The New Sexual Orientation

ECUSA's Apostasy

A Call For A New Reformation By John Spong

Remarks From David Virtue's Interview

What To Make Of The Primates' Meeting

A General Summary Of Spong's Teachings

Living On Borrowed Time:
The American Episcopal Church

Commentary by: Bill Fishburne

The Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA), and all of its liberal
bishops and priests, are living theologically on borrowed time.
This is the primary conclusion to draw from the recently completed series of
top-secret meetings held in Hendersonville, NC, at the Episcopal Kanuga
Conference Center.
Conservative American Episcopalians had anticipated immediate fireworks when
the 38 Primates were called, and 34 actually were able to attend. . The
growing liberalism and apparent apostasy in the Episcopal Church of the
United States disturbed many Anglican leaders, especially those from Africa,
the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. (An Anglican Primate is
the leading bishop in each of the 38 separate but affiliated Anglican Church
provinces around the world. In the U.S., the church is called the Episcopal
Church of the United States, headed by Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold,
III.).
Instead, they got a secretive meeting that seemingly amounted to much ado
about nothing.
But based on conversations reported by various sources with Primates after
the March retreat ended, it now appears that the Episcopal Church of the
United States is living on borrowed time. It is questionable as to how much
longer the world-wide Anglican communion will continue to recognize the
ECUSA as one of its own, in full "communion" with the mother church at
Canterbury, England, and the various branches in other parts of the world.
The public issue is homosexuality. The deeper issue, however, is apostasy.
(Also see sidebar "ECUSA's apostasy" by Otis Page)
Apostasy is the abandonment of Christianity in order to teach a new religion. The new religion being taught in many Episcopal dioceses was outlined in 1998 by retired bishop John Spong of the diocese of Newark, New Jersey. Spong is a bishop in good standing with the ECUSA despite having spoken heresy from his diocesan seat for many years before and after his retirement. As Spong moved through his career with the church he was a lightning rod for change, and for advancing theological ideas that differed greatly from the church's traditional teachings.
For example: Spong denies that Jesus was born of a virgin. He denies that
Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to rejoin His Heavenly Father. In
1999 he was voted "Humanist of the Year," which some might consider to be a
strange award for a Christian Bishop to accept.
Three years ago, these ideas, and more, were compiled in an article, and
book, entitled "A Call for A New Reformation." Most notably, this included
Spong¹s 12 Theses. Every Episcopal priest and bishop is thoroughly familiar
with them (see sidebar "A Call for a New Reformation" by John Spong). Yet
few in the U.S. have denounced them as either heresy (contrary to teachings)
or apostasy.
Spong's success in teaching his new religion encouraged the traditionally
liberal ECUSA to take giant steps away from orthodox Christianity in order
to become leaders in various avant garde social movements in the U.S.
Full acceptance of homosexuality as nothing more than an alternative
lifestyle was, of course, one of the foremost Spongian teachings. And while
the Holy Bible declares homosexual acts to be abominations in both the Old
and New Testaments, Spong and his willing followers saw that as a minor
inconvenience in the establishment of their new theology. All they had to
do
was to discredit the traditional teachings of the Anglican Church and
re-interpret Holy Scripture.

The three-legged stool
There is a tradition in the Episcopal Church that says the denomination¹s
theology is built on a three-legged stool. The legs are considered to be
Holy Scripture (the Bible), the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), and Reason. Of these, Reason, the accumulated wisdom of man in conjunction with modern
science and social trends, has become the dominant and, in fact, the only
remaining leg for the Spongian branch of the church.
In recent years the ECUSA has been thoroughly dominated by seminary
graduates who chose social justice over evangelism as the reasons for their
ministry. And social justice, in their minds, requires them to be open and
understanding to all peoples. Forget the issues of Holy Scripture and the
BCP. Reason alone is the only leg they choose to stand on, except for
whatever Biblical passages they might find that seemingly support their
positions. Example: The ECUSA is not sure what salvation is all about. While
certain passages of the Gospels specifically state that Jesus Christ is the
one and only pathway to salvation, the ECUSA is corporately unable to
determine that. There is no such thing in the ECUSA as "being saved." Ask an
Episcopal priest what he or she believes in and they are most likely to
answer with nebulous notions such as "come worship with us," or "we're
non-judgmental so we leave that question to each individual." Or, in the
worst cases, they will totally ignore the Bible and refer to the She-God in
all of us, and in nature.
It is no wonder that active membership, according to the ECUSA itself, has
now fallen to an all-time low of less than 2.3 million members.

