Oatmeal for High Blood Sugar - aka Diabetes

 

American Episcopalian Churches and Seminaries Collapsing - Virtue Online.Mainlines Copying Each Other in Coping

 

 ELCA Bishop Elizabeth Eaton is on a 4-6 month leave of absence. She is a product of ELCA's vote to ordain everyone contrary to the Scriptures. ELCA is busy closing churches, merging seminaries, and ordaining domestic partners and bishops.

 ELCA has driven away about 50% of its members since the 1987 merger of the LCA, ALC, and Seminex-AELC. Its seminaries are closing or demi-semi-closing; let's call it trimming. "As of 2022, it has approximately 2.9 million baptized members in 8,640 congregations. (Wiki)" The merger began with about 5.3 million members.

MORE TEC DIOCESES look to merge. The dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan will merge later this year.

According to the Episcopal News Service the two dioceses, after more than four years of administrative sharing and ministry cooperation, are finalizing plans for a potential merger. Final approval would take place at the 81st General Convention in June when it meets in Louisville, Kentucky.

Across TEC as dioceses shrink with aging and dying parishioners, and with no new young people coming along to replace them, church coffers are drying up.

The Dioceses of Bethlehem and Central Pennsylvania are exploring merger.

Indianapolis and Northern Indiana are in talks to discuss merger of their dioceses.

Three dioceses of The Episcopal Church in Wisconsin are one step closer to merging into one regional body, which could be finalized at the denominational level next year.

The Episcopal dioceses of Milwaukee, Fond du Lac and Eau Claire each voted separately to approve a resolution to make a final vote to merge during the 2024 Easter season.

The bishops of the dioceses of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont while not talking merger, at least for now say they will serve as assisting bishops in each other's dioceses as part of an effort to increase collaboration in the region.

You would think the church's deep thinkers would start seeing the writing on the wall and ask some very hard questions about how much longer they can keep up the pretense that all is well and that rattling on about woke issues; racism, abortion, sodomy, gay rights, the war in Israel, guns, the border, and more is not making the church grow. In fact, it looks very much like it is emptying the church.

One can only imagine two octogenarians talking in church; Mildred turns to George, and asks; "who was that in the pulpit, dear?"

"It's one of these trannie creatures, my love."

"What's that?"

"Haven't got a clue, but the bishop who is very trendy, says this fellow appears on Tik Tok."

"What's Tik Tok?"

A VOL READER dropped me a line to say churches are closing in the Diocese of Northern California under the watchful eye of Bishop Megan M. Traquair.

Churches that closed are in Rio Vista, Antelope, Marin and Tahoe. Also, the conference ground at Lake Tahoe has been sold. The church in Orland was sold some time ago.

"In some areas, when the church is closed, the diocese returns the money to help people in the local community rather than taking the money."

At the national level, there is a discussion of charging the Episcopal Relief and Development for rent and personnel services. There was strong opposition to that idea once people became aware of it.

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN TEC is also taking hits. Among key insights are the shortage of clergy and the aging profile of those currently serving, as well as the changing shape of employment prospects as numerous parish communities themselves undergo change.

The Church Divinity School of the Pacific has announced that in January 2026 it will withdraw from the Graduate Theological Union, a consortium of multi-faith institutions in Berkeley, California, that CDSP helped found in 1962.

The announcement from Stephen Fowl, the seminary's president, and dean since Aug. 1, 2023, said that after the school moves to a fully hybrid model for Master of Divinity students beginning in the summer of 2025, few opportunities will exist for the kind of collaboration GTU has afforded students in the past.

TRANSLATION. They don't have enough students. Seminary education costs are prohibitive, young ordinands are not to be found.

The Episcopal Divinity School will relocate its office to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City following EDS' decision earlier this spring to discontinue the affiliation between EDS and Union Theological Seminary at the end of the current academic year. [GJ - Union sold its library to Columbia University to help its poor cash flow. EDS is known for $60 million endowment for about 60 students.]

GJ - Stan Hauerwas, one of my professors at Notre Dame, refused to speak at EDS because of the conflicts there. It is not strange that the radicals become even angrier once they get their way. 

Bishop Meagan Rohrer was removed from her office and from the ELCA ministry, joining the radical Glide Memorial Methodist Church staff.

