Any pastor with bodyguards must be a thief – Rev Som-Pinpong

In Rev Dr Albert Som-Pinpong’s view, “it is not scriptural, it is not biblical” to have bodyguards as a pastor.

He spoke on No.1 FM, 105.3 on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, during the Adom Mmere (Time of Grace) morning show, hosted by Evangelist Prince Adu Asare.

Known to be a US-based pastor, he argued that while he lived in Israel, the founder of Christianity, “Jesus Christ had no bodyguards”.

Based on this, he asserted, “No pastor, whether you call yourself bishop, archbishop, circle bishop, square bishop, triangular bishop, or general apostle, apostle,” etc., “you don’t have the right to have a bodyguard”.

“It becomes an apostasy or blasphemous when we say Jesus Christ had bodyguards – and the disciples were his bodyguards. They weren’t his bodyguards. They were people that he called to send out to proclaim his word".

A pastor only needs a bodyguard when “there’s something [he’s] hiding or stealing or maybe [he’s] offended someone,” Rev Som-Pinpong pressed.

He noted God promises protection to his servants in the Psalms which read: “He’ll not allow the weapons of the wicked to fall on your lot so that you will not be prompted to do evil".

“So, God is our protector, he’s our shepherd, he’s our everything and if we surrender to him and walk with him, and preach the word as he wants us to preach it, there’ll be no need for bodyguards,” the pastor of 50 years exhorted", he said.

He also rebuked church leaders who measured their impact by physical edifices like ultramodern auditoriums.

He warned that the Lord Jesus may deny them on the day he returns, as Christian doctrine anticipates if this is not heeded.

Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, he reminded church leaders the entire universe cannot house God.

He said God desires to indwell “the poor, the downtrodden, the brokenhearted”.

He underlined that the real church is the people gathered to God.

“If you focus on God’s word, the many people you lead to Christ, you’re building a house [for God],” he said.