Over 1,800 churches left United Methodist Church in 2022
The United Methodist Church lost over 1,800 congregations in 2022, mainly due to the denomination's ongoing schism over homosexuality, according to a recent report. CP.
Saturday, January 28, 2023
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Sinister.
'Pagan idol to abortion': Critics lambast NYC's Ruth Bader Ginsburg statue as 'satanic'.
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg arrives to watch U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 20, 2015. | Reuters/Joshua RobertsA sculpture of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg atop a New York City courthouse is attracting criticism, with observers claiming the statue has a "demonic" appearance and celebratory nature towards abortion.
The sculpture, titled "NOW," was designed by Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander, who claims that the statue is part of an "urgent" and "necessary cultural reckoning" in New York.
“The citizens of New York should be outraged that their hard-earned tax dollars have been used for such an offensive display,” Penny Nance, CEO of the social conservative activist group Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest women’s public policy organization, told The Christian Post in an email.
“This is the same city that just tore down a statue of Teddy Roosevelt because it was too ‘controversial’ but a satanic symbol to glorify the murder of a child in the womb is not? No wonder New Yorkers are leaving in droves. No one should be forced to look at this disgusting graven image of evil. Tear down this statue.”
Billy Gribbin, communications director for Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., wrote in a Wednesday tweet that "[t]hey turned abortion into a pagan idol to worship and put it on a courthouse."
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Happy Birthday!
Spirited North Carolina preacher goes skydiving for his 98th birthday.
Roy Jernigan went skydiving for his 98th birthday on Tuesday Jan. 24, 2023. | Screenshot/Skydive Coastal CarolinasAt 98 years old, longtime North Carolina preacher Roy Jernigan doesn’t have a doctor, hasn’t had a physical exam in 15 years and is on no medication “but the good Lord and black coffee.” And to celebrate his longevity on Tuesday, he went skydiving with his family for his birthday and plans to do it again when he turns 100.
“My advice to anyone, if God blesses you and gives you the number of years that he’s given me, burn out your life living for others. You’ll never regret it,” Jernigan told WECT News 6 after completing the challenge with his daughter and granddaughter.
Jernigan, who served as a Naval Corpsman during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was an understudy as a clown in the Ringling Brothers Circus at the start of World War II, told WRAL News that he was never a “thrill seeker” but decided to take on the challenge which his family claims started out as a joke.
“I didn’t think he’d go through with it [...] not much surprises me these days from him. He’s a risk taker I guess,” granddaughter April Lintner told WECT News 6. CP.
The Drug of Choice.
Intolerance is the drug of choice for the ‘tolerant’ in today’s culture wars.
Tomiwa Owolade
I
f you want to show what a wonderfully tolerant person you are in today’s febrile political climate, there are two things you must do. The first is to accuse anyone who disagrees with you on a sensitive subject of being on the wrong side of history. The second is to accuse them of stoking a culture war.
There are now, in some circles, approved positions on everything from race to gender. But there’s a flaw within their dogmatism that is pure poison for modern, liberal Britain.
Let’s take a look at some of these approved positions. On race it is that Britain is a white supremacy, we need to decolonise the curriculum by removing white and male authors in favour of writers from marginalised backgrounds, and we need to get rid of statues of anyone implicated in imperialism or the slave trade.
On gender, those views state that trans women are women, and gender self-identity is all that matters. Biological sex is completely irrelevant. If anyone vocally objects to any of these positions, they are on the wrong side of history. They are stoking a culture war.
This is the current strategy of the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. She has repeatedly accused Rishi Sunak’s government of stoking a culture war because it has blocked the Scottish government’s new Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Ultimately, this bill allows anyone over 16 to legally change their gender.
Many feminists — from JK Rowling to the campaigner Julie Bindel, from the columnist Sonia Sodha to the Labour MP Rosie Duffield — believe this bill undermines the sex-based protections enshrined in the 2010 Equality Act. In other words, they argue that recognising biological sex is crucial to protecting the rights of women, and gender self-identification in practice means anyone can identify as a different sex to the one in which they were born. Sex-segregated spaces like women’s prisons and refuges are thus vulnerable to exploitation by men. For these feminists, it’s not a question of trans rights. It is a question of women’s rights.You might passionately disagree with this view. You might think it’s an exaggerated concern. That it is wrong. But to dismiss anyone who expresses it as stoking a culture war, to assume that they are doing so simply out of bad faith, is to display a level of arrogance completely contrary to the principles that underpin a plural society.
