Before of Tony Campolo

Tony Campolo is a popular "evangelical" speaker
and author. He is professor emeritus of Sociology
at Eastern University and an ordained minister in
the liberal American Baptist Convention.
According to Wikipedia, he currently serves as an
associate pastor of the Mount Carmel Baptist
Church in West Philadelphia, whereas his wife
attends Central Baptist Church in Wayne,
Pennsylvania. In an interview with me at the New
Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta in
January 2008, he confirmed that he and his wife
attend different churches.

Campolo is associated with the emerging church.
For example, he co-authored Adventures in Missing
the Point with Brian McLaren. McLaren also
endorsed Campolo's book Speaking My Mind: The
Radical Evangelical Prophet Tackles the Tough
Issues Christians Are Afraid to Face (2004).

Campolo is a master entertainer. No doubt about
it. Of course, that is the kind of speaker who is
popular in this confused, carnal hour. Campolo is
dynamic, interesting, and personable. He appeals
to the young and to the old. He can make you
laugh, and he can make you cry. He is full of
zeal. He can move people. But Campolo is a
dangerous man because of his aberrant theology.

A "GRADUAL" SALVATION EXPERIENCE

In Letters to a Young Evangelical Campolo
described his own salvation experience in the
following words:

"When I was a boy growing up in a
lower-middle-class neighborhood in West
Philadelphia, my mother, a convert to Evangelical
Christianity from a Catholic Italian immigrant
family, hoped I would have one of those dramatic
'born-again' experiences. That was the way she
had come into a personal relationship with
Christ. She took me to hear one evangelist after
another, praying that I would go to the altar and
come away 'converted.' BUT IT NEVER WORKED FOR
ME. I would go down the aisle as the people
around me sang 'the invitation hymn,' but I just
didn't feel as if anything happened to me. For a
while I despaired, wondering if I would ever get
'saved.' It took me quite some time to realize
that entering into a personal relationship with
Christ DOES NOT ALWAYS HAPPEN THAT WAY. ...

"In my case INTIMACY WITH CHRIST WAS DEVELOPED
GRADUALLY OVER THE YEARS, primarily through what
Catholic mystics call 'centering prayer.' Each
morning, as soon as I wake up, I take
time--sometimes as much as a half hour--to center
myself on Jesus. I say his name over and over
again to drive back the 101 things that begin to
clutter up my mind the minute I open my eyes.
Jesus is my mantra, as some would say. ...

"I learned about this way of having a born-again
experience from reading the Catholic mystics,
especially The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of
Loyola. ...

"After the Reformation, we Protestants left
behind much that was troubling about Roman
Catholicism of the fifteenth century. I am
convinced that we left too much behind. The
methods of praying employed by the likes of
Ignatius have become precious to me. With the
help of some Catholic saints, my prayer life has
deepened" (Letters to a Young Evangelical, 2006,
pp. 25, 26, 30, 31).

This is very a very frightful testimony. Campolo
does not have a biblical testimony of salvation.
He plainly admits that is not "born again" in the
way that his mother was, through a dramatic
biblical-style conversion. Instead, he describes
his "intimacy with Christ" as something that has
developed gradually through the practice of
Catholic mysticism.

For one thing, this is to confuse salvation with
spiritual growth. The conversions that are
recorded in the New Testament are of the
instantaneous, dramatic variety. We think of the
woman at the well (John 4), and Zacchaeus (Luke
19), and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8), and Paul
(Acts 9), and Cornelius (Acts 10), and Lydia
(Acts 16), and the Philippian jailer (Acts 16),
to name a few. The Lord Jesus Christ said that
salvation is a birth (John 3:3). That is not a
gradual thing that happens throughout one's life;
it is an event!

Further, Catholic mysticism itself is
unscriptural. Jesus forbad repetitious prayers
(Mat. 6:7). He taught us to pray in a verbal,
conscious manner, talking with God as with a
Father, addressing God the Father external to us,
not searching for a mystical oneness with God in
the center of one's being through thoughtless
meditation (Mat. 6:9-13).

Campolo's testimony is more akin to the Roman
Catholicism that his mother was saved out of. It
is repeating mantas and doing good works and
progressing in spirituality. Campolo clearly
attributes his "spirituality" to Catholic-style
mysticism. He even speaks in terms of
experiencing "oneness with God" and entering a
"thin place" wherein God "is able to break
through and envelop the soul."

"The constant repetition of his name clears my
head of everything but the awareness of his
presence. By driving back all other concerns, I
am able to create what the ancient Celtic
Christians called 'THE THIN PLACE.' The thin
place is that spiritual condition wherein the
separation between the self and God becomes so
thin that God is able to break through and
envelop the soul. ... Like most Catholic mystics,
[Loyola] developed an intense desire to
experience A 'ONENESS' WITH GOD" (Letters to a
Young Evangelical, pp. 26, 30).

Roger Oakland observes:

"This term 'thin place' originated with Celtic
spirituality (i.e., contemplative) and is in line
with panentheism. ... Thin places imply that God
is in all things, and the gap between God, evil,
man, everything thins out and ultimately
disappears in mediation" (Faith Undone, pp. 114,
115).

I suspect that Campolo's many heresies are
largely the product of his unscriptural mystical
practices which have brought him into intimate
communion with something other than the Jesus
Christ of the Bible.

