How To Make The Bible Support Any Sexual Practice; Mohler: Christians in America now face a moment of judgment...more

After “Shared Conversations” what Gospel will the Church of England share? Summary: On matters of human sexuality, does the Archbishop of Canterbury believe that one must sacrifice the clarity and authority of the Bible to reach lost people? If so, he should admit it clearly and let the rest of the Communion move on. For what he will have left to share is an amputated gospel: grace without guilt, confession without conviction, response without repentance, imagination in place of revelation, and imitation without imputation. In the hopes of reaching people with a more “generous” Gospel in the short run, he will have made that very Gospel even more irrelevant in the long run to the very people he says he wants to reach...

Episcopal pulpits will lose 2000 priests in next six years 
The Episcopal Church will see a drop of more than 2,000 full time parish priests in the next six years, as the retirement numbers increase geometrically, with no increase (but a likely decrease) of ordinands going into the ministry, Church statistics reveal.

This translates into the number of full time priests being reduced by 65% - 75% of total congregations in the denomination. These numbers are from 2014 the last year reported in some cases. Indications are that the situation is probably worse now in 2016. The average age of an Episcopal priest is 59 (or the mean - half older, half younger) there is a tsunami of retirements headed their way in the next 5-10 years with no possible way of filling pulpits with new ordinands...

Mohler: Christians in America now face a moment of judgment at the hands of a secular culture   Christians in America now face a moment of judgment at the hands of a secular culture that grows more intensely adversarial with each passing day. Churches, institutions, and individuals committed to the Christian church’s historic sexual ethic, held consistently over two millennia, now find themselves faced with a stark choice — join the sexual revolution or face the consequences.

Those consequences include social marginalization, overt discrimination,the censure from the cultural elites, and worse. Christian colleges and schools are now openly threatened with the loss of tax-exempt status and participation in federal and state student aid. Christian employees in businesses large and small are told to get with the program or get lost. Getting with the program does not mean simply working amiably with all, regardless of sexual orientation. It means openly and enthusiastically celebrating every demand and aim of the LGBT community. Entire professions will soon be closed to many Christians who, for example, cannot, without violating their Christian conscience, perform sex-reassignment surgeries.

This is the reality we now face, and the onslaught is coming fast. Major LGBT organizations are now pressing their demands and gaining traction. A host of politicians are ready to support any legislation that will make them appear, by their calculation, on “the right side of history,” not to mention on the winning side of the ballot box. An entire universe of regulative bodies ranging from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the American Bar Association to accrediting agencies and local school boards is poised to drop the hammer on any individual or institution that stands in the path of the sexual revolution...

The End of Comfortable Christianity ...The increasingly anti-Christian culture that we live in does serve one invaluable purpose: it is separating the men from the boys, or biblically speaking, the sheep from the goats. As things get more difficult for believers, the real disciples will rise to the surface while the frauds, fakes and cultural Christians will fall by the wayside.

And that is a good thing. It is time to stop playing games: as the persecution increases, we will see who the real deal Christians are, and who are not. Enough game playing and trivial pursuits. The day of comfortable Christianity is now over. It is time to get serious.

Clearly one of the main litmus tests today of those who mean business with God and those who don’t centres around the issue of homosexuality. This is becoming the key battleground where anti-Christian persecution is escalating rapidly.

The homosexual activists are using the heavy hand of the law to enforce their agenda on everyone – whether they like it or not. More and more Christians, churches and faith groups are being targeted by the militants, and we are seeing who will stand true to Christ and Scripture and who will cave in...

Georgetown Becomes First Catholic College to Hire a Hindu Priest as a Chaplain  ...The scandal-ridden university has come under constant fire in recent years for allegedly betraying its Catholic charter, and this latest hiring move will surely add more grist to the mill of those who would like to see Georgetown lose its title as “Catholic.”

Last April, Georgetown hosted Planned Parenthood chief Cecile Richards, who had been invited to speak about reproductive rights to some 400 students at the Lohrfink Auditorium. Richards was greeted with a standing ovation.

Michael Khan, President of Georgetown Right to Life, told the Daily Caller that he was disappointed, but not terribly surprised, that his university had granted a platform to someone so opposed to Christian values.

“We’re probably the most liberal Catholic university in the nation,” Khan said. “Many of our students and faculty aren’t Catholic and are very hostile to Catholic doctrine.”

