Website (2)

The Easter El Classico: Love Vs Hatred

by with No Comment ArticlesTop Stories

The super titanic Easter clash between Love and Hatred happens to be the grand finale between the sides. Also dubbed “The Easter El Classico”, it is the Hatred people suffer for the simple reason of casting their vote for the Lord Jesus Christ. One can view it as the persecution of believers for their faith in Christ. Having lost by convincing margins in the first three matches in my last three articles in succession, Hatred marshals all its arsenals in the final deicidal and titanic clash with Love. The winner of this encounter settles the matter for good, thereby making the second league in Love’s home a mere formality. Before kick-off, their respective National anthems, team sheets and mottos are as displayed below.

Team Sheet of Love: Patience, Kindness, Humility, Hope, Perseverance, Truth, Trust, Peace, Joy, goodness, Self-Control, Faith, Resurrection Power, Selflessness, Respect, Forgiveness, Forbearance, gentleness, Unity, Compassion, Fasting, Prayer and faithfulness.

Team Sheet of Hatred: Anger, Envy, Jealousy, Pride, Slander, Selfish Ambition, Unforgiving spirit, Strife, Bitterness, Worldliness, Wickedness, Hypocrisy, Greed, Dishonesty, Lies, Nepotism, Rebellion, Death, factions, witchcraft, Propaganda, Tribalism and racism.

NATIONAL ANTHEM OF LOVE

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

MOTTO OF LOVE: NOT I, BUT CHRIST

NATIONAL ANTHEM OF HATRED

I will give you all the Kingdoms of the world and their splendor if only you will bow to me and worship me. (Matthew 4:8-9).

MOTTO OF HATRED: FOLLOW YOUR HEART DESIRES.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, His star arose, and the magi followed on to worship Him. King Herod heard it, and together with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they became disturbed (Matthew 2:4). Herod and the people’s rage at His birth explains the hatred the world powers, and its subjects have for all who access the new birth in Christ Jesus. It is, therefore, an automatic and challenging game all believers of Christ Jesus will necessarily have to honour in the days that follow their repentance until they join their maker. In essence, the day one confesses Christ is the day of exchanging pleasantries to play against the side of Hatred. Even as Christ suffered Hatred at His birth, lifetime and death, so would all who His followers suffer the same. In Matthew 2:7-12, Hatred attempted to score an offside goal against Love through a wicked pass from Deception to Lies. King Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared and said to them, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him.”

The bench of Love, after this scare, signalled his players to tighten the midfield and make Wisdom the lone striker to sustain the pressure. Jesus’ parents, therefore, had to run away unceremoniously during the night to Egypt with Him. When Herod or Hatred realized the planned early offside goal did not work, all males below the age of two years were killed, thinking Jesus could be one of them. The constant stay of Jesus in Bethlehem during the time would have resulted in more massacres of innocent lives just because of Hatred. Believers are, therefore, to watch the Holy Spirit or the bench for the right signals when Hatred starts his incursions due to our newly found faith in Christ. 

We must avoid some of his wicked and offensive crosses by moving into empty spaces. Out of sight could be the wisest thing in dealing with Hatred. Herod could not have killed Jesus, but His continuous stay in Bethlehem in those early days of the game would have caused a lot of innocent lives and confusion. Wisdom is what prevailed in that strategic retreat of Jesus and His parents to Egypt. The scoreboard credited Hatred by an early goal owing to Love’s escape to Egypt. In like manner, the spillover of Hatred’s incursions on us and innocent lives may warrant a relocation or transfer for a while according to God’s direction. Love scored their equalizer when King Herod died, and an Angel instructed  Jesus and His parents to return home and pitch their camp in Nazarite in the District of Galilee. The scoreline was, therefore, 1-1. (Matt 2:13-15; 19-21). On their return from Egypt, the District and particular locality to lodge were all sanctioned and approved by God. In this grand finale, Love was playing with Hatred; every careless move or loss of concentration would be at the peril of their own lives.

If God, in His wisdom, could orchestrate a temporal transfer of His begotten Son to manage Hatred’s fury? What makes us think we can survive in his continual presence even when the Holy Spirit suggests otherwise for us? In like manner, Joseph’s continual stay with the level of his brothers’ hatred for him in Cannan would have spelt doom for him and the entire family. The Bible says the more he spoke to them, the more hate they developed for him (Genesis 37:4-5). As believers, let us allow God to hide us for a while under the shadow of His wings when the storm of Hatred begins to hit hard at our boats.

With the stadium packed to total capacity and burnt on satisfying his home fans with the bragging rights, Hatred resorted to a compact play luring Love to his half and relying on counterattacks. Imploring all manner of tactics and foul play, the bankroller of Hatred started engaging some three critical players of Love to compromise them by playing the game soft for his side. They were Fasting, Humility and Obedience. This was the temptation for Jesus to turn stone into bread, throw Himself down to show off His powers and be offered material wealth and power in return for bowing in worship to him (Matt 4:1-8). Love, however, prevailed in all of these three attempts and was credited to them as goals. The scoreline became 4-1 in their favour just before halftime.

Then comes the argument of some scholars who argue it was Jesus’ presentation style that courted for Himself unwarranted attacks of hatred during the days of His earthly ministry. Have you also fallen to this propaganda? Of course, Yes, He tackled Hypocrisy, Paganism, Phariseeism, False Prophetism and False Teachings that were prevalent during His day. (Matt 6:2-7, 7:15, 23:13-33). Although Jesus’ head-on collision in the air with these players of Hatred put Him in harm’s way, it has become a blessing to all today and helped sharpened theological discourse for generations. Of what use will Truth be to the side of Love if he isn’t given any pass on the field of play? Why must he be denied playtime due to the possible mudslinging campaign against him from Hatred and his supporters in the stands? Some will still hate you for the imports of your submission and not the style of your presentation. None of us can pretend to be more gentle than Jesus Christ. No amount of sugar-coating of the truth will sound comfortable in the ears of a defective  heart engulfed with Hatred.

One other source of hatred for believers is our good deeds. When our lights shine before men, and the glory to God ascends on high, the devil throws lower the belts blows at us. One day, Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath. Instead of busing the sick in Jerusalem to be healed, the Pharisees met and plotted how to kill Him. Are you still at a loss as to why your good deeds have attracted so much hatred against you? Jesus realizing the presence of wickedness on the side of Hatred, withdrew wisely from the scene. Wisdom was, therefore, doing most of the running on the pitch at the resumption of the second half. In Matthew 26:3-4, the Chief Priest and his cohorts designed another plot to kill Jesus but this time using one of the goalkeeper trainers in the Love team in the person of Judas Iscariot. Without leaving any stone unturned, Hatred conspired with all the influential secular and religious gurus of the day and managed to bribe his way by compromising some vital inner supporters of Love.

They offered Judas a bribe to influence his goalkeeper to pretend and allow an own against his side. Unfortunately, Judas accepted the bribe and looked for the slightest opportunity to betray his side. As believers, let’s not be surprised if close associates strangely begin to behave unusually around us. The bankroller of Hatred might have compromised them. As stated earlier, the side of Hatred has no respect for fair play on his home grounds and will, therefore, resort to unorthodox moves when he is getting frustrated on the field of play. After taking the bribe, Judas hypocritically asked Jesus whether he was the one going to betray Him. He asked Jesus, “hope am not the one.” Jesus or the side of Love, however, maintained their focus and concentration and avoided any needless banter and arguments with the referee. As Hypocrisy and Lies were mounting pressure, the technical bench of Love pulled Prayer from the defence to lead the attack in the last quarter of the regulation time (Matthew 26:36-46).

Resorting to arguments, writing Memos and fighting for equal rights and justice is a game strategy the devil lures us to play when the going gets tough for him. That is what suits his game plan. So Jesus was smart to remind Peter not to fall to Satan’s game strategy when the latter cut off the ear of Malchus with his sword during the former’s arrest (John 18:10-11). Peter had dozed off at the 3hr marathon prayer at Gethsamane, so his reaction to the sword of hatred was not surprising. As believers, prayer must rise with increasing hatred, hypocrisy and provocation. When Jesus was arrested, the scoreboard credited Hatred with a goal bringing the scoreline to 4-2. In Matthew 26:67, the soldiers spat on Jesus’ face and slapped Him. The board turned 4-3, and when the pressure was mounting, Love withdrew Prayer to play just behind gentleness and Forbearance. The Bible says in Matthew 26:63a, “But Jesus remained silent.”

During Jesus’ interrogation and before His crucifixion, Judas, who betrayed him, committed suicide out of remorse and the scoreboard credited Love with that goal against Hatred. “When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. I have sinned, he said, for I have betrayed innocent blood. What is that to us? They replied. That’s your responsibility. So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:1-10). It is instructive to learn that the “Judases” die before the “Jesuses” they betray for material possessions or favours from people in authority even in this life. Is it possible for people to bribe believers and compromise them to do the devil’s bidding? Unfortunately, Yes! If Judas, one of the chosen Apostles, could crumble under human influence, authority and the Socio-religious gurus of his day, we must all be on our guard.

A few thought-provoking questions; Where was Judas when Jesus took his colleague Apostles to pray on Mount Olives? Because he came with the soldiers to arrest Jesus. How come he was the only one the Chief Priest and his men contacted for negotiations as to how best Jesus could be handed over to them? How come the Teachers of the Law and the scribes liked and trusted him, but the Bible called him a thief in John 12:6? How come Judas could still manage to be with his colleague Apostles but still maintain close links with the Chief Priests and those opposed to Jesus’ ministry at the time? Was he trying to impress his society as a person with a balanced spiritual and socio-political lifestyle?

Be it as it may, the end of Judas is a lesson for believers of today who, for societal acceptance, tries to conform and adjust themselves to suit worldly expectation and Christian standards. One cannot be in Abraham’s bosom and lie on Delilah’s lap at the same time. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? Love was leading Hatred by two goals (i.e. 5-3), but this lead was all cancelled when the people flogged Him and began shouting “crucify Him”. At the 5-5 scoreline, the 4th referee displayed five additional minutes to cater for the injury time. In anticipation of the match entering extra time, both technical benches decided to make their last substitution for the few minutes left. Hatred removed Anger and brought on Death, whiles Love removed Peace and introduced Resurrection Power. Forgiveness picked a pass from Patience in the centre half, gave it Wisdom, dribbled one, and sent a deep cross into Hatred’s “18” yard box, but Death did not know what to do with the ball in the air, and so handled it with his hands. The referee close to the action whistled for a professional foul against Hatred and issued a red card to Death (Matthew 27:62-66). Death had mistakenly laid its icy hands on the Lord Jesus Christ, and just afterwards, the Temple curtains tore from top to bottom. “From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (Matthew 27:45). The stadium gate was, thus, opened freely for all who were listening to the proceedings outside the walls to enter and watch the last minutes of the game. Whiles some of Hatred’s supporters were jubilating in the stands, others were uncomfortable sitting on edge due to the position of the infringement awarded to Love.

