Posts in category: Articles

Easter is one of the central tenets of the Christian faith. This Christian festival is a spiritual feast commemorating the Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

“..Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again ‘ ” – Luke 24:6-7

From my biblical studies and meditation on this year’s Easter Celebration, I caught a rhema which I titled ‘His Throne for Our Thorns’. As it pleases the Lord, I desire to share this rhema of the suffering of Christ as He hung on the Cross with the Crown of Thorns on His head at Calvary with the body of Christ… May the Lord grant us grace.

In the Garden of Eden, one of the first signs of the curse brought upon mankind as a result of Sin was the presence of “thorns and thistles” to represent the slavery, captivity, painful burden, toil, guilt and suffering ‘married’ to Man’s labor from then on (Genesis 3:18). In other parts of the Bible, “thorns” and “thistles” are used to represent the path of those who choose sin over the way of the Lord (Proverbs 22:5).

On the morning of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Roman soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and placed it on Jesus’ head, openly mocking and ridiculing Jesus as the “King of the Jews” – Matthew 27:29

The crown of thorns is unarguably one of the most iconic images of Christ’s crucifixion. Perhaps more so than any other form of physical suffering He endured; the crown Jesus bore signified Christ’s ultimate humility in trading His heavenly authority for the lowliest estate of man: a place of burdensome slavery, suffering, guilt and shame.

The soldiers knew not that, their crude and cruel crown of thorns, meant to mock Jesus, actually pointed to the curse and penalty of sin that Jesus Christ wore in our place. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:22).

Jesus Christ exchanged His throne for our thorns and now we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that we may proclaim the excellences of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light -1 Peter 2:9 (Paraphrased).

Now, we boldly boast in Christ that, we are royals, we reign and share with Christ His authority on earth because, He exchanged His throne which represents His glory, sovereignty, kingship, royalty and authority for our Thorns which represents our sin, curse, slavery, painful burden and guilt, enabling us to walk in perpetual dominion over sin and its grave consequences. We cry Abba Father and walk in oneness with Him fully assured that we are reconciled and restored to our previous state of unhindered fellowship, or at least for as many who believe and call on his name and walk with him.

In conclusion, we have no Thorns in our side for we are sitting on the Throne of Grace, Glory and Power. On this note, I want to urge all Christians around the globe that Easter is not just a holiday nor is it about paragliding, hiking, carnivals and street jams but it is about valuing the Love that God has shown through His Son Jesus Christ, extending this same Love to others; helping them to know Him and the power of His resurrection.

‘That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead’. – Philippians 3:10-11.

I agree with Sir George Bennard in his song OLD RUGGED CROSS; let us cherish and cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.

Written by Deacon Jonathan Avornyo (Krachikrom District, Kete-Krachi Area)

“False teachers are adversaries of the contemporary church. They please the ear than the heart. They argue, that the scriptures need new interpretation and they are uniquely qualified to offer that interpretation. Beware of such and deliver your souls out of their deadly traps.”   

Probationary Overseer Enock Okain.

Beware of FALSE TEACHERS

The church is always under attack, at all times and in all places. Satan is the greatest enemy of the church and one of his successful weapons is false teachers. False teaching poses a serious danger to the church. We must recognize it as a threat because the Bible repeatedly tells us that. Jesus warns us that false teachers will emerge from outside the Christian community, attempting to conceal their actual motives (Matt. 7:15–20). In the same vein, Peter tells us that false teachers can also emerge from within the community of believers, bringing destructive and poisonous teachings (2 Peter 2:1). Simply put, false teaching is not just a problem for a section of believers but all believers hence we must be vigilant and be on guard.

WHO THEY ARE?

Now, let me give you some scenarios of how false teachers package themselves to deceive fragile believers.

False teachers are those who arrogantly attempt to fashion new interpretations of the scriptures to demonstrate that the text in the Bible should not be read as God’s words to His children but only as the utterances of uninspired men constrained by their own prejudices and cultural biases. They argue, therefore, that the scriptures require new interpretations and that they are uniquely qualified to offer that interpretation. In summary, these critics try to twist Church doctrines to meet their own preconceived notions, denying Christ and His messianic role in the process.

False teachers are also those who attempt to alter God-ordained and scripturally supported doctrines that protect the sanctity of marriage, the divine nature of the family, and the essential doctrine of personal morality. They advocate a redefinition of morality to justify fornication, adultery, homosexual relationships and polygamy. Some openly champion the legalization of same-gender marriages and other abominable acts. False teachers only teach to please men (Gal. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:1-4). They preach more to please the ear than to profit the heart.

The other false teachers are the charlatans. They are those who are only in the kingdom business for themselves.  They see Christianity as a means to personal gains. They see believers or Christians as people they can take advantage of to enrich themselves. They pretend to be Shepherds but all they do is to exploit and extort from the church, teach different doctrines that suit them but fail to nurture the sheep according to biblical principles. The Bible speaks of them in (1 Timothy 6:3-5).

The false prophet is also another false teacher. These are teachers who claim to bring fresh revelation from God. They usually prophesy non-realistic things that exceed the Bible. The Bible speaks of them too (1 John 4:1).

WHERE CAN THEY BE FOUND?

False teachers do not come from mars or clad themselves with weird cloths and masks as portrayed in movies, they are found in places of worship, preaching and teaching, seminaries, videos, mission fields, books, and on television and radio.

IMPACTS OF FALSE TEACHINGS ON THE CHURCH

The Bible warns believers to beware of false teachers for they come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves whose impacts on the church are very damaging.

