VirtueOnline Digest, Vol 17, Issue 14

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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 7, 2017 (David Virtue)
3. Screwtape Proposes an Episcopal Toast (David Virtue)
4. FARGO, ND: Church Installs Stained Glass LGBT Window
(David Virtue)
5. Second Battle for St. James (David Virtue)
6. A Lesbian Bishop Learns a Hard Lesson (David Virtue)
7. GAFCON Primate Says Anglican Communion is being Degraded and
Confused by False Teaching (David Virtue)
8. Archbishop Justin Welby?s Global Anglican Strategy:
Neutralize GAFCON (David Virtue)
9. SYDNEY: Anglican archbishop claims marriage equality
campaigners are 'bullying' Australians who don't agree with it -
and that supporters are in the minority (David Virtue)
10. Crisis for Church of England as older female churchgoers pass
away (David Virtue)
11. Our Racist Church - the Church of England (David Virtue)
12. Trans Sanity: Perversion, Confusion and a Depraved Mind
(David Virtue)
13. Ex-Gay Christian Group Says It's Saving Lives, Not 'Inciting
Hatred' as Branded by Vimeo Shutdown (David Virtue)
14. GDANSK, POLAND: LGBT activists slammed scientist as a
'homophobe.' Now a judge is making them apologize (David Virtue)
15. Episcopal Church Forms Title Company, Acquires Law Firm
(David Virtue)
16. Can Mathematics Transform the Episcopal Church? (David Virtue)
17. Christian Persecution in China on the Rise: Report (David Virtue)
18. QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken
Me? - Matthew 27:46 (David Virtue)


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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:35:32 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Table of Contents
Message-ID:
<1491507332.2657127...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest - Desktop & Mobile Edition
www.virtueonline.org
April 7, 2017


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

1. Bishop Bruno Awaits Verdict * LGBT window dedicated to gay community
* Syndney APB rips gay bulling church...
http://www.virtueonline.org/bishop-bruno-awaits-verdict-lgbt-window-dedicated-gay-community-sydney-apb-rips-gay-bullying-church


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

2.Screwtape Proposes an Episcopal Toast
http://www.virtueonline.org/screwtape-proposes-episcopal-toast-25

3.FARGO, ND: Church Installs Stained Glass LGBT Window
http://www.virtueonline.org/fargo-nd-church-installs-stained-glass-lgbt-window

4.Second Battle for St.James
http://www.virtueonline.org/second-battle-stjames

5.A Lesbian Bishop Learns a Hard Lesson
http://www.virtueonline.org/lesbian-bishop-learns-hard-lesson


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

6.GAFCON Primate Says Anglican Communion is being Degraded and
Confused...
<http://www.virtueonline.org/gafcon-primate-says-anglican-communion-being-degraded-and-confused-false-teaching>

7.Archbishop Justin Welby's Global Anglican Strategy: Neutralize GAFCON
http://www.virtueonline.org/archbishop-justin-welby%E2%80%99s-global-anglican-strategy-neutralize-gafcon

8.SYDNEY: Anglican archbishop claims marriage equality campaigners are
bullying australians...
http://www.virtueonline.org/sydney-anglican-archbishop-claims-marriage-equality-campaigners-are-bullying-australians-who-dont


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

9.Crisis for Church of England as older female churchgoers pass away
http://www.virtueonline.org/crisis-church-england-older-female-churchgoers-pass-away

10.Our Racist Church - the Church of England
http://www.virtueonline.org/our-racist-church-church-england


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

11.Trans Sanity: Perversion, Confusion and a Depraved Mind
http://www.virtueonline.org/trans-sanity-perversion-confusion-and-depraved-mind

12.Ex-Gay Christian Group Says It's Saving Lives, Not 'Inciting
Hatred...
http://www.virtueonline.org/ex-gay-christian-group-says-its-saving-lives-not-inciting-hatred-branded-vimeo-shutdown

13.POLAND: LGBT activists slammed scientist as a 'homophobe. Now a judge
is making them apologize
http://www.virtueonline.org/gda%C5%84sk-poland-lgbt-activists-slammed-scientist-%E2%80%98homophobe%E2%80%99-now-judge-making-them-apologize


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

14.Episcopal Church Forms Title Company, Acquires Law Firm
http://www.virtueonline.org/episcopal-church-forms-title-company-acquires-law-firm

15.Can Mathematics Transform the Episcopal Church?
http://www.virtueonline.org/can-mathematics-transform-episcopal-church


**********************************
CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
**********************************

16.Christian Persecution in China on the Rise: Report
http://www.virtueonline.org/christian-persecution-china-rise-report


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

17.QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
-Matthew 27:46
http://www.virtueonline.org/questions-jesus-asked-my-god-my-god-why-have-you-forsaken-me-matthew-2746


END



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

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:36:54 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: VIEWPOINTS: April 7, 2017
Message-ID:
<1491507414.2657753...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The American Republic is in the throes of its gravest crisis since the
Civil War, a crisis that threatens both its greatness and its freedom.
And as with that earlier time of terrible, self-inflicted judgment, the
deepest threat is not the foreign invader but the American insider. The
problem is not America against the world, or the world against America,
but America against itself, citizen against citizen, state against
citizens, and even President against President. --- Os Guinness

Sin is a stain, a weight and a debt. But at least religions offer people
a path from self-reflection and confession to atonement and absolution.
--- David Brooks

In the Middle East and elsewhere, political protest is taking religious
form. We haven?t seen that in the West since Martin Luther. The great
rows in the 16th and 17th centuries were religious rows. The clich? is
right: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. The West has
forgotten what religious revolution looks like. Religion isn?t something
you do just in the home or in a house of worship. You can sometimes take
it to the street, and we?ve forgotten how dangerous that can be. ---
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Transgenderism is supremely incoherent not only because it is
irrational, but because that irrationality doesn?t diminish its appeal
or social standing. Its irrationality is not a defect but its principle
feature, its point of pride and perverse strength. Judge Niemeyer wrote
in dissent in a transgender case, that, as against transgender policy,
?[v]irtually every civilization?s norms on this issue stand in protest.?
Well yes; that?s rather the point. For transgender ideology, the
unanimous testimony of human civilization not only has no authority, but
civilization is precisely the foe it aims to vanquish. Settled
categories?of law, logic, or physical creation?are targets for
subversion. --- Jeff Shafer in FIRST THINGS

Anti-intellectualism and the fullness of the Spirit are mutually
incompatible, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. --- John
R.W. Stott

All I know is that God put us here to be lights in the darkness, and
however dark it gets, our mission does not change. Dostoevsky wrote that
stars grow brighter as the night grows darker. So the good news is that
we have the opportunity to be the brightest stars for Christ that the
world has ever seen, because we may well live through its darkest night.
--- Matt Walsh, THE BLAZE

Totalitarians and fascists have always sought to demonize their
opponents, in part by marking them out from the ?normal? majority. They
are clearly identified one way or another as recalcitrants, and treated
accordingly. Simply consider how Jews fared as the Nazi regime occupied
various European countries: being forced to wear a yellow badge in the
form of a Star of David. Millions of our young men gave their lives to
fight these totalist regimes and to preserve our cherished freedoms. But
a new totalitarianism is descending upon the West, and it comes in the
form of the militant and totalitarian rainbow activists. --- Bill
Muehlenberg

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
April 7, 2017

The trial of Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno is over; now we await the
verdict and his possible banishment from The Episcopal Church by his
peers. If he is found guilty, he could be suspended or defrocked over a
plan he had to sell St. James the Great in Newport Beach, a prime
location worth an estimated $15 million.

Bruno faces allegations that he was deceptive and acted in a way
unbecoming a clergyman when he tried to sell the St. James the Great
site, locked congregants out and then kept the gates, closed even after
the sale fell apart.

Testifying in Pasadena before a five-member panel of Episcopal bishops
from around the country, he described the diocese as property-rich but
cash-poor.

The irony of all this is that this parish was once solidly evangelical
and in the hands of the Rev. Richard Crocker. He and the majority of the
parish walked away over TEC?s abandonment of the faith and the
ordination of an openly homosexual bishop to the episcopacy. The parish
was ?rescued? by a liberal woman priest, the Rev. Cindy Voorhees, and it
was she who got in the face of Bruno. She wanted to keep the parish
open. Bruno saw an opportunity to make a ton of money and ordered the
parish closed and the locks changed. Voorhees and her small group of
Episcopalians refused to take this lying down and went after the bishop.
She got support from the lesbian assistant bishop of the diocese, Mary
Glasspool, who subsequently got fired for supporting Voorhees, and
charges were then filed against Bruno.

So, what are the odds Bruno will take a walk because he is within a year
of retirement? And will the parish regain the property? Will these
bishops really hang one of their own out to dry?

All but one of his judges are as liberal as Bruno theologically and on
moral issues. The one bishop, Michael Smith of North Dakota, a Communion
Partner bishop, is the most likely to vote to defrock Bruno. It will be
interesting to see what and how the others say and vote.

A little history is important on how revisionist bishops hang one of
their own, even if it is by their testicles?the pain is apparently worth
it. There?s always the pension to dull the pain.

In the Diocese of Pennsylvania (where I live) we had a power-crazy
bishop, Charles E. Bennison of less than blessed memory, who relished
seizing parishes and their assets in the civil courts during both the
Frank Griswold and Jefferts Schori reign. Bennison was infamous for his
sayings about the Faith that would have Arius rolling over in his grave.
He once said that ?Jesus was a sinner who forgave himself? and "Men
wrote the Bible and therefore could rewrite it.? As one poster noted, he
performed illegal SSMs in private gardens around Philadelphia, spent
diocesan money like there was no tomorrow, and then was finally caught
covering up his pedophile brother, who was also a TEC priest. The
Presiding Bishop at the time was Frank Griswold, who was living in his
Rumi the Sufi world. He called on Bennison to meet him on a plain beyond
good and evil, but when that failed (the plain apparently could not be
found), he insisted that Bennison step down, as did a number of PA
clergy. He refused. Finally inhibited, and tried he was exonerated by
his own peers on the shifting sand of the ?statute of limitations? which
they should have known about before they went to trial. Jefferts Schori
managed to lever him out with a new canon she got through the HOB and
forced Bennison into retirement with a golden parachute.

So, the question is, do you really think that Bruno will be convicted
and deposed?

The Right Rev. Herman Hollerith, the panel chairman and blue-blood
bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, said he doesn?t
expect a decision on Bruno to be issued before Easter, April 16. Bruno
is no doubt hoping for a resurrection moment.

*****

A small Episcopal congregation in North Dakota made news this week with
their own new LGBT window dedicated to the gay community.

St. Stephen?s Episcopal Church in Fargo dedicated a new window on Sunday
featuring a rainbow and words from the denomination?s 1979 revision of
the Book of Common Prayer: ?Will you strive for justice and peace among
all people and respect the dignity of every human being??

Dubbed ?Integrity Window?, the installation also commemorates English
writer St. Aelred of Rievaulx. Aelred authored the treatise ?On
Spiritual Friendship? and is claimed by some in the gay community for
his own deep friendships with men. The window also features a quote from
Galatians, a pride flag, the logo of Integrity USA (the unofficial LGBT
caucus within the Episcopal Church) and a depiction of the parish?s
rainbow-flag flying float from a local parade.

?Loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself, that?s really the basis
for all Christian ministry as I see it and I think that?s the basis for
how we see GLBTQ inclusion,? Parish Priest-in-Charge Jamie Parsley told
local news station KVLY. The window is dedicated ?in memory of those who
died trying to be their authentic selves.?

So, by engaging in anal sex you will discover your ?authentic self?.
Someone needs to sit down with this parish and read the Book of Romans
right through from beginning to end. You can read the full story in
today?s digest.

*****

TRINITY WALL STREET?and what they really believe there. An old and dear
lady friend of mine recently visited Trinity Wall Street, probably the
wealthiest church in the world, and had the following experience and
encounter at both worship and later with a clergyperson.

