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ACNA Archbishop Meets Russian Orthodox Patriarch*TEC Pushes Sexual Agenda into Africa*ACNA and Anglican Mission Open Talks*Dean Hall Retires early from National Cathedral*Nationwide Protest Against Planned Parenthood Draws 850 Anglicans

The divine constancy. Natural law is not an alternative to divine action, but a useful way of referring to it. So-called natural laws simply describe a uniformity which scientists have observed. And Christians attribute this uniformity to the constancy of God. Further, to be able to explain a process scientifically is by no means to explain God away; it is rather (in the famous words of the astronomer Kepler) to 'think God's thoughts after him' and to begin to understand his ways of working. --- John R.W. Stott

Without the affirmation that the Bible is inerrant, "discernment" leads to disaster -- Albert J. Mohler

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
August 28, 2015

Progressive Christianity--drawing together mainline Protestants, emergent Christians, progressive Catholics and post-evangelicals--gathers its strength from a new vision of the world, one defined by justice and wholeness.

The challenges, however, are many: cultural, theological, environmental, and institutional. On the surface, the common goal unites a wide diversity of Christian believers. In many ways they are defining the future of faith in America.

For those of us who remain firmly in the trenches of orthodoxy in faith and morals, it is a new world order that is both inviting, cutting edge, oddly appealing, and yet dangerously heterodox.

Jesus is stirred into the mix (who would not be against justice and wholeness) and yet there is an uneasiness about the claims of the new religionists.

On the issue of justice, Jesus claimed very little for himself. He lived and walked amongst us for 33 years, never married, "had nowhere to lay his head" and dies on a cruel cross crying out to his Father "let this cup pass from me". His Father hid himself from His son and said, by his silence, no. So no justice for Jesus.

On the issue of wholeness it is now quite apparent that the more people cry for wholeness the more fragmented and broken they find and experience. Jesus' name is invoked but few bow before His claims or His person. People want Jesus on their terms. Consider New York Times bestselling author of Jesus by Deepak Chopra. Chopra has imagined Jesus's path to enlightenment moving from obscurity to revolutionary, from doubt to miracles, and then beyond as the role of the long-awaited Messiah. As a teenager, Jesus has premonitions of his destiny, and by the end, as he arrives to be baptized in the River Jordan, he has accepted his fate, which combines extremes of light and darkness. But nowhere does Chopra bow the knee to Jesus as Lord of the universe and Savior of the world.

In time Progressive Christianity will prove to be a broken record of high expectations and low realities.

The Episcopal Church is proving this out to be true. It is progressing nowhere as it imbibes the spirit of the age. More accurately it is withering and dying even as an authentic Anglican witness grows in North America.

*****

This week, Archbishop Foley Beach, at the invitation of Patriarch Kirill of Russia, led a delegation from the Anglican Church in North America to Moscow for formal ecumenical meetings with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The delegation made a pilgrimage to the monastery of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius before beginning meetings with Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations. Patriarch Kirill officially received the delegation at his residence.

Patriarch Kirill gave thanks for the Anglican Church in North America's courageous witness in the midst of the dual challenges of an increasingly secular western culture, and an environment of religious compromise: "Your church went through a very difficult period of its history, and the faithful took courage and had the ability to respond to a great temptation. There are two models of the behavior of the Church and of Christians. One involves obedience to the secular power and the powerful forces that have an impact on social development. The other model involves the ability to speak the truth and to remain faithful to the Christian message."

Krill did not say it outright, but we know what he meant. He was saying that The Episcopal Church has betrayed the faith that, in so many words, they have become kissing Judases and the Orthodox Church will have nothing more to do with them.

Witness what Metropolitan Hilarion said about TEC in November of 2014 and reported on by VOL. http://tinyurl.com/oextvzt He blasted the Episcopal Church and Western liberals for abandoning the Faith. The Russian Orthodox leader said any double standard with regard to Christian ethics is unacceptable. He went on to praise the Anglican Church in North America for upholding the Faith.

The Moscow Patriarchate, with many Christian communities in the USA, has encountered a serious crisis, he added. "It was caused by the liberalization of the moral teaching in these communities, their deviation from the ethical norms laid down by Holy Scripture of the New Testament common for us all. In 2003 the Russian Orthodox Church had to suspend contacts with the Episcopal Church in the USA due to the fact that it consecrated an open homosexual as a bishop."

You can see a paradigm shift here where the major Christian denominations like the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church are entertaining Archbishop Beach as the authentic Anglican witness in North America. They will have no more truck with TEC.

