Ulf Ekman i hetluften

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"In recent years, the prominent pastor of Word of Life in Uppsala has been associating increasingly with Catholic leaders, and introducing his followers to Catholic and Orthodox theology, in particular through his teaching magazine, Keryx. Yet Ekman insists he is not adopting Catholicism but simply broadening his theology and promoting a “unity of the heart.”

“God has spoken to me as powerfully concerning unity as He did concerning the faith message,” Ekman told Charisma. “With secularism and Islam taking over in Europe, revival slogans won’t suffice. The need of the hour is a powerful, effective unity including the historical churches.”

Viewing the Roman Catholic Church as the “whore of Babylon” is “untenable,” he added. “With so much apostasy and denying of fundamental truths among Protestants, even in Pentecostal and charismatic churches, who are we to point fingers at the Catholics?” Ekman said. “The whore is present in all denominations. But then again the body of Christ is also in all denominations and certainly in the Catholic Church.”

Ekman’s views are being welcomed by many Swedish church leaders as interest in Catholic and Orthodox spirituality, Catholic pilgrimages and monastery-like retreats grows rapidly in Pentecostal and charismatic circles. The Catholic bishop of Sweden, Anders Arborelius, told Charisma that so “many Protestants approach the Catholic Church with high expectations” that he is “barely coping.”

Others are deeply worried. In April and October evangelicals gathered in Örebro, Sweden’s evangelical center, to point out that to Catholics unity always meant, and still means, bowing to the pope. Arborelius seemed to affirm that view, saying: “We cannot bypass the personal wish of Jesus that all unity must relate to the apostle Peter,” that is, to the papal office."

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