Three streams, two integrities, and a bishop elected by one vote By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org October 18, 2026 The issue of women's ordination bedevils the Anglican Church in North America. The "two integrities" position the province adopted at its birth is not working. Sides have been drawn up and the fight is on. How it ends is anybody's guess. But the fault line runs deeper than a quarrel over who may stand at the altar. It runs to a more basic question: what, exactly, is an Anglican? The ACNA's Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes (ADGL) has elected the Very Rev. Chris Klukas, president of its standing committee, as its next diocesan bishop. Amid unusually low clergy turnout — just 53 of 89 clergy voted — Klukas carried the clergy by a single vote and the laity by 20. The election of Klukas, whose wife is a priest and canon for safeguarding in the diocese, is a significant victory for proponents of women's ordination in the ACNA. During candidate walkabouts, Klukas said he intended "to be an advocate" for female priests as bishop ordinary "in the College of Bishops, in the Councils of the Church, and in our Diocese, to build a culture that's welcoming and safe for them." He also promised to "respect the consciences" of congregations within the diocese opposed to the practice. His election will likely help solidify support for women's ordination in the College of Bishops, where nearly half of the ACNA's diocesan bishops — representing nearly 60% of the province by average Sunday attendance — already ordain women to the priesthood. The Blender Klukas is a proponent of what is commonly called "Three Streams" Anglicanism: the notion that Anglicanism is a confluence of three theological traditions — Evangelical, Catholic, and Pentecostal. In a YouTube video titled "What is an Anglican?", Klukas put it this way: "Basically if you take a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and a Roman Catholic, and you stick them into a blender and turn it on and mix it all up, that's kind of what we are as Anglicans." He cited the Theological Statement unanimously agreed by the ACNA's founding bishops in 2009: "To be an Anglican, then, is not to embrace a distinct version of Christianity, but a distinct way of being a 'Mere Christian,' at the same time evangelical, apostolic, catholic, reformed, and Spirit-filled." Not everyone in the ACNA agrees. Sean Luke, a popular ACNA blogger and podcaster, shot back: "What a wretched description of an Anglican. No. We are Reformed Catholics." The most persistent critic of the Three Streams idea is Canon Chuck Collins, director of the Center for Reformation Anglicanism. When I interviewed him for VirtueOnline, Collins granted that the notion of three equally weighted traditions merging to form Anglicanism is well-intentioned — but, he said, "it is a lie, and it contributes to the confusion about our Anglican identity." Collins points out that the Three Streams vocabulary was not even invented until the 1950s and has no support in Anglican history. Worse, it has been used to divert attention from the true source of Anglican identity: the primacy of Holy Scripture, preserved in the historic formularies — the Thirty-nine Articles, the two Books of Homilies, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. He describes what he hears from too many Anglican pulpits, seminaries and leaders as a pick-and-choose buffet of novelties with little tie to those formularies. And he describes a province divided against itself: pledged on paper, in its Constitution and Canons and in the Jerusalem Declaration, to the formularies, while increasingly catechized in practice by Three Streams language. Klukas' blender is the buffet Collins warned about. Pour in the ingredients, press the button, and nobody can say quite what comes out. That would be a parlor dispute if Klukas were a bystander. He is not. The ACNA's official "about" page states, under a heading titled "Three Streams," that the Anglican ethos holds together three streams of the Christian Church, quoting Dr. Les Fairfield. And from 2009 to 2016 Klukas served on the ACNA's Liturgical Task Force, where, by his own account, he "wrote first drafts of the liturgies for Holy Communion and Baptism, which are now used throughout the province in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer." Here is where the identity question and the ordination question meet. If Anglicanism is a blend, any ingredient can be added at any time, and the only test is whether the mixture tastes good to the people drinking it. If Anglicanism is defined by Scripture and its formularies, then who may be ordained must be settled by Scripture and the Ordinal — not by a diocesan search committee. Collins does not frame his critique around women's ordination. But the logic of it cuts straight there: a church that cannot say what it is cannot say who may minister at its altar. A Hard-Won Victory for Women's Ordination Klukas' election follows a selection process marked by deep tension over the ordination of women to the priesthood. During candidate walkabouts, his opponent, the Rt. Rev. Allen Kannapell, stated in responses to candidate essay questions that he would not personally ordain women to the priesthood but would allow the practice to continue in the diocese. Kannapell also revealed that he had been barred from nomination for diocesan bishop on at least one prior occasion because of that conviction: "In fact, a few years ago when I was proposed as a candidate for bishop ordinary, I was not allowed to go forward because of this issue, and so there was a sense in which the conversation from one side had stopped. But now it's possibly starting again. I believe that we have to come to know the mind of the Lord on this." Kannapell appeared to be referring to ADGL's 2020 episcopal search, during which the standing committee explicitly required that all candidates "recognize the leadership skills of women, appropriately promote them, and ordain them as deacons and presbyters." When a group of clergy and lay leaders questioned the requirement, the standing committee wrote a three-page letter to the diocese citing similar requirements in other "dual integrity" dioceses — the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Anglican Diocese in New England. The Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic (DOMA) went a step further in its 2022 episcopal search, requiring candidates to offer "genuine support" for women's ordination to the priesthood. So much for two integrities. One integrity is now a condition of eligibility for the episcopate; the other is a disqualification. The Priesthood Is Not Ours to Change Few people have thought harder about this question, or from closer range, than Alice C. Linsley. For sixteen years she served as an Episcopal priest. She renounced her orders in March 2004, leaving Episcopal ministry on the Sunday Gene Robinson was consecrated. A scholar who has spent more than 35 years on what she calls Biblical Anthropology, and who taught philosophy, ethics and world religions at Midway University in Kentucky, she came out of years of study persuaded that women's ordination is the root cause of the schism within Anglicanism. If she is right, the ACNA carried the seed of the original quarrel out of the Episcopal Church with it. Linsley's argument is not sociological but sacramental. The priesthood, she contends, was not invented by the Apostles or by the Church; it predates both, and finds its one true form in the Messianic priesthood of Jesus Christ, who offered his own blood. Every priest stands as a sign pointing to that one Priest, and the Church therefore has no authority to alter the pattern. Attempts to change it, she writes, "corrupt the sign so that it no longer points to Messiah." Scripture and Holy Tradition honor women leaders — Deborah and Huldah among them — but not one woman, she notes, can be identified as a priest. She has a pointed word, too, for evangelicals who back the practice: they claim the authority of Scripture, she has said, and then allow cultural accommodation to govern how they interpret it. That charge lands squarely on an evangelical-majority province that left the Episcopal Church precisely to resist cultural accommodation. Her view also explains why the fight over "respecting consciences" keeps ending at the altar rail. Respecting Consciences? DOMA's search produced the election of the Rt. Rev. Chris Warner in 2022. During walkabouts Warner promised — as Klukas has — to respect congregations and clergy who disagree, practicing "generous orthodoxy" by providing "space" over the ordination of women. In 2025, however, a congregation's entire vestry and search committee alleged that Warner had violated the "dual integrities" commitment by requiring that their next rector receive Holy Communion from a woman. DOMA's standing committee responded by reaffirming its commitment to accommodating differing convictions. But its denial that Warner had sought to impose a female rector did not address the specific allegation: the requirement to receive Holy Communion from a female priest. For someone who holds Linsley's view, that is not a matter of taste or temperament. It goes to whether a sacrament has been celebrated at all. A promise to "respect consciences" that stops at the altar rail is no promise. Nor is the opposing side going quietly. Ahead of the 2024 archiepiscopal election, nearly 300 ACNA priests signed The Augustine Appeal, urging that only men be ordained to the priesthood. Kannapell was right: the conversation is starting again. Meanwhile influential voices within the ACNA now portray refusal to recognize women's ordination as incompatible with "basic Christian behavior." Klukas has promised both to advocate for female priests and to respect the consciences of congregations that oppose their ordination. His election raises the same question at the heart of the DOMA controversy: what protections, in practice, will be afforded to clergy and congregations who disagree with their bishop? Will ADGL's commitment to respecting consciences extend to ensuring that clergy who oppose women's ordination are never required to receive Holy Communion from a female priest? Two integrities were meant to be a truce. It is becoming terms of surrender, negotiated one standing committee at a time. Chuck Collins says the ACNA no longer knows what it is. Alice Linsley says it has kept the very innovation that broke the Episcopal Church. The headline asks a question; it does not pronounce a verdict. The verdict is not yet in, and the ACNA still has time to choose. But if Collins and Linsley are right, the question deserves a serious answer from the College of Bishops. The ACNA left the Episcopal Church to escape a revisionism that began at the altar. It would be a bitter irony if it carried that revisionism out the door in its luggage. David W. Virtue, DD, is the founder and publisher of Virtueonline and has covered religion and world affairs for more than 35 years. His website can be accessed here: www.virtueonline.org Virtue also writes on the Middle East. His stories can be seen here: davidvirtue2.substack.com

“Let us watch against pride in every shape — pride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride of our own goodness. Nothing is so likely to keep a person out of heaven, and prevent them from seeing Christ, as pride. So long as we think we are something we shall never be saved.” — J.C. Ryle “God’s love is not a reward for repentance. Repentance is itself a response to God’s gracious initiative.” — Dr. Ronald Moore “If you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility.” — St. Augustine Dear Brothers and Sisters, LEADERSHIP AND HUMILITY: Why Some Leaders Finish Well and Most Do Not “At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.” So wrote John Stott, and few men in the last century had more reason to be proud, or less inclination to be. He could have been a bishop many times over. He was the most influential evangelical voice in the English-speaking world, the chief architect of the Lausanne Covenant, and the author of books that sold in the millions. Yet he lived in a modest flat behind All Souls, Langham Place. He handed the rectorship to Michael Baughen in 1975, at the height of his powers, and spent his final years at the College of St Barnabas, a home for retired clergy. His last book, The Radical Disciple, ended with chapters on dependence and on death. I knew John Stott. He never needed to be the most important person in the room, which is precisely why he so often was. The Wreckage Now set beside him the wreckage of the last two decades. Bill Hybels built Willow Creek into one of the most imitated churches in America. In 2018 he stepped down early amid allegations of misconduct. Within months the lead pastors and the entire elder board had resigned, and an independent advisory group later found the allegations credible. Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill collapsed in 2014. Hillsong fired Carl Lentz in 2020. And after his death, Ravi Zacharias was shown, by an investigation his own ministry commissioned, to have abused women for years. Different men, different sins. But one thread runs through almost every collapse: concentrated power without counterbalancing governance. The pattern is depressingly familiar. A gifted founder builds something remarkable. Growth follows. Boards fill with friends, donors and loyalists. Questions become disloyalty. Accountability exists on paper but has no teeth. The leader becomes the brand, and the brand must be protected at all costs. Here is the uncomfortable truth: we mistook growth for health. We counted heads, budgets and campuses and assumed God’s blessing was proven by the numbers. But a tumor grows too. Anglicans Have No Cause for Smugness Consider two men I know. Bishop FitzSimons Allison is in his hundredth year. He has been a seminary professor, a diocesan bishop, and one of the sharpest theological minds the Episcopal Church ever produced. He still consults with Christian leaders. When I call him, his first question is always: how are you doing, David? He never talks about himself. I have to squeeze it out of him. A century of life, and the man is still more interested in you than in his own story. Contrast Archbishop Steve Wood. He was chosen to lead the Anglican Church in North America as a reformer. Inhibited since last November and tried in September before a closed church court, he has every right to declare his innocence, and he does. But he has chosen to fight tooth and nail rather than resign for the sake of the church he was called to serve. A humbler man might have said: I am innocent, I will prove it, but the province matters more than my office. Whatever the court decides, the Washington Post story will not go away, and neither will the damage to a young church that cannot afford it. Finishing Well Stott understood something the celebrity pastors forgot. What you are doing is not nearly as important as who you are becoming. A man can preach brilliantly and lead a movement while his soul quietly hollows out. The pulpit can become a hiding place. Finishing well is not an accident. It requires people who can tell you no and mean it. It requires handing over the reins before they are pried from you. It requires the daily discipline of repentance, the habit of staying small in your own eyes. Stott asked to be remembered simply as a disciple. The men who fell wanted to be remembered as builders. The question for every leader, in every pulpit and every boardroom, is not how large your work has become. It is who has the authority to stop you, and whether you would let them. John Stott finished well because he never thought he was indispensable. FitzSimons Allison is finishing well for the same reason. That is the whole lesson. The rest is commentary. THE DEAD CAT BOUNCE IN EPISCOPAL PEWS The Episcopal News Service is very good at what it does. Hand it a decade of hemorrhage and it hands back a headline about “stabilization.” Its account of the 2025 Parochial Report speaks of engaged Episcopalians, excited young people, and membership that continues to “slowly decline.” Slowly. Consider the numbers. In 2015 the Episcopal Church reported nearly 2 million members. In 2025 it reported 1.4 million. That is 600,000 people gone in a decade, 30 percent of the church, the equivalent of a good-sized diocese vanishing every year. Sunday attendance fell from nearly 600,000 to 407,000, a drop of 32 percent. Fewer than three in ten members are in a pew on an ordinary Sunday. A Dead Cat Will Bounce ENS makes much of attendance having “rebounded” from its pandemic low of 300,000. Wall Street has a name for this: a dead cat bounce. Even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height. The release concedes as much, admitting attendance has rebounded only “to the previous point of decline.” COVID did not cause the collapse; it interrupted it. The church has simply climbed back onto the same downward escalator it was riding in 2019. Add every livestream viewer to the in-person count and the total still falls short of 2015. The median Episcopal congregation draws 43 people on a Sunday, and that includes those watching online. Half the parishes in the church cannot fill a school bus. Only 54 percent of the church’s $2.7 billion income comes from plate and pledge. The rest comes from endowments, investments and rents. Much of the Episcopal Church is now funded not by the people in its pews but by the people in its churchyards. Collecting, Not Making, Disciples Then there is the figure ENS did not calculate. Of attenders who joined a congregation in the past five years, 77 percent came from another church, 20 percent were returning after years away, and just 3 percent were new to church. Three in a hundred. Everything else is reshuffling. A church that grows only by receiving the disaffected of other congregations is not making disciples. It is collecting them. The upbeat survey findings come from people who are still attending. The 600,000 who left were never asked. It is like polling the passengers still aboard a sinking ship about their satisfaction with the voyage. More than 4,300 congregations reported how they are cutting their carbon footprint. The release says nothing about baptisms, confirmations or conversions. If the past decade repeats, the Episcopal Church will have about a million members by the mid-2030s. A church that does not make disciples does not have a future. It has an endowment, and endowments run out. You can read the full story here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/the-dead-cat-bounce-in-episcopal-pews If you have a funny bone, you might enjoy my satirical essay, “The Episcopal Church Held a Revival and Nobody Came”: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/episcopal-church-holds-revival-nobody-came ALL ARE NOT WELCOME: A New Documentary on the Downfall of the Episcopal Church McLEAN, Va. — The Church Reform Initiative has released “All Are Not Welcome: The Downfall of the Episcopal Church and How to Reform Her,” a documentary examining the theological and institutional transformation of the Episcopal Church through the testimony of those who lived it from the inside. The film features the Rev. Jake Dell, author of the forthcoming memoir Exile and Return (Good Hill Books, Nov. 17, 2026); podcaster and vestry member Ann Jambor; the Rev. Ian Montgomery; and the Rev. John Jordan. Combining archival footage with firsthand accounts, it traces the denomination’s changes from the late 20th century to the present on sexuality, marriage, abortion, gender, biblical authority, clergy discipline, and the power of bishops over local congregations. Its title plays on the Episcopal Church’s best-known slogan, “All are welcome,” and asks whether that promise still holds for Christians with traditional convictions. Montgomery and Dell describe informal blacklists and interference with parish searches, and both recount being targeted under the church’s Title IV disciplinary canons. Jordan recounts the conflict over the Diocese of Fort Worth and the litigation over who controls local church property. “I think the Episcopal Church is like a trust fund alcoholic,” Montgomery says in the film. “In all likelihood, the trust fund alcoholic is going to die from alcoholism before they hit rock bottom.” Yet the film is not only an account of decline. Jambor and Dell argue that vestries and parishioners still hold real authority under the church’s own rules, and that reform can begin in the parish. The documentary closes on cautious hope, pointing to congregations, including the New England church Dell now serves, founded in 1659, where traditional preaching and historic worship continue to draw younger Christians and families. Write to info@churchreforminitiative.org, or watch it here: https://jonharris.substack.com/p/youtube-targets-all-are-not-welcome?r=2j3qvv&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewerOr here: https://x.com/Protestia/status/2110783154952831394 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: Does the Botched Killing of a Woman Stand the Biblical Test? She lay strapped to the gurney, awake enough to ask whether her arm was supposed to feel that way. Then came the snoring, and it went on for more than an hour. The lethal injection had failed — twice. Christa Pike did not die. Four months earlier Tennessee had tried to execute Tony Carruthers. His executioners probed his arms, feet, neck and chest for more than an hour before calling it off. Two failures in one year in one state. Pike, 50, was condemned for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, committed when Pike was 18. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in two centuries. Governor Bill Lee called the outcome “deeply disturbing” and halted executions for the rest of the year. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, called what she witnessed “a mess.” Her grief is real, and any Christian answer must reckon with it. Tennessee’s Episcopal, Lutheran and Roman Catholic bishops urged the governor to commute Pike’s sentence. No evangelical leader joined them. Where were the ACNA bishops? They were nowhere to be found. What Scripture Says The Church has never spoken with one voice. Tertullian opposed executions; Augustine accepted the state’s right but pleaded for mercy; Aquinas and Calvin upheld it. Article 37 of the Thirty-Nine Articles permits it. Pope Francis called it “inadmissible,” and the Episcopal Church has opposed it since 1958. Scripture’s case for it is weighty. Genesis 9:6, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed,” predates Sinai and rests on the image of God. Numbers 35 forbids ransom for a murderer. Paul says the ruler “beareth not the sword in vain” (Romans 13:4), and before Festus he did not refuse to die if guilty. The penitent thief called his own sentence just. But Scripture also counsels restraint. God spared Cain. He spared David. “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 33:11). The Torah demanded two or three witnesses, punished false ones, and built cities of refuge against hasty bloodshed. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee.” And at the Cross, the innocent One died under a lawful capital sentence, satisfying once for all the blood that cleanses the land. Where America Fails the Test Here American practice collides with the biblical standard. Since 1973, 200 people sentenced to death have been exonerated, roughly one for every eight executed, after an average of 13 years under sentence. About 70 percent of those cases involved official misconduct. DNA can clear only a small fraction of the innocent. Deuteronomy’s evidentiary bar is not being met. Then there is the wait. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11). Justice delayed three decades is not justice. The 18-year-old who killed Colleen Slemmer is not the 50-year-old who lay snoring on that gurney. Moses’ system had no death rows. Scripture permits it; America has forfeited the right to do it. A state that cannot execute justly, swiftly and without torture should not execute at all. America should join most of the free world and abolish it, not because Scripture forbids it, but because America cannot carry it out justly. Pike’s co-defendant, Tadaryl Shipp, received life with the possibility of parole. Would parole after 30 years for Pike be such a bad thing? You can read my full take here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/capital-punishment-does-the-botched-killing-of-a-woman-stand-the-biblical-test DEREK JONES TAKES HIS FIGHT TO THE FOURTH CIRCUIT Derek Jones, the former chaplaincy bishop deposed by the Anglican Church in North America after trying to take his jurisdiction out of the denomination, is appealing his trademark case against the ACNA to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The U.S. District Court in Charleston dismissed his lawsuit on First Amendment grounds on September 28. VOL reached out to the Anglican Reformed Catholic Church for comment but did not hear back. VANDERBILT DIVINITY IN RECEIVERSHIP: The Fate of Liberal Seminaries One of the nation’s most prestigious divinity schools, Vanderbilt, has been placed in receivership, prompting speculation that it might close or change beyond recognition. “After careful consideration, including an independent review, we have placed our Divinity School in receivership as a mechanism for renewal,” a university spokesperson told RNS, promising to spend the next two years positioning the school “for long-term success, investment and growth.” The university insists receivership is not a pretext for closure. But there has been no public announcement and little comment from university leadership, and alumni are worried. They have reason to be. Theological education is shrinking across the board. CARA reports that college-level Catholic seminary enrollment fell 6 percent in 2024–25, from 889 to 840, and graduate-level enrollment fell 8 percent, from 2,920 to 2,686. The Association of Theological Schools reports that 57 percent of its member schools saw enrollment decline, with the Master of Divinity, the core pastoral degree, shrinking fastest in the mainline. Schools are selling the family silver to survive. Gordon-Conwell sold its South Hamilton campus. Fuller’s planned move to Pomona collapsed. Episcopal Divinity School dissolved its faculty and moved into Union Theological Seminary as a tenant. A former professor at a liberal seminary told VOL he was not the least bit surprised. Every seminary is suffering from reduced demand, he said, but liberal schools like Vanderbilt have a harder time still. Why train for a church that preaches on Sunday morning what people already hear on NPR? PHILADELPHIA: A SPIRITUAL WASTELAND If you want to see how Philadelphia has become a spiritual wasteland, follow the link below. These once-proud churches are now condos.https://x.com/history_hacked/status/2110392938588958929 CONMEN FOR THE LORD One by one they die off. Jim Bakker, who died October 5 at 86, is the latest of the conmen for the Lord. Jimmy Swaggart went before him in July of last year. Give the man his due. Out of puppets and a borrowed studio, Jim and Tammy Faye built the PTL satellite empire and Heritage USA, a Christian theme park that drew millions. Then it came apart. The Jessica Hahn affair and the hush money got him defrocked in 1987. In 1989 a federal jury convicted him of fraud for selling “lifetime partnerships” he could never honor, while ministry money bought mansions and an air-conditioned doghouse. In prison he concluded the prosperity gospel was a lie and wrote I Was Wrong. It did not last. He ended his days selling survival buckets and a silver “cure” for COVID. Bakker was not an aberration. He was a type. Swaggart, Haggard, Tilton, Popoff, Ravi Zacharias. What unites them is the lie. They preached one thing in the pulpit and did another when the cameras were off. They knew it was sin. That is why they hid it. Hide It, Repeal It, Bury It The televangelists hid their sins; the Episcopal Church simply repealed them. Resolution D039 in 2000 recognized “other life-long committed relationships.” B012 in 2018 pushed same-sex rites into every diocese. If the Church could not stop the sinning, it could stop calling it sin. Gene Robinson hid nothing; he married, divorced, partnered, married again and divorced again, all with the Church’s blessing. Hypocrisy, said La Rochefoucauld, is the tribute vice pays to virtue. The Episcopal Church stopped paying the tribute. When neither hiding nor repealing would do, the bishops closed ranks. Anglican Watch has documented how Title IV became a shield for clergy and a maze for victims. In England, Peter Ball and John Smyth were shielded for decades, and Justin Welby became the first Archbishop of Canterbury to resign over safeguarding. Orthodox Anglicans are not immune: ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood has been tried in a closed church court on allegations he denies. The test is whether the process runs in the light. Three roads, one destination. The televangelist hid his sin. The progressive church abolished it. The institution buried it. No one would submit to judgment. