This just arrived via an email. I was stunned.
Note: not all the links worked and I suspect the Episcopal church pulled the webpage very quickly. However the original article is here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/143/21.0.html
--------------
In case you haven't heard, in the last 2 days the Episcopal Church
USA was promoting the worship of a Scripturally condemned goddess using
sacred raisin cakes, as discussed and condemned in Jeremiah. That this
violates Rule #1 of the Ten Commandments is evident.
>http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/143/21.0.html
>
>
><http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/20/ct/2004/143/>Christianity Today,
>Week of October 25
>
>Weblog: Episcopal Church Officially Promotes Idol Worship
>"Women's Eucharist" calls for worship of pagan deities specifically
>condemned in Scripture.
>Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 10/26/2004
>
>Imagine for one moment that you're a leader in the Episcopal Church USA.
>You know that within the next few days, a global commission is going to
>release a report on how the global Anglican Communion should respond to
>your church, and is likely to be critical of the ordination of an actively
>homosexual man as bishop. You know, and have said yourself, that the
>debate isn't just about sexuality: It's about how one views the Bible. And
>you know that all eyes will be on your denomination over the next few
>weeks. What do you do?
>
>What the real leaders of the Episcopal Church did was to take an action
>that makes ordaining a homosexual man as a bishop almost a non-issue. They
>started promoting the worship of pagan deities.
>
>This is not a joke nor an overstatement. In all truth and seriousness,
>leaders of the Episcopal Church USA are promoting pagan rites to pagan
>deities. And not just any new pagan deities: The Episcopal Church USA,
>though its <http://www.episcopalchurch.org/women.htm>Office of Women's
>Ministries, is actually promoting the worship of idols specifically
>condemned in Scripture.
>
>"<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/41685_52038_ENG_HTM.htm>A Women's
>Eucharist: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine" is taken almost
>completely (without attribution) from
><http://www.tuathadebrighid.org/mother.htm>a rite from Tuatha de Brighid,
>"a Clan of modern Druids … who believe in the interconnectedness of all
>faiths." But who cares where it's from? Look at what it says. Here's how
>it begins.
>We gather around a low table, covered with a woven cloth or shawl. A
>candle, a bowl or vase of flowers, a large shallow bowl filled with salted
>water, a chalice of sweet red wine, a cup of milk mixed with honey, and a
>plate of raisin cakes are placed on the table.
>
>You might be wondering: What's with the raisin cakes? Is it just Communion
>wafers with raisins? No.
>The plate of raisin cakes is raised and a woman says,
>"Mother God, our ancient sisters called you Queen of Heaven and baked
>these cakes in your honor in defiance of their brothers and husbands who
>would not see your feminine face. We offer you these cakes, made with our
>own hands; filled with the grain of life—scattered and gathered into one
>loaf, then broken and shared among many. We offer these cakes and enjoy
>them too. They are rich with the sweetness of fruit, fertile with the
>ripeness of grain, sweetened with the power of love. May we also be signs
>of your love and abundance."
>The plate is passed and each woman takes and eats a cake.
>
>So those raisin cakes have a historical reference: Those "brothers and
>husbands" banned them. Sound familiar? It's a reference to
><http://www.biblegateway.net/cgi-bin/bible?language=english&passage=Hosea+3%3A1&version=ESV>Hosea
>3:1:
>And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another
>man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel,
>though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."
>
>Now there are other biblical references to raisin cakes, but this is the
>only reference (except possibly
><http://www.biblegateway.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=2SAM+6&language=english&version=ESV&showfn=on&showxref=on>this
>one) to them having any kind of role in worship.
>
>Many scholars believe they were offerings to the goddess
><http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&q=Asherah+raisin+cakes&spell=1>Asherah,
>the female counterpart to Baal, but in this context it may be more
>directly tied to Ishtar/Ashtoreth/Astarte, the
>"<http://www.topical-bible-studies.org/37-0012.htm>Queen of Heaven."