We need to hash things out when sincerely held perspectives clash with each other. But there is now a particular kind of liberal or progressive commentator who had hitherto been an ostrich sticking his head in the sand on the “culture wars”, but is now exclaiming with a kind of weary frustration, “why can’t these women get over these issues?” Evening Standard.
Friday, January 27, 2023
Shambolic Batting By England Loses The First ODI in Bloemfontain By 28 Runs.
Chasing 299 to win, England were cruising at 146 for no wicket - dozens of runs ahead of the required rate. Three wickets then tumbled in just six runs and we were treated to some truly appalling batting as wickets were surrendered by almost all of the England batsmen.
Most of the strokes played were little short of criminal! Wafting the bat like a magic wand at the ball was the name of the game.
The S. Africans bowled really well - there is no denying that - but capitulation under pressure is shameful.
Well played, the hosts!
Sad.
David Sutherland, artist behind the Beano's Bash Street Kids for more than 60 years – obituary.
Described as the 'single most important illustrator' in the Beano's history, he also drew Dennis The Menace and Biffo the Bear
David Sutherland, who has died aged 89, was the artistic genius behind the Beano’s subversive comic strip The Bash Street Kids for more than 60 years and was described by the current editor John Anderson as the “single most important illustrator” in the comic’s history....
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We Cannot Bless What God Curses!
Blessing same-sex relationships is a change in Church doctrine, says Rev Dr Lee Gatiss, no matter how hard bishops try to argue otherwise.
The Bishops of the Church of England have finally announced what they want to do at the end of the Living in Love and Faith process.
In a press release, they announced that they will be issuing an apology to LGBT people for the “rejection, exclusion, and hostility” they have faced in churches.
Bishops have also decided to “offer the fullest possible pastoral provision” to same-sex couples “without changing the Church’s doctrine of Holy Matrimony”. This will include “a range of draft prayers…which could be used voluntarily in churches” to bless same-sex partnerships.
The bishops also plan to replace Issues in Human Sexuality, which binds clergy to celibacy outside of heterosexual marriage, with new pastoral guidance.
The basis for these proposals is given in large bold letters: “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16).
The Archbishop of York describes this as “not the end of that journey” but “a milestone” which, he hopes will “provide a way for us all to celebrate and affirm same-sex relationships.”
APOLOGIES
This is not an abstract academic issue, but one which affects real people. Many have been hurt by the way they have been treated by the Church. Sincere apologies should be given to specific individuals where that is the case.
We cannot apologise for following Christ and proclaiming his word, as if that was not somehow the best way for us all to live. But we can and should apologise where we have fallen short of the standards demanded of us in God’s word.
All of us who are fallen and sinful human beings can be made whole and holy by Jesus as we repent of our sins and believe in him. Everyone should be welcome in our churches to explore that call to repentance and faith; not just certain kinds of sinners, but all of us.
There are four reasons why I believe Christians should oppose this latest move by Church of England bishops.
1. We can’t bless what God curses
How can we promote, bless and celebrate things which God has not blessed? It isn’t good enough to throw 1 John 4:16 into this debate like a grenade and think that is sufficient to establish that he approves of same-sex relationships. This text is beloved of revisionists (and is probably where the title Living in Love and Faith comes from) but is rarely unpacked in context.
People seem to want it to mean that it doesn’t matter who or what you love, God is in you if you love at all. But is it possible to live in sinful love and to hold to the Christian faith? Or does orthodox Christianity rule out certain kinds of love?
