The Devil and Presiding Bishop Griswold

Commentary by Robin G. Jordan

In the past two weeks Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has blamed the devil for opposition to the homosexual agenda in the Episcopal Church (USA). Only the devil he claims would divide the church over the issue of homosexuality and divert its attention from its mission. Are we to assume from the Presiding Bishop’s comments that he believes in the existence of a personal devil? Or is he, when he speaks of the devil, referring to the personalization of the impersonal forces of evil in this world – a common view of the devil held by liberals in the Episcopal Church. His statements have all the earmarks of an attempt to redefine as the “problem” what he considers willful opposition to a movement of the Holy Spirit on the part of conservatives in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. In his Belfast sermon before the Primates’ Meeting Griswold reiterated his belief that God is doing something new in the Episcopal Church.

Griswold’s remarks do not take into consideration that the position on homosexuality adopted by the Episcopal Church’s liberal bishops – himself included - and subsequently by the 2003 General Convention is just one of a number of issues that are dividing the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It is a symptom of the Episcopal Church’s drift away from orthodox Christianity and its abandonment of basic Christian beliefs and values. His choice of language minimizes the seriousness of the Episcopal Church’s departure from traditional Christian morality as well as downplays the significance of the homosexual debate – a debate at the heart of which is the authority and inspiration of the Bible.

When Griswold speaks of “mission”, he means something quite different from what orthodox Christians understand to be the mission of the Church. The Church’s mission includes calling sinners to repent of their sins, to believe in the Lord Jesus, to become his disciples, and to live lives of personal holiness. It does not include ordaining unrepentant sinners as clergy, consecrating them as bishops, and pronouncing a blessing upon their sinful conduct. It is doubtful when Griswold speaks of “mission”, he is speaking of this call to repentance, faith, discipleship and godliness.

The Presiding Bishop may be correct in his appraisal that the devil lies behind the preoccupation of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion with homosexuality but not in the way that he thinks it. I am struck by the similarity between Griswold’s attitude toward those who oppose the normalization of homosexuality in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion on solid biblical grounds and the attitude the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law toward Jesus. They attributed our Lord’s miracles and exorcisms to the devil and not to the Holy Spirit. Yet as Jesus pointed out to them, it was they and not he who were of the devil. In seeking to kill him, they were doing what the devil would do, he who was a murderer from the beginning. The Bible identifies the devil as the ruler of this present world. The devil offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world if Jesus worships him, claiming that they have been given to him and are his to bestow upon who he chooses. From a biblical perspective the devil is major influence behind everything in our culture which is opposed to God’s divine will. This includes the acceptance in our culture of sexual conduct that God has declared out of bounds for his creation the human race. From this perspective Frank Griswold in advocating for the ordination of men and women involved in this kind of conduct and the blessing of relationships involving the same conduct has leagued himself with the devil against God. The devil promotes sin and Griswold is doing the same. From the perspective of the Bible Griswold is the one who is opposing God and not those who oppose the homosexual agenda on solid biblical grounds.

Demonizing those who are opposed to the homosexual agenda is not unexpected on the part of the Presiding Bishop. Frank Griswold exemplifies the bankrupt leadership of the Episcopal Church’s liberal bishops and their corporatist allies. While it is tempting to hold him responsible for what has happened in the Episcopal Church during his tenure as Presiding Bishop, the root causes lie much deeper – in its liberal seminaries, liberal clergy and liberal lay leaders. The American church is more liberal than any other province of the Anglican Communion and the liberalism that it embraces is much more radical than the liberalism of the past. Broad-Church liberals and Catholic liberals make up the two largest groups in the denomination with Catholic liberals forming the larger group of the two. Orthodox Christians – Anglo-Catholics, Evangelicals, Charismatics, or combinations of these three traditions – are minority groups. For 60 years the Episcopal Church had no Evangelical wing. Many Anglo-Catholics traditionalists left as a result of the controversies over prayer book revision and women’s ordination. Those who talk about reforming the Episcopal Church and returning the denomination to orthodox Christianity have no idea of how monumental that task is. A significant number of Episcopalians have embraced a false gospel and are resistant to the claims of the true gospel.

At this stage orthodox Episcopalians need to be reviewing their options. Orthodox congregations and clergy may want to consider seeking the oversight of an orthodox bishop either in the Anglican Mission in America or one of the global South provinces. The Anglican Mission in America, founded in August 2000, provides a way for congregations and clergy to be fully Anglican – connected to the worldwide Anglican Communion through the leadership in Rwanda and South East Asia – while, at the same time, being free of the crises of faith, leadership and mission in the Episcopal Church. The specific focus of the AMIA is on planting new Anglican congregations from coast to coast throughout the United States. The AMiA welcomes congregations and clergy that wish to join the AMIA in this undertaking. The planting of new Anglican congregations is not only crucial to establishing a strong authentic Anglican witness in the United States but also to reaching the many unchurched and spiritually disconnected people in post-Christian America. Orthodox Episcopalians in a liberal or corporatist congregation may want to band together in home fellowships meeting for worship, prayer, Bible study, ministry, and evangelistic outreach. One or more of these fellowships can eventually become the nucleus of a new Anglican congregation. Orthodox Episcopalians who find themselves alone in a liberal or corporatist congregation may want to look for a Bible-believing church in their area. The transition may not be an easy one. I myself left the Episcopal Church about two years ago. Although I have sojourned with two non-Anglican congregations since then, I have not yet found a new church home. However, I believe that sojourning in non-Anglican churches is preferable to spiritual starvation and death in the Episcopal Church. They may want to affiliate with the Anglican Mission in America as a partner in mission and support that organization’s church planting efforts with their prayers and contributions. Some may be led to start a Bible study in their homes and gather the core group for a new Anglican congregation. Orthodox Episcopalians need to be on guard against letting themselves be lulled into a false sense of security because they have so far escaped the worst of what is happening in the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church’s liberal leaders are crusaders with a cause and they will not be satisfied until their false gospel is preached from every pulpit and their innovations practiced in every parish.