>
>"Our ancient sisters called you Queen of Heaven," says the Episcopal
>liturgy. That's a reference to Jeremiah. And not a happy one. In
><http://www.biblegateway.net/cgi-bin/bible?language=english&version=ESV&passage=Jeremiah+7%3A18>Jeremiah
>7, God complains, "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and
>the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they
>pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger." The
>liturgy's reference to defiant women worshipping the Queen of Heaven with
>cakes comes directly from
><http://www.biblegateway.net/cgi-bin/bible?language=english&version=ESV&passage=Jeremiah+44+%3A15-19>Jeremiah
>44:
>Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other
>gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who
>lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: "As for the word
>that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to
>you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the
>queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we
>and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and
>in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and
>prospered, and saw no disaster. But since we left off making offerings to
>the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked
>everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine." And the
>women said, "When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out
>drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands' approval that we made
>cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"
>
>In other words, it wasn't their brothers and husbands that the women were
>defying: It was God.
>
>And now Episcopal Church leaders want you to do the same. Defy God.
>Worship pagan deities. There is no other possible reading of this
>"Eucharistic" text.
>
>It should be noted that the pagan rite isn't on some hidden page in the
>deep recesses of the Episcopal Church's web site. The site is actually
>promoting this. The main pages of the web site (there are three: one for
><http://www.episcopalchurch.org/life.htm>members, another for
><http://www.episcopalchurch.org/seekers.htm>visitors, and a third for
><http://www.episcopalchurch.org/leadership.htm>leaders) all link to an
><http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_53352_ENG_HTM.htm>Episcopal News
>Service article on the "The Women's Liturgy Project." The article says, in
>part:
>The Office of Women's Ministries is working towards creating a resource to
>be used by women, men, parishes, dioceses, small groups, within the
>context of a Sunday morning service, or any other appropriate setting
>where the honoring of a woman's life passages and experiences beckons a
>liturgical response. These can include, but are not limited to,
>liturgies/rites pertaining to: menstruation, menopause, conception,
>pregnancy, any form of pregnancy loss, childbirth, forms of leave taking,
>and many others. … There is already a working section on the Women's
>Ministries website that contains worship resources that are currently
>available to be downloaded and used by all.
>
>Go to that
><http://www.episcopalchurch.org/41685_42126_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=42020>worship
>resources page, and there are only nine offerings, the second of which is
>the "Women's Eucharist." Another troubling entry is the
><http://www.episcopalchurch.org/41685_51008_ENG_HTM.htm>Liturgy for
>Divorce, which includes this theology:
>While the couple have promised in good faith to love until parted by
>death, in some marriages the love between a wife and a husband comes to an
>end sooner. Love dies, and when that happens we recognize that the bonds
>of marriage, based on love, also may be ended . God calls us to right
>relationships based on love, compassion, mutuality, and justice. Whenever
>any of these elements is absent from a marital relationship, then that
>partnership no longer reflects the intentionality of God.
>
>Such a view of love and marriage is profoundly unbiblical, but at least
>there's no prayer to fertility goddesses. (Commenters over
><http://mcj.bloghorn.com/1217c>Midwest Conservative Journal are discussing
>both rituals.)
>
>The Anglican Primate of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, has been explaining that
>the difference between his church and the Episcopal Church USA isn't your
>standard intradenominational infighting. The Episcopal Church (along with
>other western churches, he says), isn't even Christian any more. Instead,
>he says, it's
>"<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041026/ap_on_re_af/africa_anglican_bishops>embroiled
>in a new religion which we cannot associate ourselves with."
>
>One would have thought that the Episcopal Church USA might have argued
>whether it was really practicing a different religion. Instead, their
>challenge to Akinola's statement might be that it's not new at all: Their
>idolatry has been around since Old Testament times.
>Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today.
><http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/20/ctmag/features/info.html#permission>Click
>for reprint information.
There is a more current article,
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/143/31.0.html explaining that the
authoress of the liturgy was a certain witch-priestess, i.e., Wiccan and
Episcopal priestess, so the liturgy is not plagiarized.