Diversity and harmony. The church as a multi-racial, multi-cultural community is like a beautiful tapestry. Its members come from a wide range of colorful backgrounds. No other human community resembles it. Its diversity and harmony are unique. It is God's new society. And the many-coloured fellowship of the church is a reflection of the many-coloured (or 'many- splendoured', to use Francis Thompson's word) wisdom of God. --- From "The Message of Ephesians" (The Bible Speaks Today)

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
4/25/2009

LONDON. Here in central London near Westminster Abbey one can hear the howls of rage from the throats of mostly young gay activists on the streets outside Emmanuel Center protesting a conference put on by Anglican Mainstream that deals with the healing of homosexuals. Yes, reparative therapy works. I have read the literature. Today I saw it in action with young men coming forward and telling their stories and experiencing the beginning of healing in their lives of same-sex attractions under the gentle prodding of Dr. Joe Nicolosi.

There is nothing coercive about what is going on. No one is laying blame, producing guilt or throwing Bible verses at men and women exploring why it is they have same-sex attractions. They are here to learn and to cast aside these unwanted attractions. It is a matter of choice, always choice. No arm twisting. They are here because they want to be here. They want to grow up to be men, real men who want to marry and have lives free from the distortions of a behavior that offers no lasting relief, more often than not leaving them empty and lonely.

The three speakers include Dr. Joe Nicolosi, a Roman Catholic reparative therapist from California (though he did not once mention or use his faith); Arthur Goldberg who runs JONAH ministries in NJ (who did use the Torah as the basis of healing); and the distinguished psychiatrist and physicist Dr. Jeffrey Satinover author of "Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth".

The three told their audience that change is not only possible for homosexuals with same-sex attraction, but that thousands of men and women have thrown off homosexual behavior. Many are marrying and living normal lives.

"It's all about choice, choice, choice," said Nicolosi. "Individuals have the right to explore their heterosexual potential. It is about freedom of choice. It is about diversity, autonomy, self-determination. The language gays are using, we are using. We say 'who are you to judge, let me decide for my life. I don't want gays telling me I can't change.' All the cliches used by gay activists, we are using for ex-gays."

I have covered this conference and put stories up at the website with more coming. I was privileged to interview all three men. The irony of this conference is that it is being put on by Evangelical Anglicans with very little Anglican presence. Not a single CofE bishop showed up. They wouldn't dare show their faces for fear of offending homosexuals or the Archbishop of Canterbury. Most Anglicans, indeed society at large, disavow reparative therapy. Evangelicals live uneasily with that decision, knowing full well in their hearts that the behavior is wrong, but unwilling to upset the establishment by publicly appearing at a conference like this. It's all about reputation, you see. They don't want to ruin theirs by being seen here. Forget that He, the Son of the Father, made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant...

*****

I do wish Richard Dawkins wouldn't run round calling himself an atheist and saying God doesn't exist. It implies he takes religion seriously.

What is even sadder is that a number of our Episcopal bishops do take something called Anglicanism seriously, but really don't believe it all. You would be hard pressed to find many Episcopal bishops who believe in substitutionary atonement or the bodily resurrection of Jesus because such a "fundamentalist" approach to Scripture would ruin interfaith dialogue...and that is sacrilege. Telling a Jew or a Muslim that Jesus IS the Messiah of expectation and that He is the only Son of the Father and that there is salvation in no other name is offensive to the intellectual elite of The Episcopal Church who are not remotely interested in converting anybody, because that is not what we do (sniff, sniff). We are Episcopalians, after all, and we love to talk about God loving absolutely everybody. Any notion of change, especially behavioral change, is unnecessary, because God loves us just the way we are and we should not think about conforming to His will, simply reinforcing our own.

So it should come as no surprise that most Episcopal bishops take the Windsor Report just slightly less seriously than Mark's Gospel.

These liberal views might well be shared by the Archbishop of Canterbury who seems more concerned about not offending British Muslims or Jeffrey John or atheists who pop into Lambeth Palace for dinner. On the other hand, it is perfectly acceptable to cock a snook at Rochester Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, jump on the leadership of 25 million Nigerian Anglicans who repudiate sodomy in their culture and church, castigate Evangelicals for their lack of inclusivity and suggest that ALPHA is a teensy bit simplistic in this complicated age of iPods, cell phones and ecclesiastical wing nuts like The Very Rev. Colin Slee, the Dean of Southwark cathedral, who I'm told, yearns for a purple shirt, hence his outrageous remarks. Any offers should be addressed to: The Provost's Lodging, Bankside, London...

