If I should say, "My foot has slipped," Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.
Psalm 94:18-19 NASB |
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A Message from Bishop Anderson
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Bishop Anderson
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Dear Friends of the Anglican Realignment, It seems at times that all the news that comes across my desk points to the degrading of our faith, culture and Western society. Although there are several articles of that genre that I need to flag, there is one piece of miraculous news here in the Atlanta area. The other day a deranged young man with a previous felony conviction stormed a local area elementary school with an AK-47 and nearly 500 rounds of ammunition. When this happened, nearly everyone's heart skipped beats, and prayers for the children's safety commenced. Although shots were fired, the unstable young man didn't physically harm any children, teachers or police, and he did surrender to police peacefully, in large measure because of heroic negotiation by the school bookkeeper. How the young man, who has a felony conviction and a history of mental issues, acquired the firearm is still being investigated by the police. For now, there is an entire city breathing a sigh of relief and giving thanks to God for a merciful outcome. In Egypt, unfortunately violence continues. Some blame the army for over-reaction, but for those with a clear memory, the Muslim Brotherhood has a long history of violent acts including being implicated in the assassination of then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Although Mohammed Morsi was elected democratically, his tenure was moving rapidly to deliver on a religiously controlled state, and the violence against Christians and their property was continuing unabated. It is not uncommon for organizations that intend to operate in a totalitarian manner to acquire their position initially by a democratic process and then restructure the government to accomplish their intended ends. Militant Islam is the chief danger that Egypt faces, and the majority of its citizens really don't want an Iranian-style government. Islam is inherently political, and wherever it exists in any significant strength, it attempts to move toward an Islamic state. This is a time for all of us to pray for the freedom-loving people of Egypt, and especially for our Christian brothers and sisters, their spiritual leaders and communities, that they will be preserved safely and that their place in Egypt will be secure and continuous. Why our United States government doesn't understand the grave danger that militant Islam poses not only to Egypt but to our country as well is baffling. It's like a chicken inviting a fox to lunch, thinking the main course will be a salad.... Read the rest of Bishop Anderson's article here.
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A Message from Canon Ashey
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Canon Ashey
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Canon Ashey is traveling today and was not able to write an article.
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When Egypt emerges from its bloody chaos, it needs true democracy, not a dictatorship of the majority
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Source: Anglican Mainstream
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Bishop Nazir-Ali
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August 22, 2013
By Michael Nazir-Ali
There is considerable anguish and hand-wringing amongst the armchair orientalists and strategists over the situation in Egypt. Those who thought that the "Arab Spring" was a harbinger of secular, Western-style democracy can now see it is nothing of the kind. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-led regime was headed inexorably towards a Sunni theocracy based on an unreconstructed imposition of Wahabbi-type Sharia which had led already, for example, to the harassment of women who would not abide by Islamist diktat over dress, freedom of movement and associating with unrelated males. Then there are those who had put their money on "moderate Islamism" being the future for the Middle East and beyond. If this meant sacrificing the freedoms of women, religious minorities and others, so be it. It had happened before, had it not, with Assyrians, Armenians and Jews? They have been surprised and even angered by the sudden reversal of fortunes.
The West has a long history of backing dubious Islamist groups in the region, often at the behest of this orientalist elite. By supporting the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan, for instance, in their struggle against the Soviet-backed government there, it unwittingly created not only the Taliban but, arguably, international Islamist radicalism and terrorism. Similar stories can be told of Libya, Syria, and now Egypt.
Fifteen million people signed the petition to remove the Brotherhood from power, and many more were involved in demonstrations up and down the country. In the absence of a parliament, how else was the will of the people to be expressed?...
The rest of the article may be found here.
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August letter from Archbishop Wabukala
| Source: GAFCON/GFCA
August 22, 2013
To the Faithful of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and friends
from Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya
and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates' Council
 | | Archbishop Wabukala |
My dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
As I write, we are now only two months away from GAFCON 2013. There is much still to do, but over the past month great strides have been made and I am confident that this will be another wonderful and historic occasion. Many of those who shared in the fellowship of our first gathering in Jerusalem remarked that it had been a once in a lifetime experience, but I believe that GAFCON 2013 will be equally memorable, yet in a different way. We remember the mighty acts of God in order to build faith for the present and, with thankful hearts for the foundation laid in Jerusalem, we look to the Lord to do a new thing as we gather in Nairobi.
