Unchanging grace. Paul is confident of the believer's eternal security, only because he is confident in God's unchanging grace. 'Whom he foreknew, he predestined ... whom he predestined, he called; whom he called, he justified, he also glorified' (Rom. 8:29-30). This chain of divine grace cannot be broken at any of its links --- John R.W. Stott

St. Paul tells us that the universe was created by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. In addition, all things in heaven and earth are held together in Christ and will one day be summed up in Him. Consequently, creation is also occupied with Christ. --- Leonard Sweet, author

Dramatized promises. His Word of promise is not the only means of assurance which God has given us. He knows that our faith is 'brittle', to use Luther's word, and needs strengthening. Or, to change the metaphor, he knows how hard we find it to believe a 'naked' word; so he has graciously 'clothed' it for us to see, in the two sacraments of the gospel. Augustine called them verba visibilia (visible words), and Bishop Jewel added that 'the substance of all sacraments is the Word of God'. They dramatize the promises of the gospel in such a way as to evoke and confirm our faith. Baptism, being unique and unrepeatable, is the sacrament of our once-for-all justification; holy communion, being repeatedly enjoyed, is the sacrament of our daily forgiveness. By them we are assured, audibly and visibly, of our acceptance and forgiveness. --- John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
March 28, 2014

It was a bitter sweet week. The good news is that the Diocese of Ft. Worth is winning the property wars with the Episcopal Church.

The Texas Supreme Court denied the losing parties' petitions for rehearing in the two ECUSA cases pending before it: No. 11-0265, Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, et al. v. The Episcopal Church, et al.; and No. 11-0332, Masterson v. Diocese of Northwest Texas. The Court had delivered its opinions in the two cases last August 30. In the first case, the Court had sided with Bishop Iker's Diocese by a closely split vote of 5-4, reversed the summary judgment of Circuit Judge John Chupp which had awarded all of the property and assets of Bishop Iker's Diocese to the Episcopal Church and its rump diocese, and sent the case back to the trial court.

In the second case, the Court by a vote of 7-2, reversed the Court of Appeals' decision requiring the Church of the Good Shepherd in San Angelo to turn over its building and all other assets to the Diocese of Northwest Texas. The Court definitively ruled that all Texas courts must follow "neutral principles of law" (rather than deferring to an ecclesiastical hierarchy), and that based on such an analysis, the Dennis Canon was not effective under Texas law (or that if it were effective to create a trust, the trust was not expressly irrevocable, and so could be revoked by the parish in question).

In a statement released by the diocese, Bishop Jack Iker said of this latest ploy by TEC: “This is a last-ditch, desperate act on the part of a group that now realizes theirs is a lost cause in Texas. It shows how far they will stretch to delay and confuse, to prevent the proceedings from being brought to a conclusion.

“The record shows that the TEC group pursuing this case consists of seven self-supporting parishes and 10 small splinter groups meeting at different locations. On the other hand, our Diocese is comprised of 30 self-supporting parishes, 18 aided mission churches, and 10 mission stations, with an average Sunday attendance of over 5,230 members.

“It is highly unlikely that either the US or the Texas Supreme Courts will grant either motion. While we continue to make our case based upon Texas laws governing property ownership, trusts, and corporations, TEC loyalists argue from sentimentality and a “my church right or wrong” mindset.”

THE BAD NEWS is that an organization that I once worked for in Ethiopia, World Vision briefly caved into the LGBTQ lobby and said it would hire married gays and lesbians in same sex relationships. WV is one of the world’s largest evangelical social agencies spending upwards of one billion dollars on aid to the poor especially children.

The Christian charity reversed its longstanding policy, announcing that it would begin hiring homosexuals in same-sex “marriages” to work for their ministry.

World Vision U.S. President Richard Stearns told Christianity Today on Monday that his board was “overwhelmingly in favor” of the change, though not unanimous.

Then, just as suddenly, under enormous pressure, the Board of Directors of WV met and quickly reversed its decision saying it would return to its previous policy that affirms sexual abstinence for all unmarried employees and defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, said he was shocked to hear of World Vision’s decision to hire employees in same-sex marriages. “The Bible is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman.

“My dear friend, Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse, would be heartbroken. He was an evangelist who believed in the inspired Word of God.”

One of the reasons, though you won’t read for World Vision’s [temporary] change of policy is that WV takes money for some of it programs from the Government and if you do that then be prepared to pay the piper.

It will be interesting to see how that plays out, now that its board has reversed itself. Watch for more.

*****

The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops met in Camp Allen, an Episcopal conference center located in the Diocese of Texas, this past week and declared that the annual spring retreat had been a time of community building and bridge building.

