Meanwhile in Finland, the Persecution of Christians Continues

I have been following the case of Finnish MP, Päivi Räsänen, for several years. The persecution that she has been subjected to because she dared to go against the LGBTQrstuv+etc agenda from a Christian worldview is something that is hard to believe.  

From Christianity Today, 

 The consequences of one tweet posted seven years ago continue to reverberate for Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen, who is at the centre of an ongoing legal case for “hate speech”.

In 2019 Räsänen, who is also a former government minister, sent out a tweet questioning the appropriateness of the Evangelical Lutheran Church being a sponsor for a Pride event in Helsinki.

Her tweet also included an image of a Bible verse from Romans chapter 1, which states, “The men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

In 2021 Räsänen was charged with “agitation against a minority group” under the section of the Finnish criminal code that deals with “war crimes and crimes against humanity”. The charges related to the tweet, to her comments in a radio debate, and to a church pamphlet published in 2004. The co-publisher of the pamphlet, Bishop Juhana Pohjola, was also charged.

In the debate and the pamphlet, Räsänen argued that, according to the Bible, marriage is between one man and one woman and that homosexual relationships are sinful.

Both Räsänen and Pohjola were acquitted of all charges in 2022 and again in 2023. However the prosecutor has appealed yet again, taking the case to the Supreme Court, which is set to hear oral arguments on 30 October.

One of the key issues in the trial is Räsänen’s use of the word “sin”. Described as hateful and insulting by the prosecution, Räsänen’s defence notes this is the term used in the Bible and that as such it is not her that is on trial, but the Bible itself.

The Finnish State prosecutor, Anu Mantila, said, “You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal."

This is a perfect illustration of the dangers of hate speech laws. 

Even if the Supreme Court rules in her favor, the prosecutor's dogged pursuit of this case sends a chilling message to everyone in Finland that you do not dare to argue against the LGBTQrstuv+etc agenda from a Biblical worldview. 

Could it happen here? 

Giving it up for Jesus

 This Sunday's reading from Luke 14:25-33 says it all,

Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

 Can anyone do it?

Root Causes of Mass Shootings and the Solution

In a recent essay by John Horvat at The Imaginative Conservative, he identifies three factors that contribute to mass shootings like that of Minneapolis from recurring.

1. A Refusal to Accept a Moral Law
2. Normalizing Abnormal Behavior
3. God does not have any sovereignty over the world

He sums it up with this, 

Such revelations should cause political leaders and Church officials to change their perspectives on why these things are happening and how they might be stopped. They must realize that no system in the world can monitor all the potential Westmans waiting for their chance to defy God’s moral order. An evil and powerful force is unleashed in society that cannot be opposed by ordinary means.

What is so disconcerting about the whole affair is that the response to the massacre changed nothing. Everyone—both on the left and the right, politicians as well as clerics—has reverted to their default positions inside the framework of the liberal premises.

The debate is often reduced to deciding between adding more security and allowing fewer guns. There is no need to promote individual or societal morals. There is no need for restrictions on unbridled license. Satan need not be combated directly.

Everyone rightly mourns the victims, the dead and wounded effects of this cowardly act. No one addresses the cause found in Satan, the evil he spreads, and the destruction of God’s moral law.

Change must come from within hearts and society. Either society returns to God, or these things will continue happening. When a society abandons God and His moral law, no one is safe, not even little Catholic children, praying before classes during their first week back to school.

I couldn't agree more, 

Missing Verses

This week's Epistle reading is Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16. Note that the editors of the Revised common Lectionary have deleted verses 9-14. I have included these and highlighted them in red.

 Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. 4 Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ 6 So we can say with confidence,

‘The Lord is my helper;

   I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?’

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. 

9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them. 10 We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. 13 Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. 

15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Isn't it interesting that those who teach would delete the warning to "not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings..." ????

Perhaps they are aware that they might be the ones who are guilty of teaching strange things.

Meanwhile in India

I have been seeing an increasing number of reports from India of attacks on Christians ever since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the most recent example from Premier Christian News, 

A Christian pastor in India has been assaulted by Hindu extremists who accused him of "distributing blood" during communion.

A video - uploaded by the attackers themselves and shared on social media - shows the group entering a small church in Solapur in Maharashtra last month.

The so-called 'cow protectors' confronted the pastor over the communion wine and although he explained that it was grape juice, the group demanded to see a license for distributing it. They then seized the remaining juice and assaulted him.

The persecution watchdog Open Doors said the Hindutva nationalists claimed the pastor gathered 20 to 25 women and gave them “addictive” red wine. He was also falsely accused of using bribes to carry out coercive conversions.

In another false post circulating on social media the church is accused of “forcefully offering red wine to the women believers and intoxicating and defiling them.”

In much of India, alcoholic beverages are banned.  

Open Doors local partner Radhika ( name changed for security reasons) said: “Hindu extremists distort and fabricate claims to fit their agenda and incite fear and hostility against Christians.

“Recently, incidents of church disruptions have become increasingly common in Maharashtra.

“There is immense pressure from Hindutva-led state government and Hindutva extremist groups to enforce a new anti-conversion law in the state.” 

There are currently 11 states in India which have enacted anti-conversion laws. They are ostensibly put in place to curb religious conversions carried out through inducements or coercion. However critics argue that in reality they give a free hand to Hindutva nationalists to marginalise and fuel violence against minority religions.

Radhika added: “Several Hindutva political leaders are known to be spreading hate speech and accusing the Christian community of coercive conversion.

“The extremists continue to attack the churches and pastors.”

India is number 11 on Open Doors’ World Watch List, an annual ranking system of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.

Since the Mughal empire brought Islam to India, there has been backlash from the Hindus against forcible conversions. Even though St. Thomas brought Christianity to India early on, it seems that hostility towards the Christian minority was not too severe until after British colonialism came in. After India's independence from the British we first saw terrible Muslim vs Hindu violence and the mass exodus of Muslims to Pakistan, and they are still leaving India today. Christians are the obvious next target of the Hindu extremists who want to rid the country of all "foreign" influences. Never mind that Christianity has been there for nearly 2000 years.

My Indian friends say that this stuff just goes on in the "villages" where there is a lot of ignorance. 

I say that P.M. Modi could stop it if he wanted to.

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering

This Sunday's reading from Hebrews 12:18-29 struck me with its heavenly vision.

