Breaking up is hard to do: The UMC split

On Thanksgiving Day I had a chance to talk to my brother in law about the split occurring in his 

no longer "United" Methodist Church. His church recently had a problem when they got a "celibate" lesbian minister. Needless to say, membership shrunk as did giving. The church ditched her, but they have not recovered their numbers. I told him about what happened in eastern North Carolina where 32% of churches voted to leave as documented below,

 From WITN,

 Over 200 congregations within the United Methodist Church in North Carolina were approved Saturday to leave the church over disagreements regarding LGBT clergy and marriage within the church.

The North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church gathered for a special called annual conference at Methodist University in Fayetteville.

The purpose of the conference was to receive requests and ratify disaffiliation for 249 churches.

“The complete process requires a two-thirds approval vote of eligible church members in each church wishing to disaffiliate and then ratification by a majority of the members of Annual Conference,” the North Carolina conference said in a press release.

The result of the conference vote was 957 yes to approve disaffiliation and 165 no.

The North Carolina Conference is made up of churches from 56 counties in Eastern Carolina.

According to the church, the 249 disaffiliating churches represent 32% of the congregations in the conference and around 22 percent of the membership.

“Rev. Dr. Smith called for a ruling by Bishop Fairley as to whether the Conference could approve disaffiliation agreements for churches that were not based on Discipline Paragraph 2553, which specifically is about disagreement on matters of human sexuality. Bishop Fairley has 30 days after the special session to make a ruling, which will then go to the denomination’s Judicial Council. The Judicial Council is the church’s highest judicial body,” the conference said.

The conference in its press release said that most of the local church votes were not unanimous.

Ratified disaffiliations are effective Dec. 31, 2022, if the church completes all parts of the agreement by that date.

For a look at the churches here in Eastern Carolina that voted to disaffiliate, click here.

My brother in law does not know what his church is going to do, and I suspect that he and most of his fellow congregants do not fully understand the theological problems and heresy involved when one goes over to the LGBT+ side and changes what the Bible calls sinful into a blessing.

The newly formed Global Methodist Church is all the more richer with these 249 churches. Let us pray that they keep the faith and thrive.

 

Rapture Time

 The sudden disappearances described in this Sunday's reading from Matthew 24:36-44 have been argued over for ages about whether they represent pre-tribulation rapture or post-tribulation. 

‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

For the pre-tribulation folks I quote Revelation 7:2-4,

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,  saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”  And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

For the post-tribulation folks, I give them the following from Revelation 7: 9-14, 

 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,  saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”  I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

I am not 100% convinced that being "taken" means being "raptured" in the first place, but one day I will find out, and there will be no need and no time for arguments. 

Giving Thanks

This year as I make the ever treacherous drive to the in-laws' house for Thanksgiving Day, I will be concentrating first on the traffic and second on all the things we have for which we are thankful. I   must thank God not only for the "good" things (good in my mind), but also to thank Him for the things I considered to be "bad" at the time. With God's help I got through those times, and with His help I will get through them when they come around again. That is the hope Christians carry as they encounter the joys and sorrows of this life, a hope that non-Christians can't understand. Our sadness for them should motivate us to explain why we have hope. 

Lord will give me the words when that time comes. 

The Colossian Creed

 In this Sunday's reading from Colossians 1:11-20, Paul writes what I consider to be the Colossian Creed:

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

What an impressive statement of faith! 

Recent Trans Legal Actions

 A couple of recent posts came through concerning the trans craze in which underage children are put through mutilating surgery or hormonal treatment. One post with bad news and the other with possible good news coming out of a bad situation.

First, the bad news from Premier Christian News,

Retired midfielder Vasilis Tsiartas has been sentenced by an Athens court to ten months in prison and a 5,000 fine after he was charged with hate speech following comments he made in 2017.

Tsiartas wrote on his Facebook page that he hoped "the first sex changes are carried out on the children of those who ratified this abomination," according to news outlet The Greek Times.

"Legitimise paedophiles, too, to complete the crimes," he continued. Tsiartas later added "God created Adam and Eve”.

The law being criticised by the Tsiartas removed the medical requirement from the process of changing legal gender, and dropped the minimum age to 15.

Following his comments, prominent Greek trans activist Marina Galanos filed a lawsuit against him.

The 49-year-old has become the first person to be convicted after Greece introduced an anti-racist law for public incitement of violence or hatred on the basis of gender identity.

This is the danger of criminalizing "hate speech". Anyone who is offended by anything can accuse the offender of "hate speech".

Let us pray that he wins his appeal.

Now the possible good news from The Christian Post, 

Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old detransitioner residing in California, has filed a notice of intent to sue the medical facilities that performed procedures that have left her disfigured. The notice of intent to sue in California Superior Court lists three doctors practicing in the Los Angeles area and two medical companies based in California as defendants in the pending lawsuit..

