The following are the notes to the discussion found at this link (https://www.facebook.com/tammy.cheetham.77/videos/vb.100014691523242/202710230228693/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab) for anyone who would like to study the subject more in depth.
We just wanted to give several examples of those in the New Apostolic Reformation joining up with and promoting Catholics. These types of occurrences just show us more and more how false groups are uniting and how the groundwork is being laid for the one world religion.
Now just for a reminder as to why Catholicism must be considered a religion based on the traditions of men, and not part of the true Christian faith, we can see when reading through the New Testament that the Catholic Church does not have its origin in the teachings of Jesus or His apostles. In the New Testament, there is no mention of the papacy, worship/adoration of Mary (or the immaculate conception of Mary, the perpetual virginity of Mary, the assumption of Mary, or Mary as co-redemptrix and mediatrix), petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers, apostolic succession, the ordinances of the church functioning as sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sin to a priest, or the office of priest at all, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal authority of church tradition and Scripture. (Anyone who has read God’s Word can see these don’t line up with scripture, but what is also interesting is that they came into practice over hundreds of years. Wouldn’t the practices and beliefs of the one true church be found in God’s Word and wouldn’t they already have been instituted at the time of the early church? Now, one particular church may differ from another one on how many deacons they want to have or something like that, but we are speaking of major doctrines and practices.)
Then we see the practice of the mass which is particularly offensive: This is what catechism 1366 says, “The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption.(And, we would absolutely agree it was once for all, but now listen to the rest of this catechism) But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands)(Since when should a practice be based on the nature of man to demand something? So this is a good example why we say Catholicism is a religion based on the traditions of men)continuing:by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.(So, we can see many false teachings in Catholicism and that they present another Jesus).
And, now here are some major errors with the NAR - Rather than preach the Gospel of the cross, Apostolic leaders are working to bring the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. They do this by taking dominion of earthly kingdoms or “mountains” of government, media, entertainment, education, business, family, and religion. Leaders often talk of city building and organize prayer walks to pray against demonic strongholds. (And, we saw a lot of emphasis on the “mountain” of government this past election where ministries once totally focused on preaching the gospel spent the entire election season attempting to convince people they just had to vote for Trump because as a Christian he would make sure the gospel would continue to be preached. What a joke. As if man’s laws regulate when and where God will have the gospel to be preached. How ridiculous!)
Some more on the NAR –The preachers often claim to receive direct revelation from God; there is much talk of visitation of angels and with some, even trips to the throne room of heaven. Many leaders take the scripture Isa. 43:19 where God says He is doing a new thing completely out of context, usually to justify some new program they want to begin. And, then pastors will say God has given them a vision for the church and everyone has to get on board or be considered rebellious. And, of course, we know there will be times God directs a pastor to begin a building program of some sort, for example, but the vision of seeing souls saved should never change.
Many place an emphasis on performing healings and other signs and wonders. (However, true believers know we are not to chase signs and wonders. I have watched several video clips of people like Todd White who does a lot of “street ministry” in which the focus is not on preaching the gospel, but rather on healings, signs and wonders. He doesn’t tell the people they need to repent but rather just emphasizes how much God loves them. Anyone doing any type of ministry should know the most important thing is salvation. These people could die that day! And, the focus of any ministry should not be signs and wonders according to Matt. 12:39, “But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
Todd White was on TBN a few months and said this: “See, the cross to me isn't the revelation of my sin, the cross is actually the revealing of my value… How much did heaven pay? How much did Jesus pay to get us back?...The value of the person is determined by the price that was paid for it.”And, of course, that is just crazy. There is no value inherent within man. We’d better get a revelation of our sin and we’d better appreciate the price Jesus paid. So, we see the emphasis is on man and not on Jesus which clearly shows Todd White is presenting another Jesus.)
And, then we are constantly hearing leaders in the NAR teach that our purpose is to achieve our dream destiny so that we can change the world. (Well, neither the concept of a dream destiny, nor of changing the world, can be found anywhere in God’s Word. This is obvious Dominion Theology with man supposedly bringing heaven to earth, instead of Jesus bringing the Kingdom when He returns. Christians today are to preach the gospel so some may be snatched from the fire.)
