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To Be A True Christian Will Cost You. It costs something to be a true Christian. Let that never be forgotten. To be a mere nominal Christian, and go to church, is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ's voice, and follow Christ, and believe in Christ, and confess Christ, requires much self-denial. It will cost us our sins, and our self-righteousness, and our ease, and our worldliness. All - all must be given up. We must fight an enemy who comes against us with twenty thousand followers. We must build a tower in troubled times. Our Lord Jesus Christ would have us thoroughly understand this. He bids us "count the cost." --- Bishop J.C. Ryle
The Great Sifting on the Last Day. The visible Church is now a 'mixed' body. Believers and unbelievers, holy and unholy, converted and unconverted, are now mingled in every congregation, and often sit side by side. It passes the power of man to separate them. False profession is often so like true; and grace is often so weak and feeble, that, in many cases, the right discernment of character is an impossibility. The wheat and the chaff will continue together until the Lord returns.
But there will be a dreadful separation at the last day. The unerring judgment of the King of kings shall at length divide the wheat from the chaff, and divide them for evermore. The righteous shall be gathered into a place of happiness and safety. The wicked shall be cast down to shame and everlasting contempt. In the great sifting day, every one shall go to his own place. --- Bishop J.C. Ryle Expository Thoughts on the Gospel
Anglican teaching. Although it is sometimes said in Anglican circles that Scripture, tradition and reason form a 'threefold cord' which restrains and directs the church, and although there are not lacking those who regard these three as having equal authority, yet official pronouncements continue to uphold the primary, the supreme authority of Scripture, while accepting the important place of tradition and reason in the elucidation of Scripture. Thus, the report on the Bible issued by the 1958 Lambeth Conference contained this heartening statement: 'The Church is not "over" the Holy Scriptures, but "under" them, in the sense that the process of canonization was not one whereby the Church conferred authority on the books but one whereby the Church acknowledged them to possess authority. And why? The books were recognized as giving the witness of the Apostles to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of the Lord and the interpretation by the Apostles of these events. To that apostolic authority the Church must ever bow.' "The Lambeth Conference 1958" Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2
Resisting false teaching. The apostolic traditions are the foundation of Christian faith and life, while subsequent ecclesiastical traditions are the superstructure which the church has erected on it. The primary traditions, to which we should hold fast, are those which the apostles received from Christ (either the historic Christ or the living Spirit of Christ), which they taught the early church by word or letter, and which are now preserved in the New Testament. To 'stand firm and hold to the teachings' means in our case to be biblical or evangelical Christians, to be uncompromisingly loyal to the teaching of Christ and his apostles. This is the road to stability. The only way to resist false teaching is to cling to the true teaching. --- From "The Message of Thessalonians" (The Bible Speaks Today)
Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
December 5, 2010
It was Canada's turn to feel the heat of a revisionist Anglican bishop going after church properties of godly Canadian Anglicans this week.
In the Diocese of New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham laid claim to four parishes. Two of them - St. John's Shaughnessy and the The Good Shepherd Church (Chinese) - are the largest two in the Anglican Church of Canada.
The "victory" for Ingham was not entirely unexpected. Church properties have generally been upheld in courts favorable to hierarchical churches. This proved to be the case here.
It is not entirely over however, the case may yet be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. In the eventuality they lose, the vast majority of their congregations will depart and leave a remnant for Ingham to look at and hope he can revivify. There is not much chance of that. Furthermore, the property trusts are held by the laity, not the diocese. The remaining laity could also begin a campaign of active resistance to any Potemkin priest Ingham pushes on the parish. They could snub him, read a book when he or she sermonizes, put nothing in the plate and be as uncooperative as possible. Sooner or later, even the worst liberal priest will want out forcing Ingham to rethink his policies, perhaps even close the parishes and sell them.
Even the judges noted that Ingham's victory has a pyrrhic quality to it. But the "winner take all" mentality is the hallmark of revisionist bishops like Ingham.
A local Anglican who has been in touch daily with VOL about the situation said that following the court decision they had an excellent meeting with many in attendance with the lawyers receiving a standing ovation. "It was peaceful, united and filled with a good spirit.
