Say "NO" to the Manhattan Declaration

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, "'But we did not yield in subjection to them "'for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel "'would remain with you.'".

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

We're here to take your calls as well. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

What the Manhattan Declaration Is and Why It Matters

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I'm here in the studio today with?

Someone. Steve Cooley. Pastor Steve Cooley. Yes, I'm here, yeah.

And Steve and I here on Tuesdays on No Compromise Radio Ministry, like to talk about things in the local church. What affects a local church? What infects a local church? What a local church should watch out for?

A whole deer? And today we're going to talk about the Manhattan Declaration. The Manhattan Declaration. And you might be saying, what is the Manhattan Declaration, and why should I care about it? And what would you say to that, Steve?

Well, it is a, it's a, well, I'll just go straight to the summary. You can find it at manhattandeclaration, either .org or .com, one of the two. And it starts out, the summary does, with the word Christians.

So you would anticipate that everyone who affirms this statement then would be biblical Christians. And it goes on to say, we are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

So basically, and there are a few issues that they're really dealing with. One is abortion and the sanctity of life, namely with regard to euthanasia, abortion, assisted suicide, and then also marriage and the sanctity of marriage.

And so they affirm those things. That's the essence of it. They're united to affirm the truths that hold us together as Christians, or so they say. That's true.

And basically what happened was, November 20th, 2009, Washington, D .C., they had a press conference and they unveiled this 4 ,700-word statement. And it was signed originally by 150 Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical leaders.

And when I say Orthodox, I don't mean sound doctrine. I mean as a denomination, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox. And so it was drafted by Robert George, who is very pro-Roman Catholic, Timothy George, and Chuck Colson.

And now it's online. And as far as I know, Steve, I don't even know what they want us to do except say we all agree and then get you to sign it.

Well, this is kind of standing up for social justice and these things that cannot be kind of equivocated upon, and the big social issues of the day. And really I would say that what it does is it seeks to find common ground with Roman Catholics and Orthodox...

Christians, I guess, people of the Christian, in fact, tradition is what they refer to sometimes. So it's very, very broad. In other words, everyone who says that they're a Christian is presumed to be a Christian.

And I think that really gets to the issue of it. What is a Christian? If the document starts with Christians and then says we are Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christians, like we're all just lumped together.

Yeah, at the very beginning, we as Orthodox, capital O, Catholic, capital C, and evangelical Christians goes on to say, we are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences.

Why the Document’s Definition of Christian Is a Problem

Well, I don't even have to go any farther than that, Steve. And I couldn't sign that. Listen, we are anti-abortion. We are pro-life. We do not want the baby harmed in the womb of where should it be, the safest place in all the world, the mother.

We are against that. We are against anyone that says marriage should be with two people. I mean, two other people, five people, both males, both females. We're against that. We are pro-marriage. We are pro-babies living, but we're not going to say let's join arms with Muslims and Catholics and Orthodox.

I know they're not saying Muslims, but we don't join together to affirm these things.

Well, and the next step is going to be our Muslim and Mormon and Seventh-day Adventist and Jehovah Witnesses friends, all the people who agree with us. In other words, we're getting back to kind of a moral majority mindset.

Let's all unite on the really critical issues and set aside things like, oh, I don't know, how somebody gets to heaven.

Well, maybe what they're thinking, Steve, is you go ahead and you march against abortion with other people who aren't Christians. And while you're marching, then you preach the gospel to them, but then they probably take the signs that they're holding and they do.

What with the signs? Whack each other over the head.

Smash you. How can you do this when you say at the beginning of the statement, Christians, we are all Christians.

That is so unloving of you, Steve, and judgmental.

The Reformation, Salvation, and the Gospel

There's a reason, let's talk about judgment. There's a reason why there was a reformation. There's a reason why there was a 30 years war. People don't even know about the 30 years war in Europe where salvation was really at the core of the whole matter.

People were put to death for the faith, not because of abortion or their views on marriage or anything else, but it was how one gets to heaven. What is saving faith?

Well, Mark Knoll would say the reformation is over. It needed to be over. How about this, Steve? You tell me what date you think this is written because this is not a new issue. And I basically think for as long as we live and unless the Lord should return soon, we're gonna have to deal with this issue.

And people are going to say, well, oh, you didn't sign that. Why didn't you sign that? I think the onus should be on those who have signed this. Huge, big name leaders who have signed this for reasons I don't know why.

