Is the Reformation Over? (Rethinking the push for détente with Rome)

http://www.thegracelifepulpit.com

It has now been more than a decade since the Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus teamed up to give us the document known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together” (ECT). That document, which has the endorsement of hundreds of key evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders, marked the start of a major campaign to warm relations between the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical Protestants.

At first it seemed ECT might actually cause a backlash effect that would coalesce a vigorous defense of the gospel from evangelical Protestants. There were lots of excellent critiques of Evangelicals and Catholics Together in the early days.

There was also a famous summit meeting in Orlando in January of 1995. R. C. Sproul, John MacArthur, D. James Kennedy, and John Ankerberg met with Chuck Colson, Bill Bright, and J.I. Packer and challenged them on biblical grounds regarding their deliberate compromise on the doctrine of justification by faith. Colson, Bright, and Packer later issued a clarification and multiple press releases claiming they had fully resolved the concerns of their critics, but they never withdrew their support from ECT, and the ecumenical juggernaut rolled on...