dedication,

As per your first three paragraphs, many of those going through so-called Protestant divinity programs have for all intents and purposes left the Bible behind. The following link is to a post-graduate thesis on Protestant churches and how the "new" Protestants think.

The author is lesbian pastor who completed her degree at George Fox University under the mentoring of Leonard Sweet.

http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin/54/

Catholics have printed a new book appealing to Protestants to reunite with them.

The 500th Anniversary of Protestantism celebration seems to be geared to ending the Protestantism and re-establishing one, papal led, religion.

Towards
Unity
Ecumenical Dialogue
500 Years
After the Reformation

(Here's the amazing write up on the book.)

“This year we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. It is significant, and a sign of the times, that a Roman Catholic publisher has published Towards Unity: Ecumenical Dialogue 500 Years after the Reformation, Since the Reformation, Christian unity has suffered many failures. Yet, especially in more recent times, it has also celebrated encouraging successes. Disparate Christian traditions are beginning to trust each other. Will Christians eventually find one shared identity? On the eve of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, this timely collection of essays by prominent Catholic and Protestant ecumenists witnesses a hope for a future Christian unity born out of 50 years of honest and genuine dialogue. Discerning, and clearly written, this book will appeal not only to academics, and ecumenists, but to all Christians who, reflecting on the conflicts borne of the Reformation, have come to believe that divisions among Christians go against the mind of Christ.”

But there are Catholic books that go beyond bringing Protestantism back "into their fold".

Interfaith Dialogue
A Catholic View

Seeks a unity with non Christian religions.

The book has inside titles such as:
Christians and Muslims Together; Creating a culture of Peace
Mary as a sign for the world according to Muslims.

What is revealing --
is that those books are doing what has been prophesied.
Their theme:
Let's dialogue and find the points upon which we can agree, and move ahead together toward "that transcendent goal that God has set for us."

Remember the phrase by EGW
" uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common"

When Protestant America renounces Protestantism and follows that papal blueprint uniting with Catholicism, they will follow the pope's agenda, and
.

As I said elsewhere, this is a definite sign on how much closer we are to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ!

Just reading the introduction to the new Sabbath School Quarterly on Romans and came to this paragraph describing the fall of Protestantism.
One that requires a dictionary to understand, but it sounds like it needed big words to describe protestants falling condition and what we are facing today.



The Reformation stalled.
That happened years ago.
Then back in the early 1800's there was a great revival -- the great awakening -- the Holy Spirit working to move the reformation forward. But it stalled again when the three angel's messages were largely rejected by Protestantism.
The Sunday tie with Rome remained unbroken.
It was the Sunday that stalled the reformation back in the council of Trent.
And it was again the Sunday that stalled Protestantism in the 1840's when the light from the heavenly sanctuary illuminated the Sabbath of God's commandments.

"people actually turned back to Rome"
Sunday sacredness...creates a bond of sympathy with Rome" {4SP 405.1} Also the forms and rituals to achieve holiness which the Catholic Church teaches, as led people back to Rome. Men like John Henry Newman, a leader in the Church of England, started to write on righteousness by faith and incorporated a lot of the Roman Catholic disciplines for holies -- the asceticism, vows, fasting, long hours of seclusion and meditation, which seemed to him a helpful method to obtain greater holiness. He would say, look what the Catholics are doing to achieve holiness!
It's interesting that these very disciplines are now invading Protestantism in a remarkably successful movement called "Spiritual formation". Even Adventism is getting in on this wave. It carried Newman back into the Catholic Church, and it is carrying Protestantism back into unity with the Catholic Church.

in an age of ecumenism and pluralism
ecumenism -- let's unit on points we can agree upon, and join hands.
pluralism -- all religions have some truth, and are valuable
Both terms describe this age which seeks to promote unity and the putting aside differences.

the distinctive truths that spurred the Reformation have become blurred

What were these distinctive truths?
1) The Bible is the Word of authority, not tradition.
2) Salvation is by Faith in Christ our righteousness, it is not in merit systems, penance, works to earn salvation, or buying indulgences, or other contributions to purchase release from judgment, nor is it by an ongoing participation in the sacramental system. etc.
3) The pope is the antichrist of scripture.



covered up under a fusillade of semantic chicanery that seeks to hide fundamental differences
fusillade = a volley or shower of shots
semantic = the different meanings of words
chicanery = trickery, deceitful, duplicity

A lot of dialogue is going on where words are not given their true meanings and the sheer volume of this talk is deceiving people into thinking that the fundamental differences have somehow been resolved.

No, they are not resolved -- not at all.

The fundamental differences have been resolved no more now than they were in Luther's day.
Every one of the key issues that spurred the Reformation are just as present today as they were in Luther's day.

And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes.
She claims infallibility.

I will never apologize for my protest against Rome! I was raised Roman Catholic and I'm so glad to have found the truth as it is in God's word.

I agree, we must not apologize for separating from Rome --

The protest of Protestantism that is being ignored by the ecumenical leaders, is based on prophetic interpretation. The biggest threat is the religious CONTROL over all religions that Papal Rome insists is her right.

