UPDATE: Pastor who flogged youths in church for fornicating speaks out

Bishop Daniel Obinim, the founder and leader of the International Godsway Church said that he was forced to discipline the two after God revealed to him in a vision during prophecy time in his church that the two had not only been engaging in amorous acts but also tried without success to abort a pregnancy which resulted from that. The pastor broke his silence when the video which shows him beating two members of his church for fornication went viral (You can read the story/watch the video here)
In the video, Angel Obinim as he calls himself is seen beating 16-year-old Illiasu and a young girl, Gyasiwaa,14, for having sex. Calls have been made from persons and groups for the arrest of the man of God for abusing the right of the two teenagers. According to Bishop Obinim, the two who are his adopted children have been staying with him for up to eight years and he had been in charge of their upkeep all these years. He told Adom FM’s Kofi Adomah in an exclusive interview that the male, Illiasu has been staying with him since he was eight after his father died while Gyasiwaa has also been staying with him for the past four years. He was forced to take the lady out of school to learn a vocation (makeup) after she told him that he cannot continue with school.

The male on the hand, is still in school and "last week, I even paid his fees of up to GHC76million so he could still be in school." He said he wasn't aware of the amorous relationship between the two due to the nature of his work. He found out for the first time during church service last Wednesday.

"Due to the nature of my work and that of my wife who has also been producing a TV show, we have not been staying at home and hence are unaware of the relationship between them, all I do as a man is to just provide the necessary money for their upkeep…," he said.

"It was during church service that God opened my eyes and I saw that something like that had occurred, so I asked the lady and she said it was true. I was perplexed and queried further to know that if it is true that she is pregnant, and she said that it was true. So I called the boy and asked him, he also confirmed…if God had not revealed this to me I wouldn’t have known that something of that sort was happening…," he added.

Bishop Obinim said he was forced to whip the two because the lady had attempted unsuccessfully to abort the pregnancy.
"The fact that the lady had attempted to abort the pregnancy caused me to discipline them…that is what caused me to quote Proverbs 3:24 which states that: ‘Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them,’ before whipping them…," he said.
Angel Obinim added that he is shocked at the reaction of Ghanaians who are calling for his arrest especially as the "same people would accuse me of killing her for ritual purposes if she dies through the attempt at aborting a pregnancy"

"I disciplined them as I would do to my own child…," he said, adding that he would not allow the pregnant lady to commit abortion.

"As I speak the two children are still staying with me but I don’t know what to do, I don’t know whether I should sack them or not, their parents are here begging me but I still don’t know what to do because as a Pastor I won’t permit the lady to abort the pregnancy…," he said.

Bishop Obinim also described persons and groups who are calling for his arrest and punishment as ones who are not ‘more sensible than God’. God would not have showed the vision of their amorous act in public if he did not want him to punish them openly, he insisted.

Source: Ghana News Agency