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” It still must. Jim Bakker once wrote I Was Wrong. It may be the only honest title in the whole sorry library. You can read my full take here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/conmen-for-the-lord SOUTHERN CROSS NEARS TWELVE While Western Anglicanism slowly sinks into the sunset, there are signs of hope. Here is one. The Diocese of the Southern Cross, Australia’s orthodox Anglican refuge, is quietly growing. On October 10 in Brisbane, two lay ministers were due to be ordained deacons, bringing their congregations in as Member Churches. The Anglican Church of the Torres Strait is about to join as well, making it the twelfth Member Church. On October 17 in Perth, the Rev. Mekyal Keira, who pastors the Sudanese Kush Southern Cross Anglican Church, will be ordained a presbyter. Gafcon Australia Chair Peter Smith will preach. The Torres Strait church has its own history of resistance. It came out of a 1996–97 split, when conservative Islanders disputed a leadership choice after the Diocese of Carpentaria was merged into North Queensland. Faithfulness in the Strait did not begin with Gafcon. Southern Cross holds to the Jerusalem Declaration of the Global Anglican Communion (formerly Gafcon) and the historic Anglican formularies. It was formed for Anglicans who could no longer remain in good conscience in the progressive dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is a separate, parallel body and not part of the Canterbury-linked Communion. Bishop Glenn Davies, former Archbishop of Sydney, leads it for now. As it grows, a synod to elect its own bishop will follow. Across the Tasman, the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand elected a bishop when it reached twelve churches. Southern Cross need not follow that timetable. The pattern is familiar: ACNA in North America, the Confessing Anglicans in New Zealand, and now Southern Cross in Australia. Revisionism empties pews; orthodoxy plants churches. Source: John Sandeman VOL IS IN A TRANSFORMATIVE MOMENT VOL is experiencing major growth, and the numbers show it. In the last two months we have gained more than 4,000 new readers. Readership was up 146 percent in September, and unique visitors were up 191 percent. We are now read in 186 countries, and page views are well over one million. To keep the growth coming, we need your financial help. There are no salaries, but we have contract writers, an ISP and a webmaster to pay, as well as Internet services, phone, and occasional travel to bring you the latest news and commentary. We have no mega-donors and no grants, only faithful readers who believe in what we do. We have proven ourselves over more than thirty-five years of writing about Anglican affairs. Please consider a tax-deductible gift. Even $50 helps enormously. Online: virtueonline.org/donate By check (tax-deductible): VIRTUEONLINE, P.O. Box 111, Shohola, PA 18458 Thank you for your support. David W. Virtue, DD President and Managing Editor

The Episcopal News Service sees stabilization. The 2025 Parochial Report shows a church that has lost a third of itself in ten years. By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org October 15, 2026 The Episcopal News Service is very good at what it does. Give it a decade of hemorrhage and it will give you back a headline about stabilization. Its account of the newly released 2025 Parochial Report tells us that attendance is "stabilizing," that finances are steady, that younger attenders are excited and that Episcopalians are "deeply engaged." Membership, we are told, continues to "slowly decline." Slowly. Hold that word up against the numbers. Credit where it is due. The Parochial Report is the oldest continuous data series the Episcopal Church keeps, it gathered returns from nearly 92 percent of parishes and missions, and the analysis was done by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, a serious shop. The data is real. It is the reading of it that needs correcting. When you set aside the adjectives and do the arithmetic, the report is not a story of stabilization. It is the record of a church emptying out. A Third Gone in Ten Years In 2015 the Episcopal Church reported nearly 2 million members. In 2025 it reported 1.4 million. That is a loss of roughly 600,000 people in a decade, about 30 percent of the church, and an average of 60,000 souls a year. Put plainly, the Episcopal Church loses the equivalent of a good-sized diocese every twelve months. Average Sunday attendance tells the same story with more force. In 2015 nearly 600,000 Episcopalians were in church on an ordinary Sunday. In 2025 the figure was 407,000, a fall of 32 percent. And consider the gap between the rolls and the pews. Of 1.4 million members, 407,000 shows up. Fewer than three in ten. Seven of every ten people the church counts as its own are, for practical purposes, somewhere else on Sunday morning. If this is slow decline, one shudders to think what fast decline would look like. The Dead Cat Bounce The release makes much of the fact that attendance, after dipping to 300,000 in 2021 during the pandemic, has "rebounded." So it has: from 300,000 to 407,000, a recovery of about a third. Wall Street has a name for this. It is called a dead cat bounce. Even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height. A stock that crashes will often recover part of its loss as the panic subsides, and the unwary take it for a turnaround. It is not. It is the market finding its old floor before the slide resumes. That is precisely what the report describes. Read the release carefully and it concedes the point itself: attendance has rebounded "to the previous point of decline." That is, to the line it was already falling along before COVID struck. The pandemic did not cause the Episcopal Church's decline. It interrupted it, briefly and dramatically, and the church has now climbed back onto the same downward escalator it was riding in 2019. Nor does livestreaming rescue the numbers. Average Sunday online attendance was 116,936. Add every one of those screens to the in-person count, and assume no household, no double counting and no one who clicked away after the opening hymn, and you arrive at about 524,000. That is still well short of the 600,000 who were physically present in 2015. Forty-Three Souls The most sobering figure in the release is buried in a single sentence. The median Sunday attendance for an Episcopal congregation, in-person and livestream combined, is 43. Half of all Episcopal churches, in other words, cannot muster 43 people on a Sunday even when the online viewers are counted. The in-person median, which the release does not give, must be lower still. Think about what that means on the ground. A building to heat and repair, a rector or vicar to pay, a diocesan assessment to meet, an organ to maintain, all resting on a congregation smaller than a school bus. This is not a church of thriving parishes with a few weak ones at the margins. It is a church in which the typical parish is fragile. Spending the Inheritance The financial news is presented as stability: income and expenses are nearly equal at about $2.7 billion. Breaking even is not the same as being healthy, and the composition of that income tells the real story. Only 54 percent of it comes from the offering plate and pledges, the giving of living members. The other 46 percent, well over a billion dollars, comes from elsewhere: endowments, investments, rental income on buildings and land. A very large part of the Episcopal Church is now funded not by the people in its pews but by the people in its churchyards, the generations who built and endowed these parishes and are no longer here to see what has become of them. Divide $2.7 billion by 407,000 Sunday attenders and you get roughly $6,600 for every person in a pew. The median pledge is a generous $3,193, a figure that speaks of an older, affluent and dwindling donor base. Those givers are not being replaced at the rate they are being buried. One in a Hundred Here is the number the Episcopal News Service did not calculate, and it is the most important one in the report. According to the Hartford survey, 32 percent of current attenders joined their congregation in the past five years. That sounds like vitality. But of those newcomers, 77 percent came from another congregation, 20 percent were returning after years away, and just 3 percent were new to church. Three percent of thirty-two percent is about one percent. Roughly one person in a hundred sitting in an Episcopal pew today is someone who came to faith, or at least to church, for the first time in the past five years. In a survey of some 2,500 attenders, that works out to perhaps two dozen people. Everything else is reshuffling. Christians leaving one church for another is not growth; it is transfer. A church that grows only by receiving the disaffected of other congregations is not making disciples. It is collecting them. Our Lord's commission was to go and make disciples of all nations, not to wait for them to arrive from the Methodists. Asking the Survivors The cheerful findings in the second half of the release come from the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations (EPIC) survey: 2,500 respondents in 123 Episcopal congregations, out of thousands. The problem is not the sample size. It is who was asked. The survey went to people who are still attending. Of course, 92 percent of them worship monthly or more. Of course they find their churches "spiritually alive." The 600,000 members who left over the past decade were not surveyed. Neither were the seven in ten who remain on the rolls but stay home. This is survivorship bias in its purest form. It is like polling the passengers still aboard a sinking ship and reporting high satisfaction with the voyage. We are told that 89 percent of attenders under 35 are excited about their congregation's future. We are not told how many attenders are under 35. We are told that 74 percent see their congregations as "striving to become more diverse." We are not given a single figure on whether they have. What the Questionnaire Forgot There is one more thing worth noticing. The 2024 changes to the questionnaire mean, in Hartford's own words, that most of the data "cannot be compared over time." The only trend lines that survived the redesign are the three that could not be buried: membership, attendance and money. A denomination whose every trend points downward has, conveniently, a new form that makes most trends impossible to track. And look at what the new form chose to ask. More than 4,300 congregations reported how they are reducing their carbon footprint: HVAC upgrades, recycling, single-use plastics. The release says nothing at all about baptisms, confirmations, adult conversions or Sunday school enrollment, the historic measures of whether a church is passing on the faith. A church that carefully measures its carbon footprint and does not report its converts has told us what it thinks matters. Where the Line Leads Projections are not prophecies, but arithmetic is arithmetic. If the Episcopal Church simply repeats the past decade, and nothing in this report suggests otherwise, it will have about 1 million members by the mid-2030s and roughly 275,000 people in church on a Sunday. The median parish will not be 43. It will be smaller. The endowments will be carrying more of the load, and there will be more buildings than congregations to fill them. The Episcopal News Service calls this stabilization. It is the stability of a long, steady descent. The Episcopal Church is not being persecuted out of existence. No one is closing its doors but itself. It is being emptied, one transfer, one funeral and one shuttered parish at a time, while its leadership counts recycling bins and celebrates a bounce. A church that does not make disciples does not have a future. It has an endowment, and endowments run out. David W. Virtue, DD, is founder and managing editor of VirtueOnline. His writings can be found at www.virtueonline.org, where you can subscribe to receive his free biweekly VIEWPOINTS. His Substack on the Middle East can be viewed here: davidvirtue2.substack.com