Revival on a massive scale is key in this movement. There is a strong emphasis on an “end times harvest” through a great awakening that we can usher in. Often these revivals are held in stadiums and reach millions around the world via live stream technology; they are marketed and produced like rock concerts. All scripture verses about an end times falling away are ignored, and they are replaced with hyped-up claims about the Next Big Thing that's always just around the corner.
Unity (at the expense of biblical doctrine) is almost always used as both the how and the why in this movement. Unity for the sake of bringing Heaven to Earth is leading to the blurring of doctrinal and denominational lines, often bringing together well-known leaders of charismatic, reformed, Word of Faith, seeker-friendly, progressive and Roman Catholics churches, all under one umbrella.
And, that unity between the NAR and Catholics, as already stated, is what we would like to focus on today. I am going to just describe several different occasions and events that involved both those in the NAR and Catholics, and also statements made by those in the NAR concerning Catholics.
I want to mention several things about Mike Bickle, the leader of the International House of Prayer. First are a few statements he has made. These are from 2001 in a series he did on contemplative prayer. These statements will show his acceptance of Catholic thinking and help us understand some of the activities IHOP has been about more recently. The first statement is: “…a study of the lives of the mystics, the contemplatives, through history, and clearly the most inspiring, compelling examples of history, in my world, have come out of the Catholic dark ages. I can’t find anything like it in modern times, in America, in the protestant world.”The writings of Father Thomas Keating (the modern day Father of contemplative prayer) are also promoted by Mike Bickle. Bickle has stated Keating is an example for us of a “way to a deeper life in God,” and that “The protestant world is in great need of examples that will beckon us to the fullness of God.”
Then, he had this to say about St. John of the Cross who was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest. Bickle said, “God has many reasons for what John of the Cross called “the wounds of love.” He draws us closer. We get closer to the fire of His being. “We’ll talk a little about the wounds of love. We’ll talk about John of the Cross, one of the contemplatives from the sixteenth century in Spain, one of the great men of God, a man who touched some of the secret places in God’s heart in union with God.”(How does one mention a Catholic as being a great man of God when Catholicism is truly its own religion? You know we have seen many praise the various popes with abandonment such as Billy Graham and Robert Schuller and no one blinks an eye. James Dobson had this to say after Pope John Paul the II’s death: "Today's passing of Pope John Paul II is an immeasurable loss – not only to our friends of the Roman Catholic faith, but to the entire world. We found common cause with him and with the 'culture of life' he espoused so eloquently; the legacy he left us is to be cherished.” These are all such huge red flags alerting us to the false unity taking place before our very eyes.)
Another quote from Bickle: “We have to be able to go and receive where God has rested His presence in history, and some of our examples will have Catholic roots in history. You don’t have to accept all the dogma of the Catholic church to receive the inspiration of lives of abandonment today—lives that we know of, lives that burn today.”(That is just nonsense and is akin to saying let’s just go drink from that poisoned well and hope it doesn’t kill us.)
Well, we can see where this acceptance of anything Catholic has led with the addition of a Catholic track at the IHOP OneThing conferences the past two years which featured Matt Maher and Audrey Assad (both Catholics) as the main worship leaders. The following was available to attendees this past December:
Praise and Worship time with IHOP singers modeling "Singing Lectio Divina" as a way of praying the Scriptures individually and in communal settings
- New Years' Mass and Adoration with Taize chants, (a catholic website said the Taizé service is a meditative, ecumenical Christian experience of prayer that includes silence and chanting), also Singing Lectio Divina and chanted Night Prayer plus Praise and Worship
- Daily Mass is available at 12:15pm across the street (five-minute walk) at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. (And, of course, no one was forced to attend the mass, but I can imagine many young people there at IHOP, as they were making friends with the Catholics who attended the OneThing conference, going just because their new friends were going).
(I watched a video of Matt Maher speaking at the conference and we must remember that he is a very popular CCM artist and many evangelicals listen to his music, probably many not even knowing he is Catholic. But, he was discussing how his wife attends a non-denominational church and then he attends a Catholic church. They are raising their kids Catholic and sending them to Catholic schools. We can just imagine how the young people at the conference were affected by this and now this scenario is a possibility for their lives.)
