ACNA’s C4SO Brings Back Soong-Chan Rah

Remember Soong-Chan Rah?  I sure do.  Back in 2017, I noticed he was going to keynote a Matthew 25 Gathering in my Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).  Curious, I did a little research on him, and the rest is history. I exposed some of his background.  Others found more and protested, and eventually he was quietly removed from the program.  Here are my posts about the matter back then.

One would think that less than four years later, ACNA’s dioceses would exercise enough wisdom not to have him as a focus of any program.  Especially since he has continued his woke act, including lovely quotes like this:

“The United States of America does not hold a morally exceptional position greater than Nazi Germany. We are not more just. Our sense of equality is not any superior. Our nation has never been Christian. We have just won our wars. And therefore, for centuries, we wrote our own history. And that has proven to be incredibly dangerous.” (Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery)

Oh, that’s right.  One of the dioceses in ACNA is the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), not exactly a font of wisdom.

C4SO not only has a congregation giving up Whiteness for Lent, one of the diocese’s programs is reading Rah for Lent with the apparent blessing of C4SO itself.

 

Now perhaps the diocese is so clueless about Rah, even after 2017, that this is only an honest mistake, a lapse of judgement.

But I doubt it.  And frankly I am so angry I do not trust myself to say more at the moment. 

ACNA Update: Increasing Identity Conflict and the “Dear Gay Anglicans” Letter

Conflict over Critical Theory and related identity issues is escalating in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

On the one hand, the woke cabal in ACNA has gotten more bold.  One prominent example is the Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network (AMEN) naming Johana-Marie Williams as Interim Director.  She happens to be the Southern Gothic Womanist blogger.  The goal of her blog is two-fold:

1. To show how who Jesus is answers womanist, posthumanist, and afro-pessimist ontological concerns.

2. To show how a deeper commitment to Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the Church can (and should) legitimately lead to a deeper commitment to fighting the capitalist-imperialist-racist-hetero-patriarchy.

Got it.  Now it should be said it is unclear what relationship AMEN retains with ACNA.  I believe AMEN was once a provincial initiative, but that may no longer be the case.  Nonetheless, this appointment has gotten some attention in ACNA as Kevin and George note in their latest Anglican Unscripted (648, about 9 minutes in).

Not getting quite as much attention, but it should, is that The Table Indy, a C4SO (Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others) congregation of course, is giving up Whiteness for Lent.  Their “Lent focus on Racism and Repentance” began with an online Workshop on “Re-imagining Life Together Beyond Whiteness.”

The discussion at the Facebook announcement was interesting, including this:

Whiteness? Why does the color of my skin assume I have some supremacy or that I have wronged others. Sound like a rather blanket racist comment.

To which one of The Table’s Priests, Matt Tebbe, replied:

You misunderstand whiteness... It’s racist to refuse to acknowledge or learn about whiteness. 

You are free to learn by watching the workshop if you wish.

But by far the biggest battle lately is over “Gay Anglicans,” namely whether it is appropriate for Christians with same-sex desires or temptations to identify as Gay Christians.  And that battle sure got interesting the past two days (to the point where I had to rewrite this).

Earlier the ACNA College of Bishops put forth an excellent and sensitive pastoral statement even if it seems written by a college of bishops.  But it did not take long for there to be pushback.  Bishop Todd Hunter of C4SO, of course, issued guidance that some took as undermining the College of Bishops.  And then came a “Dear Gay Anglicans” open letter, which most definitely does undermine the College of Bishops’ statement. (Anglican Unscripted 648 also discusses this while the matter was still ongoing about 19 minutes in.)

The response was swift. I know of at least two ACNA bishops who told their clergy not to sign the DGA letter.  Stand Firm issued a good open letter in response. I was aware of more efforts in the works as well.

But swift actions by two bishops put a quick end to the DGA letter. Archbishop Foley Beach issued a remarkably frank letter:

While [the DGA letter] says they are not undermining our Pastoral Statement, they actually are. Replacing “gay Christian” with “gay Anglican” is pretty much in your face. My immediate reaction to the letter was that it was pretty benign and wasn’t going to change anything about what we teach. 

However, it has already had international ramifications. I have had to deal with two provinces already (actually now three as of a few minutes ago) — and this is just the first day…. 