Conservative bishops up in arms; American Mission in America established
Last year at the previous Primates meeting in Pao, Portugal, the primates
realized that apostasy had taken control of the pulpits in the U.S. So they
scheduled an irregular meeting for 2001 at Kanuga, NC. The purpose of the
meeting was to examine the ECUSA up close and personal. In the interim,
between these two meetings, the conservative bishops were up in arms about
the situation. (See sidebar "Remarks from David Virtue's Interview")
    *The bishops of Rwanda and Singapore appointed two well-known American priests as bishops.
    *Two other conservatives wrote a mini-book entitled "To Mend the Net"
which outlined a process for bringing the American theology back into line
with the remainder of the Anglican Church.
The newly appointed American bishops were Bp. John Rogers of Pennsylvania,
former head of the conservative Trinity Divinity School in Ambridge, PA; and
Bp. Charles Murphy, a parish priest on Pawley's Island, SC.
Furthermore, the bishops of Rwanda and Singapore sent Murphy and Rogers
home to the U.S. with the charter to establish the Anglican Mission in America
(AMiA) in order to provide pastoral care and guidance for conservative
parishes who had reached the theological end of the road in their dealings
with the ECUSA in general, and their local liberal bishops, in particular.
The AMiA was an instant success. Within the first six months more than 20
ECUSA parishes voted to leave the ECUSA in order to affiliate with the AMiA.
But in addition, many individual priests from across the nation also
renounced their local diocesan ties and turned to Bps. Rogers and Murphy for
spiritual guidance.
The AMiA is a missionary organization. It adheres to strict Anglican
doctrine, including the Biblical viewpoint that the practice of homosexual
sex acts, and sex outside of marriage between anyone, is fornication. The
AMiA also believes that the priesthood is a male calling in accordance with
scriptural practice and instruction. Thus the ordination of women, while not
a top-drawer issue, is an issue nonetheless.
Another AMiA issue is evangelism. As noted, this is a problem for American
Episcopalians. Most cannot tell you what is necessary, according to the
church, for salvation. Thus it has been easy for Spongian theology to
infiltrate their parishes. According to Bishop Murphy, "the Anglican Mission
in America is committed to moving forward in mission to draw more and more
people into the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Uncomfortably for most American Episcopalians, that means the individual
church member is being asked to speak to people about Jesus.
Sometimes that might mean standing in Pritchard Park in Asheville. Or
standing your ground in your office, or even at the school flagpole.

The impact: What actually happened at Kanuga, and what it means for American Episcopalians.
The 2001 Anglican Primates Conference at Kanuga was a disappointment to
conservative American Episcopalians. But it was no victory for the liberals.
Prior to the meeting it was widely anticipated that the Primates would
impose some type of discipline on the American church to stop the acceptance
of sex outside of holy matrimony as normal and acceptable. Most obviously,
the American proclivity towards accepting homosexual activity within the
church, including ordination of practicing homosexual priests, was a major
issue to be addressed.
What happened? Well, the Primates spent about an hour debating a proposal
put forth by conservatives to "Mend the Net" then sent it to a committee.
The proposal would have given the Archbishops responsibility for theological
orthodoxy in the greater Anglican Communion. As it is now there is no such
authority. The Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury is in no way empowered to
set policy, unlike the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.
A statement issued at the end of the meeting said "We have been reminded of
alienated groups within the Church's own life. Some of our number spoke of
the difficulties of those who are estranged from others because of changes
in theology and practice...that they believe to be unfaithful to the Gospel
of Christ."
The statement went on at great length, but the gist of it was that the
Primates had noted the problem, discussed it with ECUSA Presiding Bishop
Frank Griswold, III, and decided not to take action at this time.
That left the issue of what to do for the few Anglo-Catholic and other
theologically orthodox parishes in the US, and even fewer dioceses, where a
conservative bishop might still be hanging around. (See sidebar "What to
make of the Primates meeting")

ECUSA revisionist theories remain strong
A good part of the problem stems from the definition of terms. The Bible, in
both Old and New Testaments, condemns homosexuality as an "abomination." In a larger sense, and in many more instances, it also condemns any sex
outside of marriage, which is fornication.
Under the revisionist theology of the ECUSA and its revised definitions,
homosexuality is equal to heterosexuality and only those uneducated
conservatives who are "judgmental" oppose it. Likewise, sex outside of
marriage is tolerated because it "might be right" for the individuals, and
they should not be judged.
The basis of these beliefs seems to be the elevation of Man's desire and
intellect above the word of God, as revealed in the Bible. As noted in the
first part of this series, John Spong, the retired Episcopal Bishop of
Newark, outlined these ideas and more in his "12 Theses" published in 1998.
The fact that these ideas combined to overturn traditional Christianity
didn't even raise an eyebrow with most ECUSA bishops. It was all part of
the church's effort to develop a new theology which is more "open, accepting,
caring and non-judgmental" than in the past.
Many Episcopalian theologians pride themselves on being "non-judgmental."
That is, they declare it is not up to people to judge anyone else's conduct
or lifestyle. So when the Bible specifically states that something is an
"abomination," they start to look either for a newer translation of the
Bible, or for the "context" of the scripture. Eventually, someone always
comes up with a way in which the statement does not apply to ordinary
homosexuality. And thus Episcopal theology is revised further from its
original roots.

