EPISCOPAL BISHOP GRISWOLD: BIBLICAL BELIEVERS ARE LIKE THE DEVIL
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
It’s getting hot. Hotter than hell? Well, maybe. And that’s upping the temp when coming to the Episcopal fight going on right now.
It’s not a sweet rectory meeting. It’s not a nicey-nice doily tea. It’s that which could cause more of a wrenching cleavage than heretofore within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
While the American Episcopal Church goes its immoral way of confessing the homosexual lifestyle as divinely blessed, it then turns on biblical Episcopalians within its ranks as being of "the devil," according to the Episcopal publication, the Living Church, reports Julia Duin of The Washington Times.
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, head of the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church, told fellow clergy at a recent conclave that when biblically-grounded Anglican leadership met recently at the Northern Ireland conference, the latter was "’out for blood’ and (Griswold) likened six conservative Episcopalians to the devil.
"The six, all of whom were in Northern Ireland during the meeting, were Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan; Canon Bill Atwood, general secretary of the Ekklesia Society in Texas; the Rev. Martyn Minns, rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax; the Rev. David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council in Atlanta; the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina; and Diane Knippers, president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy in the District and a member of Truro."
Anglicans who regard the Bible as divine revelation are outraged that the American Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican global church, would be so blasphemous as to honor homosexual unions of any kind that it is threatening to rid the Anglican body of the American presence. The biblical believers cannot stomach being a part of the apostasy and therefore want to cut off those disobedient to Scripture.
There are scores of laypersons within the American Episcopal Church who feel the same. However, they are betwixt and between. Where do they then go? So they want in. Yet they want out.
If they stay in, they’ve got the familiar — the church building, the rectory, the fellowship hall, the ritual and their friends. If they leave, they’re wanderers in search of a loving, biblical congregation. It’s not easy being a biblical believer within the American Episcopal framework these days.
The same can be said for biblical clergy in particular. But more is involved with them. If they stay, they are a part of the apostasy by association. If they leave, they lose their home, salary, health coverage and any other employment necessities attached to the ministerial position.
Yet the biblical laity and clergy are doing something. Some of them have left. I know of one former Episcopal Church near where I live that pulled out of the denomination because of the theologically liberal contingent here in Maine. They are now a part of a biblically aligned Anglican-tradition church headquartered in America. With that, I note that they have taken any notation of "Episcopal" off their church sign. They do not want any association with the American Episcopal Church. So it goes with scores of others — laity, clergy and congregations.
To stay with the American Episcopal arrangement is a painful journey for those who are convicted that God has spoken eternal truth in His Word. The journey is a daily and weekly reminder that the church believers once considered "home" is no longer home but has turned into "enemy territory." Suspicions fly through the air. It’s like living in the foe’s stronghold.
I have received a number of inquiries from Episcopal laypersons asking "What should we do?" They can’t stand to live with the rank evil propagated by their spiritually fallen clergy and yet they just can hardly think of leaving locally what they have come to regard as Their Turf.
At the recent American Episcopal leadership meeting, there was hostility rampant. There were severe words exchanged. And so the conclusion was that for a year there will be a "moratorium" on "consecrating all bishops, saying such a refusal was preferable to discriminating against ‘our gay brothers and lesbian sisters.’"
Thus the deliberately sinful march continues downward, and more downward. With that kind of language, the American Episcopal leadership is pulling itself further and further away from the Anglican world body of biblical believers. And further and further away from the will of God.
With that kind of action, biblical believers simply regard the American body as attempting to bide time in its own power play plots. Instead of bowing to biblical truth and repenting of its sin, the American church stalls for time, fights with biblical believers, and claims the high road for spiritual truth.
In short, the Anglican Communion is in one hellish stew. And that’s not the usual image that the Episcopal / Anglican Communion likes to project to the world.
Nevertheless, it’s true.
For more: http://conservativeposts.us/ <http://conservativeposts.us/>
It’s getting hot. Hotter than hell? Well, maybe. And that’s upping the temp when coming to the Episcopal fight going on right now.
It’s not a sweet rectory meeting. It’s not a nicey-nice doily tea. It’s that which could cause more of a wrenching cleavage than heretofore within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
While the American Episcopal Church goes its immoral way of confessing the homosexual lifestyle as divinely blessed, it then turns on biblical Episcopalians within its ranks as being of "the devil," according to the Episcopal publication, the Living Church, reports Julia Duin of The Washington Times.
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, head of the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church, told fellow clergy at a recent conclave that when biblically-grounded Anglican leadership met recently at the Northern Ireland conference, the latter was "’out for blood’ and (Griswold) likened six conservative Episcopalians to the devil.
"The six, all of whom were in Northern Ireland during the meeting, were Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan; Canon Bill Atwood, general secretary of the Ekklesia Society in Texas; the Rev. Martyn Minns, rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax; the Rev. David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council in Atlanta; the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina; and Diane Knippers, president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy in the District and a member of Truro."
Anglicans who regard the Bible as divine revelation are outraged that the American Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican global church, would be so blasphemous as to honor homosexual unions of any kind that it is threatening to rid the Anglican body of the American presence. The biblical believers cannot stomach being a part of the apostasy and therefore want to cut off those disobedient to Scripture.
There are scores of laypersons within the American Episcopal Church who feel the same. However, they are betwixt and between. Where do they then go? So they want in. Yet they want out.
If they stay in, they’ve got the familiar — the church building, the rectory, the fellowship hall, the ritual and their friends. If they leave, they’re wanderers in search of a loving, biblical congregation. It’s not easy being a biblical believer within the American Episcopal framework these days.
The same can be said for biblical clergy in particular. But more is involved with them. If they stay, they are a part of the apostasy by association. If they leave, they lose their home, salary, health coverage and any other employment necessities attached to the ministerial position.
Yet the biblical laity and clergy are doing something. Some of them have left. I know of one former Episcopal Church near where I live that pulled out of the denomination because of the theologically liberal contingent here in Maine. They are now a part of a biblically aligned Anglican-tradition church headquartered in America. With that, I note that they have taken any notation of "Episcopal" off their church sign. They do not want any association with the American Episcopal Church. So it goes with scores of others — laity, clergy and congregations.
To stay with the American Episcopal arrangement is a painful journey for those who are convicted that God has spoken eternal truth in His Word. The journey is a daily and weekly reminder that the church believers once considered "home" is no longer home but has turned into "enemy territory." Suspicions fly through the air. It’s like living in the foe’s stronghold.
I have received a number of inquiries from Episcopal laypersons asking "What should we do?" They can’t stand to live with the rank evil propagated by their spiritually fallen clergy and yet they just can hardly think of leaving locally what they have come to regard as Their Turf.
At the recent American Episcopal leadership meeting, there was hostility rampant. There were severe words exchanged. And so the conclusion was that for a year there will be a "moratorium" on "consecrating all bishops, saying such a refusal was preferable to discriminating against ‘our gay brothers and lesbian sisters.’"
Thus the deliberately sinful march continues downward, and more downward. With that kind of language, the American Episcopal leadership is pulling itself further and further away from the Anglican world body of biblical believers. And further and further away from the will of God.
With that kind of action, biblical believers simply regard the American body as attempting to bide time in its own power play plots. Instead of bowing to biblical truth and repenting of its sin, the American church stalls for time, fights with biblical believers, and claims the high road for spiritual truth.
In short, the Anglican Communion is in one hellish stew. And that’s not the usual image that the Episcopal / Anglican Communion likes to project to the world.
Nevertheless, it’s true.
For more: http://conservativeposts.us/ <http://conservativeposts.us/>
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