In the province, the expected hard rhetoric is coming from both sides in reaction to this. I find our lack of charity in the province a serious blind spot we need to address. Many of our bishops, and rightly so, feel this is an attempt to undermine our roles as guardians of the Faith and teachers of the doctrine of the Church. Some individuals have expressed that we are now TEC 2.0. Some think this is going to break the ACNA apart — one quote I received tonight: “If I had to guess what might fracture the ACNA I would’ve said women’s ordination. I never would have thought it would be homosexuality. We gave up everything to take a clear stand on this. It is disheartening to have it being taken away.”  I could go on, but you get the point. 

This is serious enough, however, that I am writing this at 1:15 am.

I don’t think he was happy.  Do read the rest.

Then the Interim Bishop of Pittsburgh Martyn Minns asked the DGA ringleader Pieter Valk to take the Dear Gay Anglicans letter down, which he did.  A few are very unhappy about that.  But more, including me, rejoice that we in ACNA actually do have bishops who have spines and know how to use them. 

So this episode had a somewhat happy ending.  But it suffices to say that conflict over Critical Theory, identity, and related issues continues and is increasing in ACNA.  And frankly it needs to increase. The routine of the woke cabal pushing and pushing while the rest of us are “collegial” will no longer do.  That is a road to becoming The Episcopal Church.  As St. Paul wrote:

For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. (I Cor. 11: 18, 19)

We need our bishops and other leaders to come down every bit as hard on Critical Theory and its progeny as they just did on the “Dear Gay Anglicans Letter.”  But I may say more about that another time.

A Helpful Reminder

I wish to follow the good example of Dr. Esau McCaulley . . .

Like him, I, too, wish to give a helpful cheerful reminder.

I just want to remind everyone that race baiting is not a recognized Christian ministry in any orthodox denomination that I am aware of. Happy Candlemas!

You’re welcome.

Pay Attention to Psalms 7 . . . and 9 and . . .

Well, my commendation of Psalm 37 in October sure proved timely, did it not?  I suspect it still is timely due to much righteous anger that could too easily morph into foolishness.  Anger is not always wrong, but it is almost always difficult to handle and direct aright.

Allow me also to direct you to Psalm 7, particularly verses 14-16:

Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

              and is pregnant with mischief

              and gives birth to lies.

He makes a pit, digging it out,

              and falls into the hole that he has made.

His mischief returns upon his own head,

              and on his own skull his violence descends.

Note two traits of the wicked we need to be aware of especially now.  First, he creates traps, often described as pits or nets in Scripture, in order to trap good people.  We need to be aware of them and watch out.  

One such trap the Left and allies like to pull is to exaggerate, distort, and often outright invent violence from political opponents.  I’ve seen this time and again.  Mark Levin and I think the likelihood of such traps around those who may protest the Inauguration of Biden is so high, that we advise staying away from it and from state capitols next week.

Second, the wicked have a propensity to fall into the traps that they themselves have made.  I think we may be seeing that before our eyes.  I have hope that Democrat attacks on free speech and their second sham impeachment will backfire greatly on them politically.

So let them fall into their traps.  You be alert and wise and avoid them.

I think the Lord really wants us to get this.  For the theme of the wicked setting traps and falling into them occurs often in Scripture.  The whole book of Esther is one example.  And we see this repeatedly in the Psalms: 7, 9, 35, 57, 141, and I may have missed one or two.  It’s important to get this, now and always.

I will not pray for a “President” Biden.

After two months of prayer and deliberation, I have decided I will not pray for a “President” Biden, especially in the context of public worship.  Yes, I can pray for those in authority.  I can pray for enemies as in the Litany.  But I will not be praying for “the President of the United States” as such after January 20^th for four years.

Among the consequences of stealing an election through fraud and other illegality should be that the thief should be regarded as illegitimate by significant numbers and in significant contexts.  That goes double if the thief was aware of the election fraud.  And what appears to be the biggest Freudian Slip in history indicates that Biden knew.  Biden knew, in his own words, about "most extensive & inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics."

So I cannot conscientiously in private or public worship lend legitimacy to a “President” Biden by praying for him as President.  I can certainly pray for those in authority, e. g. for “all Christian Rulers and Magistrates.”  I, of course, can pray for our country.  But I will not join the pretence that Biden will be a legitimate President of the United States by praying for him as such.

