Anytime a writer puts words together and submits it for publication he is also placing him or herself in the courtroom of public opinion. There are people who will agree with the premise of the writer’s argument and those who will not. Those with thin skin wither on the vine quickly due to the scathing remarks their write ups engender. You need to have the skin of an alligator to avoid compromising ones beliefs when there is no need. Quite rightly so, and without a shred of doubt, I believe that those who don’t agree with me serve a great purpose. For one, I think it is part of the beauty of living in a plural society. They provide the impetus for the advancement of our society. After all discontent, according to an English proverb, is the first step in progress.

Obviously, when I wrote my last piece regarding Otabil’s comments I knew what I was signing for. I was aware of the fact that it might land me in the lion’s den. But what I never envisaged was the fact that readers might interpret it as an attack on the man. There were people who raised legitimate concern about the title of the piece, which I will say it was a slight glitch on the part of ghanaweb. Because the full caption for the piece was ‘Otabil exposed himself by his comments but don’t kill the messenger’. Most people who read it glossed over the second part of the title because it did not appear in bold letters. Unfortunately, all the other websites that published it, especially Peace FM Online, completely left out the second part, which caused a lot of problems. I hereby state categorically clear that I did not write the article to attack a man of God. The reason is to raise the level of debate not necessarily to create the awareness regarding how best we can manage our newfound fortune, but how to utilise all the resources at our disposal including the most important of all - our brains. After all Otabil is one of the few who uses his resources to increase knowledge, and what more can I ask of a man like that?

On other hand, I can’t register enough my disgust about those who were literally warning me for attacking a man of God, which I wasn’t. They are the spineless group of people who give a lease of life to rogue pastors who have hijacked the Christian faith. For anybody to think that men of God are beyond criticism is insane to outright stupidity if I will have to put it so mildly. Men of God are as human as anybody. They share with mankind all the mushy bits of our humanity. If they want to know men of God behaving badly they shouldn't go that far.

King David is described in the bible as the man after the heart of God. He is credited with the pious authorship of the book of Psalms. However, he is also a man who couldn't keep his pants buttoned. He coveted the wife of Uriah, one of his army officials, and conspired to get him killed on the battle field. Anybody who thinks that I cannot criticise a person like that because he is a man of God is morally repugnant, and I don't care a hoot if I am condemned by such a character.

This is the least that I can offer in advice. People like them can end up just like the nearly thousand congregants who perished in Jonestown in Guyana in 1978 under the autocratic leadership of Jim Jones of People’s Temple fame. During the eighties there was one such guy who surfaced in Accra called Jesus Christ of Dzorwulu. It was reported he made some of his followers drink his urine. It is the power of the government that was able to stop him in his tracks. I would say it was timely because no one could have predicted what such demonic character would have finally accomplished, and the list is endless. There is a horrible one that happened in Uganda not to mention the Heaven’s Gate headed by Marshall Applewhite in San Diego. And strangely, the San Diego Heaven’s Gate members were very educated.

There are still few good men of God around, sadly majority of the rest are in it to milk the system for what they can get. They are as human as any ordinary person. They are liars; they cheat and literally make a mockery of The Ten Commandments. To see them as special people beyond reproach is tantamount to signing them a moral blank cheque. They have their ambition and they can walk over people like any ambitious ruthless guy will do to get to the top. Don’t give them that chance; it is an abdication of your moral responsibility. A word to the wise is enough.

Philip Kobina Baidoo Jnr

London

baidoo_philip@yahoo.co.uk