Updated August 31, 2006 (first published September 25, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The Navigators, an influential “evangelical” organization that operates parachurch discipleship programs and publishes materials through its NavPress division, has begun yoking together with the Roman Catholic Church. An e-mail sent out to Navigators field staff on September 14, 2000, made the following announcement. I have highlighted some parts in all caps.

From: alan k andrews <alan_k_andrews@navigators.org>
To: NAV_FIELD_STAFF_SUPPLEMENTAL@navigators.org
Subject: September Nexus
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 07:24:30 -0700

“Dear staff,

“What a wonderful summer I’ve had visiting some of our vital ministries across the country and celebrating major milestones here in Colorado Springs. . . . During the past decade, God has led several staff to develop ministries with Catholics, starting with the Hispanic ministry in Albuquerque in the mid 1980s. In 1993, Rich and Gail Cleveland began to experiment with Catholic ministry in Colorado Springs, AND WERE WELCOMED BY THE LOCAL BISHOP AND SEVERAL PARISH PRIESTS. RICH NOW DIRECTS THE SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY AT THE LARGEST CATHOLIC CHURCH IN COLORADO SPRINGS, leading more than 200 people each year through a three-book discipling tool, Emmaus Journey, that he’s designed especially for Catholics. This series, which INCORPORATES CATHOLIC TERMINOLOGY, THEOLOGY, AND REFERENCES while preserving Navigator values and distinctives, has been well received by Catholic leaders and laymen across the country. It’s also spun off into a web page, putting Rich in contact with individual Catholics all over the United States who are interested in evangelism, discipleship, and small groups.

“God has consistently demonstrated that He will open doors of ministry opportunity,” Rich explains, “as long as we come with a desire to help Catholics know Christ and MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THEIR CATHOLICITY. Every indication is that God is going before these ministries, opening doors, and making the rough places smooth, and that He desires Roman Catholics to participate fully with the Navigator ministry.”

“Because of the initial success of Rich’s ministry and others like it, the National Leadership Team asked Rusty Stephens to convene a special task force on ministry with Catholics. . . . The task force concluded that, for the U.S. Navigators, THERE IS ‘ROOM TO RUN’ IN MINISTERING WITH CATHOLICS AS CATHOLICS. CATHOLIC DISCIPLES CAN ENRICH THE NAVIGATOR CULTURE, particularly in the areas of devotion to Christ, care for the poor and needy, and accepting the mystery of God and His work. . . .

“IN JUNE, THE NLT AFFIRMED THE LEGITIMACY AND STRATEGIC VALUE OF MINISTRY WITH CATHOLICS. We believe the Holy Spirit is doing a new and unique work of evangelism in and through Catholic communities, and the NLT and I are excited to be a part of it.”

______________________

On April 18, 2006, I received an e-mail from Allen Johnson who is a friend of Rich Cleveland. He said:

“The objective of the Navigator ministry is not to pull Catholics away from their church but to present what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ.  You will need to reconcile yourself to the fact that there is a growing Evangelical movement in the Catholic Church. I just received a letter from Rich Cleveland and in his letter he writes, ‘I wish you could have joined me (referring to a recent weekend conference with catholic collegians and collegiate workers in Madison, WI.) to see the enthusiasm these students and leaders professed for being COMMITTED CATHOLICS WHO ARE VERY EVANGELICAL IN THEIR ORIENTATION; in the Word, sharing Christ, forming disciples, and committed to their faith.’

“Will some of these young students leave the Catholic Church and worship and fellowship under another 'label'. Perhaps, but many will remain in their church and become an agent of change where change may need to come, and multiply themselves by making true disciples that will follow Christ wherever that may take them. God is working and you can not see it.”

____________________

CONCLUDING COMMENTS FROM BROTHER CLOUD

Roman Catholics need to be reached with the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, but the Bible absolutely forbids Bible-believing Christians to yoke together with the Roman Catholic Church in the aforementioned manner. It is impossible to be faithful to the Scriptures and to the Lord’s Great Commission while at the same time making “no attempt to undermine Catholicity.” The Lord’s Commission not only commands that we preach the Gospel but that we baptize converts and “teach them all things whatsoever I have taught you” (Matthew 28:19-20). The Navigators refuse to do this.

The Catholic Church is absolutely riddled with heresies and blasphemies, such as the papacy (i.e. the pope’s claim to be the Head of all churches, the Vicar of Christ, Holy Father, etc.), the priesthood, baptismal regeneration, salvation through grace plus the sacraments, the “real presence” of the mass, intercession to and by the saints, the blasphemous Catholic doctrine of Mary, purgatory, indulgences, and Catholic tradition equal to Scripture. Not only is the modern Catholic Church riddled with traditional Catholic heresies, but large numbers of its theologians are Modernists who deny the infallible inspiration of Holy Scripture, question the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ, believe in evolution, downgrade the doctrine of Hell, etc. Even the late Pope was an evolutionist and did not believe there is fire in Hell.

Though it does not have the political clout it once had, the Catholic Church is even more unscriptural today than it was in the early 1500s when the Protestant Reformation broke out.

To preach the blessed gospel to Roman Catholics is obedience to the Lord’s command; to yoke together in ministry with the Roman Catholic Church in any fashion whatsoever is grave disobedience and confusion.

Furthermore, if the Navigators were really preaching the truth and exposing the errors of Romanism, the Catholic Church would not receive them. The Lord Jesus preached boldly against the errors of the Pharisees, and as a result He was rejected and crucified. The Lord’s apostles followed in their Master’s footsteps and boldly exposed heresies. We see this in the book of Acts as well as in practically every epistle in the New Testament. Modern evangelicals, though, have created a “positive-emphasis” Christianity that avoids doctrinal controversy and that refuses to deal plainly with error.

Beware of New Evangelicalism. It is a great error but is hidden under the guise of sheep’s clothing.

Dr. Charles Woodbridge, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in its early days, a founding member of the National Association of Evangelicals, and a friend of Evangelical leaders such as Harold Ockenga and Carl Henry, rejected the New Evangelicalism which began to rear its head in the 1950s and spent the rest of his life warning of its dangers. In his 1969 book The New Evangelicalism, he traced the downward path of New Evangelical compromise:

“The New Evangelicalism is a theological and moral compromise of the deadliest sort. It is an insidious attack upon the Word of God. ... The New Evangelicalism advocates TOLERATION of error. It is following the downward path of ACCOMMODATION to error, COOPERATION with error, CONTAMINATION by error, and ultimate CAPITULATION to error!” (Woodbridge, The New Evangelicalism, pp. 9, 15).

Each passing decade witnesses more plainly to the truth of Dr. Woodbridge’s observations.

The idea that there are “evangelical Catholics” is nonsense. If an individual believes the Bible and the gospel of the grace of Christ then he cannot believe the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and he should be honest enough to leave. There is no such thing as an evangelical Catholic.

Our 352-page book EVANGELICALS AND ROME carefully documents and exposes the error of New Evangelicalism. Way of Life Literature, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277. 360-675-8311 (voice), http://www.wayoflife.org/.

“Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 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 8-11).