News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
7/3/2008
The ink was barely dry on the Declaration coming out of GAFCON in Jerusalem, when the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a letter to the Anglican world telling us, in no uncertain words, exactly what he thought. It was revelatory.
Rowan Williams declared that certain things were not in dispute like the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the imperative of evangelism and the common life of the Communion. All very commendable. But then, he went on a tear, blasting orthodox primates for "lacking legitimacy, authority and integrity", accusing them of breaking the "bonds of affection" and much more.
First, he talked about the "risks entailed" in moving forward. Then he blasted the idea of a "Primates Council" because of its self selection and saying it will not pass "the test of legitimacy." He then said "mutual recognition of ministries" would be strained because of "geographical and cultural divides."
Archbishop Williams doesn't get it. First of all, the current 38 primates are now so divided they can't even take Holy Communion together! It is already in schism. "Legitimacy" rests on who is preaching what to whom. Evangelicals now say that there are two religions operating in the Anglican Communion that are at odds with one another. One is rooted in Biblical faith while the other is a secular gloss over religious language. Does Williams not understand that tens of thousands of Episcopalians and dozens of churches are fleeing The Episcopal Church because Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori preaches "another Gospel" (Gal. 1:8)? They want nothing more to do with her or her church.
Does he not also realize the litigation against orthodox parishes is precisely about theology, morals and doctrine and that the so-called "bonds of affection" are thinner than a spider's web, incapable of holding anything together? He got that message in New Orleans, when he listened to all the voices in the HOB. Williams came away saying that TEC had met the demands of the Windsor Report! It was a lie. They had not. Even Durham Bishop N. T. Wright was honest enough to say so.
What about "geographical and cultural divides"?. The truth is they don't exist for orthodox folk. Over 1,000 gathered in Jerusalem from 38 countries united by a single non-pluriform, truly inclusive understanding of the gospel, making geography and culture totally and utterly irrelevant. There was no "black theology" or "white Western theology". There was only Biblical theology that everybody there understood. It did not require either an explanation or an apology!
Williams writes, "Two questions arise at once about what has been proposed. By what authority are Primates deemed acceptable, or unacceptable members of any new primatial council? And how is effective discipline to be maintained in a situation of overlapping and competing jurisdictions?"
The answer is simple. The new primatial council will be made up of men who have a clear fix on what the gospel is, who Jesus is, what morals are, recognize the authority of Scripture and can articulate and preach it. Discipline (presently non-existent) will be maintained by those who have a clear understanding of what truth is. If Dr. Williams can't figure it out, all he needs to do is read "The Way, the Truth and the Life" where it is spelled out for him in grim detail. There is no ambiguity, no misunderstandings. Clarity is 100%.
Writes Williams, "How is a bishop or primate in another continent able to discriminate effectively between a genuine crisis of pastoral relationship and theological integrity, and a situation where there are underlying non-theological motivations at work? We have seen instances of intervention in dioceses whose leadership is unquestionably orthodox simply because of local difficulties of a personal and administrative nature. We have also seen instances of clergy disciplined for scandalous behaviour in one jurisdiction accepted in another, apparently without due process. Some other Christian churches have unhappy experience of this problem and it needs to be addressed honestly."
The answer is, again, very simple. Homosexuals are not being persecuted in the Episcopal Church. Those faithful to Scripture are. If there is a failure to discipline, it is because liberal and revisionist bishops hate orthodox clergy, want to get rid of them and will do everything to excoriate them by not letting ordinands or clergy into their dioceses and by not renewing their licenses. The "honest addressing" is just not taking place. It is all about exploitation, litigation and property ownership.
The liberals and revisionists have no gospel to proclaim. They will not save the world with MDGs. It's a secular fiction pumped up by TEC pomp and purple. There is no appeal to Scripture to "discriminate" anything. Bishop Walter Righter took a walk for ordaining an avowed homosexual to the priesthood, Spong has never been disciplined for his heresies, and Bennison goes down for covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor but not for his theological heresies.
