Here is another example of the church using Christmas as an excuse to preach one-sided political tendentiousness rather than the Gospel:
More here and here, where you will find no mention of the fact that the wall exists to protect Israeli families from fanatical Islamist terrorists.
It does say:
The most unhelpful thing you can do is be pro one side; it just adds to the conflict.
By its own measure, St. James has just added to the conflict.
This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of stupidity in our church.
In the first web page, it does actually say, “The stated aim of the wall at its inception in 2002 was to protect Israeli citizens from terrorism.” So the http://www.sjp.org.uk/ webpage does briefly explain the wall’s raison d’être.
Nevertheless, the replica wall will not help tear down the spiritual walls of hostility (Eph. 2:14) that only Christ and the Gospel can overcome, and to that end, it seems like a tremendous waste of money and time to build a fake replica wall.
So it does. The use of “stated aim”, though, implies the real reason was more sinister.
DG you are absolutely right. Tragically the Anglican Communion continues in its rapid descent into apostasy and irrelevance. Christmas is the time to preach the Gospel to ALL. One can only ask what the rector and church leaders were thinking when they came up with this ridiculous action. The only true Anglicans are those within the ACNA and ANIC as we do proclaim the Gospel and it is only in doing so that we can expect any blessing from our Lord.
Frank, I think another is the Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada), shortened to the AMiA. I think two of its branches are the Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC) and the Anglican Coalition in America (ACiA).
Keeping track is getting a little complicated.
Frank.
There are many Bible-believing Christians within the ACoC, Episcopal and the worldwide Anglican communion. While you apparently don’t need to worry about it, Christ is big enough to work even through the less-then-perfect denominations. I personally have found my faith renewed since having started to attend an ACoC church… and this is coming from someone who grew up in a denomination that thought ALL Anglicans were misguided. (You’d be surprised what is taught in many evangelical churches about Anglicans… including the ANIC variety).
While I am sure that you have noble intentions in your criticisms of non-ANIC churches, it does get old… especially when it is not accompanied with love. I encourage you to keep challenging your non-ANIC brothers and sisters to preach the Gospel but I also encourage you to keep other Biblical passages in mind while you do so (such as 1 Thes 5:11, Heb 10:24-25, 1 Cor 12:26, James 4:11).
It is definitely not that we do not love our fellow brothers in Christ but when you have clergy and so-called bishops that willingly remain in an apostate branch of the Anglican Communion it is indeed appropriate to bring the matter to light. Clearly the ACoC had denied one and in some cases both mandatory requirements to be either a Christian or an Anglican – full acceptance of the authority of Scripture and full recognition of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. The primate and many so-called bishops fall in that category. At no time do I suggest the ANIC is perfect as that is one word we will never know the meaning of until we reach the other side but we have and do take a stand for the Gospel despite the movement in society to worship what is called “political correctness” – a deceptive term on its own.
Amen. ANIC, like everybody else, is far from perfect. Only God is perfect.
Michael Dickson’s ‘Open Letter’ to this expense of cement in a waste of spirit offers
apposite reply:v.The Times of Israel, December 26, 2013