The group was formed in protest to the approval of an openly gay Episcopalian bishop in Tampa, Bay Florida. The group was formed because of disagreement about the approval of a gay bishop. Episcopal churches in the Bay area are now part of a new breakaway network of dioceses. The new group was formed because of disagreement about the approval of an openly gay Episcopalian bishop.   Mark Sholander, a church leader of the St. Albans Episcopal Church in Polk County, says the approval has left his parishioners feeling that their church has been hijacked by a small group of innovative thinkers.   Its a very small, but very vocal minority who is trying to impose upon the ancient church new belief systems, so it’s frustrating, said Sholander.   Sholander says the network is a way to preserve their beliefs that have existed for more than 500 years. Leaders of the network want to eventually be recognized as the authentic Episcopalian church by Anglican bishops overseas.     END

BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS The Wichita Eagle     About 40 members of an Episcopal church in east Wichita have established a new congregation within the Orthodox Church, citing their disapproval of the decidedly liberal drift of the Episcopal Church in recent years. The Rev. John Flora, 57, retired rector of St. Stephens Episcopal Church, will lead the new congregation, which will begin worshipping at St. Georges Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Wichita at 10 a.m. on Sunday.     Flora said he and the group of former St. Stephens parishioners have grown frustrated with the Episcopal Church, including its approval of its first openly gay bishop in August.     When I found the Episcopal Church in college, I really believed I had found something that was connected to the ancient church and was going  to remain steadfast, Flora said.     But my experience in the past 31 years as a priest is, there’s been a slippery slide into theological relativism, and that’s not where I’m at.     Officials with the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, including Bishop Dean Wolfe, were out of town for the holidays and could not be reached for comment.   Melodie Woerman, spokeswoman for the diocese, said that news of Floras new church mission was a surprise, and that church officials would be unlikely to make a comment until they learned more about the situation.   The new church, St. Michael the Archangel Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, will be the first Western Rite Orthodox parish in Kansas. It will join a growing number of Orthodox congregations that use a Western form for their liturgy, rather than the more characteristic Byzantine Rite.     The liturgy of the new church will be similar to that of the traditional Anglican Book of Common Prayer, Flora said, with some additions to make it conform to Orthodox theology. Becoming an Orthodox priest, which he plans to do on Easter, will complete a personal and theological evolution for Flora.     During seminary, he participated in a dialogue group between Anglican and Orthodox churches, and he has been interested in Palestinian issues and Orthodoxy ever since. For now, the new St. Michael parish will hold worship services in the chapel at St. Georges Cathedral, 7515 E. 13th St. But Flora hopes the congregation will grow and eventually have its own facility.   Leaving the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church was a real hard decision, Flora said, but one I felt I had to make.   Other parishioners planning to join Flora agreed.   This has nothing to do with St. Stephens itself. It has everything to do with the Episcopal Church USA, said Bill Anderson, head of the St. Michael parish council.     My belief is that we have not left the Episcopal Church; it has left us, he said. This is not a decision we took lightly, nor is it something that just happened.     END

Dear Brothers and Sisters,     WELCOME TO 2004!   First of all I want to thank all of you who contributed so generously to the ministry of Virtuosity during this past year. I am grateful that it meant so much to you, and that you allowed me to travel to get the news that you needed and wanted to read. Thank you for your support. I am deeply grateful. VIRTUOSITYS readership grew by leaps and bounds in 2003 with more than 500,000 (560,000 by years end) folk going to the website and reading the news. This is most gratifying. The greatest jump in readership occurred at General Convention with more than 300,000 hits since September. Virtuosity’s website is being accessed at the rate of more than 60,000 hits per month and that figure is climbing so my webmaster tells me.   Hundreds more sign on to get the digest directly into their computers well before daybreak and breakfast. (The digest downloads at 4am Eastern Standard Time.) I am told that the figure of one million readers will access the website by July.     I am truly grateful Virtuosity is meeting a need. From the beginning it has been this writers intention to give you the unvarnished no spin zone truth about what is going on in the Episcopal Church and in the wider Anglican Communion. I have coupled that with stories that reflect the culture wars going on in the church and in the wider world. In many cases the two overlap.   I am deeply grateful to Virtuosity’s columnists, Mike McManus, Terry Mattingly Frederica Mathewes Green, Ian Hunter, Uwe Simon-Netto, Lekan Lotufodunrin (Nigeria) who wrote stories from a biblical world view to address issues of the family, faith and culture. Virtuosity’s resident theologian Dr. Robert Sanders also took some long hard looks at ECUSAs theological bearings and saw them askew. And a special thanks to all those sources who sent me story tips and quotes, and who could not reveal their names for fear of reprisal from their revisionist bishops, I thank you. Without you a goodly number of stories would never have been written. My special thanks for your bravery in writing to me.     I also want to thank all those who sent me stories that I used from all over the world. You are too numerous to name in person. I was glad to hear from NZ, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Singapore, England, Nigeria, Uganda, Sweden, Europe, the old Soviet Union and many more. My deepest thanks to you and I hope you will continue to send me stories in 2004.   I also want to pay tribute to the growing group of orthodox women who are emerging in leadership roles in The Episcopal Church, particularly Jan Mahood, President of Episcopalians for Traditional Faith, Chris Fouse, Forward in Faith, US; Diane Knippers, IRD; Diane Stanton for her work with the Uganda Christian University; Theologian Edith Humphrey and so many more. It is a pleasure to be associated with you and to receive your news. I am in your debt.   This year also saw the addition of Mr. Robert Turner to Virtuosity’s staff. He took responsibility for Virtuosity’s website. For those of you who access the website you will notice a whole new look for 2004. I am indebted to Robert for making this happen.   Finally, a special note of thanks to my attorney Mr. John H. Lewis, Jr. who kept me from going over the edge so many times, often working long into the night, when most of you slept, checking and editing my stories for legal niceties and much more. A note of thanks also to my board for their unfailing support of my ministry, especially to TK. Thank you.     IN TODAYS DIGEST you will read my six-part: 2003 - YEAR IN REVIEW. It is somewhat detailed, perhaps more than you would care to read, but there are some important historical landmarks that cannot be lightly passed over. Please feel free to float this around to your Episcopal friends and encourage them to join Virtuosity so they will no longer be in the dark about what is going on in the Episcopal Church. Pass the torch around.   The Year 2004 will I believe, be even more traumatic than 2003, if that is possible. But events are shaping up in the Anglican Communion that will reach boiling point. There will be no going back, no more compromises with truth, no more talk of pluriform truths. The Global South is a sleeping giant no more, and they have the numbers. They also have a clear fix on the nature and content of the gospel. They will continue to flex their muscle in the face of the revisionist West, and they will no longer tolerate apostasy and heresy in faith and morals. That day is done.   What is at stake is the very Faith once delivered nothing less. What is involved is the very truth of the gospel, a gospel that promises redemption and grace, forgiveness and hope, (that no so-called inclusionist gospel can begin to offer) - with lives changed forever by the power of the Holy Ghost, redeemed by the Son and brought into right relationship with the Father of lights - God himself.     In the US we await the outcome of a church within a church a parallel church of orthodox believers who will stand against the Moloch ECUSA, which has sold its soul for bad sexual practices, compromised theology and much more. We are in for a long, bumpy ride, and those laid-back Canadians will continue to bear the brunt of anger from the revisionist bully bishop Michael Ingham and show us all what it means to stand.   There will also be new alliances as the Anglican Continuum grapples with its own place under the Anglican sun. We will not be able to ignore the growing influence of the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA) as it continues to gobble up thriving ECUSA parishes. There would seem to be no let up in sight there. Virtuosity will report on it all.   You can also be sure that, as their influence diminishes, revisionist bishops and their parasitic homosexualists will continue their quest for greater power, because that is all they have left in their armory. They have no faith, no transforming gospel, only raw naked power propped up with trust funds - dead men’s money - accumulated in the years of plenty, but will now surely diminish in the coming lean years.     NEW  VIRTUOSITY WEBSITE. Today Virtuosity introduces a brand new website that can still be reached at www.virtuosityonline.org . It has a  whole new look with easier access to articles, faster downloading and a front page that will have a new story posted every day.