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’ This phrase ‘Yet once more’ indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

"The spirits of the righteous made perfect" is a stark reminder that even the best of us will not achieve in this life the goal spoken in Matthew 5:48,

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

That perfection will be reached only through Jesus' mediation. 

 

Thinking about swimming the Tiber? Think twice...

 By Jules Gomes Published on August 19, 2025 at The Stream

Marking a historic first, the Vatican is officially recognizing group pilgrimages of LGBT+ Catholics as participants in Rome’s Jubilee Year events while Pope Leo XIV prepares to host a radical group dedicated to overturning biblical teaching on sexual morality.

Pro-LGBT+ Catholics are applauding the Vatican’s openness in arranging for Leo to meet with one of the Catholic Church’s most extreme lobby groups, We Are Church, which has been invited to the Vatican by Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod on Synodality.

The Italian bishops’ media outlet, L’Avvenire, confirmed on August 14 that Grech, one of the highest-ranking cardinals in the Vatican, has invited eight members from We Are Church to join the Jubilee Year events scheduled for October 26-28.

The movement is “known for its radical demands for ecclesial reform,” the bishops’ newspaper acknowledged, including the ordination of women, the freedom to use artificial contraception, the full inclusion of homosexuals in the Church, and optional priestly celibacy.

LGBT+ Leaders Rejoice Over Vatican Welcome

“We are delighted with this opportunity. There is much anticipation for this meeting, and even a certain amount of joy,” said Elza Ferrario, spokesperson for the Italian branch of the campaign group. “We are a reformist movement that hasn’t always had good relations with the institutional Church, so we are pleased to hear words of esteem.”

The pilgrimage is called: “Church: Home for All, LGBT+ Christians and Other Existential Frontiers.”

“Our patient work over 30 years, during which we have often been present in Rome at bishops’ synods, council commemorations, papal elections, and other events, may have contributed to this,” We Are Church cofounder Christian Weisner told Vatican News. “I also see the passage through the Holy Door as a sign for the Church as a whole: to leave mistakes behind and to set out again and again in Christian hope.”

The Jubilee 2025 website explains that the Holy Door in designated basilicas “is the most powerful sign of the Jubilee” and “passing through the Holy Door expresses the decision to follow and be guided by Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd.”

In Catholic understanding, pilgrims who pass through the Holy Door do so with repentant hearts and a genuine desire to change their lives. Conservative Catholics have objected to the weaponization of the Holy Door symbolism by LGBT+ groups that intend to subvert its meaning by calling upon the Church instead to repent for its biblical position on homosexuality.

Conservative Catholics Blast Holy Year Weaponization

“The practice of homosexuality is a very serious moral transgression condemned by Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church,” writes Italian historian Roberto Mattei.

If a homosexual repents of his sin and confesses, he can certainly pass through the Holy Door, entrusting himself to the mercy of God for the remission of the punishments due to his sins, but he does not need to do so with fanfare, and much less in an organized group.

Official participation in the Jubilee by an association of homosexuals, which does not have the goal of their conversion but rather justifies their conduct, has a clear instrumental intent: that of making it appear that the Church has changed its judgment on homosexuality.

The historian is calling upon Vatican authorities to “prevent these instrumentalizations” and reiterate “the incompatibility that exists between the Holy Year and moral transgression asserted as a right” lest “become complicit in the moral violation that they fail to condemn.”

Meanwhile, several Catholic LGBT+ groups have announced that they will be participating with the Vatican’s approval in the Jubilee Year services. The Vatican is officially listing their participation listed in the Jubilee Year Calendar, scandalizing Catholics who remain faithful to the Church’s traditional teaching on homosexuality.

That teaching, however, suffered a serious setback after Pope Francis permitted priests to offer nonliturgical blessings to same-sex couples in his 2023 declaration Fiducia Supplicans.

Bishop Will Celebrate Mass for Global LGBT+ Pilgrims

On August 12, LGBT+ Catholics Westminster’s Younger Adults Group members and others from LGBT+ Catholics Westminster announced that they will join pilgrims from the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, the European Forum of LGBTI+ Christian Groups, Roman Catholic member groups, and a large number of Italian LGBT+ Catholic groups in Rome.

“For the first time in church history, LGBTQ+ Catholic groups are getting ready to participate in the Jubilee, not in spite of their queerness, but through it,” noted New Ways Ministry, a pro-LGBT+ Catholic campaign group.

On September 5, LGBT+ pilgrims will join in a Prayer Vigil, which will be “a time for everyone to be recognized in their uniqueness.” The next day, LGBT+ pilgrims will be guided through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica with Bishop Francesco Savino of Cassano all’Jonio celebrating Mass for LGBT+ groups at the Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Jesuit order.

In an interview on the Feast of the Assumption, Savino said that LGBT+ groups participating in the Jubilee “is like a bell ringing loudly in the deafening silence of exclusion: a clear, strong and irreversible signal that reminds us that the Gospel is not a manifesto for a few elected, but a love letter addressed to the entire human family.

“It is not a question of ‘hosting’ someone in the house of the Lord, but of recognizing that everyone is already a full inhabitant,” the prelate said. “In the beating heart of the Eucharist — which is the very heart of the Gospel — nobody is a foreigner, nobody is excluded, nobody is invisible.”

Faithful Roman Catholics need to speak up now or forever hold their peace. 

Division

This Sunday's reading is from Luke 12:49-56,

‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son

   and son against father,

mother against daughter

   and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

My Dad used to say, "Never discuss religion or politics at the dinner table" to reduce the chance of conflict. 

The worst subject to bring up is church politics.

Jesus still divides. 

I have had friends who developed such anti-Christian opinions that they no longer speak to me. 

I guess I was warned.

Meanwhile in Sweden: A Storm over the Rainbow Vestment

 Tamás Orbán reports at The European Conservative,

Swedish Priest Under Media Fire for Refusing To Wear Rainbow Vestment

Multiple leftist media outlets attacked Swedish pastor Håkan Persson, the parish priest of Markaryd, after a recent social media post in which he criticized the new rainbow-colored, LGBT-friendly vestments designed to be the symbol of the progressivism of the Church of Sweden.

In his Facebook post, Persson stated that the rainbow-colored chasuble and stole, designed at the initiative of the Västerås diocese, “will not enter Markaryd’s church as long as I am vicar.” 