Dissent Will Not Be Tolerated: What the Case of a Wyoming Judge Means for All of Us When judges are prohibited from speaking publicly about their most deeply held convictions, how long will it be before everyone is?...

How To Make The Bible Support Any Sexual Practice In 3 Easy Steps  In the not-too-distant future, when the transgender wars are over and the stick figure placards for male and female bathrooms have been thrown in the dustbin of history, the sexual progressives will need a new sexual practice to de-stigmatize. Whether it’s incestuous marriage or some other long-oppressed form of sexual expression, the new cause will emerge, desperately in need of a defense. On that day, we will need a liberated theologian to rise from the muck of church prejudice and explain away all those pesky passages of the Bible that prevent dimwitted bigots from embracing the new orthodoxy.

While this task may seem daunting, it can actually be carried out with ease if you follow the very simple formula given to us by Eliel Cruz. In a recent article for The Washington Post, Cruz argues Christians have no legitimate grounds on which to oppose transgenderism because the erroneously-interpreted-for-2,000-years Bible actually praises the practice...

Archbp. Okoh: GAFCON's August 2016 Letter

To the Faithful of the GAFCON movement and friends from Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman, the GAFCON Primates Council



My dear people of God,

I have just returned from a very encouraging visit to the United States where I met with my brother Archbishop Foley Beach and I rejoice to see how the Anglican Church in North America is growing strong and standing firm.

As the steep decline of The Episcopal Church (TEC) of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada continues, despite the hope of its leaders that reshaping it in the image of secular culture would attract, we give thanks for the Anglican Church of North America and remember the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew16:18).

GAFCON recognises that the Church is not ours. It belongs to Jesus and it is Jesus who builds the Church through his word. We are to be his instruments and not presume to be the architects. Schism happens, as it has in North America, when church leaders take the design into their own hands. Others were prepared to make a costly stand and a faithful Anglican Church in North America exists today because some Anglican Primates understood that once the boundaries of orthodoxy were crossed, they could not stand back and fail to help.

Without that bold action and the commitment to the Anglican Church in North America as a new province at GAFCON’s Jerusalem Conference in 2008, a whole continent would have been lost to orthodox witness within the Anglican Communion.

But now what happened in North America is being repeated elsewhere. If not effectively challenged, false teaching is contagious, especially when it is well funded. At the recent meeting in Kigali of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), the London based Anglican Communion Secretary General, Josiah Idowu-Fearon commended the relief and development work of the Anglican Alliance, but new research by the Institute for Religion and Democracy shows close links between this organisation and TEC. Even now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa is contemplating the overturning of Scripture by legitimising the blessing of same sex unions in breach of Lambeth Resolution I.10 of 1998, despite reaffirming it at the recent meeting of the Council of Anglican Churches of Africa in Rwanda.

However, the greatest cause for concern continues to be the British Isles. The Scottish Episcopal Church has already opened the door wide to conducting same sex ‘marriages’ while in England, Salisbury Cathedral has become the latest of a growing number of cathedrals which publicly support and even bless ‘Gay Pride’ marches. Chichester Diocese has issued a statement commending those of its churches ‘with open doors to celebrate all that the Pride Festival stands for’ while the website of the Church of England’s Diocese of Europe celebrates the ‘truly joyful occasion’ of the same sex ‘marriage’ of a member of one of its congregations conducted by the Lutheran Bishop of Copenhagen.

I am therefore encouraged that seventy two members of the Church of England’s General Synod have written an open letter to the English bishops ahead of meetings planned later this year calling on them not to compromise by adopting practices that are contrary to Lambeth Resolution I.10 and warning that to do so ‘could set the Church of England adrift from her apostolic inheritance.’ Bishops in particular are called to be faithful successors to the Apostles in their teaching and the Apostle Paul sets out what is required of a faithful episcopate when he instructs Titus that an overseer ‘must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it’ (Titus 1:9).

However, the English House of Bishops has failed so far to demonstrate that it has the will to resist compromise and I therefore call on GAFCON in the UK and the Anglican Mission in England to demonstrate that they have the necessary courage and faith in a context which to a large extent they alone can grapple with.

