Page 676 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

An interesting description of some of the strange WCC Dancing with Idolatry
events at Assisi is given in an Associated Press report: Paganism is becoming widely accepted within the
ASSISI, Italy — Chants, temple bells and pagan spells World Council. The last two WCC general assemblies (in
echoed around the Roman Catholic shrines of Assisi 1983 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in 1991 in
yesterday as Pope John Paul II and his 200 guests from Canberra, Australia,) featured speakers from heathen
the world’s 12 main religions prayed for world peace... religions. Both meetings were opened, in fact, by
The medicineman of the Crow Indians [spirit animists who lit fires upon heathen altars, then danced
worshipers], Chief John Pretty-on-Top, offered to cast around them!
out evil spirits. Many came forward, among them a
young Franciscan monk. In the opening of the Vancouver assembly, North
In a chapel down the road, the head of the Zoroastrian American Indians were invited to build an altar. They
church in Bombay prayed before a fire that symbolized tossed offerings of fish and tobacco into a fire for their
his God. nature gods, and danced around the altar. Candles that
Next door, six turbanned Sikhs—all Italian converts— were used in the worship services of this conference
sat chanting their prayers in the lotus position to were lit from that pagan fire which was kept burning
gramophone music. throughout the Assembly.
At an old Roman temple, shoeless Moslems sat on The meeting in Canberra was opened by almost-
prayer mats. naked Australian aborigines who built a heathen fire
The 14th Dalai Lama, exiled god-king of Tibet, headed and danced around it. Those who attended this WCC
the strong Buddhist contingent, mumbling sutras amid conference walked through the smoke from that
tinkling bells at the Basilica of St. Peter. idolatrous altar as a purification rite before they entered
In the gardens outside, a Shinto sect called Tenrikyo, in the “worship” tent for the opening assembly.
black kimonos, swayed to temple music. One of the key speakers in Canberra was Korean
African animists, their togas the envy of any designer, professor Chung Hyun-Kyung, who exalted pagan
invoked the spirits of trees and plants to come to the concepts of God, as we have already noted. For her
aid of peace... (Christian Beacon, Dec. 25, 1986, p. 7). unspeakable blasphemies Chung received a standing
What Prayers Were Said at Assisi? Examples of the ovation from the WCC delegates!
kinds of prayers that were offered to the false gods are A similar thing happened at the “Ecumenical
seen in the prayers of the representatives from Africa Moment ‘88,” jointly sponsored by the National Council
and North America: of Churches in America and the World Council of
Two tribal animists from Africa intoned, “Almighty Churches. Held in New York state from June 20—July 1,
God, the Great Thumb we cannot evade in tying any 1988, this meeting also began with a heathen ritual.
knot, the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees, the Consider this description by one who attended:
All-Seeing Lord up on high who sees even the footprints “OUR FIRST WORSHIP ‘CELEBRATION’ FOUND US
of an antelope on a rock mass here on earth ... you are OUTDOORS AT A GARDEN POND OFFERING
the cornerstone of peace.” PRAYERS AND WATER LIBATIONS TO THE SEVEN
Smoking a ceremonial peace pipe, John Pretty-on- SPIRITS OF THE SEVEN DIRECTIONS OF THE
Top, a Crow Indian medicine man from Montana, in UNIVERSE (‘O Spirit of the North, blow upon us... O
full-feathered headdress, recited, “O Great Spirit, I raise Spirit of the East... West... South... Above... Below...
my pipe to you, to your messengers the four winds, and Center...’). What to any objective observer was sheer
to mother earth, who provides for your children ... I paganism, we were told, was simply an exercise in
pray that you bring peace to all my brothers and sisters discovering the ecumenical variety of spiritual
expression and experience that we must learn to share
of this world” (“A Summit for Peace in Assisi,” Time, if we are to be truly one” (Mark E. Chapman, “A State
Nov. 10, 1986, pp. 78-79). of the Church Report: Ecumenical Paganism,” Lutheran
An Hour of Great Darkness. This Day of Prayer for Forum, Advent, 1988).
World Peace was a day of great spiritual darkness. The May 1988, the National Council of Churches in
prayers for peace were not answered. heaven was brass. America held a meeting in Arlington, Texas, called “A
God’s ear was closed to the abominations of that day. Gathering of Christians.” A 25-member team assisted
The nations have not laid down their arms. These the NCC in planning this event, including
religious leaders completely ignored God’s warning in 1 representatives of Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical and
Thessalonians 5:3—“For when they shall say, Peace and Roman Catholic churches. Here, again, heathen
safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as practices were emphasized and there was worship of
travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not one of the popular deities of ecumenism: the female god
escape.” —

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