Some of us who heard Dr. David Gooding warn about the inroads of Eastern Orthodox views into the church-at-large at the Mission 93 Conference in Cincinnati wondered at the relevance of warning about these mystical heresies.
But now we see that the threat is quite real. Peter Gillquist, a popular evangelical author and youth speaker of recent years, has converted to the Antiochian Orthodox Church, and with him pulled in hundreds of “evangelical” friends. Baker Book House has published Eastern Orthodox Christianity by Daniel Clindenen which puts a friendly face on sacerdotalism. And now, Frank Schaeffer, son of the late best-selling author, Francis Schaeffer, tours the country plugging his new book, Dancing Alone–The Quest for Orthodox Faith in the Age of False Religion.
In 1994, Schaeffer came out as a full-blown advocate of the Eastern Orthodox religion and thousands of Schaeffer devotees are lining up to pay $20.00 to read about it in this evangelistic tool–Dancing Alone. In a March 1995 interview, Schaeffer claims there are 150 congregations he knows of who have recently, or will shortly, join the Eastern Orthodox religion.
In Frank’s sweep through Michigan recently, he said, “One of the most basic teachings of the historical church has always been that salvation is a mystery.” Geoff Thomas, writing in the British paper, The Evangelical Times, says the Orthodox Church’s “central beliefs are virtually identical to those of Roman Catholicism except that it rejects papal infallibility. Its priests may marry but its bishops are chosen from the ranks of the celibate.
“So the Orthodox churches are thoroughly sacerdotal, as is evidenced in Eusepbius Stephanou’s standard work, Belief and Practise in the Orthodox Church (1965): ‘Without the absolution of the priest there is no forgiveness of grave sins (p. 39). The priest who is chosen by Christ and elevated to the sacerdotal office is another Apostle, since his ordination can be traced back in an uninterrupted succession to one of the original Apostles (p. 40).
“‘The elements look like bread and wine, but they are no longer bread and wine after the priest consecrates them by invoking the Holy Spirit upon them. Before us we have the living glorified Body and Blood of Christ (p. 44). The priest alone is permitted to enter into the Sanctuary, because there the expiatory sacrifice of Christ is offered from his own hands (p. 46).'”
Along with these outrageous pretensions, the Eastern Orthodox also claim to offer some hope to the dead through their prayers for departed souls, and other such superstitions. And, of course, she claims to be the one true church and “the custodian of divine revelation, representing the final authority in areas of religion, ethics, and worship.”
But can the son of Francis Schaeffer have swallowed such views? Read what he says: “How are we saved? Some Protestants will give a simplistic and incomplete answer to this question: ‘By believing that Christ died on the cross for us.’ According to holy tradition, that answer is, at best, only partially correct. An answer from holy tradition is simple but difficult:
‘By struggling to become like Christ…we must obey Him and imitate Him'” (Dancing Alone, p. 206).
If Schaeffer’s outright denial of the gospel of the grace of God is not obvious enough here, then read his remarks on page 256 of his book: “The simplistic ‘born-again’ formula for instant painless salvation is not only a misunderstanding; I believe it is a heresy.”
Of course, many evangelicals are superficial in their preaching. Agreed. Indeed, don’t we all know that our understanding of the riches of God’s grace is “simplistic and incomplete”? But, what is Schaeffer’s answer? It is to sell his birthright for the bowl of soup savored and fortified by mythology, Maryolotry, and monasticism.