VirtueOnline Digest, Vol 17, Issue 15

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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: April 14, 2017 (David Virtue)
3. Atlanta Episcopal Bishop Invited Muslim Guest Preacher at
Holy Week Renewal of Vows (David Virtue)
4. Episcopal Dioceses Start to Crumble as Parishes Decline.
Fewer Paid Rectors (David Virtue)
5. Top TEC Officials pull down nearly $3 million a Year in
Salaries (David Virtue)
6. C of E archbishops call on Christians to repent for
Reformation split (David Virtue)
7. LONG ISLAND: Former Porn Editor now involved in Mother and
Child Ministry in Episcopal Church (David Virtue)
8. Anglicans join global wave of solidarity after Palm Sunday
Coptic bombings (David Virtue)
9. CAIRO: A Statement Regarding Recent Church Bombings in Egypt
? Mouneer Anis (David Virtue)
10. Archbishop of Canterbury at Spring Harvest: 'We are going to
heal the world's separation from God.' (David Virtue)
11. UK: Gay clergyman passed over seven times for promotion to
bishop (David Virtue)
12. Welby?s hero Keynes lost nearly everything in the 1929 crash
(David Virtue)
13. Islam and Religious Freedom (David Virtue)
14. TSUNAMI! (David Virtue)
15. Why the Arguments for a Third Way do not Work (David Virtue)
16. Episcopal Church Elects Normal Bishop (David Virtue)
17. THE MAIN THING: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (David Virtue)


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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:26:08 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Table of Contents
Message-ID:
<1492129568.1923342...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest - Desktop & Mobile Edition
www.virtueonline.org
April 14, 2017


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

1. Coptic Christians Slaughtered in Egypt: Anglicans respond * Episcopal
Dioceses crumble...
http://www.virtueonline.org/coptic-christians-slaughtered-egypt-anglicans-respond-episcopal-dioceses-crumble-top-tec-officials


************************************************
EPISCOPAL NEWS
************************************************

2.Atlanta Episcopal Bishop Invited Muslim Guest Preacher at Holy Week
Renewal of Vows
http://www.virtueonline.org/atlanta-episcopal-bishop-invited-muslim-guest-preacher-holy-week-renewal-vows

3.Episcopal Dioceses Start to Crumble as Parishes Decline. Fewer Paid
Rectors
http://www.virtueonline.org/episcopal-dioceses-start-crumble-parishes-decline-fewer-paid-rectors

4.Top TEC Officials pull down nearly $3 million a Year in Salaries
http://www.virtueonline.org/top-tec-officials-pull-down-nearly-3-million-year-salaries

5.Church of England archbishops call on Christians to repent for
Reformation split
http://www.virtueonline.org/c-e-archbishops-call-christians-repent-reformation-split

6.LONG ISLAND: Former Porn Editor now involved in Mother and Child
Ministry in Episcopal Church
http://www.virtueonline.org/long-island-former-porn-editor-now-involved-mother-and-child-ministry-episcopal-church


*********************************************
GLOBAL ANGLICAN NEWS
*********************************************

7.Anglicans join global wave of solidarity after Palm Sunday Coptic
bombings
http://www.virtueonline.org/anglicans-join-global-wave-solidarity-after-palm-sunday-coptic-bombings

8.CAIRO: A Statement Regarding Recent Church Bombings in Egypt by
Mouneer Anis
http://www.virtueonline.org/cairo-statement-regarding-recent-church-bombings-egypt-%E2%80%93-mouneer-anis


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

9.Archbishop of Canterbury at Spring Harvest: 'We are going to heal the
world's separation from God
http://www.virtueonline.org/archbishop-canterbury-spring-harvest-we-are-going-heal-worlds-separation-god

10.UK: Gay clergyman passed over seven times for promotion to bishop
http://www.virtueonline.org/uk-gay-clergyman-passed-over-seven-times-promotion-bishop

11.Welby's hero Keynes lost nearly everything in the 1929 crash
http://www.virtueonline.org/welby%E2%80%99s-hero-keynes-lost-nearly-everything-1929-crash


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

12. Islam and Religious Freedom
http://www.virtueonline.org/islam-and-religious-freedom


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

13. TSUNAMI!
http://www.virtueonline.org/tsunami

14.Why the Arguments for a Third Way do not Work
http://www.virtueonline.org/why-arguments-third-way-do-not-work-0

15.Episcopal Church Elects Normal Bishop
http://www.virtueonline.org/episcopal-church-elects-normal-bishop


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

16. THE MAIN THING: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
http://www.virtueonline.org/main-thing-1-corinthians-151-8


END



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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:29:31 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: VIEWPOINTS: April 14, 2017
Message-ID:
<1492129771.1924041...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The peril of isolation. The greatest peril to which any thinker is
exposed is the isolation of his ivory tower --? John R.W. Stott

A humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism. Only a humanism
open to the Absolute can guide us in the promotion and building of forms
of social and civic life ? structures, institutions, culture and ethos ?
without exposing us to the risk of becoming ensnared by the fashions of
the moment. ---
Pope Benedict XVI

The Problem of ?Echo Chambers?. A problem with contemporary American
society is that most people tend only to listen to people with whom they
already agree. The result is almost complete ignorance. --- Roger E.
Olson

Diversity and harmony. The church as a multi-racial, multi-cultural
community is like a beautiful tapestry. Its members come from a wide
range of colorful backgrounds. No other human community resembles it.
Its diversity and harmony are unique. It is God's new society. And the
many-coloured fellowship of the church is a reflection of the
many-coloured (or 'many-splendoured', to use Francis Thompson's word)
wisdom of God. --- John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
April 14, 2017

At 9.30 on (Palm Sunday) during Mass at St George?s Church in Tanto,
north of Cairo, dozens of Coptic Christians were celebrating the joyful
entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, our
Lord welcomed at least 25 of them into His kingdom, as a bomb went off
inside the church, narrowly missing the Coptic Church?s Patriarch, Pope
Tawadros II.

That, at least, is what hundreds of millions of Christians believe; as
Holy Week begins. They will be praying for the slaughtered men, women
and children of St Mark?s ? and also for the victims of a suicide
bombing outside St Mark?s Cathedral, Alexandria, that happened soon
after and where 18 are reported to have been slain.

A spokesman for the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs tweeted that
the Palm Sunday massacres were ?another obnoxious but failed attempts
against all Egyptians?. Really? It looks very like an attack on
Christians simply because they are Christians. It would be equally
fatuous to claim that Boko Haram?s unrelenting slaughter of Christians
is directed ?against all Nigerians?, noted Damian Thompson in The
Spectator.

The impulse to wipe them from the face of the earth is growing stronger,
and Muslim fanatics are delighted that the extinction of Christianity
from its ancient heartlands is tantalizingly close to happening.

The slaughter brought forth anguish from Egyptian Anglican Bishop,
Mouneer Anis, who noted with ?sadness? the killing of 45, with a further
injured 129, some of whom were Muslim policemen and guards. ?Sadness
overshadowed all Palm Sunday celebrations all over Egypt,? he said.

?Both terrorist attacks were done by suicide bombers. In Tanta, the
suicide bomber succeeded in entering the Church, while in Alexandria,
the metal detector gates beeped as the bomber was going through and to
avoid being arrested, he detonated the bomb.

?In view of these terrorist attacks, we expect that tourist numbers to
Egypt will drop considerably although Egypt is still considered a much
safer destination than other countries in the region,? wrote Anis. I
have posted several stories on this brutal slaying from an Anglican
perspective in today?s digest.

*****

Episcopal Dioceses are starting to crumble as parishes decline and there
are fewer paid rectors.

Following recent revelations by Mariann Budde, Bishop of the Diocese of
Washington, that her diocese is in free fall with only a dozen or so
viable parishes out of 88, VOL has received reports from other dioceses
that reflect similar decline.

The Diocese of Nthn. Michigan, for example, has a total ASA of 475 (as
of 2015) from a handful of parishes. The diocese is being sustained
financially by the national church.

However, it is not always the bishop that is so forthcoming. VOL has
received a report from another TEC diocese in the northeast. In this
case, news comes from a clergy person who agreed to talk to VOL on the
basis of anonymity, fearing retribution by the diocesan bishop.

This person wrote: ?Of the approximately 80 parishes within the diocese,
there have been over 30 rector and/or clergy changes since January 2015,
with two additional parishes making changes in the coming months. This
represents almost 40% of the diocese in transition within a space of
just over 24 months. Furthermore, within this diocese, salaries are
coming down and there are difficulties in employing interims as a
result. Meanwhile, the diocesan office is hiring additional staff and
seeking enlarged office space.?

When one considers that the cost of bringing in a new rector involves
the considerable expense of moving, rectory refurbishment, final
payments to the previous rector or interim, this game of musical chairs
is doing little for the financial health of either the individual
parishes or the diocese as a whole!

?Yes, we're coming apart,? the source told VOL. You can read the full
story in today?s digest.

*****

Top TEC Officials pull down nearly $3 million a year in salaries,
official sources revealed this week.

For an institution that is slowly dying, with nary a diocese that is
growing, you might be amazed, perhaps even shocked, at what the
principal players in The Episcopal Church pull down in terms of
salaries, not including housing allowances, which is a tax-free benefit.

The top five players including the Presiding Bishop, Chief Financial
Officer, Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President of the
House of Deputies (the latter gets nothing), pull down close to $1
million a year, (the exact amount is $920,430).

Bishop Michael Curry gets $280,500, (bear in mind that the Jesus
Movement has yet to show an evangelistic profit); the Chief Financial
Officer pulls down $230,830; The Executive Officer gets $209,100; the
Chief Operating Officer gets $200,000 and HOD president Gay Jennings is
branded a ?volunteer,? does a lot of the heavy lifting and gets paid
nothing.

Then there are the principal employees numbering some thirteen,
beginning with the Director of Development who pulls down a mere
$191,250, followed by the top legal counsel who gets $190,382. Three
Canons to the Presiding Bishop pull in a total of $505,715. The lowest
paid is the General Convention Manager who pulls in a mere $137,489. The
Canonical Archivist pulls down $137,553. The total is almost $2 million.
The Bishop-in-Charge, Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe pulls
down a mere $74,468.

This does not include housing allowances totaling $75,000. You can read
the full story in today?s digest.

*****

Heather Cook, the former Episcopal bishop who pleaded guilty to
manslaughter in the December, 2014, killing of a cyclist in a drunken
crash in North Baltimore, is eligible for parole next month.

Cook, 60, who has been incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional
Institute in Jessup, is scheduled to appear before the Parole Board on
May 9, according to a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public
Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), according to newspaper
reports.

Cook had been sentenced on October 27, 2015, to seven years in prison
for the crash, which claimed the life of Thomas Palermo, a married
father of two who had been out riding his bike two days after Christmas.

Cook pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of a
fatal accident, driving while under the influence and texting while
driving.

Asked how the state calculated her eligibility for parole, less than two
years into her prison term, DPSCS media relations specialist Gerard
Shields explained it this way: ?She has a seven-year sentence, but
because the crime is considered non-violent, she is eligible for parole
after serving 25% of it,? Shields said. ?It does seem quick,? he agreed.

So, the killing of a man on a bicycle while you?re drunk is non-violent?
I guess in this crazy country it is only violent if you use a
semi-automatic weapon capable of killing dozens of people at a single
sweep.

*****

Barbara Rice Thompson, 56, a former editor of Penthouse, an iconic
pornographic magazine, has taken up a position as program director for a
Mother and Child Ministry at a local Episcopal Church, with the blessing
of the priest and Long Island Bishop, Lawrence Provenzano. She is a
resident of North Wantagh.

