Even though the Bible encourages discipline, the manner in which the General Overseer of the International God’s Way Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim, flogged two teenage lovers before a congregation was wrong, Rev Kingsley Ahiaku, a pastor at the Fountain of Glory Assemblies of God Church, has stated.

According to him, even though the Holy Spirit might have revealed the condition of the girl to the bishop, “the same Holy Spirit gives the fruit called self-control and as a Christian father and a man of God, you need to bring the fruit of the spirit to bear”.

Bishop Obinim has come under heavy criticism on social media for flogging the teenagers with a belt.

On the videotape that captured the flogging, Bishop Obinim kept chastising and asking the young lovers if they were “stupid”.

At a point, his wife, Florence, was seen intervening and pleading for mercy on behalf of the two, but the controversial bishop was intent on disciplining the two lovers.

Rev Ahiaku acknowledged that Proverbs 13:24 as well as Proverbs 22:15 teach about discipline and that there was nothing wrong in correcting someone who had gone astray but flogging “people before a congregation with a belt and all, that is what society will have a problem with, because they see it as an abuse on the rights of the children”.

For him, what the Bishop did “denigrates the human rights of the children and demeans their human dignity” adding that: “So that is the problem people have with the issue and not the discipline aspect”.

He explained to Prince Minkah on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Monday, August 22 that the Bible had laid down rules and guidelines by which some disciplinary action should be applied.