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SOUTHERN PAPIST PERSPECTIVE
A Catholic Opinion Newsletter
334 Lakeshore Drive
Jackson, Mississippi 39213
July 1997
Issue 28
Ecumenical Dialogue
Vatican II ushered in a new era of conversation between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant and Orthodox churches. The release of Ut Unum Sint (Pope John Paul II's
encyclical on ecumenism) continued to seek that unity that Christ prayed for in John 17.21. Truly the will and prayer of Christ compels all believers to strive for full unity in faith and practice.
What Vatican II failed to foresee was the massive apostasy that would take place in the decades following the Council. Most mainline denominations have since splintered into two groups: One group which holds fast to their traditional faith and practice, and another which has apostatized and is no longer Christian. It is important to note that I am speaking of the denominations as a whole. Believers may still reside within the apostate denominations, as do individual apostates in the orthodox factions.
A distinction must also be made between 'heresy' and 'apostasy'. The Greek word 'hairesis' means: 'a self willed opinion contrarily substituted over submission to the power of a truth' (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). The word heresy literally means 'choice'. "Heresy takes a truth out of the organic whole, and misunderstands or denies a dogma" (Rahner, Dictionary of Theology). Heresy, strictly speaking, is 'prochoice theology'. It is a refusal to submit to revealed truth in Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Magesterium.
Apostasy, on the other hand, is to deny a truth so basic to the essence of Christianity that one ceases to be Christian. Webster's defines it as 'total desertion of one's professed principles and faith'. An apostate rejects an essential Christian truth he once professed. For example, Episcopal bishop John Spong is an apostate for advocating sodomy (a mortal sin) as acceptable Christian behavior. Bill Clinton is an apostate for promoting abortion. Fr. Richard McBrien however, is a heretic for advocating women's ordination, contraception, divorce, and the questioning of papal authority. Many 'Catholic' bishops are heretics because of their views on Scripture, the ordination of women, divorce, and contraception. There are also some bishops like Hubbard and Clark of New York, who are apostates and no longer hold any semblance of Christianity.
When one advocates murder and sexual sin as acceptable behavior, one has ceased to be Christian. When one denies the Trinity or the Deity of Christ one ceases to be Christian. The dignity of man and the Lordship of Christ are two essential elements of the faith.
In light of the denominational splits among the Protestants, the Church must reject ecumenical dialogue with apostate non-Christian groups while preserving ecumenical efforts with those who remain Christian. All dialogue with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), and the United Methodists should be suspended. These denominations say it's okay to dismember unborn babies and flush them down the sewer. The United Methodists actually house the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights in their national headquarters. All ecumenical discussion with the Episcopal Church should be suspended since they sanction not only abortion but sodomy as well. Denominations or individuals who sanction women having their babies dismembered and men engaging in anal sex with each other are no more Christian than Anton LeVay or Charles Manson.
By sanctioning sodomy and demanding priestesses, modern apostates in both the Catholic and Protestant churches are eliminating the main difference between Christianity and ancient paganism. Most of the ancient religions had priestesses and sanctioned sodomy. The Greek and Roman 'gods' themselves were often perverts. Paul's preaching to the Gentiles against homosexuality and women's ordination (1 Tim. 2.2) was anticultural and foreign to the ancient world if one reads Clement of Alexandria's Exhortation to the Heathen (189 AD) or the Didache, or any of the Fathers, one sees that the primary distinguishing characteristics of Christian practice over paganism were strict morality and monotheism. To listen to Jesus or Paul's words in the 1st century was to listen to cultural iconoclasts. By advocating that which has always been declared sinful, modern apostates have become neopagans.
In contrast to the above denominations, ecumenical dialogue should be actively pursued with Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synod Lutherans, the Wesleyan Methodists, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), traditional Anglicans (split from the Episcopal Church), and the Orthodox. While there are certainly major differences with these denominations regarding theology and practice, they have not denied the faith, and they are Christian.
It is an ironic fact that the massive sin of abortion has indirectly fostered what is probably the most important ecumenical development in the last 500 years, namely the Pro-Life movement. The fight against abortion has left no room on the fence. It has forced the hand of those who are Christian in name only, by bringing to the fore those willing to defend the least of His brethren. The Pro-Life movement, by emphasizing the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the truth of God's moral law, quickly separated the sheep from the goats. Sadly, the United Methodists, the Episcopal Church, the ECLA, and the PCUSA, are numbered among the goats, and should be dealt with as non-Christian religions. They should not even be accorded the courtesy one would extend to Buddhism, Hinduism, or Judaism which predate the revelation of Christ. No, they are Judases, betraying Christ and returning to their own vomit and wallowing in the mud. Our only involvement with these groups should be a constant call for their repentance and a return to the faith.
Let me again state that I am referring to the denominations as a whole, not individuals, or even congregations. We are living in an unprecedented age when Satan is disguised as an angel of light and difficult distinctions as to who is Christian must be made. The Southern Baptists as a whole have taken brave stands on Scriptural Inerrancy and sodomy, but their most famous preacher, Billy Graham, flip flops on abortion and their most well known politician, Bill Clinton, is a womanizer and devoted abortion enthusiast. The Catholic Church in the U.S. tolerates evil men like Ted Kennedy, Charles Rangel and Mario Coumo. It is unfortunate for us that all the apostate theologians, bishops, religious, and individuals who are trying to destroy Catholicism don't have the integrity to get out like their Protestant counterparts. Perhaps the next Pope will have the resolve to throw them out. Let us pray for their conversion first, for their departure if this fails.
In Ut Unum Sint the Holy Father lays out personal conversion, fidelity to the Scripture, and service to humanity as the basis for ecumenism. Let us strive for these in our own lives, and to pray that our leaders will have the wisdom and courage to seek only that ecumenical dialogue which has Jesus Christ and his revealed Truth as its foundation.
May the Peace of Our God the Lord Jesus Christ and the Prayers of Our dear Blessed Mother Mary be with you always.
/s/
Jack Keene
Obituary
July24, 1997. Former Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan.
Justice Brennan at long last can claim his place in history along with like minded fellows Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Vladimer the Impaler, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, etc. He joins Hitler, Stalin, and Mao in a rare group of men responsible for the deaths of over 35 million people. What a guy! I would hasten to add that like his partner in murder, Thurgood Marshall, he reversed his pro-abortion views shortly after drawing his last breath.
Forum Site Map – Keene
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