By Adelle M. Banks   RELIGION NEWS SERVICE     Bishop V. Gene Robinson, elected in June as the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church, was named the Religion Newsmaker of the Year by members of  the Religion Newswriters Association. His approval and consecration, and the ensuing threats of schism in the U. S. church and the wider Anglican Communion, were collectively cited as the top religion news story of 2003 -- a ranking shared with criticism of the Anglican bishop of Vancouver, British Columbia, who approved same-sex unions.   About a third of the 240 members of the Religion Newswriters Association took part in the annual survey. More than 80 percent of these selected Robinson as the top newsmaker. The top 10 religion news stories were ranked as follows:   1. Turmoil mounts within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion after Robinsons approval and consecration, and Vancouver Bishop Michael Inghams action.   2. The pending war in Iraq split religious communities, with mostly mainline Protestant denominations opposing it and many evangelicals supporting it.     3. The definition of marriage becomes a key area of controversy after Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules gay couples have a right to civil marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a ban against homosexual sodomy.   4. A Ten Commandments monument is removed from Alabamas State Judicial Building and the man who got it installed there, Roy Moore, is removed from his post as the states chief justice.   5. Roman Catholic Church efforts to implement plans combating priestly sex abuse draw praise and criticism. Archbishop Sean OMalley succeeds Cardinal Bernard Law as leader of the Boston Archdiocese.   6. Pope John Paul II marks the 25th anniversary of his election amid growing concerns about his health and debate over his eventual successor.   7. Slumping economy prompts budget cutbacks in many denominations.   8. Presbyterian Church (USA) keeps fidelity and chastity clause, maintaining its ban on noncelibate gay clergy. The denomination elects its first woman pastor as moderator.   9. The U.S. Supreme Court decides to hear a California case challenging the inclusion of the words under God in the Pledge of Allegiance.   10. The suspension of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod official David Benke of New York, for participating in a post-9/11 interfaith service, is overturned.   Officials of Valparaiso University issued an apology to the denominations members after holding an interfaith service marking the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.     END     EKKLESIA APPEALS FOR FUNDS FOR GLOBAL SOUTH PRIMATES     By Julia Duin THE WASHINGTON TIMES January 5, 2004   The direction of the Episcopal Church is increasingly being determined not by its clergy or church institutions, but by a group of determined Internet jockeys whose reach encircles the globe.   They are men who spend 12 to 14 hours a day sending out posts to message boards, fielding replies or overseeing blogs, or journals on the Internet, about the conflict tearing the 2.3-million-member denomination apart: the Nov. 2 consecration of the first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop.   On Aug. 5, the Episcopal General Convention meeting in Minneapolis confirmed Canon V. Gene Robinsons election to the episcopate. The vote was delayed a day because of an Internet message calling attention to the bishop-elects connection to a youth ministry Web site that had links to hard-core pornography.     David Virtue, founder of www.virtuosityonline.org and the originator of that message, said a conservative bishop had called him at midnight the night before he posted it.   He said, You’ll take the lid off the church if you do this,  Mr. Virtue says. I did do it, and the lid came off. The article about the bishops ties to the youth site, posted at 4 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 4, triggered an emergency meeting of Episcopal leaders a few hours later. By early afternoon, TV camera crews were pouring into the conventions conference center.       Although Mr. Robinson was cleared a day later of having any connection to the pornographic links, the lesson was clear: any self-appointed Web master could influence an entire denomination.     Since then, more activists have taken to their keyboards. Very few have any journalism training and most say they make no money at it. All say its a spiritual calling to get the news out.   When Bishop Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminster near Vancouver, B.C., decided to shut down a conservative mission church four days before Christmas, one of his fellow Canadian priests sprung into action.     Within hours of the Ingham story appearing on the Web site of the National Post, a Toronto-based newspaper, the priest had sent copies around the world.   Traditionally, the institution has controlled church news, said the priest, a man in his 30s whose Internet nickname is Binky the Web Elf. Now the Internet supercedes regular media. This news about New Westminster would not have appeared in a church newspaper for a month, [but via the Internet] what a bishop says in North America can be read by a bishop in Central Africa in a few hours.     He gets 1,500 to 2,000 visits a day to his site, Classical Anglican Net News, also known as www.anglican.tk . So much news is pouring out from various Episcopal-related sources from around the world that he posts two daily briefings.     People are hungry for this, so they come where it is, he says. Even [Episcopal News Service director] Jim Solheim wrote us, saying he checks us daily.   The ordinary people may not have the theological tools to stand up to their leaders. They often don’t have that extra bit of information that allows them to say this is their church, too. Now through the Internet, their story is being told.   Not that bishops are taking this lying down.   I have drawers full of hate mail. The Internet has enabled the technological equivalent of drive-by shootings, Bishop Ingham told a Canadian magazine, MacLeans. I’ve had to learn to deal with a level of malevolence and sheer hatred that I frankly didn’t know existed in the church.   Washington Bishop John B. Chane, another church liberal, termed Mr. Virtue mean-spirited in a June 22 sermon.   We’re not as creative or direct as David Virtue at sharing our side of the story, he confided. We have to break that noose.   The church’s leading liberal Internet activist is Louie Crew, founder of the Episcopal homosexual caucus Integrity.     Mr. Crew, 67, who nicknames himself Quean Lutibelle posts items like Queer Eye for the Heterosexual Imagination and other offerings at http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/rel.html .     The site, which gets about 800 hits a day, has 3,000 pages of Episcopal minutiae: history, lists of diocesan contacts, links to other Episcopal sites, articles, essays, photos, statements, audios of sermons, even an invitation to a renewal of vows for him and his partner.     A retired English professor from Rutgers University, Mr. Crew says he spends 12 hours a day processing material.     Before the Internet, he says, There was spin. Now there’s counterspin. We have to listen to points of view we dont like. I have convictions and support them, but don’t want to be an ideologue.     Atop his Web site is the queen of spades, a title bestowed upon him by Mr. Virtue. In return, Mr. Crew awarded Mr. Virtue the title of joker.   Mr. Virtue, 59, a New Zealand native who lives in West Chester, Pa., began writing investigative articles for Episcopalians United, a conservative group, in the mid-1990s. Finding church politics habit-forming, he created his Internet site in 1998. To date, it has received 500,000 hits, 300,000 since the General Convention. He also sends out a news digest several times a week to 100,000 readers.   He estimates he works 70 hours, seven days a week. Contributors send in about $80,000 a year, he says, which, after expenses, ends up at $35,000 a year. All of his postings are first checked by an attorney.   It’s what I feel called to do, he says, to bring the light of the Gospel on the revisionist nonsense of the Episcopal Church and to show its morally bankrupt. To do this, you have to bring the sludge to light.   Some of Mr. Virtues material gets distributed by the Rev. Richard Kim, 76, a retired Episcopal priest who runs an informal news service out of Detroit from an America Online account.   He searches newspapers, secular wire services and church Web sites all over the English-speaking world for documents and articles to circulate. He also has an extensive network of church contacts who send confidential reports to him.     Nothings a secret anymore, he says. Bishops in the church can no longer do things quietly. Anything that’s put out quickly goes around the globe. The Internet has allowed people to challenge assumptions, critique them and given ordinary people a chance to raise questions that would not ordinarily be raised.   Copyright © 2004 News World Communications, Inc.   *****

Dear Bishop Lee;   Please read this carefully through until the end.  This is a hard e-mail, tough love, and I know that you have been getting many hard e-mails, sadly even hateful e-mails.  This message is not one of hate but words of one man speaking straight to another.  I have labored long on this message in love believing that you are an adult and old enough to take hard truth.  Please prayerfully consider what I have said.  Time is short. Much has happened in the life of the church since I shook your hand at Olivet Episcopal Churchs 150-year anniversary earlier in 2003. As part of our familys ministry to historic re-enactors (see www.historicfaith.net < http://www.historicfaith.net ), Rev. Harper had asked us to help with preparations and we were there in 1850 clothing (I have attached a photo from the event).  I was touched when you stated that you found a power in the old (1845 vice 1928) liturgy, but was not convinced.  There has been twenty years for me to judge your words by.     In 1984 as bishop, you received me into the Episcopal Church. I believe that this confirmation service at Truro was your first confirmation service as bishop of the Diocese of Virginia.  Later, you were the Bishop that licensed me as a lay preacher when my family and I were at Christ the Redeemer.  You were the bishop who I looked to when I began the local discernment process for ordination.  While talking with you at a dozen after-church receptions does not make a deep friendship, you have been my bishop since you became bishop in Virginia.   As you have been my bishop, I have carefully read much of what you have written and listened carefully to what you have said. You are an intelligent and articulate man and I believe that you have some love for the Episcopal Church.  From what I have read, heard, and seen, I am deeply concerned for your soul.  It seems clear that you have valued the game of church politics and opinions of fellow bishops over your sworn duty to uphold the faith outlined in scripture and our catholic tradition.   I shook your hand at Olivet but I was a little guarded for I believed that when the clear decision point came to choose between the Apostolic faith and the progressive, world loving, rationalistic apostasy that has come into vogue within ECUSA, you would choose the latter.  I was right.   Years ago, you wrote in the Virginia Episcopalian that you saw your duty as Bishop to avoid clarity (what I call fuzzing up) on issues that would divide, such as the immorality of homosexual acts. This is not the position of a bishop defending the faith.  Your duty is to make spiritual truth clear not to obscure it.  You have acted like a shepherd that will not divide wolves from sheep.  I could give you many scriptural references including the words of Jesus that show that light should not unite with darkness.  Lovingly, and actively, we are to engage the world so that those who sin are come from darkness to light but that is not to have common cause with them.  Scripture set a different course for those who are believers and even higher standards for those who are leaders among Christians.   Some time after that article on your commitment to be fuzzy in the Virginia Episcopalian, I believe around 1997, you instituted the Call to Holy Life at Virginia Theological Seminary to open the school to active homosexual partnerships in lieu of the previous policy that forbade sexual intercourse outside the bonds of marriage, adulterous relationships, and the practice of homosexuality.  