August 02, 2000 [Distributed by David Cloud, Director of Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Copyright 2000. PO Box 510368, Port Huron, MI 48061 - (866) 295-4143 [ fbns@wayoflife.org ]. Canada: Bethel Baptist Church, 4212 Campbell St. N., London, Ontario N6P 1A6 . These articles cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites and cannot be sold or placed by themselves or with other material in any electronic format for sale, but may be distributed for free by e-mail or by print. They must be left intact and nothing removed or changed, including these informational headers. This is a listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Our goal is not devotional but is TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. http://www.wayoflife.org The End Times Apostasy Online.
More than 10,000 delegates have gathered together from 209 nations for Amsterdam 2000, the third international conference for evangelists sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The conference stated July 29 and runs through August 6. The first Graham Amsterdam conference for evangelists was held in 1983, and the second, in 1986. Graham himself was unable to attend this year's conference due to ill health, but there are three hundred other speakers, including Franklin Graham, Billy Kim of Korea, Ravi Zacharias, Chuck Colson, Luis Palau, Bill Bright, J.I. Packer, John Stott, and George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The total conference bill of $35 million is being paid by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The Graham Association is paying the expenses for roughly two-thirds of the 10,000 delegates. The sub-title of the conference is "unity in diversity," emphasizing its ecumenical thrust. No man in this generation has done more than Billy Graham to break down the walls between true and false churches.
ECUMENICAL CONFUSION Every ecumenical conference has a built-in contradiction. Ecumenists like to think that they care for doctrinal truth, but at the same time they don't want to make doctrine a cause for separation and division. That is biblically impossible. According to the Scripture, two cannot walk together unless they are agreed (Amos 3:3), yet the ecumenists believe they can do exactly that.
This is what we find at Amsterdam 2000. On the one hand, the conference leaders and speakers profess that they care deeply for doctrinal truth. For example, a "italicChristianity Today" report on the conference posted on August 1 stated that "theology and doctrinal training has dominated the first two days of the conference." A group of theologians (headed up by J.I. Packer and Timothy George of the Southern Baptist Beeson Divinity School) are drawing up a doctrinal statement which is to be released at the end of the meeting. In his messages, Packer told the evangelists, "We need to tell the whole truth. Some things we don't take as seriously as we should. . . .
There is a danger of reducing the gospel to the minimum." Yet this very same J.I. Packer is at the forefront of the Evangelicals and Catholics Together movement which calls for fellowship with the heretical Roman Catholic Church. When Packer's friend Thomas Howard (they had co-authored a book together) joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1985, Packer made the following statement in an interview with Christianity Today: "I don't think becoming a Catholic is anything like the tragedy of a person becoming a liberal ... Catholics are among the most loyal and virile brothers evangelicals can find these days" (Christianity Today, May 17, 1985). Packer endorsed Chuck Colson's 1992 book, "The Body" , which urges Evangelicals to join forces with Catholics and Charismatics and which looks upon the Catholic Church as a part of the body of Christ. Packer was a signer of the 1994 "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" statement. In a December 12, 1995, "Christianity Today" interview about this, Packer said differences about salvation and the church should not hinder Evangelicals and Roman Catholics from joint action to "re-Christianize the North American milieu." Of his participation with Evangelicals and Catholics Together he concluded, "I remain glad to endorse it." At a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, on July 31, 1998, Packer referred to Pope John Paul II as "a fine Christian man" (Take Heed Ministries, Belfast, Northern Ireland, March 1999). How can the pope be a fine Christian man when he is committed to a false gospel that is cursed of God, when he refers to himself as "the sweet Christ on earth," and when he prays to Mary as the Queen of Heaven and co-redemptress with Christ?
What confusion!
John Stott, an Anglican leader in England, is another example of this confusion. He told the conference that "ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ" and he lamented that "there is growth without depth" and "superficiality is everywhere." At the same time, he said, "We evangelicals tend to be overly dogmatic." This is the impossible and contradictory ecumenical position. It is impossible to take Bible doctrine seriously without being dogmatic. Like Packer, Stott is at the forefront of the Evangelical-Catholic movement. "Speaking to the 2000 Evangelicals attending the 2nd National Evangelical Anglican Congress in England, [April] 1977, Stott said: 'The visible unity of all professing Christians should be our goal ... and Evangelicals should join others in the Church of England in working toward full communion with the Roman Catholic Church'" (Arthur Johnston, "Battle for World Evangelism", p. 328).
"Christianity Today "for July 8, 1977, confirmed this statement. From 1977 to 1984, Stott was a key participant in the Evangelical-Roman Catholic Dialogue In Mission. One of Stott's co-workers, Michael Harper (formerly assistant curate at All Souls Church where Stott is pastor), wrote the 1977 book, "Three Sisters", which contends that the "Three Sisters Evangeline" (the Evangelicals), "Charisma" (the Charismatics), and "Roma" (the Roman Catholic Church) should be reconciled. When Pope John Paul II visited England in 1982 and was invited to participate in an ecumenical service in the Canterbury Cathedral, John Stott said, "It seemed entirely right that the united service should include a recitation of the Apostles' Creed, and so a reaffirmation of our common baptismal faith" (Malcolm Watts, "The Crumbling of Evangelicalism," Sword & Trowel, 1987).
Stott told reporters in Amsterdam that there are many things Christians should not be dogmatic about, including "baptism, church governance, spiritual gifts, and whether damned souls will be punished consciously for all eternity or eventually annihilated." The Bible speaks plainly on all of these subjects, but Stott thinks we should not make an issue of these doctrines in order to have a broad fellowship. This is open disobedience to the Bible. Paul told Timothy to keep the truth "without spot" (1 Timothy 6:13). That means even the details are important. Either doctrine is important, or it is not. If it is important, it must be held with conviction and dogmatism and it must be defended against false doctrine. A preacher must make a choice. Either he will limit his doctrine or he will limit his fellowship. He cannot believe and stand for the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) while enjoying broad-based fellowship in this apostate hour. If he intends to have broad fellowship, he must necessarily limit his concern for doctrine.
George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, is another example of the ecumenical confusion at Amsterdam 2000. Carey is the head of the Anglican and Episcopal churches, and as such he is in close fellowship with every sort of heresy and moral abomination. There are thousands of homosexual Anglicans, many of whom boldly march in public to demand their "rights." There are many homosexual "clergy" within the Anglican denominations. Many Anglican clergy deny and question the virgin birth, vicarious atonement, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have exposed this in articles that can be viewed at the Way of Life Literature web site
http://www.wayoflife.orgCarey has no business speaking to a group of evangelists who claim to be faithful to the Bible, yet he was one of the key speakers at Amsterdam. It is not surprising that Carey said that he recognizes "all Trinitarian bodies of Christ are legitimate expressions of Christ's body." That means that he believes the Roman Catholic Church is a true church of Jesus Christ. He went on to say that Evangelicals and Catholics, "have so much in common," and he encouraged ecumenical dialogue. To the contrary, the Apostle Paul said that all who preach a false gospel are cursed of God (Galatians 1), and this is true regardless of whether or not they believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.
The ecumenical philosophy says that doctrine should not cause divisions, but that is an absolute impossibility. Doctrine is supposed to divide. The pure Christian faith was delivered by inspiration through the Apostles and is recorded in the New Testament Scriptures. It is called "the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3), and God's people are told to pass it on to the next generation (2 Tim. 2:2) and earnestly contend for it until Jesus returns (Matthew 28:18-20; Jude 3). Timothy was instructed not to allow "any other doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:3). That is an extremely narrow and dogmatic view of doctrinal correctness, but that is precisely how doctrine is presented in the Bible. When doctrine is treated this seriously, though, it certainly causes divisions between those who hold opposing doctrinal views. The ecumenical position which puts unity ahead of doctrine is unscriptural disobedience, yet this is what the Billy Graham conference is promoting throughout the world.
DECEPTION ABOUT UNITY WITH ROME Since the 1950s, Billy Graham has worked closely with the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, his close relationship with Catholic Cardinal Fulton Sheen goes back to 1944. His relationship with Boston's Archbishop Richard Cushing goes back to 1950. In an interview with the Bookstore Journal, Graham said that his crusade in Boston in January 1950 was "my first real coming to grips with the whole protestant/ Catholic situation." Graham went on to say: "I began to realize that there were Christians everywhere. They might be called modernists, Catholics, or whatever, but they were Christians" (Bookstore Journal, Nov. 1991). Graham has turned thousands of his converts over to Catholic churches, has frequently praised the Pope, has accepted honorary degrees from Catholic schools, and has even stated that the mass is scriptural. I have documented all of this extensively in my book "Evangelicals and Rome"[Way of Life Literature, PO Box 510368, Port Huron, MI 48061 (866-295-4143) fbns@wayoflife.org
At Amsterdam 2000, though, the Roman Catholic connection has been kept low key because many of the evangelists from Hispanic and other Catholic-dominated countries know that Rome is a false church. When
Catholic Archbishop Adrianus Johanus of Utrecht welcomed the delegates to Amsterdam, a statement was given to those listening to the Spanish translations of the conference that Johanus' beliefs did not represent those of Billy Graham of his Association. This warning was not given to the general audience listening in English without translation. Thus, the conference leaders were attempting to make the Spanish-speaking evangelists think that the Catholic leader was not acceptable to them, that he was only invited out of courtesy and was not necessarily considered to be a sound Christian man. If Graham were honest, though, he would have admitted to the Spanish-speaking evangelists that he loves Rome and has long worked hand and hand with her, that he has often praised Catholic leaders such as the pope and the various archbishops, and that he has treated these wolves in sheep's clothing as sincere brethren in Christ.This type of duplicity has long been practiced by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. They have tried to hide their close relationship with Rome from the average evangelical supporter. This was especially true from 1950 to 1980. Since the 1980s, Graham has been more forthright in interviews to admit his love for Rome.
