What did Christ do? He died. To say this is not simply to state a fact, but to explain it, because human death in Scripture is never a meaningless phenomenon. On the contrary, death is always a fact of theological significance, the dreadful penalty for human sin. From the second chapter of Genesis ('in the day that you eat of it you shall die') to the penultimate chapter of Revelation (in which impenitent sinners die 'the second death') the same theme is consistently emphasized: 'the wages of sin is death'. Since Jesus had no sin either in his nature or in his conduct, he need never have died, either physically or spiritually. He could have been 'translated' like Enoch and Elijah. He nearly was - at the transfiguration. But he deliberately stepped back into this world, in order voluntarily to lay down his life. Then why did he do it? What was the rationale of his death? There is only one possible, logical, biblical answer. It is that he died for *our* sins, not his own. The death he died was our death, the penalty which our sins had richly deserved. For these sins he died, not only in body but in soul, in the awful God-forsaken darkness. The evidence for this is not simply in isolated proof texts but in the whole scriptural witness to the relation between sin and death.--- From "Our Guilty Silence" by John R.W. Stott

"I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come." What does this last phrase from the Creed mean? We can only bear the idea of eternal life if this eternity has already entered into our life. --- Archimandrite Sophrony +1993

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
July 24, 2010

It was a week that began with sex and other scandals erupting in The Episcopal Church with additional touches of participation in a gay pride parade by Episcopal parishes in the Diocese of San Diego, endorsing a behavior so dangerous it can kill you.

The week ended, however, on a high note. I was privileged to be in Herndon, VA, to hear Nigerian Archbishop Nicholas Okoh tell a different story of God's redeeming love, His power to help us triumph over sin and to build His church in the face of a strident post-modern secularity, Islamic fundamentalism and an ongoing deconstruction of the gospel in the face of its cultured despisers. He talked about his own church in Nigeria and also took a few serious swipes at western culture that has abandoned the gospel along with The Episcopal Church that has abandoned "the faith once for all delivered to the saints".

AS The Episcopal Church withers and dies, there is a growing Anglican resistance in North America, an alternative to The Episcopal Church that it is going forward and that will not be stopped. The effect of the actions of The Episcopal Church is now global. The consecration of a non-celibate homosexual and lesbian to the episcopacy has proved to be both declarative and divisive. It has pushed similar decisions in the Church of England, which we can assume we will, in time, see in Canada, Wales and Scotland. It is also meeting with tremendous resistance worldwide - from Latin America and Asia to Africa and beyond.

The global Anglican Communion is in a slow but steady realignment. The Archbishop of Canterbury keeps kicking the ball down the field by establishing more commissions, dropping leaders from ecumenical councils (not a serious punishment), while demanding more time from the orthodox to reflect and listen to the cry of homosexuals, labeling detractors as homophobic, and offering nothing in way of resolution. We suspect that the Listening Process is about the psychology of desensitization; that is listen, and listen and listen till we all roll over to the church's growing pansexual agenda. It is brilliant, subtle and the snake in the Garden of Eden approach to truth.

IT IS NOT GOING TO WORK. IT WILL FAIL.

GAFCON, FCA, ACNA, CANA, AMIA, ACiC, FIFNA and the myriad smaller, faithful Anglican groups will not go along to get along. They are testimony to a true and authentic Anglicanism that will not soon disappear. They have a vision to plant 1,000 churches in the next five years. Even if they are not totally successful, the truth is they are growing while TEC is slowly dying. The ABC might not want to recognize the existence of ACNA even though it is bigger than some of his Anglican provinces. Is it any wonder then that CANA Bishop Martin Minns said in Herndon this week, "We are in a spiritual battle for the future of the Anglican Communion."

I have posted stories from this Council including words of both Archbishop Okoh and Bishop Minns.

*****

If you want to see how all this is playing, consider the fact that the Church of England is coming apart at the seams over the forced imposition of women bishops on Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals. Peoples' consciences will not be violated. The archbishops of Canterbury and York failed in their attempt to find a provision for those who could not accept the ecclesiastical ministrations of a woman bishop. They proved they are ecclesiastically impotent. You can read the full story in today's digest.

All is not lost. Listening to Archbishop Okoh (Nigeria) and Bishop Minns (CANA) this week at CANA's annual council, themed Being Church in the World put issues into a better perspective and helped this writer to keep focusing on the big picture. Global Anglicanism is doing just fine thank you very much. It is going and growing and nothing can stop it. The West is going through a major realignment. The Global South is not; they have a vision for the gospel and God's Kingdom and are pressing forward. And they will prevail. The vision statement of one Nigerian Anglican diocese says it all, "We are preparing our people for the second coming of Christ." Amen to that. The Episcopal Church's motto is preparing the Presiding Bishop for the first coming of Millennium Development Goals.

