Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
May 30, 2014

Some religious leaders say America is facing a spiritually dark time.

"At the root of America's problem, we really have a spiritual cancer that's been eating away at our nation," Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, told CBN News.

Retired Gen. Jerry Boykin used to fight America's physical enemies overseas. He's now working with the Family Research Council fighting spiritual foes.

Boykin said without a Third Great Awakening, forces like those that took down mighty empires of the past will also bring down the United States.

"We're going to wind up exactly like these other great empires, which only lasted on an average about 200 years," he said. "We're going to completely self-destruct. And you see the beginnings of that now."

If one takes a look at the Episcopal Church, one can only conclude that she is part of the spiritual darkness – endorsing pansexuality, blessing gay marriage, approving openly practicing homogenital bishops, deposing faithful priests and bishops, filing massive lawsuits for properties against those who would uphold the faith, deconstructing Scripture to make it fit with the times. and much more.

A deep darkness is descending over the country. Inequality, both spiritual and material, is everywhere. The word “sin” is barely heard in the cyber noise of the nation. Nones and Millennials are abandoning the ship of Church by the millions. Tragically, many churches, including most Episcopal churches, are complicit in extending the darkness, failing to penetrate it with the light of the gospel.

Recently, my wife and I attended the 11am service at historic Christ Church in Philadelphia where we were shocked by the service. Apart from an appalling sermon given by a layman about the church’s social programs in Philadelphia and his constant reference to a “higher power” helped along by a vague reference to the Holy Spirit, the service dismally failed to follow even the ’79 Prayer Book service. There was no corporate (or individual) confession of sin and therefore no general absolution. A “choir” of folk sang a tune (not a hymn) about being happy which presumably made everyone listening happy as well. The sermon, as mentioned, could have been delivered by a recovering alcoholic from the Kiwanis Club.

Further symptomatic signs of America’s moral decline might also be seen in the recent random shooting by a deranged young white male in Santa Barbara, California.

While his “manifesto” was little more than the rant of a spoilt young man who couldn’t find a girlfriend other far more disturbing self-disclosing features revealed that he had been traumatized by his first encounter with pornography at the age of 11. A couple of years later, he was shaken when he saw another teenager watching pornography in an internet café. "The sight was shocking, traumatizing, and arousing. All of these feelings mixed together took a great toll on me. I walked home and cried by myself for a bit. I felt too guilty about what I saw to talk to my parents about it."

No wonder he couldn’t talk to his parents about it. They had been divorced when he was seven – a moment which he fingered as the beginning of his inner torment. But his father – who worked in Hollywood films – quickly found another girlfriend. This seems to have warped Rodgers’ view of women, sexuality and relationships. "Males who can easily find female mates garner more respect from their fellow men, even children," he wrote. "How ironic is it that my father, one of those men who could easily find a girlfriend, has a son who would struggle all his life to find a girlfriend."

Behind the deluded self-pity, it seems clear that Elliot Rodger was a lonely youngster starved for a father and shaken to the core by his parents’ divorce. A curious boy who had no one to talk to about the facts of life. A sick teenager who had no one to guide him through adolescent temptations.

It’s a familiar story. Most of the men on the never-ending list of rampage killers in the Unites States came from homes where the parents were divorced or separated. Predictably, their own relationships were fraught as well. John Zawahiri, 23, killed five people in Santa Monica in 2013 near and on the campus of a state college. His parents had been separated for years.

In December 2012, Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother, six staff at a Connecticut primary school, and 20 school children before shooting himself. His parents were divorced.

Also in December 2012, 22-year-old Jacob Roberts ran amok in a Portland, Oregon, shopping mall. He killed two people with an automatic rifle before committing suicide. He had never known his mother and was raised by a divorced aunt and her husband who shared custody of him.

Wade Page was a white supremacist who shot six Sikhs dead in Milwaukee before being killed by a police officer earlier in August 2012. His parents were divorced.

In October 2011 a California man, 41-year-old Scott Evans Dekraai walked into his ex-wife’s hair salon and shot her and seven other people dead. His parents were divorced.