"I think we are pretty clear that 'we are not finished yet' ( Dr. J.I. Packer's words)...the Appeals Court decision was our main hurdle and one we had to get through to get to the Supreme Court of Canada. The lawyers had called that one a 50-50 from the beginning. We have now spent $1 million dollars and this next court battle will be only be another $300,000 - pennies... I think it is the sacrifice we need to make in our Western affluence and comfort zone to show we are serious about the gospel.
"Winning is not the goal here - it is not about the real estate - we are compelled to think beyond ourselves - we are the precedent setting case for Canada - for ANiC churches across the country and for other Christian denominations who have Trust concerns as well. Justice and the Law are two different things.
"Canadians will be watching this as they are our pro-polygamy stuff, so a testimony for sure in our post-modern times. They both could reach Supreme Court at the same time."
I have written a major piece on Bishop Ingham and his "victory". You can read it in today's digest or here: http://tinyurl.com/24n6ddm
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In Brockton, Mass, St. Paul's, a once prominent Anglo-Catholic congregation under the Rev. Dr. Jim Hiles that left over TEC's moral and theological revisions and lost a subsequent property court battle, found itself going out of business this past week. This comes as no surprise except to the writer of a local newspaper who failed to do his homework and to report on the church's history and legal fight with revisionist Bishop Tom Shaw. The article makes it look as though it was simply a victim of the times and changing demographics. Not true. If this parish and its members had been allowed to stay, it would have continued as a thriving parish in the heart of Brockton. Now it will be sold.
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Christianity is under attack in the United Kingdom. Christians must fight efforts to "air-brush" their religion out of the picture, a former head of the Church of England warned Wednesday.
"In spite of having contributed so much to our civilization and providing its foundation, the Christian faith is in danger of being stealthily and subtly brushed aside," said George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury.
Carey is fronting a new campaign, "Not Ashamed," by the group Christian Concern. He launched it with appearances at the House of Lords, Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's office.
Christian Concern encouraged people to wear crosses and "Not Ashamed" buttons on Wednesday to promote the campaign.
The group fights what it sees as discrimination against Christians, and has fought several high-profile lawsuits.
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Bishop John Broadhurst resigned as Chairman of FiF-UK this week paving the way for his entry into the Roman Catholic Church under the ordinariate proposed by Pope Benedict XVI. At its residential meeting this week, the Council of Forward in Faith accepted the resignation of its Chairman, both with regret and with grateful thanks for all that he has done to guide and lead the organization from its foundation in 1992. It was Bishop John's decision to resign. He communicated that decision to the Council prior to its meeting. Pending the election of his successor in the New Year, Sister Anne Williams CA, the Vice-Chairman of Forward in Faith, will undertake the role of Acting Chairman.
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The messy, unresolved politics of the Anglican Province Central Africa got a little messier this week. The murder of the Rev. Rodney Hunter in the Diocese of Malawi back in 2007 remains unresolved after charges that the cook killed him were tossed out by a local court. So who killed the priest? You can read a story about this in today's digest.
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A Calgary Anglican parish is the first in Canada to take up an invitation made by Pope Benedict XVI last year to return to the Roman Catholic fold.
After nearly 10 months of research, meetings and soul searching, 90 per cent of the 70-member congregation at St. John the Evangelist in southeast Calgary voted in favor of the shift.
St. John the Evangelist has long been considered a traditionalist church, referring to itself on its website as a "centre of orthodox Anglo-Catholicism."
"This isn't the Pope . . . poaching Anglicans," parish priest Father Lee Kenyon said Tuesday. "It's the Pope actually responding to persistent requests from Anglicans for many, many years for full communion. But a communion which is united but not absorbed."
The invitation, or Anglicanorum Coetibus, allows for new converts to retain parts of their liturgy and traditions.
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Archbishop John Hepworth, primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, put out a pastoral statement on the progress of creating ordinariates under Anglicanorum Coetibus.
Some particular points of interest:
"It is expected that announcements about [two] countries initially involved in preparations for the Anglican Ordinariates (Canada and the United States) will soon be forthcoming.
