As many readers may remember, in 2014 Word of Faith preacher Kenneth Copeland invited the Anglican priest Tony Palmer to speak to his congregation.* Palmer, who died in a motorcycle accident a few months later, was an “evangelist” for Pope Francis to convince leaders in the Protestant church that the reformation was over and that there was no longer any need for division between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant church. During that particular meeting at Copeland’s church, Palmer played a video clip from Pope Francis who greeted Copeland’s congregation and encouraged them to unite. Incidentally, Palmer also shared a similar message of unity on James Robison’s T.V. show during that same time period.
Fast forward to the fall of 2017 where Kenneth Copeland (click here to see video) reiterated what Palmer and the Pope were conveying. In this video, Copeland is clearly carrying on Tony Palmer’s message that there is no longer a need for the Protestant church to be separated from the Catholic Church.
As Ray Yungen points out in his book, Simple Answers, many evangelical leaders, including Rick Warren and Beth Moore, are doing their part to convince Christians that the Catholic Church is part of the true church. If this is accurate, then Jesus Christ can be found in a wafer (the Eucharist), and all Christians who are not Catholics do not have the life of Christ in them because according to Catholic doctrine, that can only be accomplished through the Eucharist (the focal point of Catholicism). Also keep in mind that from the Catholic perspective, the Catholic Church is the one true church and all Protestants are the “lost brethren,” so the only way we could unify with Catholicism is for Protestants to become Catholic. Some may think that such a unification could never happen, but as Yungen points out in A Time of Departing, global spiritual unification is happening in the mystical realm (e.g., contemplative prayer, centering prayer, mindfulness meditation, etc). For countless Christians (including many leaders), who at one time would have never considered uniting with the Catholic Church, they now see this as a viable path as they embrace contemplative prayer and have allowed doctrine to be superseded by mystical experiences. Now is a perfect “opportunity” for this to happen as the current pope has shown his New Spirituality/New Age affinities—such as proposing a new beatitude that believes God is in everyone.
*Start at 11-minute mark to watch Tony Palmer talking to Copeland’s congregation in 2014.
Related Information:
Protestants Who Don’t Unite With Catholics are Guilty of “Spiritual Racism”
Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed! – {GC 563.1} The defenders of the papacy declare that the church has been maligned, and the Protestant world are inclined to accept the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by the abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of the barbarism of the times and plead that the influence of modern civilization has changed her!
One of the problems of the Catholic church is one that all cults possess, and that is that you ‘must belong to their organization’ to be saved. The JW’s have that, the Mormon’s have that, and so on. It’s not coming to Christ to get saved, it’s coming to an organization. And you see how they have been brainwashed, all their loyalty is to ‘the church,’ not to Christ. It’s all about ‘the church,’ or Mary. Of course all the paganism is another issue, the heresy, etc. But the bride does not go to herself to get saved, she goes to Christ, the Bridegroom! The true church is the bride. So that is another subtle salvation by the works of man in their thinking. The church is an organism and is found all over the world, but it is made up of born again Christians who came to CHRIST to be saved!
The road to Rome is widening. And of course the Protestant Reformation will never be over. We cannot take so much as one inch of a step in their direction. But like you said, this is not even a ‘meet you in the middle’ destination, this is a full on Jesuit agenda of counter reformation. Over the years I have done forms of research in that area too, just asking innocent questions towards those I know are Catholic or have heard accounts from others. One thing that I have found is that the overall Catholic attitude has not budged one inch in our direction. They don’t accept or receive us at all. If you were an Evangelical Christian, they would not allow you to work in a Catholic school, participate in a Catholic church ceremony such as marriage, being a godmother, etc. unless you had joined the Catholic church. (Not that you would want to do these things, but even if one would.) They don’t embrace you at all as a brother. But when you don’t accept them as a brother; oooh, look out, now they are offended!
Thank you for exposing false doctrine.
I did not know this about Copeland,untill I read your article here.