Friday 30 May 2008

The New Beginning?

I have this: without permission such as this should not be displayed, but I think everyone ought to read what this implies:

As you all do know, it's about now three weeks before we all get on our various aircraft and coaches and go down to the Holy Land for our big get together. Some of us are going to Jordan, and some of us are going into Israel. These are great places to go to more than just think about where the Anglican Church is going into the future. Our Archbishop here is leading the way, a mover and shaker that is going to make all the difference. In prayer, in worship, in Bible study, and in planning, we are going to make a difference. A huge difference.

As I understand it, a group of people, real leaders, have put themselves together to get this thing off the ground. They are from what's called the North; they are from Africa; they are from the Global South. Sometimes they say we are from the North. That's the way it can be confusing. Well, whatever, we are from all around, and it's Global. It's the beginning. It's Alpha again. I'm one of those invited along; I shall be going from here just to Israel, that part of it, that part where we will hear the future. It is the future, my friends.

Soon you will hear these names all the more often: Akinola, Orombi, Nzimbi, Minns, Sugden, and, yes, Duncan. Not forgetting, of course, our own Peter Jensen. They have planned and they have planned; they have jetted around the world to make this thing work, and work it surely will.

Look. I am not in the middle of this: far from it. But I tell you what I think is going to happen. Forget the rubbish you hear about a different Communion. It's not going to be that. There's only one and that's the one we're interested in. Before they even sit down in those small groups in Lambeth, we are going to set out the picture for this worldwide Church.

It has to be a provision of leadership that bypasses all this liberalism that has taken hold, especially in the North, and thank God such liberalism did not come here, allowing us to be a point of resistance. Well resistance isn't good enough any more. Forget the monopoly of Anglican Churches and all that about geography: there is a new Global Future, a Global Anglican Future coming. Leadership will be offered to those growing congregations that obey orthodoxy, that uphold biblical truth, and you're going to see a partnership between international bishops and clergy and lay people throughout the world in these congregations. And it starts next month - bishops, clergy and lay people together.

Before they even sit down in those small groups at Lambeth! What are they going to achieve? Those old ways of doing things are over. The final nail in that coffin is they can't even decide to have any resolutions. It will be so different in Jerusalem. I'm tempted to say THIS year in Jerusalem. This year in Jerusalem.

You know, Mouneer Anis said he won't go to GAFCON but he'll go to Lambeth. So many of them simply won't make the break. He says the Global South could split: well who would split it? This road will not be easy: and you can see who hasn't quite got the drive and the vision. But he says, if Lambeth cannot produce anything, we may need a "holding Covenant".

And who would produce such a thing? The Global South as a whole? Can we carry on going round in circles, forever more? That's what Henry Luke Orombi has asked. What we need is a renewed Anglican centre of gravity. I've heard it called an Instrument - because Lambeth and Canterbury and all that has instruments. Well we need clear directions in orthodoxy and clear leadership, leadership that leads, with bishops that oversee, and to bypass those who think so differently that they simply no longer follow the Bible. Watch out for the rise of a real leader, by the way. It's not Archbishop Akinola, a man who has been vilified in all this liberal Anglican propaganda put out over the Internet. It is Robert Duncan. He is the man who will be at the centre. He will be the one for the future. You see, we believe in the personal, in leadership; we do believe in bishops - we are Anglicans. This change to be brought about by GAFCON has to be the centre of gravity, and thanks be to God for the core leadership that has been taking us there, including Bob Duncan, and we will launch this new beginning next month.

It could have been so different. It really could. Remember the Advent Letter last year? Even then it could have been so different. That laid it out well enough. Where is that now in this Lambeth gathering, neutered and impossible? What are we to make of the St. Andrew's Draft of the Covenant? And still these liberals won't accept it. Whatever happened to the pastoral scheme that The Episcopal Church could have used it: oh no,it offended their autonomy. Oh no, the Covenant offends autonomy (until it becomes as weak as dishwater). Oh no, we can't have this and we can't have that. It's a charter for heresy. No wonder heresy pervades Anglicanism today. And the Archbishop of Canterbury talks about Better Bishops? I tell you, we have some excellent bishops already. Well, to hell - yes I choose the word carefully - to hell with autonomy. As we reconstruct this one and only Anglican Communion, to hell with autonomy and let's go towards what we should be doing as a Church under the Lordship of Jesus Christ: Global leadership. Actual leadership. You know, nationalism really is a sin and it has no place in this Church. Something else the liberals say: the Communion is not a Church. How convenient. Come on, under one Lordship a Communion is a Church, and it is about time it was rearranged so that we all recognised one another. Undeer Global leadership, we will.

I don't know what the Archbishop of Canterbury is going to do, or all those bishops who are left with clergy believing in this, that and the other, and those dwindling congregations. I don't know what the Archbishop of York will do. Whatever will the Presiding Bishop in the USA do! I suppose she could go off and do some science. I don't even know what the Mouneer Anis's and those theologians like the Michael Poon's are going to do. I tell you what they can do. They can come back. They can come back to a reconstructed and properly led Church.

This one, this Church, will believe the Bible. And the confessions and so-called historic statements in their plain meaning. These statements are present day statements. The Creeds without crossed fingers. Our God really did intervene in history, and he wasn't interested in Muhammad or other make-believe, or Buddha and sleepy meditating; Christ who was God was born of a virgin, he did miracles in front of people's eyes, he did get out of that grave and then meet the disciples in those locations it says, and he visioned Paul too, turning him around, who became the fantastic organiser like we need fantastic organisation now.

The others, who knows what all the others will do - rusting away like those hulks that we see, brought here to be broken up and recycled for the metal. Let the others write to the unbelievers. Should they come back, no they will not just be recycled - they will be made new. And, by the way, my friends: have you noticed? Not once have I mentioned the H word all the way through. That is because - well it is so simple - when we have the unified Anglican Communion, our Church, that we need and must have, there won't be any need to mention the matter. It sorts itself out.

So, indeed my friends, this year in Jerusalem - in less than one month's time. I'll be there; please pray for me, and pray for GAFCON, which is the beginning.

2 comments:

Cany said...

My oh my... along with being a poorly constructed, once again we see the implications. Our US PB go off and do science? Are they kidding?

Someone does not have much of a grip on reality.

Doorman-Priest said...

It'll all end in tears.