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"Take
Heed" Ministries
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Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEB-SITE - http://www.takeheed.net |
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‘Kingdom
Come’ – Should you go?
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Following
the costly ecumenical venture ‘Power to Change: Launched September 2002’ [Can
anyone let me know if the Southern Irish PTC Committee ever announced publicly
what happened to the approximately 750,000 Euros that had been earmarked for
adverts on RTE Television but which was never spent on these as RTE decided at
the last moment not to run the adverts? Also, if you wish to refresh your
memory on ‘Power to Change’ you can do
so by following these links http://www.takeheed.net/POWER%20TO%20CHANGE%20ECUMENISM.htm
: http://www.takeheed.net/ptc.htm
: http://www.takeheed.net/lcc.htm] and the emotionally charged
‘Passion Movie and Café’ launched in the early months of 2004 [That
was the ‘evangelical’ café-outreach whose organisers sought clandestinely to
have Roman Catholic involvement. Again you can refresh your memory by following
this link http://www.takeheed.net/CARE%20EA%20AGENDAS.htm
] it was inevitable that, given time, yet another major
‘initiative’ purporting to be ‘evangelical’ would be ‘marketed’ by many of the
leading figures involved in these previous and for many, mostly now forgotten
items of history.
The
September 2005 issue of the ‘Christian Irishman’ [An
official publication of the Board of Mission of the Presbyterian Church in
30th
January
Ulster
Hall and Europa Hotel –
According
to the KINGDOM COME website this event ‘is a joint initiative of
Evangelical Alliance and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, steered by
senior church officials from a range of denominations…seeking to bring leaders
together to inspire and encourage in our mission task…The programme is geared
to help us engage in mission…We think this is perhaps the first time an attempt
has been made to bring together over 600 leaders, clergy and laity, from across
Ireland, under a mission banner and steered by such a group’.
In the
article in the ‘Christian Irishman’, the author, Stephen
Cave [General Secretary of NI Evangelical Alliance] predicted
that those who attend ‘will be experiencing a very concrete demonstration
of evangelical unity’ and he asked for prayer ‘that through this
effort God may start to do a new thing across Ireland, as his people
acknowledge their unity in Christ and move from there to reach Ireland for
Jesus’.
As always
I would truly welcome every faithful endeavour to reach the lost [in
With
Mormonism: The following is part of an article that was
published in the Casper Star & Tribune [Wyoming] on Friday 19
November 2004 ‘An
evangelical preacher, philosopher and author has graced the pulpit at the
Tabernacle on Temple Square in what a fellow speaker called an "historic
occasion." When
With
Roman Catholicism:
Just how ‘evangelical’ is Ravi Zacharias?
After visiting his website I discovered the following - One of the 'Ministry
Team' listed on the web site is Dale
Fincher who is described as 'a professional actor and
apologist' - that in itself seems rather 'odd'. However he has performed in the
'Muggeridge Centenary'
at
The ‘Billy Graham’ factor: In
Anne Graham Lotz:
Speaker:
With
Roman Catholicism: The
following is an extract from Anne Graham Lotz’s own website as she
reports on her attendance at the funeral of Pope John Paul II –
‘As my Father’s official representative to Pope John Paul II’s
funeral, I was seated on the third row. From that honoured position,
I looked out on a vast sea of people jammed into St. Peter’s Square…
Surrounding me were leaders of almost every major Christian religious group,
including my own brother-in-law, Dr. Denton Lotz, the General Secretary for the
Baptist World Alliance, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Patriarch
of the Orthodox Church, the General Secretary of the Methodist Church, Egyptian
Coptic priests… To my left were row upon row of Catholic bishops, dressed in
their raspberry coloured robes and caps. Beyond them and seated on the
steps of the Basilica were the 115 Cardinals who would be responsible for
electing the next pope…
The most impressive aspect of the entire,
almost surreal scene was the quiet, peaceful atmosphere of unmistakable,
respectful reverence. How could so many people be so still? How could
so many warring factions and sects come together in such harmony? …surely God
had a message He wanted to convey. What was it? And then I knew… Just
as the death of one man, Pope John Paul II, brought together people from
virtually every nation and religion in a momentary atmosphere of peace and
harmony, so the death of one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, can bring the world
together in permanent peace--peace with each other and peace with God… I stared at the crucifix on that chilly, windswept
platform and wondered--was God once again offering “peace on earth, good
will to all men?” Was He calling the people of the world to put
their focus, and their faith, in the Man on the Cross--Jesus? I believe He
was… Sitting that day on a wooden chair in front of St. Peter’s
Basilica, as I experienced firsthand a moment of enormous historical and
eternal significance, I bowed my head and thanked God over and over for the
opportunity to just give them Jesus’.