Some of them I still respect, obviously, but I wish they wouldn't have signed this. When was this quote written? A growing movement exists in America today, hoping that Roman Catholics and evangelical Christians will join forces and recognize that the things that unite them outweigh the things that divide them.

Well, I think that was sometime during the early ref, oh, wait a minute, John Ankerberg, right? And he was a reformer, 1995.

Boy, you are a mind reader. Thank you. Some kind of Kreskin or something like that. You remember Kreskin? Yeah, the not so amazing Kreskin? Yeah, that's right. Ben Spoons with his glasses? This is going to keep popping up over and over and over.

My name is Mike Abendroth and this is No Compromise Radio with Pastor Steve Cooley today. We're talking about something called the Manhattan Declaration. And in summary, basically it is a statement written by big shots in evangelical Catholic world.

And they say, we need to get together and stand up against gay marriage, stand up against euthanasia, stand up against abortion, and let's do that together. We agree on those things with Roman Catholics and Orthodox.

And so might makes right, or you can influence more people if you have a larger constituency. But not everyone has signed it. Steve, I am thankful that John MacArthur has not signed it. Alistair Begg, to his credit, has not signed it.

James White has not signed it. And others who will say, why do we want to affirm from the get-go that we think Orthodox and Roman Catholic followers are actually born again when they think you're born again by water baptism?

I'm not going to sign such a document.

Why the Gospel Must Not Be Subordinated to Social Causes

Yeah, I think there's a notion that somehow the social issues are bigger than doctrine, are bigger than the gospel. And again, I just wonder how you can protest, how you can unite in arms. I mean, this seems to me, and I'm not out to besmirch anybody who did sign it because there are a lot of smarter, more godly men who signed this document certainly than I am.

And, but it does strike me as joining together in what is essentially a spiritual enterprise with people who are unbelievers. Seems like a violation of 2 Corinthians 6.

2 Corinthians 6 is super clear. What happens is you join forces, and then, Steve, I ask you the question, and I know you know the answer. Does this encourage evangelism, or is this a deterrent to evangelizing these folks?

It's a big-time deterrent.

How can you say we Christians united, and we go protesting all these other things, and then afterwards we sit around drinking hot coffee or hot chocolate, whatever the case may be, and we're going to talk about the things of Christ that we don't agree on?

We're not gonna do that. We've already wallpapered over the theological differences, the differences that are the difference between heaven and hell.

Well, Steve is right because you can go to hell and still affirm the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of human rights from the conception to burial, and we want to make sure that we keep the gospel.

What did Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15? I delivered to you things that are of first importance, and what was of first importance? Not social justice, not downplaying some kind of doctrinal distinctions for the sake of faux love.

It was that Jesus Christ, the literal God-man, died on the cross for sinners, was raised from the dead in victory, and that you are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, and that excludes the Roman Catholics and excludes the Orthodox because of their own doctrinal statements.

How about this, Steve? Here's a Roman Catholic Council of Trent, session six, canon nine. If anyone, including all those evangelicals who signed this document, the Manhattan Declaration, if anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified, so as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, let him be anathema.

I'm going to sign a document that says, we are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences. No, soteriological differences of salvation. I'm not going to sign it,.

But they never asked me to sign it. Come on, the Council of Trent was a long time ago. You know, since then we've had Vatican II, which really modified the Roman Catholic stand on this issue. Allegedly.

It didn't change anything. Why won't people reread Ian Murray's book, Evangelicalism Divided, and they would quickly see and be reminded of a case in point regarding history that when you pursue ecumenical things, you lose.

The other team wins, as it were. It is just going to water everything down. We are to contend earnestly, or are we to contend haphazardly for the faith?

True Ecumenism and the Need to Contend for the Faith

Well, earnestly, and you know, here's the issue. The issue is, is ecumenism a bad thing? And the answer is going to be, this is going to shock you. The answer is no, but only when you're uniting with other Christians, with people who genuinely believe in the gospel.

In other words, if John MacArthur and R .C. Sproul have a conference, fine, because they agree on the gospel. They agree on how one gets to heaven. You wouldn't expect Pope Benedict and John MacArthur to have a conference.

Well, why not? Because they don't agree on the gospel. It would be crazy. It would be foolishness. And this is yoking evangelicals, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Christians together in a spiritual enterprise, and it ought not to be.