The challenge we face now is that the Church of England’s problems are being exported to the rest of the Communion. If successive Archbishops of Canterbury had used their powers to teach and to gather in order to rebuke and inhibit those who audaciously contradict the Communion’s apostolic inheritance, the contagion of false teaching could have been contained. Instead, as the April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council demonstrated, endless dialogue, promoted as ‘walking together’, has made matters worse. To maintain institutional unity, issues of doctrinal integrity are not faced. Instead, respectability has been given to a false gospel while reducing orthodox belief to an option and casting doubt on the trustworthiness of the Bible.

We face unprecedented global challenges, but the successful establishment of the Anglican Church in North America, now formally recognised by the majority of the world’s Anglicans, is a sign of hope. God in his mercy has raised up GAFCON for such a time as this to call the Anglican Communion back to its biblical roots. Let us therefore stand shoulder to shoulder as a global family and be men and women of courage, committed to the glory of Jesus in the Church which he has purchased by his own shed blood.

The Most Revd Nicholas D. Okoh
Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman, the GAFCON Primates Council

Here

In one generation, Europe will be unrecognizable; Against Eternal Youth...more

In one generation, Europe will be unrecognizable ...Europe, as it is aging, no longer renews its generations, and instead welcomes massive numbers of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, who are going to replace the native Europeans, and who are bringing cultures with radically different values about sex, science, political power, culture, economy and the relation between God and man...

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: July 2016

IS buried thousands in 72 mass graves, AP finds ...In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group's territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known victims buried are staggering — from 5,200 to more than 15,000.

Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from IS after the group's onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014; others in the deadly no man's land that has yet to be secured...

Against Eternal Youth
...Or picture the leads of The Philadelphia Story. When it was released in 1940, Katharine Hepburn was thirty-three, Cary Grant thirty-six, and Jimmy Stewart thirty-two. Yet don’t they all look more grownup than actors do nowadays?
 

Characters in these older movies appear to be an age nobody ever gets to be today. This isn’t an observation about the actors themselves (who may have behaved in very juvenile ways privately); rather, it is about the way audiences expected grownups to act. A certain manner demonstrated adulthood, and it was different from the manner of children, or even of adolescents such as Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

Today actors preserve an unformed, hesitant, childish quality well into middle age. Compare the poised and debonair Cary Grant with Hugh Grant, who portrayed a boyish, floppy-haired ditherer till he was forty. Compare Bette Davis’ strong and smoky voice with Renée Zellweger’s nervous twitter. Zellweger is adorable, but she’s thirty-five. When will she grow up?

In a review in the Village Voice of the film The Aviator, Michael Atkinson dubbed our current crop of childish male actors “toddler-men.” “The conscious contrast between baby-faced, teen-voiced toddler-men movie actors and the golden age’s grownups is unavoidable,” he wrote. “Though DiCaprio is the same age here as Hughes was in 1934, he may not be convincing as a thirty-year-old until he’s fifty.” Nobody has that old-style confident authority any more. We’ve forgotten how to act like grownups... image

Church of England parishes consider first step to break away over sexuality...more

Church of England parishes consider first step to break away over sexuality A group of parishes is preparing what could be the first step towards a formal split in the Church of England over issues such as homosexuality, with the creation of a new “shadow synod” vowing to uphold traditional teaching.

Representatives of almost a dozen congregations in the Home Counties are due to gather in a church hall in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, later this week for the first session of what they say could eventually develop into an alternative Anglican church in England.

Organisers, drawn from the conservative evangelical wing of Anglicanism, say they have no immediate plans to break away - but are setting up the “embryonic” structures that could be used to do so if the established church moves further in what they see as a liberal direction...

Church Of England Parishes Could Break Away Over Gay Marriage ...They have already scheduled debates on a motion upholding orthodox Christian teaching known as the “Jerusalem statement”, with five having already passed the motion.

The Rev Dr Peter Sanlon, one of the main organisers behind the gathering, told the Telegraph: “If senior leaders of the Church of England water down the teaching of the Church of England on key issues like homosexuality, then this synod could easily evolve into a new Anglican jurisdiction in England.

“The Archbishop of Canterbury has signalled that he is aware of the possibility that a significant proportion of the church will not accept a change in the church’s teaching.

“This could be the beginning of that playing out.”...