I have no reason to doubt the
sincerity of the sentiments expressed by Anne Graham Lotz when she ‘thanked
God over and over for the opportunity to give them Jesus’. However, the
cause and Gospel of the true Lord Jesus Christ can never be assisted by someone
who, in disobedience to the teaching of the Scriptures, attended the funeral of
Antichrist and then described their seating as an ‘honoured
position’. To believe that in the midst of that staged event, that ‘the
Man on the Cross – Jesus’ would be the focus of attention rather than
the deceased Pope and his own personal hope for his salvation, namely Mary, is
to be naive in the extreme. No true evangelical would have been a party to this
Christ dishonouring spectacle.
Interviewed on 8 April 2005 by CNN
Mrs Lotz commented further about being at the funeral in these terms ‘I
think the Pope is someone who – he believed in Jesus. He believed in the
scriptures. He took his message of hope and peace in – through faith and Jesus
Christ outside the Vatican walls…even though, you know, as Protestants we might
disagree with some of his theology, all of us would have to respect him as a
person, as a leader. And what he did to bridge the gap between Protestants
and Catholics and Jews and Catholics and other elements of society and the
world, I think was a wonderful thing and
I just applaud it. I think that they – WE buried a great leader… I think
the Pope was someone who found God’s calling in his life and he fulfilled what
he believed was God’s purpose for him… And this Pope is someone who believed in
heaven and he believed that when he died he was going there. The
wonderful thing, in Rome I’ve heard people say the Holy Father IS in heaven
and everybody is so confident that the pope IS in heaven. And I think
it’s because he was such a good man’.
If John Paul II believed that when he
died he would go straight to heaven [as Mrs Lotz has inferred]
then according to Roman Catholic teaching he would have been guilty of the ‘mortal’
sin of presumption and would in fact then have gone to hell. Local
Jesuit priest, Paul Symonds [currently based in
Ballymena] had an interview with himself published in the Belfast Telegraph of
1st October 1994. One of the questions he was asked was ‘In
your opinion can a person be sure they will get to heaven?’ This was
his answer ‘NO, there’s always the possibility of backsliding [Ezekiel
18:24]. Heaven is a gift and it would be a sin of arrogance to presume that
the gift will be ours regardless of the way we have behaved in this world’.
John Paul II believed in suffering
and purification after death for those who would EVENTUALLY get to heaven as he
demonstrated in this section of his message given on 2nd June 1998 ‘During
the Eucharist, through the general intercessions and the Memento for the dead,
the assembled community presents to the Father of all mercies those who have
died, so that through the trial of purgatory they will be purified, if
necessary, and attain eternal joy… The Church believes that the souls
detained in purgatory “are helped by the prayers of the faithful and most of
all by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar” [Council of Trent: Decree on
Purgatory] as well as by “alms and other works of piety” [Eugene IV, Bull:
Laetantur Coeli]… I therefore encourage Catholics to pray fervently for
the dead, for their family members and for all our brothers and sisters who
have died, that they may obtain the remission of punishments due to their
sins and may hear the Lord’s call “Come O my dear soul to eternal repose in
the arms of my goodness… I entrust the faithful who will pray for the death to
the intercession of Our Lady, of St Odilo and of St Joseph, patron of a happy
death’ – this then was the Pope’s ‘message of hope and peace’.
It is interesting to read a section
of the ‘Statement of Faith’ on Mrs Lotz’s website
‘We
believe Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and the third day He bodily
arose from the dead guaranteeing the bodily resurrection of all those who have
received eternal life through faith in Him’.
By referring to ‘eternal life
through faith in him’ and not to ‘eternal life through faith ALONE
in him’ Mrs Lotz has ensured that she will be able to move
unhindered, like her father, in the false ecumenical circles that he so
willingly helped build up and that he so readily moved in and continues to move
in.
Joel
Edwards: Speaker:
On the Christian
Witness Ministries Apologetics website [http://www.christian-witness.org/archives/cetf2005/evangpope33.html]
various quotes about the late pope, John Paul II, by leading ‘Christians’ are
posted and amongst them is this -
Joel Edwards: Director of Evangelical Alliance: “John Paul II was one of the most remarkable Christian
leaders of recent times ... a Christian pastor ... [with a] commitment
to evangelisation and the global church ... [and to] credal
Christianity...”
[The full
statement can be seen on
www.eauk.org/contentmanager/Content/press/2005/04/pope.cfm]
The
following report appeared in 2001 on the website of Evangelical Alliance just
above a photograph of Joel Edwards, Iain Duncan Smith and 2
children. The report read as follows – ‘Conservative Party leader, the Rt
Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, outlined the importance of his Catholic faith
and praised the work being spearheaded by church groups when he addressed
around 2000 Evangelical Alliance Assembly delegates… He revealed that “the
enduring truths of Christianity” inspired him to look beyond himself to the
needs of the wider world and was a pivotal influence in his decision to go into
politics after careers in both business and the Army’.
This
obvious acceptance by Evangelical Alliance of Roman
Catholicism as being ‘Christian’ was well expressed in a letter
written by Carys Moseley of Magdalen College, Oxford that was published in The
Times on 17th June 2002 – part of it read ‘Today it is
increasingly the Evangelical Alliance that speaks for Protestants in Britain
who are practising Christians. It represents the members of all denominations
who actually take the basics of the Christian faith seriously and believe in
the full supernatural revelation of God as witnessed to in the Bible. Like all
non-conformist bodies, the Evangelical Alliance is a loose network of churches,
charities and organisations based upon a shared confession of faith. They are
willing to accept differences in church government and also accept other
bodies, such as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, as Christian’.
