Gov’t can force florist to participate in gay ‘wedding’; Christian couple tortured in India...more links

U.S. House votes to overturn Obama regulation forcing states to fund Planned Parenthood    The U.S. House of Representatives voted 230 to 188 today to overturn former President Obama’s "eleventh hour" HHS rule forcing states to give Title X money to organizations that commit abortions.

Title X money comes from the government to fund "family planning services," but technically not abortion.

Before he left office, Obama pushed through an HHS regulation that essentially forces states to give Planned Parenthood Title X funding. Under this rule, states must give Planned Parenthood or abortionists Title X grants and may not choose to redirect those funds to comprehensive healthcare clinics...

ICE: Raid reports fake news, Obama grabbed 350% more    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is pushing back hard on media reports that President Trump has unleashed a mean-spirited national raid on immigrants, noting that it rounded up over 350 percent more during one sweep under former President Obama.

In a series of tweets, ICE called the reports, in the Washington Post and elsewhere, "dangerous and irresponsible."...

Washington Supreme Court: Gov’t can force florist to participate in gay ‘wedding’ ...“This case is about crushing dissent. In a free America, people with differing beliefs must have room to coexist,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner, who argued before the court together with co-counsel George Ahrend in November of last year. “It’s wrong for the state to force any citizen to support a particular view about marriage or anything else against their will. Freedom of speech and religion aren’t subject to the whim of a majority; they are constitutional guarantees.”...

How an Anglican explained where Catholic parishes are going wrong About six years ago I wrote an article entitled, Why do Catholics become Anglicans?. It recently drew this response from a Canadian reader, sent by email, which I think is interesting, and which I pass on with permission:

“I have recently come across your story that you wrote several years ago about why Catholics become Anglicans. Some of the reasons you listed apply to me. I was brought up Roman but switched over the Anglican Church when I was 19. I have been away from the Catholic Church for over 20 years and was seeking to reconnect with my roots and even go back to Rome...

Apparently, unborn babies are only human when they belong to Beyonce ...Those who are not atheists and idol-worshiping neo-pagans know that, in truth, it is God — not society or celebrity — who grants life to all children from the moment of conception. A life in the womb derives its worth from its relation to Him. All people have an objective and indestructible dignity because He has made it so.

If the exaggerated adulation of Beyonce’s baby bump brought people closer to this view, I would encourage it. But it doesn’t. It takes them further away because it reinforces the view that a child’s mother — and, secondarily, society — has the power to determine whether he possesses value or dignity. And if that mother happens to be Beyonce, well then the child will have more value and dignity than any other. No wonder she thinks she’s god...

India: Christian Couple Who Refused to Deny Christ Forced to Stand in Freezing Pond for 17 Hours  A Christian couple in India was severely punished by being made to stand in frigid water for 17 hours because they refused to deny their Christian faith.

The Christian Post reports that Bartu Urawn and his wife, who both converted to Christianity from their village’s tribal religion, Sarna Dharam, over 10 years ago, were targeted by members of Kubuaa village in the Jharkhand state.

Village members who adhere to Sarna Dharam abducted Urawn and his wife, tied their hands, and forced them to stand neck-deep in the frigid pond water from 5 p.m. through 10 a.m. the next morning. They also forced the couple’s son, Beneswar, to watch his parents endure this torture...

Anglican Unscripted Episode 271

Feb 16, 2017
Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Each Episode Kevin, George, Allan and Gavin bring you news and prospective from around the globe.
Please Donate - http://anglican.ink/donate

CofE takes step towards gay marriage after vote rejects controversial report...more

Church takes step towards gay marriage after vote rejects controversial report Church of England clergy have appeared to signal support for gay marriage after they rejected a bishops’ report which said that only a man and woman could marry in church.

The report recommended that the bar on same-sex church marriages continue but that a more welcoming attitude towards homosexuals should be shown by congregations.

However, the motion was rejected by clergy at the General Synod who voted 100 to 93 against. Sources said they believed the recommendation had been rejected by the more liberal members of the clergy who thought the Church should ultimately drop its opposition to gay marriage...

David Ould: CofE Clergy Refuse to “Take Note” of “Orthodox” Bishops’ Report on Marriage ...There was a bit of an earthquake in central London today as the General Synod of the Church of England (effectively its national parliament) refused to “take note” of a report given to them by the Bishops [pdf] in conclusion to the “Shared Conversations” exercise that the Church of England has been undergoing for a number of years in order to make progress on the vexed question of same-sex marriage. The report was criticised from both poles of the debate. For the liberals, the bishops’ reaffirmation of an orthodox understanding of marriage and sexual ethics (para. 26(a) in the report). For many conservatives the bishops’ desire to allow “maximum freedom” under current guidelines (paras. 22-23) was nothing but an undermining of their statements about upholding orthodoxy; how can one uphold a Biblical sexual ethic and at the same time in any way bless same-sex unions?...

Statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury following today’s General Synod
Wednesday 15th February 2017

Statement from Archbishop Justin Welby following the General Synod’s vote “not to take note” of a Report by the House of Bishops on the report earlier today on Marriage and Same-Sex Relationships.

