Commonality is one of the buzz words being is propagated to defend Christian ecumenism with cults and false religions. \u00a0A large number of leading Christians signed \u201cA Common Word\u201d Christian Response,<\/i> a letter urging interfaith dialogue with Muslims based on the idea of commonality. \u00a0Among the signers were, Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals, David Yonggi Cho, Founder and Senior Pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea, Brian D. McLaren, Rick Warren, Founder and Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church, and Bill Hybels, Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church. \u00a0Also, consider the following statements by leading Christians.<\/p>\n
“There is enough commonality that evangelicals and Catholics with a living faith can recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ with a common Lord and common grace that brought them together.\u201d (Beeson Divinity School founder, Timothy George)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more commonality than we realized in the way we talk about Jesus and his atoning work.\u201d (Dr. Richard J. Mouw, president emeritus of the Fuller Theological Seminary, speaking to Mormons, Utah Valley University, November 15, 2013.)<\/p>\n
Citing confusion about differences in belief systems as an issue, Mouw and other Evangelicals and Mormons have been meeting biannually for 12 years to discuss their differences and commonalities. \u00a0It really is simple. \u00a0It does not take 12 years to discover if Mormons are Christians or not. \u00a0It should be patently obvious that they are not Christians no more than Muslims are Christians. \u00a0However, even when Christians interact with Muslims commonality again appears to be a popular word.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s the place where we (Christians and Muslims) come together, in common need and common suffering, as we reach out to one another in love, leaving judgment in the hands of God, sharing out of our own faith. \u00a0I mean the last thing we are asking in those times is\u2014is your theology the same as mine?\u2014and vice-versa. \u00a0All of the sudden in the hour of suffering there is a commonality. \u00a0And that’s where we meet. \u00a0It’s in mystical spirituality and in communal mutuality that’s where we come together.\u201d (Tony Campolo in an interview with Shane Claiborne about inter-religious cooperation.)<\/p>\n
Sayyid Syeed, of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) spoke to a group of Baptists in Pasadena. \u00a0Referring to the Bible and the Quran, he said, “You are people of the book. \u00a0We are people of the book.” \u00a0He then said that Baptists and Muslims should make an effort to build on that commonality. \u00a0The next Saturday, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church, also implied unity through commonality when spoke at the ISNA convention. \u00a0I fail to see how the Quran and the Bible can be mentioned in the same breath and the result labeled commonality.\u00a0 I should point out here that Anton LaVey and his followers in the Church of Satan was\/are also people of a book, the Satanic Bible.<\/p>\n
I have read a number of statements by Evangelicals in an attempt to discover why they are seeking commonality with cults and false religions. \u00a0Some of them claim that the purpose is the unity of all religions for the common goal of peace. \u00a0Christ declared that He did not come to bring peace on the earth (Matthew 10:34-36). \u00a0Ecumenists ignore that truth, and form unbiblical peace initiatives with cults and false religions. \u00a0Further, if commonality is the key to peace between Christians and other religions and cults, why are there no scriptures supporting this tactic? \u00a0It appears that early Christians and Gnostics had some common ground, but none of the church leaders made an attempt to compromise on the ground of commonality. \u00a0The purpose of the Gospel is not peace with sinners, but salvation from sin.\u00a0 The doctrine of commonality compromises that purpose, as I will explain later in this article.<\/p>\n
Other proponents of commonality declare that they have the goal of evangelizing cults and false religions. \u00a0I can’t imagine the Mormons, Muslims, Roman Catholics, and the rest entering into dialogue with Christians whose publicly stated goal is to evangelize them unless they knew it was not true.\u00a0 I believe that they will all evangelize Christians as the Mormons do. \u00a0The truth is that commonality is not an attempt to evangelize cults and false religions. \u00a0It is nothing more than a compromise by a weak faction of Christianity that, due to heresy, has for the most part lost its exclusivity and identity.\u00a0 \u00a0Further, it no longer has the spiritual impetus to discern or the power to hold back the darkness.<\/p>\n