*****

To make the point that TEC is going global itself, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori was in Cardiff, Wales this week to meet Welsh Archbishop Barry Morgan and to reiterate her point that women should be represented at all levels of the church. She was a personal guest of the archbishop who shares her conviction that church leadership should not be a male-only preserve.

A 2008 bid to introduce women bishops in the Church in Wales narrowly failed to secure the support of two-thirds of clergy in the governing body. It is likely the legislation would have passed if there had been special provisions for churches which would not accept a woman bishop's authority.

"It's clear that many of the early church communities were sheltered and led and supported by women. The church has elected to forget that in many instances. We've ignored a very significant part of our history." Despite the controversies surrounding women in the church she insists it was not a defining issue.

Word has reached VOL that Jefferts Schori is preaching in St Paul's Cathedral tomorrow morning.

*****

The question on everyone's lips is this: what exactly did the Very Rev. Philip C. Linder, 50, Dean at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina, do? He was suddenly suspended by Bishop W. Andrew Waldo, the newly consecrated leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, following a move by the Vestry, the church's governing body, to sever its 11-year relationship with the priest.

Waldo, who was asked by the vestry to mediate the conflict, took the unusual step of suspending the dean after Linder apparently violated a pastoral directive not to speak to staffers or members about the leadership schism. To date no one is saying what exactly his offenses are. Apparently, they are not about sexual infidelity or the misuse of money. So we wait with breathless anticipation to hear the sins of Philip Linder. Stay tuned.

One observer who lives in Columbia has told VOL that Trinity cathedral is not a safe place for orthodox believers. "You should see what they do with the Gospel. Everyone goes to heaven...funerals are fairy tales, maybe this will change things. There are unconfirmed reports that Linder is thinking of taking the cathedral out of the diocese.

In two other dioceses, sex scandals have come to light. The former Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Donald James Davis, has been accused of molesting at least nine women while they were children in Pennsylvania while he was bishop of the diocese. He died in 2007 at age 78.

Davis was rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Toledo from 1963-71. There are no known allegations against him during his years in Toledo. Davis's career spanned two dioceses.

Bishop Davis resigned from the House of Bishops in 1994 after a bishop confronted him over allegations of abuse. No criminal charges were filed at the time because the victims did not wish to go public, Bishop Sean Rowe, the current bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania said in a statement.

Another scandal has taken place, this time at Christ Church Gross Pointe, Michigan, a well to do "country club" church of 2,000 members in one of the few wealthy areas in the suburb of Detroit. The Vestry of the parish announced the resignation of the Rev. Bradford G. Whitaker as rector, effective immediately, with charges of a "serious allegation of misconduct and a violation of his ordination vows." The Rt. Rev. Wendell N. Gibbs, Jr., Bishop of the Diocese of Michigan, temporarily removed Whitaker from his duty as rector on April 16, 2010.

"Subsequent to a thorough investigation within the guidelines of the Canons of the Episcopal Church, Brad has submitted to the discipline of the Church. His resignation as rector and suspension from all priestly functioning is a requirement of the Sentence of Suspension which he has voluntarily accepted," Bishop Gibbs stated in a letter sent to parishioners. The sentence of Suspension was effective July 17, 2010.

*****

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles found themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt.

Holy Family Adoption Services, which provides adoption, foster care, and family support services for infants and toddlers who are often born into very high-risk situations and require placement into a loving home, has been receiving financial aid from the archdiocese for more than 60 years and has a policy of allowing same-sex couples to adopt. Their board of directors decided that were not going to obey a directive from their spiritual bosses to cease adoptions to same sex couples so Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno stepped in and offered the adoption agency an umbrella organization and money to continue their work. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

I wrote last week that Canada's next Governor General, David Johnston, is a respected academic and lawyer who is also an Anglican. What I did not mention is that he is in favor of gay adoptions and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). He served on a committee of Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government saying that single men should be allowed access to "eggs and gestational carriers." LifeSite News reports that Campaign Life Coalition and similar websites such as REAL Women of Canada have sounded the alarm especially since the last three Governor Generals all gave the Order of Canada to pro-gay activists and their friends. Johnston is not a friend of conservatives and traditionalists, a VOL reader wrote.

*****

Pro gay activists are pouring millions of dollars into the Anglican Communion and The Episcopal Church in order to square the circle over pansexual behavior and same-sex liturgies.

