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Church of England dropping word ‘church’ to be more ‘modern’ · The Slippery Slope

• 0:11
  Hi, I'm Jay Fallon, thanks for listening to The Slippery Slope.
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  So this story is it's been here for a few days now.
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  I just wanted to to comment on it.
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  There's a few things that really surprised me in in some ways and
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  other parts of the story I think, well, what did we all
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  expect? It surprises me the the way
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  people are reacting and they seem so surprised in what the
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  Church of England has done. Yet if you look at where the
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  Church of England has been going for quite a while, you would
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  think, well, OK, it's not that surprising.
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  I think they possibly stopped being a church long before they
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  made this announcement. So the the story what what I'm
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  talking about is how the Church of England has decided that they
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  are going to take church the word church out of out of their
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  title. So I'll just read of you a bit
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  of this headline here. It came through on MSN.
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  Like I said, this story has been here for a little while, but
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  it's interesting. So Church of England dropping
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  were church to be more modern because it obviously, well, as
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  we all know if you're a Christian, yeah, it makes a lot
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  of sense to try and be more modern and not just follow the
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  word of God. That's yeah, that's always
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  helpful. I'm being facetious.
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  So the Church of England is increasingly dropping the word
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  church in favour of relevant and modern sounding descriptions
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  such as community. A new study suggests now when
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  these these places, they want to become more relevant, they
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  they're just on a slippery slope.
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  Becoming more relevant just signals that they are
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  disregarding the word of God and placing more emphasis on modern
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  culture, on culture. And if you're going to disregard
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  the word of God, you're not really a church anyway.
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  You're everything that you're based on, your beliefs.
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  It makes you different from the rest of the world because you're
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  following the teachings that are in the Bible.
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  You're following the word of God.
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  This is what the word of God has said.
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  This is what you're following. This is what you're obeying.
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  This is why you're obeying it. You're not just out there trying
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  to be more modern, more relevant.
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  If you're a Christian, you believe that you have the truth.
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  The Bible leads us to the truth. Like Jesus is saying that, you
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  know, narrow. Narrow is the way.
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  Narrow is the way. OK, not, not broad, not broad.
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  It's narrow. The word of God is very narrow
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  in the, in the way it's describes it.
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  It's not trying to be relevant. The word of God is just trying.
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  It's not trying. It's not the way to say it.
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  It's it's showing you truth. Like Jesus said, I am the way he
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  is the way the truth. I am the way the truth.
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  He is the truth. And yet, so why are we so
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  surprised when we see the Church of England or whatever they want
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  to be called now, when they see them trying to be more modern,
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  more relevant? I think it's because they're not
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  actually a church. They stopped being a church a
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  long time ago. So the Anglican Church always
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  get mixed up with this because the Church of England is the
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  Anglican Church apparently. So appears to be increasingly
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  avoiding the word church when discussing the creation of new
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  worshipping communities and congregations, a report has
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  found. So the Centre for Church
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  Planting, Theology and Research looked at the language used by
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  11 diocese to describe new churches.
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  The creation of a new church group is traditionally referred
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  to referred to as a church plant.
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  But the report found that while 900 new churches had been
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  started by the diocese in the last last decade, none had used
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  the phrase church plant as the primary way to describe the
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  project. The The report's author,
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  Reverend Dr Will Bolger, Vicar of Saint Nicholas in Dharam,
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  found that six of the 11 diocese used the language of worship in
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  their main descriptor of new church projects to use.
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  Two use congregation and seven used community.
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  Dr Gauls Gauls Fraser, the speaker of Saint Anne's Q, told
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  The Telegraph that he this apparent reluctance to use the
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  word church reflects a misplaced desire to be relevant and modern
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  sounding. But like I said, can't we really
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  be, should we really be surprised by the way we're
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  going? So I've checked out a few
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  different things with with with the way the Anglican or the
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  Church of England has been going.
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  So this report here which comes out, it says Synod signals
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  support for Anglican way forward on same sex relationships.
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  This came here just in July 2024.
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  The Church of England's General Synod, which is like the
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  Church's Parliament has given agreement and principle to
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  taking forward outline proposals for the wider use of prayers
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  asking for God's blessing with same sex couples in church
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  services asking for God's blessing.
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  OK, so the word of God, God has specifically said specifically
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  said that you shouldn't that that men should not lie with
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  men, women should not lie with women.