Steve, here's what I don't understand. Why would I, as an evangelical, want to sign it when the document doesn't give any clear direction on what you're supposed to do after you read it, except sign it?

That's right. We're united in our signing of it. And you know, we're not going to stand for these things. And I mean, I have all kinds of issues with this document. I mean, basically, it's a call to, you know, as Christendom, as it were, we're going to draw our line in the sand, and we're not going to let the government cross that line.

Are we really a Christian nation anymore? The answer is, I don't think we ever were. Maybe there were more Christians in the United States than there used to be. And of course, we're more Christian than India.

But when I take a look at this statement here, listen to this statement. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives. And by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image.

I just have a big problem with that.

Well, the acting in obedience part, I mean, let's just cut to the chase. If you think that your good works and your merit are coupled with the works of Jesus, and maybe some of the grace of Mary to get you into heaven, then you're not in obedience to the triune God of the Bible.

The Bible is very clear about salvation, and it is not as the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox denominations describe it.

Why is it that we say to ourselves, let's just tweak this down a little bit. Let's just water it down a little bit. Instead, I say, there's a reason why we have italicized texts in our documents because those divide us.

And so if we want to sit down together and have some kind of council, what is the gospel and hammered out kind of Luther style, then I would be fine with that. But why do I have to sign something and say, based on love, based on social concern, based on a Christian America, let's sign something when scripturally, I am not able to do that.

Listen to what John MacArthur said years ago in Reckless Faith, 1994. While many believe that she has changed since Vatican II, Rome has not changed doctrinally. Roman Catholicism put on a new face at Vatican II, but the changes extensive as they are, are cosmetic only.

I mean, the gospel is absent from the Roman Catholic Church. It is absent. Were it not so, they would not have fought so long and so hard to stamp out the Reformation just as they had other movements to reclaim the gospel before the Reformation.

There is no love loss between the biblical gospel and the Roman Catholic system. That doesn't mean that everybody who's a Roman Catholic is bound for hell. What it does mean is if you adhere to what the Roman Catholic Church declares, teaches, has defended over the centuries, then you don't know the gospel of the Bible.

Conscience, Gospel Priority, and Alistair Begg’s Refusal

Mike Abenroth and Steve Cooley on WVNE 760. This is No Compromise Radio, and today we're talking about the Manhattan Declaration subtitled, A Call of Christian Conscience. That much right there should tell people what would our conscience do?

If we let our conscience be our guide, we might want to sign it. But if you have a Christian conscience, that is a conscience informed by the scriptures, under the authority of scriptures, then scriptures according to Jude chapter, Jude verse three and 2 Corinthians chapter six should not be allowed to sign it.

I like what Alistair Begg said. He quoted George Smeaton in his Atonement work. Here's what Alistair Begg did on his website. He quoted Smeaton saying, to convert one sinner from his way is an event of greater importance than the deliverance of a whole kingdom from temporal evil.

Well, that's good, isn't it? And that's the heart of the issue. What is the priority of Christians today? Did Jesus say, go into the world and make it a more just and socially honorable place? Eliminate abortion, stand up for marriage.

No, he said, go and make disciples. And he said, teaching them everything that I have commanded you. And the gospel is the heart of what we do. If all we're trying to do is stop abortion, stop gay marriage, and then what?

Then the abortion is stopped. No gay marriage takes place. Polygamy is outlawed and millions of Americans go to hell. That is not a bargain. And that is not what we ought to sign up for.

Listen to what MacArthur says. Although I obviously agree with the document's opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and other key moral problems threatening our culture, the document falls far short of identifying the one and true ultimate remedy for all of humanity's moral ills, the gospel.

It falls short of that. And so how can we sign the paper saying we're against gay marriage, but we don't even really understand what the gospel is? I stand with MacArthur, Steve Lawson, James White, R .C. Sproul, and at the top of that list, Steve Cooley, to say we will not sign that.

If I'm at the top of that list, it must be alphabetical or some age or something. There must be some funky deal going on there.

Charles Colson was one of the drafters. And of course, Charles Colson is married to a Roman Catholic woman. And I'm sure she's a fine woman. You know, you just have to always say that. I don't know why, because you're talking about somebody's wife.

And so I think he's tried to do everything he can to bridge the gap between those two, including handing prison fellowship off to a Roman Catholic. And so Colson and Begg are friends. And so this is what Alistair Begg wrote to Chuck Colson when he said, I can't sign it.

