THE SECOND BOMBSHELL

The second bombshell came late Friday night when a two-page letter was faxed to Virtuosity by a Nigerian priest in the US. The letter was a stunning rebuke by Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola of Dr. Rowan Williams over the appointment of yet another white male, and liberal at that, to the Anglican Communion Office in London to replace Canon John Peterson when, according to Akinola, there are any number of qualified Global South persons who would have been better suited for the job, and one who would have better reflected their theological outlook.

Akinola was particularly incensed, accusing the Archbishop of "marginalizing and treating as irrelevant a very large segment of the Anglican Communion."

Now Virtuosity has learned that Canon Kenneth Kearon, Director of the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin who will succeed Canon John L. Peterson as general secretary of the ACC is from the same liberal school when it comes to homosexual behavior. In an interview with BBC in Northern Ireland Canon Kearon said sex had been individualized and commercialized, but the Christian tradition said much about sexuality in relationship that would "resonate with many others". He did not explain what he meant by "many others." Gays perhaps?

Furthermore he did not publicly repudiate homosexual behavior, a failure that could rebound on both him and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Global South Bishops and orthodox bishops of the West have publicly repudiated this behavior both at the 1998 Lambeth Conference and in subsequent primatial statements.

One wonders how long all this can go on for. The deliberate snubbing of the Global South by Williams in this recent appointment; the deliberate effort to put Canon Jeffrey John, an openly gay man into a place of serious leadership in the Church of England; the consecration of a sodomite to the episcopacy in the US, and on and on it goes. There has to be an end to all this? Clearly the Global South and those orthodox remnants in the West are waiting on pins and needles for the Lambeth Commission to deliver itself of a verdict on Western revisionism, and Irish Primate Robin Eames will not be able to charm this one away. A British observer said his sticky fingers were all over the new ACC appointment in London. Why are we not surprised?

THE THIRD BOMBSHELL

The third bombshell came this week when the Church of England Evangelical Council made a submission to the Lambeth (Eames) Commission detailing a carefully reasoned, closely argued condemnation of recent theological and moral innovations in the US, Canada and the UK.

By acting now the CEEC has adopted a first strike policy, retaliating quickly before the liberals swing into action. This group, like REFORM and others have seen what has happened in the ECUSA by waiting too long, prevaricating and trying to cut deals with revisionists. They know it won't work and so they are getting their oar in first and quickly.

British Evangelicals also have another advantage. They are the largest, most powerful and richest segment of the Church of England and they can withhold money to make their point. And this week Britain's evangelicals intensified their battle over homosexuality by calling on hundreds of parishes to reject the spiritual authority of liberal bishops.

REFORM the conservative evangelical network, announced plans for a national campaign in the statement to its 1,700 members. The group called on parishes to test whether their diocesan bishops held "orthodox" beliefs on homosexuality. If their bishops' views proved unacceptable, they were urged to declare themselves in "impaired communion" and to cap their contributions.

The bottom line is that an apostate church that will not listen to its members voices will eventually hear from their pocketbooks.

The Reform statement warned that the crisis would deepen if the Lambeth Commission failed to avert schism.

IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH USA

In the Diocese of Connecticut, Bishop Andrew Smith is ratcheting up the pain on half a dozen orthodox parishes that won't fall into line with his revisionist agenda. Conform or get out, he says. One church, St. Paul's Darien, is one of ECUSA's largest evangelical/charismatic churches. If he blows them off it will be a signal that charismatics have no future in the ECUSA.

It is interesting to note that as ECUSA's revisionist bishops lower the theological standards and accept looser morals they are tightening up by using the church's canons and constitutions to keep their priests in line. Can one imagine for a moment that that is how Jesus would operate?

Increasingly the ECUSA House of Bishops is like the "Top Gun" school for bores. It takes people who have certain natural facilities for pomposity, dresses them in purple, and turns them, by putting them in small groups at general conventions, into weapons of mass narcolepsy.

In the Diocese of Southern Virginia, the rector and congregation of Grace Episcopal Church, Newport News, left The Episcopal Church. The Rev. R. Bolling "Bo" Bryant, the rector, and the wardens said they now wanted to be under the authority of the Anglican Mission in America. "Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that we the Rector and Vestry of Grace Church do resign as the official governing body of this parish and sever our connections with the Episcopal Church USA," they wrote the bishop.