Mike Bickle spoke at the conference, of course, along with Bill Johnson (a major figure in the NAR).He is over Bethel church in Redding, CA, and then also Todd White who I have already mentioned.
In addition, concerning Mike Bickle, he was part of a group of NAR figures including CheAhn, Kris Vallotton, and Wesley and Stacey Campbell, who attended a meeting with Pope Francis in June of last year.
I want to read parts of a blog Kris Vallotton wrote concerning this visit. Kris Vallotton is the senior associate leader at Bill Johnson’s church. “This week I had the privilege of meeting with Pope Francis. It was probably one of the highlights of my life. He was funny, warm and very spiritual.
I was invited, along with several other pastors, to a small connect forum with Pope Francis because he has a deep passion for unity among Believers – and I do mean DEEP!
Pope Frances said, “Theology is a very complicated subject and we should let the theologians argue it out (figure it out). In the meantime, we should love each other and learn to value people who are different than ourselves. ”(And, here is the presentation of the false gospel of love we hear quite often. It accomplishes nothing except for leading people into false unity).
Vallotton continues: “Mike Bickle gets the “guts” award! Everything was going quite smoothly, partly because of the benign questions the pastors were asking. Then Mike stood up and asked the Pope if he believed that Jesus was the “only way” to heaven. (There have been rumors circulating that Pope Francis is a Universalist). (Well, these are more than just rumors and many have wondered what else he could have meant when he said this: “Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God,” Pope Francis said in his video message, released Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany. However, the Bible clearly states in Gal. 3:26 “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” The video includes the following statements from different faith leaders: “I have confidence in Buddha,” someone from this religion announces.“I believe in God,” a rabbi affirms.“I believe in Jesus Christ,” a priest states.“I believe in Allah,” an Islamic leader declares. But, according to Kris Vallotton this was a rumor. Go figure).
Continuing with the blog: “The tension instantly rose in the room…the moderator was noticeably shaken. But the Holy Father didn’t blink an eye. He answered, “We might be surprised by who we meet in heaven. BUT the only way into heaven is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way into heaven.” We all breathed a sigh of relief!
Maybe one of the most historic moments happened when the Pope spoke of the atrocities the Catholic Church perpetuated on people through the centuries. Then he asked us all to forgive them for their sins. This inspired us to do the same. Suddenly the room was filled with a beautiful spirit of reconciliation. (Well, now I guess we can play pat-a-cake and play in the sandbox and all get along. Not! What most people don’t realize is there is a new strategy now since Vatican II and the ploy these days is no longer murder and torture, but rather reaching out to the “separated brethren” as Protestants are now called. The goal is still the return to Rome).
Now, the next few paragraphs are truly important in light of understanding what it looks like from the “other side.” These are people who have rewritten the end times in their minds; they don’t believe in a satanic, one world religion apparently.
He goes on to say: “I posted our meeting with Pope Francis on my social network pages and true to nature, many people couldn’t help but unleash hell on him. For some the reconciliation of Believers on the earth is the sign of the new world order – the ushering in of the Antichrist’s reign. It’s hard to imagine how a proactive move towards loving an entire people group, forgiving one another, and reconciling after 500 years of hatred and persecution can lead to the rule of satan. But religious people can find a problem with every opportunity!(Look how this is being twisted!)
It’s also disturbing to me how selectively people apply scripture. How do you justify spewing hatred for Catholics in the name of “they are not bringing salvation to people,” while ignoring the second commandment to love your neighbor? In Acts 2, Peter made it clear that in the last days God would pour His Spirit out on EVERYONE! Is it possible that on this 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation that God would take the two and make them one again?
I mean, could God have raised up Pope Francis with a spirit of reconciliation to tear down the walls of mistrust and unforgiveness that have been erected over five centuries between brothers?
Pope Francis, thank you for having the guts to brave the religious system, and reach beyond the borders of tradition to love a group of people, some of whom refuse to love you back. God bless you! You have become one of my heroes.”(Well, I hope those listening can see what a mess this type of thinking is.)
