Mr. Otabil has by his teachings over the years ‘redefined’ Christianity to his followers. He is a 21st century “Messiah” of God’s word with mind blowing teachings second to none. This is proven on the grounds that, many of his followers were one time followers of other teachings but saw wisdom in his teachings and left to join him.
This has also made people to believe him. Some around him will, in my view, be willing to sacrifice their lives in place of his, due to the level of impact he has had over them built over the years.
On this note, I was not surprised of the sort of reaction from his followers on the recent banking crisis that saw Capital Bank, a bank he was the board chairman collapse. For me, the collapse of the bank isn’t a problem for me really in this article, but his response and actions after this bad development.
Even on that, as board chairman who was not involved in the day to day running of the bank, was he never informed when the bank was facing the crisis? Was his allowance not going to be increased if the profits were coming? Was he not informed of the establishment of another bank from the relief provided by the bank of Ghana as board chairman? Like I said, this is not the focus of this article.
My honest deepest worry is the effect of Mr. Otabil’s reaction on the minds of his followers, in relation to what genuine Christian values such as honesty, truthfulness, righteousness etc. are. I believe in my right thinking head that there are many of his followers who deep inside them, genuinely believe Mr. Otabil did wrong in his role at the collapsed bank and that his explanations afterwards were unfortunate. I really believe many of them share this position!
But reflect on this: Wouldn’t his members have respected him the more, and increase their appreciation of the flaws in humans to commit mistake as the Bible points out at James 3:2, and strengthen their faith, if he admitted wrongdoing on the mere fact that a bank he served as board chairman has collapsed under his able watch, apologize and pledged his readiness to collaborate with investigative agencies to correct this mistakes? You know the mental relief this would have been for genuine people in his church?
But what appears to be a man complicit in a collapsed bank walking free, together with the general apathy for the Ghanaian true justice system, poses deep threat to what many of his followers, and Christian faith practitioners generally see as good and bad. For those of his followers who believe he’s done some wrong, it’s a hard moment for them to shift belief on what constitutes good or bad consciously or otherwise.
What is more dangerous is that, these people having to shift belief on good and bad are going to continue living with us. The effect is that what is wrong becomes good and bad good in their eyes because their primary instinct of morality has been corrupted without their notice by a person they so revered. Ponder over effect of this on society. Are you now aware of how our societal values are even more corrupted in an era where church buildings are more than schools and hospitals? That is it!
If Mr. Otabil goes unpunished, he will, in my view, be the greatest and most recent vessel of modern day slavery to the mind, and corruption of Christianity and its virtues. The more he continues to live “unpunished” for what some believe are his “crimes” in the recent banking saga”, the more he feeds the minds of his followers how to disregard what an honest way of life is.
He will (if he has not done that already) redefine what honesty, truthfulness, loyalty and uprightness to God means, to his followers, contrary to what they have known and inherited from their parents or home. Same effect can be on young ones listening and watching him as he impacts on them “his” meanings of Christian values as they grow up.
Right now, deep inside his followers and others outside is a mental battle over what really is good or bad according Mr. Otabli, and their own instinctive definition of these values acquired through their upbringing.
To these true loving searchers of God, these are hard times for them, a dilemma of some sort. One part of them is asking reflective questions; which if it comes to a conclusion different from what has been exhibited by Mr. Otabil, will leave them without courage to confront their fears. Fears of whether to leave him or hang on because of some respected people still cringing to him. Warning here is that the fear of humans can be a trap as stated at Proverbs 29:25.
It will not be wrong, at this point, to conclude that based on the applause that followed his sermon after the banking crisis that Mr. Otabil’s definition of righteousness has become the definition of the thousands and thousands of his followers. His honesty has become theirs, truth has become their truth and what is acceptable to him has been their measure of what is accepted.
This is the real religious deal of whatever is happening to him and his followers. This is how dangerous or otherwise one man’s view of things can affect larger society. People who are built indirectly never to accept the words at James 3:2. Meek ones who are “forced” to water down their parent and home-given definition of righteousness and other virtues!
There is no doubt about Mr. Otabil’s insight in a lot of things, but to let this opportunity to show our limits as humans slip, by proving Superman is an upfront to what he teaches. He may probably have forgotten that even Jesus’s direct disciples who he Jesus had thought made a lot of mistakes. Have you forgotten Peter even betrayed Jesus three times?
In my view, I feel we have little appreciation of the mental confusion of true meek followers within his church, and it gets them to be more wary!
Well, but If this disregard for the flaws of humans by so called preachers of God’s word, as a result of sin, is not checked, Ghana will continue to have a form of Christianity that produces people who are equally or more corrupt than the so called evil doers. We will have people who show up clean in public and speak of all the good stuff, but are dangerously corrupt on the dark side.
You think I am peddling falsehood, look back and reflect on the people whose names have popped up in the news in recent past and check their religious background. Are they idol worshipers or Christians?
For me, how Christianity has been corrupted, and in turn corrupted its alleged practitioners in ways that is so difficult to realize, is the threat to development, peace and harmony.
Come to think of it, “God is good, God is good, God is good”. Really?
Well, maybe God is good because despite the collapse of Capital Bank, he still leaves a plush life, whilst several hundreds of the bank’s workers are battling to survive a year on. Or God is good because he will be cleared of any wrongdoing in the collapse of the bank as he has already attempted with his official statement. Or perhaps God is good that he presided over this crisis in Africa and not in the US to warrant criminal proceedings against him whilst his assets are frozen. Or maybe God is good because no one will hold him accountable for just releasing a statement saying he sympathizes with ex workers of Capital Bank without been forced to provide for their livelihoods. God is good truly, you know?
People, Mr. Otabil must resign from his public preaching work. He must be ashamed of himself that with his many years of teaching, he is not apologizing for his role is the ‘looting’ of state funds giving to Capital Bank.
The earlier he admits he is a human and resigns from his preaching role for a period, the better he stands the chance to help reorient modern Christians and the unborn to desist from corrupted moral values with far reaching consequences on society. This way, we can see an end to wrongdoing in people who are supposed to be living Christ-like (Christians).
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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citinewsroom.com/Ghana