Since around the mid 1990’s it would appear that Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) has become increasingly ambivalent (indecisive) where Roman Catholicism is concerned.
An article posted on
gives helpful information on how DTS reacted to the 1994 ‘Evangelicals and
Catholics Together’ document and it could be described as ‘wishy-washy’.
The relevant portion is found under the heading
‘Institutional Issues’.
The same section also draws attention to the invitation by DTS to a Roman Catholic, William Bennett, to be a guest speaker at their 75th anniversary celebrations held in 1999.
Another area of concern mention was the participation by DTS in the men’s
movement known as ‘Promise Keepers’ which deliberately changed its basis of faith to accommodate Roman Catholic participation on its board. The following is a short article I included in my October 1997 ‘News from the Front’ ministry newsletter
PROMISE KEEPERS FORMALLY LINK WITH ROME
Our Sunday Visitor an American Roman Catholic newspaper reported the
following in its July 20th 1997 issue ‘At its March meeting Promise Keepers
board of directors welcomed Mike Timmis as a new member. A Detroit-area
lawyer and businessman Timmis is a Longtime Leader in the Catholic
Charismatic renewal. At several rallies this year P.K’s has spotlighted Catholic Evangelist Jim Berlocchi as a speaker…and earlier this year P.K’s amended its statement of faith revising the lines that Catholics had found offensive. P.Ks founder Bill McCartney told our Sunday Visitor that full Catholic participation was his intention from the start….Last year P.K’s published a “Statement of Faith” with lines that seemed to be crafted to exclude Catholics. Section Five of the P.K’s credo read “We believe that man was created in the image of God but because of sin was alienated from God. That alienation can be removed only by accepting through FAITH ALONE God’s gift of salvation which was made possible by Christ’s death.”
“Faith alone” is a key doctrine of the Protestant Reformation…Early this year P.K’s revised the statement in a way that passed theological muster with those Catholics “Only through faith, trusting in Christ alone for salvation, which was made possible by his death and resurrection, can that alienation be renewed.”
This amended wording obviously falls into line with the false Roman Catholic gospel of faith + works = salvation. The report also tells of 2 P.K. officials visiting the Catholic Steubenville University in 1995 – chairman Dale Schlafer and vice-president Glenn Wagner. John Sengenberger the Catholic who hosted their visit stated ‘we invited them to go through our bookstore and take any books they wanted…Dale took a set of the Liturgy of the Hours. The following year he told me he’d incorporated it
into his daily prayer so Glenn asked for one too.’ Sengenberger reported
reaction during a Eucharistic Holy Hour in 1996 ‘I remember going down on my knees, then prostrate, down on my face and right next to me was Glenn Wagner doing the same thing.’
“What concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2nd Cor.6:15)
Another document mentioned in this section was ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration’ which in many ways was an attempt to allay fears that had been raised in Evangelical circles by the ECT Document. The then President of DTS, Charles ‘Chuck’ Swindoll signed this document. Was it a ‘solid’ Evangelical document?
What I consider to be a serious appraisal and response to this document was jointly drawn up by Richard Bennett, Richard Knolls and myself (I consider my own contribution to be VERY modest) and you can read that response by going to this link.
“An Evangelical Celebration” A Time to Celebrate or a Time to Repent?
Having mentioned Charles ‘Chuck’ Swindoll this brings me to another matter of concern and that was his reaction to Mel Gibson’s overtly Roman-Catholicism promoting movie ‘The Passion of The Christ’ and you can read of my concerns by going to this article.
The ‘inaccuracies’ in Chuck Swindoll’s ‘amazingly accurate’ Passion Movie
Perhaps you are wondering why I have chosen to pen and publish this article just now. Well, I think the best way to answer that is to now reproduce what I posted to FACEBOOK to day and hopefully that will answer the question. This was my post
DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
My good friend Rob Zins, a former Roman Catholic and a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, has written a letter to all supporters of his own ministry (‘Christian Witness to Roman Catholicism’) drawing attention to a continuing and worrying trend in relation to DTS and its approach and relationship to Roman Catholicism. I know that Rob’s concerns are also shared by another good friend and former Roman Catholic, Mike Gendron (‘Proclaiming the Gospel’) who was likewise a graduate of DTS. This is the letter that Rob has issued and it will explain fully the justified concerns that he and Mike (and others) rightly share.
Dallas Seminary is hosting a conference on February 26th. It is entitled DESIRING HOPE: RESPECTFULLY ENGAGING WORLD RELIGIONS. Exactly what criteria are being used to determine precisely what a world religion might be is not offered on the promotions for this one-day conference. However, it seems odd that Buddhism, Eastern Religion, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism are joined by Mormonism, Scientology, Sikhism and Animism while Roman Catholicism is left out. Several former DTS grads wondered why the 1.2 Billion Roman Catholic population was simply ignored. So, inquiry was made. The organizers of the conference were contacted and asked directly as to why Romanism was not in the conference.
The answers given are not too encouraging for Christianity. Either Rome is Christian or it is not. If it is not then it is a world religion quite apart from true Christianity. Evidently the organizers have a deep seeded opinion that Roman Catholicism is Christian and therefore would not qualify for designation as a “world religion.” This is of course symptomatic of the
current melancholy ecumenical malaise of Evangelicalism. Since 1994 there has been a bewildering number of documents, proclamations, agreements and accords designed to mitigate the Protestant Reformation and trumpet Romanism. The number of assemblies, denominations, schools, colleges, and seminaries that have jumped on the Roman bandwagon are almost too numerous to mention. Add Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) to the mix.
In some really useless and banal pod-casts DTS has done its level best to explain that Roman Catholicism is a Christian tradition that differs from Protestant traditions. Does DTS think, when it comes to Rome, there are simply some distinctions between brothers in the same family? Well yes, according to DTS. All of the Protestant reformers would have gladly given
their lives for the essence of the Gospel. The soul of the Gospel is justification by faith alone in Christ alone or Sola Fide. They also would have given their lives for the principle of Sola Scriptura i.e. the Bible alone is the only Word of God. Rome does not believe in either of these. Here is a thought. The world population of Sikhism is 27 million. The world population of Mormonism is 16 million. However, there are 1.2 Billion Roman Catholics being taught every day the following:
“Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy.” New Catholic Catechism #1992. “Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.” #1989. “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte “a new creature,” an adopted son of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature, member of Christ and co-heir with him and a temple of the Holy Spirit.” #1265.
This only scratches the surface! How is it that 1.2 Billion people, who are being fed a false gospel and a false hope, are not included in a conference on world religions? We wonder what missionaries in Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines and Italy think about all of this. Maybe they should ask DTS.
Cecil Andrews – Take Heed’ Ministries – 2 February 2018