Now, moving on to another event, I want to mention the Azusa 2016 event held almost one year ago on April 9th, 2016. The following NAR leaders were in attendance: Lou Engle, Paul Cain, Mike Bickle, Shawn Bolz, Bill Johnson, Kris Vallottin, Dutch Sheets, Cindy Jacobs, Todd White, Heidi Baker, CheAhn, Loren Cunningham, Wesley and Stacy Campbell. Most people will remember it was at this event that Lou Engle and a Catholic leader named Matteo Calisi kissed each other’s feet in a gesture of reconciliation. Calisi told the audience that division between Christians and Catholics is a “diabolical sin,” and that Jesus “doesn’t care” that Christians and Catholics disagree on biblical doctrine. (That statement, of course, is completely ridiculous.) Now here’s an interesting fact concerning Matteo Calisi. Listeners may remember the Anglican priest, Tony Palmer, who brought a video message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland’s leadership meeting in January of 2014. At this meeting Palmer stated the protest is over. Well, it was Calisi who had introduced Palmer to Pope Francis when he was Cardinal Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina. And it was Copeland who had supported and helped fund Palmer’s role, as an Anglican, working alongside Calisi. Additionally, in 2003, Calisi helped start an ecumenical group in Argentina. The group brought evangelical and Catholic leaders together for fellowship and prayer and sponsored an annual charismatic rally, which Bergoglio began attending in 2004. So, Calisi has been hard at work on ecumenical matters for several years.
Lou Engle and Matteo Calisi made another appearance at Together 2016 held in July of last year. Calisi had this to say at the event, “When Catholics, evangelicals, and Pentecostals worship together, our differences don’t go up to heaven. We’re one in Christ. When we announce the name of Jesus, that He is the one Lord and Savior, we are attracted to unity. And we, even Catholics, have come to bring this testimony.”
Besides Lou Engle, Samuel Rodriguez of the NAR spoke at Together 2016. Additionally, on Nov. 21, 2016, Samuel Rodriguez was the host for a TBN program which featured Father Cedric Pesegna, who has his own weekly program called Live with Passion on TBN.
Concerning major NAR leader Bill Johnson, previously mentioned, he has joined up with Catholic priests to promote the New Evangelization of Catholics. On Feb. 16, a group called Major Change posted a picture of Bill Johnson praying with a Catholic priest named Father Charles Ramirez for revival in Los Angeles and for a breakthrough to move forward in the New Evangelization of Catholics. I found this description of the New Evangelization program at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website: “The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on ‘re-proposing’ the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith. The New Evangelization invites each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.” (So, obviously Bill Johnson does not recognize the need to evangelize Catholics with the true gospel, but rather is encouraging Catholics who have backslidden, I guess we could say, to return whole-heartedly to the Catholic religion. Just heartbreaking.)
Sometimes it isn’t a huge event, but rather a nod to Catholicism that also catches our attention and makes us realize how ingrained this concept of unity is becoming. The other day I was listening to part of a message by Cindy Jacobs, one of the major “prophets” in the NAR – speaking at a church in NJ in Feb. 2017. She was recounting a tour she had taken of Italy, and how she saw the robe of St. Francis of Assisi in a cathedral. She discussed how he gave away his wealth, and that was a word for a season because there was a lot of corruption in “the church.” (Well, we can see how people just throwing statements out there like this will condition people to think of Catholics as being part of the Christian church).
I have just one more example: There is a movement called “Awakening Europe.” It’s led by Ben Fitzgerald who is a pastor out of Bill Johnson’s church. At the website for the movement one can find the following statement: “Unity – We serve the global church of God, from charismatics to Catholics. We believe in the unity of the body of Christ gathering around His presence and focusing on Jesus as God.”
You know, so much of this false unity comes from a misapplication of John 17:11 where we read part of Jesus’ prayer to the Father, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are.”
Here Jesus asks God the Father to keep the brethren together as one. He did not say a unified movement is something we are responsible for establishing. We can worship and fellowship with like-minded believers, but this would not include Catholics. They deny the Finished Work of Christ on the Cross which is evident by their practice of the mass; their practice of indulgences; and belief in purgatory. Therefore, they present another Jesus and another gospel. They do not believe in justification by faith alone. The anathemas declared by the Council of Trent against those who do have never been rescinded. I pray people will wake up and recognize how the groundwork is being laid for the one world religion.
