Remember V. Gene Robinson, New Hampshire's Episcopal "Bishop" who said that the Vatican's ban on ordaining men with a homosexual inclination was "vile" and represented an "act of violence"? As I noted back in 2009, Mr. Robinson once opined that "the Episcopal Church and its proclamation of God's inclusive love" was something which appealed to young people who want to be part of a church "in which there truly are no outcasts."
I responded thusly:
"Of course, such a 'church' would not be Christian. The God of both Old and New Testaments loves all but has been known to be exclusive. Remember the Ark which saved Noah and his family? Outside there was wailing and gnashing of teeth.
When Jesus began His public ministry, He did so with the word 'repent' (Matthew 4:17). And He advised the woman caught in adultery to 'sin no more' (John 8:11). Likewise, in the case of the man cured at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus advised him to 'sin no more lest something worse befall thee' (John 5:14). When queried on the subject of how many would be saved, Jesus replied 'few' because the 'gate' to Heaven is 'narrow' (Matthew 7:13-14). And while no one can pinpoint the precise meaning of the word 'few,' still, it is sobering that Jesus chose the image of a narrow gate.
Jesus is likened in the gospel to a stern master who has lazy servants flogged and murderous ones put to death (Matthew 21:41; Luke 12:47). And while it is true that Jesus is Mercy, He is also Justice. And for every parable illustrative of His mercy, there are three or four threatening divine retribution. The Judgment Day is always described as a day of wrath and never as a day of rejoicing (Proverbs 11:4; Zephaniah 1:15; Sirach 5:10; Romans 2:5; Revelation 6:17).
Just as some were excluded - almost all in fact - (because of their own sinfulness) from that salvation which was found in Noah's Ark [a figure of the Church], so too some will be excluded from the Heavenly Kingdom because they preferred their own will to God's: 'The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' (Matthew 13: 41,42)."
In a post at his Blog Canterbury Tales from the Fringe, Gene Robinson boldly stated that, "My sense is that the place of the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion is not in danger. Strained and tense, sometimes, yes. But actually threatened, no. Are we in the same place regarding the issue of homosexuality -- of course not. But the bonds of affection are strong and deep, and God will see us through this difficult time. This is a strong belief exhibited by all the primates and bishops visiting this Convention from across the Anglican Communion. It confirms my own belief that it is time for us to stand up and be the Church God is calling us to be, and trust that the Anglican Communion will not only survive, but be a blessing to all." (See here).
Mr. Robinson may have believed that all would be well in the Episcopal Church. But as Pat Buchanan explains, "Today, the Episcopal Church is divided and disintegrating, having lost a million members since 2000. It has been torn asunder over morality, the ordination of female and gay priests and bishops, and the legitimacy of same-sex unions. The Church's share of the adult population has fallen to less than 1 percent...In Fairfax County, Virginia, nine parishes broke with the national Episcopal Church over the installation at Washington National Cathedral of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the 26th Presiding Bishop. Schori had blessed same-sex unions and supported the consecration of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, who had left his wife and daughters and entered a homosexual union. Seven of 111 Episcopal dioceses refused to accept Schori's elevation."
The result of the Episcopal Church's apostasy from the Gospel? Buchanan: "All the efforts by mainstream churches to accommodate modernity have gone hand in hand with what Newsweek sees as the decline and fall of Christianity in the United States. Now ranked fifteenth in congregants, the Episcopal Church is losing members more rapidly than are the Presbyterians, Lutherans, or Methodists." (Suicide of a Superpower, pp. 56-57, 58),
The Episcopal Church has sought to become a church made in the image and likeness of man. It has ignored the warning of the Psalmist, in clear dogmatic language, that "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it." Fr. Vincent Miceli explains that, "This truth holds for the building of families, societies, nations, international communities and, above all, of Churches....building without the Lord is equivalent to building with the aid of Satan. And any city that rises from Satan's blueprints can only end up a City of Hatred and Violent Death."
The whole sorry story of the Episcopal Church provides us with a sobering warning: that without Jesus we can do nothing. To the extent that churches stray from the Gospel, they disintegrate and become meaningless and irrelevant.
Related reading: Pastor Rick Warren and Barack Obama have welcomed Gene Robinson's message.
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