I have the feeling that we have all suddenly woken up to realise that a certain young man has all along taken the whole country for a ride. People were skeptical about some healing claims but nobody raised a finger. Or was it a case of who will bell the cat? Well, there are still funny claims going on by other people. Any lessons? The otherwise popular and charismatic Bishop Obinim has made the headlines for the wrong reasons in the last few weeks. The story is now common and needs no recounting. Since then I have not read or heard a single charitable comment about this young man. Where are the numerous people he claimed to have helped? Invectives and innuendos have poured on him. Obinim's biography Like probably all Ghanaians, I was tempted to say 'shame unto him' until I read his short biography on page 4 of Saturday August 20, issue of The Spectator when I revised my position. This biography was in a story by a Spectator Reporter titled ‘Bishop Obinim's Pastoral Journey.' It traced how Bishop Obinim, as post-JHS apprentice at a printing press at Fante New Town in Kumasi in 1996, had persistent dreams and inner urges which convinced him that he had a calling for the work of God. In the dreams 'he saw himself heal people, prophesy, preach and minister to people'. He consequently enrolled in a Bible school and after graduation he got himself attached to an established church. In the church Obiniin's exceptional prayerfulness, healing gifts and prophetic mission were recognised, the story continues. He was made a leader of the prayer group there. After a while he changed for another church where those qualities were again recognised and, once again, he was made a leader of the prayer group there. Later he went on his own to establish his church. We understand from Bishop Agyin-Asare that Obinim submitted himself to the former for mentorship though Obinim later, by his conduct, gave reason for Bishop Agyin-Asare to wash his hands off him. All along in his priesthood many found Bishop Obinim a person with a special spiritual gift to interpret dreams aside healing the afflicted. A man of God? What we learn from the biography is that Obinim did not all of a sudden spring up from nowhere to claim he was a 'man of God'. He had what he and others of his religious persuasion believe was a calling of God. And this seems to be one of the ways all 'men of God' have claimed they had their calling. Thereafter Obinim went through formal training and informal tutelage to prepare himself for his role. Whether the preparation was adequate or not, we do not know and is a different story. The story also does not tell us about his behaviour and his sense of morality those days but my assumption is that he gave nobody any reason to be suspicious of his conduct. That to me settles the question of whether before the infamous conduct, Obinim was working with the power of God or not. I am not necessarily vouching for the truth in the claims of his 'resurrection: powers or even of his healing capability generally. A theological puzzle But Obinim's situation presents a theological puzzle. Assuming he Was working with the spirit of God could the gift of God be with somebody whose conduct is anything but godly? I think the answer is yes. How? Because we need to make a distinction between gift and reward or award. Gift is an unmerited bestowment or conferment that has nothing to do with the individual's effort whereas reward or award is a bestowment or conferment in appreciation of, or as a prize for an individual's efforts like virtues and obedience to God. The power of healing could be a gift much as it could be a reward for spirituality and religiosity, and for the possession of virtues. Uri Geller is an Israeli now living in US. He has teleKinetic powers (power to bend metallic objects or move them around without touching them.) Such a person could still retain his powers in spite of any unfortunate behaviour. Football talent is a gift just as healing power could be a gift. A talented or gifted footballer could be insolent, womaniser and disrespectful and still play his football very well, the gift does not depart from him as a result of his conduct. But where the power is a reward, then the power could be withdrawn if the behaviour is untoward or he reneges on the effort that earned him the prize. An example of Samson So Obinim could still possess his healing powers in spite of his behaviour and that does not mean God approves what he has done. You remember the case of Sampson of the Bible. His gift of strength did not depart from him just because he had gone for the infidel of Delilah in violation of the explicit scriptural instructions to the contrary. The strength remained till his secret was divulged to the woman who subsequently cut his hair. So Obinim behaving that way is no proof that he was not using the power of God, contrary to the popular assertion now. Rev. Eastwood Anaba seems to confirm my point in his 'love revolution' sermons. He makes a distinction between the gift of preaching and gift of healing on one hand and the conduct of impacting positively on people's lives with love and other such worthy behaviours. That is, one could still heal while his conduct is offensive. Handling fame and glory What may have happened to Obinim was that he was unable to handle the fame and glory that came to him so early in life. That is the lesson, that the higher one goes, the greater the temptation and the greater the impact of the fall if one falls. The height of glory is directly proportional to the depth of one's humility. Obinim had the fame, glory and riches early in life and this went reason to be suspicious of his conduct. That to me settles the question of whether before the infamous conduGt Obinim was working with the power of God or not. I am not necessarily vouching for the truth in the claims of his 'resurrection powers or even of his healing capability generally. A theological puzzle But Obinim's situation presents a theological puzzle. Assuming he was working with the spirit of God could the gift of God be with somebody whose conduct is anything but godly? I think the answer is yes. How? Because we need to make a distinction between gift and seward or award. Gift is an unmerited bestowment or conferment that has nothing to do with the individual's effort whereas reward or award is a bestowment or conferment in appreciation of, or as a prize for, an individual's efforts like virtues and obedience to God. The power of healing could be a gift much as it could be a reward for spirituality