Add to this the easy access to guns (Rick Warren’s son was able to buy a 9-millimeter Glock online and shot himself) and you have a recipe for murder and mayhem unparalleled in any other country on earth…all in the name of a false freedom that believes in some unnamed enemy “out there” only to discover the enemy is really us…and he stalks amongst us with loaded guns to maim and kill.

And what are the churches saying about all this? Virtually nothing. There are two things awe can’t talk about in America: We can’t touch guns even though the Second Amendment talks about guns only with regard to a Militia and you dare not touch gay sex. If you do the whole world erupts in anger and rage.

I wrote an article precisely on this issue: What Practicing Pansexualists Hate the Most. If there is one thing practicing pansexualists hate the most - it is empirical facts. Facts that speak directly to disease and death. All the talk of “homophobia”, “hate” and “oppression” cannot disguise or conceal the facts and consequences of homosexual behavior.

A case in point is the recent hounding of a Caribbean professor from his job, not only for his support of Belize’s anti-sodomy law, but having the gaul to tell the truth about the costs of HIV/AIDS.

When he did, the gay thought police and homosexual fascists i.e. thirty-three "gay" advocacy and civil rights groups, moved in quickly and got the good professor Brendan Bain, who also happens to be a Christian, sacked as head of CHART, the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training (CHART) Initiative, claiming his expert testimony in Belize represents a conflict of interest. You can read the full story here:
http://tinyurl.com/mvubunv

*****

The Church of England’s governing body - General Synod - voted in February to send draft legislation allowing female bishops in its 44 dioceses. This past Friday the church voted all in favor with Manchester, the last to do so, deciding Thursday.

The Church of England has grappled for years with whether to admit women to the episcopacy. The legislation will now go back to the Synod in July for a final vote. But will this mean an uptick in attendance, or new church plants? Based on 20 years of women priests in the CofE the answer is no.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welbyand his wife, Caroline, landed in Pakistan this week for the start of a week-long visit to Anglican leaders in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

The visits, which are primarily pastoral and personal, are part of Archbishop Justin’s plan to visit every Primate of the Anglican Communion by the end of 2014. In Pakistan, the Archbishop and Mrs. Welby are being hosted by the Most Rev. Samuel Azariah, Bishop of Raiwind and Moderator of the Church of Pakistan.

Archbishop Welby, who is Patron of the Christian Muslim Forum, spoke out in support of a statement from the Christian Muslim Forum about the death sentence passed in Sudan on Mariam Yahya, a Christian woman who is pregnant with her second child.

The Archbishop said: "The Christian Muslim Forum brings together both leaders and scholars from the range of Muslim and Christian communities in this country. This statement therefore has weight and deserves to be widely shared. I wholeheartedly endorse this call from the Christian Muslim Forum for the death sentence against Mariam Yahya to be dropped."

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If one has any doubts about the growth of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), consider this. In June, Archbishop Robert Duncan, who is stepping down as Archbishop of the ACNA, will ordain to the Diaconate in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh: Eric Michael Rodes, Grace, Slippery Rock, Transitional Charles Treichler, Grace, Slippery Rock, Transitional Joseph Gerald Gasbarre, St. Andrew's College Hill, Beaver Falls, Transitional Gregory Scott McBrayer, Prince of Peace, Hopewell, Vocational.

Recently, CANA East Bishop Julian Dobbs spoke at the Annual Synod of The Missionary Diocese of CANA East in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where delegates from the across the diocese gathered together for worship,

In his annual address to Synod, Bishop Dobbs commented, “At our inaugural Synod twelve months ago, we began our common life together with 23 congregations. During the past twelve months we received four existing congregations, planted two new congregations, installed three new rectors and ordained eight candidates into holy orders. Since our last Synod, Bishop Seabury Anglican Church in Gales Ferry, Connecticut and Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Plainville, Connecticut have both moved from temporary worship locations to wonderful new locations. These are important milestones in these congregations and in the life of this diocese.”