Writes Williams, "If they are not working effectively, the challenge is to renew them rather than to improvise solutions that may seem to be effective for some in the short term but will continue to create more problems than they solve." This is a fiction. How can the politburo police itself, especially when at least one of the Instruments of Unity - the Anglican Communion Office -- is in thrall and in hoc to The Episcopal Church and has most of its budget paid for by TEC!
The Episcopal Church has no intention of conceding anything - from its acceptance of totally unbiblical views of sexuality, to a truncated gospel, to property grabbing etc. Williams thinks he can change all this in 20 days at Lambeth! This is a total fiction. When he sides with US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, he, by definition, colludes with her and those who proclaim a different gospel than that proclaimed by the Evangelical Anglicans in Jerusalem.
"This challenge is one of the most significant focuses for the forthcoming Lambeth Conference. One of its major stated aims is to restore and deepen confidence in our Anglican identity. And this task will require all who care as deeply as the authors of the statement say they do about the future of Anglicanism to play their part."
The truth is nothing will change because two very deeply held understandings of what true religion is, are in play. Mrs. Schori's notion of saving the world for God through Millennium Development Goals is irreconcilable with an evangelical, worldview, which says we are sinners in need of salvation, and that social reform flows from personal encounter not from a UN mandate. Does Williams think for a moment that a couple of days of prayer (retreat) in Canterbury Cathedral will bring a Holy Spirit outpouring and that liberals will suddenly get enlightenment and repent? That's the stuff of novels.
Williams says that the answer lies in "renewing the existing structures of the Communion." Now that has been tried for the past 10 years ever since Lambeth 1998. It has gone absolutely nowhere. TEC pan-sexualists and revisionist bishops have raised the middle finger against Resolution 1:10, repeatedly, over the last decade and have only entrenched their power in the church. "We're not going backwards" said Bishop Jon Bruno.
Over time, the orthodox have become more and more marginalized, their gospel laughed at, and sodomy proclaimed, with some being inhibited, sued or prosecuted. Why has Dr. Williams never spoken up about the marginalization of faithful orthodox Anglicans in North America, but is quick to condemn allegations of homophobia in Nigeria (which were false)? He says nothing about the millions of dollars being spent in litigation by Mrs. Jefferts Schori and her legal schnauzer, David Booth Beers, as they snatch properties away from faithful Anglicans for a future generation of non-existent Episcopalians.
Why is Williams dead silent about all that is going on in TEC? Why has he invited those who consecrated Gene Robinson to Lambeth, some of whom have "partners", according to Mrs. Jefferts Schori. Why are orthodox bishops like Robinson Cavalcanti, Martyn Minns, Bill Atwood, and John Guernsey (to name but a few) denied entrance into Lambeth? Because the litmus test is institutional loyalty. not the gospel! Let Williams explain this to the masses.
The structure cannot be renewed because there are two different gospels in play. Is the politburo capable of transforming itself when its ideology brooks no opposition? If Alexander Solzhenitsyn believed it couldn't be done in the Gulag Archipelago, why does Rowan Williams believe it can be done in the Communion? Does he think that the Anglican Communion Office, formerly the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), will miraculously reform itself when its budget is paid mostly by the revisionist Episcopal Church? Canon Geoffrey Cameron (ACC) recently criticized the US church, which donates generously to the African and Asian evangelical provinces of the Global South, for placing "implicit obligations" on the recipients of their largesse! That's choice. He failed to mention that 60% of his budget also comes from TEC!
Said Williams, "The language of 'colonialism' has been freely used of existing patterns. But emerging from the legacy of colonialism must mean a new co-operation of equals, not a simple reversal of power. If those who speak for GAFCON are willing to share in a genuine renewal of all our patterns of reflection and decision-making in the Communion, they are welcome, especially in the shaping of an effective Covenant for our future together." That's precious.