A SHAM EVANGELICAL "TRIAL"

After Campolo published the book A Reasonable
Faith some evangelical leaders became concerned
that he was teaching universalism. Campolo
developed the idea that "Christ lives in all
human beings, regardless of whether they are
Christians." He asserted that the resurrected
Jesus of history is "actually is present" in each
person and said, "Jesus is the only Savior, but
not everybody who is being saved by Him is aware
that He is the one who is doing the saving."

When Campus Crusade for Christ and Youth for
Christ cancelled Campolo's speaking engagement at
Youth Congress '85, the Christian Legal Society
organized a "reconciliation panel" let by J.I.
Packer.

After examining the book and questioning Campolo
the panel came to the amazing conclusion that
though his statements were "methodologically
naïve and verbally incautious." Christianity
Today editor Kenneth Kantzer wrote that Campolo
was entirely orthodox.

Campolo told Christianity Today,

"I'm worried that evangelical intellectuals will
not say anything except the old phrases and the
old worn out terminology ... The way evangelical
Christianity is doing theology really bothers me.
If everybody has to say only things that they
know are safely orthodox, if we lose the capacity
to be open and to share ideas that people may
consider heretical, I think we will lose our
creativity."

This is a foolish statement, and for Christianity
Today to leave it unchallenged is inexcusable. To
call for a questioning of the "old worn out
terminology," and for theological openness to new
theology is the apostasy described in 2 Timothy
4. "For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts
shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

Today's evangelical leaders do not have the heart
nor the spiritual discernment needed to protect
the flock of God. They are blind guides and dumb
dogs. Christianity Today's defense of Campolo
does not demonstrate his orthodoxy, it
demonstrates Christianity Today's confusion.

Campolo complained that he was being persecuted,
even though the theological watchdogs turned out
to be pussycats.

On the authority of God's Word, we say that
Campolo was a heretic in 1985 and since then he
has proceeded from heresy to heresy, yet he is
still accepted as an "evangelical theologian."

CAMPOLO BELIEVES IN EVOLUTION

When Campolo was examined by the evangelical
leaders in 1985, they noted that "while he
accepts an evolutionary view of the origin of man
and the universe, he holds that this is
consistent with Scripture that teaches only the
fact (not the method) of Creation" (Christian
News, Sept. 23, 1985).

Christianity Today did not see this as a serious
problem because they allow room for all sorts of
doctrinal error, but it is a very serious matter.

It should be obvious even to a child that the
Bible teaches not only the fact of creation, but
the method, as well. The Bible plainly teaches
that the world was created by God in six days and
six nights. There is no room for any sort of
evolutionary thinking here, and to allow men such
as Campolo to hold such views is folly. The
doctrine of special creation is the only view
that reveals the nature of man as distinct from
the animals and that explains the literal fall of
man in a literal Garden of Eden. If there were no
literal creation and fall, the atonement of
Christ on the cross is without meaning.

CAMPOLO DOESN'T BELIEVE THAT THE BIBLE IS INERRANTLY INSPIRED

In an interview with Shane Claiborne in 2005,
Campolo was asked to define "evangelical." He
replied:

"An evangelical is someone who believes the
doctrines of the Apostle's Creed. That outlines
exactly what we believe in detail. Secondly, an
evangelical has a very high view of scripture
THOUGH NOT NECESSARILY INERRANCY. And the third
thing--we believe that salvation comes by being
personally involved with a living resurrected
Jesus. So I've defined evangelical in those three
terms. There is a doctrinal statement, so that
there is some content to what we believe. There
is a source of truth, Scripture. And there is a
personal relationship with Jesus" ("On
Evangelicals and Interfaith Cooperation,"
Crosscurrents, Spring 2005,
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_1_55/ai_n13798048).

Campolo's doctrinal statement is not only
exceedingly weak, shallow, vague, and confusing,
but it is heretical as well! Further, defining
salvation is "being personally involved with a
living resurrected Jesus" allows for a world of
heresy. It allows for an Orthodox sacramental
gospel, a Roman Catholic mystical gospel, a
Church of Christ baptismal regeneration gospel,
you name it.

In his book Partly Right, Campolo said:

"Abraham's knowledge of God fit no theological
system. It complied with no dictates of
knowledge. ... [Kierkegaard] rejected the
bibliolatry of those fundamentalists who would
make the Scriptures the ultimate authority for
faith. Even though he would agree with those who
hold to the doctrine of the inerrancy of
Scriptures, he refused to put the Bible in a
higher place of authority than the inward
encounter with God" (p. 99).

Thus, Campolo holds to the heresy that the Bible
is not the ultimate authority for faith and
practice and exalts the liberal-mystical idea
that an inward encounter with God is a higher
authority than the Bible. He does not explain how
it is possible to test the genuineness of an
"inward encounter with God" apart from the Bible
and fails to acknowledge that "faith" is not a
leap in the dark but that "faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans
10:17).

CAMPOLO IS AN ECUMENIST

I attended Missionsfest '92 in Vancouver, British
Columbia, to hear Campolo speak. Though the
participants represented a wide variety of belief
and practice, most came under the evangelical
label. There were Pentecostals, Baptists,
Presbyterians, Mennonites, Anglicans, Lutherans,
to name a few. I did not see any Catholic groups,
though some of the people we talked to at the
booths were strongly sympathetic toward
Catholicism.