“You cannot work as effectively as colleagues if you are not also friends, and there is emotional and relational capital – spiritual capital – that’s generated in these gatherings that we depend on at other points in the life of the House of Bishops,” said Diocese of Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe, vice president of the House of Bishops. Probably because most of the orthodox bishops have left or been tossed out of the church by Jefferts Schori. There will be no more uprisings, at least for the moment.

The house heard briefings from two General Convention-mandated studies on the Study of Marriage and Reimagining the Episcopal Church. No conclusions were reached, of course, but here is this priceless line from Katharine Jefferts Schori, “There’s been lots of conversation about the need for more time for conversation.” I swear to God you can’t make this stuff up. They will talk themselves to death and the church will go on shrinking.

But the real zinger at this HOB gabfest was the announcement that the next HOB meeting in September will be in TAIWAN! Yup 8000 miles away in a country that has 13 congregations and a weekly ASA of (hold your breath) 687! Jefferts Schori noted that the Diocese of Taiwan is the easternmost part of the Episcopal Church and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Also, an invitation had been extended by Bishop David Jung-Hsin Lai. “It’s an opportunity to expand on the theme of this meeting, which is singing the Lord’s song in a strange land,” she said. Perhaps they should sing it closer to home at much less cost.

This apparently is called ‘bridge-building’ or is it ‘indaba’ or helping the bishops ‘grow together as a house more deeply’?No one talked about how much this global carbon foot print enhancing expedition would enhance and grow TEC back home. VOL crunched the numbers. If you imagine 140-150 bishops flying to Taiwan for a week at approximate cost of $3,000.00 per bishop, this gabfest will cost in the vicinity of $400,000 - $500,000! I suppose that is chump change when you think that the National Church has spent something like $40 million on lawsuits for properties.

When this was announced, one bishop, Daniel Martins of Springfield said he wouldn’t go, citing the cost of attending this next meeting in far off Asia.

Martins went on a tear at his blog writing, "... I do not wish to be complicit in furthering the narrative that 'the Episcopal Church is an international church; we're in 16 countries on four continents'. While technically true, that is an incidental and circumstantial reality, not the virtuous fruit of a grand missionary strategy."

Several Christian denominations in Taiwan are actively engaged in very fruitful mission. The Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists Baptists and Lutherans operate schools while the Adventists and Mennonites have hospitals.

"If anything, it is a vestige of colonialism and we ought to find it an embarrassment and be taking more aggressive steps to spin off our overseas dioceses into self-sustaining Anglican provinces," Bishop Martins blogged.

You can read the full story by Mary Ann Mueller in today’s digest or go here: http://tinyurl.com/ly826qs

*****

Last week the South Carolina Court of Appeals rejected an appeal that would have delayed a trial in the Diocese of South Carolina lawsuit to protect diocesan and parish property from seizure by The Episcopal Church (TEC) and its local group, The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC).

The Court decided that TEC and TECSC could not appeal a lower court ruling on the process to be used in discovery.

The Court of Appeals effectively said it will not tolerate legal shenanigans to delay a trial to decide whether the denomination may seize South Carolina property, including churches and the diocesan symbols. In asking the Court of Appeals to dismiss the action, the Diocese of South Carolina argued that TECSC is appealing a court order that is "unappealable".

*****

The Bishop of Virginia Shannon Johnston is boasting that since he took back The Falls Church from its 3,000 members, the church is back on its path to growth with some 200 members. However, the parish seems more bent on growing herbs than saving souls. In a commentary on “The Falls Church Episcopal, How Does Your Garden Grow?”, the church boasted that it is growing Bok choy.

It is not the only thing to grow in the fertile soil of The Falls Church Episcopal in Falls Church, VA. It seems that people are also part of the harvest in this revitalized fellowship…all 200 of them, in a building that can seat several thousand.

A former priest of the parish said their Easter Sunday numbers were around 200, but their weekly services are not that high.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury's keenness to focus on evangelism was highlighted this week as his Task Group met for the first time at Lambeth Palace.

In his first presidential address to Synod last July, Justin Welby labelled evangelism as one of his three main priorities in ministry. "We need new imagination in evangelism through prayer, and a fierce determination not to let evangelism be squeezed off our agendas," he urged.

"The Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed the good news for our times. God is always good news; we are the ones who make ourselves irrelevant when we are not good news. And when we are good news, God's people see growing churches."

The Archbishop has set up an Evangelism Task Group made up of experts and practitioners in evangelism including the Reverend Annie Kirke, Pioneer of Missional Communities in the Diocese of London, the bishops of Hertford and Lancaster and Reverend Andy Croft of Soul Survivor. The group hopes to encourage, empower and equip Christians across the UK to share the Gospel and be the good news within their communities.