While the media paints him as acting from “a hidden minority-intolerant agenda” and accuses him of discriminating against the LGBT community in his parish, the priest insists he merely follows the liturgical rules of the church, and his doors remain open to anyone, but not to momentary political trends and sexual advertising.

“In the Church of Sweden, we have liturgical vestments that follow the church year. We actually have rules for that,” Persson explained. Anything other than white, red, green, and purple, depending on the liturgical season, is inconsistent with the Church’s official guidelines, he said.

Good for him for standing firm in an otherwise wayward Church. 

Be Dressed For Action!

 This Sunday's reading is from Luke 12:32-40,

‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

How do you stay dressed for action? 

Freefalling: The Organization in Wales

I have been following the situation in Wales for a number of years thanks to the Ancient Briton blog, and the following came as no surprise,

From Christian Concern, 

The Church in Wales has appointed an Archbishop who is openly living in defiance of Christian teaching.

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, comments: “Cherry Vann lives with her civil partner, Wendy, in a same-sex relationship. This directly contradicts the Church’s historic and biblical doctrine that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and that sexual relationships are reserved for marriage.

“As an ordained minister, and now Archbishop, Cherry Vann has sworn to uphold the teaching of the Church. Instead, she is publicly living in deliberate rejection of those very doctrines.

“That she was elected with a two-thirds majority of the Electoral College demonstrates that the Church in Wales has now institutionally turned away from biblical teaching on sexual morality.

“What is a church if it refuses to uphold the doctrines it professes to believe? What does the Church in Wales actually stand for, if not the gospel handed down through the centuries?

“This appointment marks a tragic moment, evidence that the Church in Wales is in open rebellion against God’s Word. It is a clear sign of apostasy.

“No Bible-believing Christian can remain under the spiritual leadership of someone who so publicly rejects the clear teaching of Scripture.

“God will judge His Church for abandoning the gospel. As James reminds us, those who teach will be judged more strictly (James 3:1).

“And yet, there is hope. My prayer is that this judgment would bring repentance, that the Church in Wales would turn back to God, recover the truth of the gospel it once proclaimed, and again become a faithful witness in this land.”

By eye witness reports, weekly attendance in the Organization in Wales is in freefall but the Organization no longer releases attendance figures. 

The new Archbishop's election will accelerate the decline. 

God may be working His purpose out by speeding the demise of the Organization in Wales.

But God said to him, ‘Fool!

 This Sunday's reading is from Luke 12:13-21, The Parable of the Rich Fool

One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?”  And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully;  and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’  And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Jesus explains the meaning of the parable, no need for me to add to it. 

This is not a Monty Python Sketch

 Did you know that in the organization that calls itself a Church, the CofE, one cannot expound upon the organization's own standards for marriage (which still align with traditional Christian teaching) in a sermon for children? 

If you do, you will lose your job, and get referred to a counter terrorism program!

That's what happened to one poor chap in the U. K.

Read all about it at Christian Concern,

New revelations have raised serious concern over the ongoing blacklisting of the Rev. Dr Bernard Randall, for a sermon in which he said it was ok for children to debate and disagree with gender identity teaching.

Dr Randall, who is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, was dismissed as chaplain at Trent College in Derbyshire and then referred to the UK’s counter-terrorism programme, Prevent, after delivering a sermon in a CofE chapel in a CofE school on the CofE’s teaching on marriage.

The sermon followed the invitation of discredited and controversial group Educate and Celebrate into the Christian school to promote, in their words, the need to ‘smash heteronormativity’, to even nursery aged children.

The sermon was given six years ago, no one claimed that they were harmed, but he remains blacklisted by his bishop. 

A review was ordered which led to this interesting exchange,

As part of the ‘new’ safeguarding process and investigation into Dr Randall, a meeting was held in June with ‘independent’ CofE safeguarding adviser, Lee Elliot, and Bishop of Repton, Rt Revd Malcolm Macnaughton, the Bishop of Derby’s deputy.

The purpose of the meeting was for the CofE to put their allegations to Dr Randall and allow him to provide a formal response. Although this meeting is a basic part of Church safeguarding processes, Dr Randall repeatedly had to request that it even happen.

Bishop Malcolm read a statement to Dr Randall where it was claimed Dr Randall remains a risk based on what he might say in future sermons. It was suggested his sermon and beliefs could cause emotional and spiritual harm.

When pressed for evidence and justification for this, Mr Elliot cited a now-overturned employment tribunal ruling that had been declared “unsafe” due to anti-Christian bias.

Following the statement read to him, Dr Randall asked what the nature of the alleged abuse is and who the victim is.

Mr Elliot said: “There is no named victim…the school has not supplied that.”

Dr Randall asked: “So how do we know there is a victim?”

Mr Elliott also referred to Dr Randall’s Christian beliefs as ‘your views.’

Dr Randall responded by saying that his sermon reflected official Church of England doctrine, not personal opinion:

“These are not my views… they are the teachings of the Church of England”, he said.

Mr Elliot said: “My understanding is that there are different parts of the Church of England that have different views and beliefs around the various sexual orientations.”

Elliot further claimed that saying “things that are controversial … could significantly lead to harm”. When challenged on how controversial views could be a safeguarding issue Mr Elliott brought the discussion to an abrupt close. Mr Elliott also went on the record as not answering questions.

This is not a Monty Python sketch.  

Does anyone wonder why the CofE is in freefall? 

Our FATHER!

 This Sunday's reading is from Luke 11:1-13 in which Jesus teaches us how to pray,

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

   Father, hallowed be your name.

   Your kingdom come.

   Give us each day our daily bread.

   And forgive us our sins,

   for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’

 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

It amazes me that some priests and ministers want to change the word "Father" to "Mother" or some non genderish term when they recite the Lord's Prayer.  Isn't that saying that Jesus was wrong?

That's not an argument I would care to defend when the time comes.

Heads in the sand

 In a recent post, "ISIS Extremism or Islamic Doctrine?", Raymond Ibrahim summarizes recent atrocities carried out by Islamist groups and rightly points out that we should focus on the ideology common to these groups, Islam itself. 

"A lie, by definition, conceals the truth. And when unpleasant but vital truths remain hidden, they go unacknowledged, unaddressed, and ultimately unresolved."

"This principle underscores one of the most consequential falsehoods of our time: the claim that violence committed in the name of Islam is wholly unrelated to Islam itself. This widespread denial has enabled what is, at its core, an ideologically vulnerable religion to become one of the most persistent sources of global instability, with no end in sight..."

