The last death throes of cultural Christianity and what’s next — with Phillip Jensen

Posted on July 29, 2019 
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“Former Anglican Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen says to understand the issues fronting Christians today we will best start with understanding the history.

Phillip, who now heads up Two Ways Ministries, takes us on a helicopter journey through fifty years of cultural and Christian history…and considers where to from here?”

– Whether you were there, and remember it, or weren’t and don’t, this is a fascinating overview of the last 50+ years, with gospel encouragement for the future.

Watch Phillip at The Pastor’s Heart with Dominic Steele.

Pastor, Keep Preaching the Gospel to Yourself!

Posted on July 29, 2019 
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“Do you want to be a gospel-centered pastor? Just keep preaching the gospel. Doing so is much more than merely pinning John 3:16 to the tail of every sermon or conversation.

The first person we must preach the gospel to is ourselves. …”

– Encouragement for pastors at Reformation21.

Australian Christian Lobby urges NSW Abortion Rethink

Posted on July 28, 2019 
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“The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed its concern at today’s announcement that laws to liberalise abortion are likely to be introduced into NSW Parliament this week.

‘Supporters of decriminalisation have expressed support for the Queensland and Victorian model, which is among the most radical in the world. It allows abortion right up to the moment of birth, which is barbaric and extreme.’…”

– from a press release by The Australian Christian Lobby.

Related:

“Abortion bill in NSW set to change laws dating back to 1900” – ABC News.

Proposed Victorian Bill is likely to harm not help women

Posted on July 28, 2019 
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“The State of Victoria wishes to be at the vanguard of the sexual devolution. Sadly, Victoria is already becoming an unsafe place for vulnerable children who struggle with gender dysphoria.

Just as with the recent passing of euthanasia laws, concerns expressed by the medical fraternity were overlooked in favour of radical political and gender theorists…

In their latest effort, the Victorian Government has decided that transgender women are being discriminated against under current laws.”

– Murray Campbell in Melbourne warns about the proposed Victorian legislation.

The State of Biblical Orthodoxy in the Anglican Church of Canada

Posted on July 27, 2019 
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“The Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) was in the news last week. Most reports missed the big story. That the forces of biblical orthodoxy narrowly won a battle was correctly reported. What was missed was that those same forces lost the war. How they lost the war is significant for those of us in orthodox denominations. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Canada, George Sinclair, one of the first ministers to join the Anglican Network in Canada, explains how the Anglican Church of Canada has moved further and further away from Christian orthodoxy – and how your denomination can do the same.

From our website, March 2008:

“The Rev George Sinclair, despite relinquishing his licence for ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC), has been issued a Notice of Presumption of Abandonment of the Exercise of the Ministry according to ACoC Canon XIX by the Bishop of Ottawa.

He joins good company with Dr J I Packer and the rest of the Vancouver-area ANiC clergy who received the same notice earlier from the Diocese of New Westminster. …”

Time for Love

Posted on July 26, 2019 
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“Over the last year or so I have noticed that people have becomes very conversant with hate.

Hate has become a word we apply to the comments of those we disagree with. We have even given it the title, ‘Hate speech’.

No doubt people do say hateful things from a hateful heart but ‘hate’ is a word and an emotion we need to be very careful of. As a word it needs to be used sparingly and as an emotion it needs to be overcome. …”

– Wise counsel from Rick Lewers, Bishop of Armidale.

‘Controversial’ anti-abortion billboard erected on NSW highway

Posted on July 25, 2019 
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“An anti-abortion ad that was banned from the side of buses is causing controversy again after it was erected on a billboard next to a highway on the NSW north coast. …

Last month, Transport Minister Andrew Constance said he was ‘appalled’ by the same ad, which shows an image of a pregnant woman’s stomach, alongside the phrase: ‘A heart beats at four weeks’. …”

– Story from MSN news, 24 July 2019.

See also: Ooh dumps Emily’s Voice billboard – Emily’s Voice, 25 July 2019.

“We are disappointed Ooh Media has buckled to pressure, removing the Emily’s Voice heart billboard from the Pacific Highway in Belmont NSW. …

Ooh has fallen into line with NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance who banned our ads from Newcastle buses after a Facebook complaint.

Ooh told the Daily Mail the billboard had been reviewed before posting and did not contravene its guidelines, but after public complaints and media attention, decided the message, ‘A heart beats at four weeks’ alongside the image of a woman making a heart over her pregnant belly, ‘could cause offence to a significant section of the community’ and did contravene its guidelines.

We still don’t understand what’s so offensive about the scientifically accurate statement that an unborn baby has a heartbeat 22 days from conception. There’s no mention of abortion, no gruesome images or condemnation of any kind. …

The Minister is ‘investigating’ how our ads made it on to buses, but remains silent on truly abhorrent messages on hire vehicles.

He is appalled by our message yet didn’t intervene to ban recent bus ads for a Newcastle pregnancy support centre, or ads telling women not to drink while pregnant. What’s the difference?” (Read it all.)