• They cause division in the church

Acts 20:28-30 – “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves’ men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

• Lead Believers Astray

Jer. 23:32 – “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them, and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

• Defrauds Believers

Col. 2:18 – Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,

• Leads believers to destruction

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” 2 Peter 2:1-3

COMBATING FALSE TEACHINGS

• Be knowledgeable in the word of God:

A general lack of Bible knowledge and discernment among believers is one of the most significant contributions to the propagation of false teaching in the church. It may sound illogical to say that students should be able to correct teachers when they bring falsehood into the church, but that is exactly what the Bible teaches us. When Paul was at Berea, his teaching was not just accepted, his listeners put it to the test by examining the Scriptures to determine whether it was correct. (Acts 17:11). For this, they were praised by Luke as being “more noble.” All believers must read the Scriptures for themselves and compare what is being taught to the Scriptures. This does not require radical skepticism, but it does mean that believers are not to unhesitatingly trust every word of mere men.

• People must be held accountable for their false teachings

The failure to hold people accountable for their incorrect teaching is one factor that contributes to the spread of false teaching. People must be called to book, corrected, or punished when propagating false teachings. When the church turns a blind eye to false teaching because its proponents are popular or have ‘successful ministries,’ it allows false teaching to spread and it would be the source of further division and conflict in the church. Church discipline exists to uphold the glory of Christ and His truth and to protect the people of God from error and its consequences.

• Church Leaders must be ready to confront falsehood

To combat false teaching, the church needs pastors, elders, and teachers who are both willing and able to confront falsehood (Titus 2:8; 1 Peter 2:15). Even when the people of God are eager to study His Word and the church is prepared to exercise discipline, false teaching can flourish when the leadership of the church is ill-prepared and poorly trained. The lower we set our standards for training pastors and elders for the ministry, the less prepared they will be to recognize false teaching. Those who have not been trained well in the Bible, its languages, and principles of sound interpretation may fall prey to novel teachings that seem to explain away problems or contradictions.

CONCLUSION

Let us beware of false prophets and false teachers, both men and women, who are self-appointed declarers of the doctrines of the Church and who seek to spread their false gospel and attract followers by sponsoring symposia, books, and journals whose contents challenge fundamental doctrines of the Church.

By Probationary Overseer Enock Okain

Have you ever dolled yourself up so beautifully only to meet the disapproving look in your parents’ eyes? You can’t help but wonder, “what’s wrong with my dress? It can’t be the neckline. It must be for flaunting my fair thighs and accentuating my curves with how ‘fitting’ the dress is. But I look dashing! Such dresses aren’t worn very long: just cute and perfect.”

“Dress how you want to be addressed” is a famous saying that highlights the importance of dressing appropriately. Dressing up is an art that reflects our personality, values, and beliefs. In today’s world, where fashion is constantly evolving, it is important to understand what it means to be classy yet decent in your dressing. A classy but decent dress is stylish, fashionable, trendy, and elegant but does not compromise modesty and decency. This means avoiding revealing or provocative clothing and opting for a more conservative yet elegant attire. Think of it as the fashion equivalent of a perfectly timed punchline – it may not be the loudest or most attention-grabbing, but it’s certain to leave a lasting impression.

Appropriate attire is essential for all occasions, and it is important to understand what constitutes classy but decent dressing to make a positive impression on all manner of people in different spheres of life. Dressing appropriately for social gatherings such as weddings, parties, and religious events is important to show respect and honor the occasion. It is also a way to express our values and beliefs. Therefore, understanding the concept of classy but decent dressing can help us align our wardrobe choices with our values and beliefs.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of dressing in a classy but decent manner, let’s walk ourselves through a brief history of clothing, shall we? We will discover how much transformation dressing has undergone. And while that transformation may be good, we will see how it has changed the apparent purpose of clothing. Let’s start from the very beginning; the era where Eve is seen breaching the law and initiating her husband into the act. After the initiation, they realised that they were naked, but God made leather clothing for them and dressed them in it (Genesis 3:21 MSG). Thus, the initial and apparent purpose of clothing was for covering. In subsequent times, clothing was made not only for covering but for protection, modesty (Genesis 24:65), status, and identification (Priests, for example).

The primitive clothes in the bible were made from wool, linen, animal skins, etc. This provided warmth as well as protection against sun rays, cold, rough surfaces, sharp stones, bites, and rash-causing plants. Gradually, clothing took a different turn. They were not only worn for protection or warmth but also to signify an occurrence, festival, social status, and the culture of a populace. The Israelites before and in their journey to the land of Canaan took to the fashion sense of the people around them. Their fashion sense began to change gradually and with time, it evolved. In biblical history, John the Baptist had that fashion sense. He wore an undergarment very close to the skin (ezor) and fastened with a girdle (hagorah). Little Samuel also had a robe girded with a linen ephod (1 Samuel 2:18). The Bible describes the garment of Jesus as a tunic without seam woven from top to bottom, a vivid picture of how much a great transformation clothing has made; from animal skin to tunic!

As civilisations developed, clothing became more sophisticated and varied in style and design. The ancient Egyptians, for example, wore flowing linen garments made from locally grown flax. Their clothing was often adorned with intricate embroidery and jewelry, and different colors and patterns were used to indicate social status.

Cultural and societal changes have impacted the way Christians dress throughout history. In some cases, these changes have led to a shift away from traditional values of modesty and simplicity. For example, the Industrial Revolution led to the mass production of clothing, making fashionable clothing more accessible and affordable. This led some Christians to adopt more fashionable clothing, even if it conflicted with traditional values. In addition, the rise of secularism in the 20th century led to a greater emphasis on individualism and self-expression. As a result, many Christians began to view clothing as a means of expressing their unique identity and personality, rather than simply as a means of covering their body.