"No person is a problem, or an issue. People are made in the image of God. All of us, without exception, are loved and called in Christ. There are no ‘problems’, there are simply people.

How we deal with the real and profound disagreement - put so passionately and so clearly by many at the Church of England’s General Synod debate on marriage and same-sex relationships today - is the challenge we face as people who all belong to Christ.

 

To deal with that disagreement, to find ways forward, we need a radical new Christian inclusion in the Church. This must be founded in scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology; it must be based on good, healthy, flourishing relationships, and in a proper 21st century understanding of being human and of being sexual. 

 

We need to work together - not just the bishops but the whole Church, not excluding anyone - to move forward with confidence.

 

The vote today is not the end of the story, nor was it intended to be. As bishops we will think again and go on thinking, and we will seek to do better. We could hardly fail to do so in the light of what was said this afternoon. 

 

The way forward needs to be about love, joy and celebration of our humanity; of our creation in the image of God, of our belonging to Christ - all of us, without exception, without exclusion."

Church of England gay marriage vote thrown into chaos after members 'get confused and press wrong button'

Welby risks a fatal Anglican split over homosexuality; UK GAFCON statement...more

Welby risks a fatal Anglican split over homosexuality
(Rev Jules Gomes interviews Susie Leafe, Director of Reform, a conservative evangelical pressure group within the Church of England.)

Excerpt:
JG: To many the exchange between conservatives like yourself and liberals looks like a game of never-ending ping-pong as statement followed by counter-statement is batted across the net and slammed on the table. Where will it all end? Can there ever be a resolution to completely contradictory positions on the issue of homosexual practice within the Church of England?

SL: In short, the answer is no—not without a clear decision one way or the other—but sadly the House of Bishops are too divided amongst themselves to offer that kind of clear leadership. The real problem is that at the heart of the debate are very different views of God’s character, the extent to which God has revealed himself in the Scriptures, the nature of human flourishing and ultimately our need and the means of our salvation.  Personally, I think it is a pastoral disaster that instead of having honest debate about these matters, the argument has been personalised in issues of sexuality, but I guess that is how identity politics works.

GAFCON UK's response to the lobby group OneBodyOneFaith
GAFCON UK welcomes the publication of the OneBodyOneFaith statement “A time to build”.
The statement is admirably clear in its wholesale abandonment of any pretence that OneBodyOneFaith has any respect for Biblical authority or any interest in the wellbeing of global Anglicanism.

While “A time to build” suggests that it seeks “theological diversity” it in fact requires that the whole Church worldwide submit to a view that God has not spoken clearly in his Word about the nature of humanity and human sexuality.

The authors of the statement suggest that they are wiser than 4,000 years of Biblical revelation, 2,000 years of Christian theology and the overwhelming majority of Christians down the ages and around the world.

We note with a degree of amazement that OneBodyOneFaith’s attempt to discredit GAFCON, which represents the majority of the world’s Anglicans, relies entirely on an ad hominem attack which entirely misrepresents the position of a Primate whom the authors have never had the pleasure of meeting. We trust that the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion will use his comments to General Synod tomorrow to distance himself from the manifest nonsense asserted by OBOF concerning Archbishop Okoh, Primate of Nigeria.

It is a remarkable thing that a tiny English campaign group sees fit to be so disrespectful to the Godly leader of a vibrant, growing Church of many millions. As we hope OBOF is aware, at the present time, rather than criticism the Church of Nigeria desperately needs our prayers given the price many are paying for their commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ...

Albert Mohler: In upcoming synod, Church of England to "take note" of retired bishops' letter encouraging LGBT reform
Listen at the link

The Rapidly Diminishing Anglican Church of Canada
By any measurable standard, the Anglican Church of Canada is in serious decline with little hope that the numbers can or will be reversed in the foreseeable future.

In one diocese after another the third largest denomination in Canada is declining, its demise now almost certain as it focuses on a host of social justice issues to the neglect of evangelism, discipleship and church planting.

The Anglican Church of Canada which is squeamishly shy about publicizing how many people attend its churches, has published no complete statistics for membership and average Sunday attendance since 2001, although the ACoC did claim a membership of 545,957 in 2007...

Northern Nigeria-Persecution and Slaughter of Christians

‘Disgraceful’ Church of England leaves persecuted Nigerians to their fate      Douglas Murray, scourge of politically correct liberals, and president baiter who launched 'the President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition’, has turned his guns on the Anglican Church for its ‘pathetic’ stance on Northern Nigeria.

The influential Spectator columnist and Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Society has accused the church of ‘wilful self-deception’ in its analysis of the trials of Christians still being slaughtered by militarised Fulani Muslims as the world looks away.

Murray spent four days visiting massacre sites and interviewing victims in and around Jos, capital of Plateau State, in the contested Muslim north of the country.

‘The simple evidence from the map of the diminishment of the Christian community is demonstrable,’ he told Lapido.

He accused the new government of Fulani Muslim President Buhari of ‘impunity and connivance’ in killings that go on under the noses of soldiers sent to protect the villages.

