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General Teachings/Activities
- Tony Campolo is Chairman of the Sociology Department at Eastern
College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, an American Baptist Convention
School; he has taught there since 1966. Eastern College literature
reveals the following: EC has a student body of 2400. It was
founded in 1932 as a department of Eastern Baptist Seminary.
It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA (member
of the NCC/WCC). Its chapels feature speakers ranging from Cardinal
Bevilacqua to Habitat for Humanity's Millard Fuller. It has active
chapters of Habitat for Humanity and Evangelicals for Social
Action. It has or has had relationships with World Vision, Habitat
for Humanity, YWAM, and Young Life. Its concert schedule lists
United Methodist and United Presbyterian churches, and a concert
by rock group Jars of Clay.
New Ager Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. is on EC's board of directors.
David Neff (Christianity Today executive editor) was an 11/17/97
EC scheduled speaker. Dr. Roberta Hestenes ("liberal"
feminist, activist) recently stepped down as EC president to
become senior pastor of Solana Beach Presbyterian Church (USA)
in California. Honorary degrees were conferred on Promise Keepers
speaker Tony Evans and wife Lois in 1996. Nearby Eastern Seminary
has students from over 20 denominations, 35 percent of which
are women. (Source: 5/15/97, Calvary Contender.) [Furthermore,
Eastern College was represented at the 4/93 Gay March on Washington.
Four students carried a banner proclaiming, "Christian,
Gay, and Proud -- Eastern College Gay and Lesbian Community."
The American Baptist Convention is also proabortion.]
- Campolo has authored more than 25 books and serves as Associate
Pastor of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Philadelphia. He is also
the founder and president of the Evangelical Association for
the Promotion of Education, and heads up the social/political
action group, Philadelphia Outreach. As one reads the speaker's
lists for the explos and extravaganzas of neo-evangelicalism,
Campolo's name keeps recurring (he speaks at more than 100 events
a year); e.g., as featured speaker for InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship, Youth for Christ, and the National Council of Churches.
He has written for World Vision, appeared on Dr. James Dobson's
Focus on the Family radio program, and has produced educational
videos for David C. Cook. But merely calling Campolo a neo-evangelical
is being much too kind. Campolo is a theological liberal and
a radical political socialist whose teachings are heretical at
best and blasphemous at worst!
- Campolo has spent the last 25 years or so making a career
of bashing America and peddling a baptized Marxist gospel aimed
at Christian youth. He persists in his campaign against "the
established wealth distribution" (Partly Right, p. 211)
and our "consumer oriented society" (Wake Up America,
p. 180). Consistent with his liberal, anti-free market hypocrisy,
Campolo denounces capitalism and preaches the simple life, yet
he lives in luxury in the nation that he despises. (Campolo discloses
that he lives in an area that "has maintained its reputation
for sophistication and affluence and is a place where the upwardly
mobile of southeastern Pennsylvania like to live [Partly Right,
p. 210].) While Campolo may admire Catholic works salvation legends
such as "Mother" Teresa and Francis of Assisi, he is
apparently unwilling to take things that far in his own life.
- Campolo signed an article in the liberal Sojourners magazine
in May 1981, which lambasted the United States and stated that
Roman Catholicism was the one bright light in the dark situation
in El Salvador: "The Roman Catholic church is being converted
to the poor in El Salvador." This is a reference to the
wicked Liberation Theology movement in Romanism, a movement which
substitutes the salvation of society for the salvation of the
soul. Liberation Theology is Christianized Marxism, but here
we find Campolo signing a statement which called it a "bright
light."
- One of Campolo's most serious errors is his confusion regarding
the kingdom of God. He holds the popular "kingdom now"
theology, which is sweeping through much of the evangelical/charismatic
world. According to this thinking, the kingdom of God is something
which is right now in this world. Campolo places the Bible promises
for a future earthly kingdom into the context of this apostate
hour. Thus, Campolo challenges Christians to go into the world
and to transform society.
In his message at Urbana '87, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's
tri-annual youth meeting, Campolo said, "This night is a
historical moment. This night God wants to raise up a generation
of men and women who will enter into every sector of society
as agents of change, transforming the world into the kind of
world He wills it to be" (Decision magazine, 3/98). This
is why Campolo says "the kingdom of God is party."
According to Campolo: "The kingdom of God is a glorious
and gigantic party!" (cf. Rom. 13:11-14). That is the title
of one of his books and is a keynote theme which he brings into
many of his messages. To prove this idea, Campolo quotes from
Bible references to such things as the Old Testament Jewish festivals
and wrongly applies this to our time.
There is no hint in the New Testament that the Apostles considered
themselves agents of change in society. We don't see them "having
a party." They gave their entire attention to preaching
the Gospel and to building churches. They did not protest the
problems of the Roman empire. They did not get involved in starting
new businesses for the poor. They looked upon this present world
as one under the imminent judgment of God and they did all they
could to snatch brands from the fire, to preach the gospel to
men before it is too late. Yet, Campolo actually makes fun of
this type of thinking (see his book Signs of the Kingdom). (Source:
O Timothy magazine, Volume 9, Issue 4, 1992.)
