Pastors should lead exemplary lives
I am deeply saddened by the persistence of some so-called men of God in bringing the image of the pastoral work into utter disrepute with their ignominious attitudes. According to 1 Timothy 3:1, if anyone sets his heart on being a pastor or an overseer, he desires a noble work.
It is common these days to read from the newspapers humiliating headlines such as “Pastor invokes Antoa Nyamaa”, “Pastor impregnates 14-year-old girl”, “Pastor in sex, wee scandal”, “Pastor defrauds woman”, etc.
I usually go off the deep end whenever I come across such disgraceful stories about these fake pastors who seem to have completely lost their conscience. In fact, they have made Christianity unattractive to rational and right-thinking persons.
The kinds of stories those of us in Kumasi hear about some “pastors”, especially on “Nhyira FM’s” programme “Wiase Mu Nsem”, always leave a very sour taste in the mouth. Some of the stories are shocking and incredible!
If this reprehensible situation continues unabated, sooner or later it will not be worth being a pastor, as many people will look at pastors with utter contempt.
The source of this problem is the way several Ghanaians take their own initiatives to become pastors when they do not have any calling from God. Regrettably, these pseudo pastors have filled up the pulpits these days.
According to Titus 1:6-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-9, a pastor must be blameless or not stand accused. He must be of good behaviour, since he cannot preach against wrong behaviour if he himself engages in it.
A pastor must lead by example and exude an orderly life. Pastors are called to a holy life, for which reason they need to depart from sin because wrong conduct hurts the flock and tears down the body of Christ, which is the church.
It is high time these charlatans stopped doing a disservice to the Christian religion by setting good examples. They must ask for God’s grace so that they can carefully guard their hearts against sin. They must read and apply the teachings of the Bible.
The genuine pastors should keep on living up to expectation without getting discouraged by the appalling conduct of the fake ones, for the Almighty God is with them.
Anthony K . Kyei ,
Kumasi .
anthokyei@gmail.com