Over and over again witnesses spoke to him independently and in similar vein of the use of military helicopters to drop munitions in Fulani areas.

Despite this, he was struck by the lack of pressure being brought to bear through diplomatic channels on the Nigerian government, whose president was greeted by the Queen and Archbishop Justin Welby in Britain last year...

Murray is convinced the Church of England is averting its gaze.  ‘It’s pathetic.  There seems to me to be a deliberate desire to avoid the facts’, he said. 

‘I think there’s a problem with the Nigerian churches.  There’s an unpleasant underlying thing “they’re not quite like Christians in the West any more because they don’t support gay marriage.  They don’t hold the right views.”

Who will protect Nigeria’s northern Christians?
Another day in northern Nigeria, another Christian village reeling from an attack by the Muslim Fulani herdsmen who used to be their neighbours — and who are now cleansing them from the area. The locals daren’t collect the freshest bodies. Some who tried earlier have already been killed, spotted by the waiting militia and hacked down or shot. The Fulani are watching everything closely from the surrounding mountains. Every week, their progress across the northern states of Plateau and Kaduna continues. Every week, more massacres — another village burned, its church razed, its inhabitants slaughtered, raped or chased away. A young woman, whose husband and two children have just been killed in front of her, tells me blankly, ‘Our parents told us about these people. But we lived in relative peace and we forgot what they said.’

For the outside world, what is happening to the Christians of northern Nigeria is both beyond our imagination and beneath our interest. These tribal-led villages, each with their own ‘paramount ruler’, were converted by missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. But now these Christians — from the bishop down — sense that they have become unsympathetic figures, perhaps even an embarrassment, to the West. The international community pretends that this situation is a tit-for-tat problem, rather than a one-sided slaughter. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the press fails to report or actively obscures the situation. Christians in the south of the country feel little solidarity with their co-religionists suffering from this Islamic revivalism and territorial conquest in the north. And worst of all, the plight of these people is of no interest to their own government. In fact, this ethnic and religious cleansing appears to be taking place with that government’s complicity or connivance...

Beyoncé and fertility goddesses at the Grammys; America’s Cult-Like Education System...more

The African, Hindu and Roman goddesses who inspired Beyoncé's Grammy performance ...But what those unfamiliar with her Grammy-nominated album Lemonade may have missed was that the gold and glitz on display were serving a greater purpose.

Beyoncé was teaching.

As in Lemonade and her pregnancy announcement photos released earlier this month, the singer’s Grammy performance was packed with artistic nods to African, Hindu and Roman goddesses who signify the womanhood Beyoncé has been reflecting in her most recent work...

-African water spirit Mami Wata
-Oshun, a Yoruba water goddess of “female sensuality, love and fertility
-Kali, the many-armed Hindu goddess who is associated with death, sexuality and motherly love
-Venus, the Roman goddess of love, sex, beauty and fertility

Albert Mohler: Beyoncé and fertility goddesses at the Grammys
Listen at the link

Riot-Prone Mobs Are A Product Of America’s Cult-Like Education System   ...Let’s face it. Today’s street theater is the culmination of decades of radical education revision. The radical Left’s systematic attack on the study of Western Civilization has essentially been an attack against the study of any and all civil societies. It is an attack on the features that make a society civil and free. Those features include freedom of expression, civil discourse, the Socratic method of figuring out truth, value of the individual, and a common knowledge of the classics of history and literature that help us understand what’s universal in the human experience. All of that had to go.

Now, as we see students marching to demonize as “fascists” proponents of free speech, their ignorance is in full view. This is really a full frontal attack on the rule of law, the Constitution, and a system of checks and balances that guards against the consolidation of centralized power.

That’s the whole point of the education these students have been fed. In fact, a lot of 1960s agitators, including domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, decided to place their bets on radical education revision. For at least 40 years, Ayers has been devoted to transforming schools from places of actual education to places of coercive thought reform. As Andrew McCarthy recently pointed out in National Review: “It was a comfy fit for him and many of his confederates, once it dawned on them that indoctrination inside the schoolhouse was more effective than blowing up the schoolhouse.”...

Fake News: Muslim Olympian 'detained because of President Trump's travel ban' was detained under Obama ...To put it plainly, reports suggesting, and alleging, that the executive order had ensnared an American champion are totally false.

Before we go, a few points bear further discussion, and none of them reflect well on Muhammad or the press.

First, it's mind-boggling that no one in that room on Feb. 7 thought to ask her for the exact date on which she was detained. It's a basic duty of journalism to get the who, what, where, when, why and how to every story. That Muhammad's interviewers didn't think to pursue the "when" is astounding...

No return home in sight for thousands of Californians sheltering from damTens of thousands of Californians faced an indefinite stay in shelters as engineers worked for a second day on Tuesday to fix the United States' tallest dam before more storms sweep the region.

After what looks set to be the wettest winter in Northern California following years of drought, more rain was forecast for as early as Wednesday and through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Crews were working to shore up an overflow channel and drain the reservoir at the Lake Oroville Dam but authorities gave no indication of when it would be safe for people to go home.

