NIGERIAN PRIMATE RIPS AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH OVER INNOVATIONS

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
8/20/2007

The Archbishop of Nigeria, The Most Rev. Peter Akinola, blasted the American Episcopal Church, accusing it of producing carefully nuanced, deliberately ambiguous statements, but said their actions have betrayed them. "Their intention is clear; they have chosen to walk away from the Biblically based path we once all walked together. The unrelenting persecution of the remaining faithful among them shows how they have used these past few years to isolate and destroy any and all opposition."

In his most resounding rip to date against the American church, one of 38 provinces in the Anglican Communion, Akinola tore into the church saying, "the leadership of The Episcopal Church USA (TECUSA) and the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) seem to have concluded that the Bible is no longer authoritative in many areas of human experience especially in salvation and sexuality. They claim to have 'progressed' beyond the clear teaching of the Scriptures and they have not hidden their intention to lead others to these same conclusions. They have even boasted that they are years ahead of others in fully understanding the truth of the Holy Scriptures and the nature of God's love."

With just seven weeks before a deadline for the Episcopal Church to be Windsor-compliant, Akinola said that hope for a unified Communion is not any brighter than it was seven months or ten years ago. "Rather, the intransigence of those who reject Biblical authority continues to obstruct our mission and it now seems that the Communion is being forced to choose between following their innovations and continuing on the path that the church has followed since the time of the Apostles."

Akinola stopped short of announcing a full-scale separation and a call not to attend Lambeth 2008 saying, "We [must] now confront the seriousness of their actions as the year for the Lambeth Conference draws near."

Citing a litany of lost opportunities over "ten long years" for both the American and Canadian churches to recant their views on sexuality and doctrine, Akinola pitched that "at a time when we should be able to gather together and celebrate remarkable stories of growth and the many wonderful ways in which our God has been at work in our beloved Communion as lives are transformed new churches built and new dioceses established there is little enthusiasm to even meet.

"Now we confront a moment of decision. If we fail to act we risk leading millions of people away from the faith revealed in the Holy Scriptures and also, even more seriously, we face the real possibility of denying our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."

"There are continual cries for patience, listening and understanding. And yet the record shows that those who hold to the "faith once and for all delivered to the saints" have shown remarkable forbearance while their pleas have been ignored, their leaders have been demonized, and their advocates marginalized." He said the orthodox in The Episcopal Church who were upholding the faith were being derided for their stubbornness. "We have made enormous efforts since 1997 in seeking to avoid this crisis, but without success."

In a cry that all journeys must end someday, Akinola said unity could not be found at the cost of relegating Christ to the position of another "wise teacher" who can be obeyed or disobeyed. "We earnestly desire the healing of our beloved Communion but not at the cost of re-writing the Bible to accommodate the latest cultural trend."

Compromising Biblical truth leads [only ] to destruction and disunity. "We dare not sacrifice eternal truth for mere appeasement; we cannot turn away from the source of life and love for a temporary truce."

Citing John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, Akinola said that many decisions and many crossroads confronted Pilgrim. "The easy road was never the right road. This is our moment of truth."

LIBERALS were quick to blast Akinola with one liberal blogger after another calling him a totalitarian dictator rather than "a True Shepherd of God's Flock. Archbishop Akinola is clearly blind to the world in which he lives. I would hope this is just misguided ignorance, since the alternatives include intentional deceit or megalomania."

"Archbishop Akinola has not read anything about the Bible written after Aquinas", said another.

"When any person misuses words so willfully - such as 'unrelenting persecution' - they abandon the search for Truth and tumble into the world of hateful propaganda accusing the archbishop of having '"a rigid and authoritarian world-view.'"

"This is all (ALL) paternalistic garbage - it screams of a desire to exclude, to find scapegoats, to seek purity. Only the narrow-minded, the insecure, and the arrogant - only those who believe themselves perfect and pure - act in such a way, screamed another liberal blogger. "We're better off letting them walk apart."

Retired Iowa Bishop Walter Righter who walked away from the Righter Trial, having been found "not guilty" of ordaining a known sodomite to the priesthood said, "How about what God requires??@! It is increasingly clear that what Dar es Salaam requires is all that counts and if anyone tries to say that is what God requires then they are expressing an idea counter to the core teaching of The Episcopal Church."

Said another blogger, "Perhaps this is the prelude to a grand exit. All I can say is: fling wide the doors."

In an attempt to pour oil on troubled waters, Dr. Louie Crew, the Episcopal Church's foremost homosexual protagonist said this, "...please fling wide the doors only to welcome people in or to welcome them back, but never fling wide the doors to urge people to leave. If we can patiently, persistently, lovingly wait decades for TEC to come to new understandings, can we not do the same for those in the Anglican Communion? We do not have to wait until others agree with us or even respect us before we love and respect them. The best way to end rancor in the Communion is to end our own."

For archbishops like Akinola and the rest of Africa's CAPA bishops that day is long past. There is little doubt that the end is coming for the Anglican Communion. The only question is how it will all shake out and what a new Anglican Communion will look like. Time will tell.