?The Eucharistic Liturgy referred to ?the woman Mary,? and ?Blessed
Mary? -- but at no point was the word "Virgin" mentioned. I asked the
celebrant about it, and she replied that it wasn't her decision, but the
rector's; he felt that "woman" was more in keeping with the original
language, it wasn't "her body" but "her spirit" that was important, etc.
(The Rector was absent that day.)

?On a previous visit to Trinity last summer, the Rector -- one Rev.
William Lupfer -- made a point of saying that the parish was not
"exclusive," and that a meeting would be called to address the concerns
of "the LGBTQ community." At the door, I told the Rector that I loved
the worship of the church, and asked him if he would be willing to start
a chapter of Anglicans for Life. He claimed to be unfamiliar with the
group. I told him I knew he "would not want to exclude pro-Lifers." He
answered, "[Trinity] has a certain identity. We are not all things to
all men." When I pressed him on his pledge not to be "exclusive," he
answered, "It is not exclusivity. It's identity." It was all I could do
not to look him in the eye and call him a lightweight and a hypocrite. I
wish I had!?

*****

It is now apparent to this writer that Archbishop Justin Welby?s Global
Anglican strategy is to neutralize GAFCON before the next Lambeth
Conference in 2020. His aim is to get as many African Primates on board
over the next three years and thus neutralize the growing vibrant Global
Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which stands as the biggest thorn in
the flesh to his ambitions to keep the Anglican Communion together at
any cost.

But will it work? That is the $64,000 question. You can read my full
analysis in today?s digest or here: http://tinyurl.com/mx9lnt7

*****

The Anglican Communion is being degraded and confused by false teaching
and the Communion?s traditional leadership responds by accommodating
[to] it, says GAFCON chairman and Nigerian Primate, Nicholas Okoh.

Writing in his April letter to GAFCON followers, the Archbishop of the
Anglican Communion?s largest province, said there is no hope in that
direction, a reference to Archbishop Justin Welby, leader of the
Anglican Communion.

?At the same time, we see a new future unfolding. This is the GAFCON
vision and it is being demonstrated very clearly in North America.? You
can read the full story in today?s digest.

*****

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies said that marriage
equality campaigners are 'bullying' Australians who don't agree with
them. He lashed out, accusing same-sex marriage campaigners of ?swamping
the public debate? by denying free speech to those that are against it.

Writing a column in The Australian, the Archbishop argued that a
plebiscite would reveal that the majority of Australians opposed
same-sex marriage.

Dr. Davies remarked that the views of gay marriage advocates have
silenced the public from voicing their own opinions.

?People have been sold a lie, their views are shutdown, marginalized,
ostracized and pilloried in a bullying fashion,? he told the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation.

The Archbishop even commented on how marriage in Aboriginal culture is
regarded as being ?between a man and a woman?.

This is fascinating because Native American Anglicans in Canada made the
same argument and gave Archbishop Fred Hiltz heartburn when the same-sex
marriage vote narrowly passed in the Anglican Church of Canada recently.

*****

A day-long conference on Church Growth and Decline in the Anglican
Communion, 1980 to the present, was held in late February by the center
for Church Growth Research in Durham, England.

Here is what the group of mostly English academics concluded in its
global research about the Episcopal Church, USA.

UNITED STATES

The principal Anglican denomination in the United States is the
Episcopal Church. It lost almost a quarter of its members from 1986 to
2011, within the context of a rapidly rising population. Although
decline was slower in the 1980s and ?90s, it has become much more
pronounced since about 2000, albeit with a wide regional variation.

The South grew slightly in this period overall, while the East Coast and
Midwest did much worse. That said, all areas have declined in recent
years. Average Sunday attendance declined by almost a quarter between
2000 and 2010, and the number of baptisms halved between 2000 and 2014.

The figures for baptism are especially significant, given that
Episcopalians tend to join the denomination as infants.

In contrast with other US denominations, the United Church of Christ and
the Presbyterian Church (USA) are doing worse than the Episcopal Church,
but most denominations are doing better.

Although most Episcopal dioceses are now in decline, those in the
interior are most vulnerable (a number of rural dioceses are barely
viable), and those in metro?politan centers tend to be more robust.

Figures for the main Anglican alternative in the US, the Anglican Church
in North America, are not precise; but, even if added to those of the
Episcopal Church, they suggest that a large number of those who were
Anglicans in the US in 2000, had ceased to be so by 2010.

As an example, the Episcopal Diocese of Peoria has ceased to exist
following schism, with remnant Episcopalians now under the Diocese of
Chicago.

*****

The Rt. Rev. Michael P. Milliken, Bishop of Western Kansas since 2011,
will assist the Diocese of Kansas as the diocese begins to search for
its tenth bishop.

The council is looking for a replacement for the former Bishop, Dean
Wolfe, who fled to a wealthy parish in New York City. The diocese
floundered under him. Truth be told, Western Kansas is barely holding on
and the only real hope is for these two dioceses is to unite. Whether
that happens remains to be seen.

The Diocese of Kansas was founded in 1897. The Diocese of Western Kansas
began its life in 1903 as the Missionary District of Salina, and became
a diocese in 1971.

*****

The Church in Wales has rejected claims of "deeply inappropriate"
conduct during the selection process for a new Bishop of Llandaff.

A gay clergyman, the Very Rev. Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, accused
the Church of homophobia after he was rejected for the role. He is
understood to have received over half the votes, but not the two thirds
required.

One of the complaints came from five members of the Church in Wales'
electoral college, the body which discusses and votes on bishop
candidates. They had said: "We object to the raising at electoral
college of the matter of sexuality or civil partnership status, in
direct contravention of the Church in Wales's own policy that sexuality
or civil partnership status is not a bar to appointment as a Bishop. We
consider that this action was deeply inappropriate, and prejudiced the
electoral college proceedings so as to render them invalid."

The church?s legal sub-committee had investigated three complaints in
total and said all three were ?without merit.? His Honor, Judge Andrew
Keyser QC, said: ?The proper course is for the bishops to proceed to
fill the vacancy in accordance with Regulation 23 and the exercise of
their own judgment."

Last month, the Church in Wales said it was satisfied that the Electoral
College process had been carried out properly and fairly: ?The meeting
was confidential and we will not comment on speculation about the
nomination and discussion of candidates. However, we strongly deny
allegations of homophobia in the process. Neither homosexuality nor
participation in a civil partnership are a bar to any candidate being
either nominated or elected as a Bishop in the Church in Wales.?

The Provincial Secretary of the Church in Wales, Simon Lloyd, said, ?I
am very grateful to the legal subcommittee for their thorough and prompt
examination of the complaints received about the election and
appointment process of the Bishop of Llandaff. I can now confirm that
proper procedure has been followed and there are no grounds for the
complaints submitted. This means the Bench of Bishops can continue its
task of appointing the new bishop without further delay.?

*****

CHURCH OF ENGLAND: In defense of church pews. There is ?no theological
basis? for the retention of church pews, declared John Gallagher,
Chancellor for the Diocese of Rochester, as he dismissed the view of
conservationists, who wanted to retain the austere wooden pews in the
14th-century Grade I listed St Margaret?s Church in Rainham, Kent. And
so, a Church of England court has decreed that these Victorian pews may
be replaced with tubular steel chairs, upholstered in royal blue, which
are light and easy to stack, not to mention a little easier on the
posterior than hard wood.

History and architectural congruity must give way to the need for
?comfortable seating? and the preference for ?color and brightness?. The
change is apparently ?popular among their congregation?, and they
believe it ?would encourage more people to attend?.

St Mary?s vicar, the Rev. Judy Henning, is supported in this decision by
church wardens, Janet Garnons-Williams and Desiree Willis. This is?O,
it?s probably best not to comment further.

*****

According to the latest PEW research, Christianity is dying out in
Europe, while Islam is expanding. The new Pew Research study showed that
deaths among Christians outnumbered births in Europe by almost six
million between 2010 and 2015. ?In Germany alone, there were an
estimated 1.4 million more Christian deaths than births from 2010 to
2015.?

While Christianity dies out in Europe, Islam is rapidly expanding.
During that same time period, births among Muslims in Europe outnumbered
deaths by more than two million.

Among the religiously unaffiliated, births outpaced deaths by around one
million.

*****

A group of 99 religious and denominational organizations are urging
Congress to maintain laws that prevent churches and other tax-exempt
non-profit groups from endorsing political candidates.

The coalition, which includes the Alabama Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ's Justice
and Witness Ministries and the United Methodist Church's General Board
of Church and Society, presented a letter this week to Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and all members of
Congress.

The letter addresses the "Johnson Amendment," the 1954 IRS regulation
that prohibits churches and other religious organizations from keeping
their tax-exempt status if they endorse candidates, participate in
partisan activities, or "directly or indirectly" become involved in a
political campaign.

President Trump has vowed to repeal the rule to allow faith leaders to
"speak freely and without fear of retribution."

In their letter, the faith leaders said changes to the Johnson Amendment
could result in houses of worship becoming partisan political tools.

"Current law serves as a valuable safeguard for the integrity of our
charitable sector and campaign finance system," the group said. "The
charitable sector, particularly houses of worship, should not become
another cog in a political machine or another loophole in campaign
finance laws."

"Houses of worship are spaces for members of religious communities to
come together, not be divided along political lines; faith out to be a
source of connection and community, not division and discord," the
letter states.

*****

Lambeth Palace is pleased to announce the appointment of the Rt. Rev.
Tim Thornton, the current Bishop of Truro, as the new Bishop at Lambeth.
Bishop Tim will take up this post in September, replacing the Rt. Rev.
Nigel Stock, who is retiring.

A source told VOL that he is being offered the plush job at Lambeth as a
reward for failure. ?The diocese
used to be perfectly viable when Bishop Graham Leonard was there.
Thornton virtually erased the diocese. At one point in his career, he
was David Hope?s chaplain in the Diocese of London. Immaculate robes, no
substance.?

*****

Half the states want to restrict the $500 million that flows to Planned
Parenthood, in what is described as the next abortion battle. Half the
states are now able to defund Planned Parenthood, as Congress has
cleared the way for them to do so.

The abortion giant rakes in $1.2 billion a year, with a leftover profit
of $127 million ? most of it from abortion money. Its CEO, Cecile
Richards, made an annual pay of nearly $1 million ? causing some to
wonder how this outfit continues to call itself a "non-profit."

On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence once again cast a tie-breaking
vote in the Senate, this time striking down Obama's agency regulation
the lame-duck president pushed through just before he left office. The
agency rule by Obama disallowed states from blocking federal Title X
funding, flowing through them to Planned Parenthood (PP).

*****

A new opportunity for Ph.D. studies for mission leaders, people involved
in ministry in the public square, development practitioners, and
seminary teachers seeking a multi-cultural international educational
experience to engage in research has opened up at The University of
Stellenbosch, South Africa, in partnership with the Oxford Centre for
Religion and Public Life UK, directed by Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel and
supported by East Mountain, Stellenbosch and Barnabas Fund. They invite
applications for their four year degree program, with 4 months
residence, beginning with a three week introductory seminar in
Stellenbosch, in September, 2017.

For further details download the enclosed brochure and for application
forms email the Co-Dean in Oxford, Canon Dr. Chris Sugden on
csu...@ocrpl.org.
(Click on link below for brochure)
PhilosophyDegree_Brochure Final

*****

If you were under the impression that the opposition to your religious
freedom came from rational people who just have a disagreement with
conservatives, wait until you see who's jumping into the movement.

The latest group to declare their allegiance to the anti-Christian cause
might surprise and even frighten you a little. They are Satanists.

"If we're asking for religious rights for all, then we need to
understand what that means. That means religious rights for Satanists as
well," a Satanist declares.

The Satanic Temple tells the outlet Broadly it is looking to mainstream
itself and is vying for converts among one of the fastest growing
segments of the American spectrum of faith ? atheists and so-called free
thinkers. But they insist that is just parody to make a point. Satan,
they say, is not real; they just need a gimmick to counter the inroads
Christianity has made into society.

"We don't believe in a guy with a red poker down in Hell waiting ? to
torment us for the rest of our life," the spokesperson explains. Really.

*****

Bland statements of optimism


?mutual flourishing?