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  OK, Specifically said it and yet they want to ask for God's
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  blessing. Hey, we know that you said this,
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  God, but we want to disregard what the word of God said.
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  We want to disregard teachings in the Bible.
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  We want to disregard specific, specific teaching because we
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  want to do what we want to do, regardless of what you want.
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  I'll, I'll just bring the article up so you can see what
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  I'm talking about. So the Synod, so the Church of
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  England says that here. OK.
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  So Synod members supported a motion signalling approval for a
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  broad package of proposals designed to help hold the Church
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  together amid deep disagreements over questions of sexuality.
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  A selection of readings and prayers of Thanksgiving,
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  dedication and asking for God's blessing for same sex couples,
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  known as prayers of love and faith, are already in use in
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  parts as part of regular services in some churches, such
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  as a Sunday, Eucharist or even song.
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  The package of proposals include possible arrangements for the
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  use of the praise of love and faith in special or stand alone
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  services alongside delegated Episcopal ministry and work to
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  provide a timetable towards a decision on clergy.
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  Clergy in same sex civil marriages.
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  But The thing is, you've got to ask, do any of these people,
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  does the Church of England, does the clergy does this this church
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  parliament, do they do they actually look at the Bible and
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  say, well, what does the Bible say?
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  What's the word of God actually say about any of this?
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  So for one, here Paul is teaching and he's talking in in
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  first Timothy, chapter 4. And it's it's titled the great
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  apostasy. And he says now the spirit is
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  expressly says that in latter times in latter times.
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  So when he says latter times, when they use the phrase latter
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  times, talking about in the times towards the very end
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  before the 2nd coming of Christ, in the very latter late times.
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  OK, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving
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  spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy,
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  having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, bidding
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  to marry and commanding to abstain from food, foods other
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  virgins say meat, which God created to be received, to be
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  received with Thanksgiving by those who believe and know the
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  truth. It's funny, whenever I heard
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  that verse when I was younger, I always thought, you know, I had
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  in my mind, I I imagined like more along the lines of weird
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  occults or or just other really weird religions that really had
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  nothing to do with the word of God.
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  And yet we're seeing places which was supposedly were
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  founded on the word of God on the Bible.
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  And they're the ones who who were departed from the faith,
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  giving heed to deceiving spirits.
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  So again in in Timothy, this is in second Timothy chapter 4 Paul
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  says I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
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  Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his
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  appearing and his Kingdom. Preach the word be ready in
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  season and out of season convince, rebuke, exhort with
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  all long suffering and teaching. But the time will come when they
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  will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
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  desires because they have itching ears.
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  They will heap up for themselves teachers.
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  Isn't this what we're seeing right now?
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  They have itching ears. They, you can see what's
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  happening in the Church of England.
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  They're saying, well, this is the way modern society is now.
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  We all have to accept the LGBT rainbow ABC community.
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  So therefore we have to move, we'll move along in the times,
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  you know, and we don't want to be just following the word of
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  God because the word of God says, hey, this is sin.
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  You know, sex outside of marriage is sin.
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  That's adultery. You know, sleeping men, sleeping
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  with men, homosexuality, women sleeping with women, That's
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  wrong. And you know, we don't want to
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  follow the word of God. We want to make up our own
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  doctrine because we don't want to offend people.
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  We we just want to be someone who, you know what they say,
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  well, this is just love is love. And we want to show love.
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  And all they talk about is, oh, Jesus is just love.
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  He's just accepting, but they're not following the word of God.
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  So, and that's what I'm saying the Church of England, OK,
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  they've got this, they've going down this path where they're
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  taking up Church of their title seem to be.
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  Should we really be that surprised when they they're
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  trying to well, you can be in the clergy and have a be in a
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  same sex relationship and they want to be able to pray for
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  people and, you know, have a working out how they can pray
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  and how they can have acceptance because maybe God's changed his
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  mind. Apparently.
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  I'll go to another verse now talking about the word church.
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  It's the church didn't make up the word church.
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  The church isn't the one who said, well, we're going to call
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  ourselves the church. It was, you know, all we're we,
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  we've decided what we're going to do in Matthew.
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  OK, well Jesus is talking to Peter and Jesus asking his
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  disciples, you know, who do you say I am?
