Ecumenism – The Heresy Of Our
Times
Bishop Brian J. Kennedy,
O.S.B.
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ECUMENISM IS A FORM OF SPIRITUAL FRAUD.Author: Bishop Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B. "THOSE WHO PROMOTE ECUMENISM AND INTER-FAITH WORSHIP SUFFER FROM SPIRITUAL SCHIZOPHRENIA" Bishop +Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B. Through endless bureaucratic pronouncements, an intense advertising campaign and aberrant educational propaganda, some church leaders in the East and in the West have created an ideological atmosphere under which the faithful and some parish Priests feel immense pressure to reject dogmatic truth as the governing principal in favor of Ecumenism and inter - faith syncretism. This has weakened the truth commitment among clergy and faithful alike. The specific effect is dogmatic relativism and the privatization of religious truths and traditional standards of morality. Dogmatic relativism, that in truth is a liberal pathology, has served to create a 'new' church and prepare the way for a one world church. Ecumenism has given us the idol of pluralism which has replaced the absolute Divine truth as handed down from Jesus Christ through the Apostles. CHRIST ALONE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. APART FROM JESUS CHRIST THERE IS NO TRUTH, THERE IS NO LIFE. The 19th century French political thinker and historian, Alexis De Tocqueville, said " It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth." The 'simple lie' is all good people go to heaven. The 'complex truth' is the righteousness (goodness) of man is as a filthy menstrual rag before God. (Isaiah 64; 6-7) The 'righteous' or 'good' people who go to heaven are those whose 'righteousness' (goodness) is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, no man is righteous or good before God. (Romans 3:26) There is a subtle psychological and spiritual conditioning by many modern churchmen that De Tocquevile would term 'soft' totalitarianism. This unseen tyranny is a non-violent, non-coercive governance that the Ecumenist employs to reshape and reinvent the church. The Christian Church founded on the Apostles is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The church is 'one' because the church has only one faith, order and worship received directly from Jesus Christ. This one faith, order and worship makes the church 'holy' because Jesus, who is God, is the single source of this faith, order and worship. The church is 'catholic' because the faith, order and worship of the church has universal application for all times and places and is "cut from the whole" as delivered by Jesus Christ to the Apostles. The church is Apostolic because the faith, order and worship is the same as that received by and handed down from the Apostles under the governance and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The tyranny of Ecumenism would seek to redefine the 'church' and remove the Apostolic Mandate to retain the faith, order and worship as received from Christ and taught by the Apostles and the early church catholic. Where ever you have a Bishop with tactile succession from the Apostles in an unbroken succession and with the apostolic faith, order and worship in an unbroken line of succession, there you have the church. Put another way, where the faith, order and worship of the church are not present the church is not present. The heresy of Ecumenism would seek to create a one world church with various faith structures and various forms of worship. The Ecumenist is not concerned that there is not any common teaching as to who is Jesus Christ and holds differing views as to Christ's claim to divinity. Modernist and Ecumenical Ethnic Orthodox and Roman Catholics gather together with Moslems, Buddhist and other pagans in a joint worship service. Who is it they are jointly worshipping? Is this from the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth or is this from some other spirit? Those who hold to the faith, order and worship of the church from the time of the Apostles will continue to be isolated in the hope we will disappear from the face of the earth. That won't happen as Christ promised the gates of hell will not prevail against His church. I believe, one day, there will be a one world church who will be the womb of the Anti-Christ who will sit in Vatican City universal church. The remnant of the true church will continue to exist and retain the faith, order and worship of the Apostles even if we live in a larger society that publicly repudiates these transcendental truths.
By
Bishop George Hay (1729-1811) Q.
What are those laws which prohibit this in general? A.