- From his book, Partly Right, Campolo espouses his New Age
philosophy of pantheism:
"We affirm our divinity by doing what is worthy of gods,
and we affirm our humanity by taking risks only available to
mortals. God had to become one of us before He could become heroic
... Robert Schuller affirms our divinity, yet does not deny our
humanity ... isn't that what the gospel is? Isn't God's message
to sinful humanity that He sees in each of us a divine nature
of such worth that He sacrificed His own Son so that our divine
potentialities might be realized? ... The hymn writer who taught
us to sing 'Amazing Grace' was all too ready to call himself
a 'wretch' ... Forgetting our divinity and over-identifying with
our [Freudian] anal humanity [Freud is responsible for a host
of maladies that plague our contemporary society] ... Erich Fromm,
one of the most popular psychoanalysts of our time, recognized
the diabolical social consequences that can come about when a
person loses sight of his/her own divinity ..." [Fromm was
a godless anti-Christian, who took the serpent's lie, Ye Shall
Be As Gods, for the title of one of his books, and was largely
responsible for the introduction of the self-love movement into
the professing Church.]
The Apostle Paul was apparently too quick to deny his own
deity when he wrote, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners; of whom I am the chief" (I Timothy 1:15).]
(Quoted in part from CIB Bulletin, December 1989.) (Emphases
added.)
- Campolo was booked to be a main speaker at Youth Congress
'85 in Washington D.C., co-sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ
and Youth for Christ, which was expected to bring 15,000 teenagers
to the capital city. But a group of Evangelical Free Church pastors
in Illinois had read Campolo's 1983 book, A Reasonable Faith,
and decided that it was not so reasonable. They protested his
appearance and declined to have their young people attend if
the invitation to Campolo was not rescinded. Youth for Christ's
Jay Kesler still defended Campolo, but went along with the cancellation
for the sake of unity.
The focal point of the controversy in A Reasonable Faith is
Campolo's development of the idea that Christ lives in all human
beings, whether or not they are Christians. Campolo asserts in
this book that he is not merely saying that all people reflect
the image of God, but that the resurrected Jesus of history "actually
is present" in each person: "We want to convince the
whole human race that there is a God who established the infinite
value of every person, who mystically dwells in each person ..."
(A Reasonable Faith: Responding to Secularism, p. 59). "I
do not mean that others represent Jesus for us. I mean that Jesus
actually is present in each other person" (p. 192). Campolo
thus embraces and teaches the New Age lie that Christ mystically
indwells every human being. Such heresies not only identify another
Jesus, but are similar to the view of Christ that the Gnostics
held in the first century. The Apostle John militated against
their false doctrines and identified aberrations in Gnostic Christology
as being of the "spirit of antichrist." Campolo hopes
a "new humanity" will emerge through this Christ consciousness
(p. 65). (Adapted from New Neutralism II, pp. 52-54).
Interestingly, Campolo was aware in 1983 that he would be
accused of distorting the Gospel. He writes the following in
A Reasonable Faith: "There are some warnings that I wish
to issue to anyone reading this book. The first is to be aware
that the theology expressed in this short volume represents a
personal attempt to state my Christian faith in a way that might
prove meaningful for my secularist friends. I am sensitive to
the fact that any attempt to state the Gospel in the dominant
categories of a culture inevitably leads to a distortion of the
Gospel. Consequently, anyone who accuses me of violating the
biblical message is correct" (p. 190).
- In the movie, "It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming,"
Campolo again espouses an extreme pantheistic view by saying
that the little Haitian child thrust into his arms as he was
about to board a plane for the States was Jesus, "... and
Jesus is in everyone; not a metaphysical Jesus,but the real historic
one!" Other tidbits from the movie, all delivered in typical
Campolo arrogant and obnoxious style:
(a) An off-color/crude Mother's Day joke.
(b) An colloquial profanity ("Oh Jees").
(c) An account of the "evolutionary" history of religions.
(d) "Paul has discovered the same truth the sociologists
have -- we make our gods in the image of ourselves to worship
ourselves."
(e) Portrays James and John ("sons of thunder") as
being "losers" and similar to "Hells Angels with
black leather jackets."
(f) Now that he has met Jesus, and therefore a "Somebody"
-- emphasizes that "Jesus brings self-worth to losers."
(g) Confuses "poor in spirit" with "poor in material
things" -- equates "loser" with being worthy of
salvation and "winner" with not being worthy of salvation.
(Campolo's proof text is "harder for a rich man to enter
the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle.")
(h) Preaches a gospel that Christians should be "agents
of change" (the social gospel a lá Jesse Jackson)
rather than Christians taking the gospel to all the world, calling
sinners out of the world.
- In an address at Prestatyn (UK) in 1988, Campolo again expressed
his "Jesus is in everyone" philosophy:
"One of the most startling discoveries of my life was
the realization that the Jesus that I love, the Jesus who died
for me on Calvary, that Jesus, is waiting, mystically and wonderfully,
in every person I meet. I find Jesus everywhere. The difference
between a Christian and non-Christian is not that Jesus isn't
in the non-Christian--the difference is that the Jesus who is
within him is a Jesus to whom he will not surrender his life.