Late on Sunday, about 188,000 residents were ordered to evacuate their homes in the Feather River valley below the dam, 65 miles (105 km) north of Sacramento...

Tell Me Again There's No Link Between Darwinism and Eugenics    "...Hence we must bear without complaining the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely the weaker and inferior members of society not marrying so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased, though this is more to be hoped for than expected, by the weak in body or mind refraining from marriage.”
― Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man

ACNA orders valid state Archbishops of Canterbury and York

10 Feb 2017
by Donald Allister

Recognition of the Orders of the Anglican Church in North America

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have recognised the orders of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967. The Measure gives the Archbishops authority to determine whether the orders of any Church are ‘recognised and accepted’ by the Church of England for the purposes of the Measure.

This follows work undertaken by the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission (FAOC) in consultation with the Council for Christian Unity both (a) to clarify the general criteria by which the Church of England recognises the ministry of those whose orders are of churches within the historic episcopate and with whom the Church of England is not in communion, and (b) to consider whether the orders of ACNA meet these criteria. The work on the general criteria is presented in Recognition by the Church of England of Orders Conferred in Other Churches, available on the FAOC page of the Church of England website. The work on ACNA specifically was communicated to the Archbishops, whose responsibility it is to make the decision in such cases. The Archbishops, having carefully reflected on this advice, have decided to act on it by formally recognising ACNA’s orders.

When someone who was originally ordained in ACNA or any other church whose orders are recognised under the Measure wishes to minister in the Church of England, the first questions to be considered are those of whether the person concerned is suitable for ministry in the Church of England and if so, whether any further training is necessary. Where those questions are resolved satisfactorily, the Archbishop of the relevant Province can decide to give the minister permission to officiate in the Church of England without being ordained in the Church of England, either permanently or for a specified period.

Other churches whose orders the Church of England recognises although it is not in communion with them are the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (formerly known as the Church of England in South Africa), and the Free Church of England.

These churches are distinct from those with which the Church of England is in communion, which include all churches of the Anglican Communion. For up to date information on this, please see Part 5 of the current edition of the Church of England Yearbook.

The Bishop of Peterborough Chair, Council for Christian Unity

Anglican Ink

Anglican Unscripted Episodes 269 and 270

Published on Feb 10, 2017

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


Published on Feb 10, 2017

New Dead Sea Scrolls cave discovered; A Story of God’s Saving Power...more

Archaeologists to break ground at biblical site where Ark of the Covenant stood  ...According to the Book of Samuel, the Ark of the Covenant was stored at Kiryat Ye’arim for 20 years after it was returned to the Israelites by the Philistines, who had captured it in battle and to their dismay were smitten with disease. The text says the ark was stored “in the house of Avinadab in the hill” and tended by the priest Elazar before King David conveyed it to his capital in Jerusalem...

BBC: New Dead Sea Scrolls cave discovered
It hasn’t happened since 1956, but Israeli archaeologists are announcing the discovery of a new cave – the 12th so far – used by Jews of the Second Temple era to hide scrolls containing copies of the Hebrew Bible and other texts.

“This is one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries, and the most important in the last 60 years, in the caves of Qumran,” said Oren Gutfield of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology, co-discoverer with his colleague Ahiad Ovadia.

The discovery and excavation were part of “Operation Scroll,” a program of the Israel Antiquities Authority to systematically survey the Judean Desert to identify all its caves and to explore them....

An Incredible Story of God’s Saving Power
 Just a few weeks ago, I got this update from one of our missionaries. He and his family are living in a predominantly Muslim context, in an incredibly remote part of the world. They may be the most remote family we have on the field. When we talk about missionaries dangling at the end of a long rope, these are the people I think of.

This story is an astounding testament to God’s saving power, and a reminder to me that God is so often at work in ways we can’t see...

Syrian Government Brutally Killed 13,000 in 4 Years, According to Amnesty International Report Some 13,000 people were hanged and executed by the Syrian government between 2011 and 2015, according to a report by Amnesty International.

The report, Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya prison, says that every week or sometimes twice a week, prisoners in groups of up to 50 were taken from their cells and hanged.

The report also describes “inhuman” conditions at the prison, including deprivation of water, food and medical care.

"The horrors depicted in this report reveal a hidden, monstrous campaign, authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population," said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty International's regional office in Beirut...

GAFCON Chairman's February 2017 letter; A.S. Haley: Exacerbating Disunion

7th February 2017
Archbishop Nicholas Okoh

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,

A diocese of another GAFCON aligned African province has recently decided to make a generous annual donation to GAFCON for what the bishop described as a ‘noble cause’. He is right, and we should be confident in making this claim for our movement. Not that we claim any nobility for ourselves. We are sinners saved by grace, but the grace of God at work in our lives leads us to desire that our Churches should be in line with his noble and redeeming purposes, as revealed to us in his Son and entrusted to us in the inspired Scriptures.

