Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
8/22/2006

The Archbishop of Canterbury turned up the heat on The Episcopal Church this past week calling for a summit meeting of the major players. He called on Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia and Bishop John Lipscomb of Southwest Florida to convene a small group of bishops from the Episcopal Church (USA) to meet together to discuss some of the difficult issues facing the Church and to explore possible resolutions. Along with Bishop Frank Griswold, those invited include Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Bob Duncan, and Bishop Jack Iker. The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon will also attend. The first meeting will take place in New York in the first half of September. (Statement from the Anglican Communion Office).

This group of players represents all streams and extremes in The Episcopal Church, but the timing indicates that Dr. Williams believes that if something isn't done quickly about the disintegrating Episcopal Church then mayhem will ensue. You can read my take on this at this link: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4592 or read it in today's digest.

Waiting for a covenant to unfold will be too little, too late, with the imploding situation in The Episcopal Church. Williams has apparently gotten the message. Delay doesn't work in anybody's favor.

And while Williams is doing his best to keep the lid on things, Pittsburgh Bishop made the point, his most outspoken to date, that time is running out for the Archbishop of Canterbury. In his most pointed remarks to date, the Network Moderator said "innovating ECUSA" has failed so miserably, and warned that a window of opportunity was closing for the Archbishop to act. "We have called on them to repent, but we, too, are every bit as much in need of repenting. Our struggle is not about sexuality, it is about sin." The clarity we prayed for has been given, he said.

But one group that IS getting the message is The Episcopal Church's liberals, revisionists and pansexualists. One of their number; a thrice-married Rev. William Coats lashed out at the TEC's orthodox and Dr. Williams calling him a virtual turncoat. Sides are being drawn up in what promises to be all out total war between liberal and conservative factions in The Episcopal Church. On one side can be found the Network and Windsor bishops, while on the other, groups like Via Media, a new group calling themselves "The Episcopal Majority" and a plethora of pansexual forces, stand arrayed against them. A meeting called by Texas Bishop Don Wimberly to bring together the Windsor bishops got Dr. Williams exercised to the point that he is sending two emissaries to the U.S. to try and keep the peace. But can he stop the rot? Many of us believe that the TEC is no longer a valid Christian denomination with all its innovations. On the surface Williams seems powerless to control or stop the slide. You can read an analysis of all this here: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4588 or in today's digest.

AND then the Archbishop of Canterbury let the cat out of the bag, and in an interview with a Netherlands newspaper, he said the Church is not inclusive and he also admitted the controversies in the Anglican Church were spiraling out of his control and that a split in the Church might be inevitable. He doesn't want that to happen, of course, but he seems powerless to stop it. You can read the full interview in today's digest.

WHEN this writer was in Nairobi, Kenya recently I interviewed Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi and learned of secret tape recordings made at the time a group of ECUSA bishops and theologians visited with the archbishop and other African leaders. They recorded the talks to make sure that when the bishops returned to the U.S. they would not spin what they thought was said and heard. VOL obtained a copy of these tapes and we bring them to you unedited and unexpurgated. We have only added the full names and titles of those present to our readers, so you will know who was present.

To put things in perspective, a visiting Uganda bishop The Rt. Rev. Dr. David Zac Niringiye, Bishop of Kampala in the Anglican Church of Uganda, spoke to an evangelical parish in Paoli, Pennsylvania where VOL heard him and reported his words. The visiting Anglican Prelate says that what is happening within the Anglican Communion today, predates Lambeth 1998 (Resolution 1:10) and the later exacerbation of the problems by the Robinson consecration, as these are just "symptoms" and "fruit" of a bad harvest planted many years before. You can read that story in today's digest. African leaders nearly always put things in perspective, when things look so grim here.
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4598

THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NIGERIA continues to grow exponentially. The orthodox province, led by "African lion" Archbishop Peter Akinola, now has some 20 million members, according to the Most Rev. E. Adebola Ademowo, Bishop of Lagos and Archbishop of the Province of Lagos.

It is not hard to see why, said THE CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE, given the riveting sermon that Archbishop Ademowo preached at a special Mass August 12 at the traditionalist St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Bladensburg, Maryland (just outside Washington, DC). Speaking on the theme, "All to Jesus I surrender." Archbishop Ademowo said this submission is not done once for all but day to day. Some sample quotes from the sermon: "Surrender yourself [to Jesus] as a living sacrifice. Put all your energy and resources at His disposal....Jesus is the Messiah...the Savior...to surrender [to Him] means...allowing yourself to be controlled by a greater power." This is not the sort of stuff one generally hears from many Episcopal bishops (including from Washington's, John Chane, who nonetheless gave permission for Ademowo's visit).

In private remarks to the CHALLENGE later, Ademowo attributed the Nigerian province's remarkable growth to the fact that it is "alive" and stresses biblical teaching; its members pray and see their prayers answered, he said. "We put life into our worship" and "work heartily for the Lord," he said; the province's program - of "evangelism, fellowship and service" and "worship, work and witness" - includes going on radio to propagate the Gospel. Ademowo's own Lagos diocese has become too big, he noted, and is in the process of being divided into two dioceses. He said that a single parish in Nigeria can number 4,000 people!

