As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“However bracing or even harsh pieces like Ashenden’s can be, they tell the truth: visible unity is, if anything, even further away than when the various dialogues among and between various Christian communities began officially a century ago.” - Word by Word
“Evangelicals in Italy say the participation of an international Evangelical group in an ecumenical prayer with Pope Francis and other Christian-identified organizations was tantamount to ‘crossing a line’ that could potentially threaten Church unity around the world.” - CPost
“It still has 37 member denominations. But, like those denominations, it is a shell of its former self, with a small staff and budget. What remains of the NCC is nestled in a small suite in the Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. What happened?” - World
“In their first joint statement ever, the spiritual leaders of Christianity’s three largest denominations addressed the United Nations.” - C.Today
Also in the news: Preach Progressive Climate Policy, Ecumenical Group Advocates
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, Christians are replacing in-person events with prayer walks and drives, drive-in prayer meetings, conference calls, Facebook Live events and Zoom and Skype video gatherings, according to Dion Elmore, National Day of Prayer vice president for marketing and public relations.” - BPNews
“If Amish and Baptists singing hymns together in rural Appalachia isn’t an expression of Christian unity, Joshua Hearne says, nothing is.” - BNG
“The Way” began in Spain in 1964, but got the Vatican’s imprimatur only in 2008 under Pope Benedict XVI. It now claims more than one million adherents in 6,000 parishes worldwide, making it one of the “most important in a galaxy of new movements and associations” within Roman Catholicism. Crux
“Last month, the national evangelical alliances of Italy, Spain, and Malta—all members of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA)—wrote an 8-page open letter charging their parent organization with ‘moving away from its historic position’ of holding the line against Catholic and liberal Protestant theology.” CToday
“Megachurch pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church and California Roman Catholic Bishop Kevin Vann recently opened up about their years-long friendship and cooperation as a model for evangelicals and Catholics around the world to follow.” CPost
Adapted from Voice, Mar/Apr 2015. Used with permission. Read Part 1.
God gave this warning to Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land filled with Canaanites:
Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. (ESV, Deut. 12:30-31)
The Quran certainly does believe in replacement, not only of the Jews and Israel but also of the Messiah and His Church, replacing them with Islam’s own prophet and book. But the Bible clearly teaches: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Discussion