Quote, thank you for sending me the amended document. I care deeply about these issues, but I cannot in conscience sign on with those with whom I have fundamental disagreements on the nature of the gospel.

In parentheses, I just reread Calvin in the Institute's book four, section 18, meaning there is no way on earth I can sign such a document when we don't agree on the gospel.

Why External Reform Cannot Replace Conversion

So Alistair Begg's saying no compromise. Whoa. Hey, well, let me ask you a question. Which is more likely? Which is more likely that we can get a bunch of pagans to do godly things, or that God can change the hearts of people, transforming them into followers of his, and that things would change?

I'm not saying we can usher in a kingdom of God on earth. I am saying that if we had a majority, and only the Lord knows this, but if we had a majority of people in this country who actually love the Lord, who actually wanted to follow Christ, would we see the country the same way it is now?

And the answer is no, but the answer is not then, well, let's all join and kind of change things on the outside, because it's never a matter of, we've talked week in and week out about externals versus internals, about showing your godliness in what you don't do versus having a heart that says, I want to follow Christ.

I couldn't agree more.

We disagree with each other, don't we? We like to agree. It's funny like that. Yeah, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Maybe we should have some kind of declaration.

We'll call it the no-compromise declaration.

Steve and Mike against the world. I find it strange that in the days of Athanasius and Wycliffe and Luther and Spurgeon, we would all look at those guys and say, thank you for standing up against the growing tide of ecumenism, and we think those are the heroes of the faith, but now we have anti-heroes of the faith.

You can't be a MacArthur, James White, R .C. Sproul, or Alistair Begg, because you're on the outside looking in, and so I don't want to do that at all. I want to say that there is a faith that needs to be contended for.

We don't need to be obnoxious, but we need to contend for that faith, and it was entrusted to us, and we need to stand for that and keep it and preserve it, and part of preservation is saying other people are wrong.

Roman Catholics, if you're a Roman Catholic listening today, your church and your doctrinal statement is different than ours. We are Protestants, and it is different. It doesn't mean someone's better or worse.

There is a difference, and in our postmodern culture, somehow we think those differences don't exist except in the mind of the people. There are objective external differences. Roman Catholics and Protestants don't believe that you go to heaven the same way.

Why can't we just acknowledge that and be kind to one another at the dinner table, but say at the end of the day,.

Only one of us is going to hell? Yeah, I mean, essentially what this document calls for evangelicals, Protestants, let's just narrow it down a little bit, Bible-believing Christians, it says, look, run up the white flag of surrender on the gospel so that we can get on to the important things like defeating abortion and stopping gay marriage.

You're right, and in the document, it talks about the gospel a lot.

Here's one right here. Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. We Catholics, we Orthodox, we evangelicals have refused to compromise.

Even though we all have different gospels, we've refused to compromise. The gospel is good news, and the good news is not you need to be baptized, have last rites, entrust yourself to Mary, to think about some kind of extreme unction, to have an extra bit of meritorious grace through the saints and relics.

The gospel is, even though you're fallen, sinful, foolish, a rebel in God's eyes, that God has sent his son in love. He demonstrated that love by sending Jesus to completely, fully, once and for all, accomplish salvation through his life, death, and resurrection, and there's no cooperation with what he's done.

There's an acknowledgement which is called faith. There's a turning your back on things called repentance, and it's not joining together with Catholicism and Orthodox quote-unquote Christians in baptism.

Yeah, I'm just thinking about Paul in Acts 17, where he says, you know, God has established a day, and he now says a day of judgment, and he now is calling for men everywhere to change their mind about gay marriage and abortion.

No, he's calling for men everywhere to repent and to come to Christ, to come to faith. This is a time for changing one's mind about who you are, not about changing the world and all their stances on abortion and whatnot.

A Final Appeal Against Signing the Declaration

Well, this isn't gonna go away,.

And if nobody signs this, there's gonna be another one in five years or 10 years or 15 years. I say with James White, when our children's children look back to this generation, James asks this question, who stood clearly for the many?

Who stood clearly for the gospel once for all delivered to the saints in those dark days of compromise when so many were willing to remove it from being a definitional component of the faith? I want my name added to that list.

How about you? Me too. Well, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Abendroth with Steve Cooley talking about the Manhattan Declaration. Don't sign it. Go to aomen .org, and you can read more about it.

God bless you.

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