VirtueOnline Digest, Vol 17, Issue 27

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=================================
VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest
http://www.VirtueOnline.org
=================================

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Today's Topics:

1. Table of Contents (David Virtue)
2. VIEWPOINTS: July 21, 2017 (David Virtue)
3. Former Washington DC priest stole from Parishioners and
Collection Plate in London (David Virtue)
4. St. James church property in Newport is under bishop's
control, civil judge rules (David Virtue)
5. Criminal investigation to be launched into St. Paul's School
(David Virtue)
6. Conservative Anglicans are close to despair. Is the CofE
about to split? (David Virtue)
7. An Open Letter to Anglicans of Great Britain (David Virtue)
8. Double Standards in the Church of England? (David Virtue)
9. Apostate Church of England has mutated into a Gnostic "Sex"
Sect (David Virtue)
10. Church of England Bishop becomes a patron of Pride event
(David Virtue)
11. Church of England Synod: A Laywoman's Lament (David Virtue)
12. U.K.: Leading Anglican Evangelist Berates Welby over Carey's
Forced Resignation (David Virtue)
13. Church of England: Welcoming Transgender People (David Virtue)
14. Ultra-Rich Gay Activist On Targeting Christians: It's Time To
'Punish The Wicked' (David Virtue)
15. THE AVALANCHE OF SEXUAL ABERRATION (David Virtue)
16. The Agonizing Ordeal of Eugene Peterson -- You Might Be Next
(David Virtue)
17. LEGACY AND LESSONS (David Virtue)
18. "'Gay love'- Roman decadence & Christian virtue -- a response
to Steve Chalke" (David Virtue)
19. 'Heroes and Heroines of Our Faith' (David Virtue)
20. Hull Minster: City of Cultured Despisers: Courtesy of the two
Archbishops (David Virtue)
21. Gun-toting Episcopal priest in Corvette latest exemplar of
Florida road rage (David Virtue)
22. Bishop of London must not be Juggler of Words lacking
Integrity and Truth (David Virtue)
23. HOPE: What does it Mean to be a Mature Christian Disciple? -
1 Peter 1:3-9 (David Virtue)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:05:47 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Table of Contents
Message-ID:
<1500681947.1649264....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest - Desktop & Mobile Edition
www.virtueonline.org
July 21, 2017

*************************************
VIEWPOINTS
*************************************

1.Is the Church of England a Gnostic Sect? * New Ministry Organizations
Emerge on the Fringe of the CofE * Gathering storm of renewal is
harbinger of a new day in England * FCofE, AMiE, GAFCON could form
backbone of new Anglicanism
http://www.virtueonline.org/church-england-gnostic-sect-new-ministry-organizations-emerge-fringe-cofe-gathering-storm-renewal


*********************************************
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
*********************************************

2.Former Washington DC priest stole from Parishioners and Collection
Plate in London
http://www.virtueonline.org/former-washington-dc-priest-stole-parishioners-and-collection-plate-london

3.St. James church property in Newport is under bishop's control, civil
judge rules
http://www.virtueonline.org/st-james-church-property-newport-under-bishops-control-civil-judge-rules

4.Criminal investigation to be launched into St. Paul's School
http://www.virtueonline.org/criminal-investigation-be-launched-st-pauls-school


*********************************************
CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWS
*********************************************

5.Conservative Anglicans are close to despair. Is the CofE about to
split
http://www.virtueonline.org/conservative-anglicans-are-close-despair-cofe-about-split

6.An Open Letter to Anglicans of Great Britain
http://www.virtueonline.org/open-letter-anglicans-great-britain

7.Double Standards in the Church of England?
http://www.virtueonline.org/double-standards-church-england

8.Apostate Church of England has mutated into a Gnostic "Sex" Sect
http://www.virtueonline.org/apostate-church-england-has-mutated-gnostic-sex-sect

9.Church of England Bishop becomes a patron of Pride event
http://www.virtueonline.org/church-england-bishop-becomes-patron-pride-event

10.Church of England Synod: A Laywoman's Lament
http://www.virtueonline.org/church-england-synod-laywomans-lament

11.U.K.: Leading Anglican Evangelist Berates Welby over Carey's Forced
Resignation
http://www.virtueonline.org/uk-leading-anglican-evangelist-berates-welby-over-careys-forced-resignation

12.Church of England: Welcoming Transgender People
http://www.virtueonline.org/church-england-welcoming-transgender-people


********************************
CULTURE WARS
********************************

13.Ultra-Rich Gay Activist On Targeting Christians: It's Time To
'Punish...
http://www.virtueonline.org/ultra-rich-gay-activist-targeting-christians-its-time-punish-wicked

14.THE AVALANCHE OF SEXUAL ABERRATION
http://www.virtueonline.org/avalanche-sexual-aberration

15.The Agonizing Ordeal of Eugene Peterson -- You Might Be Next
http://www.virtueonline.org/agonizing-ordeal-eugene-peterson-you-might-be-next


********************************
AS EYE SEE IT
********************************

16.LEGACY AND LESSONS
http://www.virtueonline.org/legacy-and-lessons

17.'Gay love'- Roman decadence & Christian virtue -- a response to Steve
Chalke
http://www.virtueonline.org/gay-love-roman-decadence-christian-virtue-response-steve-chalke

18.'Heroes and Heroines of Our Faith'
http://www.virtueonline.org/heroes-and-heroines-our-faith>

19.Hull Minster: City of Cultured Despisers: Courtesy of the two
Archbishops
http://www.virtueonline.org/hull-minster-city-cultured-despisers-courtesy-two-archbishops

20.Gun-toting Episcopal priest in Corvette latest exemplar of Florida
road rage
http://www.virtueonline.org/gun-toting-episcopal-priest-corvette-latest-exemplar-florida-road-rage

21.Bishop of London must not be Juggler of Words lacking Integrity and
Truth
http://www.virtueonline.org/bishop-london-must-not-be-juggler-words-lacking-integrity-and-truth


*********************************
DEVOTIONAL
*********************************

22. HOPE: What Does It Mean To Be A Mature Christian Disciple? -- 1
Peter 1:3-9
http://www.virtueonline.org/5-hope-what-does-it-mean-be-mature-christian-disciple-1-peter-13-9

END



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:07:34 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: VIEWPOINTS: July 21, 2017
Message-ID:
<1500682054.1649866....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

True apostolic succession. Almost deafened by the babel of voices in the
contemporary church, how are we to decide whom to follow? The answer is:
we must test them all by the teaching of the apostles of Jesus Christ.
'Peace and mercy' will be on the church when it 'walks by this rule'
(Gal. 6:16). Indeed, this is the only kind of apostolic succession we
can accept -- not a line of bishops stretching back to the apostles and
claiming to be their successors (for the apostles were unique in both
authorization and inspiration, and they have no successors), but loyalty
to the apostolic doctrine of the New Testament.

The teaching of the apostles, now permanently preserved in the New
Testament, is to regulate the beliefs and practices of the church of
every generation. This is why the Bible is over the church and not vice
versa. The apostolic authors of the New Testament were commissioned by
Christ, not by the church, and wrote with the authority of Christ, not
of the church. 'To that authority (sc. of the apostles)', as the
Anglican bishops said at the 1958 Lambeth Conference, 'the Church must
ever bow.' Would that it did. --- John R.W. Stott

On the Church of England Bishop becoming a patron of Pride event. I am
convinced beyond doubt that the CofE is now apostate. My heart bleeds
for it, but I honestly cannot see how any faithful Christian can be part
of it any longer. If someone can convince me otherwise from Holy
Scripture, I am willing to listen and change my mind. --- Rev. Dr. Jules
Gomes

Once you fracture the link between sex in Christian marriage with the
conception of children, and sanction homosexual love liaisons, there is
no logical need to restrain the definition of marriage to two people. It
can be extended to three or perhaps four -- and of any combination of
straight or LGBTQQIP2SAA you care for. --- Rev. Dr. Gavin Ashenden

Instead of having Bibles in the pew, it is likely members of General
Synod were given an illustrated copy of the Kama Sutra! --- Bill
Muehlenberg

"Religion is not the place where the problem of man's egotism is
automatically solved. Rather, it is there that the ultimate battle
between human pride and God's grace takes place. Human pride may win the
battle, and then religion can and does become one more instrument of
human sin. But if there the self does meet God and His grace, and so
surrenders to something beyond its self-interest, then Christian faith
can prove to be the needed and rare release from human self-concern."
--- Langdon Brown Gilkey

Two men can't enter the state of holy matrimony any more than two
screwdrivers can. --- Daniel Oliver

The terrible mistake that people like...the Archbishop of Canterbury and
the General Synod, make, is to think that a movement and a trajectory
that takes 'pride' in refusing to repent, can be baptized by Christian
affirmation. --- Rev. Dr. Gavin Ashenden

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
July 21, 2017

It was another week and the pain was further ratcheted up on the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. He is defining deviancy down
even as his views continue to alienate him from his fellow Global South
Primates as they move further and further away from him. All the while,
the Church of England sinks further into a sexual quagmire of its own
making.

An orthodox Anglican priest in South Africa wrote to say that he is
absolutely convinced that the moves by the CofE synod are going to
embolden the revisionists in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa
(ACSA). "The leadership here on the whole tend to see the establishment
in the CofE as the paragons of all things good and true."

Hence, another foothold on the African continent. GAFCON take note, the
revisionists are coming for you and they won't settle till they have won
over bishops, dioceses and whole provinces to their pansexual worldview.
And TEC's Presiding Bishop is willing to spend the money to make it
happen. He said so at the last primatial gathering in Canterbury. You
have been warned.

But pushback is now being heard. One knowledgeable layman expostulated
in a PODCAST that with Welby's lackluster performance and the direction
the CofE is headed, he now believes large, wealthy Evangelical parishes
should withhold their (voluntary) giving to their respective dioceses
and force them into bankruptcy! This is ballsy stuff. The usually stiff
(necked), institutional Church might finally get its comeuppance, not on
the basis of 'sound teaching', but from withholding money.

The Church of England is now accused of being little more than a Gnostic
Sect and a couple of VOL's brilliant commentators, The Rev. Dr. Gavin
Ashenden and the Rev. Dr. Jules Gomes, have expanded and expostulated on
this theme.

When the recent Synod could not affirm the uniqueness of Christ or that
Christ was the only means and way of salvation, you know that the Mother
Church has fallen over the cliff, even as Welby feels the pain of
pansexualists and whines for more collegiality with Islam. The Church of
England has turned truth on its head and it will pay a huge price in
continuing falling numbers and increasing opprobrium from the Global
South.

Now something has just emerged, nicknamed a 'shadow synod'. It marks a
new form of partnership between Anglican churches in Kent and Sussex.

Here is what a colleague sent me. It has just been made public on
EVANGELICALS NOW blog and written by The Rev. Dr. Peter Sanlon, who is
convener of the Anglican Partnership Synod and vicar of St Mark's
Church, Tunbridge Wells.

The clergy and lay leaders (PCCs) met at that first meeting to pray and
ponder whether widespread denial of the gospel in our denomination meant
that we needed to partner together in fresh ways.

Gavin Ashenden gave a prescient analysis of the Church of England's
failure to discharge its mission to England. After praying, we agreed to
keep meeting as a 'synod' of churches. Synods used to be informal
gatherings of churches to resolve common pressing problems. Our new
synod would be like that. Rochester Diocese accepted that our new synod
was one of many legitimate ways Anglican churches can support one
another. Their press statement noted: 'Many like-minded parishes join
together in a range of organizations, meetings and assemblies to share
mutual support and debate.'

Churches have joined the synod by means of PCCs passing a motion: 'As a
PCC that is determined to uphold the Jerusalem Statement we commit
ourselves to an Anglican synod of churches whose PCCs have likewise
resolved to uphold the Jerusalem Statement. As an Anglican synod, we
will send representatives to confer, pray and assist PCCs in said synod
as needful. We will seek to ensure our mutual support is indeed as well
as word, and therefore enthusiastic, missional, financial and
prayerful.'

By having churches join the synod via PCC resolutions, we ensure that
lay people are fully involved in decisions and leadership. Bitter
experience has shown that organizations almost exclusively led by
Anglican clergy become talking-shops! Our churches see the Jerusalem
Declaration as a valuable rallying point. Some churches have additional
doctrinal commitments. In addition to the main synod meetings, attended
by all our PCCs, there are occasional Clergy Chapters. These offer
fellowship and training to clergy who are happy to sign a statement
similar to the PCC motion.

Until churches talk about money, they are merely talking. Our
partnership includes discussing how we use our money. Many lay people
are fed up with their sacrificial giving being used to pay for the staff
and buildings of a denomination which so openly embraces the spirit of
the age. They long to see resources used to plant desperately-needed
orthodox churches. Our synod tasked a team to establish the Rochester
Good Stewards Trust. This charity enables our churches to allocate
finances to mission in line with the Jerusalem Declaration.

Central to our mission is planting orthodox Anglican churches that will
spread the gospel. A taskforce drawn from churches in our synod has
facilitated our churches to advance plans for a number of plants. Some
will hopefully be within the Church of England, others outside it. Our
synod has had guests speaking at it to help envision us. Lee McMunn
(Mission Director for AMiE) shared a vision for Anglican plants outside
the CofE. Bishop Paul Hunt (Free Church of England) shared how his
denomination can use their structures and experience to support new
plants. The process of meeting together has not only energized us to
plant, it has led to our churches helping each other in unexpected ways
-- sharing information, seeking buildings for each other, offering
volunteers, coordinating ventures and so on.

Our church planting occurs against the backdrop of the CofE's widespread
toleration and commendation of false teachers. Faithful churches are
called to guard the faith by distancing themselves from -- even breaking
fellowship with -- false teachers. CofE structures for enabling this
aspect of faithful ministry have broken down. As we spend time sharing
resources, plans and people we are seeing the Spirit grant remarkable
unity in seeking effective steps to guard our churches.

John Fenwick, Bishop Primus of The Free Church of England, released a
joint letter to the Anglicans of Great Britain arguing that an
alternative Anglican jurisdiction in the British Isles already exists.

"The Free Church of England has maintained an orthodox Anglican witness
here since the 1840s. There is nothing secret about it. The Church of
England has had dialogues with us from time to time and recognizes our
Orders," he said.

The Free Church of England's witness was augmented by the appointment of
the Rt. Rev. Andy Lines as a Missionary Bishop, a GAFCON bishop of the
Anglican Church in North America, which is in full communion with the
Free Church of England.

"The priority is to ensure that they enable the proclamation of the
biblical Gospel within the Anglican patrimony," said Fenwick.

What this "rebellion" indicates is that evangelicals will increasingly
work outside the structures of the CofE to press the gospel cause. The
real issue is whether they can form a critical mass to be another ACNA
(maybe AMiE) on British soil.

I can't imagine that Archbishops Welby and Sentamu will take this lying
down, but what can they do to stop it, or force them to conform to the
Church of England? For the moment, there are more questions than
answers. One thing is certain, a new day has dawned for evangelical
Anglicans in the Church of England and the momentum will not be stopped.

Given the persistent failure of the majority of the House of Bishops to
fulfil the God-given duties which they have sworn to discharge these
tragic developments were, sadly, not wholly unexpected.

Perhaps it is time for a clarion call to disestablish the Church of
England!

BREAKING NEWS. An article in the Catholic Herald by Andrew Sabisky says
that Conservative Anglicans are close to despair. Is the CofE about to
split? "As an Anglican, I used to think theological liberalism was on
the wane. Not anymore." You can read the full story here:
http://www.virtueonline.org/conservative-anglicans-are-close-despair-cofe-about-split

*****

An Anglican cathedral in Scotland will become the first in the UK to
host same-sex weddings. Glasgow's St Mary's Cathedral is now taking
marriage bookings for same-sex unions after the Episcopal Church's
General Synod made the landmark decision to amend canon law and approve
gay marriage in June.

"It is hugely exciting to open up wedding services to all couples who
want to get married," said the cathedral's provost, the Very Rev Kelvin
Holdsworth, according to The Herald.

"People at St Mary's were part of the campaign to allow gay and lesbian
couples to get married in Scotland so it is not surprising that we would
want to be able to offer such weddings in the cathedral itself."

*****

The Episcopal Church's house of cards continues to crumble. This week,
the road rage of a priest driving a corvette (aren't we glad it was not
a Lamborghini) finally got the attention of his bishop. The Rt. Rev.
Jose A. Mcloughlin of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina
who refused to answer our questions about what he was going to do with
the Very Rev. (gun slinging) William Rian Adams, finally woke up and
issued a statement in response to the priest's road rage on July 6 near
Palm City, Florida and said that "conversation is underway about the
incident." Really. Conversation!

"Pastoral care is being provided to Father Adams, his family, and his
congregation. It is best to remember that, as in all situations, there
are many facets to consider," Mcloghlin said. So, no temporary
inhibition, but if he had been caught in adultery, (the only sexual sin
left in TEC) he would have been out the door in a heartbeat. "We believe
in, and will follow, all formal processes. I ask that you continue to
keep everyone in your prayers," said the bishop.

A news release by Florida Highway Patrolmen said Adams pointed a Glock
22 -- a 15-round, .40 caliber pistol -- at a passing Chevy Silverado
containing two people after Adams "brake-checked" the vehicle in his red
Chevy Corvette.

Adams was released from the Martin County Jail after two hours on a
$15,000 bond. He faces two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. A
local writer has written a humorous take on this which you can read in
today's digest.

At this historic moment, TEC needs a Lazarus-like resurrection to
survive, or at the very least a hail Mary. None are likely to be
forthcoming.

*****

If you really want to know why The Episcopal Church is heading down the
crapper, the National Episcopal Church wants Texas House Speaker, Joe
Straus, to remain "steadfast" in his opposition to legislation to
restrict bathroom use for transgender Texans.

In case you were wondering if those (trannie) Texans are the ones who
wear cowboy hats, tall boots and chew gum at the same time...and they
don't talk like "W" well, they are not.