A Michigan-based gay rights foundation, the Arcus Foundation recently gave more than $400,000 to the Church Divinity School of the Pacific to help craft formal liturgies for the Episcopal Church to bless gay and lesbian relationships.

Because the church puts a high value on scripted liturgies, many same-sex couples want their own marriage/blessing rite as many bishops are reluctant to use the traditional husband-wife marriage liturgy for same-sex unions.

The church's 2009 General Convention gave the green light to collecting "theological and liturgical resources" that would form the basis of an official same-sex rite that could be added to the list of approved ceremonies. The church's official Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has only $25,000 designated for the project.

During the May meeting of ACC-14 in Jamaica, the Anglican Consultative Council announced that it had been given a $1.5 million grant by the Rev. Marta Weeks, a retired Episcopal priest and philanthropist in Miami, Florida, to continue the Listening Process on human sexuality. Delegates were told the grant, the largest in the ACC's history, was made by the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. It was later learned it came from just one individual.

What this says is that the Homogenital Episcopal Machine (HEM) is going at full speed to spread its cancerous "theology" to every corner of the Anglican universe. They will stop at nothing and spare no expense to broker it in.

Many observers expect the Episcopal Church, when it gathers again in 2012, to approve rites for same-sex unions, or to at least give official approval to start the process, which can take several years.

FOOTNOTE: Just think what nearly $2 million could do to build up the Body of Christ. How many evangelists could that employ, how many churches built, how many leadership conferences arranged.

*****

In England, a vicar accused of presiding over hundreds of sham marriages in order to allow immigrants to stay illegally in Britain told a jury that the Church of England was "confused" about the issue of foreign weddings.

The Rev. Alex Brown, 61, also said that the Church did not given him any training about the law and how to spot foreigners trying to evade immigration controls, and that he had repeatedly asked for advice.

Giving evidence at Lewes Crown Court, he told how one wedding between a Nigerian and an Eastern European had ended in a "riot", how another saw the bride dress quickly in his vestry and how at one ceremony the groom had bought a ring that did not fit.

The prosecution claims that Mr. Brown was part of a "massive and systematic immigration fraud" exploiting "vulnerable" Eastern European migrant workers who were "cajoled" into fake marriages with Nigerians and Rwandans to help the Africans stay in the UK.

The jury heard that he carried out around 360 sham marriages at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, between 2005 and 2009. That figure was at least 27 times more than the 13 marriages he conducted over an earlier four-year period between British couples before he was alleged to have become part of the "scam".

*****

Weddings made in cyberspace an innovative website for planning church weddings is an online hit, according to the Bishop of Wakefield, Stephen Platten. The website is part of a concerted effort by the Church of England's Weddings Project to promote marriage in church, which includes resources and useful advice for parishes and vicars on how to make wedding couples and guests welcome in church. The Church of England has stands at national wedding shows demonstrating the online ceremony planner.

Tamar Kasriel, research adviser to the Weddings Project, and founder of the consumer trends consultancy Futureal, said, "When people choose a church wedding, in general they want something fairly traditional. So for today's bride and groom, hymns still have definite appeal. When they feel free to choose music and readings, so their wedding reflects their personal story and style, that elevates their experience altogether. More than that, busy people who are planning a wedding will want anything that helps them plan." You can learn more here. http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr6610.html

*****

The Rev. Chuck Collins has figured out how to bow out of The Episcopal Church without offending anybody. He has quietly retired as the orthodox priest of the 2,400-member Christ Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas.

Of course, everyone knows why he has retired, namely the Episcopal Church's sexual innovations, the consecration of a gay and lesbian bishop, the abandonment of Holy Scripture as normative and so much more.

Rather than stick the church's heresies in the face of his bishop, the moderately orthodox though institutional Bishop Gary Lillibridge who took office only in 2004, Collins chose to retire, take his pension and walk away. Meantime his former parish is being run by an orthodox retired bishop with a significant number leaving to form a new church. Very shrewdly, Collins is not a part of it...yet.

By not showing his hand, he cannot be inhibited or deposed by the bishop because he has not personally behaved in a schismatic fashion. He has retired. Lillibridge cannot touch him. He cannot accuse him of dividing the church. The laity is doing that on their own.

Collins will wait about six months and then reappear as an ACNA, CANA or AMIA priest and pick up the remnant who have left Christ Church and start all over again and the bishop can't touch him. Just plain brilliant.

*****

Corruption in the Church of South India. The Deccan Chronicle reported the government has launched an investigation into Madras Bishop Vedanayagam Devasahayam after receiving a tip that medical equipment donated to the CSI Hospital in Nagari in Andhra Pradesh had been undervalued. The diocese had presented a false manifest to the Department of Revenue that led to an underpayment of import duties.