Slee has a pathological hatred of orthodox folk and recently accused the departing Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali of setting up an alternative church. According to last weekend's London Sunday Telegraph, he also declared that, together with Bishops Wallace Benn and Pete Broadbent, Nazir-Ali's status as a bishop in the Anglican Communion, 'must be open to some debate' because they had declined invitations to last year's Lambeth Conference.

The Dean of Southwark is one of the more outspoken liberals in the Church of England, once describing Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen's involvement with English conservative evangelicals as 'reprehensible'. A British columnist noted that these remarks cannot be dismissed as the unrepresentative prejudices of one man. He is a member of the Crown Nomination Commission, which has a key role in the appointment of the Church of England's bishops, and Southwark Cathedral is the most ancient cathedral church in London.

This is the voice of comfortable liberal establishment religiosity made uncomfortable by GAFCON's challenge to its hegemony, already expressed in the crude epithet applied to Michael Nazir Ali in a letter from Lambeth Palace in December last year and judged sufficiently offensive for a member of Rowan William's staff to have to resign.

As Dean of a cathedral which traces its history back to 604AD, Colin Slee is remarkably uninhibited by the weight of centuries of religious history and vigorously advocates overturning the Church's historic teaching on sexuality. It is no surprise then that he and New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson are friends.

Taking his cue from Rowan Williams, he argues that same sex relationships can be equivalent to marriage. However, unlike Dr Williams, he is willing to be quite blunt about the incompatibility of his position with the Bible. During the controversy over the attempt to appoint Dr Jeffrey John, a leading advocate for the homosexual movement, as Bishop of Reading in 2003, he remarked, "Jeffrey has always been incredibly honest and frank and has never ever tried to fudge. We've all got to have the courage to say some of the Scripture is complete rubbish." and "Gays have been excluded from the church for a very long time and what is that if not schism?"

So Scripture, or portions of it that Dean Slee thinks he can't live with, should be abandoned because he says so.

Dear Lord, when you made Adam and Eve you should have made Rodney and Steve. Your lack of inclusion has meant 6,000 years of the worst oppression known to humankind and if there was a way to pay you back, by God I would.

Inclusively yours,

Gene

It is probably why The Bishop of Pittsburgh, Robert Duncan made the "outrageous" observation in London this week at a gathering of orthodox GAFCON primates and bishops that there are now two very identifiable religions in the Anglican Communion and one of them is not really Christianity at all. Could one slap the Archbishop of Canterbury in the face with a cooked kipper any harder than that? One doubts it. What Duncan is saying is that we have schism in the Anglican Communion in all but name and that the future of Anglicanism will be decided by orthodox Anglican bishops around the globe and not by the dictates, prevarications or compromises of Lambeth Palace or the Anglican Consultative Council. Is anyone listening? How soon will it be before a new orthodox Anglican province is formed in the UK along the lines of ACNA in the US? Anything is possible.

*****

The GAFCON archbishops and bishops, who met in London this past week as part of the Fellowship of confessing Anglicans (FAC) Primates' Council, declared that authority lays within the provinces and not the "instruments of unity". Even if that is true, it is still the province of the ACC to decide who is and who is not a member of the Anglican Communion. That story will be reiterated and repeated in Jamaica when ACC members, including 75 archbishops and bishops, meet to talk about the Windsor Report and the Covenant. Most of these players are liberal and will go along to get along with the agenda of the ACC. There will probably be no talk about the elephant in the narthex - GAFCON or ACNA - because they are not considered authentically Anglican and will never be recognized by Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury or the ACC.

So where does this leave us?

For the moment, it still leaves the Archbishop of Canterbury and the ACC with all the temporal power, and other Anglicans outside the palace wall with no invitation to join the club. The real spiritual power lies with the Global South; they have both the numbers and a clear understanding of the gospel. Furthermore, provinces like Nigeria are becoming increasingly self-sufficient and don't need the largess of The Episcopal Church, any more.