 "No problem can be solved unless it is first acknowledged. The uncomfortable but necessary truth is that Islam — not this or that terrorist group — provides the ideological framework that inspires hostility and violence against non-Muslims. Unless this reality is faced head-on, the cycle of denial will only continue — along with the persecution and loss of countless lives."

I am afraid the reality that Islam embraces violence, intolerance, prejudice, inequality, discrimination, polygamy, etc. will only be faced with more heads in the sand than watchdogs like Raymond Ibrahim.

We are Martha

This Sunday's lectionary selection was Luke 10:38-42,

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

 We are Martha.

Think about it.

First the Christian cake shop, now the coffee shop

 

Oh Colorado, where Christians go to... be harassed.  A Christian coffee shop that began as a ministry to the homeless in Denver Colorado has run afoul of local communists and LGBTQrs activists by posting on their web site the Bible's guidance about homosexuality. 

From Fox News,

As part of this mission, Sanchez opened The Drip Café the next year. It's a regular coffee shop that also hires and mentors individuals who have completed the ministry’s program, and are sober and ready to reintegrate into the workforce.

"We've had a few people go through the project so far, and it's been very successful," he said.

However, even before The Drip Café opened its doors, Sanchez says they began receiving social media messages accusing the café of being anti-gay. On the opening day, protesters, organized by a local group called the Denver Communists, held signs and passed out flyers accusing the coffee shop of being run by a "right-wing church" that hated those in the LGBTQ community.

"I was in shock," Sanchez recalled. "Our whole purpose opening the café was to serve the homeless community and help people get off the street, change their lives. And here we got a group who just hates us because we're doing that, and we're Christian."

...His property has been vandalized, windows broken and "Keep Santa Fe Gay" stickers have been left on windows and mirrors. Recently, a spray-painted image of a KKK member hanging was left on the café's front door...

The Denver Communists told Fox News Digital they were not protesting the café strictly because it is Christian, but because of its religious beliefs on sexuality.

"There are plenty of Christian denominations that don’t share their bigoted view, such as the ELCA [Evangelical Lutheran Church in America] and we’ve been joined by pastors and many Christians in our protests. Since then Drip has doubled down on its homophobic position," a spokesperson for the group said. "Jamie and his bigoted coffee shop don’t have a monopoly on Christianity, but he sure is willing to try and profit off of it."

The communists say they view the protests as part of a "broader struggle" against forces like the Trump administration, which they say is attacking LGBTQ+ rights.

"We may not succeed in running the Drip out of town before the end of its lease, but that is ultimately irrelevant. The protests against the hate-café are serving as a training ground for new queer-rights activists, the message of queer liberation is being spread, and our ultimate victory, while delayed, is inevitable," the group wrote in a blog post...

The stated goal of the Denver Communists is to "run the Drip out of town." That's a threat is it not? Don't they have hate crime legislation there? Is that legal? 

In Colorado, I guess it is permissible. Remember that Colorado is the state in which a Christian baker was taken to court on several occasions (all the way to the Supreme Court) for his beliefs.

Shouldn't the Denver Communists be the ones in legal trouble?

Alas, not in Colorado. 

The Road to Jericho

This Sunday's reading is from Luke 10:25-37 and contains the story of the good Samaritan.

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

I read that it takes about 8 hours for a person to walk from Jericho to Jerusalem. I don't know what the Samaritan was riding, but the time involved in providing aid and transporting the injured man and getting him situated may have put the Samaritan’s arrival at his final destination close to dusk. Most sermons on this day never think about the time that the Samaritan sacrificed in service of the man. How many of us miss opportunities to serve the Lord because we feel under the pressure of another thing demanding our precious time? 

How more precious is the time spent caring for another human being?

As thick as a Biblically illiterate former Archbishop could be

 Most of us could not give a hoot about the search for a new Archbishop of Canterbury because the last two were disasters and there is no reason to expect a different outcome given the current state of the Organization (formerly known as the "Church") of England.

The last Archbishop over there showed his true colors  and the likely direction for his sect the other day according to Premier Christian News, 

Most Rev Justin Welby, former Archbishop of Canterbury has said he was “thick” not to recognise that faithful and committed same sex relationships are a "huge blessing”.

Speaking to the Cambridge Union, Most Rev Welby said “When they fall in love, and when they live out that love faithfully and with stability and caring for others, it is a huge blessing for them and for society; and I have seen that in so many places that, in the end, even I began to realise that I was being thick.”

I think he is pretty dense because he was supposed to defend the apostolic faith not oppose it.

I know a thick book he needs to open up and study more carefully. 

Woe to the Revised Common Lectionary editors

This Sunday the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) used in many churches makes another startling edit by removing verses 12-15 from Luke 10:1-11, 16-20. I have highlighted the missing verses in red. Readers if this blog should be able to see right away why the editors deleted Jesus' words.

 After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 

12 I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

13 “Woe to you, Chora′zin! woe to you, Beth-sa′ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Caper′na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

16 “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Time and time again we have seen the Bible treated this way. I guess that Jesus' references to judgement, Hades, and especially Sodom cannot be shared with the Sunday pewsitters because they might make Jesus look bad.

I say, "Woe to you, RCL editors!"

ACNA grows as the Episcopal organization shrinks

From The Living Church, 

Attendance in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is up by double digits for the third consecutive year, according to congregational report data released June 19 during the denomination’s Provincial Council meeting at Trinity Anglican Seminary in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

“We’ve grown in every category that we track,” said Dan Hassler, director of administration and operations. “We are at highest attendance and membership of all time.”

The denomination in 2024 reported a net increase of 14 congregations to a total of 1,027, an increase in membership of 1,997 (+1.5 percent) to a total of 130,111 and an increase in attendance of 11,354 (+13.4 percent) to a total of 96,148.

“It is humbling and incredible,” Archbishop Steve Wood said of the numbers in his opening address to the council. “And it makes me eager to see what the Lord is up to next.”

Provincial Council is the annual governance meeting of the ACNA, comprising a bishop, elected clergy, and two elected lay members from each of 28 dioceses, alongside delegates from a half-dozen ministry organizations with an official status.