Although
perhaps not so obviously linked to ‘Ecumenical compromise’’, although I
view it as being so, it is interesting to note that in the wake of Steve
Chalke’s rejection of ‘penal substitution’ in his book ‘The
Lost Message of Jesus’ there has been much debate on the matter
including a public debate hosted by Evangelical Alliance in the
Emmanuel Christian Centre, Westminster on 7th October 2004.
According to one report of this meeting Joel Edwards delivered
the opening welcome and prayer. Joel Edwards would
have listened as Steve Chalke described what is at the very heart
of the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely ‘penal
substitution’, as ‘arrogant’, as ‘repressive’,
as ‘distorted’, as ‘encouraging rudeness’, as ‘ethically
weak’, as ‘simplistic’ and as ‘perpetuating the
myth that violence can be redemptive’.
In
response to the compiler of the report of the debate who afterwards commended Steve
Chalke ‘for his courage in
coming forward to be argued with’ but who also warned him that he had ‘departed
from the gospel’ Steve Chalke replied ‘How many people have you
converted over the last two months?’.
Joel
Edwards reportedly stated ‘Clauses 3&4 of the
Evangelical Alliance Basis of Faith fully and strongly imply “penal
substitution” and that would certainly be the understanding of very many people
within the Evangelical Alliance. Now whether or not it excludes those who
don’t, is a very important question and an exercise for us to enter into
together’. The ‘Clause 4’ referred to states
‘We
believe in…The substitutionary sacrifice of the Incarnate Son of God as the
sole, all sufficient ground of redemption from the guilt and power of sin, and
from its eternal consequences’.
Maybe I’m
being too ‘simplistic’ but that seems to me to more than ‘imply
penal substitution’ but to categorically affirm ‘penal
substitution’ and if that is the case it would leave no room to
accommodate the ‘penal substitution rejecting’ views of Steve
Chalke. For Joel Edwards to state that the position of
those who reject ‘penal substitution’ is not a clear case for ‘exclusion’
is quite frankly nonsense. Those who reject ‘penal substitution’ are
preaching “another gospel” and are ‘excluded’ by God to
the point of “anathema” [Galatians 1:6-9]. The “fear” of
deception outlined by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 seems very relevant
in this whole debate.
The
‘gospel-shattering’ truth is that if there was no ‘penal substitution’ as
Christ died on the Cross then God has no grounds on which to [1] impute
His righteousness to regenerate, repentant believers [Romans 3:21-22] and
[2] to remain “just” and at the same time forensically “justify”
regenerate, repentant believers [Romans 3:26]. Such a ‘shredding’ of
the true gospel plays right into the hands of those who promote the false
‘gospel’ of Roman Catholicism and will serve to energise false ecumenism.
In the
time-gap between the publication of Steve Chalke’s book and the
holding of the public debate Joel Edwards had the following
letter published in the British Church Newspaper of 1st
October 2004 – ‘I would like to commend Steve Chalke and his social
action group Faithworks for their Trust campaign. Having launched our
initiative focusing on trust earlier this year we fully endorse the work his
organisation is doing in promoting trust in the run up to the General
election…The vision of Evangelical Alliance is to promote trust in business,
public life and the Church and encourage Christians to take up this issue where
they live’. Well then, who needs to worry about theological issues such
as “penal substitution” if ‘trust in business, public life
etc’ is your ‘vision’. And if the ‘very important
question’ of “penal substitution” is ‘an exercise’
that Joel Edwards and Steve Chalke do ‘enter
into together’ then perhaps the wording of what will be ‘Clause
6’ in the new September 2005 Basis of Faith of
Evangelical Alliance may allow them to more easily accommodate
differing understandings of the atonement that may or may not include “penal
substitution” because ‘Clause 6’ will, according to the Evangelical
Alliance website read –
‘We
believe in…The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place,
paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God’.
Out of
this re-numbered and re-worded clause has gone any mention of ‘redemption’
or the ‘eternal consequences’ of ‘sin’. I
leave it to you, the reader, to decide whether or not this new wording will
have strengthened or weakened the case of those who believe in “penal
substitution”. If Evangelical Alliance fail to expel Steve
Chalke and they allow him and his group to continue in membership it
will make a mockery of the truth of Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except
they be agreed?”
Ken
Clarke: Speaker & Steering
Committee:
Right from
its earliest days Ken Clarke was associated with the
inappropriately named ‘Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland ‘ or
E.C.O.N.I. as it was probably best known. He was listed amongst
the ‘endorsers’ on their 1980’s publication ‘For God and
His Glory Alone’.
In printed
materials I have from 1994 and 2002 he is listed as a member of their ‘Steering
Group’. I used the term ‘inappropriately
named’ as this group openly debased the term ‘evangelical’. Just
2 brief and abbreviated examples from a little booklet I published about this
group.
