General News of Monday, 22 July 2013

Source: Daily Guide

Pastor Otabil church members take on Kwesi Pratt

Some members of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) have expressed dissatisfaction with the purported derogatory remarks by Kwesi Pratt Jnr about their head pastor, Dr Mensa Anamua Otabil, on some media networks.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of The Insight newspaper and social commentator, reportedly said that Ghanaian pastors who have recently prophesied doom about the destiny of the nation were suffering from high fever.

He reportedly made the remarks earlier on Adom FM and repeated same on Peace FM on Friday in a reaction to the recent declaration by the General Overseer of ICGC that: “something heavy” could befall the country in a month’s time, if Christians do not wake up and pray for the country.

Mr. Pratt has incurred the wrath of members of the Christian community, especially thousands of followers of Pastor Otabil, with some demanding an unqualified apology from him.

“If Kwesi Pratt thinks Pastor Mensa Otabil cannot respond, the contempt of the Almighty God awaits him,” an aggrieved member of the Sunyani Salem Temple of the ICGC, Nana Yaw Sarpong said.

He commented: “How on earth can you compare a statement made by a renowned man of God to that of a high-fever patient?”

The ICGC member challenged Mr Pratt, who has practiced journalism for over 30 years, to pinpoint his achievements in the country.

“We can talk of a church by Mensa Otabil, he has established a renowned university in Ghana. He has a scholarship scheme and has contributed to many communities across the country in many ways,” he disclosed.

“This Pastor has written books out of the “high-fever” for him (Kwesi Pratt) to read, yet he talks ill of him. I am not surprised at his conduct. The Bible states that: “carnal minds do not achieve much.”

Making reference to Proverbs 23:9 -“Do not try to talk sense to a fool; he cannot appreciate it,” Nana Yaw Sarpong appealed to the ICGC family to disregard the disparaging comments of Mr. Pratt Jnr and move on since God Himself would deal with the situation.

“It’s better we keep quite because what we say might confuse him the more.”

The ICGC member explained that: “all that Pastor Mensa Otabil did was to talk to his congregation about a feeling and a sense of heaviness in his spirit. It is well-known in the Christian community in Ghana that the ICGC as a church holds its spiritual fasting and prayer in July and as a result seek the face of God in many ways.

“Pastor Mensa Otabil made the statement and went further to lead his congregation in prayer for and on behalf of the nation. In my over 15 years of being with the church, I have never seen nor heard the doctor being so passionate on a prayer topic as this. It’s because this is his home and he and all other well-meaning Ghanaians have nowhere to go.”