If the Texas Senate prepares to consider legislation to restrict
bathroom use for transgender Texans, the national Episcopal Church is
going to take its marbles (GC2018 Convention) and move it to say Hawaii,
which should be fine with Texas I would think. Hawaii has better climate
and all the bishops can do the circle dance of dispossession on the
beach and feel good about themselves.

To my knowledge, TEC has only one Trannie couple from Mass. But who
knows, there might be another couple lurking in a toilet somewhere in
the Diocese of Newark.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Gay Clark Jennings, president of the
House of Deputies cited the "emotional and spiritual damage that
discrimination does to transgender people," without a whisper of the
emotional and spiritual damage they have done to orthodox Episcopalians
over the years. No "bathroom bills" they sniffed.

*****

If you think the lunacy is restricted to TEC, The Presbyterian Church,
USA shot right by it (and they are losing market share even more rapidly
than TEC). The Presbyterian Church raised eyebrows after lifting up
prayers to Allah at its General Assembly meeting last week.

"Allah bless us and bless our families and bless our Lord. Lead us on
the straight path--the path of all prophets: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac,
Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad."

These were the words that rang out over the congregation at The General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA meeting in Portland, Oregon.
Wajidi Said, co-founder of the Muslim Education Trust, led the attendees
in the prayer to the Islamic deity--a move arranged by the Ecumenical
and Interfaith ministry staff at the assembly.

The prayer was part of the "first order of business" during the
meeting's opening session, a time dedicated to praying for those
affected by the Orlando shooting that occurred just weeks before.

"In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful, let us praise the
Lord ... Peace be upon them and peace be upon Allah," Said prayed. He
also prayed peace on the "bigots" and "Islamophobes."

Later, at the conclusion of the session, Rev. Gradye Parsons offered an
apology to anyone who was offended by the prayer. He assured the
congregation that mistakes can be made, but the prayer was not an
intentional one. They later openly bashed Israel.

*****

If you don't believe America is going down the drain morally and losing
its collective mind about sex, then consider this. The Minnesota
Department of Education (MDE) narrowly voted on July 19 to adopt
protocols to marginalize students who aren't comfortable using restrooms
with so-called transgender students.

The document, "Toolkit for Ensuring Safe and Supportive Schools for
Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students," was written by an
advisory council of the MDE. Although the document is considered
non-binding, LGBT activists are expecting it will be implemented in
every public school.

It asserts, "Schools should not assume a student's name or pronoun.
School officials should ask the student and use the requested name and
pronouns," and adds: Students need not provide schools with legal
documents to correct their first name or gender within their student
records. When students are referred to by the wrong pronoun by peers or
school staff, students may feel intimidated, threatened, harassed or
bullied. School staff can ensure a more respectful environment for all
students when efforts are made to correct the misuse of pronouns, as
well as names in student records.

It goes further to discuss how bathroom, locker room and hotel
accommodations are to be dealt with, recommending that "privacy
objections raised by a student in interacting with a transgender or
gender nonconforming student may be addressed by segregating the student
raising the objection," as long as the segregation of the student "does
not result in stigmatizing the transgender and gender nonconforming
student."

But Dr. Michelle Cretella, president of the American College of
Pediatricians (ACP), asserts that institutions and systems that promote
transition affirmation inflict "institutionalized child abuse." She
asserts:

Physicians and therapists who embrace hormone therapy and sex
reassignment surgery for children promote a political agenda not
scientific advance. This is obvious once the euphemisms are shed:
Chemical castration and the surgical mutilation of children is not
'therapy.' It is cold, calculated, institutionalized child abuse at the
hands of those charged with healing.

Dr. Stephen Stathis, a gender expert and psychiatrist, declares that
most children claiming to be "trans" are merely doing it for attention.
He commented, "You might get a six- or seven-year-old girl wanting to
dress as a boy. She may even say she wants to be a boy. When she hits
puberty, she says, 'No, I'm just a girl who likes to do boy things.'"

Although transgender activists believe the MDE's adoption of the
protocols will help students feel safe and comfortable in school,
critics like Cretella note that affirmation does nothing to curb
depression and suicide numbers among transgenders.

She also notes, "There is no evidence that harassment and
discrimination, let alone lack of affirmation, are the primary cause of
suicide among any minority group," adding that 90 percent of those who
commit suicide have a diagnosed mental disorder.

*****

I want to thank the hundreds of twitter notes and emails I received from
friends all over the globe for my recent Bastille Day birthday. I do not
have the time or resources to thank each one of your personally, but it
is nice to know that I still have a few friends out there and I thank
you for your kind notes to me.

*****

VOL's Summer Appeal goes out this week and we hope you will consider a
tax-deductible donation. We are light on funds and really need your
help.

Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution through PAYPAL at
the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

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In Christ,

David



------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:07:58 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Former Washington DC priest stole from Parishioners and
Collection Plate in London
Message-ID:
<1500682078.1649889....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Former Washington DC priest stole from Parishioners and Collection Plate
in London
Andrew Sloane was sentenced to 12 months jail for stealing $19,000 to
pay for male prostitutes

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
July 19, 2017

A former rector of Saint Paul's K Street, an Anglo-Catholic parish in
Washington D.C. that recently announced it would bless same sex
marriage, was arrested and sentenced in London to 12 months jail for
grand larceny.

The Rev. Andrew Sloane, 63, stole from his church's collection and
swindled parishioners in Knightsbridge, West London, according to a SUN
newspaper report.

Sloane was vicar of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge in London when he managed
to convince several parishioners to "loan" him thousands of pounds, and
then stole another four thousand pounds from collection money.

He fiddled some ?14,500 ($19,000) to pay for male prostitutes.

He has been suspended by the Church of England.

Sloane told three women in the parish that he needed emergency loans and
manipulated them into transferring over 10,000 pounds to him between
them. He then told them to keep the loans a secret, thereby covering his
tracks. In emails to the women, he said things like, "This is strictly
between us as friends", "I appreciate your discretion" and "I don't want
tittle tattle within the parish". The loans weren't uncovered until
almost four thousand pounds went missing from the church collection.
CCTV coverage showed Sloane taking money from the safe, and he admitted
the theft. Sloane eventually repaid the fraudulent loans in full.

A spokesman for the Diocese of London said: "Andrew Sloane took
advantage of the trust that his parishioners placed in him as their
priest. There is no excuse for what he did and we can only apologize to
those who fell victim to his crimes. Andrew Sloane was suspended as soon
as news of the charges against him was made known by the authorities and
we have fully supported the criminal investigation."

Sloane served as rector of St. Paul's K street for fifteen years and
resigned in 2013 to return to England.

END



------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:08:26 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: St. James church property in Newport is under bishop's
control, civil judge rules
Message-ID:
<1500682106.1649950....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

St. James church property in Newport is under bishop's control, civil
judge rules
The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno is the VI Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Los Angeles
The Hon. David Chaffee is a Superior Court judge in Orange County,
California

By HILLARY DAVIS
http://www.latimes.com/
JULY 14, 2017

An Orange County Superior Court judge has ruled that Los Angeles
Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno has legal control over the St. James the
Great church property in Newport Beach, nullifying a claim by the land's
donor that it can only be used as a church. The decision basically
clears Bruno to sell the property, which he has contracted to do twice
since 2015.

The Griffith Co., which donated the land at 3209 Via Lido to the diocese
in 1945, raised the deed restriction issue with Bruno in 2015 after the
bishop agreed to sell the site to a developer that planned to build
luxury townhomes there. Griffith acknowledged that it had dropped the
deed restriction on three of the property's four lots in the 1980s to
allow for parking. But it maintained that the restriction remained on
the fourth lot, the central plot where the building sits.

Judge David Chaffee, however, ruled that "Griffith has no right, title,
lien or interest whatsoever in the church's property or any part
thereof."

In the judgment, dated Tuesday, Chaffee said, "The court further decrees
that the restriction in the 1945 grant deed that the property 'shall be
used for church purposes exclusively and no building other than a church
and appurtenances may be erected, placed or maintained thereon' (the
'use restriction') is released and/or is otherwise unenforceable and
invalid, and Griffith has no interest that is adverse to the church in
the property."

The ruling in the secular court is in conflict with restrictions that an
ecclesiastical disciplinary panel and the country's highest-ranking
Episcopal bishop placed on Bruno in the past few weeks. Both told him
not to sell the property while the panel continues deliberating
misconduct allegations against him related to his attempted sale in
2015. The sale fell through, but the church gates remain locked.

The hearing panel, acting on a tip from a congregation member that Bruno
was trying again to sell the site, issued its restriction not knowing
whether he had entered a new sale contract. However, an attorney for
Bruno eventually confirmed that he had contracted with Newport
Beach-based developer Burnham-Ward Properties in May.

Another church disciplinary board rejected Bruno's appeal of the hearing
panel's sanction.

The 2015 sale attempt was the focal point of a three-day hearing in
March to determine whether Bruno had acted deceptively and unbecoming of
a clergyman when he tried to sell the property.

The hearing panel has yet to issue a decision on the misconduct
allegations.

*****

Orange County Superior Court rules Episcopal bishop has authority over
disputed Newport Beach property

Deepa Bharath
Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com
July 14, 2017

An Orange County Superior Court judge on Thursday, July 13, ruled in
favor of Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno, essentially stating
the bishop -- as sole administrator of the property -- has full
authority to do as he wishes with the Newport Beach site formerly
occupied by St. James the Great Episcopal Church.

When Bruno decided to sell the property in 2015, the move was met with
an objection from the Griffith Co., which had donated the property to
the diocese in 1945 with the restriction that the site remain a church.
The Griffith Co. developed much of Lido Isle since the 1920s.

However, the diocese's lawyers argued that the church in 1985 negotiated
removal of that use restriction from the deed, granting the diocese the
right to sell the property for other purposes.

On Thursday, the trial court upheld the diocese's claim that there is no
restriction on the property.

"The court has decreed what has been known all along, that the
property's original donor has no claim on the property title," said
diocese spokesman Bob Williams. "In addition, the diocese's top
decision-making bodies ... continue to concur that the property should
be sold and the proceeds applied to sustaining wider mission and
ministry."

It is not known if the Griffith Co. will appeal this decision. An
attorney for the Griffith Co. refused to comment Friday.

In June 2015, Bruno entered into an agreement with a developer who
planned to build luxury condominiums on the site. That proposal fell
through, but the bishop had already evicted St. James congregants who
now hold services in a community room at the Newport Beach Civic Center.

Congregants filed a complaint with the national Episcopal Church
accusing Bruno of misconduct. A hearing was held in March before a panel
of members from the national church. A decision is still pending.

However, in April, Bruno entered into a confidential agreement with
another local developer to sell the Via Lido property. He was ordered by
the hearing panel and the acting bishop of the national Episcopal Church
to stop that sale until the panel reaches a decision regarding his
misconduct charges.

The panel also rejected Bruno's appeal asking to complete the sale, and
an attorney for the national church recommended defrocking Bruno based
on his attempt to sell the church without informing the hearing panel.

Bruno is scheduled to retire by the end of the year and the Rt. Rev.
John Taylor is expected to take his place.

END



------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:08:51 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Criminal investigation to be launched into St. Paul's School
Message-ID:
<1500682131.1649976....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Criminal investigation to be launched into St. Paul's School

By Danny McDonald
http://www.bostonglobe.com/
July 13, 2017

Following new reports of sexual misconduct at St. Paul's School,
authorities in New Hampshire Thursday announced a criminal investigation
into the elite boarding school.

New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald's office, Concord
police, and New Hampshire State Police will conduct the investigation,
authorities said in a statement released Thursday night.

The investigation will initially focus on whether the school engaged in
conduct that endangered the welfare of a child, the attorney general's
office said in the statement. That office will also investigate whether
the school violated a law that prohibits obstructing criminal
investigations.

"Protection of children is a paramount priority for law enforcement,"
said MacDonald in the statement. "I am confident that an institution
such as St. Paul's School will be fully cooperative with this
investigation as it has pledged that '[t]he safety and well-being of all
students remains [its] highest priority."

MacDonald's statement cited several recent disclosures at the school,
including a 2017 report of past sexual assaults by St. Paul's teachers
on their students and more recent allegations of "sexual conquest
rituals'' involving students.

St. Paul's Rector Michael G. Hirschfeld said Thursday night that the
school would "fully cooperate.''

"We have been in close contact with local law enforcement regarding
recent incidents of concern, and we will continue to fully cooperate
with any inquiries we receive,'' Hirschfeld said in a statement. "We
also intend to work closely with the attorney general's office to answer
any and all questions regarding the independent report issued last
month. Our goal is and always will be the health, safety, and well-being
of our students. We will work tirelessly to meet that goal and
strengthen the public's faith in St. Paul's School."

The announcement by the New Hampshire attorney general comes just two
weeks after the school said it had hired its own outside investigator
when "students came forward and alerted (St. Paul's School) faculty to
behaviors that were concerning to them."

The Concord Monitor had reported that eight boys in a dormitory competed
in a "game of sexual conquest" where the winners would get their names
on a crown. The newspaper's account broadly mirrors the "senior salute"
sexual contest among St. Paul students that played a role in the sexual
assault case against former student Owen Labrie.

Labrie was acquitted in 2015 of raping Chessy Prout -- who was 15 years
old at the time -- but convicted of misdemeanor sexual assault and child
endangerment and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Amanda Grady Sexton, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Coalition
Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, welcomed the attorney general's
announcement.

"They are right to shine a light on the darkness that continues to
surround this school," she said in a statement.

Sexton said the school administration's practice of hiring outside
investigators to probe possible criminal activity "points to a culture
that places the school's reputation far above the health and safety of
the children entrusted to its care."

She said the new investigation was "an opportunity for the school to
assess the reality of sexual misconduct on their campus and take the
proper steps to craft model policies, establish a prevention plan, train
faculty, and connect students to support services."

Eric MacLeish, a Boston attorney who has represented hundreds of sexual
abuse victims, also applauded the attorney general's announcement,
saying the school had lost the moral authority to police itself. He said
the school has a history of "not preventing foreseeable sexual
assaults."

"There have been too many horrific mistakes that have been made," he
said.

According to a report released in May, 13 former faculty and staff
members at the school engaged in sexual misconduct with students over
four decades. The report faulted administrators for being more
interested in preserving the school's reputation than protecting
students.

Several prep schools have investigated claims of misconduct following a
2016 Boston Globe Spotlight story that reported on allegations of abuse
by about 200 victims at 67 New England private schools.

*****

Press release from the N.H. attorney general on St. Paul's School

Authorities in New Hampshire Thursday announced a criminal investigation
into the elite boarding school

Date: July 13,2017

Contact: Jane E. Young, Associate Attorney General, (603) 271-3671

Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald announces that his office, in
conjunction with the Merrimack County Attorney's Office, the Concord
Police Department, and the New Hampshire State Police has initiated a
criminal investigation into St. Paul's School, a coeducational
residential high school in Concord, New Hampshire.

The investigation has been initiated as the result of a 2017 report
concerning sexual assaults by St. Paul's teachers on their students;
earlier information about student sexual conquest rituals such as the
"senior salute," a practice which led to the highly publicized arrest,
trial, and conviction of a St. Paul's student in 2015; and allegations
of a similar ritual reported in June of this year.

The investigation by the Attorney General's Office will focus initially
on the issue of whether the School engaged in conduct constituting
endangering the welfare of a child, contrary to RSA 639:3; and
violations of RSA ch. 642, the Obstructing Governmental Operations
chapter of the criminal code. This office will investigate any other
crimes as dictated by the evidence.

In announcing this investigation, Attorney General MacDonald stated,
"Protection of children is a paramount priority for law enforcement. I
am confident that an institution such as St. Paul's School will be fully
cooperative with this investigation as it has pledged that '[t]he safety
and well-being of all students remains [its] highest priority. "-1-

Any person with information regarding criminal conduct at the school is
urged to contact Investigator Mark Myrdek at 271-1263 or e-mail
Mark....@doj.nh.gov.

END



------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:09:20 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Conservative Anglicans are close to despair. Is the CofE
about to split?
Message-ID:
<1500682160.1650013....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Conservative Anglicans are close to despair. Is the CofE about to split?
As an Anglican, I used to think theological liberalism was on the wane.
Not any more

FOTO: Attendees at the Church of England's first General Synod of the
year in February (Getty)

By Andrew Sabisky
http://catholicherald.co.uk/
July 20, 2017

Anyone with a lick of sense can see that the Church of England is in
serious trouble. Congregational decline, child abuse scandals, and
financially desperate cathedrals are just the most obvious symptoms of a
very broad disease. As an Anglican, I have been confident that the
Church would manage to turn things around in a few decades. After the
most recent meeting of General Synod, however, I am no longer so
confident.

On the face it, the Synod's changes were all fairly minor. For all the
fuss, the proposal to write official liturgies affirming the new gender
identity of transgender people may well be ignored even by Church's own
bishops; and the changes on regulation of vestments merely rubber-stamps
what already takes places across swathes of the Church.

But the most significant thing about the Synod was the manner in which
it was conducted. The bishops stayed largely silent as Synod did
theology by endless anecdote. The only notable episcopal contributions
came from the liberal northern prelates (especially Paul Bayes of
Liverpool). An outburst of anti-capitalism from the Archbishop of York
provided comedy value amongst the general dour air of neo-Puritanism.
The monotonous drumbeat of socialism and sexual liberalism was only
broken by the ecumenical contribution of Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic
Orthodox Church, who warned Synod that it's bad for PR and the soul to
spend so much time talking about sex. His plea fell on deaf ears.

Leading conservative Synod members seem to have left in a state of mind
verging on despair. They have suffered no major defeats, but seem
confident that it's only a matter of time. The general consensus is that
the "middle third" of Synod has no more appetite for gruelling fights or
media uproar, and will quietly acquiesce to liberal demands for church
blessings of same-sex marriage, to be shortly followed by same-sex
marriage itself.