The advent of social media and the internet has also had a significant impact on Christian dressing. What we see on social media can influence us in a lot of ways, and the sphere of fashion or dressing isn’t exempt because of how powerful a communication tool it has become in modern-day society. What we see on social media to a large extent alters our perception regarding what we consume, and this could happen either consciously or subconsciously. We live in a generation in which we do not need to go far and wide to be exposed to a lot. Access to information is right at our fingertips and even more subtly through social media platforms. What we end up consuming, mostly because it is widespread, informs our brain that this is normal. If whilst scrolling on Instagram, mini dresses and booty shorts seem to be the new trend, a part of ourselves subtly accepts that it is normal. So when it eventually materialises itself in our decision-making regarding how we dress, it isn’t far-fetched despite our initial socialisation. As such, it takes a certain level of intentionality and self-awareness to truly stay the course of what modesty means to you without being unduly influenced by the metrics we are constantly exposed to on social media.

Despite these challenges, Christians must continue to prioritise modesty and simplicity in their clothing choices. In the Bible, modesty is a key virtue for Christians. 1 Timothy 2:9-10 states that women should dress modestly and with decency, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes. Rather, they should dress in good deeds, which is appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

A word that has seen its meaning metamorphose in definition over the years is modesty. With increasing relativity and subjectivity on what modesty truly is, questions such as:

“What does it mean to dress modestly?

What does the Bible teach about dressing modestly?

How do I keep up with fashion trends and still be modest as a Christian?

How modest is modest?

What do I even wear to the beach?” have arisen.

Modesty, according to Merriam-Webster, denotes a sense of being morally pure. Narrowing it down to our world of fashion, modesty refers to a fashion trend in wearing less-revealing clothes, especially in a way that satisfies one’s spiritual and stylistic requirements for reasons of faith, religion, or personal preferences (Wikipedia). Modesty is not synonymous with being ragged or old-fashioned. On the contrary, from its Latin root, modestus denotes moderation or appropriation in relation to our everyday apparel.

Modesty goes beyond the physical clothing that we put on. It is more of what informs our fashion decisions-our motives, our thoughts, our reasons, and our hidden desires! Our actions and inactions are but a reflection of what our thoughts are, for as a man thinks, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). We might dress without any intention to cause our brethren to stumble, but we might innocently do so because we show a little too much skin in our clothing.

One’s view on modesty may differ from another’s. Yes, modesty is relative across cultural and religious boundaries. From the Indian sari to the Scottish kilt to the Japanese kimono, the Ghanaian slit, and kaba, cultures have differing views on what decency is. The Indian’s version of modesty may be draping a sari while showing her stomach. The typical Ghanaian mother will immediately register her displeasure at seeing her daughter show her tummy to the public. An Arabian father would ensure that his daughter has carefully wrapped her hair with a beautiful hijab and is well covered from head to toe.

But amidst the numerous voices on modesty, the Christian’s view should be rooted in scripture.

“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. (1 Timothy 2:9-10)”

The Apostle Paul exhorts women to be modest or respectable in their dressing. The Bible doesn’t frown on looking classy or fashionable. Paul discouraged over-elaborate or expensive hairdos and attires. Modesty connotes moderation and a heart of humility (not showing off all the jewelry that we have) as an attribute of those who truly worship God in the beauty of His holiness. Those whose hearts are inclined toward God will make every effort to dress appropriately in order not to attract attention for the wrong reasons.

Surely, God does not want us to look shabby. “…adorning themselves not with…” is a far cry from raggedness. Dear daughter of God, rock those heels and clutch a purse! Mr. Faithful gentleman, wear that tuxedo with your brogues. Slip on your Rolex! Look good for God! Our identity in Christ mandates us to dress appropriately on all occasions.    

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)”                         

A distinguishing mark of royalty and priesthood is the style of dressing. God is very keen on appropriate dressing. This is seen in the specific measurements He gave concerning the priestly garments. Although there is no specific measurement as to how long our skirts or sleeves should be, the Holy Spirit convicts us. God wants His temple covered appropriately! We can still turn heads by dressing decently.

Classiness is a personal choice to do justice to every piece of clothing we put on even as we proclaim our priesthood and royalty to the world. Modesty doesn’t limit us to basic neutral colors of flared and gathered skirts with long sleeves. Be bold in your fashion statement. Throw in some colors and blend them in; orange, yellow, purple, tints and shades of red, gradients of green, expanses of blue, brown,  monochrome, dichrome. Make it bold and step out.

Accessorise right. Accessorising is the way we combine and style matching accessories to elevate and complement our looks. Accessories such as jewelry, bags, belts, scarves, hats, sunglasses, watches, and so much more help to complete our looks but do not form our main clothing. Striking the balance when it comes to accessories will always make us classier than those who do not. Know your signature accessory that complements most of your clothes and how to mix materials, colors, and textures.

High necklines and long dresses exude an aura of elegance: If you opt for a decently cut low neckline, be sure to wear the right undergarments. Long dresses with slits should be appropriate, not up to the thigh and beyond as is in vogue now.

Lacoste need not always be thrown over a pair of trousers. A Lacoste can be tucked into a pair of neatly ironed, well-fitting trousers with a belt matching the shoes. Choose fitting over tight. In as much as one may not necessarily be showing skin, body-hugging or tight clothes leave little to the imagination.

