AD 2000
ECUMENICAL
EVANGELISM
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A Warning!NO OTHER GOSPEL "But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now again,
If any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be ac-
cursed"--Galatians 1:8,9.God's Holy Word, the Bible, makes it very clear
that there is only one Gospel to be preached
today. Without equivocation God says that anyone
who preaches any other Gospel is under His curse.
Why? Because any other Gospel is a perversion of the
one true Gospel. So strong is the command of God
in this matter that the Holy Spirit makes it plain that
if the apostle Paul were later to bring another
gospel; or if an angel from Heaven should preach
any other Gospel, Paul himself and/or any such
angel would be under God's curse. Read carefully
Galatians 1:6-10.
The only Gospel which can save anyone is the
Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ alone. This is the only Gospel which is,
"...The power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth" (Rom. 1:16). It is the Gospel pro-
claimed throughout the New Testament including
Rom. 10:8-17; 1 Cor. 15:1-11; Eph. 2:1-10; and Titus
2:11-15 to cite only a few confirmations of this im-
portant truth.
It is the privilege and responsibility of believ-
ers to preach that one true Gospel "to every creature,"
beginning at home and reaching out to others
around the world as God makes that possible. Those
who know and have believed the Gospel, love the
Gospel and have a sincere desire to see others saved
also. Those who have no such concern for the
eternal, spiritual condition of the lost are either
terribly backslidden or have been deceived by preach-
ers of "another gospel" resulting in their being
professors of salvation rather than possessors of
eternal life.
Without question, there is a great need today
for every true believer to do everything Scripturally
possible to preach the one true, soul-saving Gospel
to as many as possible as soon as possible. Time is
running out. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
Admittedly, the need is great and urgent! However,
this Scriptural desire to evangelize the world should
never entice believers to employ unscriptural meth-
ods or form unbiblical alliances in evangelism. Yet,
that is exactly what is happening before our very
eyes as leaders from Protestant, Evangelical, Pente-
costal, Charismatic, Roman Catholic and Orthodox
churches are saying with one voice, "We must forget
our differences and all join together to evangelize
the world for Christ by the year 2000. We cannot
reach this goal alone." Such a proposal has an
understandable appeal to every Christian, until it is
examined in the light of the Scriptures.
First of all, this proposal for "all Christians" to
forget their differences and unite for the purpose of
evangelizing the world, completely ignores the fact
that Roman Catholic, Orthodox and many Protes-
tant churches preach another gospel--a false gos-
pel--a gospel which rejects salvation by grace
through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and makes
baptism and other so-called "sacraments" and good
works essential to salvation. To join hands, there-
fore, with those who preach a false Gospel is abso-
lutely forbidden by God. Christians can never ac-
complish the task of world evangelism by uniting
with those who are under God's curse. It can only be2
human reasoning, lack of spiritual discernment,
and satanic deception which have led so many
Christian leaders and others who do believe and
preach the one true Gospel, to express a willingness
to join hands with those who preach a false gospel.
In the second place, those who attempt to
justify unscriptural alliances in the preaching of the
Gospel on the basis that "it is impossible to accom-
plish the task of world evangelism in any other way,"
are flying in the face of God's strong condemnation
of those who say, "Let us do evil, that good may
come..." Romans 3:8. Satan has promoted this false
philosophy through the years. It is a
major tenet of Godless communism -"The end
justifies the means." It has been used by the Roman
Catholic church through the centuries to build its
size, wealth and power. It would be a tragedy of
greatest possible proportions if Bible-believers in
these last days were to be deceived by the same
satanic philosophy, only this time when it is applied to the
mission of world evangelism.
Many religious leaders are calling the 1990's
The Decade of Evangelism. Already the Charis-
matic-Catholic coalition called the North American Renewal Service Committee [...] was formed in the mid 1970's. Under the theme "A Congress on the Holy Spirit and Evangelism," this unscriptural coalition held three large meetings-Kansas City in 1977, New Orleans in 1987, and Indianapolis in 1990. These huge rallies brought together a veritable "mixed multitude" of Roman Catholics, Charismatics, Pentecostals, Evangelicals and Ecumenists with a goal of attaining greater "unity and power." However, such mixtures can never be justified without disobeying, ignoring or twisting the Scriptures.
Sadly, the vast majority of Christians today are in the same situation described by God in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...."They are either uninformed or are being misinformed as to the true situation concerning the apostasy and compromise of churches and denominations. They simply do not know what is really going on behind the scenes. But how could they know? Evangelical leaders such as Billy
Graham, Bill Bright, Leighton Ford, Luis Palau, and others are trying to appease those on both sides of the theological fence. To make matters worse, many fundamentalists have delayed so long in telling their people the truth, that they now remain silent for fear of losing members and support, even though the situation grows worse by the moment.
The program called AD 2000 Evangelism is unscriptural and very deceptive. While not every religious group uses this exact terminology, they all agree that it is a wonderful idea for Christians to forget their differences and work together in evangelism so that the task of evangelizing the world can be completed by the year 2000. Such words easily capture the fancy of the Church and the world, but are contrary to the Bible. God's Word says, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:11. What is more clearly an unfruitful work of darkness than the preaching of a false gospel?
It is, therefore, deplorable to realize that many evangelical and fundamental leaders who have the ears and eyes of multitudes through their publications and radio and television broadcasts, give absolutely no word of warning. In fact, they encourage their
followers to participate. [...]
[...]
"ALL CHRISTIANS SHOULD FORGET THEIR DIFFERENCES AND
JOIN FORCES TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD BY THE YEAR
2000." On the basis of this attractive proposal, we are now witnessing the greatest and most deceptive push toward ecumenical apostasy the world has ever seen. Joining hands with "all" professing Christians to fulfill the Great Commission under the banner of AD 2000 Evangelism has added appeal by the further suggestion that the world could be completely evan- gelized by such a united effort during the next decade, and that this would constitute a wonderful 2000th birthday present for Christ.
[...]The AD 2000 Ecumenical Evangelism Program is receiving un-
precedented favorable responses from those who fail to recognize the unscriptural principles upon which any such movement could possibly function. Thus, an ecumenical- evangelical steamroller is being created of unparalleled proportions. In the past, efforts by liberal ecumenical leaders to forge an unscriptural unity on the basis of "peace," "love," "social action," etc., have failed. However, it now appears that this newest tactic of Satan to produce an unscriptural, ecumenical unity through the use of "Evangelism" has a great potential for success unless God's people wake up to what
is really happening in the name of Evangelism.
Fundamental Evangelistic Association
P.O. Box 6278--Los Osos, CA 93412