Last year, 5,621 Christians were killed worldwide because of their faith -- 90% of them were northern Nigerians. -- Christian Post

DNA proves that both Jews and Palestinians (like other Arabs in the region) can trace their roots back to the ancient Canaanites, but there are no ancient Palestinian people--politically or culturally. -- Ron Cantor

Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen --- Traditional 1662 Collect.

David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
March 17, 2023

Almost every week another Global South archbishop comes out with a blast at the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, over his church's desire to bless same-sex marriage.

All the nuanced talk that the Church of England is not changing its doctrine of marriage, hasn't fooled anybody with half a brain. Blessing a same-sex marriage is still blessing homosexual behavior which now, according to the Church of England's bishops, is okay with God and receives His blessing.

The Primate of Kenya, the Most Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit publicly excoriated Justin Welby in a personal conversation he had with him, which Welby did not report, but later appeared in a video sent to VOL.

Sapit lashed out at the Archbishop of Canterbury and told him that he could not remove homosexuality from the list of sins, because the Bible called it sin.

"When I asked him [about this], he did not answer...he will not answer," Sapit roared to a packed All Saints cathedral in Naivasha.

When Sapit confronted Welby, the ABC replied, "I am blessing people not sin."

Sapit retorted; "But if I bless you in the context of business, it is business. If I bless you in the context of the family it is called family. If I bless you in the context of gay marriage, I bless that marriage which the Bible calls sin."

"In whose name are you going to bless it? If you bless it in the name of God; it is sin. Are you going to invoke the name of God? You cannot invoke what is not right before God."

From Welby there was just silence. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/kenya-anglican-primate-lashes-out-archbishop-canterbury-over-same-sex-blessings

Interestingly, The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, a TEC financially supported diocese, issued a statement stating that despite recent shifts in belief and practice within other provinces and dioceses of the Anglican Communion, "the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem has neither changed, nor does it contemplate any future change, in its adherence to the Church's traditional teaching and practice on Christian marriage as being a lifelong union between a man and a woman as detailed in the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution 1.10."

The Anglican Church of Tanzania issued a statement saying that voting in favor to bless same-sex people and not their relationships is a very difficult distinction to make. "We are sorry to say that this decision has left many questions for Christians in various parts of the Anglican Communion and even non-Christians including here in Tanzania and especially considering that under Article 3(3) of its Constitution. The Anglican Church in Tanzania shall continue to teach that marriage is between a man and a woman, and be firm in its orthodox teaching that anything contrary to Scriptures is against the Will of God." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/anglican-church-tanzania-responds-decision-church-england-bless-same-sex-marriage

From the Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo comes this word from Bishop Steven Ayule Milenge of Bukavu, who viewed the latest development as "the work of a devil" within the church and through some leaders.

"Many leaders are running the church as a secular entity," Bishop Milenge told OSV News. "We must follow and teach what the Bible says and teaches."

The archbishops from Africa, North and South America, and Asia-Pacific said as much as they wanted "to keep the unity ... and the fabric of the Anglican Communion," their calling to be "a holy remnant" did not allow them to be in communion with those provinces that have "departed from the historic faith" and "taken the path of false teachings," the statement read.

***

But late Wednesday came news that some British MPs were threatening to use legislation to pressure the Church into accepting same-sex marriage, prompting anger from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP and former culture secretary, will present a ten-minute rule motion in the Commons next Tuesday asking that "leave be given to bring in a bill to enable clergy of the Church of England to conduct same-sex marriages on Church of England premises".

Push back was swift. Andrew Selous, the Tory MP and Second Church Estates Commissioner, who represents the Church in Parliament, told the Synod that "it is not the job of parliament to decide what the doctrine of the Church of England should be" and that it "would infringe on the settled principles of religious freedom [and] overturn a century of measured devolution from parliament to synod".

But there are deeper fissures within the Church of England itself that reveal deepening and seemingly irreversible divide.

