DUNCAN-WILLIAMS OUTDOORS ROSA...as the Bible is turned on its head

But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commiteed adultery Matthew 5:32

Ms. Rosa Whittaker, the African American consultant told The Chronicle on Saturday after the controversial remarriage “I feel good about it, I feel it is a manifestation of God's prophecy, I think our marriage will be a testimony to what I can do when two people come together for a purpose, I feel very good about it”.

This was a full day before the founder of Action Faith International, the controversial Arch Bishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, introduced her to the church, and affirmed his belief in the sanctity of marriage.

“After many temptations, I have decided to remarry and settle down”, he said amid cheers from the congregation who were obviously showing their support for his decision.

Speaking at the headquarters of the church at Spintex road in Accra, yesterday, he announced that his wedding was a very simple and private one, which was held in his residence in the United States of America.

She responded to a question about how prepared she was to marry a man alleged to be a man of God, “I think that with God all things are possible and he certainly won't give you something that he won't make a provision for, so I plan to create the kind of refuge at home to enable my husband do what he does even better. I plan to support his work and ministry and I plan to let our union be a testimony to God's glory and spend our lives in kingdom building.”

He continued that before her association with the Arch Bishop, she was very active in the church and involved herself in ministry work, and as part of her work she has spent about 25 years in Africa alleviating poverty, though she did not indicate the money she made in the process.

The maariage to Duncan Williams was the first for her at the ripe age of fourty 'something'. “As part of my God given assignment, we have successfully initiated and executed a number of projects in Africa that have created a lot of jobs for people, a lot of support for families, I think my job and my marriage are for the same purpose,” she added.

Rosa disclosed her love for Ghana by stressing that before her marriage, she had begun to come to Ghana as far back as 1995, supporting projects in Ghana and being part of the development of this nation and that she plans to spend a lot of time in Ghana.

Talking about her background, she indicated that she was from Washington D.C and was a career Diplomat living in Abidjan and when she left Abidjan she used to visit Ghana a lot.

When she left Abidjan, she went back to the US to work for the Congress and when she left there she went to the White House to work under President Clinton's reign and remained there until President Bush assumed power, where she was the Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, in 2003.

She later set up her own company, The Whitaker Group, a premier US consulting firm that facilitates trade, investment and commerce in Africa.

She emphasized that her company was working on a number of projects in Ghana and it was through their influence that they brought to Ghana, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Kosmos Energy LL, the company which discovered oil in Ghana recently, and that today she is bringing a company to make investment in the garment sector, stressing that she is currently working on half a billion dollar grant to Ghana from US.

She concluded that when she was doing all these things she never had an idea that God had a different purpose for her in Ghana and would give her such a surprise.

The Arch Bishop, on Sunday before his congregation urged them that his cross was different from theirs, so they should not compare their situation to his.

He maintained that he had done enough research and had come to the conclusion that with every statement that Jesus made and the major subjects of the Bible, there were two schools of thought.

“Having ministered for 30years, where I handled similar situations, it is with a lot of grace, I had to come to a decision whether I was going to go the grace way or the legalistic way, so it was a matter of which school of thought you belong to,” he dilated

He was of the view that the church was conversant about his predicament with his old marriage, emphasizing that he had looked at many options and which way to go because every decision has its implications.

He recommended to the church to read a book authored by Derek Prince entitled 'God is a match maker', which delivers sound arguments on the subject matter, but again surprisingly failed to recommend the Scripture, the True word of God.

Duncan-Williams advised that there were some things that were not planned but if they happen, one must develop courage to move on.

Meanwhile, Rosa has cautioned critics of her husband who claim it is a sin to remarry that it is not a bother to their marriage.

According to the consultant, “To me God has made provisions under such circumstances because there are some notions and there are others who do not agree with that but I don't think it is necessary to go into a protracted debate because there are too many things to do in the kingdom.”

“I think with the issues of purpose of remarriage, it is the personal pursuit with God and certainly I am confident and comfortable because I know my husband is from God, I hear from God and I am comfortable that we are in God's world, there are others who may not agree and there may be some who agree,” she elaborated

She cited a famous author, Albert Camus, who once said, “You will never be happy if you are concerned about what others think and I believe in that, so I am not concerned about what others think. I am only concerned about what God thinks”.

Rosa spoke to The Chronicle in an interview on Saturday, after the commemoration of an electricity project costing over Gh¢ 20,000 that she had executed in an orphanage school in the Eastern Region, Baptist School Complex (BASCO), a school that her husband has already invested Gh ¢40,000. Earlier Arch Bishop Duncan Williams promised to help the Baptist School Complex with a borehole at a cost of $8500. When quizzed about where and when she met Duncan Williams, probably a question that Ghanaians would want to be addressed, she intimated that they met at the altar of God long ago, but could not recall the exact time.