OUR LOVES ARE MEANT TO CONFORM TO GOD’S LOVES. IF THEY GO AGAINST HIS WILL, WE DO NOT LIVE IN GOD NOR HE IN US
I was recently denounced on Twitter by a gay activist clergyman for even using the phrase “sinful love”. Apparently, there’s no such thing, only love - defined any way we want - and it’s homophobic to suggest otherwise, he said. But the rest of 1 John has much to say about what we love and desire: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
That phrase about “doing the will of God” defines what John means by love. Our loves are meant to conform to God’s loves. If they go against his will, we do not live in God nor he in us, and we will not live forever. That’s what 1 John - and the rest of the New Testament - is saying when it insists that certain behaviours (including but not exclusively sexual behaviours) will exclude people from the kingdom of God (see 1 Corinthians 5; Galatians 5; Ephesians 5). That’s why this is so serious. We need to know what love is, if we want to live forever. Not all love leads to God.
So how can we tell people that something God has said will lead to death, will actually lead to life? Is it not wicked of us to lie about something so important? Will we avoid God’s judgement if we knowingly lead people astray like this? How can we bless what God detests? Or as John Calvin once put it: “How can anyone have the effrontery to expect that God will aid him in accomplishing desires at variance with his word?” (Institutes 3.7.9)
2. This is a change of doctrine
It is, at best, a sleight of hand and, at worst, a downright lie to claim that blessing same-sex marriage relationships in church is not a change in the Church’s doctrine of marriage.
Sex outside of heterosexual marriage is sinful, and has always been recognised as so by the Church and by the General Synod. To change this, in order to bless homosexual relationships, is not just a piece of minor tinkering.
Thomas Aquinas said that if someone teaches that God is not a Trinity, or that sexual immorality is not a sin, then they are a heretic (see his commentary on Titus 3). That has always been the universal teaching of the Church.
To accept this change is to change our doctrine and practice, because our practice reflects our doctrine. It would make us heretics, just as surely as if the bishops told us we could use Unitarian prayers and were at liberty to argue against the doctrine of the Trinity. The bishops can’t make it a non-change simply by stating that this change is not a change. For us to swallow such casuistry requires far too much mental gymnastics. It convinces no-one.
Some say the status quo is the only option. I say that the Church has already slipped away from reflecting orthodox doctrine in its recent changes to practice, and needs to return to orthodoxy, not just stick where it is. But what it cannot do is abandon orthodoxy while pretending it hasn’t, just because technically it won’t call same-sex blessings “marriage”.
3. Liturgy must reflect orthodox doctrine
Canon law B4.1 states: “The Convocations of Canterbury and York may approve…forms of service… which in both words and order are in their opinion reverent and seemly and neither contrary to, nor indicative of any departure from, the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter.”
So any liturgy which blesses same-sex relationships simply cannot be permissible under canon law, as they would indicate an obvious departure from the doctrine of the Church of England in a matter which both sides recognise as absolutely essential. If clergy can be disciplined or rebuked for tampering with liturgy, especially in wedding services, then why do the bishops think they can propose liturgies which signal the most fundamental shift in Church doctrine since the Reformation?
4. This compromise is unworkable
Liberals are not happy because these proposals do not allow gay marriage in full. Conservatives are not happy because they would enshrine heresy in the church. Those who treasure unity above all are askance at all the disunity. So should we be content that nobody gets everything they want, and try to make it work?
The main question ought to be: does this please God, or not?
But God seems to have been sidelined in favour of a political balancing act. What the Leader of the House of Commons thinks seems to have more weight than what God thinks. There is an existential choice facing the Church: we can please God, or we can please the state. As Joshua Penduck says, if we give in and change our doctrine (in law or in practice), “we will stop being the centre of a vibrant, growing communion of (in the main) black and Asian poor, and instead become the centre of a declining communion of (in the main) rich, middle-class white people.”
This sort of pastoral accommodation puts huge pressure put upon clergy and churches who do not wish to see these changes. Will bishops defend and protect such people from the press and the outraged hordes on social media if their local vicar refuses, however sensitively, to perform one of the new blessings?
IT WOULD BE A FEARSOME THING TO BE LED BY THOSE WHOM GOD HAD ABANDONED
Will they help them, when links with church schools and other local groups are adversely affected by such a stance, which has been in line with the universal teaching of the Church for the last 2,000 years?
It seems unlikely, given how quick many of them have been to virtue-signal on this topic on social media. Are there any bishops publicly defending the orthodox line online?