You say, 'Are you saying that Jesus is present in everybody?'
I am only telling you what it says in John 1:9; He is the light
that lighteth every man, every woman that cometh into the world.
The minute you start saying that God isn't in some people, you're
on the verge of Fascism. Why? Erich Fromm saw that. The minute
you can look at somebody and say God isn't in him -- he is only
in Christians -- that person is pure demon."
Has Campolo changed his views over the years? According to
a 1/24/97 television interview with Charlie Rose, not a bit --
"I am saying that there is no salvation apart from Jesus,
that's my evangelical mindset. However, I'm not convinced that
Jesus only lives in Christians."
- That Campolo was absolved of heresy by a panel of so-called
leading evangelicals (chaired by J.I. Packer) [see the 9/20/85,
Christianity Today, pp. 30-38; the 12/13/85, Christianity Today,
p. 52; and the 8/9/89, Christianity Today] is amazing when one
considers even more Campoloisms. (The following are excerpted
from those reported in the January 1991, CIB Bulletin.):
(a) "There are those who would limit Jesus to being present
only in those who acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior, but I will
not accept that limitation. I believe that Jesus is present even
in ... those who refuse Him." [!!!]
(b) "Then it hit me -- humanness and Godness are one
and the same ... Jesus was God because He was fully human and
He was fully human because He was God ..."
(c) "Jesus is the only Savior, but not everybody who
is being saved by Him is aware that He is the One who is doing
the saving ..." [This sounds strangely like the idea that
each man may come to God in his own way without any understanding
of God's way of salvation (a lá C.S. Lewis).]
- After Campolo's exoneration of heresy by the Christian
Legal Society, he told Christianity Today:
"I'm worried that evangelical intellectuals will not
say anything except the old phrases and the old worn out terminology
... The way evangelical Christianity is doing theology really
bothers me. If everybody has to say only things that they know
are safely orthodox, if we lose the capacity to be open and to
share ideas that people may consider heretical, I think we will
lose our creativity."
What a foolish statement! To call for a questioning of the
"old worn out terminology," and for theological openness
to new theology is apostasy. The "old phrases" of evangelicalism
are nothing more or less than the sound Bible doctrine which
has been given to us by the Apostles and Prophets in Holy Scripture,
and which has been held and defended by orthodox Christians through
the centuries. The problem with modern evangelicalism is just
this: It is departing from the old paths. (Source: O Timothy
magazine, Volume 9, Issue 4, 1992.)
- When Campolo was examined by the "evangelical"
leaders in 1985, they noted that "while he accepts an evolutionary
view of the origin of man and the universe, he holds that this
is consistent with Scripture that teaches only the fact (not
the method) of Creation" (Christian News, 9/23/85). This
is a very serious matter. It should be obvious even to a child
that the Bible teaches not only the fact of creation, but the
method as well. The Bible plainly teaches that the world was
created by God in six days and six nights. There is absolutely
no room for any sort of evolutionary thinking here, and to allow
men such as Campolo to hold such views is folly. The doctrine
of special creation is the only view which reveals the nature
of man as distinct from the animals, and which explains the fall
of man in a literal Garden of Eden. (Source: O Timothy magazine,
Volume 9, Issue 4, 1992.)
- Campolo spoke at Canada's August 1990, Christian Festival
III, an ecumenical gathering held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Campolo
was billed as having special appeal for youth.) The Calvary Crusade
described Campolo as follows: "Evangelical socialists are
clamoring for dialogue and social action to unite world religions.
Eastern College sociologist Dr. Tony Campolo says the task of
the church is not to get us ready for heaven, but to send its
people into every avenue of life to be 'revolutionary leaven.'"
[Campolo ignores the common Scriptural use of "leaven"
-- it almost always symbolizes sin or evil doctrine.]
- Campolo spoke at the (apostate) National Counsel of Churches
gathering in May of 1988; his message suggested that standing
firm on absolutes and vehemently resisting error were tantamount
to "doing the devil's work." He said that Hindu pacifist
Ghandi "was more Christian than most Christians." [How
can a man who rejected Christ be more Christian than anybody?]
Campolo also praised Catholic nun Mother Teresa as well as Martin
Luther King. (Reported in The Christian World Report, August
1990.) [Campolo was on the editorial board for the production
of the film Mother Teresa, which exalts the Roman Catholic nun
and which contains no warning about her false gospel. Campolo
often uses Mother Teresa as an example of proper Bible Christianity,
though she preached a false gospel and worshipped Mary.]
- "An Assessment of the Preaching of Tony Campolo, Based
on His Address to the Rally of the General Assembly of the Baptist
Union of Scotland" on 10/24/91 (points excerpted from a
report by UK pastor, Paul Mansbacher):
(a) Tony Campolo's style is that of the entertainer ... somewhat
offensive.
(b) Tony had distorted the second commandment -- to preach
that in order to love your neighbor you first have to love yourself
and that one of the things that Jesus came to do was to deliver
us from self-hatred.
(c) Quoted the Jewish mystic Martin Buber, a Taoist story.
(d) Gave some illustrations of love that were spiritually,
outrageously disgusting.
