VIRTUEONLINE VIEWPOINTS MARCH 21, 2025

Church in Disarray // Evangelical Christian imprisoned over “they/them” rejection // GAFCON Primates Miss Moment to Diss Canterbury // NY Bishop Condemns Trump over Deportation //  TEC Announces Staff Cuts // Two Episcopal Bishops Exposed for Canonical Shortcomings // CofE in Crisis // Welsh Bishop Jailed for Abuse // Kenya ABC Says No to Political Speeches

Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and checkered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture --- John Stott

Evangelical pastors are more likely than mainline pastors to say their church is growing (57% v. 46%). Denominationally, Holiness (63%), Pentecostal (62%) and Baptist congregations (59%) are more likely than Methodist (43%) and Lutheran churches (37%) to be experiencing growth of at least 4%.  – Charisma News

Nearly 90 percent of Americans say a church should be “easily identifiable,” and 8 of 10 say they want the building to “reflect the beauty of God.” There are some, to be sure, who prefer that churches feel modern (38%) and trendy (28%), but most Americans want religious spaces that feel more timeless and transcendent. --- Christianity Today

I believe that liberal theology is a major reason why the so-called “mainline Protestant churches” are dying. It is, as one of my students said, “weak sauce.” There is really no life in it. It is dull, overly-intellectual, and, of course, unbiblical. Taken to its extreme, it is disconnected entirely from historic, classical, orthodox Christianity. --- Roger Olson

This pope is the first to question openly many of the dogmas of the magisterium, which means he has traduced both faith and morals. – Gerry McDermott

Evangelical pastors are more likely than their mainline counterparts to say their churches have prayed at least once a month for missionaries (89% v. 78%), prayed at least once a month for a specific mission field or people group (84% v. 78%), helped start a new church (40% v. 30%) and sent out long-term missionaries (18% v. 8%). – Charisma News

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

www.virtueonline.org

March 21, 2025

YOU might be forgiven if you believe that everything you have held on to is crumbling and, like dust and ashes, is slowly slipping between your fingers; with the world and church in total disarray, especially the church.

Whether it is politics or the church, chaos is everywhere. Watching the news is stomach churning, and it doesn’t seem to matter which channel. Learning that your church has just split over homosexuality, gay marriage and now trans issues, the latest sexual iteration, is enough to make you want to take a long walk off a short pier.

The temptation is to throw up your hands and say “I’m done”, I’m outta here.” Add all the pedophile scandals in the Roman Catholic Church; protestant mega church pastoral failures, a mere one percent of churches doing evangelism, the complete breakdown of the Church of England over safeguarding issues and you can imagine Satan’s round table of jubilant junior devils quaffing pints of bishop’s blood, waiting for the next shoe to fall.

Of course, we are told that Christ’s Church will triumph, that “the gates of Hell will not prevail” signifying the strength and resilience of the Church against evil. This phrase serves as a promise regarding the durability and victory of God's people, emphasizing that evil will not overcome them. There are some interpretations suggesting that it indicates the Church's role as an aggressor against evil, declaring war on it!

The game is far from over.

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A case in point is a young Evangelical Christian who spent 500 days in an Irish prison for holding to biblical truth. He has now lost his livelihood. Enoch Burke deserves a Victoria Cross for naming, unmasking, and engaging the principalities currently at work in the government of once-Catholic Ireland.

Burke, who until 2022 was a teacher at a school run by the Church of Ireland, (Anglican) has been jailed three times for a total of 500 days because he refused to refer to a gender-confused student as “they/them.”

Worse, the bishops of the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church teamed up with the Deep State to repeatedly snub Burke’s appeals for help. This week, Ireland’s High Court appointed a receiver to collect fines of €80,000 ($104,000) from Burke’s salary and to freeze his bank account.

We should not be surprised. We have been warned that persecution would be our lot, but coming from our own side is devastating. That Nigerian Christians are being persecuted and killed on a weekly basis by Boko Haram and Fulani tribesman is one thing; being nailed by leaders of a so-called Christian country, is quite another.

Years ago, I warned that the pansexual steamroller would brook no opposition and morph into newer forms of sexual idolatry until they had completely won the sexual culture war. I was not wrong. The only thing standing in the way of this happening in the US, is the First Amendment and a president sympathetic to Christian values.

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The big story of the week was the meeting in Plano, Texas of 170 Anglican leaders from 25 countries. They came, they talked, they prayed, studied scripture, and encouraged each other in the faith – but the archbishops lost the moment to tell the Church of England that the historic relationship with the Mother Church and the vast majority of the Anglican Communion was finally over…a new world Anglican order had finally dawned.

GAFCON and GSFA now claim 80% of the communion’s faithful; all they needed to do was announce the fact, grab the keys, and kick Canterbury to the curb.

The Church of England stands in disarray. The church has no Archbishop of Canterbury – Justin Welby was the worst ABC in over a century – a conflicted Archbishop of York who should have resigned over failed safeguarding issues; a Makin report has decimated the ranks of evangelicals who are now in total disarray over sexual abuse; a handful of largely irrelevant Anglo-Catholics and a ‘no gospel’ broad progressive church that has zero relevance to 98% of the British public. The moment was ripe for a complete takeover.

