Bahamas Christian Council President Rev. Dr. Ranford Patterson charged yesterday that too many politicians would sell their souls to get into office.
Speaking at the annual church service for parliamentarians at Zion Baptist Church, Patterson urged the country’s leaders to clean up their acts.
“We must not allow ourselves to do damage to our country that can not be repaired in our effort or desire to become leaders in our country,” he said.
“We spend all our waking hours trying to get ahead, trying to move ahead, trying to be the best that we can be to the detriment of everything else that’s around us.
“Don’t some of us obey the thing called reputation even to the cause of giving in to peer pressure and doing things we know to be wrong? Don’t we obey the thing called materialism even to the loss of our own soul?
“Too many of us run after things. We will sell our souls to get ahead. We will sell our souls to get elected in this election. We will sell our souls to secure jobs, to be invited to major functions in our community even though we know the danger and the damage. But we do it anyhow.”
Patterson said God is not looking for people who will bow to the pressures of life, but people who will bow to God.
He encouraged members of the House of Assembly, Senate and party candidates gathered at the church to put God first.
“Let us not reject God at any cost,” Patterson said. “Let us prove to the rest of the world that The Bahamas is still a God-fearing nation.”
Patterson added that too many leaders allow negative things to happen in the country without repercussions.
“Parliamentarians, there are too many bars in our communities. There are too many web shops in our communities. There are too many children falling through the cracks in our communities. There are too many stuff that we overlook in our community. There is no reverence of the things of God anymore. Anything goes.”
He added that the country needs leaders who will dare to stand up for things that are right instead of trying to be like everyone else.
Patterson said leaders must remember that at the end of the election, they will still have a great country to build.
“I challenge you, while we go into election to put God first. I challenge as you go into this election, let it be a peaceful election. This is a great country; let’s build this country together,” he said.
“Let us call each together. No matter if you’re PLP, FNM or DNA, we are all Bahamians. Let us love each other and let us make this the greatest country in the world as we continue to build what God has given to us.”
Krystel Rolle
The Nassau Guardian