We just wanted to give several examples of those in the New Apostolic Reformation joining up with and promoting Catholics. These types of occurrences just show us more and more how false groups are uniting and how the groundwork is being laid for the one world religion.
Now just for a reminder as to why Catholicism must be considered a religion based on the traditions of men, and not part of the true Christian faith, we can see when reading through the New Testament that the Catholic Church does not have its origin in the teachings of Jesus or His apostles. In the New Testament, there is no mention of the papacy, worship/adoration of Mary (or the immaculate conception of Mary, the perpetual virginity of Mary, the assumption of Mary, or Mary as co-redemptrix and mediatrix), petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers, apostolic succession, the ordinances of the church functioning as sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sin to a priest, or the office of priest at all, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal authority of church tradition and Scripture. (Anyone who has read God’s Word can see these don’t line up with scripture, but what is also interesting is that they came into practice over hundreds of years. Wouldn’t the practices and beliefs of the one true church be found in God’s Word and wouldn’t they already have been instituted at the time of the early church? Now, one particular church may differ from another one on how many deacons they want to have or something like that, but we are speaking of major doctrines and practices.)
Then we see the practice of the mass which is particularly offensive: This is what catechism 1366 says, “The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption.(And, we would absolutely agree it was once for all, but now listen to the rest of this catechism) But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands)(Since when should a practice be based on the nature of man to demand something? So this is a good example why we say Catholicism is a religion based on the traditions of men)continuing:by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.(So, we can see many false teachings in Catholicism and that they present another Jesus).
And, now here are some major errors with the NAR - Rather than preach the Gospel of the cross, Apostolic leaders are working to bring the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. They do this by taking dominion of earthly kingdoms or “mountains” of government, media, entertainment, education, business, family, and religion. Leaders often talk of city building and organize prayer walks to pray against demonic strongholds. (And, we saw a lot of emphasis on the “mountain” of government this past election where ministries once totally focused on preaching the gospel spent the entire election season attempting to convince people they just had to vote for Trump because as a Christian he would make sure the gospel would continue to be preached. What a joke. As if man’s laws regulate when and where God will have the gospel to be preached. How ridiculous!)
Some more on the NAR –The preachers often claim to receive direct revelation from God; there is much talk of visitation of angels and with some, even trips to the throne room of heaven. Many leaders take the scripture Isa. 43:19 where God says He is doing a new thing completely out of context, usually to justify some new program they want to begin. And, then pastors will say God has given them a vision for the church and everyone has to get on board or be considered rebellious. And, of course, we know there will be times God directs a pastor to begin a building program of some sort, for example, but the vision of seeing souls saved should never change.
Many place an emphasis on performing healings and other signs and wonders. (However, true believers know we are not to chase signs and wonders. I have watched several video clips of people like Todd White who does a lot of “street ministry” in which the focus is not on preaching the gospel, but rather on healings, signs and wonders. He doesn’t tell the people they need to repent but rather just emphasizes how much God loves them. Anyone doing any type of ministry should know the most important thing is salvation. These people could die that day! And, the focus of any ministry should not be signs and wonders according to Matt. 12:39, “But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
Todd White was on TBN a few months and said this: “See, the cross to me isn't the revelation of my sin, the cross is actually the revealing of my value… How much did heaven pay? How much did Jesus pay to get us back?...The value of the person is determined by the price that was paid for it.”And, of course, that is just crazy. There is no value inherent within man. We’d better get a revelation of our sin and we’d better appreciate the price Jesus paid. So, we see the emphasis is on man and not on Jesus which clearly shows Todd White is presenting another Jesus.)
And, then we are constantly hearing leaders in the NAR teach that our purpose is to achieve our dream destiny so that we can change the world. (Well, neither the concept of a dream destiny, nor of changing the world, can be found anywhere in God’s Word. This is obvious Dominion Theology with man supposedly bringing heaven to earth, instead of Jesus bringing the Kingdom when He returns. Christians today are to preach the gospel so some may be snatched from the fire.)