(e) Campolo tells the story of the "duck woman,"
who had acquired the name because she constantly quacked like
a duck. One day, Tony was waiting at the traffic lights after
finishing lectures, when this woman came alongside him. He turned,
and their eyes made contact. He "reached down through her
eyes into the depths of her being," making contact with
the "Christ within" her, while aware that at the same
time she was doing the same to him. The effect of this was so
dramatic, that the woman stopped quacking and said to him, "It's
a lovely day. It's a lovely day, isn't ...?" Before she
finished her sentence the lights changed and somebody shoved
her. She fell over, and when she got up she was again quacking
like a duck. Tony used this as an illustration of loving your
neighbor.
(f) It was very obvious from his address that he places no
weight at all on sound exegesis.
(g) Tony closed his address by calling for people to surrender
their lives to Christ, to Christian service, and many made commitment.
But to which Christ? At no point was there any mention of the
way of salvation, God's condemnation of sin, God's love for the
sinner illustrated by Jesus death on the cross in our place,
that by His blood we may be redeemed.
There was no mention of the true nature of sin, only the concept
of the "dark side" of human nature. It was implied
that one man could enter into the heart of another through the
eyes, but Scripture teaches that God says "I am the one
who searches the heart" (Prv. 17:3; Jer. 11:20; 17:10; 20:12;
Rom. 8:23 amongst others). The Christ presented was not the Christ
of the Bible, but rather the mystical, New Age "Christ within
each one of us." We were presented with an idea of love,
and methods of putting that into practice, which can find no
justification in Scripture.
(h) There is absolutely no doubt at all in my heart, that
the spirit that was speaking through Tony on this night was not
the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of the antichrist. We need to
turn to God with fasting and repentance for having invited this
spirit into our midst and condoning his message.
- "A Report On Tony Campolo's Input to the Seminar and
Evening Rally Arranged by British Youth For Christ" on 1/11/92
(points excerpted from a report by UK pastor, Paul Mansbacher):
(a) At no time did he [Campolo] mention that the source of
all these evils is the sinful heart of man which needs to be
transformed by the saving Grace of Jesus Christ. Effectively,
Tony was saying, "faith comes by praxis [practice as opposed
to theory]" although Rom. 10:17 says, "So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
(b) "It doesn't matter which comes first," says
Tony, the chicken or the egg, faith or works, and we can't know
which comes first. Of course, the Bible says that faith must
come first, for without faith it is impossible to please God
(Heb. 11:6). Faith is the initiator of action pleasing to God
(Heb. 11). Without it, our works are as filthy rags to God (Isa.
64:6).
(c) "How do we convert people?" asks Tony, and answers,
"Get them to do Christian things before getting them to
become a Christian. Challenge them to get involved in social
work, to preach the Gospel to the poor. Truth must be communicated
in the concept of action. Those who come to do the converting
end up being converted, not the children on the street. They
won't convert the poor, but they themselves will get converted
due to the principle of praxis. Preach about the needs of the
poor, get people to commit themselves to Christ by helping the
poor. You're a Christian when your heart is broken by the things
that break the heart of Jesus. The greatest need of a person
is to love. Loving is what it is all about." This is the
concept of Tony's Philadelphia Outreach to which hundreds of
young people from around the world come each year.
(d) Tony followed this by praising the book, The Road Less
Traveled, by [pantheistic New Age psychologist] M. Scott Peck,
as an "absolutely brilliant book. Everyone should order
it and read it." He claims that this book describes the
process by which Scott became a Christian!
(e) Tony spoke about the "Christ within." He made
it clear that he was talking about Christ present within everyone
(believers and unbelievers alike).
(f) It is very alarming to know that Tony is quite aware of
what he is doing, using psychological methods to attract large
crowds to hear a gospel that is really no gospel -- relying on
the methods of the world and not relying on God to "give
the increase" with man's part being simply to faithfully
preach the Word. While Tony may not be aware of it, I am sure
that it is no accident that the spirituality underlying so much
of what he does and says is New Age.
(g) He said, "Jesus sends you in order that you should
change the world. ... My task is to get you to be evangelists.
... Jesus loves everybody -- through you he wants to take away
suffering. ... I want to make you all into Mother Teresa."
(h) Tony mocked those Christians who say that the ecology
movement is New Age.
- When Campolo was asked by Christianity Today editors (9/20/85
issue) about the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell believers,
Campolo stated the following:
"The difference is this: God is at work in every human
being, as it says in Romans. Every human being is approached
by God. But the nature of every human being is to be at war with
the God who is struggling to love him or her. When one surrenders
to God, the power of the Holy Spirit breaks loose in that individual
as never before, and all the fruits of the Spirit become operative
in that person's life." (Emphases added.)
Thus, Campolo clearly views the Holy Spirit as being present
in every person, but only breaking forth in new freedom when
the person is saved (cf. John 14:16). Campolo's view seems quite
related to the modernist's conception of "a little bit of
divinity in every man."
- There has never been much doubt that Campolo is an environmentalist
wacko (which ties in nicely with his New Age pantheism). Campolo
even goes so far as to call environmentalism a fruit of the Spirit
(from an article titled "Rescuing the Earth," in Salt
& Light, a 1993 political-activism book edited by David J.