Muslim mob murders 8 in revenge attacks in Northern Nigeria The Church of Nigeria’s Bishop of Gusau, the Rt. Rev. John Danbinta Garba...reports a sectarian riot erupted last week at the Abdu Gusau Polytechnic in the city of Talata-Mafara in Northern Nigeria after a Muslim mob attempted to lynch a man who had converted to Christianity. On 21 Aug 2016 a newly baptized Christian was describing his conversion to fellow students when Islamist militants began to assault him. The penalty for apostasy from Islam was death, they said, and attempted to lynch him. Christian students intervened and rescued the convert and a Muslim bystander drove the injured man to the hospital. The mob then turned their sights upon the Muslim good samaritan -- they marched to his home and set it ablaze, killing eight people inside. The  mob destroyed the school’s Christian campus ministry office and marched into town demanding vengeance against Christians...

Acadia National Park vacation

Raymond and I just came back from Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine. It has got to be one of the most beautiful areas in the world.  Here are some of Raymond's pictures:

Tide's out

Lighthouse Bass Harbor, Acadia 

Fog rolling over island

Fr. Clay Gilley standing in front of St. Brendan's,

a CANA parish in Tremont, Maine where we worshipped on Sunday.

Humpback whale seen on our whale watch trip

Beautiful rocky coast

On top of Cadillac Mt.



Baby Balboa!

Jul 8, 2016

Baby Balboa! Youngster imitates Rocky's iconic workout routine
This adorable toddler gives Rocky a run for his money by dancing along to the boxer's world famous workout routine.

As artists give themselves to their models...

As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer.
...CH Spurgeon image

UK: Election fraud allowed to take place in Muslim communities; Adult Stem Cell success story...more

Why Aren’t Liberals Flogging Rotherham Pakistanis Over Their Rape Culture? Apparently one rape at Stanford University proves the existence of a rape culture, but thousands of rapes perpetrated by a ring of Pakistanis in Rotherham, England do not...

UK: Election fraud allowed to take place in Muslim communities because of 'political correctness', report warns ...He said that there is evidence of voter fraud “especially in communities of Pakistani and Bangladeshi background” but that the cases have been ignored because of “over-sensitivities about ethnicity and religion”.

Sir Eric warns that “challenging issues” over community cohesion should never be an “excuse” for failing to “uphold the rule of law and protect British liberties”...

When The Church Becomes Complicit In Sin: Lessons On Preventing and Combatting Sexual Abuse   Just a month ago Elie Wiesel, survivor of Auschwitz and a voice for justice, died. His words remain: “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

In reading through the Professional Investigators International (Pii) report regarding sexual abuse in the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE), it is clear that the Christian world needs to give heed to the words of Dr. Wiesel. Donn Ketchum, a missionary doctor in Bangladesh, allegedly abused those under his care.

 

When it was exposed, the system of ABWE used its power to ignore, silence, and cover-up that abuse. Although the investigation was invited by ABWE, it was significantly hindered early on by a lack of cooperation and ongoing lies. The Christian world would do great honor to the victims of this tragedy, and many others in the evangelical world, if we would heed the lessons inherent in this grievous situation...

Faith at the Olympics: Does it Give an Athlete an Edge? When Team USA members David Boudia and Steele Johnson emerged simultaneously crying and smiling from their final dive Monday (Aug. 8) at the Rio Olympics, the silver medal in men’s synchronized platform diving was theirs.

But the glory, both men said minutes later, belonged to someone else.

“We both know our identity is in Christ,” Boudia, 26, told NBC. Johnson, 20, added, “Going into this event knowing that my identity is rooted in Christ and not the result of this competition just gave me peace. And it let me enjoy the contest. God’s given us a cool opportunity, and I’m glad I could come away with an Olympic silver medal.”

In terms of religion, the 554 athletes of Team USA are a cross-section of the nation they represent, with Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Buddhist and Muslim members, among others. It also has members who — like 23 percent of Americans — are unaffiliated with any religion and who, perhaps like 7 percent of Americans, say they do not believe in God or are agnostic.

But Boudia’s and Johnson’s remarks raise a question: Does religious faith give an athlete any sort of edge?...


Aug 10, 2016

When Cindy Schroeder was diagnosed with cancer, her family feared the worst. Her husband, son and two adopted daughters thought they might lose her. But stem cells from Cindy's own body saved her life.