The diocese was ordered to pay a fine and back duty of almost £675,000 ($1,041,345) while Bishop Devasahayam was ordered to pay a personal fine of £7000 ($10,800) for his role in the affair. Supporters of the bishop report the fines have been paid, and have accused the bishop's critics of racism, saying their attacks are motivated by the bishop's status as a Dalit, or untouchable.

Bishop Devasahayam is also embroiled in a lawsuit before the Indian Supreme Court over his continued status Bishop in Madras, according to the Church of England newspaper.

Corruption is endemic in India. In November 2009 The Church of South India instigated legal proceedings against its former general secretary alleging fraudulent use of funds meant for rehabilitation of 2004 tsunami victims, particularly stricken fisher folk.

The synod of the CSI took action when the U.S.-based Episcopal Relief Development fund complained of apparent fraudulent actions it came across in a 2008 audit involving funds intended to go to rehabilitation of tsunami victims, said Jeyakumar. He asserted that the officials in charge of the tsunami rehabilitation process failed to provide justification for the spending of nearly 80 million Indian rupees (US$1.7 million) from the 176 million rupees the relief agency had transferred to the CSI for those affected by the tsunami that caused devastation in southern and Southeast Asia.

What is behind a lot of corruption in the Church of South India is the fact that its leaders are Dalits or "untouchables." They suffer terrible inferiority complexes over against high class Brahmins and their place in Indian (a predominantly Hindu) society. They have never gotten over it. There is the feeling of their being owed something because of their (lower class) status. They have compensated by stealing monies. Christianity greatly appealed to Dalits because Jesus is seen as the Savior of the underdog.

*****

Nine Anglican congregations in Loudoun and Fairfax counties have asked the Virginia Supreme Court to reconsider part of a ruling from a month before that remanded a church property case back to a lower court.

The dispute centers on whether the nine congregations may keep the properties upon which their churches were built after breaking away from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to join the Anglican District of Virginia in 2006. The Loudoun church involved is Church of Our Saviour at Oatlands.

In 2008, the Fairfax County Circuit Court ruled in favor of the breakaway churches.

The diocese appealed that decision and, on June 10, the Supreme Court overturned the Fairfax County Circuit Court's decision turning the case back over to that court to reconsider its ruling.

Now the congregations claim that the Supreme Court did not take certain information about the Division Statute into consideration when making its decision.

The Supreme Court is not obligated to rehear the case, and there is no word yet on whether it will.

*****

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, praised Pope Benedict and blasted Protestant bodies that have accepted women's ordination and caved in to the secular culture on homosexuality.

Noting that the Pope has been criticized by "liberal theologians and liberal mass media in the West," Patriarch Kirill said that "on many public and moral issues his approach fully coincides with the approach of the Russian Orthodox Church. This gives us an opportunity to advocate Christian values together with the Catholic Church, in particular at international organizations and on the international arena."

On the other hand, some Protestant bodies have "let sinful elements of the world enter their internal world and justify these elements, if they are offered by secular society ... secular philosophical liberal stock phrases are repeated within Protestant churches and take root in religious thinking."

For example, "the word of God is distorted to please the secular liberal standard" on homosexuality, the patriarch noted. "It is written in black and white that it is a sin."

*****

Virginia Theological Seminary has launched a new online Journal of Episcopal Church Canon Law. The Journal will be published online twice a year, in July and in February. Its articles may be downloaded (in Adobe Acrobat format) from its Website. Its purpose is stated thusly by its editor:

"The journal is intended to be a resource for all with interest in canon law and particularly for those with concern for the canonical tradition of The Episcopal Church. It is hoped that this will include the chancellors of The Episcopal Church and its several dioceses, the participants in diocesan conventions and the General Convention (who enact canon laws for The Episcopal Church), canon lawyers, and those who like the editor have responsibility for teaching canon law to Episcopal seminarians. It is further hoped that canonists and scholars from other parts of the Anglican Communion and from other religious traditions will find the material of interest.

