The origin of human rights. The origin of human rights is creation. Man has never 'acquired' them. Nor has any government or other authority conferred them. We have had them from the beginning. We received them with our life from the hand of our Maker. They are inherent in our creation. They have been bestowed on us by our Creator. --- From "Issues Facing Christians Today" John R. W. Stott

Once St. Silouanos met an ascetic who had the gift of compassion and shed many tears every day when he thought of the Lord's Passion and Crucifixion. "Is it good to pray for the dead?" the saint asked him. He sighed and replied, "If I could only bring everyone out of hell. Then I would be very happy." He made a motion as if to gather wheat, and began to weep.--- from An Athonite Gerontikon

God's moral law. The same moral law which God has revealed in Scripture he has also stamped on human nature. He has in fact written his law twice, once on stone tablets and once on human hearts. In consequence, the moral law is not an alien system, which it is unnatural to expect human beings to obey. The opposite is the case. God's moral law perfectly fits us, because it is the law of our own created being. There is a fundamental correspondence between God's law in the Bible and God's law in our hearts. Hence we can discover our authentic humanness only in obeying it. --- From 'The Messenger and God: Studies in Romans 1-5', in "Believing and Obeying Jesus Christ", ed. J. W. Alexander

God and the individual. Psalm 139 is arguably the most radical statement in the Old Testament of God's personal relationship to the individual. Personal pronouns and possessives occur in the first person (I, me, my) forty-six times and in the second person (you, yours) thirty-two times. Further, the basis on which God knows us intimately (verses 1-7) and attaches himself to us so that we cannot escape from him (verses 7-12) is that he formed us in the womb and established his relationship with us then (verses 13-16). --- From 'Does Life Begin Before Birth?' from Christianity Today

The Bible dignifies both labor and age, but the modern American ideal of retirement is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures. Instead, lives of useful service to the Kingdom of Christ are the expectation, all the way to the grave. --- Albert Mohler, Southern Baptist leader and columnist

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
February 11, 2011

The Bishop of Argentina, the Rt. Rev. Gregory Venables said this week what no other archbishop has yet to articulate so explicitly. He said the judgment and wrath of God is on the Anglican Communion for its disobedience and unrepentant sin. He went on to say that a small group of Primates have twisted the communion into knots and worse. These primates do not have the same gospel as everyone else. As a result, the communion is, to all intents and purposes, in two parts. He also said that that is why orthodox archbishops from the Global South did not attend the Dublin gathering and would never again attend another primatial meeting. He also suggested that the way forward for evangelical Anglicans (and those Anglo-Catholics who have not fled to Rome) is another GAFCON. You can read the full story in today's digest. There are also strong rumors emanating from elsewhere in the Anglican Communion about the formation of an Anglican Ordinariate under the leadership of GAFCON prelates for evangelicals in the Church of England. We shall see.

However you view it, there is a Tsunami like wave complete with ecclesiastical aftershocks going on in the communion that Dr. Rowan Williams cannot control. Where it will all end, nobody knows. For the moment, the communion is broken with a full realignment is underway.

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I am writing these VIEWPOINTS from Greensboro, NC, where I am attending the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA) annual winter conference. Some 1200 Anglicans, many of them former Episcopalians, many more of them under 40, are here soaking up the Word of the Lord, learning how to evangelize, plant and grow churches, and listening to the voices of Global South leaders who are making it happen in parts of Africa and South East Asia.

It is an exciting time for North American Anglicanism. The birth of AMIA 11 years ago has given birth to similar Anglican movements like CANA and ACNA, the umbrella movement that draws them all together in various arrangements. Even as I write, all three houses -- bishops, clergy and laity - of the Church of England Synod voted overwhelmingly to recognize the newly formed Anglican Church in North America. The final vote was 309 in favor, 69 against and 17 recorded abstentions.

