ECUMENISM
FLOWS FROM THE PUTRID WATERS OF INDIFFERENCE
Ecumenism
ECUMENISM IS A THREAT TO THE VERY LIFE OF THE ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC CHURCH____________________________________________________________
"THOSE WHO PROMOTE ECUMENISM AND INTER-FAITH WORSHIP SUFFER FROM SPIRITUAL SCHIZOPHRENIA" Bishop +Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B. AUTHOR: BISHOP BRIAN J. KENNEDY, O.S.B.HOLY TRINITY CELTIC ORTHODOX CHURCHamdg@bex.net
6
And 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 of us.
(2
Thessalonians 3:6)
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 as head of this one, 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.