Does the Bible preach "God helps those who help themselves" and prosperity for all those who believe hard enough, or does it preach a very different gospel, something like "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God." -- Luke: 6:20)? --- Ben Witherington

When we think of an older, physically diminished person, we might say, "They are just a shadow of their former self," but when someone belongs to Christ, we should say, "They are just a shadow of their future self." If you can envision your future, glorious self, you can move toward becoming that person right now, bearing the beautiful image of God in your daily life. --- N. T. Wright

Some things change in life. Some things do not change. Knowing which is vital. As to the former, people change. Cultures change. Societies change. But as to the latter, God does not change. The Christian gospel does not change. Our fundamental need as human beings do not change. --- Bill Muehlenberg

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
June 9, 2023

The Anglican Communion is heading inexorably and inevitably to a Kairos moment. The present impasse is unsustainable. The slicing and dicing of the Anglican Communion is now fully underway.

The notion of "two integrities" much ballyhooed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is not working and is non-negotiable by the majority of Global South Anglicans. Most Global South Anglicans see the open rebellion of western Anglican provinces to Lambeth Resolution 1:10 as a bridge too far and communion breaking.

There are calls to no longer recognize Archbishop Welby as primus inter pares. Some provinces are calling for his outright removal, demanding that he resign.

Steps by GAFCON and the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) to "cancel" the Archbishop of Canterbury from leadership of the Communion have threatened worldwide Anglicanism more formidably than the Kikuyu conflict of a hundred years ago. Then some African dioceses shared the Sacrament with evangelical missionaries in Kenya and incurred the wrath of the Anglo-Catholic Bishop of Zanzibar, wrote Frank Weston.

Criticism of the move to separate is coming in from several quarters, with responses arguing that homosexuality is not a legitimate reason to break up over.
One writer argued that the notion that Anglicans who break from Canterbury are looking for a pure church, is fiction. African Anglicans are very aware of sin in all its sexual and non-sexual dimensions. They are not fooled for a moment, and when they see sin happening, they call for confession and repentance. The tragedy of the homosexual (now LGBTQ+ lobby is that they want acceptance not repentance and therein lies the problem. They want engagement and embrace not death to sin and self. They want to praise the self, not practice self-denial. Christians are called to deny the self, die to the self. The LGBTQ lobby wants acceptance not repentancce.

In an exclusive interview VOL obtained with former Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies, and GAFCON leader, the feisty bishop argued forcibly that Welby can run the Canterbury Communion, but we are the Anglican Communion representing 85% of all church going Anglicans. He continued his smackdown saying that Welby has lost his role as primus inter pares and should resign. You can read my interview here: https://virtueonline.org/we-are-anglican-communion-we-represent-85-all-church-going-anglicans-bishop-glenn-davies

ACNA Bishop Julian Dobbs at his 10th Diocesan convention piggy-backed on Bishop Davies. Bishop Dobbs affirmed traditional views on sexuality and blasted non-binary self-declarations, arguing that undergoing surgery, taking hormones, cannot change who God created you to be. "The determination of your sex belongs not to you, your parents, your psychotherapist, your surgeon or anyone else. It belongs to God alone. God reserves for Himself the exclusive right to choose whether a person is "male or female." Lines of demarcation have been drawn in our nation over woke issues. He said Archbishop Welby and his bishops are leading the church into apostasy. "They are walking apart from Christ," he told 300 delegates to the annual convention of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word. "The Church of England will cease to exist around 2060." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/acna-bishop-affirms-traditional-views-sexuality-blasts-non-binary-self-declarations

ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT, the issue of the communion's future is now being asked and agonized over, not only by archbishops, bishops, but also theologians of one stripe or another.

One of the best theologians is Martin Davie, a tutor at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford who argues for a new province for traditionalists in the Church of England. He suggested that the Church of England needs a new settlement which would allow conservatives and liberals to each have their own province (or provinces) within which they could either maintain or alter the current doctrine of the Church of England on marriage and sexuality and the disciplines that go with it.