Ken
Clarke’s involvement with E.C.O.N.I. was clearly
spelt out in an invitation letter to attend an ‘Evangelical/Roman
Catholic Autumn Theological Conference’ held in Fitzroy Presbyterian
Church on 24 September 1992. The letter [jointly
signed by Presbyterian Ministers, Ken Newell, David Burke, Norman Hamilton and
Godfrey Brown] stated ‘At this conference we explore the
spiritual journey behind the beliefs of ‘Father’ Padraig McCarthy, a signatory
to the enclosed document “What is an Evangelical Catholic?” and Rev Ken Clarke
who plays a leading role in the work of “The Evangelical Contribution on
Northern Ireland”’.
On 30 July
1998 a 16-page booklet entitled ‘Evangelicals & Catholics Together in
Ireland’ was launched in Fitzroy Presbyterian Church hall. The ‘guest
speakers’ at the launch were ‘Father’ Pat Collins’ and Dr
J I Packer whose sad compromise with false ecumenism over recent
decades is well-documented and probably reached its peak when he endorsed [and
subsequently publicly defended his endorsement] the 1994 document
‘Evangelicals & Catholics Together; The Christian Mission for the
Third Millennium’. Listed near the end of the Irish booklet were
details of ‘Group Participants’: In amongst the list of names of
Roman Catholics and ‘evangelicals’ was the name of Ken Clarke.
At the
start of this article I mentioned the 2002 ecumenical venture called ‘Power
to Change’ and I gave several Internet links to articles I wrote at
that time. From the first of those links the following is a section detailing
an event linked to ‘Power to Change’ and that involved
participation by Ken Clarke –
|
Bishop Martin Drennan & Bishop Ken Clarke |
Speakers: Bishop
Martin Drennan, Catholic Auxiliary Bishop. |
Co. Dublin |
Ken
Clarke’s own personal endorsement of ‘Power to Change’ was
quoted on one of their ‘Prayer Alert’ leaflets and read ‘I
warmly commend “Power to Change” in Ireland. I believe it to be an initiative
of inspiration and hope at a time when our world needs, more than ever, power
to change and be changed’. Also quoted on this ‘Prayer Alert’ leaflet
was Ken Clarke’s E.C.O.N.I. colleague, Methodist minister, Ken
Wilson, who said ‘I fully endorse this as a modern up to date
method of connecting with people in our communities with the Good News about
Jesus’.
Trevor
Morrow: Speaker:
Like Ken
Clarke, Trevor Morrow’s personal endorsement of ‘Power to Change’
was also quoted on the same ‘Prayer Alert’ leaflet and it
read ‘21st century Ireland is entering a period of moral and
spiritual darkness. “Power to Change” provides an opportunity to light beacons
of hope all across the nation’. I would surmise that the flood of false
ecumenism that I documented and that engulfed ‘Power to Change’ stymied
‘at birth’ any hopes of ‘lighting beacons’ of genuine gospel-hope
‘all across the nation’.
Earlier in
relation to Ken Clarke I mentioned the 1998 Belfast
launch of the 16-page booklet entitled ‘Evangelicals & Catholics
Together in Ireland’ and I pointed out that Ken Clarke was
listed amongst the ‘Group Participants’ who drew up the booklet.
Also listed, as a ‘Group Participant’, was Trevor
Morrow. As well as the ‘Belfast launch’ for the booklet there was also
a ‘Dublin launch’ and I attended the evening meeting there and the chairman for
the evening was Trevor Morrow. This was the meeting at which J
I Packer was asked by a converted, former Roman Catholic, how he viewed
the then Pope, John Paul II, and J I Packer replied that he
‘viewed him as “a fine Christian man” but that he had problems
with the office of the Papacy’ – a classic example of “a double-minded man”
[James 1:8]
Coinciding
with the launch of this booklet was another publication called “Adventures
in reconciliation: 29 Catholic Testimonies”. In a brief analysis of
this book I concluded by writing ‘it is clear that Christians should have no
fellowship with the contributors to this book and should pray for their
liberation from Roman darkness”.
In
addition to the 29 Catholic ‘Testimonies’ in the
1998 book there was a ‘Preface’ by Cardinal Cahal Daly and
an ‘endorsement’ on the back cover by Sean Brady, the
then Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and who of course has
since succeeded Cahal Daly as Roman Catholic Primate of all
Ireland. Sean Brady’s ‘endorsement’ said ‘A rich store of
faith and relationship with the Lord Jesus is contained in the testimonies of
people from within the Catholic Church… This book is an inspiration to all who
wish to follow Christ and grow in love with Him’. There is a ‘Foreword’
by former Presbyterian Moderator, Ken Newell, minister of
Fitzroy Presbyterian Church [mentioned earlier] and who, in spite of requests
from a number of genuine evangelical Presbyterian ministers, insisted on
going ahead with his invitation to Sean Brady to be one of his
personal guests at his installation as Presbyterian Moderator.
