THE CHAPEL OF GRACE CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI

ECUMENISM: Interdenominational and Missionary Unity [DCM 112]

by Venerable Dr Ifechukwu. U. Ibeme
http://priscaquila.6te.net ; http://www.scribd.com/ifeogo ;
Comment on The Chapel of Grace Blog: http://thechapelofgrace.wordpress.com

CONTENTS
Key Ecumenical Movements and Events of the 19th and 20th Centuries
Problem of Church Denominations
Practice of Mission
Process of Missionary Contextualisation and Inculturation of the Gospel
Precepts and Purpose of Mission
Hierarchy of Four Varieties of Blessedness (Fig 1)
Missionary Dialogue with Other Faiths and Religions
Ecumenism and Apostolic Tradition

ECUMENISM is worldwide unity of the Church for the purpose of cooperating to carry on the saving
missionary purpose of God’s Kingdom through Christ, the Incarnate Word, and worldwide unity of the
Church in upholding the authority and verity of God’s Word inspired and written in the Holy Scriptures.
Ecumenism is not worldwide uniformity of church administration and uniformity of church traditions but for
unity in diversity in a pluralistic world. According to Encylopaedia Britannica, the word ecumenism comes
from a family of classical Greek words: oikos, meaning a "house," "family," "people," or "nation";
oikoumene, "the whole inhabited world"; and oikoumenikos, "open to or participating in the whole world."
and can be traced from the commands, promises, and prayers of Jesus. The Greek word “oikoumene”
describes the place of God's reconciling mission (Matthew 24:14); the unity of the Roman Empire (Luke 2:1)
and of the kingdoms of the earth (Luke 4:5); and the world destined to be redeemed by Christ (Hebrews 2:5).
In the biblical community the vision of one Church serving the purposes of God in the world came to reflect a
central teaching of the early Christian faith on the essence of the Church. Today, it is impossible to avoid
belonging to a denomination without creating a new one. The proper response to DENOMINATIONALISM is
ECUMENISM. But what form of Ecumenism?

After the Pentecost spontaneous ecumenical revival camp meeting (Act 2), that dragged on till dispersed
after Stephen’s death (Acts 7), Ecumenical Councils began to hold in Acts 15 for consensus on missiological
matters, resumed at Nicea in 325 AD for consensus on Christological matters. In the 11th century, the Church
split into Greek (Orthodox) and Latin (Catholic) along the lines of the Eastern and Western parts of the
Roman Empire. During the 16th century the Reformers agreed to cooperate and form national reformation
Churches, though there were other smaller separatist groups. In modern times ecumenism for harmonious
cooperation and consensus was rekindled in the universities through the World Student Christian Federation
in 1895. Ecumenism for worldwide missionary cooperation amongst missionary societies began at the
International Missionary Conference held at Edinburgh in 1910.

In the 19th and 20th centuries ecumenism denoted the movement of the renewal, unity, and mission of
Christians and churches of different traditions "so that the world may believe" (John 17:21). Ecumenism is a
vision, a movement, a theology, and a mode of action. It represents the universality of the people of God,
which affects the way Christians think about their faith, the church, and the world. Ecumenism, which is a
long process, includes Bible study, dialogue (for peaceful coexistence), common prayer, Eucharistic worship,
common witness, diaconal service, and ecclesial unity that draws Christians together, uniting their life and
mission and bringing the Body of Christ and the human community closer to the fulfilment of God's
purposes. To be involved in ecumenism means to participate in those ideas, activities, and institutions that
express a spiritual reality of shared love, consensus and cooperation in the church and the human
community. It involves the work of officially organized ecumenical bodies, the confessing and witnessing of
Christians in local places, and the spirituality and actions of those who live together in love and prophetic
proclamation.

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KEY ECUMENICAL MOVEMENTS AND EVENTS OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES.
World Student Christian Federation 1895 established by John R Mott a Methodist layperson and a
Student Volunteer Movement leader, "to lead students to accept the Christian faith" and to pioneer
in “Christian unity”.

International Missionary Conference 1910 chaired by John R Mott was held at Edinburgh and led to
the formation of the International Missionary Council 1921, bringing together missionary agencies
of the West and of the new Christian councils in Asia, Africa, and Latin America for joint consultation,
planning, and theological reflection.

Life and Work Movement 1925 (on social and practical problems) was pledged to practical
Christianity and common action by focusing the Christian conscience on international relations and
social, industrial, and economic problems.

Faith and Order Movement 1927 (on church doctrine and polity) confronted the doctrinal divisions
and sought to overcome them through process of theological consensus-building between
Protestants, Pentecostals, Orthodox and Roman Catholics which later led to approval of the historic
convergence text on Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry in 1982.

World Council of Churches (WCC) was constituted at Amsterdam in 1948, as a conciliar body of
more than 300 churches – Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox – which "confess the Lord Jesus Christ
as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common
calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". The WCC works for the unity and
renewal of the Christian denominations and offers them a forum in which they may work together in
the spirit of tolerance and mutual understanding. In 1925, after World War I, two specialised
ecumenical movements began to hold conferences.
 The Life and Work movement concentrated on finding common understanding about the
practical activities of the churches, and the Faith and Order movement focused on the
beliefs and organization of the churches and the problems involved in their possible reunion.
Before long, the two movements began to work toward establishing a single organization.
 In 1937 the Faith and Order conference at Edinburgh and the Life and Work conference at
Oxford accepted the plan to create one council. A conference of church leaders met in 1938
in Utrecht, Netherlands, to prepare a constitution; but World War II intervened, and the first
assembly of the WCC could not be held until 1948.
 In 1961 the International Missionary Council united with the WCC.

The witness and programs of the WCC include:

 faith and order,
 mission and evangelism,
 refugee and relief work,
 interfaith dialogue (for peaceful coexistence),
 justice and peace,
 theological education, and
 solidarity with women and the poor.
What distinguishes the WCC constituency is the enthusiastic involvement of Orthodox churches and
churches from the Third World. Through their active presence the WCC, and the wider ecumenical
movement, has become a genuinely international community. Though the Papacy seeks to enter
dialogue with WCC denominations with posturing as if the hegemony of primacy in the Church
belongs to Rome.

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 18th-25th January Universal Week of Prayer for Christian Unity when Christians from many
traditions engage in prayer, Bible study, worship, and fellowship in anticipation of the unity that
Christ wills (John 17:21-23).

National and Regional Church Councils, for consultation on common national and regional concerns
e.g. National Council of Churches in the United States, Christian Council of Nigeria and even the
recent Christian Association of Nigeria.

