LETTER TO THE EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH

Presented Steve Marlowe, Evangelist

Greetings,

I attended your church today, and I wanted to share some things with you. I have had some experiences in my youth with the Episcopal church, and I have a fondness for the church.

My Grandmother, Thelma Kaye Hodgkins (1908-2001), was raised in the Episcopal Church. Her mother, Maude Lee Kaye (1877-1963), and her father, Richard Kaye, were devout members of the Church of England both being born in England. When my Great-grandparents came to America, they become members of the Episcopal Church. My Grandmother was born in Bangor Maine, USA. My Grandmother decided on her own to join the Baptist church because according to her, “The Baptists followed the Bible.” She later married Edmond Hodgkins.

My mother, Anne Hodgkins Marlowe (1937-1994), was raised Baptist accordingly as her mother, Thelma, remained a Baptist. The Hodgkins family lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where my mother was born. When my mother was about 13 years of age, the Hodgkins family moved to San Diego, CA. and years later, I was born in San Diego on December 15, 1954. She married my father, Don (1936-2016) in1954, who was a Catholic. All these people are no longer with us.

My Grandmother, Thelma, would take her mother, Maude, my Great-grandmother, to attend the Episcopal church, and I would at times go with them. I was very young, however, I do remember attending the Episcopal Church at 2083 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. in Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA. I was initially raised in the Baptist Church until my mother remarried. From the time I was 8 years old until I was 15, I attended the Lutheran church, called, Saint Peters by the Sea in Point Loma, San Diego, CA., however, eventually, like my Grandmother, I became a Baptist.

One of the things I wanted to share with you was the difference in clergy that I observed in 1963 (all male), and today at the Episcopal Church in Riverside (all female). What a difference a generation can make!

I have had a long quest for truth. When I was 12 years old, I would go to different churches to ask why they were different from others. I started reading the Gospel, and noted some challenging things. Our Lord and Savior warned, what I perceived to clergy, or evangelists, this dire warning in

Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” 

This made it very apparent to me that many who call Him Lord, do not really follow His commandments of our Savior, but rather hold to their own traditions and beliefs not of God. There is a test of knowing Him, in

1 John 2:3-6, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” 

Our Lord chose men to lead His church.

 “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God. Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God” (1Corinthians 11:3-16). 

Clearly headship is established by God for the men in the church. “for God is a God not of disorder but of peace. (As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says (Genesis 3:16).

If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?) Anyone who claims to be a prophet, or to have spiritual powers, must acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized” (1 Corinthians 14:33-38 NRSV).  On the Day of Judgment, many female clergy will call upon the Lord only to be told by Him, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Therefore, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:11-14). Was my Grandmother right?

WHAT THE GOSPEL REQUIRES OF US TO BE SAVED

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18).

From this passage of the Gospel, what must we do so as to not be condemned?

Did you know that the name of Jesus has only existed since the 17th century CE (Common Era)?

Did you know that in the 1611 English Bible the name of the Savior was presented as Iesus, not Jesus?

Did you know that prior to Iesus, the name of the Savior was supposedly Iesous?

Did you know that Iesous is a transliteration of the Aramaic name Yeshua?

So how many actually revealed names does the Savior have?

The apostle Peter testified: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Through languages, there are a few names thought to be the Savior’s one revealed name: Jesus, Iesus, Iesous, and Yeshua; but also in Arabic Isa, and in Spanish the Savior’s name is pronounced “Hey-zeus!” So which one of the above names is the one name by which we must be saved?

Do you think that the apostle Peter’s testimony precludes all names except one?

Would you like to know the one name by which we must be saved?

What is the name which is above every name?

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (HaYAH Ashar HaYAH). And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:13-15). Behold the name which is above every name, YAH! Who is the I AM? Halleluyah means “Praise YAH!” Hebrew for I AM is “YAH.” We say Halleluyah, which means, “Praise YAH!” What do you think the Savior meant when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58)? “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). “YAHSHUA” means “YAH Saves!” Do you now reject the one name by which we must be saved? “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). If you do not have the name YAHSHUA, you cannot be on the Way to the narrow gate, which leads to eternal life. {“And now, O’ priests (preachers and teachers), this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,” Says the Lord of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart” (Malachi 2:1-2).} “For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine” (1 Corinthians 11:18-19).

If we deny His true revealed name, then how can we give glory to His name? YAHSHUA the Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Therefore, would not His revealed name stay the same?

In Matthew 7:21-23, there is a strong warning for those many workers, priests, pastors, and teachers, in the church, who do not hold to the commandments and revelations of God, but make up their own doctrines and traditions, and have made up a name for the Savior not revealed by God, for YAHSHUA said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” By accepting in faith the revealed name of the Savior, YAHSHUA, we are doing the will of the Father. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons (Hebrews 12:8). The name of the Savior has only been revealed in Hebrew, and must stay as revealed. “And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am YAHSHUA, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 26:14-15). Christ spoke of His name according to the Hebrew.

Sincerely in the one name given under heaven by which we must be saved,

in YAHSHUA’S Name, Amen.