This is hugely ignored by the media and religious news reports. The conviction that gave the reformers the courage to fearlessly stand against the powerful church which claimed to have the very keys to heaven, was their prophetic understanding that the papacy was the very anti-Christ sitting in the temple of God, acting as if he had the powers of God.

Protestants became blind when they rejected historicist interpretation of prophecy and now they don't see what is coming.
The papal system has not hidden the fact that --

1. They are the MOTHER church, they insist they are NOT a "sister" church joining up with other "sister" churches.
(That fits Rev. 17 so perfectly I don't know why protestants don't see it)
2. The primacy of the pope is a non-negotiable part of Rome's conditions for ecumenical unity.
3. Protestants are returning to Rome -- Rome isn't joining Protestants.


“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O'Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’” GC 565

Once Papal Rome gets control people will no longer have freedom to search for truth and follow it. Then the false doctrines of Rome will be enforced and become a major and dark issue.

All Heaven may cry over this one.

Protestantism depicted in the seven churches.
These churches represent the different stages of the church throughout history.
But even though they have a significant time in history, we must not think the previous church disappears when the next church begins. We will find the different stages continuing though they may no longer be the prominent one for that time.
There is however, one exception, one of the churches dies.

Review:
Ephesus represents the apostolic church
Smyrna represents the persecuted church
Pergamos represents the church accepted by Imperial Rome (accepted/supported by government)
Thyatira represents the papal controlled church
Sardis represents the reformation or protestant church

And it is Sardis we need to look at as we discuss the death of Protestantism.

Jezebel, the scarlet woman of Thyatira, and Revelation 17, was given time by God to repent, but she would not (Rev. 2:21). To keep faith and truth alive the Lord had to raise up a new movement. The corrupt condition of the corporate body of Thyatira had existed for more than nine hundred years before the Reformation.

Sardis represents the Protestant Reformation. They pulled away and became separate and distinct from Jezebel and her corruptions. Although Jezebel continues on, the woman represents the papal corrupted religion which is no longer a light for the gospel, or testimony for God in the earth, yet she is still alive, and will come back to power in the time of the end (Rev. 17}

The Protestant Reformation was God working anew to bring back the gospel by His Spirit and once again offer salvation and righteousness by faith to the people.
. Sardis represents the time after the Reformation as well, showing what happens to Protestantism right up to our time.



Protestantism is dying. As a movement it is DEAD. But there are still a few within Protestantism who are faithful, whose names are in the book of life.

Thyatira is the total corruption of the original message and blessings given to the Ephesus church, while Sardis was given the responsibility to bring back life and light of the gospel, and the blessings of God. But Sardis is judged by God as spiritually dead, only individual faithful ones are judged as worthy and dressed in white. Both churches have a faithful remnant that God distinctly marks and acknowledges (Rev. 2:24, 3:4)

But Sardis itself is declared as dead, and Protestants have now also declared Protestantism to be dead.

The ecumenical movement may be breaking down the whole Protest of mainstream Protestantism. But should we quietly smile and say "Wonderful, this is the realization of love and good will, let's embrace it?"



Wait! What does the Bible say?

Should we get out the scissors and cut out all the references to the beast, false prophet, and beastly images?
Is there no longer a beast?
Does it no longer matter if we violate God?s Ten Commandments in order to embrace Babylon's rewritten commandments?
And how to we find forgiveness for our sins? Does it really come through faith in Jesus Christ alone? (see 1 John 1:9, Acts 4:12). or do we need earthly priests to do that?
Or maybe we don't need it at all????? The word "repentance" seems to be disappearing.

And what about Babylon? Doesn't Prophecy predict God will initiate a huge protest by having His messengers loudly proclaim the last and urgent loud protest against Babylon, through the global proclamation of three angel?s messages recorded in Revelation 14:6-12. and Revelation 18:1-6.

Come out of Babylon MY PEOPLE! Pick up a Bible. God?s three angels are now announcing that the ?hour of His judgment has come? (14: 7), we must choose, between the Creator and the Beast. It's an
urgent message, urging the true worship of the Creator (verse 7), and warning God's people to get out of Babylon, for Babylon is not offering true worship and will receive plagues and be utterly destroyed.


Why is it that even some Adventists seem to be infected with ecumenicalism and make remarks like --
"we've heard too much about beasts, lets just concentrate on the love of God."

Yes, by all means concentrate on the love of God, but don't get rid of the urgent warnings of the traps and deceptions planned for God's people!!! God gave us these warnings, for a reason.
Knowing about them should drive us ever closer to our Refuge in Christ.

Why do we hear things like," stop all this arguing and talk over a day, let's just worship God."

Yes, by all means worship God, but don't belittle the day God invites us into a special worship and resting relationship with Him, commemorating His creative and sanctifying power. We don't offer worship by rejecting His commandments!
Is the "day of worship" an important sign that (especially in the last crises) God is our God, Lord and Savior, or is it not.? (Rev. 14:12)

The protest is not dead -- indeed it is to swell into a loud message (Read again the first verses in Revelation 18)