Church Reunions, Unions and Full Communions Critical to 20th-century ecumenism is the birth of
united churches, which have reconciled formerly divided churches in a given place. In Asia and Africa
the first united churches were organized in China (1927), Thailand (1934), Japan (1941), and the
Philippines (1944). The most heralded examples of this ecumenism are the United Church of Canada
(1925), the Church of South India (1947), and the Church of North India (1970). Statistics of other
united churches are revealing. Between 1948 and 1965, 23 churches were formed. In the period
from 1965 to 1970 unions involving two or more churches occurred in the West Indies in Jamaica
and Grand Cayman, Ecuador, Zambia, Congo (Kinshasa), Pakistan, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea,
the Solomon Islands, and Belgium. Strategic union conversations were undertaken in the United
States by the nine-church Consultation on Church Union (1960) and by such uniting churches as the
United Church of Christ (1957), the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. (1983), and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (1988).

Dialogue consultations with the Papacy especially after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65)
amongst many Protestant denominations of the West and the Orthodox Churches of the East. These
include WCC Joint Working Group with Roman Catholic Church (1965). The Roman Catholic Church
has also initiated dialogue bilaterals with Lutherans (1965), with Eastern Orthodox Churches (1967),
with Anglicans (1967), with Methodists (1967), with Reformed Churches (1970), and with the
Disciples of Christ (1977). Topics identified for reconciling discussions include baptism, the Eucharist,
episcopacy and papacy, authority and ordination in the Church, and mixed marriage.

By the way, it is important to know that the heathen “secular” world of our time understands the
value and power of worldwide unity and is working hard towards their own heathen ecumenism
through the New World Order movement, New Age Movement, Economic Globalisation, United
Nations organisation and International Community movement. Just as the Church was once united in
Christian fellowship and worship during apostolic times, the world was also once united to “make a
name for themselves” (Gen 11:4) during postdiluvian Shinar civilisation. God will always help His
Church to unite with Tongues of understanding as at the Pentecost revival (Acts 2) and will always
hinder the heathen world from unity with Tongues of confusion as at Babel (Gen 11).
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PROBLEM OF CHURCH DENOMINATIONS

Denominations are broken communions of the Church resulting from disagreement, disunity and division.
Church Denominations are selectively distinct forms (or specially and preferentially organised expressions) of
the Gospel of Christ’s Kingdom. They are groups of Churches united by same tradition and administration. In
fact, Church denominations arose from agreements and disagreements about preferred differences in forms
of Church government and traditional basis for doctrine and practice as well as organisational allegiance.
Three main forms of Church governments or administrations adopted by Church denominations and
somewhat or partially derivable from the Bible are:
1. Monarchical Episcopacy.
2. Circuitry Presbyterianism.
3. Congregational Independency.

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There are four main traditions on which teachings and practices in Churches and Denominations are based
and by which teachings and practices are authenticated. These include:
1. Evangelical Tradition ruled by comprehensive Scriptural Truth. (Seen in Reformed, Presbyterian, Low-
Anglican, Puritan, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches).
2. Catholic Tradition ruled by historical heritage and antecedent dogmas. (Seen in Orthodox, Roman
and High-Anglican churches).
3. Rational Liberal Tradition ruled by reason, science, philosophy and common trends. (Seen in liberal
Reformed, Presbyterian, Broad-Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist churches).
4. Mystical Liberal Tradition ruled by personal revelations, experiences and scruples. (Seen in
Pentecostal and Charismatic churches and in Renewal movements within Roman, Anglican,
Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches).
Apart from administrative and traditional differences, many factors have divided Christians not only due to
doctrinal and historical standards, but also due to cultural, political or even financial and personality
concerns. Divisive or schismatic denominationalism and doctrinal eccentricity are unnecessary and unbiblical
evils that have plagued and marred the witness of the One Universal Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ over
the centuries. Christians have so much got used to denominationalism that today they feel normal to even
claim that the “Holy Spirit” now “leads” them to break away and start another denomination or “ministry” as
if they are starting up a new trade, new business, new cause or club or new NGO.

Mature Biblical Christianity rises above denominationalism. Every denominational or ministry Church is a
partial and preferential pattern of Christianity propagated as it suits or as is understood by the founders,
leaders and members. The biblical Scriptures constitute a comprehensive revelation of God’s redemption for
humanity and whatever is harmoniously revealed therein is the most authentic truth about the Living God.
Many denominational and ministry Churches would still maintain their professed teachings, past traditions,
present trends, personal tendencies even when they see that these do not fully match the pure and perfect
truth comprehensively revealed in the Scriptures. Hardly do you find a denominational or ministry Church
that accepts to change their preferred patterns because they have seen that any particular teaching,
tradition, trend and tendency of theirs is lopsided or contrary to the balance and comprehensiveness of the
truth in the Scriptures. Though it may be imperative in some special situations to make a choice out all the
valid options found in the Scriptures but such choices must not overrule other valid options but admit itself
to be only an option and not the rule of the comprehensive Scriptural truth.

Denominational Christianity is always partial Christianity and denominational theology is always lopsided
theology and if not balanced with each other and ultimately with the Scriptures these are always certainly
fraught with dangers. Denominations are partial witnesses sometimes not without ulterior motives,
presenting themselves as full true witnesses for Christ. Denominations are half-truths presuming to be the
whole truth; they are often strange magnification of preferred or modified truth (or even outright falsehood)
used to oppose and override another biblical truth. Christ and His Apostles prayed (John 17:10, 11, 20-24)
and warned (Acts 20:26-34; 1John 2:19; Jude 1:19) against the Church splitting into denominations. The
solution for the problem of denomination is not breaking out again from our denominations to start new
denominations that would claim to be interdenominational or hibernate to become Churchless Christian
recluses, but to seek for the ecumenical toleration cooperation and reunion as well as balancing up of one
another on the basis comprehensive teaching and harmonious meaning of the Scriptures. This has been
done before by the Church in the Apostolic Church (Acts 15) and during the fourth century at Nicaea.