Hatred formed his defence wall with all his remaining ten players on the field apart from their goalkeeper. Their supporters in the VIP stands made up of the Chief Priest, Teachers of the Law, Pharisees, Pilate and the Roman Soldiers all stood their feet to inspire them so they could send the game into extra time. The side of Love began discussing who and how to kick that ball. Frustration had set in the supporters of Love, whiles the side of Hatred wished the game ran into extra time because they were exhausted. The referee positioned the ball at the spot, and Resurrection Power from the side of Love got close, touched the ball and positioned it well while everyone stood with some praying and others singing. Due to the tense nature of the last minutes and the fear of the home side maltreating them, Peter, John and the other disciples of Christ left the stadium to listen to their radio outside the stadium.

Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary seated at the centre line kept their gauze on the last kick of the game. Resurrection looked at the human wall of Hatred, went back and fired a supersonic shot that went straight into the net of Hatred. When Peter and John heard Mary and the other Women screaming GOALLL!, John outrun Peter back to the stadium and onto the pitch for jubilation (John 20:4). “He is not here; He has risen, just as he said…” was the lyrics of the jubilant supporters of Love (Matt 28:6).The referee then blew his last whistle to bring the game to a close. Resurrection Power’s strike became the winning goal in that tense and difficult battle to win Love the eternal bragging rights over Hatred even on his home soil. Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14 that if Christ did not resurrect, Believers would have been the most miserable of all. That goal and the victory automatically opened the door for the non-suspecting supporters of Hatred to join their counterparts in Love by removing their replica jerseys and paraphernalia and replacing them with those of Love. The resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead has given Love a permanent edge over Hatred now and forever. Though the last game between the sides was a thorny one, Love in the person of Christ has forever subdued Hatred and will therefore beat him at any given day and time. Let us, therefore, Love as believers because God is Love.

Joseph’s brothers bowed to him and he became the Prime Minister of Egypt. King Saul had committed suicide at the time of David’s inauguration as Israel’s King. Haman and his ten sons were hanged on the gallows he designed and constructed for Mordecai. The hatred Christ suffered which ended up in His crucifixion is what has reconciled humankind to God their maker. Love has, therefore, stamped his authority over Hatred for good and swallowed him up in victory. It will, however, be realized in the four write ups that no one can avoid clashing with Hatred in this  life. If you manage to prevent him within the family setting, you will meet him in Church. If you swerve him in the body of Christ, you are most likely to clash with him at the workplace or in your organization. It is all because of the decision you have made for Christ and never to go the world’s way anymore. No matter how difficult the first leg appears here where Hatred is playing home, Love, the visitors always has an edge over Hatred. Instead of becoming exhausted and frustrated with such encounters, let us rather be encouraged in the strength and winning power Love has over the fighting spirit of Hatred. At the return league on Love’s home soil which will also be the coronation game at the culmination of the age, it will be all joy because every hassling, sweat and tears from our eyes will be wiped away (Revelations 21:4).

God will decorate Love with his trophy and Hatred, his bankroller, and his supporters gnashing their teeth. You do not deserve to gnash your teeth with satan and his fallen angels, who are the Architects of all hatred. If hatred has taken over your life, please repent and allow Love, which is God in Christ Jesus, to flow through your spirit and soul. God bless you.

Written by Pastor James Orhin Agyin (j.orhinagyin20@icloud.com)

Sister-Osinachi-Nwachukwu

The Sudden Death Of Sister Osinachi Nwachukwu And Matters Arising: My Take

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsYouth Ministry

After keenly following discussions on this particular story that has got social media buzzing for the past number of days, I have decided to pour in my bit. It is so disturbing to get to know that the news announcing the passing away of Sister Osinachi Nwachukwu, a renowned Nigerian gospel musician who shook the world with her most anointed music ministry, is true, at least according to social media. There is this thing about social media: you don’t trust it when the news just pours in and when it is quite scattered, but you can trust it when the news is sustained for a long time, and it keeps flooding on everyone’s page. Well, the latter has been the case of the alleged death of our beloved Sister Osinachi.

It is reported that the death of this renowned gospel artiste of 42 years occurred in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Friday 8th April 2022, after being hospitalized for some few days. Social media said she had continually been abused and brutalized by her husband, and that what rushed her to the hospital at which she died was a physical assault, the husband allegedly giving her boots at her chest. Rightly, these facts must be professionally confirmed beyond the claims of social media.  

This notwithstanding, the sudden death of Sister Osinachi, if it is true, and the surrounding issues that shroud it, particularly about the possible causation of the death, leave all of us disturbed. So many questions keep lurking at the back of one’s mind as one thinks about this development. For us as Christians, some of these questions are: Was she a powerful woman of God as we supposed or at least see in her music ministrations? If yes could God not have saved her? Where is God in all of this? Is it the will of God that we stay in abusive marriages and suffer a painful death like hers? When is divorce permissible for a Christian? What lessons can be drawn from this episode?

Well, these, sincerely, are tough questions, and no man can justly answer all of them to a satisfactory end. Plainly, it must be pointed out that all answers lie with God before Whom everything is naked, and before Whom all humankind will stand to give account of their deeds someday, including all they did in secret – whether good or bad. This aside, who can justifiably and comprehensively deal with a case concerning the dead? They themselves know the full details. Unfortunately, they pass on with the fine details. Also, the fact that, as social media again tells us, the husband has been arrested, (and I even read a friend’s post wishing that the husband rots in jail), means the case is on its way to be categorized as a criminal matter, at least officially. In that case we all must be careful how we dance ourselves into the story.

However, the many questions this particular development poses, especially to young people on social media, demands that we speak to it. I will therefore try to give some attention to some of the questions I posed above, which I consider to be the most-heated ones, at least in the minds of many young people, even if not bespoken. It may be a somehow long read but I bet that it will be worthwhile if one is patient with me.

First, was Sister Osinachi Nwachukwu really a Christian and that powerful a woman of God as we see her portray in her music ministry? Well, I think after watching one, two, or three of her music videos everyone will answer this for themselves. Undoubtedly, this was a woman of God backed by Heaven. Once her mouth was opened behind the microphone, the power of Heaven engulfed the atmosphere leaving many arrested by the power of God. In her popular “The Cry You Will Cry” ministration video for instance, one sees how God takes over and rends the hearts of her immediate audience in the room. People are seen in that video sobbing, weeping, and showing other physical evidential signs of repentance. She herself is always wrapped in the lyrics of the song – she carries herself, supposedly, to the very Presence of God where she pours her heart out in deep worship. Unlike some artistes, it is clear Sister Osinachi does not come across as a fans pleaser but a deep worshipper who, one can sense, carefully ascribes all the glory to God.

In John 3:2, Nicodemus made a profound statement. He told Jesus: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” This Scripture so fitly applies to Sister Osinachi. She could not carry such divine Presence, approval, and impact if God were not with her.

That settled, let me come to the second question: If she was a woman of God, and one that carried God’s power, why didn’t God save her from the alleged abuse and the eventual death? This is a tough one, and the ultimate answer rests with God alone. Scripture, however, helps us sail through some of the difficulties. Quite clearly, the Bible responds to issues of such nature.

Psalm 116:15 reads: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (NIV). As Scripture makes this emphatic statement about the death of the saints of God (the righteous), it has this to say about the death of sinners: “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live…’” (Ezek. 33:11, NIV). As the death of the righteous is precious before God, the death of the wicked brings Him no pleasure and He desires that they convert to righteousness before their demise. This statement of the death of the righteous being precious to the Lord notwithstanding, the Bible is flooded with so many scenarios where some righteous people have died in quite bizarre situations.  Think of the death of Jesus for one – falsely accused by all, crucified naked on a cross at the outskirts of the town and condemned as a wicked man to the belief of so many people. Or let’s think of Stephen, James the apostle, and more. In fact, church history tells of many Christians who died of martyrdom. Hebrews 11:35b also says: “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they may gain an even better resurrection” (NIV). My point is that the fact of the death of the righteous being precious to God does not warrant that the righteous will always die in an admirable manner. God’s emphasis is on the state of their souls rather than their mode of exit from this world.

In fact, the death of the righteous, no matter how it happens, is precious to God, and God may choose to call them in any way He pleases. So, point re-emphasized, it turns out to be that for the righteous, it is now how they exit this world that matters. God may choose to bring them home in whichever way that pleases His divine sovereign will. Sometimes out of all the troubles, shame, and struggles among others, the Lord may call His beloved home to rest with Him. How did men of God like John the Baptist die? He was beheaded by someone who felt uncomfortable by the message he preached! In giving contemporary examples, how did Dr. Myles Monroe die? In a plane crash! In Ghana we were not long ago so hardly hit with the death of the children of our revered Pastor Eastwood Anaba, one of Ghana’s great men of God. How did they die? In a car crash! So, the question is, couldn’t God have saved them? Well, He could. Why didn’t He save them then? Well, it is up to Him and His will. That’s the point! God’s will is what He wants to do out of many other options at a time, and just as humans have their will power, God has His too. Those who walk with God give space in life to the ultimate will of God. This is what every believer must do.

Perhaps the three Hebrew boys we read about in the Book of Daniel are our best fit for what I call “making room for the sovereign will of God”. To a death-threatening and an oppressive King of Babylon under whom Israel had been captured in servitude, these God-fearing young people answered: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:17-18, NIV). We learn two important things from these valiant young men. First, God is able to deliver us in trouble. That He is able means He has the power and ability to accomplish. But the second lesson we learn from them is that though God is able He also has a will, and that He chooses to do (deliver) if that is His will to deliver. These boys knew that though they were in trouble it was not automatic that God would deliver them since God’s will is sometimes different from the will of humans. This, they respected because they knew their God and His ways. They had walked with Him and understood Him.

For us humans, we always want immediate relief, but God looks at the ultimate picture, being the God who knows the end from the beginning and acts in the best interest. Well, it turned out that it was not the will of God for these gentlemen to be spared the seven-times-heated oven and so into it they were hurled! We may say God had failed them at the moment but wait for the end of the story. They get in there and the fire loses its ability to scorch and burn them down to ashes. They defy the power of the fire, it becomes the talk of town, many people come to revere the God of these boys, the king himself praises the God of Israel, and these three boys ended up being promoted as a compensation (read Daniel chapter 3). So, judge for yourself which was better, the will of God or the will of humans?

So, truly, the death of the righteous is precious to God no matter how it happens, and one of the reasons is that God has His own will in how these saints are called home to be with Him. In human understanding Myles Munroe may have died in a strange way, and Sister Osinachi may have died in a strange way, but the principle is the same. God has His will in the lives of His beloved saints. If it is His will He will deliver them from certain death, if not, He calls them home through whichever means. God has His own reasons for this. Sometimes the unexpected passing on of the saints brings in more harvest of souls to the Lord than what the rest of their lives would have fetched, and sometimes they are preserved from horrible developments to have unfolded later in their lives, sometimes too, they are called home because they have finished fulfilling their divine assignments, and still sometimes, they are called home so that something can be corrected with the sharp tone their departure strikes. Which of these may be behind Sister Osinachi’s sudden demise? I don’t know!

