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It is a sad reflection of society today that I am again pushed for my first comment on the news in 2023 onto a familiar theme.

It is hard not to take notice when images such as that above appear with ridiculous claims that are contrary to biblical truth. 

The latest person to claim 'God's will' is the 'first non-binary Church of England priest'. A 'first' the Church in Wales has missed out on.

As friction over LGBTQ issues worsens in the global Anglican church, the ONS has published 2021 census data which show that around 1.5 million people (3.2%) identified with an LGB+ orientation (“Gay or Lesbian”, “Bisexual” or “Other sexual orientation”), comparatively few when compared with the 43.4 million people (89.4%) who identified as straight or heterosexual.

These figures illustrate the extent to which the tail wags the dog in western Anglicanism.

There is no escape from the propaganda. The London 2023 New Year fireworks display which, for many, represents a new beginning was filled with political propaganda including a ‘we’re here, we’re queer’ celebration of LGBT rights which illustrates the depths of homophile infiltration, even among young children and how adept their strategists have been at manipulating public opinion. 

What is particularly offensive is how the Church has, and is, being used to further the interests of a relatively small group of people who have no regard whatsoever for the faith of those they have displaced.

Their desire to validate a minority life style at the expense of others cannot be met with silence less it implies tacit acceptance of the fantasies of these users of the Church.

Beyond belief

Church in Wales bishops, from left: Bishop John Lomas, Bishop June Osborne, Bishop Gregory Cameron, Archbishop Andrew John, Bishop Joanna Penberthy,
 Bishop Cherry Vann and Bishop Mary Stallard. Source: Church in Wales

The apparently not-at-all-busy archbishop of Wales who needs an assistant to help him do next to nothing has surfaced to make what he regards is an important announcement along with other like-minded Anglicans who are promoting same sex marriage. 

Marching off to Lambeth, not with the cross of Jesus, but with the LGBT banner going on before, the most reverend Andrew John, bishop of Bangor and archbishop of Wales proclaims: "The draft Lambeth Call on human dignity “undermines and subverts" LGBT+ people...the bishops pledge to work to amend the passage “to reflect more adequately our understanding of their equal place in the Church".

 That is a distortion of the facts.

LGBT+ people already have more than an equal place in the Church. Gay bishops, LGBT chaplains, same-sex blessings, pride eucharists. All are welcomed and affirmed.

By contrast, Anglicans who, in conscience, are unable to accept the new order, the ordained ministry of women and the liberal agenda that has come with it are cast aside without a thought. There is no longer even a pretence of any place for them in the Church. That evaporated as soon as the movement for the ordination of women achieved their goal.

The female dominated bench of bishops shows no desire to provide an equal place for Anglicans who have not swallowed their propaganda.

That is a battle lost but the baggage that has come with it continues. For many Anglicans the institution of marriage is sacred. As the official policy of the Church in Wales states:

"Drawing on the teaching of the Bible, and of the Church down through the centuries, the Church in Wales Marriage Service talks about marriage as a gift of God. Marriage is described as the lifelong, faithful union between a man and a woman, and married love is compared with the love Jesus has for his people – a love expressed in his willing sacrifice of himself on the cross."

To uphold this officially stated view is being characterised as homophobic while the bishops openly campaign to allow same sex marriage in Church, the archbishop of Wales' first expressed wish after his enthronement. 

For the women's movement, first they demanded equality based on secular standards, then parity, already surpassed but the female dominated bench shows no desire to provide an equal place for Anglicans who have not succumbed to their falsehoods.

The bishops of the Church in Wales have become a joke outside their own province. Why should anyone at Lambeth listen to them when their message is anathema to the vast majority of Anglicans and other Christians around the world.

Ironically the lead author in the Lambeth Conference drafting process for The Lambeth Call on Christian Unity is bishop Gregory Cameron - see pages 5 and 44 of the link to LAMBETH CALLS: GUIDANCE AND STUDY DOCUMENTS. The section begins:

"We are committed to the work of unity. We confess we are not united and for Christians that is a scandal and a cause of shame. We urge all our sisters and brothers to commit to work for unity and we call especially on our ecumenical partners to help us, work with us and enable us to move closer to one another."

Yes, it is a scandal. Trendy Anglican bishops are renouncing the faith and dragging down others with them instead of saving their souls. 

Postscripts 

[27/07/2022] Motion of no confidence threat for Justin Welby over the Lambeth Calls surrender

[28/07/2022] From Christian Today: "Bishops who deny the Gospel 'should be removed from their positions'."

