Episcopal exodus

The exiting clergy and parish leaders say ECUSA has departed from biblical Anglican faith | Edward E. Plowman

A huge exodus from the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) is underway in the Diocese of Florida, which spans 21 counties across the northern part of the state. Within the past six weeks, more than 20 percent of the diocese's 70-plus congregations from Jacksonville to Tallahassee have voted to leave or announced plans to do so, and still others say they intend to walk this summer, following the ECUSA general convention. ECUSA at that time is expected to reject calls to repent from consecrating an openly gay bishop and from approving blessings for same-sex unions.

The exiting clergy and parish leaders say ECUSA has departed from biblical Anglican faith. They have placed themselves under spiritual oversight of Anglican provinces abroad.

Some of the congregations have voluntarily given up their properties; others vowed to fight to retain theirs. Under church law, the properties belong to the diocese, said Bishop John Howard, who insists he and the diocese are orthodox in faith. He threatened "legal peril" for those who refuse to move out.

Well, I'm actually a Roman Catholic, but when I look at my Anglican brethren, I see two parts: a faithful remnant who have preserved the catholic faith in an Anglo-Saxon environment, and an aggressively diabolical element hellbent on turning the prettiest town churches in Christendom into tabernacles of the Devil, where divorce, homosexual adultery, sodomy and abortion are preached as being the new understanding of Gospel Order.

In a perfect world, everyone from all denominations would swim the Tiber, and what was waiting for them when they got there would be wholly worthy of being swum to. But the truth, as we know, is that in a divided and far from perfect world, it's not going to happen like that, and the Catholic Church is still reeling from the eruption of the Devil in our midst, in the form of phoebephile priests.
On the Roman side, at least the leadership-that-can't-be-gotten-around, the Pope, has held utterly firm and pronounced the Truth relentlessly. The Devil has been forced to recoil, but he still has his agents and the battle still is being fought.
But on the Anglican side, there's no Benedict or Woltiya, but Mr. Dithers at Canterbury, who won't smite the Devil in the face in America.
And in America, the Devil's winning. He's getting the bishroprics and taking the churches. There are plenty of people who, objectively, know that it's wrong, they see it, but they don't want to fight. They know they will lose in court (and they're probably right), so there's paralysis and fright, like gentle deer caught in the headlights.

But it's time to fight.
Yes, legally, at the end of the day (if it goes all the way to the end) the orthodox and catholic will lose the property battles. It's true. The diocesan papers are set up such that the bishops can take the propeties. But until the final appeal is exhausted, in each and every case (which can take years), the evil bishops don't have the property and its concomitant power yet. Indeed, they have to expend resources continuously to try and acquire them. And in the meantime, the affairs of the parishes can be run such that the bishops, when they finally win, steal these properties only to find them mired deeply in liens...liens which THEY have to pay. So, instead of effecting a coup and taking a property without a fight, the bishops would have to deeply endebt the whole Episcopalian Church, in order to finally win...and acquire clouded titles to property and more debt. Right now, every victory makes the Devil stronger by making him richer. But if everyone tenaciously fought, every victory would make the Devil weaker.

Also, seeing the Bishops in court after court, going after congregation after congregation hammer and tongs: this will radicalize more of the deer in the headlights, and make more people willing to fight. And meanwhile the bishops from the South are making inroads. Also, Canterbury will not be in the hands of Mr. Dithers forever. If God wants to rescue the Anglican Church, he can, just as he sent the storm to drive away the Spanish Armada long ago.

BUT, if Anglicans don't fight the Devil tooth and nail, why should anyone expect God to rescue that dying tree?
And if there were no Drake in the Channel forcing the Armada he could never beat to nevertheless defend itself and not start loading troops and ferrying them to England, then God's storm, when it came, wouldn't have made a whit of difference. The Spanish would have weathered it anchored in the Medway, with the flag of Castille over the Tower, and the flag of the Papal Keys over Westminster Abbey. And that, too, would have been the will of God and a just outcome.

If the Anglican catholics won't fight the Devil in the Episcopalian Church, then the Episcopalian Church will come wholly into the possession of the Devil unresisted, and it will die, and that will be better than that it live on preaching false and murderous doctrines unknown to Christ.

Fight.

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