Archbishop Welby's Advisor for Evangelism and Witness, the Reverend Canon Chris Russell, says the Task Group is not designed to be a "command and control centre telling churches what to do", but will consider good practices and share them with the wider Christian community. "It is about bringing all the influence we can to bear," he notes.

Church officials have praised the Archbishop's initiative, including Archbishop of York John Sentamu who has declared that "making disciples is at the heart of our Christian faith and our Anglican tradition".
"Next to worship, witness is the primary and urgent task of the Church," he says. "Compared with evangelism everything else is like re-arranging furniture when the house is on fire."

Ahead of the meeting, Welby himself spoke of his desire to see the Church transformed through evangelism and his passion for people to come to know God. "It is the task of this group to see every church and every Christian embrace their calling to be those who proclaim the gospel in word and deed," he asserted.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury married his daughter to a Christian song-writer at Canterbury Cathedral.

His daughter, Katharine married her fiancé, Mike Roberts on Friday. The Archbishop conducted the service exactly a year after his own enthronement as leader of the Church of England on the same spot.
The new Mrs. Roberts posted links to photographs on the internet showing the Archbishop beaming with delight as his daughter made her way up the steps towards him. She posted a message shortly after the service announcing simply: “All married and stuff.”

It was the second family wedding in as many months for the Welbys. The Archbishop presided when his son Peter and his wife Jen were married at Canterbury in January.

*****

Andrew Cain is to become the first clergyman in the Church of England’s five-century history to marry his same-sex partner, in defiance of a ban by church leaders.

Defying the church’s orders, he will become the first Church of England clergyman to enter into a same-sex marriage.

The church, which is at the heart of the 80 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion, has always defined marriage as a contract between a man and a woman. It refused to recognize Britain’s legalization of gay marriage, which comes into force at the end of the month. Church officials are furious that Cain is ignoring a ruling by the House of Bishops, which bans clergymen from performing same-sex weddings in their churches and orders gay vicars not to marry.

Cain said the bishop tried to convince him to abandon his wedding plans and ordered him to stop criticizing the church’s position. The Church of England has no formal guidelines for bishops on handling members of the clergy who disregard rulings on gay marriage, but a church official said Cain could be sanctioned or even dismissed for “conduct unbecoming” the clergy. Wheatley declined to comment on the meeting.

A Labour Party MP is challenging the Church of England to say if it would defrock a priest for marrying a same-sex partner.

Ben Bradshaw has accused the Church of "trying to have its cake and eat it" by accepting same-sex marriage for its members, but not for its clergy.

The ex-cabinet minister said priests needed to know where they stand. He will raise the question in the Commons, asking how the Church would discipline any who disobey its ruling.

What you won’t read in British newspapers is how this will impact the Global South, which is orthodox in faith and morals and watching this case with intense interest. The Church of England hangs precariously like a thread with provinces like Nigeria and Uganda. An action like this could sever ties completely.

*****

Every second year (alternating with the Diocese Synod), the church leaders in Tunisia, Algeria and Libya gather for the North Africa Episcopal Area mini-Assembly in Tunis.

Bishop Bill Musk writes “I have been arranging these during the year in which Diocesan Synod does not occur. It was lovely this March to welcome Rev. Hamdy from Algiers, along with two lay representatives, both mature students from Zimbabwe who are studying in Algiers and both of whom contribute significantly to the life of Holy Trinity, Algiers.

We also welcomed Rev Vasihar bringing eight adults and one child from Tripoli, Libya – though most of them came a day late due to the shelling of the main runway at Tripoli airport on the morning when they were supposed to be flying here!

“We also welcomed Rev Richard Bromley who is the fairly recently appointed Mission Leader of I.C.S. and it was lovely to get to know him and to have him get to know some of the current leaders in churches with which I.C.S. has for a long while been associated. There were plenty of delegates from Tunis and one of the joys this time was to see quite a number of our more mature Arabic-speaking congregation members joining us on and off.

“We worshiped together, especially in Arabic and English, reported on our current situations and prayed for each other. We worked on some envisioning within each of our very different church/national situations and more broadly as an Episcopal area. Rev Richard led us in a reflective/retreat period and from now on we shall all think about our spiritual lives every time we look at a tree!

And of course, we ate together, thanks to the wonderful hospitality and organisation of some of our congregation here at St George’s, Tunis. Our gracious church administrator sorted out hotel beds, currency exchange, purchases and many other tasks to allow the mini-Assembly to work smoothly. The sun came out and we were able to sit in St George’s church garden for meals and reflective times.

