Union of Catholics and Protestants

But Ellen White saw more than the resurgence of papal adoration worldwide. She also saw what no person even a few years ago would have dreamed—the astonishing rapprochement between Catholics and Protestants, even evangelical Protestants! In 1885 she wrote: “When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.” ^{70Testimonies for the Church 5:451. See The Great Controversy, 445, 448, 449.}MOL 161.3

A landmark document that no one could have foreseen even in the 1980s was signed in joint declaration on March 29, 1994, by leading evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics. Perhaps the most significant event in the last 500 years of church history, the signing of this amazing statement entitled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the 3rd Millennium,” (ECT), substantially overturns the Protestant Reformation as it fulfills Bible prophecy—and Ellen White’s predictions. ^{71Revelation 13:3 foretold the day when “all the world marveled and followed the beast [Papal Rome].” The essence of this declaration set forth by prominent evangelical and Catholic leaders is: “Those who love the Lord must stand together“: that which unites us is far more than that which divides. One of the signers, J. I. Packer, defended his endorsement in “Why I Signed It” (Christianity Today, Dec. 12, 1994): “The plot-line of its 8,000 words is simply summarized. After stating that its concern is with ‘the relationship between evangelicals and Catholics, who constitute the growing edge of missionary expansion at present and, most likely, in the century ahead,’ it announces its composers’ agreement on the Apostles’ Creed and on the proposition that ‘we are justified by grace through faith because of Jesus Christ’; it affirms a commitment to seek more love, ... it sketches out a purpose of nonproselytizing joint action for the conversion and nurture of outsiders.... The drafters of ECT declare that they ... understand the Christian life from first to last as personal conversion to Jesus Christ and communion with him, know that they must ‘teach and live in obedience to the divinely inspired Scriptures, which are the infallible Word of God,’ and on this basis are ‘brothers and sisters in Christ.’” Charles Colson, another prominent signer, defended the ECT document in” Why Catholics Are Our Allies,” wherein he advocated: “When confronting the non-Christian world—whether in evangelism or political activism—we should present a united front. This is the goal of ECT .... Let’s be certain that we are firing our polemical rifles against the enemy, not against those [Roman Catholics] fighting in the trenches alongside us [Protestants] in defense of the Truth.” Christianity Today, Nov. 14, 1994.}MOL 161.4

One prediction yet to be completely fulfilled involves the threefold union of Protestantism, Catholicism, and Spiritualism (New Agers, etc.) in the concerted effort to enforce Sunday worship. With the stunning rapidity of recent Protestant-Catholic joint efforts, unified at the center by their common theological thread of the immortality of the soul, their further union with modern Spiritualism (New Agers) is not difficult to foresee—now. But not in the 1880s! ^{72“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.” The Great Controversy, 588.}MOL 161.5

All the above illustrations of Ellen White’s predictive ministry are interesting and, to a degree, coercive.MOL 161.6