In spiritual warfare you take the fight to the enemy and strike when the iron is hot. This was such a moment. Our offensive weapon is the Word of God, not our own opinions and feelings. And we are to pray in the power and will of the Holy Spirit.

GAFCON primates have argued that they have not left the communion: the communion left them and they want to renew it. Noble sentiments indeed. But that song has been playing since 1998 when the Lambeth Conference produced and passed Lambeth resolution 1:10 which forbade homosexual practice. Western liberal provinces ignored the mandate and went right on blessing homosexual unions with the Episcopal Church finally passing a gay marriage resolution that resulted in bishops who refused to go along with this unholy behavior being kicked out of the church. The Church of England is heading in exactly the same direction. Nothing will stop the pansexual steamroller; we have seen it all before. Did the primates lose the moment to finally separate from Canterbury? You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/gafcon-primates-did-they-lose-the-moment-to-finally-separate-from-canterbury-at-plano

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The Episcopal Bishop of New York, the Rt. Rev. Matthew Heyd has condemned the Trump administration's attempt to deport a Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil, who holds a green card, for his involvement last year protesting the war in Gaza while he was a graduate student at Columbia University.

Khalil, 30, was arrested and is being held in a federal facility in Louisiana while he fights deportation.

According to the liberal bishop, the Trump administration has produced no evidence that Khalil engaged in criminal activity, and as a green card holder, his lawful permanent residency can only be revoked for specific causes with approval of an immigration judge.

However, British Israeli journalist and author Melanie Phillips said the uproar over the arrest and detention of Khalil — the Syrian-born student agitator who orchestrated the anti-Israel mayhem at Columbia University and now faces losing his green card and being deported— is profoundly ill-judged.

“Democrats and other liberal useful idiots have been screaming that Khalil is being persecuted for expressing his support for ‘Palestine’. This is rubbish. He’s a foreign visitor who organized a violent takeover of campus with Hamas-linked activities and who conspired to commit civil rights violations.” You can read more here: New York Episcopal Bishop and Jewish Journalist Clash Over Deportation of Palestinian Student

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When the Episcopal Church announced cuts to its national staff last month, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S. Protestant denominations — declines in members leading to declines in funding and thus in staff.

The penny has finally dropped. The new Episcopal Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe has looked in the mirror and admitted the Church has no future if it doesn’t plant new churches.

When the Episcopal Church declared a “Decade of Evangelism” in the 1990s it was hoped the church would jump start, moving away from the slide. In 2003, the development of new congregations was identified as one priority in a series of proposals, known as the “20/20 Vision,” that set even more ambitious goals, including doubling church membership by 2020. It all flopped.

“The Decade of Evangelism, how’d that work? Not well,” Rowe said Feb. 26 in a keynote conversation at the Episcopal Parish Network conference in Kansas City, Missouri. “We spent 10 years on evangelism. That’s a good thing. But we have no idea why that didn’t work,” reported ENS.

I can tell you. The church did not have a message then or now to proclaim that which didn’t echo the culture. Planting and growing churches on themes of diversity, inclusion, pansexuality, anti-racism, LGBTQ acceptance and full-on gay marriage hasn’t planted one church. The Episcopal Church has steadily been eroding for over half a century and now has just over 400,000 weekly Sunday attendance out of a total membership of 1,547,779. The new PB is going to give it the old school try. You can read more here: Presiding Bishop says support for new church plants a must if TEC is to survive

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A couple of Episcopal bishops have come up short and their sins have been exposed by Anglican Watch, the unofficial watchdog of Episcopal Church failures.

Corrupt Episcopal bishop Todd Ousley, recently released from his previous role as Bishop for Pastoral Development, was elected bishop provisional of the faltering Diocese of Wyoming. The news comes despite Ousley’s deliberate mishandling of multiple Title IV clergy disciplinary cases involving Episcopal bishops, in which Ousley asserted that he could ignore the provisions of Title IV at his discretion.

Instead, Ousley contends that bishops can disregard Title IV at any time they wish because they can address complaints pastorally. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/corrupt-episcopal-bishop-todd-ousley-elected-bishop-provisional-of-wyoming

Bishop Santosh Marray, the subject of a badly handled Title IV clergy disciplinary case, is continuing to diminish trust among laity and clergy within the struggling Diocese of Easton following a poorly managed diocesan convention.

Tellingly, the convention started unable to transact business, as it did not achieve the quorum needed in order to vote. Thus, the first session was devoted almost entirely to Marray’s narcissistic puffery, in which he made a series of questionable claims. You can read more here: https://www.anglicanwatch.com/easton-bishop-santosh-marray-further-erodes-trust-at-diocesan-convention/

Clearly the new Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe has his hands full. The bigger question is, can he right the ship before it all sinks to the ocean floor. Very few give it much hope, and throwing millions of dollars at new ideas is not a sure-fire winner.

