The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, has called on churches to use the pulpit to preach against crime without leaving out messages of peace and spiritual uplift. He said available police records indicated that an increasing number of the people arrested for committing crime were the youth who always blamed the devil for their actions. The IGP, who was delivering a speech at the laying of the foundation stone for the remodeling of the Police Church in Accra on Sunday, said churches could serve as an ideal platform for the dissemination of anti-crime messages. He said crime had become multi-faceted for which reason it required an equally multi-dimensional approach to control, reduce and combat. According to him, one reason people were attracted to crime was the undue and unnecessary glorification of wealth by society, adding, “The time has come for us to show a clear distinction between ill-gotten wealth and wealth that has been genuinely and honestly acquired.” He noted that many people in society virtually worshipped money and wealth, noting that, that phenomenon cut across religious organisations, ethnic groups and professional associations. Mr Quaye asserted that sudden riches obviously proceeded from the commission of serious crimes such as armed robbery, drug trafficking, stealing, embezzlement and Internet fraud, with the perpetrators being adored and elevated to positions of societal prominence. “As Christians, we all hate these crimes and yet we consciously or unconsciously exalt the criminals who commit them by our actions and positive attention. This way, we abandon our religious and traditional values by condoning illegalities and entrenching criminality in our communities, societies and the country. We are sending the wrong signals to our youth that the acquisition of money is all that matters in this world,” he said. The IGP cautioned members of the public to be wary of actions which might result in the breach of the peace, loss of lives and destruction of property as the period of political campaign approached. Preaching the sermon, based on Matthew 7: 24-29, the Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana and Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana; the Most Reverend Prof Emmanuel K. Asante, called on Christians to build their lives on the teachings of Jesus Christ. He said when Jesus was closing his Sermon on the Mount, He told his disciples to build on the rock and not in the sand, adding that every believer was a builder whose life must reflect the teachings of Christ. The Most Rev Prof. Asante said the life of a Christian should be built in a way that responded to the teachings of Jesus Christ because he (Jesus) was the solid rock and all other grounds were sinking sand. According to him, in a Christian’s life there were storms, but the question every Christian should ask himself was whether his anchor would hold in the storms of life. He challenged all to build their lives on Jesus and not on any man-made philosophies. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana