You are here
Missouri Diocese Elects Homosexual Bishop to Lead them into the Abyss
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
November 25, 2019
The slow but steady pornification of the Episcopal Church continues apace with the election this week of the Rev. Deon K. Johnson, a homosexual, as Missouri's 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.
When Johnson took over in 2002, baptized membership was a solid 14,546; by 2017. it had dropped to 10,255, a loss of 4,291 or 30%.
In 2002 average Sunday attendance 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.
The baptism statistic in 2002, another key barometer, was 237. By 2017, it had dropped to 101 a decline of 57.3%!
Confirmations were also down by another 30% from 178 to 124 and marriages had dropped a stunning 62.1% from 103 to a mere 39.
In 2002, there were 49 congregations. By 2017, that figure had dropped to 42, a decline of seven parishes or 14%.
The official news announcement said Johnson was a veteran Episcopal priest with deep experience in social justice issues and ministry to gay and lesbian communities. Johnson, who lives in Michigan with his husband and two children, has been rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brighton, MI, since 2006.
Bishop Johnson, naturally an advocate for the homosexual community and a social justice warrior, says he plans to reach out to such communities, which begs the question just how many pansexualists can be found in St. Louis who are chaffing at the bit to join an Episcopal Church. Of course, we know what happened in New Hampshire when Gene Robison was given a miter, numbers dropped through the floor.
There is no history of homosexual and/or lesbian bishops making dioceses grow. It's an impossibility as they have no gospel of God's new life in people being proclaimed, just a faux "gospel" of inclusion and diversity that saves no one and nothing.
What this means is, that based on current figures projected into the future, Johnson will be Missouri's last diocesan bishop.
Have no fear. He will be richly rewarded for his tenure with a fat pension and a guarantee that his kids will get full scholarships through college.
All this will only reinforce to Global South Anglicans and GAFCON primates that doing business with TEC is a lost cause.
It is also deeply significant that the consecration will take place at St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church in St. Louis, a parish that seceded from the Roman Catholic Church a few years ago over property issues. They are independent and they recently tried to affiliate with the Episcopal diocese but failed because they refused to give up their property.
A perfect match. Two rebellious churches united by a common cause of apostasy, presided over by a heretical presiding bishop whose real desire is to push his Church's pansexual views on to African Anglicans and to anyone else who can be bribed with money to renounce their biblical view on human sexuality. So far it is proving successful with Archbishop Justin Welby.
END
