The World Bishops Council

The Largest Ecumenical Council of Christian Bishops Contending for Unity in the Faith

WBC President To Consecrate

100 New Bishops

Nearly 70 Qualified Candidates Begin Preparation for Consecration

SPRINGFIELD- Archbishop Timothy Paul announced that he will consecrate 100 bishops in 2010 to transform cities for Christ.  "As I travel the country, I realize that many of our cities lack Christian leadership in the age of transition. The work of the eary apostles transformed cities for Christ", Paul said.

The World Bishops Council (WBC)  president is seeking candidates who are willing to submit to an intensive clergy formation. Archbishop Paul will bestow the ancient "Apostolic Succession" to all consecrated bishops.

Apostolic succession is the tracing of a direct line of apostolic ordination, Ancient doctrine, and full communion from the Apostles to the current episcopacy of the Ancient and Orthodox Church. All three elements are constitutive of apostolic succession.

It is through apostolic succession that the Ancient Faith Christian Church is the spiritual successor to the original body of believers in Christ that was composed of the Apostles. This succession manifests itself through the unbroken succession of its bishops back to the apostles.

The unbrokenness of apostolic succession is significant because of Jesus Christ's promise that the "gates of hell" (Matthew 16:18) would not prevail against the Church, and his promise that he himself would be with the apostles to "the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). According to this interpretation, a complete disruption or end of such apostolic succession would mean that these promises were not kept as would an apostolic succession which, while formally intact, completely abandoned the teachings of the Apostles and their immediate successors; as, for example, if all the bishops of the world agreed to abrogate the Nicene Creed or repudiate the Holy Scripture.

Ancient Faith teachings today are the same as that of the first apostles, though their mode of expression has adapted over the centuries to deal with heresies, changes in culture and so forth. This form of the doctrine was first formulated by St. Irenaeus of Lyons in the second century, in response to certain Gnostics. These Gnostics claimed that Christ or the Apostles passed on some teachings secretly, or that there were some secret apostles, and that they (the Gnostics) were passing on these otherwise secret teachings. Irenaeus responded that the identity of the original Apostles was well known, as was the main content of their teaching and the identity of the Apostles' successors.

"Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry" Clement I Letter to the Corinthians 42:4–5, 44:1–3 A.D. 80


"When I had come to Rome, I [visited] Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus. And after Anicetus [died], Soter succeeded, and after him Eleutherus. In each succession and in each city there is a continuance of that which is proclaimed by the law, the prophets, and the Lord" Hegesippus Memoirs, cited in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4:22 A.D. 180


"It is possible, then, for everyone in every church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the apostles which has been made known to us throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the apostles and their successors down to our own times, men who neither knew nor taught anything like what these heretics rave about" Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:3:1 A.D. 189


The consecration is scheduled for Septenber 2010 . For more information, write the Office of the WBC President at worldbishopscouncil@mail.com


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'Scholarly Consensus' About Jesus Challenged-Claims Princeton Professor, James Charlesworth

The lead article of the forthcoming Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus issue (March 2010) signals a striking paradigm shift in Jesus studies. According to Professor James H. Charlesworth of Princeton Theological Seminary, whereas the dated paradigm art_book_christology_275since the 19th century ignores John (citing five influential opinions: Bornkamm, Sanders, Crossan, Wright, Vermes), it is not wise to ignore John in Jesus studies. Posing "ten reasons for reassessing a putative consensus" (also citing five influential opinions: Meier, Theissen/Mertz, Bauckham, Anderson, Smith) he calls for a major paradigm shift in Jesus studies—making use of all ancient sources in the quest for Jesus, including John.

Charlesworth is not alone in noting a shift in toward embracing the Fourth Gospel within Jesus studies, which ironically, is the only Gospel claiming direct knowledge of Jesus and his ministry. Mark Allan Powell, in his survey of recent developments in Jesus studies (Word & World, Spring 2009) notes "a new, cautious appreciation for the historical value of John's Gospel" since the turn of the new millennium—featured most extensively in the SBL "John, Jesus, and History Group," now in its ninth year.

Its second volume, Aspects of Historicity in the Fourth Gospel (Anderson, Just, Thatcher, Eds. SBL Press 2009) appeared in November, furthering the inquiry of its first volume, Critical Appraisals of Critical Views (2007). A report on this project appeared in Germany last April written by Paul N. Anderson, Co-Chair of the Project. Interest has been international. Charlesworth concludes his essay by also highlighting this project as evidence that a paradigm shift from ignoring to including John within Jesus studies is already evident within the world of biblical scholarship; the question is how to proceed.

In one answer to that question, Anderson's third printing of The Christology of the Fourth Gospel has just been published (2010, Cascade Books) featuring new paradigms for understanding the composition, situation history, and development of John as an autonomous and alternative Jesus tradition. Citing an overlooked, first-century clue to John's authorship Anderson's work addresses many of the riddles of the Fourth Gospel in ways that illumine both the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. About this book Charlesworth also writes, "Anderson's new outlines establish a clear and programmatic set of paradigms for addressing not only theological concerns, but also the larger set of issues of Jesus' message, vision, and transforming power preserved within the Gospels."


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