Unlike today’s separatist Churches where “Apostles”, “Prophets”, “President-Founders” and “General-
Oversees” who possessively administer their Churches after a business proprietorship model, all the ancient
Apostles and Church Fathers founded Churches geographically united by cities and regions of their location
and ecumenically united in communion and concord with other metropolitan and regional Churches under
Christ and the Apostles. The ancient Churches were united under the Apostles despite the fact that their
evolving Church governments and liturgies were not uniform. Even differences and disagreements between
Jews and Gentiles did not lead to denominations; they gave up surmising and preferences to willingly accept
truth that agreed with the harmonious teaching of the whole counsel of God in all the Scriptures. The

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Apostle predicted denominations as inevitable evil and warned that denominations are savage disruptions of
Christ’s blood-bought flock and selfish drawing of disciples after divisive and private interests as though
believers are business clienteles and edible flocks.
Acts 20:26-34
(26) I therefore declare to you today that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,
(27) for I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God.
(28) Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of
GOD'S CHURCH, WHICH HE ACQUIRED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD.
(29) I know that when I'm gone SAVAGE WOLVES WILL COME AMONG YOU AND NOT SPARE THE FLOCK.
(30) Indeed, some of YOUR OWN MEN WILL COME FORWARD AND DISTORT THE TRUTH IN ORDER TO LURE THE DISCIPLES
INTO FOLLOWING THEM.
(31) So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I NEVER STOPPED WARNING EACH OF YOU WITH TEARS.
(32) "I am now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all who are sanctified.
(33) I never desired anyone's silver, gold, or clothes.
(34) You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who were with me.

According to Christ, denominational divisions would hinder the Church from that divinely desired unity that
leads to divine glory, from that divinely apportioned perfection or completeness and from that extraordinary
divine love, all of which (unity, glory, perfection, and love) behove a Church belonging to a Trinitarian
Divinity. Denominational divisions and separatist tendencies constitute a refusal to say AMEN to Christ
valedictory prayer for His Church.
John 17:10-11
(10) All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.
(11) I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your
name, the name that you gave me, so THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, as we are one.
John 17:20-24
(20) "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their message,
(21) THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE. Just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, MAY THEY ALSO BE ONE in us, so that the
world may believe that you sent me.
(22) I have given them the glory that you gave me, so THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, just as we are one.
(23) I am in them, and you are in me. MAY THEY BE COMPLETELY ONE, so that the world may know that you sent me and
that you have loved them as you loved me.
(24) Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, which you gave me because
you loved me before the creation of the world.
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PRACTICE OF MISSION
We may not have a clear cut example or prescription of how to unite a split Church in the Bible because the
Bible was written against Church splitting and was meant for a universally united and nondenominational
Church. But there are biblical principles and pursuits that could lead to ecumenical unity of the Church; such
as essentials on Life and Work of the Church, or on Faith and Order of the Church which has led to the
document on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry of Lima, Peru in 1982. Another consensus and collaboration
principle is that of unity of all Christians in being sent on one divine mission to the one world. Irrespective of
divinely determined language differences, national and regional boundaries with the cultural and other
differences arising from these, the Christian and the Church are CALLED OUT of the world, CHOSEN AND
SENT by Christ on mission to the world the same way God sent the Son on mission to the world. The mission
of the whole Church is the ONE MISSION OF THE ONE GOD TO THE ONE WORLD.

The Church’s Mission to the world derives from God’s loving and saving Mission to the world in Christ Jesus,
in pursuant of which Jesus:
called/chose the first Disciples to accept God’s saving grace in Christ through preaching and
catechised them as His disciples and
congregated them as His gathered and ordered Church and
commissioned them as His witnesses and missionaries to reproduce disciples by
evangelising all nations with the Gospel,

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 baptizing converts into the Name of the Trinity,
catechising the baptised disciples to live as Christ commanded and
commissioning those disciples for further witness and mission.
The Church of God is therefore both the PRODUCT and PROPAGATOR of God’s Mission; and so should every
Christian and congregation be. As Rev Dr Josh Rowley rightly put it “the church is part of God’s mission to the
world; but part of the church’s mission is to be the church”

Whereas the Church has over the years, evolved METHODS and MEANS to accomplish a great deal in
reaching out to the world practically (mission), she is still struggling to increasingly understand or fully
explain the MEANING of what she has been sent to do in the world theologically (missiology). The Christian
Mission is all about that worldwide and Spirit-powered WITNESSING FOR (making known the report about)
CHRIST (Act 1:8), for which Christians are SENT by Christ to BRING the Gospel (Good News of accessibility)
of GOD’S KINGDOM which is also the Gospel (Good News of availability) of ETERNAL SALVATION to this
perishing world. This Gospel is that in or through Christ, God has freely offered to the world the divinely
mediated grace for their redemption, regeneration, reconciliation and restoration, if they believe.
Titus 2:11-15
(11) For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
(12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live sensibly, righteously, and godly, in this present
world;
(13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
(14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own,
zealous of good works.
(15) These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
(18) And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of
reconciliation;
(19) That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has
committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
(20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you on Christ's behalf, be
reconciled to God.
(21) For he has made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

This eternally-saving, Spirit-powered and God-sent mission of the Church which is meant to win souls to
Christ and save them from perishing involves:
PROCLAMATION (Evangelisation) of the Gospel that Christ is God’s unique Saviour from human
depravity and damnation for all who believe, and
DISCIPLESHIP (Edification) of believers for maturity in the likeness of Christ, as well as
INTERVENTION (Liberation) for relief of all peoples against the evils of wicked bondage and blind
falsehood,
PRESENCE (Relationship and Dialogue) with all peoples of all tongues and religions of the world.
To be sure, dialogue that bases the Gospel on human religions or ideologies devoid of authoritative and
prophetic proclamation of God’s unique salvation offered freely to all in the risen Christ (1Cor 1:18-24) is
mere philosophical rapprochement which is neither evangelistic nor missionary, though such may serve
some pre-evangelistic purpose.
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PROCESS OF MISSIONARY CONTEXTUALISATION AND INCULTURATION OF THE

GOSPEL
The Church is called and commissioned by Christ and empowered with the Holy Spirit to bear WITNESS for
Christ and His saving Gospel to all the nations of the world (Matt 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:46-49;
Act 1:8). This is a delicate and complex task. This WITNESS for Christ involves evangelistic PROCLAMATION,
missionary CONTEXTUALISATION/inculturation, coexistence DIALOGUE, APOLOGETIC presence,
compassionate SERVICE and reformative ACTION that all may believe that Christ has come as the Divine Son,
to save this sinfully lost and perishing world so they would have eternal life and experience the refreshing of

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the Holy Spirit and liberation of the sons of God. The situation when CONTEXTUALISATION or
INCULTURATION confronts the Church most is at the point of translating the Bible into a new language or
preaching the Gospel in a new culture. What words should be used as equivalents of the Hebrew and Greek
originals for God, for grace, for sin, for Christ, for Holy Spirit, for revelation, for repentance, for faith, for
resurrection, for glorification, for atonement, for propitiation, for regeneration, for heaven, for hell, for
Satan, for Angels, e.t.c. Are there any appropriate old cultural words and concepts? Should old cultural
words be used with their old meanings or with new meanings, or should entirely new words be coined? Or
does becoming a Christian mean I become a Jew or a Greek?

