The Church of England has a God-given opportunity and responsibility to set the culture of its schools in line with the teaching of God found in the Bible. But instead, it consistently capitulates to the spirit of the age as, for example, expressed in statute by the Equality Act. --- Christian Concern

Chick-fil-A has betrayed its Christian customers, and emboldened the LGBT mob.
Chick-fil-A provoked the ire of the LGBT lobby in 2012 when its CEO Dan Cathy affirmed the Biblical view of marriage. But after seven years of attacks from the LGBT mob, Chick-fil-A announced Nov. 18 that it would cease funding its remaining grantees that oppose same-sex "marriage," including the Salvation Army. --- LifeSite News

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
November 29, 2019

A significant death took place this week when the Episcopal Church's leading lay homosexual, Dr. Louie Clay/Crew died at the age of 82, just nine days shy of his 83rd birthday. No one did more damage to the Church over the course of his lifetime than this one man. He made it his life's work to promote, push and legitimize pansexuality in the name of inclusion and diversity and by any measure, he was brilliantly successful.

As a layman he founded Integrity, a movement to push homosexuality and lesbianism into the Church, with many believing he had become more powerful than the bishops in decision-making. He doggedly chased down every bishop to accept his views and in time his persistence paid off. At one point he married his partner, a black man and took his name. It was said that his influence decided a future Presiding Bishop. He sat in the councils of the Church, influencing and pushing his sexuality with charm and persistence.

Crew/Clay grew up a Baptist, briefly became a minister, but could not stand the strictures and theology of a Church that would not accept his sexuality. He found a home in the Episcopal Church.

His legacy is a Church that is decimated in numbers and is dying. In 20 years, that Church will be hollowed out and irrelevant. The Episcopal Church's foremost homosexual did not live long enough to see the demise of the Church he twisted to his own devices and desires, but when the epitaph of the Episcopal Church is written, his name will surely figure large on its tombstone. You can read my full story of this man's life here:
https://virtueonline.org/seductive-work-louie-crew-architect-episcopal-pansexuality-dead

*****

As if to reinforce the work of Louie Crew/Clay, the Diocese of Missouri elected a black homosexual bishop to lead them into the abyss. The Rev. Deon K. Johnson was elected the 11th diocesan bishop. He brings his same-sex partner and their two children along for the ride.

There is, of course, nothing particularly new about a homosexual being elected to the episcopacy in TEC except that he is from Barbados and is, therefore, a person of color. He gets the (almost) highest score on Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's approval rating, the only exception being that a woman of color and a lesbian would have earned the highest accolade with an A-1 rating. But give it time and all things are possible.

This is going on even as an ecclesiastical noose is being prepared for the Bishop of Albany, William H. Love, because he not only does not approve of these types of consecrations, but he also doesn't approve of homosexual marriage and for his "sin" he will be fed to the lions.

Bishop Johnson will take over from Bishop George Smith who retires in 2020, leaving behind a diocese in free fall. The diocese's average Sunday attendance in 2002 was 5,018, by 2017 it had dropped to 3,444. a loss of over 31%. One can only guess that in 2019 that figure is fast approaching 3,000. You can read my story about this homosexual takeover of the diocese here: https://virtueonline.org/missouri-diocese-elects-homosexual-bishop-lead-them-abyss

*****

Diana Butler Bass is a popular Episcopal writer who actively touts liberal theology and politics. She's written about 10 books and speaks often in churches, especially Methodist, Episcopal and Presbyterian, among others.

As Bass recently recounted on Twitter, she was originally a conservative Christian but then studied religion at Methodist affiliated Duke University, where her traditional faith was shaken. A professor there claimed that the Council of Nicaea, which crafted the great Nicene Creed articulating Christian orthodoxy that we recite in church, was just a political manipulation by the Roman Emperor Constantine.

Bass was so distraught she reports she vomited in the nearby restroom. Sadly, she didn't question this professor's claims. And she didn't explain what parts of the Nicene Creed are bad or manipulated. The Virgin Birth? Christ's resurrection?

Many distinguished people on Twitter, including some liberal clergy and seminarians, responded to her, explaining the bishops at Nicaea had already been persecuted for their faith and were unlikely to bend to Constantine or anybody else. And these bishops were just expressing what the early church had from the start believed about God and the Bible.

