The last part of the nineteenth century and the first fifty years of the twentieth century was a major blow to Christian Unity in that liberalism had taken over many seminaries and many denominations. There was also an ecumenical movement by the same denominations. “Ecumenical” means “promoting or tending toward worldwide Christian unity.” The difficulty with this movement was that the cardinal doctrines were denied or played down and so was the “born again” experience. Real Christians were marginalized in their own churches. Many Christians and churches left these liberal denominations. That was good in that there was no compromise. It was bad in that the attitude was more of an anti-modernist than a love for enemies. This turned around at the end of WWII.
As you read through the book of Acts, look at every conversion, and see what happened right before it: what was said, who said it. The situations are the same today. A long time ago, my duty in the Officer’s Christian Fellowship was the east coast of the United States. I went to an officer’s office at Fort Lee, VA, and stayed overnight, then I went on to Norfolk and Fort Bragg. Forty years later, I was no longer on the staff of OCF, but I had to go to Denver. While I was in Denver, I checked in at the OCF offices. There was the same Air Force officer I had met in Fort Lee, retired now, a colonel. I had stayed in his house when he was a first lieutenant. He asked me, “Do you know what happened when you stayed overnight?” I said, “No, I just remember staying in your home.” He said, “You led the next-door neighbor to Christ.” I had no memory of it. Ten years after that, I was speaking at a banquet at the Hotel Salisbury, and who was th...
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