A satirical essay By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org October 14, 2026 The Rt. Rev. Wilbert Smitherspoon, Bishop of the Diocese of Lower Wokefield, has ordered his priests to hold a revival at the local arena, a 12,000-seat venue more accustomed to monster-truck rallies and the Shriners' circus. "With all the woke causes we embrace, I thought it would be good to have a little change," the bishop told VOL. "Not too much change, mind you. We're Episcopalians." The idea did not originate with the bishop. It came, as most good ideas in the Episcopal Church now do, from a 90-year-old widow with a checkbook. Mrs. Gladys Pipkin, who describes herself as "a real pip," wrote to her rector, the Rev. Oliver Finknottle, to say she was tired of hearing about the inclusion of homosexuals in the church "because they never come anyway," and that she hoped to hear a sermon from the Bible before she died. "As she is a big giver, I felt the need to honor her request," Finknottle said. "We have a pledge-to-pew ratio to think about." "Is it too much to ask for a sermon on the Resurrection instead of another one on sexuality?" Mrs. Pipkin told VOL. "At my age I'm a good deal more interested in the Second Coming than in anybody's first. I haven't heard the Bible preached in years. Is Abraham still in it? Somebody told me he'd been replaced by a land acknowledgment." She said she once asked her rector about Noah's flood. "He laughed and said it was a myth to explain mortality and had nothing to do with judging a sinful world, since judgment isn't in harmony with an all-loving, all-inclusive, diverse God who had only briefly taken sides." Fr. Finknottle further explained that God's covenant with Israel was "an early experiment in exclusivity that the Almighty has since grown out of, rather the way a teenager outgrows a garage band." "The marvelous thing about being an Episcopalian," the rector added, "is that we have kept up with the times, and you can believe almost anything. Or nothing. We don't police that. We have jettisoned the atonement, rejected hell completely, and made feeling good about yourself the church's top priority. The most important thing is to believe in yourself — and try to stay out of Title IV handcuffs." The Big Night The revival was billed as "Awakening: A Gentle Invitation to Consider the Possibility of Something." Diocesan staff printed 12,000 programs on recycled hemp paper. Twenty-three people came. They included two ushers, a liturgical dancer, the diocesan canon for creation care, this reporter, Mrs. Pipkin, and a man in a John Deere cap who had come for the monster trucks and stayed because the coffee was free. The praise band opened with "Kumbaya" in 5/4 time, followed by a hymn from the 1982 Hymnal with the pronouns updated for the third time since 2015. A Native American blessing was offered by a retired dental hygienist from Connecticut. The Rev. Canon Persimmon Hallowell-Blythe then preached on the text "God is still speaking," which she noted is not technically in the Bible "but should be." Her sermon lasted 14 minutes and mentioned sin once, in reference to plastic straws. At the close came the altar call and the praise band was playing ‘Just as I am,’ "Is there anyone here tonight," the canon asked softly, "who would like to come forward and affirm themselves?" Nobody came. The man in the John Deere cap asked if the trucks were still on for Saturday. The Aftermath Bishop Smitherspoon pronounced the evening a triumph. "Twenty-three people is more than the average Sunday attendance of four of our parishes combined," he said. "By Episcopal standards, this was Pentecost." The diocese has appointed a task force to study why so few attended. Preliminary findings point to the arena's insufficient accessibility, the lingering effects of colonialism, and a failure to advertise on TikTok. The possibility that people might have stayed home because there was nothing to come for was ruled out of scope. A second revival is planned for spring, to be held in a smaller venue — the bishop's living room. As for Mrs. Pipkin, she went home with a tote bag, a rainbow lanyard, and a coupon for a free Enneagram session. "I came for the Gospel," she said, "and they gave me a gift bag. At least the Shriners give you a clown." David W. Virtue, DD suffers from depression and writes these occasional satirical pieces to alleviate the pain as he watches The Episcopal Church self-destruct. His biggest fear is living long enough to see the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York become a very expensive condo development.

By Anglican Watch A church court convicted Bishop Derek Jones of four canonical offenses and removed him from office; the denomination admits bishops knew of the misconduct but did not act. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has made an extraordinary admission of institutional failure by acknowledging that bishops of its College of Bishops were aware of years of abusive behavior on the part of one of their colleagues but did not take any meaningful action. The admission came on September 24, after the deposition of Bishop Derek Jones on September 23, who had previously led the ACNA’s Special Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy. An ecclesiastical court found Jones guilty of four canonical offenses, including abuse of ecclesiastical authority, disobedience of church law, and promotion of schism, and removed him from ordained ministry by unanimous decision. The most serious part of the case may not be Jones’s misconduct. Rather, it is what the bishops of the ACNA have now admitted about themselves. On September 24, the bishops stated that their own members had known about Jones’s behavior but that they had not responded adequately to the complaints. It’s a surprising admission for ACNA, coming as it does amidst a wave of scandal and adverse publicity. That raises an obvious question—if the bishops knew what was going on, why did it take so long for anyone to stop it? Years of abuse As stated in the church’s statement of September 24, Jones had a record over the years of cruelty, abuse of power, and mistreating chaplains who were unable to challenge his authority. The bishops described his behavior as wicked, cruel, and amounting to an abuse of power. They also recognized the serious harm the chaplains and their families had suffered. The main issue was not one of sexual abuse; it was instead concerned with the misuse of ecclesiastical authority, intimidation, retaliation, interference in the careers of clergy, and the manipulation of the church’s disciplinary procedures. The August 19 ruling states that Jones used his position to exercise significant control over the chaplains serving under him. The court also considered evidence that chaplains faced disciplinary threats, had their transfers interfered with, and were pressured to make financial contributions. A chaplain compared his experience to that of living in a cult, and another said that Jones affected his future employment after he had left the jurisdiction. The court also came across evidence that an official disciplinary document had been backdated. The accusations were not simply unproven; the ecclesiastical court considered sworn evidence and unanimously convicted Jones of all four charges. The bishops knew The most disturbing part of the September 24 statement is that the College of Bishops admitted some of its members knew about Jones’s behavior. The bishops felt ashamed that those aware of the misconduct had not dealt with the complaints seriously and urgently. Take that into consideration for a moment. The denomination’s senior leadership have, in effect, admitted that those with the authority to act knew about the abusive behavior but did not act adequately. This brings forward questions that go well beyond Jones himself. Who were the bishops who knew? When did they find out about the complaints? What specific information did they get? Was there any effort made to carry out an investigation? Were the people who made the complaints discouraged from raising their concerns? And did existing institutional relationships or personal loyalties affect the way they responded? The public statement gives no information as to which bishops knew of the misconduct or includes a detailed account of their actions and failures. It also doesn’t say whether any of the bishops will be held to account for their failures. That’s a significant omission. When disciplinary procedures become weapons A particularly worrying aspect of the Jones case is the claimed misuse of the church’s own disciplinary procedures. Church disciplinary procedures are meant to safeguard the congregation, the clergy, and the integrity of the institution; they should not become tools to intimidate those who challenge authority. The court held that Jones wrongly applied ecclesiastical procedures to chaplains, including those outside his canonical authority. In one instance, a chaplain seeking to transfer his credentials faced difficulties because of unpaid financial obligations. In another case, the court took disciplinary action against a chaplain who refused to participate in the jurisdiction’s financial arrangements. The court also looked at evidence of retaliation and interference in employment. The implications are disturbing. If a bishop can use disciplinary measures to threaten a person’s career, then the supposed protections within church governance can become a means of coercion. The problem doesn’t remain limited to one individual if other bishops become aware of this kind of behavior but still fail to take adequate action. It then turns into an institutional failure. ACNA acknowledges its culture must change The College of Bishops has admitted that the Jones case raises issues about its own institutional culture. In its September 24 statement, the College said it wanted to understand how the abuse happened and promised to change its culture. The bishops also launched a procedure allowing affected chaplains to ask for their canonical and pastoral status to be restored. That is reasonable, especially when chaplains have received unfair disciplinary treatment or suffered damage to their careers. The promise of cultural change does not mean there is any sense of accountability. Will the ACNA arrange for an independent inquiry into the bishops who knew about Jones’s behavior? Will it release the inquiry’s results? Will it point out any flaws in its reporting and disciplinary systems? And will those bishops who failed to protect the chaplains have to face any repercussions? If there are no answers, the denomination will treat Jones’s deposition as the end of the issue rather than the starting point for a broader investigation into institutional responsibility. The problem extends beyond Jones The Jones case is also taking place at a time when controversy continues over the ACNA’s treatment of disciplinary proceedings involving senior clergy. The denomination has come under heavy criticism for how it has handled allegations involving Bishop Stewart Ruch and Archbishop Stephen Wood, and so on. The cases have different facts and allegations and must not be combined with the findings concerning Jones. Yet, taken together, they raise important questions about whether the ACNA’s disciplinary systems offer enough independence, transparency, and accountability when senior clergy are accused of misconduct. The denomination has amended its disciplinary canons and has carried out further governance reforms. However, policies and procedures are only as effective as the people who are responsible for enforcing them. The Jones case shows the consequences when those people take no action. What about the victims? Another matter merits consideration: the chaplains and their families. The court’s findings showed that certain chaplains experienced harassment, faced professional interference, and were subjected to disciplinary measures that affected both their ministries and their livelihoods. The College of Bishops has acknowledged the harm and promised to work toward restoration. So what is meant by restoration? Will unjust disciplinary records be erased? Will chaplains who have been affected be given help in correcting their professional records or in restoring their reputations? Will the denomination investigate whether anyone suffered financial losses as a result of Jones’s behavior? Will the victims have a meaningful say in deciding what remedies are appropriate? While apologies matter, they don’t always fix damaged careers, restore lost income, or reverse years of emotional suffering. The ACNA should clearly state the specific assistance it plans to provide. Accountability cannot stop with Jones Derek Jones’s dismissal is a major disciplinary measure; the ACNA court found him guilty, and the College of Bishops then carried out the church’s harshest ecclesiastical penalty. The denomination’s own admission makes clear that this was not merely one bishop behaving badly while the rest were unaware. Other bishops knew about his behavior and did not respond adequately. That changes the equation. The matter is not merely about what Jones did; it is also about the fact that a denomination which lays claim to respecting biblical authority, pastoral responsibility, and accountability permitted abusive behavior to go on even though the senior leadership was aware of the concerns. ACNA should be commended for publicly admitting it failed. However, such an admission without any real accountability is likely to amount to no more than institutional damage control. The bishops state that their culture needs to change. That’s great in theory, but we’ve heard this sort of thing all too often. Pinpoint the failures, explain what each person knew and when they knew it, set up truly independent checks and balances, offer adequate redress to those who have been harmed, and show that bishops who ignore reasonable complaints will themselves be held to account. Until then, the Jones case will remain an alarming example of what Anglican Watch has repeatedly noticed in the Anglican Communion: those with the least institutional power usually end up suffering when bishops do not hold other bishops to account. No amount of the bishop’s worrying can bring about that change. END

October 9, 2026 By John Sandeman Today, Saturday, the 10th of October, 2026, sees the Diocese of the Southern Cross grow towards 12 churches. In Brisbane, two lay ministers will be ordained as deacons, and their congregations will become Member Churches of the Diocese of the Southern Cross. The Anglican Church of the Torres Strait is also about to join the Diocese, becoming the twelfth Member Church. On the 17th of October, in Perth, Rev. Mekyal Keira, who pastors a Sudanese congregation, the Kush Southern Cross Anglican Church, will be ordained as a presbyter. The Gafcon Australia Chair, Peter Smith, will be preaching. The Anglican Church of the Torres Strait derives from a split in 1996-7 when conservative Torres Strait Islanders disputed a leadership choice after the Diocese of Carpentaria was merged into the Diocese of North Queensland. The Diocese of the Southern Cross is a conservative Anglican body holding to the Global Anglican Communion’s (formerly Gafcon) Jerusalem Declaration and other Anglican formularies (statements of faith). It was set up to provide a refuge for Anglicans no longer comfortable in progressive dioceses (regions) within the Anglican Church of Australia. The Diocese of the Southern Cross is a separate and parallel Anglican body, and not a member of the traditional Anglican Communion. At present, Bishop Glenn Davies, a former Archbishop of Sydney, leads the Diocese of the Southern Cross. As the network grows, there will be a time when it is large enough to hold a synod to elect its own bishop. The New Zealanders who set up a similar Anglican refuge, the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand, elected a Bishop with 12 churches, but that does not mean Southern Cross will choose to do the same. John Sandeman is an independent Australian Christian journalist, former editor of the national evangelical newspaper Eternity, and current editor at The Other Cheek.