The Rev. Vaughan Roberts, vicar of St. Ebbe's, Oxford, said he was already in "impaired communion" with the bishops in his Oxford diocese. He called the same-sex blessings a "shocking departure from the teaching of God's Word." He concluded with this; "I am determined to stay to contend for truth and bear witness to Christ within the Church of England, and believe we can do so with integrity, certainly at this time and for the foreseeable future." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/oxford-st-ebbes-resists-decision-general-synod-over-same-sex-blessings

Two parishes in the diocese of London, All Souls, Langham Place and St. Helen's Bishopsgate registered their disapproval of Synod's actions. They have both paused all Common Fund payments "until we know the outcome of General Synod and have taken the time necessary to work through the implications of any decisions coming from it." Neither church said they would leave the Church of England.

One wonders what the late John Stott (formerly of All Souls) would now do remembering his confrontation with the late Martin Lloyd Jones who urged Uncle John to leave the CofE some 60 years ago. Would Stott say this is the last line in the sand?

Meanwhile, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) issued a declaration calling for resistance "that authorizes or commends liturgical provision for the celebration, dedication, blessing or solemnization of any sexual relationship other than marriage between one man and one woman."

The call to resistance did not include breaking away from the Church of England. You can read more here: https://declaration.ceec.info/

Church of England evangelicals are deeply conflicted about how to move forward.

My sources tell me that the whole situation in the CofE is lost, with just one sliver of hope; that evangelicals in London who coalesce around All Souls and St Helen's fight back as a group. This could make a difference.

There are three evangelical groupings in the CofE.
1. Committed to staying and will compromise on gay marriage.
2. They will stay but as loyal opposition. They will express "regret," but they won't fight the church or state.
3. Evangelicals united to leave and come under another Anglican jurisdiction.
Anglo-Catholics seem committed to staying and being part of the opposition. This action by the Church of England might push more into the Ordinariate but that does not seem to have happened to date.

The biggest issue is, that most evangelicals in the UK are not aware of what happened in the US and TEC. They also think GAFCON is small and irrelevant to the big CofE picture.

That is a crying shame. Ignorance is not bliss; it can lead to the worst forms of calumny.

There are only a very small handful of evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics left in TEC. The Communion Partner bishops, TEC's loyal opposition, are largely irrelevant in the debate. Bishop Gene Robinson's consecration and Resolution B012 has all but silenced them. 95% of orthodox bishops and clergy have fled to the ACNA, some to the RCC and Orthodox churches or to a Continuing Church jurisdiction.

Based on years of experience, one can safely conclude that Church of England revisionists will rule, and in time same-sex marriage will be canonized and become normalized. What will evangelicals do then?

***

MEANWHILE GAFCON keeps growing in Europe. A new bishop was added to the growing Anglican network. The Anglican Convocation in Europe which is part of GAFCON authorized home for historic, orthodox, faithful, Biblical, confessional Anglicans in the Anglican Network in Europe, added Stuart Bell as its 4th Assistant Bishop to be consecrated for the Network.

Under its presiding bishop, Andy Lines, the Network is providing for growth and enabling a relational model of episcopacy which many have never yet experienced in the Canterbury-aligned structures. Instead of remote organizational management, the Network offers personal prayerful support and encouragement, oversight and accountability to both ministers and congregations in holding out the hope of the gospel to our needy continent.
***

From the Holy See (Vatican) comes this: The Church cannot bless same-sex unions. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith responded in the negative to the possibility of imparting a blessing to unions of same-sex couples, noting that it "does not imply a judgment on persons" involved.

"The Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions. Such blessings, therefore, cannot "be considered licit", according to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) which issued a Response to a dubium that had been presented. Therefore, it is not licit for priests to bless homosexual couples who ask for some type of religious recognition of their union. The CDF says Pope Francis was informed and "gave his assent" to the publication of the Response.

***

Recently on a visit to South America I had the privilege of interviewing the Chilean Primate, the Most Rev. Hector Tito Zavala.

He says the Anglican Communion is out of fashion in the way it is being led and organized with the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Instruments of Unity needing to be reshaped. He said the Anglican Communion needs a new structure. "The Anglican Communion needs a Second Reformation and must return to the Bible as our final source of authority." He also said the
GSFA bishops will not break with the Anglican Communion. You can read my interview here: https://virtueonline.org/chilean-primate-says-anglican-communion-out-fashion-way-it-led-and-organized

***

VOL is an Anglican online news service and we rarely stray from our mission. But a serious issue has emerged in the Roman Catholic Church that has distinct overtones resembling the situation in the Episcopal Church.