FEMALE PREACHERS
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is also at the forefront of promoting female preachers in direct contradiction to the Bible. His daughter Anne Graham Lotz was one of the main speakers at Amsterdam. Her message was described by a "Christianity Today" reporter as "easily the most dynamic so far." Before speaking, she prayed that God would "break down the barriers of gender." While I have no doubt that Anne Lotz is sincerely trying to serve the Lord, she is preaching in open disobedience to the Bible. She says that she does not believe that she herself should be an ordained pastor, but at the same time she supports women who are pastors. In a press conference at Amsterdam she said, "I can't blanket my position for all women. I have precious friends who are ordained pastors, and they believe God has brought them to that position. If another godly woman searches the scriptures and believes God wants her to be ordained and to be a pastor, that is between her and God. I respect their view." Earlier this year Anne Lotz spoke at the Baptist World Congress to some 1,500 women, many of whom are ordained pastors, and she did not tell these women that they were disobeying God's Word.Apparently there was no protest by the 10,000 evangelists at Amsterdam 2000 against Anne Lotz's blatant disobedience to the Scripture. 1 Timothy 2:12 says: "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." Words could not be plainer. This passage forbids the woman to do two things. It forbids her to teach men and it forbids her to usurp authority over them. The reason for this is the order of creation (1 Timothy 2:13) and the feminine nature of the woman makes her more easily deceived (1 Timothy 2:14).
Beware of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. It is using its great wealth to promote the ecumenical philosophy throughout the world. Though the Roman Catholic Church was not prominent at Amsterdam 2000, the back to Rome movement was greatly furthered by the choice of speakers such as John Stott, J.I. Packer, Chuck Colson, Bill Bright, and other men who at the forefront of Evangelicals and Rome Together. [David Cloud, Director, Way of Life Literature, PO Box 510368, Port Huron, MI 48061 - 866-295-4143 http://www.wayoflife.org
COMING FORWARD AT GRAHAM CRUSADE August 03, 2000 - [Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service. August 2, 2000 (David Cloud, Director, Way of Life Literature, PO Box 510368, Port Huron, MI 48061 - (866) 295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org ] - The following testimony was sent to me by John R. Hunt --
Some months after I was saved on June 20, 1968, I was hanging around with several of the students at Florida Bible College (F.B.C.) in Miami, Florida. I don't know if you have ever heard of Florida Bible College and the Miami Youth Ranches started by Austin Ray Stanford? He was the man who led me to Jesus Christ as my personal Savior at Miami Youth Ranch, which was the Grove community churches Youth Group.
But anyway, the subject of Graham came up sometime after that, say six or nine months later. A friend of mine, Bruce Cook, who was going to F.B.C, was talking about Billy Graham's errors. My friends Gail Healey and Meryle Tunstrell said, "We got saved at a Billy Graham meeting." Bruce stood his ground and said, "Well, you were lucky; you were real lucky; he leads 15 to 20 astray for every one he saves. I have no confidence in him he has sold out and is playing church."
Then Meryle and Gail started laughing and said, "We weren't really saved at a Billy Graham crusade. What actually happened was he preached and gave an invitation and the choir started singing 'Just as I Am'; so we both went forward and were greeted by a worker. You couldn't get to Graham." Meryle recalled that a lady said to her, "Young lady, what faith are you?" Meryle said, "Catholic." The lady said, "Great, father so-in-so will talk to you," and according to Meryle and Gail, the priest said, "What Mr. Graham was trying to say is we are all going to heaven in our own ways. You see, God is the God of all; he is the Creator of all and we are all God's children. We have the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Basically we are all God's children. Do you girls understand?" They said they guessed that they did, so the priest said, "Good, go my children and sin no more," etc., and blessed them and sent them on their way.
Thank the Lord, this spurred their curiosity and they found a Bible-believing Baptist or a true Christian, and both did get saved about a year and eight months later. So maybe we can give Billy Graham credit for planting a seed with his preaching, but we both know that if such things are going on, God is very unhappy with Billy Graham. [Your Brother in Jesus Christ, John R. Hunt hunts777@altamaha.net ]
CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: I am thankful to the Lord for every soul who has been saved through Billy Graham's ministries, and I believe many have been. Graham was partly instrument in the salvation of my wife and my mother-in-law. No other man living has had the opportunity to preach to as many souls as Graham. At the same time, because of his deep ecumenical compromise, he has broken down the walls between truth and error and has confused the very gospel that he preaches. [ David Cloud Director, Way of Life Literature http://www.wayoflife.org ]
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