In a statement announcing the of intent to sue, Cole described her teenage years as “a culmination of excruciating pain, regret, and most importantly injustice.” Cole recalled that she was “emotionally and physically damaged and stunted by so-called medical professionals in my most important developmental period.”.

“I was butchered by an institution that we trust more than anything else in our lives,” she added. “What is worse is that I am not alone in my pain. I will ensure that the blood and tears of detransitioners like me will not be in vain. It is impossible for me to recoup what I have lost, but I will fight to ensure that no other children will be harmed at the hands of these liars and mutilators.”

The notice of intent to sue elaborates on Cole's circumstances: “Chloe is a biological female who suffered from a perceived psychological issue ‘gender dysphoria,’” the document states. “Under Defendants’ advice and supervision, between 13-17 years old Chloe underwent harmful transgender treatment, specifically, puberty blockers, off-label cross-sex hormone treatment, and a double mastectomy.”

The notice classified Cole’s experience as a form of “medical experimentation,” adding, “She now has deep emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust for the medical system.” Specifically, the letter adds that because of acts carried out by the defendants, Cole “suffered mutilation to her body and lost social development with her peers at milestones that can never be reversed or regained.”

“Defendants coerced Chloe and her parents to undergo what amounted to a medical experiment by propagating two lies. First, Defendants falsely informed Chloe and her parents that Chloe’s gender dysphoria would not resolve unless Chloe socially and [medically] transitioned to appear more like a male. Chloe has been informed by her parents that Defendants even gave them the ultimatum: ‘Would you rather have a dead daughter or a live son?’”

The notice of intent to sue notes that “the vast majority of childhood gender dysphoria cases resolve by the time the child reaches adulthood, with the patient’s self-perception reverting back to align with their biological sex.”

According to the letter, “Despite an undeniable body of relevant medical literature, Defendants never once informed Chloe of the possibility, indeed the high likelihood, that her gender dysphoria would resolve, without cross-sex treatment, by the time she reached adulthood.”

“Defendants fraudulently concealed that information from Chloe that the only way to resolve her psychological condition was to undergo physical, chemical, and social transition to a male role,” the document added. 

Citing a longterm study finding that “gender dysphoric individuals who undergo sex reassignment continue to have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric morbidity as compared with the general population,” the letter lamented that “Defendants intentionally obscured these facts and defrauded Chloe and her parents in order to perform what amounted to a lucrative transgender medical experiment on Chloe.”

Although Cole was “advised that the distress she experienced because of her gender dysphoria would resolve as she transitioned,” her “distress always came back worse” following the “initial relief” that occurred after “each phase of transition.” Cole’s double mastectomy, which was performed on her at 15, caused her to experience suicidal thoughts and a deteriorating state of mental health.

Cole told Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson last week that the doctors named as defendants in the letter committed medical malpractice. The notice of intent to sue outlined some of the claims of medical malpractice, including the absence of “specific information regarding the actual risks of the testosterone and puberty blockers” she was first prescribed at age 13. 

If this lawsuit succeeds, maybe, just maybe, physicians and hospital systems will end this practice. 

Dire Predictions

In today's reading from Luke 21:5-19, Jesus gives some dire predictions.

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’

 They asked him, ‘Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’ And he said, ‘Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and, “The time is near!” Do not go after them.

‘When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

‘But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

All of His predictions seem to have come true in the past and continue into the present.

What more will come? 

Re-read the Book of Revelation.

 

When "what you feel in your heart" is the proper moral compass

 From The Christian News, 

A study by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University surveyed 2,275 US adults in July and asked them what they would like to see as America's moral guide. 

The America's Values Study found 42 per cent of respondents believe that "what you feel in your heart" is the proper moral compass. 

We all know that some people have evil feelings in  their hearts. I think that disqualifies the heart as a moral compass.

It also discovered that 29 per cent of people believe that majority rule is the best way to decipher between right and wrong. 

When there is no belief in absolute truth, and a true right and a true wrong, moral relativism rules. So how can the majority rule when everyone judges right and wrong for themselves, and your morality is your morality, and my morality is mine?

George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center said people used to get their moral compass from faith. However, the government now seems to have more influence in that area. 

"The research indicates that people are now more likely to take their moral cues from government laws and policies than from church teachings about biblical principles," he said. 

Oh great, our oh so moral politicians are going to set our moral compass. 

"Americans have historically said that when they elect a president they are choosing a chief executive, not a pastor-in-chief, but that distinction appears to be passé. One could reasonably argue that the nation's ideas about right and wrong are now more likely to come from the White House and the halls of Congress, than from our houses of worship. 

I recall Judges 21:25

"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

How did that work out for Israel back then? 

Will history repeat itself?

 

The Revised Common Lectionary Strikes Again

 This Sunday's reading from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5,13-17 is another example of how the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) commits sins of omission by deleting verses which might disturb the pewsitters.

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

(Verses 6-12 were deleted)

13 But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Let's look at the verses that offended the RCL committee,

6 And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, 10 and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, 12 so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.