“We enjoyed a special moment on the Sunday afternoon when we were able to have a skype call with Bishop Mouneer and ask him to pray for us. We thank God for the time together and for taking everyone safely home.”

*****

The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu who was in Christ Church, New Zealand, recently, said he backs the Cathedral leadership's bid to demolish the cathedral that had been partially destroyed in an earthquake.

He said after seeing the cathedral's engineering report, he knew demolition was the only option. "There's nothing structurally sound about the building anymore," he said. "The engineering report is very clear."

While he supported a rebuild, he did not think a replica design was appropriate. He said he hoped the people of Christchurch would join the church in designing something "contemporary and wonderful. Nostalgia doesn't work," the archbishop said.

*****

In Sharia Law, if the husband divorces the wife, she gets absolutely nothing, not even the children. Sharia law is being enshrined in Britain’s legal system for first time. The British Law Society produces guidelines by which solicitors can draft wills in accordance with Islamic law which are valid under UK law.

Sharia law is set to be enshrined in the British legal system for the first time ever, as lawyers will be given guidelines for drawing up "Sharia compliant wills," The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Law Society President Nicholas Fluck told the Telegraph that the guidelines, which would be accepted by British courts, would promote “good practice” in applying Islamic principles in the British legal system.

According to the Telegraph, the document was published this month in England and Wales to “assist solicitors who have been instructed to prepare a valid will, which follows Sharia succession rules” while remaining valid under British law.

The issue of integrating the country's 1.8 million Muslims has been widely debated since July 2005, when four British Islamists carried out suicide bombings on London's transport network, killing 52 people. Sharia is the body of Islamic religious law based on the Koran, the words and actions of the Prophet Mohammad.

*****

Cash-strapped Anglicans in Bathurst, Australia counted the cost of a destructive fire that ruined St Barnabas' Church recently. The cash-strapped Anglican Diocese of Bathurst is yet to determine the budgetary impact of the destructive fire at St Barnabas'.

The diocese's general manager, Graham Higham, says building consultants and structural engineers are assessing the damage at St Barnabas in Bathurst and are fairly optimistic the bell tower can be saved. Higham said the full financial impacts of the fire are yet to be known.
The diocese has been struggling with a debt that last October totaled $36 million!

*****

Parishioners of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Luzon (EDNL) in Tabuk City in the Philippines are required to plant a “tree of life” for every sacrament they receive.

This was the accord the Anglican Church faithful concluded during their recent convention, as their contribution against climate change and environment degradation.

Bishop Renato Abibico said that when the child receives the sacrament of baptism and confirmation, parents and sponsors are obliged to plant at least one tree seedling, either in private lots or on communal lands.

Newly wedded couples are also required to plant a seed to grow and be nurtured to live as in nurturing for a happy family, he said.

*****

If you thought it could never happen in the land of Martin Luther, watch this video. This brave German Woman rebukes Islam's Lie as an Imam gives a call to prayer in Luther’s former church.

The mysterious Christian lady became known on the Internet simply as the "brave German woman."

It happened on Nov. 10, 2013 at the Memorial Church of the Reformation in the Rhineland city of Speyer, built to honor Martin Luther.

It isn't just any church. It's a monument to the Protestant Reformation and a memorial to the spiritual transformation of Germany.

It was at this spiritual landmark that a Muslim imam was invited to give the call to prayer. When the brave German woman, whose real name is Heidi Mund, heard about the event, she prayed.

She grabbed her German flag emblazoned with the words "Jesus Christ is Lord" and headed for the concert, still not sure what she would do when she got there. WATCH IT HERE.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/February/German-Woman-Publicly-Rebuking-Islam-Goes-Viral-/

*****

The Rt. Rev Robert Condit Harvey, 98, died at home on March 9, 2014. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of the Southwest of the Anglican Church in North America.

Bishop Harvey graduated from Dartmouth College in 1938 before working for Time Inc. Commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy in 1941, he and his late wife, Suzanne Falter Harvey, were stationed at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. From 1941 to 1945, he served as a line officer on destroyers in the Pacific. In the early 1950s, working as an executive in the investments business, he experienced a calling to the priesthood. He studied at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and St. Augustine's College in Canterbury, England. Following his ordination in 1956, he ministered to parishes in the United States and, briefly, in England. After retiring from the U.S. Episcopal Church in 1976, he was called to minister to Anglican traditionalists in a series of posts. Consecrated a bishop in 1981. He is survived by his second wife, Marguerite Pendleton Harvey, and his four sons.

*****

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