[29.07.2022] ORTHODOX bishops at the Lambeth Conference - representing 75% of the Anglican Communion - announced today (29JUL) that they will be tabling their own ‘Lambeth Resolution (Call)’.

[02.08.2022] Orthodox bishops reveal text of resolution reaffirming ‘Lambeth 1.10’ as the Anglican Communion teaching on marriage and sexuality

The writing on the wall

Writing on the wall - with apologies to Rembrandt

                             

                                    MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

                                    TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

                                    PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Interviewed on the TV programme The Hour in April 2018 the first woman to be made bishop in Wales, Joanna Penberthy, branded anyone who disagrees with her as prejudiced. No debate. No theology. Just unsubstantiated accusations of prejudice.

There is much to question. For a start, on the validity of her orders Joanna Penberthy simply dismisses the question. She remarked, such 'prejudice' is 'water off a duck's back to her', probably because the Church in Wales has no defence for going their own way in defiance of the overwhelming majority of Christians in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

The ordination of women is a political tool used by feminists to further their own selfish interests. They are not interested in the welfare of the church. They care even less for the many cradle Anglicans who have found themselves excluded. Pleas not to go their separate ways were water off a ducks back to them.

They base their case on false notions of equality, distorting the meaning of Christ's redeeming love while appealing for secular support to undermine the faith of the Church. So successful has this strategy been in the Anglican Communion that feminists are now using similar tactics to attack the Roman Catholic Church.

Feminists used to claim that the Anglican Church should set an example to the secular world by breaking the stained glass ceiling as if there was no difference between the sacred and the secular. That argument is now being reversed in the Roman Catholic Church: There are female presidents and CEOs. Why are we still asking if women can lead in the church? 

Our children and grandchildren are having to cope with the fallout of the new order. There are fewer male role models for boys to identify with. Women dominate primary education. Three quarters of secondary school teachers are women. The GP and the dentist are likely to be female along with the parish priest. 

Girls and boys are forced to ignore their birth assigned sexual identity and cope with unnecessary problems of self identifying genders coupled with imposing the use of preferred pronouns. Then there is distress that can be caused following the imposition of unisex toilets and the presence of intending but not yet transgendered pupils in girls changing rooms, all of which defies logic and panders to wokery .

Anglican experience has shown that feminists are not to be trusted. They have inched their way forward with false promises to achieve their objective before undermining any agreements as they seek to get rid of any opposition.

The Church in Wales is a typical example. It prides itself as being a leader in diversity. Not in spreading the Gospel but falsely using the Gospel to achieve its ends by interpreting scripture to suit themselves. 

The bishop of Monmouth uses her patronage, enthusiastically supported by the rest of the bench, in promoting LGBT minorities, while the 'first transgender priest' wasted no time in using the Church in Wales to spread transgender propaganda, an utter distortion of the Great Commission.

The bishop of St Davids has been busy spreading party political propaganda with her motto, “Never, never, never trust a Tory”. As Dominic Lawson commented in the Mail Online "With Tory-hating political bishops like this, the church hasn't got a prayer".

This is not the first time the bishop of St Davids has brought her office into disrepute. Her Dear John letter caused great offence to elderly clergy, raising suspicions that it was her way of getting rid of faithful traditionalist clergy. She busily backpedalled after adverse publicity

According to commentators responding to a previous entry That was the Church that was, it's over, let it go?, undeterred, Joanna has been meeting clergy and lay people to explain her position. 

There is nothing more to explain. Joanna's extended absence looks increasingly like a cooling off device, hoping that her flock would forget so that she could return to duty as if nothing had happened. 

Others viewed her behaviour differently.

Angela Tilby wrote in the Church Times, Bishops have to sacrifice privacy: "The public nature of episcopal office has been understood from antiquity. Bishops are meant to be visible, to be seen and known, to be a focus of unity in the Church, and a point of mediation between Christian communities and civic authority. “He must be well-thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace. . .” (1 Timothy 3.7).

 

The writing was on the wall from the start. Penberthy's was a political appointment engineered by archbishop Barry Morgan. Others have followed. 

The rot deepens but the writing was on the wall from the start.

"Anything you can do I can do better..."

Four of the first female Eagle Scouts, from left to right: Lauren Krimm, Mia Dawbin, 
Valerie Johnston and Ysa Duenas.                                                      Source: Twitter

(CNN) Valerie Johnston knew she wanted to be a Boy Scout since she was 6. "I always wanted to be able to earn everything that my brother and all his friends were earning," Johnston told CNN. "I had my own book, and I would check off the requirements and everything, so I would wonder like, 'Well why can't I earn these?'"

