When our soul has no love for Christ, we are like ships that have no fuel, no gas in their engines. We must always remember Christ with love. Then our soul will leap for joy. --- Elder Amphilochios of Patmos, +1970

Bear Fruit to Stand at the Last Day. Let us always remember, that baptism, church-membership, reception of the Lord's Supper, and a diligent use of the outward forms of Christianity, are not sufficient to save our souls. They are leaves, nothing but leaves, and without fruit will add to our condemnation. Like the fig leaves of which Adam and Eve made themselves garments, they will not hide the nakedness of our souls from the eye of an all-seeing God, or give us boldness when we stand before Him at the last day. No. We must bear fruit, or be lost forever. There must be fruit in our hearts and fruit in our lives, the fruit of repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and true holiness in our conversation. Without such fruits as these a profession of Christianity will only sink us lower into hell. --- J.C. Ryle

An Athonite elder said: A mind that dwells on everyday matters of life and vain things disperses the soul. One should turn inwardly, looking at the soul's uncultivated vineyard, weeding it of all evil thorns and planting virtues there instead. But be wary, for this type of work is not easy at all. It requires perseverance and much patience. One will be confronted with a multitude of difficulties. Various writings of the Fathers are very helpful, and in our days are available by the dozens. In them one can find anything his heart desires, and anything it needs. The Fathers will lead you on the right spiritual path, if only you read them with humility and prayer. --- From An Athonite Gerontikon

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
March 31, 2011

In the Garden of Tranquility, better known as The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops meeting at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina this past week, we got a taste, in fact several tastes, of where The Episcopal Church is headed.

The Presiding Bishop managed to sandbag an African Archbishop from the Congo, a move that shows just how much TEC wants to influence that continent and direct it away from hard core evangelicals in Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. The weak links are the financially needy ones like South Africa, Central Africa, Tanzania and Liberia et al. If they can be persuaded to take TEC money, there is just a long chance that, over time, pansexuality can be brokered into other African provinces.

The bishops discussed the Covenant. The contradictions proved so interesting the bishops were told to stop tweeting the event, but not before VOL got a pile of the tweets and ran a story up the mast. You can read that in today's digest.

The bishops also exhibited some Gnostic tendencies. Bishop Joe Burnett from Nebraska presented a film and spoke about the Tri-Faith Initiative, a five-year initiative in Omaha, NE, calling for the sharing of a campus for an Episcopal Church, a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue and a shared, multi-service educational building. The project is "on the verge of taking giant steps forward." Theologically, of course, it is a giant step backwards.

Massachusetts Bishop Tom Shaw talked about the Boston cathedral opening its basement to allow space for Muslims to adhere to their prayer order. He shared that he met a Muslim man who has prayed at the Cathedral since before September 11, 2001, and how the community felt protected in the aftermath.

Another nail in the coffin of Christianity's uniqueness. Interfaith will get you infernal life but not eternal life.

Nigerian Bishop John Akao, writing in the Church Times discusses the covenant, saying, "The present covenant, to the African Anglicans, is crafted to persuade orthodox Anglicans to accept and commit to fellowshipping with revisionist groups who have perpetrated aberrations, but who unrepentantly defy various moves and resolutions to bring them back on course." Bishop Akao then lists seven reasons African Anglicans are not embracing the covenant in its present form. In conclusion, he says, "As long as there is no cohesion, the idea of a covenant will remain impracticable."

As it now stands, the Covenant is too strong a medicine for liberals and revisionists (see Section IV) of the covenant and too weak for orthodox Anglicans. The Global South will stick with the Jerusalem Declaration.

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Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen says that unless Christians act now to defend the church and the true Gospel, liberal forces preaching a false Gospel would prevail within ten years.

Speaking in South Africa recently, Jensen said that the turmoil in the worldwide Anglican Communion, which was triggered by the approval of gay marriages and ordination of gay bishops in North America, highlighted an issue that is much broader than homosexuality. It goes to the authority of Scripture and the heart of the Gospel. He said the issue is not just a threat to Anglicans, but to the Christianity at large.

He warned that the apparent lack of any decisive action by liberal leaders within the Anglican Communion is in fact a calculated strategy to stall for time. It is their confident expectation that the majority of church members will gradually come around to their viewpoint that was shaped by modern culture, rather than by the authority of Scripture.

He also said Africa is not immune. "Do not think that Africa is immune to the threat. The liberals in the Anglican Communion were condoning and promoting a homosexual lifestyle that was once unthinkable in the Western church. But now, as the liberal viewpoint gained ground it was becoming more and more difficult in those societies for people to take a stand against it."