Altogether, my point is that Christians can have confidence in the assurance of the Bible that we may not grieve like those of the world who have no hope concerning the death of the righteous. That is, all we need to be sure of is that they were righteous, once we do, we must trust that God is a bigger stakeholder in their lives than us, and by His will, He may treat them as He pleases. One thing we know for sure, however, is that no matter the means God uses to call His saints home, it is ultimately for their good and the good of the Kingdom of God.

So, let me hit the nail on the question I posed: God could have saved her anointed lady, Sister Osinachi, from death but what if this was not something He God, knowing all things, did not want to do? And which of us can ask God about how He manages His will?

This brings us to the question about where is God in all of this? Where was God in the domestic abuse we hear Sister Osinachi wrestled with for a good part of her marital life, where was God in the struggle that led her to such painful death through the orchestration of her husband if what we have heard is true, and where is God in the sufferings of others who are going through various shades of oppression in the world? This, again, is a difficult question, and it comes under what is often referred to as the problem of evil. In simple understanding, the problem of evil is a philosophical and theological frame for the perception that evil abounds in the world and causes a lot of trouble to people and nature, yet God who has the power to intervene often sits unconcerned.

It is often held by atheists (people who do not believe in the existence Of God) that a God who does not intervene in the affairs of life does not exist, and deists are of the view that God created the world alright but has since lost interest in it and has allowed the world to run on its own course. These are faulty views according to orthodox Christian teaching. Unfortunately, even some Christians who get frustrated with the issues of life come to question the availability of God in their struggles. Under the perception of the problem of evil, God is either held accountable directly for evil, or He is thought of not coming in with appropriate (often expected to be immediate) sanctions against the perpetrators of evil and as so held indirectly responsible.

A good semblance of the problem of evil in the Bible is found in Judges 6:13. Allow me to cut this text into detail a bit just to draw from it to make the necessary application to the line of discussion. The whole narrative (chapter six) starts with the background of Israel having done evil in the sight of the Lord. Based on this, God, their Creator, Father, and divine leader had given them into the hands of the Midianites. Now, as to what exactly the Midianites were allowed to do to the Israelites and the extent, they could go with them we do not get to know. It is important to note that the fact that they had been given into the hands of Midian did not warrant that Midian could go every extent with them. There are cases in the Bible where God gave people into the hands of others and due to the ferociousness and the gravity of their oppression God came in to punish the oppressors. For instance, God punished Egypt for bitterly oppressing the people of Israel who had become slaves under them. Similarly, when Edom took pleasure and advantage over the brutality with which the Babylonians dealt with the people of Judah when taking them into Babylonian servitude, the Lord later gave them their due punishment (see the book of Obadiah). [For more direct scriptures on God’s attitude towards oppression read Jer. 7:10; Prov. 22:22-23; Isa. 33:14-15, etc.].

So, back to the Midian story, God may have been punishing Israel alright, but the Midianites had overstretched that into oppression and abuse. God’s punishment and human oppression and abuse are not the same. God hates, condemns, and punishes evil and may punish His people when they sin. Yet God’s punishment for His people (Israel in this sense, but in our present case Christian believers) is out of love, and as such is corrective and restorative at the end. Thus, it can better be understood with the word discipline since it has restoration and wellbeing as its telos (the expected end). Not so with human-imposed oppression and abuse which aims to deprive and destroy.

It seems to be, however, that the Midianites took a full advantage of God’s punishment of the Israelites and oppressed them brutally. Israel left the comfort of their homes and went to live in caves and mountains and only came down daily to till their land when they were sure the enemies were not coming. The force of oppression increased when other Eastern people joined the attack. As verse 4 and 5 of Judges 6 reveal, “whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.” Though it is not completely stated as to whether this was a strategy or not, this approach taken by the enemies would have led to the expiration of the main food and other support systems for Israel, and it would have taken their lives. The development obviously led to Israel’s desperation, and we read that they cried out to the LORD for help. In addition to this cry for help, however, they complained and faulted God for all the evil that had befallen them. Later in verse 13 Gideon spills it out to the angel of God who had come down to speak with him, and who had just told him that the Lord was with him. This is how the King James Version  of the Bible puts it: “And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

Verse 13 provides the vital link between this narrative and the problem of evil which is the bigger discussion at hand at this point of my write-up.  To distill the points, Israel was in great desperation, what qualifies much into our understanding of evil in the frame of the problem of evil. It was an intense suffering from oppression from a ruthless nation who would destroy everything that could support life. Our observation is that Gideon expressed the view that God cannot really be with them when they were suffering such evil and not intervene. To him when God is with a person there cannot be trouble. He therefore could not reconcile the angel’s message that God was with them and yet they were going though such trouble when God had the power to deal with the situation. It made sense to assume they were going through such struggle because God was absent, but the angel corrected him that God was still with them in the struggle. The contention then was that if God was present why was He not helping in their situation? Was God holding back His power or He was not able? Gideon questioned the miracle working power of God – God’s ability to accomplish in the now and then. He thought that if God could work miracles, they needed one. In contemporary phraseology, they did not care about a God who is known to have performed great miracles in the past but would not perform one now for them when they thought they needed it most. He also thought God had forsaken them, delivered them into the hands of the Midianites to be treated such harshly. He assumed here that everything the Midianites did against them was God-sanctioned and that God was responsible for everything the Midianites did against them.

My question is: Was Gideon right? No. Obviously not. As I would not want to sink too deep in further analyzing this text, suffice it that God cannot be blamed anymore for every evil that happens to the people He may be disciplining than the evil that happens to His own people that He favours. That is to say that God cannot be blamed for all evil in people’s lives. Even when God may be dealing with people, other humans may overstretch their pains, yet God is often blamed with that. So let me repeat the point: God cannot be blamed for every bad thing that happens in people’s lives, and He cannot be dragged to respond with His power as if He is under the control of man. Even prayer must be in the will of God for Him to respond!

Bringing this to the context of marriage, God cannot be blamed for oppressions in marriage no matter where those oppressions occur, even if they happen in the marriages of men and women of God. Oppression is evil and so is abuse, period, and God is against them. The alleged oppression that has led to the passing on of Sister Osinachi is evil and meets the condemnation and anger of God. As a matter of fact, God favours the criminal charges that will be (or are being) pressed against the husband since it is upon His word that the judicial system is built. That is, to the question, where is God in all these, I say God is present in this case as the just God who is against oppression and abuse in marriage, and Who, while being the Judge of all flesh and will bring every detail of this issue into account on the Day of Judgment, is for the justice that must prevail in this case now. Similarly, God is for justice in all cases of oppressions. The oppressed must therefore seek justice by every means possible in line with the will of God.

Most obviously, this write-up cannot end without giving due attention to the issue of how long we should suffer abuse in marriage before we give up, and when divorce is allowed in Scripture. Many young people are asking this question on social media, and it needs to be addressed too. These are tough issues, admittedly so, but we will press on. From His original design God is against divorce, and the truth is no matter how we negotiate the issue of divorce God’s original stand is that He hates it! This is because divorce destroys people. The fact is that marriage makes two people one indeed and if they really married in the first place, separating should leave none of them ‘normal’. People who have divorced may remarry but they themselves may testify that it may never be the same. It is much like two pieces of paper glued together and dried. We shouldn’t succeed in separating them perfectly again. In marriage, through a divine act, God, not man, joins two humans to become one, and about how they can be separated, truth be told, God seems not to leave much room except for the case of death and adultery, and he adds: “Therefore what God has put together let no man separate.” Wait, I will deal with these with much Scripture soon.

 In Matthew 19:1-12 the clever Pharisees bring a very complicated question on marriage before Jesus, much like what is before us in this case. For the sensitivity of this issue allow me to quote the text copiously:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

In answering these Pharisees Jesus points to God’s original and perfect arrangement for marriage recorded in Genesis 1:22-27 and 2:24: God made them two different parts of one – male and female meant to fit and lock into each other into one whole, and, the man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they become one, fitting into one another, interlocking each other, and ceasing to be two from there and then. Jesus further added that because of this mystery they are no longer two but have become one flesh! They have become one – God has joined them to become one.   Then He continued to warn that humankind should be careful not to separate what God Himself has put together. 

The Pharisees, maybe not satisfied with the answer, as indeed many in this generation are not, and have kept on wanting to replace the word of God with their human thinking and common sense, went on to probe about the space for divorce that Moses gave in Deuteronomy 24:1-5. Jesus’ reply was that it was due to the stubbornness of their hearts that Moses, not being able to cope any longer, allowed them. This is just like how many pastors in this generation, not being able to cope with the pressure people’s marriages are bringing on them, are granting many permissions outside the original will of God concerning marriage. Jesus corrected that mistake and reverted it to the original will of God – how God designed it and wills it to be. Then after that He came stronger, finalizing the issue: “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, and marries another woman commits adultery” (Matt. 19:9). The question is, why should someone who has dissolved his marriage and married another person be accused of adultery? The answer is: Because before God he is still a married man with the woman, he thinks he has successfully divorced, and so having this new woman makes him guilty of adultery, a sin defined as unfaithfulness in marriage. So, do you get it? As far as God is concerned, once you are married you cannot truly divorce, unless your partner continues in a life of adultery or is taken by death. In the verse that follows, when the disciples got to understand this truth of the word of God, they said that “if this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” To this Jesus said a surprising yes and added that this is a plain truth that not everyone can live with. That is to say that many will marry, only a few will remain singles for various reasons.  

This is the hard truth. It is the will of the All-wise and All-knowing God and no body must dare to twist it. Marriage is not for joke and that is why in the solemnization process we are advised that it must be entered into in all solemnity and forethought. It must be entered into in all maturity. Again and again, the word of God warns us about being careful before we settle into marriage with anyone. It calls for prayer, careful study, counsel, and discernment, and to nail it to the point, being sexually involved with each other before marriage clouds the process and blinds your eye such that you cannot see and discern any well about the person any longer. This truth must be told this generation. It is for our won good that we are to stay chaste and enter marriage the right way! Marriage is such a long journey that if you don’t start it right you will have trouble.

In biblical counsel, we must not marry those who do not know God (God always warned Israel against marrying from the heathens), Song of Songs 8:4 advises against awakening love before its time, and 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a warns: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.” Let me end that flow here and go to my main point at this juncture.

Jesus, from the Matthew 19 account, makes it clear that the way out of marriage is so limited – and that is adultery (and death) -, and that there is a divine warning against anyone who dares separates marriages but for this allowable cause. Because of this divine imperative, the truth is no pastor may want to spearhead divorce. Sometimes both church leaders and traditional leaders handle marital cases that, judging from human view, may have to end up in divorce, but at that point they leave it hanging because there is more to marriage than meets the eye. This makes taking decisions on divorce a personal decision to be made by those involved at some point, truth be told, and at that point what can significant others do apart from offering prayer support, counselling, and pieces of advice? Clearly this is where everybody’s work ends apart from the married couple. The problem is that some pastors go beyond this point to urge people to continue to endure whilst others advocate for divorce. As far as I am informed, pastors must be careful when crossing this barrier as there are always dire consequences. My view is that as soon as you do that you out-step your boundary and enter a danger zone covered neither by your calling nor profession. This applies to counsellors as well. I have seen that the options people normally take here include filing for divorce, choosing to ‘carry their cross’ and follow Christ – which means they accept this to be a challenge of life and rather choose to serve God well and please Him with the rest of their lives. Others continue to seek help, giving change a chance. Well, because with God all things are possible, sometimes things change in line with the will of God. In other times there is no change and conditions worsen. As I said earlier, only God has the full answers. So many options but this is very complicated. All these culminate into my initial premise that the issues surrounding the sudden death of our beloved Sister Osinachi is confusing and unpleasant.

