VIRTUEONLINE VIEWPOINTS

Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and checkered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture. — John Stott

"A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown." — J.C. Ryle

Christianity does not say that we assemble the proper collection of values, perform sufficient good works, become sufficiently just and compassionate, and thereby manufacture Christian faith. The works grow from faith. They are fruit, not root. — Rev. Dr. Ronald Moore

"Either we conform our desires to the truth or we conform the truth to our desires." — Os Guinness

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

AI and the Coming Case for World Government

How could sovereign nations ever be persuaded to surrender enough power for a genuinely global government to emerge? A new piece from Prophecy News Watch suggests the answer may lie not in desire but in fear, and that artificial intelligence may supply both the fear and the machinery.

The springboard is a remark by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who told Mathias Döpfner that genuinely slowing the AI race would demand worldwide cooperation amounting to a one-world government with "real teeth, real force," a cure he warned could prove worse than the disease. The logic is hard to escape. If America restrains AI and China does not, restraint becomes unilateral disarmament. Cooperation then requires inspection, inspection requires enforcement, and enforcement requires authority.

The irony, the writers argue, is that AI could be both the emergency and the means of enforcement. Monitoring chips, data centers and financial flows on a global scale would require exactly the surveillance tools AI now makes possible: digital identity, facial recognition, automated payment tracking and predictive policing. What once demanded millions of bureaucrats could be run by algorithms.

The authors are careful not to declare every new technology the fulfilment of Revelation 13. But they note that control rarely arrives announced as tyranny. It comes dressed as safety. The real danger, they conclude, is not that humanity will be forced into a global system, but that it will become frightened enough to demand one.

A Week of Two Major Stories

The news this week was dominated by two significant events: the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, to South Africa and the United States, and the decisions of the ACNA College of Bishops in the case of Derek Jones.

Mullally Goes to South Africa and Finds the One Province That Agrees with Her. Its Synod Doesn't.

Sarah Mullally has chosen her stage with care. Her first Primates' Meeting as Archbishop of Canterbury will convene in Johannesburg next February, hosted by the one African province whose leadership shares her mind on sexuality and whose ties to the Episcopal Church run deep in friendship and money. The first woman in Augustine's chair, welcomed by the church of Desmond Tutu: the photographs write themselves.

Within forty-eight hours the showcase cracked. On September 23 the Provincial Synod of Southern Africa voted down prayers for same-sex couples, 78 to 71, and rejected a distinct LGBTQ+ liturgy, 98 to 61. That second motion came from the Diocese of Johannesburg itself, the very host of the primates. It was Archbishop Thabo Makgoba's final synod, and the end of a decade-long campaign. He led his bishops as far as they would go, but the pews have stopped walking.

Gratitude Is a Currency Too

Trinity Wall Street grants, Episcopal Relief & Development partnerships and Compass Rose-funded Indaba have long flowed to the province. None of it proves a purchase, but gratitude is a currency too. What the money could not reach was the synod floor. Bishops can be flown to New York; a synod of clergy and laity cannot.

Meanwhile Nigeria, the largest province in the Communion, will not attend at all. Mullally went to Africa looking for agreement and found it at Bishopscourt. She would do well to listen to the synod hall. What awaits the primates in Johannesburg is not a showcase. It is a verdict. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/mullally-goes-to-africa-and-finds-the-one-province-that-agrees-with-her-its-synod-doesn-t

Tone-Deaf Canterbury Talks Unity as the Communion Heads for Divorce

Archbishop Sarah Mullally turned up at the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops at Camp Allen, Texas, last week bearing warm words about unity, joy and friendship. A former Chief Nursing Officer knows how to settle a ward, and she performed with poise. What she left out was the one difference that matters. Anglicans are not divided by geography or language but by theology, and on that she stands at odds with some 80 percent of the world's worshipping Anglicans.