They are principally these following: (1)
The first is grounded upon the light in which all false religions are
considered in the Holy Scripture; for there we are assured that they arise from
false teachers, who are called seducers of the people, ravenous wolves, false
prophets, who speak perverse things: that they are of the anti-Christ, and
enemies of the cross of Christ; that, departing from the true faith of Christ,
they give heed to the spirits of error; that their doctrines are the doctrines
of devils, speaking lies; that their ways are pernicious, their heresies
damnable, and the like. In consequence of which, this general command of
avoiding all communication with them in religion is given by the apostle:
"Bear not the yoke together with unbelievers; for what participation hath
justice with injustice? or what fellowship hath light with darkness? and what
concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the
unbelievers? or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are
the temple of the living God." (2 Cor. 6:14) Now
it is the true religion of Jesus Christ, the true doctrine of His gospel, which
is justice and light; all false doctrines are injustice and darkness; it is by
our holy faith that we belong to Christ, and are temples of the living God; all
false religions flow from the father of lies, and make those who embrace them
unbelievers; therefore all participation, all fellowship, all communication
with false religions, is here expressly forbidden by the Word of God. We have
seen above 2 that we are obliged to love the persons of those who are engaged
in false religions, to wish them well, and to do them good; but here we are
expressly forbidden all communication in their religion — that is, in their
false tenets, and worship. Hence the learned and pious English divines who
published at Rheims their translation of the New Testament, in their note upon
this passage, say: "Generally, here is forbidden conversation and dealing
with unbelievers in prayers, or meetings at their schismatical service, or
other divine office whatsoever; which the apostle here uttereth in more
particular terms, that Christian people may take the better heed of it." (2)
The next general command to avoid all religious communication with those who
are heretics, or have a false religion, is this, — "A man that is a
heretic, after the first and second admonition, AVOID; knowing that he that is
such a one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own
judgment." (Tit. 3:10) Here
we see another general command to avoid all such — that is, to flee from them,
to have no communication with them. But in what are we commanded to flee from
them? Not as to their persons, or the necessary communications of society; for
then, as the same holy apostle says upon a similar occasion, "You must
needs go out of the world." [1] Cor. 5:10) Not as to the offices of
Christian charity; for these we are commanded by Christ himself, in the person of
the good Samaritan, to give to all mankind, whatever their religion be:
therefore, in the most restricted and limited sense which the words can bear,
the thing in which we are commanded to avoid them is in all matters of
religion; in that in which they themselves are subverted and sin; in things
relating to God and His service. In these they err, in these they are
subverted, in these they are condemned; therefore in these we must avoid them. (3) A third general command on this subject
is manifestly included in this zealous injunction of the apostle: "We
charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw
yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the
tradition which they have received from us." (2 Thes. 3:6) In this
passage, all the different sects of false religions are particularly pointed
out; for, however they may differ in other respects they generally agree in
this, of rejecting the Apostolic traditions handed down to us by the Church of
Christ; all such the apostle here charges us, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to avoid — to withdraw ourselves from them. Now it is evident that the
most limited sense in which this command, so warmly laid on us by the apostle,
can be taken, is to withdraw ourselves from them in everything relating to
religion, — from their sacraments, prayers, preachings, religious meetings, and
the like. It is in these things that they "do not walk according to the
tradition received from the apostles". In these things, then, we are here
commanded, in the name of Christ Himself, "to withdraw ourselves from
them". Seeing,
therefore, that the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of this holy apostle, has so
often, and in such strong terms, forbidden all manner of fellowship in religion
with those who are out of His holy Church, let us not be deceived by the
specious but vain sophistry of cunning men, who lie in wait to deceive; let us
not offend our God, by transgressing these His express commands, by joining in
the prayers or going to the meetings of such as are separated from His holy
Church, lest He should withdraw His holy grace from US, and as we expose
ourselves to the danger, leave us to perish in it. Let
us hear and follow the advice and command of the same holy apostle: "As
therefore ye have received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk ye in Him; rooted and
built up in Him, and confirmed in the faith; as also ye have learned, abounding
in Him in thanksgiving. Beware lest any man impose upon you by philosophy and
vain deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of
the world, and not according to Christ." (Col. 2:6) Wherefore, to all
those arguments which may be brought from human, worldly, or interested
motives, to induce us to join in or to partake of any religious duty with those
of a false religion, though in appearance only, we ought to oppose this one, —
"God has expressly forbidden it, therefore no human power can make it
lawful." PARTICULAR LAWS OF GOD
FORBIDDING ALL COMMUNICATION Q.
What are the particular laws on this subject? A.
In the three general commands above mentioned, God Almighty speaks, by the
mouth of His holy apostle, as Lord and Master, and lays His orders upon us
absolutely. In what follows, He unites the merciful Savior to the Sovereign;
and whilst He no less strictly commands us to avoid all religious communication
with those who are separated from His holy Faith and Church, He at the same
time condescends to engage our obedience, by showing us the strongest reasons
for it. (1)
"Beware of false prophets", says our blessed Master, "who come
to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves".
(Mat. 7:5) Here Jesus Christ commands His followers to "beware of false
prophets" — that is, to flee from them, to be on their guard against them;
and He adds this powerful motive, "Lest ye be seduced and ruined by
them"; for, whatever appearance of godliness they may put on, though they
come to you in the clothing of sheep, yet within they are ravenous wolves, and
seek only to slay and to destroy. To
the same purpose He says in another place, "Take heed that no man seduce
you; for many will come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and they will seduce
many." (Mat. 24:4) "And many false prophets shall arise and seduce
many." (ver. 2) Here He foretells the cunning of false teachers, and the
danger of being seduced by them, and commands us to take care of ourselves,
that such be not our fate. But
how shall we escape from them? He afterwards tells us how: do not believe them,
have nothing to do with them, have no communication, with them.