Gyertson): "Spirituality and creation-care are tied together.
To be properly committed to the one should lead us inevitably
to the other." [Campolo also thinks Christians should form
a "Christian Green Party" -- Chapter 11 of How to Rescue
the Earth Without Worshiping Nature, titled "The Greening
of the Church."]
- Campolo has said that the people who make up the Christian
Coalition represent only a minority of the Christian community.
To counter the perception that the coalition is the sole voice
for the believing community in the political arena, Campolo,
along with other colleagues who do not identify themselves as
part of the so-called Religious Right, launched a group called
Call for Renewal. On May 23, 1995, Campolo and his group of self-proclaimed
evangelicals called a news conference. They said they had had
enough of politics as usual and stepped forward claiming to have
a new vision for transcending Left and Right. Over one hundred
"Christian leaders" from "a diversity of traditions"
signed a document called the Cry for Renewal. The Call mounted
its campaign both to dissent publicly from the Coalition's policies
and perceived allegiances and to develop "a new way"
for Christians to engage in politics (10/7/96, Christianity Today;
and Renegade Prophet? A Look at the Teachings of Tony Campolo).
In actuality, Campolo's organization is nothing but a front for
liberal theology, that in effect, wants the Religious Right out
of politics.
Campolo was just one of a number of evangelicals to sign on
to the Cry for Renewal document. Some well known names include;
Steve Haynor, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship; Karen and David
Mains, Chapel of the Air Ministries; J.I. Packer, theologian
(he also endorsed Campolo's Wake Up America! by Zondervan); Ted
Engstrom, World Vision; and Phillip Yancey, Christianity Today.
These names are posted next to those Professor Ron Nash calls,
"militantly evangelical." Some of the clearly non-evangelical
names on the list are Marion Wright Edelman, Children's Defense
Fund; Dr. James Forbes, Riverside Church; Joan Brown Campbell,
General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; Mary Dennis,
Maryknoll Justice and Peace; Roman Catholic J. Bryan Hehir; Dr.
Paul Sherry, President of the United Church of Christ denomination
and Edmond L. Browning of the Episcopal Church.
- Campolo is against the use of words of historic theological
statements. Christianity Today quotes him as stating (9/20/85
article): "I'm worried that evangelical intellectuals will
not say anything except the old worn out terminology that only
causes people to smile on us benevolently." Campolo said
he regards himself as a victim in what he called a "wave
of religious McCarthyism." (Poor Joseph McCarthy! He cannot
rest in peace, for he gets resurrected every time a liberal politician
or theologian feels the heat.)
Campolo is a man whose thinking is filled with contradictions
which he sets side by side in a dialectical manner, assuming
that both "facts" are true. It is rare to see a man
claim a belief in inerrancy and a belief in evolution in the
same paragraph. Christianity Today states the following: "Tony
vigorously affirms that the Bible is inerrant, but he says all
our interpretations of the Bible must be submitted to the authority
of the church. While he accepts an evolutionary view of the origin
of man and the universe (albeit not Darwin's version), he holds
that this is consistent with Scripture that teaches only the
fact (not the method) of Creation." In plain words, Campolo
is a theistic evolutionist. (Excerpted from New Neutralism II,
pp. 52-54.)
- Campolo has chosen a different set of Christian heroes
of the faith. In his appeal to the secular mind, Campolo frequently
downplays orthodox teachers like Spurgeon and Edwards, and instead
draws his insights selectively from Karl Marx, Paul Tillich,
Martin Buber, and Teilhard de Chardin. Often he finds that the
secular world view has embedded within it "more faith than
I find in most churchmen." We see this in Campolo's definition
of history: "History is a class struggle between the oppressed
peoples of the world and their oppressors." Familiar? Yes,
but doesn't it seem strange that a Christian and the Communists
would share the same view of history? (Excerpted from New Neutralism
II, pp. 52-54.)
In his 1991 book Wake Up America!, Campolo is at it again:
he claims that the voice of Martin Luther King [womanizer and
Communist sympathizer] is the one which America most needs to
hear today (p. 21); he praises the Jesus People USA (p. 42),
Dietrich Bonhoeffer [the blasphemous, liberal German theologian
who denied the physical resurrection of Christ] (p. 43), liberation
theology (p. 59), and the Sojourners [a group of liberals who
have promoted the work of radicals who deny Christianity] (p.
98); he commends James Cone [the radical left wing "father
of black theology"] (p. 102), and fellow neo-evangelical,
radical Ronald Sider; he supports the ordination of women (p.
106); and he is extremely sympathetic toward charismatics (pp.
106, 175, 178). (Reported in the 10/28/91, Christian News.) [Concerning
the ordination of women, at a 1992 youth meeting in Vancouver,
Campolo said, "Are you suggesting women can preach? A lot
better than most men! If they can preach in Africa, they can
preach in Vancouver. That's what I say."]