Is anybody in TEC listening? Is anybody in TEC watching what is going on? Can they not see that pansexuality is alienating The Episcopal Church from the great world religions! Central Florida Bishop Greg Brewer knows better. Now he has alienated himself from Trinity School for Ministry and from the Global South. Will those pieces of silver (pension) ultimately be worth the betrayal?

*****

Not content with pushing pansexuality in North America, TheEpiscopal Church is now pushing its sexual agenda into Africa.

In Salt Lake City this past July, the Episcopal Church passed, without controversy, resolution A051 "in support of LGBT African Advocacy" that included hundreds of thousands of dollars to push its sexual agenda on the continent of Africa in direct defiance of Lambeth resolution 1.10 and subsequent calls by Global South leaders to turn back from their wicked sexual ways.

The sheer gall TEC has in pushing an unwholesome behavior that has within it the seeds of death in the name of rights, deemed unnatural to most Africans, should not be underestimated. Money and flights help.

Even as TEC slowly withers on the vine (some 45 percent of parishes are without a full time priest and two thirds of its congregations are made up of middle age women who have about as much interest in Africa except as a tourist destination or ISIS has in winning Tasmania for Allah), Episcopal leaders are hell bent on sodomizing Africa in the name of a revisionist sexual god of their own devising.

It's my lead story in today's digest.

*****

In what looks to be very promising news, senior ACNA leaders have reopened conversations with The Anglican Mission. They met in a conversation facilitated by a certified mediator to discuss broken relationships, and to find ways that produce a faithful witness to Christ that has been undermined in the past.

"In our conversations at this meeting, we experienced many requests for forgiveness for past actions and words. With surprising and encouraging depth, forgiveness was extended in both directions for many things," said a press release from ACNA.

This is long overdue. Clearly such rapprochement was not possible between Chuck Murphy and Bob Duncan...too much bad blood. Usually it takes another generation of leaders to make it happen. Both Jones and Beach are Sewanee graduates and have a lot in common including their ages.

"We agreed to continue conversations to develop godly relationships that fully honor Christ. We are committed to comprehensively addressing the offenses of the past in a similar fashion to the way that we addressed the first issues dealt with today."

If anyone can make it happen, the six who met can do it. Present at the meeting were Archbishop Foley Beach, Bishop Philip Jones, Bishop Bill Atwood, Bishop Sandy Greene, Philip Ashey, and Allen Hughes.

*****

"Christians are not saints," tweeted Lambeth Palace, apparently quoting from a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. "They are sinners calling other sinners to know and love Jesus Christ."

Well, yes and no. Christians are indeed sinners, as is all mankind, which has been so since the Fall. And Christians do (or should) call other sinners to repentance and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, without whom there is no redemption, and by whose name we may find salvation. But "Christians are not saints?"

It depends, of course, on one's ecclesial tradition. But biblical theology is quite clear on the matter: all believers are saints. ALL.

And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda (Acts 9:32).

Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests. (Acts 26:10).

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Eph 4:12).

Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you (Phil 4:21).

And each All Saints' Day we remember and honor all those Christians -- known and unknown; visible and invisible -- who have gone before us and now dwell in Glory in the presence of the Lord. It is a communion of the living with the dead; a day preserved in the Book of Common Prayer, now classed as a Principal Feast, along with Easter Day, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Christmas Day, and the Epiphany.

In the New Testament, the saints are all believers -- the whole Church -- past, present and future. The term has, however, through ecclesial history and man-made tradition, come to be applied to persons of heroic sanctity, especially those who have given their lives for the sake of the gospel -- those who have been martyred for the Faith. The distinction is sustained in some churches in the remembrance of All Saints followed by All Souls.

But the truth is we who are "in Christ" are indeed saints, however sinful we are and we should not shrink back from that. Perhaps the ABC needs a refresher course in New Testament.

*****

On the subject of the ABC, I was very disturbed this week to read that Welby had indeed encountered the brilliant world apologist for heterosexual marriage (and by definition its leading opponent of homosexuality), Dr. Robert Gagnon. His book The Bible and Homosexual Practice has never been answered by the liberals because they don't have an argument to stand on. Welby was apparently courteous but not warm. Not surprising I suppose, but there was a golden opportunity missed by the ABC.

Here is what he should have said: "Bob welcome. Glad you could be here. Read your book. I think it is the best thing on the whole subject. I have an idea. Why don't you come to the palace and I will arrange a debate between you and Colin Coward of Changing Attitude. We could live stream it, put it on u-tube and let's see what happens. You could change the whole debate and bring some biblical sense into the whole discussion. You won't make a lot of friends, but I think the One we follow came to a nasty end and was prepared to die for the truth."

