"We must get used to being offended. Without free speech democracy crumbles"----- Andy Walton

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
February 26, 2016

God will never bless what He has not approved.

The Church of England has already liberalized on human sexuality and a split is "almost certain" as a result, according to a damning article from a conservative theologian.

Dr. Joe Boot, Wilberforce Director at Christian Concern, has given a withering assessment of the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent address to the Church's governing body and wrote the "conversation on these terms is already over."

"What the Anglican Church's 'conversation' is engaged in... is the attempted rationalization of sin in order to alleviate the reality of guilt which all those practicing sexual immorality feel."

The Church of England is in an ongoing process of what it calls "shared conversations" to discuss different perspectives on acceptance of homosexuality and "help forge better understanding between different groups over the issue of sexuality", according to Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

However, Sentamu denied the Church is "poised to rethink its centuries-old doctrine of marriage to accommodate same-sex couples", in a letter to The Telegraph.

But Boot argues the position has already subtly moved and a split is inevitable.

"The truth is that once you have accepted, as the Archbishops clearly do, that "LGBTI" et al. is a real matter of human identity, rather than mere social construction, any denial of the normative character of their actions becomes a denial of 'human rights' and an assault on their dignity and person and consequently is 'homophobic,' 'transphobic' or any other number of regularly enumerated mental crimes and disorders."

There you have it. And you wonder why the Church of England will be out of business in 30 years or less. http://tinyurl.com/jern55o God will never bless what He has not approved. Never.

Not only is the Church of England withering, so is the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church of Wales, and the Scottish Episcopal Church. God cannot and will not allow them to succeed; it violates his sovereign will for them and all our lives, and all the money in the world won't keep these provinces going forever. By contrast, the Global South is growing by leaps and bounds because they are orthodox in faith and morals; they own the Anglican Communion, Canterbury does not. In fact, it would be true to say that at this point in time, Archbishop Justin Welby is irrelevant and will grow more irrelevant in the coming months and years. His day may well be done.

*****

From Uganda came cries of betrayal from the Ugandan Primate Stanley Ntagali who said the Primates were "betrayed" in Canterbury. He went on to say that the Doctrine of marriage between one man and one woman was a symbolic vote not a substantive vote by the primates and that the Church of Uganda will not participate in the upcoming April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka. He said the GAFCON Primates Council will meet in Chile in April to discuss their future in the Anglican Communion and the nature of true mission.

The Archbishop blasted the outcome of the recent Primates' meeting in Canterbury, saying that it was like being back in 2003 when they were betrayed by their leaders. "The Primates voted to bring discipline to TEC and, yet, we now see that the leadership of the Anglican Communion does not have the will to follow through. This is another deep betrayal," he wrote in a Lenten letter to his people.

"I excused myself from the Meeting before the Primates voted. My sense of the meeting at the time was that the leadership was not serious about restoring godly order in the Communion. Even after the vote was taken, I confess I was not convinced that it would have any impact on the common life of the Anglican Communion and, therefore, would not restore Biblical faith and godly order in the Anglican Communion.

"Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing. A spirit of defiance against Biblical faith and order has infected the structures and leadership of the Anglican Communion. It is a very sad season in the life of our Anglican Communion. You can read his full take in today's digest.

*****

As if to make the point at how corrosive the whole pansexual agenda of the Anglican Communion has become, there is a story I posted on whether the Australian Anglican Church is in the throes of schism.
The Bishop of Newcastle, Greg Thompson, has openly branded the Diocese of Sydney and its Archbishop, Glenn Davies, as "divisive".

The Australian Anglican Church is deeply fractured on the issue of gay clergy, and it is set to boil over at a national meeting of bishops in early March, prompting the Newcastle Anglican Bishop to miss the event, accusing Sydney Diocese of leading a breakaway conservative movement.

Australian Anglican columnist David Ould writes that the emergence of a "para Anglican Communion" is underway and is being led by Newcastle Bishop Greg Thompson, who wrote in a letter to Anglican Primate Archbishop Philip Freier in December, saying he would not attend the annual bishops' conference in South Australia on March 6, because it would give the impression of a united church that conflicted with reality.