Christ, the eternally Divine Word took up flesh and was born human (Incarnation) to dwell amongst
humanity and reveal the mysteries of heavenly truth and grace and the saving Gospel initially to the Jewry of
His day. Christ trained and commissioned the Apostles as witnesses to contextualise the Hebrew and
Aramaic Gospel into the Hellenist culture of the Greco-Roman empire. The Apostles did their
contextualisation by REVEALING Christ’s REDEMPTION to the world while rejecting any syncretistic COPYING
from the IDOLATROUS bondage, from the LASCIVIOUS passions, from the RITUALISTIC Judizers and from the
SPECULATIVE Gnostics. The Apostolic Fathers and Church Doctors further contextualised the Gospel from
Greek to Latin. The Scholastics believing that faith could be fathomed or that revelation could be reasoned,
tried to acculturate the Gospel to suit the evolving philosophies and cultures of Europe of the Middle Ages
by copying philosophical ideas from the heathen world rather than revealing God’s Word for the redemption
of the world. But the Reformers later tried to reform the Scholastic error by contextualising the Gospel albeit
polemically as a heavenly counterculture into the subcultures and languages of Europe. Much of the
teachings and practices of the Church today derive from these contextualisations over the years, such that
the Christian Faith is taught in European conceptual categories. The Western world has also seen heathenish
ideological movements that have left negative or corrupting influence on the Church: confusing and
contaminating wholesome Scriptural Christianity despite the attempt at evangelical reformation in the 16th
century.

Missionaries and modern Bible translators have continued to proclaim and inculturate the Gospel into other
ethnic languages and cultures of the world. In today’s fast evolving heathen cultures of the globalising world,
the Church as a whole is again pressured into unbiblical acculturation through commercial marketing and
mass media outreaches. Unfortunately, this so called “REPACKAGING” of the Gospel and the Christian Faith
for commerce, vogue and mass media is being done by COPYING HEATHENISM FROM THE “SECULAR”
WORLD rather than doing proper biblical INCULTURATION that REVEALS HEAVEN’S REDEMPTION TO THE
WORLD. This is a daunting challenge especially for the post-evangelical or postmodern Church that is again
derailing and dividing while facing anti-Christian and self-actualizing postmodern world. There is no longer
much biblical thought on the true offer of the Gospel to the heathens nor is there proper understanding of
the true demand of the Gospel on the world – a case of Church PRACTICE without Biblical PRECEPTS or
Church MISSION without Biblical MISSIOLOGY. No wonder, present repackaging is often done with
innovative styles and expensive methods that copy the false “gospel” of glamour and gratification from the
heathen world rather than revealing the true redeeming Gospel to the world.

The Church has become the soothsayer’s shrine; the “prophets”, “bishops” and “apostles” practice magic or
mimic mediums or sorcerers and enslave their clientele with superstitions and avarice; the “preachers”
propagate modern heathenism with its humanism, modernism and materialism. The holy Gospel is no longer
being revealed to the world as HEAVENLY COUNTERCULTURE by missionary inculturation rather it is
prodigally revised, adulterated and relegated while the Church is sold out to the Beast and hell all in the
name of so called “repackaging”. Lord, revive and restore your Church!
Jeremiah 5:29-31
(29) Shall I not punish for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
(30) An appalling and horrible thing is committed in the land;
(31) The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their own power; and my people love to have it so: and
what will you do in the end?

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Carnal mirth has overtaken spiritual worship in “post-evangelical Christianity”. This calls for another bible
based Reformation for our “postmodern” heathen generation and biblical Revival towards the recovery of
wholesome Scriptural Christianity. For instance much of our so called popular “gospel music” performances
and videos today with their rhythms, jigs, dark lightings, visuals, parlance, party fashion, orgiastic evocations
and lascivious revelry are outright postmodern hiphop heathenism and hippie culture of the New Age,
syncretised as entertainment “Christianity”. Christian gospel music is not mirth-making for entertainment
and revelry but for spiritual worship, so it should covey sublime revelations, and be accompanied with
devotional visuals, sanctified adorations and spiritual evocations that hallmarked the Prophetic musicians of
the Bible and Apostolic Church. Church music videos and ministrations (called SKILLED INSTRUMENTAL
PROPHESYING AND PRAISE in 1Chron 25:1-7 and SPIRIT FILLED WORD BASED MELODIOUS UTTERANCE in
Eph 5:18-20 and Col 3:16) which ought to “SOW TO THE SPIRIT” for WORSHIPING GOD in a manner
spiritually acceptable to HEAVEN, has become same with club music videos and mirth performances meant
to “SOW TO THE FLESH” for ENTERTAINING HUMANS in a manner extravagantly acceptable to HEATHENS.
When could we ever again hear and sing songs of true spiritual worship as in the days of Charles Wesley and
Ira Sankey? May God give His Church the word and wisdom to reveal His heavenly commitment and spiritual
Way to the world rather than copy and mimic the heathenish covetousness and superstar ways of the world.
John 4:23-24
(23) But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeks such to worship him.
(24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.
Galatians 6:7-8
(7) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
(8) For he that SOWS TO HIS FLESH shall of the flesh REAP CORRUPTION; but he that SOWS TO THE SPIRIT shall of the Spirit
REAP LIFE EVERLASTING.
Galatians 5:16-24
(16) This I say then, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, and you shall not fulfill the LUST OF THE FLESH.
(17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so
that you cannot do the things that you would.
(18) But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.[See Rom 8:1-4]
(19) Now the WORKS OF THE FLESH are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, impurity, licentiousness,
(20) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strife, jealousy, wrath, selfishness, divisions, heresies,
(21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of which I tell you beforehand, as I have also told you in time
past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
(22) But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(23) Meekness, self-control: against such there is no law.[See Rom 8:1-4]
(24) And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
NOTE:
MUSIC (melody and rhythm for lyrical communication and instrumental excitation) IS OF TWO MAIN
CATEGORIES:
1. CHURCH (GOSPEL) MUSIC (Traditional and Contemporary) Eph 5:19.
1Chron 15:16/25:1: For spiritual communication (prophesy/exhort/admonish/evangelise) and spiritual
adoration (praise/worship/thanksgiving).
2. ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC (Traditional and Contemporary) Gen 31:27.
Eccl 2:1/7:4/Isa 24:8: For social communication, mundane excitation and carnal satisfaction.
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PRECEPTS AND PURPOSE OF MISSION