Nor does anyone think that this will meet with any more than token
resistance amongst the Church's bishops, who seem to have largely
abolished their own traditional role in developing doctrine, and handed
it over to Synod. The Church selects bishops largely on their ability to
avoid controversy and act as (at least nominal) figures of unity, a
near-impossible role in a Church marked out by so many theological
divisions. They are very carefully chosen so as not to have strong
opinions on matters of faith. Consequently the ranks of the episcopacy
are packed full of weak men. The chronic cowardice is part of the reason
why their instinctive response to child abuse is cover-up, not rigorous
public investigation.

Previously I was convinced that church liberalism would shortly hit its
high-water mark and decline rapidly, simply because it is so bad at
reproducing itself: the liberals would give way to the more orthodox
younger clergy. In reality, though, it seems as though the Church of
England is more likely to simply wind up going down the same path as The
Episcopal Church in America, where it has dramatically fragmented as it
liberalized. The orthodox either went to the various Continuing Anglican
churches -- most notably the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) --
or became Roman Catholics. The seeds of such fragmentation are already
being laid in the UK via the consecration by ACNA of a missionary bishop
for the UK and Europe, who will operate outside the structures of the
Church of England.

In another possible scenario, the Church of England will not formally
break up, but will radically de-federalize into a series of "churches
within a church". All meaningful power would devolve to various bodies
representing the various theological traditions. The Society of St
Wilfrid and St Hilda is already well-set to take on this role for the
traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, and no doubt a similar umbrella body
could easily be set up for the more conservative evangelicals. These
bodies could select their own priests, instead of training and
ordination being managed by the diocese. Parishes would routinely
affiliate with their favoured national umbrella body; the "Church of
England" label would be limited to a strictly secondary place in their
branding.

This would relieve the various factions of the apparently intolerable
burden of having to tolerate one another. It would also end the
ludicrous situation where bishops are tasked with being figures of unity
in dioceses where no unity is possible. The Church would, in effect,
have consciously uncoupled itself, achieving a peaceful separation
without going through the expensive bother of formal divorce.

However, such a separation would leave the historic sees of Canterbury
and York in the hands of the unsound. When governments try again, over
the next several decades, to push through some form of legalised
euthanasia or liberalised abortion, they will find willing accomplices
governing over the husk of the Church of England, useful chaplains to
the culture of death. The price for abandoning the fight for the centre
of the Church will ultimately be paid in lives.



------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:09:52 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: An Open Letter to Anglicans of Great Britain
Message-ID:
<1500682192.1650022....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

An Open Letter to Anglicans of Great Britain

July 18, 2017

Many will share our dismay at the recent decisions of the General Synod
of the Church of England and the pursuing principles, values and
practices contrary to Holy Scripture and church Tradition.

Given the persistent failure of the majority of the House of Bishops to
fulfil the God-given duties which they have sworn to discharge these
tragic developments were, sadly, not wholly unexpected.

Accordingly, and in preparation for such eventualities we, as some of
those committed to the renewal of biblical and orthodox Anglicanism have
already started to meet, on behalf of our fellow Anglicans, to discuss
how to ensure a faithful ecclesial future.

We now wish that we have done so to be more widely known.

Our number is drawn from bishops, clergy and laity, from across Great
Britain and from a breadth of traditions. Much more importantly,
however, we meet joyfully united by a shared endorsement of the terms of
the Jerusalem Declaration.

We will meet again, as planned and with external facilitation, mediation
and episcopal advice, in October.

It is our intention to welcome on that occasion an even greater
diversity of contributors.

We would value your prayers and any expressions of interest from those
who feel they might be able to make a valuable contribution to our
deliberations.

Anyone desiring to contact us can do so through any of the organisations
or churches listed.

Revd Dr Gavin Ashenden, Former Chaplain to the Queen
Mrs Lorna Ashworth, General Synod of the Church of England, Archbishops'
Council
Revd Nigel Atkinson, Vicar St John's, Knutsford and Toft
Revd Andrew Bawtree, Chair of the House of Clergy, Diocese of Canterbury
Revd Mark Burkill, Chairman of Reform
Rt Revd John Ellison, Anglican Mission in England Executive
Rt Revd John Fenwick, Bishop Primus, Free Church of England
Rt Revd Josep Miquel Rossello Ferrer, Free Church of England
Ven Dr Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu, Vicar St Mary's Harmondsworth & PiC
Anglican Igbo Church of the Holy Trinity, London
Rt Revd Paul Hunt, General Secretary, Free Church of England
Canon Nigel Juckes, Incumbent, Llandogo, Monmouth
Mr Daniel Leafe, Gafcon UK
Mrs Susie Leafe, Director of Reform
Rt Revd Andy Lines, ACNA Bishop with Special Mission
Revd David McCarthy, Coordinator of the Scottish Anglican Network
Revd Lee McMunn, Mission Director, Anglican Mission in England
Revd James Paice, Trustee, The Southwark Good Stewards Trust
Rt Revd Jonathan Pryke, Senior Minister Jesmond Parish Church, Anglican
Mission in England Executive
Revd Dr Peter Sanlon, Convenor of Anglican Partnership Synod
Ven Dr Will Strange on behalf of the Evangelical Fellowship in England



------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:11:17 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Double Standards in the Church of England?
Message-ID:
<1500682277.1650150....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Double Standards in the Church of England?

By Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden
Church of England Newspaper
http://anglicanmainstream.org/double-standards-in-the-church/
July 20, 2017

It would appear so. Consider the evidence.

An Archbishop of Canterbury with 57 years of service, including very
risky visits to the trouble spots of the world where he is still much
revered, who maintains the faith once delivered to the saints, who
failed the 11 plus but progressed to secure a Ph D, is publicly asked to
resign by the current Archbishop.

A team of social workers, with no lawyer on the committee, found that
during his tenure at Lambeth, prior to any guidelines about
safeguarding, and despite constant reference to the police and advisers,
complaints made in a few letters were not adequately investigated
according to criteria now prevailing in the field.

Forced resignation goes beyond the public humiliation meted out by the
church authorities. Media seize on the word 'collude' and vilify Lord
Carey for supposed implication in the crimes of Peter Ball. Invitations
to minister in Churches in England and America are suddenly withdrawn.
He has committed the unforgiveable sin -- systemic mistakes were made,
which he admits, on his watch, so he personally has to carry the public
opprobrium.

Meanwhile his successor, Rowan Williams, and all the episcopal and legal
advisers involved, suffer no penalty. Lord Carey's penalty bears no
relation to safeguarding: at 82 he is a threat to no-one. He carries no
authority to permit any one to minister. His penalty can only be
punishment which the Church feels necessary to preserve its place in the
public square.

On the other hand the past few years have seen a procession of clergy,
some highly placed, deliberately flout the teaching of the Church of
England which they have sworn before God to uphold, and its canons which
they have sworn to observe in obedience to the office of their bishop.

Some in high office along with members of General Synod deliberately
question and oppose the teaching of the Bible and of the Anglican
Communion on marriage and sexuality.

Others have placed 'facts on the ground'. For example, under the
leadership of its dean, Southwark Cathedral advertises availability of
prayers for a civil partnership, while noting the Church has no
authorised prayers or service of blessing.

One dean has called on the Church to embrace gay marriage, revealing
that he has previously held services of blessing for same sex couples at
another Cathedral and would consider doing the same again. Did he seek
permission from the Archbishop of York before going ahead with the
ceremonies? (See further below)

A parish clergyman entered into a same-sex marriage, specifically
forbidden to members of the clergy, and remained in post. Both the deans
and the vicar remained on General Synod which makes the laws of the
church. Yet calls are made to remove Lord Carey from the Lords because a
lawbreaker cannot be a lawmaker.

These actions and their justifications convey a feeling of 'being above
the law'. We recognise the struggles of Christians to relate their
sexual experience with the teaching of the Bible and the church. We are
not suggesting exclusion from Christian fellowship or ministry or that
they are involved in any criminal discourse. But when the Church has an
agreed teaching put in Canon Law, we are concerned that attempts to
change the law should not be made by flouting it.

Currently those entrusted with authority in public office are allowed
free rein to act above the law and are not touched. Such lack of
discipline signals that the church has already given up on maintaining
the teaching of Jesus and the Bible on sexual matters, knows better in
the light of modern knowledge, and wants to be acceptable to the mores
of secular society.

Secular society attacks vulnerable people who disagree with and oppose
its pagan morality. But when the church leadership fails to stand up,
and even inflicts further wounds on people caught in this storm, it
reveals its moral and ethical ambiguity and weakness.

Why are double standards being applied? Those who self-confessedly
question and flout biblical teaching, upheld throughout history and by
the vast majority of Anglicans, especially in the area of sexual
behaviour, appear to be a protected minority in the church.

Those who publicly make the case for traditional Christian ethics, as
Lord Carey has done, are regarded as "toxic" to the Church of England
brand, which must distance itself from them as speedily as possible.

A survey of public opinion reported to Lambeth Palace that orthodox
church teaching was 'toxic', whose reaction prompted some on the
Evangelism Task Force to resign quietly out of conscience. Of what or
whom is the Church hierarchy afraid? Headlines in the press by the
mediocracy?

They appear supine to never ending demands from those who are never
satisfied; after calling for allowing lay people to enter into same-sex
partnerships, clergy put facts on the ground by entering same-sex
partnerships themselves; some then want to ban people who are troubled
by unwanted same-sex desires ( such as a married man who has a night of
madness and does not want to lose his family) from praying to the God
who made them for his help directly or from seeking help through skilful
counsellors.

Where is this heading? Will the ranks of Church of England clergy be
depleted of men because of the threat hanging over anyone who teaches
the bible of engaging in spiritual abuse, or of mishandling a false
allegation, or being falsely accused themselves as happened to Lord
Carey's son, a former social worker now a successful church planter?

If Church Reviews do not include legal counsel, and proceed to judgement
without trial, can the call for completely independent legal reviews be
resisted? This would reverse Magna Carta and hand over church discipline
totally to the state. Given the palpable double standards now operating,
that does seem attractive.

Vinay Samuel, former General Secretary of EFAC and Chris Sugden is a
former member of General Synod

AM website Endnote: Fulcrum website reported that " the new Dean of St
Paul's Cathedral, the Rev'd David Ison, has called on the Church to
embrace gay marriage, revealing that he has previously held services of
blessing for same sex couples at Bradford Cathedral and would consider
doing the same at St Paul's (The Times, 8 March 2012)".

A recent article goes into greater depth of the evidence about the Dean
of St Paul's advocacy pointing out that . 'Billing himself as an
evangelical, he (Ison) announced back in 2012 that he had performed
ceremonies for homosexual couples who had had civil partnerships when he
was Dean of Bradford.....The net effect of his clear public advocacy for
same-sex marriage resulted in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, a
well-known evangelical Anglican center of ministry in the City of London
with a number of church plants saying they would no longer send its
candidates to the cathedral for ordination.'

Read the article here:
http://www.virtueonline.org/bishop-london-must-not-be-juggler-words-lacking-integrity-and-truth)



------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:11:49 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Apostate Church of England has mutated into a Gnostic "Sex"
Sect
Message-ID:
<1500682309.1650152....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Apostate Church of England has mutated into a Gnostic "Sex" Sect

By Jules Gomes
www.julesgomes.com
July 20, 2017

A queer thing happened to the Church of England. In the 500th year of
the Reformation it crossed the thin red line from apostolic to apostate.
Future seminary students will be grateful for this mnemonic device when
mugging up important dates for a Church History exam.

Easy peasy! How can one forget? In 1517, the Reformers decided to yank a
recalcitrant Church of Rome back to the Bible. In 2017, the Reformers
booed the Bible and booted it out of the Church of England.

The flashpoint for the Reformation of 1517 was indulgences. The
flashpoint for the Reformation of 2017 was indulgences. Yes. One more
mnemonic device to help students remember how Humpty Dumpty had a big,
great fall, sung to Cole Porter's Anything Goes. Only this time
'indulgence' meant indulging yourself.

The charge of heresy is serious when levelled against church leaders. In
May, Bishop Martin Morrison of the Anglican Church in South Africa
accused 'the establishment of the Church of England' of being 'at the
very least heretical.' 'They are wolves, they are false teachers, they
are hired hands,' he stated, adding that 'the Archbishops of York and
Canterbury can no longer be trusted.'

The charge of apostasy is deadly when levelled against an entire
denomination. Hence, it must be clearly defined, as it is not part of
the 'newspeak' of today's trendy Christian leaders. The Greek word comes
from two roots: apo is "against" and stasis is "standing." In classical
Greek apostasis is used for a departure, defection or revolt. In secular
writings from New Testament times, apostasis is used to speak of
political factions that rebel against the state. The early church used
the term apostasy to name and shame those who had abandoned Christianity
for another religion.

The Greek word occurs five times in the Bible. 'If we have transgressed
before the Lord by apostasy, let him not deliver us this day,' declare
the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh after erecting an altar of
witness (Josh 22:22). English versions translate 'apostasy' as
'rebellion' in this verse. The Chronicler speaks of 'the vessels that
king Ahaz polluted in his reign, in his apostasy' (2 Chr 29:19). English
versions translate 'apostasy' here as infidelity, faithless or
unfaithfulness.

Jeremiah uses 'apostasy' as a parallelism to 'evil.' 'Your apostasy will
chastise you, and your evil will reprove you' (Jer 2:19). The ESV and
NAS versions preserve the word 'apostasy' while the KJV and NIV
translate it as 'backslidings.' In the book of Acts, Paul is accused of
apostasy for teaching 'the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake
Moses' (Acts 21:21). Paul writes to the Thessalonians, 'Let no one in
any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes
first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction'
(2 Thes 2:3). The ESV renders it as 'rebellion' and the KJV translates
it as a 'falling away.'

Much before July's fatal General Synod, former Queen's Chaplain Gavin
Ashenden showed how the CofE's rejection of the Fatherhood of God as
revealed by Jesus constituted a new Arianism. 'Its Jesus is less than
the only begotten Son of God; he is a "creature with insights,"' he
wrote. Arianism is heresy but not apostasy. The CofE was sailing in the
direction of cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Two resolutions passed by General Synod of July 2017 moved the Church of
England into apostasis, in the sense of "standing outside" or even
"standing against" the 'faith that was once for all delivered to the
saints' (Jude 1:3). Both resolutions constitute a departure and
defection from the faith and a revolt and rebellion against God. Even
worse, General Synod has abandoned Christianity for another religion.

By passing Jayne Ozanne's resolution to ban Conversion Therapy, the CofE
made a radical departure from the fundamental doctrines of free will,
conversion and transformation replacing it with a theology of biological
and psychological determinism. The tectonic plates of theology shifted
once and for all from the freedom offered by the gospel to the fatalism
of the ancient Hindu sect of the Ajivikas (lifeless beings) who believed
in karma, fatalism and extreme passivity.

According to the Ajivikas, human effort at transformation was a waste of
time and energy, since human fate was already determined. The best way
to enjoy it was to flow with it. Later Buddhist and Jain records
criticise the sect as naked ascetics, who are unclean, have corrupt
morals and possess a secular motive for their religious life. They also
rail against their fatalistic creed. The CofE has apostatised into a
form of the Ajivika Hindu religion.

In its second resolution approving liturgies for transgender people,
Synod spat in the face of Article 20 of the 39 Articles of Religion--The
CofE's founding charter--which categorically states that 'the Church
hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies
of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing
that is contrary to God's Word written, neither may it so expound one
place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.'

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi. As we worship, so we believe, so
we live. Synod's resolution affirming transgenderism, baptizes the CofE
into the religion of Gnosticism. In Genesis, God creates the world of
matter and creates humans as man and woman. In John, the Word becomes
flesh. Matter matters. Gnosticism denigrates matter and privileges
thoughts and feelings over matter. It does not matter if in my flesh, I
am a man with a penis and testes. If in my thoughts and feelings, I am a
woman, my subjective feelings matter more than objective facts. Matter
does not matter.

Synod embraced Gnosticism by claiming an inner Gnostic light regarding
human sexuality and gender that had thus far been allegedly hidden from
Moses, Jesus, Paul, and the Eastern and Western Church for over 2,000
years.

'In the space of four days, the General Synod of the Church of England
has, in effect, rejected the doctrines of creation, the fall, the
incarnation, and our need for conversion and sanctification,' is how
Susie Leafe, Director of Reform, and a conservative member of Synod
summed up the apostasis.

Even worse, in the space of four days, the Church of England abandoned
Christianity and mutated from the church of Jesus Christ into a pagan
religion that fused together Ajivika Hinduism and ancient Gnosticism.

The Rev'd Dr Jules Gomes is a journalist and academic. He writes the
weekly 'Rebel Priest' columnist for The Conservative Woman and a
frequent contributor to Virtueonline. You can follow him on his website
www.julesgomes.com



------------------------------

Message: 10
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:12:41 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Church of England Bishop becomes a patron of Pride event
Message-ID:
<1500682361.1650223....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Church of England Bishop becomes a patron of Pride event
Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes champions LGBT rights

By Nick Duffy
PINK News
July 13, 2017

A Church of England Bishop has become a patron of his local Pride event.

The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev Paul Bayes, was announced as a
patron for the Liverpool Pride festival, which takes place this month.

The church leader is a strong proponent of LGBT rights, supporting equal
marriage and backing a recent motion calling for a ban on gay 'cure'
therapy.

In a statement, the Bishop referenced the homophobic murder of local gay
teen Michael Causer.

The Bishop said: "Ever since the tragic death of Michael Causer,
Liverpool Pride has stood for the struggle for justice as well as the
celebration of LGBTI+ life in our city and region.

"I am privileged to identify with Pride's contribution to tackling
prejudice and promoting awareness of the richness of our LGBTI+
community.

"As a Christian, I really believe that Jesus wants a community where all
are included and free from fear.

"Now we all know that the Christian church in general, and the Church of
England as part of that, can get itself into a twist over inclusion and
equality issues. I myself have been advocating in the church for LGBTI+
inclusion, and all Christians have to agree that homophobia and hate
crime are evil and are to be resisted.

"At the recent meeting of our General Synod the Church of England made
some clear and positive statements resisting so-called conversion
therapy and exploring services of welcome for trans people who want
their true identity to be recognised before God.