This suggestion prompts the obvious question: 'What would such a settlement look like in practice?'. In this article he attempts to answer this question by sketching out what a province for conservatives (let's call it the 'Province of Mercia') might look like, drawing on material I produced for the Church of England Evangelical Council's paper, Visibly Different.

The Province of Mercia would be established through a measure passed by General Synod and endorsed by both Houses of Parliament and receiving Royal Assent. This measure would contain a provision that it could not be repealed except with the consent of the province.

The province would come into being by means of parishes voting to leave their existing diocese and transfer to a diocese in the new province instead. To give the new province stability, parishes would not be able to return to their previous diocese for a period of ten years. Apart from that requirement, parishes would be free to move from the provinces of Canterbury and York to the new province, or to move back the other way. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/new-province-traditionalists-church-england

Sex is still on the hearts and minds of The Church of England's College of Bishops. They met in London June 5-6 to pray and discuss progress on implementing the recent decision of General Synod on sexuality and marriage.

Bishops heard detailed updates on the work of the three implementation groups set up following the Synod debate that considered proposals to offer prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples.

Of course, we know where all this is going and it is why the Global South has lost any hope that the CofE will reverse course.

***

UGANDAN ARCHBISHOP Stephen Kaziimba waded in and laid out a vision of the future for Global Anglicanism at a Martyrs' Day commemoration which saw GAFCON Chairman and ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach preach to 40,000 at the commemoration service. The Ugandan Primate said Welby had forfeited his right to lead the Anglican Communion. The Global South is now looking at the Anglican Communion led by Archbishop Justin Welby in the rearview mirror.

The commemoration service honored the 40 martyrs who laid down their lives rather than succumb to the homosexual advances of the Ugandan king. The Ugandan Archbishop said the colonial structures Welby's office represents are coming to an end.

"What is rising in its place is a new wineskin of Covenanted relationships developed by the Global South and those wineskins will be filled with the new wine of GAFCON'S passion for Jesus, his Gospel, and mission. The global future of Anglicanism is the passionate proclamation of Christ to the nations through a global fellowship of churches related to one another in mutual love and accountability through the Cairo Covenant of the Global South. I want to assure you we've only just begun and the future of Christian mission and global Anglicanism is very bright."
To read more, click here: https://virtueonline.org/ugandan-archbishop-says-welby-has-forfeited-his-right-lead-anglican-communion

IN OTHER NEWS, the UGANDAN ANGLICAN CHURCH publicly supported the anti-homosexuality act passed by their parliament. Archbishop Kaziimba renewed his opposition to capital punishment. The law permits the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," which it defines as sex involving a minor, a person who has HIV, or a person who has a disability.

"We're grateful the current Act affirms the merits of the existing provisions in the current penal code. We are also grateful that the Act builds on existing laws by offering greater protection of children through strong anti-grooming measures, strong restrictions on promotion, and protection of children by not allowing those convicted under the act to be employed in organizations that work directly with children. We also appreciate that the Act protects people from false allegations," said Kaziimba.

Ironically, the CofE remained silent, except for a handful of bishops who made comments scoring the Ugandan archbishop on social media.

Church of England lay lesbian Jane Ozanne criticized the archbishops of the Anglican Communion for not speaking out on behalf of LGBTQ+ people in Uganda. "I'm shocked and saddened by their failure to speak," she said. "It appears they want to preserve a false unity at any cost. Now we see the true price of that 'unity' -- LGBTQ+ people in Uganda are sadly having to bear the cost with their very lives." This is nonsense of course. Nobody has been killed. Homosexuality is not even a word in some of the languages and the number of the Ugandan languages and the number of actual homosexuals in the country is extremely small, because family systems are better there than in the West where they have largely broken down. Ozanne wouldn't know Ibo from Urdu.

Within the Church of England, several bishops took to social media to voice their opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Act, although not in the numbers or as speedily as many would have liked. Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was criticized for not addressing the issue. Lambeth Palace is considering issuing a statement, but did not respond to a query from VOL.