Instead of admitting these points, Bass went on a tear against the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), responding to Mark Tooley's blog, which just quoted these thoughtful responses. Bass warned that IRD is "dangerous" and "exceptionally skilled." She warned readers NOT to circulate IRD material because it is so subversive. VOL is proud to circulate this "dangerous" and "exceptionally skilled" material.

*****

In his Advent Letter, ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach announced that GAFCON's Suffering Church Network, is raising awareness of Anglicans around the world who pay a heavy price for their faithfulness, often unknown and in isolation from other Christians. "As we stand in solidarity with them, pray for them, and walk with them we are drawn back to the heart of the gospel and discover that by God's amazing grace, the way of the cross is indeed none other than the way of life and peace."

Beach noted that suffering also comes from within the organized church itself as many of in the Anglican Church in North America, the Anglican Church of Brazil, the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa, New Zealand, and the Scottish Anglican Network know very well. There is growing hostility to orthodox faith in many other places as well. "Bishops, clergy, and lay persons in various provinces are being ostracized, condemned, and alienated because they cannot and will not go along with attempts to change basic Christian teaching and morality which contradicts the Bible."

The ACNA archbishop noted with joy that the Venerable David McCLay, a leading member of GAFCON Ireland, had been elected as the next Bishop of Down and Dromore. Beach noted the attempt to block his election by a group of clergy who claimed in a letter to the Irish Times that 'the policies of GAFCON are antithetical' to the principles of the Rite of Consecration, which according to them includes the need to recognize 'sexual diversity'. "Surely, it is a sign of the deep-seated spiritual crisis and need for repentance in the Anglican Communion when even the rite of Consecration of a Bishop can be made to mean things that were never intended (just as the English House of Bishops repurposed the rite of Affirmation of Baptismal Faith for those who self-identify as transgender)."

Sadly, we are watching the Church of England slowly come off the rails as the Archbishop of Canterbury does one thing after another to derail the CofE from Scripture.

In a radio interview this week, Archbishop Welby spoke in support of censorship zones. Censorship zones strip pregnant women of the opportunity to receive support or information that would help them keep their baby. Censorship zones also undermine freedom of expression.

The UK's oldest and largest pro-life organization, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) slammed the comments of Archbishop Welby.

Responding to Archbishop Welby, Michael Robinson, Director of Communications for SPUC said: "It is difficult to comprehend how the Anglican leader can contradict himself so profoundly in his comments about "Censorship Zones". The position adopted by Archbishop Welby is shocking. Justin Welby speaks about love and compassion when he deliberately excludes the most vulnerable members of the human family -- the unborn. Before, voicing an opinion, the Archbishop would be wise to check the facts -- if he had, he would have discovered that the argument that harassment takes place outside clinics is Fake News.

IN OTHER CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWS, a headline screamed that relationships and sex education is not about the protection of children, but to teach children 'British values' with parental concerns being ignored.

Early adoption of the new Relationships and Sex Education Regulations (RSE), which become mandatory in September 2020, has provoked country-wide protests and safeguarding concerns. SRE was introduced in 1993 to safeguard children against the threat of HIV/AIDs, STIs and to prevent teenage pregnancies. It failed. The expressed aim of the new Regulations is not protection, but to teach children 'British values' -- to prepare them for life in modern Britain. Their introduction has justifiably provoked controversy. The Archbishop of Canterbury's name was notably missing among the signatories who complained about this action.

On decriminalizing abortion: an Open Letter to the Bishops of the Church of England by some 60 plus CofE clergy and laity is embarrassing, bearing in mind that the Church of England's own teaching strongly opposes abortion, that "the fetus is a human life with the potential to develop relationships, think, pray, choose and love", and that the Church "would like to see a drastic reduction in the number of abortions carried out and stricter interpretation of abortion law" (press statement of the Mission and Public Affairs Council for General Synod, 30 August 2011), we write, as members of the Church of England (and a small number of other Anglicans in Wales and Northern Ireland), lay and ordained, female and male, to express our sincere concerns about what is being proposed, and to call on you, as shepherds of the Church, to do all you can to speak out against these proposals and in defense of some of the most vulnerable in our society. Is anybody listening?

But the Archbishop of Canterbury supports pro-abortion buffer zones. Justin Welby's remarks come in the wake of an arrest of a disabled pro-lifer outside an abortion mill. If Welby carries on at this rate, he could be formally employed by Marie Stopes.

Anglican columnist Jules Gomes slammed Welby for backing the buffer zones.