"When I came to Liverpool three years ago and met LGBTI+ Christians
across Merseyside, and in particular our Open Table LGBTI+ Christian
community, I saw again the real joy we can know as a church when we are
open and welcoming to all."

Liverpool Pride's Lucy Day added: "We are all delighted that the Bishop
is to be a patron of Liverpool Pride, and we welcome him to the
Liverpool Pride family. We're very much looking forward to him joining
us at Pride weekend this month.

"Pride respects people of all religious beliefs."

The Bishop will address the crowd at the launch of the Pride parade
later this month.

Liverpool Pride 2017 takes place on Saturday 29 July and Sunday 30 July.

The free Pride festival, sponsored by Barclays, will be headlined by
Atomic Kitten.

Meanwhile, a host of Liverpool landmarks will be lit in rainbow colours
as part of the Come Out of the Shadows initiative -- helping make
Liverpool the most visibly LGBT+ city in the UK.

The Bishop recently admitted that some of his ultra-conservative
colleagues refuse to be in the same room as him.

Rt Rev Paul Bayes wrote in a blog post: "My own experience, since I
began speaking out for the beginnings of change in the Church, is that I
am profoundly suspected by many who disagree with me and that indeed
some of them cannot in conscience remain in the same room as me, or work
with me.

"This has not made me change my mind, but it does help me to understand
still further what it is to be a bishop, a bastard bishop, in the Church
today."



------------------------------

Message: 11
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:13:09 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Church of England Synod: A Laywoman's Lament
Message-ID:
<1500682389.1650558....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Church of England Synod: A Laywoman's Lament

By Susie Leafe
www.virtueonline.org
July 14, 2017

The July 2017 sessions of the Church of England's General Synod (or
parliament) were very significant for the future of the Church. Again
and again, both the decisions made, and the manner in which they were
made, showed scant regard for Scripture or the traditions of the Church.
Instead, members were asked to base their decisions on emotional stories
or the impact of secular headlines.

More worryingly, perhaps, was the atmosphere of the chamber; God's word
was mocked openly and decisions were made lightly, with arrogant
laughter. As one member put it: "God is not mocked. The laughter and
lack of respect for those who bravely gave the alternate case was beyond
words. Bruised, battered, bullied, betrayed, bewildered."

STEP ONE: Synod REJECTED defining 'the common good' in biblical terms.

Encouraged by the Archbishop of York, General Synod voted to reject two
amendments to a motion about how we should respond to the general
election.

The first, sought to encourage our prayers for the 'common good' to be
in line with that which is "revealed in the Bible and taught by the
Church". The Archbishop's response to this was, "The Word became flesh
and sadly we are now making it word, word, word".

The other urged the government to reduce economic inequality, safeguard
the sanctity of life, promote marriage and the family and maintain the
fundamental freedom of biblical based speech and the manifestation of
the Christian faith. The Archbishop of York said that "There were many
things there that one would want to disagree with really".

STEP TWO: Synod REJECTED the opportunity to promote the uniqueness of
Christ.

In a debate about how we engage with multi-faith environments, an
amendment was put seeking Synod to re-affirm a report on the uniqueness
of Christ, that was mentioned in our documentation but ignored in the
motion. The Bishop of Huddersfield refused to welcome the amendment as
'friendly' - and talked instead about how we already had a 'well
balanced' motion. His lack of enthusiasm may have swung the vote --
convincing people that we engage best with people of other faiths when
we hide the uniqueness of Christ in a sub paragraph of a report.

The vote was carried, on a show of hands, but there was a request for an
electronic vote - which was lost 168-153 - the result was greeted with
joy.

STEP THREE: Synod REJECTED an amendment urging bishops, clergy and lay
people to take every opportunity to commend Christ.

In the same debate about our response to the general election, and again
led by the Archbishop of York, General Synod rejected an amendment which
said:
"Urge all bishops, clergy, and lay people at this time of anxiety and
uncertainty to take every opportunity to commend to all the people of
England faith in Jesus Christ, who is King of kings, the Prince of peace
and the Hope of every nation."
The Archbishop of York's advice about this was: "One can't argue
against.... But no, resist the amendment"

STEP FOUR: Synod REJECTED a theological approach to 'conversion therapy'
and pastoring the LGBTI community.

Jayne Ozanne brought a Private Members' Motion describing 'gay
conversion therapy' - a poorly defined concept - as harmful. Her speech,
and the letters she has sent members of Synod, made clear that any
approach to human sexuality that does not affirm the feelings and
actions of the LGBTI community, are likely to cause harm and should
therefore be regarded as 'conversion therapy'.
The debate, which included several amendments, was chaired poorly by the
Bishop of Manchester. At key points in the debates members were called
to share stories of those who had committed suicide, but very few
conservatives were called to speak. Angus MacLeay was a great example of
setting forth the truth plainly, speaking about the gospel of radical
inclusion and radical transformation from 1 Cor 6.

Sean Doherty proposed an amendment that was theological in nature and
sought to protect the LGBT community from coercion or manipulation but
also affirmed that 'pastoral care, prayer ministry and professional
counselling are legitimate means of supporting individuals who chose
them freely'.

This amendment was lost in all three houses:
Votes For Against
Bishops 10 26
Clergy 64 122
Laity 88 97

After several more amendments - the following motion was passed: Only 1
bishop voted against it, along with 25 clergy and 48 laity.

That this Synod:
(a) endorse the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the
UK of November 2015, signed by The Royal College of Psychiatrists and
others, that the practice of gay conversion therapy has no place in the
modern world, is unethical, potentially harmful and not supported by
evidence; and
(b) call upon the Church to be sensitive to, and to listen to,
contemporary expressions of gender identity; and
(c) call on the government to ban the practice of Conversion Therapy.

STEP FIVE: Synod REJECTED a theological approach to the complex issues
surrounding gender dysphoria.

The Diocese of Blackburn brought a motion to Synod asking every parish
church to 'welcome and affirm' transgender people and to ask the House
of Bishops to consider 'liturgical materials' to 'mark a person's gender
transition'.

It passed in all three houses, with only 2 bishops, 28 clergy and 48
laity voting against the motion.

During the debate General Synod rejected an amendment which acknowledged
that there were different understandings around gender dysphoria and
gender identity and that the preparation of liturgy to mark gender
transition raises substantial theological and pastoral issues.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

In the space of four days, the General Synod of the Church of England
have, in effect, rejected the doctrines of creation, the fall, the
incarnation, and our need for conversion and sanctification Instead we
have said that we are 'perfect' as we are, or as we see ourselves, and
that the Church should affirm us and call on God to validate our
choices. No wonder we do not want to proclaim Christ's unique identity
and significance for all people.

We have chosen to understand the world through secular reports,
unconscious bias training, the teaching of other religions and the
results of polls and media headlines, rather than the unchanging word of
God.

Paul warns us what happens when we do this in Romans 1:28: "And since
they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave then up to a debased
mind to do what ought not to be done."

But God does not abandon his people. In his mercy, just a week before
this Synod, Andy Lines was consecrated by ACNA, as a missionary bishop
to Europe by 11 Primates (leaders of Anglican provinces) and 3
Archbishops. This had been requested by the Gafcon Primates Council, who
represent the vast majority of the Anglican Communion. Don't fear - we
are not alone - but decisions will need to be made.

Susie Leafe is a Director of REFORM.



------------------------------

Message: 12
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:13:37 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: U.K.: Leading Anglican Evangelist Berates Welby over Carey's
Forced Resignation
Message-ID:
<1500682417.1650538....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

U.K.: Leading Anglican Evangelist Berates Welby over Carey's Forced
Resignation

By Canon Michael Green
www.virtueonline.org
July 11, 2017

Public executions are ugly. But that is what has happened to Lord Carey.

As a result of his handling of the Bishop Peter Ball pedophile affair, a
quarter of a century ago, he has now not only been criticized in the
Gibb Report and accused in a letter of June 21 by the present Archbishop
of colluding with Ball; he has been forced to resign from the honorary
role of Assistant Bishop in Oxford, and banned from any form of ministry
in any church worldwide!

He did not collude with Peter Ball, who was cautioned by the police,
resigned as Bishop of Gloucester and was in due course imprisoned. Lord
Carey's mistake, for which he has apologised, was failing to put Ball,
by then a sick man, on the Lambeth Caution List, because he did not
think there was any chance of his ministering again. The provincial
Registrar concurred. It is hard to escape the conclusion that Lord Carey
has been made a scapegoat, and Dr. Welby's ban is not only unjust but
petty.

The whole thing seems to have been very badly orchestrated. Archbishop
Welby's letter to Lord Carey came out of the blue -- the same day as the
press conference. It has been suggested that George Carey should have
looked after the numerous victims of Peter Ball, but this is
unrealistic. It is not the job of an Archbishop to be chasing round for
the care of unknown individuals. Care in the C of E is delegated to the
parish priest, if necessary under the guidance of the bishop.

Canon Dr. Michael Green is a British theologian, Anglican priest,
Christian apologist and author of more than 50 books. He resides with
his wife in Oxford



------------------------------

Message: 13
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:14:35 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Church of England: Welcoming Transgender People
Message-ID:
<1500682475.1650843....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Church of England: Welcoming Transgender People

https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2017/07/welcoming-transgender-people.aspx
July 10, 2017

The General Synod of the Church of England has passed a motion on
welcoming transgender people.

Members of Synod, meeting in York, supported a call for the House of
Bishops to consider preparing nationally commended liturgical materials
to mark a person's gender transition.

The motion also recognises the "need for transgender people to be
welcomed and affirmed in their parish church".

It was moved by the Rev'd Christopher Newlands on behalf of the
Blackburn Diocesan Synod.

Opening the debate, he said: "I hope that we can make a powerful
statement to say that we believe that trans people are cherished and
loved by God, who created them, and is present through all the twists
and turns of their lives."

Speaking during the debate the Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge said:
"Our response needs to be loving and open and welcoming and the passing
of this motion would be a very important factor in that."

An amendment to the motion, moved by Dr Nick Land of the Diocese of
York, calling instead for the House of Bishops to consider the
theological, pastoral and other issues around gender transition, was
rejected by all three houses of Synod.

The votes in the House of Bishops were 30 for and two against, with two
abstentions.
In the House of Clergy 127 backed the motion with 28 against and 16
abstentions.
In the House of Laity 127 supported the motion with 48 opposing and
eight abstentions.

The motion passed reads:


FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRANSGENDER MOVEMENT click here:
http://www.virtueonline.org/truth-about-transgender-movement



------------------------------

Message: 14
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:15:52 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Ultra-Rich Gay Activist On Targeting Christians: It's Time To
'Punish The Wicked'
Message-ID:
<1500682552.1650999....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Ultra-Rich Gay Activist On Targeting Christians: It's Time To 'Punish
The Wicked'

By Bre Payton
THE FEDERALIST
http://thefederalist.com/
July 19, 2017

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, tech millionaire
turned LGBTQ activist Tim Gill said he's aiming to punish Christians who
don't want to participate in same-sex weddings.

For more than two decades, the software programmer has poured an
estimated $422 million into various gay rights causes. After the Supreme
Court ruled gay marriage legal in all 50 states in 2015, Gill turned his
attention and resources to targeting Christians.

The election of Donald Trump, who claims to support gay rights but
stocked his administration with anti-LGBTQ extremists, has only
emboldened those looking to erase the gains of the past decade. Gill
refuses to go on the defense. 'We're going into the hardest states in
the country,' he says. 'We're going to punish the wicked.'

Allow me to add some context. After the Obergefell ruling in 2015, which
forced all 50 states to perform same-sex marriages, several state
legislatures passed protections to ensure that those who object to
participating in a same-sex wedding for religious reasons have recourse
when hauled into courts or extralegal commissions for this belief. It's
these state laws that Gill and his various nonprofit entities have
decided to go after -- and persecute Christians along the way.

Here's how Rolling Stone -- a magazine with a history of throwing
journalistic ethics and pesky things like truth and accuracy out the
window to advance a narrative that fits their agenda -- describes
religious freedom restoration acts (RFRA): "Under the guise of
right-to-worship protections, these bills offer legal cover for
individuals and businesses to deny service or otherwise discriminate
against LGBTQ people," Rolling Stone's Andy Kroll wrote.

Except that's not at all what religious freedom restoration acts are.
For one thing, religious Americans still serve gay customers in myriad
capacities, just as they do every other customer. Their objections are
to being forced to use their artistic talents to proclaim particular
speech they find fundamentally false or to be required to participate in
a religious ceremony that conflicts with their consciences. As Sean
Davis has explained, these laws simply ask that judges use a simple
balancing test when ruling on cases involving a person's religious
freedom.

The laws state that the government may only substantially burden the
free exercise of religion of a person or organization if the government
1) has a compelling interest to do so, and 2) is using the least
restrictive means possible to further that compelling interest. In legal
parlance, RFRA requires courts to use strict scrutiny when adjudicating
these types of cases.

Nevertheless, asking a judge to think twice before demanding that a
baker craft a wedding cake for a lesbian couple and stomping all over
his freedom of expression is apparently a wicked deed that Gill intends
to punish.

Last year, the Gill Foundation set up a group to wrangle corporate
support in going after religious freedom proponents in Georgia. Called
"Georgia Prospers," the fake grassroots effort organized protests
against a religious freedom restoration act that passed the state
legislature. The pressure from the corporate-backed endeavor dissuaded
Georgia's governor from signing the bill -- a victory for the wealthy
activist.

The group also opposed North Carolina's bathroom bill, which barred
cities from passing laws that would force businesses to allow customers
and employees to use restrooms that are not consistent with their
biological sex.

Along the way, Christian business owners have been maligned and
demonized for not wanting to participate in a same-sex wedding. In
Colorado, a cake baker was forced to change his company's policies and
provide training to staff after he objected to baking a cake for a gay
couple. A Christian couple was slapped with a $13,000 fine for refusing
to host a same-sex wedding on their property. People threatened to burn
a pizza shop to the ground after its owners answered that they would
happily serve gay customers, they just wouldn't want to cater a gay
wedding should they be asked to do so.



------------------------------

Message: 15
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:17:03 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: THE AVALANCHE OF SEXUAL ABERRATION
Message-ID:
<1500682623.1651489....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

THE AVALANCHE OF SEXUAL ABERRATION

It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know my
ways.
(Psalm 85:10).

By Roger Salter
Special to VIRTUEONLINE
www.virtueonline.org
July 18, 2017

INTRODUCTION

Human sexuality is a powerful force and under normal circumstances
second only to the will for survival. It is an urge entrusted to us by
God to establish the strongest and most intimate bond between a man and
a woman in lifelong fidelity and mutual support. The physical and
spiritual union in marriage seals and signifies the union of God with
his people, and the capacity for procreation perpetuates mankind in the
privilege and vocation of bearing his image as a race and adding to the
population of his kingdom - the final outcome of his purpose for the
loyal dwellers on planet earth.

The marriage of male and female is a creation mandate imbued with
profound redemptive meaning. In everything God is demonstrating his
perfection and supremacy and alongside his kingdom goal at the
consummation of time there is divine permission for the rise and
rebellion of a rival kingdom, the annihilation of which will prove to a
watching creation that our Maker is indeed superior and sovereign over
all things in his holiness and righteous ways. Every creature and event
enclosed in the span of history will serve to exalt his glory and
majesty.

The creation mandate (sexual energy exercised with responsibility)
continues in validity for man, even as fallen and astray from God.
Instinctually man is a sexually active being, but the initially
righteous impulse is now corrupted by deviant desire and it is harnessed
by Satan, the archenemy of the Lord, to strengthen and reinforce his
striving against his unassailable Superior whom he envies and detests.
Sexuality is a key arena of conflict between the kingdoms of Darkness
and Light. If the evil one can blur, damage, destroy the image of God
displayed in male and female together as a complementary pair he will
have delivered, he has reckoned, a decisive blow against the One who
exercises authority and mastery over him and whose mark is to be
discerned everywhere. Satan's great program is to erase the glory of God
and negate his honor.

Our sexuality, designed to represent and cement love, harmony,
collaboration in relationship - features of the great Three-in-One, has
now become a war zone of oppression, exploitation, illicit desire, and
perversion. Something most beautiful has become something quite bestial
and beyond human control. It is an area where human nature is
conspicuously unruly. Debased sexuality exhibits the evil purpose of
both man and his present wicked overlord - the devil. Within this sphere
Satan wreaks his devastating mischief through us and upon us. Sexual
activity beyond righteous and moral bounds works incalculable injury and
misery.

We have opted through revolt against our Maker and Governor to change
his tender gift into a terrible weapon, which in a situation of vicious
mayhem, torments us all in every facet of life and endeavor. We possess
within us a force that shatters restraint if not influenced and
curtailed by the Spirit of God. Just as we abuse the powers and energy
sources of nature so we cannot contain a God-given power within our own
nature. The "life force" is abused. It is apt to quote a line in a
current movie preview, 'There is something stronger than will - desire'
- a basic conviction of Augustinian theology.

THE PHENOMENON

Sexualized society is not a recent phenomenon (remember Pompeii). What
generation since expulsion from Eden has not manifested its sensuality,
seductions, scandals, and sins? The Judeo/Christian morality has been
influential from time to time on a surface level and induced caution and
shame in attitude and action, but wherever there has been a veneer of
decency there has also been a strong undercurrent of libertinism that
human curiosity is keen to explore, expose, and experience. No
generation is more innocent than any other - but perhaps more discreet
and secretive (shame in the shadows). Every known culture has left
evidence of the overpowering compulsion of our sexuality to break
through accepted moral codes, banish them, or beget a new and permissive
set of sexual mores, accepted by some in their totality and tolerated
ruefully by others who, filled with distaste, find themselves members of
a ridiculed minority [the Republic of Rome was reputedly more moral than
the Imperial version].

The biblical narratives candidly relate accounts of sexual irregularity,
even in the behavior of those regarded as within the band of true
saints, although only through restorative grace. Ancient myths likewise
portray the indecency of gods and men. Homeric heroes such as Achilles
and Ajax groomed youthful male partners as objects of their lustful
prey. If anything abounds in human history it is the fact of disordered
human desire and predatory passion. Even the royal sponsor of the
Authorized version of the Bible gave rise to well-founded rumor.

