False Unity: Ecumenicism, Math, and Time

Decision Tree for Reading this Post:

1.  I am already convinced my denomination or apostolic network is correct and I am a team player.  My ideology and network matters more than truth: please go to 2.

2.  Please, do not read this post.  It won't help you.

3.  I believe in christian unity at all costs and am not interested in changing my mind, please go to 2.

4.  I believe all ecumenical unity is evil and am not interested in changing my mind, please go to 2.

5.  I am interested in a different Biblical perspective to consider about unity and I like hearing what Jesus says to lots of people so that I can talk to Him myself with a more full perspective: please go to 6.

6.  Yay, please read this Post.

False Unity: Ecumenicism, Math, and Time

The Bible has a LOT to say about unity of the church.  We know unity is going to happen just before the great harvest brings a massive number of people to the church in one generation:

John 17:21-23  that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  (22)  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  (23)  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

The world will know Jesus is the messiah when His Bride, or the end time church, is united in the same reality of those first disciples and the “great cloud of witnesses” who loved God at cost throughout history.  Unity is an end-time reality.  The book of Revelation describes the answering of Jesus’ prayer by God:

Revelation 19:7-9  Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."  (8)  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  (9)  Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."

All the parts of the Church that endure through the Great Tribulation are Jesus’ Bride.  This requires endurance.  Division is promised to produce this unity:

Matthew 24:9-14  "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.  (10)  And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  (11)  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  (12)  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  (13)  But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  (14)  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

This “unity by sanctification” or unity by “coming out” is the Gospel that will be preached…the “this Gospel” that will be preached to the nations by the end time Bride.

Jesus PRAYED for unity.  That means He asked God the Father to give it to Him.  No one else is able to make that happen.  Jesus never asked His disciples to give Him unity, because it would be impossible for them to do so.  When we, as His disciples, try to arrange unity for Him, that is not honoring His prayer…it is circumventing it.  There are VERY specific reasons for this.  The unity Jesus wants will not compromise one ounce of truth.  This is impossible for man.  It is not faithful to try to arrange unity, it is presumptuous.

Faithfulness is speaking truth in love.  Standing on hard and divisive truths, like Jesus, and patiently waiting for men to decide what they want.  Even to the point of our own persecution.  That is the cross we have to take up to follow Jesus.

Unity, or what we would call the second commandment...loving neighbor as we love ourselves...can only flow in truth out of the first commandment: loving God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength:

Matthew 22:36-40  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  (37)  Jesus said to him, 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'  (38)  This is the first and great commandment.  (39)  And the second is like it: 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'  (40)  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Jesus has appointed leadership in the true Spirit-filled apostolic church to lead the church, in humble submission to the direct leadership of the Holy Spirit, into unity in the face of deceptive false doctrines of unity!  This is what Ephesians 4 is about:

Ephesians 4:4-17  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;  (5)  one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  (6)  one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.  (7)  But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.  (8)  Therefore He says: "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE, AND GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."  (9)  (Now this, "HE ASCENDED"—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?  (10)  He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)  (11)  And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  (12)  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,  (13)  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;  (14)  that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,  (15)  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—  (16)  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.  (17)  This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

                    

Anything God wants is counterfeited by Satan in an effort to provide a false alternative.  Satan is not a creator, he is a counterfeiter...a thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. BUT, Satan generally comes as an angel of light.  This requires an intentional effort to not be deceived by false unity.   

I have to be very careful about things Jesus prayed for, because these are the most valuable treasures and, therefore, the most attacked realities.  The things Jesus wants are the places of the enemy's greatest attempt at deception AND the things my heart is wired to want. 

False unity is promised to come out of the church.  That false unity is a religious counterfeit that denies the real power of Jesus.  It will be brought about by men and women who haven’t given themselves to humility and meekness and self sacrifice, but rather to seeking celebrity and destiny and power for their own gain:

2 Timothy 3:1-8  But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:  (2)  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  (3)  unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,  (4)  traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  (5)  having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!  (6)  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,  (7)  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (8)  Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;

Jannes and Jambres were magicians.  They counterfeited the true works of God that were coming through Moses' humble agreement.

There are many false doctrines of unity.  They all center on putting the second commandment in front of the first...basically believing that if we get along, God will be pleased with us and come more.  This is the opposite of what the Bible teaches.

