This was brought to my attention several weeks ago when a friend of mine was talking to me about his internship under Pastor Steve Overman of Eugene Faith Center (foursquare church). He was telling me about his curriculum and let out that it came from the pope. I began to research the mater and found that Pastor Overman was part of the "International Roman Catholic Pentecostal Dialogue."

"The goal of the Dialogue is a deepening of mutual understanding and respect between the two communities, and not organic or structural unity. The discussions were typified by an attitude of candor and trust. Each day was opened and closed with periods of devotions led alternatively by members of the two teams."

"This year’s discussion was hosted by the Roman Catholic team who invited the Pentecostals to worship with them"
-- http://www.pctii.org/news/99rcpent.html

Why would any bible believing Christian pray and worship the Catholic God?

"Co-Chairs of the Dialogue are Rev. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. (Assemblies of God, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California) and Rev. Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B. (St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA)."

"Other Pentecostal participants included: Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns (Church of God, Cleveland, TN, USA) who was asked to serve as co-secretary; Rev. Jackie Johns (Church of God, Cleveland, TN, USA); Rev. Francois Moller (Apostolic Faith Mission, South Africa): Ms. Marta Palma (Iglesia Mision Pentecostal, Chile); Rev. Raymond M. Pruitt (Church of God of Prophecy, USA). The Rev. Gary Matsdorf (International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, USA) attended as an observer."
--http://www.pctii.org/news/99rcpent.html

Here is pastor Overman:

"* Rev. Steve Overman

International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

Eugene, Oregon, USA

1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997"-- http://home.hetnet.nl/~stucom/document/0002uk.htm


These are some heavy hitting protestant churches involved in this. These protestant groups make up the “World Council of Churches.” Let’s continue to explore the nature of this “dialogue” as well as the agenda of the World Council.

LIST OF THOSE ATTENDING ASSISI PEACE CONFERENCE
VATICAN, (CWNews.com) - The Italian daily newspaper Avvenire has published a list of the religious leaders expected to participate in the January 24 inter-religious observance at Assisi.

Avvenire reported that 33 cardinals are expected, led by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano; the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re; the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan; the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper; and Cardinal Etchegaray, who organized the original inter-religious ceremony in Assisi in 1986. Also present will be representatives of the episcopal conferences of Algeria, Angola, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sudan-- countries where inter-religious dialogue is particularly important.

The Orthodox churches of the world will send 11 patriarchs to Assisi, led by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. But no representative of the Moscow patriarchate is expected.

About 50 Islamic leaders will attend, coming from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, the Philippines, and Jordan. And Jewish rabbis will come from Jerusalem, France, and the United States-- along with Elio Toaff, the former chief rabbi of Rome.

Protestant bodies will be represented by Konrad Kaiser, the secretary-general of the World council of Churches; Anglican Bishop Richard Garrard of Rome; Setri Nyomi of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches; George Freeman of the World Methodist Council; CECIL ROBECK OF THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH; Alvin Jackson of the Disciples of Christ; Theodor Angelou of the European Baptist Federation; and Bert Beach of the Seventh-Day Adventists.

The Vatican also expects representatives of Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and traditional African faiths.

So the World Council, made up of protestant churches including the foursquare church and the assemblies of God, is now praying for peace with members of all faiths no matter who their god(s) is/are.


Pope John Paul II, in an address to the World Council said:

"Our dialogue then becomes an examination of conscience, a call to conversion, in which both sides examine before God their responsibility to do all that they can to put behind them the conflicts of the past. At that point, the Spirit fills us with a yearning to confess together that "there is one body and one Spirit, ... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all" (Eph 4.4-6), And we feel this as a duty, as something that must be done so that "the world may believe" (Jn 17.21). For this reason the commitment of the Catholic Church to ecumenical dialogue is irrevocable."-- from: http://www.warc.ch/2000/17.html

Why would the pope be putting out “a call to conversion” to other christians? Don’t we all believe in the same god? Fortunately, Jesus made provision in his teachings for leaders such as these:


Matthew 7:15-19
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

2 Corinthians 11:12-15
12 But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.[/b]

It makes me think of the "Global Community Church" in the Left Behind series.

while i haven't read them (the author is on the bankroll of Rev. Moon) i think it is essential for ever christian to check and double check their church and movement on every level.

Which author? I'm only halfway through the series & I'm reading it solely because my husband loves them. Although my reason for not reading them all these years was because why waste my time when I disagree w/premillenial dispensationalism.

I happen to know that my church is not involved our pastor believes nothing good can come out of the Catholic church.

And the left behind series I was reading them just for the sole fictional literature, not theological basis, my beliefs on that are I'll know when the time comes but I'll always be ready no matter what.

Right now I think this is just in the international leadership of these denominations, most likely, the individual churches aren't affected (yet). I we see from history though (methodists) it will happen over time.

I think, as far as the American church goes, we're too caught up in being "nice" to everyone and being politically correct instead of speaking the truth and saying "hello?! you're drowning and you don't even know it." As for my church, we're only involved in what the Spirit is doing.

just as a side note, if you are going to lump all methodists together, you need to cite a specific example of how something happened. The Free Methodists are quite conservative in doctrine, whereas I'm not sure United Methodists know there is a bible (sarcasm)

I'll say from my personal experience that not every Foursquare or Assemblies of God church is involved in this "ecumenical" movement. I attend a foursquare church while home from school and am a member of an Assemblies of God church otherwise. Neither of these particular congregations are in the slightest degree involved with this movement, besides perhaps through denominational affiliation.

Anyway, my question is this: Since when did "ecumenical" begin to mean "inter-religious"? A gathering of Bible-believing Christians is one thing, but an inter-faith service is something else entirely.

As for the Catholic church... I don't agree with all of their doctrine (for example: transubstantiation), but I wouldn't call them a separate religion. For the most part, they adhere to biblical principles and truths, whether or not individual members of the church know these truths or not. That's probably one of the biggest drawbacks to Catholicism: many people don't really know what they believe and why. But the same could be said about many protestants too.

As for the Pope... That is where I draw my line. I personally know many Catholics who are strong Christians, believing in the saving power of Jesus' blood. They actually know their faith (biblical as well as traditional), and I'm sure they'll be worshiping next to the rest of us in heaven someday. But, in regard to the Pope, due to some of the things he has said, I wouldn't hold him as any supreme authority of the church. He has been a terrible "infallible voice of God" (especially when he says things that are in direct contradiction with God's revealed word) and does not lead the church according to biblical absolutes. Fortunately, I also know many Catholics who don't accept the Pope as the "word of God" and who look to the Bible as their source of truth.

Anyway, to wrap things up, we should be careful of being involved in inter-faith services, where the one true God is accepted as many false gods. Furthermore, we should be careful not to lump all Catholics into the same category as their leader, as we should also not lump all Assemblies of God members under the same category as their's.

We should all be Bereans, weighing all teaching in light of Scripture -- testing all things and holding on to the good (see 1 Thessolonians 5:21, Colossians 2:8, and Acts 17:11).

good catch, you're right, i shouldn't have just thrown that out there.