You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

The mystery of why TEC Presiding Bishop Michael Curry placed three of his top executives, including Bishop Stacy Sauls, on leave deepens. He wrote a memo this week saying that he anticipates that investigators will complete their interviews in the next 3-4 weeks. "I will then consult with the officers of the DFMS and legal counsel regarding appropriate steps forward. Once the course of action is clear and it has been properly shared with those on administrative leave, I will share with you with as much transparency as is appropriate, protecting confidentiality, and the ways we will move forward from that point."

That's about as clear as mud or Episcopal fudge. He writes, "I am deeply committed to our all working together on healing, building trust, and nurturing a culture reflective of the life and teachings of
Jesus of Nazareth as we move forward to help the church to serve the world in his Name."

In short, a whole lot of nothing, till we know the truth, if we will ever get the full story. Is it about a nasty little attempt to bug Executive Counsel, or has someone had their hand in the till? We wait with bated breath, or do we?

*****

Three theologically conservative church bodies released a report championing progress in their latest round of ecumenical dialogue.

Representatives from the Anglican Church in North America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the Lutheran Church-Canada have been engaging in an ongoing dialogue for the past six years.

Titled "On Closer Acquaintance", the interim report on ecumenical dialogue charts the progress made thus far on conversations between ACNA, LCMS, and LCC.

"The report is intended as an aid for ACNA folk wishing to get a deeper understanding of their counterparts in LCMS--LCC and vice versa, and as a resource that will help us determine the nature and goals of our relationship in the years ahead," reads the report.

"In the process we hope that both sides will become convinced of the width and depth of the common ground we share in doctrine, liturgy, hymnody, devotional resources, and Christian life. At the same time, we anticipate the development of an informed awareness of the areas in which significant differences still divide us."

In a statement released Tuesday, ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach stressed the theological commonalities of the three confessing bodies.

"In a time when so many churches are departing from the teachings of the Bible, it has been refreshing to see the stand for Scriptural Truth that is being made by The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Lutheran Church-Canada," stated Archbishop Beach.

"We agree on the essentials of the Faith, and share a common desire to evangelize North America with the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

*****

A top Christian theologian criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron over the Europe referendum.

Dr. NT Wright criticized the British Prime Minister for calling a referendum on Europe. He told Christian Today that he wished David Cameron had not decided on this tactic.

He said: "The Scottish Referendum has settled nothing, but rather stirred up all kinds of feelings and antagonisms, and I fear this one will do the same. We have a Parliamentary democracy and, creaky old system though that is, we ought not to try so readily to bypass it."

Wright, who holds the chair in New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and is also a former Bishop of Durham, warned against applying apocalyptic Bible texts such the Book of Daniel to the Brexit debate.

Until the late 17th century, the Bible, especially the Old Testament, was taught in seminaries and colleges as the essential guide to all things political.

"The sad truth is that most modern Western Christians have not been taught at all the basic rudiments of a Christian political theology," Wright said.

"Various attempts have been made, but most folk are blissfully unaware that there is anything much to be said."

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury has appointed a woman who is an expert on government and safeguarding to head his independent inquiry into whether there was any kind of cover-up in the Church of England over sex abuse Bishop Peter Ball.

Justin Welby, who last year disclosed the inquiry was to take place, has announced that Dame Moira Gibb is to chair the investigation into "the way the Church of England responded" to complaints about the disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester, jailed last year for a string of sex offences.

Dame Moira, former chief executive of Camden Council until 2011, and who chaired the serious case review into safeguarding at Southbank International School in the wake of the crimes committed by William Vahey, is expected to report before the end of this year.

The separate Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, chaired by Justice Goddard, will also be looking at the Peter Ball case.

*****

The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, last May, established the Way Forward Working Group to develop a pathway towards the blessing of same-gender relationships -- while upholding the traditional doctrine of marriage. This week the Working Group released its report.

The Working Group has offered two new liturgies for blessing civil marriages to be considered at the General Synod in May of this year. The report also proposes changes in canon regarding ordination by more clearly defining what a "rightly-ordered relationship" is. Currently, civil marriages have been sufficient to be considered "rightly ordered", but moving forward, ordinands in civil marriages will also need for their marriages to have been blessed by the church, and this true for all candidates, not just those in same-sex relationships.

From the report at Anglican Taonga:

The Way Forward Working Group (WFWG) report makes a precept-upon-precept case for how such civil marriages could be blessed by the church.