The Apostle Paul writes ‘Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task’ (1 Timothy 3:1). For Anglicans, bishops have a particular responsibility for godly oversight to ensure the spiritual health of those for whom, with their clergy, they share ‘the cure of souls’. So what are we to make of the recent report by the Church of England’s House of Bishops on Marriage and Same Sex Relationships? To what extent does it reflect the ‘noble task’ of godly oversight?

The report recommends no change in the Church of England’s official teaching on marriage and sexual relationships, so we should be thankful that the bishops have resisted pressure to follow the path of The Episcopal Church of the United States, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Scottish Episcopal Church by changing the definition of marriage.

There are however serious concerns. It is urged that we must look for contradictory positions to be resolved in ways which are ‘in some way hidden from us’ (paragraph 8). No reason for this optimism is given, yet it is on this basis that the report says that it is still possible for Anglicans to ‘walk together’ (paragraph 59) and claims this was what the Anglican Primates agreed when they met in Canterbury in January 2016.

What our resolution agreed in Canterbury actually said was that while ‘It is our unanimous desire to walk together’, the actions of The Episcopal Church ‘further impair our communion’. This is in line with the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration which identified rejection of apostolic teaching on sexuality and marriage as a manifestation of a ‘false gospel’ which required godly discipline.

It seems therefore that the Church of England bishops have recommended the right thing for the wrong reason. They have retained the Church’s traditional teaching, but because they think that holding opposite views together will eventually produce a consensus, not because it represents an apostolic boundary.

This understanding is confirmed by the fact that the report encourages a relaxation of church discipline and confuses pastoral sensitivity with a permissive church culture which already tolerates, in practice, clergy who have contracted same-sex ‘marriages’. The inclusion of the Islamic call to prayer in Gloucester Cathedral as part of its current multi-faith exhibition indicates that practical challenges to Anglican doctrine in the Church of England will not be limited to questions of marriage and sexuality. This happened shortly after the reading of a passage of the Koran which denies the divinity of Jesus during an Epiphany service of Holy Communion in the Scottish Episcopal Church’s Cathedral of St Mary’s, Glasgow. This action has been strongly challenged by GAFCON UK.

What happens in the Church of England must affect the ability of the Archbishop of Canterbury to gather the worldwide Communion. There has been speculation about whether or not the GAFCON Primates will attend the next Canterbury Primates Meeting called for October this year. We have yet to meet for formal discussion, but together with our brother Primates in Cairo at the Global South Conference last October, we issued a communiqué which made it clear that we had lost confidence in the Canterbury based institutions of the Communion.

We said ‘The instruments have also sent conflicting signals on issues of discipline which confuse the whole Body and weaken our confidence in them’. Sadly, despite its merits, the English House of Bishops’ report has a similar effect.

Finally, let me pay tribute to the Revd. Dr Mike Ovey, Principal of Oak Hill Theological College, London, whose sudden death shocked and saddened so many of us in the GAFCON family and beyond. His life was an outstanding example of one who embraced the noble task of teaching the Word of God with passion, courage and great clarity.

None of us who were at GAFCON 2013 in Nairobi will forget his powerful address ‘The Grace of God OR the World of the West?’. He showed us how deeply the Western churches have been shaped by ‘cheap grace’ focused on individuals’ sense of entitlement and self-regard, in contrast to the wonderful grace of God which is received through repentance and faith and bears fruit in lives of faithful discipleship. Let his concluding words be mine also:

‘The world’s needs are many, we all know that, but this is its greatest need, that its sins be forgiven. And that is why it is absolutely imperative that we at GAFCON preach not cheap grace, but costly grace to the world, not because we hate the world but because we love it, as our saviour did.”

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

A.S. Haley: Exacerbating Disunion
...Essentially, the Anglican Communion is sundered, and is no longer accurately described as a "Communion." It should be restyled "the Anglican Disunion."

There is no single cause of the brokenness, but certainly one major cause has been the lawlessness of ECUSA. (That is one acronym for what was formerly the Episcopal Church of the USA, of which I was once a regular member; it also referred to itself as "TEC." Now those initials -- for me, at least -- stand only for the words "The Episcopal Congregations [in the USA]", since a denomination that has made blasphemy part of its official rites is no longer entitled to be called a church).

Those who need more background will find at this page links to all the previous posts here describing the breakup process.

A year ago January, as reported in this post, the Archbishop of Canterbury managed to gather most all of the Anglican Primates at his see for a discussion about the state of the Disunion. The outcome of that discussion was an agreement "requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity."...

February flowers

Pictures taken February 8, 2017

Icicle pansy in bloom

 

These crocus started coming up about the 3rd week of January, and are very slowly emerging.  They are in the part of the yard that gets more sun-other areas of the garden do not have any bulbs coming up.  Wintery weather will slow them down, so I don't think I'll see a bloom for a while.

NY Gov. Cuomo: ‘Put abortion rights in New York constitution': IS recruiting child refugees as they head to Europe...more

NY Gov. Cuomo: ‘Put abortion rights in New York constitution’
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday called for a state constitutional amendment to codify abortion rights should Roe vs Wade be overturned, the latest idea from Democrats eager to push back against the new administration of President Donald Trump.