Since the 19th century, national, regional and ecumenical missionary conferences have sought to understand
the precepts and purpose of Christian mission. Varieties of emphases and views have received attention at
many of these meetings since 1900: e.g. World Missionary Conference up to 1920s, International Missionary
Conference (IMC) 1920s-1960s, World conferences on Faith and Order since 1925 and on Life and Work
since 1925, World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly since 1948 and Commission on World Mission and
Evangelism of the WCC since 1968. Evangelicals have also sought the meaning and function of mission in the
Lausanne Conferences since 1970s, etc. Putting it all together, so far these conferences have taught the

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Church that for Mission to be biblically all encompassing and truly Christian, it should bear witness for Christ
through:
Mission for Ecumenical Conversion (Luke 24:45-49);
Mission by Church Planting (Matt 28:19-20);
Ecumenical Unity in Mission though not uniformity in Administration (John 17:20-21);
Mission by Social Action and Service (Luke 4:17-21);
Mission by Sympathetic Presence or Incarnation (Phil 2:5-8);
Eschatological Expectation in Mission (Acts 3:17-21).
The purpose of Christ and His Gospel mission is to bring all humanity to know (revelation) and do God’s will,
to worship God in spirit and truth and to be saved into His eternal Kingdom (redemption) from depravity,
demonism and damnation.

EXCLUSIVIST, INCLUSIVIST, PLURALIST, HIERARCHIST, or whatever view of Christian understanding of its

relationship to science, other faiths, cultures, philosophies and worldviews, the basic biblical precept of the
Kingdom Gospel and mission is that all humanity
 is lost, perishing and dead in their sin,
 is enslaved by the devil, is under divine wrath and condemnation (John 3:35-36; Eph 2:1-3) and
 is in dire need of eternal salvation only possible by divine intervention; which salvation has been
powerfully accomplished and graciously offered by God through Jesus Christ (John 3:13-19).

Christ was preordained in eternity before all time by God to judge or save the living and the dead but was
presented and proved in time to be the Christ and the eternally reigning Son of God by His incarnation,
resurrection and ascension (John 3:35-36; 5:22-27; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom 1:2-6). The basic biblical purpose
of Christian mission in the world is to share with all humanity this Gospel of distinctly boundless blessing of
eternal salvation freely offered, revealed and brought to the world through Christ. This eternal salvation is
far beyond every other available levels and options of blessedness ever sought and imagined or attainable by
humanity (Eph 1:17-23; 3:16-21). This REVELATIONIST and REDEMPTIONIST perspective of the Christian
witness was testified to by Christ and His Apostles.
John 4:19-26
(19) The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
(20) Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
(21) Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you
worship the Father.
(22) You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
(23) But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the
Father is seeking such people to worship him.
(24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
(25) The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all
things."
(26) Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
Acts 17:24-31
(24) The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in shrines made by
human hands,
(25) and he isn't served by hands as if he needed anything. He himself gives everyone life, breath, and everything.
(26) From one man he made every nation of humanity to live all over the earth, fixing the seasons of the year and the
boundaries they live in,
(27) so that they might look for God, somehow reach for him, and find him. Of course, he is never far from any one of us.
(28) For we live, move, and exist because of him, as some of your own poets have said: 'For we are his children, too.'
(29) So if we are God's children, we shouldn't think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone, or is an image carved
by human imagination and skill.
(30) Though God has overlooked those times of ignorance, he now commands everyone everywhere to repent,
(31) for he has set a day when he is going to judge the world with justice through a man he has appointed, and he has
given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead."
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Christ came down to graciously grant us the privilege of eternal salvation as free redemptive blessing which by far
outweighs and outlasts all levels of blessedness that humanity may think, imagine, ask or ever know (Eph 1:3-4, 17-23;
3:16-21): whether by human actualisation and human speculation or even by prophetic revelation. Every human is

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 responsible for the level of blessedness one chooses to seek because every level of blessedness has its eternal
consequence after death. The workings and worth, powers and purposes of the four levels of blessedness are attested to
all over the Scripture. Here are some examples:

This chart of “HIERARCHY OF FOUR VARIETIES OF BLESSEDNESS” attempts to present this in perspectives.

4. SALVATION in Christ into the eternal heavenly heritage for all humanity whosoever believes.
Luke 7:28
(28) For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the
Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Hebrews 1:1-3
(1) God, having spoken in former times in fragmentary and varied fashion to our forefathers by the prophets,
(2) has in these last days spoken to us by a Son whom he appointed to be the heir of everything and through
whom he also made the universe.
(3) He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact likeness of his being, and he holds everything together by his
powerful word. After he had provided a cleansing from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Highest Majesty.
Acts 4:12-13
(12) There is no salvation by anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which
we must be saved.
(13) Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and found out that they were uneducated and ordinary
men, they were amazed and realized that they had been with Jesus.
Eternal Salvation level is obtainable through faith in Christ and through living by His Grace as
witnessed to by Christ and His Apostles in the Scriptures of the New Testament.

3. REVELATION for walking with the Creator God as found in the experiences of Old Testament Patriarchs and Prophets.
Hebrews 11:39-40

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 (39) And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
(40) God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Matthew 11:9-11
(9) Really, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and even more than a prophet!
(10) This is the man about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare
your way before you.'
(11) Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has appeared who is greater than John the Baptist. Yet
even the least important person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
1 Corinthians 13:9-10
(9) For our knowledge is only in part, and the prophet's word gives only a part of what is true:
(10) But when that which is complete is come, then that which is in part will be no longer necessary.
Divine Revelation level is accessible through obedience to the Law of Moses and faith in the
Scriptures of the Old Testament Patriarchs and Prophets.

2. TRANSCENDATION through human wisdom and curiosity all through the ages for transcending into the exotic.
1 Corinthians 1:21-25
(21) For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know God, God decided through the
nonsense of our preaching to save those who believe.
(22) Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom,
(23) but we preach Christ crucified. He is a stumbling block to Jews and nonsense to gentiles,
(24) but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom.
(25) For God's nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
Colossians 2:8-9
(8) Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
(9) For in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily.
Human Transcendation level is attainable with transcendent instinct that senses and searches for the
unapparent, the invisible, the spiritual, the supernatural, whether divine or demonic, whether
inclined to primal or philosophic religion, whether by scientific or mystical mind-set.

1. ACTUALISATION driven by the motivation to meet humanly felt-needs, satisfy selfish and mundane passions, pride
and pomp.
Luke 12:15
(15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the
abundance of the things which he possesses.
Luke 12:20-23
(20) But God said unto him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things
be, which you have prepared?
(21) So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
1 Corinthians 15:19
(19) If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more, then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all
the world.
1 John 2:15-17
(15) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him,
(16) because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced
by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.
(17) And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.
Human Actualisation level is attainable even with or without any religion, with or without
transcendation, with or without revelation, with or without salvation, whether atheistic or not,
agnostic or not, idolatrous or not.

