Nigerian Archbishop Upbraids Western Churches for Rejecting Gospel and Accepting Homosexuality

From LifeSiteNews
By James Tillman

In Anglican Archbishop Nicholas Okoh's first press conference on July 14, he addressed the controversy that is sweeping the global Anglican communion and condemned homosexual behavior as well as other Anglican provinces that have adopted an unbiblical acceptance of it.

"In this matter silence can be detrimental to public well-being," he said. "The issue at stake of human sexuality is not an Anglican prerogative and it is by no means limited to the Anglican circle as ... is clearly shown all over the world."

"Same sex marriage, paedophilia and all sexual perversions should be roundly condemned by all who accept the authority of Scripture over human life."

Archbishop Okoh succeeded Archbishop Pete Akinola as primate, or head archbishop, of the Anglican Church of Nigeria on March 25. With roughly 18 million members, the Church of Nigeria is the largest province in the Anglican Communion.

Okoh said that he had spent his first months as primate touring all 14 internal provinces of the Church of Nigeria, and that the conversations and feedback from Anglicans throughout the country had informed his address to the press.

The archbishop said he was alarmed that western churches "had vowed to use their money to spread the homosexual lifestyle in African societies and churches."

Western churches “are pursuing this agenda vigorously and what is more, they now have the support of the United Nations," Okoh said. "We therefore call on parents to ensure that their children obtain their first degree in Nigeria before travelling abroad. Parents and guardians should closely watch and monitor the relationships that their children or wards keep so that deviant behavior can be [corrected]."

He warned that "the sin of homosexuality, it must be re-emphasized, destroyed the communities of Sodom and Gomorrah."

Archbishop Okoh has said previously that Nigeria should consider pulling out of the UN because of the UN's promotion of homosexuality.

“If the UN has made itself an agent for the propagation of homosexuality globally, then it is time for us to pull out of the organization,” he said.

He continued: “This is because the UN has no right to determine for or impose moral standards on us. Let us stand firm and refuse to be bought over by the West."

Other international organizations have also tried to coerce Nigeria into accepting homosexual relationships: the European Union's Intergroup on "gay rights" demanded that foreign aid to Nigeria be suspended after Nigeria's House of Representatives prohibited "gay marriage."

At the recent press conference, Archbishop Okoh also pointed out that the Nigerian Church had recently been categorized as dissenting from the whole Anglican Communion, like Anglican provinces that had ordained gay bishops or approved same-sex "marriages."

The Episcopal Church of the USA, or EC(USA), consecrated the openly homosexual Gene Robinson as bishop in 2003; it consecrated the lesbian Mary Glasspool bishop in 2010. To help those Anglican laymen who disapproved of the EC(USA)'s approval of homosexual behavior, the Nigerian Church has begun missionary activity in America through the Nigerian-sponsored "Convocation of Anglicans in North America" (CANA).

Such intervention in the jurisdiction of other Anglican Churches was condemned by the Anglican Communion's 2004 Windsor Report, which also called on churches not to ordain openly homosexual individuals or bless same-sex "unions."

"We reject being put in the same category with churches conducting gay ordination and same-sex marriage, and the equating of our evangelical initiative (for which we should be commended) with those who are doing things unbiblical," Archbishop Okoh said.

"But for the Nigerian initiative and others like her, many of our faithful Anglican American friends who cannot tolerate the unbiblical practices of the Episcopal Church in America could have gone away to other faiths. The great commission to go in to all the world to save souls is our compelling [consideration]."

Archbishop Okoh congratulated the Pentecostal Ayo Oritsejafor on his appointment as president of the ecumenical network Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

"We invite him and all denominational leaders to protect Christian interests and our cherished way of life, including speaking out against ... homosexuality, lesbianism and bisexual lifestyle[s] under any guise," Okoh said.

Nigeria's population is for the most part Muslim or Christian; roughly 11% of the population is Anglican. Homosexual activity may be punished by death in states that have adopted the harsh Shari'a law (athough in practice the death sentence is rarely, if ever, carried out), and may be punished up to 14 years in prison across the nation.

According to a 2007 Pew Global report, 97% of Nigerians think that homosexuality should be rejected.

Worldwide Anglican Communion At An End

From The Telegraph
By Tim Butcher in Jordan and Martin Beckford

Hardline church leaders have formally declared the end of the worldwide Anglican communion, saying they could no longer be associated with liberals who tolerate homosexual clergy.

The traditionalists dealt a serious blow to the Archbishop of Canterbury by claiming he can no longer hold the church together.

They warned that the church is gripped by its most serious crisis since the Reformation, and could only be saved by the repentance of the Americans who triggered the row by ordaining an openly homosexual bishop, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, five years ago.

The formal pronouncement of the schism is contained in an 89-page document titled “The Way, the Truth and the Life”, which has been drawnup by conservative Anglicans ahead of the breakaway Gafcon summitnext week and which has been seen by The Telegraph.

It is supported by the heads of key African churches including Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda, who represent almost half of Anglican worshippers.

The Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola, states in one section: “There is no longer any hope, therefore, for a unified Communion.

“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.

“We want unity, but not 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.

“We have arrived at a crossroads; it is, for us, the moment of truth.’’

He said schism could only be avoided in the unlikely event that churches which tolerate homosexual clergy and same-sex blessings change their ways.

“Repentance and reversal by these North American provinces may yet save our Communion,’’ the archbishop wrote.

He referred to the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops which takes place next month, as effectively a lame duck event because he and other “orthodox” bishops will not attend.

And he called into question the power of Dr Rowan Williams in a fractured church.

“This very Communion has already been broken by the actions of the American and Canadian churches,’’ he wrote.

“The consequence is most serious, for if even a single province chooses not to attend, the Lambeth Conference effectively ceases to be an Instrument of Unity.

“Moreover, the status of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as convenor and as an instrument or focus of unity, also becomes highly questionable.’’

The final section of the booklet, titled “Our Journey Into The Future’’, was written by Canon Vinay Samuel, an Indian-born theologian based at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.

“We see a parallel between contemporary events and events in England in the sixteenth century,’’ he wrote.

“Now, after five centuries, a new fork in the road is appearing.”

The booklet, written over the past six months, was put together by a group called the Theological Resource Team.

More than 100 of the traditionalists met yesterday at a hotel on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea to agree how it would be made public.

There was some disagreement about whether it was a template for a schism, which could lead to a new “orthodox” wing of the church, or merely a realignment of Anglicanism’s power base away from Canterbury.

Next week about 1,000 senior conservative figures, including Archbishop Akinola and other African and South American leaders, will meet in Jerusalem to discuss the way forward at Gafcon.

The city’s annual gay parade is due to take place at the same time.