Ghanaians have been challenged to live pure lives and by so doing, build a more prosperous nation. The General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Dr. Mensa Otabil , who gave the exhortation said there is too much wrongdoing in the society – corruption and breaking of the law – and that if only Ghanaians will repent and live pure lives, the nation will not require foreign aid to become prosperous. Pastor Otabil who was leading a Crossover worship service of the church at the Accra Sports Stadium to usher in the New Year, also predicted that Ghana will have peaceful elections in the 2012 polls, so much so that people will wonder what is going on, saying it is well with Ghana. He declared the New Year, 2012 as a year of purity, explaining that to live a life of purity, one needs a clean heart, clean thoughts and clean hands. “Our nation Ghana and its neighbours in Africa have struggled for years to build successful, economically viable nations but you and I know that it’s been a very difficult process, and there are many reasons to give for that but I think at the root, or one of the key problems that we have is that there is too much of wrongdoing in all of us – corruption in all of us, there is too much breaking of the law with all of us. If each one of us here live pure, Ghana will be turned around in one year. If each African decides to be honest, to be fair, to be kind, to be generous, if every worker decides they are not going to take a bribe, and every businessman decides they are not going to pay a bribe, and each one of us decides we are going to do our work honestly, we don’t need any foreign aid, we will be able to build our own country.” He said a pure heart, pure thoughts and clean hands make up the character that builds a nation, quoting Jesus Christ from the Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” “All of us want to see God. A pure heart is the heart that sees God. If you want to see God in 2012, then the condition of your heart must be right. A pure heart is a heart that is cleansed from sin. A pure heart is a heart that is in union with God, and Jesus said that those who have a pure heart are blessed, and not only are they blessed, they will see God,” he said. He urged Ghanaians to desire pure hearts and to pray to God to grant them same, while everyone endeavoured to control their thoughts. “Before you do something ask yourself these questions – is it true, is it noble, is it just, is it pure, is it lovely, is it virtuous. When you are talking to somebody ask yourself ‘I’m I telling the truth… If all of us lie to one another, we become a nation of liars and that is not beautiful . We can have oil, we can have diamond, we can have gold, we can have everything we want those commodities do not build a nation, it is the character of the people that builds a nation. Oil is useless if we don’t have a noble character to manage the oil that God has given to us. We can discover all the oil we want in the world , we can have the oil of Saudi Arabia but if we steal all the money, there will be nothing to benefit anybody.” He said while none can claim perfection, we should strive towards it and live above reproach such that there can be no bad report of us, and our testimonies exemplary ones. Pastor Otabil led the congregation to pledge to live pure lives and said 2012 will be an exciting year. “People are worried about the elections of Ghana, I think we’re going to have a very, very peaceful election. It’s going to be so peaceful we will be looking round and say ‘what is happening, it’s too peaceful.’ God is giving this country peace. Peace that passes understanding . Don’t worry about that, God will give us peace. Don’t let your heart be troubled. Don’t fret, your heart, your life, is in God’s hands. It is well with Ghana, it is well with our soul, it is well with our future, it is well with our destiny. The only thing you should worry about is to live in purity before God…”