The pope has reached a milestone with ten years as the leader of one billion Roman Catholics. They have been turbulent years for the pope, especially and including the death of Benedict a conservative pope, unlike his successor.

The Vatican has been rocked with multiple scandals that include an imbedded gay mafia inside the Vatican, misuse of Vatican bank funds, sexually compromised clergy, bishops, and cardinals around the world. Many of these scandals are faithfully reported by Dr. Jules Gomes, Rome correspondent for Church Militant.

But one issue stands out: the marginalization of the Catholic Church's traditionalists, with Pope Francis doing his best to close down parishes that still want to use the Tridentine mass and have a pre-Vatican II understanding of the Church and its traditions.

Even more disturbing is that "radical" traditional Catholics have been labeled hate groups by the FBI, a charge that has no basis in fact. Upholding Christian values on the family and sexuality does not make you a hate group.

This effort to close traditional Catholic parishes is precisely what the Episcopal church did as it pushed sodomy onto the church. In the end, whole Anglo-Catholic dioceses left TEC for the ACNA. Anglo-Catholic priests were forced out and those that stayed created a faux Catholicism, becoming Affirming Catholics imbibing women's ordination and homosexual marriage. Frank Griswold became a leader in this movement, and we know how that ended. You can read here how Francis turned the screw on traditional Latin mass parishes, here:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-again-turns-screws-use-traditional-latin-mass-2023-02-21/

***

A notable, or should we say notorious death took place this week. Frank Tracy Griswold, the 25th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal died suddenly in Philadelphia, PA. Unusually, no cause of death was announced.

As of today, no international Anglican leader has said anything about his sudden death. No words of condolence came from either the present Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, nor his predecessor Rowan Williams, with whom Griswold fought bitterly in Dromantine, Ireland, because Williams would not push African Anglicans into agreeing with sodomy. There was no love lost with Williams' predecessor George Carey either. Griswold finagled Carey into not recognizing the Anglican Mission in America, (AMiA) an orthodox Anglican upstart body which saw the consecration of two new orthodox bishops that challenged the growing pansexuality of the Episcopal Church.

No orthodox global archbishop or bishop has said a word about Griswold's death. Not a condolence anywhere is to be found from Africa, Asia or South America. TEC bishops passed a resolution remembering Griswold for being a leader "who, rooted in the fullness of the human experience, (AKA promoted sodomy) encouraged us, in tracking down the Holy Ghost and in gathering up the fragments..." This is blasphemous BS. The Holy Spirit tracks us down, not the other way round.

Griswold's primary achievement was presiding over the consecration of Gene Robinson as the first openly partnered homosexual to obtain a bishopric.

Because of this action, Griswold fell afoul of global Anglican leaders who would not waste their time on a man they saw as the enemy of 'the faith once for all delivered to the saints.'

At that time, a couple of Episcopal bishops called on Griswold to resign. Bill Wantland, former Bishop of Eau Claire and John W. Howe, former Bishop of Central Florida told Griswold he should quit over his actions. Most of the Global South leaders refused to allow Griswold into their countries.

Hardly a legacy of love and affirmation. There is also Griswold's own conflicted sexuality alluded to here: https://virtueonline.org/episcopal-presiding-bishop-frank-griswold-dead

I bumped into him over the years, and once at Kennedy Airport on our way to a conference. Phoebe headed in my direction to give me a piece of her mind, but Frank held her back. Nice of him, I suppose.

But the dead giveaway of Frank (of the Flexible wrist) was the consecration of Gene Robinson. This was the high point of Griswold's career. The look on his face as Robinson and his then partner (they are now divorced) embraced and kissed each other, following the nauseous consecration, illuminated everything. I knew then, that Griswold would have defied God, (he had defied the Primates and betrayed them after saying he would not go ahead and consecrate Robinson) over homosexuality. When the Rev. Dr. Earle Fox got up and protested the consecration by delivering on the medical consequences of anal sex, Griswold shut him down, faster than a toupee in a hurricane.
You can read my full take here: https://virtueonline.org/episcopal-presiding-bishop-frank-griswold-dead
You can also read a piece, To Live and Die as a Bishop by attorney David Duggan here: https://virtueonline.org/live-and-die-bishop

Sayonara Frank.

