December 26, 1998 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Meeting for the first time to discuss the cause of their long-standing separation, Mennonites and Roman Catholics opened formal dialogue October 14-18 in Strasbourg, France. The meeting, sponsored by the Mennonite World Conference and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was titled "Toward a Healing of Memories." The Mennonite World Conference News Service announced that the goal was to "emphasize reconciliation rather than doctrinal differences" (The Mennonite, Nov. 10, 1998, p. 11).

Members of the Mennonite delegation were Neal Blough, professor, Mennonite Study and Conference Centre, St. Maurice, France; Helmut Harder, general secretary of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, Winnipeg; Mario Higueros, dean, Seminario Anabautista Latinoamericano, Guatemala City; Andrea Lange, pastor, Weierhof (Germany) Mennonite Church; Howard J. Loewen, academic dean, Fresno (Calif.) Pacific University; Nzash Lumeya, dean and professor, University Centre for Missiology, Kinshasa, Congo; Larry Miller, executive secretary, Mennonite World Conference. Catholic members of the dialogue included Peter Nissen, professor, Netherlands; Jean Seguy, sociologist of religion; and Bishop John Martino of Philadelphia.

Papers presented at the conference claimed that anabaptists emerged in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation (called the "Radical Reformation" in dialogue papers). This is a revision of history, because anabaptists existed centuries earlier. "Anabaptist" simply means to "baptize again" or to "re-baptize." The term was a derogatory label given by the Roman Catholic Church to Bible-believing Christians who practiced believer's baptism and refused to accept Rome's unscriptural sacramental "baptism." Rome said they were re-baptisers, but in reality they were not re-baptising, because Rome's "baptism" was not legitimate. They were not practicing re-baptism; they were practicing believer's baptism. As early as the third and fourth centuries after the death of the apostles, the Donatists were labeled "rebaptizers" by Rome, but the Donatist leaders argued that they believed in only one baptism--one scriptural baptism. Donatist Pastor Petilian stated: "He who accuses me of baptizing twice, does not himself truly baptize once. ... The apostle Paul says there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; this one baptism we openly profess, and it is certain that they who think there are two, are insane" (David Benedict, History of the Donatists, 1875, p. 49). (Benedict labored for 10 years on his history of the Donatists, working largely from Latin texts of that era.) The Donatists were persecuted at the instigation of "church father" Augustine.

Mennonite World Conference executive secretary Larry Miller said, "I think the fundamental reason [for the dialogue invitation from Rome] is that the Catholic Church cares theologically and deeply about the unity of the church. The leaders of the Pontifical Council really believe that it is the will of Christ that his disciples seek better relations, that division among Christians is a stumbling block to the world."

The Roman Catholic Church claims to be the one true church of Jesus Christ, and its ecumenical endeavors are an attempt to woo the "separated brethren" back into the fold. This is openly admitted in the Vatican II documents.

Steps leading to the formation of the end-time one-world harlot "church" continue apace.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).