Oh - Sharon! I understand. I know full well that there doctrine is so wrong and not Biblical! My emphasis was meant to be more on what perhaps Jack Van Impe was trying to communicate and that he wasn't converting!

But, we both also know that in churches where the doctrine is right on and they are following the Bible in a correct manner you run into self righteous attitudes and a lack of love. Every single church denomination has a problem of some kind - none are perfect (unfortunately)

I used to be so hard hearted towards other denominations - I used to only see the wrong and come down hard on that! Then God revealed to me that none are perfect and if we all just focus on the negative no good for His Kingdom will get done.

Also remember, if you are teaching someone right from wrong the manner of teaching must be taken into consideration. Teach something in love and 9 times out of 10 it will be accepted and righted. Teach something in a condemning/self righteous/belittling manner and 9 times out of 10 it will be disregarded and a bad attitude will be created.

I agree with you Sharon. I'm not in the business of wanting to hurt or offend people, but we do need to be aware of what constitutes true Christianity and what does not. There's a major world of difference in what many people associate with negative "christian" traits, which are mainly political, and what is scriptural.
There are a great many things over which we as christians disagree on, such as what we've been discussing here over the last few days regarding the rapture, but most of these things are not foundational or germaine to salvation. There is more unity to mainstream Christianity on the whole than outsiders believe. Check mission statments for most major denominations.

In terms of salvation, which I think is the most important aspect of our faith, there is only one way to be saved, and that is through the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. No other road to the Father works, and this is also not an automatic thing, personal conviction is involved. This is foundational. Any doctrine that plays this down, changes it or adds something else is not true Biblical Christianity.

By the same token, I agree with Ev, that Catholicism has done a great deal to uphold social and moral traditions which are ever increasing in unpopularity, but whare we need to be discerning is between what is the outcome of good works, and the essence of true faith. A good blend of the two is mandatory, whether obeyed by us or not, but you can not have works without true faith.

A world wide move has begun to where many people are acknowleging Mary as a go between, a place only reserved for Jesus. This trend has encompassed Mary along with other goddess philosophies. An adulterated gospel is one where along with some basic truths and good works, misleading and deceptive leavening is added. An overview of Scripture will show us that God was never pleased with mixed multitudes. We must learn to look out for all the deceptive subtleties that are thrown at us, least we fall pray to a spirit of delusion that will cause us to believe the big lie. None of us are so above fault that we can afford to to be careless, or God wouldn't have warned us. We can never assume ourselves to be so firm in our own strength that we can let down our guard.

Christian unity and love, yes, always. Every wind of doctrine, never!!