?good disagreement?


?radical new Christian inclusion?


*****

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

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:37:29 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Screwtape Proposes an Episcopal Toast
Message-ID:
<1491507449.2657764...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Screwtape Proposes an Episcopal Toast

A Satirical Essay

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
March 31, 2017

My dear Wormwood,

We were shocked to read that the Bishop of Washington, a regular bubble
brain, that we had turned to our purposes years ago was actually holding
an ALPHA course in the National Cathedral. The High Council was livid
when they heard the news. Several devils blew their stack. Bishop
Marianne Budde is truly ours and this deviation is totally unacceptable.
Our Father was not amused when he heard the news. Do you have any idea
what could happen if something like this should catch fire?

Out of sheer desperation, these Episcopal bishops, who are watching as
their dioceses sink into the sunset, might just go for something like
this. Alpha, a course on salvation, for hell?s sake...this could ruin
everything!

Bishop Michael Curry?s Jesus Movement is as faux as a knock-off Rolex
watch. It's not real evangelism at all. Our Father below made sure that
it would be a counterfeit evangelism, parroting the real thing but
missing the mark with no real call for repentance and faith in Him. We
made sure that the presiding bishop?s being black would be the real
issue coupled with white privilege?a form of inverted narcissism. It is
really being all about him and not about Him.

Our Father, the master tactician, brilliantly allows a distorted image
to mirror the real thing.

This, of course, is the genius of evil; it can masquerade as light
appearing as an angel at times, when in fact darkness lurks at the edges
waiting to pounce and swallow up the vulnerable and lost.

With just a small handful of holdouts the whole Episcopal House of
Bishops is effectively now ours and what a house of cards it is. They
have fallen for the oldest trick in the book, 'ye shall be as gods'
without knowing good from evil. They have embraced the unembraceable and
in doing so embraced us.

The culture wars are almost over - and we have won. The mainline
Protestant denominations have nearly all rolled over on sodomy and
homosexual marriage and now this transgendered nonsense. It is quite
possibly the best public relations coup by pansexualists in modern
history. We are even making inroads into the Roman Catholic Church,
something we never thought possible. The thin end of the wedge was the
sexual abuse of young men by sodomite priests. We carefully labeled it
pedophilia to put straights off the scent, but one or two activist
laymen have caught on much to our annoyance.

But the language of inclusion, diversity, generous orthodoxy and now
?radical inclusion? by the Archbishop of Canterbury, is a throw-back to
that Griswold fellow who ran The Episcopal Church for eight years, was
indeed sweet music to our Father below ears.

We first thought Welby would be a hard nut to crack as he claimed to be
an evangelical, but we turned out to be gayly wrong. As it happened he
was an easy mark, and roll over he did. These poor foolish bishops lack
serious theological training, are doctrinally light and become easy
knockoffs over time as the culture changes?they just change with it.
Even the Southern Baptist Convention leaders now admit their own people
don't have enough bible or history in them to resist the temptations of
the world, the flesh and us. Postmodernism is our victory roll.

This Mohler fellow said evangelicals are too tied to this "particular
moment in history" to find timeless roots. He is right, of course. And
then he said this, "I do not believe evangelicalism has sufficient
resources for a thick enough Christianity to survive either this epoch
or much beyond.? Precisely our point, Wormwood, and you must see that
people spend their waking hours twittering and tweeting, texting and
gaming. Keep them from thinking about their souls and their eternal
destiny. Fritter and twitter Wormwood, fritter and twitter.

The open embrace of sin as righteousness is our ultimate goal; the
complete turning of evil on its head and presenting it as truth is our
victory roll. The next big push for our junior devils who are even now
hard at work, is Africa and China. Our Father below was mortified to
learn that China now had over 100 million Christians! Remember that
persecution does not play well. It is a two-way street. We imprison,
maim and kill and they become martyrs and more become Christians.

Let the goal be materialism and the good life?the pursuit of happiness
for its own sake.

We have managed to persuade the political elite to eat their young by
not biologically reproducing and spiritual reproduction is also at an
all-time low. Our Father applauds your efforts, but remember things can
turn on a dime. The opposition always has a card or two up His sleeves
and this Budde incident could easily flower into something dangerously
like revival, a foul word that gives our Father heartburn.

See that it does not recur.

I remain your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape



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

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:37:49 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: FARGO, ND: Church Installs Stained Glass LGBT Window
Message-ID:
<1491507469.2657792...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

FARGO, ND: Church Installs Stained Glass LGBT Window

By Jeff Walton
https://juicyecumenism.com/2017/04/03/lgbt-window/
March 4, 2017

Controversy about the Episcopal Washington National Cathedral?s stained
glass windows caused a stir last year when the previous cathedral dean
called for removal of windows marking the lives of Confederate Generals
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

But a small Episcopal congregation in North Dakota is making news this
week with their own new LGBT window dedicated to the gay community.

St. Stephen?s Episcopal Church in Fargo dedicated a new window on Sunday
featuring a rainbow and words from the denomination?s 1979 revision of
the Book of Common Prayer: ?Will you strive for justice and peace among
all people and respect the dignity of every human being??

Dubbed ?Integrity Window? the installation also commemorates English
writer St. Aelred of Rievaulx. Aelred authored the treatise ?On
Spiritual Friendship? and is claimed by some in the gay community for
his own deep friendships with men. The window also features a quote from
Galatians, a pride flag, the logo of Integrity USA (the unofficial LGBT
caucus within the Episcopal Church) and a depiction of the parish?s
rainbow-flag flying float from a local parade.

?Loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself, that?s really the basis
for all Christian ministry as I see it and I think that?s the basis for
how we see GLBTQ inclusion,? Parish Priest-in-Charge Jamie Parsley told
local news station KVLY. The window is dedicated ?in memory of those who
died trying to be their authentic selves.?

According to statistics provided by the Episcopal Church, St. Stephen?s
is a relatively small congregation of fewer than 60 people on Sunday. It
is one of two congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota
which is affiliated with Integrity USA. In contrast, the diocese is
regarded as relatively traditionalist and is one of a handful in the
denomination that does not permit parishes to bless same-sex unions or
solemnize same-sex marriages.

According to the church?s website, St. Stephen?s operates under an
accommodation known as Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight and is
under the authority of another bishop, Carol Gallagher (Assistant Bishop
in the Diocese of Montana), so that it can celebrate same-sex marriage
rites.

A short news segment about the window installation can be viewed here.
http://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/St-Stephens-Episcopal-dedicates-new-window-to-LGBTQ-community-417919303.html



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

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:38:25 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Second Battle for St. James
Message-ID:
<1491507505.2657835...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Second Battle for St. James

Reporting and analysis by Kirk Petersen
THE LIVING CHURCH
http://www.livingchurch.org/second-battle-st-james
Friday, March 31, 2017

A public disciplinary hearing for Bishop J. Jon Bruno ended on Thursday
after the airing of a lot of dirty laundry, and with little clarity
about what happens next, or when.

In more than 20 hours of testimony across three days in a Pasadena hotel
conference room, a parade of witnesses wove a tale of high finance,
shattered friendships, spiritual joy, and perceptions of pastoral
betrayal.

Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, is accused of misrepresentation and of
conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy, and he could be deposed if
convicted. The allegations initially were made by a priest and
parishioners in his diocese, but the case is being prosecuted by the
Episcopal Church, as canons require for allegations against bishops.

At the end of the hearing, Bishop Herman Hollerith of the Diocese of
Southern Virginia, who chairs the five-member disciplinary panel, said a
ruling is unlikely before Easter.

The dispute began with Bruno?s decision to sell a valuable piece of real
estate in Newport Beach, the site of what originally was known as St.
James Episcopal Church. From about 2004 to 2013, it was known as St.
James Anglican Church ? one of four churches in the Diocese of Los
Angeles that voted to leave the diocese, partially in response to the
consecration of an openly gay bishop.

The diocese secured the four properties in 2013 after nine years of
litigation and a ruling by the California Supreme Court. The Rev. Canon
Cindy Evans Voorhees was eager to launch a new Episcopal congregation in
the Newport Beach facility. Bruno granted his permission, under the
condition that she work on a non-stipendiary (unpaid) basis. The
fledgling congregation was renamed St. James the Great.

By whatever name, the Newport Beach church is a huge and beautiful
facility in a wealthy community. It was home to 1,500 parishioners
before the disaffiliation, and the building totals about 40,000 square
feet. The church sits on a prominent piece of land overlooking the
bridge to Lido Island, which boasts a yacht club and multimillion-dollar
homes.

Voorhees and a group of highly motivated lay leaders testified that in
less than two years they had built a congregation of about 100 members.
They collectively pledged to donate $254,000 for 2015, an amount that
would be bolstered by rental income. It was not yet enough to fully fund
the operation of a facility of that size, but many long-established
congregations would be thrilled with that level of income.

The church now sits empty. The locks were changed in June 2015 after the
eviction of Voorhees and her flock in preparation for the property?s
sale. A developer offered $15 million for the parcel ? nearly twice its
appraised value ? on April 1, 2015, and Bruno signed an agreement to
sell on April 10. Only after committing to the sale did he inform
Voorhees. He also made the commitment without consulting the diocese?s
standing committee ? a lapse that may or may not have been a violation
of canons. That is one of the issues the disciplinary board will attempt
to resolve.

The developer planned to bulldoze the building ? which had been
extensively renovated in 2002 ? and construct luxury condominiums. But
the plan quickly fell through after Voorhees and the congregation
launched legal and disciplinary efforts to block the sale.

Voorhees is now the spiritual leader of a flock organized under the name
Save St. James the Great, a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation. About 100
worshipers gather each Sunday in the community room of Newport Beach
City Hall. They have a sophisticated website and a strong social media
presence, and a busload of members traveled 60 miles in each direction
every day of the hearing in Pasadena. The organist purchased a portable
pipe organ and lugs it to and from City Hall each week, where he leads a
choir of a dozen singers.

Bruno, who at age 70 is less than two years from mandatory retirement,
faces the possibility of being defrocked after 41 years of ordained
ministry. He became bishop of the fourth-largest diocese in the church,
but eventually was vilified by local politicians and estranged from many
of the priests he leads. His successor, Bishop Coadjutor-Elect John
Taylor, is due to be ordained and consecrated on July 8 of this year.

The Episcopal Church is in uncharted waters, incurring great expense
because of a canonical obligation to fund both sides of the proceedings
in a disciplinary action against its own bishop. Neva Rae Fox, the
church?s public affairs officer, was unable to provide any estimate of
the hearing?s expenses, but she confirmed that both the prosecution and
the defense are funded by the national church.

The cost is clearly quite substantial. Start with a three-day rental of
a large conference room in the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in historic
Old Pasadena, as well as a smaller conference room serving as an office
for the panel. Add hotel rooms at nearly $300 per night for the five
members of the panel, plus a dozen or more lawyers and support personnel
for the prosecution, the defense, and Episcopal officials. Fly many of
those people to and from the hearing from their far-flung homes (the
five panel members include bishops from Virginia, Rhode Island, and
North Dakota, plus a priest from Rhode Island and a laywoman from Ohio).
All of this is before paying fees for the lawyers who generated more
than 200 exhibits packed into sets of four-inch binders.

Testimony at the hearing revealed that the nine-year legal battle to
secure ownership of the church properties cost more than $9 million,
including about $5 million in legal fees and another $4 million in
estimated staff expense and opportunity costs from foregone investment
income.

The second battle for control of St. James, at two years and counting,
presumably will cost less. The $15 million sale of St. James could
probably have covered both conflicts, but the sale fell through, and it
seems unlikely that the diocese will ever receive anywhere near that
much for the property. The former mayor of Newport Beach, Diane Dixon,
testified that the property would need to be rezoned to be used for
purposes other than a church. She played a video from a City Council
hearing in which one of her colleagues said Bruno?s actions in the two
fights for control of St. James had been ?deplorable? and ?despicable,?
and another council member vowed to scrutinize any rezoning proposal
closely.