Commonality is a thinly disguised \u201cmany paths\u201d gospel.\u00a0 Historically, Christianity held the exclusive position that Jesus Christ was the only Way, Truth, and Life.\u00a0 The uncompromising truth is that He is the only path to God Almighty and salvation. \u00a0Commonality proponents are essentially declaring that position to be invalid, agreeing with what the cults and false religions have insisted on for centuries. \u00a0Additionally, when Christians compromise the Gospel to find common ground, they give validity to the cults and false religions. \u00a0Of course, the promoters of this ecumenism do not believe that they are compromising the Gospel. \u00a0However, when Christians make overtures to cults and false religions for peace on the ground of commonality, they give away exclusivity. \u00a0It is a statement to Mormonism, Roman Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and the rest, that Christianity no longer has the only true and living way. \u00a0Instead, it indicates that those religions also have a path to the only and true God, which denigrates the Gospel. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God’s word informs us that only Christianity has the truth, the true Gospel of reconciliation to God, and the hope of the world, Jesus Christ. \u00a0No other religions can truthfully make that claim. \u00a0Their Jesus is not our Jesus. \u00a0Paul declared individuals that preached another Jesus are accursed (Galatians 1:8-9). \u00a0To give accursed individuals equal access to salvation is to put susceptible Christians and lost individuals in jeopardy of converting to a religion that may damn their eternal souls. \u00a0Further, building an interfaith coalition with cults and false religions based on so-called commonality is not a viable method to win the lost. \u00a0It does a great disservice to souls that are bound in cults and false religions. \u00a0Christians are supposed to establish a relationship with God and call the masses to surrender to Him.<\/p>\n
The fact is that proponents of commonality also claim that in some cases the common ground in a cult or false religion is that they also have a Jesus. \u00a0For example, commonality proponents, such as Robert Mowr, have pointed out that Mormons also believe in a Jesus. \u00a0Mowr and his fellow ecumenists appear to believe that a false Jesus is equal to the true Lord and Christ Jesus, the Son of God. \u00a0Thus, a point of commonality is established. \u00a0God’s word is clear that the true followers of Christ Jesus are possessed by His Spirit. \u00a0The apostle Paul wrote that if one does not have the Spirit of Christ, then he or she does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9). \u00a0To declare the Mormon Jesus to be the same as the Christian Jesus is to declare that the spirit that originated and works in Mormonism is the Holy Spirit. \u00a0If that isn’t blaspheming the Holy Spirit, it is dangerously close to doing so.<\/p>\n
Commonality may have harsh consequences for evangelicals that appear further down the road. \u00a0For example, George Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, claims to be adamantly opposed to homosexuality. \u00a0It gives AoG ministers and members false hope that the denomination will never support homosexuality. \u00a0Consider that some of the individuals that Wood is forming commonality alliances with, and their close associates, are not so disposed. \u00a0However, what happens when Wood departs from leadership? \u00a0Reportedly, some AoG ordained ministers and membership are softening their stance on homosexuality. \u00a0Since commonality with gay-friendly individuals has already been established, will the next General Superintendent cave in to the pressure to accept homosexuality? \u00a0After all, if individuals will presently associate with cults or false religions under the covering of commonality (consider the Ruth Haley Barton debacle), disregarding the fact that Satan is the founder and the author of their destructive doctrine, accepting homosexuality seems to be a much smaller pill to swallow.<\/p>\n
True Christians must understand that homosexuality is coming upon the earth like a creeping plague and there is no stopping it.\u00a0 If we are in the last days, and the final deception and great apostasy is occurring, then the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah is here as well.\u00a0 It is not commonality that Christianity needs, but a revival of righteousness and intimacy with God.\u00a0 The Scriptures do not predict such a revival in the last days, but exactly opposite.\u00a0 Christian leaders that fraternize with cults and false religions under the heretical doctrine of commonality are prostituting themselves, and by proxy, Christianity. \u00a0In my opinion, there is no difference in what they are doing than what Israel did by fraternizing with the nations about them and accepting their gods and idols. \u00a0How can a righteous God judge and punish Israel and not do the same to American Christianity that commits the same sin? \u00a0The truth is that commonality is necessary for a one world religion to form. \u00a0That is what appears to be occurring at the present as the surge to find common ground with cults, false religions, and even homosexuals, continues to swell in Christianity. \u00a0God\u2019s word declares that there can be no communion (commonality?) of light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14). \u00a0This is a time of great darkness, of a roaring and roaming Satan, and multitudes of weak and susceptible Christians. \u00a0Guard your hearts, minds, and souls!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Commonality is one of the buzz words being is propagated to defend Christian ecumenism with cults and false religions. \u00a0A large number of leading Christians signed \u201cA Common Word\u201d Christian Response, a letter urging interfaith dialogue with Muslims based on the idea of commonality. \u00a0Among the signers were, Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paIm2N-7i","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":453,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}