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LUSAKA: Chairman Tengatenga's Last Tango at ACC-16

LUSAKA: Chairman Tengatenga's Last Tango at ACC-16
Detractors from the Communion are liars, says outgoing ACC chairman

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
April 20, 2016

The outgoing chairman of the Anglican consultative Council, Bishop James Tengatenga, publicly accused GAFCON and those who do not walk with the Anglican Communion, as liars in order to divide the communion.

"There are those among us who have resorted to lies in order to proclaim the Gospel. That is a contradiction in terms. Truth can never be promoted by lies. Lies are anti-Gospel. Lies are anti-Christ. Spin is anti-Christ. Slander and defamation are anti-Christ. If the future of Anglicanism is based on such, it cannot be of God," he said in his farewell, closing sermon.

He went on to cite Jesus, who said to those who claimed their Abrahamic pedigree, but lied, "You are doing the works of your father, in whom there is no truth, who when he lies speaks his native language for he is the father of lies". The detractors from the Communion have perfected that skill to the T! Zechariah would say to such (as to the accuser of the saints), "Rebuke you Satan!"

Tengatenga has been an outspoken advocate and supporter of The Episcopal Church, and he recently condemned any attempts to say that TEC should step back from leadership roles in the communion for three years because it publicly ordained a homosexual to the episcopacy and for its support of gay marriage.

"So the Episcopalians have been given three years. What does it mean? Nobody knows what it means. The primates believe they have said "something that is definitive, but it is not." They do not have the "power to take the next step."

He observed the "primates think they are more important than anyone else. When they attempt to bottle up the fizziness [of the development of doctrine within the Communion] that is when things explode."

The "bottom line is that the Episcopal Church cannot be kicked out of the Anglican Communion and will never be kicked out of the Anglican Communion," Tengatenga said.

The former Southern Malawi bishop accused (without naming names) those who practiced "one-upmanship" (to use an Americanism) and said it is not of Christ.

"St. Paul sees these things that weigh us down as godless chatter and useless arguments and partisanship. God knows we have had a fair share of that in the church in recent years! Discipline includes bridling the tongue."

"In the middle of all our disagreements, one thing I have held onto so dearly, in obedience to Christ, is that I refuse to be reduced to hate. The Spirit of Christ constrains us to love. It may not come natural, but no discipline comes natural."

Tengatenga said that the Church is about breaking through and breaking down barriers. A Communion that is not about liberating and discipling, is anti-Christ, one that is covered in shame.

END

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