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“Home To Rome”
by Roger Oakland
November 1st, 2008

Over the past number of years I have been writing articles and producing radio programs in an attempt to urge evangelical Christians to wake up and see the light. Many Bible-believing Christians who were once concerned about false teaching and apostasy seem to have lost their passion for the truth and have little discernment. Instead of standing firm against unbiblical ideas and experiences, they now are promoting them

It is amazing to see the progress made in the past few years as the vast majority of churches that were once evangelical move towards an ecumenical unity with Rome. There was a time when evangelical Christians were sensitive to what makes Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholicism. Not so today. The Emerging Church Movement, along with the idea that Christian unity must happen at any cost, has opened the door for a global ecumenical movement that has no biblical boundaries.

A statement by Dwight Longenecker, a convert to Catholicism who was brought up in an evangelical home and is now the editor of The Path to Rome: Modern Journeys to the Roman Catholic Church, will help summarize what has happened over the past few decades:

While Evangelicalism and Catholicism have been traditional enemies, there are many signs on both sides of the Atlantic that a significant shift is happening in both communities. Old boundaries are dissolving, old prejudices dying out and old doctrinal disputes seem increasingly irrelevant. Together Evangelicals and Catholics are recognizing a shared social concern.

What Longenecker has stated is true. Working together for a common social cause has become the banner that has brought many evangelical Protestants together with Rome. Doctrinal differences with regard to salvation have been forgotten in order to form political alliances and programs that promise to make planet earth a better place to live in the future.

Longenecker also accurately points out that this present ecumenical phenomenon is largely the result of a plan that originated in Rome and is sanctioned by the pope. He states:

The Pope calls for all Christians to [a] profound conversion of heart in order for ecumenism to take place.…He calls Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants to move [forward] into a new reformation of the Church.…In an encyclical that should be read by all Christians, the Pope calls the whole church to join in [a] quest for a new kind of Christianity in which all Christians can once more unite.

The term “new kind of Christianity” is very familiar in light of the propaganda being promoted by Emerging Church proponents. This is exactly what Brian Mc Laren and others have been calling for. It’s the Church on the Other Side. It’sThe Secret Message of Jesus that is changing the very definition of what it means to be an evangelical.

As well, the idea that a “new reformation” is in the process of taking place is another battle cry of Emergent promoters. The Reformation was a time in church history when Christianity was led out of darkness into light. This so-called new reformation is leading Christianity out of the light back into the darkness.

In fact, this “new kind of Christianity” brought about by the new reformation is no reformation at all. It is the apostasy that the Bible warns will take place in the last days that will deceive the whole world in the name of the Jesus Christ.

But there is more! Longenecker further explains how the Roman Catholic New Evangelization program has benefited from programs implemented by “evangelical” groups and their “evangelism” programs:

While Scott Hahn, Patrick Madrid, and others work as converts to Catholicism, the Catholic Church is learning from Evangelicals in other ways. In the United States, England and Latin America, Catholics are learning how to do primary evangelism using an adapted form of the highly successful, Evangelical Anglican “Alpha” course which originates from Holy Trinity, Brompton. Through this course and other resources, modern lay Catholics are learning to understand and communicate their faith with an open-ness and zeal unheard of before.

I find this statement amazing. Before Pope John Paul II died, Nicky Gumbel, founder of the Alpha program, went to Rome and met with the pope. The pope and Gumbel agreed to a partnership to “evangelize together.” While some may believe that the Alpha program will evangelize Roman Catholics to the gospel according to the Scriptures, I can assure you that the Vatican’s idea of evangelism is to win converts to the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Jesus. The new evangelists who have made Rome their home provide all the evidence we need to prove this point.

The Jesuit program to win back the “separated brethren” to the Roman Catholic Church appears to be more successful every day. The results of the Reformation are being reversed by the “new reformation” promoted by the Emerging Church.

I’m not an alarmist; I’m a realist. I also believe Bible prophecy is inspired by God and is one hundred per cent accurate. When the Bible foretells there will be a strong delusion in the last days and that many will be deceived in the name of Christ, I take this seriously.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13