I can see how preachers might struggle with the lawless one and Satan, and God sending people delusions, but I think the RCL doesn't want us to hear about judgement and condemnation of unbelievers because those are the types of things the RCL usually shields churchgoers from.

 

Imaginary Bogeyman: The White Christian Nationalist

Okay, first we heard that "Christian Nationalism" was the next existential threat to America. Then, it was Christo-fascism. Now it is "White Christian Nationalism" that is the new bogeyman. All of these terms have come to my inbox in just the past three months. The left needs a new enemy, and it is desperately trying to identify it with something that will stick. I personally think that they are imagining monsters in their closets, but they are taking it seriously enough to hold seminars about this new Frankenstein, and the Episcopal organization has to get in on the act. The report below demonstrates how deluded, in a paranoid sense, Episcopal leadership is.

 

 From the Episcopal News Service,

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, in an Oct. 26 seminar at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., reiterated The Episcopal Church’s position that white Christian nationalism is a gross perversion of Christianity, and that Christians must refute such ideologies.

The seminar, titled “How White Christian Nationalism threatens our democracy,” took place at the university’s Center on Faith and Justice and was hosted by the Rev. Jim Wallis, the center’s founding director and founder of Sojourners. Co-sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Washington National Cathedral and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the discussion brought together Wallis, Curry, BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler and University of Oklahoma sociology professor Samuel Perry.

“I would say that white Christian nationalism is the single greatest threat to democracy in America,” Wallis warned in his introduction. “It’s also the greatest threat to the integrity of the Christian witness.”

Perry, author of “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy,” helped define the term that has rocketed to prominence since the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Though it spans a variety of political and cultural phenomena, Perry said, white Christian nationalism is at its core a reactionary movement fueled by anger about shifting power dynamics.

“It is an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of American civic life with a very particular kind of Christianity,” Perry said. “That is a Christianity that isn’t characterized by, say, giving my life to Jesus or wanting to be a good disciple, but it is about white Christian ethno-culture, a traditionalist Christian subculture that characterizes ‘people like us,’ that we have been in charge and that we are the rightful rulers and our culture should hold sway and it should be institutionalized in American political life.”

Curry agreed with that characterization and argued that the basis of white Christian nationalism is not about differing opinions or interpretations of Christian teaching, but a uniquely dangerous movement. It should not be equated with the broad spectrum of evangelical Christianity, for example.

“It’s not conservative Christianity. Obviously, it’s not liberal Christianity either,” Curry said. “What we’re actually describing is an ideology that’s not really a religion, but it looks like a religion and invokes language and symbols that have religious traffic. … If you look at the complex of white Christian nationalism, as an ideology, you lay it alongside Jesus of Nazareth and we’re not even talking about the same thing.”

Curry echoed Wallis’ assessment of the present movement as a revival of Christian-associated white supremacy that has surfaced throughout American history, citing the significance of Christian voices in defending slavery in the 19th century.

When Wallis asked Curry how white Christian nationalism has affected him personally and what he fears most, Curry recalled being warned by his grandmother about “the hooded men” of the Ku Klux Klan, which claimed to be a Christian movement.

Wallis, Perry and Tyler provided the context for the current wave of white Christian nationalism, which is now being openly espoused by some Republican elected officials and candidates, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. In a Politico national poll in May, 61% of Republicans supported declaring the U.S. a Christian nation, and more Republican candidates are supporting such ideas in their campaigns for the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

In the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, during which right-wing rioters invoked Christian language and imagery, The Episcopal Church committed to the work of “deradicalization”; at its meeting later that month, Executive Council voted to ask the church’s Office of Government Relations and Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations “to develop a plan for The Episcopal Church’s holistic response to Christian nationalism and violent white supremacy.” The Episcopal Public Policy Network released an educational series on how churches can join in the deradicalization effort this past summer.

Perry said that in addition to being the biggest threat to American democracy, white Christian nationalism is the biggest threat to religious liberty because its proponents have weaponized the Christian identity.

“I think it’s a huge threat to a faithful Christian life and to a flourishing Christianity in this country. And I think it’s the single biggest threat to religious freedom for all that we face in America today,” Perry said, “because Christian nationalism as a political ideology and a cultural framework creates second-class citizens for everyone who’s not Christian in their view.”

Personally, I think these people have created a strawman. After they first shout, "Its alive, its alive!" , and then they imagine it destroying every radical progressive utopia they ever envisioned. As they see their average Sunday attendance and membership plummet, they have to blame something other than themselves, so it falls upon the "white Christian Nationalist" (A.K.A. Donald Trump and his supporters - real or imagined) to blame.

These people need to wake up from their nightmare and face the facts. What they have created with their revisionist theology is the real monster in the closet. 

I always said that the monster returns to its creator, and you know what happens then.

I hereby invite Presiding Bishop Curry to my little church for a few weeks for a dose of reality.