CLIMATE CHANGE SAID TO BE AN ECUMENICAL CATALYST
(Amplified 10/29/2016)

While prophetic events under Rev. 13 have been unfolding in the United States at a rapid pace, and with ominous aspects, the world ecumenical movement has been progressing at a measured pace. With the pontificate of Francis, there has been a particular emphasis on relations between the Church of Rome and the Pentecostals. The World Council of Churches has also been a part of the movement towards Pentecostalism:-

Pentecostals meet Pope Francis; World Council of Churches' Tveit speaks at Pentecostal conference

Pope Francis met with a group of Italian Pentecostal pastors Sept. 8, telling them that unity is achieved by walking patiently together.

In São Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 7, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches spoke about climate change during the opening day of the 24th Pentecostal World Conference.

"We all sin against the Holy Spirit if we ignore climate change," said Rev. Tveit.

The encounters between the head of the Catholic Church and the leader of the WCC which represents mainly Anglican, Orthodox and traditional Protestant churches comes at [a] time of greater ecumenical contact across the board. . .

During the informal encounter Pastor Traettino thanked Francis for his role "as a brother and an ally" in accelerating the dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals.

Pope Francis replied that he "felt in his heart" the need to undertake steps towards reconciliation, citing the examples of his meeting with the Waldensian community or with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.

Unity, he said, is achieved step by step, through a patient and continuous journey together. Full unity, he said, will be achieved after "the Son of Man returns" but in the meantime, he stressed, Christians must pray, repent of their sins and walk together.

Tveit said in his Buenos Aires message, "We have to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is the life-giver, active in creation from the very beginning till today. The Holy Spirit sustain us and all creatures every day."

"The world desperately needs people like you who believe in the transformative power of the Holy Spirit to invest in the future of the world for our children", he noted, said the WCC in a statement.

"As Pentecostals believing in the power of the Holy Spirit, I will invite you to receive the invitation issued by the Ecumenical Patriarch, Pope Francis, the general secretary of the WCC and other ecumenical leaders to pray and care for God's creation", said Tveit.

PENTECOSTAL WORLD FELLOWSHIP DINNER

Tveit was at the Pentecostal World Fellowship dinner, where he was invited by Rev. Prince Guneratnam, chairman of the PWF, to bring greetings.

Representatives of the Global Christian Forum, the World Evangelical Alliance, Pontifical Council to Promote Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation also addressed the global Pentecostal gathering. . .

Like the PWF, the WCC was founded after World War II. For the past 15 years the WCC has maintained a platform for dialogue with Pentecostals.

"The joint consultative group has helped nurture our growing together in Christ. It will continue in the years ahead, examining how the Holy Spirit is working in the church to form disciples that transform the world," said Tveit.

In the foregoing passages we see a determined interaction and coming together of Rome, the Pentecostals, and the mainline Protestant organization, the World Council of Churches. There is also a common purpose in advocating against climate change, in which we see justifiable concern about the degradation of the natural environment co-opted by the forces driving the ecumenical movement to accelerate union of diverse world bodies. In these passages are some striking statements:-

STATEMENT

"We all sin against the Holy Spirit if we ignore climate change":

References to climate change as a central issue in the ecumenical movement are sprinkled throughout the passages quoted from. In fact climate change itself has developed into a universal spiritual movement:

Spiritual ecology

Spiritual ecology is an emerging field in religion, conservation, and academia recognizing that there is a spiritual facet to all issues related to conservation, environmentalism, and earth stewardship. Proponents of Spiritual Ecology assert a need for contemporary conservation work to include spiritual elements and for contemporary religion and spirituality to include awareness of and engagement in ecological issues. . .

Religion and ecology . . .

Earth-based traditions and earth spirituality-Spirituality and ecology

The ecumenical impetus provided by the climate change issue has been recognized at the highest levels:

Climate Change an Ecumenical Catalyst Says WCC Head

The leader of the World Council of Churches (WCC) believes climate change is a catalyst for ecumenical unity of all churches. Dr. Olav Fykse wrote in the latest issue of the Ecumenical Review, “In a very disturbing way, the climate crisis brings us together as one humanity. Therefore, it also brings us together as one fellowship of believers, as one church.” He added, “We are called together to show signs of what it means to be one humanity” (Ecumenical News International, 8-13- 10). The WCC, a socio-political and religious left-wing organization, continually seeks to rally churches of all theological stripes around a common social or political cause for the sake of unity, yet God’s Word always points to sound doctrine as the true basis of unity in Christ’s body.