AmiA represents  a 'wild card' ray of hope for orthodox believers in the US
The ray of hope for many traditional Episcopalians is the Anglican Mission
in America, or AMiA. As mentioned, this was established by Archbishops
Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda and Ping Chung Yong of South East Asia through
the ordination of Fr. John Rodgers of Ambridge, PA, and Fr. Charles Murphy of Pawley's Island, SC. The two American bishops were sent home to form the
AMiA as a source of traditional spiritual leadership for American
Episcopalians who have serious problems with ECUSA's theology, and apparent apostasy.
The AMiA is controversial within the Anglican communion because the AMiA
bishops receive spiritual guidance from the bishops who ordained them. They
do not report to Frank Griswold and the ECUSA. And the offerings their
parishes collect do not go to "815", the ECUSA headquarters in New York.
Thus they are a wild card. In less than a year, Bp. Griswold and the ECUSA
have lost or are losing nearly 100 parishes to the AMiA and more than that
number of priests. This means the AMiA is the fastest growing Anglican order
in the country, while the ECUSA continues its decades-old loss in
membership. Less than 1.7 percent of all Americans are Episcopalians. When
the nation was founded, more than 90 percent of all Americans belonged to
the Church of England.
Not all of the AMiA followers have come from the ECUSA, however. As a
mission or missionary church, AMiA priests are clear that their primary
mission is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to lead lost souls to
salvation. In this calling they are more like American Baptists than
traditional Episcopalians.
In the words of AMiA Bishop Charles Murphy, "the Anglican Mission in America is committed to moving forward in mission to draw more and more people into the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In supporting this mission, along with traditional orthodoxy, the AMiA has
become the logical home for all three major sub-groups of the ECUSA. These
are the Evangelical, the Anglo-Catholic, and the Charismatic. None of these fit in well with the ECUSA mainstream.

What holds ECUSA together?
The glue holding ECUSA together at the present time seems to be the
hierarchical nature of the church itself. The ECUSA, in keeping with other
Anglican branches around the world, claims that all Episcopal churches and
their property belong to the ECUSA. The claim includes the buildings, the
stained glass windows, the organ, the choir robes and the priest¹s
vestments.
This is being challenged in several court cases, including one in North
Carolina. The primary legal argument is the date the individual church was
established compared with the date the diocese was established. Some have
successfully argued that individual parishes retain title to their property
if their diocese was established after the parish.

In Summary
In summary, the ECUSA is in a mess.
    *Membership is at an all-time low
    *Membership continues to decline
    *Anglo-Catholics and other conservatives feel out of place in a church
that ordains women priests and bishops, and forces them on them
    *Sexuality has become a touchstone for liberal priests, including the
ordination of practicing homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions.
    *The Episcopal church is a "beach head" for the homosexual incursion as it
has large trust funds and prize parish assets that can come under control of
homosexual activists.
    *Spongian theology has spread rapidly through most ECUSA seminaries,
producing fresh new priests who doubt the Bible and are more concerned with
social issues than with the Gospel. And because the bishop of each diocese
must approve the priest selected at each parish, and the priests in turn
select the bishop, the circle is self-perpetuating. Often, a priest who
comes from the two or three remaining more orthodox seminaries is refused
acceptance by a bishop.
    *By endorsing the teachings of Spong, it repudiates the basic doctrines
of faith and manifests its apostasy.
    *Episcopalians are aging at a faster rate than any other denomination,
thus contributing to the decline in membership
    *And worst of all, the ECUSA¹s policies have made this formerly
dominant denomination absolutely unable to define either sin or salvation to its
membership.

One local Episcopalian observed that ECUSA bishops who accept all religions
as equally valid with Christianity had more in common with Unitarians than
they did with their own congregations.
How will it all be resolved? No one knows for sure. It seems the AMiA has
its feet on solid theological ground, and understands the basic tenets of
Christianity. Its numbers are growing.
The ECUSA, with its Spongian apostate theology, politically correct secular
morality and its inability to articulate salvation, will probably continue
to shrink, even though well-led parishes will grow. So far there is little
to suggest otherwise.
An alternative might be for the Primates to take action to censure ECUSA
leadership, resulting in mass defections within the American church to a new
leadership structure.