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Friday 25 August 2017

How Teenage Girl Tried To Seduce Me For Sex- Bishop James Akinola; Recalls Experience As Anglican Priest


The Rt. Rev James Akinola is a retired Bishop of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion. He is not a frivolous person. He is straightforward, down to earth. He is one of the men in the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion who can hold their head high in appreciation to God for keeping the faith as it was once delivered to the saints. But the devil tried to distract him from his call in ministry.
Akinola who served as Bishop of Igbomina Diocese shares his experience as a priest in the Anglican Church and how God helped him to withstand temptations that came his way: Below are excerpts:
When you were preaching at the Synod of Awori Diocese of the Church of Nigeria, you talked about a young girl that tried to seduce you. How did it happen?

The devil is a bad devil. He knows the fire of God in you and he is out to quench that fire. We have a secondary school mainly female. My church is the proprietor and we had to supervise the school. The girl came to the church one day and was weeping. She said she was being humiliated in the hostel and that the humiliation was too much. She was weeping. And I promised her that I would speak to her principal and that the humiliation would stop. She would come and make request thereafter. She would ask me to buy provisions for her. She would ask for pocket money. I was relating with her innocently. I did not know she had an agenda. It got to a point that she would come and tell me some of her dreams that she saw me in the dream and all kinds of things. I became curious. I knew there was something beyond the normal. So I would pray with her dismiss her. All these were just preambles to her real intention. So this particular day I was in the office. I worked so late. My driver had to go because I could not keep him waiting. My secretary too had to go home. I was alone in the office. Lo and behold I heard a knock on the door and the girl appeared. Incidentally she is a child of a pastor. She sat down and before I could know what was happening she came to my side and moved so close. I was wondering what she was up to. Before I knew what was happening she moved closer to me. I pushed her away and wondered what was going on. I shouted on her and said, “don’t you know I am a Bishop”. She said and so what? Many Bishops do it now. I said “if all Bishops do it, I am different”. I said “my last daughter is older than you”. She said that is story. Interestingly I was not moved. That was shocking to me. I stood up from the seat and wanted to move out of the office. She ran to the door and locked the door. I was confused. I could not shout I could not call for help. The danger was that she could turn the heat on me. I began to pray and asked for wisdom. I came down to her level and said I understood what she wanted that I was ready to give in but that we should look for another place to “do it”.
I said it will not be possible we meet in the office. She said no way that she wanted us to have sex right in the office. I said what if people knock the door? She said no way. I pleaded. Finally she agreed and we moved out.  Immediately I drove her to the school. She did not want to come out of the vehicle. I shouted at her and said I would call the attention of her principal. She then moved out. All the while I was sharing the story with my wife. We did not know what to do and how to handle her because she could say all kinds of things to save her face if we decide to take it hard on her. But my wife was following the development. After that strange encounter she would find a way of calling me on the phone. At a point I handed her over to my wife. She then finally came to me one day and was asking for the source of my power. She said the ring I was wearing was the source that I should remove the ring. I said which ring? She then said she had led many to their death through sex. She said she lured the junior pastor of her dad to have sex. She said the man was coming to their house one day and immediately  she went to put on towel. As soon as the man entered she loosened the towel. The man was enticed had sex with her. The following day the man was traveling he had accident and died. The sex was like the opening door for attack. When she told me that, I was literally shivering. Whenever she called I would be afraid to pick her call. My wife was in the know and she was the one who took over.
One day I retired to my private house in Ilesha I prostrated before God and prayed for about seven hours. Days later I asked of her and was told she had left the school without being prodded.

What advice would you give to pastors judging from your experience?
We can’t afford to yield to sin and be careless. We need to be empowered any day so that anytime the devil comes he will meet us on guard. Pastors should not keep their wives away.  Spiritual battles should not be fought physically. They can’t afford to go physical. Every week we pray for at least three hours with fasting in my house. No matter what you are as a priest you must have a mentor. Somebody that can correct you is important in your life. I have friends whom I ask to call my attention to my weakness and tell me when I am going wrong not somebody that will be praising me every day. Be guided by godly principles. Don’t touch anything unclean thing. Your utterance must be holy. Know the type of company you keep. Be yourself. When I was in service nobody could claim to be close to me as such. People knew me when I was given the opportunity to preach at the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria. It was a 17 minutes message and the cassettes sold so well at the meeting.

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