Indeed it is. Deacon by deacon, priest-by-priest, parish-by-parish and diocese-by-diocese, the new face of Anglicanism is being revealed across the nation, including Canada. It will not be stopped. God is doing a new thing and it is good to behold.

Now consider the latest TEC figures --- none of which augur well for its future.

2002—7,305 parishes/missions
2002—2,320,221 membership
2002—846,640 average Sunday attendance [the gold standard for church statistics]

2012—6,667 parishes/missions
2012—1,894,181 membership
2012—640,142 average Sunday attendance

Decline is inevitable. A slow death is taking place. Not even the handful of orthodox dioceses are seeing growth. Sin we know is both social and collective and not just personal in nature. As an individual, I am not culpable, but as a collective we are all at fault. The same goes for war, poverty, exploitation, disease, and energy consumption: while no single individual is the cause of the world’s disasters, each of us has contributed to the whole and has taken part in the collective identity, either in direct support or general apathy, in order to produce worldwide sins. Divine judgment upon evil is frequent in the Bible (cf. Rom.1:18-32). God's fearsome treatment of apostasy is also well-documented in scripture (e.g., the destruction of the Exodus generation, the apostate northern kingdom, and His disciplining of the Church eras of Sardis and Laodicea). The righteous and the unrighteous go down together, it cannot always be avoided.

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Dallas Bishop James Stanton is retiring after 21 years at the Diocese of Dallas. Despite facing doctrinal disagreement and changing demographics, his robust legacy leaves behind a healthy, vibrant diocese for the next generation of leaders, an ENS press release said.

“It’s important to have new vision and energy for the future. It’s a great diocese with the potential to become greater,” Bishop Stanton said. “It’s time for new eyes and new ideas.”

Consecrated in 1993, Bishop Stanton arrived at an unstable time for the Episcopal Church. Factions disagreed over the ordination of women, the ordination of openly gay clergy and same sex marriages. During his first month in office, during the Diocesan Convention, Bishop Stanton aimed to return harmony to the ranks by asking everyone to arrive in work clothes. Together they constructed two Habitat For Humanity houses, while at the same time hammering out the framework for relationships and trust.

He could not, however, avoid the devastation caused by the progressive liberalization in faith and morals of the national church. In 2006, Christ Church Plano paid $1.2 million for its title to the parish and property. The Rev. David Roseberry said there were "irreconcilable differences between Christ Church and the Episcopal Church, differences that would necessitate their separation from the Episcopal Church and, consequently, from the Diocese of Dallas."

St. Matthias also fled the diocese and paid close to $500,000. Then the Standing Committee put the brakes on the whole process. Stanton asked churches to reconsider. Stanton made personal appeals to this congregation. Christ Church kept the vote on the vestry. The congregation was never asked to vote on the departure. They were 100% United, a vote would have split the church no matter what.

Stanton wrote at that time, "In many ways, clearly, this is a sad occasion for our Diocese."

There were others that got out, but they all had a more difficult time of it. St. Matthias in Dallas. St. Nicholas in Flower Mound split, Holy Trinity in Garland also split.

Christ Church and St. Matthias were the only ones that came out as a whole. Also, Faith Church in Allen came out as a whole but lost their building.

On the plus side, the diocese created a Church Planting Commission and provided seed money to establish successful programs. This resulted in several new churches, including four in the northern suburbs of the diocese, ethnically diverse urban churches in Dallas, and yet another in the more rural outpost of Wiley.

One of these churches, St. Philip’s in Frisco, has grown to 700 in attendance at weekend services. “We have planted more churches than any other diocese,” said Father Clay Lein, rector at St. Philip’s. “We’ve been able to grow our ministry because of his leadership as our bishop. We would not exist if it wasn’t for his vision.”

Bishop Stanton’s church growth efforts were an astute reaction to demographic changes, Bishop Suffragan Paul Lambert said. “Church planting is the lifeblood of any diocese. For many years we were behind the curve on that and now we are up to speed.”

For most of his tenure, Stanton stayed below the radar screen of the media and rarely if ever raised his voice at General Convention. Though personally orthodox, he allowed gay priests to openly function in his diocese.

