•Pastor Mensa Otabil delivering his lecture last Friday
Pastor Mensa Otabil last Friday poured out what appeared to have been on his mind for long when he took exception to the tendency of politicians seeking to limit what the church can and can’t discuss in society.
His discourse, when he spoke on the Christian heritage of the late William Ofori Atta popularly called Paa Willie, in the ongoing commemorative lectures on the life of the nationalist at the British Council Hall in Accra, had a lot of politicians squirming as they listened to the renowned clergyman.
The discourse, rich as it was and steeped in both history and scriptures, resonated across the political spectrum, expectedly provoking lots of discussions with varied conclusions.
Politicians, he said, sought to limit the contribution of the church at important functions to the opening and closing prayers segment, a tendency he found opprobrious.
When the clergy go beyond what they are expected to do, as stated above, they are subjected to verbal lashes.
“Politicians want our prayers but not our wisdom. They desire to limit our contribution at important gatherings to saying the opening and closing prayers. Anytime we stray from this regimen, we get smacked for wandering,” he said.
When clergymen pray for the nation during elections, as they simultaneously demand integrity from political leaders, they are labeled hypocrites.
“When we pray for peace during elections, we are called men of God. When we demand for integrity from our leaders, we are called hypocrites,” he said.
He noted that society never took kindly to unpopular truths as told by prophets but rather preferred “to cocoon Christ and his Church in the ‘spiritual realm’ away from the critical social concerns of the world”.
Recalling what obtained even when Jesus Christ undertook his ministry, he said, “So long as the Lord Jesus remained an itinerant preacher telling people in His native Galilean villages how to live more moral lives, the political establishment took little notice of him. Things changed and people began plotting against him when he spoke against turning the house of prayer into a den of thieves.”
“As it was then, so it is now. The world is uncomfortable with the Christian witness in the public sphere. They want us to preach the salvation of souls but not the salvation of society in which the soul lives,” he noted.
Men of God are often subjected to attacks by politicians when they ask too many questions such as those bordering on the livelihood of the people. This was one of the issues the man, who prefers to be addressed as Pastor, touched on during last Friday’s segment of the Ofori Atta lectures.
When men of God give food to the poor and hungry, they are highly regarded and even called saints but when they go beyond the charitable gesture and pose questions as to why hunger should afflict a section of the society, politicians are incensed.
“When we give food to the poor, we are called saints. When we ask why the poor have no food, we are called politicians,” he said, drawing muffled accolades from the audience.
He told his audience that Prophets of God, throughout the Bible, demanded the establishment of just societies. “They advocated a fair legal system that does not favour either the rich or the poor and a fair economic system that does not tolerate perpetual poverty. They rallied against injustice and oppression,” he said.
He added, “The Bible makes clear that a just social order will do more than simply reward those with superior ability, who work harder, or who have fortunate connections.”
Just as believing Christians can collaborate with non-believers in governance, so should the ruling government collaborate with the opposition; “Not only can they. They should,” he counseled.
In what he termed a fallen world, people often abused power for selfish purposes.
He said it was therefore dangerous for a few people to hold power, even if they happened to be Christians. “Given the fallen nature of man and he presence of sin, it is safer if power is properly diffused in institutions with checks and balances,” he pointed out.
Turning to the late William Ofori Atta, about whom he was delivering a third lecture on a theme ‘William Ofori-Atta: His Christian Heritage And Its Relevance to Contemporary Ghana’, he described him as a man concerned about his country Ghana during his lifetime.
What the late nationalist cherished the most, he said, was being a ‘Born Again’ Christian, recalling the late historical figure’s true liberation in Christ when he was in prison in 1964.
The late William Ofori-Atta aka Paa Willie was born a little over a hundred years ago and died some 23 years ago.
Pastor Otabil is the presiding bishop of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), a man whose brusqueness in his discourses about contemporary issues has not endeared him to some politicians.
By A.R. Gomda
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