In the
book there were also 4 ‘Commendations’, one of
which was by Trevor Morrow. This ‘Commendation’ contained
one of the most devious scripture-twisting segments that I have ever read – twisted
in order to malign those true evangelicals who in obedience to God’s
Word separate from those who are trusting in the false ‘gospel’ of Roman
Catholicism. In his article promoting ‘Kingdom Come’,
Stephen Cave wrote – ‘others, particularly after New Horizon this
summer cannot wait to hear Trevor Morrow lead the Bible readings each’
– I wonder if you will share Stephen Cave’s enthusiasm
in the light of what I will shortly explain to you!
Before
quoting what Trevor Morrow wrote could I mention that the same
‘scripture-twisting’ views were voiced in a sermon preached by another now,
former Presbyterian Moderator, called Russell Birney, on
7 November 1999 and you can read my full analysis of what Mr Birney
said by following this link http://www.takeheed.net/news13.htm to our March
2000 ministry newsletter – the article is entitled ‘Ecumenical “stones
for bread” in Ballymena’.
Now, to
return to what Trevor Morrow wrote in his ‘Commendation’ [pages
26-27]. He wrote –
‘For
Presbyterians like myself, who still hold to the principle of the Reformation –
of justification by faith alone, the implications are straightforward. If these
[’29 Catholic’] testimonies are evidence of real
faith in Christ, then whatever our theological differences, these Roman
Catholic believers are justified by faith alone, and so are our brothers
and sisters in Christ’.
Let me
pause here in what Trevor Morrow wrote and point out that the
section I have underlined is according to Rome a theological impossibility.
Rome teaches that its ‘believers’ are NOT ‘justified by
faith alone’ as this quote from the officially approved Roman Catholic ‘Most
Rev Dr James Butler’s Catechism’ illustrates. On page 26, question 7
reads, ‘Are we justified by faith alone without good works?’ and
the answer begins clearly and simply ‘No:’ Trevor Morrow continued
–
‘In Paul’s
letter to the Galatians, he saw this doctrine [justification
by faith alone] as vital for Christian fellowship and freedom. The
Jewish Christians from Jerusalem had come down to Galatia and were fearful that
Paul’s message of justification apart from the work of the law would undermine
the traditions and identity of their Jewish inheritance. [In Matthew 23:13
the Lord was more concerned that a similar problem that he identified had the
damning effect of “shutting up the kingdom of heaven”]
They were insisting that it was not enough for a Gentile to believe in
Jesus Christ. They also had to keep the laws of Judiasm; to be circumcised, to
keep the dietary requirements, to observe the Jewish Sabbaths and festivals, in
order for them to be accepted as Christians. It became for them a
criteria for fellowship. Paul rails against this. If someone insists
that something else is required, apart from faith, in order to accept a
person as a fellow Christian, or as a basis for fellowship, then
they, says Paul, are preaching a false gospel’.
Trevor
Morrow is teaching that Paul’s argument with the Judaisers
was centred upon what the basis for ‘fellowship’ should be. This
is Mr Morrow’s ‘devious
scripture-twisting’ that I referred to earlier. Paul’s argument was not dealing
with the basis of ‘Christian fellowship’ but with the basis for ‘salvation’.
“The gospel of Christ [alone] is the power of God unto salvation”
[Romans 1:16] and the Judaisers were preaching a ‘gospel’ of ‘Christ
+ works’ [just like Rome] that can never “save” anyone and so these
preachers and their ‘gospel’ were placed under God’s curse [Galatians
1:8-9]. Paul positively encourages the discernment of and separation from
such false teachers whereas Trevor Morrow teaches that those who
rightly exercise Biblical discernment and separation are the ones who are in
error.
I
mentioned earlier that Russell Birney put this same false
teaching forth in a sermon and at the end of my article on that
sermon I wrote this -
‘By being
willing to publicly fellowship with those who claim to be ‘Evangelical’ but
still ‘Catholic’ [ie - still wedded to a false gospel] Mr Birney is
guilty of the role played by Peter in the ‘Galatian error’.
Trevor
Morrow, by what he wrote in his ‘Commendation’ is
likewise guilty of mimicking the role played by Peter in the ‘Galatian
error’.
Paul
Reid: Steering Committee:
As was the
case with Ken Clarke and Trevor Morrow, in
the 16-page booklet entitled ‘Evangelicals & Catholics Together in
Ireland’, amongst the names listed as ‘Group Participants’
who drew up the booklet was the name of Paul Reid. Again, like Trevor
Morrow, one of those who wrote a ‘Commendation’ for the
book “Adventures in reconciliation: 29 Catholic Testimonies” was Paul
Reid.
In that ‘Commendation’
the ecumenical enterprise of Jesuit priest, Paul Symonds [listed
as one of the many who endorsed the ‘Evangelicals & Catholics
Together in Ireland’ booklet] was clearly spelt out. Paul Reid wrote
‘I then met a priest, Paul Symonds {see Paul Symond’s testimony on page
222} (actually should be page 224) and when, together, we
officiated at a wedding something finally struck me. Here was someone who not
only followed and served the same Lord as I did but I could see by his
life and testimony that he knew Jesus in a way I didn’t’.