By this action (and actions do speak louder than words) you clearly demonstrated that even within your own diocese, you would be go with the flow even it that meant jettisoning the moral teachings of Jesus.  You used your skill at turning phrases to fuzz up this issue.  At the time you instituted the Call to Holy Life you stated you were seeking a policy more in keeping with Anglican comprehensiveness than the previous statement and more in keeping with the biblical balance of the Christian tradition. Fine words, as I would expect from a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Duke Law School, but VTS, since your action and under your leadership, has become a hotbed of homosexual activism.   VTS is the place in your Diocese where church leaders are  training and you are responsible for the type of leaders you train there.  At the time of A Call to Holy Life, in my deep concern and as part of my discernment process, I exchanged a series of e-mails with you in an attempt to find out where you stood on the authority of scripture and the nature of sin, in particular on the sexual sin, which was being promoted by the apostate.  It was not easy to get a clear answer from you to this fundamental question - did you believe that homosexual practice was sin.  I was at first hopeful when you read my e-mails and took time to reply.   The ongoing exchanges with you, as courteous as they were, eventually convinced me that you did not have a moral compass that would enable me to seek ordination under your leadership.  In my heart, I knew then that when a vote on accepting same-sex immorality would come, you would choose Sodom rather than Zion.  Thus, I left off the ordination process and after subsequent statements and actions by you, left off active life in a local Episcopal Church for a couple of years, moving instead to support our non-denominational ministry.  Recent actions of yours has shown that I made the right decision.  Since you put The Call to Holy Life into place, VTS students who hold the orthodox faith have told me repeatedly how they feel under siege for their beliefs.   Your recent vote and past actions are clearly destroying our diocese.  Unless you publicly and proximately repent for your part in this apostasy, the diocese you claim to love will fall to pieces, to the despair of the many faithful priest and laity who have stood by you through your past moral fuzziness.  Through your actions, the Episcopal Church, USA has become a scandal within the historic, orthodox, catholic faith.  You stated that in your recent votes:   I had a difficult, even wrenching time deciding. I prayed a lot. I consulted widely, with clergy and lay colleagues, with other professionals, more formally with the deans of the regions, and the Standing Committee. I studied scripture anew.  I was particularly struck by the 15th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where the apostles and elders of the church in Jerusalem adapted the requirements of Jewish law to the reality of the situation of gentile converts in Antioch.  My reading of scripture convinces me that the Gospel is ever-increasing its power to erase the barriers that we human beings erect among ourselves.   Did you prayerfully read what the Apostles decided in Acts 15:20?  One of the minimum requirements that the Apostles placed on the Gentiles was to avoid sexual sins - no compromise, no fuzziness.  The requirement for the gentiles was a beginning not the end.  The Apostles decision also had the assumption that Gods ministers would teach the Gentiles to live a life of increasing righteousness through faith, not a life of wantonness masquerading as righteousness.  Again, in your reading of scripture as in past actions as bishop, you cling to the politics and ignore the requirements of faith.  You also stated, I was also struck anew by the centrality of a theology based more on grace than on law.  In Philippians 3:8-14, Paul wrote to the Philippians yearning for a righteousness that comes not from the law but for a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.  Paul continues, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.     Phillippians 4:9 states, The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you.  Do you, a bishop, understand the grace that Paul preached? Do you understand how repentance, the complete turning away from Sin, and Grace are related in Pauls teaching?  Romans 6:1-7 shows this clearly:     What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid.  We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?  Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin.     God Forbid indeed!, and you should have done all in your power to forbid the consecration of Vickie Gene Robinson and the  acceptance of same-sex blessings.  What did Paul tell Titus that a Bishop should do? Holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers (Titus 1:9).  As a bishop you took the vows,   and have been supported comfortably by the Church as bishop, but you are NOT holding to the faithful word and 2000 years of church doctrine. You are undermining, not defending the faith.  You seemed to state with pride:     Since I was consecrated in 1984, I have consented to the consecration of nearly 200 bishops.  I have not voted against a single one, not those who were divorced and remarried, not the poor administrators and preachers, not even those bishops who now threaten to leave the church. I believe strongly that the people of a local diocese, when the election is properly and fairly held, are the best people to determine who will best lead their diocese.  Just as the apostles respected the local circumstances of the people of Antioch, so the General Convention respected the circumstances of the people of New Hampshire.     The apostles clearly set limits and conditions (faith and repentance) on God’s grace and even stricter conditions for Church leadership.  Why can’t you?  The Church gave you the vote of consent to defend the faith as a faithful steward.  The pride you have in never having shown leadership, not once since 1984, in the consecration of 200 bishops is shameful.   If, in 1984, you found that you did not have the judgment or moral fortitude to vote down unworthy candidates for bishops, then you should have stepped down then.  If you cannot see the problem with your actions now, you should step down now.  A sea captain whom never steers a ship or a medical board than never denies a medical license to a medical student is acting criminally, even murderously.  Your action or in this case inaction is killing the Episcopal Church and more importantly hindering the work of the Gospel to turn people from death to life.  Do you so disrespect the Church and your calling that you believe that anyone who walks in the door will do as a bishop?  Even the non-spiritual, political wisdom of the business world understands the concept of checks and balances, and of the criticality of selecting competent leaders.   Do you understand what apostasy is?  Do you realize that you are joining with those who are actively seeking to turn the Church away from the authority of scripture and the faith delivered by the Apostles? Second Peter Chapter Two clearly talks about people wedded to apostasy. Verses 18-21 (Message version) is especially clear: They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still theyre dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if theyre addicted to corruption--and they are—they’re enslaved.  If they’ve escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they’re worse than if they had never left.  Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command.   Recent statements by the revisionists, clearly demonstrate that they have no loyalty to the Christian faith.  In his Christmas Day message, your fellow bishop, John Bryson Chane stated the following And what was God thinking... when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the sacred Quran to the prophet Muhammad?  And what was God thinking... when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?  (see http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/worship/jbc031225.html ).   Do you really want to through your lot in with the ECUSA proponents of Islam?; a religion that worldwide continues to martyr more Christians in its name than any other.  This is so much more than promoting slavery to deviate sexual practice, as terrible as that is; this is collaborating with those who are anti-Christ. Islam does not accept that Jesus is Christ and fights against or enslaves those who do - Muslims are not fuzzy about what they believe. I know of what I speak.  I have read the Quran.  I have talked at length to both moderate and fundamental Muslims.  Having preached to and talked with Sudanese Anglican refugees when I was in Cairo with USAID and here in the United States, I have heard first hand accounts of what our Christian brothers and sisters have endured, and this death, rape, and torture is a worldwide reality, even under advanced Islamic governments.  I worked in Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, Turkey, and Egypt.  I have watched Saudi state television present the master plan of converting the world to Islam and have visited many places where historic churches were converted forcibly to mosques (they dont switch back).   I have reviewed government assessments on the views and actions of Islamic Jihadist (Christian fundamentalist are NOT like Islamic fundamentalists).  I have read the words of American Mullahs and Imams. Now your fellow bishop has proclaimed the truth of Islam in our national cathedral and his fellow bishops remain silent.  This fact will not be lost on the Islamic world.  It will be used to justify the murder of thousands.   Would you consent to the elevation of a Islamic Mullah as Episcopal Bishop if a diocese put him forward?  Do you believe that Jesus would accept the teachings of Islam?  Jesus cannot be Lord is what Muhammad said in the Quran is true and from the Angel Gabriel.   To accept Islam is to deny the Jesus of the Gospels. Peter, will you choose to be light or darkness?, hot or cold?, sheep or wolf?  There is no more time for sitting on the fence, no middle way of inclusion with evil, no more time for fuzz-ing up truth. This is not to say that there is not room in Anglicanism for differences of opinion or understanding but there are limits to how broad the Anglican road is.  It is a wide highway, but you have helped drive the Episcopal Church through the guardrail straight for a cliff--an abyss. You must turn 180 degrees immediately to avoid the crash and the resulting death in flames.   Do you not fear the judgment of God in this matter?  Being a bishop is no defense, if you believe the Gospel accounts and Epistles; judgment will be stricter for those in Spiritual leadership, whether they are legalistic, fundamentalist Pharisees or rationalistic, humanist Sadducees.   The last time I saw you at Olivet you stated that you were moved by the power of the old 1845 version of the liturgy.  I quote that liturgy now in the hope that you will be moved by its power to publicly repent.   I exhort you, in the Name of God, to remember the profession which you made unto God in your Baptism. And forasmuch as after this life there is an account to be given unto the righteous Judge, by whom all must be judged, without respect of persons, I require you to examine yourself and your estate, both toward God and man; so that, accusing and condemning yourself for your own faults, you may find mercy at our heavenly Fathers hand for Christs sake, and not be accused and condemned in that fearful judgment.   Should you decide that your pride or your convictions will not allow you to make a public confession of sin and repentance in this matter, I will no longer be able to offer you the hand of fellowship.   Until I see that you have repented of your recent heinous actions, I will not accept communion from your hand though this deeply grieves me. Should you decide to humbly and clearly repent, then I with saints and angels will rejoice and weep tears of joy.   I will continue to pray for you, as hundreds of others are, that you will turn back to the faith. If you wish to meet one-on-one to discuss these matters, I will gladly work to meet your schedule, come to Richmond, and meet with you.  The one occasion that I feel that I can still break bread with you is if we came together to privately discuss this issue.  As one who has been saved by grace from my past evils, I am more than willing to go to some length to see your considerable gifts and talents recovered for the kingdom and to see our beloved Diocese of Virginia turned from wreaking at the bottom of the abyss.   Please think twice and pray about what I have said before hitting the delete key...     Your brother in Christ,   Jim Craft   Manassas, Virginia   *****

