At the Pittsburgh meeting just ended, participants were offered FIVE copies of a DVD version of "Choose This Day," a video shown at the conference. The video opens with a narrator comparing the Episcopal Church to a forged version of a masterpiece painting, and includes comments from Les Fairfield of TESM that the Episcopal Church teaches a pagan religion, Kendall Harmon that the church is in a battle for souls, and several set of comments by Bishop Duncan saying things such as we have all heard him say before. The participants were told at the end of the video that they could do what priests cannot by going into other parishes and spreading the word. They were urged to share this video.

What no one has yet commented on is another video packaged as a special feature on the same DVD, and thus being distributed almost by stealth. This video has the same production crew and narrator. Its title is "The Decision" and it tells the "courageous" story of two Washington State Churches who decided to leave the Episcopal church.

The narrator begins the video this way, "In this turbulent time of the Episcopal Church, your congregation is going to have an important decision to make, a decision brought on by national church leaders who have turned their back on the authority of scripture. This is the story of how two small parishes in Washington state, stood up and decided for good, between the current opinions of men and the unchanging heart of God."

The video's messages are: 1) the Episcopal Church has abandoned Scripture and the 39 Articles. 2) That the parishes got to keept their buildings (nothing is said on the video, but the parishes are shown worshipping in their buildings. 3) That they chose the Anglican Communion over the Episcopal Church. They are supposedly part of the Diocese of Recife in Brazil. (You remember that diocese. It's the one where the church in Brazil deposed its bishop and two thirds of the clergy for defying the church, and is the diocese that has supposedly been taken in by the Province of the Southern Cone.) and 4) That everything they really loved, including the prayerbook and liturgy are just as they always were. Then comes the pitch: A parishoner is quoted saying, "I compare it to small boat. We're just a little boat going along and following God's course, and we had this huge, big ship along side us that is slowly drifting away off to the left, and drifting farther and farther away, and we are staying on the course that we feel God has laid out for us, and we hope some day that we turn around and look behind us there'll be lots of other little boats following along the same way we're going."

The video ends with the narrator saying, 'The people of St. Charles' and St. Stephens' Parishes had a choice. They could follow a national church that's turned its back on 2000 years of biblical orthodoxy or they could remain true to God's unchanging holy word. Your church has the same choice. When it's all said or done, what will you do? Will you put your faith in the changing opinions of men, or will you stand firm and remain faithful to the Lord whose faithfulness never ends? " Then the video concludes with footage of the faithful taking communion while a male solo voice sings lyrics that reinforce the message.

Thus what we have is one video designed to suggest the Episcopal church is corrupt and a second video offering a "solution."

Does this sound like they are circulating an invitation to leave the Episcopal Church?

I have a full transcript of the "stealth" video available for anyone who is interested.

JRG