The Anglican Church in this province is governed by a set of documents, the most significant of which are the Church of England Empowering Act of 1928, and Te Pouhere, the Constitution of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, which came into force in 1992.

Te Pouhere, in turn, specifies a number of "Formularies" (such as a New Zealand Prayer Book/He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa ) which guide the Church in its worship and practice.

The new constitution also spells out a way in which formularies can be changed (or added to) --providing these changes don't, in the words of the report, "represent any departure from the Doctrine and Sacraments of Christ as defined in Te Pouhere's own Fundamental Provisions."

The rites of blessing being proposed are being presented as "additional formularies", rather than doctrinal changes:

"It is the view of the majority of the group," the report notes, "that the proposed liturgies do not represent a departure from the Doctrine and Sacraments of Christ, and are therefore not prohibited by Te Pouhere, however the group also recognizes that this will be a crucial matter for debate."

In offering the report and a possible way forward on these matters, the Working Group has sought to build on many years of discussion and study across this Church. In particular, they build on the work of the Commission on Doctrine and Theological Questions, which reported to General Synod/Te Hinota Whanui in 2014. That report presented two clearly-argued positions, both with their own biblical and theological integrity. One argued that the blessing of committed, monogamous, life-long same-sex relationships was outside of the doctrinal possibilities the Church can consider, the other that such relationships can and should be able to receive the blessing of the Church.

*****

The dark satanic mills of sexual abuse grind on in The Episcopal Church. It was learned this week that there was a trail of sex abuse allegations extending back to the Diocese of West Virginia in 1969, by the Rev. Howard White before his placement as chaplain at St. George's Episcopal School in Rhode Island.

Karen Lee Ziner of the Providence Journal uncovered a circa 1969 case in the Diocese of West Virginia. White's first placement was in that diocese. After leaving West Virginia he subsequently was chaplain of St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, the first of many moves.

Ziner located a 1998 decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia: Richard Albright, Plaintiff Below, Appellant, v. H. Willard White and The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of West Virginia. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

In the department of 'will it never end', the parish of St. Mary of the Angels in Hollywood, California, a parish of the Anglican Church of America (ACA) famed for actresses and actors passing through its doors in its heyday, has been embroiled in a long running legal dispute over who it wants to belong to. It is now in the news again.

Its rector, Fr. Christopher Kelley, who styled himself as St. Mary's "Chairman of the Board, President, & Rector", said he wanted to take the church into the Ordinariate. Many in the parish demurred.

He explained that St. Mary-Angels was a "free-standing legal corporation under California law." He also noted that "during the entire history of the Anglican Continuum, parishes have been free to come and go as they please, and many have changed jurisdictions, not just St. Mary's."

Bishop Strawn put Canon to the Ordinary, Anthony Morello, in as St. Mary's new rector, and a battle for control of the property was launched by a handful of parishioners who did not want to follow Fr. Kelley's lead into the Church of Rome through the Ordinariate.

Well, it got settled this week with the courts declaring Fr. Kelley the winner. You can read Mary Ann Mueller's excellent historical overview and recent changes story in today's digest.

*****

The world's deadliest terrorist group is not in the Middle East. It's in Nigeria, where the Islamist insurgency of Boko Haram and other forces killed more than 4,000 Christians in 2015. That death toll increased 62 percent from 2014, according to a new report.

In response, Nigeria's largest confederation of Christian churches is, for the first time, jointly endorsing a commitment to revive churches in the West African nation's north before they collapse from a decade of violence that has killed thousands of Christians and driven away more than 1 million.

At the same time, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has jointly published with Open Doors, a detailed study of the violence and its impact. "Crushed but not defeated: The impact of persistent violence on the Church in Northern Nigeria" was released on February 24, in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
A destroyed church in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi.

CAN is comprised of councils representing Protestant denominations, indigenous evangelical churches, Pentecostal churches, and the Catholic Church--denominations that together encompass about half of Nigeria's 173 million people. The association has adopted the report as the factual foundation of a joint declaration, which demands that the Nigerian government quell the violence and guarantee religious freedom, and asks the UN to launch an inquiry into atrocities.

VOL spoke with a Nigerian bishop this past week and was told the greatest number of those murdered by Boko Haran were Anglicans.

