The Anglican archbishop of Sydney (Australia) has banned retired Episcopalian bishop John Shelby Spong from preaching in any of the churches of the Sydney diocese. The Rt. Rev. Peter Jensen gave this order in response to another Australian bishop's invitation for Spong to preach in St. John's Cathedral, and to give a public lecture at St. Aidan's Anglican Girls School (both in Brisbane).
Spong is well known for his denial of almost all the essential truths of the Christian faith--including the existence of a transcendent God, the deity of Christ, the fall of man, the Virgin Birth, the miracles of the New Testament, the atoning power of Christ's death, Christ's physical resurrection and ascension, the moral authority of the Bible, the efficacy of prayer, and the hope of life after death. He has also worked to subvert traditional Biblical gender roles in the Church, by (among other things) agitating for the ordination of women and homosexuals as priests. Despite these things, he was permitted to continue serving as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, until his retirement in 2000. Since then he has maintained an active schedule of speaking and writing and is influential in some Anglican circles.
This latest discord over Spong, between two Australian Anglican archbishops, is the most recent in a series of fractures that have appeared in the Anglican Communion. This denomination numbering almost 80 million members worldwide seems to be headed for a major schism, unless God intervenes to prevent it, over a cluster of disagreements rooted in different views of the authority of Scripture.
(Sources include Christian Post and The Australian.)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sydney closes doors to apostate U.S. bishop
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The only way is love
"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us" (1 John 3:16). Without God and apart from Christ, love itself becomes impossible.
Hmmmm--is the post that was later filled by the infamous Gene Robinson? If so, it seems that particular chair has been the seat of much discord, and the abandonment of God's plain commands. At its root, the impending schism in the Anglican church is NOT over homosexuality, gender roles, theology, but rather over the issue of whether men will subject themselves to God's Word or insist upon ascending to that position themselves. But it does seem the world is fixated upon the details resulting from this usurpation of God's sovereignty. Er, excuse me, the ATTEMPTED usurpation. He remains sovereign. And I, for one, am glad of it. Perhaps, as this scenario continues to unfold, we shall see the glory of God revealed in those who remain true to His word at any cost. The others will simply fall back into a social club with some semblance of moral overtones. I've one word for the good archbishop who closes pulpits under his care to such an one as Spong....."good on yer, Mate!"
Not the same diocese (Spong was in Newark, while Robinson is in New Hampshire), but certainly the same denomination.
At next month's meeting of the Anglican House of Bishops in New Orleans, The Episcopal Church (U.S.) will have to answer to demands from the worldwide Anglican Communion that they pledge not to consecrate any more practicing homosexuals as bishops. If TEC refuses, the U.S. denomination risks being excluded from full membership in the Anglican Communion worldwide. Blessings on the African and Asian bishops who brought about this confrontation!
Well, pledging to not "consecrate" any more practicing homosexuals as high church leaders is a step--a VERY tiny step, in a slightly better direction. I'd have to fault the lads in the larger Anglican communion for failing to take the full stand they ought...that would be to require that any such "leaders" presently "consecrated" must be either removed from office or left to remain on condition of leaving their sinful relationships. And I'd add into the pot the requirement that present leaders cease promoting this sort of blatant sexual sin as being moral, right, good, normal. I seriously doubt the American church will go along even with the watered down version of "repent" placed before them. In a way, I sincerely hope they don't. Then it will be their own doing that they separate, and they will no longer be able to "blame" the "renegade" churches that are leaving the Episcopal church in the US in droves..and aligning themselves with foreign-based bishops who hew to biblical standards of sexuality. It is a plain case of the apostate calling the faithful by the name they themselves merit. It amazes me that so long a time has passed since Robinson's appointment. If MY house were on fire, I doubt I'd wait three years to bring the fire brigade round to see what they might do concerning the matter. On news of the impending appointment, a proclamation ought to have gone out from headquarters demanding they choose, then and there, whether to remain in communion with the greater church, or to separate into their own social club called church. Now all that's been gained is for the (truly) apostate to become further entrenched, and maneouvre for "better position". Of course, they fail to realise they are dealing, not with mere men, but with the God who made them, gave is His etermal word, and requires we live by it. He who sits in the heavens.....laughs!
On news of the impending appointment, a proclamation ought to have gone out from headquarters demanding they choose, then and there, whether to remain in communion with the greater church, or to separate into their own social club called church.
Actually, one of the factors that has made things shake out as they did is that the Anglican Communion is decentralized and has no "headquarters." At the same time, the Archbishop of Canterbury still occupies a certain position of respect within the Communion...and he seems to have been much more concerned with holding the Communion together than with maintaining Biblical standards of righteousness.
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