In 2011 it was reported that more girls than boys became scouts in the past year - the first time this has happened in the movement's history.

When girls were asked about admitting boys they said they wanted "Girlguiding to still be just for girls. So no boys allowed!"

The Girlguiding organisation invites parents to 'register their daughters' but Girlguiding is trans-inclusive.

This drew a 'furious response' on mumsnet with 507 messages. The first reads: 

"Sorry for DM link but this is important. Brownies and Guides are going to admit boys if they identify as girls. Girls will have to share 'single sex' facilities including tents & changing rooms with them. Parents won't be told. Oh, and men who identify as women can become Brownie & Guide leaders, where they will get to supervise girls in those tents, changing rooms etc.

"How is this possible? There is an epidemic of sexual abuse. We are still in the fall-out of Rotherham, Saville etc yet we are enabling men to have access to every safe space for girls. AIBU?" [Am I being unreasonable?]

Writing about the passage of the "(In)Equality Act'" through the US House of Representatives in Virtueonline the "So-Called 'Equality Act'" is described as 'The Most Dangerous Bill of Our Time':

"It will affect every aspect of human existence from cradle to grave...No area of existence in this life will be free from the reach of its tentacles... The key point to recognize about the bill is that it will codify into law that you are a bigot, the moral equivalent of a racist. Read the full article here.

Here in Great Britain misogyny is to be treated as a hate crime. As Archbishop Cranmer wrote in his blog: "Misogyny is to be outlawed. Excellent. Now, what does it mean?" Read his opinion here.

Opponents of the ordination of women have often been accused of misogyny even though many opponents are women and married men. 

'Misogyny'  and 'discrimination' are frequent accusations from feminists in response to genuine theological disagreement, using secular criteria to appeal to society.

But the Church is losing her influence. Wales Humanists are celebrating what they describe as a "major development for secularism in Wales" after the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) passed a bill that "officially includes humanism in the school curriculum of all public schools in Wales."

Wales Online reports: Traditional boundaries between subjects are scrapped and there will be instead six new areas of learning and experience (AoLEs). Mandatory in the new curriculum will be "Religion, values, and ethics" and "Relationships and sexuality education".

Formal RE lessons will be scrapped and replaced with “religion, values and ethics” so humanism will be given the same importance as Christianity and Islam.

In Canada a father has been arrested for “misgendering” his own 14-year-old child by calling her his “daughter,” and referring to her with the pronouns “she” and “her.”

The father had "previously discovered that his daughter’s school had been showing her sexual and gender identity education materials known as “SOGI 123,” which the report referred to as transgender 'propaganda videos'.

"By the 7th grade, the school had changed his daughter’s name in the yearbook without telling her parents, and “socially transitioned” her with the input of gender ideologue psychologist Wallace Wong, who advised the pubescent child to take testosterone."

I wasn't expecting this

Addressing 'The Challenge of Secularism' at the 2018 meeting of GAFCON in Jerusalem the Rt Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden spoke about The Challenge of Cultural Marxism to the Church.

Explaining how the deception works,  Dr Ashenden explains how "a 3rd wave feminism extended parity into the area of social and sexual engineering. It involved the re-imagining of gender. Making gender flexible and fluid according to the preferences of the imagination.

"The strategy was first feminism and the introduction of the virus of equality , then gay marriage , based on the same artificial notion of equality, then the eradication of gender in the mind with transgenderism. And then paedophilia."

Referring to the latest Canadian propaganda videos "which show the increasing sexualisation of children as they are educated to become ‘allies’ of the LGBTQI++ , the bishop provided a reference to this sample video

  "Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man"! 

This goes way beyond tolerance and understanding. How did we allow ourselves to get here?

From church militant to church deviant

US Episcopal Diocese of  Washington  Votes to Avoid Using ‘Gendered Pronouns’ for God in Book of Common Prayer                          Source: Christian News

From a Sunday Times report (£): "The Church of England has warned its American sister church that it could be kicked out of the global Anglican family if it forces priests to use a gay-friendly marriage ceremony that relegates the importance of bearing children.

"In a strongly worded eight-page letter, William Nye, the Church of England’s secretary-general, told the Episcopal Church that it could face “stringent consequences” if it replaced the marriage rites in its Book of Common Prayer with a gender-neutral ceremony that removed all reference to procreation."