"It is also important that the rest of the Anglican world is quickly reassured that the Apostolic Constitution has a global reach. In our own Communion, four further Provinces have already passed resolutions seeking the formation of an Ordinariate.
"Fifty-one priests of the TAC in the United States have so far indicated that they are seeking admission.
"The Canadian TAC Bishops (Bishops Wilkinson, Reid and Botterill) have petitioned for an Ordinariate. Forty-three of their clergy have so far announced their intention of seeking admission to the Ordinariate with their bishops."
An Anglican Church in America (ACA) source has told VOL that what Hepworth didn't say was this:
"Much of this is indeed vague. It is, as much as anything, a rallying cry. ++John is a fairly good salesman. It is hardly as rosy as he might suggest, especially since neither India nor all of Africa express any interest in Ordinariates."
Re Dioceses
West: Some interest there, though Bishop Williams will stay with the ACA and not go to the Ordinariate.
Missouri Valley: Bishop Strawn will stay with the ACA, though a few of his parishes will attempt to enter the Ordinariate.
Northeast: Few, if any, parishes will go to an Ordinariate.
DEUS: A real mess. Only the Cathedral has announced for the Ordinariate. A breakaway group of 50% or more of parishes, clergy and people there have declared themselves faithful to the ACA and opposed to the Ordinariate. Bishop Campese has received a letter from his chancellor (.) stating that, by declaring his intent to enter the Ordinariate, he is in violation of his employment contract.
At this point, only 20 parishes and missions from the ACA will attempt to enter an Ordinariate. The ACA currently lists 100 or so parishes and missions.
Some facts:
1. Most clergy seeking to be received into the Ordinariate are retired or non-parochial;
2. All TAC clergy will be required to take additional training. Any who are received will require absolute ordination in the RC church.
3. There is no certainty that the Ordinariate will be established in the US. This is largely an English effort, one that grew out of the problems regarding women bishops in the C of E.
4. TAC clergy - indeed TAC itself - will have almost no leadership role in the Ordinariates.
VOL has learned that there will be a teleconference on Tuesday with the full ACA House of Bishops. This should be interesting. Any real problems that surface could delay or derail the Ordinariate program in the US at least as far as the ACA folks are concerned. Many want an amicable separation. It will be interesting to see if that can be affected.
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According to a recent Pew Research survey, the homosexual lifestyle is gaining approval among a growing number of Americans who call themselves Christians.
In a national survey conducted in early November 58 percent of those who identified themselves as church members approve of homosexuals serving openly in the military. Continuing partisan and religious differences in opinion were also revealed concerning the issue, but the study also shows that liberal mainline Protestants and Catholics tend to favor homosexuals' military service by about a 3-to-1 margin.
"Clearly the current mood of the culture is to approve and tolerate homosexual and other relationships outside of marriage, and the military has stood as an exception to that," notes Alan Wisdom of The Institute on Religion & Democracy. "But it seems likely that the military is going to conform eventually to the society from which it's drawn."
He points out that 48 percent of white evangelicals oppose lifting "don't ask, don't tell," making that group a minority.
"It reinforces what we have seen elsewhere, which is that evangelicals are a minority in American society and they are going against the current of the culture in a number of cases," Wisdom adds.
Among all Americans surveyed, only 27 percent oppose lifting the ban, while more than half of conservative Republicans oppose "don't ask, don't tell."
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The C.S. Lewis Foundation has long envisioned establishing C.S. Lewis College in the U.S. as a fully accredited Christian institution of Great Books and Visual and Performing Arts. That vision is about to become a reality as plans move forward to launch C.S. Lewis College on the beautiful campus in Northfield, Massachusetts, recently acquired for this purpose from Northfield Mount Hermon School. This property has been purchased for the use of C.S. Lewis College by Hobby Lobby, a privately held retail chain of arts and crafts stores based in Oklahoma City, OK.
Subject to securing all appropriate approvals, C.S. Lewis College currently plans to commence instruction in Fall 2012. For more information on the C.S. Lewis foundation and current programs along with news on the college, please visit www.cslewis.org or sign up for their mailing list on the Contact Us page.
