If you think Obinim erred Biblically petition God - Brenya

Joseph Oppong Brenya, an aide to the Founder and General Overseer of the International God’s Way Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim, has described calls for the arrest of the latter as preposterous.

Bishop Obinim’s flogging of two of his congregants for fornicating in a video published Thursday on social media, according to Mr. Brenya, was an act of God.

This, thus means that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection’s complaint against the controversial clergy man was nothing but rabble-rousing, he pointed out.

The Ministry filed a complaint against Bishop Obinim, over the church flogging incident.

The sector minister announced on her Facebook wall Thursday, that her ministry filed a complaint at the Accra Regional Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) Office for investigations to be conducted into the incident.

Also, Amnesty International Ghana called for an immediate arrest of the clergy man, describing the content of the video as barbaric and criminal.

“…The public should be really upset,” said Lawrence Amesu, Director of Amnesty International Ghana in an interview.

“…For Amnesty International,” he added, “we think that Bishop Obinim is going beyond his jurisdiction at this time. This is a criminal offence [and] he should be arrested by the Police.”

But, Mr. Brenya retorted that the complaints to the police are nothing but empty threats revealing that the Founder and General Overseer of the International God’s Way Church craves for the pending legal battle.

“He is not bothered at all. He is just going on doing his work. If you have problem with what he is doing, you only petition God not public institutions because they cannot do anything to him.

“Yeah, they [Public Institutions] cannot do anything to him because he hasn’t committed any crime and he hasn’t done anything wrong.

“If you think Biblically he has gone wrong, then you petition God,” stated Mr. Brenya Friday on Morning Starr with Nii Arday Clegg.

He said openly flogging those two congregants was not Bishop Obinim’s personal decision but something God revealed to him. He further added that the church was extremely happy with the incident and that they have expressed desire to bring their wards to the clergy man to be disciplined.

But, Bishop Berny Wood, President of the Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana dismissed Mr. Brenya’s explanations.

He contended that the conduct of his fellow clergy man is “unethical” and “unacceptable” by all standards as far as the Bible is concerned.

The church, he said is a compassionate industry “so we don’t engage in things that will cause people to lose the essence of which the church exists – that’s the promotion of mercy and compassion.”

He continued that Bishop Obinim’s turning of the altar of God into a place of instant justice and judgment is totally unacceptable.

The pulpit, he added, is a symbol of mercy and compassion and that the flogging incident Biblically is unjustifiable.

“There was no basis in the Bible for him [Bishop Obinim] to do what he did,” Mr. Wood said on Starr 103.5FM.

Yesterday [Thursday], Bishop Obinim was captured on video battering a hapless pregnant congregant and her boyfriend.

The controversial pastor in the video appeared angered by the couple’s amorous activity which has led to a pregnancy.

As a result, he took the law into his hands, lashing the youngman on his bare back before turning to the girl flogging her mercilessly with a belt in the full glare of his congregation.