Campolo spoke on Friday evening to a
standing-room-only crowd, and he literally
brought the people to their feet. The man is a
very effective speaker, which of course makes him
all the more dangerous.

He began his talk by noting how incredible and
wonderful it was that so many different kinds of
Christians had come together for the meeting. He
mentioned Pentecostals, Baptists, Presbyterians,
Anglicans, and Mennonites.

As Campolo stood before this mixed multitude, he
did not have one word of warning about the false
teaching represented by the various groups that
were present. He did say, "If your theology is
not right you will be messed up and not be able
to follow Jesus adequately." But he did not
explain what he meant, and of course he gave no
examples of being "messed up theologically." He
appealed to the people to give themselves to
world missions, and he made no exceptions for
those who hold to false doctrine.

Not only did Campolo approach this conference in
a compromising ecumenical spirit, he did not even
clarify the Gospel. He mentioned the Gospel; he
referred to the Gospel. But he did not explain
what the Gospel is. He did not preach the Gospel.
He talked about "giving your life to Jesus
Christ," but that is not the Gospel. He spoke of
the necessity of winning people to Jesus Christ,
and he said that "missions starts with the
declaration that Jesus Christ must be the Lord of
your life." But that is not the Gospel. That kind
of language is interpreted many different ways by
the various denominations. Campolo said, "I
believe in heaven, and I believe in hell." But
that is not the Gospel. He mentioned the cross,
but the cross must be explained. Especially is
this true in this hour of doctrinal confusion.
Even Rome mentions the cross, but Rome, of
course, does not preach the biblical gospel.

All of this is not surprising in light of the
ecumenism of the conference. If Campolo had
preached a clear Gospel, he would have caused
problems for some of the participants. He would
have caused divisions. He could not preach
against baptismal regeneration, because this was
held by many of the Lutherans and Anglicans who
were present. He could not preach against the
heresy of losing your salvation, because this was
held by many of the Pentecostals present.
Ecumenists speak in generalities and inferences,
not in plain doctrinal Bible language. They do
not reprove and rebuke (2 Timothy 4:2).

Ecumenism has long been Campolo's methodology.
His American Baptist Convention is the most
liberal group of Baptists in the United States
and is a member body of the World Council of
Churches. Bible-believing Baptist churches long
ago separated from this modernistic group.

You can find Campolo practically
anywhere--preaching the same ecumenically-popular
message: You can find him in a National Council
of Churches meeting (he spoke at the
NCC-sponsored "A Gathering of Christians," May
1988, in Arlington, Texas), and you can find him
at a National Association of Evangelicals meeting
(Campolo spoke at NAE's annual convention, March
1987, in Wheaton, Illinois). Any lip service
Campolo gives to the importance of doctrinal
correctness is negated by his constant fellowship
with heretics. In practice, the man has no
concern for doctrinal purity.

Campolo signed an article in the liberal
Sojourners magazine in May 1981, which lambasted
the United States and stated that Roman
Catholicism was the one bright light in the dark
situation in El Salvador.

Campolo was on the editorial board for the
production of the film Mother Teresa, which
exalted the Roman Catholic nun and contained no
warning about her false gospel. Campolo often
uses Mother Teresa as an example of biblical
Christianity, though she preached a false gospel,
believed that all men are children of God,
worshiped the wafer of the mass, and prayed to
Mary.

Campolo has spoken at self-esteem guru Robert
Schuller's Institute for Church Growth. In 2001
he joined hands with Catholic priest Michael
Moynihan at this Institute.

Campolo referred positively to Seventh-day
Adventism in his book 20 Hot Potatoes Christians
Are Afraid to Touch (chapter 3).

Campolo is exceedingly dangerous because he is an
ecumenist who is willing to work with and
fellowship with error. He refuses to obey Bible
separation. He refuses to lift his voice against
heresy. In fact, he often pokes fun at the
fundamentalist position. This is wickedness. It
is impossible to please God while preaching the
kind of positive ecumenical message that Campolo
preaches.

CAMPOLO DESCRIBES MAN AS DIVINE

In his 1985 book Partly Right, Campolo used the
word "divinity" seven times in one chapter to
refer to man. He made the following statements:

"[Robert Schuller] never lets us forget that WE
HAVE A DIVINITY ABOUT US and that as sons and
daughters of God we are capable of great things.
... [Schuller] affirms OUR DIVINITY, yet does not
deny our humanity ... Isn't God's message to
sinful humanity that HE SEES IN EACH OF US A
DIVINE NATURE of such worth that He sacrificed
His own Son? ... [Christ] was aware of the filthy
side of Mary and her sisters in the world's
oldest profession, but He also saw THEIR
DIVINITY" (Partly Right, pp, 118, 119).

Man is made in God's image, but he is never
described as divine in Scripture. Christ did not
teach that man is divine. He told the unsaved
Pharisees that they were of their father the
devil (John 8:44). It is confusion to describe
man in such unbiblical terms.

CAMPOLO BELIEVES NON-CHRISTIANS MIGHT GO TO HEAVEN

In a letter to Jerry Falwell that was printed in
the National Liberty Journal, August 9, 1999,
Campolo said that Romans 2:14-16 "suggests that
the work of Christ on the cross may be broader
than some of us think." He quoted Billy Graham as
saying that "on Judgment Day, there may be people
who enter the Kingdom who have not called
themselves Christians." Campolo stood by his
statement on The Charlie Rose Show: "I am not
convinced that Jesus only lives in Christians"
(Calvary Contender, October 1, 1999).