Last week, my brother Archbishop Stanley of Uganda reminded us of why GAFCON 2013 is so necessary. It is now ten years since the Episcopal Church of the United States consecrated Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, despite the fact that he had left his wife and family and then later entered into a sexual relationship with a man. This action opened the door to the fragmentation of an already fragile Communion. It was in deliberate defiance of the collegial mind of the bishops worldwide expressed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference and became a serious hindrance to those of us committed to biblical evangelism and discipleship.
Archbishop Stanley rightly speaks of a spiritual cancer in the Communion, but we need to see that the overthrow by some Churches of the creation order of male and female is just one symptom of the disease. The cause is spiritual, the overthrow of God's Word as revealed and authoritative truth. So it is very appropriate that Archbishop Stanley also speaks of the need for confessing Anglicans to see themselves as a movement of revival, taking inspiration from the East African Revival. We need to learn from our history. Divisions about the Bible had spread to some missionary organisations in East Africa after the First World War, but the leaders of the East African Revival knew that there could be no true evangelism and no true revival unless the Scriptures are allowed to speak as what they really are, the inspired Word of God.
So we can see why our affirmation in 2008 of the Jerusalem Declaration was so very important. We described it as 'a contemporary rule... to guide the movement for the future'. Anything less would have 'healed the wound of my people lightly' (Jeremiah 8:11) given the widespread confusion about the gospel and Christian discipleship which we sought to address. Let me remind you of the commitment we made in the Jerusalem Statement to restore Scripture to its rightful place in the life of the Communion....
The rest of the article may be found here.
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New Mexico: Photographers Discriminated Against Gay Couple, Court Rules
| Source: Wall Street Journal
August 22, 2013
By Jacob Gershman
New Mexico's highest court ruled Thursday that the owners of an Albuquerque wedding photography company violated state law when they turned away a lesbian couple who wanted to hire them to take pictures of their ceremony.
Upholding a lower-court ruling, the New Mexico Supreme Court held that the company's refusal was an act of discrimination. They rejected the argument of the devout Christian owners of Elane Photography who claimed they had a free speech and religious right not to shoot the ceremony....
The rest of the article may be found here.
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Germany to introduce 'indeterminate' gender to birth certificates
| Source: Independent
August 18, 2013
By Tony Paterson
In what has been hailed as a legal revolution, Germany is to become the first country in Europe to start giving parents the option of a third, "indeterminate" gender description on the birth certificates for their newborns, in addition to standard choices of male or female.
The option of "gender: 'blank'" is to be introduced throughout Germany from November in an attempt to enable children born with characteristics of both sexes to decide whether they want to be considered male or female in later life. The new law also stipulates that individuals can opt to remain of indeterminate gender for their whole lives....
The rest of the article may be found here.
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Archbishop Welby: Church is on edge of precipice
| Source: The Province
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Archbishop Welby
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August 21, 2013
By John Bingham
The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned that the Anglican Church is tottering on the brink of disintegration amid disputes between liberals and traditionalists.
In his most stark comments yet about divisions over issues such as homosexuality, the Most Rev. Justin Welby said the church was coming perilously close to plunging into a "ravine of intolerance."
He even drew parallels between the crisis afflicting the 77 million-strong worldwide network of Anglican churches and the atmosphere during the Civil War. And he likened the collective behaviour of the church to a "drunk man" staggering ever closer to the edge of a cliff.
Yet he added that many of the issues over which different factions in the church were fighting were "incomprehensible" to people outside it.
He spoke out during a sermon in Monterrey, Mexico, which he was visiting as part of a plan to travel to every province of the Anglican Communion at the start of his ministry....
The rest of the article may be found here.
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Event: Reformation Anglicanism with Ashley Null
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This fall the Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas under the direction of Bishop Steve Wood  will host The Rev'd Dr. Ashley Null for a two-day retreat and conference on Thomas Cranmer and Contemporary Anglican Worship.
The event begins Tuesday, October 15 at 8:30 a.m. with worship and concludes on October 16 at 5:00 p.m. Over the course of two days Dr. Null will deliver eight lectures on Cranmer and Contemporary Anglican Worship. There will be ample time for discussion, questions, and networking over meals.
Registration information is here.
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