"So now we know Twitter doesn't believe in free speech. Here is the real question: Do you believe in Twitter?" --- The Christian Post editorial board

"The Christian life is not about a moment of faith at the point of conversion. It is about a lifetime of faith that endures until the end." --- Pastor Dayton Hartman, Redeemer Church, Rocky Mount, NC

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
April 1, 2022

THE WAR IN UKRAINE continues to capture world headlines as well it should, and there are Anglican takes on the unfolding situation there.

A message from the chaplain of St Andrew's Moscow and the Archbishop of Canterbury's Representative to the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, one Malcolm Rogers said this; "Conflict was predicted and we were helpless, unable to do anything to prevent it. Now that 'special military operations', as they are called here, have begun, there is nothing that we can do to stop them.

"But it is precisely our powerlessness which means that there are things that we can do. We are gospel people, who serve a crucified but risen Lord. We are the 'nobodies' of 1 Corinthians 1, and it is our very powerlessness and insignificance and foolishness that can also be our strength, if it is handed to God."

"There are the young Russians crushed by what has been done in his name; the mother sick with anxiety for her son who has been sent to Ukraine, the foreign student unsure whether to leave or how to leave, the person who has been named on the wrong sort of list, the older person who fears a return to the isolation and economic depression of the 80s."

You can read his full take here: https://virtueonline.org/message-chaplain-st-andrews-moscow-0

The Church of England is calling for prayers for the war to end as are most Christian denominational leaders and the leadership of the Anglican Church in North America.

The World Council of Churches must act with courage and expel Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, said an RNS story. Supporters of the effort to oust Kirill from the WCC believe he has disqualified the ecclesial entity he embodies by effectively endorsing Putin's military campaign.

In an exclusive interview with America, David Nazar, S.J., a Canadian Jesuit born in Toronto to a family of Ukrainian origin, spoke about the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and said this; "Despite the death, destruction and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church have not denounced this war of aggression, nor have they called for a ceasefire. On the contrary, the patriarch has supported this "military operation"; he never calls it a "war" or "invasion." Father Nazar explained it thus: "I have a lot of compassion for the Russian Orthodox Church because, like everything else in Russia, it is under the thumb of the government. To explain this simply, I sometimes say that if Putin says something on Tuesday, the Russian Patriarch has to say the same thing on Wednesday but just putting the word 'God' into the sentence."
https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/03/30/ukraine-putin-kirill-242725

There is one interesting take on the war, and it comes from Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. Williams, who has an abiding love for Russian Orthodoxy, urged senior Orthodox leaders outside Russia to stand alongside global religious leaders -- the Pope, archbishops and patriarchs -- and called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and the re-opening of diplomatic engagement.

If he were to meet the Russian Orthodox leader, Patriarch Kirill, Lord Williams would say: "It is your people who are being killed. It's not foreigners, it's not strangers, it is your people. How do you make sense of that? What are we going to do about it? I would want him to make a statement pressing for a ceasefire --immediately."

There is a ton of dark irony about this call from Williams. The former ABC is an Affirming Catholic who has imbibed both homosexuality and the ordination of women, both issues eschewed by the ROC. One aspect of this war that has been mentioned before, is Putin and the Patriarch's belief that they are upholding orthodox Christianity in the face of western decadence, which includes homosexuality imported into the Ukraine with homosexual parades and the like. What moral force does Williams have if he believes the very things that the Patriarch opposes! If it wasn't for Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola, Williams, aided by PB Frank Griswold, would have imposed sodomy on the whole Anglican communion, forever wrecking its public witness to the gospel. Sadly, wobbly Welby is not exactly proving a rock of salvation on morals, so the communion remains de jure split.

***

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby played host to the senior archbishops, presiding bishops or moderators from across the Anglican Communion this week, at a Primates' Meeting held at Lambeth Palace, London.

According to an ENS news release, leaders of the independent-yet-interdependent autonomous national and regional churches of the Anglican Communion were first invited to gather for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation" by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan in 1978. Since then, successive archbishops of Canterbury have invited their fellow primates to gather at varying intervals at venues around the world.

Of course, it is a golden opportunity for Welby to dampen down any talk about Lambeth Resolution 1:10, that snarky little resolution passed in 1998 affirming marriage between a man and a woman with no exceptions (526 to 79). I don't think Nigerian Archbishop Henry Ndukuba was present at this gabfest or we would have heard about it along with a strong denunciation by him over the direction Welby is taking the Church of England on homosexuality. Welby is a master of persuasion with his background in the oil industry and unless you have a theological howitzer, GAFCON is here to stay. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/global-meeting-anglican-primates-takes-place-london

The Primates did not touch on the thorny Lambeth Resolution 1:10, but they did produce a communique which you can read here: https://virtueonline.org/lambeth-palace-primates-issue-communique There were some notable absentee primates from three of the largest provinces in the Anglican Communion; Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda. Nigeria is the largest province in the communion.

The communique said; "Our reflections, deliberations and fellowship are diminished by their absence. We miss them and their prayerful wisdom, and we long for the time when we will all meet together."

Welby said the missing primates had not given him specific reasons for their absence, but added, "They don't want to be in the room with those who have changed their teaching on marriage and the nature of human identity." All three are members of GAFCON and will not be at the next Lambeth conference.

**

Well, what does it mean to be an Episcopalian? Very little, apparently.

Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, who, on learning of her background said this: "I was raised Catholic, became Episcopalian & found out later my family was Jewish. I stand ready to register as Muslim in #solidarity."

Of course, Ms. Albright is not the only Episcopalian for whom it could be said, 'you can believe anything you like as an Episcopalian if it comes with a fifth and one vaguely affirms the creed.'

Colin Powell, Secretary of State under George W. Bush said, the higher the church, the closer to God; that was how I saw it. I was following in my father's footsteps, counting the collection and depositing it in the bank; Alma was following in her and my mother's footsteps, working on rummage sales and the altar guild.

The perfect Episcopalian. All form, little theological substance. Cranmer would not have recognized either person as remotely Anglican. One does not put one's hand into the fire as you die proclaiming, "I counted the collection and deposited it in the Bank of England." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/what-does-it-mean-be-episcopalian-not-much-really

A second issue that pushed The Episcopal Church right off the cliff of theological sanity was the bishops' pledge to support transgender and non-binary persons. This week they adopted a pastoral statement critical of U.S. states that have enacted policies opposed by transgender activists, including laws banning irreversible surgeries on minors to remove healthy reproductive organs.

The HOB voted to adopt the resolution during an in-person spring retreat held March 15-21 at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas. Bishops were unanimous according to a media release distributed by the Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs.

The bishops' statement, introduced by Episcopal Diocese of Texas Bishop Suffragan Kai Ryan, voices "love and continued support for all persons who identify as transgender or non-binary and their families." It goes on to "decry legislative initiatives and governmental actions targeting trans children and their families."

Gender dysphoria never troubled the bishops apparently and the thought that such persons might need help, not affirmation was conveniently glossed over for 'feel your pain' acceptance. Not a word of pushback was heard from the Communion Partner bishops or the evangelical bishops of Central Florida and Dallas. You can read Jeff Walton's take here: https://virtueonline.org/episcopal-church-bishops-pledge-transgender-and-non-binary-support

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SOME 150 pro homosexual leaders, including many Anglican bishops, academics and lay leaders around the world met online and agreed on what they described as "safeguarding principles to Protect #LGBTQ+ lives". They are ramping up pressure on the Church of England to recognize and allow sexually active married homosexuals to officiate at all levels of the Church and for same-sex unions to be solemnized in Church of England services.

Along with a strong contingent from the pro-homosexual Ozanne Foundation, led by Jayne Ozanne, the lesbian Church of England activist and self-described evangelical, the list of speakers also included four Anglican archbishops. These archbishops were: the Primate of Canada, Linda Nicholls; Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church; the Most Rev. Lynne McNaughton, Anglican Archbishop for the Ecclesiastical Province of BC & Yukon and Archbishop Phillip Richardson, Primate of New Zealand Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/pro-homosexual-religious-leaders-gather-protect-lgbt-lives

Ramping up the pressure, is the drive to outlaw conversion therapy. That therapy concerns people who no longer want to live with unwanted same sex attractions and who seek conversion or reparative therapy as a way out.
The Church of England appears to 'want to see some of their own clergy put behind bars,' wrote Dr. Matthew Roberts, over four bishops' response to a government proposal on conversion therapy ban.

The four bishops have come out condemning a letter signed by thousands of their own ministers which opposed a proposed ban on conversion therapy in England, saying that the letter "does not have a monopoly of Christian opinion." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/uk-anglican-bishops-accused-abandoning-over-2000-ministers-opposing-conversion-therapy-bill

However, late yesterday the British Government said it plans to abandon so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales. According to NHS England, conversion therapy tries to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The ban was announced in the Queen's Speech in May 2021. But a government spokesperson said it had instead "decided to proceed by reviewing how existing law can be deployed more effectively".

It would also explore "other non-legislative measures" to prevent conversion therapy, they added.

But LGBT charity Stonewall tweeted that it was "devastating to hear that the UK government is again breaking its promise to our communities".

It called on the governments of Wales and Scotland to end the practice in "their own jurisdictions", saying "LGBTQ+ people in the UK deserve better than this".

***

In a hard-hitting article, VOL correspondent Mary Ann Mueller headlined a piece titled, Standing up against transgender lies. Conservatives and Christians have to become vocal against the tyranny unleashed by the radical transgender lobby, she says.

"Christians and conservatives must stand up against transgender lies, otherwise they will be drowned in the wokeism swamp. However, it takes courage and fortitude to swim against the LGBTQ tide."

THE TRUTH IS:

Caitlyn Jenner is not a woman ... he is an Olympian gold medal winner.

Lea Thomas is not a woman ... he is a college swimmer.

Jazz Jennings is not a girl ... he is "I Am Jazz" reality show personality.

Gwen Fry is not a woman ... he is a male Episcopal priest.

Luna Younger is not a girl ... he is a young child caught up in a political battle over transgenderism.

Laverne Cox is not a woman ... he is an actor starring in "Orange is the New Black"

Rachel Lavine is not a woman ... he is an
admiral, a medical doctor and the US Assistant Secretary for Health.

God gave all living things, from the amoeba to human beings, the ability to reproduce. To read more, go here: https://virtueonline.org/standing-against-transgender-lies
***

The Trans Movement Is Failing where the Gay-Rights Movement Succeeded, writes Philip Klein in the National Review. By abandoning the libertarian 'live and let live' approach, transgender activists are alienating Americans, he says.

"The transgender and gay-rights movements are often lumped together -- including in the very acronym LGBT -- so many observers assume that the transgender cause will follow a similar trajectory. But there's a reason why transgender activists won't experience the level of rapid success that gay-rights activists enjoyed over the past several decades."

Broad acceptance of gay marriage represented one of the most extraordinary shifts of public opinion on a major social issue in American history. In 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act sailed through both chambers of Congress and was signed into law by Bill Clinton. In 2004, the year eleven states passed bans on gay marriage in ballot measures, Americans opposed gay marriage by a two-to-one margin (or 60 percent to 31 percent), according to the Pew Research Center.

Yet by 2014, the year before the Supreme Court decided gay marriage was a constitutional right, a majority of Americans came to support gay marriage. By 2019, Americans supported it by 61 percent to 31 percent. In other words, during a 15-year period in American politics characterized by bitter partisan divisions, the nation went from two-to-one against gay marriage to two-to-one in favor." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/trans-movement-failing-where-gay-rights-movement-succeeded

***

CANADA NEWS. Survivors of abuse and anti-abuse advocates in the Anglican Church of Canada are calling for the denomination's general secretary to resign, saying he and other ACC leaders have continued to bungle their response to the leak of a draft of an article on sexual misconduct written for the denomination's paper.
"The ACC absolutely has the capacity to respond in an appropriate way, but it has made deliberate and calculated choices not to out of its need for self-preservation or out of fear," said Cydney Proctor, a self-identified survivor of sexual misconduct.