Not a chance. Welby is conflicted himself. He has too many friends who are gay and he doesn't want to offend them. Really. What if he took that approach with his alcoholic friends? "Jack, we're having a party at the Palace on Saturday, bring your own Scotch."

*****

Church of England joins worldwide prayer for care of creation, The Church of England's lead Bishop for the environment, the Rt. Rev. Nicholas Holtam is calling on congregations to join Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew, members of the global Anglican Church and Christians around the world to fast and pray for the care of creation on 1st September.

Bishop Nicholas said: "It will do us all good to stop, fast, think and pray about the need to care for God's good but fragile creation. We live at a time when human activity has caused a dramatic reduction in the earth's biodiversity and when people are causing climate change through our profligate use of fossil fuels. A consensus has emerged about the need to move to a low carbon economy.

"Whatever the scientific, economic and political difficulties at root this is a spiritual problem. Prayer helps clarify what we want and strengthens our determination for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. On 1st September, join the prayer for the care of creation."

*****

In his great, overlooked essay "The Inner Ring," C. S. Lewis says that all people, at some point in their lives, desire desperately to be on "the inside." How to get inside, and who is inside and who is not, are all things implied and unwritten. The ambiguity over one's "in-ness" can cause great anxiety. Lewis warns that it can lead to great sin. But the desire is "one of the great permanent mainsprings of human action," the impulse behind so much social comparison, meanness, turmoil, and, of course, advertising.

Many times the inner ring is essentially a clique; and in this sense, the desire to be in is at root a good one: friendship. Other times, the inner ring is a person. Someone whose opinions and affections hold extraordinary power over everyone they meet. Once you sense having been deemed accepted into that person's ring, you work hard to make sure you stay inside of it--however messed up it actually is.

That's about the most perfect description of the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops and why orthodox bishops feel they must stay. They want to be part of "The Inner Ring;" they don't want to be left outside.

It takes real courage to say, "I will leave this ring because truth is more important than acceptance."

*****

Anyone who thought that, following the passage of Roe v. Wade that abortion would fade away as an issue got it dead wrong. 65,000 Pro-Life Advocates Protest at 342 Planned Parenthood Sites. "The tide has turned" against the leading abortion provider, claims pro-life leader. John Piper, author of 50 books, joined pro-life activists protesting against Planned Parenthood.

"This is a tipping point in the history of fighting Planned Parenthood," commented Jim Sedlak, vice-president of the American Life League, a pro-life organization that has targeted Planned Parenthood for decades and one of 60 groups involved in the protests.

Their goal is for federal and state governments to sever any connection with PPFA. So far, several states have terminated funding for PPFA. Pro-life groups hope Congress will act as well.

The grassroots protest was in part a response to the release of undercover videos exposing PPFA's sale of donated fetal body parts from elective abortions. Those videos claim PPFA profits from those sales.

"The fight against Planned Parenthood is not a fight exclusive to churches and pro-lifers," Sedlak said.

"The fight is joined by parents, who may even describe themselves as 'pro-choice,' but are opposed to Planned Parenthood's intrusion into their families."

There are signs that government funding of Planned Parenthood has public support. Poll results released today from Quinnipiac University reveal, among Florida voters at least, 48 percent oppose a cutoff of federal funding while 42 percent support one.

*****

Some weeks ago, VOL reported on the appointment at St. Paul's K Street in Washington DC of a certain Fr. Richard David Wall, a priest who had an active homosexual relationship with a gay pin-up porn star that included shocking pictures of him and his boyfriend in sexual positions posted on the internet.

The Washington flagship Anglo-Catholic parish, St. Paul's K Street has installed the English-born priest from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in State College, PA.

A parishioner, who knows the church well, dropped VOL a note about this priest, saying it was even worse than what I had written, and that Wall was a disaster as a priest in that parish. He wrote, saying the loss of Fr. Wall at St. Andrews was no loss but actually a huge win for St. Andrews! After joining St. Andrews, many became aware of the Fr. Wall article pertaining to his sexual orientation/proclivities, but made no issue of it. He was a very immature individual, a liar and a divider with long-range anti-family agenda. He said he was very self-focused and arrogant and a lot of people left the church under his reign. He said Wall did not support youth activities nor did he appreciate traditional American values including attention to events like Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc. -- which were important to numerous parish members. He said he was lazy and pre-occupied mainly with his own personal ‘inner circle.’ He said Wall betrayed the trust of anyone whose viewpoints differed from his own. He said he would not allow one-on-one meetings on various congregational ‘issues’ without one of his inner coterie being present. “This tactic neutralized baseline parishioners before discussions even began, he said. Along with his narcissism he is probably the worst priest I have ever encountered.”

