Crosstalk: April 15, 2015

For over 30 years Mike Gendron was a devout Roman Catholic and was taught to rely upon the authority of the church. He followed the priests, the sacraments and was depending upon his own good works for salvation. However, in 1981 after attending an apologetics seminar called, 'Evidence for the Christian Faith' the Bible became his sole authority in all matters of faith. As he searched the Scriptures he was amazed to see how often the Bible contradicts the teaching and tradition of the church he had been a part of for so long. Mike placed his trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and the Bible became his sole authority in all matters of faith. He founded a ministry, Proclaiming the Gospel that points people to Jesus Christ as the all-sufficient Savior. The document known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) was signed by various prominent Catholics and Evangelicals just over 20 years ago. It was touted as the most significant development in Protestant and Catholic relations since the dawn of the Reformation. ECT came about due to the persecution of Protestant missionaries in Latin America who were leading Roman Catholics out of bondage and deception along with the political power the Catholic church was using to suppress such evangelistic efforts. In response, Chuck Colson and bishops in Latin America initiated a unity accord in order to stop the mass exodus of Catholics that were leaving to join various Protestant sects. To quote the accord: '...it condemned the practice of recruiting people from another community for the purpose of denominational aggrandizement.' Unfortunately, this one condemnation put the largest mission field (Roman Catholics) off limits to reception of the Gospel. The ECT document contains a Statement of Common Faith talking about the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture; it identifies Christ as the one sent by God to be Lord and Savior of all; it affirms the Apostles' Creed and it even affirms that we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ. What difficulty could anyone have with that? Mike showed that the problem lies not so much with what's in the Statement of Common Faith but rather what's left out. It's one important word: 'Alone.' Catholics do believe they are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, however, they also add Mary and the Church. In other words, it's grace plus merit and Scripture plus tradition that saves them. Subsequent accords have come out such as the Manhattan Declaration in 2009, a document that has signatures of over 600,000 Evangelicals. Fortunately some of the signers are having second thoughts and are asking to have their names removed. Christians need to watch out for such efforts because we live in times of great deception.