A Patient Unwilling to Be Treated

GAFCON will not share the altar with her and is choosing its own "first among equals." The GSFA vowed in the Seychelles to stay and reform the Communion, but reform assumes a patient willing to be treated, and same-sex blessings at the top of the Church of England have soured that hope. Mullally arrived fresh from the Lambeth fiasco in which she gave an interfaith award to a Pakistani cleric who had once praised Osama bin Laden, then quietly withdrew it. In Texas, Sean Rowe hailed her as the picture of unity. It was cheaper than a London therapist.

Two Drunks in Times Square

Elsewhere the house of mirrors grows stranger. Canada now offers a trial liturgy for those dying by MAID, while English pews empty and millions flow to reparations and bureaucracy. The Church of England and TEC are two drunks staggering across Times Square, each holding the other up. If one goes down, both go down. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/tone-deaf-canterbury-talks-unity-to-tec-s-bishops-as-the-anglican-communion-heads-for-divorce

Overwhelmed and Underwhelming: Mullally's Hollow American Tour

From Camp Allen the Archbishop of Canterbury went on to Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut, where she preached humility and dodged every hard question put to her. She took as her text the Christ Hymn of Philippians 2, the gospel in miniature: incarnation, humiliation, exaltation. Then she turned it into a sermon on climate change and "the imbalance of resources." The Apostle was left standing alone at the lectern.

By What Authority?

She asked, with the chief priests, "By what authority?" Fair question. GAFCON, whose provinces claim the great majority of the world's worshipping Anglicans, greeted her appointment with sorrow. She has no authority in Nigeria, Rwanda or Uganda. In July the Anglican Consultative Council, with Mullally presiding, voted 72 to 8 to leave Canterbury's role untouched and shelved reform until 2029. When the establishment wants to kill something, it studies it to death.

Overwhelming, Indeed

She told American bishops she was "absolutely overwhelmed" by her welcome. This was days after a petition calling for her resignation drew thousands of signatures. It was also days after Lambeth handed an interfaith award, on September 11 of all days, to a Pakistani cleric who once hailed Osama bin Laden as the "Sword of God." The award was withdrawn once the remarks surfaced. Overwhelming, indeed.

And when asked how she decides when to speak out, her answer was "pray for wisdom." Fudge, dodge, prevaricate, but never declare your hand, lest it offend someone. Read the full story here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/overwhelmed-and-underwhelming-mullally-s-hollow-american-tour

The Case Against Derek Jones

In six days, Derek Jones's year-long rebellion against the Anglican Church in North America collapsed on two fronts. On September 23 the ACNA College of Bishops deposed him from the Sacred Ministry, following his August conviction on four canonical charges, including refusing a Godly Admonition and causing schism. On September 28, U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks dismissed the lawsuit his Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy had brought against the province.

An Unusually Blunt Confession

The College's statement was unusually blunt. It spoke of "wickedness, cruelty, and abuse of power" against chaplains with little recourse, confessed shame that bishops who knew of the abuse failed to act, and conceded that the College's own culture must change. Wronged chaplains are promised canonical and pastoral restoration. He is now simply "Mr. Jones."

Caesar Sends Him Back

The court, meanwhile, saw through JAFC's trademark and trade-secret dressing. Deciding who owns a ministry's name, the judge ruled, means deciding whose ministry it is, and that is a "quintessential ecclesiastical question." The dismissal is without prejudice, but the message is plain: the matter belongs to the church, and the church has already judged it.

For two decades the orthodox were dragged into court by revisionist dioceses wielding the Dennis Canon. This time a disciplined bishop ran to Caesar, and Caesar sent him back. The chaplains will now be watching for deeds, not words. You can read the full story here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/acna-college-of-bishops-deposes-derek-jones

Bishop Budde Bows Out

The Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, has decided to resign (not retire) in two years and move to Minneapolis to be near her family. Her 15-year tenure was marked by public displays of political correctness that won applause from progressives and revisionists alike. Her best-known moment was confronting President Donald Trump from the pulpit of Washington National Cathedral, which drew national attention.