Before I conclude, however, let me also add that those who enter marriage must understand and accept that they have become one with their spouses. In that sense whatever each has, and the unique talents, gifts, abilities, and recourses we come to have must continually be at the disposal of each other in a proper Christian marriage. We must therefore support each other to shine as couples. Sometimes, the shouting gift may be with the woman, there must be no problem with that. The man must come on board to support. The Bible said he who loves his wife loves himself. This means you are your wife so why the difference? In the Western world men supporting women in leadership is not a challenge at all. I think we can do better in Africa, and the church must lead the way. In the context of marriage, it may not matter who among us the Lord may lift to spearhead a ministry or an enterprise. There must be enough love, fear of God, and humility for the other partner to come on board and support. At the same time, those entrusted with the key position of the ministry or enterprise must be God-fearing, humble, and Christian enough to submit. Together, in marriage we become one, and all God does for us and gives us must be celebrated together and supported by each other.

Truly, the issues around the death of beloved Sister Osinachi are confusing and worrisome, but at least as mortals we can learn from them. There is a lot to learn from, and I only hope that this write-up settles some of the dust, at least for our young people, about such matters. I also hope that all of us – clergy, married people, unmarried people, oppressors, abusers, the oppressed and abused, parents, gospel artistes and other Christian ministers, and all society will learn our due from it. May the Lord save us from such distasteful development. May they be far from us!

Written by Pastor Ebenezer Hagan (Youth Ministry Director, The Church of Pentecost)

Tel: +233243971197

Email: Ekumfiasaafa12345@gmail.com

Conflict-Management

Handling Conflicts At The Workplace Using Jesus’ Template

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch News

“Do Good to Those Who Hate You” – Luke 6:27-36

We all have had or been involved in one form of conflict in our workplace or the marketplace. Thus, we have all seen or experience conflict. So it is part of life, we cannot avoid it entirely because we do not control other people’s emotions and actions. But in Luke 6:27-36, Jesus Christ gave a beautiful and life-transforming roadmap to address situations of conflict. He says “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). Wow! Is this possible at all? So Jesus, you are saying that I should pray for those I know are my enemies, those who wish that I don’t get that promotion, those who desire I fail and set trap for me? I should do good to them? Are you serious Jesus? Do you how know bad that brother or sister hurt me?

Interesting and difficult as it may seem, Dr. Luke leaves no doubt that this is a teaching for the economic and business world as well, as he emphatically relates the story to lending money. “Lend to your enemies, expecting nothing in return” (Luke 6:35). Let me be clear on this point, this does not and is not like a business or commercial lending strategy, no! However, it is meant to help us understand this narrative so well. Whatever place of influence or power we have been blessed to occupy is only meant to serve and cause positive change and enduring legacy but not meant to crush people we are in conflict with. Saul is a classic example here. Using the entire army of Israel to chase after a shepherd boy, David, with sole purpose of crushing and killing him. But David had a different understanding, even when Saul fell into his hands and had the opportunity to kill him with just a strike, he refused to do that, later Saul confessed that “You are righteous that I”. This is a human being, flesh and blood like us. Let’s apply this to our workplaces.

LEVEL 1 – INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

Jesus is saying that we must work for the good of those we are in conflict with…difficult eh? This is not to say we should avoid conflict, because like I said earlier, we don’t control other people’s behaviours and emotions, but only ours. It also does not mean the Christian worker should not compete in his field, no. But it does mean, for example, that if you are competing with a co-worker for promotion, you must help your co-worker or opponent do their work as well as they can, while doing yours excellently knowing that promotion comes from God (Gen. 39:5, Dan. 2:42, Psalm 75:7) and it’s a reward for hard work, diligence dedication and above all, uprightness, adhering to the rules of engagement.

LEVEL 2 – CORPORATE LEVEL

Here, we are not to crush our competitors. While working as Business Development Manager years ago, I had the opportunity to engage clients together with several colleagues from other banks pitching for the same business. Sometimes, we did presentations in turns and you hear others throwing jabs and tantrums in their efforts to sell their products, some even condemned their opponents institutions. One of the timeless lessons I had from my supervisors was, “always sell the differentiating factor when pitching”, that is, what makes your product unique and valuable from the rest on the market? Sell value! With this we won many without crushing words. Crushing your competitors in an evil way won’t make you better, you rather attract God’s wrath because you are against his word. Today, some companies uses  frivolous lawsuits, monopolization, false rumors, stock manipulation, and the likes to crush their competitors. Even nations uses natural resources to blackmail other nations to have leverage ver others. This may seem a strategic imperative, but it’s wrong if we pass it through the prism of the scripture as Prof. Kwame Bediako suggested. Some even uses social media fake videos to destroy businesses of their competitors. This is evil and God will judge every action, thoughts and intents of men so we need to be very careful in our walk with him.

The Puritans were very business minded Christians, believed in the dignity of hard work and labour. Many were leaders in their respective spheres – colleges Presidents, Professors, CEOs, Ingineers, Lawyers, Senators, Judges, etc. They recognised that Jesus Christ perspective on life must permeat every sphere of their everyday business life, thus, establishing his kingdom on earth. They therefore, taught a lot about vocation and admonished Christians not to be lazy like we have today, supported but lazy government policies and liberal politicians who have no idea about God’s big idea about work and enterprise for effective human living.

CONCLUSION

Conflict is part of human existence. On our part, we can avoid it but we cannot control the repugnant behaviours and attitudes of others, and so conflict is bound to happen. When it does happen, the road map is clear from Jesus Christ. If followed, it will liberate us – spiritual, social and economic wholeness because we have thought and acted right. This is certainly not an easy route my friend but those who travel it have great stories to tell at the end. Jesus Christ did it, on the cross he made pleadings and asked for forgiveness for his killers. Nelson Mandela travelled this difficult path after 28 solid years  in prison, he loved his enemies, Joseph did it to his brothers. Mahatma Ghandi showed it to the Brits… Such people are bigger in heart and in the world and are Inflencers. Reflect on this!

Written by P/Ovr. Stephen Ahunu Amoako, Habitat District, Konongo Area

Tel: 0242707215

Email: steve.amoako@outlook.com

kejetia market, kumasi

“My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”: The Dark Face Of God In The Experience Of Ghanaian Socio-Economic Life

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch News

INTRODUCTION

Easter is upon us. The passion of Christ that defines this event is arguably given its requisite identification by the cry of Jesus on the Cross. His shout of sorrow that the Father God has abandoned him gives meaning to Jesus becoming sin because he took the sin of the world upon himself, and thus God, the Father had to make justice prevail by making him suffer. This essay shall explore the cry of Jesus in Mark 15:34 as His experience of the hidden countenance of God per the Aaronite blessing formula as recorded in Numbers 6:24-26. This essay thinks that it is the shining face or presence or countenance of God that the people of God and nations need for life and godliness. We are kept by the brightening face of God. It is our experience of the shining face of God that causes us to walk in the shalom of God. This can be seen in our everyday life; in the religious and public spaces including in the political and socio-economic life of a nation. If God could shine his face upon his people, then, the concealment of His face presents as the dark face of God. Considering the manifestations of the shining countenance of God, the converse is true for the dark face of God. In the present socio-economic life of Ghana, the essay imagines an experience of the dark face of God but holds that the Spirit of God still dwells among His people. “God” is used in this essay to refer to the Father in the Godhead.

THE SHINING FACE OF GOD

God called the Patriarchs and walked with them in a time in which many were struggling to know who God, the creator of the universe is. In doing this, he had a nation in view. Though the nation went through great challenges of slavery and later colonisation, His purpose for raising the nation of Israel remains sure. He saved the nation from Egypt and called them into a certain priesthood. Worship became a key reason and consequence of their walk with God. During the Exodus, they worship along the journey. The Lord ordained the Aaronite Priesthood to oversee the worship of God including the sacrificial system (Exodus 28). One special aspect of the ordination of the priesthood is to pronounce blessings on the congregation of Israel (Deuteronomy 21:5). In Numbers, the people of God gather in their numbers (congregations) in many instances. The Lord laid down a formula for blessing the congregation. That is what is located in Numbers 6:24-26. Benediction has become an important aspect of Christian liturgy. In the New Testament, it is usually called the words of grace. When we are asked to share the grace together we usually recite 1 Corinthians 13:14: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…” When someone is asked to bless the congregation there are a number of verses in Scripture that the person uses. The person also chooses to recite their own words of blessing through the spectacle of the Bible. The Aaronite Blessing Formula reveals an important thing about God.

The manner in which God expects his people to be blessed by the priesthood emerged in the light of the many instructions of worship for the priests of the people of Israel. Moses was charged to inform the priests, Aaron, and his sons, on the way to pronounce the benediction on the congregation of God’s people. Numbers 6:24-26 records it thus: “The LORD said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: The LORD bless and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace” NIV.

The face or countenance of God is known to shine. Moses, after spending some time in the presence of God to receive again the tablets that bear the commandments of God, came back with his face shining such that the people were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:29-35). The presence of God has impacted him such that he became a career of His presence. Apostle Paul alludes to this in his comparison of the Old and the New Covenants saying that the New shines with ever-increasing glory, unlike the Old whose glory passes away like the passing of the shine of the face of Moses (II Corinthians 3:7-13). Scripture attests that God “dwells in the light that is unapproachable” (1 Timothy 6:16). In the transfiguration phenomenon of Jesus, we see a glimpse of the shining face of God (Matthew 17:2). When Jesus was glorified proper, John could not behold His; he fell as dead (Revelation 1:12-17).

The benediction of the Lord comes with blessings and security. It is the Lord’s face that brings enlightenment, graces, and glory. When the face of God shines upon you, your life is consumed by glory. The Benediction reveals the providence of God. All good and perfect gift comes from God indeed (James 1:17).

HESTER PANIM

The dark face of God stands antithetic to what is usually known. If in the Aaronite priesthood benediction, the Lord is prayed to cause his face to shine upon his people, then, he can also withhold his face. The result is that his dark face would be experienced. Put another way, he (God) can conceal His face from His people. The Jews call this Hester Panim (The Dark Face of God). Woe to the man to whom the Lord turns His dark face.The people of Israel have a good understanding of what it means for God to shine His face upon someone. They, therefore, dread the concealment of the face of God from them. They dread Hester Panim. They would strive to avoid the dark face of God.