"Do you support buffer zones around abortion clinics?" a listener asked Welby in a live interview on LBC Radio.

"Yes, I do, because people going to a ... uh... abortion clinic, uh... whatever you think of abortion, they're human beings," said the archbishop of Canterbury, caught off guard by the question.

Stuttering through his response, the archbishop argued: "You could say they're doing the wrong thing; you could say they're doing the right thing; you can say it's their right, you can say that the baby has rights ... uh ..." You can read the full story here:
https://virtueonline.org/archbishop-canterbury-supports-pro-abortion-buffer-zones-0

*****

The founder of St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral in Tallahassee, Florida, has been removed from the priesthood after a report revealed new details surrounding allegations of him subjecting men at the church to sexual harassment.

According to a statement on the St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral's website, the church asked for an independent investigation by the Godly Response to Abuse in a Christian Environment (GRACE) after Eric Dudley, the former dean of St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral, resigned in 2018.

GRACE is a non-profit that helps Christian groups confront sexual abuse.

On Tuesday of this week, the results of that investigation were released, revealing that the former rector engaged in sexual misconduct against several young men and abused his authority.

Dudley has since been removed as a priest of the Anglican Church in North America.

*****

On another sad note, the Anglican Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes, the Rt. Rev. Ronald Jackson has been put on administrative leave following undisclosed reports while a through inquiry and investigation is conducted into these matters.

During this leave, the Standing Committee of the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes is the ecclesial authority and in cooperation with the Archbishop's Office is ensuring the ongoing mission and ministry of the diocese. ACNA Archbishop Beach has appointed the Rt. Rev. John Miller to assist the Standing Committee in its work, and to provide temporary pastoral care and ongoing episcopal support to the diocese.

*****

In Orangeburg, S.C., South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Edgar Dickson held a hearing regarding motions related to the ongoing litigation between The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church (TEC). Although the hearing covered all outstanding motions in the case, Judge Dickson focused on the Anglican motion to clarify what the set of 2017 Supreme Court opinions said.

Diocesan attorneys focused on their motion to clarify and argued in detail that no parish expressly agreed to the Dennis Canon, which TEC has asserted creates a trust interest in parish property. Our lawyers also argued persuasively that the Diocese successfully withdrew from TEC with its property interest intact in compliance with South Carolina state law. TEC attorneys addressed the motion to clarify and also their pending motion for enforcement.

After a two-and half-hour hearing, Judge Dickson ordered attorneys from both sides to submit proposed orders resolving the motion to clarify.

*****

In Sheffield, England, the bishop of Sheffield, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Pete Willcox has asked parishes not to participate in a 2020 Franklin Graham Tour of Britain. Wilcox made a statement in relation to the Graham Tour for 2020. Sheffield is one of the eight locations on the tour, and a launch event was held in the city in October 2019.

"I'm afraid I cannot support the Graham Tour mission event at the FlyDSA Arena on 6 June next year, at which Franklin Graham is due to speak, and so will not be encouraging parishes in the Diocese of Sheffield to support it either.

"Mr. Graham's rhetoric is repeatedly and unnecessarily inflammatory and in my opinion represents a risk to the social cohesion of our city."

Willcox, a low churchman said he gladly took part in Billy Graham's Mission England in 1984 as a candidate for ordained ministry, and in his LiveLink Mission in 1989 as a curate. "But to my sadness I detect a tailing off of humility and generosity in the Graham organization since those days."

*****

ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach is on the move. After a successful visit to the Indian Ocean and Seychelles to visit their new archbishop James Wong, who is on board with GAFCON, he recently made a trip to Pakistan and visited the Governor of the Punjab in Lahore to support the return of all missionary educational institutes to the church.

The Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar assured religious leaders of the Christian community that he will use his influence to restore the control of all missionary-founded educational institutes to the church.

The governor gave the assurance during a meeting with the Archbishop Foley Beach and National Council of Churches in Pakistan President Bishop Dr Azad Marshall at the Governor's House.

Governor Sarwar acknowledged the services of the Christian community in promoting education in Pakistan and said he believed that the colleges and schools founded by foreign missionaries would serve the nation better if the community runs the institutes themselves.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was committed to protecting the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan and the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor for the Sikh pilgrims was a testament of its efforts.

Archbishop Dr Foley and Bishop Azad lauded the government's efforts and said they expected that the State would also recognize the contributions made by the Pakistani Christians and help them in promoting education in the community.

