Why Another Reformation Is Needed

An Obvious – And Odious – Example Of Why Another Reformation Is Needed

The basic information that a service to commemorate the start of LGBT history month was held in the chapel of Westcott House, Cambridge (a leading Church of England theological training college), will sadden any Bible-believing Christian.

What will disgust them are the details that have since been made public about this service, held on Tuesday, 31 January 2017.

• A note produced along with the Order of Service explained that the service was, “a liturgical experiment,” and an, “an attempt at queering the liturgy of evening prayer, locating the queer within the compass of faith, and recovering for the Christian tradition a sense of its own intrinsically subversive jouisance.”

• The service was consequently advertised as a, “Polari evening prayer in anticipation of LGBT+ history month.”

• It was conducted by an ordinand – a trainee priest – who, in addressing the congregation that was also made up of trainees and staff, replaced the wording of the Church of England liturgy with Polari to underline the 'subversive' theme of the evening.

(Polari is gay slang language, a coded innuendo-fuelled language dating back to the Victorian period and used by men to communicate with one another without fear of being discovered when homosexuality was still a crime).

• Instead of reading from the traditional text of the Old Testament, the Polari ‘Bible’ was used – a work compiled as a project in 2003 by a 'gay activist group' Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Therefore:

An Old Testament reading from the Prophet Joel which says, "rend your heart and not your garments, return to the Lord your God" was printed in Polari as, "rend your thumping chest and not your frocks - and turn unto the Duchess your Gloria: for she is bona and merciful.”

And instead of the traditional, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” the prayer offered was: "Fabeness be to the Auntie, and to the Homie Chavvie, and to the Fantabulosa Fairy.”

Psalm 19 was reworded to refer to, “O Duchess, my butchness.”

And Jesus is feminised and referred to as "Josie."

While the principal of Westcott House, the Rev Canon Chris Chivers, later confirmed that the language used had not been authorised and was at odds with the teaching and doctrine of the church, and expressed regret for the “considerable upset” it had caused, it is fair to say that the reaction to this blasphemous and bilious service has been muted.

Simon Robb, writing for Metro.co.uk., expressed the view that, "Trainee priests have been slapped on the wrist for using gay slang in a service to mark LGBT history month."

It is tragic to witness that the best the Church of England can do in these days of apostasy is to engage in nauseating displays of simpering speech, such as apologising for the Reformation and describing it as:

• a split that caused “lasting damage” to the unity of the Church;

• an action that contradicted the teaching of Jesus and created a “legacy of mistrust and competition”;

• and therefore necessitates its current call to Protestants to, “repent of their part in perpetuating divisions.”

What the Church of England needs is to earnestly plead with God for another Reformation that will:

• reinstate to the centre of its message justification by faith alone in Christ alone through grace alone – and by this proclamation of a pure Gospel further widen the division between itself and an unreformed Roman Catholic communion;

• repent solemnly that such a display of vile behaviour was ever permitted to take place at the heart of its training institution for future ministers;

• repudiate the expressions of sympathy that have emanated from the highest office within the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, towards calls for the church to bless gay marriages;

• and root out this putrid, perverse leaven that is guaranteed, if left in situ, to “leaven the whole lump,” spreading further poison through the veins of an already polluted church.

Apostasy and all its attendant ills can never be deal with by the administration of a mere 'slap on the wrist,' because this only temporarily impedes it in its purpose to 'lop off your head.' It is a point worthy of note in the Scriptures that all true reformations feature effective measures being taken against sodomy (1 Kings 15:12, 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7).

Rather than repenting for the Reformation, this deeply compromised, corrupt body needs to recognise the fact that another Reformation is urgently required!