"Then", He says, "if any man shall say, to you, Lo, here is
Christ, or there, do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive
even the elect. Behold. I have told it you beforehand. If therefore, they shall
say to you, Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out; behold he is in the
closet, believe it not." (Mat. 24:23) Can
there be a more powerful reason to enforce the observance of His command, or a
stronger motive to induce His followers to have no religious communication with
such false teachers? Many will be certainly seduced by them; and so will you,
if you expose yourself to the danger. (2)
St. Peter, considering the great mercy bestowed upon us by the grace of our
vocation to the true faith of Christ, says, that it is our duty to
"declare the praises and virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness
into His admirable light". (1 Pet. 2:9) St. Paul also exhorts us to
"give thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of
the lot of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His beloved Son."
(Col. 1:12) Where it is manifest that as the true Faith of Jesus Christ is the
only light that conducts to salvation, and that it is only in His Kingdom —
that is, in His Church — where that heavenly light is to be found, so all false
religions are darkness; and that to be separated from the Kingdom of Christ is
to be in darkness as to the great affair of eternity. And indeed what greater
or more miserable darkness can a soul be in than to be led away by seducing
spirits, and "departing from the faith of Christ, give heed to the
doctrine of devils". (1 Tim. 4:1) St. Paul, deploring the state of such
souls, says that they "have their understandings darkened, being alienated
from the life of God, through the ignorance: that is in them, because of the
blindness of their hearts". (Eph. 4:18) On
this account the same holy apostle exhorts us in the most pressing manner to
take care not to be seduced from the light of our holy Faith by the vain words
and seducing speeches of false teachers, by which we would certainly incur the
anger of God; and, to prevent so great a misery, He not only exhorts us to walk
as children of the light in the practice of all holy virtues, but expressly
commands us to avoid all communication in religion with those who walk in the
darkness of error. "Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of
these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief; be ye not,
therefore, partakers with them. For ye were theretofore darkness; but now light
in the Lord; walk ye as the children of the light, . .
. and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness". (Eph.
5:6) Here,
then, we have an express command, not only not to partake with the unfruitful
works of darkness — that is, not to join in any false religion, or partake of
its rites or sacraments — but also, not to have any fellowship with its
professors, not to be present at their meetings or sermons, or any other of
their religious offices, lest we be deceived by them, and incur the anger of
the Almighty, provoke Him to withdraw His assistance from us, and leave us to
ourselves, in punishment of our disobedience. (3)
St. Paul, full of zeal for the good of souls, and solicitous to preserve us
from all danger of losing our holy Faith, the groundwork of our salvation,
renews the same command in his Epistle to the Romans, by way of entreaty,
beseeching us to avoid all such communication with those of a false religion.
He also shows us by what sign we should discover them, and points out the
source of our danger from them: "Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them
who cause dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have
learned, and to avoid them; for they that are such serve not Our Lord Christ,
but their own belly, and by pleasing speeches and good words seduce the hearts
of the innocent". (Rom. 16:17) See
here whom we are to avoid — "those that cause dissensions contrary to the
ancient doctrine"; all those who, hating, left the true Faith and doctrine
which they had learned, and which has been handed down to us from the beginning
by the Church of Christ, follow strange doctrines, and make divisions and
dissensions in the Christian world. And why are we to avoid them? Because they
are not servants of Christ, but slaves to their own belly, whose hearts are
placed upon the enjoyments of this world, and who, by "pleasing speeches
and good words, seduce the hearts of the innocent" — that is, do not bring
good reasons or solid arguments to seduce people to their evil ways, so as to convince
the understanding, for that is impossible; but practice upon their hearts and
passions, relaxing the laws of the gospel, granting liberties to the
inclinations of flesh and blood, laying aside the sacred rules of mortification
of the passions and of self-denial, promising worldly wealth, and ease, and
honors, and, by pleasing speeches of this kind, seducing the heart, and
engaging people to their ways. (4)
The same argument and command the apostle repeats in his epistle to his beloved
disciple Timothy, where he gives a sad picture, indeed, of all false teachers,
telling us that they put on an outward show of piety the better to deceive,
"having an appearance, indeed, of godliness, but denying the power
thereof;" then he immediately gives this command: "Now these avoid:
for of this sort are they that creep into houses, and lead captive silly women
laden with sins, who are led away with divers desires"; and adds this sign