Accompanied by his wife, Ademowo said he was on a "friendly visit" to share fellowship with the people of St. Luke's, a multicultural parish that includes a number of African-born members, and the rector, Fr. Mark Lewis, and his wife, who met the African couple in 1999, when Ademowo spent time at Wisconsin's Nashotah House to finish his Ph.D. in theology and history.

Asked about several of the pressing issues on the minds of conservative U.S. Episcopalians in the aftermath of General Convention, Ademowo deferred to the reported comments of Archbishop Akinola, whom he said "has a mandate" to speak on behalf of all clergy, bishops and laity in the Nigerian Church. However, Ademowo said "We know what's going on...Anything that does not bow to biblical scrutiny is not acceptable to us."

DOMESTICALLY, in the DIOCESE OF THE RIO GRANDE, a source told VOL that the diocese will be the first diocese in TEC to come up with a plan that will allow parishes that wish to leave the diocese and the Episcopal Church to do so, while keeping their property. The plan still must be approved by the Diocesan Convocation in October but that approval looks very good. This is huge news indeed.

Also in this diocese a petition has been started to withdraw from The Episcopal Church. Leading the charge for this withdrawal is Melissa Miller. All that is need is three signatures to get the ball rolling and they have them.

THE PETITION READS: In response to the long-growing corruption within the Episcopal Church, we request that the Diocese of the Rio Grande withdraw from that organization. Certain heresies have taken hold in the Episcopal Church and have lead astray the hearts of many of its leaders. These heresies include a denial of the authority of Holy Scripture, a rejection of Christ as the only way for sinners to receive salvation, moral relativism, the acceptance of homosexuality, and the extension of the definition of marriage to include same-sex unions.

By signing this petition, we request that the Diocese of the Rio Grande separate itself from the Episcopal Church. Go here and sign: www.gopetition.com.

In the DIOCESE OF OLYMPIA they are advertising for a "wedding coordinator". Bishop Nevi River said that the Washington church is not going to perform ANY marriages till they can perform same sex ones. Tsk tsk. So they are advertising for a wedding coordinator for same sex weddings. More waste of money.

And in the DIOCESE OF SOUTHERN OHIO word has come that Bishop Herbert Thompson, 72, Jr. died suddenly in Italy. He had recently retired and collapsed after swimming. He ran for Presiding Bishop and lost to Griswold by three votes. Thompson was a moderate Evangelical but in the end fell off the orthodox bandwagon over sexuality issues.

And from the Rev Jerry Kramer in the DIOCESE OF LOUISIANA comes this word: "I've just returned from two weeks in East Africa. Our AIDS orphanage in Arusha is up to fifteen children, most of whom we find in garbage dumps. The children look wonderful and are enjoying their new home which Annunciation and our mission fund helped build." "Back on the home front here in New Orleans roughly 250,000 people are now back in a city where the infrastructure might be able to handle 100,000. We're seeing 100 people per hour for relief supplies here in the Annunciation parking lot."

"Before I left we thought it time to close down the relief centre and move on to home deliveries and long term housing initiatives. The big question was how much longer could and should we stay in the front line triage business. And our people are just exhausted. Despite the increasing numbers coming to us, I told the folks here not to hold back and ration supplies even though we're constantly running low on everything.

Yet more and more clothes and food and other essentials started showing up in miraculous fashion thus it seems to us that God wants us to keep going. So we are. Long term plans are in the works for our Noah's Ark housing initiative that will assist low income and elderly folks to rebuild their homes in this neighborhood and beyond. A new and serious problem we're facing on the streets is epidemic child prostitution. We've found children as young as ten years old working the streets.

No one here seems to be equipped to do anything about it. We're going to connect with groups like Covenant House and see if we can't help them in some way.

The meta-problem is lack of facilities where we can intake and house people of all ages in crisis. I fear we could well be looking at civil unrest here in the months ahead if things don't start moving more quickly. We have too many people and too little of everything. Honestly parts of East Africa appear well ahead of us."

PLEASE continue to support Jerry and his mission. VirtueOnline will be going to New Orleans in September to see first hand what he is doing, and I will report back to you all. The church's website can be found here: www.annunciationinexile.homestead.com

FINAL word (maybe) on the Middle East war from retired Texas bishop Maurice "Ben" Benitez: IF HEZBOLLAH LAYS DOWN ITS GUNS, THE FIGHTING IS OVER. IF ISRAEL LAYS DOWN ITS GUNS, THEY'RE ALL DEAD!

