January 29, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) –Robert Schuller is extremely influential. He is promoted not only by Modernists and extreme ecumenists and by homosexuals (leaders from the Metopolitan Community Churches attend and praise Schuller’s seminars), but also by those who claim to be Evangelical (including Billy Graham, W.A. Criswell, David Hubbard, Kenneth Chafin, R.C. Sproul, Tony Campolo, Jack Hayford, Randy Phillips, John Maxwell, Paul Crouch, John Wimber, Bill Hybels, and James Dobson).

Schuller is a great lover of the Catholic Pope and an uncritical friend of Roman Catholicism.

In 1972 Schuller "invited Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen to his pulpit and joined with Catholic bishops at their Mass at the Annual Mary’s Hour at the Los Angeles Sports Arena" (David Beale, S.B.C. House on the Sand, p. 144). That same year Billy Graham made Schuller a leader in his Anaheim Crusade. Graham said, "There is no one in all the world I love in Christ more than I do Bob Schuller. ... He has done some of the greatest things for the Kingdom of God of any man in our generation" (Ibid.).

When the Pope came to Los Angeles, California, in 1987, Schuller played the papal hoopla on his giant-sized screen for people to watch. Schuller said: "It’s time for Protestants to go to the shepherd [Pope] and say ‘what do we have to do to come home?’" (Calvary Contender, Nov. 15, 1987).

More recently Schuller made a special trip to Rome to ask the Pope’s blessing on the building plans for his Crystal Cathedral (Foundation, March-April 1990).

In Self Esteem: The New Reformation, published in 1982, Schuller said, "I found myself immediately attracted to Pope John Paul II when, upon his election to the Papacy, his published speeches invariably called attention to the need for recognizing the dignity of the human being as a child of God" (p. 17). Schuller, a universalist who teaches the Fatherhood of God, is attracted to fellow universalist John Paul II.

Schuller frequently speaks at conferences with Roman Catholic priests and bishops. He spoke at the "Washington for Jesus" rally on April 28, 1980, with priests John Bertolucci, John Randall, and Michael Scanlon. In October 1987, Schuller spoke at a Roman Catholic conference called the Jesus Day VII, in Chicago. Catholic priests Matthew Fox, John Powell, and Richard McBrien also spoke (National & International Religion Report, Sept. 21, 1987). In August 1988, Schuller participated in the ecumenical Congress ‘88, in Chicago. The Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, brought the opening address of the Congress. This faithful son of Rome was introduced as a "warm, caring, Christ-honoring, Christ-like brother" (Frank Bumpus, "New Evangelicals United with Catholics and Liberals," F.B.F. News Bulletin, Nov.-Dec. 1988).

Schuller participated in the publication of a series of books on evangelism co-sponsored by Tyndale House and the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association. The first book in the series, What Christians Can Learn from One Another about Evangelizing Adults, included articles by Schuller, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Joseph Bernardin, as well as others.

In early 1992, Schuller formed an ecumenical church network called Churches Uniting in Global Missions (CUGM). CUGM’s declaration affirms that it seeks "a spirit of unity that is truly Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical, and Charismatic."

In March 1998, Schuller visited Pope John Paul II en route to a Church Growth conference in Sicily. It was "the fourth time Schuller and the Pope had met, hand-to-hand, heart-to-heart at the Vatican" (Foundation, May-June 1998). The Pope expressed interest in how their churches could work together in the Vatican's preparation for the Year 2000 Jubilee celebrations (Calvary Contender, August 15, 1998).

Schuller reinterprets the doctrines of the Word of God to conform to his self-esteem philosophy. His Christ is a "self-esteem incarnate" Jesus who provides men with self-esteem. Schuller's gospel is the replacement of negative self concepts with positive ones. To Schuller, sin and hell are merely the loss of self-esteem. All of these errors are plainly taught in Schuller’s 1982 book Self Esteem: The New Reformation.

"Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem" (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 14).

"And what is ‘hell’? It is the loss of pride that naturally follows separation from God--the ultimate and unfailing source of our soul's sense of self-respect" (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 14).

"To be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image--from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust" (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 68).

"Jesus never called a person a sinner" (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 100).

"Christ is the Ideal One, for he was Self-Esteem Incarnate" (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 135).

To Schuller, the greatest evil is to call men sinners in a biblical fashion and thereby injure their self-esteem. In an article in Christianity Today, October 5, 1984, Schuller said, "I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and, hence, counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition."