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Archbishop Welby refuses to say gay marriage wrong if son were to marry a gay man

Archbishop Welby Refuses to Say Gay Marriage Wrong if Son Were to Marry a Gay Man
Congo, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda have all cut ties with the Episcopal Church
ABC faces uphill battle to keep the Anglican Communion together

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
December 10, 2015

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, faces an uphill battle to keep the Anglican Communion together. This week he told The Spectator magazine that if one of his own children were gay and fell in love with another person of the same sex, and asked his blessing, that not only would he give it, he would pray for them together and that he would attend a civil service marriage.

When challenged about how this would affect many evangelicals (of which he claims to be one), Welby replied, "I would say, I will always love you, full stop. End of sentence, end of paragraph. Whatever they say, I will say I always love them."

According to the Spectator, "Listening to the archbishop, you get the sense that he is never calculating who might be offended, or attracted, by his words. He is following what he believes to be the path that Jesus has called him to take."

He might have to eat those words in January when the Primates of the Anglican Communion meet in Canterbury.

Paul writing to Timothy says in 1 Tim. 3:5, "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?" (NIV)

The Archbishop thinks he can dodge a bullet on homosexuality, hoping to steer the Global South Primates away from the communion breaking issue and focus on other pressing hot button issues like poverty, violence, race and unemployment. However, the Global South Primates have given no indication that they will let him do that.

They have all these social issues in spades, and they will not let him sweep pansexuality under the table.

Witness what is happening in the Sudan and what Anglican Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul said recently. He vigorously condemned the spirit of violence and called for an ending all types of war. "We are appalled by the beheading of a South Sudanese refugee in Libya by the Islamic State terror group. We condemn the killing and beheading of innocent people all over the world by the terrorist group and urge the government of South Sudan to protect every South Sudanese living abroad."

In the same breath, Bul condemned the actions of The Episcopal Church, which has recently approved gay marriage, liturgical Rites for same sex marriage and much more. The evangelical archbishop saw no disparity in condemning war in his own country and the mayhem it was causing for millions of displaced Sudanese while condemning pansexuality in other Anglican provinces.

He and his fellow GAFCON archbishops know their Bibles, and they know that sex is intimately associated with the ontology and cosmology of God's plan for humanity, the continuation of the species and God's absolute disapproval of same sex behavior. They will not compromise.

Welby simply doesn't get it...and he doesn't want to because he has a number of gay friends. But leaving them in the dark is not biblical. The eternal destiny of their souls is at stake. Although most churches in England, the US and Canada have caved into sodomy, this doesn't suddenly make it right.

Is fornication now acceptable? Are any of the LGBTQ sexualities suddenly right and now have God's approval because a handful of priests, bishops and archbishops at the beginning of the 21st Century say so, famously and arrogantly thinking they can change God's mind for him?

Loving someone does not mean you have to approve of their behavior. The array of ministries dedicated to the healing of homosexuality are too numerous to mention here, but we will list a few.

Homosexual Anonymous (HA) welcomes individuals who actively live the homosexual life. Abstinence is not the cure, but merely its precondition. As with AA, the roots of HA approach lie deep within the Bible, tapping its view of our common humanity, of our sinful nature and of out utter dependence on God. HA embodies a tacit understanding that compulsion is central to homosexuality. The strength of HA lies in its emphasis on building up self-discipline and mutual accountability among group members. Other movements include Desert Stream/Living Waters, Redeemed Life Ministries, and the Healing Memories movement, which employ depth-psychology and confession- memories of trauma, guilt, healing and much more.

The Archbishop of Canterbury continues to play into the hands of those who believe that sodomy is good and right in the eyes of God when it is not. The lifetime ministry of Leanne Payne, whose books include: Real Presence, The Broken Image, Healing the Homosexual, Crisis in Masculinity, Healing Presence, Restoring the Christian Soul, and Listening Prayer is one of the foremost healers of homosexuality in our time. Homosexuality, she writes, is seen for what it really is, and is then dealt with in light of Scripture - as a condition to be repented of, forgiven, and healed through Christ. Her books bring a message of hope to those who suffer from homosexual neurosis and teaches those who minister to them how to pray effectively for their healing. She uncovers the root problems of homosexuality, reveals the major barriers to inner healing, and tells how healing prayer is the key to experiencing Christ's forgiveness and recovering a true sexual identity.

SEVERING TIES

Nearly all the GAFCON provinces have declared themselves in either impaired or broken communion with The Episcopal Church.

Most recently the Episcopal Church of Sudan severed ties with US Episcopal Church over gay marriage and for changing the canons of their church regarding marriage to make it 'gender-neutral' and also approving of 'two trial liturgies.' The Episcopal Church of Sudan is finished with TEC, and that goes for the American church's money, which TEC will no longer be able to use to manipulate them. If the Martyrs of Uganda laid down their lives resisting the homosexual advances of the king, they too are prepared to die.

In 2008 the Primate of the Anglican Province of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, severed all ties with pro-homosexual provinces in the Anglican Communion, including The Episcopal Church.

At that time, Archbishop Akinola condemned pro-homosexual Europeans for bribing weak churches in Africa to keep quiet about homosexuality. His province has steadfastly refused to do that, with Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, his successor, publicly blasting outgoing ABC Rowan Williams for devastating the Anglican Communion.

All the GAFCON primates have condemned Western pansexuality and have distanced themselves from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Those other Global South Primates not affiliated with GAFCON will be under enormous pressure in January to either get on board with GAFCON or to join with Welby and the predominantly liberal West. There will be no middle way, although you can be sure that Canon David Porter, the ABC's consigliere for Reconciliation at Lambeth Palace, and the Rt. Rev. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, the new Secretary-General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), will move heaven (and quite possibly hell) to keep everyone at the table.

Fearon has an ambiguous relationship with his own native Nigeria because Nigeria is in an impaired relationship with the Anglican Church in the West. Nigeria has not supported Idowu-Fearon's acceptance to serve in the ACC because of its conviction that ACC is populated by those promoting homosexuality in the Church.

The real issue at stake is SIN MANAGEMENT, and that is the hurdle Welby must overcome. His former business reconciliation skills won't work here. Scripture trumps business. He must try and convince the Global South, not to mention Archbishop Foley Beach of the ACNA, whose very presence there is a thorn in TEC's side, that his position is defensible.

You can be sure that archbishops like Fred Hiltz of Canada will do their best to sideline Beach, play it all down, and keep the issue and Beach a low level agenda item, but it is doubtful that will work.

The GAFCON primates will demand that the acceptance of homosexuality be a first agenda item, and they won't allow Indaba games to be played to keep the Communion together.

In the end, it will be Welby who must decide whom he will serve. The wrong answer could cost him the future of the Anglican Communion as a united body.

END

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