Truth always outs, so we will see how long he lasts at St. Paul's K Street.

Perhaps about as long as Dean Hall has lasted at the Washington National Cathedral where he announced that he was stepping down as dean on Dec. 31 -- two years early -- saying the prominent Episcopal cathedral needs major financial and programmatic changes requiring a good 10-year commitment from a leader. The Episcopal Church requires clergy to step down at age 72 and Hall is 66. Mariann Budde, the disastrous bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, will serve as interim dean. Hall had only been at the cathedral for three years. So what's the back story? Probably he could see which way the wind was blowing and it was not favorably behind him. The cathedral is in financial free fall and recently fired its organist Chris Betts and the church's Cathedral voices for lack of funds even though Budde takes a high five figure salary.

The deeper question is where do they find these bishops? And how do they get elected?

*****

Donald Trump is ubiquitous these days. You can't turn on the television without seeing him. However, he dropped an interesting morsel about his religious background this week that some may not have picked up on. He said he attends Marble Collegiate in NYC and viewed Norman Vincent Peale as his great hero. He expounded, "I love the Bible. I love the Bible. I'm a Protestant, I'm a Presbyterian. I went to Sunday school. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking was my pastor. To this day one of the great speakers I've seen. You hated to leave church. You hated when the sermon was over. That's how great he was at Marble Collegiate Church."

When I lived in New York City in the 80s, I attended a service by the "Great One" and found his theology remarkably lacking. Here is a typical Peale quote, "Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy." The Donald clearly took his advice. Oddly enough, Jesus never said that nor would he have. He said things like "take up your cross daily and follow me...", "...he that loses his life for my sake and the gospel will find it..." there are lots more texts like this. Peale's West Coast version of himself was Robert Schuller whose "you can turn your scars into stars" theology eventually lost him his glass cathedral to the Roman Catholic Church.

The moral of this story is that it does matter what you hear, who you listen to, what you believe, and who you eventually worship. Just be careful it is not yourself and your own success.

*****

The Most Rev. Samir Hana Kafity, twelfth president-bishop and primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and bishop-in-residence at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Poway, died this week after a stroke. He was 81 years old.

"Bishop Kafity kept a ball of barbed wire on his desk to help him remember that he was pastor to Christians on both sides of the barbed wire," said the Rev. Mark McKone-Sweet, rector of St. Bartholomew's, Poway, California, the parish home of Bishop Kafity and his family for the past eighteen years.

"Bishop Kafity was passionate for peace," said the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, Washington National Cathedral's canon for global justice and reconciliation. "He was the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem during two major political conflicts, the first Intifada and the first Gulf War. He firmly believed that the foundation stone of peace was always justice and his call for peace always centered around a just world for all people. One of Bishop Kafity's great sayings was 'we are all citizens of Jerusalem.' Today we celebrate Bishop Kafity's life among us as he becomes a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem."

Born September 21, 1933 in Haifa, Palestine, to an Anglican family, Kafity was educated at the American University of Beirut and was ordained to the Anglican priesthood in 1958 at St. George's Anglican Cathedral, Jerusalem. After ministering as parish priest there, he served at St. Andrew's, Ramallaha; St. Peter's, Bir Zeit; and All Saints, Beirut, where he served in the capacity of parish priest and archdeacon. In 1976 he returned to St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem, to be the executive secretary of the diocesan council.

*****

Auckland, New Zealand will play host to the 2015 Common Life Missions Conference -- whose theme is: "Mission Together." It's a four-day conference, and will be held at King's College [6-9 October], and the Anglican Missions Board -- which organizes the conference on behalf of the [Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia]. It is expected to draw as many as 500 people from many different countries, cultures, and contexts. Church leaders from Africa, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, South East Asia, the Middle East, England, Australia, Canada and the USA among them.

The keynote speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Chris Wright, who is the International Ministries Director of the Langham Partnership, and who is one of the world's leading mission thinkers and equippers. Bible studies will be taken by Dr. Dickson Chilongani, Bishop of Central Tanganyika whose diocese, which includes 258 parishes and 58 worship centers, serving 600,000 Anglicans, may be the largest in the communion.

*****

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In Christ,

David

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