Nonetheless, TEC continues to pour money into Africa in order to buy brand name loyalty. Trinity Wall Street, acting as a proxy for TEC, will give $620,000 in project money to the Episcopal Church of the Sudan. Recently, TEC announced it would pour money into Liberia and the Cuttington University College in order to peddle their liberal gospel. Will it work? Only time will tell.

*****

THE announcement this week that the kick-off of the new North American Anglican province scheduled for Ft. Worth in June will have some notable speakers has stirred considerable interest. Not all of it positive. The heavy-hitters in the ACNA leadership are flying in Rick Warren, America's Mr. Evangelical and heir to the Billy Graham mantle; an Orthodox Prelate by the name of Metropolitan Jonah (a former Episcopal priest) from the Orthodox Church of America; and a missions expert, the Rev. Dr. Todd Hunter from the Anglican Mission in the Americas.

This will be a veritable smorgasbord of orthodox and evangelical luminaries. This indicates at one level that denominational lines now don't matter (and for an increasing number of Americans, they don't), but it does raise the deeper issue of Anglican identity. What does it mean to be Anglican in this context?

One shrewd observer said that what it tells him is that ACNA still doesn't know who it is. "There is way too much diversity here. Why didn't they pack the conference with men like J.I. Packer, Michael Green, Michael Nazir-Ali, John Rodgers, C. FitzSimons Allison, Peter Akinola, Henry Luke Orombi and Greg Venables et al. That's where their identity lies."

He then said this:

* They don't have the publicity and numbers that Rick Warren has.
* They don't have the credibility and ties to the historic church of the Orthodox.
* They silently want to experience the on-going gifts of the Spirit that the Charismatics have.

Are these leaders (a) apologizing for being Anglican or (b) silently wanting what they don't have?

Clearly most North American Anglicans want ACNA. At least 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes believe its time has come and the ACNA bishops will sort out the details over the coming months. If Bishop Jack Iker, a non-believer in women's ordination, can live with several of his colleagues who believe in women's ordination (through a period of open reception), then the new archbishop Bob Duncan clearly does believe all things are possible.

*****

Add to the mix this week a statement put out by 17 Anglicans leaders of the Anglican Communion Partnership that says authority resides with local bishops and not with general conventions. If this is true, and they can make the case that it is, it should impact property lawsuits. However, there is no evidence to date that that is true. When General Convention passes a canon or changes its constitutions, it is done by vote of both houses and then it becomes canon law. Diocesan bishops are acting like imperial tyrants these days, inhibiting and deposing suing and ruining whole parishes in the name of inclusivity.

*****

Another group of 15 orthodox Episcopal Church bishops, who have declared themselves loyal to The Episcopal Church and to the Anglican Communion, put out a statement this week challenging their church hierarchy over the Anglican Covenant. Calling themselves the Anglican Communion Partners, they opined that the Episcopal Church as a whole will resist signing the Covenant - the document that has been drafted to regularize belief and practice in the Anglican Communion in the wake of the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay bishop, in 2003. The statement asserts the right of individual dioceses to sign the Covenant. Failure by the Church to sign the Covenant, or any attempt to prevent dioceses' signing, "would be decisive", they said. At the same time as producing this statement, the Anglican Communion Partner bishops have been planning to test the waters of diocesan autonomy. In a series of emails, they have discussed a potential request for alternative episcopal oversight by a priest in the diocese of Colorado, where the Bishop is a liberal. Their move can be seen as an alternative path to that taken by the Common Cause Anglicans in the United States, who last year established the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) under the deposed Bishop of Pittsburgh, Robert Duncan.

*****

As if the waters were not muddy enough, an Anglican Communion Partners statement, which challenges Episcopal Church polity, got unwanted publicity when a number of e-mails floated by Mark Harris on the Executive Council suggesting that dioceses are autonomous entities and independent of General Convention, found their way onto the Internet, causing a lot of embarrassment to Dr. Chris Seitz, the primary author of them. The group's conclusions drew swift criticism for being an attack on the church's governance, and was signed by 15 active and retired Episcopal Church bishops and endorsed by three Episcopal clergy who are members of the conservative Anglican Communion Institute. It was leaked online April 22 and officially released later the same day. It suggests that Episcopal Church dioceses are "not subject to any metropolitical power or hierarchical control" but rather "the ecclesiastical authorities in our dioceses are the Bishops and Standing Committees; no one else may act in or speak on behalf of the dioceses or of the Episcopal Church within the dioceses."

