ecumenical Rocket

A St. Christopher medal was attached to the second stage of the Vanguard rocket which successfully launched the Navy’s first satellite. Strangely enough the request to wire the medal to the base of a gyroscope package was made on the same form required for any change in the Vanguard’s design. The request was signed by F. Paul Lipinshki of the Martin Company, Catholic engineer, who suggested the medal, and by 11 others, among whom were Catholics, Protestants and Jews.

1314 Two Churches Under One Roof

In a unique ecumenical venture, two churches—one Protestant, the other Roman Catholic—will be built under the same roof. Site of the unprecedented structure will be Meyrin, a large suburb of Geneva, Switzerland. Cost of the project which is being advertised as “Two-Churches-Under-the-Same-Roof,” is expected to be around $1,242,000.

The Executive Council of Swiss National (Protestant) Church has expressed the belief and hope that this new trust will lead to similar projects around the world as a sign of mutual ecumenical cooperation.

—Pastor’s Manual

1315 No More “Protestant”

The Protestant Council of the City of New York has dropped the Word “Protestant” from its name to facilitate the inclusion of Roman Catholics in the membership. The Council hopes that eventually the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn will enter the Council as denominational members. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, president of the Council, said that the change “opened the way for a new ecumenical age throughout the entire city.”

1316 U.S. Ambassador At Vatican

In a last minute reversal, the U. S. State Department authorized the American ambassador to Italy, G. Frederick Reinhardt, to attend opening ceremonies of the Second Vatican Council.

Department spokesmen had announced earlier that a U. S. representative would not be present because the council is a “purely religious gathering” and not a ceremony in which the Pope is extended recognition as head of state of Vatican City.

In this case, Reinhardt reportedly informed the State Department that since several hundred American citizens are taking part in the council, he felt it would be appropriate for the U. S. ambassador to attend the opening.

The department reconsidered and told Reinhardt to be on hand.

—Christianity Today

1317 Bible Society’s Common Bibles

When the American Bible Society was founded just over 150 years ago, the prospect of Protestant-Catholic cooperation for the printing and distribution of Scripture was rejected—by the Roman Catholic Church. In the early years four successive popes denounced the Bible societies, and numerous problems arose to bar participation.

Now times are changing. As an outgrowth of Vatican II, which encouraged Bible reading in the vernacular by laymen, Catholics now seek participation in Bible society activities and increasingly probe the possibility of efforts toward common Bibles—in Dutch, French, Japanese, and other languages.

1318 “Marrying” For The Money

From Wales comes a new slant on the much-publicized danger of union without theology. A Welsh millionaire, Sir David James, offers a gift of $700,000 if the country’s four Free Church denominations (Baptist, Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian) effect a union.

1319 Major U.S. Church Merger

In the United States nine denominations are contemplating a major merger some time before 1980’s. This would involve about one- third of all American Protestant in a single church.

The nine denominations involved in drafting the plan are: The African Methodist Episcopal Church, The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, The Episcopal Church, The Presbyterian Church in the U. S., The United Church of Christ, The United Methodist Church, and The United Presbyterian Church in the U. S.”

This mammoth merger, if accomplished, will bring together about 25 million Protestants in church union.

—Prairie Overcomer

1320 The United Methodists

The United Methodist Church boasts a spread that is hard to beat. Virtually every community in America with a population of 2,000 or more has a Methodist congregation. Probably no other denomination has as much built-in opportunity to exert spiritual initiative at every level of national life. Methodists can be the “salt of the States” if they have the will. Ecumenical union would also be easier to achieve.

1321 Still Unentangled

For the present time, the Southern Baptist and the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) have not joined the National Council of Churches, and indicate that they do not intend to do so. Pressure is being applied on Southern Baptists to merge with the American Baptists, and when they do so, it is likely that the conservative element will leave the denomination.

1322 From Moscow: “Fellow Baptists”

When Evangelist Billy Graham turned 40 in 1958 the most surprising among hundreds of greetings was a telegram from the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians (Baptist) in Moscow:

“We heartily congratulate you on your 40th anniversary. Our hearts are full of gratitude to God for your birthday and for the years of your blessed ministry. We pray that God may give you the longest life and the richest blessings and success upon your furtherance of the Gospel.”

See also: Apostasy ; World Church ; Rev. 17:1, 5.