NEWLY ELECTED EPISCOPAL PRESIDING BISHOP SUPPORTS HOMOSEXUAL ORDINATION

NEWLY ELECTED EPISCOPAL PRESIDING BISHOP SUPPORTS HOMOSEXUAL ORDINATION

[Distributed by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist News Service. These articles cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. This is a listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Our primary purpose is to provide information to assist preachers in the protection of the churches in this apostate hour. If you desire to receive this type of material on a regular basis, e-mail us, tell us who you are and where you are located, and request to be placed on the list. Also include your postal address and the name of the church of which you are a member. Some of these articles are from the "Digging in the Walls" section of O Timothy magazine. David W. Cloud, Editor. O Timothy is a monthly magazine in its 14th year of publication. Subscription is $20/yr. The Way of Life web site is http://www.wayoflife.org/. The End Times Apostasy Database is located at this web site.]

July 23, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - On Monday, July 21, Frank Griswold III of Chicago was elected as the new presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. He will assume the position in January.

During a previous convention, Griswold signed a statement supporting the ordination of homosexuals and urging the denomination to find a way to "celebrate gay relationships." Michael Hopkins, spokesman for the grossly misnamed organization "Integrity," the homosexual support group within the Episcopal Church, stated that he was "obviously pleased that someone got elected who supports our issues" (Associated Press, July 22, 1997).

On Saturday, July 19, the Episcopal General Convention narrowly rejected a motion to recognize same-sex marriages. Lay delegations rejected the resolution to bless same-sex unions with a 56-56 tie vote. Clergy delegations voted 56 yes to 57 no.

According to "Integrity," about 40 Episcopal dioceses have ordained "sexually active homosexuals" (Associated Press, July 19, 1997).

Last year the Episcopal Church court decided that "church doctrine" does not bar ordination of practicing homosexuals. A charge of heresy had been brought against Episcopal Bishop Walter Righter for ordaining homosexual Barry Stopfel as a deacon in 1990. Stopfel, who had since been made a priest, lives with his "companion," Will Leckie, in the parish house of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Maplewood, New Jersey. The court decision annulled the heresy charge. We reported on this in the Fundamental Baptist News Service, May 15, 1996, and in O Timothy magazine, Volume 13, Issue 6, 1996. The report, "No Heresy in the Episcopal Church," can be viewed at the End Times Apostasy Database and in the O Timothy Computer Library, version 2.0.

The Episcopal Church in America has had a 30 percent drop in membership in 30 years.

The End Times Apostasy Online Database contains several other articles on the topic of "Homosexuality and the Denominations." The O Timothy Computer Library contains many more articles on this subject.