Casual clothes are informal clothes that cannot be worn for special occasions. Examples are t-shirts, sweatpants or joggers, blue jeans, etc. These are inappropriate for special occasions. However, these days we see these clothes which have been branded as casual being worn for all kinds of occasions. When casual clothes are worn outside, it is perceived that the individual cares less about where they are going, what is being done where they are going, or the kind of people who will be present at the occasion. It signifies that the individuals do not respect themselves and thus do not respect the program they are attending. People who dress casually for a special occasion are seen as indecent, inappropriately dressed, and immodest.

We are God’s letter to the world. Our appearance speaks volumes at first glance, even before our contents are read. What we wear represents our identity and culture, but as Christians, our dressing reflects our Saviour. Modesty is still possible in this age where near-nudity is hailed. Dress right!

Written by Pastor Jonathan Ebo Quaye

There is a popular saying that most media personnel in the Church are not “spiritual”. Proponents of this assertion usually say this to imply that media personnel are not actively involved in the “spiritual aspects” of the Church’s worship life during services. Although they may have grounds for arriving at this conclusion, I humbly beg to differ. As a media personnel myself, I can confidently say this notion is misconstrued and quite farther from the truth. Admittedly, not all media persons may take active part in a service – and this applies to all church members and not media persons alone. However, what I find worrying is the negative tag given to us as media personnel in recent times.

From my interactions and observations, I realised that the reason why people allude to this is mostly due to the fact that during church services, media personnel are usually seen taking coverage of proceedings and not seen participating in activities. During worship and prayer sessions, for instance, media persons are mostly seen “loitering” around. This has inadvertently created a notion in the minds of others that media work is for those who are not interested in spirituality. Indeed, hardly would you see a media person being called upon to lead a worship or praise session, but this could be attributed to the high demands of the work and not necessarily their “prayerlessness”.

To me, there are different instruments of worship that could be employed in praising our Maker. Trumpets, guitars, tambourines, and other instruments, for instance, can be used to glorify our God. Likewise, we, as media personnel, also use our skills and gadgets to create an enabling environment where worship can be done effectively. Creating a montage on an LED screen adds flavour to video productions. Using lights during major conventions does not only beautify the place to attract unbelievers, but it also boosts the beauty of video content for online evangelism. Whereas unbelievers use catchy flyers and high-quality videos to draw people to concerts and parties, we, church media personnel, also use our skills to create catchy contents that attract many (including unbelievers) to church events and services.

In recent times, the quality of video production of churches attracts more people to the house of God. The popular “Alpha Hour” online prayer session continues to receive high patronage, partly because of the quality of videos and audio-visuals – and this is done by the media team. If the video comes out pixelated with a bad audio output, many who join the feed may quickly switch off their data and probably go to bed. This is to stress that the media team also plays an instrumental role in the ministry of the Church, especially in the areas of soul-winning and church growth. This has become so crucial to the extent that any Church that fails to invest in its media ends up losing some of the members to the churches that do.

Again, contrary to what others think, most media persons pray before they start any production. This is one thing most people do not know. In fact, media personnel who do not fortify themselves with prayers do so at their own peril. This is because a lot of issues occur in the course of production. Thus, having a clean production comes with some level of grace. During or after production, it could happen that one’s laptop, camera, or router may not function well and affect the overall output. From experience, I have realised that any activity that seeks to push the agenda of God suffers a lot of setbacks and challenges. The Bible says “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12)”. It is only our prayers that help us to overcome some of these challenges. Therefore, being able to finish a major production successfully demands the hand of God. It is only the grace of God that can help one to do a great job and have a meaningful impact on the lives of others.

Other people also have the view that, as a result of work, media persons do not pay attention to messages preached during church services. Whilst this may be true, the other side of it is that media personnel get the opportunity to listen to the sermons over and over again after service. How? Well, after taking coverage, the media personnel go through the production severally to correct mistakes. In doing so, they get to listen to the messages again and again. Sometimes, one listens so much that one begins to recite portions of the sermon.

The same applies to pre-recorded messages – as the video editor gets to listen to the message even before the congregation. These life-transforming messages tend to have a major impact on the lives of video editors. There have even periods when, having been touched by the message, I paused the video to spend some time in worship before continuing the project.

In conclusion, I believe that the level of one’s spirituality cannot be seen from physical actions. Neither can it be determined by how often one leads the congregation in times of worship or prayer sessions. Spirituality goes beyond that. It is rather about the intimate relationship that one builds with the Lord. Media personnel in the Church should be encouraged to take their spirituality seriously just as any member of the Church, but this should not be done tactfully and not in a way that presupposes that a media person is not “spiritual.”

Written by Augustus Nii Oblie Adu-Aryee  (PIWC-Assin Foso)

The Cambridge dictionary defines Cleanliness as the habit or state of keeping yourself or your Environment free from dirt. However, spirituality relates to people’s thoughts and beliefs rather than their bodies and physical surroundings, according to the Collins dictionary. Ordinarily, there should not have been any direct relationship between Cleanliness and Spirituality, judging from their definitions. In real life, however, a significant correlation exists between them, although the former involves the physical or material world and the latter, the unseen world. In the spirit world, certain spirits can only be invoked or invited by the burning of particular substances or incense to attain certain scents within a given space. It is often argued that because God is a Spirit, He only relates and concerns Himself with our spirits and souls, not the body or physical surroundings. 