The Bible teaches that unity comes from my proximity to God relative to the proximity of others to God.  This keeps God in the center of unity.  I picture  spokes on a wheel, with Jesus as the hub.  As I move closer to the hub on my line…my spoke….and you move closer to Him on your spoke, we will get closer to one another.  That is true Biblical unity. 

The closer I get to Jesus and the closer you get to Jesus, the closer I get to you.

If I love God with everything, He is the power to love.  Therefore, the natural overflow of that is that I will get along with people better.  This is an end time reality and will be the cause of much persecution.  As large portions of the church rally together in hasty, impatient, and false unity, those who stand for the full truth of Jesus will be persecuted like…well, like Jesus…

1 John 4:11-19  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  (12)  No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  (13)  By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  (14)  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.  (15)  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  (16)  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.  (17)  Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.  (18)  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  (19)  We love Him because He first loved us.

True unity isn't you and I agreeing about Jesus together.  True unity is me and Jesus agreeing about you.  He knows you perfectly, and loves us both.  If I draw on His love for you, then we have a shot at unity, WITHOUT VIOLATING TRUTH.  The only other way to unity is to circumvent, or go around, who Jesus really is.  I see Him from my angle and you see Him from yours.  If, in impatience, before I see Him closely enough to see your angle, we decide to not go THROUGH Him to each other, then we might get unity for a minute, but it won’t be Jesus-centered…it will be harlotry.  AND, we will still disagree about who He really is!  So, not only will we not have Jesus, we won’t REALLY have one-another either.  We have to seek the kingdom INSIDE first, and trust that the unity will be added as I grow more and more in Christ-likeness…loving those I disagree with without compromising what is true.  Again, this is impossible for man.  That is the point.  It REQUIRES the Father answer Jesus’ prayer. 

Many want to show the world the Kingdom has come by their unity.  This is antichrist.  The kingdom doesn’t come this way, as to be seen. 
Luke 17:20-21  Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation;  (21)  nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."

The kingdom comes from within my own relationship with Jesus coming out as I learn to stand in truth at the cost of my own acceptance because I am choosing the Kingdom over the world.  It comes by my sanctification.  Sanctification HAS to come first.  That means set apart…division…pure….Holy.  THAT is what Jesus prayed for in John 17.

John 17:17-21  Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.  (18)  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  (19)  And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.  (20)  "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;  (21)  that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

  

If we set all that Jesus is aside in the hopes we can find some common ground, we have no power to get real unity.  Instead we'll get a weak satanic alternative that will lead to no Jesus and ultimately, no unity.

False unity is usually born out of impatience.  Ecumenicism, or the rejoining of the fractured parts of the church, IS Biblical and it is going to happen.  The question is WHO has the wisdom to do it, and WHEN is it promised?  The answers:  the Father has appointed it to Jesus at the “dispensation of the fullness of time”:

Ephesians 1:9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

Unity is an end time reality.  It is going to happen in the fullness of time.  Trying to do it too early is actually an attribute of the Antichrist.  He tries to "change the times".  Those who agree with him, through a false unity movement led by the False Prophet, will then be subject to the Antichrist spiritually and will betray other believers:

Daniel 7:25  He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

The False Prophet will be one of the most influential Christian leaders on the planet. He will speak like a dragon…using Bible verses like Satan as he tried to tempt Jesus away from the cross.  He will have two horns, like a lamb.  He will seem so innocent and Jesus-loving, but it’s a deception…what his unity will ultimately bring is antichrist worship and enslavement:

Revelation 13:11-15  Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.  (12)  And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.  (13)  He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.  (14)  And he deceives those who dwell on the earth—by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.  (15)  He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

This is because the Satanic plan to break the power of the Church is centered on first binding the strong man, and then plundering his house.  Satan goes after the praying church, praying on their right desires, in order to take out the powerbase of her unflinching agreement with God.  Once he can get her to compromise a little, then the power of her agreement with God is gone and he will be able, with a little force, to pressure her to worship him. Once the praying and power-filled church is defiled, she is easy to control.

It’s happening right before our eyes…and it is entirely related to impatience.  The Spirit-filled church is tired of waiting on the Spirit and is seeing a chance to fulfill their dreams…global prayer, or ending abortion, or global peace and government.  This impatience will harm many.

One of the dangers of impatient  ecumenism is related to math and conquering:

A house divided will fall.  So mathematically, I want to be really careful.