Archbishop Robert Duncan must feel pleased especially as he recently lost a court battle over properties in his diocese though the story is not by any means fully told. A real irony is that while the CofE now recognizes the ACNA, the Anglican Consultative Council would certainly not do so, leaving ACNA out of the Lambeth Primates. No matter, the Primates Council of GAFCON recognizes Duncan as well as his fledgling ACNA, much to the annoyance, no doubt, of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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The Bishop of the Diocese of Ft. Worth, Jack Iker got a reprieve this week when a judge announced that his previous ruling was not designed to toss all the rectors out of their pulpits. He has no intention of seeing dozens of empty church, he says.

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Ah, the language of inclusivity. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was in Sun City, Arizona, visiting a flock in West Valley when she dropped this little morsel in an interview with the Daily News-Sun: She said she is proud of her achievement of being a woman bishop, but is also looking forward to the day when it is no longer novel. She continued with: "There are nearly 20 women bishops in the Episcopal Church, many of them now retired. We are treated fairly and justly by our brother bishops, but of course, there is still some resistance elsewhere that we must deal with."

DEAL WITH. Who is left in TEC that she has to "deal with" and what sort of punishment is she planning to mete out? If she is thinking of Jack Iker or Keith Ackerman or John-David Schofield or William Wantland, they have already left TEC. She then let it drop that she plans to rein hell down on all these men who don't believe in the validity of her orders. Perhaps she has her sights set on Mark Lawrence, Bishop of South Carolina. Time will reveal all. With her newfound powers set to kick in on July 1, perhaps she will have her own Sudetenland sweep to rid herself of the last of the orthodox in her church.

In light of the fact that the Egyptian people managed to get of Hosni Mubarak with very little bloodshed, perhaps Mrs. Jefferts Schori can take a cue from the Egyptian people and hear the cry of the clergy and laity in the Diocese of Pennsylvania and finally get rid of Charles Bennison. This is the only time conservatives and liberals have come together and agreed on anything in this diocese. Perhaps it will take Episcopalians circling Diocesan House with placards screaming, "Bennison must Go. Go Bennison Go. Go, Go, Go" for something to happen. Don't hold your breath. Unlike the Egyptians, Pennsylvania Episcopalians are a weak, pathetic lot who have no stomach for a fight. Perhaps we could ask Egyptian Archbishop Mouneer Anis if he could loan us some Egyptian Anglicans. *****

In Hartford, Connecticut, lawyers for Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, led by the Rev. Ron Gauss and the Episcopal Church, clashed before the Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday over whether the parish can keep its building and land after breaking ties with the national church. The high court heard the case. Bishop Seabury Church, like dozens of parishes nationwide, split from the national Episcopal Church after the 2003 appointment of a gay bishop in New Hampshire and other liberal changes in the church's theology.

The justices didn't rule. They could take several months to issue a decision. Courts in other states have sided with the national church and its dioceses, in nearly all cases, while the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a similar case in October 2009 involving a California church.

*****

At the request of the Episcopal Church and due to the heightened security risks for Westerners residing in Egypt, the Rev. Paul-Gordon Chandler temporarily left Cairo, where he has served as priest of an international Episcopal church since 2003. Chandler says he hopes to return soon to his home in the Maadi district of Cairo, once the situation becomes less volatile. Interestingly enough, Archbishop Mouneer Anis and his chaplain, US born Drew Schmotzer did not leave.

In other Middle East news, the primates in Dublin recently sent a private letter to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, about the Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt Revd Suheil Dawani, whose residency permit has been suspended. Archbishops Rowan Williams and Mouneer Anis are trying to get Bishop Suheil's visa renewed. Bishop Suheil does not have a diplomatic visa or passport. A source said it will take some time. "Some think Bishop Riah (the former Bishop of Jerusalem) is behind these difficulties. But nothing is confirmed," a source has told VOL.

*****

In a surprise move, The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander has announced his plans to step aside next year after 11 years as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta to join the faculty of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta in the fall of 2012. Alexander informed the diocese's Standing Committee of his intentions, stating that his resignation will become effective upon the ordination of his successor. The real question is why? He will have to give up his chancellorship at Sewanee: The University of the South. Also his name was being touted to replace Katharine Jefferts Schori as PB when she steps down in four years.

