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Opinions of Sunday, 14 August 2011

Columnist: Okoh, Emmanuel

Evil Ghanaian Pastor runs away from his Congregation

It is about time the Ghana government introduced firm measures to curb the daily occurrences of abuse of trust by our numerous shameless pastors. Most of the Ghanaian pastors regardless where they are, exhibit the same despicable actions that underrate the intelligence of the Blackman. They are not only selfishly greedy but crave for power and fame by twisting the gospel to suit their whimsical notions. We hear on the news almost everyday about a Ghanaian pastor committing a crime of some sort. If they are not sleeping with a colleague's wife, they are either defrauding their church members of their little money or causing confusion among husbands and wives by their pretentious miracle-revealing antics.

The usage of certain bitter words in description of an individual can oftentimes be more dangerous, hurtful and disparaging than piercing the sword through the heart of one's bitterest enemy. We can tell who and what a person is by his appearance, character and speech made both in private and in public. Does the Bible not confirm that it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks? God will judge us on our deeds and misdeeds as verifiably spewed by our motoring mouth.

I have closely been monitoring the clerical activities of one Rev. Dr. John of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, London District. One can hardly believe their eyes, ears and minds when this pastor takes to the pulpit to deliver the word of God. He is always emotive, instigative, and casts insinuations intended to cause confusion and division among the children of God. Oh, what a fake man of God if he is not truly the devil incarnate! Is he any different from the cheating, corruptible, fame-seeking and insatiably greedy pastors back home in Ghana who thrive on deceit, underestimation of others, and uselessly pride themselves in their educational qualifications? No!

Judging from the content of a few of his e-mails sent to certain individuals as chanced upon, he is simply a carnal-minded Christian rather than an anointed man of God. Is he not so full of himself; exhibits that vanity that makes him belittle all those he meets? He claims in one of his e-mails that interacting with two named-persons amounts to stooping too low, which in his warped mind may be reminiscent of one sleeping with dogs and catching fleas. What an insult! Is this that popular, theologically par excellence individual that the Presbyterian Church of Ghana prostrates to so vehemently? How unfortunate the Church then is?

I was sitting among the congregation at Emmanuel Church on 26th June 2011 when in his sermon delivery, he vowed to sack Calvary congregation from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana – London District. Lo and behold, he unilaterally but in contrast to procedure and norms of the PCG sacked the Calvary congregation on 30th June 2011 as intended. At Ghanamma Church, he assured the congregation that he was going to get rid of two-named persons (name withheld) by hook or crook. This was on 10th July 2011. His evil infatuation amidst calculated public utterances directed at causing disintegration within the Calvary congregation never ended there but continued to Ebenezer Church where he shamelessly goaded the Church members to help split up the Calvary church.

A true Christian pastor will not be as irresponsible as in depiction by the so-called man of God under discussion. His behaviour is nothing new to me as most present day Ghanaian mushrooming pastors even do worse. He is actually a Muslim in a Christian robe hence his struggle with religious identity. He is suffering from religious identity crisis, if one cares to know. He is always taking up appointments with Muslim Schools purporting to research Islam into details. What an irrelevant excuse meant to throw dust into people's eyes. He should note that he could not have his cake and eat it. He is just fooling himself but nobody else. He cannot continue to underestimate the intelligence of anyone anymore. He is a 100% Muslim by all intent and purposes. Why is he afraid or ashamed to come out to accept his true religious identity?

Anyway, I wish him good luck. In the same vein, I strongly advise him to desist from any attempt to play on the intelligence of his jihadist Muslim brothers now that he has taken up his new appointment at an Islamic college in the US since August 2011. I know he belongs in Islam but not Christianity. It is my fervent prayer that he finds his true religious identity in Islam to stop deceiving himself through needless ridicules. By his evil intentions and deceptions, Dr. John has not only tarnished the reputation of certain individuals but drawn most people through the mud principally among who is the Presbyterian Moderator in Ghana.

The Bible admonishes us not to be afraid of the one who kills the body but is unable to kill the soul. Rev. Dr. John may have succeeded in sacking Calvary church from the PCG London District but has not been able to divide or collapse the church as he diabolically intended. I will advise the affected persons to write him off as spilled milk. Is there any need to cry over spilled milk? No! Being a goner by his opportunistic or adventurous journey to the US as aforementioned, I will peacefully rest my case and close that chapter on this dubious pastor. Let him battle with his guilty conscience until he renders his heartfelt apology to those entire he has intentionally or inadvertently wronged.

Lest I forget, all those who encouraged, condoned and connived with him in his attempt to exclude Calvary congregation are now at loggerheads with him. They are currently the worst of enemies. One Rev. A. Darko was instrumental, egging Rev. Dr. John on to misbehave the way he did. Some District members who fed him false information triggering his bizarre behaviour have now deserted him in droves.

I salute the bravery of the elders of Calvary Church for standing on their feet to challenge the irresponsibleness of Rev Dr. John. He fled to the US a disgraced man. All the false Men of God will flee at their own shadow like frightened dogs with their tails tucked between their legs.

Emmanuel Okoh