by which they may be known, that, not having the true Faith of Christ, and
being out of His holy Church — the only sure rule for knowing the truth — they
are never settled, but are always altering and changing their opinions,
"ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth";
because, as he adds, "they resist the truth, being corrupted in their
mind, and reprobate concerning the Faith". (2 Tim. 3:5) Here
it is to be observed that, though the apostle says that silly weak people, and
especially women, are most apt to be deceived by such false teachers, yet he
gives the command of avoiding all communication with them in their evil ways,
to all without exception, even to Timothy himself; for the epistle is directed
particularly to him, and to him he says, as well as to all others, "Now
these avoid", though he was a pastor of the church, and fully instructed
by the apostle himself in all the truths of religion; because, besides the
danger of seduction, which none can escape who voluntarily expose themselves to
it, all such communication is evil in itself, and therefore to be avoided by all,
and especially by pastors, whose example would be more prejudicial to others. (5)
Lastly, the beloved disciple St. John renews the same command in the strongest
terms, and adds another reason, which regards all without exception, and
especially those who are best instructed in their duty: "Look to
yourselves", says he, "that ye lose not the things that ye have
wrought, but that you may receive a full reward. Whosoever revolteth, and
continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in
the doctrine the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any man come to you
and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, nor say to him,
God speed you: for he that saith to him, God speed you, communicateth with his
wicked works". (2 John, ver. 8) Here,
then, it is manifest, that all fellowship with those who have not the doctrine
of Jesus Christ, which is "a communication in their evil works" —
that is, in their false tenets, or worship, or in any act of religion — is
strictly forbidden, under pain of losing the "things we have wrought, the
reward of our labors, the salvation of our souls". And if this holy
apostle declares that the very saying God speed to such people is a
communication with their wicked works, what would he have said of going to
their places of worship, of hearing their sermons, joining in their prayers, or
the like? From
this passage the learned translators of the Rheims New Testament, in their
note, justly observe, "That, in matters of religion, in praying, hearing
their sermons, presence at their service, partaking of their sacraments, and
all other communicating with them in spiritual things, it is a great and
damnable sin to deal with them." And if this be the case with all in
general, how much more with those who are well instructed and better versed in
their religion than others? For their doing any of these things must be a much
greater crime than in ignorant people, because they know their duty better. Q.
These laws are very clear and strong; but has the Christian church always
observed and enforced the observance of them? A.
The spirit of Christ, which dictated the Holy Scriptures, and the spirit which
animates and guides the Church of Christ, and teaches her all truth, is the
same; and therefore in all ages her conduct on this point has been uniformly
the same as what the Holy Scripture teaches. She has constantly forbidden her
children to hold any communication, in religious matters, with those who are
separated from her communion; and this she has sometimes done under the most
severe penalties. In the apostolical canons, which are of very ancient
standing, and for the most part handed down from the apostolical age, it is
thus decreed: "If any bishop, or priest, or deacon, shall join in prayers
with heretics, let him be suspended from Communion". (Can. 44) Also,
"If any clergyman or laic shall go into the synagogue of the Jews, or the
meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed, and
deprived of communion". (Can. 63) So
also, in one of her most respected councils, held in the year 398, at which the
great St. Augustine was present, she speaks thus: "None must either pray
or sing psalms with heretics; and whosoever shall communicate with those who
are cut off from the Communion of the Church, whether clergyman or laic, let
him be excommunicated" The
same is her language in all ages; and in this she shows herself to be the true
mother, who will not suffer her children to be divided. She knows her heavenly spouse
has declared that "no man can serve two masters; we cannot serve God and
Mammon;" and therefore she must either have them to be hers entirely, or
she cannot acknowledge them as such. She knows His holy apostle has protested
that there can be no "participation, no fellowship, no concord, no pact,
no agreement between the faithful and the unbeliever;" and therefore she
never can allow any of her faithful children to have any religious
communication with those of a false religion and corrupted Faith. HISTORY
OF ORTHODOX – CATHOLIC RELATIONS (AN AID TO BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE
ULTIMATE GOAL OF ROME THROUGH ECUMENISM) http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/vatican.html Footnotes: 1
-2. The Sincere Christian pp. 474 -533, JJaammmes Duffey and Son, Dublin HOME PAGE http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/
IN RELIGION WITH THOSE OF A FALSE RELIGION
WITH FALSE RELIGIONS, AND ASSIGNING REASONS FOR IT
