PASTORS/CHRISTIANS AND POLITICS - My Candid Opinion

 

In our generation it is difficult as a pastor or a religious leader to speak for or against the government or any political party even in the most harmless manner. The reason is obvious: you will be criticised, vilified, insulted, tagged and even have some friends, mentors, or even church members disowning you.

You will also have your good friends and lovers advising you to 'focus on your calling' and allow the politicians to play their 'dirty politics.'

Consequently you will be faced with the decision to either protect your reputation, which is founded on public opinion; or hold on to your integrity, which is founded on your personal conviction and internally true character towards yourself and your God.

If you seek to protect your reputation then you would have to stand aloof for the ship to sink or remain silent or at best play the role of a hypocrite so that 'nobody speaks against' you or call you a fake pastor. If you hold on to your integrity then you have boldly signed in for arrows because the political archers who have been well trained by their paymasters to dig out your past, present, future and even things you know nothing about will never miss their target with their orchestrated arrow heads of lies, insults and propagandas. 

In view of this many Christian leaders and good people have been talked out of the politics of our land, thereby giving room for darkness to prevail in the absence of light. That is why I get sick in my bowls when I hear Christians criticising politicians for going dirty, complaining about the challenges of the nation or ranting over policies that are against our faith. What has the politician done wrong when we blatantly refuse to engage actively in the politics of our land; when we advise our religious leaders against politics and even ask the 'good people' we admire to not do politics because it is dirty?

If politics is dirty then who made it so? I will tell you; we made it so. We who are so clean that we think politics will soil our reputation and so we sacrifice the future of our nation and the destiny of our own children just to protect our personal image. If politics is dirty it is because we whom the Bible calls 'THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD' have decided to keep the lamp meant for brightening the nation under the table of the pulpit. If politics is dirty then it is because we have shirked our civic responsibilities and democratic right to make and unmake governments, rules and policies that do not better the lives of the poor, the voiceless and the helpless in our own communities and sanctuaries. 

If politicians do not recognise our God it is because we have not trained our own godly people to fill political positions because we think politics is a reserved for the occult grandmasters and grandchildren and people initiated into the illuminati. If moral decadence is clouding our national culture then it is because we lock the 'morally sound' folks and mentors in the prison of minding their own business so that they don't become corrupted. 

But what we do forget, sadly, is that whether we participate directly or indirectly, we are all politicians. Whether we engage in national political discourse or not we are all playing politics. Even when you tell your spouse in your bedroom that you like or dislike this or that candidate's policy you are doing politics - let's call it a bedmatics politics. And as long as you vote or even ride your vehicle on a government constructed road or have your child in a government constructed school you are into politics. 

You may not be vociferous, stand in a rally or shout on top of the roof but as long as you belong to a nation or a people or you possess within you an ideological standpoint in nation building you are into the politics of the land.

Therefore, do not let anyone talk you out of sharing your political opinion however and wherever you deem right. Let know one badge you out of criticising or praising the government or government official base on your conviction. And if you have to occupy a public office to serve the nation or lead the masses towards the lighthouse of political progress do so with pride and honour because men like Abraham, David, Solomon, Martin Luther Jnr., etc., were all honest men who stood for God in religious matters and men in political matters. 

#StandSpeakAndDecide4YourNation.

Apostle Abeiku Okai

#IdiYompo

#Anathallo2DWorld