- In his book, Carpe Diem: Seize the Day (Word:1994), Campolo
concocts a recipe of current leftist and liberal dogmas (see
chapter 19 titled, "Hugging a Tree Isn't as Ridiculous As
It Sounds"). Campolo also pays homage to Catholicism and
his hero St. Francis Assisi, the goofball priest who baptized
animals and preached to the birds and bees. In this book, Campolo
has also discovered God's feminine nature! (Chapter titled "Embracing
the Feminine Side of God"):
"There is a feminine side of God. I always knew this
... Jesus approached the world with what we would call a feminine
sensitivity and appreciation. ... The masculine side of God is
something to be admired. But it is the feminine side that draws
love out of me. It is this feminine side of God I find in Jesus
that makes me want to sing duets with Him ... Not only do I love
the feminine Jesus, but the more I know Jesus, the more I realize
that Jesus loves the feminine in me. Until I accept the feminine
in my humanness, there will be a part of me that cannot receive
the Lord's love. ... There is that feminine side of me that must
be recovered and strengthened if I am to be like Christ ... And
until I feel the feminine in Jesus, there is a part of Him which
I cannot identify. What I long for in the end is to know the
way He can love Himself through me and I can love myself through
Him ..." (pp. 85-88).
Man is not called to express some latent femininity which
lies within him; he is called to be fully a MAN, an uncompromising,
obedient, Christ-centered, others-serving, wholehearted, zealous
man of God. The Bible never says that a man has a feminine side,
and never says that a woman has a masculine side. Carl Jung,
who communicated with demons, claimed that man has a feminine
side, but the Bible denies this. (Source: O Timothy, Vol. 11;
Iss. 9-10 [1994].) [At a Youth Ministry Training event which
took place in Chicago 1/30/92-2/2/92, Campolo proclaimed (on
1/30/92) that he sees prayer as "making love to Jesus"
and envisions himself "lying next to Jesus and allowing
Jesus to penetrate him." -- I guess that would be the masculine
Jesus penetrating the feminine Campolo? -- what a demented, perverted
blasphemer is this fellow!]
- Campolo claims that homosexual orientation is inborn in
many or most cases, and refers to "evangelical homosexuality."
He has related how two homosexual men "solved their problems
of loneliness" by living in a celibate "covenant"
relationship "in all love and tenderness." He even
makes the blasphemous claim that Christians will have difficulty
finding any Biblical condemnation of romantic feelings between
persons of the same sex (cf. Rom. 1:18ff)!! (Reported in the
4/1/91, Calvary Contender; and in a 2/7/94, ACCC report on the
1994 NRB Convention.)
In his 1988 book, 20 Hot Potatoes Christians Are Afraid To
Touch, Campolo also claims that though he personally thinks that
homosexual behavior is contrary to the will of God (p. 115),
Scripture does not universally condemn it. He adds that homosexual
orientation is not a matter of choice, but is inborn (pp. 112-113),
and that masturbation is an acceptable way for Christians to
release pent-up sexual energies (pp. 63-64). The fact is that
Tony Campolo, and especially his wife Peggy, are activists in
homosexual causes. (See an interview with Peggy Campolo in the
3/94 issue of The Lofton Letter; in the Summer of 1993, Peggy
Campolo reduced her involvement in her husband's office in order
to be more active in the cause of "social justice"
for lesbians and homosexual men.) [Peggy Campolo has also said:
"We both believe that homosexual orientations are not chosen
any more than heterosexual orientations are chosen. ... homosexuals
are entitled to the same rights and privileges I claim for myself,
including being able to marry legally and in the sight of the
church ..." (Emphasis added.)]
Talk show host Mark Gilman on radio station WAVA near Washington
D.C. in Virginia said on a 4/13/93 program that Tony Campolo
put it best when he said: "How in the world can you expect
the homosexual community to come to Christ when they think that
Christians hate them?" [But are we not to hate what God
hates? And God clearly hates homosexuality. But the question
should be put back to Campolo: "How in the world can you
expect the homosexual community to come under conviction of sin
and need of repentance when you falsely tell them that God loves
them just as they are?"]
- Campolo has the dubious honor of being President Clinton's
"good friend ... in Philadelphia" (Clinton's 1/25/94
state of the Union address). After reading an interview with
Campolo in the 1/94 Bookstore Journal, it is understandable why
Clinton would consider Campolo a friend. Clinton and Gore hosted
12 "evangelical" leaders at a private breakfast 10/18/93
in the White House, one of which was Campolo. Afterwards Campolo
claimed that Clinton and Gore "understand the fundamental
evangelical ethos." He says Clinton "is not only a
Christian ... [who] has a very high view of Scripture... [but
also is] a deeply religious man." (Reported in the 3/94
issue of The Lofton Letter, p. 8.)
Campolo remains deeply impressed with Clinton's spirituality:
"If I were to posture Bill Clinton, I would have to say
he's about halfway between Baptist and Pentecostal. He really
has a deep sensitivity for the excitement of Pentecostal spirituality.
