Second Protestant Reformation
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America...is a huge conglomeration of Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Denominational and non-Denominational Churches and Organizations on the Protestant side, and then, there is the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church on the other. Mission America is an outgrowth of Billy's Graham's "The Lausanne Movement" and "AD2000 and Beyond". AD2000 and Beyond is also seen as a series of life giving streams flowing into a fast flowing river. AD 2000 and Beyond is described in their own material as a "Babushka Doll" with AD 2000 and Beyond a little stream within the larger river of Lausanne. This stream is "fast moving" and goal oriented – scheduled to go out of existence at the end of the Year 2000, while Lausanne will move on. These movements and all they encompass are designed to create a "new church"…a "church for every people," and as such represent a unity movement that would not see the Roman Catholic Church and its Pontiff as the Church of unification. Indeed, we are talking about something entirely new. The Catholic encounter with the Lausanne/AD 2000 movement will take place in St. Louis, June 22-25^th of the Year 2000. A brief rundown and description of some of the participants ensues. By its own admission, Celebrate Jesus 2000 is coming together for the purpose of furthering "unity." We ask why? Why, when the Protestant element has already declared its purpose, would the Archbishop of St. Louis speak and say a Mass for such a gathering?

They are in Your Neighborhood

Celebrate Jesus 2000 is a global strategy to pray for and share Jesus Christ with everyone in North America by the end of the year 2000. Another of their major strategies is raising up "Lighthouses" to establish a presence in every neighborhood...in a church, business, school group or other setting. From here they list and draw in people from their surroundings to evangelize them.

Since part of the goal of ecumenism is, after all, Unity, what could be wrong with all this? To begin with the Evangelicals perceive the Charismatics to be great unifiers, (as they seem not to be concerned with dogmas and doctrine but only the experiencing of the Holy Ghost, and coming together in the "River of God".) It is not happen-stance that the Evangelicals are cozying up to the Charismatics and Pentecostals. The Evangelicals are very aware that this is where the greatest church growth is taking place. Nor is it any chance of fate that the Evangelicals are and have been for a long time working with the Vineyard people which includes the "Signs and Wonders" groups because they are the experts in church growth. The purpose of all this is to evangelize and destroy the institutional denominational churches, the Catholic Church included, with the Catholic Charismatics (hopefully) unwittingly assisting (as we shall see as we continue.)

CELEBRATE JESUS 2000

Behind the Hoopla

On June 22-25, 2000, the Celebrate Jesus 2000 Revival is coming to St. Louis... where three rivers converge. St. Louis, therefore, is a most appropriate location for this celebration as it claims to be the "River of God" where all the multi-denominational Christians and Charismatics merge together into a living stream of the Holy Spirit.

"God is developing a Mississippi River of the Spirit. All the different streams- holiness, social justice, charismatic, evangelical, contemplative are flowing into each other and strengthening one another."

                                      Richard Foster, Founder of the New Age "Renovare"

This Charismatic extravaganza, sponsored by the North American Renewal Service Committee, is administered by none other than Fr. Michael Scanlan's Franciscan University of Steubenville. The local organizers are Deacon Dennis Chitwood of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Edwin Bass, Pastor of the Empowered Church.

They claim at this "historic event" the streams of christianity are gathering and the "River" of the Holy Ghost is forming in St. Louis for a powerful revival. There will be workshops and major speakers galore! This will be no small happening. It had a major centerfold in the March 2000 issue of Charisma Magazine.

Quite a bit to be concerned about. First of all, Celebrate Jesus 2000 is not just a little gathering among the Charismatics. Rather, it is a creation of Mission America with  Paul Cedar at the helm. Cedar is  CEO of the operating staff of Mission America. He is listed at the AD2000 web site as the AD2000 region leader for North America under the auspices of Mission America/Celebrate Jesus 2000. Further he serves as chairman of the International Coalition of the AD2000 and beyond Movement and he is a guest dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism. One only has to read the 25 page report on "The Thailand Report on Roman Catholics", one of the Lausanne Occasional Papers, to know that they believe Catholics, unless they have been born again, make a personal commitment to Christ and are re-evangelized, are unsaved. They list all the unacceptable Roman Catholic Doctrines that must go in order for the Catholic to be saved. It is quite a revealing paper in light of all the brotherly cooperation and rhetoric that plays out in these ecumenical world mission organizations, celebrations and visits with the Pope.

Many Evangelicals have a real problem with Catholic Dogma, Doctrine and Tradition: and, they have a really bad problem with the leadership of the Pope and the Hierarchy. Although those Evangelicals who are friendly to the Church try to disguise it, their distaste for the Catholic Church leaks out... as in the Lausanne "Manila Report" which states that evangelical attitudes to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches differ widely. Some evangelicals are praying, talking, studying Scripture and working with these churches. (To convert us no doubt, as in one of their other papers they stated that since Vatican II has emphasized studying of the Bible it would open Catholics up to the Evangelicals). The paper continues to state that some oppose any form of dialogue or cooperation with us. (That's because they think we're pagans, our Mass is blasphemous, we worship Our Lady and many other crazy concepts.)