From 2006 to 2014, religion-based violence killed an estimated 11,500 Christians in Nigeria's north, according to the report. It states that 13,000 churches were destroyed, abandoned, or closed during the period, while 1.3 million Christians fled to safer regions in the country.

*****

After lengthy debate, Georgia's state Senate passed an amended version of a religious freedom bill Friday, sending it back to the House and infuriating critics who slam the revised measure as anti-gay and lesbian.

If the Republican-led House agrees with the Senate version, it will go to Gov. Nathan Deal to sign. If not, it could end up being changed again.

House Bill 757 passed the Senate 38-14 after three hours of debate that was, at times, heated. Last week it passed the House 161-0 -- but the Senate version combined it with another more controversial bill.

Now the bill blends the Pastor Protection Act, which would enable religious leaders to refuse to perform same-sex marriages, and the First Amendment Defense Act, which critics have said would allow tax-funded groups to deny services to gays and lesbians.

The bill's Senate sponsor, Greg Kirk, a Republican, said the revised bill is about equal protection and not discrimination, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"It only impacts the government's interaction with faith-based organizations or a person who holds faith-based, sincerely held beliefs as it relates to marriage," he said.

*****

Oregon released its 2015 'death with dignity' stats this week. Oregon is the model for assisted suicide legislation throughout the United States, so its annual "Death with Dignity" report for 2015 deserves close scrutiny.

Since the law was passed in 1997, a total of 1,545 people have had prescriptions written under the DWDA, and 991 patients have died from ingesting the medications.

The figures are not as straightforward as they might seem. During 2015, 218 people received prescriptions for lethal medications, but only 132 people died. Why the difference? Many people keep the medication on hand and wait until they are ready to use it -- which could be in the next calendar year. Some die before using it; some disappear from the official statistics. So, of the 218, 125 used the medication and died; 50 died before they used it; 5 died and Oregon does not know whether or not they used it; and for 38 people (17%), there is no information about whether they used it or whether they are alive or dead.

Oregon is not far off the mean, but its population is older, whiter, more likely to live alone, and better educated than the US average. Those who died were even whiter and even better-educated than the Oregon average.

Although uncontrolled pain is often seen as sufficient justification for legalized assisted suicide, relatively few people even mentioned it. The three main reasons were "less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable" (96%); "losing autonomy" (92%); and "loss of dignity" (75%).

"Inadequate pain control or concern about it" was mentioned by 28.7%, but the statistics do not indicate how many actually had actually experienced unrelieved pain. See more here: http://www.mercatornet.com/

*****

There are any number of evangelistic programs out there worthy of your consideration. One that I particularly like is Christianity Explored which comes out of All Souls Langham Place, London the spiritual home of the late John R.W. Stott. The conveners are holding an Evangelism for Our Time and Place, at their annual North American Conference, April 15-17, 2016 at Christ Church Presbyterian in Atlanta. People living in the Atlanta region should consider this opportunity. You can register here:
https://docs.google.com/a/virtueonline.org/forms/d/1mGTy5AZ_HjL5qdK-P44CC6K1AG5hrwnSYVc50cJWVho/viewform

*****

The Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic is holding an Evangelism Training Day: Saturday, March 12, 2016 9:30 am -- 3:00 pm at All Saints' Church, 14851 Gideon Drive. Woodbridge VA.

What Gospel Are You Sharing? By Shawn Hart; Tell Your Story by Tom Tarrants; How to Share the Gospel by Michael Suderman are among featured speakers. For more information, contact the Rev. Mary Amendola at mamendolia@tfcanglican.org . She is Pastoral Associate for Evangelism at The Falls Church Anglican, Falls Church, VA.

*****

The Clergy Care Office with Bishop Thad Barnum has officially opened. For more information you can go to their website at: sepearusa.org

The purpose is to care for the well-being of the souls of clergy; to provide a safe space for:
Confession and Self-Examination
Discipling in Jesus
Relational Health in Marriage, Family, and Broken Relationships
Evaluating for Preventative Care
Caring when Signs of Burnout Appear

Bishop Barnum will offer 10-12 appointments a week by video conferencing.
Clergy can make an appointment by going to the website of Bishop David Bryan's Southeast Network
www.sepearusa.org.

*****

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