The national history of the people of Israel in the Bible accounts shows that God has earned the nation many victories.  In warfare, agriculture, security, politics, and other aspects of their socio-economic life, Israel was known as a nation favoured the Most High God. These realities are evidence of the shinning of the face of God upon the nation of Israel. Against this backdrop, God forewarn them of an impending rebellion that the nation would be guilty of. He told Moses that:

Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and these people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods (Deuteronomy 31:16-18, NKJV, emphasis mine).

The above text shows that the people of God are able to surmount the evil of this life because of the presence of God. The revelation of the face of God upon them is the secret to their national progress. He cautioned them of the hard life they will experience if they disobey God. Indeed, the people in several times forsook God and suffered many losses.

But why would the Bible speak of the face of the one who does not have any form (Deuteronomy 4:15-16)? God is Spirit (John 4). Despite this, the Scripture sometimes talks of God having human parts—we call this anthropomorphism: the use of human features for God. This is an act of grace. Whenever we encounter that in the Scriptures, may that provoke us to worship. Anthropomorphism is a pointer to the Christ who is to come. The coming of the Lord in full human form in whom dwells fully the Godhead bodily is the grace of God extraordinaire. It is the anthropomorphism of the highest order. Praise be to God for revealing himself this way so we can relate with Him.

THE DARK FACE OF GOD EXPERIENCED IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST

God has been with the Christ throughout his earthly ministry. Jesus showcased a mighty ministry because God the Father was with him. Jesus could say that “And he who has sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29, NKJV). The loving relationship with the Father God became sour when the sin of the world was laid on him as he hangs on the tree. Evangelist Mark accounts, “And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34, NIV). The pain in this statement is almost tangible. It is a statement of one who has been disappointed and in great agony. The Father who has always been with the son has sadly deserted him. He looked for salvation but to no avail. God the Father has hidden his face from Jesus the son at that critical moment of his life and ministry. God was nowhere to be found in the experience of Jesus. He turned His dark face towards Jesus. This is because, at that moment, Jesus has become sin. Indeed, instead of calling the LORD “Father” as he used to, he called Him “God”. There was a broken relationship with the Father. God allowed his only begotten Son to be bruised and crucified in a most brutal manner.

GHANAIAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC EXPERIENCE

The Christian fortunes of Ghana have been appreciated far and near. Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries have done good pioneering work in Ghana in planting the Gospel of Christ. The Ghanaians desired Christ and longed to worship Him in their primary religious thought-forms. From that time till the emergence of classical Pentecostal, the charismatic movement, and the new prophetic churches, the name of Christ was shared abroad in Ghana. There are numerous socio-economic markers of the presence of God in the nation of Ghana. From the education sector, language development, and governance, it is not difficult to find testaments of Christianity. Even our national independence tells a story of God, for it is the Christian schools that have nurtured the leaders of the nationalist struggle for the regain of political independence. The place of God in the struggle for political independence even manifests in our national anthem. The presence of God is strikingly felt in our pneumatic world hence we could put God at the very heart of our nation. The knowledge that the Ghanaian people have concerning the Supreme Being, the flicker of truth, which spurred on an embrace of Christ by the people, translates into their expectation of the blessings of God in every facet of their community life. Ghana is aware that God cannot be noncommittal with respect to its public life. Ghana looks to God to shine his countenance on her so the blessings of God fall upon her like a latter rain.

Recent developments in Ghanaian political, economic, and social life are painting a portrait of a nation that is not in the good books of God; a nation that is not experiencing the shining face of God. Ghanaians are bemoaning hardships. Disastrous events are happening. Corruption is on the rise. Economic failure is plain reality. Political tension is everywhere. Heinous crimes are on the increase. Many people are apprehensive. Considering these realities, a conception of the idea of God turning his dark face on the Ghanaian socio-economic fortune must not be ignored.

The Ghanaians must begin to ask critical questions concerning the future of the nation. What am I doing wrong? Am I engaged in an anti-god expedition? Is my work as a civil servant pleasing to God? Am I stealing from the poor? Is evil being perpetuated by me per my politics? Am I in the name of God, deceiving innocent people? “Dear God, do not hide your face from us;” this must be our humble plea.

CONCLUSION

It is a fearful thing to experience the dark face of God. The Ghanaian people must strive to earn the shining countenance of God. However, amidst the economic hardships and discomforts in present Ghana, the people must be assured that God is working in the background of His concealed face. The Sprit of God is still dwelling in Ghana. In the Bible for instance, though the name of the LORD is not found explicitly in the Book of Esther, we cannot deny that He was working in the world in the context of the Book. I suspect that God is looking for someone or a nation on which to shine his face. This must awaken in us the fear of God in all our endeavours. Our socio-economic fortune could see the light of God and Ghana would walk in the benediction of God.

Written by Elder Dr. Stephen Ofotsu Ofoe

refugee crisis

Responding To The Global Refugee Crisis From A Missional Perspective 

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch News

On page 828 of the book, Revitalising Mission and Missiology: The Way Forward in the Twenty-First Century (2021), the author (myself) discusses the need for the church to intentionally extend its missionary activities to refugees. Among other reasons for this clarion call is the current global refugee crisis and the need to reiterate the call for Christians to reflect on the situation.

A cursory observation indicates that the gospel has always thrived either during or after many of the socio-political crises in the world, especially when the church prudently plays her prophetic role in the face of these crisis situations. The displacement of people as a result of socio-political instabilities and conflicts (something we do not anticipate) has become widespread in our world today, making it imperative for the church to explore a pragmatic response to the situation. 

The Situation of the Current Refugee Crisis

There are four questions that every person needs to answer in the light of our discussion in this article. How many people are currently forcibly displaced from their geographical roots? What are their places of origin? What are their conditions of living in their current places of abode? To what extent are their cultural and belief systems affected as refugees? These four questions are critical in our discussion, particularly in the context of the call for the church to develop a missional response to the situation.

As of the year 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that about 84 million people have been forcibly displaced from their original places of abode out of whichover26.6 million are refugees, with half of these numbers being young people under 18 years. The report indicates that these figures are the highest on record since the Second World War. In addition, it is the first time that about one out of 95 people in the world has been forcibly displaced from their original homes and this must be a cause for concern.

The report further states that 35 million children are among the globally-displaced persons; one million children were born as refugees, while 4.3 million people are estimated to be stateless. The UN defines a stateless person as someone who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law. According to the report, the number of internally-displaced people was 4.4 million while asylum seekers were 4.4 million people. These people have difficulty in accessing certain basic social amenities such as good healthcare, education, and employment – they are naturally vulnerable people in society.

The numbers of refugees and all displaced people keep rising in the face of increasing trends of persecutions, conflicts, political instabilities, violence, extreme poverty, human rights abuses, and harsh climatic conditions. The UNHCR reports that countries like Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Myanmar are on record to have contributed to more than two-thirds of all refugees abroad. Observably, this record does not seem to adequately consider most of the internally-displaced refugees in many Asian and African countries.

The recent war in Ukraine has exacerbated the situation, adding to the call for the church to see the gravity of the problem on hand and the need for a relevant and rapid response to the global refugee crisis. While we admit the effort of the UN Agency for Refugees and other stakeholders in addressing this situation, there is an urgent need for the church to also develop a comprehensive intervention programme both as part of its social responsibility and as a prophetic role to humanity. It must also be a pragmatic response to its missional call and an approach to fulfil its mission mandate.

The Social Responsibility of the Church

The church exists in society and its major clients are the diverse people who form the nucleus of every society, including those displaced from their original places of abode. The social needs of these people must always be a major concern to the church. It is against this backdrop that I ask this rhetorical question: In which way can the church be a major partner in the global response to and management of the refugee crisis?

While the clarion call of this discussion is for the church to have its in-house refugee management mechanisms, the overwhelming conviction is that The UN Agency for Refugees and other stakeholders in the management of refugee crises in the world may have to leverage on the influence and credibility of the church as their critical partners. In other words, the church must not be left out in managing the refugee crisis or addressing critical social problems. For example, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prophetic roles played by the churches in Ghana, in partnership with the Government attest to the conviction that there are credible churches that can be significant partners in addressing the world refugee crisis.

A Wake-Up Call to the Church

The recent phenomenon of high refugee crisis in the world should be a wake-up call to the church to embark on viable and relevant mission strategies appropriate for refugees of varied social backgrounds. Instead of sending goodwill messages to people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes, or giving them temporary relief packages, the church needs pragmatic and well-organised programmes to address their situation. This is crucial because life as a refugee can be very perplexing for a person to cope with.

The person is a victim of forcible displacement, alienation, humiliation, and deprivation of their normal livelihood. They may have lost not only their original homeland, but also their loved ones, cherished property, comfort, and their way of worship, leading to the loss of their “spiritual security.” Their journey to the refugee camp—their new place of abode—may be full of sorrow, frustration, distress, and despair. This emotional trauma comes from how they were displaced.

Reflecting on the circumstances around their forcible displacement, refugees are sometimes full of anger, bitterness, anguish, and can be unforgiving. They always perceive people to have been the cause of their predicament and, therefore, wish they could settle scores with those perceived to be the cause of their problems. Settled in their new places of refuge, they ponder possible answers to unending questions passing through their minds, even as they wish to experience the benevolence and care of the right persons in their moments of despair. In their situation of helplessness, powerlessness, and sobriety, they are always ready for messages of hope from benefactors, and this is where the church must stand in the gap. The church has the Good News of Jesus Christ and must make it accessible to refugees and everyone with diverse social and spiritual needs.

The Church’s Missional Role

Mission to refugees must be one of the most significant missional praxes in contemporary mission and should, therefore, not be neglected by every mission-minded church, because the prospects are high for mission to thrive among refugee communities. When people’s hope is dashed, they turn to whatever can make them survive in comfort. The church must not leave refugees to struggle to survive or restore their lives outside godly principles and values.

While humanitarian agencies concentrate more on meeting the basic needs of the refugees as well as ensuring that they are psychologically settled, some of the agencies seem to lose sight of teaching them to forgive the wrongdoing of their assailants, which is the bedrock of peace. Even if this is part of the humanitarian services, it may not be as effective as that which the church can offer, because Christ whose values and principles are espoused in the church has everlasting peace for the world. Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33, NIV).

The seeming insignificant effort of the church in managing the global refugee crisis may have given the devil his “field day” to influence the lives of innocent people among the various refugee communities in the world. Christians must understand that an intervention of social needs for destitute people cannot be an ultimate solution to their problems, but when the gospel is brought into the picture, the narrative changes positively. This is because the gospel brings peace and salvation, making the issue of salvation very paramount.

The ultimate goal in mission to refugees is to transform their lives with the gospel even in their state of despair. The displaced person tries to “forget” many things about their place of origin, including some aspects of their culture and religion and is always optimistic that “everything” found at the destination will be “manna from heaven”.

This explains why some refugees, even after peace and stability has been restored in their places of origin find it difficult to return. At times, some of them who feel nostalgic of their home of origin but may still consider it challenging to decide whether to return or keep staying in their displaced condition.