Green Party Leader Zack Polanski October 8, 2026 By David Walker, Michael Volland and Esther Tamisa Prior A statement from Church of England InterFaith Advisors As a group of the Church of England’s Diocesan Inter Faith Advisers, charged with nurturing relationships of trust between faith communities and ensuring that public discourse does not endanger those relationships, we feel compelled to express our concern at the recent Green Party vote and the antizionist rhetoric surrounding it, without defining what is meant by the term ‘Zionism’. For many Jewish communities in England, this vote has deepened an already acute sense of vulnerability. It risks further eroding the trust that has been carefully built between Jewish communities the Church of England and wider society over many years. This vote does not stand alone. It forms part of a wider and troubling pattern in public life, a pattern we have been monitoring closely in our advisory capacities that has included: • the dismissal or minimisation of the realities of the Hamas led pogrom of 7 October 2023, including the rape and murder of Israeli civilians and the profound trauma this caused to Jewish communities in England and worldwide; • the casual and repeated claim of “genocide”, a term that is experienced by many Jewish people as a libel against their collective identity and history; • the recent debate at our own church’s General Synod, which included a decision to “hear” the Kairos II document which contained language that Jewish leaders described as false, harmful, and erasing of Jewish identity. This not only caused real and acknowledged pain, but also ignored the years of work, dialogue, and theological exploration that led to the Faith and Order Commission’s God’s Unfailing Word (2019). • Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London which are held close to prominent synagogues on Shabbat and where slogans, symbols, and messaging often including people expressing support for Hamas and denial of the legitimacy of Israel as a sovereign state. The Jewish communities’ concerns about these demonstrations are largely ignored, leaving Jewish Londoners feeling unseen, unheard, and unsafe in the very heart of the city and prevented from attending some of their places of worship; • and the succession of attacks and alleged plots directed at Jewish communities in Manchester and London: the fatal vehicle and knife attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester; an alleged further Manchester plot involving reconnaissance of Jewish sites and preparations for an explosive device; the arson attack that destroyed four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green; attempted arson at Finchley Reform Synagogue; and the stabbing of two visibly Jewish men in Golders Green. We agree therefore, with the Movement for Progressive Judaism’s condemnation of the Green Party’s motion as antisemitic in its formulation and intention, and with similar statements by the Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis and the Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg the Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK and with the joint statement of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council that it constitutes an attack on the Jewish community and risks further stoking anti-Jewish hatred. It dismisses as inherently racist the idea of Zionism, that for most Jewish people, expresses the centuries-old longing for safety, home, belonging and self-determination woven through Jewish history, prayer, ritual and communal life and therefore immediately ostracises religious Jews in the Green Party who worship at synagogues all of whose liturgies affirm this longing for Zion and pray for the well being of Israel. It also fails to acknowledge the great diversity of ways Zionism is understood within the Jewish community. Taken together, these developments reveal a slippery slope, contributing to a climate which undermines Jewish strength and participation in wider society and increases Jewish vulnerability and marginalisation, Jewish trauma is sidelined, and a strong and visible wish identity is treated as politically suspect rather than a societal, theological and communal reality that adds to the diversity of our nation. As Inter Faith Advisers, we have seen how legitimate advocacy for Palestinian dignity, legitimacy and self -determination - which we affirm - can be distorted when it is not held alongside an equally robust commitment to Jewish safety, Jewish self-identity, and Jewish flourishing in all its diversity. We therefore state the following: • We stand with Jewish communities in England, and support the statements issued by the Movement for Progressive Judaism and the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Representative Council • We reject language that erases Jewish peoplehood, denies Jewish trauma, or repeats patterns historically associated with antisemitism and anti-Judaism. • We call on Christians in the Green Party to stand in solidarity with Jewish Greens and work to change their party’s policy or reconsider their membership of a party that is now institutionally antisemitic. • We call on the Church of England to continue to develop resources to facilitate the study and understanding of Jewish – Christian relations as outlined in the Faith and Order Commission’s God’s Unfailing Word particularly in its explorations of Zionism and Jewish relationship to the land of Israel. • We affirm that condemning antisemitism and raising these issues cannot mean any lack of deep concern for the extreme sufferings of Palestinian people and of all those caught up in violence, and so we call on all political parties, churches and faith leaders to exercise moral responsibility, avoiding simplistic narratives that erase the lived experience of Jewish people and seek to appropriate blame. Instead supporting an approach to Israel–Palestine that encourages real dialogue and holds Israeli security and Palestinian freedom, dignity and self-determination together; and giving practical support to reconciliation initiatives such as those promoted by the Alliance for Middle East Peace that emphasise sustained Israeli Palestinian civil society dialogue, grassroots peacebuilding and an International Fund for Israeli Palestinian Peace. The Green Party vote is part of a wider deeply concerning drift towards an increasingly antisemitic culture in our country. As Diocesan Inter Faith Advisers, we believe the Church of England and other churches and religious communities must become a bulwark against that drift, repenting where we have played our part and ensuring any debates on the Israeli Palestinian conflict are conducted with theological integrity, historical awareness, and pastoral responsibility. We call upon political leaders, Church institutions, and citizens across England to join us in resisting the current drift in our national life towards increasing antisemitism. The Statement has been endorsed by The Rt Revd David Walker BISHOP OF MANCHESTER The Rt Rev Dr Michael Volland BISHOP OF BIRMINGHAM The Rt Revd Esther Tamisa Prior BISHOP OF ASTON and the following Diocesan Inter Faith Advisors Canon Mark Poulson LONDON Canon Steve Williams MANCHESTER Canon Dr Andrew Smith BIRMINGHAM The Revd Alec Corio ST ALBANS Canon Guy Wilkinson CBE BRISTOL The Rev’d Ray Gaston LICHFIELD The Rev’d Dr David Gifford HEREFORD Dr Jane Clements MBE OXFORD The Ven Jonathan Sedgwick SOUTHWARK The Rev’d Katie Hodkinson WINCHESTER The Rev’d Devin McLachlan ELY

There is a continuing pattern of attacks on rural communities, people travelling on vulnerable roads, farmers, miners and community security personnel. By Dr Solomon Ubasi I www.virtueonline.org I October 8, 2026 The ongoing persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria is taking various forms including reducing or limiting opportunities to education, attack on Christian communities, mass abduction of school children, targeted attack/kidnap of clergy for ransom, abduction, force conversion and marriage of Christian minors, girls/married women. There is the issue of suppression of public expressions of Christians, the denial of Certificates of Occupancy to build Churches in Sharia states, treatment of Christians with contempt, hostility and suspicion and, in most extreme cases, forcing Christians to evacuate their ancestral land for Fulani herdsmen are also examples of persecution of Christians in Nigeria particularly in the north. There is currently an ongoing case of 4 Christians who were abducted from Zalaki in Bassa LGA area of Plateau state and taken to Bauchi state and allegedly converted to Islam, including a married woman. The four victims are: Loveth, whose name was changed to Maryam; Vivian, whose name was changed to Fatima; Janet, whose name was changed to Fa’iza; and Antonia, whose name was changed to Zainab. Their case is currently being pursued. These women were taken away only for their families to receive letters from the Bauchi State Sharia’h Commission notifying them about their alleged conversion. There is also the case of 17-year-old Faith Barnabas, who was abducted and converted to Islam. Even when a Court ordered that she should be released to her mother, the Sharia Commission has refused to obey the court order, and they have kept the girl in an orphanage and denied her mother access to her. There was the case of Jennifer, whom it took intense pressure before she was eventually rescued. Developments in Plateau State over the past three months, from July through early October 2026 is deeply concerning. With seeming efforts, there has been a renewed pattern of attacks in several parts of the state, particularly in Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Mangu, and Bokkos, all in the northern senatorial zone. These communities bearing the significant proportion of the casualty area are predominantly Christian farming communities. Sometimes we equally experience attacks against herders and other communities out of frustration and attempts of inhabitants of these communities to protect themselves from their attackers in what they perceive out of failure of the government security outfits. These security outfits themselves have become objects of attacks from the Fulani militia (considered by the local Christian communities as Islamic occupiers). Recent attacks in Riyom and Barkin Ladi were largely a reaction from the Fulani militia following the arrest of one of their kingpins. He was arrested by the DSS (Department of state services or state security services, SSS). As a result, the Fulani have launched a serious propaganda campaign to blackmail the current State Director of the Department of State Services and call for his redeployment. The arrest of some of the masterminds of the attacks by the DSS in recent weeks has, to some extent, reduced the spate of mass attacks. Recent attacks over the past three months July 2026 The renewed wave of violence became particularly visible in early July. On 4–5 July, attacks were reported in Berom communities in Riyom and Barkin Ladi, including Ta-Hoss, Sabon Layi and Kwi. The Berom Youth Moulders Association reported six people killed and one woman critically injured. The association described the attacks as part of continuing violence affecting predominantly Christian communities in the area. On 11–12 July, gunmen attacked Kum and Wereng-Camp communities in Riyom LGA, killing at least nine members of one family, including a two-month-old baby. The attack reportedly lasted for more than an hour, with the attackers entering homes and shooting residents. On 14 July, another resident of Wereng-Rim in Riyom was reportedly killed. Community sources described the incident as another attack in an area that had experienced repeated violence. There were also attacks and security incidents around Jos South and Barkin Ladi, including an attack on the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) at Kuru. Security forces reportedly repelled the attack and killed one of the attackers. The military subsequently reported that six suspected terrorists had been killed in security operations between 26 June and 2 July. In July, there was violence around the Plateau/Kaduna border, including an attack on Naridon in Kauru, Kaduna State, a community close to Ganawuri in Riyom, which reportedly killed at least 30 people. The incident illustrates the wider regional insecurity affecting communities around the Plateau-Kaduna border. August 2026 August witnessed one of the most serious concentrations of attacks. On 16 August, settlements around Jwak Maitumbi in Mangu LGA were attacked. Reports indicated that several residents were killed, approximately 45 shelters were destroyed, and crops were damaged. The following day, 18 August, gunmen attacked Bin-Per/Bin Mper in Mangu LGA. Initial reports put the number killed at more than 20; the Plateau Police Command initially reported 18 casualties but subsequently