Ralph Winter lumps the Catholics with the Mormons and the Hindus. Remember when these groups talk about mission work to bring people to Christ, (Celebrate Jesus 2000 included) they are also talking about Catholics. Catholics are targeted for evangelization and conversion. So be well aware that their goal is to save Catholics and set them up under their own protestant global cell church system. They like to think of this as their "Second Reformation".

AD2000 and Beyond was established at Lausanne II in Manila to unite all missionary activity of all denominations and Churches under one huge umbrella operation. Under AD2000 are a multiplicity of organizations which have as the final goal the evangelization of all peoples and nations. In their own words "A church for every people".

This church for every people sounds rather laudable...what could be wrong in diverse Christian faiths coming together to convert Jews, Hindus, Muslims and pagans to the truths of Jesus? We'll here's the problem for Catholics.

The most obvious fault is that this type of unity smacks of "Indifferentism"...i.e. any religion is as good as another. The Church has always condemned this.

Secondly its a Protestant movement. The Protestant churches under the leadership of old mentors such as Billy Graham,(Lausanne), Ralph Winter (U.S. Center for World Missions, Mission Frontiers and HIS Database), Billy Bright (Campus Crusade and the Jesus Film) and Peter Wagner (Global Harvest and Vineyard Ministries, ) along with countless others have collaborated to fulfill the "Great Commission" spoken of in the Bible, which is to bring the gospel to every nation and people.

And how do they intend to do that? By Church Planting. Church Planting has to be a fairly foreign phrase for a Catholic. What is means is: small faith-based house churches, with each group numbering maybe up to a max of 15 people. These little house or cell churches are meant to be indigineous also, meaning that the missionary comes in for a brief period of time, singles out "leadership" from among the locals and then leaves that cell to move on. Thus, the people will be led by "one of their own" who will maintain the local culture as well as the cell.   Great care is taken that everyone (even the missionary) is quite un-schooled, for a primary goal in all of this de-centralization is to do away with professional clergy who are well educated.  This is a real " Power to the People" movement- a radical interpretation of Luther and Calvin's "priesthood of all believers."  

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION IS THE HOUSE CHURCH

According to Rick Wood writing for Mission Frontiers, the Bulletin for Ralph Winter's U.S. Center for World Mission, the essential end result of AD2000 and Beyond is the establishment of indigenous church-planting movements in every unreached people. One of the major goals these House or Cell Churches and Clusters is to reach out to others and duplicate itself. Church cloning, if you will, until every people of every nation are in home based Cell Groups. Members of house churches invite members of traditional Churches into their Cell groups to create more cell groups. They feed off membership of traditional churches, as well as reaching out to people in the work, business, health, recreational etc. settings. They see these cell or house churches as the New Testament Church of the first centuries. They say the local church is not lead by a Pastor, but fathered by an Elder. The Body of Christ is an organic not an organized being.

This is the new wineskin they talk of... the destruction of the "old and outdated" traditional institutional church. That means  the Catholic Church, folks.

Controlling the people in the cell groups are facilitators or leaders who undergo rigorous training to create consensus. These people are also referred to as Spiritual Leaders or Shepherds. They chart the "journey" of each cell member, with daily growth guides and furnish "Equipping Modules" which equips the member and allows the member to equip another. This creates "accountability". New cell members also go through rigorous training so they in turn can be moved up in the chain of command. It's a whole pyramid of control. At the bottom are the sheep who are instructed on how to be submissive servants. At the top are the fallacious "apostles" or "The Manifest Sons of God" (35 or so in number) who would like to reign over all of us.

Ministering Servants is another goal. The Protestants do not believe in the priesthood as do the Catholics. They reject our priests as they do most of the Sacraments and they teach that all Christians are equal in priesthood and ministry. So these cell churches by their very existence deny the Hierarchical Church from the Pope down to the priest.

In the small Cell Group they pray, sing and offer up communion. This is an impossible concept for the Catholic to accept. Only a Catholic priest can offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Only the priest can change wine and water into the Body and Blood of Christ (Transubstantiation - which the protestants deny). Cell churches are anathema to the Catholic Church, which is the one true Church. Catholics cannot lose sight of that fact.

