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What's Wrong With Being Ecumenical?
April 6, 2006 Greetings in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

WHAT’S WRONG WITH BEING ECUMENICAL? When I was a lad, my parents, being members of the first Protestant denomination, made it very clear why a man named Martin Luther protested the idolatry and misuse of power exhibited by his beloved Catholic church. He did not plan to leave the Catholic church. Instead, he wanted to change the abuses from within. Eventually, it became clear that the leadership in his church weren’t interested in changing. It was no longer possible for Luther to stay in the Catholic church and remain faithful to God and His Word. Thus the Protestant movement was born.

Have we come full circle? Are we willing to compromise so easily the convictions of those who spent time in prison or gave their life’s blood to reach the Pentecostal level of religious freedom and adherence to God’s Word? Having come so far, why would we be seeking an alliance again with those who are idolaters and heretics? How enlightening is 2 Peter 3:20-22 which says, “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, ‘The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.’”

Again, as a young man I was taught the verse in I Timothy 2:5 which says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” This explained why we do not pray to Jesus’ mother.

I was also taught I Timothy 4:1-6, where Paul, giving Timothy instructions to share with his flock, said, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats (two distinctives of the Catholic church), which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ.”

Regarding the popular thinking of that time in the early 60s, that “we are all Christians, so why don’t we get along and exhibit unity?” my parents taught me II Corinthians 6:14-17, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God: as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

Regarding the last days, I was read to from Revelations repeatedly. My parents explained to me that the following passages from Revelation 17 spoke of the one world government (the beast) and one world church (the whore).

Revelation 17:1, “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:” Revelation 17:9, “And here is the mind which hath wisdom; the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”
Revelation 17:15-18, “And he saith unto me, ‘The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.’”

One of our family devotionals says, “God calls us to walk with Him in the way of peace. He calls us to shed peace not discord wherever we go. But it must be God’s peace, never a peace that is a truce with the power of evil. Never harmony if that means your life’s music is adapted to the mood and music of the world. God’s people so often make the mistake of thinking all must be harmonious. No, not when it means singing the song of the world. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said, ‘I came not to bring peace but a sword.’”

My dear fellow members of our 92 year old fellowship, I hear rumblings that we are in hot pursuit of the church of the world, of acceptance by the “woman who sits on seven hills.” Namely, I speak of the only church whose headquarters sits on seven hills in the city of Rome, Italy. As I recall, having read the Vision for Transformation (VFT) booklet cover to cover several times, but some time ago now, the VFT recommendations for the Constitution and Bylaws included a not-so-subtle change to the Ecumenism paragraph. This change would have allowed our senior leadership more freedom in making alliances with so-called elements of “Christianity” that our A/G forefathers expressly forbid. Brothers and sisters, we have taken dangerous steps towards making ourselves an enemy of God. James 4:4-5 says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, ‘The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?’” Envy of whom? The church that used to control kings?

Besides reading God’s Word about this issue, fasting and praying for God’s intervention, and repentance for our participation in any move towards unequal yoking, we need to consider some serious work ahead of us at the next General Council. The Assemblies of God needs to be taking a stand against the one world church, not helping it along!*

For Our Own Sake,

Brother Mike


*I dedicate this article to the memory of a modern day saint, Dr. Opal Reddin. Her articles on the dangers of ecumenism were not allowed to be published in the Assemblies of God magazine “Enrichment” by order of the General Superintendent of our fellowship. This she told me personally just before she went to be with Jesus this past year. The stated reason was that we “didn’t want to make [Enrichment] a battle ground on the issue.” Oh? If we are not using our publications to fight the battle for truth, then who will? Has the salt lost its savor?

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