Less well known is that her tenure as bishop of the diocese has been a disaster.

The Numbers Don't Lie

Average Sunday Attendance when she began in 2011 was 14,600. It declined steadily to 8,738 in 2024, the most recent figure available. That is a drop of about 40 percent, roughly 5,900 fewer worshippers. A post-COVID rebound stalled at about 8,700, still more than 3,000 below the 2019 level. Membership tells the same story. Baptized members fell from about 40,900 in 2011 to about 30,700 in 2023, close to a quarter fewer.

On current trends the diocese will reach zero around 2043. Dioceses rarely die outright; they merge with a neighbor to keep alive the fiction that all is well. It happened in Wisconsin, where three dioceses united in the name of mission.

When the Checkbooks Close

Money slows the collapse. The National Cathedral and wealthy parishes such as St. John's, Lafayette Square, and St. Columba's have endowments that can keep institutions running long after the congregations have thinned. Plate and pledge per member have actually risen in the national figures. But Boomer money cannot keep the church alive indefinitely. When the Boomers are gone, their checkbooks close with them.

C4SO Bishop Stands by Suffragan Nominee After 2015 Communion Remarks Resurface

Bishop Jeff Bailey of C4SO is standing firmly behind the Rev. Canon Dr. Kris McDaniel, his nominee for suffragan bishop, after a 2015 recording surfaced in which McDaniel invited people to the Lord's Table without regard to their sexual conduct. McDaniel now says he "spoke too broadly" and regrets the remarks. With the ACNA College of Bishops' unanimous consent already in hand, delegates will decide on November 7 whether a retraction a decade late is enough. You can read the full story here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/c4so-bishop-stands-by-suffragan-nominee-after-2015-communion-remarks-resurface

The Ruch Verdict: A Rush to Judgment?

In other C4SO news, a question still hangs over the diocese. Bishop Stewart Ruch is back in business, but the decisions that put him there have not gone away, and many still believe his exoneration was premature. A unanimous seven-member court found him not guilty on every count. In any church that believes in due process, that counts for something. But a verdict is not a vindication, and an acquittal is not an answer.

What Is Not in Dispute

Consider what is not in dispute. A nine-year-old girl's abuse was reported in 2019. The bishop's own diocese was not told for two years. Ruch himself called this a "regrettable error" and stepped aside. An independent law firm found him slow to act. The abuser is in prison. These are not the inventions of bloggers. They are the record.

What the Court Did with the Record

Then consider what the court did with that record. Seven thousand pages of evidence were before it. Three outside investigations had been commissioned. The court chose to rest its weight on one: the report whose author happened to be available to testify, and who found nothing. The report that found much was set aside. The ordination of a man with a prior conviction for soliciting, who was later suspended for life after a sexual advance, was described as thoughtful and vigilant. Words have meanings, even in canon law.

Who Was Really on Trial?

The court then went further. It turned its fire on the survivors' advocates and on social media, speaking of a "toxic public circus" and "narrative capture." Perhaps there was noise; there always is. But when a tribunal spends half its order prosecuting the accusers, the faithful are entitled to ask who was really on trial.

Nor can the process escape scrutiny. The lead prosecutor walked out within days and called the proceedings irreparably tainted. The court had no power to compel a single witness, and some witnesses say they were never called. Under ACNA canons an acquittal cannot be appealed. The door was closed, locked, and the key thrown away.

When the Fences Come Down

Chesterton warned against tearing down a fence before you know why it was put up. The Episcopal Church tore its fences down decades ago and is now discovering what they were keeping out. In Milwaukee, All Saints' Cathedral has installed Micah Cronin as the church's first transgender-identifying cathedral dean, presiding over some 70 worshippers in a building that seats hundreds. In Manhattan, a sermon preached at St. John the Divine, which went viral this week, declared that God is trans and that Jesus "transitioned" in the resurrection. To deny it, the preacher said, is to deny Christ's divinity. The Creed has been stood on its head.