She said she had spoken with the Rev. Christopher Hofer, the rector of
the Church of St. Jude, about how she wanted to ?give back on a more
real level ? other than providing porn.? You can read the full story in
today?s digest.

*****

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry named Bishop Todd
Ousley of Eastern Michigan as Bishop for the Office of Pastoral
Development, a member of the Presiding Bishop?s staff.

?Bishop Ousley is an experienced bishop with a depth of pastoral and
leadership skills,? Presiding Bishop Curry said. ?I am very thankful to
him for his willingness to assume this particular ministry which is
vital to the spiritual life and vitality of our bishops and, through
them, the Episcopal Church. I have known and worked with him for several
years and, like my brothers and sisters in the community of bishops and
spouses, Bishop Ousley has my deep respect, affection and trust.?

Based on diocesan statistics, Ousley?s leadership skills are decidedly
wanting. The Diocese of Eastern Michigan under his leadership has seen
decline year after year. In 2005, the diocese had 8,133 baptized
members; by 2015. it was down to 5,888. Between 2005 and 2015, the loss
was 27.6%. Between 2014-2015, the loss was 5.6%. Total loss is 33.2%;
fully a third of the diocese has disappeared.

Eastern Michigan?s ASA has also plunged dramatically. In 2005, it was
3,124. By 2015, it was down to 1,991, a loss of 36.3%. Between
2014-2015, the loss was a further 5.0%. Baptisms totaled 90,
confirmations totaled 33. Twenty people were received into the churches,
marriages totaled 55. Altogether the number is 178. Funerals, on the
other hand, totaled 212. The real kicker is the average age of all
active priests: it is 66 in 40 parishes. In the next five years, they
will be begging laypeople who have been specially trained and approved,
to serve as Lay Eucharistic Ministers.

And Ousley is going to be in charge of Pastoral Development for the
whole Episcopal Church!

*****

You will recall the trauma over Bishop David Moyer and the
Anglo-Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, PA. that briefly
turned the Diocese of Pennsylvania into a living hell. Moyer fought and
sued Bishop Charles Bennison and lost, he sued his lawyer and lost, he
attempted to join the Ordinariate hoping to get to Rome and failed, now
he drives a limo to make a living. His life is in pieces. In time,
Bennison got his head handed to him by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori
and was levered out of the diocese.

Time marches on and the parish now flounders with just a handful of old
Anglo-Catholics and some real estate holdings the parish owns. With the
church in trouble, the Vestry decided to rent the parish hall to ? are
you ready - a Vineyard church. Now, The Association of Vineyard
Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic
evangelical Christian denomination. It has over 1,500 affiliated
churches worldwide. It is rooted in the charismatic renewal and historic
evangelicalism. Its founder, John Wimber, died recently, but he must be
chortling from the grave with the irony of it all. Moyer despised
evangelicals, and now it would appear that the Episcopal parish?s future
existence depends on a non-denominational evangelical church! You might
be forgiven if you thought God didn?t have a sense of humor.

*****

Canadian Anglicans among the ruins. David of Samizdat reports that the
Anglican Church of Canada can?t afford to maintain its buildings: they
are crumbling around the clergy and bishops are collecting plaster dust
in their rainbow mitres.

Ottawa?s cathedral has buttress woes.

One of the most critical areas are buttresses located on the west wall
of the cloister garden, also known as the Garth, where mortar is
crumbling and cracks are appearing.

?Not far in the future, the gaps and cracking could cause individual
stones to fall, leading to the collapse of the walls,? says Blair
Seaborn, who is chair of Restoration 120, a fundraising campaign to
raise $120,000 for repairs.

?We?ve been told over and over by engineers that they?re not
decorative,? said Seaborn. ?The buttresses are rather critical in
holding up the roof and walls.?

Even though Huron?s St. Paul?s cathedral is raising money by inviting
the Pride Men's Chorus to sing, it still can?t seem to find the cash to
fix the roof and the rot in the cathedral trusses is exceeded only by
the rot in the diocesan theology.

Owen Sound is closing churches, Niagara is closing churches, or
?celebrating mergers? to quote the preferred euphemism, as is
Peterborough and Brantford, while the Diocese of Niagara continues to
endear itself to the residents of Guelph by pressing ahead with the sale
of St. Matthias, in spite of vigorous opposition. The list goes on.

VOL has more here:

By any measurable standard, the Anglican Church of Canada is in serious
decline with little hope that the numbers can or will be reversed in the
foreseeable future.

In one diocese after another, the third largest denomination in Canada
is declining, its demise now almost certain as it focuses on a host of
social justice issues to the neglect of evangelism, discipleship and
church planting.

The Anglican Church of Canada which is squeamishly shy about publicizing
how many people attend its churches, has published no complete
statistics for membership and average Sunday attendance since 2001,
although the ACoC did claim a membership of 545,957 in 2007.

Today, by all measurable standards the average Sunday attendance in the
Anglican Church of Canada is around 320,000. If this is correct, in 40
years the average attendance will be 19,200 or less. As there is no wave
of Millennials aching to fill Anglican pews, this figure is probably
exaggerated.

Ironically, the vitriolic battles that the Anglican Church of Canada
launched against ANiC churches in 2008 was over the ownership of
buildings. The ACoC won the battle in 2008, only to lose it in 2017: it
doesn't have the income for the upkeep of the buildings it claimed were
so essential to its ministry.

*****

A quarter of people who describe themselves as Christians in Great
Britain do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, a survey
commissioned by the BBC suggests.

However, almost one in 10 people of no religion say they do believe the
Easter story, but it has "some content that should not be taken
literally".

Exactly half of all people surveyed did not believe in the resurrection
at all
46% of people say they believe in some form of life after death and 46%
do not
20% of non-religious people say they believe in some form of life after
death
9% of non-religious people believe in the Resurrection, 1% of whom say
they believe it literally

Well, if you don?t believe in the Resurrection, you are not a Christian,
says the Rev. Dr. Gavin Ashenden; and he is right:

A former chaplain to the Queen has said that the quarter of Christians
who say they do not believe in the Resurrection "cannot be Christians".

The Rev Dr. Gavin Ashenden said in a letter to the Times that a survey
which found that one in four self-proclaimed Christians do not believe
in Jesus's Resurrection "made the mistake of confusing British culture
with Christianity".

He said: "Those people who neither believe in the Resurrection nor go
anywhere near a church cannot be 'Christians'.

"As with so many things, the key is in the definition of terms.
Discovering the evidence for the Resurrection having taken place to be
wholly compelling is one of the things that makes you a Christian; ergo,
if you haven?t, you are not."

*****

The Union School of Theology has been formed in Tunbridge Wells,
England. Their mission statement states the following: ?Through our
approved Learning Communities, Union aims to serve the Church by
providing an affordable, flexible, accessible option for formal
theological education. Our state-of-the-art online platform makes this
possible as never before, and with excellent mentors and local tutors
provides an enhanced way of learning in the context of the local church.

?The Learning Community is hosted by the Anglican Partnership Synod ? a
group of evangelical Churches in Kent and Sussex. All of our churches
subscribe to the Jerusalem Statement as an expression of orthodox
belief. Students are welcome from any church ? Anglican or otherwise.

?The Lead Mentor is Rev. Dr. Peter Sanlon. He is the author of a number
of theology books, including ?Simply God? (IVP) and has contributed to
volumes edited by Michael Reeves, such as ?Adam, the Fall and Original
Sin? (Eerdmans). For three years, Peter taught Doctrine and Church
History at Oak Hill College. For the past three years, he has been the
vicar of St Mark?s Church, Tunbridge Wells.

?Our facilities for the community make for a relaxed, friendly
experience of study and mutual encouragement.?

The background to this news, is a story VOL ran in August of 2016, when
a number of Church of England parishes considered their first step
towards a formal split in the Church of England over issues such as
homosexuality, with the creation of a new ?shadow synod? vowing to
uphold traditional teaching.

Representatives of almost a dozen congregations in the Home Counties met
in a church hall in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in a first session of what
they say could eventually develop into an alternative Anglican church in
England.

Organizers, drawn from the conservative evangelical wing of Anglicanism,
say they have no immediate plans to break away - but are setting up the
?embryonic? structures that could be used to do so if the established
church moves further in what they see as a liberal direction.

This, of course is Welby?s worst nightmare. He has problems enough with
GAFCON and Nigerian Archbishop, Nicholas Okoh. Now he?s got a fifth
column right under his nose.

Congregations from three dioceses ? Rochester, Canterbury and Chichester
? are to become founder members of the new grouping, which does not yet
have a name, but they expect others to join.

They claim the Church of England?s leadership is progressively ?watering
down? centuries-old teaching, not just over the issue of sexuality but
many core beliefs including the authority of the Bible.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Gavin Ashenden, a royal chaplain, said: "The energy
behind this new jurisdiction comes from a growing perception that the
CofE is so desperate to remain chaplain to a country that is turning its
back on Christian ethics, that there comes a point when it fails to be
faithful to Christ and in particular his teaching on marriage.

"At that point, and it may already have arrived, there will be a rupture
and the orthodox will make arrangements to safeguard the integrity of
the Church for the future."

A spokesman for the Church of England said a recent process of ?shared
conversations? involving bishops, clergy and laity would lay the
foundations for ?further formal discussions? about sexuality in the
Church of England.

*****

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, launched a stinging
attack on 'politically correct' aid officials who are 'institutionally
biased' against helping Christians.

Lord Carey warned ministers risk breaking the law by discriminating
against Christians facing oppression in Syria.

He claimed Syrian Christians are not benefiting from British help as
they avoid UN refugee camps, funded with UK aid, because of fears of
persecution from rogue Islamist groups operating inside or Muslim
officials who are hostile to converts to Christianity.

By staying away from the camps, Christians are missing out on food,
shelter and opportunities to come to Britain in a relocation scheme.

Lord Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, said:
'In the run-up to Easter, British taxpayers will be appalled by this
institutional bias against Christians by politically correct officials.

*****

TEMPORARY MARRIAGE: No longer ?till death us do part?? Colin Hart
writing for the Coalition for Marriage (C4M) says the well-known author
and academic Jeanette Winterson has called for fixed-term marriages.

Professor Winterson entered a same-sex marriage in 2015 with Susie
Orbach, despite being initially ?unsure about gay marriage? because of
its association with ?heterosexual, patriarchal norms? (The Guardian, 8
April 2017).

Jeanette Winterson is now seeking to further redefine marriage by
throwing overboard the idea of lifelong commitment, asking: ?why not
discuss fixed-term contracts? ... A fixed term might allow both parents
to feel less pressure and more responsibility?.

The concept of a ?fixed-term marriage? must be firmly resisted. Marriage
requires total commitment, not temporary assent.

C4M always warned that, once marriage was redefined for same-sex
couples, there would be further redefinitions down the line. We need to
continue speaking out for the true definition of marriage ? the
voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of
all others.

*****

The Vatican selected a prominent LGBT-pushing Jesuit priest to be a
consultor to its communications office. The priest selected is Fr. James
Martin, a progressive Jesuit who's the editor-at-large of America
magazine. Martin's new book is titled Building A Bridge: How the
Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of
Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.

In it, Martin argues Church employees shouldn't be fired for going
against Church teaching by endorsing homosexual acts or openly
professing homosexuality because "such firings selectively target LGBT
people." He also says, "church leaders should address LGBT people by the
term they call themselves."

Several Pope Francis-appointed cardinals endorsed the book, along with
far-left dissident nun, Sister Jeannine Gramick, who said it "shows how
the Rosary and the rainbow flag can peacefully meet each other."