In light of their conclusions about the church's governance, the group's statement also claims that individual dioceses are constitutionally entitled to sign onto the proposed Anglican covenant, a set of principles intended to bind the Anglican Communion provinces in light of recent disagreements over human sexuality issues and theological interpretation.

ACI leaders immediately put out a statement saying that such a breach of confidentiality was unethical, perhaps even libelous, as it contains the private thoughts of Anglican leaders that are under the seal.

"We have noted with increasing concern statements by leaders and bodies of The Episcopal Church questioning our participation in the proposed Anglican covenant and opining that dioceses may not sign the covenant if The Episcopal Church as a whole were to refrain from doing so on behalf of all its dioceses," the statement says. "Any attempt to prevent willing dioceses from signing the covenant would be unconstitutional and thereby void."

Those who signed the statement are also members of the Communion Partners initiative, an informal association of bishops and clergy who have reiterated their commitment to "remaining faithful members of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion."

When will ACI conservatives ever learn that the liberals have no interest in fair play? The revisionists want to win by any means, fair or foul and they will just use the ACI types to get to their desired end.

Ironically, one of the statement's endorsers, the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, is a member of the Covenant Design Group, the internationally representative committee that is writing and revising the covenant text.

*****

The AREA OF SHERBORNE in England will have a new bishop. The Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. David Stancliffe, announced this week that Dr. Graham Kings, Vicar of St Mary's Islington in the Diocese of London, is to be the next Bishop of Sherborne. Dr. Kings, 55, succeeds Bishop Tim Thornton who became Bishop of Truro last year.

Dr. Graham Kings, A FULCRUM leader and liberal evangelical, got the nod and will become the next Bishop of Sherborne. His diocesan bishop is a patron of Changing Attitude which is an organization committed to changing the teaching and practice of the CofE with regard to same-sex relationships. The Dean of Salisbury, The Very Rev. June Osborne was the author of a report on Same-Sex relationships which was suppressed in the '80s for taking a too liberal a line, prior to the Resolution passed by General Synod in 1987 and sponsored by bishop Michael Baughan that is the current position of the Cof E. It is has been observed that the Fulcrum website embraces a wide range of perspectives which are usually critical of the orthodox stances taken by conservative Anglicans. It was and remains critical of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem and strongly resisted any endorsement of the Jerusalem Declaration at the end of last year. Dr. Kings appears to take the position that while personally orthodox he is prepared to accept the diversity of views which includes the positive acceptance of same sex relations as compatible with Christian discipleship.

This is a clear signal from the hierarchy of the CofE that there is a place for orthodox Anglicans in senior leadership, provided they are prepared to accept the legitimacy of contradictory views on human sexuality. Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was not so prepared. One comment in the report that Kings successfully oversaw the growth of a church, begs the question as to why senior clergy like the Rev. Nicky Gumbel, leader of ALPHA, and John Coles, leader of New Wine who have proven abilities over the years to energize local churches with enthusiasm for gospel growth far beyond the bounds of their own parish, could be adequately considered for ministry as bishops. FULCRUM has also publicly criticized Common Cause.

*****

In the DIOCESE OF LOUISIANA, Bishop Charles Jenkins has issued a plea for donations to help with funeral expenses for 6-year-old Four Overstreet, one of the victims in a recent triple homicide in Terrytown. In a letter, Jenkins said that young Four "is not just another name but was known to us through his participation in sports programs we helped get going. "Four also got a trophy from me for his participation," Jenkins wrote. Four and Domonique Sterling, 19, and her son, Robert Claiborne, 23 months, were shot to death early Saturday in an apartment in the 900 block of East Monterey Court. An 11-year-old girl also was wounded. Authorities booked Dayshawn Young, 24, with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder in the incident and are seeking a second suspect. Jenkins asked that donations be taken to the Treme Center and that checks be made payable to Professional Funeral Home or taken to the funeral home at 1620 Elysian Fields, New Orleans. The funeral home's number is 504.948.7447.