Perhaps there is something in what he wrote recently to the diocese that gives us a hint of his mindset: "In the last year alone, Bishop Whitmore, Canon Callaway and I, and those who work with us, have spent more time helping parishes, vestries, wardens, and clergy through conflict than in any other time of my episcopate. And while there are number of important variables, what is common to every single case is that the problem was either invented or made significantly worse by the lack of appropriate boundaries and civility in communication, especially on e-mail and social media by those engaged in leadership. Memos that should stay within the vestry get freely forwarded to everyone we think might be "one our side," including messages that are "accidentally forwarded" to folks who are then devastated by the contents. Such memos are often filled with rumors and unverified information, impressions rather than reality, opinions rather than fact; at times it appears as pure meanness."

Add to this lower pledge and plate offerings and you have a recipe for extraction...beam me up, Scotty. His cathedral which once drew 3800 now draws less than a 1000. The pansexual agenda of TEC is not playing well in the South Would the cathedral even be able to carry on without the Coca-Cola family's support?

Interestingly, the Candler School of Theology, which describes itself as "grounded in the Christian faith and shaped by the Wesleyan tradition of evangelical piety, ecumenical openness, and social concern", hardly fits Alexander's profile. Once orthodox seminaries are losing their way and Candler is no exception. A VOL reader said Candler is notorious. Alexander will be right at home. Lots of Episcopalians in Decatur are Emory types. Candler is rich, rich, rich from Coca-Cola money. Alexander will know to get a big raise, plus Emory's rich retirement plans.

Commented a keen observer in Atlanta, "He sees the weekly plate collections in Atlanta, and must know that financial trouble is ahead, better to hand the mess off to someone with missional zeal for healing the world's pain and suffering through TEC multicultural gospel, and interfaith with the peace-loving and tolerant Arab Muslims," etc. Trying to fight racism in the Diocese of Atlanta, his primary mission and reason for perpetual anti racism training sessions, must have worn him out. Are there any Episcopal racists left in Atlanta? Were there any there to begin with?

*****

On a singularly upbeat note, I got this from the Rev. Clark W.P. Lowenfield, Senior Pastor of HighPointe church in The Woodlands, TX:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus;

Thank you. Even after days I am still not sleeping as there is so much to process in what God is breaking open here at HopePointe and in this region. Thank you for your prayers for the celebration we hosted last Sunday night where representatives of the 20 area churches who had taken part in the 21 day Fast and Prayer for an "Awakening". I literally am in complete awe of the works going on around us. Many of you wrote that you were praying for His Fire to descend. Well, it did.

At that celebration the over 800+ participants experienced a pouring out of His Spirit that many had never known before. During the 21 days and in the midst of the celebration there were manifestations of the Holy Spirit in numerous conversions, in healings, deliverances, restorations of marriages, gifts of tongues, healing of memories, empowerment to dormant ministry gifts, conviction and repentance on the part of many clergy and senior leaders of congregations.

Now you may say that this isn't all that unique. Well, what you need to know is that certifiable healings went on at a Bible Church. That gifts of tongues and healings occurred amongst members of a Church of Christ. Deacons from a Baptist church were slain in the Spirit that night. There were several individuals converted at the moment when they saw their Senior Pastors repenting and on their faces before the Lord. We are doing our best to record all the testimonies, but to be honest it has been hard to keep up.

Again, thank you for partnering with us as we have stepped into this river. It is fast and it is rushing. If you would like to know more, please don't hesitate to call or write. And if the prayer teams and intercessors of 'One Mission The Woodlands' can ever support you, please permit us to.

