GAFCON Statement on Proposed Primates’ Meeting 2017
Posted on August 5, 2016
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Just released:
“In the last week, there has been news of a potential Primates’ Meeting scheduled to begin October 2, 2017. Consequently, we have received a number of inquiries, both from the media and our membership, asking the question of whether or not the Gafcon Primates will attend.
For all who had hoped that attendance at the January 2016 Primates’ Gathering might restore godly order to the Communion, the results were clearly discouraging. Gafcon is fully committed to guarding the unchanging truth of the Gospel, and restoring the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion. In due course, the Gafcon Primates will take counsel and together make a decision about the wisdom of attending future meetings.
The next meeting of the Gafcon Primates’ Council is in April of 2017. We give thanks for the courage that is being shown by our members across the globe, as they share God’s Word both ‘in season and out of season’. Please continue to pray for the continued growth of this reformation movement.”
Tim Challies on ‘Heaven is for Real’ and other ‘heaven tourism’
Posted on August 5, 2016
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“In March 2003, young Colton Burpo was in serious distress.
Doctors did not yet know it, but his appendix had burst and his life was in grave danger. When doctors at one hospital were unable to diagnose him, his parents raced him to a new hospital where he was rushed into surgery, the doctor warning ominously that their son was in grave danger.
Colton survived his surgery and emerged from it telling a strange story…”
– In his series on bestselling ‘Christian’ books, Tim Challies revisits the genre of ‘Heaven Tourism’, and republishes an infographic he created in 2015.
Is the Pope a Catholic? Understanding the Catholic Church
Posted on August 5, 2016
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By Mark Gilbert, Certainty for Eternity
In Australia we have a saying we use when someone asks you something blindingly obvious. We reply, “Is the Pope a Catholic?” The assumption being, of course, that he is!
On 31 October this year Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) will take part in in an ecumenical service with the World Federation of Lutheran Churches to mark a year of celebrations to commemorate 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church at Wittenberg. When commenting about this event, Pope Francis said this to reporters:
“And today Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us agree on the doctrine of justification.”
When he makes comments like this he is showing himself to be entirely Catholic—which is after all what you would expect.
Let me explain what I mean. The word Catholic comes from a Greek word which means “according to the whole”. In short, the Catholic Church means the unified church. Unity is the most important thing for the Catholic church because it is Catholic.
Which brings us to the important question: How does the Catholic church understand unity?
The Catholic Church sees itself as a sacrament of unity for the world. By this they mean that they are a visible and effective sign of unity. Visible because they are seen to be at the centre of unity, and effective in that they unite various religions and philosophies with God.
In the above diagram the large blue dot represents the Catholic Church which, according to Catholic understanding, has the fullness of unity with God. They understand unity as: unity in succession from Peter and the apostles, unity in creed – the ancient Nicaean Creed, and unity in liturgy – by which they mean the Mass.
The other blue dots represent other religions and philosophies. Those closer in represent religions such as the Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Church and other Christian churches. Those further out represent other monotheistic religions like Judaism and Islam, polytheistic religions, and even atheistic beliefs and philosophies. They are all varying distances from Catholicism but are linked to Catholicism.
The arrows represent the links between different religions and Catholicism. The Catholic Church has been working very hard over the last 50 years to document what these various religions have in common with the Catholic Church. They call this process ecumenism. Notice however that there is no sense that the Catholic church will change to become closer to other religions. No, it is entirely about identifying what other religions and philosophies have in common with Roman Catholicism. This process is important for Catholics because they believe unity with the Catholic Church is the only way these religions can be united to God – because the Catholic Church is the sacrament of unity for the world.
Because these statements of unity are based on the objective of demonstrating agreement, they unfortunately tend to obscure or even avoid any differences in order to have a document that both groups can agree on. This tends to be at the cost of clarity. The 1999 Joint Declaration on Justification between the Catholics and some Lutherans is a good example of this.
The end result of this process is Francis making statements like:
“And today Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us agree on the doctrine of justification.”
However, the truth is Catholics and most Protestants are in profound disagreement on the doctrine of Justification! The Reformation is definitely NOT over (see previous article).
