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VirtueOnline - News:
Virginia Episcopal Bishop Double Dips into Apostasy
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
March 13, 2013
Despite positive and glowing approval by the Archbishop of Canterbury over reconciliation talks between Truro ACNA priest Tory Baucam and Virginia Episcopal bishop Shannon Johnston in Coventry cathedral recently, it was revealed that Bishop Johnston ordained an avowed lesbian to the priesthood. This week he allowed a theologically liberal former Roman Catholic theologian into his diocese - a man who denies the bodily resurrection of Jesus, to press his views.
Dominic Crossan, a former Jesus Seminar president, told a congregation of listeners at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Dunn Loring, Virginia, that the resurrection "can't just be about Jesus." It has to do with dying to the Roman culture."Just in time for Easter, Virginia Episcopalians hosted a Jesus Seminar radical who denies that Jesus was uniquely divine or physically rose from the dead," wrote IRD Anglican writer Jeff Walton. (See full story here:http://tinyurl.com/bllmshf.)
"Instead, the historic person of Jesus was a non-violent revolutionary who was distinct only for the time and place in which he lived, according to Crossan who recently lectured, preached, and led a dialog with clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia hosted by Bishop Shannon Johnston," Walton wrote.
Crossan's unorthodox views on the Resurrection are already well established in his writings and in the Jesus Seminar, a once prominent body of liberal scholars who used to gain headlines by disputing the Gospels' historicity. But the hosting, promotion and what amounted to an effective endorsement of his teachings - with a glowing introduction by Holy Cross Rector Wes Smedley - reveal an Episcopal diocese that is drifting ever further from orthodoxy. Crossan's appearance was promoted by the Episcopal Diocese and other Episcopal congregations in Northern Virginia, including the "renewing" congregations of The Falls Church (Episcopal) and Epiphany Episcopal Church.
What this demonstrates is that Bishop Johnson seems willing to do acts and allow teachings that are inimical, contrary. and hostile to the historic Christian Faith in his diocese while preaching at the same time that reconciliation is what is really on his mind.
It also makes a mockery of Baucam's claim that Johnston is simply "a brother in error." How can someone even be a "brother" if he allows someone to preach to his clergy who denies certain fundamentals of the Christian faith.
This most recent outrage only demonstrates that so called reconciliation is a myth for useful idiots who still believe that irreconcilable positions can be reconciled and the gap can be closed by lifting the Law of Non Contradiction without violating logic.
Acts like this mock talk of reconciliation. As St. Paul puts it in II Tim 2:23; "Abstain from the disputes of fools who are without instruction, for you know that they generate conflict." (Aramaic Bible in Plain English).
In Acts 20:25-31 Paul exemplifies the kind of shepherd he was and the concerns that were continually upon his heart.
For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31)
And Paul named names. Paul saw no problem specifically exposing people in his day. In 2 Timothy 4:14 he names Alexander the coppersmith. He not only gives his name and the trade he was in, but prays that God would judge him for what he did. Should the church do no less with Dominic Crossan?
The Apostle Paul would never concede the argument that ties of friendship can bridge orthodoxy where apostasy prevails on one side the fence. The Apostle's clear admonition, "Have nothing to do with them" cannot be ignored without serious spiritual damage being done to true believers.
The church universal over the centuries has had its share of deceptions and deceivers. Christians have encountered various heresies and false teachings spread by false teachers and prophets that threatened to seduce them away from their pure devotion to Christ. One need only think of Episcopal bishops like John Shelby Spong and Charles Bennison to name but two in recent history. In truth, there are no new heresies, just old heresies dressed up in new garb.
One hopes from this more recent revelation that the scales will fall from Archbishop Welby's eyes and he will see that Bishop Johnson and his uber boss Katharine Jefferts Schori are Episcopalians in name only. They do not know Him who is the first fruits from the dead and they are not prepared to follow Him or obey His Word. When and if that kairos moment comes, it will change the course of the Anglican Communion. That can only be for the good.
Ross Douthat, the conservative op-ed columnist for The New York Times and author of Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, says traditional and institutional Christianity has failed to keep in check its "heretics" - polarizing cultural combatants and influencers including Joel Osteen, Oprah Winfrey, and Glenn Beck. Douthat argues that as the volume of these "heretics" increases, the influence of traditional denominations declines. From a traditional perspective, he might well add nearly the entire Episcopal House of Bishops that has bought into pansexuality at mortal cost to the church's future and their own souls.
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