***

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is moving on after a decade of property lawsuits. Bishop Chip Edgar addressing the 2023 Convention of the diocese said this; "The war is over. It's time to seek and save the lost. It's time to plant and revitalize. It's time to hone and consistently renew our minds, to answer the hard questions of the day. And it's time to rebuild what is lost."

***

The Anglican Church of Canada is in serious decline. By all accounts it will be out of business by 2030. Its ASA in all 30 dioceses has reached below 90,000. In keeping with its decline, I wrote a satirical essay; Canadian Anglican Archbishop Threatens to try Christianity to Keep Church Afloat.

Recognizing that her church is rapidly dying, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada the Most Rev. and Exalted Linda Carol Nicholls has threatened to try Christianity to keep her dying institution afloat.

"For too long now we have embraced woke issues of justice and sodomy, but it doesn't seem to be working; we are running out of money and we need "radical solutions" to fix the problem, she told the church. See here: https://anglicanjournal.com/primate-proposes-new-commission-to-look-for-creative-lifegiving-solutions-for-church/

Columbaria are filling up daily, and some priests are so desperate for money they are pocketing the proceeds from funerals instead of reporting them. One or two have been taking to gin after the internment because they can't find new bums on pews, she said. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/canadian-anglican-archbishop-threatens-try-christianity-keep-church-afloat

On a more positive note, the Anglican Diocese of Arctic is defying the National Church over same-sex marriage. Two of their evangelical bishops will attend GAFCON IV in Kigali next month

Resisting the siren call to allow same-sex marriages, the Diocese of the Arctic in the Anglican Church of Canada refuses to kowtow to the sect's revisionists. The largest of the 30 dioceses in the province of 1.5 million square miles, the Diocese of the Arctic claims evangelical solidarity with bishops and clergy not recognized by the Lambeth Conference, but with GAFCON and the Anglican Network in Canada.

In a 'Friend of ANIC and ACNA' e-mail, Bishop David W. Parsons wrote that he and his fellow suffragans would attend and partner with the evangelically driven global Anglican conference with whom they have everything in common. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/canada-anglican-diocese-arctic-defies-national-church-over-same-sex-marriage

***

THE TRANSGENDER TIDE MAY BE TURNING. Experts are urging caution in the use of life-changing medical treatment for children and adolescents

In 2013, the number of children treated annually at the Doernbecher Children's Hospital gender clinic at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland was 16. In 2021, the number was 724 -- a rise of about 4500 percent, writes Michael Cook for Mercatornet.com

This is far from unusual. Across the United States and Europe, the number of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria is exploding. No one really knows why. But many specialized gender clinics are offering them life-changing medical treatment -- puberty blockers, sex change hormones, and even "gender affirming" surgery.

This puzzling rise in a poorly understood phenomenon has prompted some providers and European authorities to urge caution because of a lack of strong evidence.

In a new report from The BMJ Investigations Unit, an American women's health journalist, Jennifer Block, looked into the evidence base behind this surge in treatment. The BMJ [British Medical Journal] is one of the world's leading medical journals. Its misgivings cannot be dismissed as conservative fear-mongering.

Block begins by showing that more teens with no history of gender dysphoria are presenting at gender clinics. For example, a recent analysis of insurance claims found that nearly 18,000 US minors began taking puberty blockers or hormones from 2017 to 2021, the number rising each year. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/transgender-tide-may-be-turning

***

The Anglican Way Institute will hold its annual Summer Conference May 31- June 2, 2023. This is a "reformed Catholic" movement, with a raft of interesting speakers. You can sign up here: https://www.holycommuniondallas.org/awi

***

I will be attending GAFCON IV next month in Kigali, Rwanda and I could use some funding for this event. I have a support team to assist me that will need support.

VOL continues to lead the communion in bringing you the news that most other Anglican news outlets won't touch. We reached a new readership high with nearly 1.5 million page views this past year and we remain the leader in global Anglican news reporting.

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