*****

The Anglican Church in North Americas? Assembly 2017 will be the largest
Anglican event in North America this year. With a dynamic lineup of
speakers and ministry-specific workshops, there is something for
everyone, writes Archbishop Foley Beach.

This years? Assembly will be held in Wheaton, Ill., June 28 ? 30.

Speakers include: Ed Stetzer, Ben Kwashi, Louie Giglio, Lisa Espineli
Chinn, Michael Nazir-Ali, Dave Ferguson, Tito Zavala, Daniel Carroll
Rodas, and Miguel Uchoa. There will be tracks for youth, Latino
ministry, campus outreach, multi-ethnic ministry, healing prayer and
many more.

*****

Burundi Archbishop Martin Blaise Nyaboho led a delegation from the
Anglican Church of Burundi in a public march of several hundred people
last month, in a public demonstration against gender-based violence
(GBV). Archbishop Martin was joined on the march by the Bishop of
Rumonge, Pedaculi Birakengana and members of both provincial and
diocesan staff and many school children.

The march, through the province of Rumonge, followed International
Women?s Day and sent a loud message: yes, for the rights of women and
?no? to discrimination and violence against them.

The Anglican Church of Burundi has been working with Christian Aid since
the end of last year on a program to mobilize people to end violence
against women in the community.,? the Province said on its website.

The Governor of Rumonge described the Anglican Church of Burundi as ?the
pioneer in this fight against gender-based violence.?

Archbishop Martin emphasized the importance of the partnership to ending
GBV, saying: ?We are aware of the importance of women in our society. We
know what the gender issue is like, but the result we want is a society
where men and women will say ?Together we are able??.

*****

VOL wishes all its readers in 170 countries around the world a very
blessed and holy Easter.

David



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

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:30:03 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Atlanta Episcopal Bishop Invited Muslim Guest Preacher at
Holy Week Renewal of Vows
Message-ID:
<1492129803.1924067...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Atlanta Episcopal Bishop Invited Muslim Guest Preacher at Holy Week
Renewal of Vows
The Bishop in part dedicated the Eucharist to Mohammed

David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 13, 2017

The Bishop of Atlanta, Robert C. Wright invited Soumaya Khalifa, the
founder and executive director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of
Atlanta, to preach at the Holy Week service at St David?s Episcopal
Church, Roswell, this week.

The Atlanta Daily World reports that Bishop Wright said he chose Khalifa
because of her ongoing efforts to bridge the gaps between religions.

?Soumaya provides a wonderful example for how to share the love of God;
the same God worshiped by all the world?s Christians, Jews and Muslims,?
Wright said. ?It is an example that has never been more needed.?

A source who was present for the occasion told VOL that the Muslim woman
gave the "sermon" from the pulpit, and in part quoted from the Bible. A
reading from the Qur'an was used for the first lesson. Also, she was
invited to the altar during the eucharist liturgy and consecration of
the elements. The Bishop in part dedicated the Eucharist to Mohammed.
Finally, the bishop wanted the Muslim call to prayer used but this did
not happen.

A number of priests boycotted the "service".

This is not the first time this Episcopal service has featured a
preacher from another religion. In 2015, Wright arranged to have the
renewal service held at The Temple, a Reform synagogue on Peachtree
Street in Midtown Atlanta. The preacher for that service was The
Temple?s senior Rabbi, Peter S. Berg.

The event announcement on the diocesan website said that Soumaya Khalifa
is an American of Egyptian origin. She launched the Islamic Speakers
Bureau (ISB) of Atlanta in August 2001. The ISB strives to become the
Islamic source for faith and civic collaboration promoting understanding
and inclusion. They teach and collaborate in an open way to build a
better tomorrow. The ISB has been active in the metro Atlanta area, and
its volunteers have presented to thousands in metro Atlanta and
surrounding areas about Islam and Muslims.

?Soumaya provides a wonderful example for how to share the love of God;
the same God worshiped by all the world?s Christians, Jews and Muslims,?
Wright said. ?It is an example that has never been more needed.?

However, Wright is wrong about Jews, Christians and Muslims worshipping
the same God. That is a complete fallacy.

The God of Christianity and the God of Islam are not the same. First
off, the God of Christianity is a Trinity, where the God of Islam is
not. The Trinity is the monotheistic teaching that God exists eternally
as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Islam, this
is blatantly denied.

"And behold! Allah will say: "O 'Isa Ibn Maryam! Did you say to men,
"Worship me and my mother as gods besides Allah?" He will say: "Glory to
you! Never could I say what I had no right to say. Had I said such a
thing, you would indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart,
though I know not what is in yours. For you know in full all that is
hidden," (Quran 5:116).
"O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say
about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was
but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a
soul [created at a command] from Him.?

So, believe in Allah and His messengers. And do not say, "Three"; desist
- it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God. Exalted is He
above having a son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and
whatever is on the earth. And sufficient is Allah as Disposer of
affairs," (Quran 4:171).

Furthermore, in Christianity the doctrine of the Trinity allows for the
Incarnation of the Word. John 1:1, 14 which says that the Word was God
and became flesh and dwelt among us and was crucified, dead and buried,
and on the third day rose from the dead. (Matt. 26:2; 27:38). This is
denied in Islam, which says that Jesus is only a prophet and was not
crucified.

Jesus said, "Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the
Scripture and made me a prophet," (Quran 19:30).

"And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the
son of Mary, the messenger of Allah ." And they did not kill him, nor
did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them.
And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no
knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not
kill him, for certain," (Quran 4:157).

The God of Islam and the God of Christianity, therefore, are not the
same.

Bishop Wright?s poor theological understanding of the nature of the
Godhead and the Trinity, indicates further, the degeneration of the
faith by Episcopal bishops as they attempt to push a false ecumenism in
the name of diversity and inclusion. This kind of act will only add to
the confusion for Episcopalians, who are slowly being led away from
biblical faith and morals by unbelieving bishops.

The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta is the eighth largest of 109 dioceses
in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Wright is the 10th bishop of the
110-year-old diocese with 114 parishes in middle and north Georgia.

The diocese has seen losses over the last 9 years. In 2005, the diocese
had 52,318 baptized persons. By 2015 it had dropped 4.8% to nearly
50,000. Not as bad as some TEC dioceses.

Average Sunday Attendance in 2005 was 17,612. By 2015 it had plunged
17.3% to below 14,900.

The average age of its 147 priests is 55, below the national average.

END



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

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:30:31 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Episcopal Dioceses Start to Crumble as Parishes Decline.
Fewer Paid Rectors
Message-ID:
<1492129831.1924145...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Episcopal Dioceses Start to Crumble as Parishes Decline. Fewer Paid
Rectors

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 11, 2017

Following recent revelations by Mariann Budde, Bishop of the Diocese of
Washington, that her diocese is in free fall with only a dozen or so
viable parishes out of 88, VOL has received reports from other dioceses
that reflect similar decline.

The Diocese of Nthn. Michigan, for example, has a total ASA of 475 (as
of 2015) from a handful of parishes. The diocese is being sustained
financially by the national church.

However, it is not always the bishop that is so forthcoming. VOL has
received a report from another TEC diocese in the northeast. In this
case, news come from a clergy person who agreed to talk to VOL on the
basis of anonymity, fearing retribution by the diocesan bishop.

This person wrote: ?Of the approximately 80 parishes within the diocese,
there have been over 30 rector and/or clergy changes since January 2015
with two additional parishes making changes in the coming months. This
represents almost 40% of the diocese in transition within a space of
just over 24 months. Furthermore, within this diocese, salaries are
coming down and there are difficulties in employing interims as a
result. Meanwhile, the diocesan office is hiring additional staff and
seeking enlarged office space.?

When one considers that the cost of bringing in a new rector involves
the considerable expense of moving, rectory refurbishment, final
payments to the previous rector or interim, this game of musical chairs
is doing little for the financial health of either the individual
parishes or the diocese as a whole!

?Yes, we're coming apart,? the source told VOL.

Figures don?t lie.

In 2005, the number of baptized in this diocese was 19,178. From there
it has dropped every year till 2015, when it hit 12,598. The total loss
from 2005 ? 2015 was 34.3%! Fully one third of the diocese. Between 2014
and 2015, the loss was 5.1%.

Average Sunday Attendance in 2005 was 6,190. By the time it hit 2015,
the figure was 3,859.

Total loss between 2005 and 2015 was a staggering 37.7%. The loss
between 2014 and 2015 was a further 6.5%.

There were 178 baptisms (146 children, 32 adults); 72 Confirmations (22
children, 50 adult), 22 were received into the church and there were 91
marriages. Total: 298. There were 330 burials in the diocese.

Income losses were less obvious. Between 2010 and 2015, the diocese lost
10.0% in real income and between 2014-2015, the net loss was 4.4%.

What is sustaining most dioceses is the money they get from the sale of
parishes that close for one reason or another, thus providing extra
capital for the bishop to spend or simply to maintain the status quo.

An example of this was the recent sale of the headquarters of the
Diocese of Rochester by Bishop Prince Singh. He said that selling
Diocesan House and maybe the cathedral would allow resources to be used
?missionally? so he and the diocese could act more ?nimbly? to meet
local needs. But what if ?missional? and ?nimble? does not translate
into new church plants and new converts? What happens when, in time, the
money made on all these sales runs out. What then? Perhaps someone will
stand up and say, ?do we really need a bishop??

It is not without its significance that a reasonably wealthy diocese
like Los Angeles was hoping for a quick sale of St. James the Great in
Newport Beach for a cool $15 million. That would certainly have boosted
their coffers. To date that has not materialized. Money like that can
stretch even a flailing diocese for years. The Diocese of Pennsylvania
sold its diocesan headquarters, even though it retains millions of
dollars in trust funds which could not be used to sustain Diocesan
House. This, of course, was all under the rein of Charles Bennison,
whose disastrous occupancy of the see has been more than documented by
this writer.

The Diocese of Delaware sold its landmark Cathedral Church of St. John,
in Wilmington, joining many others that have closed in The Episcopal
Church from Kalamazoo in Western Michigan to Providence, Rhode Island.
Others are on life support. Over the next 20 years, more will quietly
close and be sold off to developers.

END



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

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:31:15 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Top TEC Officials pull down nearly $3 million a Year in
Salaries
Message-ID:
<1492129875.1924676...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Top TEC Officials pull down nearly $3 million a Year in Salaries

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 10, 2017

For an institution that is slowly dying, with nary a diocese that is
growing, you might be amazed, perhaps even shocked, at what the
principal players in The Episcopal Church pull down in terms of
salaries, not including housing allowances, which is a tax-free benefit.

The top five players including the Presiding Bishop, Chief Financial
Officer, Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President of the
House of Deputies (the latter gets nothing), pull down close to $1
million a year, (the exact amount is $920,430).

Bishop Michael Curry gets $280,500, (bear in mind that the Jesus
Movement has yet to show an evangelistic profit); the Chief Financial
Officer pulls down $230,830; The Executive Officer gets $209,100; the
Chief Operating Officer gets $200,000 and HOD president Gay Jennings is
branded a ?volunteer,? does a lot of the heavy lifting and gets paid
nothing.

Then there are the principal employees numbering some thirteen,
beginning with the Director of Development who pulls down a mere
$191,250, followed by the top legal counsel who gets $190,382. Three
Canons to the Presiding Bishop pull in a total of $505,715. The lowest
paid is the General Convention Manager who pulls in a mere $137,489. The
Canonical Archivist pulls down $137,553. The total is almost $2 million.
The Bishop-in-Charge, Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe pulls
down a mere $74,468.

