Updated 6/12/2011 Tweet

Evangelicals who remain in complacent fellowship with those who deny their faith are not only failing to stem the tide of apostasy; they are accelerating the pace.
Their very leniency is eloquent advocacy; it cries aloud to multitudes that what men call liberalism in religion is far from being the harmful thing that Spurgeon thought it,
for are not they - outstanding evangelicals - hand-in-glove with those who teach it?

That the ebb-tide now runs like a mill-race is due, more than aught else, to this damaging quiescence." E J P-C

A brief introduction to the problem to be found in the Bible League Quarterly, a pdf file, (reproduced by courtesy, © July 2009 BLQ).

A follow up article detailing the response, also published in the Bible League Quarterly (reproduced by courtesy,  © January 2010 BLQ).

A footnote in BLQ (reproduced by courtesy,  © July 2010 BLQ).

Most credit for the background to these articles, and a great deal more, belongs to my longsuffering coauthor, Peter Nicholson, in this second article, whose Polish website is here.

        Stań po stronie Prawdy by Peter Masters

Who's telling the truth?
'I worked very much in Catholic circles, in those years we started Catholic fellowships' Malcolm Clegg published lecture 2008
'We continue to support Malcolm and I am satisfied that he is not ecumenical; he is quite happy to affirm the FIEC Statement on Ecumenism' Carey BC 06/11/09
'The ministry he is exercising ...is not ecumenically compromised' Gen Secretary FIEC 2/1/2010
'Mr Clegg encouraged students to attend Roman Catholic masses... [he] publically stated that he, himself, goes to Catholic masses.' Former student 30/10/2010

Malcolm (Marek in Polish) Clegg is a missionary sent and supported by Carey Baptist Church in Reading in the 1980s, who has often participated in its services^#.
He last preached there on 17th May 2009, (a screenshot of his past schedule there).
During ministry at Carey on 22nd April in 1993, he describes his and his students' involvement in Catholic fellowships (at 46:35 and 50:40), they are portrayed as evangelistic but even the brief description here suggests cooperation rather than extrication from Rome, and it is striking that Carey's pastor evidently took no action.

A seminary for Satan
- a paradigm of modern Polish evangelical decadence, facilitated by the wilful or blind support of Western agencies.
If you think we exaggerate please examine the data below carefully.

Amongst other work he lectures at EST (or EWST in Polish) seminary*  in Wrocław, Poland. Its website claims, 'EST prides itself on its highly qualified, international and interdenominational faculty composed of educators, laymen and clergy from many churches, including Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, Anglican, Catholic...' At a conference it hosted from April 21st to 25th 2010, the college explicitly commends itself 'as a promoter of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue', and includes amongst the guests and participants of the conference, 'the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, Polish and Greek-Catholic', amongst others.

Wrocław is a neo-evangelical * seminary. Here is a fundraising video, its ecumenical orientation toward Rome is evident in the rector’s introduction.  This local media report (by courtesy of TV Poland 3, © TVP3 2007) depicts EST's inauguration day as a degree granting institution. In it Malcolm Clegg appears at 1:57, at the end of the row on the right, and briefly looks at the camera (middle frame above), Dr Piotr Lorek also appears, on whom more later, and Jacek Duda of RDE, alluded to in our second article on Polish ecumenism and the FIEC (below right frames). This clip shows how its curriculum vigorously promotes ecumenism. The enthusiastic ecumenical participation included the presence of Roman Catholic Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz and of Archbishop Jeremiasz Jan Anchimiuk of the Autocephalous Polish Orthodox Church, President of the Polish Ecumenical Council and Rector of the highly liberal Christian Theological Academy. Another film of the same event records how the Archbishop addressed the assembly (below left).  Malcolm Clegg appears in this film at 12:14.

   


Depicted above the rector speaking, a meeting in summer 2010, about which he writes, 'About three hundred people came for the ecumenical service, including a Catholic cardinal, Eastern-orthodox priests, various pastors, Jewish leader, Muslim Imam, Vice-Mayor of Wrocław, presidents of various universities, officials, etc. The service was very encouraging. It was like a beautiful song to God, like our offering to him, showing our unity and our hope in Christ'.

On 3/6/09 EST hosted one day of a highly ecumenical conference with Muslim imam, Ali Abi Issa, Director of the Muslim Cultural and Educational Centre, welcoming the participants, and later explaining the virtues of sharia law. In the program, EST is listed as a partner (p3 of Pdf file in Polish). Imam Ali's contributions to the College's theology journal clearly extend well beyond co-belligerency.