acknowledged that the number appeared to have risen above 20. Other reports put the eventual death toll at approximately 24–28, illustrating the difficulty of establishing a single definitive figure immediately after such attacks. The attack resulted in a mass burial and a peaceful protest by women from the community, who called for stronger government protection. The police subsequently announced the arrest of a suspected mastermind, while the Nigerian Army moved its tactical headquarters to Mangu and launched Operation Hard Nut in response to the killings. On 28 August, another series of attacks was reported in communities including Fang in Riyom, Radura in Barkin Ladi and Chakfem in Mangu. A pastor, Hills Emmanuel, who had been abducted along the Barkin Ladi–Bokkos road, was later found dead. Other people were also reportedly killed in the coordinated attacks. September 2026 September has arguably been the most disturbing month in this recent cycle. On 13 September, nine passengers travelling towards Jos were killed when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle at Dungus in Jos South LGA. Separate attacks in Mangu and Riyom brought the reported death toll from incidents that night to at least 13. Between 19 and 20 September, another wave of attacks occurred in Barkin Ladi, Riyom and surrounding communities. At least nine people were reportedly killed, including five people travelling to Gana-Ropp and two people, including a pastor, who were attacked while travelling to church at Dorowa Babuje. Other deaths were reported at Baten Wereng in Riyom and Ratyidi in Fan District. In response, the Plateau State Government imposed a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in Barkin Ladi, Bokkos and Mangu, together with restrictions on motorcycle use. However, the attacks continued despite the curfew. On 22 September, a security team responding to a distress call along Gagshi Road between Barkin Ladi and Bokkos was ambushed. One security operative was killed, while three civilians were reportedly killed in a separate attack at Rakok/Kafi Abu. On 23 September, community sources reported further killings and the destruction of more than 20 hectares of farmland. Two miners were reportedly killed at Kworos Gangare, while other attacks affected communities in Riyom and Barkin Ladi. On 25 September, three local vigilantes, including a community youth leader, were killed in Kassa, Barkin Ladi, while conducting a night patrol. The killings led women and youths to protest and temporarily block the Jos–Barkin Ladi–Mangu highway, demanding greater protection. On 28 September, gunmen attacked a mining site at Rakum in Barkin Ladi, killing three women and injuring another person. These September attacks demonstrate that the problem is not limited to isolated incidents. There appears to be a continuing pattern of attacks on rural communities, people travelling on vulnerable roads, farmers, miners and community security personnel. What is the broader context? It is important to add that Christian communities have suffered disproportionately in several of the recent attacks, particularly in Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Mangu and Bokkos. Many of these communities are predominantly Christian farming communities, and the killing of church members, pastors, families, farmers, and other civilians understandably creates a strong perception of religious persecution. However, there have also been a few reprisal attacks against Fulani pastoralists, their cattle and other communities out of frustration. This is important to acknowledge because the Plateau crisis has been perceived by some to involve overlapping issues of land, farming and grazing, ethnic identity, religious identity, displacement, criminality, revenge attacks and longstanding communal grievances. Religious identity is an important dimension. It is seen as the root of the whole problem given that the Fulani cattle owners are not indigenous to the area in context and are largely of the Islamic faith. It is also perceived by the local communities who are largely Christians that the Fulanis have the backing of the Federal Government which is seen by many to be Islamic hence protects the perpetrators of all these dastardly acts. It is important to note that the destruction of farms and displacement of rural populations may be almost as consequential as the immediate loss of life. When farmers cannot safely return to their farms, the consequences include food insecurity, loss of income, displacement, and increased dependence on humanitarian assistance. There is also a serious issue of confidence in security institutions. Communities repeatedly complain that security responses often come after attacks rather than preventing them. The fact that some attacks have occurred during curfew hours has reinforced these concerns. What is being done? There have nevertheless been significant responses from government, security agencies and civil society. The military moved its tactical headquarters to Mangu following the August killings and launched Operation Hard Nut. Police also arrested a person described as a suspected mastermind of the Bin-Per attack and continued investigations. Following the September attacks, the Plateau Government imposed a curfew on Barkin Ladi, Bokkos and Mangu and directed security agencies to strengthen operations in the affected areas. The government has also provided humanitarian assistance. In September, the federal and state governments announced the disbursement of ₦1.5 billion to 1,579 households affected by attacks in Mangu, Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Bassa. At the community level, traditional rulers, Christian leaders, youth organizations, women’s groups and civil-society organizations have continued to document incidents, engage security agencies, demand accountability and advocate for better protection. There is also increasing recognition that military and police responses alone cannot resolve the crisis. Intelligence gathering, early-warning systems, rapid response, community engagement, justice and prosecution, rehabilitation of victims, reconciliation and addressing the underlying competition over land and livelihoods all need to form part of the response. The situation in Plateau has not fundamentally improved over the past three months. If anything, July through September saw a worrying resurgence of attacks, culminating in particularly intense violence in August and September. The fact that attacks have continued into October suggests that the underlying security problem remains unresolved. What is needed now is to move from reaction to prevention. Communities need effective early-warning and early-response mechanisms. Security agencies need better intelligence and the capacity to respond before attacks occur. Perpetrators need to be identified and prosecuted regardless of their identity or affiliation. Victims need protection and assistance, and displaced communities need the conditions necessary for safe and dignified return. Many people are internally displaced and not much is done by the government to return them to their communities. For the Christian persecution question specifically, I think it is pertinent to say that Christian communities in parts of Plateau have experienced repeated and serious attacks, including killings of entire families, attacks on people travelling to church, killings of pastors, and destruction of predominantly Christian communities. These incidents deserve sustained national and international attention. Continued international attention can make a difference, particularly when it is combined with engagement with Nigerian institutions and local actors. The objective should not simply be to highlight the number of people killed, but to help strengthen protection, accountability, freedom of religion or belief, humanitarian support, and the local peace architecture necessary to prevent these attacks from recurring. The need for increased attention to the ongoing persecution and more sustained pressure on the Nigerian government will help. As we approach the general elections, the need for close monitoring of the election process cannot be overemphasized. There is also need for more attention towards the speedy debate and subsequent passage of the State Police Bill into law will go a long way in tackling the insecurity. Conclusion I will conclude by adding that things have gotten worse for Christian communities in Nigeria. Several times, stakeholders have been engaged on the way forward on the prevailing situation, yet the situation has not improved. Most people from the Christian community have lost hope there will be any change to the situation. There is also no trust in the system, any form of dialogue (even though happening at different levels) and the federal government. There is the feeling that the government has the power but lacks the will to put an end to the persecution and security situation. The whole issue has been politicized and many dimensions have been added to it to confuse many from the heart of the matter. The deep level of corruption in the country cannot be written out of the matter. We can only pray and ask God for respite. Dr Solomon Ubasi is Lecturer at the Jos Evangelical Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Church of West Africa, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue DD | www.virtueonline.org | October 8, 2026 She lay strapped to the gurney, awake enough to ask whether her arm was supposed to feel that way. Then came the snoring, and it went on for more than an hour until the chamber microphone was cut. The lethal injection had failed…twice. Christa Pike did not die. Four months earlier, in May, Tennessee had tried to execute Tony Carruthers. His executioners spent more than an hour probing his arms, feet, neck and chest for a second vein before the attempt was called off. He too is still alive. Two failures in one year in one state. Most Western democracies have abolished the death penalty. On this the United States keeps company with China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Tennessee's Episcopal, Lutheran and Roman Catholic bishops called on Gov. Bill Lee to commute Christa Pike's sentence to life in prison following the botched lethal injection. Not one evangelical voice was raised over this botched execution. Why was no ACNA bishop heard from over this bungled killing? Where were they? They were nowhere to be found. Pike, 50, was rushed to a Nashville hospital after surviving two doses of pentobarbital intended to kill her for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, committed when Pike was 18. She is alive and recovering in a hospital after surviving a failed execution attempt in Tennessee on September 30, 2026. She regained consciousness and is able to speak. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in two centuries. Governor Lee called the outcome "deeply disturbing," ordered an independent review, and halted executions for the rest of the year. Colleen Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, travelled to Nashville to see the sentence carried out. She called what she witnessed "a mess." Her grief is real, and any Christian answer must reckon with it. There is a tension here that cannot be easily glossed over. HOW THE CHURCH HAS READ IT The Fathers were divided. Tertullian and Lactantius opposed Christian participation in executions. Augustine accepted the state's right but repeatedly pleaded with magistrates for mercy. Aquinas defended it as cutting off a diseased limb for the health of the body (Summa II-II q.64 a.2). The Reformers, Calvin especially, upheld it firmly. Article 37 of the Thirty-Nine Articles states that "the Laws of the Realm may punish Christian men with death, for heinous and grievous offences," and that was written against the Anabaptists. In 2018 Pope Francis revised Catechism §2267 to call the death penalty "inadmissible." The Lambeth Conferences of 1988 and 1998 opposed it, and the Episcopal Church has opposed it since 1958. ACNA has no settled position as far as I know, and its evangelical wing generally leans the Genesis 9 way. There is also a middle position, held by figures like Oliver O'Donovan: the state may execute, but in modern conditions it should not, because of fallible courts, unequal application, and, as Tennessee now shows, the inability to do it without torture. But here is where American practice collides most directly with the biblical standard. EXONERATED FROM DEATH ROW Since Furman v. Georgia in 1972, 200 people sentenced to death in 29 states have been exonerated. Larry Roberts of California became the 200th in July 2024. Together they spent some 2,600 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Against roughly 1,600 executions over the same period, that is about one person exonerated for every eight executed. The average time under a death sentence before exoneration is about 13 years. About 