Paul Reid
made reference in that section to ‘Paul Symond’s testimony on page 222’. Part
of that ‘testimony’ read on page 226 ‘My parents were
married in a Methodist church in London and when I came along they had me
baptised in the same church…From my experience I have always believed that in
my baptism in the Methodist Church I received the gift of new life and the Holy
Spirit’. From what Paul Reid has written it would appear
that the false practice of and belief in ‘baptismal regeneration’ doesn’t
pose any problem for him. At the heart of the true and glorious Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the gracious truth of “imputation” where, just as
God imputed the sins of His chosen people to Christ on the Cross, so He imputes
the “righteousness of God” to those whom He graciously regenerates [see
Romans 3:22].
In a
public debate that I organised back in September 1995 between Rob Zins and
Paul Symonds on the topic of ‘Getting to Heaven’,
Perhaps in
passing I could mention that Methodist Minister, Gary Mason,
listed in 2002 as a member of the ‘Steering
Group of E.C.O.N.I
sent a particular book to Paul
Symonds and in Paul Symond’s own words ‘My
friend, a Protestant thought that book would help me prepare for the encounter
with Robert Zins. How right he was!’ In 1993 Mr Mason was involved in the
publication of a paper ‘commissioned by the Working Party on Sectarianism of
the Irish Inter-Church meeting’ and that was called ‘How should we
evangelical Christians handle our differences with those in the Roman Catholic
Church?’ - Obviously Mr Mason
believes the best way for him to personally handle these differences is to
actively assist a Jesuit priest publicly defend his heresies
against the doctrinal truths found in the Scriptures.
Paul
Symonds publicly and categorically rejected the Biblical
truth of the gracious doctrine of “imputation” and as part of his case
against it he quoted his fellow but now deceased Jesuit priest Henri
De Lubac. Here is part of the quote from Lubac’s ‘Salvation
Through The Church’ that Paul Symonds gave
‘If God
had willed to save us without our own co-operation, Christ’s sacrifice by
itself would have sufficed…salvation on such terms would not have been worthy
of the persons that God willed us to be. God did not desire to save mankind as
a wreck is salvaged; [so much for the testimony of the
Psalmist in Psalm 40:2 “He brought me
up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and (He) set my
feet upon a rock and established my goings”.] he meant to raise up
within it a life, his own life…Christ did not come to take our place – or
rather this aspect of substitution refers only to the first stage of his work –
He came not to win for us an external pardon [through complete
‘substitution’ in life and death resulting in ‘imputation’] – but to change
us inwardly. Thenceforward humanity was to co-operate actively in its own
salvation, and that is why to the act of his sacrifice, Christ joined the
objective revelation of his Person and the foundation of his church. To sum up,
revelation and redemption are bound up together, and the Church is their only
Tabernacle’.
This Jesuitical
statement has just replaced Christ with the [Roman Catholic] Church as
the only means of salvation and echoes the words of Vatican II: Volume 1,
page 456 ‘For it is through Christ’s [Roman] Catholic
Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation [sounds like
the ministry of the Holy Spirit has also just been usurped] that the
fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained’. These then are
just a few of the heretical beliefs that Paul Symonds tenaciously
holds to and defends and this is the man of whom Paul Reid wrote
that ‘he knew Jesus in a way I didn’t’.
Earlier I
mentioned the 2002 ‘Steering Group’ of E.C.O.N.I. and
amongst the members listed is Priscilla Reid, wife of Paul
Reid who is an ‘elder’ in her husband’s Christian Fellowship
Church where the ecumenically supported and endorsed Alpha Course
would be listed in the church ‘events’ on their website.
This church back in the mid 1990’s was one of the main ‘distribution
centres’ for the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’. I have on tape Paul
Reid’s ‘testimony’ of how he went to Toronto and got ‘the blessing’ and
when he returned to speak in his own church he fell off the platform and his
main concern was about ‘getting fluff on his trousers’.
On letter
heading that was used for the ‘MARCH FOR JESUS: Belfast: 15 September
1990’ a number of groups are listed including their ‘Council of
Reference’ and amongst the names of that ‘Council’ is the
name of Paul Reid. I
quoted earlier how impressed Paul Reid had been with one Jesuit,
Paul Symonds, well let me now quote what another Jesuit, Donal
Godfrey had to say in his ‘testimony’ in the book “Adventures
in reconciliation: 29 Catholic Testimonies”. This is of course the book
in which Paul Reid wrote his ‘Commendation’.
Mr Godfrey
wrote [pages 57:59] ‘I am an ordained priest. I
am also a member of the Jesuit order which was founded by St Ignatius of
Loyola…As part of my Jesuit training I did the “Spiritual Exercises” of St
Ignatius…I was privileged last year to be the first Catholic priest to be part
of the organising committee for MARCH FOR JESUS here in Northern Ireland. The
committee would often meet for early breakfast in the Jesuit Community house
where I live’.