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MISSIONARY DIALOGUE WITH OTHER FAITHS AND RELIGIONS

Missionary dialogue in its various ramifications and purposes, recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit by
which God “is constantly at work in ways that pass human understanding and in places that to us are least
expected”. Interfaith Dialogue is not only of theological or doctrinal exchange (what is true versus what is
false), for there are also dialogue of tolerance for mutual coexistence (what you uphold versus what I
uphold), dialogue of common cause for social action (how we can advance together), and even dialogue of

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shared pluralist religious experience (pray to your God/gods” while I pray to my God/gods) for common
good as on Jonah’s tempest-tossed ship of Tarshish (Jonah 1:5-6).

How is the Christian Faith or the Gospel of Christ’s Kingdom related to other faiths, religions and cultures?
This is a fundamental question the Church must answer for effective evangelism, dialogue (for peaceful
coexistence and community collaboration) and presence in a pluralistic heathen world. For instance in the
dialogue of the three monotheistic religions, it seems that:
 The Christian Gospel is a MESSIANIC OFFER of the Creator God’s eternal SALVATION to sinful
humanity from the bondage of sin and Satan through the POWER of Christ’s GRACE as taught by
Jesus Christ and His Apostles.
 The Jewish Old Testament is a PROPHETIC DEMAND for frail OBEDIENCE from sinful humanity (e.g.
Israel) to the law of the One Creator God (Yahweh) as taught by Moses and the Prophets of Israel.
 The Islamic Qur’an is a PROPHETIC DEMAND for frail SUBMISSION from sinful humanity to the will of
Allah who they believe is the One Creator God as taught by Muhammad ibn Abdallah.
On a general note the question of relationship of the Christian Gospel to other religions calls for a broad
grasp of not only the thrust of the various religions but also what religion basically is and what types of
religion (primal, philosophical and prophetic) there are in the world.

The word RELIGION (which refers to human response in relation to any superstition, supposition,
speculation; or human reverence in relation to redemptive revelation) is derived from Latin RELIGIO =
supernaturally constrained attitudes, beliefs, experiences, powers and practices or RELIGARE =
scrupulously restrained attitudes, beliefs, experiences, powers and practices. Today’s liberalism with its
antireligious, irreverent, rebellious, and self-willed philosophies has given religion a bad name as faiths
and forms that are antisocial, intolerant and deceptive because of religious rules and regulations – often
designating RELIGION to mean religious organisations or regulations. Consequently, SPIRITUALITY which is
designated to mean unregulated spontaneous spiritual worship and lifestyle or personal “salvation”
experience is preferred to RELIGION in today’s antireligious parlance. Hence many in the Church and
other religions are averse to the word “religion” or “religious” and claim they are not religious: they would
prefer to describe themselves as spirituals, spiritualists, using spiritual powers or living in spiritual
relationship.

Religions and Spiritualities in the world today offer or seek different concepts of SALVATION (e.g. Christian
redemption-ransom, rescue-release, regeneration-restoration, Non-Christian self-realisation) from
bondage (e.g. Christian sinful nature, divine wrath, demonic deceit, damnable death, error-ignorance, Non-
Christian karma, reincarnation and matter) which may not satisfy the salvation concepts of the others.
RELIGION can be defined as the human spiritual relationship or human ritual response or human rational
response of faith in, fear of, fervour for, experience of and reverence for God, gods and numinous powers.
Religions have belief systems about the divine, the spiritual and the sacred, expressed in behaviour
systems of ritual forms, religious community, numinous experiences, ethical values and mystical practices.

Note that both the religious and the irreligious have their kinds of “God” and “gods” which regulate their
worldviews and behaviours such as:
 the Monotheists’ ALMIGHTY CREATOR God, (Author of order)
 the Mystics’ UNIVERSAL MIND/FORCE god,
 the Evolutionists' RANDOM SELECTOR goddess, (author of confusion)
 the Scientists’ “NATURAL LAW” goddess,
 the Secularists’ “AS YOU LIKE IT” god,
 the Polytheists’ specialised or tension gods and goddesses, and guiding/guardian spirits of beasts,
masters, heroes, heroines and ancestors.

Common elements and concepts shared by most religions are repercussions of morals and powers of rituals.
Religions are of two main classes but three broad types:

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 1. Nature Religion: PRIMAL, polytheistic, pantheistic, idolatrous, deistic and cyclical religions – e.g.
animistic and monist religions, totemic and nature worship religions, ancestral worship religions, and
Hinduism.
2. Founder Religion:
(i) PHILOSOPHICAL: atheistic, agnostic, polytheistic, pantheistic, idolatrous, deistic and
cyclical religions – e.g. mystic religions, Buddhism, Shinto, Tao, Bon, Confucianism,
Gnosticism, Jainism and Sikhism (Sikhism is Islamic Buddhism = monotheistic and cyclical)
(ii) PROPHETIC: monotheistic and eschatological religions – e.g. God-seeking (theoreunatic)
religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Baha’ism.

In contradistinction to THEISM, the belief in an immanent God who actively intervenes in the affairs of men, the word
DEISM is used to represent the view of those who reduced the role of God to a mere act of creation in accordance with
rational laws discoverable by man and held that, after the original act, God virtually withdrew and refrained from
interfering in the processes of nature and involvement in the ways of man. The Deist God has left nature to forces of
natural properties and left humanity to personal and popular preferences.
In the deistic treatises of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, five religious ideas were recognized as God-given and innate in the
mind of man from the beginning of time: the belief in a supreme being, in the need for his worship, in the pursuit of a pious
and virtuous life as the most desirable form of worship, in the need of repentance for sins, and in rewards and
punishments in the next world. Herbert held that these are fundamental religious beliefs that had been the possession of
the first man, and they were basic to all the worthy positive institutionalized religions of later times. Thus, differences
among sects and cults all over the world were usually benign, mere modifications of universally accepted truths; they were
corruptions only when they led to barbarous practices such as the immolation of human victims and the slaughter of
religious rivals.
Polytheism and idolatry turn every want and wonder into god or goddess based on one legend, myth superstition or
another. For instance, WANTS such as health and wealth are met with GOD(DESSE)S of health and wealth, while WONDERS
like thunder and sun are met with GOD(DESSE)S of thunder and sun.

