This article is rated T for Transcendent. It is for those who have a faith in God. Any other person can please click here to read about Shatta Wale’s latest antics.
Otherwise, let’s all settle down, sober down and those standing should – yes.
You can be right in criticising Otabil and still be wrong. And you can be very wrong in defending Otabil and still be right. The heart of the matter is your heart.
A person of faith is a man driving a car with two side mirrors – the left one is called democracy, the other is called theocracy. So when he has a democratic view he must check the other side mirror for theocratic approval.
If you are not a person of faith, well your car has one mirror called democracy. Try that car on the N1 Highway.
And this is the problem we have in this Otabil debate, Some of the critics are one-mirrored drivers angry at reckless driving on the road to Capital bank.
They are right but you can see how so clearly they are wrong. This does not apply to Otabil alone. If you find something special about any man in his walk with God, this applies to him too.
The first test of the critic is not his facts but his emotions. The first test of the defender is not his emotions but his facts.
Put it simply, the most important thing in this debate is where does your loyalty lie.
Because a Christian has checked his heart and put it in the right place, he is free to even denounce Otabil. But if you have not determined your loyalty, you are very wrong if your criticism is very spot on.
This is how God sees this whole debate. This how small boys like David gained a throne while his big and better brothers were denied.
A stricken Job was free to taken God on fiercely because he had determined his loyalty to HIM. It was his friends who defended God but got his anger because all their words in defence sounded to God like an attack.
If you don’t like this God example. This one will help. Suppose a an army commander has lost a war say through his poor tactics, two captains rush back to camp to report the disaster to the General.
One man who has an anti-war philosophy told the General – ‘I am sorry to say, we have lost the war’.
One who has a pro-war philosophy also say ‘ I am sorry to say, we have lost the war’.
Now, who will the General take in kindly? They all stated the same facts, but the distraught General will also consider their feelings.
And he would say, although they both told the truth, one of them still lied. One of them is not sorry.
Once your heart is in the right place, you are free to get angry and go wild on Otabil. Once a door is hinged, it is free to swing backwards and forward with careless abandon.
So Christians who have found strong words for Otabil must look for their heart. If he has a good heart for the man he is free to call his ways at Capital bank bad.
The problem with the #IStandwithOtabil is that. How do I say this…what’s the word for.. no not that word…the.. naa not that word too ….yah the hashtag is – NEEDLESS.
The weapons of a Christian are not carnal and they are not hashtags. Those who truly want to stand with Otabil must kneel. They must kneel with him in prayer. And those who really stand with him this way ought not tell the whole world about it.
This #IstandwithOtabil has the same spirit of NPP’s Delta Force vigilantism which those who are standing condemned when they learnt that NPP activists stormed a court to free their own.
You could say Otabil has not been accused of any crime. But that is to feel frustrated because citizens want to hold police officers to higher standards than gangs.
When Noah got drunk, his children covered his nakedness. But this hashtag will only expose Otabil and the Christian community to harsh criticisms. This hashtag is harsh.
We don’t know details of Otabil’s role in the Capital bank collapse. Our best Our best bet in the absence of fresh facts is that a great mentor has been let down by a terrible mentee. This is our best bet.
Otabil is not above criticism. He is only above his critics. It doesn’t matter how mean these criticisms are when a country has lost 610million cedis meant to rescue a bank.
The thing some people don’t get is that fiercest critics have a great role to play in a Christian’s life. They are like Paul’s thorns and Paul was bold enough to hand a a backsliden Christian to Satan so that his flesh is disciplined.
Critics who have their heart in the wrong place and Satan have very important role in God’s plan for all of us. After their work is done, God does not say to them thank you. Because nobody finishes eating and thanks spoons.
So let them work. Let them work, for while they may aim to destroy, the unconscious result is that they save.
This is Otabil’s fire. Let him walk in it and you – sit down or kneel down or lie down but don’t stand with hastags.
E-Lab has read some comparisons with how Christians would have acted if it was Obinim.
Well, this is not supposed to be a long article. One of the things a Christian must never have difficulty in identifying is false teachers. But he can have a difficulty in identifying a faulty teaching.
E-Lab is yet to understand how a Christian can watch Obinim, hear Obinim, read Obinim and still have a difficulty in seeing how he is a false teacher.
READ: Ghanaians must leave regulation of churches to religious bodies – Ex President
Somebody will read this is say hypocrisy. But the real problem here is colorblindess.
Somebody will read this and say E-Lab is judging. But the real problem is poor lessons in agriculture. If a farmer cannot judge weedlings from seedlings, the whole village will go hungry.
God is the judge, Christians are his jury and jurors can study evidence and determine guilt. It is the sentencing that they must leave to God.
READ: Ghanaians must leave regulation of churches to religious bodies – Ex President
There are real victims in this bank crisis and good Christianity must show extraordinary sensitivity for those down the ladder. This hashtag is an insulting diversion. It is a corrupted meaning of loyalty whose proper label is sycophancy.
Let the godless critics go on. We have told them their car has a one sided mirror on this N1 road to Capital Bank.
But they won’t mind us until the frontpage story the next day reads RECKLESS DRIVING LEAVES SCORES DEAD.