The council is charged with producing a provincial budget and electing members to trial courts and the Executive Committee (a smaller governance body that meets monthly). Canonical changes are also reviewed and passed before they can be brought for ratification before the larger assembly, which convenes less frequently.

Hassler said leading indicators, including baptisms (+207, or 5.6%), confirmations (+656, or 15.8%), and weddings (+104, or 17.4%) are also up. These metrics are regarded as signaling the direction of future membership and attendance numbers. For the first time, 27 local churches now have an average attendance exceeding 500, up from 16 surpassing that number the year before.

Conversations with council delegates indicated different sources of growth, among them a post-COVID return, as well as an increasing number of people specifically seeking Anglican worship.

The Rev. David Drake of Church of the Resurrection in Timonium, Maryland, in a June 20 concluding panel interview with Archbishop Steve Wood, discussed the Asbury Outpouring, 16 days of continuous prayer and worship that began at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, on February 8, 2023.

Nearly all 41 churches in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic have grown in the past two years (Resurrection’s attendance grew 38% ). The Baltimore-area rector said the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit was responsible for the growth. Provincial Council organizers highlighted 1 Corinthians 3:7 (“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth”).

Provincial finances also improved—2024-25 is the first fiscal year since its 2009 inauguration that the ACNA has operated fully within financial sustainability, reporting a budget surplus of $435,000, Executive Director Deborah Tepley said. The Provincial Executive Committee will determine how to spend surplus. Tepley said it may go toward decreasing a $175,000 debt, establishing cash reserves, or investing in missional priorities such as church planting, leadership development, or the Common Life Commission (CLC).

The latter exists to address overlapping jurisdictions, work toward regionalization, and help mediation/training of diocesan leaders. Bishop Steve Breedlove, the CLC’s chairman, said the commission’s goal is for dioceses to not step on each other’s toes, work together in creating missionary dioceses that work collaboratively, and provide resources to one another “against a scarcity mindset.”

Note the amazing 73.9% attendance rate for ACNA members. 

We don't have 2024 data from the Episcopal organization, but 2023 numbers looked grim. From Juicy Ecumenism,

Membership

2013: 2,009,084

2022: 1,584,785

2023: 1,547,779 (-37,006 or 2.3% since 2022, -461,305 or -23% since 2013)

Attendance

2013: 657,102

2022: 372,952

2023: 410,912 (+37,960 or 10% since 2022, -246,190 or -37% since 2013)

Baptisms (Children)

2013: 28,509

2022: 15,272

2023: 16,924 (+1,652 or 10.8% since 2022, -11,585 or -41% since 2013)

Baptisms (Adult)

2013: 4,484

2022: 2,147

2023: 3,323 (+1,176 or 55% since 2022, -1,161 or -26% since 2013)

Receptions

2013: 6,970

2022: 4,106

2023: 7,567 (+3,461 or 84% since 2022, +597 or +8.7% since 2013)

Marriages

2013: 10,394

2022: 5,562

2023: 4,886 (-676 or 12% since 2022, -5,508 or -53% since 2013)

Burials:

2013: 29,605

2022: 25,905 

2023: 24,878 (-1,027 or 4% since 2022, -4,727 or -16% since 2013)

Open Parishes & Missions

2013: 7,115

2022: 6,789

2023: 6,754 (-35 or half a percent since 2022, -361 or -5.1% since 2013)

Note a 26.7% attendance rate for Episcopalians. Compared with the 73.9% rate for ACNA.

More burials than baptisms is not a good sign either. 

Church Times Gets Used

Over in jolly olde England they have a publication called "The Church Times". In light of a recent letter from two Church of England (CofE) priests in which they tried to show that same-sex relationships are Biblically okay. The letter is here. There is nothing new in their arguments. We've heard it all before during the American wars of Episcopal separation, but you can read it for yourself. 

Julian Mann, who had a blog that I used to follow when he was a vicar in the CofE, wrote a good response which I quote below. He did not point out one error the two priests made when they asserted that the ancient people did not know about committed same sex relationships,

"...in the ancient world, such activity was invariably exploitative and oppressive, while lifelong, exclusive, and loving same-sex partnerships were unknown."

That has been well debunked by Dr. Robert Gagnon. 

 Now, on to Julian Mann's response at Anglican Mainstream,

Cavalier treatment of the Bible in Church Times ‘Open Letter to the Church of England’

The treatment of the Bible in an article in the latest Church Times by two prominent London clergy is highly revealing of the state of the Church of England.

The Revd Dr Sam Wells and the Revd Lucy Winkett wrote “an Open Letter to the Church of England, in the light of plans for a separate structure made by those who reject the validity of same-sex relationships”.

The piece entitled “Separate structures put the Church of England in danger” has the feel of an Ad Clerum, a letter a diocesan bishop periodically writes to his or her clergy. Wells is Rector of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. Winkett is Rector of St James’s Piccadilly. Both are contributors to the Thought for the Day religious slot on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme.

Their letter begins: “We are two incumbents in central London. Some neighbouring parishes have announced their intention to form a separate structure, perhaps a new province, within the Church of England.

“This has been prompted by the modest steps that the House of Bishops has taken to enable clergy to affirm civil partnerships liturgically, as part of the Living in Love and Faith process. Headline aspects of the announcement include withholding parish contributions to dioceses and the commissioning of lay people to lead churches, in many instances following the principle of male headship.”

Their open letter includes a section on marriage which is breathtaking for the liberal arrogance with which it dismisses centuries of Christian orthodoxy:

“The Old Testament offers various portrayals of human partnership, including kings with multiple wives and concubines. This was an era in which children were a necessity, and large extended families were a blessing.

“The New Testament also has diverse notions of faithful partnership; but the central emphasis is on singleness in the face of God’s impending in-breaking realm. While there are analogies relating marriage to Christ and the Church, there is also Jesus’s insistence that following the way of the cross disrupts family life and upturns all relationships.

“The notion that monogamous heterosexual marriage is foundational as a consistent scriptural portrayal of God’s relationship with humankind, and accordingly constitutes the definitive form of relationships of humans with one another, is, therefore, not plausible.”

They make no mention of the divine creation of the institution of monogamous heterosexual marriage in Genesis emphasised so strongly by Jesus in the New Testament when he quoted Genesis 1v27 and Genesis 2v24:

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female,’and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10v6-9 – NIV; see also Matthew 19v4-6).