In His love and to His Glory,

Clark+

*****

A Diocesan Committee seeking nominations for a Bishop Coadjutor to replace Mark Sisk, Bishop of the Diocese of New York, has been set up. Its Co-Chair is Michael McPherson, a sodomite. Because the diocese is in such dire financial shape, I don't know who'd want to be bishop, a VOL reader has written. The diocese is experiencing diminishing plate and pledge offering in all its parishes. Sisk has been generous in handling difficult cases of priests leaving for other jurisdictions, but that might not be the case with his successor. Reigns of terror don't work well when everything is sinking. It's a bit like beating a half dead horse stuck in the mud, hoping that if you beat it hard enough and long enough it will rise up and call you blessed.

*****

A new partnership fund has been launched to support essential repairs to England's great cathedrals. So far, £600,000 ($960,000) has been pledged to the Joint Cathedral Fabric Repair Fund by the Wolfson Foundation and the Pilgrim Trust, both of which have supported historic church buildings in the past.

The independent grant-makers have formed the fund together with the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England (CFCE) to provide essential and strategic funding to help maintain England's ancient cathedrals.

Janet Gough, Director, Cathedrals and Church Buildings Division, Archbishops' Council, said: "With English Heritage having to apply its limited grants elsewhere, we are thrilled that the Joint Cathedral Fabric Repair Fund has been launched.

*****

There's nothing cute about Alberto Cutie, according to reporter William Donohue. Cutie is known for breaking his priestly vows, quitting the Catholic Church, running off with his lover, and becoming an Episcopal priest. Since his public journey began in 2009, he has been parading himself on TV, most recently discussing a book about his exploits. Always the victim, he has now reached a new low: he is comparing his Catholic critics to Muslim terrorists.

Though Cutie's article at the "Huffington Post" is allegedly about priestly celibacy-a subject he cannot walk away from-it soon becomes apparent what his real agenda is. He quickly launches into an invidious analogy. "All this has led me to confirm that religious extremists are not only a small group of people associated to [sic] Islam. Instead, intolerant views and verbal threats by some Roman Catholic extremists that I have received rival any monopoly by Muslim radicals."

We are used to him playing fast and loose with the facts-he continues to float the myth that 100,000 Catholic priests left to marry (the real figure is considerably lower).This time he has really crossed the line. Quite frankly, anyone who can't distinguish between catcalls and calls for jihad is in trouble.

Those of us who are in the public eye are routinely maligned, oftentimes cruelly, but to compare hotheaded critics to machete-wielding terrorists is more than a stretch-it is despicable. We are used to Cutie's lamentations, but this time he went beyond his usual sour-grapes oratory.

*****

Official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, which began forty years ago, has concluded its first two phases, according to a communique released by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The dialogue, undertaken by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Department for Unity, Faith and Order of the Anglican Communion. A new third phase of the Anglican- Roman Catholic International Commission will begin in May. The new phase of ARCIC's work was mandated by Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at their meeting in Rome in November 2009.

"The task of this third phase of ARCIC will be to consider fundamental questions regarding the 'Church as Communion - Local and Universal', and 'How in communion the Local and Universal Church comes to discern right ethical teaching'. These interrelated topics emerged from the Common Declaration of the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury", the communique stated. They signed the joint declaration in 2006.

The text concludes by explaining that "the international membership of this new phase of ARCIC represents a wide range of cultural settings, and brings to the commission a variety of theological disciplines".

William Oddie writing for the Catholic Herald asks what's the point of ARCIC? "It is an endless time-consuming discussion between representatives of the Catholic Church on one side, and a varying group of individuals who represent only themselves on the other. And so it will be at the next ARCIC meeting. Some of the Anglicans will be quite close to the views of their (hum, hum) 'spiritual leader', Rowan Williams; others will be very far from them. A document so general that they can all subscribe to it will somehow be cobbled together. Nobody will read it: and the whole operation will at great expense achieve nothing."

Can anybody explain to me why we carry on with ARCIC? Is there any real intention, as 30 years ago there undoubtedly was, of actually achieving something? Is it a continuing self-delusion on the part of those participating? Or is ARCIC III just a PR exercise, designed to avert attention from the fact that we have now, inevitably but finally, come to the bitter end of the ecumenical road? Whatever it is, we will all, finally, have to face reality: and, surely, the sooner the better.