In January 2007, Campolo told the Edmonton
Journal (Alberta, Canada) that he is not sure who
will go to heaven. Asked by the paper, "Do you
believe non-Christians can go to heaven?" Campolo
replied: "That's a good question to ask because
the way we stand is we contend that trusting in
Jesus is the way to heaven. However, we do not
know who Jesus will bring into the kingdom and
who He will not. We are very, very careful about
pronouncing judgment on anybody. We leave
judgment in the hands of God and we are saying
Jesus is the way. We preach Jesus, but we have no
way of knowing to whom the grace of God is
extended" ("Canada's Different Evangelicals,"
Edmonton Journal, Jan. 27, 2007).

This is contradictory gobbly-gook! If we believe
that "trusting Jesus is the way to heaven," then
we most definitely DO know who Jesus will bring
into the kingdom. He will bring those that trust
Him and He will not bring those that do not trust
Him. As for pronouncing judgment on people, it is
not our judgment. It is God in His infallible
Word who has stated such things as, "He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16),
and, "He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him," (John 3:36), and, "He that hath
the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12).
To say that we have no way of knowing who Jesus
will bring into the kingdom is to play the
religious politician and to deny the plain
teaching of Scripture. God has already told us,
Mr. Campolo! "He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him" (John 3:36). Words could not be
plainer! The unbeliever does not have to wait
until he dies to find out whether or not he will
go to heaven. The Bible says he is condemned
already (John 3:18), dead in trespasses and sins
(Eph. 2:1), controlled by the Devil (Eph. 2:2), a
child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), "having no hope, and
without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). Revelation
21:8 says the unbeliever will be outside of the
eternal city of God.

In about 1996, in an interview with Bill Moyers
broadcast on MSNBC, Campolo was asked about
whether evangelicals should try to convert Jews.
He replied:

"I am not about to pronounce who goes to heaven
and who goes to hell. That is not within the
realm of any of us. We are not here to declare
who is out and who is in. All we are here to say
is what is meaningful in our own lives, what has
been significant in our own personal experience
with God. I have come to know God through Jesus
Christ. He is the only way that I know God. And
so I preach Jesus, and I not about to make
judgments about my Jewish brothers and my Muslim
brothers and sisters. I'm just not about to make
those kinds of statements. I think we ought to
leave judgments up to God and we ought to call
people to obedient faith in their own traditions,
even as we faithfully preach out own faith to
others. I learn about Jesus from other religions.
They speak to me about Christ, as well"
(http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4117713232348817752).

In an interview with Shane Claiborne in 2005,
Campolo said: "Evangelicalism is heading for a
splitŠ There is going to be one segment of
evangelicalism, just like there is one segment in
Islam that is not going to be interested in
dialogue. But there are other evangelicals who
will want to talk and establish a common
commitment to a goodness with Islamic people and
Jewish people particularly" ("On Evangelicals and
Interfaith Cooperation," Crosscurrents, Spring
2005,
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_1_55/ai_n13798048).

Claiborne then asked Campolo, "When we talk about
inter-religious cooperation, does that mean that
we need to stop trying to convert each other?" To
which Campolo replied:

"We don't have to give up trying to convert each
other. What we have to do is show respect to one
another. And to speak to each other with a sense
that even if people don't convert, they are God's
people, God loves them, and we do not make the
judgment of who is going to heaven and who is
going to hell. I think that what we all have to
do is leave judgment up to God."

If Muslims are already God's people, then why in
the world should we try to "convert" them?

Campolo said further:

"I've got to believe that Jesus is the only
Savior but being a Christian is not the only way
to be saved. ... Now Muslims do not believe that
Jesus died on the cross. So we have a difference
there. We kid ourselves if we pretend that we all
believe the same thing. What we have to do is say
that we believe different things. But there is so
much goodness in the Islamic community, it cannot
be ignored. Those who write off Islamic people
are making a serious mistake. ... I don't think
you have to compromise as a Christian the belief
that Jesus is the only Savior but what I do think
we have to say is that the grace of God extends
way beyond the limitations of my religious group.
Our Muslim brothers and sisters can say Islam is
the only true faith but we are not convinced that
only Muslims enjoy salvation. I contend that
there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ,
but I am not convinced that the grace of God does
not go further than the Christian community."

This is exceedingly unscriptural thinking. If
Jesus Christ is the only Saviour, then the grace
of God extends precisely to those who are in
Christ. Jesus IS the grace of God, and salvation
is in Him and nowhere outside of Him. It is the
sinner that believes on Christ that has eternal
life; he that that does not believe is condemned
already (John 3:16-18). Ephesians 2 describes the
condition of those who have not been regenerated.
They are "dead in trespasses and sins" (v. 1).
They walk according to their head, the devil (v.
2). They are "by nature the children of wrath"
(v. 3). They are "without Christ ... having no
hope, and without God in the world" (v. 12). They
are "far off" (v. 13).

Later in the interview Claiborne said:

"Rarely are people converted by force or words,
but through intimate encounters. Perhaps one of
the best things we can do is stop talking with
our mouths and cross the chasm between us with
our lives. Maybe we will even find a mystical
union of the Spirit as Francis did."

