by Pastor Ralph Ovadal, Pilgrims Covenant Church, Monroe, Wisconsin
http://www.pccmonroe.org/2010/06.17.htm
“There is a new ecumenism that’s being brought about by this [pro-life] movement. . . . It’s brought a lot of converts to the Catholic church too. A great number of pro-lifers have started out with, ah, with—in another faith have come over to the church and brought a lot of people into the churches.”
Veteran pro-life leader Joe Scheidler, Roman Catholic, addressing the Pro-Life 2000 Conference in Toronto, Canada
This past June 12 at 10:00 AM in St. Joseph’s Church, York, Pennsylvania, Paul Schenck was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. For Rome, this ordination which took place on the “Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” was no ordinary one but rather another shining triumph of the papacy’s “separated brethren” ecumenical strategy, enthusiastically aided and abetted by the “separated brethren” themselves. Paul Schenck was born to Jewish parents, raised Jewish, and attended a Hebrew school as a child. But at age sixteen, he professed to have been converted to Christ and was baptized shortly thereafter in a Protestant church. According to his bio, Schenck attended both a Bible college and an evangelical seminary. Eventually, he was ordained and in the early 1980s founded the New Covenant Tabernacle church in western New York.
Newly ordained Priest Paul Schenck celebrates his “First Holy Mass of Thanksgiving.”
In 1989, I met Schenck, an Operation Rescue leader, in a jail cell after being arrested with him and a number of other pro-lifers for blocking the door of an abortion clinic, more accurately known as a death mill. At the time, I had been in Christ for less than six years and had never heard one word of warning against spiritual fornication with Roman Catholics. As I note in my book More Than These, I was uncomfortable with the ecumenism of Operation Rescue but bought the argument that the mass murder of the unborn justified and necessitated joining with Romanists to save innocent human life and, we hoped, end that government-sanctioned, for-profit murder. During our time together behind bars, I spoke at great length with then Pastor Schenck. I was greatly impressed with him as a courageous, humble, and very articulate man. He was all of that as well as being well educated, very accomplished, and at one time, at the center of much publicity by the secular media. Along those lines, Schenck’s bio states that he “has been interviewed on all major news networks, CBN and EWTN. He has appeared on Nightline with Ted Koppel, Larry King Live, the Leher News Hour, and ABC 20/20.” No doubt this all makes Rome that much happier to not only have won such an influential “evangelical” but to also now ordain him.
According to the information I have documented in the book I mentioned, Paul Schenck arrived at the Vatican’s door in 2004. Mr. Schenck’s road to Rome included a stint as a minister in the Reformed Episcopalian church. Operation Rescue founder, and former professing evangelical, Randall Terry stayed at the same spiritual halfway house of Episcopalianism for a time before joining the Roman Catholic Church. Paul Schenck joins a growing crowd of Protestant pro-life activists who have converted to Romanism, including ministers such as Presbyterian pastor Steve Wood. In his book Surprised by Truth, Wood makes no secret of the decisive role which his involvement with Romanists in the pro-life movement played in his conversion to the Roman Catholic religion. Make no mistake about it–the ecumenical corruption of the pro-life/pro-family movement was the means by which the pope snagged these Protestants and many others, adding them to his worldwide stable of spiritual slaves.
In my book, I document just that with regard to Steve Wood, Paul Schenck, and the famous Norma McCorvey. At the time I wrote the book, Randall Terry had not gone over to Rome yet, but I stated, “I would not be the least bit surprised to see him eventually go all the way ‘home to Rome,’ based on his appreciation for the Vatican’s unwavering stand against abortion. The Protestant, pro-life corrupter of so many Christians has himself been spiritually corrupted through and through because he has loved the unborn more than Christ. When thinking of Randall Terry, how can one not think of 1 Corinthians 10:12: ‘Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall’?” In 2006, that statement was justified. An e-mail I sent out telling of Terry’s conversion to Romanism included this: “The National Catholic Register’s latest edition contains two articles trumpeting the news that Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry is the latest Protestant pro-life activist to join the Roman Catholic Church. In a Register interview, Terry was asked, ‘When did you first take an interest in the Catholic Church?’ His answer is: ‘It was during my work in Operation Rescue that I first became interested in the Roman Catholic Church.'”
In a recent interview with the Roman Catholic LifeSiteNews just prior to his ordination as a Romish priest, Paul Schenck again confirmed the road by which he had traveled to Rome in the first place: “The pro-life movement drew me toward reunion with the Catholic Church.” I have many similar quotes from pro-life Protestant activists who have converted to Romanism. They can be found in the More Than These chapter titled “Home to Rome Via the Pro-Life Movement” which can also be read online at http://www.pccmonroe.org/ecumenism/morethanthese.pdf .
Another chapter I would urge you to read is “No Coincidence” which documents the successful ecumenical strategy of the Vatican beginning with Vatican II (Oct. 11, 1962–Dec. 8, 1965). In an article such as this, I can only include a small fraction of that documentation. Here is that sampling.
“The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. . . . In certain special circumstances, such as the prescribed prayers ‘for unity,’ and during ecumenical gatherings, it is allowable, indeed desirable that Catholics should join in prayer with their separated brethren. Such prayers in common are certainly an effective means of obtaining the grace of unity . . . In these days when cooperation in social matters is so widespread, all men without exception are called to work together . . . This cooperation, which has already begun in many countries, should be developed more and more . . . All believers in Christ can, through this cooperation, be led to acquire a better knowledge and appreciation of one another, and so pave the way to Christian unity. . . .”
–Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio
“. . . Catholics should cooperate in a brotherly spirit with their separated brethren, among to the norms of the Decree on Ecumenism, making before the nations a common profession of faith, insofar as their beliefs are common, in God and in Jesus Christ, and cooperating in social and in technical projects as well as in cultural and religious ones.”
