US Senate examines ‘TV evangelists’
“They preach prosperity – that God can make you healthy and wealthy. Every year some of America’s best known TV evangelists bring in hundreds of millions of dollars from donors all over the world. But as Jonathan Beale reports, some of the TV evangelists’ own lifestyles have begun to ring alarm bells and prompted a Senate investigation into their activities.”
– This 3 minute video report from BBC News mentions Kenneth Copeland (pictured), Benny Hinn and Creflo Dollar.
See also our earlier story about Justin Peters’ seminars on the ‘gospel’ taught by these three ‘Word of Faith’ preachers.
Bishop Peter Brain endorses GAFCON statement
The Bishop of Armidale, Peter Brain, was among the Anglican leaders who endorsed an historic document that addresses the crisis gripping the church over scriptural authority. …
Bishop Brain said … “It was a clear statement and I believe many, many Anglicans will agree with it, especially people in the pews,” he said.
“For people in the Armidale diocese, it would be exactly what they would agree to.”
– Report from The Armidale Express. (Photo: Russell Powell.)
British media misses GAFCON message
In all my years as a journalist, first working on large city dailies, then Christian magazines, a brief stint as an Episcopal Diocesan Managing Editor and now as an Internet Online news writer, whose website annually draws more than 4 million readers from 172 countries, I have never encountered such appalling spin, outrageous lies, pure mendacity and gay-baiting towards a group of godly men and women of orthodox faith as I encountered recently in Jerusalem by the secular press. …
– David Virtue, who reported from Jerusalem during GAFCON, comments at VirtueOnline.
(See also this comment from Chelmsford Anglican Mainstream on one newspaper report.)
Anglican Church League President: Statement on GAFCON
ACL President, Rev. Dr. Mark Thompson, has released this Statement about GAFCON:
“Nobody present last week in Jerusalem wanted to split the Anglican Communion. No one wanted to leave the Anglican Communion. All wanted to see a robust and authentic Anglicanism which could courageously play a part in God’s great mission of reaching out to lost men and women with the gospel of redemption in Christ.”
Full text —
I have just returned from the GAFCON meeting in Jerusalem. It was a time of rich fellowship, clear thinking and firm resolve. It was also a time of very deliberate dependence upon God. Authentic Anglican doctrine, grounded in the Scripture, reflected in the Thirty-nine Articles and joyfully embraced by the majority of the world’s practicing Anglicans, was once again on centre stage. The Lordship of Christ, who is the only Saviour of men and women, the supreme authority of the teaching of the Bible for Christian faith and life, and the urgency of mission in a world lost in rebellion against the living God, were all unambiguously proclaimed in fresh ways which encouraged God’s people and nourished faith. The Conference statement offered hope and order where time and again official Anglican pronouncements have only given further cause for disillusionment, confusion and disarray.
GAFCON has provided us with a way forward that is sober, serious and faces the realities of global Anglicanism in the twenty-first century. It has addressed directly the crisis brought about by various departures from biblical teaching and faithful Christian living in parts of the Communion and exascerbated by ineffective leadership. It has issued a call to biblical faithfulness and effective mission in the face of overwhelming need.
One further thing is beyond doubt. Nobody present last week in Jerusalem wanted to split the Anglican Communion. No one wanted to leave the Anglican Communion. All wanted to see a robust and authentic Anglicanism which could courageously play a part in God’s great mission of reaching out to lost men and women with the gospel of redemption in Christ. In the words of the Primates from almost six years ago now, the Communion has been ‘torn at the deepest level’ and we are now seeking God’s wisdom for how we are to live in the light of this new reality which is not of our making.
Gospel minded men and women all over the world will rejoice when they read this conference statement, just as the assembled crowed burst into spontaneous applause and rejoicing when it was first read to them last Sunday. Here at last is the leadership we have been praying for. The Primates who called this conference are passionate and biblically faithful. They are humble and bold at the same time. And they will not flinch when faced with the hostility of the revisionists, who continue to prosecute, depose and defame men and women who will not accept their false gospel.
We have much to thank God for as we reflect on the GAFCON and its outcome. Of course there will be opposition and it is likely to be intense. You cannot challenge such entrenched self-interest and it be otherwise. Yet there is every cause to hope and pray that many, many others will join with us in getting on with the most important job of all: testifying to God’s saving mercy in Jesus Christ and living transformed lives in the light of that good news. To that end I trust the GAFCON documents will be very useful indeed.
Mark Thompson
ACL President
1st July 2008.
Peter Jensen: Primates Council a body of integrity
Media Release – 1st July 2008
The Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen has described the Primates Council, which has emerged from the Global Anglican Future Conference, as a body of integrity and one which fairly reflects the majority of the world’s practising Anglicans.