Anglican Unscripted Episode 242

Aug 11, 2016

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Each Episode Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe. 
Please Donate - http://anglican.ink/donate  

There Is Only One We Dare Not Offend; The Cult Of Transgender...more

There Is Only One We Dare Not Offend Taking offense has become a national pastime in much of the West. Everyone seems to be getting offended about something. We have not only become an easily offended people, but we are even now making laws about all this. Vilification laws, hate speech laws, and the like are all about not offending anyone – or at least certain groups, such as Muslims, homosexuals, etc.

An entire industry has sprung up around the taking of offence. This has led to the death of public discussion and debate, since to simply disagree with someone today will mean they will run away crying about how they have been offended. It is leading, therefore, to the death of free speech.

It is typical of the secular left to easily take offence and thus short circuit free speech, but believers can do this as well. Increasingly we find Christians taking offence, for example, if you share any hard biblical truths. If you speak about sin, repentance, eternal judgment and such basic biblical doctrines, you will find plenty of nominal Christians taking offence.

I have even had Christians taking offence when I simply quoted Scripture. But this is not a completely recent phenomenon. The Bible actually speaks to this same matter. As I just read in my daily reading, Jeremiah had to chew out God’s people for doing this very thing...

The Cult Of Transgender
...As a parent living the nightmare of having a teen who suddenly announces she’s transgender, I can tell you there are NO doctors who will do anything but agree. There is NO science behind this. There is NO way to medically “diagnose” her. Her therapist knows that she is not transgender but fears there’s no way we can stop her. Three of her closest friends have already had full transition, paid for by their parents, so it is difficult for her to understand why we won’t do the same. It is no different than having your child captured by a cult, only this time the cult is a societal bandwagon which wants to do permanent physical harm to her perfectly healthy female body, all in the name of “love”. As one of Rod’s sisters in the ancient faith, I ask for your prayers...

DEA regularly mines Americans' travel records to seize millions in cash   Federal drug agents regularly mine Americans’ travel information to profile people who might be ferrying money for narcotics traffickers — though they almost never use what they learn to make arrests or build criminal cases.

Instead, that targeting has helped the Drug Enforcement Administration seize a small fortune in cash.

DEA agents have profiled passengers on Amtrak trains and nearly every major U.S. airline, drawing on reports from a network of travel-industry informants that extends from ticket counters to back offices, a USA TODAY investigation has found. Agents assigned to airports and train stations singled out passengers for questioning or searches for reasons as seemingly benign as traveling one-way to California or having paid for a ticket in cash...

The Islamic State’s Dehumanisation Of Christians Is Nothing New Classical historian Tom Holland’s observation that Christians in the Islamic State have gone from persecuted minority to sub-human target group highlights the parallel shift in Europe’s cities.

Offering a review of the latest edition of Dabiq, the sleekly-produced recruitment magazine of the murderous Islamic State, author of well-received, easily accessible histories Holland notes the developing contempt with which Christians are viewed.

Writing in The Times, he compares the previously preferable plight of Christians under Islamic State — stripped of their possessions and expelled from Islamic State-held territory — with the “horrors” inflicted on the apostate Yazidis, Holland points to the new taxonomy reserved for Christians...

California Bill Targeting Christian Colleges Modified After Resistance  Intense opposition from religious colleges in California has deterred legislation that would open up private religious institutions there to discrimination lawsuits from gay and transgender students. Critics of the legislation warn that new reporting requirements for religious institutions still in the bill could lay the groundwork for future laws that they insist will unfairly target schools adhering to religious beliefs.

State Senator Ricardo Lara announced today that he will drop the provision in his bill that would allow gay and transgender students to more easily sue private universities for discrimination if they are disciplined for violating church teachings.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Lara will press forward with the amended bill that would still require such schools to disclose if they have a religious exemption and report to the state when students are expelled for violating morality codes...

Dems Applaud Scalia's Death. Dem Says "It Happened at a Good Time."  Former Ohio Governor and current Senate candidate, Democrat Ted Strickland says Antonin Scalia sure died at the right time. Scalia's wife and children might say otherwise.

The worst part is the people in the audience laugh and applaud the death of Scalia. Sick...