Do Williams and the whole liberal left (US. and Canada) think, for a moment, that they want or plan ever to share power with the Africans whom they despise and vilify as theological troglodytes, barely out of the jungle and share decision-making? Why did no liberal elitist (or Williams) challenge PA Bishop Charles Bennison's remarks when he likened the growth of the church in Africa to the growth of the Nazi Party, or John Spong's remarks about African Evangelicals at the last Lambeth conference? This is the height of hubris. Frank Griswold said that the Global South will one day catch up to the West and then they will understand all about homosexuality.
No they won't. Look at the way Canadian Primate Fed Hiltz treated Archbishop Greg Venables, recently. Where was the "conversation" when Venables came a calling? There was none. Hiltz went public with his condemnation of Venables. He never had the decency to pick up the phone and talk to him privately about the matters of concern to Canadian evangelicals. Mrs. Schori did the same in the US.
Dr. Williams talks about a "new co-operation of equals".
If it weren't such a big lie, this would be laughable. If Mrs. Schori wants to talk about cooperation of equals, she should begin in her own church and start meaningful "cooperation" talks with Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, instead of threatening to toss him out of the church before he has done anything to deserve it. Then consider what Mrs. Schori said about the GAFCON gathering.
She said, "Much of the Anglican world must be lamenting the latest emission from GAFCON. Anglicanism has always been broader than some find comfortable." EMISSION! Three dictionaries I consulted said that could mean only one thing. It means to "expel air," "to fart" or, in the vernacular, "blow it out your ass". So where is all the vaunted talk of renewal or "cooperation of equals" that Williams talks about? What she really said was: you Africans function at the level of animals!
Why hasn't Williams reprimanded her for using that word? He won't because he is an elitist who genuinely believes that Western minds are better and superior to African minds, and because Mrs. Schori, a theological light- weight compensates for her inadequacies with a big check book. Shaping a covenant is also a fiction.
The present draft covenant has been roundly criticized by NZ theologian Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa (she called it patriarchal) and by TEC liberals. It is going absolutely nowhere in the Communion and it will go nowhere because nobody can find common ground to build it on. Furthermore, we already have the 39 Articles, The Articles of Religion and the Lambeth Quadrilateral to draw on...who needs a covenant that appeals to no one and nothing and for which agreement will never be found?
Here is the real truth. The fulcrum of Anglicanism has moved from the West to the Global South. The Rt. Rev. Bill Frey, former Bishop of Colorado, spoke prophetically at Trinity School for Ministry over 10 years ago when he said the gravitational center of Anglicanism had moved to Africa. And the deeper truth is this, the Africans have had it with the paternalism and post-colonial attitude of Rowan Williams and the Church of England House of Bishops (including the evangelicals) who think that the vast majority of the world's Anglicans owe them their allegiance.
They don't. The Global South doesn't need Canterbury to get to Jesus. To make the point clear, the Nigerian Province changed its canons and constitution to reflect this new reality. The Africans have been deeply hurt and wounded by Western liberals. Williams and the so-called Instruments of Unity have looked down on them, treated them paternalistically, and regarded them as backward and so much more. Now they have risen up and started a spiritual and theological revolution. They will not be stopped, turned aside or deterred.
GAFCON is the beginning. They have gotten on a new train. If the train stops to pick up new passengers on the way, that is Williams' and Schori's loss. If Rowan Williams wants to get on the train, he is going to have to do so on their terms, not his. The days of follow the (Canterbury) leader is over. They know the gospel., Williams' version, whatever it is, and nobody seems to know what that is, is incomprehensible. If there is schism, it began when The Episcopal Church went wildly astray long before Gene Robinson's consecration. That was the last defining act. The TEC HOB has no stomach to put Jack Spong on trial because they know they would never win.
A case in point. Bennison was found guilty of covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor. He should have been put on trial for heresy. He once said, "Jesus was a sinner who forgave himself." That in itself is heretical enough. But if he had been brought up, he would have walked, just as he walked on misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars of diocesan funds. So they finally got him on 30-year old sexual stuff.