Collateral damage from the three-day hearing includes the Rt. Rev. Mary
Glasspool, formerly one of two Bishops Suffragan of Los Angeles. On
March 29, Voorhees testified that Glasspool and Bruno had a serious
falling-out about selling St. James, and that Glasspool told her that
Bruno ?scared the [expletive] out of her, and she needed to get out of
here.?

The nature of the conflict became clearer on March 30 during the
testimony of the Rev. Melissa McCarthy, who was president of the
standing committee during the attempted sale of St. James the Great.
McCarthy described a telephone call from Glasspool in which the bishop
suffragan swore her to secrecy, then told her she had learned
confidentially from Bruno that the church was being sold. Glasspool then
said that as head of the standing committee, McCarthy needed to ?stop
this sale.?

McCarthy said that although Glasspool had asked her to hold the
conversation in confidence, she realized after several hours of prayer
that she needed to report it to Bruno. In a wavering voice, McCarthy
said, ?When I realized that the Bishop Suffragan had called the
president of the standing committee and enlisted her support to
undermine what the bishop diocesan was doing, and had broken his
confidentiality, I thought he needed to know.?

Under questioning by Richard Zevnik, who as chancellor of the diocese
was representing Bruno, McCarthy said her trepidation over how to
proceed was heightened by her five years of fraught history with
Glasspool. ?There were several different times where I had been
reprimanded for doing something I did not know was wrong, and I?m not
even sure was wrong now, and [I was] humiliated by her,? McCarthy
testified.

In November 2015, Glasspool was called as Assistant Bishop of New York.
In announcing her departure from Los Angeles, Bruno wrote: ?Please join
me in congratulating Bishop Glasspool on this new chapter in her
ministry, and in giving thanks for her remarkable ministry with us here
in Southern California. We will have an opportunity at Diocesan
Convention to express our thanks and best wishes to Bishop Glasspool as
she returns to the region in which she was born and formed in the
Episcopal Church.?

Voorhees emerges from the hearing as a sympathetic figure, yet not
entirely unscathed. Testimony by both Bruno and by Clare Zabala Bangao,
the diocesan coordinator of mission congregations, indicated that
Voorhees failed to provide the monthly financial reports required of all
mission churches.

?I was told not to worry about them, because they knew I had no staff,
and that we were in the formation process, getting people into positions
where they could do that,? Voorhees testified.

She also said she was keeping Bruno informed of the congregation?s
progress in discussions before or after the monthly meetings of the
Corporation of the Diocese, one of several governing bodies in an
unusually complicated structure.

Bruno testified that he asked Bangao every month for the St. James
financial reports, and Bangao said she frequently spoke with Voorhees
about the need to file them. Apparently none of these requests were made
in writing. The financial reporting is a critical part of the
disciplinary case, because Bruno is accused of falsely representing that
he agreed to sell St. James the Great in part because the congregation
was financially unsustainable. He said he based his opinion on the
financial data he had at hand for the young church, which was not much.

Testimony by Voorhees and her lay leaders made it clear that the
congregation, although not fully self-sufficient, was making rapid
strides in that direction. Evangeline Andersen, an accountant who headed
the church?s financial team, testified that at the time the church was
closed, it had $100,000 in the bank and was current on all obligations.
St. James the Great had hired two part-time office employees and was
beginning to pay Voorhees a modest but growing salary, in amounts below
the minimum diocesan guidelines for full-time clergy.

The canon?s salary was another source of contention. Bruno is accused of
falsely representing that Voorhees was not being paid. All parties agree
that she was unpaid at the beginning. Bruno testified that he was
unaware that the congregation had begun to pay her until the
disciplinary proceedings began. ?I should have been informed of that,?
he said.

It appears that the decision to change Voorhees?s status from
non-stipendiary to partly stipendiary was made unilaterally by Voorhees
and her flock. Despite the thousands of pages of exhibits and deposition
transcripts, there is no record of anyone at the diocese agreeing to the
change. Voorhees is a former business owner, founder of a nonprofit
agency, and a veteran of the highest levels of diocesan governance. Yet
she allowed her conditions of employment to be changed in a way that put
money in her pocket, however well-deserved it may be, without
documenting the change.

Voorhees also did not help herself in the days leading up to the final
service in the church on June 28, 2015. Voorhees testified that she was
under enormous pressure, overwhelmed by the pastoral care needed by her
congregants, who were bereft at the impending loss of the church after
they had invested great effort and considerable expense. (For example,
because the former members had taken the sound system with them, a
member of St. James the Great bought a $15,000 sound system for the
church just a few months before the unexpected decision to sell the
property.)

Voorhees wrote a series of pastoral letters to her congregation,
beginning when the planned sale was announced in May. On June 25, she
distributed her fifth such letter [PDF], which posed two problems.

First, the letter sounded very much like a resignation. ?It is with
great sadness that I write this last pastoral letter,? she wrote. ?It is
now time for us to scatter into the Holy Spirit?s wind and plant our
fertile seeds elsewhere. I have decided that I cannot lead you into a
diaspora situation, not only for personal reasons but for professional
reasons as well.? Voorhees testified that the congregation responded by
imploring her to stay, and she decided to do so.

The second problem was that wrote, ?We were apparently a pawn in the
bishop?s ?game of thrones? all along.?

She did not send a copy of the letter to the bishop, but somebody did,
and those statements prompted Bruno to tell Voorhees via email that he
was accepting her resignation. She scrambled to respond that she had
not, in fact, resigned, and in a formal sense that may be true. But the
letter undercuts one of the specific allegations against Bruno: that he
falsely represented that Voorhees had resigned.

Still, while Voorhees?s letter may have been ill-advised, she is not on
trial. Only Bruno is.

There are no winners in this story. The best outcome Bruno can hope for
is that the church declines to discipline him at the end of his career.
The members of Save St. James the Great have a more hopeful vision that
the disciplinary panel will return their church building. But the chance
of that is uncertain at best, because the panel may lack the authority
to order it.

The Rev. Canon Mary Sulerud is the interim rector at a church in
Baltimore and an expert in Title IV issues, the portion of church canons
under which Bruno is charged. She monitored the entire hearing and was
tasked with briefing the media as necessary about canon law.

At the end of the hearing, asked whether the panel might restore the
building to the congregation, Sulerud said she ?would believe they would
be asking themselves what the scope of their ruling could be.? She noted
that Title IV deals with disciplinary issues, not with disposition of
property.

There have been other disciplinary actions against bishops, but they are
rare, and there is no precedent for a case of this complexity. Despite
the courtroom trappings of the three-day hearing ? cross-examination,
redirect, objections sustained and overruled ? this is not a legal
matter. It is a church governance matter, and to some degree the panel
is, necessarily, making up the rules as it goes along.

Before gaveling the proceedings to a close at the end of a third long
day, Bishop Hollerith announced that both parties had agreed to submit
their closing arguments in writing, rather than prolong the hearing any
further. Attorneys on both sides agreed to submit their closing briefs
simultaneously, within a week of receiving transcripts of the hearing.

It is likely to take the two court reporters at least a week to produce
the voluminous transcripts, even if the church opts to pay for expedited
service. Then the panel will have to deliberate and reach a decision on
how to proceed.

After the closing prayer, Hollerith was asked whether the closing briefs
would be made available to the media, since the hearing had been public.
?That?s a good question,? he said. ?I don?t know.?

Who makes that decision? ?I don?t know that either,? he said with a
laugh.



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

Message: 6
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:38:56 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: A Lesbian Bishop Learns a Hard Lesson
Message-ID:
<1491507536.2657915...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

A Lesbian Bishop Learns a Hard Lesson
She got the boot from LA Bishop Jon Bruno

By Don C. Warrington
POSITIVE INFINITY
March 30, 2017

The Episcopal Church?s first ?lesbian? bishop Mary Glasspool was forced
out of office by the Bishop of Los Angeles after she defied him by
backing the congregation of St James the Great in Newport Beach in its
dispute over the proposed sale of its parish properties.

On 29 March 2017, the attorney for the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of
Los Angeles, questioned the vicar of St James the Great, the Rev. Canon
Cindy Evans Voorhees, about the events that led to Title IV
ecclesiastical proceedings being lodged against the bishop.

The bishop?s attorney. Julie Dean Larsen, alleged Canon Voorhees had
orchestrated a campaign to discredit the bishop and had conspired with
other members of the diocese to halt the sale of the St James the Great
in Newport Beach to developers.

One of the forgotten things in our rush for this new world is that, no
matter how politically correct they are, if the people you?re dealing
with lack basic integrity and transparency, ugly things will happen.
When Jon Bruno took over St. Athanasius church from Ian Mitchell, he
told the LA Times that he was ?no angel.? The orthodox he evicted from
the parishes he did know that, and now liberal lesbians such as Mary
Glasspool know that, too.

Note: the president of the Hearing Panel who is overseeing Jon Bruno?s
ecclesiastical trial is Bishop Herman Hollerith IV. I?m pretty sure he?s
the great-grandson of the original Herman Hollerith, who invented the
punch cards that were ubiquitous a generation ago in computers. Perhaps
Bruno has found someone who is as good at punching things out as he is.

END



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

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:39:13 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: GAFCON Primate Says Anglican Communion is being Degraded and
Confused by False Teaching
Message-ID:
<1491507553.2657945...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

GAFCON Primate Says Anglican Communion is being Degraded and Confused by
False Teaching
TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada have institutionalized the
rejection of God?s Word in matters of sexuality, morality and human
identity
Nigerian Archbishop Praises SC Bishop Mark Lawrence and ACNA as the
future of Anglicanism in Nth. America

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 4, 2017

?For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for
evil, to give you a future and a hope? (Jeremiah 29:11).

The Anglican Communion is being degraded and confused by false teaching
and the Communion?s traditional leadership responds by accommodating
[to] it, says GAFCON chairman and Nigerian Primate, Nicholas Okoh.

Writing in his April letter to GAFCON followers, the Archbishop of the
Anglican Communion?s largest province, said there is no hope in that
direction, a reference to Archbishop Justin Welby, leader of the
Anglican Communion.

?At the same time, we see a new future unfolding. This is the GAFCON
vision and it is being demonstrated very clearly in North America.?

?Last month, under the inspired and courageous leadership of Bishop Mark
Lawrence, the former TEC Diocese of South Carolina voted unanimously to
affiliate with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). South
Carolina will be its largest diocese and already has a global reach. Its
annual ?Mere Christianity? conferences are highly regarded and its
Anglican Leadership Institute is devoted to developing faithful leaders
throughout the Communion. This is a very significant moment in the
global realignment of the Communion. Here we see the power of the Word
of the Lord: TEC recedes into history, while faithful Anglican witness
grows,? said Okoh.

?Commitment to growth will be much in evidence at the ACNA?s Provincial
Assembly as it meets in Chicago from 27th to 30th June this year. GAFCON
leaders from around the world will join Archbishop Foley Beach as over
1,000 members come together around the theme of ?Mission on our
Doorstep?; a vision for local mission which is greatly strengthened by
partnerships that span the continents. I encourage all who can to make
the most of this opportunity to work together and be equipped for the
vital task of gospel proclamation.

?The restoration we have seen in North America after the devastation
unleashed when church leaders substitute their word for God?s Word
should be a strong encouragement to faithful Anglicans on the other side
of the Atlantic, as we see the Church of England and other Provinces
moving at varying speeds in the same direction as TEC and the Anglican
Church of Canada to institutionalize the rejection of God?s Word in
matters of sexuality morality and human identity. As this season of Lent
reminds us, we are called to walk the way of the cross, but sacrifice
for the sake of the gospel will never be in vain.?

Okoh called for prayer for the upcoming GAFCON Primates? Council meeting
in Lagos, from 24th to 28th April. ?We are called to shoulder heavy
burdens and many of us are deeply involved with issues of famine relief,
insecurity and governance in our nations as well as the need to contend
for the truth of the gospel in the wider Communion. Pray for our
fellowship together and that our deliberations may be guided by the Holy
Spirit, to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and the
extension of the Kingdom of God.?