Islam's "Quiet Conquest" of Europe; UK Authorities Still Ignoring Massive Pakistani-Led Child Sex Ring...more

Islam's "Quiet Conquest" of Europe
...Today in Europe, several scenarios are possible, including the worst. Among them, there is a civil war, which many are beginning to talk about, including Patrick Calvar, the director of domestic intelligence. This is what the Islamic State is looking for: unleashing a blind repression so that the Muslim population will show solidarity with the revolutionary minority. Yet, there is still worse possible outcome: that nothing happens and we continue as is.

The end is more important than the means. The Islamic State has the same goal as most of the members of so-called "moderate Islam": domination under the sharia. Many supposedly "moderate Muslims", even if they do not commit violent acts themselves, support them quietly. They support them by not speaking out against them. If they do speak out against them, they usually do so in coded terms, such as that they are "against terrorism," or that what concerns them about violent acts by Muslims is the possibility of a "backlash" against them.

Violent jihadis, however, are not the only means of transforming Europe, and perhaps are even counterproductive: they could awaken the nations they attack. Soft and more discreet means, such as social pressure and propaganda, are even more dangerous, and possibly even more effective: they are harder to see, such as the West's acceptance of dual judiciary and legal systems; sharia finance (if there had been a "Nazi finance" system, in which all financial transactions went to strengthening the Third Reich, what effect might that have had on World War II?), and the proliferation in the West of mosques and extremist Islamic websites. Although there are indeed many real "moderate Muslims", there are also still many who are not...

The gay community is in denial about Islamism   ...At the weekend I picked up a copy of the UK gay magazine Attitude – a sort of post-Orlando memorial edition – which showed nothing had changed.  The aim of the edition was not just to avoid treading on any sore Islamic toes, but to deliberately avoid the subject of Islam.  Well these people, as Martin Amis once said in a related context, are disappearing up the fundament of the people who want to kill them.  They should enjoy it while it lasts.  The fact that a majority of British Muslims want being gay in Britain to be made illegal strikes me as a salient and troubling fact even if I can’t seem to get anyone else interested in the point...

Germany's Migrant Rape Crisis Spirals out of Control ...Germany's migrant rape crisis has now spread to cities and towns in all 16 of Germany's federal states. Germany now finds itself in a vicious circle: most of the perpetrators are never found, and the few who are frequently receive lenient sentences. Only one in 10 rapes in Germany is reported and just 8% of rape trials result in convictions, according to Minister of Justice Heiko Maas...

Report: British Authorities Still Ignoring Massive Pakistani-Led Child Sex Ring   A new investigation by the Daily Express has found that the massive Rotherham child sex exploitation ring whose discovery rocked England two years ago is not only still in operation, but is as strong as ever. Reports from social workers, police, residents, and abuse victims all said the same thing: It’s still happening on an “industrial scale.”

In 2014, an independent inquiry led by Alexis Jay, a former senior social worker, found that men of Pakistani origin had groomed at least 1,400 young girls for sexual exploitation over the previous 16 years. These girls, as young as 12, were variously raped, abducted, tortured, and forced into prostitution. Keep in mind, this happened—and is still happening—in the heart of England, not some far-flung banana republic...

The Bitter Lesson From Seattle's Minimum Wage Hike  ...In comments that sounded as if they came straight out of an Econ 101 text, the Post concluded that "Increasing the minimum wage increases the costs of hiring workers. As a result, employers must accept reduced margins or customers must pay steeper prices. If employers cannot stay in business while paying their staff more, they will either hire fewer people or give their workers fewer hours. As a result, even if wages per hour increase workers' total earning could decline."

Dead on. That's exactly what happened. And as University of Washington economist Jacob Vigdor, one of the authors of the Seattle study, noted, some businesses simply avoid paying the minimum-wage tax altogether by automating and letting low-end, unskilled workers go — as is now happening in some fast-food chains and at supermarkets...  

Please, Michael Phelps, Stop Cupping
The bruises on the swimmer’s body come from a “therapy" intended to improve blood flow. It actually causes blood to clot...  image

Herschel

April 2003
Our new puppy, named after William Herschel -a British astronomer 

 



Favorite toys

 

 

On July 29, 2016, thirteen and a half years after we got him, valiant, feisty, intrepid Herschel went to sleep after bravely living with a large tumor for several months.  We miss him terribly, but we are grateful to have had him for so long.  He was a neighborhood institution and many share our loss.  -Raymond and Pat Dague

A.S. Haley: Still an Anglican, but Barely

Saturday, July 30, 2016

I have to wonder, in light of the recent stories highlighted below, whether it's still worth any reader's time to generate posts about the Anglican Communion.