Dear Brothers and Sisters,    As this tumultuous year draws to a close in the life of the Anglican Communion we might well reflect for a moment on why it is necessary to uphold the Faith once delivered.   We are not playing word games here. Words have meaning and they change how we think and view the world. Think what Das Kapital and Mein Kampf did to a generation before us. Words matter. They chang the way we think, influence our decisions and more. We act upon words every day of our life. We make decisions for good or ill on what we hear and learn, and words influence what directions we will take, what we support with our money and much more.   Virtuosity’s whole purpose is to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ as it is practiced within the context of the Anglican Way. There is nothing particularly new or startling about this, no mind-shattering revelations or illuminations, just the solid, defense of something that is true for us today as it was 2,000 years ago. It is a message that has not changed with time, the passage of history, passing cultural fashions, the findings of science, advances in education, the new morality, or more.   Human nature we now know has not changed appreciably over aeons of history. Regardless of how well-educated we might be, however advanced in our understanding of how the mind and body works; that intractable thing we call the ego rears its ugly head and we sin.     For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish, said the Great Apostle, and he is right. The pull of power, the urge of libidos, and the false security of money pulls us down to equalize us all. None of us is exempt, including this writer.     I love words. I love what they do, how they influence lives, and more. Perhaps one day when I come to die someone will carve on my tombstone; He used words well. I should be so lucky.   For most of you who have endured VIRTUOSITY for another year, will note that many of my writers and contributors, essayists and columnists have used words far better than me, for they are better writers than I am, and know their subjects better than I do.     I am truly grateful for each one of them. I suffer from the sin of envy (among other sins), that God has enabled them to put together sentences more illuminating than my own, more powerful in their ability to persuade, and so I sit in awe of them. Still we must press on.   Virtuosity is a calling and a ministry and it will go on into the New Year vigorously proclaiming, defending, and building up, at the same time pulling down strongholds of satanic influence. We will leave no stone unturned in the search for truth and exposing the lies and half-truths, the pomposity and venality of revisionist hegemony found in The Episcopal Church. We will reveal, expose and bring to the light, those things which we have done and those which we ought not to have done.   That does not mean that this writer comes covered in a mantle of perfection, far from it. I will make my own mistakes and hopefully you the reader will tell me so I can correct them. I expect that. I would be shocked if I did not hear from you.     IN TODAYS LEAD STORY we continue to look at the implications of what a New World Anglican Order could look like if the Episcopal Church becomes, in effect, two churches. A church within a church or para-church, a church that is, that comes alongside the main body, drawing the good from it and leaving a dead carcass behind.   Events are shaping up fast. Two conflicting views over the future of the ECUSA is beginning to emerge and you can read the substance of that in today’s lead story.     TED MOLLEGEN, the point man for The Episcopal Church’s hoped for growth with General Conventions 20/20 has written a propaganda piece at those who opposed Vicki Genes consecration. I have taken this apart for your edification. This man has managed to turn truth so violently on its head that cranial damage has ensued and now seems permanent. His blasphemous attack on orthodoxy and those who defend it is exposed for all to read.     ONCE AGAIN, THE DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA LEADS THE WAY. The Rev. Douglas G. Scott, rector of St. Martins Church, Radnor has issued a stirring call to action on page 28 of Episcopal Life. It is an outrage, he writes, that Christianity seems to have little tolerance for the suffering fat. We should ask the obese to share with their faith community what it means to be at the margins of societal acceptance and learn from them.   I kid you not. The obvious solution, Virtuosity believes is to consecrate an openly fat man who is in a committed relationship with his refrigerator. Do you Douglas take Kelvinator to be your awfully wedded significant other, to have and to hold, till high cholesterol do you part... Dear friends, it is utterly impossible to out-satirize this stuff. With the removal of the twin sins of gluttony and sodomy it just gets easier and easier to become an Episcopalian. Will we abandon the Prayer Book in time? Perhaps we will all live long enough to see a fat bisexual with bestial proclivities who has a hankering for non-neutered Dalmatians publicly consecrated in a NYC bathhouse. Frank Griswold will preside. ECUSA has become a lunatic asylum and the lunatics are in charge.   And our Bible reading today is taken from First Bennison (Pennsylvania Episcopalian Page B) chapter 1 verse 1: Moses smashed the tablets brought down off Mount Sinai to free the Word of God to be heard not seen.  How long will the Standing Committee put up with this lunatic?   IN A RECENT NEWS ARTICLE THE PRESIDING BISHOP Frank Griswold gave some instructions to his Executive Council on the relationship between truth and community. This is what he said: Truth is discovered in communion. Schism is the shattering of communion. In order to discover God’s truth, everyone has to be at the table. The Rev. Lawrence D. Bausch, rector of Holy Trinity Church, San Diego, begs to disagree. He argues the exact reverse. He offers four examples when leaving the table has occurred because truth had been discerned and not agreed to.   First, the calling out of Abraham and his descendents as followers of Yahweh, separating them from their neighbors. This is a recurrent theme throughout the Old Testament. Secondly, the separation of Christians from Jews over the identity of Jesus. Third, the conciliar definitions including the creeds and canon of Scripture which determined acceptable parameters for communion. And fourth, the English reform under Queen Elizabeth I, which resulted in separation from the Catholic Church.   It's amazing how much rubbish Griswold manages to get away with unchallenged by his fellow bishops.   RECENT REPORTS in newspapers like the Church of England newspaper and on the Internet that Anglo-Catholics and groups like the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) are ready to run to Rome are exaggerated and premature. In discussions with various leaders in Episcopal Anglo-Catholic circles, word is that while talks and visits to Rome have been undertaken no one is going anywhere. The TAC under the leadership of Archbishop Falk and more recently the newly anointed Archbishop John Hepworth admit that while seeking unity to the fullest degree is desirable no one is going to abandon the Anglican tradition. Merger with Rome is not imminent. Furthermore, Rome never acts in a hurry, even to embrace hurting Anglicans under siege from revisionist forces. All in good time.     THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH has had a defection. Bishop Gregory Hotchkiss has resigned over the RECs stance against gay marriage. Even the most orthodox of jurisdictions are not immune, it would seem, from all this craziness over homo-erotic behavior.   SPRINGFIELD BISHOP PETER BECKWITH reports that no presentment charges have been made against him despite coming under heavy fire from a group of hard-line revisionist gay and lesbian priests and laity in his diocese who want him gone. (Virtuosity exposed their tricks in a secret chat room where they used anonymous names to blast the bishop).   Beckwith wrote to VIRTUOSITY, I have heard there has been some interest/desire/attempt to present me for 1) Teaching against the doctrine of the Church; and 2) Abandoning the Sacrament of the Church.  I’m told 1 is because I will not recognize Gene Robinson’s ministry, allow blessing of same sex relationships or likely to welcome clergy into the Diocese who would.  I’m told 2 is because I did not visit a new mission initiative in our Monroe County before I pulled the plug on it.  After 15 months of preparation, we were aiming at having 200 at the first service.  20 showed up.  In the seven weeks of operation, it was reported between 13 and 20 people participated per service.  We had about 80K left to invest after which the congregation would have to raise the 100K annually to support the operation.  That seeming most unlikely led to my decision. Frankly I consider their efforts to present me laughable! Thank you Bishop.     AND IT WILL COME AS NO SURPRISE, that the Religious Newswriters Association picked the Gene Robinson consecration as the top news story of the year.     But it is very revealing that not one of the bishops who supported Robinson has expressed any concern that he accepted a Person of the Year award from a gay soft porn website, PlanetOut, and a gay magazine, The Advocate.   Second top story is Michael Inghams attempted slaughter of 11 godly parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster. They are still open for business and thriving.     And in the DIOCESE OF COLORADO the bishop there one Jerry Winterrowd now expresses regret for supporting the election of the nation’s first openly gay bishop. He says the church was not ready. Winterrowd, who retires on Dec. 31, said he went into Augusts General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA intending to vote against the election of Gene Robinson as New Hampshire bishop. His rationale: Robinsons election would fly in the face of the church’s desire to delay setting policy on blessing same-sex unions. But Winterrowd said he became convinced that each diocese had the right to elect its own bishop. Subsequently, I would say that I am on very thin ice there, Winterrowd said. Indeed you are bishop. Very thin.   IN CANADA, the Bully of Vancouver, Michael Ingham closed down the fledgling mission parish of Holy Cross in Abbotsford, BC. The timing of the Anglican Bishops pre-Christmas closure of the church is ironic.   In attempting to include new ideas, the Anglican Church is making sure there is no room in the inn for traditionalist thinkers. The parishioners must defend their faith. If this was happening in another country, Holy Cross would be listed under the persecution of Christians. That it should be persecuted at the hands of its own infrastructure is alarming, wrote one priest.   The parish priest James Wagner remains committed to his congregation, saying, we will continue to worship, even though were apparently not recognized formally. We hear a lot about tolerance and diversity and how diverse views should be respected. It seems to me a strange way to resolve conflict, said a parish layman.   Holy Cross is a mission church, which is distinct from an incorporated parish. Holy Cross voted by overwhelming majority to accept the offer of Bishop Terry Buckle of Yukon to lead them. The Bishop later withdrew.   Ten years ago when the small parish of St. Georges Anglican Church in Hamilton, Ontario, was disestablished, it was re-born immediately as St Georges Reformed Episcopal Church and functions as a traditional Anglican parish. It is flourishing. There is hope.   And this from WASHINGTON BISHOP JOHN CHANES KORANIC CHRISTMAS MESSAGE:   And what was God thinking . . . when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the Law to Moses? And what was God thinking . . . when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the sacred Quran to the prophet Muhammad? And what was God thinking . . . when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?     Virtuosity thinks that God thinks that Bishop Chane should be tossed out of his bishopric for talking rubbish.     DEMOCRATIC FRONT RUNNER HOWARD DEAN was once an Episcopalian in Vermont. But owing to a squabble about the construction of a pathway on a nine-mile stretch of land along Lake Champlain opposed by a group of Episcopalians, he left the Episcopal Church. Apparently the much vaunted Doctrine of Inclusion hit a snag and the wannabe next president left the ECUSA.   