Virtue Online - Church of England Bishop Justin Welby - No Confidence

 

 David Virtue

Mere Anglican Conference Blows up over Women's Ordination * Church of England's Growing Entanglement over Same-Sex Blessings * Two TEC dioceses look to Merge * Nigerian Archbishop Suspends NA American Bishop * ABC called to resign over P.O. selection debacle * Future of Christianity in UK in doubt

 Bishop of Canterbury Justin Welby

The Church of the West has descended to the very nadir of flagrant apostasy, twisted-ness, dishonesty and hypocrisy, far worse, it would seem, than its condition at the Reformation. -- Roger Salter

Evangelicalism is not immune to the cultural mood. Quite the opposite. We've been infected by it, and our current coterie of leaders seem incapable of resisting. --- Mere Orthodoxy

To offer a positive vision is to welcome misunderstanding from evangelicalism's leadership class and many of their most committed followers. --- Patrick Miller

THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION began to crack as traditional leaders -- representing about 85% of the global Anglican worshippers -- declared no confidence in Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the church's power structures in England. This followed a Church of England vote to allow blessing rites for same-sex unions. -- Terry Mattingly -- OnReligion

The people who call themselves LGBTQ activists are now recruiting many people, including our children. They don't know what they are doing, but they are destroying people's lives by engaging them in unethical activities. The West wants to make our country Sodom and Gomorrah, and we won't accept it.--- Gilbert Lubega of Uganda

"Christianity is not shrinking; it's shifting (dramatically) from the northern hemisphere to the south. There's a pernicious myth out there that the Church is in decline when it's actually growing. Fast. Since the year 2000, the world population has been growing at 1% per annum, but the church has been growing at 2% - 100% faster than the global population (with Pentecostalism growing at 4%.) -- Rick Warren

God continues to speak through what he has spoken -- John Stott

"When the Christian faith is politicized, churches become repositories not of grace but of grievances, places where tribal identities are reinforced, where fears are nurtured, and where aggression and nastiness are sacralized," --- Peter Wehner

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
February 2, 2024

IN past years the Mere Anglican conference held in Charleston, SC drew noted Anglican heavy hitters to explore various themes. Last year it was C.S. Lewis; this year it centered more around apologetics.

The conference drew a distinguished group of presenters to theologically discuss, "Speaking the Truth in Love: The Church and the Challenge of the New Morality." The list included: The Rev. Dr. John Dickson, Anglican priest and apologist; the Rev. Sam Allberry, Anglican priest and apologist; Dr. D.A. Carson, Renowned New Testament scholar and author; the Rev. Dr. Carl Trueman, Professor, Grove City College; Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin, Apologist and author; the Rev. Vaughan Roberts, Anglican Rector of St. Ebbe's Church, Oxford; Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing, Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics; and the Rev. Calvin Robinson, priest, writer, and social commentator. Archbishop Foley Beach (ACNA II) was the Conference's Festival Eucharist celebrant.

Then it all blew up.

One invitee, the Rev. Calvin Robinson threw a monkey wrench into the works when he riffed off text and talked about the highly controversial issue of Women's Ordination. It is the third rail: Women in Holy Orders, as one commentator described it.

"It was my point that the reason Gender Theory, Queer Theory and Critical Race Theory are so prevalent in the Church today is because we have conceded too much ground to Feminism," wrote Robinson on his sub stack.

But then he hurled a hand grenade into the conference and tackled Women's Ordination head on.

"I put it to you that Feminism -- an arm of liberalism -- is the gate by which all the other woke ideas gain ground. They are all part of the same ideology, but Feminism is the brute force which breaks down the wall for all the others," he said.

"The Church has become effeminate and, therefore, vulnerable in a way that it needn't be. Men, being the stronger sex of the species, offer talents different from those of women. That is not to say they are better; goodness no, women are far better than men at a great many things. Men are simple beings. But we do have a practical role to play in the Church, which can only be played by men."

The conference host, one Rev Jeffrey S. Miller promptly banned Robinson from a final round table discussion "because he failed to address the topic assigned to him," with South Carolina Anglican Bishop Chip Edgar weighing in and saying that Robinson was not "cancelled" due to his position on Women in Holy Orders but was removed from the final panel because his talk was deemed to have veered substantively from the topic he was asked to address.