It is not the existence of sexual sin that surprises in our time, but
its explicitness in a society that for a century or so had been rather
coy in the public mention of it. Any allusion to the topic of sex was
conveyed through a whisper and a wink. A somewhat "tabloid" approach and
a surreptitious pornographic industry supplied titillation in a back
-room manner to secure the avoidance of embarrassment or censure.

The permissiveness in a bold way emerged partly - there were many
contributory factors - through the promotion of a certain genre of
"adventurous" and elite literature, now deemed classical, that majored
in experimental sexual awareness (Lawrence, Nabokov, Joyce, Forster,
etc.). The culture of mid-sixties rock music (a radical departure from
more innocent 50s origins) and drug taking gave popular impetus to the
disregard of creaking social norms, their diminution in credibility
being due to the loss of power and influence of the religion and
morality that had traditionally supported them, and whose foundations
had now crumbled and been chipped away by the outright repudiation of
revealed Christian truth and the values it had engendered. Nihilism,
through skeptical and atheistic philosophy and ideology, allied to
liberal theology, was creating a quasi-intellectual context (appeal to
arrogance) for uncertainty and protest against establishment views and
virtue. Liberalism so-called was seeping into the popular mind.
Institutions and traditions were subject to constant and undermining
scrutiny, and an anarchic state of mind was beginning to take a grip.
Slowly, subtly, it was dawning upon the Western consciousness that there
was scope, in a moral sense and in a moral maze, to do as one pleased.
Each one began to do what was right in their own eyes. Private life was
the individual's walled-off preserve and no external authority or
opinion had any right of entry or assessment unless there happened to be
agreement and collusion in any course of activity.

In this bogus intellectual freedom and spiritual vacuum, the power of
sex discovered liberty to range freely in all directions now summed up
in the formula LGBTQ - rampant in increasing proportion in our time and
succeeding to gain majority support through minds alienated from God and
adrift from traditional religious moorings. Plausible and pleading
propaganda, distortion of scientific fact (causes and consequences of
sinful sexual behavior), and exaggerated accusation of discrimination
and prejudice have woven their spell. If we all maintained our private
sexual relations in absolute privacy, as should be the case, there would
be no room for ill-repute or overt and specific criticism. "Coming out"
Is simply for the purpose of causing shock. But, just as certainly that
there should be no advertising of the "gay condition" there would
definitely be (for hidden immorality) warranted divine disapproval if
the obvious laws of God (signaled in nature and supernatural revelation)
were being flouted in personal conduct. We cannot alter the nature of
love as God intends it, and the word, "love" itself is being ill-used
and tweaked in favor of sinful gratification.

The current laxity and permissiveness in sexual immorality is due to
ignorance or misrepresentation of the divine mind. Our "forty years"
(Venite), as it were, of waywardness is due to the fact that
collectively we do not know, in our benighted hearts, God's ways
(whether prescribed or performed). We are very far gone from original
and obligatory righteousness before him (Article 9 Of Original or
Birth-sin). A terrible disruption of our flawless human constitution, as
at its creation, has tragically occurred. Our highest faculties and
physical desires and deeds have been corrupted and are now subject to
the suggestions and urges of Satan and the sinful gratification of self
that he incites through temptation and his pressure to comply. Sadly,
sin appeals to us.

The disorder of our nature and the disastrous effects of our habits
ensure that our corrupt sexual proclivities will lead to the demolition
of our audaciously lawless lives lived in defiance of the norms
instituted by God for the safety, wellbeing, enjoyment, and high
attainments of happy companionship with him. The goal of fellowship with
God is our maturation in the likeness of Christ the exemplar and
restorer of true humanity. As Christians, through much stumbling, we
press on to maturity in him arriving at perfection only in our full
reunion with the Lord in his heaven. Here on earth we witness the
brokenness of mankind, our weaknesses and handicaps, our susceptibleness
to circumstances and appetites that incline us to wrongdoing and that
blight our humanity with gross distortion of character and which mire us
in criminal conduct. We are all thus affected and infected and the
evidence appears in varying degrees.

Our sinfulness is due to the solidarity of our race in defection from
God. Our diseases of soul and body emanate from our breach with the
Deity. We fail in the pursuit of maturity in righteousness and we refuse
growth in the grace of Christ. All basis for proper moral and spiritual
development is torn to shreds and we experience the ills of a groaning
and agonized creation sagging under the burden of culture and custom
alienated from God. Our fundamental break with him is the cause of all
our self-wrought suffering and earned desert of his acts of retribution.
Our sexual deviancy is wrapped up in this huge comprehensive parcel of
human miscreancy and misery with which we are fulfilling our utter
undoing.

The recklessness of our sexual irresponsibility, and the societal lack
of standards, together with laws and license that foster our
disobedience to God's ways, is increased by the examples of notorious
individuals who capture the respect and admiration of our gullible
generation. Cultural icons from past and present, and popular
celebrities point the way to sexual laxity and aberrance. We cannot be
amazed that many will defend and commend their disclosed lifestyles and
attendant contempt for the will of God. We tend to make allowances for
people that impress us and accordingly we suit our moral preferences to
theirs in the satisfaction of some kind of association or
identification, real or notional, with them.

Daring trends that buck the norms of society and proffer scope for
extravagant self-expression, exhibitionism, and the gaining of attention
are infectious. Subtle suggestion, persuasion, and beguiling or bullying
recruitment can inspire and increase the participation in abnormal, and
unnatural ways. It is easy in many cases of deviancy to detect a
background of difficult, disappointing and dysfunctional parental and
family relationships, a lack of affirmation, or instances of abuse. The
added factor of strident feminism discourages some males from
heterosexual relationships - the fear of not managing or displaying
masculinity sufficiently well.

The eminent British psychiatrist Anthony Storr attributes homosexuality
to immaturity and that appears to be a broadly accurate diagnosis that
is manifest in a variety of deeply grounded perplexities.

"But we must disagree with his idea (Proust's view) that the homosexual
man is feminine. Rather he is a child whose development is incomplete -
a boy who has not yet matured into a man. The homosexual search is often
determined by an absence of satisfactory identification in life with the
parent of the same sex; and in homosexual men it is common to find that
the patient's father has been absent or in some way impossible to
identify with. A father who is hard, unapproachable, and overbearing may
inspire such fear that the developing boy turns away from him. A weak,
soft, and ineffective father does not provide a sufficiently forceful
personality to evoke masculine qualities in his son. In either case
there is a failure of identification, and the son turns away from his
father to seek in others those masculine attributes which he needs for
his own development" (The Integrity of the Personality, Anthony Storr,
Penguin Books, 1971, page 113).

Possibly, also, a young male child may be fascinated by his genitalia
and register pleasure in touching such private parts of his anatomy - a
natural discovery (Webster's Dictionary). Eventually aware that it is
not proper decorum to come into contact with the genitals of another,
and sensing the possible thrill of committing that which is forbidden,
naive same sex experimentation casually occurs, and during the
developmental period of fluctuating sexual identity and attraction
(hormonal imbalance/swings) that same person may be inclined or
persuaded to adopt an ongoing homosexual orientation (refer Peter
Coleman, Christian Attitudes to Homosexuality, SPCK, 1980).

Trends, examples, and imitation play their part in the process of
personality formation, and it cannot be forgotten that the evil one can
slyly suggest and influence choices unguarded and undetermined by the
wisdom of God's word. Minds evacuated of the knowledge of God can so
easily drift in any proposed direction dictated by the evil suggestion
of man or the great enemy of souls.

The notion of same sex preference may be inserted into the mind at such
an early stage by various forms of insinuation and cultivation that it
is soon considered to be inborn, inevitable, and incurable. Grace and
wholeness cannot be denied to any who fight against their prevalent
inclination and desire to abandon it.

Sexual purity is an intense struggle. Whether in mind or practice no one
has succeeded at entire and perfect chastity, so strong is the natural
drive to erotic fulfillment. Abstinence or marital obedience to the
proper expression of the sexual self can only be intended and attained
through the assistance of God. The gravity and guilt of any sexual
offense may be met by the forgiveness of God upon sincere contrition. A
merciful disposition towards others cannot condone the fault which is in
all of us in some way or other on this count. The recalcitrant offender
must be warned and their company avoided until repentance and amendment
of life are granted by God.

The imminence of judgement is always present and we always are standing
on the brink. Its actual occurrence is ultimately certain but we cannot
be certain of the moment of its occurrence. With the absence of direct
revelation on this matter we can only be speculative as to the nearness
of the day of wrath, but also ensure that we are at the ready in Christ.
We can discern divine displeasure in general terms in general events, or
even sense divine desertion of particular communities as they lapse into
moral decline, unsound laws, and social disarray. It is clear that the
perils of ungodliness are mounting. And should our convictions run in
that direction we must not be disturbed by ridicule or deterred by
persecution. We may be living in a time of dreadful divine withdrawal.

The Rev. Roger Salter is an ordained Church of England minister where he
had parishes in the dioceses of Bristol and Portsmouth before coming to
Birmingham, Alabama to serve as Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church.



------------------------------

Message: 16
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:17:31 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: The Agonizing Ordeal of Eugene Peterson -- You Might Be Next
Message-ID:
<1500682651.1651526....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The Agonizing Ordeal of Eugene Peterson -- You Might Be Next
Those who have fled for security to the house of evasion must know that
the structure has crumbled. It always does.

By ALBERT MOHLER
http://www.albertmohler.com/2017/07/17/eugene-peterson/
July 17, 2017

Was he against it, before he was for it? Is he really against it now?

The ordeal experienced last week by popular author Eugene Peterson was
agonizing to observe, largely self-inflicted, and virtually inevitable.
You should pay close attention to it, for you might very well be next.

The ordeal began with Peterson, one of the most influential authors
among evangelical pastors, responding to two straightforward questions
about homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Jonathan Merritt of Religion
News Service referenced homosexuality and same-sex marriage and then
asked Peterson if his view on the morality of same-sex relationships had
changed. Peterson was pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in
Bel Air, Maryland for 29 years, before retiring in 1991. In his answer,
however, Peterson said, "I haven't had a lot of experience with it." An
earlier congregation where he served as associate pastor, included
"several women who were lesbians," but didn't "make a big deal about
it." The congregation he served as pastor was much the same: "I don't
think we ever really made a big deal of it."

They had a gay musician, but, "nobody made any questions about it. And
he was a really good musician." His answer was convoluted, but he
concluded, "it's not a right or wrong thing as far as I'm concerned."

Peterson was then asked, "If you were pastoring today and a gay couple
in your church who were Christians of good faith asked you to perform
their same-sex wedding ceremony, is that something you would do?"
Peterson answered simply, "Yes."

That "yes" blew up the evangelical world like a signal flare. The RNS
headline on the interview stated that Peterson had changed his mind on
the question. A significant number of evangelicals responded with
immediate shock and disappointment at Peterson's answer. The largest
Christian bookstore chain said that it was considering whether to
continue selling Peterson's many books, including The Message, his
best-selling paraphrase of the Bible.

But, almost as quickly as his "yes" appeared, it was retracted.

The very next day, Peterson released a long statement, published in full
at The Washington Post. He retracted his "yes" and said that he would
actually not perform a same-sex wedding ceremony. "That's not something
I would do out of respect to the congregation, the larger church body,
and the historic Christian view and teaching on marriage. That said, I
would still love such as couple as their pastor."

He also stated: "To clarify, I affirm a biblical view of marriage: one
man to one woman. I affirm a biblical view of everything."

So, within 48 hours of the original interview, Eugene Peterson had
issued a statement retracting his "yes" to a same-sex wedding ceremony.
He now affirms marriage as "one man to one woman."

The brushfire then switched directions. Now, folks displeased with
Peterson's RNS interview were at least partly comforted by his
retraction, while those who had been comforted by his "yes" were hurt
and infuriated by his subsequent "no."

Jonathan Merritt ran a story at RNS within hours of Peterson's
retraction, noting that in 2014 Peterson had already told a conference
in which he indicated his evolution on LGBTQ issues and looking back on
his tenure as pastor, he said "I started to change my mind." He also
spoke of talking to parents whose children had come out as gay saying,
"they've finally accepted that this is not a bad thing, that this can be
a good thing. This can be a flourishing thing."

What is really going on here? What does Eugene Peterson really believe
about LGBT relationships and behaviors or about same-sex marriage? We
really don't know. We will probably never really know.

His retraction allows his books to be sold, but the ordeal has done
massive damage to his reputation. One of the best-selling authors in the
evangelical world is now, in effect, a giant Rorschach test. You can
read him as fully open to LGBT relationships, but forced by political
and economic pressure to act as if he isn't. Or you can read him as
basically a traditionalist on the question, who felt under pressure to
affirm same-sex marriage and succumbed to the pressure, only to regret
and retract quickly. Those do not exhaust the possibilities.

I have enjoyed many of Eugene Peterson's writings. He is an elegant
literary stylist, and he seems never to forget a pithy quote--saved just
for the right paragraph. He also knows how to deploy the English
language with powerful simplicity. Just consider these sentences from
his pastoral memoir, The Pastor: "I was astonished to learn in one of
these best-selling books (on church life) that the size of my church
parking lot had far more to do with how things fared in my congregation
than my choice of texts in preaching. I was being lied to and I knew
it."

He even pulled off what might be the greatest (and shortest) literary
achievement of my lifetime, using a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, no
less, to redefine Christian discipleship as "a long obedience in the
same direction." His turning of the words of Nietzsche into a definition
of what it means to follow Christ was brilliant, clarifying, and
unforgettable.

Thus, Eugene Peterson understands the stewardship of words. In another
of his books, he stated: "We cannot be too careful about the words we
use; we start out using them and they end up using us." Indeed.

Several thoughtful evangelicals expressed concern and discouragement
that Peterson had basically "shrugged" or "sighed" in his answers,
concealing more than he revealed -- and about an issue that really did
require a yes or no answer.

But there should have been no surprise. Eugene Peterson has never been
very clear about controversial questions, or on many crucial biblical
and theological questions. His writings were categorized as "pastoral
theology," and there is little explicit doctrine in his books. His
background was Pentecostal as a boy, and according to his memoir, he
basically became a Presbyterian by accident. "I was not aware of
choosing to become a Presbyterian. I didn't go over the options
available to me, study them, interview representative men and women,
assess the pros and cons, pray for discernment, and then apply for
membership. The Presbyterians needed a coach for their basketball team.
I knew how to do that and I did it. . . . I was never self-consciously a
Presbyterian. I am still not."

That says a lot about Eugene Peterson, but it probably says more about
the denomination of which he is a minister, the liberal Presbyterians
known as the PCUSA. One of that Presbyterian denomination's most famous
pastors says he was never even "self-consciously a Presbyterian." That
just about says it all.

In The Message, Peterson's best-selling paraphrase of the Bible, he
avoided dealing with same-sex behaviors or relationships directly, even
when addressing texts like Romans 1:26-27 or 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, where
he translates same-sex behaviors simply as promiscuity in general.

Peterson has made his reputation as someone who does not deal with
controversial questions. He also seems to be incapable of a clear answer
on this question, even now. His "retraction" was devoid of any
engagement with the Bible. His concern, he said, was for his
congregation and the "historic biblical Christian view and teaching on
marriage." There was really nothing about the morality of LGBT behaviors
and relationships at all. Would anyone really be surprised that Eugene
Peterson holds to the PCUSA's LGBTQ-affirming positions on these issues?
If so, why?

Matthew Vines, a prominent LGBTQ activist and author, is absolutely
right, by the way, when he argued that Peterson's answer on the question
of same-sex marriage is far less significant than his position on
normative morality: "The main dividing line in the church is not whether
Christians support same-sex marriages. It is over the more basic
question of whether they believe all same-sex relationships are sinful
in the first place."

But Eugene Peterson is also 84 years old. The interview with RNS was
actually a valedictory event, of a sort. He announced that he would not
be doing any more public speaking or teaching. Peterson had every reason
to expect that he would conclude his public ministry without having to
answer these questions.

Until that final interview...

Most of his generational colleagues are either dead or safely retired.
Peterson's longevity is a testament to his continued literary production
and power. He almost made it home without answering the question, but
then it happened.

Consider these lessons from Eugene Peterson's ordeal.

First, there is nowhere to hide. Every pastor, every Christian leader,
every author -- even every believer -- will have to answer the question.
The question cannot simply be about same-sex marriage. The question is
about whether or not the believer is willing to declare and defend God's
revealed plan for human sexuality and gender as clearly revealed in the
Bible.

Second, you had better have your answer ready. Evasive, wandering, and
inconclusive answers will be seen for what they are. Those who have fled
for security to the house of evasion must know that the structure has
crumbled. It always does.

Third, if you will stand for the Bible's clear teachings on sexuality
and gender, you had better be ready to answer the same way over and over
and over again. The question will come back again and again, in hopes
that you have finally decided to "get on the right side of history."
Faithfulness requires consistency -- that "long obedience in the same
direction."

That is what it means to be a disciple of Christ, as Eugene Peterson has
now taught us. In more ways than one.

FOOTNOTE: VOL has subsequently learned that in addition to having a gay
musician in his church, I have been reliably told Peterson has a gay
grandson. Anecdotal evidence like this often swings evangelicals who
don't have sound teaching in moral theology.



------------------------------

Message: 17
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:18:21 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: LEGACY AND LESSONS
Message-ID:
<1500682701.1651549....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

LEGACY AND LESSONS
"Lead, Kindly Light, amidst the encircling gloom..." John Henry Newman
(1833)

By Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD
www.virtueonline.orgb
July 20, 2017

The past week has left me exhausted, and with more than a slight sense
of alienation. Eugene Peterson's initial statements in an interview
seemingly endorsing same-sex marriage, the fierce and vehement reaction
from conservative evangelicals, and the subsequent clarification of
Peterson's views reaffirming a traditional view, have filled the
internet and allowed for an unleashing of vitriol by progressives and
conservatives alike. I have been left saddened, rather than exultant. I
am saddened not owing to the issue itself and/or its resolution, but
rather by the so many unguarded, uncharitable and, at times, personally
abusive comments made by both sides. One commentator made the
observation that no matter what else took place, Peterson's legacy has
been undeniably tarnished in the eyes of many.