Whether Paul
Reid was personally still involved with MARCH FOR JESUS at
the time of Mr Godfrey’s involvement I cannot say, but I have no
reason to believe that Paul Reid, if he wasn’t personally
involved, would not have been fully ‘in spirit’, with those ecumenists
who did meet in the ‘Jesuit Community house’.
Stephen
Cave: Steering Committee:
The
reports that I wrote about ‘Power to Change’ identify Stephen
Cave’s high profile involvement in and promotion of that particular
ecumenical initiative. The ‘Passion Movie and Café’ report also details
his involvement with Hugh Marcus of CARE NI as they
clandestinely sought to involve Roman Catholics in that particular venture. In
the report you will read that their Roman Catholic ‘sounding board’
was Eugene Boyle. On the front cover of the book “Adventures
in reconciliation: 29 Catholic Testimonies” two ‘editors’ are
listed and one is Eugene Boyle and the other is Paddy
Monaghan. Jointly they would represent what is known as the ‘Evangelical
Catholic Initiative’ on the island of Ireland.
Eugene
Boyle is also a ‘Trustee’ of the Ecumenical/Charismatic
‘Christian Renewal Centre’ in Rostrevor. On the
centre’s tape-recording listings under ‘C’, nestling amongst
listings for others such as ‘Father’ Raniero Cantalamessa [who
preaches to the Pope and who
is a regular speaker at ‘Alpha’ events at Holy
Trinity Brompton in London], ‘Father’ Neal Carlin,
‘Father’ Brendan Carr and ‘Father’ Pat Collins is
a listing for Stephen Cave. [I saw
also that at the time Hugh Marcus was having email exchanges with
me about Roman Catholic involvement in ‘The Passion Café’ he was
also guesting as a speaker at Rostrevor. Under ‘R’ listings
you will see that Priscilla Reid, wife of Paul Reid also
has tape-listings on the Rostrevor website].
Involvement
in ‘Power to Change’, endeavours to involve Roman Catholics in ‘The
Passion Café’ outreach and guesting as a speaker at the ‘Christian
Renewal Centre’ in Rostrevor are items that no faithful evangelical
would want appearing on his ‘Evangelical CV’. Nor would promotion of
trips to Saddleback Church, home of Rick Warren’s ‘Purpose
Driven’ conferences, enhance Mr Cave’s ‘evangelical credentials’
and yet that is just what he is doing through the Evangelical Alliance website.
Rick Warren quoted favourably many Roman Catholic
figures in his ‘Purpose Driven’ books and on Roman
Catholicism itself he had this to say
Rick
Warren is helping to fuel the fire of false ecumenism and Stephen
Cave is right in there with him. One other item that no true evangelical
would want to be associated with is the rejection of the biblical truth of
6-day creation and yet on the Evangelical Alliance website there
is an article by Denis R Alexander of another inappropriately
named organisation called ‘Christians in Science’. Just a few of
the many scripture-denying segments in the article that is entitled ‘Can
a Christian believe in evolution?’ read
‘So is it
possible to be a Christian and believe in evolution? CERTAINLY, as long as
‘evolution’ refers not to some secular philosophy, but to the biological theory
describing how God has created all living things. [Known
as ‘Theistic evolution’. It would be interesting to know how ‘theistic
evolutionists’ square this belief with the words of Matthew 6:27 “Which of
you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”]. This
explains why the vast majority of Christians who are active in biological
research today have no problem with incorporating evolutionary theory within
their belief in God as creator… Some Christians think belief in evolution
undermines the uniqueness of humankind and the reality of evil and the fall.
Not so. [The truth is that evolution does ‘undermine the
uniqueness of humankind and the reality of evil and the fall’ and
acceptance of it demonstrates complete ignorance of the ramifications of
believing there was ‘death’ in the world before man sinned].
Mr Cave and
his ‘Evangelical Alliance’ have on many fronts forfeited all
rights to be viewed as genuinely evangelical and they are continually
undermining genuine ‘evangelical endeavour’ by their pseudo-evangelicalism.
J
John: Speaker:
The following report is posted to our website and can be viewed on this link http://www.takeheed.net/john.htm
According to the Belfast Telegraph of 4 December
[1999] a United Celebration of Christmas being held in Townsend Presbyterian
Church on 13 December is to be addressed by a speaker called J JOHN. The
July 1997 issue of CHARISMA carried an article on J JOHN and the
following are extracts from the article –
'It's not everyone whose ministry
has been endorsed on the one hand by controversial revivalist preacher Rodney
Howard Browne [as the promoter of 'Holy
Laughter' at the time of 'Toronto' he described himself as God's 'Holy Ghost
Bartender'] and on the other by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
George Carey. Yet that's the broad spectrum of support enjoyed by J JOHN,
arguably one of Great Britain's foremost evangelists...Recently he preached to
capacity crowds at Sunderland Christian Centre [a product
of 'Toronto']...J JOHN, who is Anglican himself was one of only 2
non-Catholic speakers addressing last year's charismatic Roman Catholic
conference. In his pursuit of God, J JOHN had acquired a yearning for more.
