August 28, 1998 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - On October 4 a formal service will be held in Chicago to mark the full communion of four liberal Protestant denominations. This will culminate a 30-year process between the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ (UCC), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Reformed Church in America (RCA).

The four denominations will not form into a new organization. The agreement means, rather, that the denominations will exchange members and ministers, and they will work more closely together in missions and education.

ELCA bishop Guy Edmiston summarized the thinking which supports the merger: "Out of our shared commitment to the Gospel, we've come together after 450 years to say, 'There is nothing that should divide us. We can be in full communion. This is a united witness we make to the world'" (Chris Herlinger, "After 30 Years, US Lutherans and Reformed Celebrate ‘full communion,’" Ecumenical News International, August 3, 1998).

Edmiston is correct in saying there is nothing which should divide these denominations. They are at one in apostasy. They are like-minded in contradicting the Word of God. The part about faithfulness to the Gospel, though, is liberal doublespeak. These liberal denominations are not faithful to the Gospel. They are filled with preachers who deny the infallible inspiration of Holy Scripture, who question and reinterpret the virgin birth, miracles, vicarious atonement, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel preached commonly in these denominations is a sacramental faith plus works gospel or a humanistic self-esteem gospel or a socio-political gospel. The United Church of Christ formally ordains homosexuals as pastors and officially allows for homosexual marriages. We have documented the apostasy of these denominations in many articles and in the entries on denominations in the Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity.

Eugene Turner, head of ecumenical relations for the Presbyterian Church USA, said that that the agreement opened the way for closer cooperation and Protestant unity within the United States and is a sign that denominational barriers between the traditional US Protestant churches are continuing to erode (Ibid.).

These ecumenical milestones bring us closer to the formation of the end-time one world "church." God’s Word warns that participation with error and apostasy makes one a partaker with it:

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).

"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 9-11).