*****

Sadly, politics sometimes overlaps with theology and ecclesiology and this can lead to acrimony and finger pointing.

To stifle any possible distancing of GAFCON from Global South Primates, Canon Phil Ashey President of the American Anglican Council sat down with VOL to iron out some of the differences between the two movements.

Here is a taste of what he said:

VOL: In recent days there has erupted a controversy over the seeming theological overlap between GAFCON and the Global South Primates' communiques; specifically, a Covenant was drafted recently in Cairo (hereafter known as the Cairo Covenant) and the Jerusalem Declaration formulated by the GAFCON primates. Does this indicate a rift between the two movements?

ASHEY: Actually, the Cairo Covenant is the fruit of a process of healing the rift between the two movements. One of the first-fruits of the healing was the joint Statement from the Global South Primates and the GAFCON Primates' Council Concerning Same-sex Unions that came out of the October 2016 Global South gathering in Cairo. Then in July 2017-- when the GAFCON and Global South Primates came together at our ACNA Provincial gathering in Wheaton, IL to help consecrate Andy Lines--they met together to decide how best to address the increasing false teaching, without discipline or consequences, among Anglican Churches in the west. In Wheaton, those GAFCON and Global South leaders appointed a joint Study Group to come up with a Covenant that would address this "ecclesial deficit." The GAFCON Primates who were there appointed Archbishop emeritus Robert Duncan (because of his gift in bringing Anglicans in North America together), Bishop David Onuoha of Nigeria and myself on behalf of GAFCON to work with Bishop Rennis Ponniah and Canon Michael Poon of Singapore, and Bishop Samy Shehati of North Africa on behalf of the Global South.

To read the full interview I invite VOL readers to click here:
https://virtueonline.org/global-south-covenant-or-gafcon-jerusalem-declaration

*****

It looks very much like the United Methodist Church is going to split. The prevailing issue is, of course, sodomy and blessing homosexual marriage. Eight United Methodist bishops have issued statement declaring United Methodism to be "broken" and calling for "multiple expressions of Methodism."

They explained:

It is time to be honest about our current reality. The events transpiring since the adjournment of the Special Session of General Conference illustrate how deep our division is. Sadly, even greater discord, chaos and fighting loom on the horizon at the 2020 General Conference in Minneapolis. The recent call and commitment by some for a moratorium of all complaints related to LGBTQ+ clergy and clergy performing same-gender weddings without a call for a moratorium on actions that violate our current Book of Discipline is yet another example of our brokenness. Even with good intentions, actions like these continue to divide.

And:

This is why we recognize our beloved United Methodist Church no longer can continue in our current form of unity. It is time to quit undermining our mission. It is time for the entire church to come together to figure out how to be the people called Methodists in a new way -- to seek a new form of unity.

The difference between the Episcopal/Anglican split and the United Methodist version is that African Methodists are on even voting and playing field as Western Methodists, so they outvoted their progressive/liberal/revisionist counterparts.

Unlike the Anglican split where conservatives have been vilified and ripped of their churches and their priests and bishops tossed to the wind, it is Methodist progressives who will have to leave the predominantly orthodox Methodist Church because the Africans had the votes to beat out the West. Anglicans have a different ecclesial structure.

But all is not lost. In North America we have the ACNA and ANiC; globally we have GAFCON and the GSA. Truthfully, we know how all this will end. God is not mocked. The progressive churches are reaping what they are sowing and they are sowing to the whirlwind.

*****

My new book, THE SEDUCTION OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH is out and if you would like a copy, I would be happy to send you an autographed copy for a donation of $100.00. The money will not line my pockets but will allow me to send copies to Global South bishops who would not otherwise be able to obtain a copy. My hope is to put this book in the hands of every bishop in the Anglican Communion so they will never again be fooled by anything a sitting Presiding Bishop says about The Episcopal Church. This book represents nearly three decades of reporting. I hope you will buy it.

You can send a check to:
VIRTUEONLINE
570 Twin Lakes Rd
P.O. Box 111
Shohola, PA 18458

Or you can hit VOL's PayPal link here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=66yVctdRJfn56ObJTxNqRn37s81ca3TxyKoR_-1iSo1u2jIy86mIBsCow1RhWJMBFAV5KW&country.x=US&locale.x=US

Please don't forget to add your return address.

All blessings,

David