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IS THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CRISIS? The Rev Canon Dr. Chris Sugden explains how 2025 might pan out and notes developments that could encourage evangelicals.

He writes; With the resignation of Archbishop Welby, the Archbishop of York under a cloud due to a failure in safeguarding and the C of E riven with doctrinal differences, chiefly over the desire of many bishops to bless same-sex unions what might lie ahead?

At the time of writing some matters look clear.

What has taken place already is that Archbishop Welby introduced a centralized management process into the Church of England. He also sought to preserve what he called unity by making concessions to a small but powerful elite lobby pressing for same sex relationships to be blessed and recognised in church services, and for clergy to enter same-sex marriage.

Because of this step, on the global stage he forfeited the allegiance of many Anglican Primates (the senior Archbishops in a country), representing between them the majority of Anglicans around the world, who have refused to acknowledge his office as the senior office in the Anglican Communion. It has been formally recommended by an international Anglican body that his successor as leader of the world’s Anglican Archbishops should not be the Archbishop of Canterbury but be chosen from the Primates.

In response here in England, The Alliance, a network of orthodox clergy and lay leaders from the Holy Trinity Brompton (Alpha Course) network, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), Church Society, ReNew, New Wine, Forward in Faith (an Anglo-Catholic High Church network) and Living Out (people with same-sex attraction who live celibate lives) have come together representing a majority of the churchgoers in the Church of England. You can read more here: IS THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CRISIS?

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A former Welsh bishop has been jailed for sexually abusing a boy over a five-year period while he was a priest. Anthony Pierce, 84, who was bishop of Swansea and Brecon between 1999 and 2008, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault on a child under the age of 16.

Swansea Crown Court heard the abuse, which included sexual touching, happened from 1985 until 1990, while Pierce was a parish priest in West Cross, Swansea.

Sentencing Pierce to four years and one month - half of which he will serve behind bars before spending the rest on licence - Judge Catherine Richards said: "You exploited his age and your position of trust."

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The study of religion is in danger of being erased in Wales, with the nation’s last remaining full theology department facing closure and increasing numbers of schools cutting religious education.

Cardiff University’s announcement that it is considering cutting its theology department, has caused alarm across the churches, and in an open letter to Welsh vice-chancellors and Welsh Assembly political leaders, Churches Together in Wales (Cytûn) expressed “deep concern” at the possible closure, repeating a warning from the renowned theology professor, D. Densil Morgan, that it would be a “disaster” if closure goes ahead. H/T to Anglican Mainstream.

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President Donald Trump remains locked in at least five major lawsuits filed by religious groups during the first two months of his new administration, showing tensions between the White House and the faith-based organizations challenging his agenda.

The latest chapter in the ongoing legal battles unfolded on Monday (March 17), when a legal report announced the federal government had paid Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Worth more than $47 million for refugee resettlement work — funds frozen since Trump halted the federal refugee program in January. You can read more here: https://wordandway.org/2025/03/19/heres-a-look-at-the-various-legal-battles-faith-groups-are-fighting-against-the-trump-administration/

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The Archbishop of Kenya has ordered churches under his care to stop allowing speeches by politicians during their worship services. The ban moves the Anglican Church of Kenya into a stricter separation of church and state than is common in the United States, where politicians often visit churches and speak from pulpits during their campaigns.

“When the time comes for acknowledging all those who have come, we will do that, but I want to give direction that from today, henceforth in any Anglican congregation, there will be no opportunity for any political leader to have a speech in the Church,” Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit said on March 16 while speaking at Nairobi’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Jogoo Road.

The archbishop said he will allow clergy to recognize visiting politicians during the service and that politicians are welcome to stand and wave. “If they so wish to address the congregation, it will be done outside the sanctuary,” he said. You can read more here: Kenyan Archbishop Bans Speeches by Politicians - The Living Church

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The Bishop of Sheffield made a speech to Parliament opposing the reduction in number of Lords Spiritual from 25 to 5. The bigger and deeper question is; who cares. The Church of England is in a frightful state ol’ chap. If she can’t fix her own ship why should anyone listen to what the bishops have to say about the state of the country?

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A friend of mine, a senior cleric in the Church of England is about to have a woman bishop run his diocese following the retirement of the present bishop. As a result, he will seek spiritual and ecclesiastical solace elsewhere. This is what happens when crazy happens. People quietly walk away and another church goes silent.

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An old joke revised. It is probably better said than written, but goes something like this. One Sunday, Reginald and Regina Churchgoer go to their usual church and sit down in their usual spots as they had for decades. When it comes time for the service to begin, the procession includes pride flags and rainbow banners. Then the non-binary priest says, “In the name of our manifold-gendered God, the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier along with all of your God-selfs, Amen. The Mother of us all be with you . . .” For the scripture lessons, the Koran is read for one and the Bhagavad Gita for another. But there’s more. When the time nears for the consecration, there is an even newer innovation. Drag queen liturgical dancers sprinkle milk on the communion table. At that point, Reginald grumbles to Regina, “I swear, if they commit one more abomination…” H/T Mark Marshall

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