St. Jude: “Contend for the Faith”

I must confess I did not pay much attention to the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude (which is today) until I resided at Pusey House during Michaelmas Term 2018.  It then struck me how the day is a fitting harbinger of All Saints Day, a favorite holy day of mine.

Last night, I was struck all the more what a fitting harbinger this day is for the Feast of All Saints when I read the Epistle of St. Jude.  Early in it he writes:

…it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.  (v. 3)

Note that the epistle is addressed “to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.”  So he is writing to all church people, both clergy and laity, not just church leaders.

Hence it is the responsibility of all of God’s people, of all the saints, to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  

And judging from the rest of the epistle, Jude did not want the people to be all that nice about it.  “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 4) And Jude was just getting warmed up about false teachers.

Recent history illustrates that Jude was right that it is the responsibility of all God’s people to contend for the faith and put down false teachers.  I’ve long stated that a big reason most of the mainline denominations have gone to Hell is because people in the pews did not put their feet down and say, “NO!”

Yes, clergy have a heightened responsibility to hold each other accountable.  But should the laity rely on clergy to police clergy? NO.

A weakness of modern Anglicanism is that the laity can be shy about calling out false teaching.  Don’t be.  Follow the good exhortation and good example of St. Jude and “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Destruction of Pachamama Idols a Godly Example of Lay Direct Action

With Taylor Marshall, I rejoice in the infamous Pachamama fertility idols (And let’s cut the clerical bull manure – that’s what they are.) being removed from the church and thrown into the Tiber.

With traditional Roman Catholic sites covering the controversy, I wish to focus on just one aspect.  Judging from the dress of the men who removed the idols, it appears they are laymen.

This episode illustrates that when clergy will not do their job of banishing abomination and false teaching, the laity should step up and do what they can.  Once, at my Presbyterian Church back when I was still young, a visiting preacher said something like “We don’t believe the Bible, but the Jesus in the Bible.”  I made it quite clear to her on the church steps in front of others that we believed the Bible. Not just clergy but knowledgable laity should call out false teaching and false teachers.  And if clergy won’t do so, then all the more should laity take action.  Less dramatic but also needful is withholding offerings from churches and church agencies that espouse or even tolerate false teaching or abominable practices.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again.  One big reason most mainline denominations went apostate in the 20^thCentury is that lazy laity enabled the apostasy with their money and with their silence.  If the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in America, and, yes, the Anglican Church in North America are not to go down the same path, the laity must step up, speak out, and make clear that false teaching and practice are not welcome and will not be tolerated.

So may God all the more bless those idol-expelling men for their godly example.