Mark 3:24-25  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  (25)  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

If two are walking toward the same destination and they are divided from each other, they are more vulnerable to a fall. 

Let’s imagine each of the two legs of the split are made up of 100 members each…each leg still has the unity of 100.  But let's say both feel the need to reconcile, but don't have clarity on the truth.  The problem with truth, when it comes to unity, is that truth will not compromise.  It doesn’t arbitrate:

Isaiah 47:3  Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, And I will not arbitrate with a man."

Revelation 19:15  Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Truth IS Jesus.  He is the way, the truth, and the life.  Truth is one and not variable.  Truth only occupies one location.  Everything else is false.

If seeing…trying to know truth…is what divided, then only Truth Himself can unite. 

Let's say 50 in each of the two united legs decide to reconcile apart from settling truth, leaving  50 of the rest NOT united...mathematically, you now have 4 divided where you formerly had two:

It's actually worse than this. The division is more like a tear than a break.  So much confusion, hurt, and misunderstanding distract and detract from the heart work that makes a believer, and a community of believers, strong.  The tearing makes the whole body twice as vulnerable to falling….  And for no real gain, as there is still no actual unity in truth even between the factions that divided to unite!  
Impatient ecumenism is unity based on trying to say the same thing with the same language, but apart from God’s leadership.  This is Babylonian unity....the unity of purpose and language .... Babylonian unity only ultimately divides and is conquered. 

Genesis 11:1-9  Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.  (2)  And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.  (3)  Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.  (4)  And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."  (5)  But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.  (6)  And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.  (7)  Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."  (8)  So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.  (9)  Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

This unity is the mother of all false religion and harlotry:

Revelation 17:4-6  The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.  (5)  And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  (6)  I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

Remember, those who give in to impatience and agree with the changing of the times and law are given into antichrist’s hand.  This is the falling-away church that will eventually kill any Christians who tell it the truth in love:

John 16:1-3  "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  (2)  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  (3)  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.

People that love Jesus won’t go into this kind of rebellion unless they can be lead away with false doctrine.  The doctrine that keeps us from being led away is focused on the return of Jesus to make things right…understanding when the falling-away church says “peace and safety” as Paul told the Thessalonians in 1 Thess 5, then sudden destruction will come :

2 Peter 3:13-18  Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  (14)  Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;  (15)  and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,  (16)  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.  (17)  You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;  (18)  but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

The compromised unity isn’t based in any reconciliation of truth.  It is simply a mirage of reconciliation satanically-designed to weaken true doctrine.  False religion is just that, a ruse for Satan to impose himself as God.  The more division he can foment, the easier his job is.

If you had two divided and now you hve four, that's less unity, not more.

Jesus didn't ask His disciples for unity at all costs.  He prayed to the Father for unity.  Trying to do what only God is supposed to do lawless, which makes it antichrist.  Antichrist doctrine will be agreed with by many who profess the name of Jesus and do signs, miracles, compassionate healing, and prophecy:

Matthew 7:21-23  "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  (22)  Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  (23)  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

The answer is to “come out” to be separated onto the rock...onto Jesus Himself.  The cornerstone that will never move.  We do this by practically living out the Sermon on the Mount, which is more than I can lay out here, but have taught a lot into.  The cliff notes:  practically living out the Sermon on the Mount will lead you to build a praying community to seek first the kingdom and let the rest be added.  This is how true unity will happen…in David’s Tabernacle whose eyes are fixed on the temple mount and Israel being made a praise in the nations:

 Acts 15:14-18  Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.  (15)  And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:  (16)  'AFTER THIS I WILL RETURN AND WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, WHICH HAS FALLEN DOWN; I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL SET IT UP;  (17)  SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, EVEN ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, SAYS THE LORD WHO DOES ALL THESE THINGS.'  (18)  "Known to God from eternity are all His works.

THIS is the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17…that a gentile like me would be one with those 11 Jewish friends of His as He called them further on with Him and me further on with Him…not backwards.

Many caught up in impatient ecumenism have very good intentions.  God won't measure me by good intentions.  He will measure me by obedience to His commands.  He is truth.  He can't be ignored, especially in his own name.

Luke 12:48-56  But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.  (49)  "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  (50)  But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!  (51)  Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.  (52)  For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.  (53)  Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."  (54)  Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is.  (55)  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather'; and there is.  (56)  Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?