Them's fightin' words to Nikki Gemmel, who roared back in a column asking; 'What is the Anglican Church becoming? What does it want to be to the people of Australia? I ask this as a woman who's invested in Anglicanism but is heartbroken at the way this religion is being riven internally.' She said esteemed church leaders made her feel 'vandalized' and accused them of hijacking the church by 'bigotry and intolerance,' calling it a 'travesty of Jesus's teachings.'

She went on a riff saying that The Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, had a definition of Anglicanism that was not her. She accused him of sexism though he had nothing to say about women at all; he focused solely on sexuality issues.

"The public image: a riven and confused church that doesn't quite know what it stands for but is pushing people away in the process. Not only members of the congregation but non-churchgoing parents with children in Anglican schools," she said.

That's odd. The Diocese of Sydney is the largest and most vibrant diocese in the entire Anglican Church of Australia! It is thriving even as liberal and progressive dioceses are withering on the vine because they cannot declare a definitive gospel message while pushing sexual and abortion limits against Scripture and catholic teaching down through the centuries. Nowhere in her blast at Davies does she cite one Scripture, only her own personal anguish at churches being ripped apart over homosexual marriage. What Scriptures could she quote from pray tell? Not one.

"And of course, the majority of Australians do support same-sex marriage. It feels like the archbishop is damaging his church and Jesus's teachings of tolerance, gentleness and inclusivity," she said.

Really! So, Archbishop Davies should heed the siren call of Australian secular culture and go along to get along to satisfy her and her pro-homosexual pals because that is the "tolerant" thing to do!

"Does he (Davies) want his church to become a haven for the fearful and angry; for the haters and the bigots? The Bible as we know it is open to interpretation -- pick and choose at your will. All strands of faith do it, but some select hard lines of dogma and

this feels fatal now in our rapidly changing world. Defensive, closed, on the back foot."

Evangelicals have never been fearful and angry despite cries that they are haters and homophobes. It is the pansexualists who have become fundamentalists over sexuality, demanding that their behavior now aligned with the culture and their views not only be tolerated and accepted but pushed and promoted. Scripture be damned.

The church has been on the wrong side of public opinion recently on abortion as well as same-sex marriage said Gemmell. She then said that both the ACoC and the Roman Catholic Church were "ruining" their own churches, and asks what would Jesus say about that?

No, Gemmell, it is precisely the opposite and the acceptance of abortion (infanticide) clearly proscribed by Scripture and church history and the acceptance of sodomy and homosexual marriage that is, in fact, emptying churches. The Episcopal Church in the US lost over 100,000 Episcopalians following the consecration of an avowed homosexual to the episcopacy in the person of Gene Robinson. TEC has been steadily losing market share to the point that it can barely muster half a million people on any given Sunday. The equally progressive Anglican Church of Canada, which is more advanced on these issues, cannot muster 100,000 in average Sunday attendance.

"It's [the Church] is slowly killing itself by refusing to open its heart to others. You're both ruining your own churches. And what would Jesus have to say about that?"

Absolutely false. Every western country that has bought into pansexuality is watching their churches wilt and die. The churches that are thriving are in Africa, Asia and South America, and they are thriving precisely because they uphold 'the faith once for all delivered to the saints.'

Jesus affirmed 'male and female' eschewing all other forms of sexual identity or behavior. His language harkens back to Genesis chapter 1 and God's design for binary human relationships. Furthermore, Archbishop Davies is not ruining his church at all, in fact it is growing under his leadership and the diocese includes a number of women.

Here is what one woman had to say. Dani Treweek is an ordained female member of the Sydney Anglican clergy, a trained theologian, Bible teacher and senior research fellow. This is what she says about herself and the Diocese of Sydney; "Who am I? I am certainly not the Anglican woman...who from immense cognitive dissonance at the hands of those "bonkers", patriarchal fundamentalist Sydney Anglican men.

"You see, far from subjugating, oppressing and silencing me, Sydney Anglican men have played a crucial role in encouraging, equipping and supporting me to become all the things I am today. Certainly, there have been a significant number of very important female Christian mentors in my life. But it was a Sydney Anglican man who first encouraged me to consider pursuing full-time Christian ministry. It was a Sydney Anglican man who ordained and licensed me as a member of clergy. It was Sydney Anglican men who recruited me to the various committees and councils I am on. It was a Sydney Anglican man who emailed me out of the blue to suggest I undertake a PhD in theology. It is Sydney Anglican men who have encouraged and helped facilitate my return to full-time theological study. It is Sydney Anglican men who contact me nearly every week asking for advice on how they can do a better job in their churches in my area of research. It is Sydney Anglican men who ask if I'm available to visit their church services on Sundays to share some of the results of my labour with their congregations. Who am I? I am a woman who is tired of being caricatured, oppressed, silenced and made to feel invisible. But not by Sydney Anglican men."

Nikki Gemmell should take note.

END