–Vatican II Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church, Ad Gentes
“The Church recognizes that worthy elements are found in today’s social movements, especially an evolution toward unity . . .”
–Vatican II Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes
“Moreover, ecumenical cooperation is a true school of ecumenism, a dynamic road to unity. Unity of action leads to the full unity of faith: ‘Through such cooperation, all believers in Christ are able to learn easily how they can understand each other better and esteem each other more, and how the road to the unity of Christians may be made smooth’. . . . Many Christians from all Communities, by reason of their faith, are jointly involved in bold projects aimed at changing the world by inculcating respect for the rights and needs of everyone, especially the poor, the lowly and the defenceless. . . . In effect, Christians who once acted independently are now engaged together in the service of this cause, so that God’s mercy may triumph. . . . I have had occasion ‘to insist on this point and to encourage every effort made in this direction, at all levels where we meet our other brother Christians’. . . . Today I see with satisfaction that the already vast network of ecumenical cooperation is constantly growing. . . . Before the world, united action in society on the part of Christians has the clear value of a joint witness to the name of the Lord. It is also a form of proclamation, since it reveals the face of Christ. . . . Such cooperation will facilitate the quest for unity.”
—On Commitment to Ecumenism, Ut Unum Sint, a 1995 encyclical letter by Pope John Paul II
“Encounter with the living Jesus Christ–the way to conversion–the way to communion–the way to solidarity. . . . Generally speaking, many successes can be seen in the area of ecumenism . . . Contacts with more conservative and fundamentalist non-Catholic Christian communities seem to be more easily made in collaborating in pro-life activities . . .”
—Encounter with the Living Jesus Christ: The Way to Conversion, Communion and Solidarity in America, a 1997 document written by the Synod of Bishops–Special Assembly for America
In More Than These, I include much more documentation of Rome’s all too successful ecumenical strategy. That documentation is from popes, bishops, and such individuals as George Weigel, Priests for Life’s Frank Pavone, Lutheran-pastor-turned-Romanist-priest Richard John Neuhaus, and many other Roman Catholics and evangelical ecumenists. Yes, the ecumenical pro-life, pro-family movement has brought “a lot of converts to the Catholic church” as Joe Scheidler, the tenacious grandfather of Roman Catholic pro-life activism, stated. I know of a number of Protestant pastors, pro-life/pro-family leaders, and “rank and file” activists who have “gone home to Rome” via the pro-life movement. In fact, I knew some of them personally way back when.
Surely someone will say, “But these individuals were not true Christians anyway if they have now become Roman Catholics.” That is true, but such an excuse does not even constitute a fig leaf, let alone can it justify spiritual fornication by those professing to hold to justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone. The only fact that matters is that spiritual fornication–aka ecumenical relations, including ministry of any kind, with false religionists–is condemned by the Word of God and has been the major factor in Protestants abandoning churches which, at the least, held to the fundamental truth of the gospel in favor of soul-damning, heart-hardening, Christ-blaspheming popery. Of course, it is also a factor in convincing poor, deceived Roman Catholics that they are Christians. Obviously, in addition, the ecumenical movement catechizes many evangelicals, as well as unbelievers in the watching world, that Romanism is Christianity. Finally, conversions such as Paul Schenck’s not only add to Rome’s membership and strength but also provide that greatest of all spiritual harlots effective apologists who speak in evangelical terms.
I said, “finally,” but how can we close this subject without asking, Do the evangelical ecumenists have no concern whatsoever for the souls of the children of those won for Rome through ecumenical corruption? Paul Schenck, now one of Rome’s very few married priests, is a husband and father of nine children, with the youngest nine years old! Those children will now be thoroughly indoctrinated with the blasphemous, enslaving superstitions of popery. But in truth, that indoctrination began with their father’s involvement as an Operation Rescue leader when he was an evangelical pastor. The indoctrination only deepened when the man who should have been warning not only his children but also his flock against the whore of Babylon became an ecumenical Episcopalian minister. As evidence of what I am saying, consider this quote from now “Father” Paul Schenk concerning the bishop who ordained him a priest: “It was Bishop Galeone who inspired our first-born, Leah, to enter into full communion with the Church, which we then followed. We were neighbor pastors in Baltimore, then I was a member of the ‘ecumenical clergy’ at his ordination as Bishop of St. Augustine.” In other words, the ecumenical corruption and example of her father brought the vulnerable Leah into the orbit and under the influence of Bishop Galeone. The rest is tragic history. You parents who profess to be true Christians, evangelical and Protestant, have a duty to educate and warn your children against the evils of popery. You parents who refuse to leave off your spiritual fornication–no matter how “mild”–are corrupting your children with your utter contempt for the blood and righteousness, the crown and covenant of Christ Jesus. Say what you want to your children with your lips; your deeds may well make your words of none effect and render your children vulnerable to the sorceries of popery.
But here we are, forty-five years since Vatican II openly set before the world Rome’s strategy to corrupt and capture Protestants through ecumenical corruption. It is a strategy publicly, plainly set forth many times since by popes, bishops, and priests. It is a strategy which has been thoroughly vindicated by an ever increasing acceptance of Romanism as Christianity by evangelicals and a “lot of converts” brought into the bondage of the triple-crowned spiritual tyrant, the papal Antichrist.
Yet many evangelical leaders, even pastors, remain stubbornly intent on yoking with the death, darkness, and satanic bondage of Rome in the vain hope of bringing life, light, and liberty to America. And do such evangelicals claim, by faith, to have seen the crucified Christ Jesus? “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1).
Pilgrims Covenant Church, P.O. Box 314, Monroe, WI 53566, www.pccmonroe.org
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