END



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

Message: 8
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:39:34 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Archbishop Justin Welby?s Global Anglican Strategy:
Neutralize GAFCON
Message-ID:
<1491507574.2657966...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Archbishop Justin Welby?s Global Anglican Strategy: Neutralize GAFCON

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 3, 2017

It is now apparent that the Archbishop of Canterbury?s strategy leading
up to the next Lambeth Conference in 2020 is to get as many African
Primates on board over the next three years and thus neutralize the
growing vibrant Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which stands
as the biggest thorn in the flesh to his ambitions to keep the Anglican
Communion together at any cost.

But will it work? That is the $64,000 question.

Consider the following.

Justin Welby recently appointed the former Archbishop of Burundi,
Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi as the new Director for the Anglican
Centre, Rome. He succeeds New Zealand born Archbishop David Moxon, a
liberal appointee by Rowan Williams. Moxon retires in June. He did
everything to boycott ecumenism between Rome and the Anglican
realignment provinces.

A press report said Ntahoturi, 68, served as Primate of the Anglican
Church of Burundi from 2005 until 2016, and was active in seeking peace
in war-torn Burundi and the Great Lakes region of Africa and represented
the protestant churches of Burundi during the peace and reconciliation
negotiations in Tanzania, which were instrumental in bringing peace to
Burundi. He is Chair of the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity,
Faith and Order (IASCUFO).

?I am personally delighted that Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi has agreed
to take up the joint post of Archbishop?s Representative to the Holy See
and Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. The appointment of a former
Primate to this post for the second time running demonstrates the
importance I attach to developing the increasingly close relationship
between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church,? said
Welby.

In January 2015 VOL reported that five GAFCON Primates wrote a
blistering letter to Ntahoturi accusing him of betraying the faith by
attending a "Transformation Through Friendship" gathering put on by The
Episcopal Church in October 2014.

It should be noted however that Ntahoturi did attend GAFCON II in
October 2013. He seems to have changed his mind after TEC approved
same-sex marriage and he voted for their suspension from the Anglican
Communion in January 2016. He attended the Global South meeting in
Cairo, Egypt, in October 2016 and he was one of the 12 signants on the
occasion, with several GAFCON Primates, including ACNA Archbishop Foley
Beach.

They told the African archbishop in no uncertain terms that he was
playing with fire in accepting any invitation from the leaders of The
Episcopal Church. Such actions lead only to further alienation from the
Global South, they said.

"The New York Communique does not speak for the Anglican Provinces of
Africa and it is a matter of very great regret that the 'Continuing
Indaba' strategy has led to the division of African Anglicans," the
Primates of Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Sudan wrote.

The GAFCON Primates said it was nothing more than manipulation, as these
Primates had rejected the process of Indaba that sought alliances to
capitalize on economic vulnerability to advance a Western liberal
agenda. Ntahoturi never replied.

Earlier in October 2016 Welby, in a move designed to draw more Africans
into his orb, invited Sudanese bishop the Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, from
South Sudan to England as his new ?adviser for communion affairs.? He
joined the team at Lambeth Palace.

Poggo?s Primate is none other than Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, a GAFCON
primate who is shortly to step down. Recently Sudan became a separate
province from South Sudan, but VOL was told that it is as orthodox as
South Sudan and is in no immediate danger of Welby swallowing it up or
manipulating it. We shall see. On the other hand, the new primate could
join GAFCON, a move that would not please Welby.

Recently Welby made a whirlwind tour to Africa to shore up his base
among new Primates and one old Primate. The purpose was to deflect
GAFCON expansion. Welby met with primates from Burundi, Congo, Rwanda
and Kenya, updating them on various developments in the Anglican
Communion.

The trip was also designed to woo these younger and more vulnerable
primates away from GAFCON. He did not visit Nigeria, the largest
province in the Anglican communion and the most solidly evangelical and
the home of GAFCON?s chairman, the Most. Rev. Nicholas Okoh.

The tour was billed "to hear about and see the work of the Church in
each Province; to discuss future opportunities for the Anglican
Communion in the world; and to pray together," and to make sure that
they are onboard when he calls for another meeting of the Primates in
October (2 - 6) of this year, again in Canterbury Cathedral, following
the lackluster meeting of the same primates last January in Canterbury.

Welby?s hope (and prayer) is that he can break the back of GAFCON and
diminish its standing and growing place in the Anglican Communion.

It is no wonder that a sitting GAFCON archbishop said of Welby,
following the debacle of the vote and his call for 'radical inclusion',
"he is always dissembling - deceitful - hiding his real position for
political gain..." And this was an evangelical archbishop speaking of
the evangelical Welby!

Welby co-opted the Rt. Rev. Nick Baines of Leeds to invite seven
archbishops including prelates from Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Pakistan and
the Sudan to visit him in his diocesan home in northern England for a
first-time visit. Their visit also included a visit to Canterbury for a
pow-wow with Welby.

A Church of England source told VOL that there does seem to be a
deliberate and growing effort by Lambeth to draw in the Global South and
so to neutralize it.

Behind all the sweet talk of diversity and inclusion is the subtext of
'we must stay together as a communion and not let our differences
separate us,' a view that found an echo chamber in the Secretary General
of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Rt. Rev. Josiah Idowu-Fearon.

Welby?s biggest backer is, of course, Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon a
Nigerian Anglican bishop and now the London-based Secretary General of
the Anglican Consultative Council. He has been an unfailing supporter of
Welby and castigated fellow African leaders for their homophobia. He
even ripped his friendship with Dr. Peter Jensen, the General Secretary
of GAFCON who was forced to issue a point-by-point rebuttal of comments
made by Fearon in an exclusive interview he had with the Irish Gazette.

?The frank expression of his views on the Anglican Communion and the
sexuality debate, and his sweeping dismissal of GAFCON has alienated him
from African Church leaders, causing considerable dismay. However, they
reveal the thinking of the Anglican Communion Office and presumably
those who endorse its leadership," wrote Jensen. Fearon has not only
isolated himself further from his former province but from orthodox
archbishops in the Global South.

Welby?s refusal to discipline or come to the defense of the Global South
speaks volumes, and further demonstrates that Fearon?s blast is where
his heart is.

Fearon's view that African antagonism to homosexuality had been taught
by American conservatives was "simply endorsing the narrative of Western
LGBT activists who themselves have been campaigning to introduce their
views into Africa with the powerful support of Western governments and
even the UN", said Jensen.

By Welby?s silence regarding Fearon's comments that African Church
leaders are unChristlike, despotic and corrupt, only further alienated
himself from GAFCON.

Welby watchers say he does nothing without a political subtext and his
biggest fear is that GAFCON will take hold in the U.K. along with the
AMIE.

To cement the direction Welby wants to take the 2020 Lambeth Conference,
he picked the most liberal Primate on the African continent the Most
Rev. Thabo Makgoba, Primate of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa,
to chair the Design group.

Welby said the group represents the "diversity in the Church." Well,
that's a diversity way too far for the GAFCON primates, a third of whom
were no-shows at the last Lambeth Conference.

The deeper truth is that GAFCON chairman Nicholas Okoh is Welby's worst
nightmare. He is increasingly vocal and critical of Welby as he was of
Welby's predecessor, Dr. Rowan Williams. He is relentless and
unyielding. He recently said that the decision by the Church of England
synod's decision over homosexuality had set it on the same path as the
Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) and other Provinces that
have taken it upon themselves to reinvent fundamental Christian
doctrine.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's call for "a radical new Christian
inclusion" (the language of former TEC PB Frank Griswold) might prove to
be a watershed moment with the Church of England and a red rag to an
African bull. Okoh and GAFCON will have none of it. The much ballyhooed
?mutual flourishing? touted by the Church of England didn?t work for
Philip North and it won?t work for GAFCON.

Serious disagreement over core doctrines is not good diversity which can
be managed by institutional control and re-organization, but a sign of
serious sickness in the body. The spiritual cancer permeating The
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada is unstoppable.

Welby also has a new problem with the recent addition to GAFCON of the
English-born new Primate of South America, Gregory Venables, a staunch
supporter of GAFCON. Welby can no longer blow off GAFCON as a mostly
African constituency. Venables understands only too well the situation
in the Church of England and he can face down Welby if called upon to do
so.

For sheer persistence Welby is pulling out all the stops to make Lambeth
2020 a reconciling moment.

His Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion, one Bishop Graham
Kings (an appointment Welby made (there was no such position before
then) held a conference on ?Reconciliation and Mission? which was hosted
in Jerusalem with links up to theologians from around the globe via the
internet.

The intercontinental webinar of theologians from the global south was
hosted from St George?s College and funded by the Saint Augustine's
Foundation. Note the language, ?reconciliation and mission?. Was there a
theology of mission based solely on scripture with reconciliation as the
result or something else? The three-day conference of international
theologians all prepared papers on reconciliation and mission which will
go towards a book on that theme ahead of the next Lambeth Conference in
2020.

The idea here is to get a jump on GAFCON to skew away any who might
defect to GAFCON?s camp.

Some of the characters in this gabfest make for interesting reading. The
co-chair for this gabfest was Dr. Muthuraj Swamy, Associate Professor in
Theology & Religion in Pune, India. When I enquired from a legitimate
Anglican theologian in India about this man, this is what he wrote;
?Muthuraj Swamy comes from a strict congregational background in south
India. There is not an iota of Anglicanism in him. Because of the
membership of the Church of South India (CSI), people like him pretend
to be Anglicans. He is definitely not orthodox. He has no church
connection but [he is] very ambitious to climb the ladder and shows very
little scope for scholarship.?

Then there is Revd. Dr. Naim Ateek, Founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical
Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, 'Reconciliation and Justice in
Palestine-Israel', a highly controversial group which advocates "morally
responsible investment," but has been described by its critics as
promoting an anti-Israel agenda, including divestment from Israel. It
has also been accused of using anti-semitic rhetoric. Sabeel also
supports a ?one state solution, two nations and three religions,?
meaning that it advocates the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state.

Rev. Dr. Gustavo Gilson Oliveira, Vicar of the Anglican parish of Bom
Samaritano, Recife, and professor at the Federal University of
Pernambuco, is as liberal as the day is long. Recife Bishop Miguel Uchoa
wrote VOL and said, ?He is liberal...very liberal. There are no orthodox
in the episcopal Diocese of Recife.?

Oliveira?s paper on 'Reconciliation, Conflict and Renewal: Dilemmas and
Paths of Missionary Action in the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil,
is spin on how the Brazilian church dealt with orthodox and faithful
Anglicans because they wouldn?t succumb to homosexual marriage; forcing
them out, taking their properties, behaving just like the Episcopal
Church did and continues to do to those who flee their revisionist grip.
A source told VOL that Oliveira now occupies one of the parishes the
diocese took back from the orthodox.

If this sampling of theologians is anything to go by then
?reconciliation and mission? talk is skewed from the get-go and Bishop
Kings is acting as little more than a shill for Welby to get as many
primates and bishops to attend Lambeth 2020.

In light of these revelations, it is most unlikely that any GAFCON
primate will attend the next Lambeth Conference, and Welby will get a
taste of what Rowan Williams received, which in the end left him
powerless and an early exit from Lambeth Palace.

CORRECTION: I have updated the information regarding Archbishop
Ntahoturi to this story.



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

Message: 9
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:39:55 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: SYDNEY: Anglican archbishop claims marriage equality
campaigners are 'bullying' Australians who don't agree with it - and
that supporters are in the minority
Message-ID:
<1491507595.2658014...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

SYDNEY: Anglican archbishop claims marriage equality campaigners are
'bullying' Australians who don't agree with it - and that supporters are
in the minority
Sydney's Anglican Archbishop has taken aim at same-sex marriage
advocates
Glenn Davies has accused marriage equality supporters as 'bullying'
Australians
He believes they are denying free speech to those against same sex
marriage
Archbishop Davies claims that the majority of Australians oppose gay
marriage

By Shayan Shankar
Daily Mail-Australia
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
March 31, 2017

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has lashed out on marriage equality
activists as 'bullying' Australians who don't agree with it.

Archbishop Glenn Davies has accused same-sex marriage campaigners of
'swamping the public debate' by denying free speech to those that are
against it.

