More Episcopalia
It strikes me just now that my previous post had very little Scripture in it besides some oblique references. So now I’m going to let the Word speak for itself.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor. 6:14-18)
If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to dwell there, that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God. (Deut 13:12-18)
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:28-31)
[And see the entire chapter of 2 Peter 2]
From scriptures like these, I think we get the idea that we are not supposed to stand by when heretics are dishonoring the Name of Christ. Under the old covenant, such would be stoned. Under the new, they should likewise be removed from the people of God–which is now a spiritual body and not a political–but to give grace to false teachers is to allow gangrene to spread within the body of Christ, and soon a whole limb will be destroyed and must be removed.
This is why I think it is important for all faithful Episcopalians to stand up and say to the apostates, “We are the true church, and you are not of the Body, you have never known Christ, but are following in the ways of the prince of this world.” Let them be accursed and thrown out until they repent. This is the time to show some backbone. The truth is only in Christ, and any one who replaces that truth or makes it secondary to anything else, is not of God and has no part in the fellowship of the Church. What price can we pay for peace? This is not a time for peace, but a time for war, and strong arms, the shield of faith, and the sharp-edged sword of God’s Word.
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