To this Campolo replied:

"Speaking of Francis [of Assisi], here's a
wonderful story. I got to meet the head of the
Franciscan order. I met him in Washington. He
said let me tell you an interesting story. He
told me about one of their gatherings, where they
bring the brothers of the Franciscan order
together for a time of fellowship. About eight
years ago they held it in Thailand and out of
courtesy, they really felt they needed to show
some graciousness to the Buddhists, because they
were in a Buddhist country. So they got Buddhist
theologians together and Franciscan theologians
together and sent them off for three days to talk
and see if they could find common ground. They
also took Buddhist and Franciscan monastics and
sent them off together to pray with each other.
On the fourth day they all reassembled. The
theologians were fighting with each other,
arguing with each other, contending there was no
common ground between them. The monastics that
had gone off praying together, came back hugging
each other. IN A MYSTICAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD,
THERE IS A COMING TOGETHER OF PEOPLE WHERE
THEOLOGY IS LEFT BEHIND AND IN THIS SPIRITUALITY
THEY FOUND A COMMONALITY.

"It seems to me that when we listen to the Muslim
mystics as they talk about Jesus and their love
for Jesus, I must say, it's a lot closer to New
Testament Christianity than a lot of the
Christians that I hear. In other words IF WE ARE
LOOKING FOR COMMON GROUND, CAN WE FIND IT IN
MYSTICAL SPIRITUALITY, EVEN IF WE CANNOT
THEOLOGICALLY AGREE, Can we pray together in such
a way that we connect with a God that transcends
our theological differences?

"So we make sure we don't compromise what we
believe. But we also make sure that in mystical
spirituality we find a kind of oneness that we
leave judgment of who goes to heaven and who goes
to hell in the hands of God and just preach the
truth as we understand it" ("On Evangelicals and
Interfaith Cooperation," Cross Currents, Spring
2005).

Campolo exalts experience over doctrine. The
reason that he can say that he doesn't compromise
what he believes even while claiming that
Buddhist and Muslim mystics are in fellowship
with God is that he doesn't believe anything!

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. ... He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:18, 36).

CAMPOLO BELIEVES WE ARE BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD TODAY

One of Campolo's most serious errors is his
confusion regarding the kingdom of God. He holds
the popular "kingdom now" theology, which is
sweeping through much of the
evangelical/charismatic world. According to this
thinking, the kingdom of God is something that is
presently in this world. Campolo places the Bible
promises for a future earthly kingdom into the
context of this sin-cursed, apostate hour. Thus,
Campolo challenges Christians to go into the
world and to transform society.

In his message at Urbana '87, Inter-Varsity
Christian Fellowship's annual youth meeting,
Campolo said, "This night is a historical moment.
This night God wants to raise up a generation of
men and women who will enter into every sector of
society as agents of change, transforming the
world into the kind of world he wills it to be"
(Decision magazine, Mar. 1988).

Campolo claims that believers are saved to change the world:

"Conversion is not basically so that you can go
to heaven when you die. The purpose of conversion
is so that you can go through the kind of
personal transformation that will enable you to
be a different kind of a person here on Earth and
to become an instrument of God for changing the
world" ("Evangelist seeks social justice,
preaches conversion," Toledo Blade, Aug. 2, 2003).

"[Jesus] saved us in order that He might begin to
transform His world into the kind of world that
He willed for it to be when He created it"
(Campolo, It's Friday but Sunday's Coming, p.
106).

"Our call is to be God's agents, to rescue not
only the human race but the whole of creation"
(Campolo, "Why Care for Creation," Tear Times,
Summer 1992).

Campolo claims that believers are commissioned to
build the kingdom of God in this world, and he
borrows his theology from all sorts of heretics
to prove his point. In How to Rescue the Earth
without Worshiping Nature (Thomas Nelson, 1992),
he said: "If the Shalom of God and the peaceable
kingdom of Isaiah 11 are to become real, then new
ways of thinking must be established. With some
help from St. Francis and Teilhard de Chardin, we
just might make it" (p. 89). Thus he even borrows
from Teilhard who worshipped a new age cosmic
"christ."

This is why Campolo says "the kingdom of God is a
party." That is the title of one of his books and
is a theme that he brings into many of his
messages. To prove this idea, Campolo quotes from
the Bible's references to such things as the Old
Testament Jewish festivals and wrongly applies
this to our time.

There is no hint in the New Testament that the
apostles considered themselves agents of change
in society. We don't see them having a party.
They gave their attention to preaching the Gospel
and to building churches. They did not protest
the problems of the Roman Empire. They did not
start new businesses for the poor. They looked
upon this present world as one under the imminent
judgment of God and they did all they could to
snatch brands from the fire, to get men saved
before it is too late. Yet, as we shall see,
Campolo actually makes fun of this type of
thinking.

Campolo claims to believe in a future earthly
kingdom of God that will be established when
Christ returns, but his kingdom focus is
definitely upon this present time. Chapter two of
The Kingdom of God Is a Party is called "Signs of
the Kingdom." Campolo relates how he came up with
the term "party" in relation to the kingdom of
God. He first describes some popular ecumenical
definitions of the kingdom of God. He mentions
the Shalom concept of the World Council of
Churches and the Jubilee concept of liberal
social activists such as Ron Sider and John Yoder.