This warped assertion has unfortunately led to the careless and irresponsible attitude some believers exhibit towards the environmental and general Cleanliness of their surroundings. One only needs to pay a casual visit to some homes, organisations and places of worship to witness the gross lack of appreciation of the direct relationship between keeping a good environment and spirituality. In some Christian homes, you dare not request to use their washroom as a visitor. What you may witness can be enough to grant you the needed restraint to defer relieving yourself until you get home. In doing business in certain top organisations or institutions, your whole professional energy and momentum gathered for the day’s work can easily be deflated by a visit to the restroom. One would, therefore, expects that the place of worship, which is supposed to provide the needed rest to the soul in this ever-stressful world, would set the pace for the secular world to emulate. Unfortunately, You visit some churches, and you would have to force and overwork your immune system to enable you to get home before using the washroom or, better still, run to an available open field to relieve yourself. 

Yet, we all would have appeared well dressed and polished, singing and dancing around the “throne” of glory. Sometimes you wonder whether a different set of people passing by came and used the washrooms. You can not relate the people in their gorgeous apparel with what you went to see in the toilet. If care is not taken, you can be spiritually disengaged for a whole day, if not more, owing to what you saw with your eyes. Not long ago, I met a group of people who were lamenting profusely and contemplating leaving a place assigned for them to lodge due to how some of their colleagues were using the washroom they shared. Even though the meeting was for spiritual renewal, they left before the program closed. The Lord Jesus bemoaned the phenomena of what can be best described as “polished on dirt” when He confronted the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-26. About Cleanliness of the heart, He said, “…You hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” He continued, “…First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” It can be deduced that the Lord is not amused at all when He sees people outwardly well-dressed and polished but harbouring plenty of dirt in their inner chambers. The Lord encourages Cleanliness in the internal or hidden compartments, which automatically spills outward for all to see and admire.

If even humans can barely stand bad stench and dirt, how much less the Holy Spirit? Besides water and air-bone diseases associated with the irresponsible attitude towards our surroundings and environments, the cost of maintenance can be avoidably high and needless. A desk study, Economic Impacts of Poor Sanitation in Africa – Ghana, found that annually, disease like diarrhoea has caused 19,000 premature deaths in Ghana, including 5,100 children under the age of 5. Out of this, nearly 90 per cent of it is directly attributed to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene combined.(crs.org)

Unfortunately, some who do not acknowledge or believe in the existence of God are even more responsive to the rudiments of Cleanliness than some disciples of the faith. In much the same way, it is pretty ironic to witness the Environment and ambience some religious sects we comfortably tag as anti-Holy Spirit owing to their doctrine have kept for themselves. The Spirit of God appears to be just an invite away from such congregations due to their Environment’s serenity. Can the same be said of those of us who have believed and accepted the Holy Spirit to make His home in us and forever keep His presence wherever we are? The objective of this article is to derive a linkage between environmental Cleanliness and our spiritual act of worship. The write-up would also suggest practical ways believers can imbibe Cleanliness irrespective of our unique socio-cultural settings.

Some observed factors for our abysmal performance in environmental and general Cleanliness are as discussed;

1. The lack of appreciation of the linkage between Cleanliness and spirituality:

When God created humankind, He expected them to take complete control of their Environment, subdue it and ensure its mutual benefit to both parties. It is, therefore, not surprising to see God postulating environmental laws that would attract and keep His presence with Israel after they left Egypt en route to the promised Land. Besides His directives to keep the human body clean, He unequivocally outlawed open defecation. Open defecation is the practice of defecating outside rather than into a toilet. People may choose fields, bushes, forests, ditches, streets, canals, or other open spaces for defecation. 

Today, open defecation is a global health problem, affecting almost 1 billion people worldwide. And in sub-Saharan Africa, limited access to basic sanitation coupled with high population growth have led to an increase in open defecation and the spread of deadly diseases. According to Michael Stulman in an article published at the web page of the Catholic Relief Services, nearly 5 million people in Ghana lack access to toilet facilities. He continued, “For many households, the cost of constructing a private toilet is simply out of reach. And, for poorer households unaccustomed to using toilets, open defecation has traditionally been considered the cleanest, easiest, and most economical option. As the population grows, however, this practice is costing many people their lives.”(crs.org)

In Genesis 3:8-9, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 23:9, “When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.” He continued in verse 13, “Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment, have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. The LORD, your God, moves about in your camp to protect and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.” 

The above scriptures depict a God who constantly visits His children to interact, protect, strengthen or deliver them from their enemies. Instructing the Israelites before human civilisation and industrialisation to design and keep a piece of equipment to dig a hole to cover up their excrement suggests He was not going to take any excuse for open defecation or any ugly scenes. Indeed, what we see in some washrooms at our homes, institutions, and churches perfectly falls under open defecation within poorly ventilated and restricted enclosures. “The camp must be holy”, as directed, also implies God expected all their activities from their thoughts, hearts, actions and Environment to be devoid of every impurity and uncleanliness. Efforts must not be made to push this literal admonishing by God into the categories of some of the parables and metaphors He used in His teachings. He actually meant physical Cleanliness and not only the holiness of thoughts and hearts. God sees, smells and feels whatever humans do around their Environment. Therefore, it is possible to have upright people render their Environment unholy through their actions and inactions.

The danger and bitter truth in all of this are God’s inability to stay and be kept in an indecent or dirty environment. God told them then and is still telling His children today that He will turn away and leave them to their fate, even in battle, should He see anything unsightly in their camp. A direct link can, therefore, be drawn between God’s divine presence and humankind’s physical Environment. No believer, I think, would trade God’s abiding presence for anything. Therefore, Moses was right when he said he was not going to move an inch in his assigned task without God’s presence (Exodus 33:15). Can we, for once, imagine some of the things we did that might have driven God away at a time we probably needed Him the most? Waiting upon Him through fasting and prayers may bring Him, but dirt can easily keep Him off our radar.

