According to an article in Catholic Voice, the upcoming Luis Palau event called Heartland Festival (taking place in Omaha, Nebraska) will have Catholic elements. The article, titled “Luis Palau’s Christian festival to have Catholic elements” states:
When nationally known evangelist Luis Palau brings his two-day Christian festival to Omaha next summer, Catholics will not only be invited to participate, they also will find a Catholic presence at the event.
Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss endorsed the July 14-15 festival, telling pastors it was okay for Catholics to attend the event. He came to the decision after consulting with local priests who met with Palau and members of his organization….”The thinking was that we really need to be a part of this festival if for no other reason than to make sure that the large number of Hispanic Catholics, who for sure will show up, are brought back to their faith – the Catholic faith,” he said.
An article on Luis Palau’s website titled “Evangelist’s visit drawing support across denominations” states:
Catholic churches have participated in Palau’s past events, but this is the first time a Catholic archbishop officially endorsed his pastors’ involvement, said one official from Palau’s organization.
The endorsement came as a result of outreach from the Palau organizers to the archdiocese, including an October visit by Palau to Archbishop Curtiss “They really hit it off and had a real substantive discussion about the opportunity and the concerns with Catholics participating,” said the Rev. Ryan Lewis, vice chancellor for the archdiocese. “Long story short, the archbishop became convinced that the Omaha Palau festival would be prepared and executed in such a way that he could endorse Catholic participation.”
While some will look at this ecumenical shift as a positive move in the right direction toward global peace, others will find it disconcerting that Palau, an evangelical Christian with so much influence, would send out this ecumenical, inter-faith message to Christians around the world.
However for some, Palau’s actions may not come as a surprise at all. Last June, in a news brief titled, Popular Evangelist Luis Palau Joins Brian McLaren in Book Project, it stated:
InterVarsity Press will be releasing a book this summer called Reimagining Evangelism: Inviting Friends on a Spiritual Journey. The author, Rick Richardson is a professor at Wheaton Graduate School and an associate director for evangelism for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. According to InterVarsity, his book “Evangelism Outside the Box: New Ways to Help People Experience the Good News has been widely used by campus ministries, by Emergent churches and in seminary classes on evangelism.”
Popular evangelist Luis Palau has written a foreword for the book as has Brian McLaren. In view of the fact that Palau also endorsed emerging leader Dan Kimball’s book, The Emerging Church, there is reason to be concerned.
The question Lighthouse Trails has is, which came first, Palau’s interest in the emerging church or his willingness to accept Catholic elements. Either way, it’s all really the same because the emerging church is heading right into the arms of the Roman Catholic church and taking a countless number of people with it.
We pray and hope Luis Palau will realize that linking with and promoting the emerging church and the Catholic church will lead his followers away from biblical truth and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For more information:
Read Faith Undone by Roger Oakland, an expose’ of the emerging church, which will include a discussion and documentation on the Roman Catholic’s New Evangelization program. This book will not be released until early August so please refer to Understand the Times, International or Lighthouse Trails Research Project for information on this important topic until then.
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