"During the 1950s, another biblical symbol or
image came to the fore, as Christian leaders
tried to find some new way to express God's
mission in the world and to explain that people
like us are to have a part in it. Many
main-denominational theologians, particularly
those associated with the World Council of
Churches, took hold of the concept of Shalom. ...
Shalom was that time when the lion and the lamb
would lie down together, swords would be reshaped
into plowshares, and war would be no more. ...
The imagery provided by the word Shalom became a
motif around which church leaders organized their
activities. Building houses for poor people was
done to contribute to Shalom. Fighting racism,
supporting the peace movement, participating in
efforts to save the environment--all were done to
foster Shalom.

"Over the last few years, several neo-evangelical
writers have made use of still another word to
give expression to what they believe to be the
purpose of the Christian mission. They have used
the term 'Jubilee.' This symbol is especially
useful for those who believe that the church
should have a primary commitment to meet the
needs of the poor and the oppressed. Writers such
as Ron Sider and John Howard Yoder have made good
use of the concept of Jubilee in their
writings..."

Campolo's only criticism of Shalom and Jubilee
involves the difficulty of explaining these
things.

"The main problem with this image, or symbol of
the Christian mission, is that Jubilee, like the
concept of Shalom, requires too much explanation
to hammer home its meaning to most people. ...
Something that will give a more immediate picture
of what God wants to do in this world is needed.
I have been groping for a word or image that can
do that for us. ... The word is 'party.' The
Kingdom of God is a party."

It should be obvious that Campolo is focused on
this world when he says the kingdom of God is a
party.

Further, an entire chapter in this book is
dedicated to an attempt to prove that it is God's
will for Christians to give ten percent of their
income for worldly celebrations. This is based on
a faulty application of Deuteronomy 14:22-29.
Israel was to bring a tithe of the harvest to
Jerusalem each year for a great festival. Campolo
applies this directly to the hour in which we
live.

In another chapter of the book Campolo applies
kingdom work to efforts to solve the social
problems of the world. Consider this quote:

"If ghetto kids in Philadelphia have little to
celebrate because they have hovels for homes and
live in the midst of gang violence, then we must
do something to change all of that. If blacks in
South Africa have to endure humiliation because
of apartheid, then apartheid must be destroyed.
If the Palestinians are denied human rights and
are made into aliens in the very land in which
they were born, then we must protest. If
Catholics in Northern Ireland are made into
second-class citizens by the Protestant majority,
then we must work and pray for the restructuring
of the Irish social system." (pgs. 43,44)

It is obvious that Campolo's focus is upon
something that is foreign to the Bible for this
present time.

For a refutation of this error, see the article
"The Kingdom of God" at the Way of Life web site.

CAMPOLO HATES DISPENSATIONALISM AND REJECTS THE IMMINENT RETURN OF CHRIST

Campolo often pokes fun at fundamentalists who
preach doom and gloom from a literal prophetic
standpoint:

"Doomsayers at one time in America seemed limited
to those who preached the fundamentalist gospel.
Leaning on their Scofield Bibles, these preachers
of the Word predicted an increasing tendency
toward sin and decadence until that day when the
world would be so bad that Jesus would have to
return to put a stop to it all. There seemed to
be a degree of satisfaction in any news that
things in this world were falling apart. As they
understood it, the faster this world went down
the tubes, the more the Lord's return would be
hastened" (The Kingdom of God Is a Party, pp.
132,133).

Speaking at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's
annual meeting in June 2003, Campolo said:

"Instead of preaching against Harry Potter I
suggest that you people who are preachers start
preaching against those really hot sellers in the
Christian community, those 'Left Behind' books.
Nobody wants to say it. You are scared to attack
the 'Left Behind' books which are false theology
and unbiblical to the core. And it is about time
you stand up and say so.

In the same sermon he called dispensationalism "a
weird little form of fundamentalism that started
like a hundred fifty years ago." He also said,
"That whole sense of the rapture, which may occur
at any moment, is used as a device to oppose
engagement with the principalities, the powers,
the political and economic structures of our age"
("Opposition to women preachers evidence of
demonic influence," Baptist Press, June 27, 2003).

CAMPOLO AND THE HOMOSEXUAL ISSUE

Though Campolo believes homosexuality is
unnatural, he also believes that homosexuals are
usually born that way, that it is not a
"volitional" issue, and they should be allowed to
join churches and be ordained without renouncing
homosexuality as such as long as they remain
"celibate." Campolo's pastor performs homosexual
weddings.

Campolo's wife, Peggy, "argues that the church's
traditional teaching on homosexuality is
mistaken--just as the church's traditional
teaching on the role of women, slavery, and
divorce is also mistaken" (Wikipedia, source:
"Straight But Not Narrow," keynote address,
Evangelicals Concerned, Western Region 1994,
audio cassette). Central Baptist Church in Wayne,
Pennsylvania, where Peggy Campolo attends, is "an
open and affirming congregation," meaning that it
accepts unrepentant practicing homosexuals as
members.

