Laymen sometimes think they need not be theologians. That, however, is a very great mistake. They do need to be theologians; at least, they should be amateur theologians. In fact, that is the one vocation every man is obliged to follow. A layman does not need to be a plumber, a carpenter, a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher, a laborer, a housewife. These are all possibilities, not necessities. A layman may be one of these or the other as he chooses. But he must be a theologian. This is not an option with him but a requirement… A lay theologian is a person who has a true knowledge of God which he understands in nontechnical, nonprofessional, nonacademic terms… Is it not clear why a layman must necessarily be a theologian? Is there anyone, layman or otherwise, who does not need to know God? Does the Scripture not say, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent” (John 17:3)? It is, then, no mere option with a layman whether he will be a theologian or not, whether he will have eternal life or not; it is no option with him whether he will know God or not. The knowledge of God is necessary to eternal life. And if eternal life is necessary for every man, then theology is also necessary for every man.
John Gerstner

Apostacy of the secular Episcopal church

Apostacy of the secular Episcopal church

Apostacy of the secular Episcopal church

Elements of the Episcopal church have made recent headlines as they abandon following God, and embrace a god formed in the image of today's society's (and Satan's) rebellion against God. 

The Episcopal Church's presiding bishop has called personal salvation "heresy" and "idolatry."

Katherine Jefferts Schori made the remarks in her opening address Wednesday to the Episcopal Church's General Conference in California.

Schori calls salvation, "the great Western heresy: that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right in relationship with God."

Luke 19:8: And Zacchae'us stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."

One man who repents and follows Jesus, loving and obeying God, can receive the salvation of God.  If the Episcopal church believes otherwise, its light has gone out – it has become like the churches in Sardis and Laodicea written about in Revelation 3.

Episcopal bishops have authorized the church to start drafting an official prayer for homosexual couples.

The bishops voted 104-30 at the Episcopal General Convention to "collect and develop theological resources and liturgies" for blessing homosexual couples.

Many Episcopal dioceses already allow clergy to bless same-sex couples, but there is no official liturgy for the ceremonies in the denomination's Book of Prayer.

The church also recently voted to end its ban on allowing openly gay bishops.

Romans 1:26: For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural,  and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.  And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct.  They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.

God calls His people away from the apostacy of the secular church.  If the church embraces the world's sinful ways, then the church is "of the world".

Revelation 18:4: Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;  for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.  Render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.  As she glorified herself and played the wanton, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning. Since in her heart she says, 'A queen I sit, I am no widow, mourning I shall never see,'

There may still be those who still follow and love God, and obey His laws, in the Episcopal church.  To you, I pose this question:

When the Good Shepherd comes to guide his flock of sheep home, he will see a flock of goats nearby…

  • they look like goats
  • the smell like goats
  • they act like goats

Even though they may be sheep dressed up in a goat costume among some real goats, how is he going to know the difference?

Take care that your light doesn't go out, for the bridegroom (Good Shepherd) is coming soon!