Dear Beloved, 

So much activity is happening in different places. Obama versus McCain definitely top the news charts every day.

For us Anglicans, our bishops (some) are gathered in the campus of the University of Kent for the Lambeth Conference which is held every ten years. I have followed the activities at the conference daily online, and from the tone of different blogs worldwide, my humble conclusion is that we are heading for a major split in the Anglican Church. Anglicans stand in the middle of one of the most severe challenges to have faced the Church in history, said the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this week.

Dr. Rowan Williams was addressing 650 bishops at the ten-yearly Lambeth Conference, at the University of Kent in Canterbury. He said that there had never been a golden age for Anglicans and the Church because its very foundation was divided by dispute. He said that the Church was at a deeply significant turning point  and that the controversies over same sex blessings and gay consecrations demanded a new approach. Dr. Williams said:  We cannot ignore the fact that what is seen to be a new doctrine and policy about same-sex relations, one that is not the same as that of the vast majority at the last Lambeth Conference, is causing pain and perplexity". The first Lambeth Conference had its issues, but participants hoped future meetings would evoke the same fraternal spirit. 

The Archbishop was speaking as the bishops emerged from three days of retreat and a service featuring Buddhist chants and grass-skirted Melanesian dancers in Canterbury Cathedral. Buddhist chants in Anglican service. Yes. This is the direction of the Anglican Church worldwide. In a bid to be more acceptable and relevant, we are ready to do anything and everything in the name of unity. I have said it over and over that the controversies in the Anglican Communion is a fundamental illness that only symptomatically expresses itself from time to time in diverse forms. We are at the point of deciding to both stand fully with the Bible and believe it as it was taught from generation to generation or revising it to suite what we now want to believe. That is the bottom-line. Everything is being revised: Book of Common prayers, Hymn books, Bible. By the end of Lambeth 2008 we should have a new covenant. Another covenant?! What of our Baptismal covenant? What of the Windsor report? My candid opinion is that we have become a people of convenience who craft doctrines, vows, theology, covenants, purely based on what we like, want, or desire. The times we are in call for sober reflections and serious thoughts about heaven and how to get there.

 I have only one message which I try to keep always before me:

JESUS IS THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WORLD! Our job is to convert people from the path of destruction to life. Unfortunately, we are faced with a new Christianity that seems to say Jesus is one of the ways to heaven (Not the only way). Otherwise, what is this new fellowship between Buddhism and Anglicanism at Canter- bury? Wonders will never end. Of course there was a priest who converted to Islam recently and continued as an Episcopal Priest. So she goes to mosque on Fridays, and bows to Mohammed, than on Sundays she breaks the  body  of Christ and drinks of the cup. This is probably what the Bible referred to as the “Abomination that causeth desolation”.

Enough of this Anglican confusion. I remain focused on only the Bible as my final arbiter for settling spiritual disputes and controver- sies. Back home, we have a lot going on in the next four weeks. Its summer but the business of the Lord must continue! We need your maximum participation for the rebuilding project, we are almost done with the kitchen. We have a lot of construction work yet to be finished. We will aim to resume some of these this month. All weekly scheduled programs are being held uninterrupted.

God bless and keep you always prepared for heaven. Amen.

Augustine+