Bishop Budde

Religious Wolves In Clerical Robes

Rick Tryon1 Comment

The Episcopal Church has become little more than a platform for far left cultural and political ideologues to ‘preach’ their ‘woke’, anti-scriptural nonsense to a rapidly diminishing congregation.

Yes, that’s Washington Bishop Mariann Budde on the right in the picture below from the Episcopal News Service. She was the subject of much attention, and an opinion I wrote here last month, stemming from the the political lecture, disguised as a sermon, that she aimed at President Trump, Vice President Vance, and both of their families during the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Read the article below outlining Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s (center in the picture) recent sermon, and I think you may end up with a few of the same conclusions and questions I did.

Presiding bishop in cathedral sermon: Jesus puts the marginalized at center of his kingdom
  • How can you speak “out against contemporary political divisions as ‘not of God’…” while at the same time in the same sermon introduce rhetoric that includes divisive political language, specifically against President Trump and his agenda?
  • Exactly where in the Bible does it say that “immigrants, transgender people, the poor and other marginalized communities” are “central to the kingdom Jesus envisioned…”? The King himself and God Almighty are at the center of the coming mediatorial and everlasting Kingdom of Heaven. The Bible says explicitly in Matthew 7:13-14 to, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” All are welcome. Jesus Christ is the gate.
  • Furthermore, Bishop Rowe said, “Those who have been considered at the margins are at the center. They are the bearers of the salvation of the world. Their struggles reveal to us the kingdom of God.” Who is the bearer of the salvation of the world??? This isn’t just nonsense, it’s completely antithetical to everything the Bible explicitly teaches.

As I pointed out earlier, the Episcopal Church is bleeding membership and losing all spiritual credibility and standing.

The Episcopal Church has been experiencing a decline in membership over the past few years. According to the latest reports, the church saw a significant drop in membership, losing about 40,000 members in 2023 alone. This brings the total membership to approximately 1.547 million people.

Despite this decline, there has been a slight increase in average Sunday worship attendance, which reached nearly 411,000 in 2023, up from 373,000 in 2022. This increase is seen as a gradual recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, when worship attendance had significantly dropped due to lockdowns and public health concerns.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/episcopal-church-loses-40k-members-but-worship-attendance-grows.html

The decline in membership and attendance has been attributed to various factors, including the church’s increasingly progressive theological direction and the challenges of maintaining older buildings and utility costs.
https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2023/09/21/episcopal-churchs-latest-parochial-reports-highlight-denominational-decline-hope-for-future/

Bishop Budde’s Misplaced Sermon

Rick Tryon1 Comment

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is getting both criticism and praise for the political lecture, disguised as a sermon, that she aimed at President Trump, Vice President Vance, and both of their families during the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Was that really an appropriate time and place for a minister to deliver a political speech designed to publicly criticize a newly inaugurated POTUS?

Some say that the pulpit is a perfectly appropriate platform from which to speak truth to power, you know, like Jesus did, right?

But to whom did Jesus direct his most withering truth bombs? To the Roman government officials occupying Judea? To Caesar, mighty Emperor of the known civilized world?

Nope. Jesus spoke truth to the power of the religious leaders of his people, because they were the corrupt and wicked ones, whom Jesus called children of Satan.

Maybe Bishop Budde should focus on speaking truth to the high powers of the Episcopal Church who have presided over several sexual abuse and other scandals involving staff and clergy over the years. Just Google “Episcopal church scandals”.

Or maybe her time would be better spent exploring the reasons why the Episcopal Church continues to lose members and adherents. She could then speak truth to the power of the causes of a dying, empty church with no answers for spiritual hungry people.

Here’s a truth that Jesus spoke and which is relevant to us all, including those like Bishop Budde who treat the pulpit as a self-serving political tool, rather than a moral and spiritual responsibility – “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”