Writing a column in The Australian, the Archbishop argued that a
plebiscite would reveal that the majority of Australians opposed
same-sex marriage.

Dr Davies remarked that the views of gay marriage advocates have
silenced the public from voicing their own opinions.

'People have been sold a lie, their views are shutdown, marginalised,
ostracised and pilloried in a bullying fashion,' he told the ABC.

The Archbishop even commented on how marriage in Aboriginal culture is
regarded as being 'between a man and a woman'.

Regarding the Federal Government's failed bid to hold a national vote to
legalise gay marriage, the Archbishop dismissed the vote from ever being
likely to pass.

'A plebiscite would identify there isn't strong support for same-sex
marriage as the proponents wish us to believe,' he said.

Furthering his view, he said there would be social ramifications that
would befall the children of same sex marriage.

His comments comes after Immigration Minister Peter Dutton warned Qantas
boss Alan Joyce to stay out of the marriage equality debate.

It followed revelations that CEOs of some of Australia's largest
companies had been urging the government to take action on the issue.

Archbishop Davies argued what the debate had to do with businesses
questioning why they weren't talking about 'immigration or Aboriginal
detention'.

In calling for freedom of expression, the Archbishop claimed that
marriage equality advocates had 'bullied into taking a stance on the
grounds of diversity'.

END



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Message: 10
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:40:13 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Crisis for Church of England as older female churchgoers pass
away
Message-ID:
<1491507613.2658106...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Crisis for Church of England as older female churchgoers pass away

By James Macintyre
CHRISTIAN TODAY
https://www.christiantoday.com/
April 3, 2017

The Church of England is facing a demographic time bomb as an entire
generation of active lay women is starting to pass away, according to
new research.

The research found that the unpaid work in cleaning, furnishing,
catering, fundraising and supporting midweek services by 70,000 older
women effectively keeps the church from collapse.

There is no evidence that younger people are coming up to replace them.

In a new book, The Religious Lives of Older Laywomen, the sociologist Dr
Abby Day of Goldsmiths at the University of London outlines how the
financial and social structures of the Church of England are kept afloat
by a shrinking band of committed women who are now entering their
eighties and nineties.

Dr Day, who worked closely with laywomen in Britain while researching
her book, identifies the dying generation as 'Generation A': the parents
of the baby boomers who came of age in the 1960s, and were the last
generation whose values are centred on nation, family and God.

Devotion to organisations like the Church has in subsequent generations
been replaced by other forms of identification and activism, leaving a
void of new recruits to form an active laity.

'The prognosis for the Church of England is grave,' said Dr. Day. 'While
elderly laywomen have never been given a formal voice or fully
acknowledged by the Church, they are the heart, soul and driving
organisational force in parishes everywhere. Their loss will be
catastrophic.

'Irrespective of one's religious viewpoint, it's impossible to deny the
role the Church of England has played in providing informal social care,
and a unique unconditional space for those who often have nowhere else
to go.

'As the church itself vanishes through lack of organisational support,
it's inevitable that addicted, homeless, bereaved or socially isolated
people will lose out.'

The Religious Lives of Older Laywomen: The Last Active Anglican
Generation is out now, published by Oxford University Press.



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

Message: 11
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:40:55 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Our Racist Church - the Church of England
Message-ID:
<1491507655.2658154...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Our Racist Church - the Church of England
Why has the Church of England turned racist?

By Peter Mullen
http://www.revpetermullen.com/our-racist-church/
March 31, 2017

Martyn Snow, Bishop of Leicester, has just announced that there is to be
a new appointment designated ?bishop for ethnic mi minorities.? Why?
Because, says the Bishop of Leicester, the church is ?too
quintessentially English,?

Leave aside for the moment the question of how one can be ?too?
quintessentially anything ? for ?quintessence? is what it says it is:
the very quick and soul of a thing. But, as the modern services
demonstrate only too clearly, our church authorities are not too
familiar with the English language, what will go into it and what won?t.

The whole point of the Church of England is that it was always meant to
be quintessentially English. It is, after all, the national church. Read
the divines who were most eminent in its creation, such as Richard
Hooker and William Law: ?Every man of England a member of the Church of
England? and ?The whole realm shall have one use.?

It is as if Martyn Snow does not even satisfy himself with his coinage
?too quintessentially English,? for he blathers on a bit further and
adds that the new bishop for minorities is deemed necessary because the
country, and particularly the Leicester area, has experienced ?cultural
changes.? We must respond to these cultural changes, says Bishop Snow,
?by enabling greater representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic
(BAME) Christians.?

In what ways are BAME Christians not ?enabled? presently? Does the
Bishop of Leicester mean to suggest that a white English priest cannot
or should not minister to black or Asian Christians?

On that score, would he say that a black or Asian priest cannot or
should not minister to white English Christians?

The very notion of a bishop for minorities is at best patronising.
Actually, it is blatantly racist. If you really wish to marginalise
someone, assign him to a special group..

We know from forty years experience that the hierarchy and synod always
follows secular fashions, only, like some prince consort, one dutiful
step behind. The secular fad being followed here is the disastrous
policy of encouraging multiculturalism which separates people into
?communities? on racial grounds and creates undesirable ghettos.

When this was practised in South Africa, it was rightly condemned as
Apartheid. When it is practised here, it is lauded by all the same
?liberals? and ?progressives? who took to the streets to protest about
the segregation that was the rule in South Africa.

The notion of ?communities? is fatal to the establishing of an
integrated society. There is one community to which we all belong: one
church, one realm, one England. This was the Elizabethan Settlement
which has given us a decent set of political liberties for 400 years.
This settlement has been adjusted and refined over the centuries by, for
instance the accommodation of dissenters through the repeal of the Test
and Corporation Act (1828) and the Catholic Emancipation Act (1829)

It should not be beyond the wit even of our contemporary senior
ecclesiastics to allow similar adjustments to be made to extend
membership of the one English community to those of other faiths

Dump the patronising attitude towards so called BAME Christians. And
ditch the implicit racism.

The living symbol of our national integrity is the Monarch who is both
head of state and supreme governor of the Church of England.

You might say the genius of this settlement is precisely in that it is
quintessentially English.



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

Message: 12
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:41:38 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Trans Sanity: Perversion, Confusion and a Depraved Mind
Message-ID:
<1491507698.2658710...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Trans Sanity: Perversion, Confusion and a Depraved Mind

By Bill Muehlenberg
https://billmuehlenberg.com/
Mar 30, 2017

I am told that the words ?Whom the gods would destroy, they first make
mad? is a phrase spoken by Prometheus in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?s
1875 poem, ?The Masque of Pandora?. They seem to be a pretty apt
description of life in the West in the 21st Century.

The Bible does give us something rather similar. As we find in
Deuteronomy 28:28: ?The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness
and confusion of mind.? Of course there is a particular context to this
passage. Deut. 28 contains a list of blessings for obedience and curses
for disobedience for Yahweh?s covenant people Israel.

While the verse therefore primarily applies to ancient Israel, I think
we can take a generic application for today as well. Certainly we see
everywhere ? primarily at the hands of the radical secular left ?
confusion, madness and blindness.

And it is a clear case of Isaiah 5:20: ?Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who
put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.? The Apostle Paul tells us
similar things in Romans 1:18-32.

There he speaks of those who seek to defy God and rebel against him.
Homosexuality is listed as a primary example of this. Paul then says in
verses 28-29, ?just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the
knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they
do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of
wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.?

Depravity and confusion of mind, moral blindness and madness ? these are
the hallmarks of a people who have been given over by God because of
their immorality, rebellion and disobedience. And this best explains
what we see happening in the sex wars.

In the 60s we had the radical feminist and homosexual revolutions, and
all that nicely prepared the way for the radical transgender ideology
being forced on us today. And talk about madness and confusion. When
adults actually tell you that a person?s sex is simply a matter of
preference and whim, and has nothing to do with our DNA, our anatomy,
our biology, and with reality, then you know these people have gone
full-on nutzo.

They have come to ?believe a lie? as Paul also warns about (see 2
Thessalonians 2:11). Indeed, the madness of the trans activists is a
direct result of rejecting God and his good and perfect design for us,
including what it is to be a human being of either male or female sex.

This is rebellion against the created order and against the Creator.
These militants are shaking their fists at God and telling him they will
have none of his good and gracious plans for us, but they will rebel
against it all, and listen instead to the father of lies (as Jesus
describes the devil in John 8:44).

Rebellious autonomy, immorality and a disordered mind always go
together. So when we see the activists telling us there are 50 or 100 or
200 genders, they are not just pushing a radical progressive agenda,
they are actually pushing Satan?s agenda.

This is ultimately a spiritual war in other words. Sure, it is also a
political, social, cultural and ideological war, so it needs to be
fought on every level. We must be engaged in the war of ideas, the
political debates, and the legislative fights, but we must also be
involved in spiritual warfare to properly deal with all this.

Let me look a bit more at the passages we have been discussing,
especially Romans 1. Theologians speak about ?judicial abandonment?. By
that they mean there comes a time when human wickedness and rebellion
becomes so great that God simply abandons people to their sin and
unbelief.

And it sure does not look pretty when that occurs. Let me cite a few
authorities on this. In his expository commentary on Romans, Martyn
Lloyd-Jones says this about the frightening process:

When mankind refuses to glorify God as God, when mankind does not thank
Him and address Him and worship Him as it ought, and when, in its
cleverness, it dismisses or throws Him out, what God does is to do
exactly the same to mankind. There is a play on words in this
twenty-eighth verse: ?Even as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge?. God did not like to retain them ? He gave them up, left them
to themselves. They abandoned God, God abandoned them. That is what Paul
is saying.

In other words, what we have here is an account of God?s judicial
abandonment of man in sin. And you notice that He even abandoned them in
their minds, which is the most terrifying and terrible thing of all. . .
. The tragedy of man in the world is not only that he is debased in his
conduct, he is debased in his mind. He cannot think straight. That is
why he tries to justify these vile things, and tries to explain them in
terms of biology or psychology and so on. . . . And when a man?s mind
has become reprobate, there is no hope for him, there is nothing to
appeal to!

Also worth quoting is R. C. Sproul:

Three times in this section we read about human beings being given up by
God. They are given up to their vile passions, the lust of the flesh,
and their reprobate minds. When God judges people according to the
standard of his righteousness, he is declaring that he will not strive
with mankind forever. We hear all the time about God?s infinite grace
and mercy. I cringe when I hear it. God?s mercy is infinite insofar as
it is mercy bestowed upon us by a Being who is infinite, but when the
term infinite is used to describe his mercy rather than his person, I
have problems with it because the Bible makes very clear that there is a
limit to God?s mercy. There is a limit to his grace, and he is
determined not to pour out his mercy on impenitent people forever. There
is a time, as the Old Testament repeatedly reports, particularly in the
book of the prophet Jeremiah, that God stops being gracious with people,
and he gives them over to their sin.

The worst thing that can happen to sinners is to be allowed to go on
sinning without any divine restraints. At the end of the New Testament,
in the book of Revelation when the description of the last judgment is
set forth, God says, ?He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who
is filthy, let him be filthy still? (Rev. 22:11). God gives people over
to what they want. He abandons them to their sinful impulses and removes
his restraints, saying in essence, ?If you want to sin, go ahead and
sin.? This is what theologians call ?judicial abandonment.? God, in
dispensing his just judgment, abandons the impenitent sinner forever.

These are very shocking and confronting words. But they reflect a very
real truth: persistent sin and rebellion will take you on a one-way road
to perdition, and will result in all sorts of madness and depravity
along the way. The gender bender agenda is just a part of this. And
sadly it will simply get worse, unless things change big time in the
West.

Let me finish on a pastoral note. We as Christians must do two things
here: we must show compassion and respect for those caught up in gender
confusion, especially our young people, and point them to good counsel
and help. But at the same time we must resolutely resist the ideologues
and militants who are so aggressively pushing all this.

As Peter LaBarbara once put it concerning a related issue:
?Homosexuality is at its core a war of defiance against Nature and
Nature?s God. Still, as Christians we must offer practicing homosexuals
forgiveness through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, ?Repent
and believe the good news!? (Mark 1:15).?