Addressing hundreds of abortion-rights supporters rallying in Albany, Cuomo said New York must ensure that legal access to abortion services and birth control continues regardless of what Trump and other Washington Republicans do.

“Our rights are under attack in Washington,” Cuomo said at the event. “As they pull on our rights, we’re going to push back.”..

Santa Clara University Bans Conservative Group, Saying It Makes Liberal Students Feel ‘Unsafe’  At Santa Clara University, offended leftists are doing all they can to keep conservatives off campus.

Turning Point USA advertises itself as a group promoting “fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.” Some Santa Clara students went before the school’s student senate to apply to start their own chapter on campus. A small group of students made their pitch, and then students and faculty at the school delivered speeches opposing the group.

In the end, the senate rejected the proposal, saying the group would make students feel “unsafe.”...

Islamic State recruiting child refugees as they head to Europe  Hundreds of asylum-seeking young people are going missing from care once they arrive in Britain, amid concerns they have been targeted for radicalisation by extremist groups during their journey to the UK, a think tank report has warned.

Militant groups such as Islamic State are deliberately preying on vulnerable young people for recruitment, as they make the perilous journey across the Middle East and north Africa, to Europe.

Extremists try to “buy” the allegiance of migrants and make them feel indebted, by working with people traffickers and funding their travel, the research by the Quilliam Foundation found...

Public School Is Often The Most Destructive Institution In American Life  ...Actually, teachers unions are the only organizations in America that openly support segregated schools. In districts across the country — even ones in cities with some form of limited movement for kids — poor parents, most typically black or Hispanic, are forced to enroll their kids in underperforming schools when there are good ones nearby, sometimes just blocks away.

The National Education Association spent $23 million last cycle alone working to elect politicians to keep low-income Americans right where they are. Public service unions use tax dollars to fund politicians who then turn around and vote for more funding. The worse the schools perform, the more money they demand. In the real world we call this racketeering.

Yet according to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, it is people like DeVos who are “a grave threat” to the public schools “that made America great.”

Well, for starters, studies consistently show that minority groups in America’s largest cities are lagging in proficiency in reading and math. Most of them are at the bottom 5 percent of schools in their own state. There is only so much an education secretary can accomplish, but being accused of being a “grave threat” to this system is a magnificent endorsement...

CityAlight - I Want to Know You

Dec 8, 2016

"TRUTH – It’s the New Hate Speech"

16 Fake News Stories Reporters Have Run Since Trump Won ...It is difficult to adequately sum up the breadth of this epidemic, chiefly because it keeps growing: day after day, even hour after hour, the media continue to broadcast, spread, promulgate, publicize, and promote fake news on an industrial scale. It has become a regular part of our news cycle, not distinct from or extraneous to it but a part of it, embedded within the news apparatus as a spoke is embedded in a bicycle wheel.

Whenever you turn on a news station, visit a news website, or check in on a journalist or media personality on Twitter or Facebook, there is an excellent chance you will be exposed to fake news. It is rapidly becoming an accepted part of the way the American media are run.

How we will get out of this is anyone’s guess. We might not get out of it, not so long as Trump is president of these United States. We may be up for four—maybe eight!—long years of authentic fake news media hysteria. It is worth cataloging at least a small sampling of the hysteria so far. Only when we fully assess the extent of the media’s collapse into ignominious ineptitude can we truly begin to reckon with it.

Since Trump’s election, here’s just a small sampling of fake news that our media and our journalist class have propagated...

BBC Accused of Spreading Fake News With Report on Trump Christian Refugee Policy  ...During the January 29 edition of News at 10, the BBC’s New York correspondent, Nick Bryant reported on Trump’s comments, saying: “In an interview with an evangelical television network [President Trump] claimed without any factual basis the old Obama policy favoured Muslims over Christians”.

But a spokesman for the Barnabas Fund said: “This sweeping assertion broadcast by the BBC was not only wholly untrue, it was also potentially damaging to tens of thousands of Syrian Christian refugees.”

The charity has pointed to figures showing that, of the thousands of Syrian refugees arriving in the USA last year only 56 people in total were Christians, equivalent to 0.5 percent of the total, while the vast majority – 99 per cent – were Sunni Muslims.

This is despite Christians making up 10 per cent of the pre-war population in Syria, and the fact that in March 2016, then US Secretary of State John Kerry declaring that Christians were facing genocide in the region...

“TRUTH – It’s the New Hate Speech: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” 
– George Orwell”

Anglican Unscripted Episodes 267 and 268

Feb 6, 2017

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.
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Feb 6, 2017

GAFCON Statement on TEC Voting in Lusaka...more Anglican news

GAFCON Statement on TEC Voting in Lusaka
6th February 2017
Peter Jensen

The agreement from the January Primates meeting in 2016 was broken when The Episcopal Church (TEC) took part in decision making on issues pertaining to polity and doctrine in Lusaka.  Equally damaging, was an attempt by the Anglican Communion Office to deny the fact by claiming that, technically, the process included no formal votes.  This is sophistry.