FROM KENYA came this word from Bishop Joseph Wandera, who argued in a piece he authored that decades of conflict within the global Anglican family are contributing to shifting Anglican identities.

A recent virtual meeting of the Anglican Church of Kenya's House of Bishops "noted with concern the Church of England's departure from the traditional Christian teachings on marriage."

It also took note of the LGBTQ movement in Kenya, arising from a February decision by the Supreme Court of Kenya to allow the registration of a gay lobby group.
Consequently, the House of Bishops has established a working committee of four bishops to:

Seek to strengthen ties with associations and movements such as the Global Anglican Future Conference, the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa, and the Global South Fellowship of Churches, which are of like mind with ACK in matters of faith and doctrine.
Develop a position paper on how to relate to churches and/or provinces that have departed from traditional Christian teachings, but without relinquishing our rightful place in the Communion.
Develop a position paper to guide the ACK's response to LGBTQ issues with clear theological, biblical, sociological, psychological, and cultural bases.
The vast majority of Anglicans and even non-Christians in Kenya are shocked at the recent developments in our mother Church of England in allowing the blessing of same-sex relations.

The response of the church's leadership and the country's other leaders -- including President William Ruto to the Supreme Court's ruling -- has been unequivocal in its condemnation. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/kenya-decades-conflict-within-global-anglican-family-are-contributing-shifting-anglican-identities

***

We are now in something called Pride Month, which is praised and eulogized by multiple dioceses in the Episcopal Church across the country. The 52nd annual event will have events ranging from special worship services and festivals to hosting LGBTQ+ proms and advocacy discussions. TEC is all in, even as the culture is sending signals that all is not well in the land of trans and other ignoble sexualities. Target, Bud Light and Disney have seen their total stock losses approaching $40 BILLION for their sins embracing the unembraceable.

Carl Trueman, in an insightful piece which you can read here: https://virtueonline.org/americas-lgbtq-establishment says Pride Month is surely the most ostentatious, annoying, and egregious of them all. June has been taken over by the avant-garde of the sexual revolution. It is the high feast of the progressive liturgical calendar and almost as long as Lent--though committed of course to self-indulgence, not self-denial. Pride parades pass through the streets, flaunting ever more exotic forms of explicit sexuality, often cheered on by parents with small children.

"LGBTQ groups are no longer speaking their notion of truth to power. They are the power and the only speech they want allowed is that which they sanction. That's what the powerful always do."

"Though we should push back and seek its displacement with festivals celebrating virtues instead of vices, Pride Month is sadly here to stay, an annual reminder that yes, the LGBTQ+ lobby has decisively taken over the American empire. But given that obvious fact, can we now at least be spared the sanctimonious claptrap that pervades the other 11 months of the year, that which complains about continuing marginalization, negative stereotyping, and oppression by a hostile culture? That's nonsense, as Pride Month makes very clear indeed."

***

But shafts of light do break through the darkening clouds of cultural decline and you can read one man's conversion from the homosexual world he once inhabited.

A Man at Pride Festival Asks God for Freedom and Forgiveness, ran the headline. This is a beautiful and encouraging story to remind disciples of Jesus to be full of love, grace, truth and readiness to preach the Gospel even in the face of pride in sexual perversion. Surely June, a.k.a. "pride month", has the potential to be an exciting time to help people encounter God and the truth -- rather than a month we dread.

A young street preacher named Nicholas Bowling attended a pride festival and led a man who was wearing a dress in prayer to God. They prayed a prayer of repentance from sin and freedom from homosexuality. Bowling got the man's number in order to meet up with him later for a meal. It's such an encouraging scene.

Heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents. You can read the full story here:
https://virtueonline.org/sunny-side-stream-man-pride-festival-asks-god-freedom-and-forgiveness

***

A NEW POLL out says that more Than 7 in 10 Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage. More than 70 percent of Americans say same-sex marriage should be legal, up from 27 percent in 1996 and matching last year's percentage, a new Gallup News poll found.