“The conference proceeded with the spotlight of world media upon it, it was not done in a corner. Its conclusions cannot be dismissed as the work of only a few.”
“The seven primates are significant leaders within the Anglican communion and they approach this work with appropriate seriousness and solemnity.” Dr Jensen said.
The Archbishop says the lack of restraint by some revisionist church leaders in North America and the indecisiveness in response to it has made their task more urgent.
“No good can come from questioning the legitimacy of these men or their clear commitment to the church’s mission. Rather we must commend their willingness to provide clear leadership and to help bring order to this chaos.”
As to GAFCON’s influence in Australia, Dr Jensen told a news conference at the weekend that Australian leaders might not applaud it initially, but he was hoping that as it is explained they would eventually see it as very useful.
He described the GAFCON statement as ‘a very Anglican document, bringing Anglican order out of turmoil.”
– Media release from the Diocese of Sydney.
(Photo: Joy Gwaltney – taken at the final GAFCON session.)
Post-GAFCON meeting at Langham Place
John Richardson was at yesterday’s Post-GAFCON briefing at All Souls Langham Place in London – where Archbishops Henry Orombi, Greg Venables and Peter Jensen as well as Dr Jim Packer spoke.
John has posted his notes after each session. Bear in mind that these are his summary notes – however they are very helpful. Read them at The Ugley Vicar.
Direct links to John’s notes on each session – Archbishop Henry Orombi, Archbishop Greg Venables, Interview with Dr Jim Packer, Panel discussion, Archbishop Peter Jensen.
Report of the meeting from The (UK) Telegraph.
No split in Anglican marshallow
“Like all old style bureaucracies, the Anglican denomination worldwide moves at about the same pace as the friendly slugs on the morning kids’ programme my youngest daughter likes to watch. But at long last, it looks like something may actually be happening within the normally staid and stodgy Church of England. …”
– The Daily Telegraph in Sydney published this opinion piece by Gordon Cheng.
(Photo: Joy Gwaltney)
‘Archbishop confronts Anglican rebels’
“The Archbishop of Canterbury last night directly challenged the rebel Anglicans who have launched a breakaway faction within the global communion. In unusually forthright language, he accused them of lacking legitimacy, authority and, by implication, integrity. …”
– Report by Riazat Butt in The Guardian.
Also, see Sarah Hey’s brief analysis of Archbishop Rowan Williams’ response to the Jerusalem Declaration – at Stand Firm. (hat tip: Sydney Anglicans.)
(Photo credit: Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.)
TEC Presiding Bishop responds to GAFCON ‘emission’
TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has responded to the Global Anglican Future Conference with the following statement.
“Much of the Anglican world must be lamenting the latest emission from GAFCON. Anglicanism has always been broader than some find comfortable. This statement does not represent the end of Anglicanism, merely another chapter in a centuries-old struggle for dominance by those who consider themselves the only true believers. Anglicans will continue to worship God in their churches, serve the hungry and needy in their communities, and build missional relationships with others across the globe, despite the desire of a few leaders to narrow the influence of the gospel. We look forward to the opportunities of the Lambeth Conference for constructive conversation, inspired prayer, and relational encounters.
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church”
Source: Episcopal Life Online.
(Dr J I Packer’s talk, “Lessons to be learned from the Canadian church experience”, given last week in the UK, provides a very helpful analysis of liberal strategies and tactics.)
Canterbury responds
“The Final Statement from the GAFCON meeting in Jordan and Jerusalem contains much that is positive and encouraging about the priorities of those who met for prayer and pilgrimage in the last week. …
However …”
– From the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Battling ‘liberal’ Church policies
Traditionalist Anglicans claiming to represent at least half of the membership of the worldwide communion, and more than a third of its bishops, have declared war on what they call the ‘false teaching’ used to justify active homosexuality. …
The Rev Rod Thomas, of the conservative Church of England group Reform, helped to formulate the organisation’s strategy. … “The Anglican Church is being destroyed by false teaching of the Bible on issues such as homosexuality”, he said.
– Report from the BBC’s Robert Pigott. (Photo of Rod Thomas: Reform.)
A date with disaster
Meeting in San Jose, California, the Presbyterian Church USA, the liberal branch of American Presbyterianism, moved to approve homosexual clergy on June 27, 2008 – a date that may well mark a final blow against biblical orthodoxy in that denomination.
The PCUSA has debated sexuality issues for decades now, with activists for homosexual ordination pressing their case until they finally got their way at the denomination’s General Assembly. In that historic meeting, the General Assembly actually approved several proposals.
Even before dealing directly with the question of ordination standards, the General Assembly approved a first step toward revising the denomination’s official translation of the historic Heidelberg Catechism. …
– Al Mohler points out what else the PCUSA had to change. (Photo of a John Calvin bobblehead at the PCUSA GC – by Joseph Williams and PCUSA.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…