This does not include housing allowances totaling $75,000.

And this for a Church that if it were traded on the NASDAQ or as a pink
slip stock would be worth next to nothing and not garner a single buyer.
Like retail stores that are fast going out of business because of
AMAZON, The Episcopal Church is sliding into oblivion, with the ACNA
more than likely to make the NASDAQ about the same time TEC finally
keels over and dies. Of course, not-for-profit companies cannot be
share-holders, but you get my point.

END



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

Message: 6
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:31:45 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: C of E archbishops call on Christians to repent for
Reformation split
Message-ID:
<1492129905.1924698...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

C of E archbishops call on Christians to repent for Reformation split
Justin Welby and John Sentamu recall ?damage done five centuries ago?
that saw Christian people pitted against each other

By Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
https://www.theguardian.com/
17 January 2017

It unleashed an orgy of death and destruction across Europe. In England
alone, more than 800 monasteries, abbeys, nunneries and friaries were
seized, libraries were destroyed, manuscripts lost, treasures stripped
and works of art appropriated. Thousands of people were hung, drawn and
quartered, or burnt at the stake for their religious beliefs.

Five hundred years after the Reformation, the religious revolution that
swept across Europe, the leaders of the Church of England - itself
created in the decades of upheaval - have called on Christians to repent
for the divisions, persecution and death.

The archbishops of Canterbury and York issued a statement on Tuesday
recalling ?the lasting damage done five centuries ago to the unity of
the Church, in defiance of the clear command of Jesus Christ to unity in
love?.

After 500 years of schism, will the rift of the Reformation finally be
healed?

Justin Welby and John Sentamu, the two most senior figures in the C of
E, said: ?Those turbulent years saw Christian people pitted against each
other, such that many suffered persecution and even death at the hands
of others claiming to know the same Lord. A legacy of mistrust and
competition would then accompany the astonishing global spread of
Christianity in the centuries that followed.?

All this ?leaves us much to ponder?, they said.

This year?s commemorations, their statement concluded, should lead all
Christians ?to repent of our part in perpetuating divisions. Such
repentance needs to be linked to action aimed at reaching out to other
churches and strengthening relationships with them?.

Throughout 2017, churches across Europe will mark the 31 October
anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses protesting against
the corruption of the Roman Catholic church to a church door in
Wittenberg, Germany. The act lit the fuse of the greatest schism in
western Christianity and triggered a string of religious wars across
Europe.

Luther fundamentally challenged the authority and elitism of the
Catholic church. His theses, written in Latin, were a backlash against
the highly profitable sale of indulgences ? promoted as fast-track
tickets to heaven ? to fund the building of St Peter?s Basilica in Rome.
He declared that when it came to ?justification? ? avoiding hell or
gaining admission to heaven ? there could be no mediation, no brokering
by the church. Salvation was a matter between an individual and God.

This revolutionary stance was swiftly translated into German and other
European languages, and Luther?s ideas spread across Europe within weeks
thanks to new printing presses, triggering religious, political,
intellectual and cultural upheaval.

Rome condemned him as a heretic, removed him from the priesthood and
banned his writings. In response, the monk publicly burned the papal
bull, or edict. The sale of indulgences plummeted and his ideas took
hold.

As well as widespread bloodshed the Reformation unleashed terrible
destruction of religious heritage and art, but it also gave rise to new
forms of art, music and literature.

In England, Henry VIII ? angered by the pope?s refusal to allow him to
divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn ? broke with Rome and
established himself as the head of the Church of England.

The archbishops? statement, issued on the eve of Christian unity week,
follows a plea last autumn by Pope Francis for ?forgiveness for
divisions perpetuated by Christians from the two traditions?.

The leader of the Roman Catholic church said the anniversary of the
Reformation was an ?opportunity to mend a critical moment of our history
by moving beyond the controversies and disagreements that have often
prevented us from understanding one another?.

The separation ?has been an immense source of suffering and
misunderstanding?, the pontiff said.

Francis has put ecumenicalism at the heart of his papacy, building on a
slow rapprochement between the Catholic and Protestant traditions. In
September, the leaders of the Catholic and main Protestant churches in
Germany issued a joint text calling for a ?healing of memories? of past
divisions.

There are, however, fiercely traditionalist elements in both
denominations opposed to any moves towards closer relations, let alone
unity.

Welby and Sentamu?s statement also pointed to the ?great blessings ? to
which the Reformation directly contributed.

?Amongst much else these would include clear proclamation of the gospel
of grace, the availability of the Bible to all in their own language and
the recognition of the calling of laypeople to serve God in the world
and in the church,? they wrote.

END



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

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:32:19 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: LONG ISLAND: Former Porn Editor now involved in Mother and
Child Ministry in Episcopal Church
Message-ID:
<1492129939.1924761...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

LONG ISLAND: Former Porn Editor now involved in Mother and Child
Ministry in Episcopal Church
No repentance reported from laid off Penthouse editor

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 8, 2017

Barbara Rice Thompson, 56, a former editor of Penthouse, an iconic
pornographic magazine, has taken up a position as program director for a
Mother and Child Ministry at a local Episcopal Church, with the blessing
of the priest and LI Bishop, Lawrence Provenzano. She is a resident of
North Wantagh.

She said she had spoken with the Rev. Christopher Hofer, the rector of
the Church of St. Jude, about how she wanted to ?give back on a more
real level ? other than providing porn.?

Thompson said that she became the program director because she believes
in its mission.

When she learned that her church was working on opening a mission center
at St. Michael and All Angels in Seaford, Rice Thompson said that she
felt as if her prayers had been answered. One program ? the Mother and
Child Ministry ? touched her, she told the Long Island Herald.

?My father was an aerospace engineer at the Grumman factory, and when I
was about 10, he lost his job,? she recalled. ?He was delivering
newspapers on Sunday mornings and pumping gas on Saturday afternoons
because he had five kids, and that?s what he had to do ... we were the
family in church who was getting the Christmas basket.?

Rice Thompson said that she was looking forward to helping families in
need at the new Mother and Child Ministry food pantry. Hofer said that
Rice Thompson and 200 more volunteers had devoted hundreds of hours to
establishing the center, which opened on March 2.

Wantagh and Seaford residents, community group leaders, locally elected
officials and Bishop Lawrence Provenzano, of the Episcopal Diocese of
Long Island, celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting for the
center on Feb. 26. Days later, pantry volunteers opened the doors of St.
Michael?s basement ? now complete with shelves stacked with diapers,
baby formula and food, bottles, shampoo, clothing and toys ? to local
mothers trying to provide for their youngsters, while living in
expensive southeastern Nassau County, Hofer said.

Hofer, who has been at St. Jude since 2004, is also the vicar of St.
Michael?s and the executive director of the mission center. He said that
while he has wanted to establish a local outreach program since 2006,
St. Jude ? nestled in a residential area nearly two miles from the
Wantagh Long Island Rail Road station ? was not accessible to local
folks in need without cars.

Hofer said that the mission center is supporting the first pantry geared
specifically towards small children and their parents on Long Island. He
noted that members of the advisory team, which began preparing to launch
the Mother and Child Ministry in June, were called to help this
marginalized group.

The Mother and Child Food Pantry is just one of the mission center
programs. The Episcopal Ministries of Long Island awarded the church a
$15,000 grant to establish the center.

Provenzano said that it?s clear that parishioners of St. Jude?s and St.
Michael?s pay attention to their communities? needs. Too often, he said,
folks keep the lessons that they learn in church to themselves.

There is no record that Ms. Thompson repented of her former life,
promoting smut for a generation of baby boomers for her boss ?Bob?
Guccione.

END



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

Message: 8
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:32:43 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Anglicans join global wave of solidarity after Palm Sunday
Coptic bombings
Message-ID:
<1492129963.1924770...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Anglicans join global wave of solidarity after Palm Sunday Coptic
bombings

PHOTO: St Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria, scene of a Palm Sunday
bomb blast

ACNS
April 11, 2017

Anglican leaders around the world have added their voices to the global
wave of solidarity that followed the deadly Palm Sunday attacks on
Coptic churches in Egypt. The terror group Daesh claimed responsibility
for the attacks which left at least 44 people dead and many more
injured. A suicide-bomber detonated one bomb inside St George?s Church
in Tanta and, hours later, another terrorist detonated a bomb-vest
outside St Mark?s Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria as the Coptic Pope,
Tawadros II, was finishing the Mass inside.

The secretary general of the Anglican Communion, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon,
said that he was ?shocked and greatly saddened? by the attacks,
?particularly as they took place on Palm Sunday,? he said. ?My thoughts
and prayers are with the injured and the families and friends of those
who lost their lives. May they know the comfort and strength of the Lord
at this painful time.?

The Anglican Bishop of Egypt, Archbishop Mouneer Anis, said that
?sadness overshadowed all Palm Sunday celebrations? across Egypt as news
of the attacks emerged. In a message published on ACNS, Bishop Mouneer
said that ?Intensive security measures and regulations have been made
since this last Saturday. This included security personnel emptying all
the streets around the churches and cathedrals of cars with extra
policemen and sniffer dogs checking all church buildings and worshippers
before Services start.

?I believe these measures were done to safeguard all church buildings in
the country. Although the security was very tight, the evildoers have
their own ways and it is extremely difficult to achieve 100 per cent
security. This was also the case behind the recent terrorist attacks in
Sweden, Britain, Germany and France.?

He urged Christians to pray for Egypt.

The Archbishop of Canada, Fred Hiltz, urged people to pray for the
victims and for Coptic Christians around the world. ?All of this carnage
and chaos marked the beginning of liturgies remembering the Lord?s
Passion and Death,? he said. ?This will be a very difficult Holy Week
for Coptic Christians, not only in Egypt, where there will be multiple
funerals, but throughout the world as they mourn the dead and pray for
those wounded and traumatised by this vicious attack.?

In Australia, the Assistant Bishop in Melbourne Diocese, Paul Barker,
attended a press conference alongside other Church leaders, including
the city?s Coptic Bishop, Anba Suriel.

?We sympathise, we grieve with them,? Bishop Barker said. ?We see this
as a double tragedy ? that on the day that Jesus Christ entered
Jerusalem on a donkey as the prince of peace, such an act of violence
should happen.

?We hope and pray the people will come to know Jesus as a prince who
leads in peace.?

At the end of the press conference Bishop Baker led those attending in
prayer for persecuted Christians in Egypt and elsewhere, that God would
?guard them and protect them and uphold them?.

Bishop David Hamid from the Church of England?s Diocese in Europe wrote
an open letter to Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop of the Coptic
Orthodox Church in the UK, to assure him ?of my closeness in prayer to
you and to your Church at this most sad and troubled time.?

Bishop David said: ?With other Anglicans in this Diocese in Europe, we
pray for those who have died in this attack, that Christ our God will
grant them rest with his saints, where there is no pain or grief, but
life everlasting. We pray for all who are injured and for those who
mourn, for the strength and comfort of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

?May the Holy Angels keep your people in Egypt safe from further
violence. As we have carried our branches of palm we carry in our hearts
the lament of your people, who are our brothers and sisters in Christ,
trusting in our Lord, who is victorious over sin and death.?

A number of Anglican churches in Europe are part of the Conference of
European Churches (CEC). Its general secretary, Father Heikki Huttunen,
noted that: ?Egypt is one of the lands of the Bible blessed by the
presence of Our Lord. Coptic Christians represent a continuity of
millenniums in this country, which is considered one of the cradles of
human civilisation.

