A Note to the Eighty

A Note to the Eighty

A View From The Pew
by Gerry Hunter

Overall, the plan ran true to form. The 10-10-80 formula, where 10% push for departure from faithful Christian witness, 10% oppose it, and 80% sit back and watch, only hit one snag for Bishop Ingham and his revisionists. Locally, the opposition passed 20% of the people in the Diocese of New Westminster, but overall, in Canada and the Western nations, the numbers worked out just fine.

So now, the prospect of being geographically situated in an apostate Diocese in a Laodicean National Church, in Communion of ineffectual witness, has been fully realized. Today Bishop Ingham completed the deed started by Motion 7 in June 2002, by turning loose the clergy in his Diocese who think as he does to bless what Holy Scripture and unbroken historic Christian teaching identifies as sin.

This is a note to everyone who trashed the psychology of those of us who, from the beginning, warned that, unless a stand was taken, this day would come. It’s a note to all of you who abandoned the principles of faith, and demanded that the course of dialogue, the offspring of psychology, the most virulently anti-Christian discipline to be found on the campus of an institution of higher learning, be pursued. It’s a note to those who convinced themselves that as long as their parish was not involved directly, everything would be okay; those of you who drove faithful clergy to the point where they had to go elsewhere, because they could not bear the indifference to faithfulness you manifested. And we mustn’t forget all those in authority who might have acted, but for the sake of the organization, order, collegiality, or whatever else provided a convenient shield behind which to hide, helped clear the ground for the revisionists to move through. Because just as this is Michael Ingham’s day, this is your day, too.

We are not talking about a sneak attack here. No stealthy submarine snuck up on a smoothly sailing ship and put a torpedo in its hull. Bishop Ingham had pledged to uphold the teaching of the Canadian House of Bishops at the time of his consecration, but in a very few years, by 1999, Motion 9, the predecessor of Motion 7 now fully enacted, was before the diocesan synod. There was a day of dialogue (which many quickly concluded had nothing to do with them), followed by a propaganda road show for twinned parishes (which many also ignored), accompanied by prepared papers (the most scholarly and faithful of which were held back as long as possible). All this is well known, and need not be re-elaborated. No, the ship of faithful Christian witness is taking water, a lot of water fast, because its hull was let to rust through.

So now in the pews, we watch. Those of us who saw this day coming, and warned of it, and were frequently reviled for it among the 80%, will be watching those who have had the courage to stand against this abominable scheme. We are confident that they will continue to display the courage and faithfulness we have seen them display up until now. We also know they cannot stem the flow of water into the stricken ship alone.

We will watch those who have expressed support for us in our faithful stand, but thought that words would be sufficient, and have done little more. It will be very instructive to see the reaction of those who have brought to bear those forceful weapons of shock, sadness, concern, and all the other potent sentiments they could muster, now that these mighty instruments have proven utterly impotent.

The Bishops of the National Church will also be watched from the pews. As a body, they flung us back into the clutches of the wolf, on the wolf’s terms, who has now culminated his plans for the sheep in his care. One of their number has agreed to hold his staff while he beats off the pesky faithful with his rod. It will be interesting to learn whether their dedication to collegiality is so great, now that apostasy has been turned fully loose, that they will cling together in ineffectual muteness while the ship takes water. It will be very instructive for us in the pews to see how they react.

In fairness, the National Bishops do not form the only body which, collectively, has proven utterly impotent. There are also the Primates of the Communion, that group which, just days ago, admitted that, as a “body,” they could not reach “theological consensus. Even though Bishop Ingham sent the rite and authorizing memo to his followers even before they met, he could not, it seems, refrain from a smug acknowledgement of their ineffectual deliberations when he announced its delivery. We know there are, among them, those who have pledged to act in response to this outrage. Well, the time would be now, we sense in the pews.

It took years for the hull of faithfulness to be breached, so the contaminating waters of liberal revisionism could flood in. It will not take nearly as long for the ship to be rendered incapable of holding to a faithful course. We have seen that many people doing nothing in the past was a guarantee that the hull would indeed rust through. We know, in the pews, that not taking action, and significant action, and soon, will result in the ship being unfit for continued occupancy for a crew that is faithful to the captain, Jesus Christ. Our call to faithfulness is one we still hear in the pews, and are determined to answer. But we know, too, that more than our own faithful response will be needed, locally, nationally, and Communion wide, if the Captain is not to move His flag elsewhere. We know, in the pews, that much less time will pass before these things come to pass than had passed to bring the present situation to its culmination.

The 80% would do well to remember the admonition to the church in Laodicea, which we find in Rev. 3:15 ff:

I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

The 80% would do well to consider that perhaps the quota of passivity has been expended, and that the Lord Himself has reminded us, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” With the waters flowing in through the breach in the hull, the action of the 10%, though it will continue, will undoubtedly be insufficient on its own.