The ultimate decision that refugees can make to restore their hope in life is to be introduced to the gospel for the grace of the Lord of refuge to give them an everlasting hope. The Psalmist’s description of God as our refuge and our very present help in time of trouble, provides the locus of this section of our discussion: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride” (Psalm 46:1-3, NASB).

The inference is that providing social needs to refugees should not be the only missional strategy of the church, but also making them to come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, the refuge and fortress of humanity. God cares for all, including people in distress such as refugees, stateless people, and asylum seekers. Hence, they must be taught to understand that God can put their lives and souls in the cleft of rocks and protect them with His right hand (Ex. 33:22), irrespective of their predicament. With this understanding, the church’s mission to people in distress must go beyond mere distribution of physical necessities to the vigorous propagation of the gospel with the aim of winning them for Christ.

Special Missionaries to Refugees

Specially-trained missionaries are required to minister to refugees, for their work needs conversional approaches. The church needs a strategy that can safeguard the lives of the missionaries assigned to this task because it is a very complex and sophisticated mission. The church may consider other issues like the method of raising financial support for the mission, arranging an effective dialogue with the various stakeholders managing the refugees, and identifying the nature of humanitarian assistance needed for the mission.

Due to the complexity of this task and the involvement of several agencies with diverse worldviews and ideologies, the church may have to establish an in-house research unit to investigate the realities about refugee management from the Christian perspective. This unit can be of a great help to advice the church on how to approach the situation in the light of the activities of different religious organisations and ideological movements with the same mission to the refugees.

Generally, refugees may have come from diverse social backgrounds with their cultural perspectives as well as worldviews, which are likely to change due to their situation. Their interest in life and religion may not be the same as their previous way of living. To some of them, they need a Saviour while others may feel “disappointed” in anything about religion and seem to blame every person, even including God for allowing their predicament to occur.  For this reason, churches considering mission to refugees ought to organise pre-mission field training activities for their missionaries and must observe conventional tactics in ministering to the refugees.

Missionaries to refugees need quality holistic training that can equip them to be successful in their mission, otherwise, considerable resources of the church may be used with little results. The missionaries are to be so versatile that they may be able to provide professional counselling and have the spiritual aptitude that is enough to support the refugees in prayer. The refugees must see such missionaries as credible “spiritual parents”. It also requires that missionaries understand international policies on refugees and the dynamics of human rights issues that may be a challenge to the mission.

Conclusion

When all is said and done, the bottom line is that the church has a mission to refugees, because in every refugee community there is a potential convert for Christ. How can this be achieved? Someone must appropriately share the gospel with that person (Rom. 10:14). The church ought to understand that whatever the challenge may be, there is the need for it to adopt relevant strategies to accomplish its mission among distressed people. Unlike other agencies which handle the social aspect of refugees, the church is the only agency capable of addressing both social and salvific needs of refugees.  

While the influx of refugees into some countries is so overwhelming that the authorities are compelled to close their boarders to prevent them from entering, the grace of God is not shuttered to the refugees. The gospel, therefore, should be their ultimate hope and that is why the church must rise to the occasion and embark on effective missionary activities among refugees. The social changes taking place in our society should not be considered as absolutely disadvantageous to Christian mission, but rather the premise on which God’s love and care for humanity are well-articulated.

Written by Vincent Anane Denteh (Rev.)

Email: vadentcop@gmail.com

©2022

Untitled-2 (8)

Love Vs Hatred: Match Day 3

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsTop Stories

Welcome to Matchday 3 of the titanic clash between Love and Hatred. Matchday 1 was a household derby within the family of Jacob. The second day was a Mentor-Mentee avoidable clash between King Saul and his “boy” David that turned bloody until the former committed suicide. In both encounters, Love won convincingly but not without the usual suspense, stress and tension on the players and spectators. With the embarrassing scoreline in both games, one would have thought that Hatred would concede and turn down any of such encounters. Entirely predictable and customary of his side to steal, destroy and kill, Hatred doesn’t make a retreat nor surrenders easily. He aggressively engaged Love in another blockbuster encounter similar to a Champions League finals involving 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush (Esther 8:9).

There are individual lessons to glean from each of these encounters. The first game was a family issue, while the second relates to believers in a fellowship or Church. Matchday 3, however, broadly applies to the hatred that erupts amongst workers or professional colleagues within an organisation. Of course, the depraved nature of humankind would always be the match commissioner of such games with the devil as the sponsor, promoter or bankroller. It all started when Mordecai decided to keep to his Jewish beliefs of not kneeling to Haman after the latter was promoted as a senior officer in the palace (Esther 3:2b). Mordecai’s office colleagues drew Haman’s attention to the latter’s determination not to kneel when the former passed by. Indeed, Haman did not even recognize Mordecai until the office colleagues brought his attention to it and aroused him to hate Mordecai. Let us be careful mere gossips don’t steal our peace by loading us stuff that can only get us to hate others. They will be asleep when you can not find sleep for your eyes. Mordecai’s relatively lower rank as an officer did little to affect his dedication to their most cherished Jewish beliefs handed over to them by God. His status as a Benjamite in exile also did not influence him negatively but instead urged him to keep his trust in the God of their fathers. At this time, the Israelites or the Jews had become a sad race. They didn’t have a land, could not worship God in His temple, and didn’t have their freedom. Their ancestors had been removed from the Land of Judah many decades earlier and taken into slavery by Nebuchadnezzar.

It is, therefore, worth noting that hatred has no mercy for the exiled, depressed, the oppressed or the poor. If not, how could newly promoted and dignified Haman have time for “poor” Mordecai and his people? Esther 9:5 confirms that sheer hatred against God’s children or Love engineered the encounter between Haman and the Jews. At the exchange of pleasantries, the captain of Hatred’s side, signifying Haman, had the inscription on his armband, “The enemy of the Jews.”

Those who arouse us to hate others become the pallbearers who carry us in the coffin of disgrace in style to our graveyard at the referee’s last whistle. Resist, therefore, every influence by others and provocation to hate others.

Unfortunately, many have been drawn into an arena of hating others without any cause. Before this time, Mordecai, the gatekeeper, pre-occupied himself with the duties assigned to him per his appointment letter as security personnel at the King’s gate. He executed his task with the professionalism and diligence required of him when he reported the coup and assassination attempt on the life of his Boss. The King set a committee to investigate the intel,  and it was found credible. The two masterminders were executed (Esther 2:22). Even though what was supposed to be his upliftment or promotion at the time went to Haman, Mordecai kept his composure and did not allow bitterness to take the better part of him. If you want the power of Love to be behind you, anytime Hatred brings it on, do the right thing even if you don’t see the reward immediately afterwards.

Esther 3:5-6, “When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel or pay him honour, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead, Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.” Anger, pride, self-aggrandisement, wickedness and murder had all made the first eleven for the side of Hatred against Love. Unlike the first two games, this encounter was characterised by many off-the-pitch incidents. Besides the captain’s armband for the side of hatred labelled “The enemy of the Jews”, they formed a circle in their goal post to cast Lot to find a suitable formation that would daze their opponents before kick-off (Ester 3:7). It is a lesson for Love and its supporters that deep-seated hatred is well connected to diviners, mediums and evil spirits who leave no stone unturned once they move upfront. Casting Lot to determine the most spiritually conducive time date and time to carry out the massacre of the Jews tells how far hatred can take people. Even before the kick-off, Hatred appeared to be winning the psychological bit of the game. At the blast of the referee’s whistle, Hatred swings a few passes together between Lies, Exaggeration and Propaganda when Haman told King Xerxes the Jews had no regard for him nor the customs of his Kingdom (Esther 3:8-9).

Meanwhile, Esther, the King’s wife, was herself a Jew. After casting the Lot, it was not surprising Haman somehow managed to get the King’s approval to do whatever pleased him to the Jews (Esther 3:11). Is it not amazing that the King had been influenced to sign the death warrant of his own sweetheart in the person of Queen Esther without knowing? Was he under a spell? Similarly, only God knows the source of some organisational policies and laws that come to force at our various marketplaces. In hindsight, there was an order by the King to kill every Jew throughout the 127 provinces. Meanwhile, Haman or Hatred was the principal architect behind that supposedly Socio-Cultural ethnic cleansing.

Thank God Hatred does not and will never have a field day or blank cheque in his encounter with Love. When the King’s edict for the annihilation of the Jews went viral, the Bible says, “Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.” (Esther 4:1). However, Haman and his side, Hatred, were celebrating and drinking because the scoreboard had registered an early goal for their side (Esther 3:15). As the side of Hatred and their supporters kept on triumphing in the stands, Haman’s wife Zeresh and his friends advised him to finish the game by setting up a 75ft high pole to have Mordecai or Love hanged on it. Every wicked suggestion taken from friends and loved ones hook line and sinker confirms the assertion that Hatred is indeed very shallow, unwise and short-sighted. Little did they know that Love never walks alone even though his side is playing away in this temporal life.

The million-dollar question is, “Where were those who incited Haman to hate Mordecai when he was being hanged on the 75ft gallows? Where was Zeresh when Haman was hanging on the very gallows she designed for him to construct?

Those who incite us to hate would be nowhere when we drown in the deep waters.

In (Esther 4:8, 15-17;5:1), Mordecai expected Esther to use her feminine power and influence to negotiate with Hatred. Unfortunately, Hatred doesn’t understand any truce of such kind. His side is full of pretense at the negotiating table. It is worth noting that it doesn’t lie with humankind to unearth Hatred’s natural causes and roots. It is no secret that the makeup of women as designed by God offers them a certain edge over their male counterparts when looking for favours from them. As a celebrated beautiful Queen with a nice figure and eyes, as the Bible put it, Mordecai was not too wrong trying to remind Esther to play that card as the going was getting tough for them. After all, she was the King’s bedmate during their ordeal. Mordecai, therefore, tried pushing gentleness and lobbying into the “18” of Hatred, but the Holy Spirit intervened (Esther 4:8). Whiles Haman was boasting about his vast wealth and influence over King Xerxes, the bench of Love introduced Fasting, Prayers and Hope to take care of the midfield with Faith as the lone striker in the person of Esther. The game against Hatred is a serious game that cannot be won with one’s looks, talents or beauty alone. When the “Hamans” cast the Pur or Lot before starting the match, your husband may not see your beauty or fine-looking figure. It was, therefore, not surprising that for thirty (30) solid days, beautiful Esther’s husband had not felt like going to her or attending to her. She told Mordecai, “…But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” (Esther 4:11b). Therefore, the technical response from the bench of Love was apt and on point just before the halftime. Fasting and prayers must rise with increasing and legendary levels of hatred against us. Prayer procured for the Jews what Queen Esther’s beauty and night wares could not bargain for. After the 3-day fasting, at the resumption of the second half of the game, “Then the King asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the Kingdom, it will be given you.” (Esther 5:3). The scoreboard here credited Love their equalizer changing the scoreline to 1-1. Love then substituted hope with wisdom by Esther’s request for a great banquet with Haman as the guest of honor (Esther 5:4-8). Hatred took another lead (2-1) when Haman went rejoicing and boasted of his invitation to the King’s banquet (Esther 5:9-13). With all of Haman’s excitements, he told his wife and friends, “…All this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.” Hatred does not know peace as long as Love is focused because no matter the honour bestowed upon Haman as the only invitee to the King’s table, he loses his peace and joy anytime he meets Mordecai sitting at the King’s gate. Haters, therefore, have no peace as long as Love is around their environment.