?Peaceful coexistence and mutual respect are part of the experience of
Christians and Muslims sharing the villages, cities and the fields of
this land nurtured by the Nile,? he said. ?We pray that the Egyptian
tradition of mutual hospitality between Christians and Muslims during
Easter and Ramadan will give resilience and hope to all Egyptians going
through these events caused by godless wrath and evil.?

And the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Revd Dr
Olav Fykse Tveit, called on the Egyptian government to more to safeguard
the country?s Christian communities.

?In the face of this brutality, the human family, all people of faith
and of good will, must stand together to recommit to respecting and
caring for one another, to protecting one another, and to preventing
such violence,? he said as he appealed to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
of Egypt and religious leaders across the country ?to act swiftly and
boldly to safeguard the fundamental religious rights of worshippers of
all faiths, to ensure security in the face of violence and to guarantee
justice for all people.?

END



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

Message: 9
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:33:15 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: CAIRO: A Statement Regarding Recent Church Bombings in Egypt
? Mouneer Anis
Message-ID:
<1492129995.1924787...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

CAIRO: A Statement Regarding Recent Church Bombings in Egypt ? Mouneer
Anis

10th April 2017

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all your messages of condolences and your prayers.

Palm Sunday this year was a sad one. As I was going to celebrate Palm
Sunday at All Saints Cathedral, Cairo, I heard the news of the
explosions at Mar Guirgis Coptic Orhtodox Church in Tanta, in the middle
of the Nile Delta area. During the Service, I heard of another explosion
at St Mark?s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria. The outcome of
these terrorist attacks is that 45 were killed and 129 injured, some of
whom were Muslim policemen and guards. Sadness overshadowed all Palm
Sunday celebrations all over Egypt.

Intensive security measures and regulations have been made since this
last Saturday. This included security personnel emptying all the streets
around the churches and cathedrals of cars with extra policemen and
sniffer dogs checking all church buildings and worshippers before
Services start. I believe these measures were done to safeguard all
church buildings in the country. Although the security was very tight,
the evildoers have their own ways and it is extremely difficult to
achieve 100% security. This was also the case behind the recent
terrorist attacks in Sweden, Britain, Germany and France.

Both terrorist attacks were done by suicide bombers. In Tanta, the
suicide bomber succeeded to enter the Church, while in Alexandria, the
metal detector gates beeped as the bomber was going through and to avoid
being arrested, he detonated the bomb.

As I am writing these words, the burial of the Coptic Orthodox martyrs
from the Church in Alexandria are being held at Mar Mina Monastery in a
mass grave.

Last evening, President Sisi conveyed his condolences and expressed his
strong determination to fight and defeat terrorists. He also announced
about the formation of a national council for fighting terrorism that
will have all the authority to take firm action. In addition, he applied
a 3-month emergency law. These terrorist attacks on Churches are not the
first. More than 60 Churches were burnt in August 2013 as a reaction to
the ouster of the former Muslim Brotherhood President. They aim to
destabilize the country.

In view of these terrorist attacks, we expect that tourist numbers to
Egypt will drop considerably although Egypt is still considered a much
safer destination than other countries in the region.

Thank you again for your condolences. Please pray for us and for Egypt.

May the Lord bless you!

+Mouneer
Anglican Bishop in Egypt



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

Message: 10
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:46:01 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Archbishop of Canterbury at Spring Harvest: 'We are going to
heal the world's separation from God.'
Message-ID:
<1492130761.1926613...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Archbishop of Canterbury at Spring Harvest: 'We are going to heal the
world's separation from God.'

By James Macintyre
CHRISTIAN TODAY
https://www.christiantoday.com
April 5, 2017

More than four thousand Christians have gathered in the south west of
England for the annual Spring Harvest festival involving worship,
prayer, music and Bible teaching.

A highlight of Spring Harvest at Minehead, Somerset will be a visit by
the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

WATCH Justin Welby talk about Spring Harvest this year and how
Christians can live together when they have 'profound disagreements'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YbGPApg1mA

'Jesus prayed that we would be united. Our witness depends upon us being
united,' he said. 'How we experience the love of Christ is transformed
by unity.' Christians disagree on many important things. 'But we love
one another... and we are going to love the world and heal, above all,
its separation from God.'

The event in the coastal Somerset town of Minehead kicked off last night
with a 'celebration' led by the popular worship leader Lou Fellingham.

Thousands of delegates sang along to worship songs including a version
of 'How Great Thou Art' and 'The Lord is my Shepherd' as well as 'This I
believe (the creed)' by Hillsong.

A show of hands indicated that around a third of delegates were
attending Spring Harvest for the first time, while two-thirds had come
before.

'A lot of people from my church were coming and I always wanted to come
to a major Christian festival,' said Jean Allen, who was attending for
the first time. Another first-time delegate, Claire Mottershead, 43, who
had come with her three children said that she had come because 'I worry
that the children don't get a chance to learn about God'.

The event was fronted by Abby Guinness, the head of Spring Harvest,
Gavin Calver, the director of mission at the Evangelical Alliance, and
the author and Baptist pastor Malcolm Duncan.

Duncan, who is head of planning at Spring Harvest, preached on the theme
of this year's gathering, which is 'one for all' - Christian unity ? and
lamented the divisions within the Church today. 'We are stronger when we
stand together,' Duncan said, adding that there has been 'too much
fighting, dissent, disagreement' in the Church.

He went on: 'We split over unimportant things...in ways that are so
unattractive to the world.' But, he said, 'There is more that unites us
than divides us...Don't let your denomination define you. If only we
would learn to be one family [despite] differing views over the role of
women [and] sexuality'.

Duncan then helped launch an unprecedented display of evangelical unity
across the UK in an initiative called '17:21'.

The initiative, which will roll into subsequent Christian festivals
until October, is named after the prayer of Jesus in John 17:21: 'May
they all be one that the world might believe'.

Unveiling a 'scroll' with a statement of unity read by the audience in
unison, Duncan then invited attendees, especially the disabled, to mark
the scroll with their thumb-prints.

A video played to the audience showed how ?300,000 raised by Spring
Harvest 2016 went towards the plight of refugees. Russell Rook, the head
of the Good Faith partnership which helps house refugees in the UK,
thanked Spring Harvest attendees for their support, while Eddie Lyles of
Open Doors described how 'Christians have been in the cross-hairs of the
conflict with ISIS' in the Middle East.

Announcing the launch of 17:21 in February, Duncan said: 'The 17:21
initiative calls all of us who stand under the shadow of the Cross to
link arms in the great responsibility that God has given us ? presenting
a living Saviour to a dying world. I have been humbled and thrilled to
be part of this call to the festivals, conventions and Bible weeks in
the United Kingdom to declare that we are united by far more than what
divides us. May God take us beyond structural and mechanistic unity and
give us the boldness and courage to stand together for Christ.

END



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

Message: 11
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:47:21 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: UK: Gay clergyman passed over seven times for promotion to
bishop
Message-ID:
<1492130841.1927186...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

UK: Gay clergyman passed over seven times for promotion to bishop
Jeffrey John repeatedly passed over since Reading appointment in 2003
was revoked amid homophobic
One bishop says the John?s situation ?calls into question the sincerity
of all the church?s hand-wringing apologies to gay and lesbian people?

By Harriet Sherwood
Religion correspondent
GUARDIAN EXCLUSIVE
https://www.theguardian.com/
April 6, 2017

Jeffrey John, a gay senior Anglican churchman, has been passed over for
promotion to a bishopric for a seventh time since the Church of England
rescinded his appointment as Bishop of Reading in 2003 amid homophobic
protests.

John, dean of St Albans Cathedral, was put forward for the post of
Bishop of Sodor and Man in February, but failed to make it on to the
shortlist despite positive feedback. The rejection came shortly before
he was passed over for appointment as Bishop of Llandaff after
objections to his sexuality allegedly were raised.

In the Diocese of Sodor and Man, which covers the Isle of Man and
surrounding islets, John?s name was considered by the Crown Nominations
Commission (CNC), an appointment body of 14 people chaired by the
Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, and including representatives of the
General Synod and from the Ddiocese of Sodor and Man. An open vote
confirmed that the panel had no objection to John?s sexuality and
long-term civil partnership with Anglican priest Grant Holmes.

But in subsequent secret ballots, John?s name failed to win enough
support to ensure a place on a shortlist for interview. Although some
members of the CNC were believed to be unhappy with the shortlisting
process, an appointment has been made and is expected to be announced in
the coming weeks.

John?s exclusion broadly follows a pattern that has seen him fail to win
appointments seven times in the past seven years. Since Reading, the
English dioceses of Southwark, Exeter, and St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
have considered him as a candidate for bishop. In Wales, as well as the
recent Llandaff process, he was left off slates in Bangor and St Asaph
after members of electoral colleges were reminded of a moratorium on
consecrating bishops in civil partnerships placed on provinces by the
Anglican communion.

Many senior figures in the CofE maintain John has the attributes and
track record necessary to be a bishop, and many believe that his
repeated rejection can only be explained by opposition to or concerns
about his open sexuality and civil partnership.

In 2003, John was appointed as Bishop of Reading, but was later
pressured by Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury, to stand
aside after some traditionalists in the CofE and the Anglican Communion
threatened a split if his consecration went ahead. At the time, he was
given assurances that he could expect to become a bishop within a few
years.

In 2010, John was shortlisted for Southwark. In an account of the
selection process published after his death, Colin Slee, the Dean of
Southwark Cathedral and panel member, wrote: ?The meeting was not a fair
consideration at all.?

Slee claimed that the archbishops of Canterbury and York were ?intent on
wrecking? the candidacies of John and Nick Holtam, who was married to a
divorcee, ?despite the fact that their CVs were startlingly in an
entirely different and better league than the other two candidates, and
probably every one of the new bishops I can recall in the past 15
years?.

In 2013, John was interviewed for Exeter, and in 2014 for St Edmundsbury
and Ipswich. A week after the latter interview, former CNC member Tim
Allen told the synod: ?[Gay clergy] who are honest and frank enough to
live openly in a civil partnership, while behaving in the chaste way
required by church law, are, it seems from all the evidence, de facto
excluded from the House of Bishops, even when they are eminently
qualified to be a bishop ? Such prejudice and discrimination is wrong.?

Last month, John ? who was born in Wales and speaks Welsh ? was excluded
from the appointments process for the bishopric of Llandaff after the
electoral college failed to reach a two-thirds majority in favour of any
candidate. John reportedly received more than half the votes, including
the unanimous support of electors from the Llandaff diocese.

In a letter to John Davies, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, currently
the most senior bishop in Wales, John said he had been told that ?a
number of homophobic remarks were made and were left unchecked and
unreprimanded by the chair?.

He had been told by a member of the electoral college that the only
arguments made against his appointment ?were directly related to my
homosexuality and/or civil partnership ? namely that my appointment
would bring unwelcome and unsettling publicity to the diocese, and that
it might create difficulties for the future archbishop [of Wales] in
relation to the Anglican Communion?.

Despite appeals to the Church in Wales to reconsider the process ?
including a letter from nine Labour MPs in Wales ? the church rejected
allegations of homophobia and said it was satisfied that the process had
been carried out ?properly and fairly?.

One CofE bishop, Nicholas Chamberlain of Grantham, has publicly declared
that he is gay and in a long-term celibate relationship. Justin Welby,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, was aware of Chamberlain?s sexuality and
relationship when he consecrated him in November 2016. When the bishop
went public, Welby said Chamberlain?s sexuality was ?completely
irrelevant to his office?.