C.S. Lewis Foundation: (909) 793-0949 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (909) 793-0949 end_of_the_skype_highlighting college@cslewis.org cslewiscollege.org site design by Nehemiah Communications. http://www.cslewiscollege.org/index.html
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Apple removed the Manhattan Declaration iPhone/iPad application from the iTunes Store. This happened sometime over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Manhattan Declaration app was accepted by Apple and rated as a 4+, meaning it contained no objectionable material. Yet Apple pulled the app shortly after a small but very vocal protest by those who favor gay marriage and abortion.
We are urging Apple to restore the App, and have written to Steve Jobs. We will update you with developments as they arise. Immediate updates will be sent via Facebook and Twitter. Stay tuned for more...
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Evangelical vs. Mainline Politics. A new study suggests that evangelical pastors are more likely to take public stances and candidates than their mainline cohorts, Christianity Today reports in a version of the "Political Engagements" chart that first appeared on Faith & Leadership's Call & Response blog. This is a major turnabout. For years mainline Protestant denominations have taken the lead endorsing liberal trends and candidates. Now it seems, evangelicals, long dormant on issues like abortion, freedom, and First Amendment issues have become galvanized and willing now to speak up.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has more data on political activity at churches. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has newer data on religious aspects of the 2010 election.
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There were a number of firsts this week in ecclesiastical appointments. The Diocese of Northern Malawi consecrated its first African bishop to succeed the Rt. Rev. Christopher Boyle, the last British bishop in Central Africa.
On Nov 7, the Rev. Canon Fanuel Emmanuel Chioko Magangani was consecrated by ten bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa. His consecration fills the last vacancy in the House of Bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa, which will now permit the province to elect a new primate to replace Archbishop Bernard Malango, who retired in 2007.
A new bishop was installed in Thailand On Oct 31, Archbishop John Chew of Singapore ordained the Rev. Pairoj Phiammattawat to the priesthood at Christ Church, Bangkok, making him the first native priest in the 105-year history of the church's work in Thailand.
The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio was installed as bishop of the Episcopal Church of Cuba during a Nov. 28 ceremony at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Havana, the first woman to serve in that role. Among those attending the ceremony were Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Archbishop Fred Hiltz of the Anglican Church of Canada. The Cuban church includes about 40 congregations and some 10,000 Episcopalians.
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Mere Anglicanism 2011 The 2011 Mere Anglicanism conference will honor the faithful witness of Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison (SC ret.) to the Word of God's Grace. The conference will be held at St. Phillips Church in Charleston S.C. January 20-23. Among the speakers this year are Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Dr. Ashley Null, the Rev. Dr. Bill Dickson and many others. It is still not too late to sign up. You can go here. http://www.mereanglicanism.com/register.htm As usual VOL will be there to cover this notable conference.
Here is a typical quote from Bishop Allison:
"A sergeant told a grim joke to his trainees during the Second World War, which shows the real flaw in the Pharisaic understanding of Christianity. A man stopped on a dirt road to help get another man's car out of the ditch. The latter was beginning to harness two small furry kittens to the bumper of this huge car when he was asked, 'Mister, you aren't going to try to get those kittens to pull that car out of the ditch, are you?' His reply was, 'Why not? I've got a whip.' The lash of the Law is used in similar spiritual situations. Without the principle of forgiveness our conscience acquires a quality of cruelty that makes the Gospel of Christ anything but the Good News."
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If you think that the Anglican Covenant has a prayer of being passed, ratified and obeyed by Anglicans across the world, consider what a leading homosexual, (the Rev.) Colin Coward of Changing Attitude pasted on his Facebook site recently. "I've been following threads on Thinking Anglicans and wondering how groups and individuals think change in a pro-LGBT direction is going to be achieved without strategic and effective action - how, for example, do we ensure the Covenant is defeated or neutered? http://changingattitude-england.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-will-pattern-of-anglican-communion.html With friends like this, Dr. Rowan Williams doesn't need enemies.
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BREAKING NEWS...VOL has just received word that Bishop Seabury Church in the Diocese of Connecticut will have their case heard on appeal and has been taken up by the State Supreme Court. Fr. Ron Gauss told VOL that their attorneys believe this is a positive enterprise. "We believe so as well."