The side of Love crossed a deep ball into the “18” yard box of Hatred, which caused the King to suffer a sleep disorder while Mordecai was probably asleep (Esther 6:1-3). So, on the eve of the banquet, the King could not sleep. He called for the book of the chronicles, which culminated in his decision that night to honour and recognize Mordecai’s hard work in uncovering the coup plot. At that ungodly hour, Haman had visited the King’s palace to discuss how Mordecai would be impaled on the pole he had set for him. The King asked him how he could decorate the one he delights to honour. Thinking he was the only contender for that category, he outlined four (4) awards for decorating that nominee. He told the King, ” For the man, the King delights to honour, have them bring a royal robe the King has worn and a horse the King has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the King’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the King delights to honour and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, this is what is done for the man the King delights to honour! ” (Esther 6:8-9). The King commanded Haman, “Go at once, get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the King’s gate.” Wow! So Haman went sadly from the King’s court to bestow all the listed honour on Mordecai. Within minutes, the scoreboard credited four (4) own goals against Hatred and for the side of Love bringing the score to 5-2 in favour of Love.

In Esther 6:12-14, Hatred’s loyal supporters started hooting and booing them from the stands. Haman’s wife and advisers shouted from the popular stands saying, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him-you will surely come to ruin!” (Esther 6:13) Hmmm, what a late admonishing! This is the loneliness Hatred goes through when the going gets tough. It is, therefore, not worth allowing yourself to be deceived into hating anyone for whichever cause. It is simply not worth its salt. When Haman heard Esther mentioning his name to King Xerxes, he became terrified at the King’s rage and tried begging Esther for his life. The King returned from the garden to see Haman falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The referee, close to the action, whistled for an indirect free kick in the “18” yard box of Hatred. (Esther 7:8). Love converted that set-piece to a goal taking the scoreline to 6-2.

Haman took an early shower from the game when he was given a red card and impaled on the same pole he had prepared for Mordecai. Haman’s estate was bequeathed to Mordecai making the scoreline 7-2. The side of Hatred was now playing 10  against 11 during the game’s dying minutes. The King signed a new mandate that gave the Jews the right to self-defence. (Esther chapters 8-10). At this time, Hatred’s spectators turned around, cheering the Love side from the stands looking at how organized and composed they were playing. “…And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.” (Esther 8:17b). Love scored their last goal to take the scoreline to 8-2 when the Jews struck down all their enemies and all who hated them (Esther 9:5). Mordecai was again lifted and promoted as the second in rank to King Xerxes, whiles Haman and all his ten (10) sons were executed. Love is, therefore, wiser and far more potent than Hatred on any given day.

From these three matches played so far, it will be realized that, no one can avoid clashing with Hatred since he is playing home in this temporal life. If you manage to prevent him within the family setting, you will meet him in Church. If you swerve him in the body of Christ, you are most likely to clash with him at the workplace or in your organization. Instead of becoming exhausted and frustrated with such encounters, let us instead be encouraged in the strength and winning power Love has over the fighting spirit of Hatred. At the return league on Love’s home soil at the culmination of the age, it will be all joy because every hassling, sweat and tears from our eyes will be wiped away (Revelations 21:4). Watch out for the grand finale in my next write up, which is the last in the series of Love versus Hatred dubbed “The Easter El-Classico”.

Team Sheet of Love: Patience, Kindness, Humility, Hope, Perseverance, Truth, Trust, Peace, Joy, goodness, Self-Control, Faith, Resurrection Power, Selflessness, Respect, Forgiveness, forbearance, gentleness, Unity, Compassion, Prayer and faithfulness.

Team Sheet of Hatred: Anger, Envy, Jealousy, Pride, Slander, Selfish Ambition, Unforgiving spirit, Strife, Bitterness, Worldliness, Wickedness, Hypocrisy, Greed, Dishonesty, Lies, Nepotism, Rebellion, Death, factions, witchcraft, Propaganda and racism.

Written by Pastor James Orhin Agyin (j.orhinagyin20@icloud.com)

Easter Story2

The Easter Story According To Mark (Mark 14 -16)

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsTop Stories

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it” (John 3:16-17).

THE LAST SUPPER (MARK 14)

So, the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there.

In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples.  As they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, “The truth is, one of you will betray Me, one of you who is here eating with Me.”

Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask Him, “I’m not the one, am I?”

He replied, “It is one of you twelve, one who is eating with Me now.  For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago.  But how terrible it will be for My betrayer.  Far better for him if he had never been born!”

As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it.  Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is My body.”

And He took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it.  He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.  And He said to them, “This is My blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and His people.  I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

JESUS PRAYS IN GETHSEMANE

And they came to an olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.”

He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be filled with horror and deep distress.  He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.  Stay here and watch with Me.”

He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting Him might pass him by.

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for You.  Please take this cup of suffering away from Me.  Yet I want Your will, not Mine.”

Then He returned and found the disciples asleep.

“Simon!” He said to Peter.  “Are you asleep?  Couldn’t you stay awake and watch with Me even one hour?  Keep alert and pray.  Otherwise, temptation will overpower you.  For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak.”

Then Jesus left them again and prayed, repeating His pleadings.

Again, He returned to them and found them sleeping, for they just couldn’t keep their eyes open.  And they didn’t know what to say.  When He returned to them the third time, He said,

“Still sleeping?  Still resting?  Enough!  The time has come.   I, the Son of Man, am betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Up, let’s be going.  See, my betrayer is here!”

JESUS IS BETRAYED AND ARRESTED

And immediately, as He said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a mob that was armed with swords and clubs.  They had been sent out by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law and the other leaders.  Judas had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I go over and give Him the kiss of greeting.  Then you can take Him away under guard.”

As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus.  “Teacher!” he exclaimed, and gave Him the kiss.  Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him.  But someone pulled out a sword and slashed off an ear of the high priest’s servant.  Jesus asked them,

“Am I some dangerous criminal, that you come armed with swords and clubs to arrest Me?  Why didn’t you arrest Me in the Temple?  I was there teaching every day.  But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about Me.”

Meanwhile, all His disciples deserted Him and ran away.  There was a young man following along behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt.  When the mob tried to grab him, they tore off his clothes, but he escaped and ran away naked.

JESUS IS CRUCIFIED (MARK 15)

So, Pilate, anxious to please the crowd, released Barabbas to them.  He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip then turned Him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify Him.  They dressed Him in a purple robe and made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on His head.  Then they saluted, yelling, “Hail! King of the Jews!”  And they beat Him on the head with a stick, spit on Him and dropped to their knees in mock worship.  When they were finally tired of mocking Him, they took off the purple robe and put His own clothes on Him again.  Then they led Him away to be crucified.

A man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the country just then, and they forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.  And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means Skull Hill).  They offered Him wine drugged with myrrh, but He refused it.  Then they nailed Him to the cross.  They gambled for His clothes, throwing dice to decide who would get them.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when the crucifixion took place.  A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against Him.  It read: “The King of the Jews.”  Two criminals were crucified with Him, their crosses on either side of His.  And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery.  “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at Him. “You can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, can you?  Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus.  “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but He can’t save himself!  Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe Him!”  Even the two criminals who were being crucified with Jesus ridiculed Him.

THE DEATH OF JESUS

At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.  Then, at that time Jesus called out with a loud voice,

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought He was calling for the prophet Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to Him on a stick so he could drink.  “Leave Him alone.  Let’s see whether Elijah will come and take Him down!” he said.

Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed His last.  And the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  When the Roman officer who stood facing Him saw how He had died, he exclaimed, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”

Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph) and Salome.  They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for Him while He was in Galilee.  Then they and many other women had come with Him to Jerusalem.

THE BURIAL OF JESUS

This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath.  As evening approached, an honored member of the high council, Joseph from Arimathea (who was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come), gathered his courage and went to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body.  Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman military officer in charge and asked him.  The officer confirmed the fact, and Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.  Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth, and taking Jesus’ body down from the cross, he wrapped it in the cloth and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock.  Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance.  Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

THE RESURRECTION – JESUS IS RISEN! (MARK 16)

The next evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Salome and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased burial spices to put on Jesus’ body.  Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they came to the tomb.  On the way they were discussing who would roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb.  But when they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone – a very large one – had already been rolled aside.  So they entered the tomb, and there on the right sat a young man clothed in a white robe.  The women were startled, but the angel said, “Do not be so surprised.  You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He isn’t here!  He has been raised from the dead!  Look, this is where they laid His body.  Now go and give this message to His disciples, including Peter: Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee.  You will see Him there, just as He told you before He died!”  The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, saying nothing to anyone because they were too frightened to talk.

It was early on Sunday morning when Jesus rose from the dead, and the first person who saw Him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and found the disciples, who were grieving and weeping.  But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him, they didn’t believe her.

Afterward He appeared to two who were walking from Jerusalem into the country, but they didn’t recognize Him at first because He had changed His appearance.  When they realized who He was, they rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them. Still later He appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together.  He rebuked them for their unbelief – their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

And then He told them,

“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.  Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved.  But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.  These signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in My name, and they will speak new languages.  They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them.  They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them.”

When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked with them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.

God loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus Christ to die for your sins. After His resurrection and ascension into heaven, He sent His Spirit to live in our lives and empower us to live the abundant life.  But we must personally ask Him into our lives to be our Lord and Savior.  If you are sincere about asking Him into your life, why don’t you pray the suggested prayer below:

(Prayer is talking to God. God knows your heart and is not as concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart.)

Source: Thoughts-about-God.com

tomb

Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact Or Fiction?

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsTop Stories

Some might wonder: Why all the fuss about Easter? Who cares? What difference does it make if Jesus rose from the dead?

It makes all the difference in the world. If Christ did not rise, then thousands of believers have died as martyrs for a hoax.

If He did rise, then He is still alive and can offer peace to troubled, hurting lives.

Countless scholars–among them the apostle Paul, Augustine, Sir Isaac Newton and C.S. Lewis–believed in the resurrection. We need not fear committing intellectual suicide by believing it also. Where do the facts lead?

Paul, a first-century skeptic-turned believer, wrote that “Christ died for our sins…he was buried…he was raised on the third day…he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve (Disciples). After that, he appeared to more than five hundred…at the same time, most of whom are still living.” Consider four pieces of evidence:

1. THE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT:

Within a few weeks after Jesus was crucified, a movement arose which, by the later admission of its enemies, “upset the world.” What happened to ignite this movement shortly after its leader had been executed?

