Welcome to this edition of the Shofar Journal. For those who do not know, this particular blog features articles of interest to those in military ministry. One of the common misconceptions from those outside the military is the belief that a Chaplain has to compromise their belief system if they want to work for the government. While some Chaplains may forget their calling and the God they serve in order to be politically correct, there are some who serve God and country with a whole and pure heart and never waver from the truth as found in the Bible, "once delivered to the saints."
Here at the AGC, we have been faithful to the Gospel of Christ from it's very inception. Thanks in part of the work of our founder Dr. Garmen. In this month's main feature, we will go down memory lane and present part of a featured speech from Dr. Garmen at the 1976 "Congress of Fundamentalists" held in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a visionary, Dr. Garmen correctly called out some sinful errors of others which have found a home in our modern society (see his comments on #6). While we work peaceably with all when possible, we do stand for certain spiritual truths and respectfully disagree with others when it is necessary. While society may tolerate it, our Lord never changes, for "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb 13:8).
Fearful Objections to the Ecumenical Movement:
An extract from an address to the World Congress of Fundamentalists, Congress
in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1976 (Longtime AGC President Dr. W.O.H.
Garman was a leader at this large 1976 meeting)
Fundamentalists have some serious objections to ecumenism that cause them to
fear this movement. Let us consider these briefly:
1. Their attack upon the orthodox Faith.
Since the ecumenical movement is so society-oriented, we would expect them
to be attacking the evils of the day: immorality, pornography, homosexuality,
crime and marijuana addiction, but instead we find them in an all-out war
against the Faith of our fathers. Every major doctrine of the faith is under
attack. Fundamentalists find it hard to get over the shudder they feel when
unbelief is expressed. For example, the late Bishop James A. Pike said:
"The kind of God, I first believe in, who, would limit salvation to a
select group of people who happened to have heard the news and heard it well,
is an impossible God. As to this God, I am now an atheist:"
If the Trinity were to be elected by a democratic ballot from among the sons
of men, we believe that twentieth century man would have elected Albert
Schweitzer to that exalted dignity. Yet, Albert Schweitzer, the brilliant
theologian and musician who gave himself to a life in Medicine in Africa,
defended his atheism this way: "Here I dare say that the ethical religion
of love can exist without the belief in a world ruling divine personality which
corresponds to such an ethical religion." This was quoted in a Christian
Century article of April 7, 1976 (p. 332) by Dr. Jackson Lee Ice, who
observed of this one who is venerated by so many religious leaders: "If by
God is meant the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, Who redeems His
children by the atonement and sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ according to
the predestined plan of salvation revealed in the Bible and ascribed to by the
Christian churches, then the answer obviously is No - Schweitzer does not believe
in God."
The Bible tells us: "Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is
good." Believers in Christ would be forced to surrender their convictions
if they joined the ecumenical movement. This they cannot do.
2. Their rejection of absolute truth.
With the pervasive influence of modern existential philosophy and theology
we find ecumenical leaders going along with the theory that absolute truth does
not exist, and if it does we have no possibility of understanding it. There is
no such thing as truth and error, good and evil, right and wrong, clean and
unclean, precious and the vile. The present wave of occult systems from the
East certainly do not help by telling us that if we can get back far enough in
our mental awareness through process of meditation or what have you, that
backstage we will find that Christ and Satan are both friends, truth and error
are all one. Isaiah 5:20 puts it straight: "Woe unto them that call evil
good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that
put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." A grand text which rebukes
the doctrinal relativity today is Ezekiel 44:23, "And they shall teach my
people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to
discern between the clean and the unclean."
3. Their repudiation of the authority of the Word of God.
Speaking at the National Council of Churches meeting in Miami, NCC official,
Dr. Willis E. Elliott made some shocking statements, about the Bible and then
defended them in a letter to Christianity Today (3-3-67) by saying,
"I consider adherence to one who thinks my paper does not . . . My Miami
speech was simply a spelling out of this conviction . . . Anyone who thinks my
paper does not reflect an authentic ecumenical view has a romantic notion of
'ecumenical' . . . But hatred for the doctrine of the perfect book is very
strong in a large segment of ecumenical leadership, and I can hardly be
considered irresponsible, and ecumenically unauthentic in voicing this
hatred." The authority of Scripture has but one value to them and that is
to support their drive toward the one world church. Fundamentalists insist upon
placing His Word where it belongs as we read in Psalm 138:2, "I will
worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and
for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."
4. Their espousal of syncretism.
Ecumenists cannot get over the call of Harnack who said: "Get rid of
the excess doctrinal baggage and we shall move more quickly toward the one
great united church." (Presbyterian Life 11-5-66, p. 35).
Syncretism is the drive toward a one world faith, by assimilating the good
elements of all religious systems. This movement has even alarmed a New
Evangelical like Dr. Clyde Taylor who said, "These disciples of syncretism
are busily tearing down the walls that separate the various faiths. Many would
like to see one religion incorporating the [16] followers of Christ,
Moses and the Pope by simply minimizing or overruling the differences . . . It
seems to forget that our Lord found it necessary to protest against the errors
of the Pharisees, and that Paul protested forcibly when Judaistic legalism
threatened the New Testament Church. It also forgets the protests of the
reformers against the enshrinement of religious externals to the loss of
personal faith in Christ." (Christian Heritage, June 1959).
5. Their acceptance of revolutionary Marxism.
We couldn't believe it when we were told that Marxist thought had penetrated
the Church. We were shocked when we realized that socialism was taught in every
ecumenical seminary as being synonymous with the kingdom of God. We were bowled
over when we realized that the 13 Christian Union universities of China
supported by the ecumenical funds from the West, were instrumental in turning
the minds of young China towards Communism. We still can't believe that the
Marxist-Christian dialogue is now respectable in ecumenical circles. We are
amazed when we realize how bold the new Liberation theology coming from ecumenical
leaders of Latin America is, and so open about its espousal of Marxian
revolution, and how the new theologies coming out of the liberal thought
centers of Germany and Europe are preparing the minds of the church leaders to
accept Communism as the wave of the future. The continued use of World Council
of Churches Mission funds to finance the terrorist gangs of the black continent
particularly makes it utterly impossible for Fundamentalists to think kindly of
the ecumenical movement.
6. Their acceptance of the New Morality.
The showing of the film "Another Pilgrim" at the WCC meeting in Uppsala,
Sweden, in 1968, highlighted the debauchery of the ecumenical movement as it
pictured a minister removing his clothes before his people. The showing of the
film, "The Parable" by ecumenical elements at the New York's world
fair, depicting Jesus as a clown is but another evidence of the moral
bankruptcy in relation to the One Who is revealed as "holy, hardness,
undeviled and separate from sinners." The truth is that the ecumenical
movement is not interested in the moral degradation of our times. Instead they
allow a church to enjoy good and regular standing, and a minister as well, in
the United Methodist Church, which gave several thousand dollars of benevolent
funds to a group of prostitutes in order that they could organize a
prostitute's union. The present agony in several denominational groups is due
to the ecumenical drive to make respectable the homosexual life-style, not only
for church membership but also to allow them ordination to the ministry of the
Word of God. -
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