A spokesperson for the CofE said: ?We do not comment on Crown
Nominations Commission business. We would resist strongly any suggestion
that selections for senior appointments are influenced by the sexuality
of candidates.?

Alan Wilson, the bishop of Buckinghamshire, said: ?There is a pattern
here, and I?m amazed that after all these years there is still so much
mendacious obfuscation about appointing Jeffrey John as a bishop. It
calls into question the sincerity of all the church?s hand-wringing
apologies to gay and lesbian people.?

The CofE allows clergy to be in same-sex relationships and civil
partnerships as long as they are celibate. It does not permit clergy to
marry same-sex partners and does not conduct same-sex church weddings.

FOOTNOTE: It has been suggested by some that this constant rejection
might have something to do with the Lord not allowing it despite efforts
to strangulate Scripture into accepting him. Ultimately it is supposed
to be the LORD and not man who give His final approval of a candidate.
It's called discernment. Discernment doesn't always mean saying "yes" it
also means saying "No!" . Indeed



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

Message: 12
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:50:07 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Welby?s hero Keynes lost nearly everything in the 1929 crash
Message-ID:
<1492131007.1927317...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Welby?s hero Keynes lost nearly everything in the 1929 crash

By Jules Gomes
http://www.conservativewoman.co.uk
April 9, 2017

Dethroning Mammon is the Archbishop of Canterbury?s Lent book for 2017.
It should be renamed Dethroning Liberty, Free Enterprise and Economic
Freedom. The book is subtitled Making Money Serve Grace. A more apt
subtitle would read Enthroning Big Government, State Interventionism,
and the Welfare State. During these forty days of Lent, Justin Portal
Welby has been preaching the gospel of John Maynard Keynes.

I have long suspected ?Wonga? Welby of being a closet Keynesian. Welby
shares the elitism of Keynes?s upbringing, the elitism of an Eton
education and the elitism of the Cambridge cloister. ?Another Keynes is
needed,? exclaims Welby, doing his John-the-Baptist-imitation and
dusting off crumbs of freeze-dried organic locusts from his Lambeth
Lenten breakfast. He claims that Keynes?s economic vision was ?embedded
in ethics, representing a vision for an economically and relationally
functioning world.? But didn?t Keynes divorce ethics from morality?

He lauds Keynes for trashing thrift and savings. Why? Because since
Keynes ?it has been recognised that, rather than spending, the very
wealthy choose to save more (what Keynes called ?hoarding?) and preserve
their wealth.? Tell that to my father and his generation of low-income
pensioners?who built their lives on the financial prudence of thrift.
Welby has praised Keynes in his Bible Reading Notes. In an interview
with the Guardian, he quotes a letter from Keynes to Virginia Woolf. In
another piece, he pits Keynes against Friedman. While Keynes ?took the
view of abundance and grace as his world view,? Friedman?s ?exchange and
equivalence ideas now dominates all of our thinking.?

Welby is careful not to unveil the anti-Christian aspects of Keynes?s
worldview. In an autobiographical essay, Keynes admitted, ?We repudiated
entirely customary morals, conventions and traditional wisdom. We were,
that is to say, in the strict sense of the term, immoralists. The
consequences of being found out had, of course, to be considered for
what they were worth. But we recognised no moral obligation on us, no
inner sanction, to conform or to obey. Before heaven we claimed to be
our judge in our own case.? Keynes ends the passage with the sentence,
?I remain, and will always remain, an immoralist.? So why is Welby
enthroning Keynes as the Christ who is the saviour of our economy?

Does the Archbishop regard him as a prophet? Keynes? earlier prediction
under Chancellor Winston Churchill in 1925, warning that deflation would
force Britain to reduce real wages and retard economic growth, was
fulfilled. However, his 1926 prophecy ?We will not have any more crashes
in our time,? was followed by the Great Depression of 1929. Keynes
invested his money heavily in stocks and commodities. The 1929 crash
almost entirely wiped out his portfolio and he suffered enormous
commodity losses.

Keynes? disillusionment with capitalism led him to adopt the Freudian
thesis that moneymaking was a neurosis. What Welby labels ?Mammon,?
Keynes called a ?somewhat disgusting morbidity, one of the
semi-criminal, semi-pathological propensities which one hands over with
a shudder to specialists in mental disease.? Welby shares the Keynesian
pessimistic view of the market, which he claims ?is not as rational or
informed as it appears. Rather, it is the emotional conclusion of a
particular view of supply and demand over a specific period.? He
acknowledges that even though ?often the result is fair? the market ?can
also cause human suffering on an unacceptable, but often invisible,
scale.? Keynes, who rejected the classical notion that the capitalist
system is self-adjusting over the long run,? would have cheered Welby?s
laying the blame on ?a banking system that was both out of control and
uncontrollable.?

Given the emphasis of the book of Proverbs and other wisdom literature
of the Bible on savings?it is astonishing that Welby would support an
economist who called savings ?absurd? and asserted that if ?you save
five shillings, you put a man out of work for a day.? Keynes even called
on British housewives to go on a spending spree and government to go on
a building binge.

Welby begins his book by talking about the Kingdom of God?the vision of
God?s final rule; but proceeds to peddle the vision of a utopian
millennialist who dreamed of a world where ?by progressively expanding
credit to promote full employment, the universal economic problem of
scarcity would finally be overcome. Interest rates would fall to zero
and mankind would re-enter the Garden of Eden,? as Mark Skousen observes
in his study of Keynes. But did Keynes have a long-term vision for the
common good? If so, we are not sure what he meant when he famously said,
?In the long run we are all dead.? Surely that is not a Christian vision
of the future?

The problem with a Christian vision of the present is inequality,
according to Welby, which is caused by the wealthy stashing their loot.
Welby is an Equality Evangelist who has a problem with inequality.

?Inequality has grown more and more sharply in the Western world, in
almost every society, and particularly over the past thirty years.? In a
previous article ?Does Inequality Really Matter?? he asks, ?is it
possible where there is gross inequality, for equality in worship and
fellowship to be maintained??

But if everyone in a worshipping community has enough to supply their
needs?why should I envy someone who has a Bentley? Economic equality is
not a biblical virtue. Justice is. And justice is not qualified as
?social justice.? It is simply justice. Welby?s category mistake is
comparing a mercantile or peasant economy with a capitalist economy.
Sadly, it is a mistake made by many preachers who use the Bible to
bolster their attacks on capitalism.

I wonder what Welby would make of Jesus?s parable of the minas (pounds)
where a nobleman calls ten of his servants and giving them one mina each
(about three months? wages) telling them, ?Engage in business until I
come (Luke 19:13). The servant who earns 1,000 per cent profit is
rewarded the most.

The nobleman gives him authority over ten cities. The servant who makes
five more minas receives authority over five cities. The servant who
makes no profit is rebuked. ?Why then did you not put my money in the
bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?? the
nobleman tells him. The parable abounds with themes of profit, saving,
interest, and above all there is equality of opportunity but inequality
of outcome! I bet it?s not the archbishop?s favourite parable.

As we begin Holy Week, it might be of some spiritual benefit for the
Archbishop of Canterbury to dethrone John Maynard Keynes from his
cathedra and to read other economists who have a more Christian view of
poverty and wealth. Perhaps, the black economist Thomas Sowell?s
Controversial Essays might do for Welby?s Easter reading.

Sowell elegantly frames the issue: ?What do the poor most need? They
need to stop being poor. And how can that be done, on a mass scale,
except by an economy that creates vastly more wealth? Yet the political
left has long had a remarkable lack of interest in how wealth is
created. As far as they are concerned, wealth exists somehow, and the
only interesting question is how to redistribute it.? Today is Palm
Sunday, Your Grace! Don?t confuse the donkey with the Messiah in the
procession to Jerusalem! Here endeth the lesson.

END



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

Message: 13
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:51:27 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Islam and Religious Freedom
Message-ID:
<1492131087.1928573...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Islam and Religious Freedom

BY BILL MUEHLENBERG
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2017/03/24/islam-religious-freedom/
Mar 24, 2017

There was a somewhat unhelpful article in the National Review recently
entitled ?Why Baptists Should Support Muslims? Right to Build Mosques.?
The link to it can be found below. It is not my intention to deal with
everything found in the article, but to discuss a debate that sprang
from it.

This article and a fan of it appeared on my social media page, so I
replied, and that ended up being a major discussion with a few other
folks as well, including the one who posted the piece in the first
place. So here I want to share some of what I said in that discussion.

Let me preface all this by saying that this debate centres on a
particular law case in New Jersey about Muslims seeking to build a
mosque. I am not a lawyer or someone with legal training, so I am not
competent to comment on the legal pros and cons of this or related
cases.

But groups like the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and its Ethics and
Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) led by president Russell Moore have
supported the rights of the Muslim group in the name of freedom of
religion. So I will not weigh into the legal debate, but into the
broader issues which arise here.

I merely write as someone who knows a little bit about how the American
political system works, and how the Islamic political system works. And
from that vantage point, I believe that the two are all rather
incompatible, and so care must be taken as Christians seek to support
the Muslims here.

The gist of the National Review article and the case of those pushing it
is that American Baptists have had a rocky history in the US and know
the importance of religious freedom, and therefore Baptists should
extend that same freedom to Muslims as they seek to build mosques in the
country.

I made a brief reply to this post with words like this: Positing a moral
equivalence between Islam and Christianity is his first big mistake. His
second is to foolishly think that setting up a mosque is the same thing
as setting up a church. Just one line from the NR article highlights
this: ?It was not so long ago that Baptists were ?the Muslims? fighting
for the right to construct their own houses of worship.?

Um no, not quite. So I posted a link to my article which explains what
the mosque actually means for Muslims in non-Muslim countries:
billmuehlenberg.com/2014/03/28/the-significance-of-the-mosque/

I urge everyone to read that article. But I then got a reply saying that
this debate is not about Islam versus Christianity. ?The issue is
whether, in the context of civil government, free exercise of religion
is equally a right for every religion, including Islam.?

To that I said that she was missing the point. When the Founding Fathers
spoke about religious freedom, it was mainly in the context of various
Christian denominations, not something as wholly other as Islam. And no,
there is no right of every religion to do whatever they want ? not when
they hold to fundamental values and beliefs that are seditious and
treasonous and anti-Constitutional.

The response I got to that was that ?this is a topic that can get people
riled up quickly?, I assured her that I was not getting riled up, and
went on to say this:

I simply stated the glaring shortcomings of this article and why he is
missing the point big time. The bottom line is this: Christians can live
in many different countries with different types of government and
various sorts of political setups and be good citizens while still being
good Christians. But this is not true for a devout Muslim. Unless a
nation is in submission to Allah and sharia law, the devout Muslim
cannot be a good citizen. Their loyalty is to Allah and his will alone,
not to any non-Islamic, infidel government. So by definition they cannot
make for good citizens, unless they renounce their overriding loyalty to
Islam and sharia.

Another person weighed in about the ?guaranteed Constitutional right? to
religious freedom and the like. I reminded him that the establishment
clause of the First Amendment on religious freedom had to do with the
state not establishing any one religion as a state religion. It never
intended to say that all religions were equal in terms of being
compatible with the Constitution.

The gal offered a lengthier reply stating in part 1) ?free exercise of
religion is the freedom of every American citizen to believe whatever
they wish,? and 2) my point about sedition and the like is a straw man.
?The Constitution certainly does not allow every religion the right to
DO whatever they want?including Christians.?