A PETITION SUPPORT OF THE BISHOP OF SAN JOAQUIN has gotten close to 800 signatures. If you haven't signed up go here: http://descant.classicalanglican.net/?page_id=1988

FIVE TALENTS president Craig Cole says that they have new offices in Uganda and Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Anglican Church of Kenya has launched the Anglican Church in Kenya Christian Microenterprise Development Network that Five Talents supports. "We plan to both preach the gospel of stewardship and finance and that of Jesus Christ through this network," wrote Cole. For more on this "trickle up" economic gospel ministry click here: http://www.fivetalents.org/

VISITING THE US Episcopal Church next month is the Mt. Kilimanjaro Diocesan Bishop from the Province of Tanzania, Simon Makundi. He is taking a three month sabbatical/fundraising tour in two of ECUSA's worst dioceses, Connecticut and Los Angeles. He is corrupt, says the Rev. Jerry Kramer who was a missionary their before being tossed out of the country after his life was threatened. He said the bishop wanted kickbacks from Americans sending money for specific building projects, and when the priest refused to pay up, he got the heave ho. On the other hand it is probably not a bad thing to see two revisionist dioceses throw their money away; they will have less for lawsuits against godly priests fleeing their dioceses.

A VOL READER asks why the big deal about the Rev. Martyn Minns being both a bishop of Nigeria and rector of Truro church. "After all, we are talking about the state of Virginia. There is historical precedent here. In 1861, Robert E. Lee accepted a commission as a General in The Confederate Army while still serving as a Colonel in The United States Army. He was, in fact, a Confederate General for a time before he resigned his commission in The Union Army. Bishop Lee needs to check his history! Probably wouldn't hurt if he read the Bible too!"

A news report out of Abuja says that Archbishop Akinola is already looking forward to consecrating more American bishops in the coming months. "There is no way one bishop can cope with these duties. And so, we have had the first one now, and, hopefully, in another six months, one year, or so, we will have two, three, more, maybe five or 10 more. As the need arises, we will be meeting the challenges," he said. That's a stick in the eye to Frank and Katherine. Griswold has complained mightily in the past about boundary crossing and Akinola now sends word that he plans to turn up the heat!

SHELTER IN THE STORM "safe" church list writes to say they are growing by leaps and bounds. They are now at 750 and growing. Their URL is www.shelterinthestorm.org They list only Anglican Churches in the US. It does not matter what affiliation they are: AMiA, REC, ACC or Diocese of Uganda/Nigeria, but they must be traditional/orthodox and Anglican and must be able to verify that they are so.

And in the DIOCESE OF FLORIDA the hemorrhaging continues. The two latest moves include the Rev. John Eason, rector of St. Paul's, Jacksonville, with some percentage of their congregation leaving and starting over as St. Barnabas. They met for their first service in a Presbyterian Church on September 3.

And the Rev. Mark Eldredge, rector of Epiphany, Jacksonville, and most of their congregation are leaving and combining forces with the Rev. Dr. Rob Sanders and his Christ the King Church to form Christ Church Anglican. They met in a Roman Catholic High School for their first official service on September 10. They will actually begin officially on August 27. (More details later.)

A source told VOL that there continues to be others in line behind them that are not quite ready to leave the diocese, and there are "significant rumblings" in other Florida churches. This brings to 14 the number of churches that have left the diocese, in most cases leaving only a remnant behind.

Bishop John Howard must be seriously rethinking the doctrine of inclusivity and pluriformity as he watches his diocese disintegrate before his eyes. A reader told VOL that the diocese is now made up largely of small parishes, most not self-sustaining, held together by retired priests. Oh Robinson what have you wrought!

Check this website for news of orthodox action in this diocese: http://www.anglicanalliancenf.org/

And then there was this great line from a VOL reader about the diocese: "At the rate that this diocese is losing clergy and congregations, you will be able to fire a shotgun across the floor of the next Diocesan Convention without hitting a Christian."

And in the DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT a Federal lawsuit against Bishop Andrew "Drew" Smith was dismissed. A federal lawsuit filed against Connecticut Episcopal Bishop Andrew D. Smith was dismissed by a judge in a ruling. You can read that ruling in today's digest.

IF you ever wondered what happened to Fr. Glen Melnyk former liberal priest now wiccan (call me Oakwyse) in the DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA who was obliged to resign because of decidedly Druid leanings, well he has finally popped up as a full blown Founder and Leader of LlynHydd Grove. A member of the international Pagan community. OakWyse is a Member of the Druid Order of the Yew, a Druid Grade member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, and the North American Members Coordinator for The Druid Network. He was a priest for nearly twenty-five years functioning in the dysfunctional Diocese of Pa. His wife is still a priest in the diocese. With Emma Restall Orr of The Druid Network he is co-author of the forthcoming novel The Apple and The Thorn. As a wise man once said, when you don't believe in absolute truth, you don't believe in nothing you believe anything.

AND if you think the problems of the authority of Scripture and sodomy are exclusively Episcopal, the Kirk of the Hills church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to disaffiliate from their denomination in response to decisions made by the PCUSA at the national level which depart from the authority of the Bible and the denomination's historical beliefs. The New Wineskins Association of [orthodox] Churches has followed through on action it voted to take by sending correspondence to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leadership calling for a moratorium on disciplining churches seeking to leave the denomination. Sound familiar?

AS THE TEMPRATURE RISES in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church, VOL is busier now, more than ever, to getting the news to you. Please take a moment out of your busy schedules to write out a tax deductible check to this ministry.

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