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THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION: "There are none so blind..."

THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION: "There are none so blind..."
The delusional world of Archbishop Kwong

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
October 18, 2016

The chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council recently set out his vision for the Communion and he described it as "being proactive, building links and bringing peace to a world in turmoil -- those are the main tasks ahead for the Anglican Communion and its leaders," he said.

Archbishop Paul Kwong -- the Primate of Hong Kong -- in celebrating his first six months in the post, told the Anglican Communion News Service that it was vital for the Communion to be relevant.

VOL: No, actually not. Being relevant is not remotely why the Communion is a communion -- members of the Body of Christ. The Communion is called to be faithful to the gospel of Christ and to proclaim the Good News of the Cross and Resurrection. Being relevant has cost The Episcopal Church millions of parishioners. Being "proactive" whatever that means and "building links", but with whom is not stated, and "bringing peace to the world", is something that world powers and the UN tries to do, not the Anglican Communion. If it is, no one is listening to us, and 1.3 billion Chinese are certainly not listening to the ACC or Kwong about bringing peace on earth and goodwill to men. They are more concerned with trade deals with the US. But such noble high sounding sentiments make good press copy, accompanied by much hubris. The failure to bring peace within the Anglican family that has been decidedly elusive for the last three decades and growing more hopeless with each passing year seems not to concern Archbishop Kwong. It is vital that the communion be found faithful to the gospel in its witness to the world. Bringing peace to the world is mockingly absurd when the Anglican Communion is torn by 'heresies distressed' and can't find 'peace' in its own house of disorder.

KWONG: We are not simply a body of churches. We have a mission to do -- to serve the world, especially in areas where there is lots of conflict, human trafficking and terrorism.

VOL: It is high hubris to think that what the Anglican Communion says and does will in any affect 'conflict, human trafficking and terrorism' in the world in which we live. The Anglican Communion is totally consumed by human sexuality issues and the embrace of pansexuality. This has riveted the Communion for more than three decades and continues to do so. Peace, peace where there is no peace, has been the Communion cry.

KWONG: It seems to me there is no safe place in the world today. We have to help people find peace in their lives and in their hearts. This is the gospel we have to bring to the world.

VOL: Before we preach the 'gospel' of peace there must be the gospel of repentance and faith without which peace is as elusive as ISIS making peace with America. Without the Prince of Peace being at the heart of calls for peace, then peace is just an empty word. No one is ever going to listen to calls for peace by Archbishops Kwong or Welby. Only those active provinces that invite the Prince of Peace into the hearts, can live out the gospel of peace.

KWONG: There is no peace in the hearts of most people. Wherever you go, you see so much conflict, confrontation, polarization. It is very sad. We need to pray.

VOL: Unless the Anglican Communion can, with a united voice, preach and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost world, then talks of peace will be meaningless. Unless there is a clear enunciation of the Good News of God in Christ reconciling the world to himself through the cross, peace is just another word for nothing left to lose. Anglicans in the Sudan are fighting with the swords of faith, repentance, hope and love. Peace is not blindly accepting the other sides' terms for peace. In fact we might be called to lay down our lives for the gospel precisely because peace is not possible.

KWONG: There were divisions within the Communion, especially on issues such as same-sex marriage. I hope people would remain committed to working out their differences.

VOL: The divisions are real and won't go away unless the other side fully repents of its unbiblical, sexual practices. Not now not ever. Lines in the sand have been drawn. We have had several Communiques about this from Lambeth 1:10 through, Porto, Dar es Salam, Nairobi and the recent gathering of 19 primates in Cairo, who once again affirmed that homosexual practice was a bridge too far for them. They issued a warning to the Church of England that any pastoral provision for blessing same-sex unions will result in serious consequences. They lamented that the Provinces of Scotland, Canada and Wales further deepened the crisis in the Communion by moving to change their Canon teaching and practice in relation to same-sex union, in willful and defiant disregard of their Communique. What about that does Kwong not understand! There is no peace when such flagrant disobedience to scripture takes place.

Perhaps Archbishop Kwong missed the punch line in the Cairo communique about "enhanced ecclesial responsibility" from the archbishops and bishops.

Here is what they wrote: "The present and potentially escalating crisis poses challenges to the Global South in the shepherding of her people. We recognize the need for our enhanced ecclesial responsibility. We need to strengthen our doctrinal teaching, our ecclesiastical ordering of our collective life as a global fellowship and the flourishing of our gifts in the one another-ness of our mission."