Another example of the Catholic Church promoting their agenda of unity is the way in which they encourage the rapidly growing number of Evangelical leaders engaging in public displays of unity with the Pope.
These public displays of unity between Evangelicals and Catholics only serve to promote the Catholic agenda to be the sacrament (visible and effective sign) of unity with God for the world.
So what is wrong with this view of unity?
Unity is very important to God, but it is not the sort of “obscuring the differences” type of institutional unity the Catholic church and sadly some Protestants are promoting through documents like the Joint Declaration on Justification. True unity is unity based on truth because it is unity with God himself (John 17:11). Not a sacramental unity through an earthly institution but unity in the Spirit who knows no bounds with the Father through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:30-5:2). It is unity with God who has unity as a characteristic of his very being – Father, Son and Spirit.
If you are a Christian, you are already united to God by adoption into his family and therefore you are already united with every other Christian as their brother or sister.
Because unity with the Catholic Church is important for Catholics and unity in God is important for us, why not invite your Catholic friends and neighbours to be united to you and your church family by inviting them to belong to your church, your mother’s group, your play group, your Bible study group, your prayer group, your youth group. Here they can clearly hear from God directly through the Bible and by trusting him be truly united to Him and you for eternity.
Mark Gilbert
If you’d like to learn more about sharing this great message of certainty for eternity with Catholics, you may be interested in the conference: Understanding Roman Catholicism in the 21st Century and developing effective evangelistic strategies
Saturday 20th August, 10:00am – 1:00pm
Cost: Free
Moore College, 19 King Street, Newtown NSW 2042
How we became GAFCON — 5 minute video
Posted on August 3, 2016
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Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen describes how GAFCON came about, and why it is needed, in this new video.
Pass the link around.
And here is a 60 second video from Dr Jensen on the same topic.
See also: Where are we now? The aftermath of the January meeting of the Primates – Peter Jensen.
“In January this year, the Primates of the Anglican Communion were summoned by the Archbishop of Canterbury to a meeting. So serious is the crisis in the Communion about the authority of God’s word that almost every Primate attended.
As I have said previously, the result was the mildest possible rebuke over the greatest offence for the greatest offenders, with the hope that there may be repentance.
It is now perfectly clear that the meeting failed in its intention. Far from being rebuked, the leaders of the Episcopal Church said that they intend to continue in their present course and indeed to export their ideas vigorously to the rest of the world…” (Read more.)
Canterbury is only as helpful as he is faithful
Posted on August 3, 2016
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“So the Archbishop of Canterbury has called for yet another meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion for October, 2017. As if this meeting could cure the wound that has been made even more incurable by his own personal failure to uphold the recommendations of the meeting he called in January of this year—failures that I documented several weeks ago in “At this point, why should we care about the Anglican Communion?”.
When I last wrote about this, I emphasised the Archbishop’s failure to defend the special role of Bishops to guard the doctrine, discipline and order of the Church…”
– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey points out that the way forward is not through Canterbury.
Why the Reformation is Definitely Not Over
Posted on August 2, 2016
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By Mark Gilbert, Certainty for Eternity.
On 31 October this year, Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) will take part in an ecumenical service with the World Federation of Lutheran Churches to commence a year of celebrations to commemorate 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church at Wittenberg.
When commenting about this event, Pope Francis said this to reporters:
“And today Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us agree on the doctrine of justification.”
Based on this and other comments, it seems increasingly likely at this event that he will declare the Reformation to be over. Which prompts us to ask the question …
Is the Reformation really over?
Never!
“There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so surely established, which (in continuance of time) hath not been corrupted”
So said Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in the preface to his 1549 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. The church is always reforming because the church is made up of sinful people who continue to need to be reformed by the word of God.
The capital “R” Reformation describes a period of time that began in 1517 when Martin Luther, a Augustinian monk who taught the Bible in a German University in Wittenberg, struggled with the question – “How could someone be sure they were righteous before God?”
In Luther’s day the Church taught, “Do what lies within you”. In other words, the church taught that righteousness was attained by co-operating with God’s grace by developing godly habits, self-denial and participating in the Sacraments.