And they make just a cursory mention of “the analogies relating marriage to Christ and the Church”, so prominent in the final chapters of Revelation and emphasised by the Apostle Paul in his teaching on marriage in Ephesians in which he also quoted Genesis 2v24:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansingher by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church – for we are members of his body. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5v25-32).

The Anglican Book of Common Prayer’s marriage service makes no such omissions, beautifully distilling the Bible’s teaching on marriage: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this Congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy Matrimony; which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man’s innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honourable among all men…”

How do Wells and Winkett get away with such cavalier treatment of the Holy Scriptures in their prestigious London churches? One can only conclude it is because the modern Church of England has a very high level of biblical illiteracy in its pews.

The CofE is either not educating their priests in sound Biblical theology, or they are educating them in unsound theology, or they are doing a little of both.

The BBC is giving false teachers an open microphone (no surprise here).

The CofE is not correcting the false teachers in their midst.

The Church Times is complicit in the spread of false teaching and was "used" when it published such rubbish.  

Don't Look Back

 This Sunday's reading is from Luke 9:51-62,

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

Once you are committed as a follower of Jesus, your life is changed forever and there is no looking back. 

Humility Month Quotations 4

 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)

The sinking of the swine

This Sunday's reading is from Luke 8:26-39,

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

The Gerasenes were obviously not Jewish based on the pig farmers being there. 

Biblestudytools.com has this to say about the location of the Biblical account, 

1. Country of the Gerasenes:

The town itself is not named in Scripture, and is referred to only in the expression, "country of the Gerasenes" (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26,37; see Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, Appendix, 11). This describes the district in which Christ met and healed the demoniac from the tombs, where also took place the destruction of the swine. It was on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and must have been a locality where the steep edges of the Bashan plateau drop close upon the brink of the lake. This condition is fulfilled only by the district immediately South of Wady Semak, North of Qal `at el-Chucn. Here the slopes descend swiftly almost into the sea, and animals, once started on the downward run, could not avoid plunging into the depths. Many ancient tombs are to be seen in the face of the hills. Gerasa itself is probably represented by the ruins of Kurseh on the South side of Wady Semak, just where it opens on the seashore. The ruins of the town are not considerable; but there are remains of a strong wall which must have surrounded the place. Traces of ancient buildings in the vicinity show that there must have been a fairly numerous population in the district.

2. History:

The great and splendid city in the Decapolis is first mentioned as taken after a siege by Alexander Janneus, 85 BC (BJ, I, iv, 8). Josephus names it as marking the eastern limit of Peraea (BJ, III, iii, 3). He calls the inhabitants Syrians, when, at the beginning of the Jewish revolt, the district round Gerasa was laid waste. The Syrians made reprisals, and took many prisoners. With these, however, the Gerasenes dealt mercifully, letting such as wished go free, and escorting them to the border (BJ, II, xviii, 1, 5). Lucius Annius, at the instance of Vespasian, sacked and burned the city, with much slaughter (BJ, IV, ix, 1). From this disaster it appears soon to have recovered, and the period of its greatest prosperity lay, probably, in the 2nd and 3nd centuries of our era. It became the seat of a bishopric, and one of its bishops attended the Council of Chalcedon. Reland (Pal, II, 806) notes certain extant coins of Gerasa, from which it is clear that in the 2nd century it was a center of the worship of Artemis. It was besieged by Baldwin II, in 1121 AD. Mention is made of the strength of the site and the mighty masonry of its walls. William of Tyre calls the city Jarras, and places it 16 miles East of Jordan (Hist, xii, 16). The distance is about 19 miles from the river. It was conquered by the Moslems in the time of Omar (Guy le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, 462). The sultan of Damascus is said to have fortified it; but there is nothing to show that the Moslems occupied it for any length of time. (More at biblestudytools.com) 

Humility Month Quotation 3

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud

but shows favor to the humble.”

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (James 4:6-10)

The Trifecta

 This Sunday is Trinity Sunday and Father's Day. As Christians gather to honor the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, at our little church we'll have a gathering after church services to celebrate the human fathers that God has given us along with the graduates they and we have raised, and we will thank our acolytes as well before they start heading off to college and summer vacation spots. 

Where would we be if we did not have God as our Father, Jesus as His Son, and the Holy Ghost to comfort us?

Lost, that's where.

Isn't it nice to be found.

Letting the camel's nose in

Question 1: Would your church do this? 

From Premier Christian News,

A church in Philidelphia, USA has decided to share it's worship space with a local growing Muslim community.

St. Luke United Methodist Church in Bryn Mawr, has opened its fellowship hall to the As-Salaam Islamic Society, which now uses the space for Friday prayers, Sunday school classes, and community events. 

“We feel loved here, and that helps make this a good place to celebrate our faith and to teach our children,” said Ahmad Abdel-Hamid, president of the Islamic Society, in an interview with UM News.

Rev Mark Salvacion, pastor at St. Luke’s since 2022, has helped lead the congregation into this partnership.

“I believe our relationship is a success story that’s working well,” he said.

The two communities have joined together for service projects, shared meals during Ramadan, and even co-led a Bible and Quran study session.

The arrangement goes beyond a simple rental agreement. For St. Luke’s, the relationship is a practical expression of their faith and the United Methodist Church’s 2024 resolution to pursue “more hospitable and cooperative relationships” with Muslim neighbors.

The collaboration also addresses a practical need as after a nearby mosque closed in 2018, many Muslim families were left without a local place to gather.

However, the connection hasn’t been without challenges.

Rev Salvacion has faced some backlash from fellow clergy, but remains committed.

“My mission at St Luke is to help people understand that we are all neighbors who live in this community, and we must care about each other, especially about our poor and needy neighbors.”

 Question 2: would a mosque open its doors to a Christian church?

Not that the United Methodist's are a Christian Church anymore.

Humility Month Quotation 2

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)

Changing followers into Apostles

This Sunday we remember the day of Pentecost as told in Acts 2:1-21,

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

 “In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

   and your old men shall dream dreams.

 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

     and they shall prophesy.

 And I will show portents in the heaven above

   and signs on the earth below,

     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

 The sun shall be turned to darkness

   and the moon to blood,

     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

The note that the crowd thought the disciples were drunk and Peter's response that it was only 9 o'clock in the morning lend additional credence to the story. The change in these men from followers to apostles and martyrs is more evidence.  

 

Quotations for use during Humility Month

 Each week during Humility Month I'll try to post a quotation  for your contemplation.