"Instead, he took advantage of the opportunity and opined on what he considers the exceeding evil of women in Holy Orders. Most importantly, he did so in a way which was inexcusably provocative, and completely lacking in charity and pastoral consideration of the people in attendance--especially the many women clergy both of our diocese and others who attended."

Edgar went on to explain that The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has maintained a "dual integrities" position allowing dioceses to choose what direction to take.

This then prompted the Rt. Rev. Alex Farmer, Bishop of the Diocese of the Gulf Atlantic (ACNA) declaring that Robinson had an "unclean spirit" when he spoke at the Mere Anglican conference in Charleston, SC. Alarm bells went off. The bishop later apologized for his remarks saying he was sorry for the way he questioned the spirit behind his motivations. "That was improper of me, and especially in the context inappropriate. I am deeply sorry for the harm that this has caused to the wider Body of Christ."

Nonetheless the whole subject stirred a hornet's nest of opinion, with commentaries coming down mostly on the side of Robinson with some even suggesting it could blow up the ACNA! That is not going to happen. Since 2009, the ACNA has lived with the "two integrities" and that seems likely in the foreseeable future. In truth there is nowhere else for the Anglo-Catholic to go to. The Continuing Church groups are way too splintered amongst themselves to offer a safe haven for ACNA's traditionalist wing.

American Bishop Jefferts-Shori took a wrecking ball to conservative churches.

The following links will give you a fuller picture on all sides of the issue.

https://virtueonline.org/anglicans-clash-over-anglo-catholic-priests-disinvitation-mere-anglican-conference

https://virtueonline.org/calvin-robinson-kerfuffle-widens

https://virtueonline.org/calvin-robinson-declared-have-deceiving-unclean-spirit-acna-bishop

https://virtueonline.org/apology-and-public-statement-bishop-alex-farmer

https://anglicanmainstream.org/cancelling-calvin-robinson-the-american-anglican-crisis-as-feminism-takes-truth-integrity-hostage/

https://virtueonline.org/forward-faith-north-america-response-mere-anglicanism-conference

https://northamanglican.com/the-day-the-gloves-came-off-an-end-to-detente-in-the-acna/

***

Last week, the lead bishops for Living in Love and Faith (LLF) reconciliation process, the Rt. Rev. Helen-Ann Hartley and Rt. Rev. Martyn Snow wrote a piece for the Church Times, in which they said,
"We are at a crossroads: either we have reached the point of separation, accepting that different views cannot co-exist within the same Church, or we must shift the debate to the question how we live well with difference. We believe firmly in the latter approach, and, therefore, we are issuing a call for reconciliation and bridge-building."

Their attempt to 'reset' the debate will rest on a number of commitments, which will be brought to General Synod for discussion in February. They have yet to be published -- but for once the devil will not be in the detail - but in their purpose and underlying premise, writes Susie Leafe of Anglican Futures.

"These commitments will honor the votes already taken by the Synod and the general sense of direction, while also inviting the whole of the Synod to make a commitment to the principle of being a broad Church in which different views are not just accepted, but honored as part of what it means to be the living, dynamic, and beautiful body of Christ."

The orthodox should be shocked. There is a danger that this development is being seen as a partial victory.

Why? Because the bishops have used a simple bait and switch. Alongside the 'broad church' principle was the offer of a 'prize' -- a delay to the introduction of standalone services and a promise that Synod will examine "legal safeguards and appropriate structures" for those needing reassurance.

And that is the bait.

But the switch is devastating.

If the bishops are to be believed, Synod will be asked to commit to:
"...the principle of being a broad Church in which different views are not just accepted but honored as part of what it means to be the living, dynamic, and beautiful body of Christ."

If words mean anything, such a commitment has serious implications:
• It means accepting that the presenting issue of same-sex blessings and the underlying debates about the nature of marriage, the authority of Scripture and the means of salvation -- are to be considered adiaphora -- things indifferent.
• It is a commitment to accept those who deny the teaching of Christ, rather than rebuke them, and to honor those who promote a false gospel, rather than avoid them.
• It is to affirm that the presence of sin makes the body of Christ more beautiful.

You can read the full story here: https://virtueonline.org/living-love-faith-and-reconciliation-exercise-bait-and-switch

You can read a Masterclass in Manipulation here:
https://virtueonline.org/masterclass-manipulation

ARCHBISHOP JUSTIN WELBY has faced yet another call for him to resign, this time he 'should quit' over claims he backed the disgraced former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to be Bishop of London.