Revival on a massive scale is key in this movement. There is a strong emphasis on an “end times harvest” through a great awakening that we can usher in. Often these revivals are held in stadiums and reach millions around the world via live stream technology; they are marketed and produced like rock concerts. All scripture verses about an end times falling away are ignored, and they are replaced with hyped-up claims about the Next Big Thing that's always just around the corner.
Unity (at the expense of biblical doctrine) is almost always used as both the how and the why in this movement. Unity for the sake of bringing Heaven to Earth is leading to the blurring of doctrinal and denominational lines, often bringing together well-known leaders of charismatic, reformed, Word of Faith, seeker-friendly, progressive and Roman Catholics churches, all under one umbrella.
And, that unity between the NAR and Catholics, as already stated, is what we would like to focus on today. I am going to just describe several different occasions and events that involved both those in the NAR and Catholics, and also statements made by those in the NAR concerning Catholics.
I want to mention several things about Mike Bickle, the leader of the International House of Prayer. First are a few statements he has made. These are from 2001 in a series he did on contemplative prayer. These statements will show his acceptance of Catholic thinking and help us understand some of the activities IHOP has been about more recently. The first statement is: “…a study of the lives of the mystics, the contemplatives, through history, and clearly the most inspiring, compelling examples of history, in my world, have come out of the Catholic dark ages. I can’t find anything like it in modern times, in America, in the protestant world.”The writings of Father Thomas Keating (the modern day Father of contemplative prayer) are also promoted by Mike Bickle. Bickle has stated Keating is an example for us of a “way to a deeper life in God,” and that “The protestant world is in great need of examples that will beckon us to the fullness of God.”
Then, he had this to say about St. John of the Cross who was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest. Bickle said, “God has many reasons for what John of the Cross called “the wounds of love.” He draws us closer. We get closer to the fire of His being. “We’ll talk a little about the wounds of love. We’ll talk about John of the Cross, one of the contemplatives from the sixteenth century in Spain, one of the great men of God, a man who touched some of the secret places in God’s heart in union with God.”(How does one mention a Catholic as being a great man of God when Catholicism is truly its own religion? You know we have seen many praise the various popes with abandonment such as Billy Graham and Robert Schuller and no one blinks an eye. James Dobson had this to say after Pope John Paul the II’s death: "Today's passing of Pope John Paul II is an immeasurable loss – not only to our friends of the Roman Catholic faith, but to the entire world. We found common cause with him and with the 'culture of life' he espoused so eloquently; the legacy he left us is to be cherished.” These are all such huge red flags alerting us to the false unity taking place before our very eyes.)
Another quote from Bickle: “We have to be able to go and receive where God has rested His presence in history, and some of our examples will have Catholic roots in history. You don’t have to accept all the dogma of the Catholic church to receive the inspiration of lives of abandonment today—lives that we know of, lives that burn today.”(That is just nonsense and is akin to saying let’s just go drink from that poisoned well and hope it doesn’t kill us.)
Well, we can see where this acceptance of anything Catholic has led with the addition of a Catholic track at the IHOP OneThing conferences the past two years which featured Matt Maher and Audrey Assad (both Catholics) as the main worship leaders. The following was available to attendees this past December:
Praise and Worship time with IHOP singers modeling "Singing Lectio Divina" as a way of praying the Scriptures individually and in communal settings
- New Years' Mass and Adoration with Taize chants, (a catholic website said the Taizé service is a meditative, ecumenical Christian experience of prayer that includes silence and chanting), also Singing Lectio Divina and chanted Night Prayer plus Praise and Worship
- Daily Mass is available at 12:15pm across the street (five-minute walk) at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. (And, of course, no one was forced to attend the mass, but I can imagine many young people there at IHOP, as they were making friends with the Catholics who attended the OneThing conference, going just because their new friends were going).
(I watched a video of Matt Maher speaking at the conference and we must remember that he is a very popular CCM artist and many evangelicals listen to his music, probably many not even knowing he is Catholic. But, he was discussing how his wife attends a non-denominational church and then he attends a Catholic church. They are raising their kids Catholic and sending them to Catholic schools. We can just imagine how the young people at the conference were affected by this and now this scenario is a possibility for their lives.)