And in his brief book Transgender, Vaughan Roberts speaks to this
two-fold approach as well:

We will never give in to a ?yuk? reaction, because they are beautiful
and precious creatures made in God?s image. But neither will we give way
to the false notion that ?they were made that way?. We are created but
fallen. We are made but marred. And those who experience gender
dysphoria, along with all of us, are both victims of the fall, and
therefore to be sympathized with, and also, to some degree, sinners with
disordered hearts who need to be both forgiven and rescued.

To properly engage here as God?s people, as Michael Brown often puts it,
?we need hearts that are broken and backbones of steel.?

END



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

Message: 13
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:44:41 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Ex-Gay Christian Group Says It's Saving Lives, Not 'Inciting
Hatred' as Branded by Vimeo Shutdown
Message-ID:
<1491507881.2659046...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Ex-Gay Christian Group Says It's Saving Lives, Not 'Inciting Hatred' as
Branded by Vimeo Shutdown
Members and supporters of the ex-gay community will be in Washington,
D.C. are to lobby Congress to recognize those who are former homosexuals
and to seek federal protection from discrimination

By Stoyan Zaimov
http://www.christianpost.com/
Mar 31, 2017

Pure Passion Ministries, an ex-gay Christian group that had its content
scrubbed from the video-sharing website Vimeo after being branded as
"inciting hatred," has argued that all it's doing is saving lives and
offering people healing.

"As I've said before, we will not remove videos that are saving lives.
It would be a sin against God and against those who desperately want
hope and the kind of help that will bring healing to whatever brokenness
they may have," wrote Dr. David Kyle Foster, founder of Mastering Life
Ministries, in an article on Thursday.

"We have the track record to prove that for 30 years, what we have been
doing has been healing and NOT demeaning or hateful or whatever other
spin you want to put on it," Foster added.

Vimeo reportedly told Foster in December to remove "any and all videos
of this sort" from his account, which Foster has said is "pure religious
bigotry and censorship," given that his ministry offers testimonies of
people who identify as formerly gay.

The video-sharing website has accused Pure Passion Ministries of posting
videos that "harass, incite hatred, or include discriminatory or
defamatory speech," and recently removed all 850 of its videos.

The removal came after Vimeo had offered an ultimatum on March 16,
stating:

"Take down the offending videos in a week, or lose your channel. 'Your
statement equating homosexuality to 'sexual brokenness' betrays the
underlying stance of your organization. To put it plainly, we don't
believe that homosexuality requires a cure and we don't allow videos on
our platform that espouse this point of view."

Vimeo continued: "Please remove any and all videos that discuss
homosexuality as a condition requiring healing. We also consider this
basic viewpoint to display a demeaning attitude toward a specific group,
which is something that we do not allow."

Foster argued that the platform is punishing and seeking to censor free
speech.

"You see, Vimeo knows that if you say something often enough, people
will assume it's true. They are the big bully, er brother, on the block
and are exacting their revenge, it seems, against anyone who gets in
their way, the Constitution notwithstanding," he said.

"It is the same spirit of antichrist that will eventually culminate in
the Great Tribulation."

As Michael Brown, host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio
program, noted in an op-ed published by The Christian Post, Vimeo has
also targeted other organizations that have refused to celebrate LGBT
activism, such as the National Association for Research and Therapy of
Homosexuality.

What is more, it has also removed all content from Restored Hope
Network, another Christian network of ministries to homosexuals offering
healing.

But while Vimeo has decided to censor such content, it apparently
continues to allow others about rape, pornography, and even terrorism
and jihad.

"Just put 'jihad' in Vimeo's search bar and you get 2,233 selections.
Put 'lust' + Vimeo in a Google search and one option is a porn filmmaker
site, among 288 other sites containing 2,872 videos. Search on Google
for 'rape' + Vimeo and you get 2,817 videos," Foster explained.

He argued that Vimeo considers the very idea that Jesus Christ can bring
healing to sexual brokenness to be "both offensive and demeaning."

END



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

Message: 14
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:48:22 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org
Subject: GDANSK, POLAND: LGBT activists slammed scientist as a
'homophobe.' Now a judge is making them apologize
Message-ID:
<1491508102.2659958...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

GDANSK, POLAND: LGBT activists slammed scientist as a 'homophobe.' Now a
judge is making them apologize

By Natalia Dueholm
https://www.lifesitenews.com/
April 3, 2017

An appellate court upheld a lower-court decision that the LGBTQ
association Pracownia R??norodno?ci defamed scientist Dr. Paul Cameron
and ordered the group to publish an apology.

Cameron was happy with the verdict handed down Thursday. His Family
Research Institute publishes empirical research on homosexuality.

"I am interested in whether the gays will apologize as widely as they
defamed me," he told LiteSiteNews. "It is good to finally get justice in
a court of law. I am so tired of gays' lies being taken as truth."

Dr. Cameron is an American psychologist, researcher and clinician
specializing in sexual social policy. He is one of the world's most
prolific scientists on the topic. Cameron published the first random
sample comparing heterosexuals and homosexuals that documented the
abbreviated lifespan of homosexuals. His published research also covers
homosexual parenting.

Cameron visited Poland on numerous occasions to speak at universities
and other venues. During his appearance in Warsaw, he was interrupted by
obscene and vulgar activists holding a sign, "Gay is OK. F*** you, Mr.
Cameron!" Several activists were arrested and fined by the police. The
Pracownia Roznorodno?ci group from Toru? was particularly active in
attacking the scientist.

Its activists accused him of falsifying his research and called him "a
homophobe" and "a liar." These allegations were spread via internet
publications.

Additionally, the activists sent open letters to the presidents of
several dozen institutions of higher learning and to the Ministry of
Science and Higher Education. This campaign resulted in some
universities refusing to host Cameron as a conference guest or panelist,
making an exchange of academic knowledge impossible.

Consequently, Cameron, who holds a Ph.D in psychology and is a member of
Eastern Psychological Association, filed a defamation suit against the
group in September 2014. He was represented by the attorney Jerzy
Kwasniewski from the Ordo Iuris Institute. In July 2015, the district
court sided with the plaintiff.

The court decided that the LGBTQ association's actions defamed Cameron's
good name and scientific reputation. The judge ordered the defendant to
publish an apology on the group's website and to send letters of
explanation to the university presidents.

Both sides appealed the ruling. The judge rejected the 30,000 PLN
(approximately $8,000) in compensation sought by Cameron.

The appeals court in Gda?sk upheld this decision, similarly rejecting
the financial compensation that was intended for a non-profit
organization.

Kwasniewski explained to LifeSiteNews that as a result of the appellate
court upholding the defamation ruling Pracownia Roznorodnosci must send
the apology to presidents of some 35 universities in Poland and to the
Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The activists will also have
to add a correction to all the defamatory articles published on the
organization?s website, stating that the article infringed on Cameron?s
good name and scientific reputation and that the LGBTQ group apologizes
for the defamatory content.

"The verdict of the appeals court confirms that under Polish law it is
unacceptable to attack the opponents of LGBT circles only because they
pronounce unfavorable scientific research," Kwasniewski wrote.

LifeSiteNews contacted Pracownia Roznorodnosci via email but did not
receive an answer.



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

Message: 15
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:48:43 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Episcopal Church Forms Title Company, Acquires Law Firm
Message-ID:
<1491508123.2660009...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Episcopal Church Forms Title Company, Acquires Law Firm

A satirical essay

By Allan Haley
http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/
April 3, 2017

Unable to obtain title policies any more on any of the thousands of
properties held at the national, diocesan or local parish level, the
Episcopal Church (USA) announced plans today to use part of its
endowment to establish its own company to provide title insurance for
its members. At the same time, ECUSA announced it has acquired a
national law firm in an effort to control its litigation expenses, which
reportedly are out of control.

"The [title insurance] problem appears to be with our [so-called] Dennis
Canon," said a Church spokesperson at the national headquarters in New
York City. After a full review of the more than 90 cases in which the
title to church property has been disputed in the last sixteen years,
the national association of title insurance companies recommended last
month that no further title policies be given to any parish, diocese or
other entity affiliated with ECUSA, or to any person purchasing property
from any Church unit.

"All we have been told," the spokesperson continued, "is that multiple
uncertainties over the meaning, application and effect of the Dennis
Canon, as demonstrated by the extremely variegated reception it has had
in State courts across the country, make it impossible for title
companies reasonably to assess the risks of insuring such properties.
And without being able to assess the risks, they are unable to set any
premiums for such coverage. So, if a property was ever at any time
arguably under the strictures of the Dennis Canon, they just won't issue
a policy for it any more."

Asked whether it was a problem that the Dennis Canon purports to create
a nationwide trust in favor of ECUSA that is unrecorded in any State,
the spokesperson admitted: "We understand that is a significant part of
the problem, yes."

And why can't the Church simply proceed to record trust documents in
every State, to get around that problem?

"Well, that's why we resorted to the Canon in the first place," the
spokesperson responded. "We simply could never count on the over 7,000
individual parishes across the country agreeing to sign such documents.
So we just created the trust on our own -- and it worked very well for
the first twenty years, because no one ever noticed what we had done.
But ever since that case in South Carolina -- the Wiccam case, or
whatever its name was -- there have been nearly a hundred cases brought
either to enforce or to nullify Dennis Canon trusts."

"And we've reached a decision, just like the title companies, that we
can't continue in this fashion. So we're forming our own Title Insurance
Company of The Episcopal Church for Terrae Omni Ecclesiae -- that Latin
part means 'all Church properties'. That abbreviates as TICTECTOE, which
we think is rather a handy mnemonic for our clergy and vestries."

In a separate announcement today, ECUSA gave a nod to its burgeoning
litigation activity on all fronts, which to date has included: (1)
filing suit against its own Church Insurance Company; (2) being sued by
its own former employees; and (3) bringing suit against the donor of one
of its most valuable properties, to say nothing of (4) suing over 90 of
its former parishes, dioceses, bishops, and clergy. The statement
released from its 815 Second Avenue headquarters reads as follows:

The Episcopal Church (USA) is pleased to announce its acquisition of the
national law firm of Dewey Sooem and Howe, in order to bring the
handling of all civil and ecclesiastical litigation under one roof. "We
see this as a natural continuation of our policy to serve Jesus by
having all our legal matters handled in house," said Presiding Bishop
Michael Curry.

In order to avoid violating legal professional norms, all partners in
the famed firm have agreed to accept priestly orders in the Church;
associates will be ordained as deacons. While the salaries they will be
paid will not even approach what they had earned in their own firm, a
partner said off the record that they were handsomely compensated by the
buyout, and further that, as clergy, they could now look forward to the
extremely generous benefits paid by the Church Pension Fund.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry stated that the $160 million expense of
the acquisition will be offset by future savings in fees paid to outside
law firms in the various States, which Curry said had cost the Church
and its 110 dioceses over $60 million to date. "We will make up the cost
in just five to eight years," he said. "From that point forward,
litigation for the Church will be an addition to our bottom line,
instead of the constant subtraction it has been till now. Moreover, when
not busy with litigation, the firm's members will be available for us as
supply priests for all the new missions we are hoping to establish in
the coming years. So from our point of view, it's all win-win."

Allan Haley is an Episcopalian baptized and confirmed under the 1928
Book of Common Prayer. Things have not been the same since 1979, and my
blog "Anglican Curmudgeon" is part of a long-time effort to understand
why. He is also a canon lawyer



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

Message: 16
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:48:59 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Can Mathematics Transform the Episcopal Church?
Message-ID:
<1491508139.2660020...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Can Mathematics Transform the Episcopal Church?
HOB + X= BFO

By Ladson F. Mills III
Special to VIRTUEONLINE
www.virtueonline.org
April 1, 2017

Clarity came at last to the Episcopal House of Bishops during its recent
meeting at Kanuga from a most unexpected source. In her sermon to the
house Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde candidly admitted
her diocese is declining and many parishes financially unsustainable.
She identified what was described as the elephant in the room; The
Episcopal Church is dying.

