Dr. Felix Orji, OSB, is the Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the West (ACNA) and Anglican Church in North America. He is based in Houston, Texas
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”(John 3:19-21)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
I thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord and commitment to our Diocese. Your prayers, words of encouragement and financial contribution to our diocese have been a blessing to the work of the gospel and the growth of the kingdom of our God through our Diocese.
We must continue to be faithful to the Lord in every way, especially by preaching and obeying his Word, trusting him to protect and provide for us, and speaking the truth in love no matter the cost. Obedience to God can cause persecution and suffering for the faithful. As Plato correctly stated, “No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.” Notwithstanding the problems that dog our steps we must continue to be faithful to Christ, preach his Word, and uphold the truth.
This has become increasingly necessary as many religious leaders in the Anglican Communion continue to present themselves as leaders who lack godliness and integrity by their words and actions.
Recently, the majority of the Bishops of the Church of England with the full support of both the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York agreed to recommend the ratification of “Thanksgiving and Blessing of same-sex unions/marriages” to their General Synod coming up next month (February 2023) in England. You can read the news:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/18/church-of-england-bishops-refuse-to-back-gay-marriage
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64313367
Unfortunately, such a recommendation from the Bishops of the Church is very discouraging for the faithful and disappointing because it is ungodly and seriously misguided. Surprisingly some moderate conservatives in England think the recommendation is not that bad; that it is in fact good news because the bishops are not recommending gay marriage – we find such view rather disheartening to hear. The fact however is that there is NO good news in this for Bible-believing conservatives in the Church of England (CoE) because, if the CoE General Synod approves this recommendation in February, CoE clergy will then be given permission and perhaps mandated by some Diocesan Bishops to Bless same-sex unions which is essentially blessing something that God calls a sin and an abomination.
Besides, trying to differentiate between “blessing a gay marriage” and “wedding a gay couple” is a deceitful and dangerous game of words. Both the “blessing” and “wedding” of gay couples are abominable practices that are contrary to biblical teaching and Anglican tradition and so will definitely impair communion with the rest of orthodox Bible-believing Christians in and outside the Anglican Church.
It is very encouraging that the Chairman of GAFCON and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Most Rev’d Dr. Foley Beach has openly condemned the recommendation of the Bishops of the CoE on same sex blessngs. You can read his statement here:
https://www.gafcon.org/news/response-to-cofe-bishops-statement.
The lesson that all Anglicans must learn from the current mess in the Anglican Communion is that division in the church and distraction from gospel mission are always the result of the refusal of Laity, Clergy, Bishops, Archbishops, and Primates to follow the teaching of the Bible and Anglican Tradition in matters of doctrine and polity. This is true in both Liberal and Conservative Anglican Provinces. It is now a matter of urgent necessity for Conservatives to now lead the way by following Scripture and Anglican tradition otherwise we become guilty of what we condemn in Liberals.
Diocesan Bishop
Anglican Diocese of the West (ACNA) USA
Houston, Texas.
In the end, Anglican Christians in every Anglican Province need to examine ourselves to make sure that we are in the Faith and are behaving like true followers of Christ. It is not enough to oppose homosexuality and same-sex unions while indulging in other respectable sins that undermine our relationship with God and one another in the body of Christ. Homosexuality is not the only sin in the Bible because the Bible condemns other sins as well. Paul, in his letter to Christians in Galatia, wrote, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”(Galatians 5:19-24). It is therefore incumbent upon each of us to examine ourselves because excusing and rationalizing our sins while condemning the sins of others is never in our best interest or that of the kingdom of God in the end.
Let us commit to repenting of our own sins, pray for one another, and lovingly but firmly speak the truth to one another so that the Lord will be glorified in and through us all in the world.