First of all, the Episcopal Congregations in the United States of America (what used to call themselves ECUSA) are no longer a church, let alone a bona fide member of the Anglican Communion. In wrecking themselves, they have done their level best to drag the rest of the Communion down with them.

So I decline to cover any more news items about ECUSA. Apostasy is neither uplifting nor fulfilling. Writing about its continuing descent into irrelevance, and its internecine disputes over canons that no one respects or obeys anyway, is too dispiriting to your faithful Curmudgeon.

The Anglican Communion, thanks to ECUSA (and now the Anglican Church of Canada as well), is a train wreck in slow motion... the rest-read the comments!

A Thank You -- and a Little Advice -- to Faithful Christians

America’s Lost Boys; Olympians Who Put God Before Gold...more

America’s Lost Boys
Where have America’s young men gone? According to Erik Hurst, an economist from the University of Chicago, they haven’t gone anywhere—they’re just plugged in. In a recent interview, Hurst says that his research indicates that young men with less than a four-year degree (according to virtually all data, that’s an increasing number) are spending their days unemployed and unmarried, but not un-amused. “The hours that they are not working have been replaced almost one-for-one with leisure time,” Hurst reports. “Seventy-five percent of this new leisure time falls into one category: video games. The average low-skilled, unemployed man in this group plays video games an average of twelve, and sometimes upwards of thirty hours per week.”

Hurst goes on: “These individuals are living with parents or relatives, and happiness surveys actually indicate that they [are] quite content compared to their peers, making it hard to argue that some sort of constraint, [such as that] they are miserable because they can’t find a job, is causing them to play video games.” In other words, the time these young men spend on Xbox and Playstation does not offer them relief from the stress of joblessness and existential inertia. On the contrary, for them it’s part of Living the Dream....

Rigged? Five Ways the integrity of the November election is under attack ...The integrity of our elections are suffering from a coordinated multi-million dollar attack on multiple fronts. It’s far more complicated than one centralized high-powered conspiracy to “rig” the election. A more sophisticated understanding of what is happening is essential to combat the real threat to our elections...

Meet the Rio Olympians Who Put God Before Gold A glimpse of inspiration and testimony from some of Team USA’s Christian athletes...

Why Satan Is So Skillful at Tempting Us to Sin ...The devil is old, but not infirm. His temptations are like the arrows of a skillful archer that seldom fail to hit their target (Jer. 50:9). Over the centuries he has mastered the art of wickedness. Satan knows by experience when the best time is to shoot his arrows. He knows what bait to use whenever he fishes. He tempts young people with beauty, the thrifty with money, and the ambitious with power. He has remarkable experience in overcoming every defense against yielding to his temptations.

Satan is adept at deflecting our defenses. Believers are often startled and perplexed when they are tempted because Satan responds so quickly and effectively to their arguments against sinning. Satan’s rapid response ought to teach us to deny him totally and immediately rather than dispute with him...

Medical expert: Science is ‘conclusive’ that unborn babies feel horrific pain of abortion  ...That’s right. They’re going on to do this surgery on an unborn baby while still in the womb at five months or even earlier in their development. There have been a few surgeries even earlier, but they recognize that this little patient, at that point in their life– still in the womb – can experience pain.

In fact, it’s interesting: the leading clinical anesthesia textbook says it’s clear that these little unborn babies can experience pain as early as 16 weeks after conception, definitely by twenty. [It says] that these little unborn babies – they use the medical term “fetus” – that they are a patient, and that it is critical to administer anesthesia directly to them.

Sound the Alarm on the NIH’s Chimera Research  ...It has just been announced that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) seek to amend Section IV and Section V of the NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research to include creating ‘Chimeras;” that is, combination of Human and Animal cells: Next Steps on Research Using Animal Embryos Containing Human Cells.

This is obviously an abomination...

19 Killed in Japan (But Don't Worry, They Were Disabled) The recent murder of nineteen disabled people in Japan did not cause the outpouring of rage and grief that many other instances of violence have caused around the globe. In fact, it was astonishingly underreported. There are, I think, a few reasons for this. Firstly, the killer didn't use a gun so the gun-banning crowd had nothing from the incident that they could use to further their agenda. Secondly, it wasn't an act of Muslim terrorism so you didn't have that ready-made angle. It's almost like we only pay attention to the tragedies which confirm our beliefs and can be used to further our agendas. But lastly, I believe this tragedy escaped the notice of so many simply because the victims were just disabled people.