I WROTE TO CANON PATRICK MAUNEY, the Episcopal Church’s Director of Anglican and Global Relations this week asking if the Episcopal Church was still planning to go ahead and send money for the poor Gulus in Uganda, even though Frank Griswold has been disinvited to attend the consecration of their new archbishop. I got no answer. Unless Virtuosity hears otherwise you can safely assume the gift will not be going out to these poor starving Ugandans, which goes to prove that money and politics are inextricably twined in The Episcopal Church.     THE BISHOP OF OHIO CLARK GREW went on the offensive this week about a group of parishioners who left a parish in Hudson, Ohio. This is what he said on radio WKSU: I think the tension I feel is, and I don’t want to devalue the authenticity of scripture claim that people make that this is a matter of scriptural authority, but I think, deep within that posture is a deep-seeded homophobia and an inability for people to see gay and lesbian people as children of God. Other members on the panel took him to task and you can read the he said/she said into today’s digest. He has some very revealing thoughts about a parallel jurisdiction in the ECUSA.   RE: CHRIST AND CIVILIZATION article. I received a mountain of e-mails expressing anger and disgust at the turn the article took in the latter quarter of the four-part series in its attack on Orthodox and Catholic Christians. Virtuosity regrets such attacks and maintains that the thrust of the article, which is that without Christ we would not have Western Civilization, as we know it, still stands. I am publishing a number of LETTERS reflecting various views on the article, and Virtuosity invites anyone with a knowledge of the origins of Western Civilization to write a contra piece for publication.   I HAVE POSTED A NUMBER OF STORIES today for your interest and edification.   This will be the last digest for the Year 2003. When next I write it will be in the first week in January with a YEAR IN REVIEW story. With that will come a new website makeover for 2004. It will be easier to navigate with a full explanation coming from Virtuosity’s webmaster, Mr. Robert Turner.     I WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU who contributed so generously to Virtuosity this past year. By doing so you made it possible for me to travel and write the stories you needed to read to keep abreast with events as they unfolded in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. I am indebted to all of you who supported me with checks both large and small. Thank you.   The year 2004 will be even more turbulent Virtuosity predicts than this past year. It will certainly be break point for The Episcopal Church. What will all the alphabet soup of groups do within and without ECUSA?   How will they coalesce? Will they? Who will still be standing at the end of the day? Will it be full-blown schism or a parallel church within a church? We shall know more in due course. Stay tuned.   Please keep this writer in your prayers, and if you can support this ministry, please do so either by going to PAYPAL at my website www.virtuos

by Michael J. McManus     Pollster George Barna reported recently that three-fifths of Americans believe cohabitation is an acceptable behavior.  In fact, two-thirds of Catholics see no problem with unmarried couples living together, nor half of all Protestants and even 49 percent of born-again Americans. Whats more, Barna says The moral perspectives of Americans are likely to continue to deteriorate. Compared to surveys we conducted just two years ago, significantly more adults are depicting such behaviors as morally acceptable.     Certainly, the number of couples living together has soared from only 520,000 in 1970 to 5 million today, a ten-fold increase in a generation. Thats double the number who marry in a year. Cohabitation, not marriage, is the primary way male-female unions are formed.     However, Scripture is clear.  Flee fornication, St. Paul wrote (I. Cor 7:18).     I cited that quote in England, and a very dignified dowager interrupted me to exclaim, Jesus never said anything about it.     Yes he did.  Remember the woman at the well, who Jesus said had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband (John 4:18).     The problem, as I see is two-fold: ignorance of cohabitations consequences by the general public, and a willful avoidance of the issue by Americas clergy.     Sociology backs up Scripture on the evil of cohabitation. Since men and women living together begin with minimal commitment, there’s greater unhappiness - more infidelity, more conflict and even violence, more illness and depression.   Sociologist Pamela Smock estimates that 45 percent of such couples undergo premarital divorce, which can be painful and complicated.  A woman at a Christian publishing company told me she lived with a man for six years, and desperately wanted to leave, but felt trapped: We bought a house together and he doesn’t want to sell it.   Many live together to test their potential for marriage. Big mistake. Marriages that are preceded by living together have 50 percent higher disruption rates than marriages without premarital cohabitation, according to the National Survey of Families and Households.     St. Paul sagely wrote, Test everything. Hold onto the good. Avoid every kind of evil. Cohabitation may be perceived as a test, but it is an embracing of evil. A stunning 43 percent of unmarried couples have children, vs 46 percent of married couples.     Yet have you ever heard a sermon on cohabitation?  I bet not. In scores of cities, I’ve asked pastors if they have preached on it. One hand in 50 goes up. This moral abdication is perhaps the major reason why Barna found Christians have a higher divorce rate than atheists.     There is an alternative.  A third of Americas churches now provide a more appropriate way for couples to test their relationships - with a test called a premarital inventory.  The man and woman are asked if they agree or disagree separately to 150+ one sentence statements:     At times I am concerned about the silent treatment I get from my future spouse. I am concerned that my future spouse sometimes spends money foolishly. I am hoping that after marriage my future souse will change of his/her behaviors.     A computerized report is prepared comparing what the man and woman said on each issue. Result: a tenth of couples decide not to marry. Studies show that their scores are equal to those who marry and later divorce.  So they are avoiding a bad marriage before it has begun!   In 1992, my wife and I added another component, having couples in solid marriages administer the inventory. Clergy will normally provide only an hour of feedback. They do not have time to talk through scores of issues that a couple aged 50 can provide. With both genders present, mentor couples can actually do a better job than clergy or counselors.   From 1992-2000, 302 couples were mentored at our home church.  Of that number, 21 dropped out part way through, mostly to break up. Another 34 couples met with their mentors six evenings, but decided not to marry.     Thus, more than 50 couples avoided a likely divorce.  But of those who did marry, there have been only seven divorces or separations in a decade.  That is a 3 percent failure rate, or a 97 percent success rate.     That’s not just marriage preparation - but marriage insurance. What’s more, we created an organization called Marriage Savers that has trained 3,000 mentor couples across the country, whose churches often have even lower divorce rates. To learn more, see marriagesavers.org .   Why doesn’t your church, synagogue or mosque set a goal in 2004 to radically reduce your congregations divorce rate?     Copyright   2003 Michael J. McManus

Some years ago the main-line Christian denominations were taken over by leftists; the process is even more far gone in Europe than in America.   Hence this utterly bizarre news story: Two Top Bishops Last Night Warned Tony Blair Must Answer to God for Toppling Saddam Hussein.   Yes, that’s right. God was in Saddam’s corner all the way of Durham and the Archbishop of York blasted the war in newspaper interviews. In an astonishing grab for the moral high ground, they admitted Saddam was wicked but claimed the allies were not the right people to oust him.     Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, accused the PM and President George Bush both devout Christians - of a strange distortion of Christianity to justify action. He compared them to white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing.     If anyone understands that reference, send us an email; Im completely in the dark. And if England and America weren’t the right people to oust Saddam , who were? All those other nations who have been lining up to do the dirty work all these years, I guess.     Dr David Hope, Archbishop of York, reminded the Prime Minister of the higher authority he will have to face one day and urged churchgoers to pray for his soul. Referring to Saddam, he said: Undoubtedly a very wicked leader has been removed but there are other wicked leaders.     Meaning, I guess, that God will fault Tony Blair for not removing the Mullahs, Kim Il Jong, and a few others. Well, Reverend, give him time. Meanwhile, when it comes to removing very wicked leaders, the score is: Tony Blair and George Bush--(remember the Taliban), Church of England clerics--.       BISHOPS WARNING TO BLAIR     By TREVOR KAVANAGH Political Editor     TWO top bishops last night warned Tony Blair must answer to God for toppling Saddam Hussein.     The Bishop of Durham and the Archbishop of York blasted the war in newspaper interviews.   In an astonishing grab for the moral high ground, they admitted Saddam was wicked but claimed the allies were not the right people to oust him.     Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, accused the PM and President George Bush- both devout Christians - of a strange distortion of Christianity to justify action.     He compared them to white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing. Dr David Hope, Archbishop of York, reminded the Prime Minister of the higher authority he will have to face one day and urged churchgoers to pray for his soul.     Referring to Saddam, he said: Undoubtedly a very wicked leader has been removed but there are other wicked leaders. His words echoed Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams warning that Mr. Blair would be called to account.     END

//Are we Seeing a New Spiritual Awakening? 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   There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough-a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice-which costs nothing, and is worth nothing. ― J.C. Ryle   The fate of the West is inextricably tied up with the fate of the Jewish people and with their values. Western civilization can only be saved by nurturing and defending Israel and the Jewish people and by reaffirming the moral codes of the Bible. – Melanie Phillips   Dear Brothers and Sisters, www.virtueonline.org August 8, 2025   If you think things are a little out of whack in the Anglican Communion, you would be right. Try this . The Anglican Church of Australia just elected an evangelical – Mark Short - to lead the church down under, the first evangelical since 1982.  Flip to Wales, where the Church in Wales just elected a lesbian archbishop -- Cherry Vann -- a first in the Anglican communion. Welsh bishops just kicked Lambeth Resolution 1:10 to the curb, incurring the wrath of Global South archbishops who unequivocally condemned the election. The good news is that the Anglican province will be out of business - dead - by 2038, according to a demographer who has been monitoring the situation for years.   Boomers are not coming back to church, and in the next five years The Episcopal Church will close over 1000 churches because 500 have less than ten members and 500 more have less than 20. Not all the endowments in the world can keep them open because Boomers, the main givers, are hitting columbaria at a rapid rate.   The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is going through nightmarish legal and ecclesiastical contortions over the trial of a bishop for failed safeguarding, with their archbishop – Steve Wood – jumping through hoops to explain why he can’t say anything until the trial starts next week.   Church of England bishops continue to bash Israel over the war in Gaza while dutifully ignoring the fact that the real enemy is Hamas with Hamas posting photos of starving Israelis while Israel is being accused of Genocide and the starvation of Palestinians! Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell is thought to be wiping mud off of his face because he is running through too many hand towels over false statements he and his bishops make about the Middle East and Israel.   If you think all this is just a little bit crazy then know that Gen Z is in revival and retreat at the same time. Someone just temporarily lifted the law of non-contradiction. Furthermore, only one per cent of churches in America are doing evangelism. And you wonder why churches are going out of business. Some 50% of all churches in the U.S. have parttime pastors/priests and pastors are forced into ‘tent-making’ to make a living. Here are the newest statistics for 2025: It is estimated that 15,000 churches will close in 2025 Over 15,000 churches will no longer pay for a full-time pastor Over half of churches in America cannot pay their pastor a full-time salary Many of our part-time pastors have multiple jobs to survive There is a growing number of churches without a pastor for longer than 2 years Furthermore 38% of pastors are thinking of quitting the ministry, 51% from mainline denominations.  (November 29, 2021) Of the 38%, almost half (46%) are under age 45. 50% of pastors are age 56 and above.  2022 stats reveal a rise from 38% to 42%. 85% of pastors believe the mission of the church is to reach the lost, only 42% of practicing Christians do.   If you wonder why seminaries are failing, one of the reasons is that they are unaffordable; adding debt to future ordinands, many already in college debt. A church with limited resources must cover a salary, a roof over their head, pension and assessment to the diocese. Many future rectors will have to have working wives, not easy if there are children under five.   On the plus side, the number of Anglican Christians is growing by more than a million people every year, according to the respected scholar David Goodhew, visiting fellow of St John’s College, Durham University. Most of it is in Africa, SURPRISE! even as Anglicanism in the West is disintegrating. The Anglican Church of Canada is going out of business and probably won’t be around much beyond 2030, while the Diocese of the Arctic, an evangelical outpost, is growing. The frozen north is apparently not as frozen spiritually as one thought.   The Heinz 57 variety Continuers (looking for a more perfect way to worship God) had another split this week and the Church of England is still without an Archbishop of Canterbury with a white (straight) woman in the running to win the top slot. It took the RCC less than two weeks to elect a new pope; God only knows how long it will take for the Church of England to elect a new ABC, but whoever it is, he or she will not be orthodox enough on faith and morals to please the Global South. The Church of England will be deemed irrelevant with the statement, ‘no one needs to go through Canterbury to get to Jesus’ ringing eerily true. You can read my take here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/next-abc-will-not-meet-global-south-orthodox   If you should see a large CofE coffin floating down the Thames River raise a glass. 98% of the British public view the CofE as irrelevant to their lives.   The Episcopal Church might make it to 2040, but then the curtain comes down. Just to add to the calumny, TEC has more bishops and clergy caught in sexual hijinks in modern memory; all of whom have been captured and exposed by Anglican Watch, the unofficial watchdog of the Episcopal Church. You can read a n umber of stories here:   https://www.anglicanwatch.com/   It’s not rocket science. Anglican priests and pastors who proclaim the gospel in all its fullness are growing, while churches that preach wokery are withering and dying. No Ph.D. dissertation necessary to figure it out.   Denominationalism itself is dying but small independent evangelical churches are growing by leaps and bounds across America. There are approximately 4,014 evangelical churches in the United States as of August 2025. This number reflects the ongoing growth and presence of evangelical communities across the country.   *****   The question is this; Is western Anglicanism (Global North) on suicide watch? The news that the Church in Wales elected a lesbian archbishop this week, the answer might be yes. Now you would have thought that with the election of Gene Robinson, an avowed homosexual to the TEC episcopacy and the mess it caused bringing about a split in The Episcopal Church with the formation of the Anglican Church in North America, that Wales, (and the Church of England), might learn a lesson from all this. Apparently not. The Church in Wales is a failing province and electing an avowed lesbian sends a message that it would be smarter to have sent the leadership an ecclesiastical cyanide pill.   One can imagine the guards at Belsen concentration camp looking over at the gas ovens as the Americans rolled in, with one guard saying to the other, “you don’t think we got it all wrong do you, Wolfgang?”   Never mind that this action defies Lambeth Resolution 1:10; the entire corpus of Scripture, 2,000 years of church history and tradition and will widen the fissure in the communion; the fools in Wales did the unthinkable and elected a woman (that in itself is communion breaking) but a lesbian to boot. Hell, they might just as well have gone the whole hog and elected a transexual with purple hair! Next time perhaps.   The impact was immediate. From across the globe archbishops and bishops weighed in condemning the action by the Welsh bishops. You can read a number of stories here:  https://www.virtueonline.org/post/global-anglican-leaders-blast-election-of-welsh-lesbian-archbishop and here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/wales-new-lesbian-archbishop-defies-lambeth-resolution-1-10   The Church of Nigeria through its primate Henry Ndukuba cut ties with the Church of Wales over the election of the lesbian Archbishop. You can read it here: https://acnntv.com/church-of-nigeria-have-cut-ties-with-the-church-of-wales-over-election-of-lesbian-archbishop-primate-ndukuba/   They were vigorous in their denunciation of this election calling it an abomination.  He compared it to the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson in the Episcopal Church (USA), which had also led to Nigeria severing ties with that province. “Just as the Church of Nigeria took steps after the election of Gene Robinson in the United States, we are severing every tie and relationship with the Church of Wales,” he said.   GAFCON Archbishop Laurent Mbanda said the action had shattered the Anglican Communion. You can read his statement here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/archbishop-of-wales-shatters-the-communion   *****   The ACNA is going through the tortures of the damned over the upcoming trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch who is accused of mishandling multiple abuse allegations in the diocese, failing to prioritize victims in the wake of abuse allegations and knowingly welcoming individuals with histories of predatory behavior without alerting church members. More than 10 clergy and other lay leaders in ACNA’s Upper Midwest Diocese, which Ruch leads, have been accused of misconduct.   Mary Ann Mueller believes the ACNA is fatally flawed because of the duality on women’s ordination. “The Anglican Church in North America has been fatally flawed from its inception. Incorporating women's ordination into the fold though the diaconate, much less the sacerdotal priesthood; this is ACNA’s Achilles heel. Never mind that women are barred from ACNA’s episcopate. You can read her take here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/acna-is-fatally-flawed   Things have gotten so out of hand with statements and resignations flying in all directions that the College of Bishops and the Executive Committee of the ACNA issued a joint statement about it all.   “Together, on behalf of the College of Bishops and the Executive Committee of the Anglican Church in North America, we want to express our deep regret for the confusion and hurt caused by recent attempts to air concerns of the Court in the public sphere. We are saddened that the parties expressing concern did not utilize any of the canonical provisions designed to address them. We remain confident in the Court’s ability to bring these matters to just resolution. Further, we find no evidence to suggest that the Archbishop or members of his staff acted in any way that violates or compromises the proceedings that are active before the court.   “We affirm the integrity of the Archbishop, his provincial staff, and the Chancellor. We are grateful for their ongoing commitment to appropriate levels of transparency, faithful service, and the well-being of the Province. We affirm the integrity of the elected members of the Court and have full confidence in the Court as an independent body that is committed to act fairly and in accordance with our canonical processes. The trial begins August 11.”   *****   The Anglican Province of America’s (APA ) Presiding Bishop Chandler Holder Jones issued a letter announcing the deposition of Bishop Robert Todd Giffin of the Diocese of the Central and Western States this week accusing him of creating his own independent jurisdiction, “the so-called Anglican Missionary Church.”   Giffin retorted on Facebook, “Rest assured, I remain the Bishop of this Diocese and stand with its clergy and laity. The Diocese of the Central and Western States today has voted to disaffiliate from the APA. It separates itself from the “continuum” as a new movement without this label.   “It is now a non-geographic, traditional Anglican Diocese that allows for both modern and traditional BCP worship, as well as the American and Anglican Missals, with celebrations both ad orientem (East) and ad populum (West).”   “This Diocese will aggressively seek to plant new missions, and receive parishes and missions in the US, and abroad, who are not satisfied with the status quo. Regardless of geography.”   *****   The International College of Bishops has proclaimed a new name for the Continuing Evangelical Episcopal Communion (CEEC). It  will become “ The Confessing Anglican Church " on 18 August 2025, according to its bishop Primus, Abp Vijay Raju Gadepe (Bishop Primus) and General Secretary Abp Robert Gosselin (General Secretary).   “We chose the name Confessing Anglican Church to show the world we still believe the creeds matter. In an era of doctrinal drift and moral ambiguity within the broader Anglican landscape and many elements of the church at large, our International College of Bishops has discerned the need for renewed clarity, fidelity, and public witness and chosen to speak loudly and clearly. Accordingly, the Continuing Evangelical Episcopal Communion (CEEC) will, effective 18 August 2025, assume its new identity as The Confessing Anglican Church.”   “This name change arises from a pastoral and ecclesial imperative: to distinguish our Communion clearly amidst the confusion caused by numerous ecclesial bodies bearing the same acronym. With over a dozen entities sharing the "CEEC" initials, unity of identity and clarity of mission demand an unmistakable name—one that bears theological weight, historical integrity, and prophetic clarity.”   *****   If you wonder how the pansexualists did it to the churches promoting sodomy and ultimately homosexual marriage…and in the process splitting the churches bringing about schism you can read my piece ; Kirk and Madsen, after the Episcopal Ball here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/kirk-and-madsen-after-the-episcopal-ball   *****   Are we seeing another spiritual awakening? A few weeks ago, 45,000 people packed Angel Stadium for a Harvest Crusade. So many came that the fire marshal locked the doors. One guy climbed a fence to get in. Why? Not for a concert. Not for a celebrity. For the Gospel. By the end of the night, 5,500 people had made professions of faith in person — and another 1,000 online.   Gen Z is not supposed to be doing this. Gen Z isn’t quietly walking away from faith. They’re running toward Jesus — and they’re louder than ever. Across the country, young people are gathering in unexpected places, driven by a hunger for truth, purpose, and the power of Jesus to change everything.   Bible sales are up 22%. And it’s not grandma buying them — it’s Gen Z and young adults. Young men are converting to Christ at higher rates than young women — for the first time ever. “They don’t want fluff. They want the unfiltered Gospel of Christ crucified and the power of the resurrection.”   In Southern California, 30,000 people have been baptized in just two years with a direct connection to the Jesus Revolution film that inspired them to do this in the spot where the Jesus movement did it 50 years ago. If you think that’s a coincidence, you’re not paying attention.    Now I leave it to readers as to what to make of this. Here is something to ponder. Why do these revivals always take place in southern California and not Boise, Idaho or downtown Philadelphia or even New York City! Secondly, are these converts filling up churches and doing good works in keeping with their new found faith?  Thirdly, are they building themselves up in the most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit…. Jude 1:20 Just asking.   *****   VOL is now being read in 55 countries of the world, with hundreds of new readers going to our new website, according to WIX a powerful, no code website builder. Please consider throwing a few tax-deductible bucks VOL’s way. Where else will you get this withering take on the Anglican Communion. I take no salary but I have several staff to pay and the Internet is not free. You can make a tax-deductible donation to keep the news coming. A PayPal donation link can be found here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support.html   If you are more inclined with checks, you can send your tax deductible donation to:   VIRTUEONLINE                                                                  P.O. BOX 111                          Shohola, PA 18458   Thank you for your support, Yours in Christ, David   My Substack on the Middle East continues to grow. It is drawing a lot of interest and attention from across the globe. You can access it here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/   I am a strong supporter of the state of Israel’s right to exist and prosper while confronting her enemies both foreign and domestic. My latest report can be seen here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/p/god-gaza-and-bibi-netanyahu

