We must seriously consider whether the bishops in the Church of England wish to destroy the Church. There have been three issues in recent times which have shown total incompetency and lack of leadership.

I was brought up to believe that Christian men and women were to have honour, integrity and see the Bible as a guide as to how we should think and behave. The clergy were to be respected and seen to be displaying the above mentioned virtues. I continued to believe this through my life. How silly and naïve it all seems now.

We have seen lack of honour and integrity; disregard of Scripture and I believe hypocrisy. Let us consider why.

The Church reasonably decided to hold a vote on whether women should be consecrated bishops in view of the claim that this was right and proper. A vote was held under a system agreed and accepted by all parties, but when the result of that voting was declared, and it did not meet what was hoped for, there were cries of unfairness.

The Bishops immediately decided ways must be found to get around the vote, so instead of the laid down procedure being followed, adjustments are to be sought. This is indicative of the practice of totalitarian regimes, or the practice of the European Union where votes are repeated until the one sought is arrived at.

This makes a mockery of honourable expectations, when either party was honour bound to accept the result. Whichever way the vote went there was bound to be disappointment, but that is what democracy used to mean.

The government to its eternal shame, decided to introduce legislation to allow same sex marriage, but decreed that the Church of England would be excluded from such legislation, and it would in fact be illegal for it to take part.

Without waiting to take breath, the usual suspects in the clerical ranks, including bishops, were talking about ignoring the exclusion, with some boasting they were ready to face prison for doing so. A little search of Scripture would point out that Christians are expected to respect the laws of the land. Quite apart that is from the fact that marriage according to Scripture is exclusively between man and woman only.

The most crass statement has just been issued by the House of Bishops in which it decrees that homosexual clergy living in civil partnerships, but remaining celibate can be appointed bishops.

Two men can live together in complete friendship without there being any suggestion of a sexual relationship, just as can two women, or a man and woman, without sexual content. When two men who are declared homosexuals, and have entered into a civil partnership live together, it is surely stretching the bounds of credulity to suggest they are for ever celibate. As Richard Littlejohn asked in the Daily Mail, who apart from God can ever know?

I was amazed to hear and see a bishop from the Church of England on television stating that the Church has done the right thing by following the lead of society in this matter. For one thing, the Church should be leading society, not the other way round, and secondly by that reasoning, is the Church to adopt society’s culture irrespective of its morality? Of course, if you read the same bishop’s blog, anyone who expressed a contrary explanation is ‘false’.

If only these clerics were as passionate in preaching the gospel as they are in espousing society’s ideas, we might have increased congregations. There was no point or necessity of making this announcement which has made the Church look ridiculous and a source for mockery, unless there was some undisclosed purpose.

The friends of Jeffrey John have been lobbying for him to be made a bishop after he had failed in two appointments, and I personally suspect this is just a way of paving the way for this to happen. If I were a betting man I would bet that Jeffrey will be a bishop before the end of the year. Remember you read it here.