A source told VOL that he was a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” bishop. He did not allow same sex blessings, but there were numerous gay clergy who were discreet but active.

The real question now is who will replace him and if such a person opposes the blessing of same sex marriages and openly opposed gay bishops, would that person obtain consents?

We have a little bit of history here. The new Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh Dorsey W. M. McConnell declared himself an evangelical when he came in with a strong conversion experience, but he quickly rolled over on same sex blessings, allowing them to be voluntarily exercised in his diocese.

When Dan Martins was nominated for Bishop of Springfield, a furor arose instigated by the Bishop of San Diego who weighed in saying that Martins was unfit for the job as he was an Anglo-Catholic and sympathetic to the ACNA. He got consents anyway.

Greg Brewer, a charismatic evangelical got the nod in Central Florida following the departure of Bishop John Howe and no one seemed to mind that he did not endorse TEC’s gay agenda.

So we will see what happens in Dallas. This is a plumb, wealthy diocese and TEC will move heaven and hell, mostly hell, to see that a liberal/revisionist gets to replace Bishop Stanton.

Time will tell.

*****

Retired New York Vicar Bishop Don Taylor died this week at age 77. Bishop Taylor held the distinction of being the first West Indian to become a Bishop in The Episcopal Church. Born and raised in Jamaica, he was ordained a priest in 1961 and began a ministry at St. Mary the Virgin, then a small mission in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1970, he left a flourishing congregation to take up his next appointment as Headmaster of Kingston College. He came to the United State in 1973 and served communities in Buffalo and Atlanta for some 14 years, until election in 1987 as Bishop of the Virgin Islands. As Bishop, his strong pastoral ministry contributed to significant church growth. A former radio announcer, he established a Diocesan Radio Studio and proclaimed the gospel in weekly broadcasts.

In 1994, Bishop Taylor returned to the United States mainland to assume duties as Assistant Bishop in this diocese, in the newly created position of Vicar Bishop for New York City, an area covering Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx. Bishop Taylor was especially beloved for his pastoral ministry and his commitment to promoting community development. Always, he cared most about the people he served.

Upon his retirement, he answered the call to serve, once again, in his homeland. In 2009, he was appointed Rector of the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, more widely known as the Kingston Parish Church, in the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. He also served as a visible link to the Anglican Church in Jamaica and throughout the West Indies for the great number of Caribbean-American Episcopalians in the Diocese of New York.

*****

And so it begins in New Zealand. The Anglican Church of New Zealand is “exploring ways” to offer blessings to same-sex couples. Rev. Charles Hughes has noticed that, without going through abnormal hermeneutical contortions to make the Bible say what you might like it to say, it roundly condemns homosexual activity, making it an unlikely candidate for a liturgical blessing. So he is leaving along with his congregation.

The rector’s bishop, Ross Bay, has acted with the all the charity that one has come to expect from bishops: he has revoked Hughes’ license to minister as an Anglican priest.

Next will come the split, the battle over buildings, the freezing of bank accounts and more revoked licenses – all for what? Pacifying a noisy contingent of Anglican homosexuals determined to have their own way come what may.

An Anglican pastor has quit the church and is taking his congregation with him after the governing body moved ahead with plans to bless same-sex relationships.

Charlie Hughes, the former vicar of St Michael's in Henderson, says he cannot reconcile the decision of the church to recognize same sex relationships with his ordination vows.

He said the vows were a pledge to uphold the constitution of the Anglican Church. The constitution states it is "not lawful to ordain anything contrary to God's word written".

"It's not because we have a problem with people who are in a same sex relationship but because of the commitment we have to shaping our lives around the teachings of the Bible," Mr. Hughes said.

The Bishop of Auckland the Very Reverend Ross Bay told St Michael's parishioners that he understood there would be "confusion and even anger" over the situation.

He said Mr. Hughes had spoken of making a decision of conscience.

"I respect his decision and so have accepted the inevitable consequence that his license as vicar must lapse as a result."

