Vol. XIV • 1992 http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v14n1p04.htm
The World Council of Churches and Evolution
Carl Wieland
Many evangelical papers have expressed dismay at the thrust of the recent seventh Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Canberra, February 7-20, 1991.
It began with an overtly pagan ceremony, and was assisted by $1 million from the Australian Government; departure from biblical faith would be too mild a description,
A major, well-received address by a Korean woman delegate plumbed new depths of apostasy. Calling openly on various spirits of the dead, including the ancestors of her countrymen, she said these dead spirits were "agents through whom the Holy Spirit has spoken," and were "icons of the Holy Spirit," She said that "the image of the Holy Spirit comes from the image of Kwan In"--an Eastern "goddess of compassion," and "enlightened being" waiting for the whole universe, people, trees, animals and material things, to "become enlightened" and enter "Nirvana."
The timid voices of a handful of evangelicals were overwhelmed. Heated lobbying against America's war effort, and labeling Australia's stance to Aborigines as "genocidal" and "worse than South Africa" was undertaken by what Time magazine labeled "for the most part smart operators pushing very strong lines."
However, there is one common, dominant factor in the thinking that pervades the theology of virtually all those who support the World Council of Churches. It is the belief in evolution as truth. Such a belief implies that
(1) The Bible is, quite simply, wrong on such major issues. So how then can any appeal to what the Bible says overrule man's opinion? For instance, the Bible says there is only one way to reconciliation with God, through Jesus Christ. Yet there was a strong "push" at the WCC Assembly to unite with non-Christian religions.
(2) Whoever "god" is, he (she/it?) is not a miracle-working, all-powerful, Father-God as revealed in Scripture. Once the foundation of Genesis/Creation is abandoned, along with it goes any absolute standard. For example, the Holy Spirit can be defined any way you wish--as an Eastern goddess or as the spirits of your ancestors,
Since words such as "blasphemy," "heresy" and "apostasy" are defined in terms of departing from an absolute standard, these words become non-concepts to those who reject the absolute standard; words such as these have no meaning if everything is relative in an evolutionary world, a world that has pulled itself up by its bootstraps, through eons of death and suffering.
(3) Since sin gets its definition in Genesis, i.e., rebellion against the revealed will or command of God, the "truth of evolution" means that sin and salvation must be redefined--perhaps in terms of socio-economic struggles.
Since the atoning blood of the Lamb only has meaning in the context of a literal Adam and a literal Fall, with the entry of death into the world only as a consequence of Adam's sin, one can be certain that in an evolutionary forum such as the WCC Assembly, the historical understanding of Jesus' atoning blood would not feature--could not feature.
(4) Genesis explains how and why man is a unique creation, made in the image of God. Thus, evolutionary theology is the reason why there was a strong push at the WCC Assembly to see everything as divine--animals, rocks, trees,
It appears that only the Orthodox Church put up a meek protest that at least the soul of man should be regarded as scripturally unique (note the implicit capitulation to man's physical evolution).
Such evolution-based "process theology" is merely a return to pagan ideas of nature worship, in which everything (especially "mother earth") is divine,
Rather than history's moving to "that day" (Christ's return and restoration of the Created Order), in evolutionary theology everything is moving (evolving) towards a state of "Nirvana" or "enlightenment." Man himself will become god-like. (Recognize the lie of the serpent? "You shall be as gods.")
Since, according to evolution, nature has created itself, it is nature, the earth, that gets the glory and the worship, and ultimately, in consistent evolutionary theology, nature (the universe) itself becomes god.
Behind WCC-type evolutionary thinking is the belief that if the universe were to vanish, along with men's thoughts, so too would "god." Diametrically and utterly opposed to this is the transcendent God of Creation. This is a watershed issue, which dramatically cuts through virtually all the others and is foundational to them,
The God of Genesis (and the rest of the Bible) is the eternal, uncreated "I AM," who transcends, exists before, and is independent of the universe and the physical laws which He created. He is not the god of "process theology," nor yet is he the impotent god most generally invoked at the WCC Assembly. He alone is to be worshipped. To substitute the creation or any of its creatures, including man, as an object of worship is an unspeakable abomination.
This is not some minor doctrinal dispute--it is a division as deep as that between the religion of Cain and the religion of Abel.
Though many do not yet recognize it, there is really a struggle to the death going on at all levels of society, a struggle between opposing views of reality, opposing religious systems. At the foundational level it is a battle between creation and evolution.
Editor's Note; Reprinted slightly abridged from the April 1991 Prayer News published by the Creation Science Foundation Ltd., P. O. Box 302, Sunnybank, Qld. 4109. Australia,
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