Friday, May 14, 2004

Where do they get these guys?

One of the criteria I examine as I search for a new church is who or what is in authority over the church. And not just at the local level, but on a regional and national level as well. For no matter how wonderful a local church is, poor leadership over it can cause a lot of grief. It’s not for nothing that Paul used a lot of parchment about who is and who is not qualified for leadership.

Which raises the question – where does the Episcopal Church get a number of their bishops? Even after seeing my share of poor leadership through the years, the conduct of some Episcopal bishops amazes me. It’s as if the ECUSA has thrown Paul’s standards for leadership out the window.

Oh, that’s right. . . . They have.

In fact, a case can be made that the ECUSA is in its current sorry state because they have chosen sorry leaders in the past and then tolerated them.

Two days ago, I gave an example on one sorry bishop, revisionist tyrant +Garrison, who doesn’t care much about Biblical authority, but is obsessed with imposing his own.

The Diocese of West Tennessee gives us another: Bishop Don Johnson. No, he’s not of Miami Vice fame. Although the actor DJ would probably do a better job.

His diocese just had a divisive convention. +Johnson inviting one of the consecrators of Gene Robinson to preside certainly didn’t help.

But one statement the bishop made at the convention stands out for sheer two-facedness. He said that “now is not the time� for the church to take a stand against the consecration of Gene Robinson and gay marriage.

Yet back in January, Bishop Johnson used a leaked memo as an excuse to make haste to jump all over the American Anglican Council. He accused it of trying to destroy the Episcopal Church (Methinks the liberals are already doing a good job of that without any help, thank you.). And he threatened any clergy or congregation that dared to associate with the AAC.

So we shouldn’t be hasty in taking stands against apostasy. But haste in slandering and threatening the orthodox is quite all right.

What a hypocrite!

Again, where do they get these guys?

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