Bishop Iker: 10 Reasons Why Now Is the Time to Realign

Bishop Iker has written to his Diocese of Ft. Worth with “10 Reasons Why Now Is the Time to Realign.”

Some time back, I made a number of “No Safe Place” posts on why staying in the Episcopal Church is a very doubtful option for orthodox Anglicans. I think Bishop Iker’s letter merits reflection from all orthodox who still remain in TEC, particularly these points:

4. If we do not act now, we will lose our momentum and lose our God-given opportunity. Many laity and clergy who have been standing with the Diocese, as a beacon of hope, will give up and leave for other Anglican bodies. We will never be stronger than we are right now! We will never have another chance to act with such a strong majority. The Episcopal Church many of us were born into or became members of many years ago no longer exists! It has been replaced by a liberal, revisionist sect that does not deserve our allegiance or support any longer.

5. TEC is not turning back and matters will only get worse. General Convention is out of control and beyond reform. The Deputies seem to think that they can do whatever they want as long as they can muster a majority vote, even if what they propose is contrary to Holy Scripture. We will not accept majority votes of the General Convention that compromise the Christian ?faith. The more they change the teachings of the church, the less tolerant they are of dioceses such as ours. By the time I retire (in the next 7 to 13 years), this diocese will be unable to elect an orthodox bishop to succeed me.

6. TEC is coming after us, and they are the ones that brought on this crisis. In October 2006 the chancellor to the PB wrote a letter to our diocese demanding that we change our Constitution to remove the clause that says that we will not accept General Convention dictates that are contrary to the Bible and the apostolic teaching of the church. In addition, we were instructed to remove provisions stating that all church property in this diocese is held in trust for the use of our congregations and to state instead that our property ultimately belongs to TEC. If we don’t make such changes, the letter asserted that the Presiding Bishop would have to determine what actions she must take “in order to bring your diocese into compliance.”

7. At this time there is nothing in the Constitution or Canons of TEC that prevents a Diocese from leaving. Oh, I know that General Convention officials claim that dioceses cannot leave TEC, but you will not find that anywhere in the Constitution and Canons as they presently stand. So we have this window of opportunity to do what we need to do, for you can be sure that the next General Convention will close off this option by adopting amendments that will make it even more difficult to separate in the future.

In short, the Episcopal Church is very soon coming to the point, if it’s not already there, where it will not allow you to be an orthodox Anglican in peace.

Let me again say that I respect those orthodox who, out of conviction (and without undercutting those who leave TEC), feel they should stay in the Episcopal Church and contend for the faith within it. But I do think they are mistaken. There is a time for separation, and it is now.

More on Pelosi’s Failure (Sabotage?)

A number of sources indicate that while she was playing brazen partisan politics with the Treasury Asset Relief Plan, Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave many, maybe all, of her Democrats a free pass to vote how they please. While she was bashing Republicans, she did little to nothing to round up the necessary Democrat votes. Heck, that’s her job!

It truly makes me wonder if she sabotaged the bill in part to bash Republicans with it. Redstate thinks that is indeed to case. I don’t know. But to completely fail to do her job, then to bash Republicans for it is beyond inexcusable.

The Gateway Pundit is on this, particularly here.


MORE: Even one liberal agrees that it’s time for Pelosi to go.

The “Mainstream” News Media and Obama: “The Fix is in, and it’s working.”

The Instapundit has received a revealing e-mail from a major newsroom:

Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM [i.e. the Mainstream News Media] being in the tank for O[bama] is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working.

Pelosi Blows It. (UPDATED)

Nancy Pelosi should resign as Speaker of the House.

Today she utterly failed to lead in by far the most important matter of this Congress. It’s bad enough that she failed to get over 90 of her fellow Democrats to vote for the compromise Treasury plan. But then she just had to give that obnoxious partisan floor speech to ensure that any leaning Republican would say, “To Hell with it” and vote against the bill. Her behavior was beyond bizarre.

And then she dares to come out after her failure and babble about “bipartisanship.” What a two-faced [self-censored]!

There are plenty of fools on both sides of the aisle. But this woman has no shame. Her conduct makes me wonder if she tried to sabotage the bill. I fear the world economy just got sabotaged.

It will be an interesting night in the markets.

UPDATE: It’s come out that some of her most partisan remarks were ad lib departures from her prepared speech. She just couldn’t restrain herself!

What a fool.

Obama’s Missouri Legal Thugs Attack Free Speech

The truth doesn’t reflect well on Barack Obama. So, as I’ve mentioned, one of the ways he’s trying to suppress it is through attacks on free speech.

Well, he’s at it again, this time through legal goons in Missouri.

Kudos to the Governor of Missouri for calling out Obama on this.

Mark Steyn sums matters up well:

. . . this pattern is well established: The Obama campaign's response to uncongenial allegations is not to rebut them but to use its muscle to squash the authors. This is especially true when it comes to attempts to lift the curtain however briefly on the Senator's mysterious past.

More may be found here and here. This has really set the blogdom on fire. Funny, the “Mainstream” News Media isn’t saying much about it.

There's been enough backlash that at least one of the legal goons is now backpedalling:

As a citizen, I believe that elections should be about issues. I also have enormous respect for our First Amendment and freedom of speech. My sole purpose in participating in this initiative is about getting truthful information to the voters.

Yeah, right.

This has never been or never will be about prosecuting people.

Maybe. But it sure as Hell was about chilling the free speech of those who want to tell the truth about Obama.

I’ve noticed in my experience that the Leftist version of free speech is free speech for them, NOT for those less enlightened. This Leftist quality is all too evident in Barack Obama and his thugs.

Something else I’ve noticed. There is a cabal of Democrat lawyers in Missouri that has no problem using the courts to rig elections. For example, it seems every big Election Day, some Democrat judge uses long lines as an excuse to keep the polls open longer . . . only in Democrat areas of the state, of course. Here’s one sordid instance from 2000.

I fully expect Missouri Democrats to use one of their corrupt judges to pull this again on November 4th. You heard it here first.

ACORN’s (and Obama’s) Role in Creating the Current Mess

Here is an interesting article on the role ACORN, with Obama’s support, had in pushing banks to make the bad loans that help lead to the current financial mess.

A Visit to Smokey Matt’s

I’ve mentioned how much I love Smokey Matt’s in Dallas. A friend has now gotten to experience the joy of worshipping there and tells about it here.