The Lord indeed loves and abides with those who surrender to Him and maintain a pure heart in all moral uprightness. He, however, expects His children to maintain good personal hygiene in a clean environment if enjoying and sustaining the power of His presence is their goal. 

• Upbringing, Culture and our Value System: Here, I must admit that the educational institutions are doing their best, and the syllabus about environmental care is quite exhaustive, if not enough. The problem concerns complimenting it with good parental training and mentoring. As Parents, we cannot be absorbed from blame when it comes to bringing up our children to be responsible caretakers of the Environment. A typical household does not need an excavator or imported implements to maintain a tidy environment. We have everything at our disposal, either in its original or improvised form, to tidy up and clean every mess out of our daily living. God was not adding to their expenditure when He told the Israelites to make equipment or spades to cover up their excrement. He was subtracting from the spending by way of ill-health and premature deaths and adding longer days and good health in His walk with them.

In much the same way, we must not accept as a people that we probably were wired by our ancestors to live comfortably in dirt or unhygienic conditions. No culture frowns upon Cleanliness and personal hygiene, and it is not unusual to pick up certain traits or bad habits during one’s upbringing. Indeed there will be some who, for no fault of theirs, may disregard the rudiments of environmental Cleanliness. In such cases, deliberate efforts must be made to educate them to appreciate its value patiently. Israel had lived for about 430 years in Egypt and had probably been raised with a certain mindset that needed to be re-aligned.  God did not give up on them but invested in educating them. This means, we must also not give up on any group of people whose worldview on environmental Cleanliness falls short of acceptable practices.

• The Lack of sustained educational campaigns in our communities and Churches: I was quite at a loss the first time I heard of my church’s leadership’s decision to take centre stage in the environmental care campaign drive in the country. I thought it was the sole duty of the National Commission for Civic Education’s (NCCE) outfit to create that awareness. However, after listening to Apostle Eric Nyamekye, Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, on the church’s role in nation-building, I realised a great deal of disservice we have all done to this dear nation of ours. Since then, I have loved every bit of the church’s involvement in the National Environmental Care Campaign because it adds meaning and practicality to the numerous sermons we have heard from the pulpits. 

A couple of days ago, I led my church members to a lorry station around the community where my church is located to sensitise the drivers on the need to keep their surroundings clean. As we made our presentation using the megaphone, I was saddened by what I saw a few steps away from where I was standing. Guess what; an open drain by the main road at the lorry station where the drivers sat with the food vendors was filled with plastic and refuse waste. After our presentation, one driver came and asked me the location of our church so he could fellowship with us the following Sunday. As of the 2021 census, a little over 71% of the Ghanaian population are Christians. With a high rate of church-attending populace, I believe the discussion on the pulpits these days must intentionally inculcate topics on personal hygiene and environmental care issues. It must not only be topical when its adverse effects, such as floods, air and waterborne diseases, begin to bite hard. Where Ghana meets today are the churches and the mosques. Leaving this campaign to NCCE alone will, therefore, not bring us the needed results.

• Lack of Budget for Environmental Cleanliness: Most individuals, households and institutions in our society stand when it comes to budgeting for the Environment. Even though attitudinal change stands tall regarding keeping our Environment, the lack of budgetary allocation for purchasing essential equipment, detergents and trash bins has contributed to what we see in our streets and communities today. No matter how people become aware and poised to turn a new page concerning their environmental responsibilities, they can do just as much. It appears easier for a household to budget for replacing a TV Set at the beginning of the year than to think about the compound and the landscaping works. 

It is a generally accepted norm for an organisation to re-paint its external walls to protect its brand and look good to the outside world. However, telling the same organisation to invest a bit more of its annual budget in maintaining the washrooms becomes a problem. In most churches, the passion with which musical instruments and interior decorations are attended can nowhere be compared to the maintenance of their toilets. As though allergic to maintenance, we have succumbed to the negative tag as a people with no maintenance culture. The saying of Jesus about investments may probably solve this menace of “No funds” for keeping the Environment clean. It reads, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21). This means if keeping a clean surrounding is a desire and objective, then funds will be channelled there during budget preparation at all levels.

• Lack of Law enforcement regarding environmental Cleanliness: The language we communicate by the lack of enforcing the voluminous laws in our statutes books is louder than deleting them from our statutes. In other words, the silence on non-compliance is loud enough to neutralise any sustained environmental care campaign. In societies where the Environment looks neat and well catered for, the laws are allowed to work for the betterment of the masses, not the selfish few. Public sensitisation on air and water pollution and their dire consequences to society will  be ineffective unless they are complemented with the necessary sanctioning regimes as and when applicable. The subtle campaign of applying what has become known as the “human face” against the strict enforcement of the law has brought us where we are today as a people. Judging from our Environment today, we have all seen the mess proponents of the use of “human face” in the application of our laws have brought to us. It has actually been a “Demon face” we are all watching live as you walk along the streets, markets and neighbourhoods.  