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If you have ever wondered what is passing for academic learning and pastoral counseling at General Theological Seminary in NY see this:

How can Episcopal churches develop an informed and holistic ministry to GLBT people coming from fundamentalist Christianity?

-Renewing a relationship with Scripture -Recovering from "reparative therapy" and similar "ex-gay therapies" -Regaining a sense of family and community -Resources for clergy and parishioners

Dr. John Rumple, Ph.D., has shared with churches and universities his pastoral insights for helping GLBT people overcome fundamentalist religious backgrounds. Rumple is currently pursuing Holy Orders in The Episcopal Church.

For the tens of thousands who have and might want to emerge from the enslavement of same-sex attractions, this seminary wants to train the next generation of priests, keep them there and tell them gay is okay. I have seen reparative therapy at work and I know it works. How dare a seminary, especially an Episcopal seminary, continue with the lie that people cannot change and that it is not homophobic to want to change.

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No Answer from Episcopal Bishop Mark Andrus of California. On Feb. 28, California Catholic Daily published the story "No Time for Contrasting Viewpoints," which reported on the screening of the anti-Catholic film "Pink Smoke over the Vatican" at Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco. In addition to screening of the movie, the school invited a woman named Victoria Rue to address the students on the content of the film. Rue, one of the "Roman Catholic Women priests" profiled in the film, has been excommunicated and is an open lesbian. In the course of researching the story, it was discovered that Rue is being allowed to celebrate "Masses" as a "Roman Catholic Woman Priest" twice a month at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco.

Gibbons J. Cooney, a San Francisco Catholic, learned that Ms. Rue, who describes herself as a "Roman Catholic Woman Priest" is offering what she calls "Masses" at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco. He wrote to Bishop Andrus asking him if the ordination of women is not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, why is he allowing this outrage to carry on. Of course, he got no reply.

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If one has any doubts about the growth of the Anglican Network in Canada, the alternative Anglican Church to the established one that has lost its way, consider their present and future growth. Despite lawsuits and potential property losses, the recent Asian Mission in Canada (AMiC) Conference was a great success. AMiC is a ministry of ANiC under the leadership of Bishop Stephen Leung, rector of Good Shepherd (Vancouver). That's not all. The ANiC has a series of upcoming planting and growing seminars in Ottawa & Burlington. Having completed two successful sessions in BC, Plant and Grow conferences continue across Canada. The sessions focus on both planting new churches and growing established churches. They are following the same trajectory as the Anglican Church of North America (to which ANiC is affiliated). They, too, are holding church growth seminars. Ditto for the Anglican Mission in the Americas. You can't keep a good church down. As TEC slowly dies, new shoots of spiritual and ecclesiastical growth can be seen across North America. The gospel will not be kept down. It will not wither and die, despite all the prognostications of statistics lovers. Its form will change, its content never.

The Anglican Church of Canada is not only taking hits from the Anglican Coalition in Canada. It also took it on the chin from another direction this week. In Ottawa, Roman Catholic Archbishop Thomas Collins has asked anyone interested in joining a Personal Ordinariate for former Anglicans to do so in writing by May 31. He told the Anglicanorum Coetibus Conference on March 26 that he wanted to "clarify the commitment" of individuals to find out "who wants to proceed, understanding exactly what it means." The conference brought a lot of Anglicans out of the closet including TAC Archbishop John Hepworth. A blogger noted with interest that he was snubbed by the conference organizers.

"During the entire conference, there was no public acknowledgment of the presence of the TAC Primate or our Canadian Diocesan Bishop, nor were they invited to speak, however briefly, or to even greet the attendees. In fact no Anglican clergy were permitted to present an address at all in the program that I am aware of (and I listened attentively to each and every session).

"Aside from that, I think the jury is still out on whether we are technically any further ahead or enlightened on this pathway to erecting an Ordinariate..." wrote one Anglo-Catholic blogger.

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Albany Bishop Bill Love wants a Bible Reading Revival in his diocese. According to the latest issue of the Albany Episcopalian, Love has initiated the One Church fulfilling the Great Commandment and Great Commission, moving from membership to discipleship; equipping, emboldening, and sending disciples to make disciples.

He recently invited Whitney T. Kuniholm, President of Scripture Union, USA, as the featured speaker at this year's Parish Leadership Conference. Kuniholm, an Episcopalian from the Philadelphia area, presented information on the Essential 100 Challenge, which leads participants through 100 key Bible passages; 50 each in the Old and New Testaments. Kuniholm spoke of the various ways the E100 Challenge can be used in a church, small, medium, or large, and to get people excited about reading the Bible.