The Primates agreement in January was never limited to the narrow issue of the method of voting.  It said that “[The Episcopal Church] will not to take part in decision making on issues pertaining to polity or doctrine.”  [Primates 2016 Communique]

Whether a meeting uses a consensus model, or a voice vote, or paper ballots, or electronic ballots is of no relevance.  The Episcopal Church was not to take part in decision making on issues pertaining to polity or doctrine.  They did.

As the GAFCON Primates Council has said: “The future of the Anglican Communion does not lie with manipulations, compromises, legal loopholes, or the presentation of half-truths; the future of our Communion lies in humble obedience to the truth of the Word of God written.” [Gafcon Primates Communique, April 2016]

Archbishop Peter Jensen
General Secretary

Muslim pupils outnumber Christian children at some CoE schools  

New figures have revealed Muslim pupils outnumber Christian children in more than 30 church schools. 

 

According to the latest available statistics, one Church of England primary school has a '100 per cent Muslim population'.

 

It has prompted leading education experts to urge some church schools to become secular institutions because it is 'confusing for children'...

Here I straddle: I can do no other
Excerpt:

...Those in REFORM and ReNew and indeed GAFCON, have been seeking change within the Church of England to bring it in belief and practice more in line with Scripture as its supreme authority. There are three options open to those in the denomination as things stand.

 

1.    Slow death. This is what is occurring in the Church of England at large and by all the social indicators.  This characterises those (including some evangelicals) who want ‘peace with pay (or a prelacy) and so will not rock the boat. These will be favoured by the establishment over any perceived trouble makers (like Luther!).

 

2.    Quick Exit. Leave the denomination. If things continue along the trajectory as laid down by the Bishop’s report there will be more evangelicals taking this option (as well as less evangelicals coming into the denomination at a leadership level).

 

3.    Deep Change. This is a term developed by the writer Robert E Quinn to describe how long term and significant change is effected in an organisation with a resulting revitalisation. There are three features which characterise ‘deep changers’: [Robert E Quinn, Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within ((Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series), 1996)]

A. They must be willing to break the rules which hinder growth.

B. They must risk their jobs- willing to court the opprobrium of the establishment.

C. They must be willing to “walk naked into the land of uncertainty” or build bridges while still crossing them. This means going ahead, not recklessly, but moving forward without knowing beforehand what the outcome might be.

Of course option 3 is the way of Luther and marks the theology of the cross- weak, costly, foolish in the eyes of the world and the Babylonian Church, but in the economy of God the genuine manifestation of grace. In practice this will take many forms. It will involve those within the establishment breaking canon law for the sake of the gospel and people’s eternal salvation as the local context requires it. It will mean more church planting outside the compromised denomination through bodies such as AMiE or the Free Church of England or with the support of other provinces. In short, it will mean ‘messy church’...

Stand still, and see!

In every life

There's a pause that is better than onward rush,

Better than hewing or mightiest doing;

'Tis the standing still at Sovereign will.

There's a hush that is better than ardent speech,

Better than sighing or wilderness crying;

'Tis the being still at Sovereign will.

The pause and the hush sing a double song

In unison low and for all time long.

O human soul, God's working plan

Goes on, nor needs the aid of man!

Stand still, and see!

Be still, and know!

-V. Raymond Edman

Cambridge U. service: the queering of the liturgy of Evening prayer

Cambridge University theological college apologises for 'subverting the teaching of Christ' in church service  ...The theological students held the evensong service on Tuesday with a programme explaining their version was a “queering [of] the liturgy of Evening Prayer”.

The trainees used Polari, the language championed in the 1950s and 1960s by the comedians Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick in BBC radio’s Round the Horne.

The popular show used gay innuendo at a time when homosexuality was still illegal.
A note produced along with the order of service explained that the service was “a liturgical experiment” and an “attempt at queering the liturgy of Evening Prayer, locating the queer within the compass of faith”.

A gay activist group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, has produced a version of the Bible in Polari, in which God is ‘Gloria’; the Lord is turned into “the Duchess”; the Holy Spirit becomes “Fantabulosa Fairy”; and Jesus is feminised to “Josie” and referred to as she. Psalm 19 was reworded to refer to “O Duchess, my butchness”... image

At Tuesday’s service, much to the horror of many of the devout worshippers, they were invited to respond to the line: “O Gloria make speed to save us,” with the words “O Duchess make haste to help us.”

Mexican Corruptos; Christian persecution seen in more locations across the globe...more links

Christian persecution seen in more locations across the globe, new report shows ..."It is appalling that Open Doors has to report that persecution has increased again in 2016 and we are still at the worst levels of persecution in modern times," David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, said to Fox News. "The spread of persecution has gotten worse, now hitting nearly every continent in the world. There were 23 Christians killed in Mexico specifically because of their faith.”...

Trump’s Wall Forces Mexican Corruptos To Come Clean ...Throughout Mexico, millions of communities depend on the “remesas” (remittances) sent home every year from relatives, legal and illegal, in the U.S. Amounting to tens of billions of dollars a year, these funds are Mexico’s only welfare system; the government’s version is so riddled with corruption that it’s virtually nonexistent.

