NON-EPHESIAN UNITY
Max Lucado also is a signer and promoter of the second ECT document, "Evangelicals and Catholics Together". The document reads in part:

"As believers we are sent into the world and commissioned to be bearers of the good news, to serve one another in love, to do good to all, and to evangelize everyone everywhere. It is our responsibility and firm resolve to bring to the whole world the tidings of God's love and of the salvation accomplished in our crucified, risen, and returning Lord. Many are in grave peril of being eternally lost because they do not know the way to salvation.

In obedience to the Great Commission of our Lord, we commit ourselves to evangelizing everyone. We must share the fullness of God's saving truth with all, including members of our several communities. Evangelicals must speak the gospel to Catholics and Catholics to Evangelicals, always speaking the truth in love, so that "working hard to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ... the. body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God" (Ephesians 4:3, 12-13)."

There is a bit of snake oil being applied here. Did you catch it? Indeed, Eph. 4 is the central passage when we talk of unity, and ECT does well to go to it. But they misrepresent it, and, what is worse, they add to the Word of God: There is no "working hard" to maintain this unity. There is no working at all. Do you know why? The unity spoken of here is the work of God, not of man. It is not a blurring of distinctives between Roman Catholic and Christians. It is the unity that Christ brought by His death, the bringing Jew and Gentile into one body, one temple.

To understand the unity of Ephesians 4 we must go back to Ephesians 2:13- 18:

"But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace;

And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were near.

For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

Lucado's Promise Keeper partner Michael W. Smith may sing "Let the walls come down" all he wants, but the walls of Ephesians chapter 2 (and 4) have already come down. This is an important detail that is lost on many of our ecumenicists like Lucado and the other signers of ECT. According to that inspired epistle, Christ's atonement brought down both the wall separating us from God (Eph. 2:12- 14) and the wall separating redeemed Jew from redeemed Gentile (Eph. 2:14- 16). The wall that Smith sings about - and that Lucado insists must come down - is a different wall altogether! It is the wall between, on the one hand, those who understand God's grace in Christ Jesus and the sheer gratuity of God's salvation, totally apart from anything human flesh can muster up and, on the other hand, those who try to add something to earn our salvation: the Roman Catholic Church. Whatever those in the RCC state, in whatever evangelical-like phrases they produce, they tragically still believe in salvation by works. This is one wall that must never come down. The purity of the true Gospel is at stake. So when Lucado says things like...

"The step to unity is acceptance and no longer to speak evil of one another. Would it not be wonderful not to be known as either Protestant or Catholic? This is a God-sized dream and no one in our generation has ever seen the Church united."

he shows that he is quite willing, for the sake of a specious unity, to sacrifice those core saving truths that make our Gospel Gospel, precious tenets like justification by faith and imputation (not impartation) of Christ's righteousness to us , the faith to believe it also being a gift of that same grace. These are all things the Roman Catholic leadership does not understand, nor, apparently, does Lucado, or he would not slight it so cavalierly.

Yes, Mr. Lucado, it would be wonderful to be known as just Christian, but as long as Catholics hold to their un-Christian variance from the simple Gospel, I would still rather be known as Protestant. It is simply a name for those who remember what the Reformation was about in the first place. Which brings us to the end of the ECF statement:

"As Evangelicals who thank God for the heritage of the Reformation and affirm with conviction its classic confessions, as Catholics who are conscientiously faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church, and as disciples together of the Lord Jesus Christ who recognize our debt to our Christian forebears and our obligations to our contemporaries and those who will come after us, we affirm our unity in the gospel that we have here professed.

In our continuing discussions, we seek no unity other than unity in the truth. Only unity in the truth can be pleasing to the Lord and Savior whom we together serve, for he is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6)."

Aside from deftly brushing aside the mountain of "disagreement" between Reformers and the unreformed, this statement lays the groundwork for further "unity" (translated "further undoing of the essential progress of the Reformation".)

On the one side we have the "classic confessions" of the Reformers. On the other side we have the "conscientiously faithful" in the [Roman] Catholic Church. Just reading this the uninformed reader would not know that the "consciously faithful" were putting the "classic confessors" on the torturer's rack, and hounding them from region to region. It is a part of our smiley-face revisionism that we seek to blur the hard-edged reality of truth’s struggle against error. The disunity of the Reformation was, in reality, a waking up to the fact that the Church had already drifted from Ephesian unity. What unity can there now be with those who have already left us, not being one with us (1 John 2:28)? Shall we leave the Gospel truth in order to hold their hand? Of course not.