In February this year Christian News reported:"The Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C. voted on Saturday to stop using 'gendered pronouns' for God in future revisions of its Book of Common Prayer and to “remove all obstacles” for “transgender” participation in church life by making all gender-specific facilities and activities accessible to those who identify as the opposite sex.

"It was passed by a show of hands during the 123rd Convention of the Washington Diocese with only a few opposed, according to Strategic Communications Director Richard Wosson Weinberg."

This morning on the BBC's Breakfast TV show the 'Prada priestess', the Rev Sally Hitchiner, founder of Diverse Church, took the opportunity not only to publicise her LGBT credentials but to highlight gender dysphoria, a condition which is thought to affect 0.07% of the population. To put this into perspective please watch this short (6 min) video.

Anglican clergy should be aware that the media feeds on sensationalism. Consequently the church militant is obscured by the church deviant as bishops and priests constantly trot out their propaganda, making the Church appear little more than a refuge for those who are allegedly mistreated.

It is right that the church shows concerned for vulnerable minorities but what of the far greater cloud of witnesses abandoned by their church? Without them them Anglicanism will die.

Faith by balloting like-minded activists is not the historic catholic faith received from the Apostles. The consequences are very much in evidence.

Postscript [24.04.2018]

The LGBT pressure group OneBodyOneFaith has sent a strongly-worded letter to William Nye "after the emergence late last week of a letter he wrote last October to The Episcopal Church, on behalf of the Archbishops' Council". It disassociates the group from the letter which, they claim, "has been met with anger, frustration and disappointment by many across the Church of England, on whose behalf you presume to speak.  We wish to add the voices of our members to those calling for a more courageous, just and Christ-like response to what has become – we wish it were not so – the issue on which many will judge our church, and find it sorely wanting."

What the group believes can be read here. One of the groups objects is "to advance the education of the public on the needs and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) Christians, and promote acceptance of diversity, so that they may be able to live without fear of rejection or recrimination and be fully included in the life and ministry of the Church".

It is a mystery how so many LGBT people flourish at senior levels in the church if what the group claims were true.

A more balanced approach is reported in CRUX: The bishops of England and Wales have raised concerns over the rise of gender ideology, saying it is creating confusion among people about the truth of human nature. In a statement issued at the end of their April 16-19 bi-annual plenary meeting in Leeds, the bishops acknowledged some people did not “accept their biological sex” but said they, as pastors, were “committed to their pastoral care.”

The bishops said the notion that gender was a social construct rather than a biological fact ran counter to the intuition of most people. “The idea that the individual is free to define himself or herself dominates discourse about gender. Yet our human instinct is otherwise,” they said in the statement. [Full report here]

Another nice mess

As my friend Barack said to me George, "Well, here's another nice mess we've gotten ourselves into!"

The world and his wife it seems are piling on the pressure to tell us Brits that we should remain in Europe. To leave would be a catastrophe. If that is so, why in the world has Dave 'gotten' us into this mess at enormous cost financially and politically?

'Paddy Pantsdown' wagged his finger throughout BBC Question Time on Thursday as he previewed what President Barack Obama was to say about American blood being shed in Europe in the US's contribution to the 1917 - 1918 and the 1941- 1945 wars fighting for freedom in Europe. As Albert Steptoe once said, it might have been the '17 - '18 and '41 - '45 wars for them but it was the '14 - '18 and '39 - '45 wars for the rest of us. 

All in the 'IN' camp at home and abroad appear to be reading from the same news sheet prepared and circulated by No 10. That is in addition to the £9 million of tax payers money they have spent on circulating propaganda for the 'IN' campaign. So much so that it is difficult to trust anything that is said or written about the consequences of leaving Europe.

Paddy Pantsdown claims that every important world organisation and every world leader "with the exception Vladimir Putin" wants us to remain in Europe. Indeed, the President of the United States has gone so far as to threaten that the UK would be left at the back of the queue when negotiating future trade deals with the US if we left, not that Obama will be President in that eventuality. But so much for friendship and our 'special relationship'. When self-interest rears its head it is OK in the US but not in Great Britain!

For many I suspect the head says IN but the heart says OUT. The decision would be easier if the self-perpetuating bureaucracy in Brussels desisted from regulating everything they can think of plus anything else they had not thought of when it comes to light. If Turkey is allowed in that will allow another flood of economic migrants with all the dangers already apparent as they try to impose their alien ideology on their hosts. The last thing we need is more failed multiculturalism.

My feeling is that the British people have had enough of being told what to think and what to do and are inclined to vote with their hearts, sink or swim.