Wrote Fr. Greg Brewer, Worship leader at GAFCON, "When the majority of the Communion has the distinct impression of being ignored in favor of a tiny but rich and rebellious white minority, then it is only a matter of time before the credibility and the integrity of that leadership is called into question.
This is especially true when that leadership acts in ways that are in conflict with the historic theological underpinnings of Anglicanism. No wonder the statement expresses the desire to be a part of a structure that is "more representative of the demographic distribution of global Anglicanism today" and is "stronger as an instrument of effective mission, ministry and social involvement. " It may be considered extreme to "not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury". What are these global south leaders to do when it is a fact that there has been a "manifest failure of the Communion Instruments to exercise discipline in the face of overt heterodoxy"? Is there an alternative method of calling these Communion Instruments to account for failing "to guard the unity of the Communion and uphold the clear teaching of the Gospel?"
Concluded Williams, "I believe that it is wrong to assume we are now so far apart that all those outside the GAFCON network are simply proclaiming another gospel. This is not the case; it is not the experience of millions of faithful and biblically focused Anglicans in every province. What is true is that, on all sides of our controversies, slogans, misrepresentations and caricatures abound. And they need to be challenged in the name of the respect and patience we owe to each other in Jesus Christ."
This is unadulterated garbage. The Anglican Communion is going in two different directions. We are already too far apart. For over a decade, at one primatial gathering after another, there has been nothing but verbal sleights of hands and compromises. No more. It is over.
The evangelicals in the Global South have spoken. Those "millions" Williams talks about are evangelicals, not Affirming Catholics or liberals. Williams cites the Apostle in I Cor.11.33: "wait for one another". I would say the same to those in whose name this statement has been issued. Perhaps Williams should consider some of the Scriptures that talk about not having fellowship with heretics.
"Patience" is just another delay tactic that allows the Episcopal Church to go on litigating, tearing orthodox priests out of their parishes, denying them a place at the Episcopal table and blaming "schism" on the Global South. Nothing will ever change now. It can't. Two different gospels are at loggerheads in the Communion.
The Most Rev. Yong Ping Chung, the Archbishop of Southeast Asia (ret.) stood up and prophetically called on Evangelical leaders to speak up and not to remain silent. He cited the famous incident in the Book of Esther where Queen Esther had remained silent in the face of her peoples' suffering. Mordecai's response was plain, "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place."
"Don't be anonymous," cried Archbishop Yong Ping Chung, "Speak up on behalf of the truth even if it costs you."
Williams says that im patience, at all costs, to "clear the Lord's field of the weeds that may appear among the shoots of true life" (Matt.13.29) will put at risk our clarity and effectiveness in communicating just those evangelical and catholic truths which the GAFCON statement presents.
Well, Dr. Williams, those "shoots of true life" are in Nigeria (among other provinces), which has grown from 18 million to 25 million. What "new shoots" are there in the dying Church of England, which is coming apart over women bishops and sodomy? Will the illegal gay marriage at St. Bartholomew's ever be prosecuted? Not a chance. Is it any wonder that the greatest living Anglican theologian Dr. J. I. Packer called for Williams to resign.
The tired old appeal to work together on the structures of the Communion, and to keep waiting forever for the Covenant is dead on arrival. Williams has forgotten that there are some equally clever primates elsewhere in the world, who have been denied a primates' meeting. Primates have been offered a Lambeth where they all sit around in focus "Indaba" groups while Bishops Jon Bruno and John Chane et al are laughing, knowing that back home there is no change in direction for their church. Bishops Schofield, Iker, Ackerman and Duncan are history. Everyone knows it.
GAFCON has stiffened spines for the first time in 500 years and strengthened sagging sinews. Forward in Faith has at last become the Church Militant, and will take action. Church of England Evangelicals will, in time, shuck off their liberal bosses (bishops). If Rowan Williams fails to deliver at Lambeth, the floodwaters will break open over the Church of England, indeed the whole Anglican Communion.Great will be the spiritual and ecclesiastical toll. It is Williams' kairos moment. It is his communion to lose.
END
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