This issue has the potential to split every parish in the land, creating mini-schisms in every PCC and deanery as some adopt the changes and some don’t. Multi-parish benefices will become even more unworkable. Not to mention the unhappy fate of optional orthodoxy (the idea that, where orthodoxy is made optional, it will sooner or later be proscribed and forbidden).
The Archbishop of York says this is “not the end of the journey” - he expects there to be further changes down the road. So this unsustainable and unstable compromise cannot stand.
LET’S MOVE ON
We have been discussing this subject in the Church of England for decades (Homosexual Relationships report in 1979; Issues in Human Sexuality in 1991; Some Issues in Human Sexuality in 2003; Men and Women in Marriage in 2013; The Pilling Report in 2013; Living in Love and Faith since 2020). It’s time to move on.
There is a correlation between progressive ideology and church decline. Liberalism has emptied many churches over the last 100 years. Why would we want to keep on down this road?
There has been no convincing argument made for changing doctrine and practice. Living in Love and Faith provided no biblical justifications for a shift of this magnitude. The Bishop of Oxford made no real attempt to argue his case for change from the Bible (and was ably countered by Vaughan Roberts). The Bishop of Worcester made a puerile point about Solomon having hundreds of wives, which apparently proves there is no biblical doctrine of marriage; hardly biblical scholarship. Again, Martin Davie easily takes his argument apart.
IT IS, AT BEST, A SLEIGHT OF HAND TO CLAIM THAT BLESSING SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS IS NOT A CHANGE IN CHURCH DOCTRINE
It is insulting that clergy study theology and the Bible before being ordained, and yet bishops have made no attempt to argue a case for change either biblically or theologically; preferring instead sentimentality, pragmatics and cultural accommodation.
But scripture must remain our standard. As Kirsten Birkett says: “Whatever the topic, if the Church has agreed, almost universally, for pretty much all of its history, it is unlikely that a new and innovative reading is correct. It is not impossible: but those who would advocate a new reading have a huge burden of proof to meet. There must be truly overwhelming biblical evidence that the new reading is reasonable, and more reasonable than the old.”
It is time for those who have failed to persuade us of the biblical basis for changing doctrine and practice to move on. There are plenty of other denominations which will affirm your liberal views.
WORKING TOGETHER
It has been encouraging to see Church of England members with orthodox views working together over the last few years.
We need to unite, with a determination to safeguard the Church from the spiritual harm that will be done if these changes are implemented.
Now is the time to talk and pray together as we seek the Lord amid the turbulence and uncertainty. As 2 Chronicles 20:12 says: “When many are ranged against us, we must pray: ‘We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.’”
This article first appeared on the Church Society website and is re-used with permission. Read it in full and find out more about their work here
Rev Dr Lee Gatiss is a theologian, author, Church historian and the director of Church Society. His latest book is Fight Valiantly: Contending for the faith against false teaching in the Church.
Anglicans: The Giant Split Between the God-Following CofE and the Godless Cof E Is Imminent.
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/will.the.anglican.communion.hold.together/139741.htm
Thursday, January 26, 2023
From Faith To Apostasy in Several Steps.
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/cofe.same.sex.blessings.will.lead.to.change.in.doctrine.say.evangelicals/139742.htm
I truly believe Priti had the will to end this crisis but was shackled by Boris's cabinet.
Fraudulent asylum seekers put all of us at risk.
The Government is failing to implement measures to check the ages of arrivals claiming to be children.
The vicious killing of Thomas Roberts, an aspiring Royal Marine, was a ghastly act of barbarity. The fact that it was committed at the hands of a liar who took advantage of this nation’s generosity, misleading officials about his age in order to be taken in as an asylum seeker, should jolt us into action. We must implement every law available to us now to stop adults from claiming asylum on the basis of a false age. They don’t just exploit our laws, but often children too, in the process of conducting this fraud.
Throughout my time as home secretary, I was always committed to protecting children and vulnerable people, in keeping with the traditions of our country. We open our arms to children in need.
In 2019, for instance, the UK received more asylum claims from unaccompanied children than any other European country, including Greece and Italy, who have dealt with particularly large waves of migration. Since 2015, the UK has received, on average, more than 3,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children per year. Those who claim we have a brutish policy, or that we somehow disregard those in need, are being dishonest at best.