The pagan pantheism inherent in the spiritual ecology movement is evidenced on the following website:

Spiritual Ecology the Cry of the Earth, and is echoed in Pope Francis' encyclical Lodat Si, which has garnered high praise on every side, with no objections raised to either the Roman Catholic ideology and dogmas or the paganistic pantheism expressly promulgated in the encyclical. That there there is degradation of earth's ecology is an undoubted fact, and this is recognized prophetically in the Bible (Rev. 11:18;) but the ecumenical climate change movement is definitely not directed by the God of Heaven. (Cf. Evangelicalism, the Charismatic Movement, and the Race Back to Rome.) [Note that adventistlaymen.com is not Trinitarian.]

STATEMENT

The encounters between the head of the Catholic Church and the leader of the WCC which represents mainly Anglican, Orthodox and traditional Protestant churches comes at [a] time of greater ecumenical contact across the board:

"Ecumenical contact across the board," is explained by reference to Pentecostal Pastor Traettino's thanks to Pope Francis for his role "as a brother and an ally" in accelerating the dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals. Thus is highlighted the coming together of Catholics, mainline Protestants, and Pentecostals. Rome has long locked in the mainline apostate Protestant churches, using Vatican II to bait the trap for a willing prey. It should be kept in mind that the ecumenical movement had its origin in the Protestant world. The Roman Catholic Church saw in it an opportunity to entice the Protestant churches back into its fold:

The Missionary Origins of Modern Ecumenism

Among many Orthodox Christians today it is generally accepted that the contemporary Ecumenical Movement began with the Patriarchal Encyclical of 1920 “Unto the Churches of Christ Everywhere.” Furthermore, it is generally believed that the movement for Christian unity arose out of a search for “unity in truth” and doctrinal agreement. It will, thus, come as a surprise to many to discover that the historical record disproves both of these assertions beyond a shadow of a doubt.

History shows that the contemporary Ecumenical Movement has its roots in the Protestant missionary movement of the 19th century and its inspiration in the desire of Evangelical Protestants to achieve a “unity in fellowship” amongst themselves for greater success in the mission field. Willem Saayman, a Protestant scholar of missiology, begins his study on mission and unity with the following words: “The ecumenical movement does not derive simply from a passion for unity; it sprang from a passion for unity that is completely fused in mission.” The union of mission and ecumenism, however, was not something arrived at quickly or painlessly for the Protestant world. It grew slowly in the soil of global confessional alliances and comity agreements among the Protestants in the second half of the 19th century, and continued in the international student movements and missionary conferences, becoming a new paradigm of ecclesiastical unity – for the conversion of the world. It became, from 1910 onwards, the basis upon which the Ecumenical Movement was built.

UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO Decree on Ecumenism Second Vatican Council

1. The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided.(1) Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.

But the Lord of Ages wisely and patiently follows out the plan of grace on our behalf, sinners that we are. In recent times more than ever before, He has been rousing divided Christians to remorse over their divisions and to a longing for unity. Everywhere large numbers have felt the impulse of this grace, and among our separated brethren also there increases from day to day the movement, fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, for the restoration of unity among all Christians. This movement toward unity is called "ecumenical." Those belong to it who invoke the Triune God and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, doing this not merely as individuals but also as corporate bodies. For almost everyone regards the body in which he has heard the Gospel as his Church and indeed, God's Church. All however, though in different ways, long for the one visible Church of God, a Church truly universal and set forth into the world that the world may be converted to the Gospel and so be saved, to the glory of God.

(Cf. Challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church-WCC collaboration;  World Council of Churches: Relations with the Roman Catholic Church;  Francis, Ecumenism, and the Common Witness to Christ.) Pope Francis is in a unique position to lock in the Pentecostals.

Roman Catholics and Pentecostals have not been natural bedfellows in the past, which makes the current rapprochement all the more startling:

CATHOLICS AND PENTECOSTALS: TROUBLED HISTORY, NEW INITIATIVES

Catholics and Pentecostals in their various expressions—classical, charismatic, and Neo-Pentecostal—constitute about 75 percent of the total number of Christians today. And Pentecostals continue to grow in number. While the relations between the two traditions have often been troubled and serious theological differences remain, particularly in the area of ecclesiology, Pentecostals are beginning to show a new interest in ecumenism, and new initiatives on both sides are promising. . .

PENTECOSTALS AND ROMAN CATHOLICS

Much of the remarkable Pentecostal growth has come at the expense of the Catholic Church, particularly in Latin America where Pentecostals constitute about 75 percent of non-Roman Catholic Christians. It is estimated that some 8,000 to 10,000 Catholics leave their church every day to join Pentecostal churches. According to Harvey Cox, there are more Pentecostals at church on any given Sunday morning in Brazil than there are Catholics at Mass. Allan Anderson says that present growth rates indicate that some Latin American countries could have a majority of “evangelicals,” mostly Pentecostals, by 2010. In nominally Catholic Cuba, Assemblies of God churches have increased from 90 ten years ago to 3,000 today.