Luther recalls:
“I tortured myself with prayers, fasting, vigils, and freezing: the frost alone might have killed me” (LW 24:24)
and
“I almost fasted myself to death for again and again I went for three days without taking a drop of water or a morsel of food. I was very serious about it.” (LW 54:339-40)
However, despite applying these teachings vigorously he found no assurance. He describes this state as his “monstrous uncertainty” (LW 26:386)
Leading up to 1517, Luther was preparing to teach the New Testament. He was preparing classes on the Books of Romans, Hebrews, Galatians and the Psalms. By doing this he discovered that he needed to place his trust in the objective promises of God, declared in the Scriptures, not in his own religious performance.
“it [the objective promises of God] snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our own strength, conscience, experience, person or works but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive.” (LW 26:386-7)
Faith, or trust, in God’s promises rather than in his own performance freed Luther from his “monstrous uncertainty” and gave him certainty for eternity.
When Pope Francis makes statements like the following:
“And today, Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us agree on the doctrine of justification. On this point, which is very important, he [Martin Luther] did not err.”
We need to understand what he means by “justification” which is something quite different to what it meant to Martin Luther. For the Pope, “justification” actually includes receiving initial justification at Baptism plus the process of sanctification throughout life. In other words, Catholics teach that a person is righteous before God on the basis of what God does plus what they do to become more holy (see Catechism of the Catholic Church articles 1995, 2010). In the end it still leaves Catholics with a “monstrous uncertainty” because they still need to look to themselves to know if they are good enough for God and they are never completely sure…
Personally, having grown up in the Catholic Church, when I started reading the Bible with my Protestant friends at University I realised that God saves people who don’t deserve it, without their help. That means on a good day or on a bad day I still know with certainty where I stand with God because being right with God depends completely on something objective – outside myself – on the sacrificial death of Jesus alone. I was never taught this in the Catholic Church despite 1000+ religious classes at school and going to Mass every week for 20 years. However, when I realised I could be certain where I stood with God, I was able to live my life completely for Him with confidence. This has been the most important and life changing news I have ever learnt!
Despite these statements of agreement between Catholics and a small number of Protestants, which really just obscure these important differences, sadly, the issues raised at the Reformation are far from resolved.
Why not ask your Catholic friend if they are certain they are going to heaven, and if they’re not, why not share with them the solution that Martin Luther discovered and I hope you have too?
Hebrews 10:14 “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
When it comes to the question of where we stand before God we can have certainty for eternity instead of a monstrous uncertainty!
Mark Gilbert
See also: Is the Pope a Catholic? Understanding the Catholic Church.
If you’d like to learn more about sharing this great message of certainty for eternity with Catholics, you may be interested in the conference: Understanding Roman Catholicism in the 21st Century and developing effective evangelistic strategies
Saturday 20th August, 10:00am – 1:00pm
Cost: Free
Moore College, 19 King Street, Newtown NSW 2042
The evangelical predicament: What will a faithful vote look like in November?
Posted on August 1, 2016
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In his latest issue of The Briefing, Albert Mohler looks at the uncertainties of the modern world – and comments on the predicament facing American evangelical Christians in the coming US election.
Hope because Hell has not yet come
Posted on August 1, 2016
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“This past Sunday at our church we started a new sermon series on the book of Lamentations. The title of this series is “Hell of a subject” because Lamentations teaches us about the wrath or “fierce anger” (1:12) of God, of which an eternal hell is the ultimate expression.
We don’t often hear about the wrath or fierce anger of God, let alone about an eternal hell. Most people would say something like, “My God would never do that!” Rather than worshipping and serving the God of the Bible, most people worship and serve the God of their own making, who, not-surprisingly, has all the same opinions as themselves. Lamentations will help us. Lamentations gives us a small foretaste of the wrath of God…”
– At the REACH South Africa (formerly CESA) website, Andre Visagie shares strong observations from Lamentations.