The Global South Primates will therefore form a task force to recommend how these needs can be effectively addressed. That is not a sign or symbol of peace or the settling of "differences" and if Kwong doesn't see it, perhaps Welby does, or they both suffer from terminal blindness.

You can't cry peace when the faith and order of the Church is seriously compromised and godly admonitions have been issued time and time again to no avail. The Episcopal Church and now the Anglican church of Canada has pushed pansexuality -- through homosexual marriage - directly into the face of the rest of the communion and then used its monies to finance and push their position onto vulnerable Global South provinces.

KWONG: I want the Standing Committee to be proactive and not defensive. I want us to take the initiative and reach out to the people who like us -- and those who 'loathe' us! After all, we are brothers and sisters -- we are not enemies.

VOL: The Anglican Communion is at war with itself. Let us be absolutely clear about that. We have a de facto schism even if we do not have a de jure schism. Whether Kwong likes it or not, we have become enemies of one another and there will be no healing unless there is full repentance by those who have abandoned a scriptural position on human sexuality. The Communion is growing further apart with each passing week and month. Just recently, the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) announced it would plant 250 faithful parishes right under Welby's nose. Where is the 'peace' there!

No one loathes "us" or homosexuals. This is a straw man set up by Kwong. It is legitimate disagreement about the ontology of human sexuality and the creation order that has never been changed or rescinded by a holy God. The old liberal shibboleths about why can't we all get along have long gone. The Anglican Communion is on the cusp of disintegration with a weak willed ABC and Gaystapo like provinces inflicting pansexuality on all they come in contact with. It is a delusion to think otherwise. The Episcopal Church is self -destructing at an alarming rate and only those who are blind, deaf and stupid believe otherwise.

KWONG: There are no enemies in our family. Yes, we have people who have different views, who think differently but that doesn't mean we cannot talk to each other.

VOL: Nonsense, there are enemies -- and they are enemies of the cross of Christ and they are in abundance in the Anglican Communion, especially in the global north. Kwong said he hoped people would remain together in spite of any disagreement.

VOL: They won't because they cannot. Too much is at stake and that includes the salvation of millions of souls.

KWONG: In reality, people are free to choose whether to stay and walk together or not. But, as chair of the ACC, I don't want to see anyone walk away.

VOL: Many have already walked away. The establishment of the ACNA is example of schism with TEC. The ANiC is an example of the same thing in Canada, and the GAFCON primates have said they won't sit down with TEC, the ACoC or those provinces that cave in to homosexual marriage. Nigerian Archbishop Nicholas Okoh will never shake the hand of, or be seen in the same room, as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. He visits North America to meet with his CANA dioceses without so much as a nod to 815 2nd Avenue, TEC's national headquarters.

As things now stand, there probably won't be another Lambeth Conference if Welby calls one, you can be sure that half the archbishops in the Communion will be no-shows. They have already said that if Archbishop Foley Beach is not invited, they won't go and Welby has given no assurance he will be invited.

Kwong says he has spent his time in office so far working behind the scenes -- meeting people and trying to bring people together. One meeting will see the Presiding Bishop of the US-based Episcopal Church, Bishop Michael Curry, meet primates from South East Asia.

VOL: And what will that achieve? The Archbishop of South East Asia was recently in Cairo, he signed a Communique that further exposes and alienates TEC and Curry; what about that does Kwong not understand? Curry has been told to step back for three years from any ecumenical gathering and Kwong talks to him like a "brother"! What sort of message does that send to Archbishop Okoh or the GAFCON primates! Kwong is delusional.

KWONG: Connecting people is a really important part of the job. We have committed to walk together -- so it is one of the main things I must do.

VOL: Connecting people is a contentless, meaningless word in an Anglican context. Connection about what and for? Unity! Connecting as a word has no meaning in the Anglican Communion at this time.

Kwong and the ACC are living in denial, total denial, about the state of the Communion and raising their finger to the wind in the hope that everything will turn out fine is the worst kind of delusion. Unless there is full and total repentance by TEC, the ACoC, Wales, Scotland over repeated violations of Scripture over sexuality, then the fragmentation will only continue. When the Anglican humpty finally falls, as surely it will, then no one, not even the Archbishop of Canterbury, will be able to put the Anglican humpty back together again. And the fall will be final.

END

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