*****

Bishop Daniel Martins was elected a Nashotah trustee and re-elected Chairman this week. “Nashotah House trustees were extraordinarily productive, with a wide range of views advocated for robustly, yet with an effective consensus emerging in each area that allows us to move forward. We're "living into" a long-overdue reconstruction of the governance and governance culture of the House. I was elected to another (regular, not an alumni slot this time) term as trustee and re-elected chair. What a privilege to serve and help lead in institution I love with a bunch of talented and dedicated people. “

*****

The Diocese of West Texas has released a profile and welcomes nominees as it searches for a bishop coadjutor. The diocese’s standing committee is receiving the nominations, which must be made by clergy or elected delegates/alternates to the diocesan council. Nominations deadline is July 31.

The election is scheduled for October 25 at TMI–The Episcopal School of Texas in San Antonio. The first ballot will serve as a formal nominating ballot, whereby potential nominees may become official nominees for the office.

The bishop coadjutor will serve with the Rt. Rev. Gary R. Lillibridge, Bishop of West Texas, beginning in January. Bishop Lillibridge intends to retire in 2017, which marks the 35th anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate.

*****

Bishop Leo Frade is on his way to retirement. The Diocese of Southeast Florida has posted its profile and is accepting nominations for Bishop Coadjutor. The profile is at www.diosef.org Deadline for nominations is June 13; deadline for candidate nomination packages is June 20. Both nominations and self-nominations are welcome. The coadjutor will succeed Bishop Frade and become the IVth bishop diocesan.

*****

National Cathedral bells is a source of strife for some D.C. residents. Their sounds have echoed from the towers of the National Cathedral for 50 years. But on this Memorial Day afternoon, some feel like it’s gone on that long, just today.

"They can be pretty loud...actually, it's one of the complaints I have about living here," says Dan Mullaney. Just steps away from the cathedral, Mullaney is among those praying for silence on the anniversary for those famous bells:

"It can be distracting --on holidays, it can be."

Especially when, as part of this holiday, the bells chimed for hours on end every day this weekend. It’s a badge of honor for the ringers, but it has taken its toll on those who live in this building and have put out fliers asking people to call their councilwoman and complain.

But others say to let them ring. Kate Ausbrook made a special trip to hear the full hour peal of the bells:

"I think it's wonderful there are ten people up there pulling those bell strings, and we want to support them. My guess is the cathedral was there before they chose the apartment or house," she says. "It's a beautiful cathedral. I just feel like its being part of one big city, and let's just share the love."

In other Washington National Cathedral's news, there was the “Blessing of the Bikes”. Thousands of motorcyclists descended on Washington, D.C. on Memorial Day weekend for the Rolling Thunder XVII "Ride for Freedom" event to remember veterans listed as prisoners of war (POWs) or missing in action (MIA).

Washington National Cathedral invited Rolling Thunder members to come on Friday for a "Blessing of the Bikes," as part of its developing Veterans Initiative. A spokesperson for the Cathedral elaborated on the Veterans Initiative in an e-mail to The Huffington Post. "Last year, the Cathedral's governing board named outreach to veterans as a top priority for Cathedral programming," explained Meredith MacKenzie. "Since then, our staff has been planning a five-year programmatic initiative that seeks to recognize and pay tribute to veterans, offer a sacred space for spiritual healing, and to educate the civilian public about the experience of veterans and the challenges they and their families face when returning home from service."

*****

An OOPS moment when the Pope encountered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his recent trip to the Holy Land. The Pontiff set Netanyahu straight on Jesus' spoken language. One minute into Benjamin Netanyahu’s sit down with Pope Francis, the Israeli prime minster found himself eating his words—words about Jesus, no less.

“Jesus was here, in this land. He spoke Hebrew,” Netanyahu said, discussing the strong connection between Judaism and Christianity.

Pope Francis looked up and slightly pointed his finger. “Aramaic,” he corrected.

Netanyahu quickly recovered: “He spoke Aramaic, but he knew Hebrew.”

The correction was gentle, even playful—typical Pope Francis style. Everyone smiled and laughed.

*****

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