In February, an advocacy group called ACCtoo published an open letter claiming a "high-ranking official of the ACC" leaked a draft of an Anglican Journal article about the ACC's mishandling of abuse allegations to some of the ACC authorities implicated in the story.

https://religionnews.com/2022/03/30/acc-accused-of-additional-blunders-amid-calls-for-general-secretary-to-resign/

***

It probably won't come as a complete surprise that the future of the world's largest religion -- Christianity - is female -- and African. Gina Zurlo, writing for Religion News revealed that research in global Christianity showed that 52% of the faith is female. But the long answer is more complicated -- women make up a much more substantial part of Christianity than that number makes it seem.

"The goal of my research is to put the spotlight on Christian women's contributions to church and society and fill in gaps in our data. Headlines about religion may be focused on the words and actions of Western male leaders, but the reality of the worldwide church is quite different. More and more Christians live outside Europe and North America, especially in Africa -- and women are central to that story." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/why-future-worlds-largest-religion-female-and-african

***

ANGLICAN CONCILIARISM AT WORK. Canon Phil Ashey, Chair, ACNA Governance Task Force is calling for Amendments to ACNA Canons, and wants comments from the whole church to get on board.

"At the heart of our Anglican polity--our Anglican "decision-making process"--is the principle of conciliarism. We take council together, just as the apostolic church did in the great Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. It is a way that we walk together in the light (I John 1:7-9) so that we are truly a one, holy, apostolic and catholic church in Christ. One of the guiding principles of conciliarism is that "what touches all must be decided by all." In the Church, this means that whenever an internal church law (the canons) touches all, it should at least be reviewed by all.

In that spirit, the Governance Task Force of the ACNA has proposed the enclosed amendments to our canons for review by ALL members of the ACNA. Please take some time to download this First Draft of the GTF 2022 Report and watch the video. It's about 25 minutes long, but it will walk you through what is being amended and the reasons why. Please feel free to send any questions, comments or suggestions to me at pashey@americananglican.org.

The GTF 2022 First Draft Report can be located and downloaded on our website here: https://americananglican.org/acna-content/anglican-conciliarism-at-work-the-proposed-amendments-to-acna-canons-draft-1-for-review-and-comment-by-the-whole-church/

***

CULTURE WARS. I am posting some links to stories I think will interest VOL readers.

Russia and the Culture Wars: https://virtueonline.org/russia-and-culture-wars

Kirill: Ukraine is paying for its gay pride https://virtueonline.org/patriarch-kirill-ukraine-paying-its-gay-pride How Christian Naivete Lost Us the War for Marriage. It didn't happen the way you think it did, writes Tom Gilson of The Stream.

"It's been almost seven years since a handful of unelected leaders instituted same-sex marriage in the United States. We're on to other issues now, but it's not too late yet to learn from it. We made major mistakes in it. I had the war figured out wrong. Really wrong, at first, as I thought it really was about gay marriage, not realizing that was just one front in a much bigger war. Later on, I traced it back all the way to straight persons' errors in the sexual revolution, but like many others I still had too small a view of it. In reality the fight goes back not just decades but well over a century. Longer, obviously, if we consider the whole history of human sin. But to understand how morality just got flipped on its head, we need to look closely at some key men and women in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They laid the groundwork. We're just reaping the effects." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/how-christian-naivete-lost-us-war-marriage

***

The 2022 Missions Conference and Synod of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word running May 5-7 at Immanuel Leidy's Church in Souderton, PA is a must-attend event for anyone interested in the future of confessional Anglicanism in North America. Bishop Julian Dobbs and Bishop Bill Love look forward to welcoming bestselling author Rod Dreher and Fr. Lee McMunn from Trinity Church, Scarborough UK as this year's speaker and preacher.

To register for this event visit us on the web at: https://www.adlw.org/2022-missions-conference-synod

***

EFAC-USA 2022 is holding its annual conference. The subject of the conference is GOSPEL GRAMMAR: LITURGY, MINISTRY, AND LIFE. It will be held at St. George's, Nashville, June 15-17. You can register here: https://efac-usa.org/1834-2/

**

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