I mean it. I don't believe that people openly think 'they had it coming' but it's more of a 'hey, at least they're not suffering anymore' mindset. This view is eerily similar to the words the killer used to explain his actions....

Discovery in China points to biblical Flood
Scientists in China are telling of a discovery that has startled many communists and atheists in their ranks, but their account about a great flood that took place some 4,000 years ago isn't surprising whatsoever to many Christians.

Archeologists dated bones of children uncovered in the Yellow River Valley – who they believe were trapped by the flood – and found the deluge happened around 2000 B.C., which is fairly close to the time when the biblical account of Noah and the Flood took place...

O Wondrous Sight! O Vision Fair!

O wondrous sight! O vision fair

Of glory that the church shall share,

Which Christ upon the mountain shows,

Where brighter than the sun He glows!

From age to age the tale declares

How with the three disciples there

Where Moses and Elijah meet,

The Lord holds converse high and sweet.

The law and prophets there have place,

Two chosen witnesses of grace,

The Father’s voice from out the cloud

Proclaims His only Son aloud.

With shining face and bright array,

Christ deigns to manifest that day

What glory shall be theirs above

Who joy in God with perfect love.

And faithful hearts are raised on high

By this great vision’s mystery;

For which in joyful strains we raise

The voice of prayer, the hymn of praise.

O Father, with the eternal Son,

And Holy Spirit, ever One,

Vouchsafe to bring us by Thy grace

To see Thy glory face to face.

...from the Sar­um Brev­i­ary

Gafcon Statement on Proposed Primates’ Meeting 2017

05 Aug 2016
GAFCON Secretariat

In the last week, there has been news of a potential Primates’ Meeting scheduled to begin October 2, 2017. Consequently, we have received a number of inquiries, both from the media and our membership, asking the question of whether or not the Gafcon Primates will attend.

For all who had hoped that attendance at the January 2016 Primates’ Gathering might restore godly order to the Communion, the results were clearly discouraging. Gafcon is fully committed to guarding the unchanging truth of the Gospel, and restoring the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion. In due course, the Gafcon Primates will take counsel and together make a decision about the wisdom of attending future meetings.

The next meeting of the Gafcon Primates’ Council is in April of 2017. We give thanks for the courage that is being shown by our members across the globe, as they share God’s Word both “in season and out of season.” Please continue to pray for the continued growth of this reformation movement.

 Here

America’s Electronic Voting Machines Are Sitting Ducks; Ill. law forces MD's to promote abortion...more

Illinois gov. signs law forcing Christian doctors to refer for, promote abortion  ...Effective Jan. 1, 2017, the law requires medical professionals in all capacities to go against deeply held religious conscience by referring patients for abortions and counseling patients on what the legislation calls the “benefits” of abortion. 

France Shuts Down 20 Radical Mosques since December ...Of the country’s 2,500 mosques and prayer halls, approximately 120 of them have been suspected by French authorities of preaching radical Salafism, a fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam, according to France 24.

“There is no place ... in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques … About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others,” Cazeneuve said...

America’s Electronic Voting Machines Are Sitting Ducks ...The worst part about the current state of voting machines is that they don’t even require outside interference to undo an election. “They’re all computers. They run on tens of thousands of lines of code,” says Norden. “It’s impossible to have a perfectly secure, perfectly reliable computer.”...

Satanists Plan To Infiltrate Elementary Schools Across The Country With New Satan Club ...The group plans to petition schools so its curriculum can be part of official clubs as early as this fall. The Satanists are targeting Utah, New York, Massachusetts, Arizona, Minnesota, Louisiana and Florida to include the curriculum.

“It’s critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues, and that they have a choice in how they think,” the Temple’s co-founder Doug Mesner told the Tribune.

Mesner told reporters the group doesn’t actually promote devil worship, instead it eschews any sort of belief in a supernatural being, supporting “scientific rationality” instead. The planned curriculum includes “healthful snacks,” “creative learning activities,” “a science lesson” and “an art project.”...