The diocese's Annual Priests' Retreat will take place this year from Tuesday, May 3 at 5 pm, until Friday, May 6 at 1 pm at Christ the King Spiritual Life Center.

This year's retreat leader is the Rt. Rev. H. William Godfrey, Bishop of Peru. Under his leadership, the Church of Peru has grown from two churches to over 30 churches. This is a time for rest, reflection and fellowship following the busyness of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter.

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Catholic and Christian gay projects are being funded by a homosexual billionaire. Top 'gay-rights' groups, claiming to represent Christians, Catholics, and at least one Jesuit-run college, are being funded by a major homosexual business magnate with the aim of stirring up dissent within the ranks of the church.

Thomas Peters, Cultural Director for the National Organization for Marriage and founder of the American Papist blog, revealed the funding sources for various groups that promote acceptance of homosexuality under the guise of representing concerned members of the Judeo-Christian community.

Groups such as New Ways Ministry, a top group recently condemned by U.S. Catholic bishops, have received large sums from the Arcus Foundation for the purpose of promoting same-sex "marriage", specifically among Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Jews.

The Arcus Foundation was begun by Jon Stryker, an openly gay billionaire stockholder and a leading supporter of homosexual initiatives. A 2006 Salon article points to the influence of gay software millionaire and activist Tom Gill on Stryker.

Thanks to funding from the Arcus Foundation, a consultation was recently held on the liturgy being developed by the Episcopal Church (TEC) for same-sex couples.

"Proponents of gay marriage are smart - they create organizations to funnel their wealth to the causes they want to see succeed," wrote Peters, who pointed to the degrees of separation obscuring the relationship between New Ways Ministry and Stryker's foundation.

The Arcus Foundation's website also lists several other "Catholic" projects under the heading of "Religion and Values." The listings specifically describe plans to undermine Catholic Church teaching on sexuality from the inside.

For example, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force received $152,625 from the foundation for "a collaborative strategic planning process focused on building a pro-LGBT movement within the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S." On the Catholic education front, the Jesuit Fairfield University was granted $100,000 to "expand the current discussion on homosexuality within Roman Catholicism to include the diverse opinions of progressive Catholic thought leaders and theologians."

Other funding included $93,345 to New Ways Ministry, $200,000 to New Ways Dignity USA, and $23,000 for a campaign to attack Catholic teaching on sexuality in tandem with Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States in 2008.

According to Peters, if "you add up Arcus' giving to other "Christian" outfits, the total, since 2007, is a staggering $6,500,000."

There is so much irony here as liberal Episcopalians regularly condemn conservative foundations for supporting orthodox causes.

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A recent poll shows a huge shift in American attitudes toward gay marriage, from a 32 percent approval in 2004 to 53 percent today. What this says, of course, is that more people are being blind-sided by emotion, knowing someone who with same-sex attractions, and the dumbing down of scripture to make it fit the procrustean bed of our desires. None of this will work. God is not mocked. We will reap what we sow.

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Ross Lindsay, Chancellor of All Saints Church Pawleys Island, S.C. has written a book about Chuck Murphy chairman of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, his ministry and the success that has become All Saints, Pawleys Island, SC. He describes it as a "breakout church". What is successful is that Murphy grew it and passed it along to others without the church sinking into the sunset with a charismatic preacher. How did he do it? Lindsay outlines common characteristics of Breakout Churches. Here they are:

1. The pastors did not lead by the force of a charismatic personality, but possessed fierce Biblical faithfulness, compelling modesty, confident humility, and contagious optimism.

2. The pastors were quick to give ministry to others and to let them take the credit for the work.

3. The pastors had a long-term commitment to one church. The average tenure of the pastors in the thirteen breakout churches was 21.6 years.

4. The pastors tended toward slow progress. They were sensitive to criticism, but they did not let their critics deter them from the vision they sensed God had given them.

5. The pastors had an insatiable appetite to learn and a persistent drive to improve.

6. The breakout churches were all outwardly focused and were intentional about evangelism.

7. All of the breakout churches and their leaders were evangelicals (conservative theologically) who believed in the truthfulness of Scripture, and they held to the priority of preaching and the primacy of prayer. 8. Breakout churches learned to act quickly and compassionately when a personnel issue became negative. The "team" concept was vital.

9. Breakout churches understood that members must get connected within a small group. Members involved in worship services alone tended to drift toward inactivity.

10. Breakout churches did not have difficulty finding staff. Qualified staff found them because of the excellent working environment that they had created.

From this writer's perspective, the best example of a breakout church I have ever seen is All Souls, Langham Place, London. John Stott exemplified the above model in the 60s, long before mega churches and statistics were on anybody's horizon. This book will be well worth buying when it is published.

