The Passing of an Evangelist: With thanks for John Chapman 1930–2012 : Anglican Church League, Sydney, Australia

I did not know John Chapman personally. However, I did see a video presentation where he was speaking to Tony Payne of the Sydney Anglicans. Although I think Sydney is mostly hypo-Calvinist due to their confusion about the extent of the atonement and their adherence to the quasi-Arminianism of the three points of common grace--all contradictory and irrational and illogical compromises against the logical propositions of the Scriptures--still I think Sydney is about the most theologically conservative Anglican diocese in the world. I strongly disagree with the Amyraldianism taught at Moore Theological College.  But still I hold out hope that Sydney's influence on the rest of the Anglican world will turn things back in a more Protestant and Reformed direction.  That is hoping a lot in the face of the apostasy of the Anglican Communion at large.

On the other hand, the so-called Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the Anglican Church in North America are merely secular organizations with a few hints of the truth here and there. Mostly, however, the so-called "orthodox" Anglicans are simply Papist lite who reject homosexuality and the ordination of open homosexuals. Hello, but rejecting homosexuality is not the only qualification for true Christian faith. The ecumenical creeds are necessary for saving faith but so are the Reformed Confessions and the Anglican Formularies.  (See:  Anglo-Catholicism).

It's the Anglo-Catholics who reduce doctrine to the Lambeth Quadrilateral, not Evangelicals. Or at least that's supposed to be the case. But these Anglicans are all so tolerant, loving, kind and gentle that dissimulation and false teaching does not seem to bother them anymore. As much as I would like to sing the praises of the deceased John Chapman and the remaining Sydney Anglicans, I can only shake my head at their willingness to cave to broad latitudinarianism pretending to be "Evangelical" and "Reformed". That's not to say that I do not have an affection for their fellowship and friendship. It's just to say that I do not trust the direction they are headed. As the old saying goes, "Stupid is as stupid does." The movie Dumb and Dumber comes to mind as well. 

Will John Chapman be in heaven? Most likely. It's good that God overlooks the stupidity of some of us. But then if we get the law and Gospel distinction wrong it might mean that we miss heaven not just by an inch but by an infinite eternity. Anglo-Catholics get it wrong but Sydney is too insipid to say so. The vast majority of those in the Anglican Church in North America are unconverted papists and idolaters who worship the creatures of bread and wine, who think they merit salvation with the help of a common grace and other such nonsense. May God have mercy on John Chapman and may He grant the Sydney Anglicans the grace to repent of their Evangelical latitudinarianism and fake ecumenicalism. 

Charlie

With thanks for John Chapman 1930–2012 : Anglican Church League, Sydney, Australia