“The more humble and obedient to God a man is, the more wise and at peace he will be in all that he does.” - Thomas à Kempis

United we stand, or so Jesus prayed

In this Sunday's reading from John 17:20-26 Jesus makes the following prayer, 

‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

 ‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

Will we ever live up to that prayer? 

Pulling Out of Pride: We Need a "Humility Month"

This post by Suzanne Bowdey from The Washington Stand highlights some of the recent drop in corporate support for "Pride" events.

The first warning shots were fired in March, when organizers of the San Francisco Pride Parade confessed that they were having trouble hanging on to corporate sponsors. The event director, Suzanne Ford, admitted she was “really disappointed” by the flood of businesses dropping their support — to the tune of $300,000 and counting...

...Among those who pulled back were big-time names like Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, and Diageo — the parent company of Guinness, Smirnoff, and other alcoholic drinks. The losses, worth more than a quarter-million dollars, blew a significant hole in the parade’s fundraising goal of $2.3 million.

And this isn’t just a California phenomenon. At major Pride events across New York City, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and other states, gun-shy businesses are running for the exits. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mastercard, PepsiCo, Nissan, Citibank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Booz Allen Hamilton, Darcars Automotive Group, and others are opting out of the major sponsorships altogether — some, as in Anheuser-Busch’s case, after many years of generous and visible partnerships. 

“It’s multilayered, and it’s all happening at the same time,” lamented Eve Keller, co-president of United States Association of Prides, a nonprofit that supports LGBT events around the country. She noted that the wave of backlash is so strong that most businesses are asking to have their names and logos removed “from official displays and apparel.” In New York City alone, a full third of corporate NYC Pride sponsors have either declined to sponsor, scaled back their donations, or are “in negotiations to return,” organizers say.

Maybe it is time to recognize a "Humility Month" in which people will dress and act modestly and not hold any parades whatsoever.  

Don't expect yourself or the month to be "celebrated."

Humility Month will not ask for money from any corporate sponsors.

Please submit your humble pie recipes here.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Psalm of Praise, Thanks, and Hope

This Sunday's Psalm 67 is a song of praise, thanksgiving, and hope that the world will join in.

 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us

   and make his face to shine upon us,

          Selah

2 that your way may be known upon earth,

   your saving power among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

   let all the peoples praise you.

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

   for you judge the peoples with equity

   and guide the nations upon earth.

          Selah

5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

   let all the peoples praise you.

6 The earth has yielded its increase;

   God, our God, has blessed us.

7 May God continue to bless us;

   let all the ends of the earth revere him.

Amen! 

Real Refugees

The Episcopal Organization has been using tax dollars to aide and abet illegal aliens (they call it resettlement of refugees) for years. Now that President Trump has shut off the flow of illegal aliens, the Episcopal Organization has had to lay off staff, but they should still be available to help legal refugees, people fleeing oppression who have been granted legal sanctuary in the United States. 

But instead, the Episcopal Organization rejects white Afrikaners seeking refuge as they face murder (one farmer a week), the taking of their property, and the African National Congress' (ANC) social justice war on these Afrikaners. It can't just be because it is a Donald Trump idea.

How can Episcopalians justify shutting down their refugee program over this. 

I propose that ever since the wars of Episcopal separation in which Episcopalians came to believe that taking another's property was morally justifiable as long as it helped "the agenda," the standards dropped to where the ANC's stealing of the Afrikaner's land could be seen as morally justifiable as well. 

What is wrong becomes right in the Episcopal Presiding Bishop's twisted reasoning seen below, 

May 12, 2025

Dear People of God in The Episcopal Church:

I am writing today with some significant news about Episcopal Migration Ministries, the organization that leads The Episcopal Church’s refugee resettlement ministry.

Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down. Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain. Then, just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.

In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step. Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.

I want to be very clear about why we made this decision—and what we believe lies ahead for Episcopal Migration Ministries’ vital work.

It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years. I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country. I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.

As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins. Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command. Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways.

For nearly 40 years, Episcopal Migration Ministries has put hands and feet to our church’s commitment to seek and serve Christ in migrants and refugees. We have served nearly 110,000 refugees during this time, many of whom are now American citizens and beloved members of our communities, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Over the years, EMM has resettled individuals from Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Myanmar. We have supported vulnerable populations from across the globe, regardless of nationality.

Since March, a dedicated team of Episcopal Migration Ministries employees has fulfilled our commitment to serve people who arrived just before or in the first days of the new administration. Now that we are ending our involvement in federally funded refugee resettlement, we have asked the administration to work toward a mutual agreement that will allow us to wind down all federally funded services by the end of the federal fiscal year in September. We are working with the affected staff members to provide extensive outplacement services and severance packages.

I have said before that no change in political fortunes alters our commitment to stand with the world’s most vulnerable people, and I want to reaffirm that promise. While our public-private partnership as a refugee resettlement agency is no longer viable, we are hard at work on a churchwide plan to support migrants and refugees through:

Diocesan partnerships: We have vibrant ministries around the church serving migrants of all kinds. Episcopalians support newcomers through education, direct service, and advocacy. Our dioceses also work to address the root causes of migration. We pledge to redouble our efforts to support these ministries and the migrants among us.

Global connections: We will invest in our ministries that support forced migrants throughout the countries and territories of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. This includes our powerful ministry in Europe, where the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe has served more than 140,000 refugees in the last two years, primarily from North Africa, Ukraine, and Central Asia. We will continue to work with our dioceses and Anglican partners throughout Central America to help those seeking safety.

Continued support for refugees: While new refugee arrivals and funding have been curtailed by the current administration, thousands of refugees welcomed by Episcopal Migration Ministries in previous years still need support. We will invite Episcopalians to connect with resettled refugees and explore how to continue services we have long provided—language services, continuing education, support with childcare, and job training. If refugee resettlement begins again with the support of private sponsors, we will explore those new possibilities. 

Fundraising: It is important to understand the scale of federal grant money from which we are stepping away. In most recent years, Episcopal Migration Ministries received more than $50 million annually in federal funds. This is not a loss that can be bridged with donor funds or proceeds from investments. However, we will raise funds for new and expanded migration ministries across the church and for our partners in this ministry. You can contribute to this new work by making a donation on the Episcopal Migration Ministries website.