But let them tell you what a Cell Church is:

"What is a "CELL GROUP" CHURCH? A "Cell Group" Church is built on the fact that all Christians are ministers, and that there is no 'professional clergy' hired to do the work of ministry....Such a church is not built around the assembly of all its members but the clustering of believers to become "Basic Christian Communities" which do the work of ministry in cell groups that meet in homes, church basements or wherever. . These cells then cluster for area Congregation activities, and building.... "The second Reformation is here. The only ones who don't recognize it are those who have invested much in the 'status quo,". The program based church that draws people to a building to "serve the Lord" is on its way out." Cell Church, A Magazine for the Second Reformation, Volume 1 #1 1992;

www.touchusa,org/cellchurch/archives/volume1/issue1.htm"

According to Cell Church, Volume #2 - 1993, Cell Churchs are not only a Protestant phenomena, as the Catholic Church around the world is being impacted by Small Groups which they call "Basic Christian Communities." In the urban areas of the more developed nations such as the USA, they are called "faith sharing groups." 

So why are the so-called conservative EWTN type Catholics hanging out with these Evangelicals who have adopted the ways of Pentecostals and Charismatics?  The Charismatic Prayer Groups for which the movement is famous would certainly fit the description of cells or "faith sharing groups." It would appear that the major linkage is Tom Forrest, board member of AD2000 and Beyond. Father Tom Forrest is very big into AD2000 and AD2000 is very big into the "Great Commission" and "Church Planting" and "Cell Churches". He is also Charismatic. So if we put two and two together, and add in the Charismatic affiliations of Steubenville and EWTN, we can probably say that Father Forest of 2000AD and Beyond, Father Michael Scanlan of the EWTN crowd and other birds-of-a-feather have  immersed the Catholic Charismatics into the "Great Commission" aimed at destroying the Traditional Catholic Church in favor of a "church for all people" served up by Lausanne and AD 2000 and Beyond.  Wittingly or unwittingly are they serving the Protestant Reformation II we cannot judge, but there are some real problems here in the name of Ecumenism...and the water is too murky to just dive in.

Of course any Catholic who participates in these community faith-based small groups, like Renew, Bridges, Alpha, Renovare'(the Bishop of Wichita Kansas sits on the advisory board of this New Age movement) , Cursillo, Contemplative Outreach (their names are legion) will usually be subjected to some form of Charismatic approach, or self-confession, self-exposure or submission, or eastern medative or contemplative experiences. They are opening themselves up for group control, and accountability not to God but to the group. Their allegiance shifts from the Church to the group.

The "Great Commission" not only demands salvation for people but also for Nations. This, of course, is part of the "Kingdom Now" Reconstructionist heresy that Jesus can only return when all nations and peoples are members of "the Church". In order to accomplish this feat it means that every government, every institution, every organization, every church, every anything has to come under the control of the pyramidal "Global Church", run by the "apostles" at the top, in other words a Theonomy. Their goal appears to set up global data banks and neighborhood watches among other methods in order to keep records on the "saved" and "unsaved". "Big Brother" could not be doing a better of job of weaving a world surveilance system. Wycliffe Bible Translators is part of this missionary coup and one has only to find a copy of the suppressed book THY WILL BE DONE by Colby and Dennett (20 years in the making) to know that the natives in the Amazon were betrayed by the Evangelicals and turned over to the Rockefeller/Peter Grace and other greedy interests to be butchered in the most hideous ways to seize the land and the riches of the land.  Wycliffe Bible is a part of this world-wide movement and used their mapping, data collection (and the trust of the natives) to serve rich masters and betray their trust. This stuff is so far from Catholic truth and social teaching that it hardly requires analysis.

Just know that for those Catholics who attend Celebrate Jesus 2000 and are responsive to the workshops or speakers, there will be attempts to draw then into a small group and that individual's information and progress (compliance or non-compliance) will be on someone's data base. The facilitators/shepherds will see that they stay a submissive sheep. They will pray and prophesy over them and the evil demons that dwell in them (literally) will be cast out. They will be submissive, and they will be tracked.

WHAT ELSE IS WRONG WITH THIS REVIVAL

A second huge problem is that Catholic Charismatics are holding forth under the same tent as these "Signs and Wonders" preachers, including: John Arnott of the notorious "Toronto Blessing", Steve Hill and John Kilpatrick of the "Pensacola Outpouring" and Ted Haggard and Rick Joyner of the Vineyard Ministries, along with many other speakers who endorse the above.

Once again most Catholics probably have no idea who these people are, or what's being said and done in the name of the Holy Ghost. Elsewhere on this website you will find detailed information about the speakers and who they are, but briefly: some of them impart, pump, and hurl the Holy Ghost around into the audience, who then individually have a variety of "experiences" including laughing hysterically, barking, roaring, pogoing, writhing on the floor, dancing the Conga, being miraculously cured of diseases, having their teeth filling turn to gold, seeing blue smoke descending, becoming paralyzed, getting stuck to the floor with "Holy Ghost Glue", getting "drunk on the Holy Ghost", bending, jerking and some even have orgasms. It is bizarre and frightening.

This is what is being done thanks to many of these protestant Charismatics and Evangelical "Signs and Wonders" preachers; and, the Catholic Charismatics seem to be falling right into step because Steubenville University is administering this shindig.

Catholics should be outraged by this and stay far away from this affront to the Holy Ghost.