In 2003 Campolo's wife spoke out in support of a
homosexual American Baptist congregation that was
starting in the Philadelphia area. The church,
called Fusion Baptist Church, held its inaugural
service on February 2. It was sponsored by Drexel
Hill Baptist Church, another American Baptist
congregation. Drexel Hill's female co-pastor,
Jeri Williams, said that God told her, "Start a
church downtown where they [homosexuals] could
experience the love of Christ and be able to
serve Him within the church context." Williams
said she wants the new church to be a place where
homosexuals can be safe and not judged. Peggy
Campolo is a national leader of the Association
of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, which urges
Baptist congregations to be supportive of
homosexuals. Both women are very confused. God
invites all sinners to be saved through faith in
the blood of Christ, but He also commands them to
repent of their sin. Churches should welcome
homosexuals to hear the gospel, but they should
also preach against the moral perversion of
homosexuality and demand that church members give
evidence of the new birth. "Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves,
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such WERE some of you: but ye are washed, but
ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our
God" (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

When the Pacific Southwest region of the American
Baptist Convention (ABC) voted on May 11, 2006,
to withdraw from the parent denomination over the
issue of homosexuality, Tony Campolo criticized
them. The 300 churches in California, Hawaii,
Nevada, and Arizona withdraw because of the
denomination's acceptance of churches with lax
policies on homosexuality ("Split among American
Baptists," Baptist Press, May 18). Many American
Baptist churches accept unrepentant homosexuals
as members. Fifty-four ABC congregations are
members of the Association of Welcoming and
Affirming Baptists, which encourages the
acceptance of homosexuality in Baptist churches.
This Association "advocates for the full
inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender persons within Baptist communities of
faith."

Campolo criticized the withdrawal decision,
saying that it "runs counter to the prayer of
Christ that we might all be one people." Campolo
was referring to Christ's high priestly prayer in
John 17, but there is nothing in this prayer that
would encourage unity between those who obey the
Bible with those who do not. This prayer is for
those who keep God's Word (Jn. 17:6, 8) and are
sanctified through the truth (Jn. 17:19). The
Lord Jesus prayed that God the Father would keep
them from evil (Jn. 17:15). It is obvious that
this is not a prayer for nominal Christians that
so disregard the Scriptures that they accept
homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle.

CAMPOLO PROMOTES ROMAN CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES

Tony Campolo co-authored a book with Mary Darling
that promotes contemplative spirituality.

"We finally decided to use the term 'mystical
Christianity' to distinguish the kind of
spirituality we are advocating from other forms
known in the Christian community. For instance,
using the word mystical makes it clear that the
Christian spirituality that we are discussing
here is not to be confused with the kind used as
a synonym for personal piety, which too often
comes with destructive legalism, or scholastic
Christianity, which can reduce faith to
theological propositions. ... This book is about
tapping into the love and reality that goes
beyond what rules and reason alone can apprehend.
We want to show how daily moments marked by
mystical revelations of God's love reveal the
limits of propositional truth" (The God of
Intimacy and Action, pp. 3, 4).

Campolo describes "supersaints" as "people who
have been caught up into some mystical unity with
God," and he claims that Roman Catholic mystics
such as Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola,
Teresa of Avila, and Catherine of Siena, were
supersaints that we should emulate (pp. 9, 10).

In true emerging church contradictory fashion
Campolo says, "We must pay serious attention to
mystical happenings, and discern, in the context
of biblical understanding in Christian community,
whether or not we believe they are of God.
Discernment is crucial to mystical spirituality.
Without it, anything goes. On the other hand, we
must learn to doubt our doubts if we are going to
be open to the work of the Spirit in our lives"
(p. 11).

To "doubt our doubts" cancels out effective biblical discernment!

Campolo practices what he preaches. He says: "I
get up in the morning a half hour before I have
to and spend time in absolute stillness. I don't
ask God for anything. I just simply surrender to
His presence and yield to the Spirit flowing into
my life. ... An interviewer once asked Mother
Teresa, 'When you pray, what do you say to God?'
She said, 'I don't say anything. I just listen.'
So the interviewer asked, 'What does God say to
you?' She replied, 'God doesn't say anything. He
listens.' That's the kind of prayer I do in the
morning. I empty myself and allow the Spirit to
speak to me as Romans 8 says, 'with groanings
that cannot be uttered" (Outreach Magazine, July/
August 2004, pp. 88, 89).

As we have seen in his 2005 interview with Shane
Claiborne, Campolo sees contemplative mysticism
as a means of interfaith unity.

In his book Speaking My Mind Campolo wrote:

"Beyond these models of reconciliation, a
theology of mysticism provides some hope for
common ground between Christianity and Islam.
Both religions have within their histories
examples of ecstatic union with God. ... I do not
know what to make of the Muslim mystics,
especially those who have come to be known as the
Sufis. What do they experience in their mystical
experiences? Could they have encountered the same
God we do in our Christian mysticism?" (pp. 149,
150).

CAMPOLO BELIEVES IN FEMALE CHURCH LEADERS

Campolo holds that women can preach. Toward the
end of his message in Vancouver in 1992, Campolo
said, "Are you suggesting women can preach? A lot
better than most men! If they can preach in
Africa, they can preach in Vancouver. That's what
I say."

Campolo is one of the signers of a statement by
Christians for Biblical Equality which affirms
that "in the New Testament economy, women as well
as men exercise the prophetic, priestly and royal
functions," and "in the church, public
recognition is given to both women and men who
exercise ministries of service and leadership"
(Christian News, Apr. 16, 1990).

In an interview with Laura Sheahen entitled
"Evangelical Christianity Has Been Hijacked,"
published on Beliefnet in July 2004, Campolo said:

"I take issue, for instance, with the increasing
tendency in the evangelical community to bar
women from key leadership roles in the church.
Over the last few years, the Southern Baptist
Convention has taken away the right of women to
be ordained to ministry. There were women that
were ordained to ministry--their ordinations have
been negated and women are told that this is not
a place for them. They are not to be pastors.
They point to certain passages in the Book of
Timothy to make their case, but tend to ignore
that there are other passages in the Bible that
would raise very serious questions about that
position and which, in fact, would legitimate
women being in leadership positions in the
church. ... We don't want to communicate the idea
that to believe the Bible is to necessarily be
opposed to women in key roles of leadership in
the life of early Christendom."