A lot of people say when they go to meet with the President,
I prayed with the President. I don't. Whenever I'm with the President
I always ask him to pray and he prays with deep intensity, and
I always come away excited, because I sense something there,
I sense something alive there. People always ask me, well, what
about his personal life? I don't know a thing about his personal
life; I just know the man I met about four years ago, and I love
him and he's my friend and I've seen him interact with the First
Lady and with Chelsea. I've been to dinner there and I feel a
loving relationship between people. I sense, much to my critics
chagrin, the presence, the presence of God there. So, I sense
a man who is really seeking to know God, who really wants to
follow Christ in his everyday walk. I know a man who knows the
Bible , who quotes it, who understands it, and uh, so that's
my appraisal of where he's coming from." [Wow!] (Source:
Renegade Prophet? A Look at the Teachings of Tony Campolo.)
Concerning the 1997-1998 Clinton sex scandals and resultant
accusations of perjury and obstruction of justice, Campolo defends
Clinton by comparing his life and acceptance to that of Jesus!
Campolo, worried that other ministers might distance themselves
from Clinton out of concern for their own reputations, said (2/2/98,
Christian News): "I follow a man who really didn't give
a hoot about his reputation. As a matter of fact, I think Jesus
had the worst reputation in Jerusalem." (One wonders how
can such blind, undiscerning "leaders" help the president?)
- Over the 11/19/93-11/21/93 period, about 500 neo-evangelical
activists met in Chicago to celebrate the 20th anniversary of
the signing of the 1973 "Chicago Declaration." Evangelicals
for Social Action (ESA), which grew out of that 1973 meeting,
called the 1993 meeting to sign a two-page Chicago Declaration
II. The latter expands on the racism, sexism, poverty and other
social action [socialistic] themes of the 1973 document. Signers
of both documents included mainline and liberal new evangelicals.
Some 1993 signers: Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, Roberta Hestenes
[former president of the college where Campolo still teaches],
Samuel Escobar, and ESA's president Ron Sider. New age and left-wing
themes such as "holistic Christianity," "the magic
of ritual," and "redistribution of the worlds resources,"
were stressed. Animal rights people were there also (2/15/94,
Calvary Contender.)
- Lee Strobel is a pastor on the staff of church growth guru
Bill Hybels' Willow Creek in South Barrington, Illinois. Strobel
has authored a number of heretical books, one being a 1993 book
titled Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry & Mary: How to
Reach Friends and Family Who Avoid God and the Church. The book
is endorsed in its Foreword by Bill Hybels, and on the jacket
is endorsed/recommended by thirteen more neo-evangelical psychologizers,
including Max Lucado, Tony Campolo, Howard Hendricks, Stuart
Briscoe, C. Peter Wagner, Joseph Stowell, Elmer Towns, Bill Bright,
and Gary Collins.)
In this book, Strobel makes it clear that he was drawn to
Hybels' church, not by the message of truth, but by the music
of the world. After he found himself comfortable with the music
and modern style of worship, he simply reasoned his way to a
conversion experience. Strobel is completely geared to a needs
based religion. His purpose is to meet man's needs, based on
his own perception, rather than honoring man's obligation to
worship and glorify God. Strobel purpose is to find out what
works, and not to find out what is Biblical. His purpose is to
please lost, unregenerative men, and not to please God. To read
Strobel's book (and by nature of endorsement, Tony Campolo's
thoughts also) you come up with the idea that the problem with
people is that they are simply unchurched. To the contrary, they
need to be seen as lost and in need of a Savior (1/96, Plains
Baptist Challenger, pp. 5-7). [Campolo also endorsed Bill Hybels'
book Honest to God: "This is a bold declaration of what
it means to be a Christian. Figuring out what discipleship means
is difficult these days and this book helped me a lot."
(Hybels is a psychologizer [e.g., he extols the virtues of Jungian
personality theory in Honest to God] and one of the leaders in
the unbiblical "church growth" movement.)]
- Campolo is on Renovaré's "Board of Reference"
-- Renovaré is an international, New Age, ecumenical organization
that emanates from the religious traditions of Quakerism, whose
message is that today's Church is missing out on some wonderful
spiritual experiences that can only be found by studying and
practicing the "meditative" and "contemplative"
lifestyle "of early Christianity." In actuality, Renovaré
espouses the use of the early pagan traditions of guided imagery
and visualization, astral projection, "Zen" prayer
techniques for meditation (i.e., Buddhism), and Jungian psychology
(i.e., a blend of Eastern mysticism and Roman Catholic mystical
spiritual tradition, which nicely fits the New Age model), all
as means of obtaining "personal spiritual renewal"
in the lives of believers. (For a more detailed analysis of Renovaré
and the teachings of its co-directors, psychologist Richard Foster
and William Vaswig, see Media Spotlight's Special Report of March,
1992: "Renovaré: Taking Leave of One's Senses.")
- Campolo is now cozying up to Roman Catholicism. Campolo
was one of 16 writers who responded to Pope John Paul II's Crossing
the Threshold of Hope. Campolo said: "When young people
say they are looking for certainty, they do not mean they are
simply looking for proof that the doctrinal propositions set
forth by the church are true ... They want that certainty that
comes from a mystical, experiential encounter with the living
Lord ... that comes only when they can feel God permeating their
lives. They want to have the assurance of salvation that comes
when they sense that Christ is personally addressing them ..."
He said "I agree with the Pope's implication that the young
cannot be allowed to seek Christ apart from the church."