COMMENTARY   By David Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org August 6, 2025   When Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen wrote their book in 1989, “After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays”, a seven-point paean of praise to homosexuality, they expected to win in the secular market place. They proposed “muddying the waters” in the churches but probably had no idea of how successful they would be winning over cardinals, archbishops, bishops, assorted denominational clergy, seminaries, book writing theological seminary professors and religious media.  Perhaps even a pope!   By any standard they were successful beyond their wildest imaginings.   The mainline churches were ready for a change as they saw their fortunes sink with members rapidly abandoning their churches before, during and after Covid with Nones, people without religion, taking their place.   Step 1: Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and often as possible “Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible. . . . Open and frank talk makes the subject seem less furtive, alien, and sinful, more above-board. Constant talk builds the impression that public opinion is at least divided. . . .”   Think the activist homosexual layman Louie Crew, the now failed Integrity organization, and later the ordination of Gene Robinson with the help of the sexually conflicted PB Frank Griswold. Tell gullible Episcopalians that they needed to be inclusive and not fundamentalist about sex. Explain that the apostle Paul wouldn’t understand today’s climate on committed same sex relationships. Explain, when pressed, how God had changed His mind.   Step 2: Portray gays as victims “Portray gays as victims of circumstance and depression, not as aggressive challengers . . . to make straights feel very uncomfortable . . . and to lay groundwork for the process of conversion.”   The high priestess of Episcopal lesbianism Susan Russell was constantly telling us how much she was a victim of orthodox oppression. Episcopal boomers who had probably never met a lesbian were made to feel guilty for something they had never done, a bit like reparations. But it worked and they were made to feel guilty, over and over again, until they capitulated.   Step 3: Desensitize the public “The first order of business is desensitization of the American public . . . to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion. . . . No big deal.”   How to Desensitize Episcopalians. Episcopalians are, after all, nice accommodating people. They don’t want to be thought of as doctrinally dogmatic. Be nice, play it safe. Talk about the “middle way”, don’t veer to any extreme. Start writing pamphlets of acceptance; show yourself to be loving and affirming of all God’s children, especially if you discover you have a son or daughter announcing they are gay. Keep repeating, “God loves absolutely everybody, no exceptions.” Come as you are, stay as you are. For goodness sake don’t talk about repentance and amendment of life, that’s off the table. And if you encounter an ex-gay who has been transformed by Christ and left the lifestyle, say they are really self-loathing gays who refuse to accept who they really are.   Step 4: Marginalize extremes; emphasize the mainstream “Cocky mustachioed leather‑men, drag queens, and bull dykes would not appear in gay commercials. . . . Conventional young people, middle‑age women, and older folks of all races . . . would be featured.”   Yes, marginalize orthodox Episcopalians as extremist and haters. Make them look like fundamentalists on the warpath to throw them out of the church. Whine, plead, cajole, but never stop painting yourself as conventional loving Episcopalians whose only thought is “love is love”. Make sure Episcopal bishops show up at gay parades, waving frantically at crowds. Never mind that children were being exposed to half naked men and women, many of them dressed in leather. Turn the kids.   Step 5: Promote the “born gay” narrative “We argue that, for all practical purposes, gays should be considered to have been born gay. . . . To suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen is to open the can of worms. . . .”   Episcopalians, because they have little theology and know even less science were an easy prey to this theory. The fact that no evidence has ever been presented that one was born gay, it made a great sound bite, and Episcopalians fell for it. A study at Vanderbilt University several years ago "found that 83% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) individuals reported going through adverse childhood experiences such as sexual and emotional abuse."   Step 6: Muddy the moral waters “Use talk to muddy the moral waters . . . publicizing support by moderate churches and raising serious theological objections to conservative biblical teachings.”   This was a winning strategy for gay Episcopalians. The seminaries quickly rolled over; bishops saw their fortunes sink and the handwriting on the wall if they opposed the building momentum. Then came the inevitable, “I know gay couples and they are so loving and affirming, how could one possibly discriminate against them.” Tell stories about the lives of gay men and women, but never talk about the high incidence of HIV/AIDS or the tens of thousands who died of AIDS. Be upbeat, promote gays in the church, push for the full inclusion of homosexuals and lesbians to every ecclesiastical level of the church, making Gene Robinson an inevitability. Full gay acceptance was now complete; the fix was in.   Step 7: Make opponents look bad “We intend to make the anti‑gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from such types. . . . The public should be shown images of ranting homophobes. . . .”   Link orthodox Episcopalians with the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church crowd bleating ‘God hates gays.’ Make Episcopalians who believe the Bible opposed sodomy as bad and uninclusive, lacking diversity and the church’s famed middle way. Twist history and make the Bible appear to be ambiguous because Jesus never talked about homosexuality. That Jesus never talked about bestiality or threesomes or bisexuality is beside the point. Jesus would clearly be on the side of gays victimized by homophobic Episcopalians. Enlist former ABC Rowan Williams in the battle for homosexual acceptance, it’s always a plus to get a serious head banger on your side, and while you are at it, flip Justin Welby, a man with the theological depth of a communion wafer.   And so, The Episcopal Church rolled over. Those handful of bishops and clergy and 100,000 laity who believed God had not changed His mind upped and left or were forced out. The most prominent Episcopal bishop to get the heave ho, was William Love, Bishop of Albany. He eventually wound up with the Anglican Church in North America. The darkness had descended.   Kirk and Madsen had nailed it.   The caving in was now complete. Resolution D039 ratified fornication; Resolution B012 canonized gay marriage, the knife was in for those who did not now agree. Ironically, the decision unleashed a plethora of sexual sins from a number of bishops who felt free to express their true sexual feelings outside the bonds of marriage. Bishops who commit adultery are now ethically challenged. Nonetheless PB Sean Rowe has shown some cojones and has sidelined two of his bishops - Rochester and California - from exercising their priestly ministry for inappropriate relationships. Several TEC bishops are in the safeguarding pipeline waiting to see if they have violated the canons over their failure to care for the victims of sexual abuse. The worst case is the (homo)sexual abuse that has reared its ugly head at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, New York, the flagship Episcopal parish of that diocese. Anglican Watch the unofficial watchdog of the Episcopal Church, has filed a complaint calling on the bishops to resign. You can read more here: https://www.anglicanwatch.com/press-release-anglican-watch-condemns-episcopal-diocese-of-new-york-abuse-of-title-iv-calls-for-immediate-resignation-of-all-persons-handling-st-thomas-fifth-avenue-complaint/ and here: https://www.anglicanwatch.com/bishop-matthew-heyd-previously-charged-with-passing-bad-checks/   With the election of a lesbian archbishop in Wales the sexual horror show has come full circle. This is an example of One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.   Global South archbishops and bishops are registering their disgust. But it's not enough just to issue words of regret and sadness, or to "stand with" the orthodox remaining in apostate Provinces, as though they can turn the tide and win back these Provinces to orthodoxy. GAFCON have shown the way, by demonstrating a vision for united, global, diverse but faithful Anglicanism, and refusing to compromise with error and heresy. But also, they have established new jurisdictions, separate from Canterbury but recognized as authentically Anglican by the majority of the Communion. This has to be the way forward.   END

