You are here: HomeNews2009 12 16Article 173439

Opinions of Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Columnist: Onipa Ba

John The Baptist Tells Proper Soldier From Criminal In Uniform

.Onipa Ba

On several occasions at this forum, participants who believe in true democracy, decency, honesty and the rule of law have condemned the unlawful acts perpetrated by an individual in military uniform, using the barrel of the gun as an a major accessory. Such unlawful acts have included murder of innocent supreme-court judges, mass murder of innocent citizens, selective justice along tribal lines, animosity against members of other tribes, unlawful seizure of other people’s property, craftiness, stealing from the state treasury, complete disregard for the rights of other persons and many others. I have made contribution to this topic on several occasions in the past.

In all such postings, at least in mine, the topic was viewed from purely non-Biblical perspective. It never struck me that there were verses in the Holy Bible that would speak unequivocally and literary about the wrongness of these acts.

Shown below in quotation marks, is the Holy Gospel according to Luke (Luke 3:7-18), that was read in my church today (Sunday, December 13th, 2009). To conserve space I have abridged the entire passage but I have shown in capital letters the words from John The Baptist. Apostle John was teaching the baptism candidates behavior which would make them worthy of the sacrament. The Apostle John clearly defines the characteristics of a good soldier and in my opinion any deviant from these norms would constitute a criminal in military uniform. In today’s Ghana, such a soldier would be smoking “wee” and perpetrating the crimes I have mentioned in the first paragraph. I have mentioned no names here, but of course you know who in Ghana fits this criminal profile.

“John, said to the crowds that came to be baptized by him: “You brood of vipers!.............” Tax collectors came to be baptized and they asked him: “Teacher what should we do?” He said to them: “Collect no more tax than the amount prescribed for you”. SOLDIERS WHO CAME TO BE BAPTIZED ALSO ASKED HIM: “AND WE WHAT SHOULD WE DO?” HE SAID: “DO NOT EXTORT MONEY FROM ANYONE BY THREATS AND FALSE ACCUSATION AND BE SATISFIED WITH YOUR WAGES”.

So, there it is and well laid out in the Holy Gospel, as to what constitutes a proper soldier and what makes up a criminal in military uniform. This is a criminal profile that fits only one person in Ghana.