But our generosity has also been open to egregious abuse. The ages of asylum seekers are disputed in many thousands of cases. Worse yet, during the 2016-2020 period, some 54 per cent of disputed cases who claimed to be a child were found to be adults.
For years, I have stressed how serious a risk this poses in terms of safeguarding. If people aged over 18 are placed in childhood settings, including schools, the dangers should be obvious. And yet, as Thomas Roberts’s tragic killing has proven, it was never just the safety of the young that was at stake.
Everyone’s security is compromised, if those who lie so fundamentally about their nature are allowed to abuse our systems and institutions. There is a lot we can do now to fix it. The UK is one of the only countries in Europe not to use scientific age assessment methods to help determine a person’s age when they arrive into the country. Various scientific methods are used to assess age in, among others, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022, introduced under Boris Johnson’s administration and during my tenure at the Home Office – which has yet to be implemented by this Government – brought in important changes to strengthen and clarify the framework for determining the age of people seeking asylum. It brought forward plans to introduce a new National Age Assessment Board to set out the criteria, process and requirements to assess age, including using the most up to date scientific technology.
This legislation – if implemented –should also enable front-line immigration officers and other staff who are not social workers to make reasonable initial assessments of age. Moreover, it would provide a requirement on local authorities to either undertake full age assessments or refer people to the Age Assessment Board for a full statutory assessment, when they have reason to believe that someone’s age is being incorrectly given, in line with existing safeguarding obligations.
The problem with the current process is that it is highly subjective and often subject to prolonged and expensive legal disputes. In some cases, multiple assessments are required before confirming whether an individual is a child or not.
The cost of repeated assessments and legal challenges can exceed thousands of pounds of public money. The result is prolonged uncertainty over many months, sometimes years.
During such delays, we have examples of adults freely entering the UK care and school system, and being accommodated and educated with vulnerable children. The Nationality and Borders Act was designed to overhaul the process in order to avoid this. It could provide a consistent and robust approach to dealing with anyone whose age is uncertain. But only if it is implemented.
Everyone across Government should work together to now put this tough legislation into action. It is a matter of national urgency. DT.
Conversion Therapy Ban.
Conversion therapy ban: Christians ready to go to court unless parents and pastors are protected.
(Photo: Getty/iStock)The Christian Institute has said it will take the government to court unless it ensures that the fundamental rights of parents and pastors are protected in a future ban on conversion therapy.
Women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has promised that the legislation will protect religious freedom and conversations about sexuality and gender identity with faith leaders, parents, teachers and counsellors.
Despite the assurances, concerns remain about the legislation and the lack of clarity around terminology.
Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, said that the banning of conversion therapy was "an absolute minefield, primarily because no-one knows what it is".
He said that activists were "profoundly intolerant" and that safeguarding was being weaponised in a bid to outlaw opposing views.
"Activists used to say they wanted to outlaw brutal abuse like electro-shock therapy. But that's already illegal," he said.
"Now they're admitting what they really want is to outlaw traditional theology and gender critical feminism. They are profoundly intolerant. They don't like the idea of churches praying prayers they don't agree with.
"They don't like women's activists and parents discouraging young people from rushing into gender transition."
Mr Calvert said that The Christian Institute was ready to take legal action if the government fails to protect freedom of speech and religion.
"Our solicitors wrote to the Westminster government preparing the ground for judicial review in May 2021," he said.
"If Parliament passes a law that tramples on basic freedoms of speech and religion we are ready to go to court to protect the fundamental right of parents and pastors to calmly explain their ethical beliefs without being prosecuted as abusers." CT.
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Falling Sea Levels? - (Don't tell Greta or she'll throw another tantrum.)
Oslo. Sea levels falling. This is certainly worth 60 seconds of your time. (Enjoy the graph.)
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Rogues - But We All Knew Already, Of Course.
Supermarkets not suppliers are behind unfair food price hikes on the shelves, insiders claim
Supermarkets are fuelling the cost of living crisis by pushing through unfair price hikes, industry insiders claim.
Blogger: these kind of greedy actions cause a huge % of the inflation we are currently suffering.
Beating Leprosy.
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