I replied:

1) Beliefs lead to and are inseparable from actions, and not every
religious belief is given complete immunity, especially when it is
directly seditious, etc. 2) There is no straw man here. I take it you
did not read my article on what Islam teaches concerning the mosque and
its political importance. It is among other things a political unit and
a declaration of Islamic intention of territorial expansion. And of
course even Christians do not enjoy complete open slather in what they
may want to do ? often rightly so ? at least with some aberrant groups.
For this discussion to properly succeed and go forward, we need to know
something about the Constitution and the Founding Fathers? intentions,
but we also need to know some basics about Islam. Sadly it seems not
everyone here does as far as the latter is concerned. The US government
has no reason to turn a blind eye to religious beliefs and practices
which are inimical to its very values and foundational principles.
Indeed, the Constitution forbids that. That genuine Christian beliefs
and practices can wrongly be targeted by the government is of course a
real concern, but it is apples and oranges when talking about
Christianity versus Islam.

To expand on this a bit further, religious freedom is not an absolute,
and there is always a juggling act in preserving religious freedoms
while upholding other important values and goods. For example we know
that the religious freedom of Jehovah?s Witnesses to follow their
beliefs and keep their sick or dying children from getting blood
transfusions has been overridden in some American law courts.

Another person said this: ?if you give the government that power to ban
certain things for Muslims, they?ll turn their guns on us as well?.
Sure, I understand how dangerous it is for governments to decide which
religious freedoms can be allowed and which cannot.

But as stated above, there are no absolutes here ? many good things can
be restricted in the interests of national security and the like. Do we
have the right to shout ?fire!? in a crowded theatre? Do we have a right
to call for the overthrow of the US government and have it replaced by
an Islamic caliphate based on sharia law?

So government already is deciding what is allowed and what is not. And
we can discuss and debate those various things. So it seems to me only a
radical libertarian would argue that there should be zero restrictions
or limitations on all religious beliefs and practices.

That is because they are not all equal. And that sure is the case when
we compare Islam with Christianity. The loyalty of a devout Muslim is
usually to all sorts of things which are anti-constitutional ? things
impacting on the equality of women, religious pluralism, freedom of
speech, freedom of conscience, the rule of law, and so on.

So those mixed loyalties can make many devout Muslims rather poor
citizens indeed in a free democracy. And when they openly say ? as many
do ? that they will not be ruled by human law but only sharia law, they
show that they reject the very values and basis of the American system
of government.

Do I believe religious freedom is important? Yes I do, and in principle,
I think we need religious freedom for one and all. As I said years ago
about a case in France when they decided to ban Islamic religious
symbols in public, that meant that Jewish and Christian symbols were
also targeted.

So yes in a sense to allow restrictions to one group may well mean other
groups get restricted as well. But there are limits to everything in a
fallen world, including religious liberty. All social goods need to be
weighed against other social goods.

Religious freedom is vitally important, but so too are the principles
enunciated in the US Constitution. Allowing one religious and political
ideology like Islam open slather can put at risk the very heart of the
American system of government and the values of freedom and democracy.

Thus these are complex matters indeed, and we need to think through them
prayerfully and carefully as we seek to find a way forward. As I
mentioned above, many folks in this debate are pretty cluey about
American law, the US Constitution, and the like. And that is essential.

But sadly it seems many of them are not very cluey about Islam and what
it is all about, what its stated goals are, and so on. And that is
essential to comprehend as well. Otherwise we will find our freedoms
being used against us, and we may well lose our freedoms in the name of
preserving freedom.

So we need to be wise and cautious here. Yes we must work to defend
religious freedom. But we also must be aware of how this pans out with
other religious groups that share few if any of our values of freedom,
diversity, pluralism and the rule of law.



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

Message: 14
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:52:34 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: TSUNAMI!
Message-ID:
<1492131154.1929166...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TSUNAMI!

By Duane W.H. Arnold
www.virtueonline.org
April 10, 2017

?Now you can hold on steady and try to be ready
But everybody's going to get wet
Don't think it won't happen just because it hasn't happened yet? Jackson
Browne

We?re going to have to face reality, whether we want to or not. A
tsunami is on the way.

I recently sent around a new demographic survey to some friends.
(http://rainmakerthinking.com/assets/uploads/2017/02/Gen-Shift-2017_Electronic.pdf)
It contained some fascinating information.

As of 2017, less than 1% of those born prior to 1946, remain in the
workforce. Following this group are two ?waves? of baby boomers - those
born between 1946 and 1954 (the first wave) and those born between 1955
and 1964 (the second wave). In 2017, the first wave makes up 11% of the
workforce, while the second wave is at 16%, making boomers 27% of the
workforce today. The rest of the workforce is made up of Generation X
and the Millennials.

By 2020, that is in about two and a half years, this will change. Those
born before 1946 will have no statistical presence in the workforce. The
first wave of boomers will make up less than 6% of the workforce, while
the second wave will account for just 13%. Together, they will make up
slightly less than 19% of the work force with Gen X and Millennials
accounting for 81% of the income earning population in the US. (Global
figures are even more stark as the ?youth bubble? is much larger in
Africa, Asia and Latin America.)

With this reordering of the workforce, there will also be a reordering
of income distribution. Boomers, who have been responsible for financing
much of the American Church, will largely be on fixed incomes while
those who remain in the workforce for a few years more will be more and
more concentrating on saving for their own impending retirement. The
money that has provided for places of worship, from the small
denominational church on the corner, to the mega-church on the outskirts
of the city, will largely be gone or redirected by many of those who
were once donors.

Additionally, across the board from denominations to independent
churches and associations, the clergy are aging and will soon be gone. A
2016 report from the United Methodist Church made the following analysis
of their clergy:

Elders between ages 55 and 72 comprise 56 percent of all active elders,
the highest percentage in history. This group reached 50 percent for the
first time ever in 2010. This age cohort represented only 30 percent of
active elders as recently as 2000. The median age of elders remained at
56 in 2016, the highest in history. The average age remains at 53, a
historic high, though unchanged for seven years. The mode age (the
single age most represented) is 61, up from 60 last year.

Episcopalians/Anglicans and Lutherans are still slightly older (Roman
Catholics are the oldest), while Baptists and Evangelicals are slightly
younger, although still close to the UMC age range. Oh yes, I failed to
mention that the average age for clergy retirement has been 64, although
it is now creeping up to 65 years of age over the last few years. In
many denominations, almost most half of their churches are already being
served by part-time clergy who are either retired or are active and
trying to serve several small churches under their care.

When we consider that the Calvary Chapel movement was once considered a
?youth movement?, the scenes from the latest Calvary Chapel Association
conference are sobering. The age of the leaders and most of the
participants made me wonder if the busses from nursing homes were lined
up outside the conference hall waiting to get people back for for the
5:00 pm blue plate special at the home. On the other end of the
?ecclesiastical scale?, a friend of mine who is a priest in the
Episcopal Church in a northeastern diocese (once a bedrock area for
Anglicans) predicts that half of the parishes in their diocese will
close within the next decade. The issues driving this coming demise are
not those of sexuality, or liberals versus conservatives, but of age,
money, and the lack of younger trained clergy.

It is no longer a matter of ?strengthening that which remains? or even
?staying the course?. If any of us, in any of our faith communities,
limit our vision to the maintenance of the status quo, we will fail to
weather the change that is already upon us.

In short, we are facing a generational change unlike almost anything we
have seen before. I will not repeat all the figures from last year?s Pew
Survey result, except to say that skepticism about religion is
especially evident among younger people with the study finding that
barely a quarter of millennials attend church services on a weekly
basis. Researchers acknowledged that some young people may become more
religious as they grow older, but their data suggest that the
generational differences in religious belief could well endure. "The
oldest Millennials, now in their late 20s and early 30s, are generally
less observant than they were seven years ago," the study concluded. "If
these trends continue American society is likely to grow less religious
even if those who are adults today maintain their current levels of
religious commitment."

We?re going to have to face reality, whether we want to or not, because
this reality is soon going to be confronting us, week by week, Sunday by
Sunday, empty pew by empty pew. We may already have waited too long.

Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD heads THE PROJECT www.themartyrsproject.com/ an
extraordinary musical endeavor born out of love - love for the Church,
love for music and love for our Lord



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

Message: 15
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:53:23 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Why the Arguments for a Third Way do not Work
Message-ID:
<1492131203.1929208...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Why the Arguments for a Third Way do not Work

By M. B. Davie
https://mbarrattdavie.wordpress.com/
April 8, 2017

This morning I was listening to a sermon preached recently at an
Evangelical Anglican church that argued for a third way between the
conservative and liberal approaches to the issue of human sexuality.
This third way would consist in being willing to live with difference
over this issue in the same way that we manage to live with differences
in the church over a whole host of other issues.

In the sermon three grounds were given for taking this approach.
Firstly, it would be a manifestation of the combination of grace and
truth referred to in John 1:14. Secondly, it would be a recognition that
differences about sexuality are not differences about dogma, or about
church doctrine, but about matters of opinion. Thirdly, it would be in
line with the pattern of behaviour set out by St. Paul in Romans 14 and
15 and summarised by the injunction in Romans 15:7 ?welcome one another,
therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, to the glory of God.?

It seems likely that in the months to come there will be strong pressure
on Evangelicals in the Church of England who are not willing to go all
the way in accepting same-sex relationships to at least adopt this kind
of third way approach and so in this post I want to explain why I think
the three arguments for this this approach noted above are mistaken.

The reason that the first argument is mistaken is because it does not do
justice to what St. John is saying in John 1:14.

For advocates of the third way approach grace is understood to mean
unconditional love and acceptance and so living a life of ?grace and
truth? means showing unconditional love and acceptance to those with
whom we disagree even while upholding the truth of our own position. In
terms of the current debate about sexuality this means that Evangelicals
who hold a conservative approach to sexual ethics should be willing to
love and accept those who take a more liberal position.

The problem with this argument is that it fails to read John 1:14
against the background of the Old Testament. As a number of commentators
have pointed out, the pairing of ?grace? and truth? in John 1:14 is a
deliberate echo of the regular pairing of ?steadfast love? and
?faithfulness? as a description of God in Old Testament passages such as
Genesis 24:27, Exodus 34:6 and Psalm 25:10. [1] God?s ?grace? is his
steadfast and merciful love to his oppressed and disobedient people and
God?s ?truth? is his faithfulness to his promises to be merciful. Both
of these are manifested in Jesus, the person in whom the God of the Old
Testament is incarnate, because through his death and resurrection he
delivers God?s people from sin and death and thus shows God?s
faithfulness to his promises and hence his truthfulness.

The relevance of this to the debate about sexuality is that sexual sin,
including the sin of same-sex sexual activity, is part of the life of
sin and death from which God in Christ has delivered his people (see 1
Corinthians 6:9-11 and Romans 1-8 throughout) with the corollary that
such sin should no longer form part of their lives. As St. Paul puts it
in Romans 6:12-14, because the grace of God means that we have died and
risen with Christ:

?Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey
their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of
wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought
from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of
righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not
under law but under grace.?

A church, therefore, that is willing to accept same-sex sexual activity
(or any other form of sexual sin) is a church that has ceased to truly
believe in the grace and truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

The reason the second argument is mistaken is because the conservative
position on human sexuality is not just a matter of individual opinion,
but is a matter of doctrine and dogma.