2. THE DISCIPLES’ CHANGED LIVES:

After Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, most of the Disciples fled in fear. Peter denied three times that he was a follower of Jesus. (The women were braver and stayed to the end.) Yet ten out of the eleven Disciples (Judas committed suicide) were martyred for their faith. According to traditions, Peter was crucified upside down; Thomas was skewered; John was boiled in oil but survived. What turned these cowards into heroes? Each believed he had seen Jesus alive again.

3. THE EMPTY TOMB:

Jesus’ corpse was removed from the cross, wrapped like a mummy and placed in a solid-rock tomb. A one-and-a-half to two-ton stone was rolled into a slightly depressed groove to seal the tomb’s entrance.

A “Green Beret”-like unit of Roman soldiers guarded the grave. Sunday morning, the stone was found rolled away, the body was gone but the graveclothes were still in place. What happened?

Did Christ’s friends steal the body? Perhaps one of the women sweet-talked (karate-chopped?) the guards while the others moved the stone and tiptoed off with the body. Or maybe Peter (remember his bravery) or Thomas (Doubting Thomas) overpowered the guards, stole the body, then fabricated–and died for–a resurrection myth.

These theories hardly seem plausible. The guard was too powerful, the stone too heavy and the disciples too spineless to attempt such a feat.

Did Christ’s enemies steal the body? If Romans or Jewish religious leaders had the body, surely, they would have exposed it publicly and Christianity would have died out. They didn’t, and it didn’t.

The “Swoon Theory” supposes that Jesus didn’t really die but was only unconscious. The expert Roman executioners merely thought he was dead. After a few days in the tomb without food or medicine, the cool air revived him.

He burst from the 100 pounds of graveclothes, rolled away the stone with his nail-pierced hands, scared the daylights out of the Roman soldiers, walked miles on wounded feet and convinced his Disciples he’d been raised from the dead. This one is harder to believe than the resurrection itself.

4. THE APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN CHRIST:

For 40 days after his death, many different people said they saw Jesus alive. Witnesses included a woman, a shrewd tax collector, several fishermen and over 500 people at once. These claims provide further eyewitness testimony for the resurrection.

As a skeptic, I realized that attempts to explain away the evidences run into a brick wall of facts that point to one conclusion: Christ is risen.

The above does not constitute an exhaustive proof, rather a reasoned examination of the evidence. Each interested person should evaluate the evidence and decide if it makes sense. Of course, the truth or falsity of the resurrection is a matter of historical fact and is not dependent on anyone’s belief. If the facts support the claim, one can conclude that he arose. In any case, mere intellectual assent to the facts does little for one’s life.

Written by Rusty Wright (thoughts-about-God.com)

This dramatic lighting with storm clouds breaking and sunshine bursting through makes a great Easter photo illustration of Jesus dying on the cross and rising again.

Why Is Easter So Important?

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsTop Stories

With just a few days until Easter, many Christians are thinking of how to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet despite this, there are many more Christians who view Easter as just another day of the year, just another government holiday where they do not have to work, where they get the day off of school, or as a day where they get to eat extra candy from the “Easter bunny.” Why does this happen? Why do some people no longer view Easter as important to them? Why do some people view Easter as just another day of the year?

I do not pretend to have all the answers to this question, nor do I know what goes on in the minds of people. Yet that said, I believe that many people have been listening to the beliefs and views of modern society in regards to Easter, and are letting these views take precedence in their lives, either willingly or unwillingly. There are times when it is difficult to be a Christian in the modern world. There are times when we all struggle with our faith. I am going to put the idea of Easter into context, to try to explain why it is important for us as Christians to celebrate Easter as one of, if not, the, most important “holy days” in Christianity. Potentially even more important than Christmas. 

Early Christians did not necessarily view Christmas as the most holy and important day of the year. Instead, they viewed Easter as the most important date for all Christians. There were even church councils and treatises on the topic of Easter and the dating for it, no such things exist for Christmas. I am not trying to negate Christmas; I am only putting it in context of early Christianity.

WHY WAS EASTER SO IMPORTANT TO EARLY CHRISTIANS? 

The answer is simple. Easter is so important because all of Christianity revolves around the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus did not die for our sins, or if Jesus did not rise again after three days, then the entire hope of Christianity is based upon nothing but lies and falsities. In short, Christianity would be meaningless as a religion, because our sins would not be forgiven by Christ. If it was not for Easter we would have to continue living as the Jews of old and offering animal sacrifices to the Lord for our sins. 

The single reason why Easter was and is so important to Christianity is because it is the centre of our faith and religion, and the basis of our identity as Christians. Sure, Jesus’ birth is important, as is His ascension. But none of them saved us from our sins. Jesus’ birth is only in two of the Gospels, the ascension in another two and Acts. Yet, you know what is mentioned in every single gospel, and is the focus of each gospel? Not Jesus’ birth, not even Jesus’ teachings (though these are quite important), but Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is so important that it was seen as the cornerstone for Christianity, the rock upon which the early Church was built. 

Therefore, it can be seen that Easter should be viewed as the most important holiday for all Christians. Not just those pious believers, or those of the early Church. EVERYONE. You, me, your coworkers, your friends, that person down the pew from you, the organist and pianist. Every single Christian should view Easter as the most important event of the year. And we should not be afraid of viewing Easter this way. As Paul says in Romans 1:16, I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes-the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News is that Christ died on the cross for all of humanity, not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles that their sins may be redeemed if they believe in Him, that they will have everlasting life. If Paul is not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, then why are we? Why should we not be out celebrating Easter as if it is the most important holiday of the year? Because it is. Easter is the most important holiday of the year for us as Christians. 


Easter is just as important for us today as it was 2000 years ago in the early church. Just as important because it represents that Jesus saved us from our sins by dying and rising again after three days. 

So this Easter, instead of just accepting it as another day, instead of just welcoming the break from the work week, recognise Easter for what it is and celebrate accordingly. Set aside fanciful notions of the Easter bunny and getting candy eggs, and focus on the truth of Easter. The truth of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we prepare for this year’s festival remember the true meaning of Easter, the truth behind Christianity, and thank God for sending His son to die for our sins so that we may have eternal life in Him! Happy Easter (in advance)!

Written by James Bruyn (www.faithatwork.ca)

Three-Crosses-e1548178482384

Why Do We Celebrate Easter?

by with No Comment ArticlesChurch NewsTop Stories

It is that time of the year again, where we get to celebrate Easter habitually. If you stop and ask anyone why the world celebrates Easter, the standard responses would be: ‘celebration of Jesus’s resurrection.’

That’s right. Easter is significantly marked as a festival people of faith galvanised, to celebrate the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Although we worship Christ Jesus as the son of God; confessionally from lots of believers’ perspective, Christ Jesus is a ‘Hero.’ So, Easter is a time of the year we celebrate Christ’s heroism. However, there is one significant question we are all often naive to ask:

Why did Jesus/hero have to die and resurrect? Also, follow-up question: Is He a hero because He resurrected? 

Before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to first understand why Christ came to earth, and the question to begin with is:

WHY DID CHRIST COME TO US?

Jesus came to earth because of sin. Jesus came to save humanity from sin. In the entire multiverse, Only Jesus Christ was worthy to come and save us all from sin. A sin is an act of disobedience toward God, and it resulted in separation from God. Jesus’s ultimate mission to earth was to bridge the gap between God and us; to restore humanity’s relationship with God.

Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, the first human and the roots of humanity. The autobiography of Adam and Eve is not a Disney fairy-tale nor ordinary allegory. It is a story full of allurements; built on the foundation of a phenomenon and supernatural occurrences. Adam and Eve’s story historically stands as a significant etiology, that evokes a sufficient explanation to the dichotomy of life and the existence of imperfection here on earth. This act of disobedience led to a relationship break up between humankind and God.

THE REPERCUSSION OF SIN

The existence of sin within humanity meant human beings were not worthy of being acquainted with God no more. Sin has affected humanity for billions of years, and that is the prime reason why our world today is not perfect. Adam and Eve’s abuse of ‘Free-Will’ subsequently afflicted human moral nature forever.

Sin is the reason there is no peace, no love, no joy in the world. Sin is the reason for centuries. We have witnessed wars and conflicts; it brought lust, greed, hatred, viruses, and many more. All of these transmitted wickedness and disabilities are the result of a perverted human moral nature.

BUT GOD…

Despite humans’ nature of sin, God’s greatest desire has always been to be acquainted with humans and dwell in eternity with them. God’s dream has always been to live with us, but unfortunately, due to our sinful nature, he had to use an ultimate strategy to restore us closer to Him and restore the entire universe to its original state.

The ultimate strategy to restore humanity required an ultimate sacrifice for sin. Moreover, this is why Christ Jesus came to earth. Jesus Christ was the ultimate sacrifice for sin. The sacrifice of Christ Jesus brought forgiveness to humanity. The sacrifice of Christ Jesus moved God’s heart and made God forgive humans’ nature of sin once and for all.

The basis of Easter rests upon the fact that Christ Jesus came to earth to end the dominance of sin. Cleansing humans and reconciling them back to God. The death of Christ on the cross was the ultimate sacrifice for sin for all. If sin was a debt, Christ paid the ultimate price. If sin was a disease, Christ brought the cure. Moreover, if sin was a prison jail, Christ brought the key for rescue; and that’s why the first Easter happened.

SO EASTER HAPPENED

Easter brought salvation. The significance of Easter is not the fact that Christ Jesus resurrected from death; in fact, history records that Christ was not the first or the last human to die and resurrect. The significance of Easter is in the fact that Christ Jesus became a sacrifice for our sins. He chose the bloody execution to bear our punishment of sin. His blood spilled to cleanse humanity forever. He carried our sins on the cross to crucify its power forever. Death was sin’s greatest punishment and prison for sinners, but Christ Jesus defeated death and turned death into a doorway to eternity; exclusively for those who accept Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

IT IS A BIG DEAL

Easter is not another holiday celebration on the calendar; Easter is significantly a memorable day historically for Christians (Christ’s follower). We celebrate a saviour and a hero who lives. During Easter, we remember the labour of Christ Jesus for our sins. We celebrate Easter with joy because Christ set us free from the power of sin and its punishment.

Easter iconically reminds us of God’s demonstration of love and commitment to humanity. Easter is a time of the year we commune to celebrate together as One because we are saved by One blood, One body and One man Christ Jesus. As Christ Jesus said:

“DO THIS, IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”

That is why we celebrate Easter. When we celebrate, we remember Christ’s sacrifice for us: The body that was broken so we could have an eternal body. The blood that he shed to cleanse our sins and draw us closer to God and dwell in eternity with God when our earthly bodies expire.

The first Easter brought forgiveness and victory over sin. Satan’s brutal punishment over humanity was: sin and death. However, Jesus conquered all of that. His suffering and labor birthed forgiveness over sin for humanity because Christ is the son of God. So he took our sins upon himself, so His Father (God) would forgive us.

This is why we celebrate Easter: Easter is a celebration for the reconciliation of humanity and God by Christ Jesus’s death and resurrection. Also is an end to the powers of sin and punishment for those who believe in Christ Jesus. The blood of Jesus birthed forgiveness, which is the grace we now stand undercovered.

Written by Marc Bope (dailyps.com)