The persons God meant us to be. The gospel is good news not only of what Jesus *did* (he died for our sins and was raised, according to the Scriptures) but also of what he *offers* as a result. He promises to those who respond to him both the forgiveness of sins (to wipe out the past) and the gift of the Spirit (to make us new people). Together these constitute the freedom for which many are searching, freedom from guilt, defilement, judgment and self-centredness, and freedom to be the persons God made and meant us to be. Forgiveness and the Spirit comprise 'salvation', and both are publicly signified in baptism, namely the washing away of sin and the outpouring of the Spirit. --- From "The Message of Acts" By John R. W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
April 22, 2011

Dr. Rowan Williams was reduced to a mere bystander this week as a congregation in his own diocese became the first to head to Rome. The humiliation might not be that great, but the significance of the act cannot be lost on him. After all, a third of his Primates failed to show in Dublin earlier this year, which was a major snub of both his theology and leadership.

He has faced a wholesale revolt by Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England because of broken promises over the ordination of women bishops and the fact that there will no longer be "an honored place" for traditional Christians in the Church of England. Furthermore, PEVs will be abolished allowing women bishops and priests access to every parish in the Church of England. This will remove the final safeguards given to traditionalists in 1993. It is over for them.

Since 1973, Rome has been saying over and over again that Women's Ordination would be the end of all real prospects of a "reconciliation" between Anglican churches and the Roman Catholic Church. As one blogger observed, "What do these silly Anglicans think, that endless pointless palavers is the ecumenical "way forward" and that Rome to that end should overlook the triumph of WO and the impending triumph of SS (= Sanctified Sodomy) throughout the "Canterbury Communion?"

On the evangelical side of the equation, a revolt is in the making. English evangelicals disapprove of both women bishops and pansexuality. They see themselves as next in line for being pushed to the margins; however, they have more bargaining chips than the Anglo-Catholics. They pay the bills for most of the dioceses. Bishops, in their wisdom or lack of it or maybe even in their cunningness, have sought to bring all the parishes under a new system of control. People in freehold parishes are supposed to sign up to a new means of management in the parishes, which gives the bishops absolute control. Evangelicals, I am told, will reject this.

The Church of England is desperately in need of the money that is mostly pulled in by evangelical and charismatic churches. Without it, their Deaneries would collapse and some diocese's would be forced to declare themselves bankrupt, since as charitable institutions they are not allowed to trade in deficit. Though most of them do. For many of them, it is a near run thing.

So evangelicals have the power, the question is will they exercise it. The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, (FCA) the brainchild of GAFCON, could kick into high gear and begin to draw evangelicals together into a kind of evangelical ordinariate. Will they? Time will tell.

The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans to meet. The Primates Council of GAFCON plans to meet in the week following Easter in Nairobi, Kenya, writes Dr. Peter Jensen, General Secretary."There are still many important issues confronting the Anglican Communion, and it is more important than ever that the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans continue to provide clear and biblical leadership for Anglicans who want to hold firmly to the truth of God's word."

Does Christianity have a future in England? Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerVCx1Cnbc&

*****

There is a new and very nasty dimension emerging from property settlements between liberal and revisionist Episcopal dioceses and parishes that are now united under another Anglican jurisdiction.

We have already seen it in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Now we are seeing it emerge with a vengeance in the Diocese of Virginia. This week, Shannon S. Johnston, Bishop of Virginia, cut a deal in such a way that the folks at Church of the Word in Gainesville, VA, can keep their property. In return, they must disaffiliate from the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), and any other Anglican entity for a period of at least five years.

"It is heartbreaking that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia were unwilling to explore out of court settlement options with Church of the Word unless it severed all ties to its orthodox Anglican family. Church of the Word and all within ADV have been seeking the Lord in prayer as we search for the best path forward. In spite of the separation mandate, we support the members of Church of the Word and they will remain our dear brothers and sisters in Christ," commented ADV Chairman Jim Oakes.

