One Wild, Wild Day on Wall Street
Stocks Zig, Zag On the First Day of a New Quarter; Very Erratic Trading Today

Shortly before the close, the Dow Jones industrial average, down more than 150 points earlier, rose 17.43, or 0.15 percent, to 11,367.44, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.07, or 0.24 percent, to 1,283.07, and the Nasdaq composite was up 8.91, or 0.39 percent, to 2,301.89.

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Anglican Church offshoot founded by traditionalists in Jerusalem

A new church representing almost half of the world's 80 million Anglicans has been officially formed, posing a serious challenge to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The organisation created by traditionalists - called the Gafcon movement after the Global Anglican Future Conference which led to its creation - will retain ties with Dr Rowan Williams and will technically remain within the global Anglican Communion.

But it is also likely to lead to orthodox Anglicans severing all links with the main churches in America and Canada, whose liberal leaders are blamed for sparking the current crisis by breaking with the Bible's teaching and by consecrating openly gay clergy and blessing gay "marriages".

The movement's leaders will include at least two Church of England bishops as well as the heads of leading African, South American and Australian churches, and it is said to represent 35 million worshippers worldwide and so spell an end to the "colonial" domination of Canterbury.

Conservative Anglicans form global network

The 300 bishops and archbishops, who attended the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem, the meeting that led to Foca's inception, have denied wanting to split from the Anglican Communion. A formal schism would involve tortuous legal procedures over the ownership of churches and other properties.

However, they revealed plans for a new "primates council" comprising senior bishops and archbishops who had attended the Jerusalem summit.

In a statement they said: "While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury."

Global Anglican Future Conference issues final statement
June 29, 2008
[Episcopal News Service] The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) issued the following statement at the conclusion of its June 22-29 meeting in Jerusalem. More than 1,000 conservative Anglicans, including 280 bishops, participated in GAFCON.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received
it. The movement is global: it has mobilised Anglicans from around the world. We are Anglican: 1148 lay and clergy participants, including 291 bishops representing millions of faithful Anglican Christians. We cherish our Anglican heritage and the Anglican Communion and have no intention of departing from it. And we believe that, in God's providence, Anglicanism has a bright future in obedience to our Lord's Great Commission to make disciples of all nations and to build up the church on the foundation of biblical truth (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:20).

GAFCON is not just a moment in time, but a movement in the Spirit, and we hereby:

launch the GAFCON movement as a fellowship of confessing Anglicans
publish the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis of the fellowship
encourage GAFCON Primates to form a Council.

Remaking Anglicanism
In Jerusalem, conservatives stage an ecclesiastical coup.

Immediately in advance of the gathering, conservative church leaders issued a pamphlet entitled “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.” In it, they assert that on issues of sexuality the collective decisions by primates, as the leaders of the 38 Anglican provinces are known, have been “ignored” and conservatives “derided” and “demonized” by the U.S. Episcopal Church. “There is no longer any hope, therefore, for a unified communion,” the document proclaims.

GAFCON attendees have been reticent to use the word schism — they prefer “broken.” But this seems a preference without distinction. Most of those at GAFCON are boycotting the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering on doctrinal matters — deemed “an instrument of unity” in Anglican theology — which will be held next month in Canterbury, the ancient seat of the Church of England. One of the pamphlet’s authors, the Oxford theologian Rev. Roger Beckwith, says that the move puts Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and nominal head of the global communion, “in an impossible position.”

Archbishop of Canterbury hits out at breakaway Anglicans

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday accused rebel Anglicans who have launched a breakaway faction within the global communion of lacking legitimacy, authority and, by implication, integrity.

Breaking his silence over the threat to the unity of the 77 million-strong communion, Dr Rowan Williams warned leaders of the conservative coalition that "demolishing existing structures" was not the answer to their concerns.

The Church of England faces further upheaval on a second front, with a group of clergy and bishops threatening to defect over the issue of women bishops.

More than 1,300 clergy and 11 bishops have written (pdf) to Williams to say that the prospect of female bishops had left them "thinking very hard about the way ahead"

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It boils down to this: I believe we are going to see this kind of "split/realignment" throughout every denomination, and throughout unaligned Christians as the clock continues to wind down. At first, I think we will see three "groups" arise, spreading across all Christendom.

1) those who hold that the Bible is the inspired, reliable word of God and we should look to it as the source of knowledge of God.
2) those who believe the Bible is somewhat inspired, but fallible, and unreliable, and is one of the best ways to know about God. Are somewhat hesitant about interfaith movements.
3) those who think the Bible may be somewhat inspired, and is a good source of wisdom, but is by no means the only way to know about God. Are the ones pushing for interfaith conferences.

As both God and the Adversary ramp up the spiritual war, the third group will become more and more wrapped up in doctrine opposed to the Bible, and will begin to attack the first group. The second group will be forced off the fence. On Judgment day there will be only sheep and goats.


And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.--Jos 24:15