Where does Lucado stand concerning this Ecumenical brand of unity, that unity where Evangelicals and Catholics are to strive together for? He is quite committed to it. In fact, "the sin of disunity causes people to go to Hell!" (spoken at a Clergy Conference in Atlanta). In reality, however, the sin of being separated from God causes people to go to Hell. So the issue is not one of divisiveness between persons, but our sins - and continued sinfulness - that is the real concern. This was the whole point of the good news of Christ's atonement in Ephesians 2. It brought that true unity (reconciliation) that is brought down from Heaven, not the false unity that pretends to worship the same God. Lucado continues:

"I submit myself to the Word and there are core beliefs. However, for too long we have allowed our differences to divide us instead of our agreements to unite us." He then added Augustine's oft-quoted dictum, "In essentials unity--in non-essentials charity."

My comment: And in all things--Discernment, in order for us to distinguish between non-essentials and essentials! Lucado had already demonstrated that he does not have the ability to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials.

Here are two excerpts from a CNN chat that happened just a couple weeks after 9-11, the disaster at the World Trade Center. Notice that when the question is brought to Lucado about religion in general, he had a great (and obligatory) opportunity to make some comment, some distinguishing between Christianity and all other religions. He could have pointed out, for instance, that only in Christ are we freed from trying to earn our salvation by our own efforts . But he doesn't do this. In fact he further blurs the distinction between Christendom in general (Protestantism and Roman Catholicism) and other major religions like Islam and Buddhism:

"CHAT PARTICIPANT: Don't you think organized religion has now been proven dangerous?

LUCADO: I think organized religion has always been pictured that way. I believe a personal relationship with God is healthy, but organized religion has potential for danger, in whatever faith.

...

"CHAT PARTICIPANT: Are religion and spirituality the same thing? And is it religion or hope and faith that we cling to?

LUCADO: Religion is intended to facilitate hope and faith. Much like a path is intended to facilitate a journey. There are times, however, that we focus more on the path than we do the destination, and that is when religion can be a hindrance instead of a help. As long as religion continually brings us to God, it is healthy. We must all be careful about focusing more on the "religion" than we do the Heavenly Father we're seeking.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Are the representatives of all religions taking any common steps to decrease hatred?

LUCADO: Again, a wonderful question. On September 13, 27 religious leaders met at the White House to pray with the president. Representatives from all major faiths were present. There were representatives of the Muslim faith, the Mormon faith, the Buddhist faith. There were representatives from the Greek Orthodox church, the Roman Catholic church, and several of us represented the Protestant faith. We all signed a document decrying the violence and declaring our determination to pray for the president. We presented this document to President Bush. Truly remarkable, when you think about it, that that group could all sign one document, but disasters can do what discussions cannot. I believe that was encouraging for the president."

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Note: Nowhere does Lucado even hint that these other religions (which he named above, "the Muslim faith, the Mormon faith, the Buddhist faith", etc.) are any less valid than Christianity. They are only dangerous if they are part of "organized religion". But the implication of his logic that in all these other religions there are people who have "a personal relationship with God". Nowhere does he say that only in Christianity - and only in Christ - can we have a personal relationship with God. This is a profound selling out of the Gospel. To be fair to Lucado, I don't believe that he really sees Islam as a way to God. Check out his sermon at his site (Upwords.com), "Mohammed and America": He clearly teaches some of what is wrong with Islam.

But here is the problem: On his website Lucado is preaching to the choir. Here on Larry King he had a different audience altogether - and an awesome opportunity. Lucado said nothing about this when he had the opportunity to share his faith on Larry King (excerpted below). He shied away from bearing the offense of the Cross. He was willing to lisp about his "preferring" the Christian way. When forced to compare Islam and Christianity, he said that they were "two different angles, two different approaches to God"! He goes on to say that he "prefers" the Christian way. What an "uncertain sound" this is! However, John MacArthur was not evasive on this issue, was willing to bear the reproach of being one of those narrow-minded Christians. But did Luicado come to his rescue? No. He allowed MacArthur to take the hit for being the fanatic for his narrow view of salvation! Read the excerpt and see for yourself:

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Larry King show (3-11-03) with Max Lucado, "Father" Michael Manning, Bob Jones III, John MacArthur and Bishop Melvin Talbert of the United Methodists:

CALLER: My question is to the panel, the whole panel. What are their views about Islam? Is it a terrorist religion or maybe if they unite there is no other super power, but Islam -- because Islam -- sorry, and that's what U.S. don't want. And that's why they're going to the different parts of the world where Islam is...

KING: Fair question. Max, what is your view of Islam?

LUCADO: Well, I guess it depends on if he's asking it from a political or religious point of view.

KING: I guess from religious.

LUCADO: Religious point of view, it is a different approach to God than the Christian approach to God. My understanding as a Christian is that we're saved by what Christ did for us whereas the Islamic faith we're saved by what we do for God. So you've got two different angles, two different approaches to God. I prefer to trust God to save me than to depend on my words to save myself.

KING: But do you think, Bishop Talbert, that these differing opinions are leading to lots of conflict in the world?

TALBERT: I believe they're leading for a lot of conflicts because we do not open ourselves to each other and learn and grow. I have talked with Muslim leaders. They are -- the ones that I have met are very fine people. They are on their way just as certain as I'm on my way. And what we need to do is to be tolerant with each other and not assume that our way is the only way.