Handle Me, and See

Scripture answers plainly. Gabriel announced a son before Mary conceived. The risen Lord said, "It is I myself: handle me, and see." The point of the resurrection is continuity: the body crucified is the body raised. What is being preached is not progressive theology but second-century Gnosticism in modern vocabulary, the very heresy Irenaeus spent five books dismantling.

A Straight Line From 1976

The line from 1976 to 2026 runs straight: "full and equal claim," Gene Robinson, gender identity in the ordination canon, a rewritten marriage canon, and now a transgender Christ. Each step was sold as small and compassionate, and each was said to be the last. Marriage is an icon of Christ and his Church; blur the picture and you blur the One it pictures. A church that began by redefining marriage has ended by redefining Christ. The Word became flesh, and no sermon can transition him. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/when-the-fences-come-down

War and Persecution Can't Stop Iran's Underground Church

Iran now has the world's fastest-growing church, and it is growing under the most vicious persecution in living memory. So says Anglican missionary the Rev. Jerry Kramer, who with his wife Tracy has spent nearly 25 years taking the gospel into the Islamic world. In an exclusive VOL interview, Kramer reports that his small team's network has passed 4,000 churches across all 31 Iranian provinces, 14 generations deep. More than 1,000 new leaders are waiting to be trained. "We can't keep up with the pace," he says. War has not slowed the work; it has opened doors, from Syrian Kurds in refugee camps to a "massive" movement among Iranian Kurds. "The Church always does better under a squeeze."

A Mission With a Church

Kramer reserves his sharpest words for the American church. After 35 years and thousands of church visits coast to coast, he estimates that 80 percent of people in the pews, and at least half the clergy, do not know the gospel. "Jesus didn't launch a Church with a mission. He launched a mission with a Church." Seminaries, he argues, are training clergy for a world that no longer exists, and most Anglican thinking is "stuck somewhere around 1987." His remedy is a return to Book of Acts basics: small groups reading Scripture for obedience rather than information, ordinary believers making disciples, and clergy who act as catalysts and coaches rather than CEOs.

He also speaks frankly about the near-collapse of the ancient churches in Iraq, about declining mission giving, and about why, after 12 years of war, ISIS, gunfire and house arrest, his time in the Middle East has been "90% laughter, 5% ugly crying, and 5% running for our lives." Read the full interview here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/war-and-persecution-can-t-stop-iran-s-underground-church

Os Guinness at 85: Still Calling Christians to Think

Os Guinness turned 85 on September 30, and Christianity Today's Jayson Casper marks the occasion with a portrait of the British social critic who never meant to be a writer yet has produced more than 30 books. Born to missionary parents in China, he lost two brothers to famine as a toddler, fled the Communists, and drifted from faith at an English boarding school before C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity brought him back. The 1960s formed him: study under John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, then five years at L'Abri with Francis Schaeffer. A 1968 tour of a convulsing America left him convinced that evangelicals barely understood what was happening, and The Dust of Death followed.

From Oxford to Washington

An Oxford doctorate, a BBC documentary on the Religious Right, and what he called a direct call from the Lord brought him to Washington, where a one-page brief on the First Amendment led to lunch with Chief Justice Warren Burger and to the Williamsburg Charter of 1988. He co-founded the Trinity Forum and wrote steadily on the life of faith (The Call, Fit Bodies, Fat Minds) and on the fragility of freedom (A Free People's Suicide, Last Call for Liberty). He also warned early that Christians who fought culture wars for partisan advantage would damage the republic they loved.

At 85, he shows no sign of slowing. His latest book, A Freedom Like No Other, is the third in a four-part series on the challenges facing America and the West. He has no interest in assessing his own legacy. Many of us who have been shaped by his work will gladly do it for him. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/os-guinness-still-challenges-christians-to-think

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