Dear Friends of the Anglican Realignment,

Last week I wrote about issues of homosexuality and the impact its advocates are having in a number of areas. The growing pressure that the print, television and social media exerts on us to either support gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered relationships or be silent and invisible is frightening. If you dare to speak out and voice the point of view expressed in the Bible with regard to sexuality and marriage, you are branded a fundamentalist and a hateful homophobe, and targeted for retribution. Your employer may fire you. Someone may sue you. Your place of work may be picketed or hacked. Your home may even be targeted, perhaps by news media camped on your front lawn, annoying your neighbors and wanting a statement from you, your spouse or children. If you refuse to wear the modern equivalent of the Nero-era 666 on your forehead, then you are to be labeled, identified and targeted. I wonder if in ten or fifteen years Christians and Jews who refuse to embrace the gay agenda and worldview will be hunted down and targeted for social and economic ruination.

Recently we commented on bakers, photographers and florists whose Constitutional rights of religious belief and speech were being infringed by United States courts which were deferring to LGBT invented rights newly discovered. You may remember that in previous years I have argued that many of the supposed reasons put forward by supporters of gay marriage were also applicable to old fashioned polygamy, and that if the former succeeded then other areas of "anything goes" would soon emerge. This last week a Utah federal judge has proved my point by ruling that parts of Utah's rules on marriage and polygamy are unconstitutional. While leaving intact (for the moment) the law against bigamy, he struck down the cohabitation portions of the law. The lawsuit was brought by Kody Brown, a Utah resident, and his four wives. He and Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn all together have 17 children, and the TLC cable television program has carried their ongoing story under "Sister Wives." It is clear that much of the media, and specifically TLC Cable Channel, believe that weird or aberrant behavior brings in viewers and advertising dollars. The problem is that it makes many strange things look innocuous and as normal as apple pie. Before we get mad at the judge, perhaps we should get mad at the TLC Cable Channel for pushing such programming into our living rooms. This particular case is referenced as Brown v. Buhman (2:11-cv-652).

Nevertheless, as we celebrate the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us look to him, the author and finisher of our faith, for hope and encouragement. He will not leave us or forsake us no matter what our circumstances are here on earth.

Keep the faith, and live in the Lord's joy,

+David

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, 

CEO, American Anglican Council

Dear Friends in Christ,

Increasingly, among an estimated 130 of the 193 nations on this planet, there is no room for Christians in the public square to express our views on what is right and what is wrong, according to the Bible and natural law, without being marginalized, ostracized, vilified and even losing our jobs or other rights we would otherwise enjoy and exercise. I remember facing this reality on a Sunday morning at Truro Church in Fairfax, VA years ago when a visiting Anglican bishop from Pakistan shared how the only job he could find was working underground, neck deep in the filth of the sewers - all because he professed to follow Jesus Christ.

So why should we be surprised at the A&E Network's decision to give the patriarch of the popular "Duck Dynasty" family series the heave-ho for his comments in GQ about homosexuality? Phil Robertson, patriarch of "Duck Dynasty," frequently alludes to his faith and ends virtually every episode with a prayer around the family table. It has also become one of the most, if not the most, popular series on the A&E cable network. . . Read more.

This map from Open Doors USA shows the 50 worst countries for Christian persecution.

December 19, 2013

By Al Mohler

...So the controversy over Duck Dynasty sends a clear signal to anyone who has anything to risk in public life: Say nothing about the sinfulness of homosexual acts or risk sure and certain destruction by the revolutionaries of the new morality. You have been warned.

In a statement released before his suspension, Phil Robertson told of his own sinful past and of his experience of salvation in Christ and said:

Those are fighting words, Phil. They are also the gospel truth.  Read more.

Phil Robertson of "Duck Dynasty"

Anglican Perspective
December 19, 2013

In this week's Anglican Perspective Canon Ashey examines the last portion of Article IV of the 39 Articles concerning Christ's coming again. Sign up for the Anglican Perspective email.