Need you wonder why Nigerian Archbishop Nicholas Okoh is not remotely interested in sitting down with PB Katharine Jefferts Schori, ever again? Here is one of the Nigerian Anglican leaders' missionary bishops, Martyn Minns, being given the finger by Episcopal Bishop Johnston and being told in so many words, "Listen Minns you don't exist in my books, but of course we want to have fraternal relationships with the Anglican archbishops and bishops of Nigeria, but you are not really one of them, so take that...and while you at it get lost." Johnston just served Minns a burn notice. Perhaps, one day, Minns will return the favor.

*****

Pro-homosexuality foundations are pouring millions of dollars into Catholic and mainline Protestant gay groups. The worst offender is the Arcus Foundation. Recently they funded - to the tune of $60,000 - the Episcopal Chicago Consultation that met last month with the stated Gospel agenda that opposition to full inclusion of lesbigays is a sin.

Who exactly is the Arcus Foundation? According to their website, it is a leading global foundation based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues specifically to "achieve social justice that is inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity and race." Arcus then works to advance Lesbigay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) equality, as well as to conserve and protect great apes.

Liberals and pansexualists within the Episcopal Church have for years bemoaned and screamed their outrage at conservatives who received grants from Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr., of the Ahmanson Foundation, the savings and loan heir for their causes. Apparently it is okay when pansexual organizations in The Episcopal Church get them from liberal foundations. The hypocrisy and hubris knows no bounds. I have written a comprehensive story in today's digest about how TEC is taking money from secular foundations to fund its agenda.

*****

A moment of luminosity from The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr., Bishop of Ohio, who wrote that the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas found in favor of the Diocese of Ohio and The Episcopal Church in its dispute with the former members of St. Luke's Church in Bath, the Church of the Holy Spirit in Akron, St. Barnabas Church in Bay Village, St. Anne's Church in Madison, and the Church of the Transfiguration in Cleveland.

"In litigation of this sort nobody wins. Of the many costs, the distractions from daily attention to the ministry of Christ may be the greatest. I am very grateful that the people of the Diocese have resisted that distraction and kept focused on the worthy work that God gives us to do. With clarification by the court about who has the responsibility of ownership of these properties, we may now move ahead to achieve the resolution we began seeking seven years ago," he related.

Not so fast. The four are not giving up the struggle. They are talking with their attorneys. The fat lady hasn't sung...yet. The Rev. Gene Sherman told his congregation at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, "The Judge has made a decision in favor of the Diocese against us and the other 4 Anglican churches. At this time we are beginning our conversations and discernment process with our attorneys and the other cluster members about the impact of the judge's order and what our next steps might be. Do let us keep our focus where it ought to be - walking the way of the cross with our Lord and bringing the good news of Jesus to our friends and neighbors."

*****

WESTERN MICHIGAN -- again. A VOL reader wrote in response to my most recent blurb about the state of affairs in the Diocese of Western Michigan saying it is even more worse than I wrote. He said St. Mark's in Paw Paw's, a new building just over five years ago, is in foreclosure. The church in South Haven is also falling under the distressed Canon because the rector and his wife, the Revs. Andrew and Summer Gross went off to form Holy Trinity Anglican Church and go under ACNA Bishop John Guernsey. They took most of the congregation with them.

St. Matthews in Sparta was closed down by Bishop Robert Gepert and then reopened as Holy Spirit in Belmont - same building, same location, different name. One lady who had attended St. Matthews for the last twenty years of her life, went away to Florida for a year. When she returned in July, the church, all of a sudden, was Holy Spirit in Belmont in the same facilities. When she walked in, they gave her a visitor's brochure and made her go through the process of transferring her membership.

After the Grosses left Epiphany in South Haven, the current parish was declared "distressed." As a result, a layperson who had just been named to the Standing Committee from South Haven will now have to step down. At the recent diocesan convention, they added a law to the diocesan canons mandating that anyone affiliated with a parish under the distressed parish canon must resign from the Standing Committee. This was particularly bad news for both the Rev. Jay Lawlor from St. Luke's, and the Rev. Stephen Holmgren from Grace in Grand Rapids. Rumors were that Holmgren was in line for President of the Standing Committee when the current president's term expired this year... now he's off. Apparently, he stormed angrily out of convention after the vote.