Evidence suggests that many Latino Catholics who convert to Pentecostalism later leave and end up not practicing any religion at all. According to Kurt Bowen’s study on evangelicalism and apostasy in Mexico, 43 percent of adults in the second generation were no longer part of the evangelical world; while some returned to Catholicism or took up another faith, the great majority (41 percent) were simply nothing (nada). The dropouts were highest among Pentecostals. David Martin reports data from Chile indicating similar losses among evangelicals. Though more research is needed on this question, if it is true that many who join Pentecostal communities eventually end up practicing no religion at all, it might make more sense from an evangelical perspective for Catholics and Pentecostals to try to support each other rather than work in competition. . .

Thus we see that the former intense competition between these two denominations is moving into ecumenical union - an extraordinary development, indicative of extraordinary times! Pope Francis has been particularly focused on an embrace of the Pentecostal movement quite distinct from the overall the drive towards ecumenical union with the mainline Protestant churches associated with the World Council of Churches since Vatican II:

Francis, Ecumenism, and the Common Witness to Christ

Focusing on Evangelicals and Pentecostals rather than “historical” Protestant denominations, Pope Francis has taken a new approach to ecumenical efforts.

Although ecumenism has received increased attention from Church authorities at all levels in the decades following the Second Vatican Council, during his short period of time as pontiff Pope Francis has approached this area with a new twist, one characterized by personal outreaches specifically addressed to the world of Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity and disconnected from the official activity of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. . .

But prominent as they may be in the eyes of the man on the street, Anglicanism and Orthodoxy today represent a minority of non-Catholic Christians. Since the middle of the past century, and especially since the beginning of the 1970s, there has been a sea change in the composition of Christianity worldwide. According to a 2011 Pew Forum report, about half of the world’s Christians are Catholic, 12 percent are Orthodox, and 37 percent are “Protestants, broadly defined.” The same study reported that “there are about 279 million pentecostal Christians and 305 million charismatic Christians in the world” and that “according to this analysis, pentecostal and charismatic Christians together make up about 27 percent of all Christians and more than 8 percent of the world’s total population.” (Charismatics, as the study defines them, include Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians.) There are roughly 285 million Evangelicals worldwide, which means that, together, Evangelicals and Pentecostals total nearly 400 million. Meanwhile, the number of “historic Protestants” (Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, etc.) and Anglicans continues to shrink overall.

Nonetheless, to many Catholic specialists in ecumenism, even though an official international Catholic/Pentecostal dialogue has been in existence since 1972 and has issued five joint statements, dialogue with the Protestants still means dialogue with the shrinking “historical” churches—represented by World Council of Churches—many of which accept abortion and a few of which also accept homosexual “marriage.”

By contrast, Pope Francis’ ecumenical focus has been on the Evangelical and Pentecostal worlds, reflecting not only a realistic attention to demographics, but also—judging by the concluding document of the 2007 Aparecida Conference, primarily authored by then-Cardinal Bergoglio—his experience in Latin America. . .

STATEMENT

Full unity, he said, will be achieved after "the Son of Man returns"

This statement by Pope Francis is pregnant with meaning:

Prophecy informs us that whereas Satan has worked against God's people through human agencies from the time of the Egyptian dynasties to the time of the Roman Empire out of which the papacy emerged; he will show himself openly at the very end of time (Rev. 17:7-11; cf. Satan Will Be Deified.) A prophecy in the Book of Isaiah also reveals Satan's ambition to enthrone himself in Jerusalem (Isa. 14:12-14; cf. Isa. 2.) There is yet another prophecy which applies with particular force to these times and current events unfolding around the globe (Rev. 16:13-14, 16.) The spirits are at work, and they speak. In this prophecy is found the explanation of all the combined forces that are promoting global ecumenical union.

The statement of Pope Francis on when "full unity"will be achieved is specific and explicit. Was this prediction inspired by the spirits, or by Satan, their commander?

The prediction raises a huge question which has a bearing on our watchfulness and our preparedness for the final apoclyptic events. The question is how far short of full unity will the world ecumenical movement be when Satan puts in his appearance. It is implicit in the Pope's statement that it is that appearance which finally produces complete unity. There are currently major geopolitical obstacles obstructing the objective of full unity: the Zionist Israeli government and their Christian Zionist supporters in the USA, Russia under a contrary and aggressive President Putin, and China, which seems to be outside the orbit of papal influence. This emphasizes the necessity of extreme watchfulness, and diligence to make our calling and election sure before the final great delusion which will certainly be of great intensity.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 2:5-11.)