"If You Cannot Be Truthful to Your Own Wife, ..."

..How Can the Nation Entrust You

The Chancellor of Central University, Pastor of the International Central Gospel Church, Mr. Mensah Anamoa Otabil, the man seen by many as the 'Rabbi to the Nation,' yesterday rustled a few feathers when he spoke some bitter Bible-based home truths on the challenges of leadership and the temptations and vulnerabilities of today's men in positions of authority.

In a special admonition to men who are today holding positions of trust and power, he challenged them in a sermon to Members of Parliament yesterday on the issue of power, saying that the true man is not the one who flaunts his position and power to assert his manhood, but the one who is upright, honest to his wife and a source of pride to his children for the choices that he makes when confronted with opportunities and temptations.

" If you cannot be faithful in little things, you cannot be faithful in big things ', he said quoting from the Bible.

Drawing on the temptation of Jesus Christ in the first book of the New Testament as the theme for his speech (Matthew Chapter 4), Pastor Otabil cautioned that enormous temptations would come to the MPs and public office holders as leaders and representatives of the people of Ghana, but they should seek an anchor in prayer and the truth in the Word of God.

"You would be tempted very very severely," he said, adding that those who buckle down would yield consequences that would bring reproach to their families.

Those who withstand would reap rewards.

He noted that pressures would come from family members, enemies, friends, liars, hypocrites who like flies would be drawn to the new found power and influence that they as new leaders would wield.

He counseled that it is God's unchanging principles that must be the shield for the leadership because there will be daily temptations from Satan urging them to bow to him in the privacy of the Mountaintop where Jesus was himself tempted in private .(Satan asked Jesus to bow down to him so that he will reward him with the good things of the world).

Otabil noted that any lifestyle that makes one lie and cheat and be dishonest and falsify truth in order to escape the consequences and responsibilities of the truth "would extend to your public life."

Then he dropped the first of a series of truth bombs that clearly cheered the womenfolk but drew considerable throat-clearing from the men:

"If you cannot be truthful to the wife you sleep with in the same room, how can the nation trust that you will be truthful to them".

'Ei, what is this man bringing now', whined a top figure when confronted with the pastor's charged sermon moments after his 25 minute sermon.

Continuing, Pastor Otabil observed that people look for different things in the word of God, with some seeking divine guidance in it while others look for loopholes to dodge in.

"Isn't it interesting that sometimes people quote sections of an authoritative material not to affirm its ideals truth but to exploit it to personal advantage."

"We quote the Bible, the constitution, the law, not because we believe in them, but because we believe that at this time this serves my interest.

"We could become selective, truth becomes relative and when that happens comes we abandon ourselves to subjective choices and decisions and when we do it the line between good and bad, evil and righteousness becomes blurred and obscured" he said, adding that as leaders we should live by principles that are eternal and not personal.

On the same theme, he pushed the issue of morality and character to breaking point still steeped in scripture on the temptation of Jesus Christ.

I want to challenge you that when you are alone on your mountain in that hotel room, in the board room, your penthouse, at that conference destination far outside the country, you do not fall, you do not take a little bow in that obscure place, in that little bow you would have submitted your life to a compromise and a lie.

The issue of values and morality along with the popular word integrity should be true guiding principles as leadership comes with responsibilities.

Yes, he answered to a rhetorical question on whether one's private life has anything to do with his public life.

'If we are immoral in private, it would impact in our public life.' You cannot be a liar in private and truth teller in public.

He warned against allowing the young girls, say university girls, to blackmail them because of possible indiscretions and may force them to take advantage of positions or "resources available to us to solve a personal problem" because those personal choices bring about public dilemmas. Let's be true men, to our children and to those who trust us

Significantly, he told the bipartisan gathering of MPs that what is right must be right to the minority and to the majority and that it was important that the principle of "what you don't like to be done to you, you shouldn't do to your neighbour" be ingrained on their minds "because minority becomes majority and majority becomes minority in the cycle of life."

Opportunities to massage the truth to present to the media so as to present a good image of one's self must be eschewed, he charged all public office holders.

Both minority and majority members of Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin and Papa Owusu Ankomah, were present.

So too were the Speaker Mr. Ala Adjetey, his first deputy Speaker Hon.

Freddie Blay, Hon. Ken Dzirasah, Hon. Hannah Tetteh Kpodar, the former Clerk of Parliament with his wife, and several public office holders amongst the MPs.