Bishop Gepert himself is now serving as Interim at St. Luke's. A VOL reader wrote, "I cannot bring myself to set foot in St. Luke's while Gepert is serving as interim. I was married there in 1971, my children were baptized, confirmed and married there, my parents are in the columbarium. I'm going on a cruise for Easter, because I can't bear the idea of going to some other church, and I can't bear the idea of going to St. Luke's."

*****

PB Jefferts Schori made a flying visit to the remnant Diocese of Pittsburgh recently and declared, "We're a community that is on the road together, wrestling with what it means to be a Christian in this particular age."

Then she dropped this morsel, "More faith communities will decide not to have a permanent dedicated structure in the coming years," she said. "They can be a blessing if they are used all the time, but many of them are only used on Sunday mornings. Is that an effective use of the resource?"

So, churches are built by God fearing orthodox priests and believers who preach a transcendent life-changing gospel. Then they are hijacked by a gang of liberals who do not know the Lord and come up with sociological and political answers to try and make the church "relevant". The church starts to go into decline and the conservatives walk out and start over, not before they ask for their church back.

Liberals like Jefferts Schori suddenly see the hand writing on the wall and say that perhaps the building doesn't matter after all. If that's the case WHY DOESN'T SHE LET THE ORTHODOX BUY BACK THEIR BUILDINGS instead of selling them for saloons, her favorite community of choice?

I have seen the future and it is multitudes of small dying parishes across the country being held together with thin ecclesiastical cords, ministered to by retired priests who finally have to lock the doors when the time comes. It is a tragedy that will increasingly be played out in diocese after diocese in the coming years. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

Members of the Diocese of Colorado's General Convention Deputation, having engaged Executive Council's invitation to study, pray and discuss with members of the diocese over the proposed Anglican Covenant, have decided that they will not adopt the final draft of the Covenant. No surprise really. The Diocese of LA recently rejected it. So, in time, will most of the liberal/revisionist dioceses. There seems little likelihood that GC2012 will endorse it. Someone should give the Covenant a decent burial, preferably with last rites.

*****

A Church of England cathedral's decision to ban the public from taking pictures of its choir has been attacked as "ludicrous" by child protection experts.

Birmingham Cathedral has erected a notice near its entrance saying, that "for child protection purposes photography and videoing is not permitted during services and rehearsals".

A child protection charity called the ban "ludicrous and unenforceable". Anti-censorship campaigners have accused the cathedral of "hysteria".

Birmingham's internationally renowned choir has appeared with singers including Sir Cliff Richard, toured abroad and sung with other leading choirs and orchestras and on BBC Radio. Girls and boys often join at the age of seven or eight.

Despite the ban, the cathedral's official website features pictures of the 54-strong choir.

The Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service, an independent charity that works with a number of Church of England dioceses and cathedrals, attacked Birmingham Cathedral's decision.

It said it knew of "no child protection grounds" for a blanket ban on taking pictures of group performances, such as given by choirs, in public spaces such as cathedrals.

*****

In another sign of political correctness if not straight out madness, an electrician in England faced the sack for displaying a small cross in his company van. He got backing from former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey who said it was "outrageous" that Colin Atkinson had been told by the housing association he works for that he cannot show the Christian symbol of his faith on the dashboard.

Atkinson refused to adhere to the "anti-Christian" rules imposed on staff which comes despite his boss, Denis Doody, being allowed to display a poster of communist revolutionary Che Guevara in his office.

The devout Mr. Atkinson says he is prepared to lose his job at Wakefield and District Housing (WDH), where he has worked for 15 years. He has accused bosses of marginalizing Christians in the name of political correctness.

