Ecumenism and the Three Threads of the Charismatic Renewal

Cardinal Leon Suenens ( 1904-1996)

The ecumenical house of deception has many windows. The following finding connects the ecumenical movement of the Roman Catholic Church with that of the Charismatic movement. If it were not for Cardinal Suenens, the Charismatic Renewal would never had entered the Catholic Church. Once it did, leaders from the Pentecostal, Protestant Charismatic, and Catholic church felt a need to bring the three streams of renewal together in a more formal way. With 50,000 registered attendees, this was the biggest and most inclusive gathering of "baptized in the Spirit believers" in modern history. With Cardinal Suenens as the papal liaison, the 1977 Kansas City Conference on Charismatic Renewal, " was the largest and most inclusive ecumenical assembly in the history of American Christianity." Almost half of the participants were Roman Catholics. This new body of Charismatics were not separatists, but rather reformist in character.[1][2]

According to Dave Hunt, the guiding hand behind the Charismatic movement, who likewise used it to further Rome's ecumenical aims, was Cardinal Leon Joseph Suenens. He was a recipient of the ecumenical  Templeton Award for Progress in Religion in 1976, and was given a special mandate to oversee the worldwide charismatic "renewal movement" in the Catholic Church, an assignment that was reconfirmed by John Paul II.

The Cardinal was influential in the General Council formed in the early 1970s by Shepherding and Protestant/Catholic charismatic leaders. It was at the General Council when Cardinal Suenens provided a blueprint plan for an alternative agenda.[3] He believed that once there was communion in the spirit, there would eventually be physical unity. [4] The Council then began to guide the ecumenical charismatic movement for years from behind the scenes. The minutes for its May-June, 1977 meeting reveal that a "covenant relationship" was entered into with Cardinal Suenens, which included the following:

"We, as a Council, are committing ourselves to work together with the Cardinal for the restoration and unity of Christian people and world evangelization in projects to be mutually agreed upon. In each project, headship, authority and method of functions will be mutually determined by the Cardinal and the Council in the light of the requirements of each situation."

Dave Hunt continues, "World evangelization" with Suenens? What naiveté! Cardinal Suenens hosted and gave the opening speech at the Second World Conference on Religion and Peace in Louvain, Belgium in 1974, which received Pope Paul VI's blessing. Delegates were particularly impressed with the important role that religious unity will play in establishing the coming world government. A continual call was sounded for "a new world order." Under Catholic leadership, the Louvain Declaration stated,

Buddhists, Christians, Confucianists, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Shintoists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and still others, we have sought here to listen to the spirit within our varied and venerable religious traditions...we have grappled with the towering issues that our societies must resolve in order to bring about peace, justice, and ennobling quality of life for every person and every people....

We rejoice that...the long era of prideful and even prejudiced isolation of the religions of humanity is, we hope, now gone forever.

We appeal to the religious communities of the world to inculcate the attitude of planetary citizenship ....[5]

Examples of Compromise

As you may recall from one of my earlier articles, Kathryn Kuhlman did not like to conduct her services without Catholic priests on her platform.  Her personal secretary wrote:

"Nothing thrilled Kathryn more than to have thirty or forty Catholic clergymen, especially if they wore clerical collars or, better yet, cassocks, sitting behind her while she ministered. Somehow it seemed to lend authenticity to what she was doing — and helped create the proper climate of a trust and understanding which was so necessary for a miracle service." (Daughter Of Destiny, p. 221.)

Benny Hinn also has a connection with the Catholic Church, and has been invited for a private audience with Pope John Paul at the Vatican.

Reunification

Deception has long been used by the Vatican to lure the "separated brethren" of Protestantism back into the fold, but uniting all religions under Rome, as Revelation 17 indicates. The means and motivation behind doing this has long been part of Freemasonry. According to Dr. Cathy Burns, in her book Billy Graham and His Friends, Cardinal Suenens was a Freemason.

The interesting part of this resurgence in the tongues movement is that both Freemasons and Jesuit priests have been on the sidelines providing encouragement and guidance all along. When the parts of the Roman Catholic Church were baptized in the Holy Ghost, they did not turn their back on the Catholic church, it only provided more fuel. Suenens stated:

"Since I have had this [charismatic] experience, my allegiance to the Holy Father as the Vicar of Christ in the world has been heightened and strengthened. My appreciation for Mary as the co-redemptress and mediatoress of my salvation has been assured. My appreciation of the mass as the sacrifice of Christ has now been heightened." Cloud, Flirting with Rome 

Final Comments

My only desire for doing research on the Charismatic movement is to completely understand how and why tongues for today are not valid manifestations of the Spirit. I received the baptism many years ago, and could never receive a valid explanation for my experience after I left, other than what I saw in the Book of Acts. I did walk away from it at one point in my walk with Christ, but only returned to it again later. Once I learned I was deceived by my involvement with the Word of Faith movement, only after leaving it, I began to dissect every experience I had and balance it with Scripture. When I find information about the Roman Catholic Church, the baptism experience, and their direct connection with the ecumenical movement, how could anyone not have their eyes opened and continue down the same path?