and religiosity, and for the possession of virtues. Uri Geller is an Israeli now living in US. He has teleKinetic powers (power to bend metallic objects or move them around without touching them.) Such a person could still retain his powers in spite of any unfortunate behaviour. Football talent is a gift just as healing power could be a gift. A talented or gifted footballer could be insolent, womaniser and disrespectful and still play his football very well, the gift does not depart from him as a result of his conduct. But where the power is a reward, then the power could be withdrawn if the behaviour is untoward' or he reneges on the effort that earned him the prize. An example of Samson So Obinim could still possess his healing powers in spite of his behaviour and that does not mean God approves what he has done. You remember the case of Sampson of the Bible. His gift of strength did not depart from him just because he had gone for the infidel of Delilah in violation of the explicit scriptural instructions to the contrary. The strength remained till his secret was divulged to the woman who . subsequently cut his hair. So Obinim behaving that way is no proof that he was not using the power of God, contrary to the popular assertion now. Rev. Eastwood Anaba seems to confirm my point in his 'love revolution' sermons. He makes a distinction between the gift of preaching and gift of healing on one hand and the conduct of impacting positively on people's lives with love and other such worthy behaviours. That is, one could still heal while his conduct is offensive. Handling fame and glory What may have happened to Obinim was that he was unable to handle the fame and glory that came to him so early in life. That is the lesson, that the higher one goes the greater the temptation and the greater the impact of the fall if one falls. The height of glory is directly proportional to the depth of one's humility. Obinim had the fame, glory and riches early in life and this went into his head and he began to show pride and disrespect - as the story making the rounds says. He began to feel he was the favour of God and could do as he pleased. The temptations came as he saw all the young women coming to him and he responded positively. Obinim himself may have felt that if God did not approve of his new conduct God would have withdrawn his healing powers but he was pleasantly surprised that he still retained the capability. That must have convinced him that either God was not looking, or if he looked he approved of the conduct, or that God favoured him so much that any immorality was trivial to God, or that after all it was no sin. So he continued and felt too big to heed any advice including that of his own chosen mentors like Bishop Agyin-Asare. So on and on he went till his cup got full. Small experience, big lesson It is important to note that life can use a small experience to teach a big lesson and a big experience to teach a small lesson. For example the small lesson of 'don't drive while on your mobile phone', or 'if you drive don't drink and if you drink don't drive' could be taught to us, through the big experience of a fatal accident in which the recalcitrant driver loses all his family members. Such a driver will definitely not drink and drive again or drive while on phone. Obinim is probably being taught by providence the small lesson of 'humility', 'learn to keep your zip closed' and 'learn to be patient' using the huge embarrassment of the last few weeks. One hopes that he has learnt his lesson if he has any sense of remorse and therefore we should be a little more charitable in our chastisement. Unfortunately, however, his conduct and pronouncements in the period of his bail do not indicate remorse and change. Now here is my main point of this article. Obinim could be seeing the beginning of his end if not already the end and that would be tragic for a young man of only 33 years of age. On the other hand he could be helped to be useful to himself, to the society and to the nation as a whole if we manage his situation well and that is the subject 0f this article, that we manage him well. Psychological trauma First and foremost, Obinim must be the most traumatised person in the country now. He should suspend his church activities for now so his other pastors can hold the fort for him. While the due process of the law is taking its course, my suggestion is that alongside or shortly thereafter, Obinim needs a clinical psychologist's counselling for his psychological trauma. As part of the counselling, he will be made to realise the full implications of his conduct and to chart the way forward for himself. Thereafter, Obinim is to shut himself up for one month, retreat in prayerful meditation as his former mentor Bishop Agyin-Asare recommended. After that Obinim will need to go and demonstrate his remorse to Bishop Agyin-Asare and the other apostles who initially arbitrated in his case, and then appeal to them to intercede for him to apologise to his wronged junior pastor and his wife. Then an arbitration should be set in process at which due compensation is to be discussed. Low profile church services Then let Obmim recommence his church activities in low profile outside the media attention. If he has truly repented and learnt his lesson he will most likely begin to rise again, this time in all humility rather than in pride, respecting his church members and the senior members in the ministry knowing now that they have struggled hard to keep their level headedness. I think this exercise is useful, for Bishop Obinim may have been helping a certain segment of the society who felt he was meeting and fulfilling their spiritual and emotional needs according to their belief. As for the child (the junior pastor's son) I believe that his inability to walk and speak is most likely from cerebral palsy rather than any¬thing to do with Obinim. But the megalomania (in the lay sense, not as a technical diagnosis) in Obinim got him to claim that of which he was innocent. The story going around said the mother had a prolonged and difficult labour and that could have led to the newborn baby not having enough oxygen to feed his brain and that resulted in cerebral palsy and mental retardation. Such a child may not be able to walk and will be intellectually sub-normal. The parents will need to visit the hospital. But, of course, if Obinirn can use his 'healing powers,' surely he must do it immediately. Whoever knows Obinim may pass on this article to him for his readership or explain the content to him.