Even the most optimistic Episcopalian should hardly find this
surprising. After years of disappointment and the last decade dedicated
to the predatory annihilation of its orthodox members the truth can no
longer be politely overlooked.

There has been something incredibly sad in watching the current
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry?s attempt to return the 1960?s civil
rights movement as a defining issue. And the world has come too far for
any serious thinker to equate true justice with transgender toilet
choice. As the old joke states, it?s not ?rocket surgery.? Just close
stall door and get on with it.

Curry follows on the failures of his predecessor Katharine Jefferts
Schori who could not rid herself of chancellor David Beers? toxic
influence. Beers would rather litigate than negotiate, but who can blame
a man who bills by the hour.

Taking the House of Bishops on the road trips to Taiwan and Ecuador may
have been fun, but it exposed a tragic flaw. There is a mounting
disconnect between the leadership and those in the pew who bear the
cost. It seems at long last the bills have come due.

It is too early to be determined if Budde?s transformation will be
lasting, and there are many reasons to be cautious. The Episcopal Church
has exercised cruel dominion and friendships which once seemed
unbreakable are now broken; perhaps never to be restored. Even my old
cynical heart has been broken.

But there was something incredibly honest in Budde?s admission that she
would have to examine, ?all that it cost for me to be part of the House
of Bishops. I must evaluate my efforts, and ours, based on the fruits
they produce.?

Her powerful words were more than criticism. They are an open and public
declaration that the House of Bishops is dysfunctional. And it comes
from a bishop long regarded an enthusiastic supporter of the revisionist
direction of the church.

It might be timely to remember that it took decades for the Episcopal
Church to sink to its current level and it will not be transformed
overnight. Often forgotten is that all institutions, even those that are
left leaning, are conservative when it comes to self-preservation.
Regardless of ideology the entrenched have a stake in maintaining the
status quo.

During Edmund Browning?s tenure as presiding bishop his predictable
left-wing responses noticeably changed whenever addressing issues of
financial stewardship. He could then quote scripture in manner that a
bible thumping, Prosperity Gospel, televangelist would covet.

?Red? Browning may have preferred the company of the left, but he
understood basic economic necessity when it came to financing the
Episcopal Church. The National Church is a bureaucracy and money drives
the engine. Deep financial support comes from healthy parishes which are
increasingly orthodox.

The purpose of a bureaucracy is to perpetuate itself. I gather this is
at least one reason why the recently dismissed National Church staff
members were secretly taping Executive Council meetings. Knowledge like
money is a way to protect interest.

My friends from the 12 -step community are quick to remind me that all
recovery begins with admitting powerlessness followed by accepting that
only a power greater than ourselves can save us from ourselves. Since
the 12 Steps of AA were written by an Episcopal Priest and based on
Christian Spiritual principles the answer is obvious.

The church must return its primary call of proclaiming and witnessing
the Gospel to the world. The culture is in desperate need of the
transformation that can only come from Jesus Christ.

Many years ago, as a high school student my teammates and I stood facing
what can only be described as a very unhappy coach. He was a man who
took every athletic loss as a personal insult and our previous
performance had been especially humiliating.

On a cool morning while the rest of our school mates enjoyed a holiday
from classes we were summoned for remedial practice.

Expecting a rant and then a slow painful death (hyperbole intended) we
were surprised when he quietly asked if anyone happened to be taking
Algebra. I was and said so.

Ahh, yes, he responded. Well here?s a question. In algebra, what is the
meaning of X? Heartened by what seemed to be a relatively simple
mathematical equation I responded; ?X is an unknown.?

I will never forget the smile, which reminded me of a hungry wolf about
to devour his prey. Right you are. And that is how long you will be
practicing today-unknown.

Is it possible the Episcopal House of Bishop?s has unmasked the equation
that has eluded them for years.

HOB + X = BFO (House of Bishops plus Christ equals a blinding flash of
the obvious)

After all these years it still comes down to ?X?. *

*(?X? is the Greek letter ?Chi? a recognized symbol for Christ)

Ladson F. Mills III is a retired priest with over thirty years pastoral
experience. He lives with his wife in South Carolina. He currently
serves as Scholar-in -Residence at Church of Our Saviour, Johns Island.
He is a regular contributor to Virtueonline.



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

Message: 17
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:49:18 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Christian Persecution in China on the Rise: Report
Message-ID:
<1491508158.2660061...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Christian Persecution in China on the Rise: Report

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 6, 2017

A report from a Christian charity has found that Christians are being
persecuted at rates not seen since the Cultural Revolution, which lasted
from 1966 until 1976. http://www.theepochtimes.com/

The Cultural Revolution, launched by dictator Mao Zedong, attempted to
eliminate the ?Four Olds,? which were defined as ?Old Customs,? ?Old
Culture,? ?Old Habits,? and ?Old Ideas.? The campaign, carried out by
organized groups of students Mao called the Red Guards, targeted the
adherents of religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism,
Confucianism, and others. Countless temples, historical sites, books,
and priceless historical artifacts were destroyed. Religious expression,
which permeated the culture in China during that time, was essentially
banned, and it could have dire consequences. Millions of people were
persecuted, tortured and killed.

Now, China Aid?s Annual Persecution Report for 2016 found that incidents
of Christian persecution rose about 20 percent on the previous year,
while the number of Christians imprisoned went up by nearly 150 percent.
Officials with the Chinese Communist Party, which is officially atheist,
also called for the forced demolition of churches and removal of church
crosses.

The report also noted that Christians may have been killed for their
organs?a grisly practice used mainly on adherents of Falun Gong, a form
of traditional meditation that, during the 1990s, made up approximately
one twelfth of the population, according to some estimates, and has been
targeted for elimination by Chinese Communist authorities since 1999.
Last June, a report said up to 1.5 million organ transplants may have
taken place in China since 2000?most of which were harvested from Falun
Gong prisoners of conscience.

?I believe it?s ideology, mass murder, and the cover-up of a terrible
crime where the only way to cover up that crime is to keep killing
people who know about it,? said investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann,
who helped release last year?s report on organ harvesting in China,
aptly titled, ?Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter: An Update.? China has
?built a juggernaut,? Gutmann added, referring to the statewide network
of hospitals used for organ harvesting.

According to China Aid, Christians are still forced to worship in houses
or underground churches, adding that China ranks 39th out of the 50
worst countries in the world for persecuting Christians.

?The key findings of what happened last year and the reports from these
first two months of 2017 have shown the situation of religious freedom
is rapidly deteriorating,? Bob Fu, head of China Aid, said in the
report, as Premier.org.uk reported.

After the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949, protestant
missions in China were expelled.

END



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

Message: 18
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:51:01 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken
Me? - Matthew 27:46
Message-ID:
<1491508261.2662063...@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? -
Matthew 27:46

By Ted Schroder,
www.tedschroder.com
Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017

At the heart of the Cross there is holy ground on which we must step
lightly and reverently for it contains the essence of our salvation.
Like Moses at the burning bush we must take off our shoes, for the place
where we stand is the Holy of Holies. Like Isaiah beholding the glory of
the Lord in the Temple we are aware of our unfitness and need the angels
to cleanse our lips, for God to take away our guilt and atone for our
sin. The apostles repeated time and time again that Jesus died for our
sins. He took our place. He substituted himself in an atonement for our
sins. He became sin for us. God reconciled the world to himself. God was
in Christ. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. In that moment
of sacrifice, bearing our guilt and shame, he who knew no sin assumed
all that would separate us from God. The innocent ransomed the
condemned.

"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we
are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:4-6)

"This crushing load blotted out for Jesus the consciousness of the
presence of the God who had meant more to him, all his life, than anyone
or anything else. A sense of sheer, stark dereliction swept over him. If
the cross is the place where God?s disgust with sin and his burning love
for humanity meet in terrible expression; if God in Christ is there
clearing up the mess made by a rebel race, can we wonder that there is a
mystery." (Donald Coggan, The Voice from the Cross, p.33)

It is to be understood that under this burden Jesus should have
expressed the reality of what he was experiencing in this question,
taken from Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are
you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O God,
I cry out day by day, but you do not answer."

These are the words of human experience when we feel forsaken,
abandoned, when God seems far from us, and does not answer our prayers.
Jesus knows what that feels like. It is the ultimate experience of being
alone. When our sins have separated us from God we condemn ourselves to
living apart from the source of love and light and joy. We cut ourselves
off from the root of our being, the nourishment our souls require to
flourish. Jesus dived into that darkness in order to rescue us from
ourselves. He was willing to risk his own abandonment in order to save
us from drowning in our own bad choices, our own blindness, our own
willfulness, our own lack of faith.

What is the remedy for all who feel themselves God-forsaken? What can be
done in those times when you feel like an abandoned child, when you feel
that you are alone in the world with no one to call upon for protection
and help? You feel forsaken when your loved one dies. You feel forsaken
when sickness overwhelms you, members of your family or a friend. You
feel forsaken when so many of your lifetime friends are passing away.
You feel forsaken when you have to move away from your community and you
miss your friends. You feel forsaken when Alzheimer?s threatens your
relationship with your lifelong spouse. You feel forsaken when you are
dying and you feel so alone. In feeling forsaken Jesus experienced the
reality of every man and woman in physical and emotional helplessness.
He felt abandoned, alone and cried out for help. He entered fully into
our moment of need.

Jesus takes that forsakenness into the heart of God by his agony on the
Cross. In that action Jesus invited, prompted the truth of God?s
promise: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Joshua 1:5,
Deut. 31:6, Hebrews 13:5). By what Jesus did in his suffering on the
Cross he showed us that God is for us and not against us. He is there at
our moment of crisis when we need reassurance most of all. Nothing will
be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Jesus said, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the
age."

This question on the Cross is the only time Jesus addressed God in these
terms. When he prayed, he prayed not to God but to his Father. He
proclaimed that he and the Father were one - that he was in the Father
and the Father in him. Therefore he could not be separated from the
Father within the Divine Unity of the Trinity. How could he, on the
Cross, be separated from the Father? That is the mystery of our
salvation. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He spoke on
the Cross as the second Adam, as the Perfect Man, who experienced the
distance that sin caused between us and God.

Despite his sense of abandonment Jesus still turned to God. So many of
the psalms express this cry. ?Why are you downcast, O my soul? My soul
is downcast within me.?Jesus did cry out to his family and friends for
comfort. He cried out to God. Psalm 22 expresses his hope: ?But you, O
Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.?

Jesus affirms his relationship with God. It is MY God to whom he cries.
No matter what happens to him, and how severe his pain and suffering, he
still clings onto his personal and intimate relationship with the
Father.

There was no answer to the question of Jesus in this life. He died and
was buried, but on the third day he was raised to new life and ascended
back to heaven where all questions are answered. When we get to heaven
God will tell us why we thought he had forsaken us. When we and those we
love suffer in this life we ask the question why? He is not obliged to
answer on our timetable. We have to wait until we come into his nearer
presence. Like Jesus, we have to learn obedience through the things that
we suffer. We have to trust in God.

There is hope for you if you feel forsaken by God, abandoned and so
depressed in spirit that you despair of life. Jesus was where you are
and yet he came through and conquered. He is able to help you through it
also. But there is a much more awful state to be in than being aware of
your forsakenness. This is not the worst possible condition to be in.
What is much worse is to be without God and not to care about it. To be
living without God and without hope, yet not to be concerned about it at
all. Not to have any communion with God and all the while to be happy
about it, to be quite satisfied with being without a personal
relationship with God, is to be in a state of insensibility and hardness
of heart. Jesus suffered and died for such darkness of spirit. He
suffered and died to defeat the power of pride, indifference and
rebellion. He suffered such agony, bearing the sins of the whole human
race, to overcome the distance men and women have put between themselves
and God. God does not forsake us, but we can forsake him.

The Cross always stands to remind us that God has done all he can to
bring us to himself. It is up to us what we will do with what he has
done. Will we with the secular world, the popular celebrities, scoff at
him, mock him, spit on him, strike him, hurl insults at him, and call on
him to be crucified again? Or will we give him our hearts and lives?

END



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