June 7, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), meeting in Orlando, Florida, March 4-6, for its 55th annual convention, demonstrated an ecumenicity which includes practically every dangerous spiritual element in Christianity. Today the NAE includes 48 member denominations, 43,000 churches from 70 denominations, 255 parachurch ministries and educational institutions. (Some of the following information is from a report on the convention by Dr. Ralph G. Colas.)

FELLOWSHIP WITH UNBELIEVING HERETICS. The president of the NAE, Donald Argue, made history by speaking last year at the National Council of Churches general assembly. Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general secretary and a divorced American Baptist clergywoman, was quoted by the press: "Dr. Argue comes with the blessing of his board, and I think this makes it more significant." Both Campbell and Argue said shared issues--from racism to pornography--have promoted new communication between their groups. The extremely radical National Council of Churches has sponsored such things as the Re-imagining conference in Minneapolis in November 1993, at which hundreds of women from various mainline denominations applauded lesbianism and worshipped the goddess Sophia. A report on this meeting is available in the O Timothy Computer Library and can be viewed at the End Times Topical Database at the Way of Life web site http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/sophia.htm .

WOMEN PREACHERS. Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, was the speaker at the annual banquet at the closing service of the convention. One of those newly elected to the board of directors was Ann Giminez, co-pastor of the ecumenical-charismatic Rock Church, Virginia Beach, Virginia. One of the busy exhibits at the convention was set up by "Christians for Biblical Equality." This radical group calls for women's ordination and rejects the Scripture texts that forbid women to serve as pastors and elders. Their statement says, "The Bible teaches that in the New Testament economy women as well as men exercise the prophetic, priestly and royal functions. Women are to be used in pastoral care, teaching, preaching and worship." Many Evangelical leaders, including Tony Campolo and Bill Hybels, have signed the Christians for Biblical Equality declaration.

EXTRA-BIBLICAL VISIONS AND VOICES. The belief that God is still giving revelation apart from the completed Bible has created confusion whenever it has reared its heretical head through the centuries. Today this belief forms a key feature of the charismatic movement, and the NAE is walking hand-in-hand with the most radical elements of this movement. At the Evangelism and Home Mission Association banquet, Dr. Bill Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), related that "God has given me the assurance that revival is coming. We Presbyterians usually do not get special revelations from God, but I did." He added that "Fifty-two years ago, when I made a profession of faith, partitions were high between denominations, but all of this has changed, because now there is a spirit of love and harmony between these denominations." When Bill Bright speaks of "revival," he is referring especially to the spirit of ecumenism and to charismatic signs and wonders.

NON-THEOLOGICAL "PROPHETS." Dr. Daniel L. Erickson led a session for men on Promise Keepers. Erickson serves as the Northwest Regional Director of Promise Keepers. He works with denominational leaders, but he said "Promise Keepers is shifting to the local church." He told the group that Promise Keepers has two million men in its data base and that it costs $1 million for each mailing. "The average man does not care about your denominations. But denominationalism is not the problem--it is sectarianism. That is why the National Association of Evangelicals is such a beautiful thing." He added "Promise Keepers is a bridge; and whether there is a denominational label it does not matter, for WE WILL HAVE RELATIONS WITH ANY DENOMINATIONS." This is an admission that Promise Keepers leaders care absolutely nothing about sound doctrine. One startling statement of Erickson was that "When BILL MCCARTNEY tries to preach it is not good, for he is not a theologian. Instead, HE IS THE PROPHETIC WORD." Erickson was admitting that PK founder Bill McCartney is biblical illiterate, but in spite of that he is considered a prophetic word. This describes the amazingly low esteem these men have of the Bible. They have exalted extra-biblical revelation to the same level as the completed and all-sufficient Word of God. Though they deny this, in practice it is precisely what they do.

SANCTIFYING THE CULTS. The National Association of Evangelicals is in the final stages of welcoming the Worldwide Church of God (WWCG) into its membership. This is the cult which was founded by the late Herbert W. Armstrong, who denied the Trinity, eternal Hell, salvation by grace alone through faith alone, and many other doctrines of the New Testament Faith. In the last three years the WWCG, under new leadership, has changed some of its doctrine to conform with traditional Christian beliefs. Its new doctrinal statement affirms the Trinity and salvation by grace alone. As a result, many Evangelicals have accepted this group as a genuine Christian denomination. We do not believe this is the case, and we have published our warnings about this group in the article "What Is Happening in the Worldwide Church of God?" This was published in O Timothy, Volume 13, Issue 4, 1996, and is available in the O Timothy Computer Library and at the End Times Topical Database at the Way of Life web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/fbns78.html . When we wrote to the Worldwide Church of God about their changes, they refused to admit that Herbert W. Armstrong was a false teacher and they claimed that they were saved all along and that they were a true New Testament church all along. My friends, this is nonsense. A person who denies the God of the Bible and who denies salvation by grace alone cannot be saved, and a man-made organization founded by a heretic is not a genuine New Testament church. The ready acceptance by today's Evangelical leaders of this "converted cult" is more evidence of their spiritual blindness.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The NAE has had a warm relationship with many Roman Catholic priests through the years, and many of its leaders have been at the forefront of the Evangelicals & Catholics Together movement which is seeking to break down biblical separation and to confuse the purity of the biblical Gospel. In April 1969, Jesuit priest Dennis Daly, director of the Sacred Heart Hour, was invited to the 27th annual convention of the NAE in Cincinnati, Ohio, to attend the NRB sessions. This same priest attended other meetings in the years which followed, and in April 1972, Priest Daly gave a major address at the 30th annual convention of the NAE. In introducing this Catholic leader, Stanley Witcanack, said, "But it's nice indeed to have Father Daly with us. He has been in a number of our meetings. He is a very fine brother! And doing a tremendous work" (D.A. Waite, What's Wrong with the N.A.E. - 1972?, report on the 30th annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals, Apr. 11-13, 1972). The NAE extended a greeting to Pope John Paul II during his September 1987 visit to America, saying they applauded his stand on moral issues and his vocal opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual activity, as well as his concern for the poor, and his efforts to promote political and religious freedom. The statement went on to say, "While we cannot accept Pope John Paul's claim to be the vicar of Christ on earth and the head of the one true church, we do believe in the spiritual unity of all true believers in Jesus Christ." In an interview with the ecumenical magazine Touchstone (Spring 1992), Jack White, former president of the NAE, said there is growing cooperation between the NAE and Roman Catholics. "There has been a broadening of our perspective. Many historic definitions no longer work in the reality of contemporary culture. We are in a culture war about the very essence of Christianity, and some of the old areas of battle [between Catholic and Protestant] or distinctives are no longer relevant."

[Ralph Colas' report on the National Association of Evangelicals 55th annual convention can be obtained from Dr. Ralph G. Colas, American Council of Christian Churches, P.O. Box 19 Wallingford, PA 19086, 610/566-8154 (voice), 610/892-0992 (fax), accc@juno.com (e-mail). If requesting the report by mail, please enclose a gift to defray the cost.]