*****

Audio Bibles connect modern technology to the Word of God, with the timeless result of sharing God's Word with people who hunger for spiritual knowledge. Faith Comes By Hearing has been at the forefront of this movement, working tirelessly to compile the largest catalog of Audio Bibles in the world with ongoing translations being worked on as we speak. Thanks to these efforts, listeners from around the world can now hear the Scriptures in pristine digital recordings in 359 languages. This technology allows people to have Audio Bible listening programs in 97 countries. Children and villagers who have not learned to read can follow along and begin learning written words.

Audio Bible downloads provide global access to this collection of Bible translations, and make it possible to let the Word of God pour out to the people of every culture, in languages they can understand. Audio Bibles offer a solution to the fact that over half the people on the planet today cannot read and therefore do not have a means for understanding the Word of God. By taking advantage of the conveniences offered in today's electronic world, the Bible MP3 and Bible on CD are shared using CD, DVD players, and computers. The Bible can now be carried out onto the missionary field using electronic playback devices with multiple power sources such as solar power. Through these methods, the Word of God is expanding into the farthest reaches of the world and being shared in audio format for the benefit of all.

*****

God may not have borders, but it seems to one VOL reader that "borders of the diocese" are one of the few things that many bishops worship these days. For the Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith, one of them, the crossing of a border by another bishop without their permission is one of the few truly unforgivable sins. Bishops may not want the U.S. to have borders, but they surely believe God wants bishops to have them. So this past week, Bishop Smith, bishop of the EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF ARIZONA, took part in a walk along the 20-foot wall between Arizona and Mexico muttering that this is not in line with God's intention for humanity. He spoke on the Mexican side of the border. In a ceremony on the Mexican side, a mock wall made of chicken wire and wood was laid down peacefully as a symbol of the hope that the wall between the U.S. and Mexico will someday fall. The Rev. Seth Polley, vicar of Episcopal parishes in Bisbee and Douglas, Arizona, wanted to call attention to border and immigration issues. "We want to show the citizens of Mexico who try to cross the border that not all Americans view them with hostility. We want to treat them like neighbors."

*****

'No Papal divorce gift for Charles'. The Vatican has denied that the Prince of Wales was to receive a replica of Henry VIII's divorce as an official gift from the Pope. Heir to the throne, Charles is to introduce his second wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, to Pope Benedict XVI next Monday during a two-day trip to Italy. Chief Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi said it was untrue that the Pontiff would give the Prince a luxury facsimile of the 1530 appeal by English peers to Pope Clement VII for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry VIII battled with the Vatican throughout his life, which ultimately led to him separating the Anglican Church from Rome and creating the Church of England. It will be Charles's first audience at the Vatican since his divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales. The royal visit to the Vatican takes on added significance following the recent announcement by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he has been in talks with Buckingham Palace about reversing a ban on heirs to the throne from marrying Catholics.

*****

The ANGLICAN CHURCH OF KENYA has a new archbishop replacing Benjamin Nzimbi. The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala is their new Archbishop. A simple majority in the fourth round elected the 58-year-old Wabukala who has bee serving as the Bungoma Bishop, after the contesting clerics failed to secure the compulsory two thirds majority in the first three rounds. Dr Wabukala is due to take over from Benjamin Nzimbi who formally retires in June after attaining the maximum age limit of 65.

*****

VIRTUEONLINE officially inaugurated its GLOBAL ANGLICAN THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE this week and you can see the results at the website. It is still in its embryonic stage, and will be developed more fully with a second website with articles appearing in multiple languages. Please read and share with others. We are delighted that the Rev. Dr. Robert J. Sanders is the gatekeeper for this new project: www.globalanglican.org

To make this a fuller reality, we do need your financial support.

PLEASE consider a tax-deductible donation to support this vital ministry. These digests come to you 52 weeks of the year at no charge. There is no orthodox Anglican ministry like it. VOL covers the Anglican world for you seven days a week.

You can send a check to support this ministry to:

VIRTUEONLINE
1236 Waterford Rd.
West Chester, PA 19380

If you would prefer to make a donation through PAYPAL you can do so by going to www.virtueonline.org

Thank you for your support.

All Blessings,

David