Mike Bickle spoke at the conference, of course, along with Bill Johnson (a major figure in the NAR).He is over Bethel church in Redding, CA, and then also Todd White who I have already mentioned.
In addition, concerning Mike Bickle, he was part of a group of NAR figures including CheAhn, Kris Vallotton, and Wesley and Stacey Campbell, who attended a meeting with Pope Francis in June of last year.
I want to read parts of a blog Kris Vallotton wrote concerning this visit. Kris Vallotton is the senior associate leader at Bill Johnson’s church. “This week I had the privilege of meeting with Pope Francis. It was probably one of the highlights of my life. He was funny, warm and very spiritual.
I was invited, along with several other pastors, to a small connect forum with Pope Francis because he has a deep passion for unity among Believers – and I do mean DEEP!
Pope Frances said, “Theology is a very complicated subject and we should let the theologians argue it out (figure it out). In the meantime, we should love each other and learn to value people who are different than ourselves. ”(And, here is the presentation of the false gospel of love we hear quite often. It accomplishes nothing except for leading people into false unity).
Vallotton continues: “Mike Bickle gets the “guts” award! Everything was going quite smoothly, partly because of the benign questions the pastors were asking. Then Mike stood up and asked the Pope if he believed that Jesus was the “only way” to heaven. (There have been rumors circulating that Pope Francis is a Universalist). (Well, these are more than just rumors and many have wondered what else he could have meant when he said this: “Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God,” Pope Francis said in his video message, released Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany. However, the Bible clearly states in Gal. 3:26 “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” The video includes the following statements from different faith leaders: “I have confidence in Buddha,” someone from this religion announces.“I believe in God,” a rabbi affirms.“I believe in Jesus Christ,” a priest states.“I believe in Allah,” an Islamic leader declares. But, according to Kris Vallotton this was a rumor. Go figure).
Continuing with the blog: “The tension instantly rose in the room…the moderator was noticeably shaken. But the Holy Father didn’t blink an eye. He answered, “We might be surprised by who we meet in heaven. BUT the only way into heaven is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way into heaven.” We all breathed a sigh of relief!
Maybe one of the most historic moments happened when the Pope spoke of the atrocities the Catholic Church perpetuated on people through the centuries. Then he asked us all to forgive them for their sins. This inspired us to do the same. Suddenly the room was filled with a beautiful spirit of reconciliation. (Well, now I guess we can play pat-a-cake and play in the sandbox and all get along. Not! What most people don’t realize is there is a new strategy now since Vatican II and the ploy these days is no longer murder and torture, but rather reaching out to the “separated brethren” as Protestants are now called. The goal is still the return to Rome).
Now, the next few paragraphs are truly important in light of understanding what it looks like from the “other side.” These are people who have rewritten the end times in their minds; they don’t believe in a satanic, one world religion apparently.
He goes on to say: “I posted our meeting with Pope Francis on my social network pages and true to nature, many people couldn’t help but unleash hell on him. For some the reconciliation of Believers on the earth is the sign of the new world order – the ushering in of the Antichrist’s reign. It’s hard to imagine how a proactive move towards loving an entire people group, forgiving one another, and reconciling after 500 years of hatred and persecution can lead to the rule of satan. But religious people can find a problem with every opportunity!(Look how this is being twisted!)
It’s also disturbing to me how selectively people apply scripture. How do you justify spewing hatred for Catholics in the name of “they are not bringing salvation to people,” while ignoring the second commandment to love your neighbor? In Acts 2, Peter made it clear that in the last days God would pour His Spirit out on EVERYONE! Is it possible that on this 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation that God would take the two and make them one again?
I mean, could God have raised up Pope Francis with a spirit of reconciliation to tear down the walls of mistrust and unforgiveness that have been erected over five centuries between brothers?
Pope Francis, thank you for having the guts to brave the religious system, and reach beyond the borders of tradition to love a group of people, some of whom refuse to love you back. God bless you! You have become one of my heroes.”(Well, I hope those listening can see what a mess this type of thinking is.)