70% of cases involved misconduct by police, prosecutors or other officials. The Innocence Project is the DNA side of the story. By 2020 there had been 375 DNA exonerations nationwide, and 21 of those people had served time on death row. DNA helps in only a minority of capital cases: it was a factor in only about 15% of death-row exonerations. That matters because DNA evidence is available in only about five percent of cases. Most innocent prisoners have no test that can clear them. So what does Scripture actually say? THE BIBLICAL CASE FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT The Noahic covenant (Genesis 9:5–6). This is the cornerstone text: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." Supporters stress three things about it. It comes before Sinai, so it is a covenant with all humanity, not Mosaic civil law limited to Israel. The ground given is the imago Dei, which is permanent. And it is a command to human agents ("by man"), not just a prediction. Calvin, Luther, and most Reformed and evangelical defenders begin here. The Mosaic law. Exodus 21:12–14 distinguishes murder from accidental killing and requires death for murder, even taking the murderer from God's altar. Leviticus 24:17–21 sets out the lex talionis, "life for life." Numbers 35:16–34 is decisive for many. It forbids accepting a ransom for the life of a murderer (v. 31), because blood "defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed... but by the blood of him that shed it" (v. 33). Deuteronomy 19:11–13 adds "thine eye shall not pity him." Justice as proportion, not vengeance. The lex talionis (Exod 21:23–25; Deut 19:21) is read as a limit on punishment, not a license for it. It ensures the penalty fits the crime. Defenders argue that a lesser penalty for deliberate murder cheapens the victim's life. That is the argument Colleen Slemmer's mother is in effect making. Romans 13:1–4. Paul says the ruler "beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." The machaira was the instrument of capital judgment, so most commentators from Augustine to Calvin to Cranfield take this as apostolic approval of the state's power to execute. 1 Peter 2:13–14 says something similar: governors are sent "for the punishment of evildoers." Paul before Festus (Acts 25:11). "If I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die." Paul accepts that some crimes deserve death and that Rome has the authority to impose it. He disputes only whether he is guilty. The penitent thief (Luke 23:40–41). "We indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds." Christ grants him paradise but does not contradict his judgment that the sentence was just. Forgiveness and earthly penalty stand side by side. Jesus before Pilate (John 19:11). "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above." Christ acknowledges that Pilate's authority over life and death is real and comes from God, even when it is misused. Revelation 13:10 and Matthew 26:52. "He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword." Some read these as restating the Genesis 9 principle. THE BIBLICAL CASE AGAINST (OR FOR RESTRAINT) God spares the first murderer (Genesis 4:15). Cain kills Abel, yet God puts a mark on him "lest any finding him should kill him," and threatens sevenfold vengeance on anyone who does. The first murder in Scripture ends in exile, not execution. God spares the great sinners. Moses killed an Egyptian (Exod 2:12). David committed adultery and arranged Uriah's murder, yet Nathan tells him, "The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die" (2 Sam 12:13). Abolitionists argue that God himself repeatedly set aside the death penalty when there was repentance. God takes no pleasure in death. Ezekiel 18:23 and 33:11: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." On this view the purpose of justice is the sinner's turning, and execution forecloses it. Strict evidence rules. Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 require two or three witnesses, and Deuteronomy 19:16–21 punishes false witnesses with the penalty they sought. Numbers 35:30 forbids putting anyone to death on one witness. Abolitionists argue that modern justice cannot meet this standard. They point to 200 exonerations since 1972 and to the Carruthers case: a man who represented himself at his own capital trial, whose lawyers sought a delay to test new fingerprint evidence, and whom the state strapped down anyway. (Pike, of course, never denied her guilt.) Cities of refuge (Numbers 35; Deuteronomy 19; Joshua 20). Even the Torah built in protection against hasty bloodshed and the blood-avenger's anger. Restraint and due process were part of the system itself. Too many capital crimes. The Mosaic law imposed death for adultery, Sabbath-breaking, blasphemy, cursing parents, and idolatry. Few Christians today want any of that restored. Abolitionists argue that if those penalties belonged to Israel's theocracy and have passed away, the same may be true of the penalty for murder. Defenders reply that Genesis 9 predates and outlasts Sinai, so murder stands apart. The woman taken in adultery (John 8:1–11). "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her... Neither do I condemn thee." This is the text abolitionists cite most often. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38–44). "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye... But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil." Defenders answer that Jesus is addressing personal retaliation, not the duty of the magistrate. Vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:17–21). "Avenge not yourselves... Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Defenders point out that the very next verses (13:4) hand that vengeance to the magistrate, so the two chapters belong together. Mercy over judgment (James 2:13). "Mercy rejoiceth against judgment." THE CROSS This is the deepest abolitionist argument. Christ was the innocent victim of a lawful capital sentence, and his death fulfilled the demand of "blood for blood" (Hebrews 9:22; 10:10–14). Some argue that since Calvary, the shedding of blood to cleanse the land (Num 35:33) has been satisfied once for all. Neither do I condemn thee... go, and sin no more. For abolitionists, redemption and capital punishment cannot be reconciled. Pike, who says she has made her peace after three decades on death row, fits this argument. THE THIRTY-YEAR WAIT The real issue is the 30-year wait. Ecclesiastes 8:11: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." On the Bible's own terms, justice delayed for three decades is not justice. It does not deter, and it executes a different person from the one who committed the crime. The 18-year-old who killed Colleen Slemmer is not the 50-year-old who lay snoring on that gurney. Speed cuts both ways: it serves the victim's family, and it is what the biblical model assumed. Moses' system did not have death rows. Scripture permits it; America has forfeited the right to do it. The state may take life, but a state that cannot do it justly, swiftly, and without torture should not. The Cross remains the one lawful execution that took away the need for blood to cleanse the land. Too many innocent people have been sent to America's death rows, and some have almost certainly been put to death. There have been too many botched executions. America should join the rest of the free world and abolish it, not because Scripture forbids it but because America cannot carry it out justly. Mob bosses have killed with impunity. Pike's own co-defendant, Tadaryl Shipp, received life with the possibility of parole, while Pike faced the needle. She deserves another shot at life. Would parole after 30 years be a bad thing? David W. Virtue, DD, is founder and managing editor of VirtueOnline. His writings can be found at www.virtueonline.org, where you can subscribe to receive his free biweekly VIEWPOINTS. His Substack on the Middle East is at davidvirtue2.substack.com

The televangelists hid their sins. The Episcopal Church repealed them. And when neither worked, the bishops closed ranks. Jim Bakker's death is a reminder that no one in this story would submit to judgment COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD I www.virtueonline.org I October 6, 2026 One by one they die off. Conmen for the Lord. The latest, Jim Bakker, bowed out on Monday at the age of 86, having disgraced the gospel and the Lord he professed to love and serve. Jimmy Swaggart went before him in July of last year, at 90. His wife Lori announced the death on social media, calling him a pioneer of Christian television. That he was. He was also a convicted felon. At that time, I expressed concern over the Bakker scandals. I viewed them as indicative of deeper issues within the televangelist movement and the church at large. I was critical of the moral failure of prominent figures like Bakker saying they would undermine the credibility of Christian leadership and accountability within the church community. It would even undermine the gospel itself. Leaders are held to a higher standard. See James 3: 1. Give the man his due. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker built something remarkable out of puppets and a borrowed television studio. By the 1980s the PTL Club was a satellite empire and Heritage USA, their Christian theme park in South Carolina, drew millions of visitors a year. Bakker had a showman's genius and an uncanny gift for making ordinary believers feel they were part of something God was doing. Then it all came apart. In 1987 it emerged that Bakker had a sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn in a Florida hotel room seven years earlier, and that roughly a quarter of a million dollars had been paid to keep her quiet. The Assemblies of God defrocked him. Worse was to come. In 1989 a federal jury convicted him of fraud and conspiracy for selling "lifetime partnerships" at Heritage USA, promising lodging the ministry could never provide, while ministry money went to mansions, luxury cars, gold-plated bathroom fixtures and an air-conditioned doghouse. He was sentenced to 45 years. The sentence was later reduced, and he was paroled in 1994 after about five years behind bars. And here is the part his obituaries will skip. In prison Bakker read the words of Jesus for himself and concluded that the prosperity gospel he had preached was a lie. In 1996 he published a book with a title few preachers have ever dared to use: I Was Wrong. It was, for a moment, a genuine act of repentance. It did not last. He resurfaced near Branson, Missouri, selling buckets of survival food to the faithful for the coming apocalypse, and in 2020 he hawked a silver solution on air as a remedy for the coronavirus. The State of Missouri sued, and he was forced to refund buyers. The man who wrote I Was Wrong went back to passing the plate. They Hid It Bakker was not an aberration. He was a type. The televangelists are a fixture of the American evangelical landscape, men and women who claim God raised them up to save the masses from their sins, only to find that they themselves have stumbled along the way and fallen into sin. They soaked gullible evangelicals for millions and lived high on the hog while they proclaimed salvation from sin for the masses, only to find sin in their own beds of iniquity. The list is endless. The failures never end. Jimmy Swaggart, the Pentecostal firebrand who had helped bring Bakker down, was himself photographed with a prostitute in 1988. His tearful "I have sinned" confession became infamous. Three years later he was caught again. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, campaigned against same-sex marriage until 2006, when a male escort revealed that Haggard had paid him for sex and bought methamphetamine. His anti-gay sermons were rapidly discredited. Billy James Hargis, the anti-communist crusader of the Christian Crusade, was forced out of the college he founded in the 1970s after students, male and female, accused him of sexual misconduct. Robert Tilton's prosperity empire was exposed by ABC's Prime Time Live in 1991, which reported that prayer requests mailed in with donations ended up in dumpsters. Peter Popoff's "word of knowledge" healings were revealed in 1986 to be messages from his wife fed to him through an earpiece. Mike Warnke made a fortune telling evangelical audiences he had been a Satanic high priest, until Cornerstone magazine showed in 1992 that the story was largely fabricated. Tony Alamo died in federal prison after his 2009 conviction for taking underage girls across state lines for sex. Ravi Zacharias a celebrated apologist who defended the faith before university audiences worldwide, was credibly accused of a years-long pattern of sexual abuse, sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual manipulation of vulnerable women and at least one allegation of rape. He used ministry funds to support women he groomed. A ministry that existed to defend the truth became complicit in a lie when it shielded its founder rather than hearing his victims. And there is a second tier of offenders who, though popular, never made it into the national hall of sexual infamy. What unites them is the lie. They preached one thing in the pulpit and did another in the motel room. They knew what they were doing was sin. That is why they hid it. They Repealed It Episcopal and Anglican bishops are not exempt from the same failings. But their sin took a more sophisticated form, dressed in the purple robes of righteousness with an air of sanctimony that would make Jesus spew them out of his mouth. The televangelists hid their sins. The Episcopal Church simply repealed them. It found a wonderful way of delisting sin, thus freeing the offender from the guilt and shame that usually accompanies it. Resolution D039 at the 2000 General Convention acknowledged "other life-long committed relationships" alongside marriage, effectively delisting fornication. Resolution B012 in 2018 pushed same-sex marriage rites into every diocese, over the objections of the few remaining orthodox bishops. If the Church could not stop the sinning, it could at least stop calling it sin. Consider Gene Robinson. Nobody can accuse him of hypocrisy. He hid nothing. He married a woman, fathered two daughters, divorced, took up with a man, entered a civil union with him, married him, and then divorced him too. All of it was done with the Church's blessing, and he was consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 to wild applause in a hockey arena. That is precisely the point. Bakker at least knew he was a sinner; that is why he lied. The Episcopal Church decided there was nothing to lie about. You could skirt the Bible's sexual prohibitions because the Church had come of age, and God, they believed, had changed his mind. It was the best of all possible worlds. Hypocrisy, said La Rochefoucauld, is the tribute vice pays to virtue. The Episcopal Church stopped paying the tribute. They Closed Ranks And when neither hiding nor repealing would do, the bishops did what the institution always does. They closed ranks. Charles Bennison, Bishop of Pennsylvania, was convicted by an Episcopal church court in 2008 for failing to act when he learned, decades earlier, that his brother, a youth minister in Bennison's own parish, was sexually abusing a teenage girl. The conviction was overturned on a statute of limitations technicality. In Maryland, the diocese elected Heather Cook its suffragan bishop in 2014 despite knowing of a prior drunk-driving arrest. Months later, drunk and texting, she struck and killed cyclist Thomas Palermo and drove away. She went to prison. Most of the sexual misdeeds of Episcopal and Anglican priests have been confined to local parishes. Their sins never made the six o'clock news. Anglican Watch has documented case after case in diocese after diocese in which the Title IV disciplinary canons became a shield for clergy and a maze for victims, with bishops sitting on complaints until they quietly went away. Across the Atlantic the Church of England did no better. Peter Ball, former Bishop of Gloucester, was jailed in 2015 for abusing young men in his care, and an independent review found the Church had colluded with him for decades. The Makin Review into John Smyth, the barrister who savagely beat boys and young men at evangelical camps, found the Church had known for years and failed to act. In November 2024 Justin Welby became the first Archbishop of Canterbury to resign over a safeguarding failure. Orthodox Anglicans cannot claim immunity. The ACNA's own archbishop, Steve Wood, was inhibited last November and went to a closed church trial in Charleston beginning September 7 on allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying and plagiarism, which he denies. The court has up to 101 days after the trial ends to deliver judgment. Whatever the verdict, the test for the ACNA is whether it lets the process run in the light. Too many of its critics already suspect the instinct to circle the wagons. No One Would Submit to Judgment America's televangelists were the most brazen. They soaked the gullible, milked the faithful, and brought discredit on the very gospel they said they proclaimed. Their hypocrisy outshone their message. Their falls from grace were ruinous to their marriages and to the faithful they claimed to be saving. But the root is the same in the motel room, the General Convention, and the bishop's study. The televangelist hid his sin. The progressive church abolished it. The institution buried it. Three roads, one destination: no one would submit to judgment. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God," wrote the apostle Peter. It still must. Jim Bakker once wrote I Was Wrong. It may be the only honest title in the whole sorry library. At the end of the day the conmen for the Lord saved no one and nothing, not even themselves. The bishops in purple simply did it more quietly. David W. Virtue, DD, is founder and managing editor of VirtueOnline. His writings can be found at www.virtueonline.org where you can subscribe to receive his free biweekly VIEWPOINTS. His Substack on the Middle East is at davidvirtue2.substack.com

A satirical essay By David W. Virtue, DD I www.virtueonline.org I October 7, 2026 The Episcopal Bishop of Las Vegas, the Rt. Rev. Albert Sniffle, says he will offer his body to science as he prepares for voluntary euthanasia. "I suddenly realized I no longer believe in God," he told this reporter. "It's been coming on for some years now. When I realized that Jesus didn't rise from the dead, and that a picnic in the park was more relevant, it was the beginning of the end. "When my second same-sex marriage failed and Precious George had taken off with a chicken (a younger gay man), I began to have serious doubts about a loving God. "It came to a head when my beloved pooch, Cleopas, was hit by a car and died on the spot. My life literally fell apart. "I cursed whatever God was out there, drank an entire bottle of Scotch and fell asleep in the Jacuzzi. I only awoke when Mildred, my next-door neighbor, and her partner Sophia saw me floating upside down and called the EMTs. "They hauled me out, got me awake, read me the riot act about self-pity and went home. I lay naked on the back lawn crying my eyes out. But I knew my days were numbered. The EMT folk were wonderful, especially the handsome Beau, who had the dreamiest of eyes. "As the ambulance pulled away from the house, I knew I would never return. My end was foretold by the stars, which I have been reading ever since Bishop James Pike started consulting spooks about his dead son. He died wandering in the Judean wilderness. Oh God, how I envied the man. "The hospital doctor told me I would fully recover. A little stomach pumping, some food and coffee, and I was back on my feet. This did not allay my real concerns. When I told the doctor I was ready to go, he said I should see a psychiatrist. He felt sure the church would pay for it, as it had lots of money for things like this. He even recommended a book by some man called Lewis, something about Mere Christianity. I asked what the 'mere' part was about. He said read it anyway. "By now I was too far gone." Seeking the Exit The bishop said he first raised the matter with his diocesan chancellor, a lawyer who had spent twenty years suing departing orthodox parishes for their buildings and therefore knew a thing or two about leaving. "He told me Nevada wasn't quite there yet on assisted dying," Sniffle said. "I told him neither was General Convention on gay marriage, and look how that turned out. He suggested Canada. He said the Canadians are very accommodating. They'll help you with anything except finding a family doctor." I asked the bishop whether he had told his diocese he no longer believed in God. He looked at me with genuine puzzlement. "Why on earth would I do that? I stopped saying the Nicene Creed in 2009. Nobody noticed. I preached three straight Easters on the resurrection as 'a metaphor for second chances,' and the Altar Guild gave me a standing ovation. The only formal complaint I ever received was when I accidentally used the 1928 Prayer Book at a funeral. Mrs. Pettigrew wrote to the Presiding Bishop." The Diocese Responds News of the bishop's decision reached the Standing Committee on a Tuesday. By Thursday it had issued a statement affirming Bishop Sniffle's "courageous journey toward self-determined completion" and pledging to "hold space" for him. By Friday the diocesan liturgy committee had produced a draft rite, A Service of Intentional Departure, with optional Eucharist, optional Scripture and optional God. The departing selects the closing hymn. Sniffle chose "Imagine." The Canon to the Ordinary, a practical woman named Brenda, raised the only question anyone seemed to think mattered. "She wanted to know whether the Church Pension Fund treats euthanasia as early retirement," Sniffle said. "I told her I'd be dead. She said that wasn't really an answer." A diocesan spokesperson assured VOL that the bishop's loss of faith was "not a disqualifying condition for episcopal ministry, nor has it ever been. If it were, we'd struggle to make a quorum in the House of Bishops." The Body and Science The bishop's offer of his body to science met an unexpected snag. The medical school politely declined the liver, on account of the Scotch. But the neurology department was fascinated. "They want to locate the exact spot in the brain," Sniffle explained, "where a man can stand before God and the people and vow to guard the faith, unity and discipline of the Church, and mean not one word of it. They think it might be hereditary. Or possibly seminary." North to Vancouver So the bishop flew to Vancouver, a city he knew well, having once attended a conference there titled "Decolonizing the Doxology." The assessor at the clinic was a kind, tired woman with a clipboard. Sniffle laid out his case: two failed marriages, Precious George and the chicken, the death of Cleopas, the stars, the Scotch, the Jacuzzi. "And your underlying medical condition?" she asked. "I no longer believe in God." She set down the clipboard. "I'm sorry, Bishop. Loss of faith is not a qualifying condition. Not yet, anyway. Parliament is working on it." She sent him to the waiting room while she found the paperwork. There was nothing to read but a dog-eared paperback someone had left on a chair. It was Mere Christianity. On the inside cover, in pencil, a previous occupant had written: Changed my mind. Hope you do too. The receptionist twice asked him to leave. He read it in one sitting. He finally found out what the "mere" was about. It was the part the Episcopal Church had thrown overboard first. The Road Back "Do you know the strangest thing?" he said when he phoned me from the airport. "I named my dog Cleopas because it sounded like a Greek shipping heir. In forty years, I never once preached on the man. He was one of the two on the road to Emmaus, walking away from Jerusalem, certain it was all over. Jesus walked right beside him and he didn't recognize Him." There was a long pause on the line. "I've been walking the wrong way for forty years, David." As of press time, the Rt. Rev. Albert Sniffle has cancelled his appointment, returned the draft liturgy unsigned, and made one request of his diocese: a copy of the Creed. The Standing Committee is searching the archives. No one can remember where they put it. The Episcopal Church has spent half a century teaching its bishops how to die with dignity. It forgot to teach them why to live. For that you still need an empty tomb. A picnic in the park won't do. David W. Virtue, DD, is founder and managing editor of VirtueOnline. His writings can be found at www.virtueonline.org, where you can subscribe to receive his free biweekly VIEWPOINTS. His Substack on the Middle East is at davidvirtue2.substack.com

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 VOL Is Growing, and We Need Your Help VOL is undergoing a major transformation, and the numbers show it. In the last two months we have gained 4,000 new readers. Readership is up 146 percent for 2026, and unique visitors are up 191 percent. We are now read in 186 countries, and page views are well over one million. To keep the growth coming we need your financial help. There are no fancy salaries, but we have contract writers, an ISP and a webmaster to pay, as well as Internet services, phone and occasional travel to bring you the latest news and commentary. We have no mega-donors and no grants, only faithful readers who believe in what we do. We have proven ourselves over more than thirty-five years of writing about Anglican affairs. Please consider a tax-deductible gift. Even $50 helps enormously. Online: virtueonline.org/donate By check (tax-deductible): VIRTUEONLINE, P.O. Box 111, Shohola, PA 18458 Thank you for your support. David W. Virtue, DD President and Managing Editor