Gabriella Swerling, Social and Religious Affairs Editor for the Telegraph
says the Archbishop of Canterbury, is accused of endorsing Paula Vennells while some 700 sub-postmasters were falsely accused of money that went missing from their sites.

The late Queen's former chaplain, the Rev Canon Jeremy Haselock, an associate priest at Great St Bartholomew's in the City of London, criticised the alleged endorsement, writing on social media: "Surely this is the point at which Welby must go. Another demonstration of his complete lack of sound judgment."

Paula Vennells, who was the Post Office chief executive from 2012 to 2019, handed back her CBE last week.

You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/justin-welby-should-quit-over-claims-he-backed-paula-vennells-be-bishop-london

***

An insightful piece on the future of Christianity in England, titled, IT'S OVER -- PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE by someone called Campbell documents that too many Christians in the UK are living with an illusion. "Let me tell you plainly: it's over. The days of being a Christian country have gone, and they are not coming back any time soon. It is imperative that we grasp this. Instead of pretending we are living in a pale imitation of the past, we have to work out how to live in the present and prepare for the future."

"I pray (literally) that there might be a recovery of both church and nation, that the Holy Spirit will sweep through the land and we will have godly leaders in church and state. In the meantime, until God does this, we Christians have to get our own house in order. Merely doing what we have always done in the hope that this time it will work is to embrace failure."

You can read more here: https://possil.wordpress.com/2024/02/02/its-over-prepare-for-the-future/

***

 Anglican Bishop marries partner

MORE TEC DIOCESES look to merge. The dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan will merge later this yea

 The Bishop Robinson marriage ended in divorce and accelerated the demise of American Episcopalians.

r.

According to the Episcopal News Service the two dioceses, after more than four years of administrative sharing and ministry cooperation, are finalizing plans for a potential merger. Final approval would take place at the 81st General Convention in June when it meets in Louisville, Kentucky.

Across TEC as dioceses shrink with aging and dying parishioners, and with no new young people coming along to replace them, church coffers are drying up.

Zoom Live Trials This Week

I believe we have the set up settled, and I will Zoom only at the chapel. I will do some practices there and always use chapel for the church services. I know there are ways to move my "ownership," but I want to be a lot more familiar. 

 

It is exciting to expand what we can do with the Word of God. Brett Meyer and my wife Christina gained up on me to go live with Ustream. She set up the altar and Brett mailed a Logitech camera.

We have reached All Time 10,555,399 views.

We Will Do Vimeo Today - Zoom Has More Security Than Ft. Knox

 

 HAL

I worked on Zoom most of yesterday and woke up at 2 AM. I have caught on to most of it, but my mistake was not coding it from the chapel. I got the link open in the chapel but HAL was very suspicious of my attempt to use their software.

I am setting up Vimeo for today, which is easy and fast, but I will work on Zoom again tomorrow.

The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, 2024

The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, 2024

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 10 AM Central 

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

The Hymn #465                    Christ Is Our Cornerstone
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

Worship Him, all ye His angels: Zion heard and was glad.

The daughters of Judah rejoiced: because of Thy judgments, O Lord.

Psalm. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice: let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Colossians 3:12-17

Gradual

The heathen shall fear the name of the Lord: and all the kings of the earth Thy glory.

V. When the Lord shall build up Zion: He shall appear in His glory. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice: let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Hallelujah!

The Gospel Matthew 13:24-30
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #49         Almighty God, Thy Word Is Cast

A Forest of Weeds

The Hymn #311 Huss - Jesus Christ Our Blessed Savior
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #50                            Lord Dismiss Us

Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Matthew 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank Thee, that Thou hast sown the good seed, Thy holy word, in our hearts: We pray Thee that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou wilt cause this seed to grow and bring forth fruit, and defend us from the enemy, that he may not sow tares therein. Keep us from carnal security, help us in all temptations, and give us at last eternal salvation; through Thy beloved Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

                                    A Forest of Weeds

Matthew 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 

This section, which we call Matthew 13, begins with the well known parable of The Sower and the Seed. This parable follows and perhaps confuses people. Tares are weed seeds, using the older English. This sort of thing happens easily and with stealth, because good, new seeds are just starting to germinate when an enemy tosses the weed seeds across the newly prepared wheat field.