Yes, a case can be made for praying for him as POTUS anyway, and I have no problem with those who do (although I will not join them).  An obvious argument is that St. Paul urged praying for the Emperor even when he was a rather nasty man.  The difference here is that the highest secular authority in the United States is not a man, as in the Roman Empire of Paul’s time, but the Constitution.   And the Constitution was run over roughshod to steal the election.  Bypassing state legislatures to tear up election laws to steal the election is a prominent example of that.

The Founding Fathers wisely set up this country to be under the Rule of Law, not the rule of emperors or kings or tyrants.  And as long as the Constitution remains, even if only theoretically, there is no obligation under God to treat an illegitimate President as legitimate.  (Whether it is wise to do as a practical matter is another question.)

So although I respect those who respectfully disagree, I have made my decision.  

Now for those wondering about the rubrics, if I read them accurately, there is no requirement in my jurisdiction to use any prayer that specifically mentions the President of the United States.  There is one exception that I am aware of: the Litany includes a prayer for God “so to rule the heart of thy servant, the President of the United States, that he may above all things seek thine honour and glory.”

So if I make a “mistake” while praying the Litany, let the reader understand.

And after the events of yesterday, I will add that refusing to recognize the legitimacy of a “President” Biden should be non-violent.  The violence perpetrated by some of the protesters yesterday was not only wrong, it was stupid.  With Trump’s speech and with numerous objectors to the Electoral College in Congress, yesterday was well on the way to spotlighting the election fraudsters as the bad guys.  But because of the violent foolishness, the day ended up making Trump and his supporters look like the bad guys and completely distracted from the villainy of the stolen election.  Thus it was not only wrong and harmful, it was stupid and self-defeating as political violence generally is.

And numerous and manifold non-violent ways to oppose the coming fraudulent Biden regime remain.  My refusal to recognize him as President in public and private worship is only one modest example.

2020, 2021, and This Blog

As a new year is upon us, it is a time to look back and forward.

Looking back, it seems every year I make a remarkably prescient prediction if I may say so myself.  This year’s came back in September when I wrote, “I think it likely we will have a contested election fueled by massive fraud.”  And I went on to warn of the problem of mail-in ballots.

I did get something slightly wrong when I noted one “scenario is that [Trump] loses his lead in a crucial state due to questionable mail-in ballots, and you get President Harris, er, Biden.”  In hindsight, I should have written “states.”  And I confess the fraud was more massive and widespread than even I anticipated.

You may have noticed something more mundane about this blog – I have been posting less frequently in recent months.  There may have been some lack of energy and creativity involved, but I have a good reason as well.  And that gets me into looking forward.

The publication of my writing increased notably in 2020, and I expect the new venues for my writing will continue in 2021.  Also, I finally decided on my next book.  Yes, good progress for which I am thankful.

The problem is, to do these justice, really to get these done, I have to change my time management, and that will likely include posting less often here.  Already, I have caught myself procrastinating on my book, and this blog has been one of the excuses for that.  In fact, I put off working on my book to write this post!

So do know that if post less frequently, it will probably be for good reason.  But I will continue to opine on twitter and Parler, which can be more fun anyway.

For now, may you have a more tolerable 2021 and a happy remainder of the Christmas season.

Two Timely Christmas Sermons from Pusey House

I noted on a past Feast of Holy Innocents that Christmas has its dark side.  We often try to push that aside in strenuous efforts to be merry, but on this Holy Innocents Day of 2020, one would have to engage in significant denial to ignore it.

So I am glad to have come across Christmas sermons this year that tackle the current difficulties and the present darkness head on.  Two of those come from the Principal of Pusey House, George Westhaver during their Christmas Eve Midnight Mass.

Although I could only watch the opening of his sermon live due to my preparations for a Christmas Eve service, I was able to watch it the remainder of the evening and was edified.  I hoped it would be posted for all to see and read and have not been disappointed.  The transcript is here.

Dr. Westhaver expounded on John 1:5 – “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

I said two sermons from Pusey House because Westhaver refers to a sermon from Dr. Pusey.  That sermon, too, well addresses the relevance of Christmas to great difficulties and may be found here.

Although I hope the difficulties of my readers have not been too great, I also hope these sermons encourage you in the midst of a trying time as they have me.

Do have a blessed Holy Innocents Day and a happy Christmas season.