The Corruptos also tax the remittances as soon as they arrive: recipient families must pay off the police chief, the mayor, and the local gang leader(s) – or fear for their lives and their livelihood.

This is the foul sewer of graft that will collapse in ruins when Trump’s Wall goes up to stay.

Peña Nieto laments that illegals in the U.S. are “at risk,” but the truth is darker: they’ll really be at risk if they return home.

Wait – wouldn’t they be safer there?

No way, José. If ten to twenty million illegals return to their family homes south of the border, it could bring down the entire Corrupto cartel...

MX drops 28 places on corruption index ...It said anti-corruption reforms and the implementation of the first stage of the National Anti-Corruption System “weren’t enough to reduce the effect of continuous corruption scandals throughout the country.”

“Institutional transformation is not enough. Institutional and legal changes must be enacted along with systematic actions that dismantle the corruption networks that affect a large number of the country’s public institutions.”...

Rep. Susan Collins: Public School Children Are More Important ...Think about what she just said. She just said she understands that Mrs. Devos "cares deeply" about children but that the Education Secretary must put public school children first.

This is pretty shocking, isn't it? What about equality? I guess Collins doesn't believe in that. Nope. Public school kids first. Those icky Catholic school kids and those weird anti-social homeschooling nuts can fend for themselves, huh?...

Gorsuch After Scalia; ISIS madman who beheaded hundreds killed by hit squad...more links

First Things: Gorsuch After Scalia The president’s introduction of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the nation as his nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death gave us a lift we sorely needed. Finally, something to be at peace about in our public life.

For this former law clerk of Scalia, who would like to see his legacy endure, it felt very good to listen to what Gorsuch had to say behind that White House podium. And for all Americans anxious about our ongoing experiment in self-government, the announcement offered a brief reprieve from our bitter politics of scowls, chaos, and mutual outrage.

This nomination is just one step in a process that will be various shades of ugly much of the time. But when Gorsuch is confirmed as our next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the spectacle will move on, and the Court will be strengthened by this new custodian to care for our Constitution and laws.

The confirmation process also holds the potential to be constructive. Opponents will try to pick Gorsuch apart. But he seems to be a man whose center holds. And isn’t it refreshing for us and for our children to see elevated into high public office someone described as “an affable, collegial, unpretentious man with a good sense of humor”?...

Hit squad reportedly kills ISIS madman who beheaded hundreds A notorious ISIS executioner who beheaded hundreds of innocent citizens has been stabbed to death by a hit squad in northwest Iraq....Sayyaf was infamous for collecting the heads of his victims and dumping them in the same hole in the region of al-Khasafa.

Iraqi journalist Muhammad Yawar said: “Abu Sayyaf was one of the scariest executioners in Nineveh… He was a reflection of the brutality of this terrorist group...

5 Egyptian Coptic Christians Brutally Murdered, Their Bodies Found With Throats Slashed   In a span of two weeks, five Coptic Christians in Egypt met exactly the same horrible fate: brutally murdered with their throats slashed.

The killing spree started on Jan. 3 when a Coptic Christian store owner in Alexandria had his throat slashed twice from behind by a Muslim man who later confessed to killing the Christian for selling liquor in his store, the World Watch Monitor (WWM) said in a report.

On Jan. 6, the Coptic Christmas holiday, two more Christians—a 60-year-old man and his 48-year-old wife—were found dead in their beds in northern Egypt. Again, their throats were found slit...


Jan 31, 2017

Just one question:
Carlson: Do you think it is the taking of human life? Abortion?

New video shows Planned Parenthood staffers saying they only do ultrasounds for abortions  The pro-life group Live Action released two new investigative videos Tuesday that depict Planned Parenthood staffers saying that their clinics only offer ultrasounds to women seeking abortions — not women seeking prenatal care.

The first video shows clinic workers telling undercover investigators that they don’t do any ultrasounds for prenatal care....

Midwife’s contract was cancelled because she’s pro-life: now, she’s suing  Swedish midwife Ellinor Grimmark, a Christian who refuses to perform abortions as part of her daily clinical duties, is appealing to a labor tribunal after being turned down for jobs at Region Jönköping clinics on three occasions.

Grimmark has recently filed a lawsuit against the Jonkoping regional health authority and claimed damages for violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and compensation for discrimination. The appeal hearing is currently in progress with a verdict expected in a few weeks.

 

It all began in 2013 when a women's clinic terminated a contract previously offered to Grimmark before she started her job because she explained that she was unwilling to participate in abortions...

The Milky Way is being pushed through space by a void called the Dipole Repeller   ..."By 3D mapping the flow of galaxies through space, we found that our Milky Way galaxy is speeding away from a large, previously unidentified region of low density. Because it repels rather than attracts, we call this region the Dipole Repeller," explained professor Hoffman. "In addition to being pulled towards the known Shapley Concentration, we are also being pushed away from the newly discovered Dipole Repeller. Thus it has become apparent that push and pull are of comparable importance at our location."...


Jan 31, 2017
Every State in the US