It would be observed from the above discussions that dirty environments are not only detrimental to our physical well-being, but it also has dire consequences on our ability to keep God’s ever-abiding presence as believers in this part of eternity. The following is, therefore, being proposed;

1. “Cleaning Before Breakfast.” Cleaning before breakfast at home must be part of the morning devotion discussions, and parents and guardians must ensure the house and its environs are clean before breakfast. Once it becomes a regular topic during devotions, household members would be nurtured to imbibe Cleanliness wherever they find themselves.
2. Regular Inspection of Facilities. In the case of our institutions and churches, a routine inspection by designated officers during peak hours and Intermittent visitation to the washrooms by high-ranking officers would be beneficial. In a typical household, the parents should take a keen interest in the regular inspection of the bathrooms of their wards in cases where theirs is separate. Apart from applying the laws without fear or favour, the lack of routine inspection to check for standards compliance has also not been helpful. Louis V Gerstnealso said, “People do what you inspect, not what you expect.” 
3. Engagement of Professional Cleaners: In  big organisations and places of worship, professional cleaners must be engaged other than relying on the few committed hands within the  set-up. An unkempt environment and surroundings go a long way to affect the brand of any institution or organisation. Depending on the size and sensitivity of their operations, it may be prudent to engage additional hands to ensure well-deserving environmental Cleanliness commensurate with the organisation’s brand. This age-old argument that church members must continue to offer such cleaning services irrespective of the scope of work needs to be revisited in our modern-day context. At this moment, I want to seize this opportunity to pay a glowing tribute to all who have been cleaning all para-church organisations and ask for God’s bountiful blessings upon them and their children’s children. It is an open secret that even when something is offered for your services, they are woefully inadequate and just a statement to acknowledge your hard work by management. Your labour in the Lord is never in vain. 
4. Integration of Environmental Cleanliness in Sermons and Church Programs: As indicated in my earlier submissions, topics relating to the responsible use of our God-given Environment must be well integrated into our messages from the pulpits. God bless the Church’s Vision 2023 bearer, Apostle Eric Nyamekye and his Executives for introducing new dimensions in our National discourse for the Christian community worldwide. Kudos to the National Coordinator of the Environmental Care Campaign in the person of Apostle Samuel Gakpetor, for his passion and his coordinators at all levels for excellent work.

5. Budgetary Allocation for Environmental Cleanliness at all levels: There must be a conscious effort to have a workable annual budget for Environmental Cleanliness from all households, no matter how little. Institutions, Organisations, and Managers of Public buildings should also push for regular and realistic budgetary allocations to ensure their facilities are Eco-friendly and fit for purpose. Monies raised on the commissioning day, if any, must be invested as seed money for maintenance with practically outlined strategies to replenish them regularly. Here the leadership of the church has also taken a bold step through its National Estate Committee in ensuring some minimum amount is set aside for maintenance purposes at all levels. The practice where huge profits or gains are pursued in organisations when the restrooms, for example, and surroundings are nothing to write home about must be avoided.
6. Sustained Educational campaign nationwide: Some don’t appreciate environmental Cleanliness, which has nothing to do with scarce resources. Therefore, they will move heaven and Earth to repair a worn-out sound speaker with their meagre resource rather than replacing a urinal bowl that no longer serves its intended purpose to the church members. The NCCE, Para-State agencies and The Church of Pentecost alone cannot take up the nationwide campaign for attitudinal change concerning Environmental Cleanliness. Efforts must, therefore, be made by all and sundry to keep and sustain the campaign year-round. The campaign is yielding good fruits even though there is more room for improvement.
7. Reward and Reprimand Regimes enforced at all levels: Cleaner or Eco-friendly public places must be acknowledged, commended, and rewarded if possible as a motivation for others to emulate. In much the same way, unkempt or edifices with dirty environs should be named, reprimanded or denied, if practicable, any further financial support until the needful is done. Humans generally would comply if their livelihoods were tied to meeting specific demands. That is why even God tied the conditions under which He would visit and defend His children in battle with their Environmental Cleanliness.

From the write-up, besides sin, one major thing that creates a hostile environment for God and His Spirit is dirt or uncleanliness. If the aroma and stench around a place can either facilitate the visitation or expulsion of spirits, be it good or evil, then we must quickly revise our notes if permanent habitation and coexistence with the Holy Spirit is the desired goal. Believers can’t do anything less if those who do not believe in God’s existence and thus have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit keep a clean and friendly environment that attracts His presence. James 4:17 states, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is a sin for them.” It is said that a journey of 1000 miles begins with a step. We must, therefore, start from our homes and begin the discussion during our family meetings. The results, I believe, will trickle down to the local churches, our workplaces and the communities at large. Long Live The Church of Pentecost, and Long Live Ghana.

INTRODUCTION

The church includes all people who have placed their trust in the Lord Jesus. Such people receive forgiveness of their sins and also receive the Holy Spirit to indwell them to impart eternal life – life that is unending – life that is in the presence of God for all eternity. Some members of the church have gone to be with the Lord; they are the triumphant church. The rest of the church still alive on earth is the militant church. God establishes the militant church on earth with the purpose of bringing to bear His Kingdom values and principles on earth among humanity. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s Kingdom. The values and principles of God’s Kingdom is the life & teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This is the same as the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God encompasses all the character and power of God, which in one word can be termed “God’s Righteousness”. Jesus is God’s Righteousness (2 Corinthains 5:21). The carrier of the Kingdom of God through the church to all spheres of the earth is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:28, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”.

The church is the vessel through whom the Holy Spirit imparts God’s Kingdom values by means of salvation and discipleship of humanity. In concluding His message to the churches, through John on the Island of Patmos, Jesus emphasizes the partnership between the Holy Spirit and the church in the salvation and possessing of the nations (through discipleship, beginning with evangelism). Jesus said, ‘“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life’ (Revelations 22:17). Discipleship is by means of the dual partnership between “The Spirit” and “The Bride” (the church). In this article, I seek to throw light on the sweet partnership between the Holy Spirit and the church in possessing the nation. I posit that, God is sovereign and already at work in bringing enlightenment to individuals and groups of people and the role of the church is to walk in the Spirit so as to discern the move of God in real time and to respond with obedience. The result at all times is maximum impact in possessing the nations for Christ.