Now, moving on to another event, I want to mention the Azusa 2016 event held almost one year ago on April 9th, 2016. The following NAR leaders were in attendance: Lou Engle, Paul Cain, Mike Bickle, Shawn Bolz, Bill Johnson, Kris Vallottin, Dutch Sheets, Cindy Jacobs, Todd White, Heidi Baker, CheAhn, Loren Cunningham, Wesley and Stacy Campbell. Most people will remember it was at this event that Lou Engle and a Catholic leader named Matteo Calisi kissed each other’s feet in a gesture of reconciliation. Calisi told the audience that division between Christians and Catholics is a “diabolical sin,” and that Jesus “doesn’t care” that Christians and Catholics disagree on biblical doctrine. (That statement, of course, is completely ridiculous.) Now here’s an interesting fact concerning Matteo Calisi. Listeners may remember the Anglican priest, Tony Palmer, who brought a video message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland’s leadership meeting in January of 2014. At this meeting Palmer stated the protest is over. Well, it was Calisi who had introduced Palmer to Pope Francis when he was Cardinal Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina. And it was Copeland who had supported and helped fund Palmer’s role, as an Anglican, working alongside Calisi. Additionally, in 2003, Calisi helped start an ecumenical group in Argentina. The group brought evangelical and Catholic leaders together for fellowship and prayer and sponsored an annual charismatic rally, which Bergoglio began attending in 2004. So, Calisi has been hard at work on ecumenical matters for several years.
Lou Engle and Matteo Calisi made another appearance at Together 2016 held in July of last year. Calisi had this to say at the event, “When Catholics, evangelicals, and Pentecostals worship together, our differences don’t go up to heaven. We’re one in Christ. When we announce the name of Jesus, that He is the one Lord and Savior, we are attracted to unity. And we, even Catholics, have come to bring this testimony.”
Besides Lou Engle, Samuel Rodriguez of the NAR spoke at Together 2016. Additionally, on Nov. 21, 2016, Samuel Rodriguez was the host for a TBN program which featured Father Cedric Pesegna, who has his own weekly program called Live with Passion on TBN.
Concerning major NAR leader Bill Johnson, previously mentioned, he has joined up with Catholic priests to promote the New Evangelization of Catholics. On Feb. 16, a group called Major Change posted a picture of Bill Johnson praying with a Catholic priest named Father Charles Ramirez for revival in Los Angeles and for a breakthrough to move forward in the New Evangelization of Catholics. I found this description of the New Evangelization program at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website: “The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on ‘re-proposing’ the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith. The New Evangelization invites each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.” (So, obviously Bill Johnson does not recognize the need to evangelize Catholics with the true gospel, but rather is encouraging Catholics who have backslidden, I guess we could say, to return whole-heartedly to the Catholic religion. Just heartbreaking.)
Sometimes it isn’t a huge event, but rather a nod to Catholicism that also catches our attention and makes us realize how ingrained this concept of unity is becoming. The other day I was listening to part of a message by Cindy Jacobs, one of the major “prophets” in the NAR – speaking at a church in NJ in Feb. 2017. She was recounting a tour she had taken of Italy, and how she saw the robe of St. Francis of Assisi in a cathedral. She discussed how he gave away his wealth, and that was a word for a season because there was a lot of corruption in “the church.” (Well, we can see how people just throwing statements out there like this will condition people to think of Catholics as being part of the Christian church).
I have just one more example: There is a movement called “Awakening Europe.” It’s led by Ben Fitzgerald who is a pastor out of Bill Johnson’s church. At the website for the movement one can find the following statement: “Unity – We serve the global church of God, from charismatics to Catholics. We believe in the unity of the body of Christ gathering around His presence and focusing on Jesus as God.”
You know, so much of this false unity comes from a misapplication of John 17:11 where we read part of Jesus’ prayer to the Father, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are.”
Here Jesus asks God the Father to keep the brethren together as one. He did not say a unified movement is something we are responsible for establishing. We can worship and fellowship with like-minded believers, but this would not include Catholics. They deny the Finished Work of Christ on the Cross which is evident by their practice of the mass; their practice of indulgences; and belief in purgatory. Therefore, they present another Jesus and another gospel. They do not believe in justification by faith alone. The anathemas declared by the Council of Trent against those who do have never been rescinded. I pray people will wake up and recognize how the groundwork is being laid for the one world religion.