KING: John MacArthur, you believe that Muslim people, the Islamic people are wrong. Their beliefs are wrong.

MACARTHUR: That's right. And this is not some personal belief of mine. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life..."

KING: Yes, but if they don't believe that...

MACARTHUR: If they don't believe that, no man comes to the Father but by me.

KING: You must believe that, too, Father.

MANNING: I believe very much that the love of God is strong. Jesus -- Jesus loves all people. Jesus died for all people and I can't imagine...

KING: He died for the Islamic, too?

MANNING: Of course he did. Of course he did. And he loves them with a passion.

KING: You believe that, too, right?

MACARTHUR: Well, I believe God loves his creatures, his creations.

MACARTHUR: But in the end he's going to condemn to an eternal hell all those who reject his son Jesus Christ.

MANNING: And he rejoices, and Jesus rejoices...

KING: All of them?

MACARTHUR: All who reject his son Jesus Christ, the Bible says, are condemned to eternal punishment.

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Lastly, Lucado spoke at a Washington D. C. Promise Keepers rally (October 4th, 1997). He used a cheap rhetorical device:

Max Lucado: I want you to think about where you attend or have attended for quite often. And on the count of three I want all of us to say the name of our religious heritage, denomination or name of church. Will you do that with me? On the count of three I’d like to hear it from you. One, two, three.

Crowd: (Noise)

Max Lucado: Did anybody understand anything that was said? Now on the count of three I would like for you to shout with me the name of the Savior that has redeemed your soul, Jesus Christ. One, two, three.

Crowd: Jesus Christ!

Max Lucado: We are…amen..(pause for applause)…We are at a very important point and the reason we are here today and that is to ask the Almighty God to unite His church. We are asking this afternoon for the miracle of the millennium…The watching world has never seen the united church. The watching world has never seen God’s people as one. The watching world has never seen us cooperate. But this matters to Jesus.

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To know what matters to Jesus we should pay more serious attention to the words of Jesus. Unity and consensus means nothing unless it is the right type of unity. For instance, there is coming a time in the future when there will be another unified cry of "Lord, Lord". God will say to those people that He never knew them. They were unified but not sanctified, not justified. This is similar to Max Lucado's type of unity, one that downplays doctrine for peer-acceptance. "Lack of unity" says Max Lucado "sends people to Hell." On the contrary, it is lack of reconciliation that leads people to Hell. And that reconciliation is by the unpopular Cross of Christ. And that way to heaven is a narrow way.

Jesus warned us that the gate that leads to life, eternal life, and the way to it is narrow, and few find it (Matt. 7:13- 14; Luke 13:24). That God-sized dream of Lucado's, the all-encompassing unified agreement between Roman Catholic and Protestant (and....?) is actually the wide, broad way that leads to destruction.

Who do we believe: Lucado's "God-sized dream", or God's solemn warning?

UNIFY THE CHURCH -- WHICH CHURCH WOULD THAT BE?
"Our orders are clear", Lucado assures us. "Unify the church. Unify what church? How do we know who the Believers really are? Jesus told His disciples not to stop those who were doing powerful things in His Name. (Mark 9:39). In Matthew 7:17, He said to look at the fruit. Are people being helped or hurt by the ministry? Is the fruit good? Look at the faith. Is it being done with the authority of and in the power of Jesus Name? "

Putting it simply, Max Lucado states, "Where there is faith, repentance and a new birth, there is a Christian. When I meet a man whose faith is in the cross and whose eyes are on the Savior, I meet a brother." He also writes, in his best-seller "In the grip of Grace", "Pray for the day when the world is won because the church is one." Now that actually sounds good -- until you realize that, once again, he is only speaking of making Christendom one by blurring that doctrine that separated them in the first place! Protestant is distinct from Roman Catholic by its clearer understanding that salvation can never be earned in any way. All this must be glossed over, however, to get that sort of unity Lucado wants.

GOD ORGANIZED RELIGION
It is fashionable these days to downplay organized religion, and lump it all together as a bad development. But we must never forget that it is God Himself who organized religion. He is the one who gave us the Church, fortified it with grace and promise, assuring to Peter, as the first of many, many shepherds, that "on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell will never prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). So Max Lucado creates a false dilemma when he opposes "organized religion" with "a personal relationship with God". We actually need both, not just one or the other.

God organized the church, gave it shepherds after His own heart. Though there have always been false shepherds rising up from within the true church, just as Paul forewarned (Acts 19), God has always been speaking to His own sheep, leading and feeding them; giving them assurance and victory in this life, joy in the next. Don't be ashamed of (authentic) organized religion: It is the very work of God. Don't be tired of doctrine or complain about the plain teaching of the Bible (without imaginative enhancement). It is our glorious, everyday Manna; our daily Bread - Christ Himself!

"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. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."    Col. 2:8-9