Reached for comment, "Bo" Bryant told Virtuosity that the parting from the diocese and the Bishop, David C. Bane, Jr. was amicable with the bishop declaring, "I want you to know that the people of Grace Church have been incredibly gentle, caring, and compassionate in this difficult process. They realize and fully accept that the physical property belongs to the Diocese of Southern Virginia and are doing everything within their power to insure that there is an orderly transition that reflects the fact that all of us are disciples of Jesus Christ. As difficult as this situation is I ask that you keep Bo and the people of the congregation in your prayer."

The church, all 100 percent, walked out leaving the keys at the front door. They had no endowment. Word has it that a black church group will probably buy the building. Score another loss for revisionism.

In the Diocese of Colorado a newspaper article provoked a heated debate between an orthodox priest and the head of the Diocesan Standing Committee with charges being traded about the cause for the potential closure of two parishes reported in the secular press. Money and bad theology is at the heart of the problem.

And a lay person in the Diocese of Colorado, Deb Tenney who is involved with Communion Laity and Clergy of Colorado, A Voice for Orthodox Episcopalians, wrote Virtuosity to say that Bishop Rob O'Neill told her that he would not allow her to purchase ad space in the Episcopalian to publish a short article on the Communion Laity and Clergy "because he considers us an Episcopal parachurch group such as a pro-life or an environmental group who also would not make the editor's cut."

Fascism with a smiley, revisionist face.

And in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast, a book written by the Rev. Dr. David McDowell-Fleming outlines why a diocese can get into trouble. His book The Deconstruction of a Diocese, How Defensive Responses and Controlling Personal Agendas lay the Groundwork for a Schism in the Church, is an excellent read.

The Episcopal Church's official homosexual organization Integrity is hopping mad these days. Their financial support of $30,000 to the Uganda chapter has gone. Integrity-Uganda is no more. The Ugandans saw the light and gave the whole operation over to the new archbishop who will have nothing to do with sodomy. Integrity lost a small bundle.

And from the Diocese of Tennessee, the Rt. Rev. Bert Herlong writes in the Jul/Aug 2004 issue of the Cross and Crozier that it is not news to anyone that there continues to be significant fallout and disruption in the Episcopal Church from the actions of the 74th General Convention. "Laity and clergy are continuing to react in ways that demonstrate their dissatisfaction. Then, of course, there is an equal and opposite reaction by those who disagree with them, contributing to the continuing unrest."

This writer has had occasion to bump into Bishop Herlong at two recent events and I can assure you this bishop is made of the right stuff. He is tough and unyielding in dealing with revisionists in his diocese. He could teach some of the fence sitters a lesson. He brushes off threats of a presentment. "Let em try," he says. "I'm ready".

Making their way across the African continent looking for love and understanding are three Episcopalians including two bishops, John Lipscomb of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, Ted Daniels, Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Texas and Titus Pressler Dean of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest.

They say they have no agenda; they are just out there promoting "conversation," "listening" and "being vulnerable", the liberal trinity of ECUSA's Vain Hopes. These are all favorite buzzwords of men with little or no theology or understanding of what the Africans really believe in and won't compromise on. They are wasting their time and our money.

And a Virtuosity numbers cruncher found that the 74% of bishops who voted for Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman's GC Resolution B001 affirming basic doctrines of the faith voted AGAINST Robinson. 92% of those who voted against B001, voted for Robinson. The correlation is plain to see -- orthodoxy produces orthopraxis and vice versa.

According to the current issue of "First Things", no one is to be ordained in the Church of Sweden unless he (or she) supports the ordination of women. In response, the presiding bishop of the Lutheran Church in Kenya has indicated his willingness to ordain men in Sweden who object to WO.

And in Honolulu this week the American Psychological Association's Council of Representatives backed gay marriage. The nation's largest association of psychologists made its support official at the first day of the group's annual convention in Waikiki.

But an orthodox Episcopal psychiatrist in South Carolina retorted that the American Psychiatric Association has never said homosexuality is good or right. "The only official thing they ever did on homosexuality was to say they were not going to consider it a medical issue, and I agree with them. Homosexuality is like adultery - it's a wrongful behavior; neither homosexuality nor adultery is a disease."

And a study on sexuality is scheduled to come to a vote at the 2005 churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The revisionists have been watching carefully the Episcopalian crack-up and want to avoid the alienation of a couple of million members from the much larger ELCA.

And thousands witnessed the opening of the Cathedral in Rwanda this week. The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame were among thousands of Anglican faithful who attended the official opening and blessing of John the Baptist Cathedral in Ruhengeri, Rwanda. An altar call made during the service saw 1,080 people accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

All blessings, David W. Virtue DD