"The first online issue contains several articles of interest to church chancellors, including one on modern-day Standing Committees, an analysis of the practice in appointing the committees through which General Convention works, and a particularly fascinating history of oaths of conformity in the Church of England, which traces the evolution of the requirement in Article VIII of ECUSA's Constitution to sign a declaration upon ordination to conform to the 'doctrine, discipline and worship' of the Episcopal Church (it is not an oath or a vow, for example). [Those interested in the niceties of the evolution of that provision, and the Catch-22, which it causes for ordinands today, should also consult this earlier post.}

"Of special interest to Episcopal canon lawyers, however, is a downloadable reprint of the first fifty or so pages of the very first commentary on PECUSA's Constitution and canons, authored by the redoubtable Rev. Francis Lister Hawks, published in 1841, and out of print ever since. The reprint contains Dr. Hawks's full commentary on the initial articles in PECUSA's Constitution, together with an historical explanation of how that Constitution came into being. Given that there are just fifteen copies of Dr. Hawks's treatise remaining in public libraries across the United States, and that none of them have been heretofore scanned, this is a very welcome publication indeed (OCR errors notwithstanding; they can be easily fixed)."

"I salute Dr. Prichard and his staff on a most welcome and timely endeavor,"writes Allan Haley, canon lawyer and blogger of The Anglican Curmudgeon.

*****

Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu has announced that he is going to withdraw from public life. He has played a prominent role in South Africa's struggle against the whites-only apartheid system. After his 79th birthday in October, he said he would reduce his workload to one day a week before retiring.

That work would be devoted to The Elders, a group appointed by former President Nelson Mandela to tackle the world's most pressing problems. During the 27 years that Mr. Mandela was in prison, Archbishop Tutu spoke out against apartheid winning the Nobel peace prize in 1984 for his efforts.

He was chosen by Mr. Mandela to chair South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and investigate the crimes committed by all sides during the apartheid regime.

He said he wanted to spend more time sipping tea with his wife, watching cricket, or visiting his grandchildren, although he added that he would honor his existing appointments.

Since his retirement as archbishop of Cape Town in 1996, as well as his work with the Elders, the cleric has launched his own peace foundation, advised world leaders and played an active role as a public speaker.

*****

British police have said they are monitoring the Internet for threats against the Pope and attempts to disrupt the papal visit in September. Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, who is coordinating the national police effort for the papal visit, said police are monitoring extremist websites and other media that appear to be targeting the Pope. He was reacting to reports that an Islamist website has urged Birmingham Muslims to disrupt the papal Mass at Cofton Park. A website called the Islamic Standard, urged Muslims to "tell the Pope just what they think of him after his insults against the Prophet Muhammad".

*****

The following was spotted in the Sunday bulletin at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, St. Louis, MO by an eagle-eyed VOL reader. The previous rector had dropped the Prayer of Humble Access from the Rite I communion service as being "too penitent" - his actual words. No confession please, we're Episcopalians.

*****

SUMMER READING. Apart from the plethora of novels VOL readers will no doubt consume over this long very hot summer, we would like to recommend just two (for now) books to our readers. JESUS MANIFESTO - restoring the supremacy and sovereignty of Jesus Christ by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. While Jesus has been more written about than any person in human history, this volume comes at a very timely moment in the life of the Western church. Let me tease you with this opening paragraph: "The Body of Christ is at a crossroads right now. The two common alternatives are to move to the left or the right. It's our observation, however, that we are living at a unique time, when people are frozen as they look in either of those directions. When they look to the left, they decide that they cannot venture there. When they look to the right, they feel the same. Whether they realize it or not, people are looking for a fresh alternative - a third way. The crossroads today, we believe, is one of moving forward or backward. What we will present in this book, therefore, is razor-sharp, cut-glass clarity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Alpha and the Omega. We will show that Heis that third way-and the only way-that we can forge a secure path into the future. If the church does not reorient and become Christological at its core, any steps taken will be backwards...." I cannot commend this book too highly. It was a breath of fresh in my own life; perhaps you will find it so in yours.

Eric Metaxas' biography Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy has once again brought this martyr's life to the forefront of Americans at a time when we as a nation are becoming more self-absorbed, and narcissistic confronted as we are with the culture of celebrity. Bonhoeffer's life, his culture, and the events that fundamentally shaped him come to life in the hands Metaxus, who, incidentally is an Episcopalian who worships at Calvary/St. George's in Manhattan, NYC. Metaxus paints Bonhoeffer as a true believer and not simply a supporter of liberal, even radical theology. Bonhoeffer believed he must suffer with his people and, rather than live in the US where he could have been modestly famous he returned to Germany where he was murdered on the orders of Adolph Hitler after an abortive attempt to assassinate the German leader. This book will break you out of your self-contained shell and perhaps inspire you to live more recklessly for Christ.

*****

While Episcopal homosexual activists garner millions of dollars for their cause, we at VOL need your support to counter the liberals and revisionists who daily ply their spin and degradation to persuade you that you are on the wrong path. We do need your help.

Please consider a tax-deductible donation. You can send a check to:

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In Christ,

David