        

In a similar conference on 24/6/2006, held at Wrocław University, during the 3rd session Malcolm Clegg was keynote speaker with an address on 'Building bridges between Christianity and Islam'. The Imam was asked during this conference,
Q: Why do you organise such meetings?
AAI: They are a kind of mediation between two cultures. We want to show the people of Wrocław that we belong to both cultures and that what mainly divides us is misunderstandings. We are also trying to defend Islam, which is not only a religion but a way of life for every Muslim.
The seminary continues to host such meetings, the last being on September 11th 2010. The organisation is shared by EST officers and Muslims.

                          

Some of Malcolm Clegg’s lectures have directly promoted ecumenism. Originally all 15 hours were published at this URL http://berea.edu.pl/?metody-studiowania-biblii-cz.-1,235, though they have since been withdrawn. Hard copies of the original videos are held by the site author.

Guinness (Polish transcript)
A remarkable, but strangely unfamiliar, evangelistic anecdote, and some commentary.

Mr. Clegg and his supporters appear to have radically diverged from the 1996 FIEC Council's unanimous statement on ecumenism, and indicate an ongoing defection from Biblical standards in the FIEC, and the umbrella association Affinity, to which its leadership is now closely intertwined. This aspect of church life must be addressed to sharpen her mission and vindicate Christ.

Minister of light

or of darkness?



Promoter of purity

or of vice?

'This is all about secondary separation'.
This is a much more basic issue. Whilst this writer agrees fully with Peter Masters that the scriptural response to evangelical ministers who engage in ecumenism is censure as those who have committed a spiritual form of adultery, Carey BC is engaged in supporting and financing ecumenism directly and has been for over 25 years, in the person of its emissary. Even those who oppose secondary separation should see this is in a quite different league.

'Why not try to resolve this internally?'
Strenuous and repeated attempts have been made to try to obtain from Carey and its elders (past and present) some dissociation with Mr. Clegg's odious views and practices, and various officers in the FIEC and Affinity, before bringing this spiritual canker to public notice. The widespread, though thankfully not universal, lack of concern suggests the problem is deep rooted and may be more pervasive.

Some early correspondence with the FIEC.

In subsequent correspondence, the title of the first BLQ article has been described as 'scurrilous' by the FIEC, despite the lack of an external investigation into these charges. To date there has been no FIEC investigation and no official statement on these charges,
raised since January 2009.

The lightning pace of the recent commendable response (official website FIEC 23/12/09 - now withdrawn) to a blog post of an unattached minister, who once preached in an FIEC chapel concerning the alleged lack of disapproval of the FIEC (RMWest 18/12/09) to the racist British National Party was remarkable in contrast.

Why is a proper dissociation from the racism of an unaffiliated minister so very much more urgent than a continuing lack of faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the Fellowship's own unanimous statement of policy in a flagship member church over 25 years?

The extraordinary report of a visit to Wrocław by Carey's elders.

Our reply.

A subsequent letter to the General Secretary of the FIEC.

The FIEC's verdict on the evidence presented above     Reakcja Sekretarza Generalnego FIEC

Carey BC continues in December 2011 to host the 'Prepared for Service' course,
despite its own missionary being at profound variance with the declaration participants are required to sign.

Involvement of the Slavic Gospel Association in Polish Ecumenism
British mission agencies that are not engaged in theological compromise in Poland appear to be highly exceptional.

Ecumenical and syncretistic Baal worship, organised by Dawid Kozioł, the key contact, who is supported by EMF (copy of cache).
7/1/2011         Much more on this EMF sponsored rally.  
 

30/8/2010  An unanswered letter to Evangelical Times, about the September 2010 front page article

30/10/2010 A short, but unanswered appeal to Immanuel Presbyterian Church of EPCEW, Cardiff, about their lecturer in EST.

22/12/2010 Christianity Explored (CE) joins the ecumenical bandwagon in Poland. CE is sponsored by at least two Roman Catholic organisations there (1, 2) and does not as yet contain a distinctively evangelical statement of faith in Polish, unlike its English page.

Incidentally, CE and its daughter courses are already sponsored by Roman Catholic book sellers and churches in the UK, suggesting its content is deemed wholly compatible with or at least adaptable to the Gospel according to Rome.

My dear brother, Peter Nicholson, and colabourer in the exposure of matters listed here, though I bear sole responsibility for its flaws, has a Polish website here.

Stań po stronie Prawdy by Peter Masters

Has the FIEC changed its stance? by Peter Masters, Sword & Trowel 2000 No 2. A reference to the ecumenism implicit in FIEC’s Essentially Evangelical initiative.

A follow on Bible League Quarterly article, with a supplement by David Fountain, and reference to the sad event at Above Bar Church.

Affinity – BLQ.

The Downgrade controversy – a vital global milestone in the conflict with unbelief and compromise inside the churches.

The greatest fight in the world – CHS’s last, great manifesto with searing contemporary relevance.

Updated 6/12/2011  Tweet