"When Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, barely a quarter of the public (27 percent) supported legalizing such unions. It would take another 15 years, until 2011, for support to reach the majority level," according to the poll report. "Then in 2015, just one month before the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision, public support for legalizing gay marriage cracked the 60 percent level. In 2021, it reached the 70 percent mark for the first time and has been there each of the past three years."

You can read more here: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/06/06/poll-more-than-7-in-10-americans-support-same-sex-marriage/

Sadly, that is no surprise, an evangelical Anglican sociologist told VOL. "It follows the way the sexual revolutionaries move through foreseeable and calculated steps:
1) Legal admissibility (rights for all, with no minorities left behind)
2) Moral acceptance
3) Social anathematization (of those who disagree), and then
4) Universal affirmation (the new right is now an American, or Western, or human value for the whole world)."

"Number two follows from number one, as evidenced in the poll, because it becomes very difficult to disagree morally with what is now legally accepted and the law of the land. We are truly are a counterculture!"

***

Well, just how welcoming is the Episcopal Church? Not very says Anglican Watch, an unofficial watchdog of the Episcopal church. Taking a bite out of bullies, abusers, and other lowlifes, Anglican Watch detailed it in a piece titled, Ending the lie that all are welcome in the Episcopal church. "Like many, it runs on a series of myths about itself. Some of these myths are good. Others, not so much. And some are just silly, like the claim that "all are welcome."

"For the record, all are not welcome. Nor are we the first to poke holes in this smug, self-congratulatory little deception. For starters, if indeed all are welcome, why doesn't the church do any evangelism?"

"If nothing else, it's disingenuous to complain about the decline of the church makes no effort to bring in new members."

"Right about, some readers will gnash their teeth and say, "Well, we put up banners at Easter," or "we go to the local street fair." But deep down, these people know their claims are hogwash. Indeed, many of these same people will ask new church members, "How did you find us?"

"Of course, if their churches were evangelizing, the question would never come up. That begs the question: if their church is such a slice of stained-glass paradise, why wouldn't these people want to spread that news? And why are people leaving?

"The myth of radical welcome and unconditional love is intertwined with a lack of evangelism. Bam!" You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/ending-lie-all-are-welcome-episcopal-church

***

In a profile I wrote about who will be the next Presiding Bishop, I argue that there will be no change in the descent suggest using "decline" of the church, with present performance failing to contradict past history. There is little hope that the hemorrhaging will stop, and the slide reversed whoever is elected.

In the profile for the next Presiding Bishop for the Episcopal Church, the lead issue is, (hold your breath), evangelism, along with catechesis, or teaching and nurturing the faith.

If Jack Spong or Frank Griswold were alive, they would roll over in their graves. This is like going backwards in a time machine, even though the standard woke issues quickly follow in succession, including the standard phobias that must be denounced at every opportunity.

But it reveals the deep desperation to have evangelism as your first call, especially as it is doubtful that TEC has an evangelical bishop ready to leap into the line-up of hopeful wannabees, or, if nominated, would have a prayer of winning. It also reveals a denomination in free fall that has evangelism, not anti-racism training, climate change or whole range of woke issues as its top priority. You can read more of my take here: https://virtueonline.org/profile-next-presiding-bishop-contradicts-past-history

***

Bishop Gregory Brewer of the Diocese of Central Florida wrote a piece for the Living Church titled "Bridges of Grace". Tragically when examined in the cold hard light of day it was Broken Bridges of Disgrace. He totally ignored the Anglican Reset, Realignment, ACNA, GAFCON and GSFA Developments.

He argued that "bridges of grace" can bridge the divide in the great global conflict over pansexuality that has torn the fabric of the communion forcing a realignment and reset on 80 million Anglicans.

Well, tell that to 828 deposed priests and deacons along with 13 bishops what "living with difference" means. They got their heads handed to them. They were inhibited and deposed; they lost their parishes, got reduced pensions and status with many forced to start again with small parishes in another Anglican jurisdiction that has never been recognized by Canterbury. Brewer never experienced that humiliation. He even attended GAFCON 1 and told me "I stand with them." But the lure of a TEC bishopric, a nice climate, and a pension to ease retirement, won the day. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/central-florida-outgoing-bishop-sees-bridges-grace-where-only-broken-bridges-disgrace-exist

***

While property issues in the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina have been largely resolved, one parish is feeling the pain of loss - Good Shepherd, Charleston.