Eager to go forward at Toronto-style revival meetings he was disappointed to
find that everyone but him - even those praying for him - seemed to be falling
over. Then evangelical bible-teacher and friend R T KENDALL introduced JOHN to
RODNEY HOWARD BROWNE one of the pioneers of the renewal movement. Later JOHN
was invited to one of Howard Browne's camp meetings in St Louis...It was the
fourth meeting before he saw a breakthrough. After speaking from the platform
JOHN SUDDENLY FELT "INTOXICATED"...The St Louis incident proved to be
a 'landmark' experience in his life....'I've been baptised in the Spirit' says
the 38 year old father of 3 'I've had all that. But I felt as though I got it
again. It was like another baptism. But this time it was like a baptism of
fire'. JOHN later met Sunderland renewal leaders KEN and LOIS GOTT...So he
began leading weekly evangelistic meetings in Sunderland - the 'Toronto' of
England - in early 1997...One woman attended after watching evangelist BENNY
HINN on TV. She'd written to HINN and received a personal reply. Realising how
near the inquirer lived to Sunderland, HINN strongly recommended that she
attend the meetings there...There's a growing realisation among British
Christians that God is 'unblocking the wells' where revival has struck
before...At one of the meetings in Harrow unemployed people were asked to come
forward for prayer 'I grabbed the microphone and said - if you can offer a job
come forward as well' recalls JOHN. One woman responded and said her company
could offer about 120 jobs...’we started arranging interviews in the middle of
an evangelistic meeting. That's never happened before. But part of the gospel
is about working for justice'. "This renewal ['Toronto']
has cleared the skies" JOHN says, "we're moving
out of winter and into spring".
In the light of the track record of this
"intoxicated evangelist" I would
recommend all to abstain from attending this planned
meeting.
Has J
John’s ‘track record’ improved since I posted this report? It would
appear not. Just one example – in 2004 I received an invitation postcard that
said on the front ‘Joyce Meyer & J John coming to Birmingham’ and
on the reverse of the card were details of meetings that would feature these 2
speakers at the NEC Arena from 6-8 May 2004. Anyone willing to share a platform
with Joyce Meyer, as J John obviously
was, will receive no endorsement from myself. This
link http://www.philotrust.com/links.php
is to the J John website ‘links’
page and amongst the links are ones for ‘The Alpha Course’ and ‘Joyce
Meyer Ministries’ – these ‘links’ demonstrate the absence of any
perceptive Biblical discernment on the part of J John. This link leads to J John’s ‘Book
Catalogue’ http://www.philotrust.com/pdf/philocatalogue02-03.pdf
and the following listing caught my eye:-
In
these 2 books J John and Mark Stibbe consider eight films in each
book to show how they reveal elements of the Christian Message, which
can be relevant to each of us today.
The Big Picture: Price £5.99 features The Godfather:
Tomb Raider: Billy Elliott: Saving Private Ryan: Titanic: Fargo: Cast Away: The
Matrix.
The Big Picture 2: Price £5.99 features The Lord of the
Rings: Simon Birch: The Green Mile: Bridget Jones’s Diary: What Women Want:
Unfaithful: Minority Report: Shrek:
The ‘Christian
Message’ is found in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 “Moreover
brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you…By which also
ye are saved…that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And
that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures”. The Lord’s own command/message is found in Mark 1:15
“Repent and believe the gospel”. To
proclaim that these films ‘reveal elements of the Christian Message’ seems
to me to be a very real fulfillment of Paul’s prophecy in 2nd
Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears”. The comments of Pastor John MacArthur in his Study Bible sum
up perfectly the relevance of this verse to these books –
‘Professing
Christians, nominal believers in the church follow their own desires and flock
to preachers who offer them God’s blessing apart from His forgiveness, and His
salvation apart from their repentance. They have an itch to be entertained by
teachings that will produce pleasant sensations and leave them with good
feelings about themselves. Their goal is that men preach “according to their
own desires”. Under those conditions, people will dictate what men preach,
rather than God dictating it by His Word’.
In
conclusion, this link http://www.philotrust.com/about.php
will take you to the following endorsement on J John’s website–
"It's
really hard to communicate if people don't like you. I've heard J.John
speak. He appealed to everyone. He was funny and he made us think - instant
communication"
Sir Cliff Richard
Again I
would suggest that no faithful evangelical would either welcome or wish
to be associated with either the content or the source of this ‘endorsement’ unless
they did not share the sentiments expressed by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians 1:10 “For do I
now seek the favour of men or of God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet
pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ”.
Colin
Sinclair: Speaker:
Details
that don’t encourage real evangelical confidence
Colin
Sinclair is the minister of Palmerston
Place Church, Edinburgh. Their church website contains the
following piece of church activity information –
During Lent we share in a series of weekly
house groups with our neighbours from St Mary's and other churches from the
Council of West End churches. We also share in services with St Mary's in the
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and at Easter.
Once more
it is my belief that no faithful evangelical would participate in or
endorse the ecumenical-mix activities of Churches that support ‘The Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity’.