*****

There are unconfirmed reports that TEC's First Province bishops, at the instigation of Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, are planning to bring charges against Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Diocese of South Carolina on July 1 when her powers are suddenly enhanced. Frustrated that the Dennis Canon has been thrown out in the State of South Carolina, the Presiding Bishop is plotting a new strategy to bring Lawrence down. Stay tuned.

Not content to see Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, attempt to make life difficult for Bishop Bill Love in the Diocese of Albany recently, the Presiding Bishop is planning on making a visit to the diocese. Apparently the poobahs who have organized this invasion into an orthodox diocese want to cover this event with prayer for her March visit. Whether the prayers for her visit are heard and acted upon is open to question, but her visit will be painful for the orthodox bishop who will have to make sure that anything she does gets undone once she has gone.

*****

How well does the Church of England Invests Its Billions? Very well, apparently. With its eternal demands for capital and cash flow, the church has been forced to become one of the U.K.'s most forward-thinking institutions, according to Cliff D'Arcy of Motley Fool. Despite falling church attendance, a million people visit church each Sunday, and millions more attend churches for weddings and funerals. Also, schooling plays a vital role for the church, with 1 million pupils in CofE schools (which make up 1 in 4 primary and 1 in 16 secondary schools).

Of course, operating on a national scale with such a long-established pedigree doesn't come cheap. In fact, the church supports nearly 20,000 ordained ministers and 1,600 armed forces and prison chaplains, plus countless retired clergy. What's more, the CofE's 16,000 churches and chapels and 43 cathedrals must be maintained, with essential repairs estimated at 925 million pounds in the five years from 2006. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

The European Commission admitted that it made a "mistake" by omitting Christmas and Easter from an official agenda that included numerous non-Christian religious holidays, and said "immediate remedial action" will be taken.

The EU produced over three million copies of the diaries for secondary school students in various European countries. They were immediately attacked for including references to Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Chinese festivities, but failing to mention Christmas or Easter.

A statement on the Consumer Affairs website announced, "Immediate remedial action is being taken to rectify the omission of certain Christian religious holidays from the Europa Diary 2010/2011."

The "error" was "regrettable" and "will be addressed by a Corrigendum sent to all teachers who ordered this edition of the Diary in all EU Member States concerned."

*****

This week I am in Greensboro, NC, covering the Anglican Mission in the America's annual winter conference. It is a personal joy to be among believing Anglicans. Some of the speakers have included Archbishop Moses Tay (SE Asia) who conducted the daily Bible studies. Kay Warren, wife of Rick Warren gave an upbeat lecture on being beloved of God and passing that along to unbelievers as a way to do evangelism. Bishop Chuck Murphy gave an upbeat picture on his church's growth announcing that some 115 parishes are in formation with a total of 268 churches in the US and Canada, more Christians than there are in Turkey.

I spoke with a group of Anglicans that are starting the first AMIA parish in Hawaii in an area called Kailua where five, yes five, Episcopal parishes no longer have full time rectors. All the rectors have gone and not been replaced as their congregations have all dwindled to a single digit. They are lower than mission status. Needless to say, the TEC bishop is not too happy that a group of former Episcopalians, now numbering 40 some, have formed a vibrant evangelical Anglican congregation. They have just called their first deacon who was ordained here. He is headed to Hawaii with his family to bring the gospel and authentic Anglicanism back to that island.

I will be writing more stories about this gathering this coming week. Among today's stories you can read an exclusive interview I did with Bishop Keith Ackerman on the Pope's offer of a personal ordinariate to Anglo-Catholics who no longer believe in good conscience they can stay in the Church of England. VOL spoke with him at length and asked him why some Anglo-Catholics insist on remaining Anglican and not accepting Rome's offer.

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All blessings,

David W. Virtue, DD