"Brothers and sisters, do not be mistaken this is certainly a disappointing outcome. There will be times when we will feel anger, frustration, disappointment, and the like. This is all a natural part of mourning. We are a people of place, and this loss of what has been our place since 1973 will be difficult. But this place does not define us. We are a people who are loved by God in every situation and circumstance...He has called us into his light for a purpose, so come to him even in this time of pain and sorrow knowing he has called us for his purpose," wrote the parish rector.

A diocesan spokesman told VOL, that the majority of the congregation at Good Shepherd will remain together. "There are several options being investigated for how to proceed, including possible contingency plans that were already in place. Settlement negotiations with TECSC have not yet begun. As with the other parishes that departed their property, there are a host of issues to address that are not resolved by the court's ruling. These will take time to resolve, but negotiating in good faith, that has been possible in every case thus far."

***

UNITED METHODISTS are heading down the same railway tracks as the Episcopal Church and forming something akin to the ACNA. A new body has been formed called the Global Methodist Church. In response to the 300 congregations in the Western PA Conference of the UMC disaffiliating in accordance with proposed legislation for the Special Session on June 14, a source sent this to VOL about the United Methodist Church and Disaffiliation:

"We are seeing a massive number of disaffiliations. When this process began, we predicted 3-5,000 disaffiliations in total. We're now on track to exceed 6,300. There is even an outside chance that we see about 7,500 disaffiliations, which would be one quarter of all U.S. congregations in the United Methodist Church.
A handful of Annual Conferences have scheduled Special Sessions in the autumn to handle the disaffiliations, so we're presently focusing upon those conferences to get the last people out the door while there is still opportunity to do so. It is unlikely that the General Conference will extend the disaffiliation language in the Discipline when they reconvene in 2024, so autumn will be the last big movement of U.S. churches out of the denomination." Shades of TEC and the ACNA. Oh God, what hath homosexuality wrought!

***

And just to make your day, Lambeth has been named the nation's
gonorrhea hotspot, as cases soar to a 100-year high. England's gonorrhoea hotspots are all in London, MailOnline revealed this week. Cases of the STI have rocketed to an all-time high. Lambeth, a borough in the south of the capital which covers all of Brixton and parts of Clapham, topped the charts. Strange when you think that Lambeth Palace is dead center in the clap trap. Clearly, more evangelism needs to be done coming out of the palace itself! Ya think. Ya hope!

Poor old Justin Welby just can't catch a break. He got caught speeding in London recently. He was doing 25mph in a 20mph zone and got hit with a 500 pound fine! There are RVs in America that stall going that speed.

***

In the ongoing saga of sexual mayhem in The Diocese of The Upper Midwest, ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach issued the [latest] following statement:

I am writing to share an update with you on the Provincial processes pertaining to Bishop Stewart Ruch III. Last fall, after evaluating a breadth of evidence, a majority of the Provincial Investigative Team-UMW recommended a Presentment be considered against Bishop Ruch. After receiving the Presentment, I, in accordance with my requisite duties under the Canons, began the process of selecting a Board of Inquiry to evaluate the Presentment.

"In the midst of this appointment process, on January 31, 2023, Bishop Ruch made a secret appeal to the Provincial Tribunal to declare the Presentment invalid. The Tribunal failed to give proper notice to me, the Presenting Bishops, or the Provincial Chancellors. We were not given a copy of what Bishop Ruch filed and we were not given opportunity to address the issue. We did not even know the Tribunal was involved until it issued on February 4, 2023, what it called a "stay order," attempting to block the process and compel me to halt the process of fulfilling my canonically mandated responsibility to appoint a Board of Inquiry and referring the Presentment to it."

The he said/she said is likely to play out quite a bit longer. You can read Archbishop Beach's statement here: https://virtueonline.org/acna-update-diocese-upper-midwest

***

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