It is a matter of doctrine because doctrine is what the churches have
officially taught and until very recent times all Christian churches
have taught that same-sex sexual activity is sinful and to be shunned by
God?s people. St. Vincent of Lerins once famously said that Catholic
doctrine was that which was believed ?at all times, everywhere, and by
everyone?[2] and the sinfulness of same-sex activity (like that of all
forms of sexual activity outside of marriage) comes into this category.
As S Donald Fortson and Rollin G Grams put it in their book Unchanging
Witness, the study of the relevant texts reveals unequivocally ?that the
Fathers, Reformers, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Roman Catholics and
Orthodox churches are unanimous in their condemnation of homoerotic
behaviour among those who profess Christ as Lord.?[3]

It is also a matter of dogma, in the sense of being part of the
essential core of orthodox Christianity, because the Church?s historic
position about sexuality is part of its fundamental belief in ?God the
Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.? This belief involves
accepting the witness borne by Genesis to God?s creation of the world
and of the human race and this in turn means accepting what Genesis has
to say about God?s creation of humanity and the sexual ethic that
follows from this.

According to Genesis, God created humanity as a sexually dimorphic
species consisting of male human beings and female human beings (see
Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 2 and Genesis 5:1-2) and that as part of their
calling to rule over the world on God?s behalf God?s male and female
human creatures are called to ?be fruitful and multiply? (Genesis 1:28).
Furthermore, the context established by God for this procreation to
happen is marriage, a lifelong, exclusive sexual relationship between
one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24, see also Matthew 19:3-9).

It is this understanding of God?s creation of humanity and his
establishment of marriage as the proper context for sexual activity that
provides the framework for the rest of what the Bible has to say about
marriage and sexuality and that has formed the basis of what the
Christian Church has historically taught about them. The unanimous
rejection of same-sex sexual activity noted above has been because it is
a form of sexual activity that does not take place between men and women
in marriage and is intrinsically closed to the procreation of children.
It thus contravenes the way that God has created human beings to be
(which is the point that St. Paul makes in Romans 1:26-27).

The reason the third argument is mistaken is that St. Paul?s teaching in
Romans 14:1-15:13 is based on the fact that it is possible for
Christians not to observe the laws regarding particular foods or
particular days and still live a life of obedience to God. This is
because the death of Christ abolished those aspects of the Jewish law
relating to clean and unclean foods and the observance of particular
religious festivals, thus overcoming the division between Jews and
Gentiles that these aspects of the Jewish law created (see Ephesians
2:11-22).

This meant that issues about what foods to eat or what festivals to
observe (or not observe) were matters on which individuals were free to
make their own decisions. However, this did not mean that St. Paul
thought that Christians could simply do what they liked on these
matters. There were Christians for whom observing Jewish festivals, not
eating non-kosher food and not eating food associated with pagan
idolatry were matters of religious importance. According to St. Paul
their convictions needed to be taken seriously and other Christians who
took a more permissive attitude should not abuse their freedom by acting
in a way that would cause conscientious difficulties for their more
conservative brothers and sisters.

Nowhere in the New Testament, however, is sexual ethics seen as a matter
on which there is liberty for Christians to take different approaches.
In the New Testament the Old Testament laws regarding sexual conduct are
seen as still in place and applicable to all Christians (see Matthew
5:27-30, Acts 15:29, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8). Transgression of them is
seen as a matter which needs to entail the transgressor being subject to
disciplinary exclusion from membership of God?s people in this life (1
Corinthians 5) and which carries with it the danger of eternal
separation from the life of God?s kingdom in the world to come (1
Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:18-21, Revelation 21:8).

The New Testament thus firmly closes the door on any idea that sexual
ethics is a matter on which Christians are free to have different
beliefs and observe different practices. There is a basic pattern of
sexual conduct involving fidelity within (heterosexual) marriage and
abstinence outside it that all Christians without exception are expected
to observe. In historically forbidding same-sex activity the Christian
Church has simply remained faithful to this pattern.

For the reasons I have just given, the arguments for a third way between
conservative and liberal approaches on sexuality do not work and
Evangelicals in the Church of England should resist pressure to go down
this route.

FOOTNOTES

[1] See, for instance, B F Westcott, Gospel of John, London: John
Murray, 1924, p.13, E Hoskyns and F N Davey, The Fourth Gospel, London:
Faber and Faber, 1947, pp.150-151 and D A Carson, The Gospel According
to John, Apollos/Eerdmans: Grand Rapids/Cambridge/Leicester, 1991,
pp.129-130.

[2] St Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium, chap IV.

[3] S Donald Fortson III and Rollin G Grams, Unchanging Witness ? The
Consistent Christian Teaching on Homosexuality in Scripture and
Tradition, Nashville: B&H Academic, 2016, p.376.

END



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

Message: 16
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:53:50 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Episcopal Church Elects Normal Bishop
Message-ID:
<1492131230.1929227...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Episcopal Church Elects Normal Bishop

A satirical essay

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 7, 2017

History was made this week when an openly normal man was elected Bishop
of Newark, NJ.

?I?m stunned,? said Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. ?This man represents
everything the Church no longer stands for and has publicly rejected. He
is white, male, heterosexual. He has a wife and two kids and says he
actually believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior, has read and believes the
formularies, believes scripture is authoritative and final as the
church?s primary source of truth.

?What is stunning is that he got through the ecclesiastical net,
especially as we now have a committee set up to pre-vet all potential
bishops, and someone like this is clearly unacceptable, so I need to
know how he got through the net. I am horrified.?

?Such people should not get anywhere near a see these days. After all,
this is the diocese of former bishop, John Shelby Spong, a world class
theologian, whose 12 Theses are now the hallmark doctrines of TEC. I
just added the Jesus Movement to goose it up a bit.?

What we are looking for is someone who is black, bisexual or
transgendered, a he/she with whatever sexual organs they claim to have,
someone who was trained at Episcopal Divinity School where the Bible is
opened and read only during coffee breaks, said a dejected Curry.

?We want a bishop who will focus on climate change, pansexuality and the
occasional paranormal sightings just in case there is something
supernatural out there that we haven?t spotted.?

Remember, this IS the Episcopal Church, the Church of what?s happenin?
now, not what happened yesterday.

END



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

Message: 17
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2017 20:54:16 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: THE MAIN THING: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Message-ID:
<1492131256.1929277...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

THE MAIN THING: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

By Ted Schroder
www.tedschroder.com
Easter Day, April 16, 2017

Stephen Covey will be remembered most as the author of The Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People (1989), which sold over 25 million copies. He
popularized many quotes which have the power to completely change the
direction of one?s life. Some of them are:
1. The key is not to prioritize what?s on your schedule but to
schedule your priorities.
2. Live out of your imagination, not your history.
3. Trust is the glue of life. It?s the most essential ingredient in
effective communication. It?s the foundational principle that holds all
relationships.
4. Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough
time on what is important.
5. I am not the product of my circumstances. I am the product of my
decisions.
6. Decide what your highest priorities are and say ?no? to other
things. The enemy of the ?best? is often the ?good.?

But the one that I want to highlight today is: ?The main thing is to
keep the main thing the main thing.? In a culture of social media,
twitter, and innumerable apps it is easy to be distracted from the main
thing and to waste our lives on the peripheral things. In the church it
is easy to be distracted from our main message and to spend our times on
other good things. Easter reminds us of the main thing. Wherever the
apostles travelled they communicated to their hearers the main thing of
the Gospel. You can analyze their message and it contains a few central
elements. St. Paul summarized it this way:

?Now let me remind, of what the Gospel really is, for it has not changed
? it is the same Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it
then and still do now, for your faith is squarely built upon this
wonderful message, and it is this Good News that saves you if you still
firmly believe it, unless of course you never really believed it in the
first place. I passed on to you right from the first what had been told
to me, that Christ died for our sins just as the Scriptures said he
would, and that he was buried, and that three days afterwards he arose
from the grave just as the prophets foretold. He was seen by Peter and
later by the rest of the ?Twelve.? After that he was seen by more than
five hundred Christian brothers at one time, most of whom are still
alive, though some have died by now.?(1 Corinthians 15:1-6)

What is the main thing of Christianity, the main message of the Gospel?
What is the precious jewel in the setting of the rest of the Christian
faith and its many manifestations, that provides the sparkle and beauty
of the Christian life with all its virtues and good works?

The Gospel has not changed since Jesus, just before he ascended back
into heaven, commissioned the apostles to ?Go and make disciples of all
nations.? The main thing of the Christian message has not changed since
the Holy Spirit came in power upon the apostles at Pentecost and they
proclaimed to all who heard in their own languages the wonders of God.
Whatever the Church down the ages has made a priority in their mission
in order to communicate the Gospel to every culture and generation and
has sometimes majored on minors and become obsessed with secondary
issues rather than their primary mission, the main thing is still the
same. It is still the foundation of the faith of every Christian
believer. Our faith is squarely built on this wonderful message. It is
this Good News that saves us.

First of all, it is based upon the prophetic scriptures. Jesus himself
reminded the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that they needed to
believe all that the prophets had spoken about him. ?And beginning with
Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in the
Scriptures concerning himself.? Afterwards they related to the rest of
the disciples, ?Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked
with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.? As you read the
four Gospels you see how Jesus quoted the prophetic Scriptures to
illustrate and confirm what he was doing. The Gospel writers also cited
the Scriptures as evidence of the truth of what Jesus was doing and
teaching. As the old saying expresses the relationship of the Old to the
New Testament: the New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the
New revealed. There is a seamless revelation of God?s plan of salvation
from Genesis to Revelation as God progressively revealed his purposes
through the prophets and the apostles.

Second of all, the main thing of Christianity that the Scriptures teach
is that Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Promised Servant of
God, the Redeemer and Savior, died for our sins. The main thing has to
do with the Cross, the sacrificial death of Christ, as a substitutionary
atonement for the sins of the world. That is why St. Paul wrote, ?For

I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and
him crucified.? The Cross revealed how much God loved us and was willing
to come and identify with us in our humanity and to take our guilt and
failings upon himself so that we might be forgiven and given a new life
in Christ.

Third of all, the main thing of Christianity is that Jesus was buried.
He experienced the reality of dying and death and descended to the
depths of suffering for us. This was no phantom death, no superficial
agony, no partial identification with our human condition of pain and
suffering. He was buried. His body was entombed. Unlike Islam we believe
that God fully and truly entered into human form so that he could endure
what we all have to endure in dying. Our God is a suffering God who has
compassion on us because he has suffered with us and for us. He is not
removed from us, impervious to our sorrows and physical infirmities. Our
Apostles? Creed reminds that ?He descended to the dead.?

Fourthly, the main thing of the Gospel that makes all this worthwhile,
is that Jesus was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
Death could not hold him. He had the power of an indestructible life. He
rose from the dead so that he might give us eternal life, a new birth
from the dead life of our sinful nature. His resurrection was a bodily
resurrection. We believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the material
expression of human life and identity. God who created us from the dust
of the ground, recreates us in his image in the resurrection. St. Paul
spends the rest of 1 Corinthians 15 expounding the implications of this
astounding belief. It was unprecedented in the ancient world. The Greeks
believed in the immortality of the soul but not the resurrection of the
body. This was a novel idea. When St. Paul talked about it in Athens the
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers sneered at it. They could not conceive
of God giving proof of the Gospel by raising Jesus from the dead. Yet
there is all the evidence that St. Paul lists in the appearances of
Jesus after his resurrection to over 500 disciples, the apostles, his
own skeptical brother James and lastly to Paul himself, an opponent and
persecutor of the early Christians. These eye-witnesses of the
resurrection were around to verify the Gospel accounts when they were
written.

What is the main thing to you? If all this is true how does it affect
your life? If this is the main thing then how central is it to your
life? This message changed the world. It is still powerful enough to
completely change one?s life. The first Christians welcomed it because
it delivered them from darkness and despair and gave them new life and
hope. It can do the same for you today. Make it your main thing.

END



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