The 64-year-old grandfather from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said: "It's a scandal that we live in a Christian nation and yet Christians are not allowed to practice their religion."

*****

To tell us just how fast the West is descending into a new Dark Ages, former Rochester Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is making a whistle-stop tour across the US in "An Urgent Call to the Western Church".

He wants to prepare Christians to withstand the triple threat to Christianity in the West: Islamic extremism, aggressive secularism, and multi-culturalism.

The bishop is someone who's shared the Gospel around the world despite countless challenges.

Christians from all denominations are invited to attend and be encouraged to confidently live the Christian life in North America. They will learn why secularism, multi-culturalism and Islamic extremism pose such a threat to Christianity and hear firsthand accounts of how Christians around the world have held fast despite persecution in the face of these threats.

His cross country trip is being sponsored by the American Anglican Council and Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA). You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

Delegates attending the first consultative conference for the Anglican Alliance in Nairobi have called for the Communion initiative to have, as two of its key priorities, the development of an Anglican Bank for savings and loans and a public education campaign on financial literacy and rights.

The consultation to take forward proposals for development, relief and advocacy across the Anglican Communion yesterday (April 14th) received a strong endorsement from Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, the Primate of Kenya.

An economic empowerment workshop heard presentations from Peter Warutere of the World Bank, Moses Ochieng of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and Peterson Kamau from the church's own micro-finance agency Five Talents. They set out the challenges facing developing countries and set out strategies to overcome poverty globally, nationally and locally.

In subsequent workshops participants decided on the priorities that they wanted to see the Anglican Alliance develop. These include:

* An Anglican Bank for savings and loans
* A public education campaign on financial literacy and rights
* Partnerships and collaboration for development
* Participatory budgeting to improve economic governance

*****

The newly-appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff described the approach of the Church of England as "gracious" and "understanding" as around 900 former Anglicans in England and Wales prepare to be received this Easter into a special grouping within the Catholic Church. The Rt. Rev. George Stack, who is to take up the most senior role in the Roman Catholic Church in Wales, said the personal ordinariate has allowed former Anglicans to join the Catholic Church as a group and maintain their identity. "I think mainstream Anglicans recognize that there are people who feel that they must make this journey and I must say, I think they have dealt with it very, very well," he continued.

*****

Manhattan Declaration. Defend Truths the Church was founded upon. What caused the collapse of civilized society in Germany in the 1930s was the abandonment of ethics and the failure of the Church - except for a brave few - to stand for truth. Dr. Timothy George makes the case brilliantly in a half-hour talk comparing the Manhattan Declaration and the Barmen Declaration that was crafted by the confessing Church after the Nazis had taken power. You'll be struck by the incredible parallels between the documents, which simply underscore the urgency of the moment for Christians to rally behind the orthodox faith and defend the most foundational truths. I urge you to watch Dr. George's presentation from the VALS Conference in March at Colorado Christian University at http://www.ccu.edu/vals/video/.

In today's morally troubled times, just as in the 1930s, the Church must rise up and stand for Truth and virtue. This is why the Manhattan Declaration was drafted and why now nearly 500,000 people have signed it. Supporting the Manhattan Declaration doesn't stop with just your signature.

We need you to:

1) Share the Manhattan Declaration with your friends and urge them to sign it;
2) Use the Manhattan Declaration to engage in public dialog in a winsome way;
3) Get your local church to teach on the Manhattan Declaration.

Please go to www.manhattandeclaration.org to download resource materials.

Dr. Robert George
Dr. Timothy George
Chuck Colson

*****

The law calling for an annual National Day of Prayer imposes solely on the duties of the U.S. president, leaving private citizens no legal standing to challenge it, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The unanimous decision overturns a 2010 lower court ruling that found the law unconstitutional. The ruling comes just weeks before many Christian groups plan to hold annual observances to mark the contested day on May 5.

"If anyone suffers injury ... that person is the president, who is not complaining," ruled a three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The panel described the presidential proclamations that follow the law as requests, not commands to the public.

