In 2005 a new version of the Gospels invited readers to believe that Jesus Christ was a woman known as Judith:
"And Joseph went to Bethlehem, To be enrolled with Mary, his wife, who was then pregnant, And she brought forth her firstborn child, And her name was chosen to be Judith.” Later, "She bearing her cross went forth, There they crucified Judith.... Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb, But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Judith who was crucified. She is not here; for She is risen.”
In July this year role reversal and substitution in the guise of equality reached its climax in the Episcopal Church of the United States, the Mecca of religious liberalism. They voted overwhelmingly in favour of transgender ordination, the latest in a series of departures from the male priesthood of faith and tradition in the Apostolic Church.
In 2008 the Presiding Bishop's arch disciple, the Archbishop of Wales, wrote for the Guardian that refusing to ordain women bishops was at odds with the gospel. Quoting St Paul he wrote: "At the heart of the Christian gospel are values of integrity, justice, wholeness and inclusion: In Christ there is no bond or free, male or female, Jew or Greek". Too often in this feminist inspired campaign, equality is preached out of context for the benefit of a secular audience while demeaning the views of those who share a different integrity. Yes, in Christ there is no "bond or free", no "Jew or Greek" but that does not mean that they are the same any more than "male and female" are the same; they are complementary. Interpreting the Bible in the context of social development becomes not a matter of faith but simply a question of geography using a false definition of equality contrary to Christ's vision of the church. The gospel values of integrity, justice, wholeness and inclusion are now being denied to opponents of the ordination of women on the absurd pretext that affording them the protection they need would make women bishops second class.
In 2002 the results of a survey carried out by Christian Research disclosed a decline in core beliefs and widespread scepticism among liberal clergy, particularly in organisations such as Affirming Catholicism and Modern Church (formerly the Modern Churchpeople's Union). The sample of women clergy in the survey showed that just over half said they believed in the bodily Resurrection. The figure fell to exactly a third when it came to the Virgin birth. This is a worrying development given the prediction: "It's obvious that over time the priesthood will become increasingly a female profession. As far as the church has a future it will include a predominant ministry of women and they will get to the top."- David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics.
Women rightly have much higher expectations today, demanding equality of opportunity in society and in employment but the church is not a secular marketplace. The ordained ministry is a vocation which already shows itself to be incapable of achieving the objective of parity in employment as envisaged by Women and the Church (WATCH). The church is being increasingly feminised with every indication that the end result will not be parity but female domination. As the testosterone deficit in congregations spreads through choir and chancel to the sanctuary, supporters of the ordination of women outdo one another in liberality with the predicted result of gender reversal in the priesthood leaving the church dominated by women as in pagan churches at the time of Christ when His Apostolic Church stood apart.
Back in 2007 Clerical Whispers blogged: "For the first time, the Church of England reports that more women than men were ordained in 2006. Last year 244 women and 234 men were ordained in the Church of England.
In June 2012 the Church of England published these statistics:
The number of women clergy, paid and unpaid, continues to rise. In 2011 there were 1,763 women in full-time paid parochial appointments compared with 1,140 in 2000, an increase of 50 per cent over the decade. Women make up over one in five (22 per cent) of paid parish clergy. Women in 2011 made up more than half of both those in self-supporting ministry (54 per cent) and of licensed readers (51 per cent).
Constantly capitulating, trendy liberals in the House of Bishops have demonstrated that they are ill-equipped to defend traditional teaching from attack, particularly by Women and the Church who campaign for equality but demand an ordained women's ministry solely on their terms, a ministry that in a period of reception has shown every indication that the result will be predominately (perhaps solely) a female ministry according to evidence already available. Synod can no longer in good conscience vote for a measure that will result in the inequality it strives to avoid. The proposals for the ordination of women to the episcopate must be rejected in order to reverse the process of gender substitution in the priesthood which will turn the Church of England into a feminised organisation no longer recognisable as part of Christ's Apostolic Church.
Don't forget BBC Wales on Monday 15 October at 9pm 'St Michael's Theological College Llandaf' the seat of twin integrity.
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Time to rent a good DVD, I think!
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