They called it historic. Dave Hunt called it the end of the Reformation.
Episode 1 of A Woman Rides the Beast.
March 29, 1994. Leading American evangelicals and Catholics signed a joint declaration: Evangelicals and Catholics Together. The Christian Mission in the 3rd Millennium. Hunt writes that each step was monitored and approved by the Vatican.
The next day it ran in papers across the country. The New York Times called it a “historic declaration,” and said the signers were asking their flocks for a leap of faith: to finally accept each other as Christians. Charles Colson. Pat Robertson. Bill Bright. J.I. Packer.
Hunt calls it the most significant event in nearly 500 years of church history. In his words, the document, in effect, overturned the Reformation.
The 25-page agreement admits differences on baptism and the authority of Scripture.
It never mentions the one he says matters most: what it means to be a Christian.
If active Catholics are already Christians, Hunt argues, the Reformation was a tragic mistake, and the millions who died rejecting Catholicism as a false gospel died in vain.
If the Reformers were right, this agreement could be the cleverest blow ever struck against the gospel.
Both sides affirm the Apostles’ Creed. Hunt warns the creed does not express the gospel that saves.
For evangelicals, evangelism means leading people to Christ. For Catholics, he writes, it means bringing people into the Roman Catholic Church.
Salvation by sacraments, penance, works, purgatory, and indulgences,
set against the gospel of the grace of God.
Swipe through. The book’s aim is to clear the confusion the Reformation was fought over.
Episode 2 is next.
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