In fact, Campolo says that those who say women
are forbidden to be pastors are "of the devil."
Speaking at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
annual meeting on June 26, 2003, he mentioned
groups such as the Southern Baptist Convention
which prohibit women preachers and said:

"It's one thing to be wrong, but that isn't
wrong, that's sinful. The Bible says, 'neglect
not the gift that is in you,' and when women are
gifted with the gift of preaching, anybody who
frustrates that gift is an instrument of the
devil" ("Campolo: Opposition to women preachers
evidence of demonic influence," Baptist Press,
June 27, 2003).

CAMPOLO SUGGESTS PRAYING TO PEOPLE

In the 2007 book The God of Intimacy and Action:
Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices,
Evangelism, and Justice, which is co-written by
Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling, we find the
following heretical statement:

"While pointing out how important it is for
Christians to pray for others, [Frank] Laubach
makes a bold and intriguing proposal for another
way of praying. He suggests that in addition to
praying for someone in need of God, that we
should consider praying to that person as well.
He tells us that God may want to work through the
praying Christian as a channel to reach into the
heart and soul of the person who is in need of
saving grace. Laubach proposes that a person who
is resisting God might be open to the spiritual
impact of a Christian concentrating God's power
on him or her. It is as though, according to
Laubach, a praying Christian might be a lens
through whom God focuses saving power into
another person's life. Call it a kind of mental
telepathy, but what Laubach is suggesting is that
the Holy Spirit flowing into a Christian, as a
result of prayer, can stir up spiritual energy in
that Christian that can then be directed toward a
person who needs Christ's salvation" (pp 34-35).

CAMPOLO IS VICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENT OF FUNDAMENTALISTS

At the National Council of Churches "Gathering"
in May 1988 Campolo said those who stand firm on
absolutes and strongly resist error are doing the
devil's work (Foundation magazine, June 1988).

When Campolo spoke at the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship's general assembly June 26, 2003, he
lambasted fundamentalists, conservative Southern
Baptists, and dispensationalists. He said that
anyone who resists women pastors is an
"instrument of the devil" and is committing sin.
He said every Christian should support
homosexuals as they "struggle for dignity." He
said that the perpetual cycle of violence in the
Middle East is not the result of the
Palestinians. He spoke of the "terrorism of the
Israeli army" and criticized American military
aid to Israel. He said Harry Potter, which is
filled with witchcraft, as "good for kids to
hear." He said preachers should warn about
dispensational theology and the doctrine of an
imminent rapture. He spoke against Christians who
do not support the United Nations.

CAMPOLO MAKES LIGHT OF SERIOUS THINGS

Throughout his speeches, Campolo makes light of
frightfully serious things. In his speech in
Vancouver in 1992, he made light of threatening
people with death and hell in order to frighten
them into being saved. He told of when he was a
kid and was in church and the preacher tried to
scare him like this. In his speech to the
National Council of Churches meeting in 1988,
Campolo said we should hold on to the King James
Bible, because it uses "words like
'imputed'--that's sexy!" He keeps his crowds
laughing at such things.

This was the spirit that permeated Campolo's
message. , Campolo said, "We've got enough boring
people in the ministry, we need people who can
dance." He called for Christians to "create a
joyful celebration for a world that doesn't know
how to celebrate anymore." According to Campolo,
"The kingdom of God is a glorious and gigantic
party!"

This is all foolishness. The hour in which we
live cries for seriousness, for repentance, for
mourning over sin. James 4 speaks of the kind of
worldliness that has permeated evangelical
Christendom. Missionsfest '92 evidenced this
worldliness on every hand. There was rock music
and the jungle beat everywhere. The evening youth
meetings were nothing more than rock concerts. A
great many of the women were dressed indecently.
Only a handful of women wore dresses. Most had on
tight pants. Some of the ushers were young women
who were dressed revealingly in leotards and high
boots with a jacket-like affair that came only to
their buttocks. In the exhibit area, there were
all sorts of worldly things for sale, such as T-
shirts with weird artwork and mottos.

Listen to the James:

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that
the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God" (James 4:4).

What does James say about the worldly crowd? Does
he say, "Hey, folks, laugh and clap and shout and
dance; the Kingdom of God is a party, man! Be
happy" That is Campolo's message, but James says
something quite the contrary to a worldly people:

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your
hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and
mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall
lift you up" (James 4:8-10).

This is not the time to be laughing it up, folks,
in the sense that Campolo is calling for. I
praise the Lord for laughter, and I'm not calling
for a ban on humor or fun; but the hour is one of
deep apostasy, wickedness, and shallowness, and
if Christ had spoken at Missionsfest '92 I am
convinced He would have preached a message along
the lines of James as quoted above.

Beware of Tony Campolo. He is a dangerous false
teacher, all the more dangerous because he claims
to believe that the Bible was given by divine
inspiration and moves in "evangelical" circles.
He is an enemy of Bible Christianity. The kingdom
of God is not a Campolo-type of party.

by
Dr. David Cloud