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Who's to blame?

Who's to blame?
Lay it at the feet of Episcopal Bishop Vicky Gene Robinson

By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
January 12, 2016

The Anglican Communion is in turmoil. Perhaps the worst it has been since the 16th Century when England saw heads roll, blood spilt, and saints made. The entire Anglican Communion could be teetering on a precipice and might implode if it is pushed over the edge.

The problem is that there is a rainbow elephant in the room at Canterbury Cathedral that everyone is tripping over. It is so enormous and cumbersome and ungainly that it cannot or will not get out of the way. Everyone is tiptoeing around the edges.

This whole mess can be laid at the feet of Episcopal Bishop Vicky Gene Robinson (IX New Hampshire). The retired American bishop was the first openly-partnered homosexual bishop in the Anglican Communion. His consecration as bishop is the trump card which is bringing the entire Anglican house of cards tumbling down on itself. His elevation to the Episcopal House of Bishops even trumps the doctrinal issues surrounding women's ordination, which pales to the sweeping devil-may-care gay agenda.

Women's ordination impedes ecumenical discussions and Christian unification while the forceful gay agenda is ripping the Anglican Communion apart one parish ... one diocese ... one province at a time.

Robinson's in-your-face gay radicalism sent him globetrotting around the world, whether he was wanted or not, which eventually struck the death knell to his own gay "marriage" but inflamed the gay pride agenda and gave it impetus both in the church and in the culture.

What is being played out in Canterbury this week is a battle between the spiritual and cultural -- church doctrine and sexual morality -- a matter of conscience and rugged individualism. The spiritual aspect is based upon Scriptural truths while cultural idealism is grounded in an "if it feels good do it" mentality, with no consideration for the souls and spiritual needs of others within the same spiritual family. Eternal souls are at stake -- heaven or hell.

Many passionately pled with then-Canon Robinson before he was consecrated bishop, explaining that such an action would cause a tear of the fabric of Anglicanism that might never be repaired. Robinson, the 2003 Episcopal General Convention, and The Episcopal Church all thumbed their collective noses at the rest of the Anglican Communion and consecrated him anyway. His personal sexual gratification was more important than the spiritual wellbeing of the entire Anglican Communion -- 80 million souls -- and he lapped up the attention. He became the out and proud Gay Pride poster bishop.

The rip happened, and now the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is trying a Hail Mary pass to clumsily stitch the fabric of the Anglican Communion back together or at least come up with some sort of Amish-style patchwork quilt. It is almost like trying to piece Humpty Dumpty together again.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has a hard task before him. Many of the primates won't even pray together -- they are in impaired or broken communion with each other -- much less able to sit down and talk things out when there are irreconcilable differences forcing them apart.

The orthodox Global South traditionalists know that they cannot compromise the Gospel and remain true to the Lordship Jesus Christ, and the Westerners refuse to correct their trajectory, demanding that the LGBT crowd be given full sacramental rights -- the right to marry and the right to ordination -- without repenting and rejecting their compromising lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Vicky Gene Robinson has retired as Bishop of New Hampshire a recovering alcoholic with two broken marriages, but he has left a broken and bleeding Anglican Communion in his wake. However, when the need arises, he is trotted out to make special appearances. President Barack Obama had him give the opening "prayer" at his inauguration. Last year Obama made sure Robinson was invited to the White House when Pope Francis came a-calling, and CNN was quick to turn to him for commentary on the pontiff's visit.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline.

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