In the coming weeks, Episcopal Migration Ministries will share more news about how to be involved. In the meantime, please pray for vetted refugees who have not been granted permission to come to this country, for the staff who will be affected by the end of these federal grants, and for everyone who grieves the end of our federal refugee resettlement work.

May our faith in the Risen Christ, who draws all people to himself, sustain and guide us through the tumult of these times.

The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe

Presiding Bishop

The Episcopal Church

The cognitive dissonance alarms should be going off in his miter right now. 

But I bet they aren't. 

"Who was I that I could hinder God?"

 In this Sunday's reading from Acts 11:1-18 lies the counter to the "shellfish argument" that I have pointed out in an earlier post. It also contains another counter argument when someone tells you that a Biblical miracle did not occur because it was impossible. That line is when Peter says, "Who was I that I could hinder God?"

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’

Indeed, who is anyone to say that God cannot do something? 

That would be putting Him in a box.

Is that not denying God? 

 

PCA Growth, PCUSA Decline

The other day I was at a party and someone asked me what church I attended. I told them an Anglican Church in North America. She then proceeded to tell me about their church which is considerably closer to my residence and suggested I go there. I knew that it was a Presbyterian church so I asked if it was PCA or PCUSA. When she said PCUSA, I said "NO thanks" (probably a little bit too emphatically), she then gushed on about their female minister. I tried hard to contain myself and was able to steer the conversation elsewhere. You see, I know the direction the PCUSA is headed. I also know a bit about the PCA as some of my best friends attend a large PCA church. 

It looks like the PCA is headed in the right direction according to this report from Premier Christian News,

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has reported steady growth for the third year running.

This comes as many US denominations continue to face numerical decline.

In its latest five-year review, nearly 1,000 congregations submitted data showing a 1.84 per cent rise in membership in 2024, bringing the total to over 400,000 members, as reported by The Christian Post.

Adult baptisms increased by 16.5 per cent, while adult professions of faith surged by more than 22 per cent compared to 2023.

Children’s professions of faith and infant baptisms also rose, and giving across the denomination reached new highs.

Overall contributions grew nearly 16 per cent, with $1.29bn (£968m) given in 2024.

Per person giving also jumped by more than 13 per cent, reaching $4,118.98 (£3,091).

Donations to General Assembly ministries climbed 12 per cent, and support for external causes, including mercy ministries, reached over $170m (£128m)

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has lost about a million members since 2009, while more than 7,000 congregations have left the United Methodist Church (UMC) due to internal disagreements over sexuality.

Good for the PCA!

 This Sunday's Psalm is sufficient to post with no commentary. Other than to say it is my favorite.

Psalm 23 Dominus regit me

1 The Lord is my shepherd; *

I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures *

and leads me beside still waters.

3 He revives my soul *

and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake.

4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I shall fear no evil; *

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; *

you have anointed my head with oil,

and my cup is running over.

6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Meanwhile in Germany

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) have much in common as you shall see from the following report by Javier Villamor at The European Conservative,

As the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) prepares for its biennial Kirchentag conference from April 30 to May 4, 2025, the focus is less on Scripture and more on identity politics. With some 1,500 scheduled events, the gathering reads more like an activist festival than a spiritual retreat—featuring workshops on “queer animals on the Ark,” “feminist parenting,” and “critical whiteness.”

The “Queer Animals” event is actually intended as an “interactive worship experience” for kids and families. Presumably, German Evangelicals are perfectly happy with this sort of thing being taught to their children (if they have any). Maybe the story of Noah has undergone some form of imaginative reinterpretation—perhaps the lions are now non-binary?

For mothers seeking guidance, there’s “New Moms for Rebel Girls,” a session dedicated to feminist child-rearing strategies. It seems even parenting advice must now pass through the lens of ideological activism.

Another session, “Be Brave and Strong,” offers “empowerment” exclusively for BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) children. Presumably, “indigenous” does not mean “White European,” even in a German context. The workshop is led by a self-described “anti-racism and empowerment trainer.”.

Those not “affected by racism” are invited to attend a three-hour workshop on “Critical Whiteness”—a guilt-heavy exercise for those born with the wrong skin tone. Meanwhile, diversity-themed games and readings will occupy a full day, featuring books and stories like “Simply Nina”, which charts the journey of a child who “feels trapped in the wrong body.”

While the Church invests its energy in this sort of ideological rebranding, its pews are emptying fast. In 2024 alone, EKD membership dropped by 586,000 to around 18 million. In 2003, by comparison, there were over 25 million. The decline shows no sign of slowing.

Don't see the similarities between the ELCA and the EKD? Just check out the ELCA's web pages. 

I understand that the German language is sometimes difficult to translate, but in any language believe it when I say, "Don't evangelize a false gospel for if you do, you will fail."

Walking Cadavers Don't Eat Fish

This Sunday's reading is from John 21:1-19 in which Jesus appears for the third time to the disciples.

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

I once was derided by a Philosophy professor who was leading an adult Episcopal parish Sunday school class for believing that Jesus was resurrected and was alive to the disciples. "So, you believe in walking cadavers," he told me and the class.  I said, " No! I believe that Jesus was risen, was alive, and even ate fish."

I quit that class and joined the choir.

The elephant in the room

 I recently attended a series of required continuing education lectures pertaining to the health of citizens of our state. Among the various topics was bioethics and women's health. In looking at the goals of that talk, I saw that the question of personhood was to be addressed. It didn't take a genius to know what the elephant in the room was going to be during that one. 

When the speakers were introduced, I noticed that there was only one person on the panel, a female OB-GYN. There was no member of the clergy, no philosopher, and no ethicist. You can guess what direction the "educational" session took. The speaker went on an emotion ridden diatribe about "reproductive health" (meaning abortion), the enslavement of women by men, the "right to privacy," how the Dobbs decision will result in back alley abortions, women dying, and well meaning physicians being handcuffed and jailed, etc. 

The scientific, moral, legal, and ethical questions of personhood were not addressed although a brief description of fertilization, and embryology was included.

Judging by the silence during the Q and A session that followed, I believe that most of the audience was as shocked as I was at the way this was presented, but we endured because we needed the credit hours.

After her talk, I kindly corrected a few scientific facts that she had gotten wrong for which she thanked me. 

The next day she sat at my table. 

A great big elephant separated us. 

You can't argue with such as these.

Pray for them. 

Pray for the unborn.