Legacies are often difficult to evaluate, especially when they are
attached a man. It is, however, even more so the case when we try to
evaluate the legacy of an historical movement that has influenced most
the Christian Church for over a century, but has now increasingly faded
into obscurity. Here I am speaking of the Anglican phenomena of the
Oxford Movement, for it was a movement that has influenced almost every
part of the Christian Church, even down to our own day and time, whether
we know it or not.

The Oxford Movement had a concern for the renewal of worship and a
return to the theological values of the ancient Church, which, its
leaders believed, had become undermined by a politicizing of the
ecclesiastical practices and structures of its day. Central questions
included:
"How much should contemporary culture influence the Church?"
"What is central and essential to Christian worship?"
"What is the role of the State in the life of the Church?"
"How is a Christian to view Church History?"

These are questions that continue with us to this day. For that reason
alone, there might be value in reassessing the lessons and legacy of the
Oxford Movement.

John Henry Newman considered a sermon preached in the University church
in Oxford, England, on July 14, 1833, by John Keble, Professor of
Poetry, to be the real beginning of the Oxford Movement. His subject was
'National Apostasy', and the congregation included representatives of
the university, judges and magistrates of the region who had gathered
for the Annual Assize sermon. Keble claimed that both church and state
were 'drifting' or 'slipping away' from the calling which God had given
to each for the fulfillment of His purposes. Keble's remedy was for the
Church to return to its central role as an instrument of salvation which
had been brought into being by God through the work of Christ and the
continuing witness of the apostles. Therefore, the Church did not
receive its mandate from contemporary society or the requirements of the
government of the day, but from God alone who had given the Church its
ultimate authority. Few could have seen the full implications of this
single sermon.

The initial result was the publication of a series of 'Tracts for the
Times' by the leaders of the new movement who took as their chief aim
the defense of the Church as a divine institution, a concern for
apostolic succession in ministry and the use of worship as contained in
The Book of Common Prayer as a rule of faith. Keble, Newman, and E. B.
Pusey were soon joined by influential supporters in R.H. Froude, R.W.
Church and R.I. Wilberforce, who added their intellectual vigor and
literary skills. The 'Tracts', in time, became lengthy and detailed
theological treatises which called into question the status quo and were
attacked by the liberal party within the university and the Church
alike. Not unlike blog posts of today, however, they enjoyed a wide
readership and began to shift the nature of national and, indeed,
international ecclesial debates. Some of the leaders, however, became
increasingly disenchanted with the continuing debate. After many,
including most notably, John Henry Newman, made their way to the "safe
harbor" of the Roman Catholic Church, it seemed that the movement was
dead.

Three factors, however, ensured its continuing vitality. These three
factors, I believe, are still worthy of imitation in our own time and
circumstances.

Firstly, the intellectual foundation established by the early leaders in
their scholarly and literary activities, notably the Library of the
Fathers, made a major contribution to the study of Church History and
spirituality. Many of the Church Fathers had never even been available
in translation. The study of the Fathers, once a key element in
Reformation theology, had largely been abandoned by Protestants. Among
Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, the Fathers were the domain of
the few, not the many. Now, the situation changed. Critical texts, once
nowhere to be found, were prepared. The new movement honored learning
and scholarship and provided opportunities for the same all the way from
the smallest local parish to the oldest universities in the land.

Secondly, their emphasis upon a renewal of the Church's liturgical life
made worship central and re-established the Holy Eucharist as normative
Christian worship - a consequence of their reading of the early Fathers
- something that has influenced the renewal of the Church's liturgical
and sacramental life to this day. Liturgical texts were revised, hymns
were written, ancient prayers were translated, and people were
instructed as to the meaning of what was said and done in church.
Moreover, liturgy - literally "the work of the people" - allowed for the
active participation of the laity in worship.

Thirdly, the Oxford Movement went beyond the academic and upper class
environment in which it had been born. In practical terms, this was a
result of sympathetic clergy being given the worst possible parish
assignments by their church superiors, usually in the slums of city
centers, which it was thought would kill the movement. It had the
opposite effect as clergy made the Incarnation, the love of worship, and
social concern central to their lives, and filled their churches with
those who lived on the fringes of society. The beauty of Jesus in
worship was a light in the darkest industrial centers of America and
England as almost abandoned churches were painted, restored, renewed and
filled with those who had never before entered a place of worship.

Yet, with all of this, the Oxford Movement eventually failed, becoming a
small subset of the Anglican world. They failed, firstly, because they
succeeded. The Eucharist became normative in the Anglican communion and
far beyond - Methodists, Lutherans, and Reformed to name a few. Liturgy
and the study of the Church Fathers also gained adherents across the
ecclesiastical world. They won the argument. In becoming a small subset
of Anglicanism, they failed when they became more interested in the
style of their chasuble, the length of their surplice and the
arrangement of their altars, more than in the lost at their door or the
theological enablement of their people. They eventually became a
theological echo chamber counting externals as more important than the
care of their people, outreach to the poor or the reaffirmation of their
theological underpinnings.

These are lessons for us.

Denominational Christianity, as it has been known, is failing. Most
denominations may well be beyond the point of recovery. The larger
evangelical churches thrive, for the moment, in the suburbs, not in the
slums. Many Christians, especially evangelicals, look to the State to
uphold faith values. Meanwhile, other Christians, often progressives,
call on the State to enforce their particular view. Scholarship is
decried by some or embraced by others, but it has failed to take a
central place in informing our actions or faith decisions unless one
"party" or another can harness it to their particular point of view.
American and Western European Christianity has become eclipsed as the
faith increases at a staggering rate in Africa and Asia, often as they
face real, not supposed, persecution.

So, we return to legacy.

I wonder as I look around us today in 2017, what will our legacy be and
how will future generations evaluate our contributions to the faith, to
scholarship, to theology and worship? Will they consider them to be
substantial or mere vanities? Will they consider them to be significant
or trivial? Or, as has been done in the case of Eugene Peterson, will
they parse out the legacy, accepting what they want and rejecting the
rest. Perhaps...

We cannot answer such questions with absolute certainty, yet in our day
of suburban church planting seminars, worship choruses with life spans
measured in months, and publications aimed primarily for sales rather
than insight, these questions must be asked. In looking for historical
models for renewal, we might do well to look to the legacy of the Oxford
Movement. We might also wish to learn the lessons of what happens when
we lose the vision that first impelled us.

Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD is author of The Early Episcopal Career of
Athanasius of Alexandria (Notre Dame, 1991), Prayers of the Martyrs
(Zondervan, 1991) and is a member of The Project



------------------------------

Message: 18
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:20:41 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: "'Gay love'- Roman decadence & Christian virtue -- a response
to Steve Chalke"
Message-ID:
<1500682841.1651713....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

"'Gay love'- Roman decadence & Christian virtue -- a response to Steve
Chalke"

By Gavin Ashenden
www.virtueonline.org
July 19, 2017

INTRODUCTION

Steve Chalke is a Baptist minister and an admirable campaigner for
social justice.

He founded the Charity Oasis. A few years ago, he adopted a progressive
and liberal theology of sexuality. Recently he launched a video that was
widely reported (see this link for the Church Times --
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/14-july/news/uk/Chalke-unearths-ancient-erotica-to-combat-a-conservative-reading-of-scripture
in which he believes that an understanding of Graeco-Roman sexual
culture requires that we abandon the teaching of marriage and sexual
ethics as Christians have universally understood them. This essay is an
answer to the issues he raises.

Steve Chalke has been doing some research into the Classical world of
the Greeks and the Romans, and has come up with some discoveries that
have startled him. He has found a world that as he describes was
"utterly saturated with sex."

Perhaps Mr. Chalke may have led a sheltered life in his reading. But
this description of classical culture comes as no surprise to many. Tom
Holland, in his recent book on the Romans called 'Rubicon', documents
how even Julius Caesar put in his time as a 'rent-boy' to some elderly
lascivious ruler, King Nikomedes of Bythinia. The shame, such as there
was among the Romans, was not so much in the homoerotic sex; It lay more
in being the 'receptive' partner; effeminate; humiliating.

But this has come as news to Steve Chalke. He treats us to the fruit of
his research: --

"Because of widespread ignorance of the ancient world and Graeco-Roman
culture in churches across the West, we throw Bible verses around
without understanding their context."

Actually, if it is he who did not understand the historical context,
then perhaps he should have been a bit more honest and up front about
it, rather than just assuming others didn't either.

"So ingrained was this way of thinking and behaving that it became
incorporated into religion. Drug- and alcohol-fuelled orgies featuring
men sleeping with women, men sleeping with men, and women sleeping with
women and men were even classed as acts of worship."

At this point, Mr. Chalke makes a leap.

"Every Christian believes God to be a God of love. It is no wonder that
these abusive practices are condemned by inspired scripture.

But it is a disingenuous misreading of the text to conclude that what
Paul describes in Romans 1 can be used to prevent people forming loving,
faithful, and nurturing relationships with people of the same-sex.

Instead, the contentious passages have become "weaponised" and used to
"destroy LGBT people and their lives and their credibility and their
sense of peace".

This is such a shallow (albeit common) argument that it needs looking at
and holding to account.

"Every Christian believes God to be a God of love."

Yes, indeed, but what kind of love. A God who is to be most fully
expressed in romantic and erotic love? No, that was Venus and Aphrodite,
not Yahweh. So, if Christians believe that God is love, it is the kind
of love shown in mercy by a holy God who does not hold us accountable
for our fractured disobedience, not a God who gets cheered up when we
fall in love and go to bed with someone for a bit of passionate erotic
satisfaction. It's not that kind of 'love'. But a read through the Bible
would demonstrate that.

It's comforting to know that Mr. Chalke allows for both Christ and St
Paul to want to reign in sexual freedom and license a little.

But he goes much further, and here is the main plank of his argument
again: --

"But it is a disingenuous misreading of the text to conclude that what
Paul describes in Romans 1 can be used to prevent people forming loving,
faithful, and nurturing relationships with people of the same-sex."

Let's start with our culture and then look at what the Bible offers
instead.

If anyone is disingenuous, sadly it is not orthodox Christians. Mt
Chalke is in fact misrepresenting many of the relationships that he is
promoting as loving, faithful and nurturing. Far too many are in fact
largely something else; promiscuous, violent and unstable.

Let's look at these homosexual relationships that he tells us are loving
faithful and nurturing,

PROMISCUOUS

Let's ask a gay internet magazine for evidence: --

"Roughly 1,000 gay men were surveyed. Of that number, 41 percent
reported that they were either in, or have previously been in, an open
relationship. Now let's dig into the data, shall we?

When it comes to the politics of open relationships, here's what FS
learned:

74 percent of men who are currently in an open relationship said opening
was a mutual decision between both partners.

12 percent of them said they have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

75 percent of them said they have rules in place with their
relationship, but...

21 percent admitted to breaking those rules at least once. (Tisk,
tisk!)_

53 percent of single men with no experience of open relationships and 54
percent of coupled men with no experience of open relationships said
they'd rather be single than in an open relationship."

https://www.queerty.com/just-how-many-gay-men-are-in-open-relationships-these-new-stats-may-surprise-you-or-not-20160204

The Daily Beast goes further, and in talking about male gay committed,
faithful, permanent (and according to Steve Chalke 'nurturing') puts the
number of marriages in which partners sleep around at 50%

http://www.thedailybeast.com/gay-open-marriages-need-to-come-out-of-the-closet

"Over the past decade and a half, studies from San Francisco State
University and Alliant International University have found that around
half of gay relationships are open."

The Daily Beast thinks this compares with heterosexual marriages which
it puts at 1% who maintain 'open' relationships.

"Writer and sex columnist Dan Savage famously described these
arrangements as "monogamish"--"mostly monogamous, not swingers, not
actively looking." And even more couples are in them than you think. I'd
say that the Alliant and SFU figures are a tad low, at least for gays. I
can't speak for lesbian couples, but few queer men I know--including
myself--are in relationships that are exclusively, 100-percent
monogamous. Some couples occasionally invite a third into the bedroom
for a night of play, while others independently arrange their own casual
hookups. Some men might even have long-term partners outside their
primary relationship."

So, whatever male gay 'marriage' is -- we can say that it is very
different from straight marriage, where the expectation and the
definition is mutually exclusive faithfulness.

In An Open Secret: The Truth About Gay Male Couples

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi writes,

"In one recent study of gay male couples, 41.3% had open sexual
agreements with some conditions or restrictions, and 10% had open sexual
agreements with no restrictions on sex with outside partners. One-fifth
of participants (21.9%) reported breaking their agreement in the
preceding 12 months, and 13.2% of the sample reported having unprotected
anal intercourse in the preceding three months with an outside partner
of unknown or discordant HIV-status (1).

This study follows the classic research of McWhirter and Mattison,
reported in The Male Couple (1984), which found that not a single male
pair was able to maintain fidelity in their relationship for more than
five years. Outside affairs, the researchers found, were not damaging to
the relationship's endurance, but were in fact essential to it. "The
single most important factor that keeps couples together past the
ten-year mark is the lack of possessiveness they feel," says the authors
(p. 256).

The gay community has long walked a thin public-relations line,
presenting their relationships as equivalent to those of heterosexual
married couples. But many gay activists portray a very different
cultural ethic. Michelangelo Signorile describes the campaign "to fight
for same-sex marriage and its benefits and then, once granted, redefine
the institution completely--to demand the right to marry not as a way of
adhering to society's moral codes, but rather to debunk a myth and
radically alter an archaic institution." (1974, p 3)."

http://www.josephnicolosi.com/an-open-secret-the-truth-about/I

The evidence is then that Mr Chalke is mistaken in characterising many
or most of these relationship as "stable, faithful and nurturing"?

VIOLENT?

What about Lesbian relationships? How stable, faithful and nurturing are
they?

Dr. Suzanna Rose who produced the "Lesbian Partner Violence Fact Sheet,
claims that the answer is that lesbian domestic violence produces 66%
more domestic violence that heterosexual marriages.

"The National Violence Against Women survey found that 21.5 percent of
men and 35.4 percent of women living with a same-sex partner experienced
intimate-partner physical violence in their lifetimes, compared with 7.1
percent and 20.4 percent for men and women, respectively, with a history
of only opposite-sex cohabitation. Transgender respondents had an
incidence of 34.6 percent over a lifetime according to a Massachusetts
survey."

https://www.advocate.com/crime/2014/09/04/2-studies-prove-domestic-violence-lgbt-issue

This raises the number up to 45% saying that many lesbians don't report
the violence.

"How common is lesbian partner violence?

About 17-45% of lesbians report having been the victim of a least one
act of physical violence perpetrated by a lesbian partner."

Why would a lesbian batter another woman?

Lesbians who abuse another woman may do so for reasons similar to those
that motivate heterosexual male batterers. Lesbians abuse their partners
to gain and maintain control (9). Lesbian batterers are motivated to
avoid feelings of loss and abandonment. Therefore, many violent
incidents occur during threatened separations"

https://mainweb-v.musc.edu/vawprevention/lesbianrx/factsheet.shtml

UNSTABLE?

A study that reported to the UK Parliament provided evidence that
lesbian marriages were the most unstable of all partnerships.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmpublic/marriage/memo/m94.htm

Twice as unstable in fact. Where 15% of heterosexual couples failed,
within 5 years the comparison amongst lesbians was twice that, at 30%.
The reasons why researchers look to Scandinavia for statistics is that
they have had progressive 'marriage' longest.

"15. Longitudinal Swedish and Norwegian data on 2,819 homosexual and
222,000 opposite-sex marriages included information on characteristics
such as age, geographic background, as well as experience of previous
opposite-sex marriage, parenthood and education. Breakdown rates in
Norway revealed that same-sex male couples were 1.5 times more likely (
and same sex female couples were 2.67 more likely) to break up compared
to heterosexual unions: within five years 20% of male and 30% of female
same sex unions were terminated, compared to 13% for heterosexuals.
Similarly, in Sweden , male unions are 50% more likely to end in divorce
than heterosexual marriages and the risk for female partnerships is
nearly double that for men. Comparison with childless unions leaves this
unchanged as do controls for various demographic and socioeconomic
differences. [9] The instability of same sex unions has been labelled
'dynamism' to indicate superiority to the 'inertia' of marital stability
-- a dynamism attributed to the lack of 'clear power structures' which
supposedly oppress opposite sex relationships.

In the Netherlands, there have been 1,078 same sex 'divorces' up to 2010
-- two thirds were by females and a similar pattern is present
elsewhere, as in Massachusetts and Sweden . [10]"

So however much we love and support our homosexual friends, their
relationships involve exponentially higher levels of promiscuity,
violence and instability; not as Mr. Chalke insists without evidence,
faithful, loving and nurturing.

It becomes a very serious charge against both the sacred text of the
Bible and those who have faithfully interpreted it for 2,000 years to
claim,

"Instead, the contentious passages have become "weaponised" and used to
"destroy LGBT people and their lives and their credibility and their
sense of peace".

For what has destroyed their lives, credibility and their peace, is not
the Bible, but the consequences of celebrating, promoting and living
values that are anti-God, and so bring no peace.

Hollywood and Plato v the Bible

We should not blame Steve Chalke or the gay community for our present
life style. It's a straight problem. We have taken a mixture of Plato
and Hollywood and built a whole deceptive culture around it. The most
foolish amongst us have then tried to Christianise it with a thin veneer
of fake spirituality, and failed. And that's why it's important to hold
Steve Chalke to account for his twisting the faith out of shape. His
motives are good. His judgement is poor.

It was Plato who told the story in his Dialogue the Symposium about
'soulmates'. He has Zeus slice the original humans, who were
androgynous, in two. This left two halves each of which were looking for
ever for their split off soul mate.

It's a lovely story, designed to explain our human longing for love. The
Bible answers that longing with Yahweh who made us and rescues us.
Hollywood follows Plato and gives us a diet of the search for the soul
mate.

