Through me the way is to the city dolent (sorrowful);

Through me the way is to eternal dole (fate);

Through me the way among the people lost…

All hope abandon, ye who enter in!

According to Dante’s view of things, all those who have compromised with the immoral culture around them have passed through the gates of hell and have abandoned all hope of returning to God.

If you have been following the path of The Episcopalian “Church” over the past few years you will have noticed its continued spiral down into lunacy by morphing into the immoral culture in which it resides.  The current General Council of TEC continues that downward spiral with some of the Resolutions that have been submitted this year for consideration (a complete list of resolutions can be found at standfirminfaith.com).  One of the Resolutions that have been submitted is one that gives total support and recognition of not just unrepentant homosexuals, but also those who have a problem with “gender identity” (read: transexuals).  It appears that the next door to the asylum has been opened.  The resolution is a recommendation that TEC not deny credentialing, ordination to Holy Orders or the withholding of the Eucharist to anyone who feels that God made a mistake creating their body.

But wait!  That’s not all!  The best is yet to come.  Now that those two doors have been opened, let’s look at the third door ~  Resolution C076: Liturgies for Animal Deaths because, after all, “This resolution shows our profound respect for God’s creation. This resolution moves us in the direction of living at peace with all God’s creatures. It is not just a romantic sentiment… in the area of ministry. These are not just pets. For so many people and so many ways these are four-footed furry ministers of God’s good news. Assistance animals, service animals, pastoral care animals, these animals are not just animals.” Lee Shaw, GC 2009 (emphasis mine).

So, we now have a TEC resolution being submitted to establish a liturgy for animals!  Having opened the door and invited in the unrepentant homosexuals and transgendered (and the implied sexual relations that come with those lifestyles) the progressive revisionists of TEC have turned their sites to the animals.  They are now proposing their “church” recognize “four-footed” animals as “ministers” of the Gospel, that we should be “living at peace” with our brothers the animals, and that this is more than “just a romantic sentiment.”  But the last phrase of the above quote is the most disturbing:  “these animals are not just animals” but, the resolution concludes, they are “companions.”  Didn’t we hear the same argument about the homosexual “companions”?  When you open the door you have to open it all the way.  Where this new door leads is quite clear if we consider past precedence.

What defies logic is that anyone can think that this organization can be salvaged.  I have always been very careful about blanket judgements concerning denominations because I am convinced God’s people can be found in all.  However, I find it astounding that people of God can remain with this institution.  Just as satan entered the Garden in the midst of Eden and twisted and perverted God’s Word to deceive Adam and Eve, he has infiltrated the TEC and is now laughing as he is running rampant in perverting the true Gospel of God in that organization.  It is true that God is sovereign and can “fix” what is broken ~ but it is also true that God’s patience will run out when it comes to stubborn immorality and idolatry.  Just ask the people of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament what happened to their nation when they stubbornly refused to repent.  They disappeared off the face of the planet.

My fervent prayer and plea, though, is that all of those in the TEC who have not bowed the knee to Baal will see that The Episcopal organization will not, and can not, be salvaged.  What we are witnessing, sadly, is the complete and total death of a once proud denomination which stood for God’s Word, stood for moral integrity and had as it’s goal the transmitting of the saving grace of Christ to the world.  Thomas Cranmer (along with God and Christ and the Holy Spirit) must be weeping tears in heaven over the current corruption of the Episcopal church they lovingly brought into being.

Because in The Episcopal Church, it is quite clear that all hope in Christ and God’s Word has been abandoned.

AngRN

EPITAPH

The Captain has a slightly higher opinion of Rowan Williams than I do:

I am better disposed to ++Rowan’s closing speech at ACC 14 than are some.  I think the opening reflects a man seeking a little desperately for something good to say about a shipwreck.  The meeting didn’t go well, he knows it didn’t go well, he’s not too sure why it didn’t go well, but he’s not going to go out on a sour note, by gum.

I think we find here is ++Rowan’s description of the stresses within the Anglican Communion.  Whether his description is accurate can and should be debated.  He seems resigned to a future of a different shape and color, a different polity, and is asking how a more fragmented Communion might work.  At a meeting of the ACC, it’s not out of line to wonder what the future holds for the various Instruments of Unity and in what way they might serve a more fragmented Communion.

It’s really a pretty sad, slightly grieving speech, I think.

No doubt.  I don’t know if this is a European thing, an academic thing or both but Dr. Williams’ inability to come out and say what’s what is infuriating to someone who was born in Montana, has spent his entire life in the American Midwest and expects people at some point to come out and say what’s what.

Dr. Williams may be grieving over what will become of the Anglican Communion but he is really grieving over his many failures of leadership.  And while that’s a honorable thing, I’d better not read lots of instances of the first person plural when you do.

Because “we” didn’t fail, Your Grace.  You did.  Whether it was undercutting Dar es Salaam, inviting the Americans and Canadians to Lambeth, the ACC meeting or your dogged refusal to ever draw a line anywhere, this is entirely on you.

Where I come from, people who admit their mistakes are actually quite admirable since it’s the toughest thing in the world to do.  But people who dodge their mistakes or submerge them in an ocean of lofty, high-sounding words are cowards.

