The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his125/ciboct87.lzh/CIBOCT87.TXT

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PER:Christian Information Bureau October 1987  by Dave Hunt

   Dear Praying Friends;

   In August my wife Ruth and I managed to spend three weeks together
in Europe. I really couldn't afford to take the time, but very much
needed to get away; and having free tickets that were going to expire,
decided to use them. We had a wonderful time. I was able to relax,
clear my head, get a fresh perspective - and managed to work on the
manuscript of a new book T.A. McMahon and I are writing for the secular
market titled, AMERICA: THE SORCERER'S NEW APPRENTICE (subtitle: "A
Commonsense Guide to the Exploding Occult Marketplace"). Ruth and I
visited a number of pastors and Christian friends (we've lived in
Europe twice), and found that SEDUCTION is causing a stir in the church
all over the continent, where Schuller, Peale, Cho, Hagin, Copeland et
al have a large and growing following.

   As we drove through Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria,
where the Reformation had taken place, we read once again that gripping
story. I had scarcely given it a thought in years; in fact I had all
but forgotten the great Reformation and what it gave us. Now my heart
was deeply moved, my spirit stirred, and I found myself weeping, broken
before God. Who would not weep when reading such things as Hugh
Latimer's last words to his companion as they were being burnt at the
stake: "Be of good comfort, Mater Ridley, and play the man. We shall
this day light such a candle, by God's grace...as I trust shall never
be put out"!

   Tears came to my eyes again as we continued to read the inspiring
and convicting story of the courageous men and women who stood up
against the corruption and false doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church,
and who, for their faith in God and their uncompromising stand for the
truth of His Word, were burned at the stake or tortured to death in
other ways. But I wept even more at the realization that the "candle"
these men and women of God ignited in their day has all but flickered
out in ours. How could the church of today have strayed so far from
those great truths for which so many have died? That question began to
trouble me and I would like to explore it in this letter and the next.

   In the city of Constance on the Bodensee, that large and beautiful
lake that lies between Germany and Switzerland, stands a huge stone. A
short walk from the house in which John Hus lived, this monument marks
the place where he was burned at the stake in 1415 for his evanglical
faith and his belief that the Bible is our final authority and that
every Christian has the right and responsibility to know and interpret
it for himself. Of the many Catholics who began to see these same
truths, Luther would write 100 years later: "We were all Hussites
without knowing it." In the cathedral that still stands in the center
of the town, Hus ordained a Catholic priest in 1401) was tried and
found guilty by a church whose "celibate" priests, in that very Diocese
of Canstance alone, were fathering about 1,500 illegitimate babies a
year! These priests remained in the good graces of the church by paying
a "crib tax" for their sexual promiscuity, while Hus was burned to
death for advocating holiness and the true priesthood of all believers.
In his last letter to his friends, Hus wrote: "Finally, I entreat you
all to persevere in the truth of God."

   Standing there in front of that monument choked with emotion, I
thought not only of Hus but of the thousands of others like him who
became literal human torches burning for truth and freedom of
conscience, and to whom we owe so great a debt. The Protestant
Reformation involved vital issues and eternal truth for which the
reformers laid down their lives. There was a simplicity and purity to
their faith. Consider, for example, the last words of Anneken Jans to
her infant son on the eve of her execution in Rotterdam: "Where you
hear of a poor, simple cast-off flock which is despised and rejected by
the world, join them, for where you hear of the cross there is Christ."

   Painfully I though of the shocking contrast offerd by today's self-
centered gospel, now corrupting the church worldwide, that promises
freedom from suffering and persecution, and worldly success, through a
"positive confession" and whose central message is each person's
"divine right Prosperity"! No one would either burn anyone at the stake
or be willing to be burned for that false "gospel" - nor for the "New
Reformation" Robert Schuller calls for based upon "each individual's
right to self-esteem"!

   Schuller claims (and he is honored by seminary professors and many
evangelical leaders for such statements) that he "classical
interpretation of this teaching of Christ on `bearing our cross'
desperately needs reformation... The cross Christ calls us to bear will
be offered as a dream... an inspiring idea... that helps the
self-esteem-impoverished persons to discover their self-worth...
possibility thinking is the positive proclamation of the cross!" How is
it possible that such "positive," self-centered success-oriented
counterfeit gospels of today could be so widely accepted? Is this not
an insult to the memory of the martyrs and the sacred cost for which
they died? How could the Reformation be not only forgotten but
appartently rejected by leading Protestants today as much as it was
then (and still is) by the Catholic hierarchy?

   Meeting in 1545, the Council of Trent did repudiate the rampant
immorality and the sale of indulgences FOR MONEY. But it flatly
rejected the cry for reformation on every other point. Theultimate
authority of the Bible, salvation by grace alone through faith, the
sufficiency of the once- for-all sacrifice of Christ upon the cross,
and the priesthood of all believers were vehemently denied by the
council; while purgatory and indulgences, Mariolatry and images,
salvation by works and through the continual resacrifice of Christ
again and again in the mass, etc. were all reaffirmed and remain at the
heart of Catholicism today. Yet leading evangelicals are calling for
"unity with Rome." How can that be?

   Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Hus and most of the millions of others
involved in the Reformation were originally Catholics. When they saw
for themselves what the Bible really said about salvation by grace
through faith and the personal relationship of each believer to God
through Christ, they proclaimed the gospel in the face of perscution
and were willing to die for their faith. Yet the majority of today's
Catholics (priests, nuns, lay persons) who supposedly receive the
"baptism in the Spirit" remain seemingly oblivious to the critical
issues the Reformers died for, and continue in unbiblical beliefs and
practices. Can it be that such persons have indeed been baptized into
the "Spirit of Truth"?

   Among today's Protestants (especially Charismatics) there is a
growing spirit of ecumenism that embraces as "brothers in the faith"
anyone who "speaks in tongues," without regard to their false doctrines
and practices. At the large charismatic "unity" conference recently
held in New Orleans, about half of the participants and a significant
number of leaders were Catholics - and the call for "unity" was not on
the basis of the true faith once for all delivered to the saints, but
"sings and wonders" and an agreement not to question one another's
doctrine. Is it too harsh to consider this entire "Conference on the
Holy Spirit" a historic rejection of the Reformation and the issues for
which millions gave their lives?

   How is it that eternal truths for which the martyrs died can be set
aside as though of no importance and a substitute, counterfeit,
"positive" gospel of prosperity or self-esteem is growing so rapidly in
acceptance? After carefully considering such questions it seems to me
that in many respects the Protestant Chruch today may be in worse
condition than the Catholic Chruch of Luther's day. We want to consider
why that may be possible in our next newsletter.

   In Christ's love, Dave Hunt

   This has been put up on the board by the kind permission of the
staff of CIB, and I would encourage you to write to the address that
was at the beginning of this message to order their monthly newsletter
for $12.00 U.S. per year. Make sure that chegues are on a U.S. money
order and payable to:

   Christian Information Bureau

   PO Box 3120

   Camarillo Ca 93011