‘Christian Refugees in Middle East should have preference,’

‘Christian Refugees in Middle East should have preference,’ says European Bishop

By Dan Wooding, Special to the ASSIST News Service

JÁVEA, SPAIN (ANS – November 6, 2015) -- No one watching TV can fail to be moved by the sight of desperate refugees walking for miles in the Middle East to escape to tribal persecution or create an improved environment for their family.

Nominally Christian countries in Europe who are accepting refugees should give preference to Christians, not just equality with other religions,” says Primate Archbishop Clive Read, of the Anglican Independent Communion Worldwide (AICW) -- www.aicwonline.com .

“Muslims relocating to Europe will not be beheaded, but Christians unable to escape the Middle East face the prospect of torture, rape, kidnap. servitude as well as beheading,” explained Bishop Clive, who was born in the UK, but is now based in Jávea, Spain.

Bishop Clive wrote to London newspapers, as well as the AICW electronic mailing list, after concern was expressed by some of his clergy.

He said that a Bishop in the Cameroon has reported that Christians are being made to flee their homes under threat of death. Another Bishop was assaulted with a weapon with the intent of killing him, but God thwarted the intent of the perpetrator.

He went on to say that a UK Bishop wrote: “I have immersed, nearly submerged myself in the question of Syrian Christian refugees, a subject which greatly concerns me. Whilst the UK is to take 20,000, the Prime Minister (David Cameron) refuses to discriminate in favor of Christians.

“What is even more alarming is that no Archbishop, Bishop, clergyman or

Christian Institution has made any public media statement on the subject nor apparently tried to pressure the PM or Members of Parliament (MPs) in any way.

“We are, at least nominally a Christian country and if persecuted Christians cannot rely on us for help who can they rely on? The Vatican made a statement some time ago that in the previous year 100,000 of our Christian brothers and sisters had been killed. Lord have mercy.”

Bishop Clive told the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), “Scripture commands us to pray for those in authority over us, but we must not relinquish our duty to tell when Scripture says they are wrong or misguided.

“I recently attended a meeting in the Madrid Central Synagogue, representing Independent Anglicans, where I was joined by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Madrid, the Orthodox Vicar from Jerusalem, and many Jews, one of whom expressed my surprise that Jews should convene a meeting of those united against persecution of Christians. ‘Why are you surprised? Who knows more about persecution than the Jews - we lost 6 million?’”

Bishop Clive urges those who are able to write to their newspapers, radio of TV stations to urge at worst EQUALITY for Christians, but at best preference for Christians from Middle East and other countries where persecution is unfettered.

The Anglican Independent Communion has chosen not to ordain women as priests, though it fully empowers them as Deaconesses, and has a simple policy on sexual behavior, which is, “If you are single you are expected to be celibate. If you are married, you are expected to be to faithful. The policy applies to everyone in AICW.”

AICW was founded by Bishop Peter Compton-Caputo who resigned from The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the USA when the (then) Primate Archbishop was alleged to have been involved in a moral failing.

“Such a beginning probably explains why they stick so strongly to (their reading of) Scripture and have a growing influence throughout the world,” said Bishop Clive.

About Bishop Clive:

Born in 1939, Clive was Christened and Confirmed into the Church of England, but met and married his wife (now of 55 years) at Hatcham Evangelical Free Church in South East London. They established Christian News Service, to make church news of interest to secular newspapers, had a son in 1961, and have spent much of their married life publishing community newspapers and magazines wherever they lived, to unite the community and promote Christianity.

After establishing care-home for the elderly in 1982 in Derbyshire, England, they sold it and relocated to Spain, where both supported an existing evangelical church for six years, before Clive was called into full-time ministry and they founded Jávea Evangelical Church in 1992 and established their Oasis Centre as a “Village Community Centre.” Clive and Ann were ordained as Deacons in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, where Clive was ordained a priest the following year, and consequently consecrated an Anglican Bishop by the Anglican Missionary Church in Chile, that became part of the Anglican Independent Communion Worldwide.

In July 2013, Clive - by now AICW Archbishop of Europe - received an e-mail from ++Jorge Rodriguez the Primate Archbishop on Brazil, to say that Jorge had decided to abdicate and decreed that Clive should be his successor. Clive was so ill in 2014 that he was not expected to live and discharged from hospital “so he could die at home in his own bed”. Following three local suicides in 10 days, Clive and Ann leased 2,000 sq. ft. premises in the Centre of Jávea Port, to establish the “Oasis Help Centre” offering more than 60,000 greeting cards at 1€ each to entice them in, and a huge range of print facilities. Each month they produce a 4-colour community magazine that they print ‘in-house’. Clive’s autobiography “Serving Him by serving others” will be self-published before the end of 2015. Bishop Clive can be contacted at clive@cliveread.com .

Photo captions: 1) Iraq Crisis: Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamic State (ISIS) and make perilous journey to escape Mount Sinjar. 2) A Syrian refugee woman crosses into Turkey with her children at the Akcakale border gate in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, on June 15, 2015. 3) Bishop Clive is third from the left. 4) Syrian refugees walking towards the Macedonia border from Greece. 5) Dan Wooding reporting for ANS from outside the Kurdistan Parliament in Erbil, Northern Iraq.

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 74, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He is also the author of some 45 books and has two US-based TV programs –- “Windows on the World” and “Inside Hollywood with Dan Wooding” -- which are both broadcast on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network (http://hsbn.tv/) and a radio show called “Front Page Radio” on the KWVE Radio Network (www.kwve.com).

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