Christopher Johnson

Bishop Amos of Indianapolis and Fr. Dr. ‘Kunle, priest of New Evangelical Church, presided over the service in which myself and another were confirmed into the Anglican Church.  The Holy Spirit was tangibly present and moving in the hearts of the attendees as Bishop Amos challenged all with a message that was right on target for us who must engage the world today with the good news that Jesus Christ is the Way ~ the only way ~ to find pardon for the evil of our sins.  This challenge was straight to the heart ~ we who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior cannot compromise ourselves with society’s values or the surrounding culture.  We must confront and change our culture with the Truth of the Scriptures, not culture changing us.  God’s Word must be embedded in our hearts, not just in our minds and on our lips.

There were approximately 30 people in attendance and they witnessed an outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the uncompromised preaching of the Word, through prayer, through sharing of the Eucharist and through the fellowship meal that followed.  There were three wings of orthodox Anglicanism’s clergy represented in the service – CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America), REC (Reformed Episcopal Church), and AMiA (Anglican Mission in America).  All orthodox, all standing for the faith once delivered, and all part of the “holy, catholic and apostolic church” which was handed down to us by the first century Christians.

Orthodox Anglicanism is alive and well in Missouri!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Links to the above three groups can be found below:

http://www.canaconvocation.org

http://rechurch.org

http://www.theamia.org/

(1489-1556)

Archbishop of Canterbury
Born: 2nd July 1489 at Aslockton, Nottinghamshire
Died: 21st March 1556 at Oxford, Oxfordshire

Thomas Cranmer was born in Nottinghamshire in 1489, the son of Thomas Cranmer Senior and his wife, Agnes (Hatfield). He was educated at Cambridge from the age of fourteen and, in 1530, became Archdeacon of Taunton. The course which he advocated with regard to the divorce of Queen Catherine brought him into favor with King Henry VIII and, in 1533, he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

The servility with which Cranmer lent himself to the accomplishment of Henry’s lawless desires, the timidity which made him acquiesce in deeds of tyranny and violence, from which his conscience revolted, remain as a blot on his memory. Yet, it was in great measure due to him that the English Church emerged from the fierce ordeal retaining, unimpaired, her ancient Faith and Apostolic succession. The Book of Common Prayer is the lasting memorial of the religious spirit of that time, and Cranmer is entitled to the fullest share of praise for the wisdom which guided its compilation. The Sarum Use, which had acquired a dominant position in the English Church in medieval times, was retained, with certain alterations, as the groundwork of the book, and this was enriched by contributions from very varied sources. The first Prayer Book appeared in 1549. Under the stress of foreign influences, it was subjected to certain alterations in 1552, but these were again considerably modified in the direction of the earlier book in 1559.

When King Edward VI was dying, Cranmer was persuaded, much against his will, to sign the document by which the King designated Lady Jane Grey as his successor. After the failure of the attempt to place her on the throne, Cranmer was charged with treason and sedition, and committed to the Tower of London. Thence, he was taken to Oxford and required to defend himself against the charge of heresy. Finally, sentence of death by burning was passed upon him. In the hope of saving his life, he recanted his opinions but, when called open to disavow them openly, he expressed deep regret for the cowardice which had led to his recantation and went courageously to his death (1556).

Edited from G.M. Bevan’s “Portraits of the Archbishops of Canterbury” (1908).

Sadly, we are seeing this very principle being played out before our very eyes.  It is no secret that several of the “mainline” denominations in America today have cut themselves off from the spiritual source of life by denying the very Lord who is the source of life.  They deny the authority of the Scripture (nice story book but written in a culture that is irrelevent today), deny that Jesus is the only source of salvation (come on Jesus, your claim that ‘No one comes to the Father except by me’ is just a tad bit egotistical, don’t you think?), and deny the moral principles that God gave to guide mankind since Creation (God is a God of love so He has to love the unrepentant sexual deviant).  The result is quite clear:  those “mainline” denominations are dying.  They are losing members by the droves each week.  It is estimated that The Episcopal Church in America is losing on average 1000 members each week.  The money is drying up and parishes are closing.  Dying.  And the same result is seen in all the other “mainline” denominations who have rejected the orthodox faith and accepted the revisionist view of Christianity. The result of rejecting God, Christ and His moral guidelines as presented in the Scriptures?  These branches of Christiandom are withering on the vine.  Cut off from the source of life.  Despite their arrogance and thumbing their collective noses at the principle, the principle stands, does not waver, and makes no exeptions.

The admonitions to the seven churches of Asia addressed in the opening chapters of Revelation is a clarion call to us across the last 1900 centuries.  The Ephesian Church had lost her first love and was a church that was just going through the liturgical motions.  God’s message to her?  Repent or I will remove your lampstand.  The church in Thyatira was tolerating open sexual sin among her leaders.  The message to her?  Repent, or I will remove your lampstand.  The church in Pergamum was tolerating revisionist theology that was being shaped and molded by the culture around her.  The message to this church?  Repent, or I will remove your lampstand.  And the church in Laodicea had become rich and wealthy with its endowments and had forgotten where its true wealth resided.  Sound familiar?  And where are those churches today?

So, there is no question that there are those in the Anglican Communion (as well as other denominations) today who fall into one or the other of  the above catagories.  They have denied the authority of Scriptures, denied the Lordship of Christ, and have accepted the immoral lifestyles of our culture as legitimate for the Church and her leaders.  And these have not only accepted but approved and promoted.  For them the clarion call is clear: Repent of your sin or I will remove your lampstand.

But as easy as it is to point to the rotting fruit on the vine, the real issue is:  Where do I stand in relation to the above principle?  Have I cut myself off from the source of life?  Where do I stand in relation to the Lord of Life?  Have I compromised my lifestyle with the culture around me?  Am I still attached to the vine drawing life and sustenance from the source of life?

Or am I withering on the vine?