He said "the most important pastor of any church body in
the world today [is] the Pope." (Source: 12/15/97, Calvary
Contender.)
- In the Fall of 1997, a book was published titled, Renegade
Prophet? A Look at the Teachings of Tony Campolo. Here are some
excerpts from that book:
(a) Reaching out in our communities for Tony Campolo includes
participating with the American Muslim Council, the Unitarian
Universalist Association, Planned Parenthood of America's Clergy
Advisory Board, the quasi-Buddhist SEVA Foundation, the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Revolutionary Communist Party,
the Democratic Socialists of America, and Americans United for
Separation of Church and State. Preaching a complete Gospel includes
holding candlelight prayer vigils outside offending factories,
and calling on the church to help stop what he claims is the
world's grave over-population problem.
(b) The use of doublespeak includes the use of phrases and
terms that rename otherwise objectionable concepts. In Dr. Campolo's
usage, the left-wing animal rights movement becomes "creation
care." Embracing the agenda of Worldwatch Institute and
Greenpeace becomes Christian "Stewardship" of the earth.
Brutal laws such as China's one-child-per-family mandate become
"farsighted" population control strategies. Doublespeak
also works the other way. Pejorative terminology quickly denigrates
things most people would not find objectionable, such as disposable
diapers and cans of deodorant. In Tony Campolo's lexicon, using
disposable diapers or aerosol deodorant is "ecologically
sinful." Watering your lawn or consuming fuel becomes "environmental
terrorism." Preaching that homosexuals must repent becomes
"homophobia" and "gay-bashing." In fact,
Campolo says that new types of sin need to be introduced related
to environmentalism. Speaking out against the wickedness of Clinton
White House policies becomes "meanness."
(c) For the first 172 pages of How to Rescue the Earth, Campolo
presents a political action program that is merely a baptized
version of what Greenpeace and Worldwatch Institute have promoted
for years. This program involves dramatic change in the economic
infrastructure of the West and a total overhaul of our way of
life, with government serving as the great enforcer of environmentally
correct behavior. In addition, throughout the book, Campolo calls
for a new spirituality that embraces the "sacramental"
character of nature.
(d) To make his case that evangelical theology needs help,
Campolo favorably cites the teachings of a man named Pierre Teilhard
de Chardin. He writes that Teilhard represents more "modern
Christian thinking," and that we can gain inspiration from
Teilhard. He refers to Teilhard's "genius" on page
83 and on the same page insists that even "those who have
sought to refute his theories could not help but admire his genius."
He does not warn readers that anything is amiss in the teachings
of Teilhard. [Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, born in 1881, was a
Jesuit priest and philosopher as well as a geologist and paleontologist.
As philosopher, he fused Catholic doctrine and evolutionary theory
and as a result, conflicted with church authority. He is credited
for helping to lay the foundation for the modern New Age movement.
The Christ of Teilhard de Chardin is not the Christ of Scripture.
Teilhard's Christ is the cosmic christ of an emerging global
New Age spirituality. What spiritual insight can be gained from
someone who rejects the Christ of Scripture? God has made foolish
the wisdom of this world (I Corinthians 1:20). Yet, Campolo writes:
"And until we come up with some more solid alternatives,
the perspectives of St. Francis and Teilhard ought to provide
some of the inspiration for our preaching."]
(e) Concerning political activism, Campolo says, "May
we be cautious about those who would use political power to advance
the interest of religion. I'm afraid for America. I'm afraid
for its future. And what is ironic is I am afraid for America
because I fear what my fellow Christians might do." If you
heard him address the Baptist Joint Committee you would think
that he is opposed to involvement by Christians when it concerns
economics and public policy. It would be more accurate to say
that Campolo is clearly opposed to religious involvement in government
if those involved are fundamentalist Christian conservatives.
In his speech to an assembly of Marxists, homosexual activists,
abortion rights defenders, feminist theologians, and New Age
disciples, Campolo made it very clear: members of the "Religious
Right" need not apply [to his new group, Call For Renewal]
He referred to the worldview of the "Religious Right"
as "neither biblical nor Christian."
(f) Campolo believes that Christians should join together
to support Clinton: "The ball is in our court now. We can
reject Mr. Clinton's overtures and embrace the skepticism that
will only lead to destructive tensions between him and the evangelical
community. Or we can act in faith and believe that together there
is much that we can do to rekindle the spiritual fires that once
provided the dynamism of our nation. I think that we have no
other option but to take hold of his outstretched hand and ask,
'Mr. President, what can we do together?'" There are millions
of Christians who have refused to join hands with President Clinton.
They will not because the President's hands are covered with
the blood of innocent children.
(g) Concerning partial-birth abortions: President Clinton
has always outspokenly defended the killing of pre-born children
at every stage of development. Campolo states in his book 20
Hot Potatoes that he found pre-schoolers engaged in killing ants
to be "demonic." Yet, Campolo thinks that a President
who defends the law that allows abortionists to cut open a baby's
head and suck out its brains can exude the "presence of
God." The long overdue question we must ask is, which "god"
is Tony Campolo talking about?
Biblical Discernment Ministries - Revised 3/98 |