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Australian Church leaders are "quietly moving to that stage when we hope the Holy See will establish an ordinariate" to serve Anglicans entering the Catholic Church, the bishop guiding the process reports. But no date has yet been set.

Bishop Peter Elliott, an auxiliary of the Melbourne archdiocese, reports that many people have expressed an interest in joining an Anglican ordinariate. No formal process has yet been established for that purpose, however. The bishop said that exploratory meetings have found interest throughout Australia, and predicted that the ordinariate would eventually have a presence in all the nation's major cities.

The Times newspaper reported that about 900 members of the Church of England have quit their parishes and have begun worshipping in the Catholic Church.

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Episcopal Church seminaries are struggling struggling financially. Theological education is in the doghouse with many wondering if seminaries are actually training people to serve in a church that no longer exists.

Bishop Christopher Epting noted this on the final day of the Kanuga gathering of the HOB. It was a first-ever meeting of the House of Bishops with all the seminary deans of The Episcopal Church except for Dr. Robert Munday of Nashotah House.

"Seminarian debt is a huge issue because of the expense of a three year seminary experience. Many of us And there is the long-standing "competition" and suspicion on the part of seminaries about diocesan training programs which have developed to train lay persons, deacons, and priests as alternatives to the seminary experience.

"We heard a brief address from the President of the Seminary Deans and then brief vignettes of 'good new' from each of the other 9 deans present about new initiatives in their schools. These ranged from distance learning to mergers to ecumenical cooperation to emphases on Latino ministries, to a desire for each of the seminaries to create their own 'niche' or specialty so that they do not try to be all things for all people."

The key issues remain: Does TEC have too many seminaries (11) for its size? NOTE: TEC has less than 700,000 ASA. The average parishioner is well into their 60s with congregations under 70 in size. Many have a tendency to think that the only way theological education can take place in the community is through a residential seminary.

Issues of tenure may keep older faculty members to the exclusion of raising new and younger scholars to education a new generation. Seminaries do not seem to teach "pedagogy" - they do not teach seminarians to teach.

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Last week, friends of the Church of Our Saviour in Oatlands, VA purchased the 24-acre Oaksworth Farm located just north of Oatlands Plantation. Their rector, the Rev. Elijah White, joyfully announced to parishioners, "Our Parish future is secure." The parish departed TEC and the Diocese of Virginia over the authority of Scripture and pansexuality. The property was bought outright for $1,870,000 cash -- no loan, no debt, no interest payments, White told VOL. "If you've ever wondered whether the Lord can indeed provide, consider that timing can be everything: the auction sign went up on this property last month just as we were concluding our settlement with what some call The Dark Side -- our congregation voted for the settlement at 11.30 a.m. February 20 -- our Vestry signed the necessary papers at 12 noon -- and then at 1 p.m. took a pre-arranged tour of the Oaksworth Farm property."

White wrote VOL to say that attendance has been up over the last six weeks because "when people see that we're willing to take a stand for orthodox faith and traditional worship, willing to pay the price even to losing our property, then they say 'Hey, these people really believe what they say. Let's check them out.' " Talk is cheap -- actions count."

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Hard times and disasters are sending people back to church. God's business is booming, according to Anglican Bishop David Moxon of Waikato, NZ. Hard times and fears following natural catastrophes have led to churches reporting a surge in the number of worshippers, and far greater demand for their social services such as food banks and counseling.

Moxon believes natural disasters and difficult financial times have helped prompt a swing back to faith that he says was also evident during the world wars and the 1930s Depression. "We have noticed an increase. People are coming for solidarity, company and spirituality as things get tough, and as they get down to the wire. There's a need to return to our spiritual roots in a crisis." He believes mainstream churches are more likely to see increased numbers. Many people are prompted to revisit their faith during tougher times.

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Examination Questions on Browne's Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles by James Gorle M.A., rector of Whatcote, is now available online. Google scanned a copy from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The Articles are being forgotten in some quarters, or assigned to "Historical Documents of the Episcopal Church" (1977-1979). How many of today's ordinands can demonstrate familiarity with them? You can find an examination of the 39 Articles click here: http://books.google.com/ebooks/reader?id=PukCAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader

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If you haven't visited VOL's online Global Anglican Theological Institute, we encourage you to take a look at the solid articles put together by the Rev. Dr. Rob Sanders. http://www.globalanglican.org/

If you know someone who needs some training or continuing theological education, check out the link above. We especially encourage our brothers and sisters in the Global South to read, learn, inwardly digest and share the articles found here.

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Happy 90th Birthday, John Stott

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