Decision to elect Cherry Vann is another painful nail in the coffin of Anglican orthodoxy – Gafcon Chairman Laurent Mbanda It is a public rejection of biblical teaching and catholic order – Alexandria Archbishop Samy Fawzy It is a painful departure from the clear teaching of Holy Scripture and the consistent witness of the Church throughout the centuries – Egyptian Archbishop Emeritus Mouneer Anis It is a different understanding of the Christian faith from that held by faithful Anglicans down the age — Bishop Andy Lines   By David W. Virtue DD Www.virtueonline.org August 4, 2025   Orthodox Anglican leaders across the globe are condemning the election of an avowed lesbian to the highest office in the Church in Wales, arguing that it goes against Scripture, 2000 years of church teaching and fractures the Anglican Communion.   Rwanda Archbishop and GAFCON chairman Laurent Mbanda, said the decision by the Church in Wales to elect the Rt Revd Cherry Vann as Archbishop and Primate is another painful nail in the coffin of Anglican orthodoxy.   “By celebrating this election and her immoral same-sex relationship, the Canterbury Communion has again bowed to worldly pressure that subverts God’s good word.   For the Bible is clear about those who “exchange the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25).   For it says that “God gave them over to shameful lusts” as “their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones”, their “men also abandoned natural relations with women” and “committed shameful acts with other men”, and that even though “they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:26-27, 32)   “The Bible predicted there would be “false teachers among you” and that those who follow their depraved conduct “will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (2 Peter 2:1-2).    “In fact, Jesus himself judged the church in Thyatira and their tolerance of a woman who “misleads my servants into sexual immorality” (Revelation 2:20).    “We must confront serious error that compromises God’s glorious and authoritative word on human sexuality.   “We must speak up and take a stand.   “As we met to reform and renew the Anglican Communion in 2008, Gafcon delivered the Jerusalem Statement which outlined the true heart of Anglican orthodoxy.    “We took a stand about the truth of God’s word, and we continue to stand in fellowship with the majority of the world’s Anglicans who grieve this rejection of God’s voice.   “We must stand again against the relentless pressure of Anglican revisionists who blatantly impose their immorality upon Christ’s precious church.   “The Gafcon chairman said he stood with his Anglican brothers and sisters in Wales who are dismayed and disheartened by this act of apostasy.   “We established The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) as a home for those who wish to remain authentically Anglican, but whose conscience demands they leave Canterbury.”   “We cannot sit by and let this failure in leadership remain. We cannot sit on our hands and let this apostasy continue. We must take a stand. We stand with authentic Anglicans.”   The Most Rev. Dr. Samy Fawzy Shehata Archbishop of the Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria and Bishop of Egypt, blasted the election saying, “This is not a local or private decision. It is a public rejection of biblical teaching and catholic order. Bishops serve not just locally but as part of a global communion. Unity cannot exist without truth. This step by the Church in Wales makes it extremely difficult to find a faithful and lasting resolution to the divisions within the Anglican Communion.”   “While many of us are diligently working to discern a way forward in this painful dilemma, continued action of this nature hinder reconciliation, deepen the fractures and risk rendering our efforts fruitless.”   It is a sad day for the Church, said The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis Archbishop Emeritus Episcopal/Anglican Province of Egypt. “The recent election of the new Archbishop of Wales, who is in a same-sex relationship, marks a painful departure from the clear teaching of Holy Scripture and the consistent witness of the Church throughout the centuries. It is deeply troubling to consider how a bishop makes a vow to guard the faith while openly disregarding a core element of Christian moral teaching.”   “Those who say homosexuality is a secondary matter which has no impact on the essentials of faith. That is absolutely wrong excuse. For marriage between man and woman is the principal metaphor God uses in Scripture for the marriage between His Son and His bride the Church.  To change marriage is to suggest that God was mistaken in his revelation of Christ and the Church.  Therefore, same sex partnerships is heretical rejection of Christian revelation.   “Such an election not only deepens the existing divisions within the Anglican Communion but also diminishes the catholicity of the Church in Wales—its continuity with the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. It isolates the Church in Wales from the wider body of global Christianity, both within and beyond the Anglican tradition. “This unilateral (autonomous) decision of the church of Wales undermines the interdependence of Anglican Provinces. Without such interdependence we can’t call the group of Anglican churches a “Communion” or a body of churches.  “This decision further strains our ecumenical relationships and undermines the credibility of our mission, especially in the Islamic world, where fidelity to revealed truth is both respected and expected from Christian leaders.   “It is, indeed, a sad and grievous day for the Church. We pray for clarity, courage, and a renewed commitment to the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).   Bishop Andy Lines Missionary Bishop to Europe of the Anglican Church in North America and Bishop Stuart Bell Assistant Bishop in the Anglican Convocation in Europe with primary responsibility for Wales, bemoaned the appointment of Cherry Vann as Archbishop of Wales.   “The appointment of Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, as the new Archbishop of Wales has come as a disappointment to many of the faithful followers of Jesus who remain in the Church in Wales. They had hoped and prayed for a leader of the church who would at least be orthodox in Christian belief and lifestyle. The role of a bishop and an archbishop is to teach the Bible and to seek to live an exemplary lifestyle in the light of it. Cherry Vann, as a person in a civil partnership with another woman, has chosen an alternative path which disqualifies her from both roles.   “Sadly, for many who have already left the Church in Wales, this appointment does not come as a surprise. We have no interest in commenting on or criticising Bishop Cherry as a person, by all accounts she is extremely competent. Nor are we highlighting her gender as a problem. Faithful Anglicans take different views among themselves on the ordination and even consecration of women.   “The issue is that Bishop Cherry, from her teaching and lifestyle, has shown consistently that she holds to a different understanding of the Christian faith from that held by faithful Anglicans down the ages. Her understanding is aligned, not with the Bible and the agreed teaching of the church according to the historic Anglican formularies, but with the prevailing ethos and worldview of progressive secularism. Her appointment once again signals clearly that the Church in Wales leadership is confused and has no confidence in the clear moral guidance which the Bible gives to us, and as a result the denomination can only continue to decline, as well as strain and damage relations with much of global Anglicanism.   “To those dismayed by this appointment within the Church in Wales, and to those who have already left the church as a result of the decades-long drift away from the gospel in Canterbury-aligned Anglicanism, we want to emphasise: the choice is not a binary one between liberal, humanistic Anglicanism represented by the appointment of Ms Vann, and Bible-believing churches of other denominations.   “With the formation of the Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE), under the auspices of Gafcon, the global renewal movement of faithful Anglicans, it is possible to remain Anglican without being in the Church in Wales. Our Diocese which operates in Wales, called Anglican Convocation in Europe (ACE), is offering a warm welcome to individuals and fellowships who can no longer be part of the CiW but wish to retain connection with our denominational heritage, and the vibrant and growing Anglicanism found in many regions around the world.”   And what of Lord Williams of Oystermouth, the Welshman who led the Anglican Communion in 2003, where is his nuanced voice in this choice. He came to believe that homosexuals should have a place at the table, openly affirming their behavior as acceptable to God. This is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.   END

That celebration shows the level of spiritual decadence and outright departure of the Church of Wales from credal orthodoxy. The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) condemns, unequivocally rejects and will not recognize the election of Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann as Archbishop of Wales.   PRESS RELEASE August 5, 2025   The recent election of The Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann on Wednesday, 30th July, 2025 as Archbishop of Wales is a further indication and abandonment of the faith once delivered to the saints, Bishop Vann being a practising homosexual.   We recall with sadness, her passive and complicit role in the same-sex crisis that tore the Anglican Communion apart. The story of Rt. Rev. Vann reminds us of the sad tenure of Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori, the 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States (2006-2015), under whose tenure faithful Anglicans in the United States of America suffered severe persecution and opposition. Celebrating the election of Bishop Vann, the Dean of Newport Cathedral, The Very Rev. Ian Black was quick to say, “Cherry is the right person for the moment in the Church in Wales’ life.” That celebration shows the level of spiritual decadence and outright departure of the Church of Wales from credal orthodoxy.   Aside being a further authentication of the choice of the Church of Wales walking away from the truth, it is a signal that some sections of the global Anglican world have resolved to abandon the truth of God’s word by sacrificing the authority of the Scripture for a postmodern agenda that has no divine backing. What is at stake in the election of Bishop Vann as Archbishop of Wales are: salvation of the souls of men, biblical ethics, identity of Anglicans globally, impairment of our credibility to do missions and evangelism, and salvaging the very soul of Anglican orthodoxy. We have come to the point where a clarion call must be sounded: ‘Who is on the Lord’s side?’ Like the early Church Apologists and Martyrs of old, faithful church believers must reject heretics and apostates from our midst, strive to redeem our holy scriptures, defend our historic creeds, uphold our Articles of Faith and Catechism, and expel the ‘wolves amongst our sheep.’   Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion Issues Guidelines for Receiving Guests During Services and ProgrammesCertainly, we are in the end time when many in the Church are opposed to “…the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” This recent election of Bishop Vann is a clear revelation that many who claim to be members of the body of Christ cannot, “…endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). Today, enemies of the Christian faith are collaborating, employing a combination of instruments of secularism, communism, Islam, paganism, liberal theology, syncretism and biblical revisionism to perpetrate the decline of Christianity in many parts of the world.   Looking at the events of the past few years in the Church of Wales, beginning from the leadership of Bishop Rowan Williams who was also bishop of Monmouth, then Archbishop of Wales before becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury; the immediate past Archbishop of Wales, Archbishop Andrew John who ended in a most shameful circumstance, and the recent election of Bishop Vann, it may be said that biblical and godly leaders are now few in the leadership of the Church of Wales. Thus, that an openly lesbian woman is the “right leader for the moment” in the Church of Wales shows how deep the church has sunk. Rather than advocating reconciliation as being championed by the new Archbishop of Wales, the important matter of the moment should be a call for genuine repentance. It is becoming clearer as echoed by Paul in Romans 1:28 in view of what had just happened in the Church of Wales that some in the global Anglican world have ultimately chosen not, “…to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.”   The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) condemns, unequivocally rejects and will not recognize the election of Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann as Archbishop of Wales. We will strive to uphold the authority of the Scriptures, our historic creeds, evangelism and holy Christian living. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ will build His Church and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16 :18). We call upon faithful Christians of the Anglican fold to denounce, reject, condemn and expel the rebels in our midst, while we realign ourselves with Anglican remnants scattered in troubled dioceses all over the world, under the umbrella of faithful Anglican Christian bodies like GAFCON.   Therefore, as a matter of urgency, the Church of Nigeria believes that this moment calls for prayer for the Church of Wales, hoping that the Church of England will not follow in her steps. We should hold them in our prayers with a clear message that hope lies only in true repentance and godliness, otherwise this church will lose complete relevance in the divine scheme for the people of Wales, and the leaders in compromise shall not be spared in time of judgment.   “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25).   The Most Rev’d Henry C. Ndukuba, DD. Is Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of Church of Nigeria