Who am I? And why was I saved?

Posted on July 24, 2019 
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“As Christians, we sometimes get so preoccupied with being better and more effective, that we forget just how special it is to be born again – that we are safe in the arms of Jesus.

Yes, sin is still present in our lives. Yes, our settled posture as Christians is constant repentance. But when we are feeling so crushed by sin that we don’t even have tears to cry, I am so thankful that God reminds us of who we are because of Jesus. …”

– A wonderful reminder from Ben George at The Australian Church Record.

How to introduce Australia to the BIG Jesus

Posted on July 23, 2019 
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“Australia is a big country. We are a big people and apparently getting bigger. When we go on holidays, we like to look at big things. We have a big rock in the centre of our land; we have the world’s biggest reef just off our coast. And if naturally big things weren’t enough, we also like to make big things. …

It seems in Australia we really like everything big except Jesus. …”

– Bill Salier writes to encourage churches to magnify Jesus. At SydneyAnglicans.net.

Transgender discrimination law in Australia — uncertainties

Posted on July 22, 2019 
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“It is not uncommon to find popular assertions, in relation to the legal treatment of transgender persons, that the law requires that a person who asserts they are of a different gender to their biological sex, be allowed to use bathrooms set aside for their chosen gender, or that they have a ‘right’ to be addressed by the pronoun corresponding to that gender.

In this post I want to point out that it seems quite arguable that the law in most of Australia does not have this effect. … it is important to be as clear as possible on what the law actually says.”

– Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia.

Diocese of the Arctic now in “impaired communion” with other Canadian dioceses

Posted on July 21, 2019 
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“To all people in the Diocese of the Arctic,

Greetings in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, who is God Almighty.

General Synod 2019 has just finished. After taking time to meet as bishops, to seek the Lord’s will for our Diocese, to pray, listen and talk, we have prepared this statement for our Diocese and for the Anglican Communion at large. …

We understand that many have walked away from our Anglican Church of Canada’s doctrine, but we have not.”

– Bishop of The Arctic, David W Parsons, and his fellow bishops in that diocese, have released a statement in which they take a stand for the truth.

Read it all, with a clarifying statement, at Anglican Samizdat.

9 Things ‘you should know’ about the Communion Service on the Moon

Posted on July 19, 2019 
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“This Saturday [Sunday in Australia] marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people in history to walk on the Moon. But it’s also the anniversary of the a lesser known event – the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper on the Moon. …”

– from Joe Carter via Tim Challies. Perhaps something which could lead to a gospel conversation this weekend.

Statement from the ANiC House of Bishops – on the Anglican Church of Canada 2019 General Synod

Posted on July 18, 2019 
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“Our dear friends,

For the last while many of us have been much in prayer, knowing that the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) would be convening July 10-16, 2019 in Vancouver for some very significant decisions.

Among them was the second vote potentially to confirm the decision of the 2016 General Synod to change the Marriage Canon. …

The outcome was the motion was defeated by the narrowest of margins because, although the laity and clergy houses both had votes far exceeding the 66.6 % vote required, the House of Bishops only had just over 62% which meant the motion was defeated.

In reflecting on this outcome, while knowing that many Dioceses have already gone ahead for years and have no intention, it would seem, of changing, the ANiC House of Bishops would humbly like to share the following thoughts…”

– from The House of Bishops of the Anglican Network in Canada.

The Eclipse of God, the Subversion of Truth, and the Assault upon Religious Liberty

Posted on July 18, 2019 
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“Our concern in this gathering is the assault on religious liberty now experienced within the United States and throughout Western Civilization.

The very civilization that paid such an incalculable price through the centuries in order to defend and preserve human rights and human liberty, now grows hostile to the most basic liberty of all. History’s most courageous experiment in self-government, predicated upon unalienable rights, now seeks to alienate the unalienable. The cultural Left in the United States now dares to use the term “religious liberty” only with scare quotes.

How did this happen? …”

– Albert Mohler gave this address in Denver, Colorado, on the weekend.

Anglican Church of Canada resolves to remove prayer for conversion of the Jews

Posted on July 17, 2019 
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“An effort to remove a prayer for conversion of the Jews from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and to replace it with one for reconciliation with the Jews has passed its first major hurdle at General Synod.

On July 15, a resolution to amend Canon XIV passed its first reading at the 42nd General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. The amendment would delete prayer number four in ‘Prayers and Thanksgivings upon Several Occasions’ from use and future printings of the BCP, and replace it with a prayer entitled ‘For Reconciliation with the Jews.”’

The resolution passed by nearly unanimous votes in all three orders. …

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, outgoing primate [pictured], invited Primate-elect Linda Nicholls to sign a copy of the resolution to amend Canon XIV and present it to Rabbi Stein following the passing of the resolution by General Synod.”

– Story from the Anglican Church of Canada’s in-house Anglican Journal.

(One wonders what the Apostle Paul might say to this.)

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