Be loving in everything you do." - I Corinthians 16:13-14
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"Be on your guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be brave. Be strong. Be loving in everything you do." - I Corinthians 16:13-14 |
Yesterday (8-15-05) in California Judge David C. Velasquez of the Orange County Superior Court threw out a suit by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles against St. James Episcopal Church in Newport Beach. St. James is one of three breakaway parishes that one year ago left the ECUSA, and is being sued by the diocese in attempt to prevent them from keeping their property. News summary here.
By Bill Boniface
Congratulations to St. James in Los Angeles in particular, but to all in the Episcopal Church who think standing up and being counted in this battle for our Church is important.
God watches over His people, especially when oppressive tactics are applied against them. This decision has the potential to have huge implications for the Episcopal Church. We must remember that each case is specific, and that trust law varies from state to state, but the bottom line is that the Dennis Canon - designed to cow all believers into towing the line by threatening their properties - is going to be exposed before long as 1) having no legal basis, having not been properly passed in 1979 in accordance with church law, 2) having no basis in property rights law in many states since ECUSA is not on most deeds they claim to have a trust interest in; and 3) an illegal way of stealing parish properties as a way to stifle religious dissent from apostate doctrine.
The state courts have taken the Moyer case against the Bishop of Pennsylvania (a major exposure of a priest being deposed without the requisite due process in canon law, by a bishop who tolerates Druids in his diocesan clergy).
The Bishop of Connecticut who stormed St. John's Church in Bristol with a team of thugs and locksmiths, hacked into the computers, removed all financial and private counseling records, took over the parish and won't give the vestry the keys faces more civil charges than you can count on one hand.
And you've seen the decision last week of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), who count twice our number in the Episcopal Church with almost 5 million members, which has decided it will continue including all Christians in its church, but in a way that remains consistent with Scripture.
Don't just stay tuned. Get off your couch and do something to help restore Anglican beliefs and some modicum of sanity in our Church.
Don't find yourself flat-footed when your children and grandchildren one day ask you what part you played during the assault on the Church. Have an inspiring story to tell them about how, when Christ's church was under assault, you put on the armor of God and fought for Him - and that's why they're still able to attend church and hear the Word rather than visit a museum that used to be a place of worship.
Bill Boniface is a retired U.S. Navy pilot, and author of Why I Left My Liberal Parish.
Posted by Greg Griffith at August 16, 2005 09:12 AM (GMT -6:00)Thanks be to God for this victory in Los Angeles which is a victory for freedom from tyranny, and thank you Bill for your great comments on this case. You are right in pointing out how much state laws differ, but for now, let us all rejoice over this and hope and pray that it is a harbinger of things to come.
I was just with a group of orthodox Anglicans who embrace the standards of the Anglican Communion and who, like so many of us, know that their denomination has gone off a theological and moral cliff. And yet they know that if they take any kind of bold steps to distance themselves from the apostacy of our denomination, they would face serious reprisal from their revisionist bishop.
How do they know this? Because their bishop has already seized an orthodox parish in their diocese by firing its vestry and declaring it a mission of the diocese and confiscating its endownment. So it is my hope that with this ruling, this group and everyone like them will be encouraged to hang in there, to bring more people up to speed on everything that is going on in the Anglican Communion, to connect with other orthodox people, and not to submit to fear of the abuse of power by revisionist bishops.
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." 2 Tim. 1:7
Thanks be to God for this victory in Los Angeles which is a victory for freedom from tyranny, and thank you Bill for your great comments on this case. You are right in pointing out how much state laws differ, but for now, let us all rejoice over this and hope and pray that it is a harbinger of things to come.
I was just with a group of orthodox Anglicans who embrace the standards of the Anglican Communion and who, like so many of us, know that their denomination has gone off a theological and moral cliff. And yet they know that if they take any kind of bold steps to distance themselves from the apostacy of our denomination, they would face serious reprisal from their revisionist bishop.
How do they know this? Because their bishop has already seized an orthodox parish in their diocese by firing its vestry and declaring it a mission of the diocese and confiscating its endownment. So it is my hope that with this ruling, this group and everyone like them will be encouraged to hang in there, to bring more people up to speed on everything that is going on in the Anglican Communion, to connect with other orthodox people, and not to submit to fear of the abuse of power by revisionist bishops.
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." 2 Tim. 1:7
Sorry for the double posting, Greg. My computer said the first one had not gone through. Keep up the good work, my friend!
# Posted by: BettyLee Payne at August 16, 2005 12:41 PMBill Boniface is "right on." The tsunami is coming ashore right now. MS is no more safe from it than was it safe from Gen. Grant in May of 1863, We rejoice that our "high ground" was provided to us by the Anglican Church of Kenya. ECUSA is NOT the only Anglican presence in the USA or in central MS. There are three of us rgiht here in central MS. Gather up your beach chair and join one of us on the ""high ground, NOW, before it's too late.
# Posted by: Fr John Urban at August 17, 2005 08:38 AM