Pastoral Letter to Clergy, Parishioners and Friends of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn from Bishop Stuart Robinson
Posted on July 31, 2016
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“Beloved in Christ,
I am writing, with a heavy heart, in response to concerns expressed by parishioners and people in our wider communities around the reports of sexual abuse in the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle. Like me, you will be appalled at what has been alleged and what has taken place…”
– Stuart Robinson, Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn, has published this pastoral letter.
From Here to Eternity: Giving thanks for Arthur Stace, 49 years on
Posted on July 30, 2016
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Today, 30th July 2016, is the 49th anniversary of the home-calling of Arthur Stace.
Remembered today as ‘Mr. Eternity’, Arthur Stace committed his life to asking the men and women of Sydney to consider where they will spend eternity. His ‘one word sermon’ was written in yellow crayon on the streets of Sydney for three decades – until ill health prevented him.
Stace was also a keen evangelist, and was seen on Saturday nights preaching from the Open Air Campaigners van parked on the corner of George and Bathurst Streets in Sydney.
He was no eccentric, and there is no secret about his motives. He wanted men and women to place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The 50th anniversary of Stace’s death, 30th July 2017, falls on a Sunday.
This is an excellent opportunity for churches to remind the people of Sydney of his call to consider where they will spend eternity. (It is most appropriate for older Sydney-siders who remember actually seeing his work!)
The next year gives Sydney churches time to consider how they might use this anniversary for the eternal good of the people of our great city.
Top photo courtesy Ramon Williams. Read more about Mr. Eternity here.
Newcastle Bishop shares a message on the eve of the Royal Commission
Posted on July 30, 2016
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From the Diocese of Newcastle:
“The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is holding a public hearing into the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle at Newcastle from Tuesday, 2 August 2016.
Bishop Greg Thompson shares a message with the Diocesan community about working together through what will be a confronting time as we face the past to help build a healthy future.”
Watch Bishop Thompson’s message here. And please pray for all concerned.
Amazing Love? A review article from Church Society
Posted on July 29, 2016
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From Church Society in the UK:
‘Amazing Love: Theology for Understanding Discipleship, Sexuality and Mission’ is a new book, edited by Andrew Davison, which seeks to promote a change to the Church of England’s doctrine of marriage.
In an extended two-part review, Dr Peter Sanlon, Vicar of St Mark’s Church, Tunbridge Wells, analyses the claims of the book –
“This aim of this book can be given in the authors’ own words: ‘This short book explains why we think it’s good for Christians to embrace their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, and to celebrate their relationships … We think that the Church should be willing – delighted even – to hallow and strengthen such commitments.’…”
“This volume has the appearance of being a digest of thoughtful and considered academic research. However that is just the surface reality – a carefully curated image. Academic publisher, long sub-title, titled academics listed as authors. It looks like academic work; but upon closer examination the mirage fades.…
It is stated on numerous occasions in the book that the aim of the authors is the embrace and acceptance of homosexual relationships by the Church of England. In reality the book has a much larger goal. The goal is nothing less than a wholesale revision of the Christian Faith into a different religion.”
Prophetic from the Centre
Posted on July 29, 2016
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Crossways has released a free mini-book in PDF, .mobi and epub formats.
It’s adapted from Don Carson’s address to the first Gospel Coalition conference, in 2007.
The topic: Prophetic from the Centre – The Gospel of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:1–19. Good to pass on to congregations!
A Roman Catholic canon for Belfast Cathedral
Posted on July 28, 2016
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“St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, has appointed the Very Rev Edward O’Donnell, Parish Priest of St Brigid’s, Belfast, as an Ecumenical Canon.
This is the first time in the history of St Anne’s that a Roman Catholic Priest will serve on the Cathedral Chapter…”
– St. Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, Church of Ireland.
Two new posts at Law and Religion Australia
Posted on July 28, 2016
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Neil Foster, at Law and Religion Australia, has updated his blog with two new posts:
Religious Freedom victory in Nova Scotia
and
Religious Vilification claim in Victoria rejected.
Informative reading for an understanding of what’s happening in the realm of religious freedom.
Related: The inaugural Freedom for Faith Conference, Friday 12th August.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…