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  And so the disciples say, oh, sorry, he said, who do men, who
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  do men say that I, the Son of Man AM?
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  So they said these disciples have said to him, some say John
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  the Baptist, some say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the
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  prophets. So he says to them, but who do
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  you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said,
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  you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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  Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you Simon Bajona,
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  for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
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  father who was in heaven, and I say to you that you are Peter
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  and on this rock I will build my church.
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  I think that was actually the first time that the word church
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  is used. So it's Jesus who says on this
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  rock, I will build my church. When he says that he's not
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  talking yet. I, I don't think he's, he's not
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  talking saying, oh, Peter, because Peter means rock, I'll
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  build my church on you. He's building it because Peter
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  had this revelation saying you are the Christ, the son of the
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  living God. That is the revelation.
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  He is the Christ. He is the living God.
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  So on the church they're going to build, they're going to build
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  the church on Christ. They've had that revelation.
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  Jesus was the Christ is the Christ, the Son of the living
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  God. And on Jesus, he's going to
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  build a church. Jesus is the one that says that
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  calls it the church. And he says, and the gates of
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  Hades, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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  And I'll give you the kingdoms, the Kingdom.
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  Yeah. And I'll give you the keys of
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  the Kingdom of heaven. And what's and whatever you bind
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  on earth will be bound in heaven.
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  And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
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  So you look, it's it's disappointing.
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  It is sad that that they're steering away from using the
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  word church in their title. I would say it's even more
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  disappointing that you know that they're embracing the LGBT
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  community instead of teaching what sin is, instead of teaching
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  the word of God. I would say that if the Church
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  of England, Anglican Church, if they wanted to, if they really
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  cared about their fellow humans, if they really cared about
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  humanity, if they really wanted to see souls saved, they would
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  preach the word of God. They would preach the hard truth
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  that is the word of God. They would preach that Jesus is
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  the way, the truth and the life and no one will come to the
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  Father, but through through him and that and they will teach
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  that. You know, when when Jesus said
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  to the woman who would be in court in adultery, in the very
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  act, and then all her accusers go away.
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  And then Jesus stands up and says, Hey, where's your
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  accusers? And they and she says, oh, Yep,
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  they're all gone. And what's Jesus end?
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  End with the very last thing he says to her, go your way, go and
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  sin no more. If the if the Church of England
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  really cared about the people, they would preach, go and sin no
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  more. They would be teaching what
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  actual sin is, and they would not be trying to.
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  They would not be trying to just be relevant to modern culture.
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  So while it's disappointing that they may take church out of the
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  title of Church of England, I don't think it's surprising
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  we're seeing more and more churches going down this line.
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  There they're rejecting the word of God to try and be more and
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  more relevant. And yet the word of God, as we
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  can see here in in first Timothy chapter 4, when he's saying,
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  giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.
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  It's even more relevant than it's ever been.
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  And the scary thing about what they're doing is like what it
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  says in first Peter chapter 4 in in verse 17, he writes for the
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  time has come for judgement to begin at the House of God.
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  And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those
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  who do not obey the gospel of God?
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  Now if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the
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  ungodly and the sin appear? Judgement will begin in the
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  House of God. Judgement will begin in the
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  House of God. Is this what?
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  Is this what is currently happening, being played out in
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  the United Kingdom, in the Church of England?
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  They for too long have been embracing ideology that is not,
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  not based on biblical principles, not based on sound
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  Bible teaching. And they're being judged.
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  They are being judged. the United Kingdom is being judged.
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  That's what I wonder and look, it's not that Australia is, is
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  any better off or is any better, to be honest, in, in, in the way
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  our churches run at the moment either.
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  Some of their churches. This to me, I believe this is
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  even more relevant given those scriptures and and even more
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  scriptures, given those scriptures that are spoken about
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  in Matthew and Timothy, first Timothy, second Timothy, first
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  Peter. This just shows how relevant the
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  Bible is today when it's teaching, when it's showing
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  where mankind will be in the latter times.
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  Anyway, that's just my opinion. It is sad what's happened, what
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  these decisions that the Church of England made have made, but I
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  don't think it's surprising and I think we're going to see more
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  and more of this thing, this kind of behaviour being played
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  out in the so called church. That's my opinion.
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  I'm Jay Fallon. Thank you for listening to The
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  Slippery Slope. They.