The Never-Ending Push for Unity

Johnnie Moore (L) and Samuel Rodriguez (R)

This is the era of the never-ending push for Christian unity. It is evident everywhere: in the World Council of Churches, in national councils, in global and national and regional “evangelical” organizations, in city clergy associations. Unity is promoted by para-church organizations and is a major focus of evangelistic crusades. Unity is pushed by the Roman Catholic Church, by Protestants, by Pentecostals, by Charismatics, and by most Baptists. It is a major theme of contemporary worship music. It is the focus of global missions organizations. It is a principle held by most Bible colleges and seminaries. Separation has become a foreign concept to the vast, vast majority of professing Christians. Division is instinctively despised. Preachers who cause disunity by doctrinal dogmatism are considered enemies of Jesus Christ, who allegedly prayed for ecumenical unity in John 17. The latest ecumenical thrust, as if another were needed, is the formation of the Congress of Christian Leaders (CCL), a new “interdenominational body that will seek to foster unity.” Founded by “evangelical leaders” Samuel Rodriguez and Johnnie Moore, the inaugural board includes megachurch pastors Greg Laurie, Jack Graham, and Jentezen Franklin (“Greg Laurie, Jack Graham among Global Pastors Named to Board,” Christian Post, Aug. 5, 2018). The 16 leaders on the board “have collective influence exceeding many millions of Christians on six continents.” The founders state that a “key defining factor” of the CCL is that it “will not be exclusively for evangelicals.” Regardless of its popularity, ecumenical unity is contrary to the teaching of God’s Word, which forbids the unity of truth and error, light and darkness. God’s Word warns loudly and plainly of false gospels, false christs, and false spirits. It warns of end-time apostasy and spiritual deception. The unity of all denominations is heresy. It is disobedience to God and will produce a one-world “church” of the Antichrist. Those leading the unity are the blind leading the blind. It is impossible to obey the Bible and pursue Christian unity today. A clear choice must be made. Obedience to the Bible’s command to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints single-handedly destroys every type of interdenominational unity. One cannot pursue ecumenical unity while fighting enthusiastically for doctrinal purity. “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).

(Friday Church News Notes, August 10, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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