You might have noticed that the search does not often go very well.
People find their soul mate --and are blissfully and erotically happy,
until they fall out of love and start looking again; and again; and
again.

The gay romantic erotic narrative is no more realistic or successful
than the straight one. Actually less so, because it is based on a kind
of sterile narcissism -- man gazing longingly at man, and woman at
woman. In its biological sterility it never even gets to co-create the
fruit of the love and produce children.

BIBLICAL NARRATIVE

To those who wonder why the Old Testament gives such short shrift to men
who 'like together', the answer lies in part that the Children of Israel
were set apart from the other nations to learn and exemplify who God
was. God was approached in the 'Holy of Holies'. God was holy and
humanity was unclean. The whole of the Old Testament was an experience
of being brought from far away into the presence of God and exchanging
what was unclean for what had been cleansed.

This journey from the unclean to the clean, from sin towards holiness
touched everything; as perhaps you might expect. Nothing was exempt --
from cooking to clothing. And of course it included sex and marriage.

God's purity was so nuclear, that humans could not look upon him 'face
to face' and live.

At the heart of the Old Testament story if the realisation that humanity
had been twisted out of shape, and God had set about healing, restoring
and purifying, using the Law and the Prophets, until He came in person.

Jesus continued this call to purity, locating is most of all in the
heart.

In Matthew 15 he makes it clear that misused sex corrupts:-

19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false witness, slander.20These are what defile a
person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."

So what is misused sex? Christian teaching is clear that sex belongs in
and works within marriage with the intention of being the delightful
means of entering in co-creation with God.

Outside marriage it becomes something different. It ought to be obvious
that one should not suddenly think that in the 21st Century you can get
around this principle by telling God you have redefined marriage; unless
God is a construct of your wish-fulfilling imagination, instead of the
all holy creator of the universe who holds our life in His hands.

SEX IN OUR CULTURE

Step by step we have changed sex from the bond expressed within marriage
for children to a recreational activity that feeds romantic and erotic
desire.

One is pure and holy, and the other is not.

Just because we have done this step by step, by degrees, we can't be
blind to what our culture has done.

First of all by the use of birth control and abortion we saved ourselves
from the direct life-giving consequences of sexual intimacy. Then we
began to unglue marriage. The sex outside marriage become 'normal' (but
at no stage did it become pure, holy or acceptable to God.) Then we
redefined marriage to break the link between sex to conception.

HOMOSEXUALITY

One way of describing the move from God's intended purity and healing
towards sin and breakdown, is the move from order to disorder.

When sexual desire runs counter to one's own biology, for whatever
reason, it represents disorder. The question that faces all Christians
is what do we do when our desires and longings find themselves in
opposition to what God has called us to be and do?

The answer that Jesus gives to His followers is to crucify them- to
struggle with them and give them up. This is as much true for so-called
straight people as for so called gay. And where people fail, they ask
for forgiveness and start the process again. For some people the
struggle lasts a lifetime.

We can argue about the causes of homosexuality. The only thing we know
for certain is that there is no 'gay gene', which suggests that it is in
large part environmental, though there may be other factors which
combine together.

Many Christians have felt deep sympathy for gay people who have been
portrayed as victims of their biology. The compassion does them credit,
but the claims of this victimhood are much exaggerated and simply not
true.

It was part of the campaigning strategy of the normalisation of gay
activists to present it that way. There was great political and social
advantage to be had from saying 'we can't help ourselves'; but in
different contexts we hear a different narrative. Peter Tatchell is on
record as saying;

"We already know, thanks to a host of sex surveys, that bisexuality is
an fact of life and that even in narrow-minded, homophobic cultures,
many people have a sexuality that is, to varying degrees, capable of
both heterosexual and homosexual attraction."

Then he challenges the traditional view that gay and straight are
distinct categories:

"Research by Dr Alfred Kinsey in the USA during the 1940s was the first
major statistical evidence that gay and straight are not watertight,
irreconcilable and mutually exclusive sexual orientations. He found that
human sexuality is, in fact, a continuum of desires and behaviours,
ranging from exclusive heterosexuality to exclusive homosexuality. A
substantial proportion of the population shares an amalgam of same-sex
and opposite-sex feelings -- even if they do not act on them."

http://pjsaunders.blogspot.fr/2012/01/peter-tatchell-comes-clean-that.html

In other words, change of sexual desire along a scale that stretches
from heterosexual to homosexual. This is exactly the point that those
Christians who pray with people who are struggling with disordered
desires make too. Somehow when Peter Tatchell says it no one blinks an
eye, but when Christians say it, it is condemned as homophobia.

Led by the tortured gay activist Jayne Ozanne, the General Synod of the
Church of England bought into the myth that change of any kind was not
possible. At the same time, it encouraged transgenderism where change is
produced chemically or surgically.

In the case of the gender dysphoria, the issue is whether the body or
the imagination takes priority. For Christians the direction we are
committed to take of the renewed and transformed mind and imagination
that St Paul writes of in Romans 12.2 "Do not be conformed to this world
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind"

GAY OR LGBT?

Although the political campaign has been well served by just referring
to people as gay, it is clear that homosexual men and homosexual women
are not two sides of the same coin. At the very simplest level there is
a great deal more sexual 'fluidity' amongst women. The gay scene
comprises of many women who declare themselves 'gay' in their late teens
and early twenties, and then find themselves 'straight' after all when
they find themselves in love with a man, and settling down to start a
family.

If there is no 'gay' but instead a spectrum of disordered and fluid
sexual appetites, this suggests that we are encountering not victims of
biology, but wounded and disturbed episodes of disorder expressed in
terms of sexual identity and attraction. When asked to self-define the
movement disintegrates into spectrum of varieties of appetite and
attitude.

LGBTQQIP2SAA

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and

Two Q's to cover both bases (queer and questioning);

I for Intersex, people with two sets of genitalia or various chromosomal
differences;

P for Pansexual, people who refuse to be pinned down on the Kinsey
scale;

2S for Two-Spirit, a tradition in many First Nations that considers
sexual minorities to have both male and female spirits;

A for Asexual, people who do not identify with any orientation; and

A for Allies, recognizing that the community thrives best with loving
supporters, although they are not really part of the community itself.

CHRISTIAN REACTION

What should the Church's response be to disorder and desire?

In the realm of sexual difficulty, one might make a comparison with the
epidemic of pornography that has accompanied the over-sexualisation of
our culture. There it is clear that something that has such power to
disorder our appetites and diminish the value of sexual intimacy and
encounter has to be treated with the utmost seriousness and resisted.

But the same is true of a culture of people who have been immersed in
the over-sexualisation of our society and drawn into an unstable and
wounding series of sexual and romantic encounter. This is as much a
heterosexual crisis as a homosexual one.

But in the grip of the love of Christ, with the promise of the help of
the transforming Holy Spirit, it is the duty of the Church to resist
secularism, sexualisation and disorder, and to work for its healing.

All healing and repair come from repentance. The terrible mistake that
people like Steve Chalke and now, apparently, the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the General Synod, make, is to think that a movement and
a trajectory that takes 'pride' in refusing to repent, can be baptised
by Christian affirmation.

Of course their motivation is compassion. Of course they are moved to
want to protect and nurture people who find themselves marginalised,
coping with self-rejection and even self-harming, on the edge of things.

But sexual desire and sexual identity does not get a special pass in
Scripture and Christian experience and tradition. On the contrary, the
more powerful something is, the more is needs so be surrendered to
Christ, and not to seek an alternative life outside Him and outside His
help.

ROMANS 1

St Paul tried to explain something of the understanding he has in the
Holy Spirit of the relationship between idolatry and the perversion of
our sexual identity.

Since this has to do with the Spirit, not everyone will understand this.
Steve Chalke seems so far from an understanding of the metaphysics of
the Kingdom, that he sees this as a 'weaponised' text depriving the
homosexual community of its peace.

St Paul tried to explain that the more idolatrous a society is, the more
disruption and disorder will be caused and experienced by people. It's a
kind of 'ecology of the Spirit'- an interconnectedness of things that
are bound together.

This brings us to Chalke's major idea -- that if people 'love' each
other, they are exempt from Christian ethics.

You only have to apply this to adultery to see how shallow this is. But
it's based on Chalke buying into the heresy of romantic love -- perhaps
the greatest heresy of the Twentieth Century.

There are many definitions of love. The Greek famously has four words
where we only have one. So we need to be careful how we use our single
word that contains so many ideas.

St. Paul defines Christian love as 'agape' a form of selfless
compassion. Unlike romantic love, it excludes 'Eros' and erotic love.
But it is not at all clear that romantic love really is 'love.' The
psychologist Dorothy Tennov in her 1979 book Love and Limerence: The
Experience of Being in Love, felt the need to find a word that covered
the romanticism of being in love. She coined 'Limerence'. For many a
temporary state of erotic and romantic mental instability.

"Limerence (also infatuated love) is a state of mind which results from
a romantic attraction to another person and typically includes obsessive
thoughts and fantasies and a desire to form or maintain a relationship
with the object of love and have one's feelings reciprocated."

This is partly what Steve Chalke is talking about. Most people recover
from a serious dose of it after between 6-24 months. It is passionate,
unstable, often selfish and sometimes destructive. But it doesn't give a
pass from Christian sexual ethics. In fact the Christian response
consistent with the teaching of the Gospels down the ages has been to
pray for and to exercise self-control.

But Mr Chalke has bought into the heresy of romantic love, and no doubt
like other poor lay psychologists he may feel that sexual restraint is
bad for you.

He has not looked down the road and seen what the outworking of this
careless new doctrine of sexualised limerence is.

Once you fracture the link between sex in Christian marriage with the
conception of children, and sanction homosexual love liaisons, there is
no logical need to restrain the definition of marriage to two people. It
can be extended to three or perhaps four -- and of any combination of
straight or LGBTQQIP2SAA you care for.

Nor are the rights or psychological needs of the children bought into
homosexual or group marriages defended.

Of all the responsibilities we have towards children, giving them access
to their biological father and mother should come at the top of the
list. But this new progressive sexual ethic makes the children pay. At
least one of their biological parents is out of reach, if not forever,
then certainly during their childhood. We know from the Gospels what
Jesus thought of those who damaged or wounded children;

"It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and
he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little
ones to sin." Luke 17.2 and this damages and wounds children.

CONCLUSION

If one buys in uncritically to the culture of romantic love and the
primacy of its erotic expression, and then adds to that a strong dose of
compassion for those who suffer disorder in their lives, it is easy, in
fact inevitable that one ends up by throwing over the authority of
Scripture, the weight of Christian experience down the ages, and the
witness and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This is what most of liberal Protestantism has done. There is no
evidence that this direction or change of priorities has brought more
people to Christ, led to a greater holiness amongst Christians or united
Christ's Church. These would be the fruit of a holy discernment.

In fact it has done the opposite. It has split the Church, demoralised
those who have struggled with self-sacrifice and sexual continence, and
undermined the authority and power of the Scriptures, picking some bits
and discarding others at will.

It is in fact the baptising of secular search for pleasure and
self-fulfilment with a thin veneer of spirituality, that masquerades as
Christianity.

Many people on reflection, see it as something even more serious; the
assault of spiritual evil on the Bride of Christ, aided and abetted by
the well-meaning and spiritually ill-equipped.

It is a matter of such seriousness that is has become the litmus test
for what it authentically Christian -- belonging to Christ, and what is
not. Rooted in 'the World' this movement ignores the call of heaven.
Rooted in what we call in theological terms 'the flesh' it ignores the
welfare of the soul.

It has become the crossroads that stands between heaven and hell. It is
for that reason, that so many orthodox Christians resist this
misrepresentation of the truth with such energy. Not because they lack
compassion but because they have compassion,- but compassion for souls
that have been wounded by disorder and distance from Christ.

The real shame and blame lies with the Christian leaders who have so
turned truth inside out, that they stand between the lost and their
discovery of a change of direction that carries them closer to God and
not further from Him; between the disordered and their healing. This is
a struggle not for relevance, but for salvation.

END



------------------------------

Message: 19
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:21:11 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: 'Heroes and Heroines of Our Faith'
Message-ID:
<1500682871.1651725....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

'Heroes and Heroines of Our Faith'

By Jeff Walton
https://juicyecumenism.com/2017/07/18/heroes-heroines-faith/
July 19, 2017

More than 250 million Christians are suffering persecution of some kind
around the world today, according to Baroness Caroline Cox of the
U.K.-based Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). Many live under the
oppression of Communism, fundamentalist Hinduism, political Buddhism
and, above all, militant Islam.

Cox spoke June 30 before 1,400 clergy, bishops and lay delegates at the
Anglican Church in North America Provincial Assembly held on the campus
of Wheaton College in Illinois.

Cox said Christians to have an obligation, quoting Saint Paul in his
first letter to the Corinthians, "When one part of the Body of Christ
suffers, we all suffer."

"We do have a mandate to be alongside those brothers and sisters," Cox
declared "If not necessarily in person, then certainly in spirit and
prayer."

Cox is a cross-bench member of the British House of Lords, where she
served as a Deputy Speaker from 1985 to 2005. Created a Life Peer in
1982, Cox describes herself as a Baroness by "astonishment", and a
servant by faith.

Speaking of Christians under pressure in Armenia, Burma, Sudan, Nigeria
and Syria, Cox quoted St. Francis of Assisi, that "Pity weeps and turns
away -- compassion weeps and puts out a hand to help."

Speaking of a woman whose child is dying of starvation in Sudan, Cox
relayed her words: "I could go to a government-held area, get some food
and medicine, and save my little boy, but I am a Christian. I'm not
going to convert to Islam. We will live and die as Christians."

"To sacrifice yourself must be tough," Cox assessed. "To sacrifice your
child -- I am blessed with 10 grandchildren -- I can hardly imagine
sacrificing a child for my faith. That is the price of faith for so many
of our brothers and sisters."

Speaking of Nigeria, Cox reported that over recent decades, thousands of
Christians have been killed and hundreds of churches burnt. Many Muslims
have also died at the hands of Boko Haram.

"The escalation of Boko Haram's brazenness is creating a reign of terror
and intimidation in northern Nigeria," Cox explained. Showing footage of
devastated church buildings, Cox described the Boko Haram tactic of
suicide bombers driving explosive-laded vehicles into the middle of
church services.

"But even there, in the middle of that destitution -- of that horrendous
destruction -- people still praise God," Cox reported, showing the words
"To God be the Glory" etched on the wall of a destroyed church building.

"The very stones cry out under persecution, but they cry out with
worship," Cox said. "We never hear a message of revenge, hate or
bitterness," Cox added.

Quoting Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi of Jos, Nigeria, Cox read: "If we
have a faith worth living for, it is a faith worth dying for. Don't you
compromise the faith that we are living and dying for."

Anglican Global Mission Partners, an umbrella group of 32 Anglican
organizations including Anglican Frontier Missions (AFM) hosted a
sub-conference during the assembly. Focused upon the question "Who
Really is my Neighbor?" the sessions featured speakers engaged with
ministry among the unreached around the world.

Bishop Grant LeMarquandBishop Grant LeMarquand of the Horn of Africa
spoke alongside his wife Wendy about their ministry among refugees in
Gambella, Ethiopia, near the border of South Sudan. Addressing the
"global crisis" of 65 million refugees, the LeMarquands told of 350,000
refugees from South Sudan in their own area and the losses they had
experienced.

"Bullets came, we ran, we carried only our children," Dr. Wendy
LeMarquand relayed of a story from one group of refugees that arrived
from South Sudan. While they had no food or clothes, the refugees were
most sad about losing their elderly.

"The blood of Abel cries for vengeance, the blood of Jesus cries for
forgiveness," Bishop LeMarquand explained of the unique message the
Gospel brought to people hurting amidst ethnic strife.



------------------------------

Message: 20
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:21:40 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Hull Minster: City of Cultured Despisers: Courtesy of the two
Archbishops
Message-ID:
<1500682900.1651752....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Hull Minster: City of Cultured Despisers: Courtesy of the two
Archbishops

PHOTO: The Rector of the Minister, Canon Dr Neal Barnes

By Melvin Tinker
www.virtueonline.org
July 19, 2017

After nearly a quarter of a century living in the City of Hull, my love
for the people and the place grows each year and the word 'pride' is one
I would unreservedly use to describe my affection for the town. But of
course this cherished word, 'like 'gay', is in danger of being hijacked
as it becomes increasingly associated with those who would seek to
normalise LGBTQ activity as part of mainstream life.

Many of us were delighted when Hull was chosen as UK's City of Culture
and, as a result, so many wonderful events are taking place which
uplifts the human spirit (for instance this weekend my wife will be
attending a BBC proms in the city). But where there is light there tends
to be a shadow and so coinciding with this is a Gay Pride rally. This in
itself is not surprising. What is surprising is that a church which was
once the flagship of Evangelicalism in the City is hosting a 'Service of
Welcome' with members of the LGBT Christian fellowship. Canon Rachel
Mann a transsexual lesbian is the main speaker. Canon Mann is the
Resident Poet at Manchester Cathedral and a well-known gay activist.

The Rector of the Minister, Canon Dr Neal Barnes, who identifies himself
as an evangelical, has defended his decision to host this event by
appealing to the statements made by Archbishops Welby and Sentamu after
the failed House of Bishops Report earlier this year. This service is
being hailed as an example of the kind of 'radical inclusion' urged by
the two Archbishops. In fact, the service itself has been put together
under the guidance of Archbishop Sentamu, so it has the imprimatur of
his Grace. Dr Barnes writes in the promotional material, "All are
welcome to worship at Hull Minster and this service reflects that. It
will be very informal, inclusive and full of joy. We hope many people
will come and experience it in this wonderful setting.'

Dr Barnes has assured critics 'that there is no departure from the
Church England's position on the matter and that the emphasis of welcome
coheres with the recent calls from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
General Synod.' To be sure, there is no departure in that no one has
formally denied the Church's teaching, but there is more than one way to
bring about a denial of, and a change to, the Church's teaching. This is
one very effective way.