People probably remember that I used buckwheat to improve the soil in the rose garden. The supposedly short buckwheat plants grew so tall and thickly that the roses could not be seen. My Laotian neighbor and her son pointed at the Weed Garden and laughed. Our helpers weed-whacked the buckwheat plants at the perfect time, but the buckwheat seeds were mature and started the cycle all over again. I could have made buckwheat pancakes for weeks.

The main parable in Mark 13 is the Sower and the Seed, starting Matthew 13's chapter. There the emphasis is upon the efficacious Word of God as the seed. The Word has equal power but it falls on different types of soil with different results. The two parables have similar results because the Word energized by the Holy Spirit accomplishes God's will. But in this parable, the seed represents faithful believers rather than the Word.

This chapter is what gives away so many pastors, who do not know the meaning of the Word - efficacious - and do not understand God's Creation at work. This word-group in Greek (and English) relates to the English word energy and is found many places throughout the New Testament. The same is true in Hebrew using different expressions of God acting through His Word.

Besides that, the Lord of Creation fills His sermons and parables with the Creation perspective since He is the creating Word of Genesis 1 and John 1, plus many other passages.

Let's compare the effective Word with the Church Growth approach.

Teaching children Bible stories - effective.

Giving children soft drinks and food during the service - not effective.

Preaching a sermon based on a Biblical passage - effective.

Telling a string of funny stories about nothing in particular - not effective.

Giving away KJV Bibles for a prison ministry - effective.

Raising money to hire a growth consultant from Pasadena - not effective. LCMS did that.

These two concepts go together - the efficacy of the Word and God's Creation, which is clearly established by the Word. 

25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

The enemy is Satan and the tares are false doctrine mixed with sound doctrine, which is not obvious at first. Most gardeners will admit that they planted good seed and thought the new plants coming up were the crop. The weeds are almost always vigorous, fast growing, and responsive to rain. But alas, when someone tries to pull a weed away from a nearby seedling, both are dislodged and the good plant is weakened if not ruined altogether.

People denounce weeds because they grow so fast and so easily, especially when the conditions are not good for the desired crop of food. But that is also part of God's plan. Exposed soil always welcomes the weeds that arrive from the wind and the birds. They can build up poor soil by growing and dying in the same field that could not support ordinary crops, or demanding crops like corn. The Midwest has topsoil that can be 20 feet deep, which happened by God's plan with prairie grass growing and rotting, buffalos eating the grass and fertilizing the result.

So here we see the Word of God growing but the tares growing along side of the Word. The intended crop of wheat is fruitful, bearing good seeds, but the tares grow up along side it.

27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

The servants are eager to get rid of the tares. The householder had the good seeds planted so how did all the weeds spring up? The household said, "An enemy has done this," so the servants want to go out into the fields and rip up the weeds. I tried to grow corn in Columbus and a tall grass grew up instead. People said, "I told you - gardens don't work well here. The birds got the corn and the weeds fooled you for a time." 

I saw no corn there, but the weeds grew to six feet.

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 

I should have known that about the corn versus the weeds. And it is true. Food plants are almost always tender and easily harmed. But God provides all kinds of insect and soil life - plus the birds - to help the crops grow and thrive.

The tares are false prophets and their followers. Anything new and different is appealing. False teachers show up at the door and provide an attractive sales pitch, which works well when people lonely and misinformed.

Jesus is teaching that this mix of sound and false doctrine should continue since so many can be harmed by rigorous prosecution. In fact, opposition to the Christian Faith is encouraged and enlivened by opposition. Many of us were baptized in denominations that became tares. I was baptized at a Congregational church which merged into the radical United Church of Christ. My parents took us to the Disciples of Christ church in town, and that denomination is racing into oblivion with radicalism. And now we have so-called Lutherans who do not know or appreciate the Reformation created by the teaching of Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

This describes the ultimate destruction of those who die without faith in Christ, while the believers are gathered into heaven.

Luther wrote:

For the sower of the good seed says again, they should not uproot it, that is, they should have patience, and suffer such blasphemy, and commend all to God; for although the tares hinder the wheat, yet they make it the more beautiful to behold, compared with the tares, as St. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 11:19: “For there must be false factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you.” This is sufficient on today’s text.