The Christ came down to graciously grant us the blessed experience of ETERNAL SALVATION as heavenly
spiritual blessing that by far outweighs and outlasts all blessedness humanity may think, imagine, ask or ever
know (Eph 1:3-4, 17-23; 3:16-21): whether by all HUMAN ACTUALISATION and all HUMAN SPECULATION or
even by PROPHETIC REVELATION. From Christ’s dialogue with the Samaritan woman in John 4:19-26 and St
Paul’s introduction to his Epistle to the Romans 1:18-32 and his sermon at the Athenian Areopagus in Acts
17:18-34, we learn that through Spirituality or Religion, humans instinctively seek to RELATE WITH AND
REVERENCE GOD but to succeed, need HELP by the TRUTH of Divine Revelation and GRACE of Eternal
Salvation through Christ. Otherwise, humanity being HINDERED by the ERROR of human mystical supposition
and syncretism and being HOODWINKED by the FRAUD of demonic manipulation, ends up seeking to RELATE
WITH AND REVERENCE THE “GODS” (e.g. mistaken “God”, demonic spirits, dead ancestors, natural object
and forces). Without God reaching us, humans cannot succeed to reach God (Mat 11:27; John 6:44; 14:6-7).

These other PRIMAL, PHILOSOPHICAL and PROPHETIC non-Christian Faiths/Religions and cultures unaided by
Divine Revelation and the Redeeming Grace of the Divine Christ may have their few merits despite their
gross demerits and limitations. However, ONLY CHRIST EFFECTUALLY SAVES US ETERNALLY FROM EVERY
BONDAGE TO ORDINANCES (repercussions of sin and manipulations of rituals) AGAINST US, whether of
Jewish Mosaic Law and regulations or of Gentile Philosophical Rudiments and traditions (Gal 3:22-26; 4:1-
10; Col 2:8-17). This apostolic teaching is often missed or misunderstood by the Church. Only the Divine
Christ has the ultimate POWER that saves from every bondage to dark territorial PRINCIPALITIES of spiritual
error and from every bondage to wicked celestial POWERS of spiritual evil (Eph 6:10-12; 1John 4:1-6). Only
Christ has made or could ever have made the valid ATONEMENT/PROPITIATION that saves from human
DEPRAVITY, demonic DOMINATION and divine DAMNATION (Col 1:12-23).

In summary, RELIGION and SPIRITUALITY involve the loving reverential submission to either divinely
revealed invitation or curious pursuit of mystical exploration for human RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CREATOR,
THE SUPERNATURAL AND THE NATURAL.
Through Spirituality and Religion we seek to ENTER MYSTICAL RELATIONSHIP with the ineffable and infinite
(the Creator, spirit beings and numinous powers).
Spirituality deals with OUGHT and FACT but needs Faith in Christ Jesus for access to TRUTH and Eternal Life.

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Apart from the dimension of SPIRITUALITY or RELIGION as described above, two other DIMENSIONS OF
HUMAN EXPLORATION into known and unknown reality are PHILOSOPHY and SCIENCE. Each human
individual is fully responsible for how goodly or badly one utilizes each dimension.

NOTE: Religion is the product of revelation, intuition, reason and historical experience as well as the mother
of Philosophy and Science. Science is the product of physical experience (observable and measurable) subset
of Philosophy. Science is a finite empirical study whose scope ends at the limits of time and space and
collapses at the realms of moral values, cosmological metaphysics, intuitive insights, revelation and divine
intervention. Science cannot disprove nor antagonize infinity, morality, metaphysics, revelation and divinity.
Only those who lack the understanding of the limitations of science clash science against infinity, morality,
metaphysics, revelation and divinity. Religion involves everything scientific (reasonable, measurable,
observable) as well as everything unscientific (insights and intuition into infinity, morality, metaphysics,
revelation and divinity).

PHILOSOPHY: search for rational principles for the EXPLANATION OF NATURE AND EXISTENCE.
Through Philosophy we seek to MAKE SENSE OF ISSUES finite and infinite.
Philosophy deals with OUGHT and SENSE but needs Faith in Christ Jesus for access to TRUTH and Eternal Life.

SCIENCE: search for empirical and theoretical EXPLANATION AND USAGES OF NATURAL PROPERTIES OF
MATTER.
Through Science we seek to DISCOVER, DESCRIBE, DEVISE AND UTILISE ALL THINGS finite.
Science deals with FACT and SENSE but needs Faith in Christ Jesus for access to TRUTH and Eternal Life.

“Where art thou?” (Gen 3:9) was God’s gracious REDEMPTIVE initiative, to reach perishing and REPROBATE
Humanity that they may REPENT and RETURN to God for RESTORATION of RELATIONSHIP. Divine
REDEMPTIVE REVELATION is gracious unfolding of God’s Purpose and manifestation of God’s Power that

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best answer Humanity’s Problem. Human innate RESPONSES to this divinely Revealed and gracious
Redemptive initiative have variously included:
 REBELLION due to HARDNESS OF HEART against God, Hiding from God, Denying guilt, Shifting blame
(Gen 3:9-13),
 IGNORANCE blindly GROPING after God (Act 17:24-28) with superstitious and spurious speculation
about God (Act 17:18-23),
 FUTILITY of IDOLATRY due to failure to perceive God’s attributes through His visible creation (Rom
1:18-23),
 FOLLY of ATHEISM that thinks there is no God (Psa 14:1-3).
These human responses to God’s initiative and human efforts to find God are inadequate to satisfy divine
merits such as could save humanity from human DEPRAVITY, demonic DOMINATION and divine
DAMNATION in order to restore humanity to divine glory. Therefore in Christ, God has offered divine grace
to humanity adequate enough for eternal salvation for whosoever believes (John 3:16).

The ultimate offer of the Gospel of Christ is that there is no other Name given UNDER HEAVEN whereby
humans (Jews and Gentiles) could obtain eternal salvation except by the Name of Jesus Christ (Act 4:10-12).
For all promises of God find their fulfilment in Christ (2Cor 1:18-22) and God has given Him a Name above
every other Name that at the Name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord (Php 2:9-12). And all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him (Matt 28:18; John
13:3; 1Cor 15:21-27; Eph 1:20-23). For, by raising Jesus from the dead and taking Him to heaven, God has
shown the world that He is the prophesied divine Christ and divine Son (Incarnate-Creator-Logos John 1:1-5,
8-14) Who now redeems the world through the blood of His death and shall finally judge the world (Act
13:33-39; 17:30-31; Rom 1:2-5). Concerning our ultimate need of faith in Christ for gracious access to the
saving Truth and Eternal Life, Jesus Himself has these to say:
John 14:6
(6) Jesus said to him, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME.
John 10:7-10
(7) So again Jesus said, "TRULY, TRULY I TELL YOU, I AM THE GATE for the sheep.
(8) All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them.
(9) I am the gate. If anyone enters THROUGH ME, he will be SAVED. He will come in and go out and find pasture.
(10) The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, and have it
abundantly.
John 3:13-18
(13) "No one has gone up to heaven except THE ONE WHO CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, THE SON OF MAN who is in
heaven.
(14) Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
(15) SO THAT EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.
(16) "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who BELIEVES in him might not perish
but have ETERNAL LIFE.
(17) For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be SAVED through him.
(18) Whoever BELIEVES in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he
has not believed in the name of God's unique Son.