*****

Turmoil and slaughter in Northern Nigeria strikes again. This from Archbishop Ben Kwashi's chaplain, Deaconess Susan Essam in answer to my question about the situation there, "Thank God this time Jos has so far escaped lightly - perhaps because we have so many security already on ground, together with a helicopter. Other places have suffered badly with many churches burnt; in fact I hear that one particular place on the Bauchi road has not a single Christian church standing. Very sorry you have not had an official report - in fact I don't think we have done one. Several of my students have been affected, especially the part-time ones who were supposed to come back to do exams next week. That will not now be possible (you can't do final exams if your house has just been burnt down and you and your family are refugees.), but the full time students will begin their new semester as soon as possible - hopefully next week, provided the next round of elections passes OK (scheduled for Tues).

Susan For Archbishop Ben Kwashi"

*****

An academic says the Easter date can now be fixed. The Last Supper took place on a Wednesday -- a day earlier than thought -- and a date for Easter can now be fixed, according to a Cambridge University scientist aiming to solve one of the Bible's most enduring contradictions.

Christians have marked Jesus' final meal on Maundy Thursday for centuries. Thanks to the rediscovery of an ancient Jewish calendar, Professor Colin Humphreys suggests another interpretation.

"I was intrigued by Biblical stories of the final week of Jesus in which no one can find any mention of Wednesday. It's called the missing day," Humphreys told Reuters. "But that seemed so unlikely: after all Jesus was a very busy man."

His findings help explain a puzzling inconsistency between the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, who all write that the Last Supper coincided with Passover and John, who said the meal took place before the Jewish holy day commemorating the Exodus from Egypt.

Humphreys' research suggests Jesus, and Matthew, Mark and Luke, were using the Pre-Exilic Calendar, which dated from the time of Moses and counted the first day of the new month from the end of the old lunar cycle, while John was referring to the official Jewish calendar of the day.

"It was an extremely curious mistake for anyone to make because for Jewish people Passover was such an important meal," said Humphreys, a metallurgist and materials scientist and a Christian.

"The contradictions have been known for a long time but not been talked about by the general public very much. I am using science and the Bible hand in hand to solve this question and showing the Gospels are actually agreeing, just using different calendars."

If the Passover meal and the Last Supper did take place on a Wednesday, it would help explain how the large number of events that the Gospels record between the Last Supper and the Crucifixion were able to take place.

With the help of an astronomer, Humphreys reconstructed the Pre-Exilic calendar and placed Passover in the year AD 33, widely accepted as the year of Jesus' crucifixion, on Wednesday April 1.

That means if modern Christians wish to ascribe a date for Easter based on Humphreys' calculations, which he has been mulling over since 1983, Easter Day would fall on the first Sunday in April.

*****

Today, Christians around the world will be holding somber "Good Friday" events to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

On Sunday, however, these same believers will be singing hymns and listening to sermons celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave.

The resurrection of Jesus from the grave - and his ascension into heaven - is the greatest hope for mankind. It is the greatest force for true change in the lives of every person who repents and believes that Jesus died for their sins.

Jesus Christ is the hope and the creator of real change - not only in the lives of individuals, but in the future of nations that acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior.

It was the spread of Christianity throughout the civilized world during the first four centuries after His resurrection that literally changed the course of human history.

His disciples were on fire to share their faith. They had experienced change within themselves and they wanted others to know the peace and forgiveness that Jesus offers to all.

But, these disciples wanted to bring about even more change within their societies. They firmly believed that Jesus not only saved souls but could transform nations as well. They set about to use the teachings of Jesus to change the way governments treated women, slaves, the unborn, the elderly, enemies and the dying.

This Resurrection Sunday, remember what Jesus Christ did to change your life - and pray about how He can use you to change others and your society. Fulfill the calling He has on your life.

Virtueonline wishes all its readers around the world a very blessed Easter. May the joy of the risen Christ be yours in abundance. Let us shout He is risen, He is risen indeed.

David