Over 50 years ago Marshall McLuhan argued that 'the medium is the
message', which in part includes the idea that the medium through which
a message is delivered is as significant, (perhaps more so) than the
'cold' content of the message itself. So whatever words might be spoken
at the Hull Minster Gay event through poems, testimony and song (and you
can bet your last Euro they will be gay affirming), the actual place in
which the event is taking place, and the 'inclusive', 'informal' and
'joyful' nature of the event themselves convey a message. The message
which will invariably be communicated is that 'God' (as symbolised by
the building, liturgy, clergy) approves of homosexual, lesbian and trans
relationships as much as heterosexual ones. After all, traditionally
this is the place where the sanctity of the God given man-woman
relationships is blessed in marriage. The old Arab proverb, "If the
camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow" is
apposite- and of course, that is the intention of the LGBT activists.

In the 18th century Hull was known as the 'garden of the Lord' because
of the predominance of Evangelicals. One of the great leaders of the day
was Hull Grammar School Headmaster, Joseph Milner (elder brother of
Isaac Milner who was instrumental in the conversion of William
Wilberforce.) Milner used to preach at what was then Hull Trinity Church
(now 'upgraded' to Hull Minster) to packed congregations each Sunday
afternoon. In one of his sermons he lamented that he detected 'a proud
and worldly spirit and the excessive love of gain eating out the love of
Christ' and 'the awful progress of gross wickedness and vice, of
lewdness and impiety'. What was once lamented in that church is now
sadly being celebrated. But of course, Milner was not very 'inclusive',
his hard Biblical preaching would have no doubt put many people off.
Some people, no doubt, but then we read of this occurring: 'drunkards,
debauchees were reformed [is this an 18th century case of 'conversion
therapy'?], the care of the soul became the topic of common
conversation, the sick sent for him to their chambers, and when he
returned he found his house crowded with visitors who had come for
spiritual advice: great numbers of the poor and of the middle classes
became truly religious.'

We can hardly expect the same today while some clergy cannot distinguish
vice from virtue and replaces the Christ who came preaching 'repentance
for the Kingdom of God is near' with a fake Christ who affirms
everything and demands nothing.

I am sure Canon Barnes is not wittingly being complicit in the attempt
by some to subvert genuine Christianity which, in theory at least, the
Church of England still stands for. But perhaps the famous saying of
Edmund Burk that 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is
for good men to do nothing' has morphed into 'The only thing necessary
for the triumph of the progressives is for good men to be naive.'?

The Rev. Melvin Tinker is vicar of St John Newland, in Hull, England



------------------------------

Message: 21
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:22:25 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Gun-toting Episcopal priest in Corvette latest exemplar of
Florida road rage
Message-ID:
<1500682945.1652176....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Gun-toting Episcopal priest in Corvette latest exemplar of Florida road
rage

By Frank Cerabino
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/
July 11, 2017

Somebody needs to say some kind words about the visiting Episcopal
priest who booked a room briefly at the Martin County Jail.

The Very Reverend William Rian Adams was apparently on a road trip from
North Carolina in his red Corvette last week when he waved his Glock 22
handgun at two people in a pickup truck on Florida's Turnpike near Palm
City.

As it almost says in Proverbs: "Be thou diligent to know the state of
thy Glocks."

The two Floridians in the pickup truck who were receiving the Very
Reverend Adams' silent sermon phoned the Florida Highway Patrol, in
hopes of avoiding gunfire and brimstone. Moments later, a trooper pulled
over the gun-slinging pastor and charged him with two counts of
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

As it says in Ecclesiastes, "Wisdom is better than weapons of war."

But that's not taking into account the Very Reverend's contention that
the Florida pickup truck occupants threw a soda bottle at his sports
car.

Which reminds me of the Florida highway scripture, "Let him who is
without firearms cast the first Mountain Dew."

The alleged victims in this case, Sharon Hughes, 54, and her driver son,
Christopher, 24, were from the holy city of St. Cloud, near Orlando. And
they have a different version of the Very Reverend's actions that night.

"He came up on the side of us and went right on the front of us and
slammed on his brakes right away," Hughes said. "We're not sure where he
came from. He came flying up in the left-hand lane."

It must have been quite a Revelation: "And I beheld, and heard an angel
flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe,
woe, to the inhabiters of the earth' ... er, I mean 'the pickup truck.'"

Anyway, this was all very biblical. Hughes and her son were on their way
to visit a sick relative -- Leprosy? Just a guess -- when they
encountered the gun-toting cleric.

"Everything just happened so fast," the mother said. "He was cursing and
he pulled his gun. It's as simple as that."

As the Bible almost says in Deuteronomy, "Cursed be he who driveth too
slow in thy laneth."

The Very Reverend has retained a higher authority when it comes to
Florida criminal law.

"After all is said and done, we are confident that Mr. Adams will be
completely exonerated in this matter. He is innocent," his attorney,
Brian Mallonee, of Fort Pierce, said.

And I don't doubt it.

For as the Good Book says, "If there be a controversy between men, and
they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall
justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked."

Or at least offer an attractive plea bargain to somebody with no priors.

Besides, the Very Reverend is hardly the first pastor in these parts to
find himself embroiled in a road adventure.

The Extremely Reverend Bishop Thomas Masters, who doubles as the mayor
of Riviera Beach, is in the midst of another one of his car capers --
this time for speeding and driving with an expired license. In the past,
Masters has been cited for speeding, driving through red lights, parking
on the sidewalk, and driving with an expired tag and no car insurance.

All dropped, he proclaims. It's a miracle!

So a little black-collar road rage isn't exactly going to rock our ark
here.

But there's no telling how the flock at Calvary Episcopal Church in
Fletcher, North Carolina, a town of about 7,000 people, is going to take
their pastor's Florida felony road trip. The mountains of Western North
Carolina are a long way from Miami Vice.

And for a simple country priest, I'm guessing the red Corvette's bound
to take more preach-splainin' than the handgun.

For as it says in Psalms, or at least should say: "Lord, thou hast heard
the desire of the humble ... and got them a Corvette, and make it red
while you're at it, dear Lord."

At least it wasn't a Lamborghini.



------------------------------

Message: 22
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:22:51 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Bishop of London must not be Juggler of Words lacking
Integrity and Truth
Message-ID:
<1500682971.1652321....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Bishop of London must not be Juggler of Words lacking Integrity and
Truth

By Jules Gomes
www.virtueonline.org
July 14, 2017

Is David Ison, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, angling for the top job in
the Diocese of London? Will he be a worthy successor to 'he of the
sonorous voice and imposing beard' the legendary Richard Chartres, 'the
last of the great prince bishops?' Or will he inject the poisonous serum
of identity and gender politics into the fabric of the last of the
thriving dioceses of the Church of England?

The leftist and feminist wing of the CoE would crow triumphantly from
the rooftops were a woman to be elevated to this most exalted bishopric.
Any male making a pitch for the job would have to flash his pro-LGBTIQ
manifesto widely and brazenly enough for him to beat his nearest female
rival to the episcopal throne. Even if he scrapes through by a hair's
breadth of a couple of votes, once the mitre is on his head, his
position is secure for life.

One reason the Diocese of London has not gone the way of all flesh is
because of the thousands of black and Asian Christians who have kept
their bottoms glued to the fast-emptying pews of the CofE. In addition,
Nicky Gumbel and his Alpha-based evangelical congregations have planted
churches owing allegiance to the Holy Trinity Brompton brand of
Christianity-lite.

Last month, Dean Ison turned the spotlight on himself. "Look at me! My
face fits! I'm the right man for the job." Undoubtedly, he was "only"
chairing a public consultation last month at St Alban's Church, Holborn.
But when you have the Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary, Edward
Chaplin, and the Archbishops' Appointment Secretary, Caroline
Boddington, present at the meeting setting out nine priorities in the
'Statement of Need,' the most important face that will stick in their
mind is the face of the Chairman. And when one woman, Caroline
Boddington, has 'disproportionate power over C of E appointments' in 'an
unhealthily one-sided gatekeeper situation' there is only one way to the
throne.

Politics aside, does Ison's track record cry out "axios" in full
fortissimo? Axios is a Greek word meaning 'worth of,' 'deserving of,' or
'suitable.' It is an acclamation adopted by the early Eastern Orthodox
Church and made by the people at the ordination of bishops, priests and
deacons. Or does Ison's track record cry out loud and clear that he is
"unworthy?"

One virtue utterly indispensable in any minister, let alone the Bishop
of London, is integrity. Integrity is stating what you believe and
sticking to it. 'Walk straight, act right, tell the truth,' is how the
Message paraphrases Psalm 15:2. Ison plays hopscotch jumping on one leg
to whichever square he finds most convenient. In a BBC interview, he
backed away from his own pledge to conduct same-sex blessings at St
Paul's Cathedral following his appointment to the prestigious position.
Asked if he would be 'happy to conduct a gay marriage at St Paul's?' he
responded that 'there is no such a thing as gay marriage.'

Ison would be great at painting London pink, rather than purple. Ison
also juggles with words in a manner of 'a tale told by an idiot full of
sound and fury signifying nothing.' London needs a bishop who means what
he says and says what he means and Ison's rhetoric is slippery as an eel
darting down the Thames.

In an interview with Ruth Gledhill, Ison reveals how he created small
groups for people to 'talk to each other about your past and present
sexual practices and how they make you more or less holy in the sight of
God.' The interview is no longer available online. If Ison has
orchestrated this, does it reveal a man who is no longer willing to
stand by what he says and wishes to have it quietly expunged from the
public domain?

In 2015, veteran journalist and commentator David Virtue raised a number
of troubling questions about Ison's integrity. 'Billing himself as an
evangelical, he (Ison) announced back in 2012 that he had performed
ceremonies for homosexual couples who had had civil partnerships when he
was Dean of Bradford. Did he violate the canons of the Church of England
by doing that? If so, why was he not brought up on charges? How did he
convince the evangelicals who recommended him for that post? Was the
being truthful in what he believed about sexuality? Was there an element
of deception there?'

Virtue followed with an article asking: 'Did the Dean of St Paul's
Cathedral Deliberately Mislead CofE evangelicals?' Ison's position on
gay marriage turned out to be profoundly divisive. 'The net effect of
his now clear public advocacy for same-sex marriage resulted in St.
Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, a well-known evangelical Anglican center of
ministry in the City of London with a number of church plants saying
they would no longer send its candidates to the cathedral for
ordination,' wrote Virtue. A bishop is supposed to unite his diocese.

Ison backs gay marriage. There is nothing surprising about that. In
their desperation to be diverse and inclusive most CofE bishops will be
happy to marry a transgendered Martian to a transvestite wizard from a
Harry Potter novel. However, Ison admits to performing "ceremonies" for
homosexual couples when he was Dean of Bradford--a cathedral with
historic evangelical roots--even though this was in flagrant violation
of the rules of the church. A bishop who blatantly admits to violating
the rules of the church is not "axios." He is going to be the final
arbiter of discipline. When the shepherd conspires with the wolves to
pull down the fence protecting his sheep, he is no longer a shepherd but
a hireling.

Ison goes beyond recognising gay marriage and says he believes gay
people should be able to adopt. Was he present at a fringe meeting of
the recent General Synod meeting in July where Professor Robert Oscar
Lopez spoke movingly of his horrendous upbringing as a child adopted by
lesbian couple? Professor Lopez is editor of Jephthah's Children: The
Innocent Casualties of Same-Sex Parenting. The book is a collection of
first-person testimonies from children who have been brought up by
same-sex couples. The authors cry out in distress from the abuse
suffered as a result of being adopted by gay couples. Is this the abuse
the future Bishop of London should be seen to be promoting?

One of the most important aspects of the Bishop of London's portfolio is
how he treats people of other faiths. With anti-semitism on the rise and
with Jews constituting a significant religious community in London, it
is vital that the future Bishop of London does not have the faintest
odour of anti-semitism clinging to his cope. When Ison was Canon at
Exeter Cathedral, he took a party of pilgrims to Israel at the start of
the intifada in 2000. They had a Palestinian guide, visited only
Christian sites in Arab east Jerusalem and the West Bank, and talked to
virtually no Jews, writes Melanie Phillips. She quotes: 'The Old
Testament is a horrifying picture of genocide committed in God's
name.... And genocide is now being waged in a long, slow way by Zionists
against the Palestinians.' What will the Jewish Board of Deputies have
to say if Ison becomes Bishop of London?

'Asked what he made of Yasser Arafat's rejection of the offers made by
Israel at Camp David and Tabah, he said that he knew nothing about that.
Indeed, he said, he knew nothing about Israel beyond what he had read in
a book by an advocate of replacement theology, with which he agreed, and
what he had been told by the Palestinians on the pilgrimage,' writes
Phillips.

Ison has made his pitch to the left-wing camp of the CofE by flaunting
his pro-gay agenda. The more discerning of those who sit on the Crown
Nominations Commission will have to look beyond political showmanship.
They will need to consider if the candidate for the See of Londinium is
truly "axios."

The Rev'd Dr Jules Gomes is a journalist and academic. He writes the
weekly "Rebel Priest" columnist for The Conservative Woman. You can
follow him on his website www.julesgomes.com



------------------------------

Message: 23
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:25:00 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: HOPE: What does it Mean to be a Mature Christian Disciple? -
1 Peter 1:3-9
Message-ID:
<1500683100.1652424....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

HOPE: What does it Mean to be a Mature Christian Disciple? - 1 Peter
1:3-9

By Ted Schroder
www.tedschroder.com
July 23, 2017

?Hope is a wonderful gift from God, a source of strength and courage in
the face of life?s harshest trials.
* When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at
the end.
* When we are overworked and exhausted, hope gives us fresh energy.
* When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits.
* When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
* When we lose our way and confusion blurs the destination, hope dulls
the edge of panic.
* When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness, hope
helps us persevere beyond the pain.
* When we fear the worst, hope brings reminders that God is still in
control.
* When we must endure the consequences of bad decisions, hope fuels our
recovery.
* When we find ourselves unemployed, hope tells us we still have a
future.
* When we are forced to sit back and wait, hope gives us the patience to
trust.
* When we feel rejected and abandoned, hope reminds us we?re not alone?
we?ll make it.
* When we say our final farewell to someone we love, hope in the life
beyond gets us through our grief.

Put simply, when life hurts and dreams fade, nothing helps like hope.?
(Charles Swindoll, Hope Again, xi,xii)

Hope is the antidote to despair. Job experienced despair when he
suffered the loss of his children, his wealth and his health. ?What
strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I
should be patient?.... My days are swifter than a weaver?s shuttle, and
they come to an end without hope? (Job 6:11;7:6).

Why is depression so prevalent? Dr. Armand Nicholi, clinical professor
of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, maintained that many young
people feel that their secular culture fails to provide answers to
questions of purpose, meaning and destiny. ?We fail, they feel, to
provide some reason for hope.?

If you do not believe that life has any purpose, that there is no God,
you will end up with no hope for the future. Germaine Greer, the
feminist author, maintains that it is a waste of time hunting for a
purpose in your having been born on earth. ?Once you understand that
there is no point to your existence, the challenge is not, as Sartre
said, the question of suicide; but working out how to make the best of
what you?ve got, even though it?s probably a bum steer.? (Aret? 52,
Alphabetical Autobiography)

The defiant atheist will hear nothing about the comfort eternity offers.
She prefers hopelessness to any acknowledgement of God?s purpose.

It is so easy to give way to despair, to think that our suffering will
never end, that we are victims of our circumstances. This world is full
of suffering. There are 65.5 million refugees, displaced people, who
have fled from their homes because of war, famine and persecution; most
from Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan. As we age we suffer loss of
physical ability, loss of loved ones, loss of personal value. This life
offers little hope in and of itself. Hope is not wishful thinking. It is
not, as H.L. Mencken defined it as ?a pathological belief in the
occurrence of the impossible.?

Even as Christians we ?groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our
adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our bodies. We were
saved by this hope, but in our moments of impatience let us remember
that hope always means waiting for something that we do not yet possess.
But if we hope for something we cannot see, then we must settle down to
wait for it in patience? (Rom 8:23-25 JBP).

Waiting is hard to do. But the mature Christian disciple has learned the
?hope always means waiting for something that we do not yet possess.?
When we are in distress, when we are hurting, when we are impatient, the
words of the psalmist come to mind: ?Why are you so downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise
him, my Savior and my God?.I say to God my Rock, ?Why have you forgotten
me? Why must I go about mourning? Why are you so downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I?ll yet praise
him, my Savior and my God? (Ps 42:5,9,11).

?Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on
wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and
not be faint? (Isaiah 40:31). Hope sustains us on the journey because we
believe we are traveling on the road God has set before us to the
fulfillment of his promises.

But how do we hope in the Lord? How can we find the faith that is ?being
sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see? (Heb 11:1).
?If for this life only we have hope in Christ we are to be pitied more
than all men? (1 Cor 15:19). We must have an eternal perspective. God
has destined us for something much greater than this life.

St. Peter tells us. ?Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade ? kept in
heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God?s power until the
coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time?
(1 Peter 1:3-5).

Our living hope is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this
life Jesus suffered the most painful trials, endured death on the cross
for our sins, and was raised from the dead. God has shown that he can
bring us through whatever we face in this world, no matter how hopeless
it may seem to us at the time. We are born again into that inheritance,
into a relationship with our heavenly Father, who keeps in heaven for us
the treasures that can never perish, spoil or fade. What a promise!

That is why hope is described as ?an anchor for the soul, firm and
secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our
forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf? (Hebrews 6:19-20). This
living hope in Christ and the eternal life he promises is like an anchor
that secures us against the raging storms of life. We cannot be swept
away by our earthly circumstances, our physical deterioration, whatever
may threaten our wellbeing because we have this anchor for the soul.
?Pessimism is altogether alien from the true Christian spirit. A
Christian will always be an optimist, not in a superficial, sentimental
sense, but because of the great stronghold of hope which is his in
Christ? (W.H. Griffith Thomas).

Make this your prayer for the journey: ?May the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit? (Rom 15:13).

END



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