The purpose of the Christian Gospel missions and evangelism, apologetics and dialogue is to help all
humanity to accept the blessedness of divine revelation and Truth in the Bible and receive the blessedness
of eternal salvation and Grace in Christ. Christian dialogue does not only look for agreeable grounds for
tolerant coexistence, shared concerns and common courses, it also looks for the best connection between
Christ’s incarnation and the awareness of the Almighty Creator God in every religion and culture, so as to
proclaim the offer of Christ’s eternal salvation in that context without syncretism or acrimony but in
respectful coexistence. Christ has satisfied divine atoning requirements and therefore sufficiently liberates
humanity from sevenfold formidable bondages to:
 carnal passion of the sinful nature (Gal 5:15-24),
 worldly pride in mundane prominence and passion for pleasures and possessions (1John 2:15-17),
 celestial evil powers of wickedness (Eph 1:20-21; 2:2), and
 terrestrial blindfolding principalities of darkness (Eph 6:10-13).
 Gentile rudimentary and idolatrous manipulations (Gal 4:1-10; Col 2:6-10, 20),

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  Jewish legalistic and ritual regulations (Gal 3:22-26; Col 2:11-19),
 Divine wrath against our sinfulness (Eph 2:3-5),

Christian REVERENCE/RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY begins when Divine Grace of Redemptive Revelation and

Reconciliation in Christ (Rom 1:2-6) is RECEIVED through FAITH:
 in Repentant RETURN to God for OBEDIENCE and GRATITUDE in Christ,
 to RELATE in sanctity and charity with God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and
 to REVEAL God and His Grace to His world around us.
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ECUMENISM AND APOSTOLIC TRADITION

True Christian Ecumenism seeks Worldwide Unity on the basis of Love and authentic Apostolic Truth.
Contrary to searching out the harmonised sum of all scriptural revelations when establishing the integrity of
any Christian view or doctrine as was done in the ancient Trinitarian and Christological creedal formulations
and Scriptural Canonisation, the Western Church theologians and Western heathenish philosophers of
modern and postmodern era have strangely sought for the essence of the Christian Faith in dismembered
strands of the Scripture and unscriptural philosophies. It is unexplainable and unfortunate that – since the
Renaissance and its Humanism, through the Enlightenment, Existentialism, Deism, Scepticism, Spiritism to
Atheism – sceptical dismembering of the Scriptures has suddenly become acceptable mark of scholarship in
neo-pagan “modern” Europe and America. This modern half-sighted, self-contradictory “Paul versus Apollos”
(1Cor 3:3-5) approach to so called “scholarship” in establishing Christian truth is as ridiculous as it is absurd.
How on earth did people who claim to be intellectuals get enmeshed in such blind blunder? Even amongst
the faithful, it suddenly became the unfortunate standards that Scriptures are now meant to be subjected to
stranded, private and imaginary misinterpretations rather than comprehensive and harmonious
interpretation. How on earth did such blindness and blunder come on the Church?

The result is that the Christian Faith is no longer the faith of the harmonic sum of Scriptural Apostolic
Tradition as the Nicene Fathers did in the ancient ecumenism and as the Reformers sought to do but failed
to unite together. Instead, Christianity has either become scripturally lopsided and contradictory or outright
anti-scriptural faith of syncretising and balkanising ideologies. This has brought about today’s divisions
ranging from multiple Denominationalism through lopsided and tangential theological approaches such as
Calvinism, Arminianism, Radicalism, Rationalism, Liberalism, Hypothetical “higher” bible criticism,
Deconstructionism, Dispensationalism, Charismatic Mysticism and Commercialism to Postmodern
Revisionism and Syncretistic Repackaging.

Christians, Denominations and Theologians today seem to disregard the importance of the whole Apostolic
Tradition in establishing orthodoxy and vetting innovations. The WCC has tried to reach some
interdenominational accommodation in some areas such as missions, liturgy and the Sacraments as well as
socio-political issues. However, much of the WCC work is still plagued by prevalent confidence in modern but
heathenish philosophical exploration and selective “Paul versus Apollos” theological differentiation (1Cor
3:3-5) rather than seeking consensus based on harmonious “Paul plus Apollos” theologically comprehensive
sum of the Apostolic teachings (1Cor 3:6-13) followed by the Nicene Fathers to give us the Canonical
Scriptures and the ancient Ecumenical Creeds.
1 Corinthians 3:3-13
(3) For you are yet carnal: for while there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not
carnal, and walk as men?
(4) For while one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal?
(5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave
to every man?
(6) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
(7) So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the
increase.

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 (8) Now he that plants and he that waters are one: and every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor.
(9) For we are laborers together with God: you are God's field, you are God's building.
(10) According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon.
(11) For no other foundation can a man lay than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(12) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
(13) Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire; and the fire shall test every man's work of what sort it is.

Today, in a perishing world reeling under the manifold and ever increasing burden of Globalization,
Pluralism, Migration, Injustice, Inequalities, Valueless Postmodernism, Violent Conflicts, Terrorism,
Pollution of Creation, Gender and Sexuality Complications, every Christian and Church is faced with
inescapably urgent necessity to be Christ-centred and Bible-based in their Christianity – creed, word and
deed. Church Denominations (Roman, Greek, Reformed, Evangelical, Pentecostal, mainline Churches,
missionary Churches, ministry Churches, etc) should find unity in Christ alone and focus on thoroughly
biblical Christianity in their persuasion and pursuit to bring God’s Kingdom and do God’s will in both Church
and Society by their:
 worship and prayer,
 word and proclamation,
 wisdom and presence,
 witness and peace,
 walk and purity,
 work and piety.
<<BACK TO CONTENTS>>
Updated March 15, 2015
by Ven. Dr. I. U. Ibeme
Copyright © PriscAquila Publishing, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Click here for
PriscAquila Christian Resource Centre
http://priscaquila.6te.net

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