MOSAIC LAW COULDN’T FISH FOR MEN!

God draws souls by the inworking of the Holy Spirit through the life of Christians and the church. When the minds of people are possessed for Christ, then we can firmly say we have possessed the nations. When Jesus said, the church should go into the world and make disciples of all nations, He was referring to bringing the gospel to groups of people. The Greek word for “nations” in that passage in Matthew 28:18-20 is “ethnos”; it is from this word that we derive the phrase, “ethnic groups”. Among others, the main imagery used in the bible to represent souls is “fish”. The plural of the word “fish” is “fish” but when there are different varieties of fish within a net, the plural becomes “fishes”. In calling the disciples to Himself, Jesus made them to understand that, the purpose of their call is to become “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). This means, Jesus is the first cause in this whole divine purpose of “fishing for people”. It is Jesus who “makes us” fishers of men. Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). That is the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God means that God always begins the process of his redemptive work and gives us enlightenment to understand it and then gives us the free will to choose or respond in either accepting it or rejecting it. Remember, it was Jesus who opened the minds of His disciples so that they might understand the scriptures.

Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. And He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day (Luke 24:45).

Generally, in this life, if we do not understand the sovereignty of God, we will struggle restlessly without any fruit to show. In Luke 5:1-11, Peter and his colleagues had gone for fishing – literally – and were washing their nets. Jesus goes close to them and tells them to “launch into the deep for a catch of fish”. In their feedback to Jesus as they had their first engagement before Jesus called them, Peter said, they had toiled all night without a catch but “at the Word of Christ”, they will retry. What was the result? They had a huge catch! This is maximum impact! Jesus concluded their interaction by calling them as His disciples and telling them that, henceforth – from that time, they would be made fishers of men. The lesson we see here which the article seeks to discuss is that, we get maximum impact in life when we partner with God; when we get to know the will and voice of God and respond in time, the results is maximum impact and rest. Many of us are restless in life because we, like Peter and his folks, are “trying our best” without the voice, will, direction and leading of the Spirit of God. Without the voice of God, as the divine light, we are only groping in spiritual darkness. The Mosaic Law in the Old Covenant could not give this light.

God gave the Mosaic Law to the people of Israel as an experiment for humanity to know that due to the Fall, humans are filled with lusts or inordinate desires and that makes it impossible for anyone to fully obey God’s law written on tablet – outside the human. Whenever the external written law meets human lusts, the result is sin, instead of righteousness. The Mosaic law was given for us to have this knowledge of the dynamics of sin and its consequence of death. The Mosaic Law lacked the power to deal with the sin nature of humanity; it diagnoses sins and prescribes “what to do” but does not give the power to do what to do. God therefore had to bring another law known as the Law of Spirit of Life in Christ. This law deals with sin – its fully pays the penalty of sin, forgives sins completely, cleanse the conscience of the sinner, crucifies the sin nature and gives divine power to a person to manifest the life of Christ. When the Spirit of Christ comes into the heart of a person, then they have been set free from the struggles with the Mosaic Law and have come under the supervision of a higher, better and empowering law. Living by the voice of the Holy Spirit (the unseen evidence) is what it means to walk by faith. He dwells in our hearts and writes what we have to do on our hearts, not like laws written with ink on external tablets. He also gives us the power to obey Him.

Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people (Galatians 3:19)

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin (Romans 3:20)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set youfree from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4)

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So, the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (Galatians 3:23-25)

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First, He says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. (Hebrews 10:15-17)

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3)

FISH OF MANY KINDS…WHERE THE RIVER GOES!

In promising this beautiful new era or new covenant, God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was lying on the banks of the River Cheba in Babylon when the heavens were opened to him to see visions of God. The people of Judah (the Southern Kingdom of Israel after the split following the death of Solomon with their capital as Jerusalem) had been taken into captivity in Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar. While in captivity, God began to reveal series of events to happen to Ezekiel for him to communicate to the people. Prime in this vision was the coming of the New Covenant which has been explained in earlier paragraphs of this article. God, in Ezekiel chapter 1, pictures the New Covenant (being led by the indwelling Holy Spirit) as four living creatures with wheels on the ground besides them; the four living creatures moved in the direction of the Spirit of God.

When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels (Ezekiel 1:19-21)

In using another imagery to speak of the New Covenant, God spoke of the river from the temple in Ezekiel 47. God said that everywhere the river would go, dead things will be made alive. When the river joins the sea, the water there will become fresh, swarms of living creatures will live, and there will be large number of fish because the water flows there and make the salt water, fresh. God goes in to say that, in such a place, there will be fish of many kinds and fishermen will stand along the shores to catch fish.

He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so, where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea (Ezekiel 47:8-10)

We see from this imagery that it is the river which flows into the sea that causes living creatures there to live and gather fish of many kinds for fishermen. When Jesus came on the scene where Peter and his colleagues were struggling to catch fish, there result was maximum impact. Jesus refers to this river (living waters) flowing from the temple as the Holy Spirit flowing out of the bellies of the new creation – you and I in Christ.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39).

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

It is the outflow of the Holy Spirit from our lives in a particular direction that leads to maximum impact in the life of a person and in the quest by the church to experience maximum impact in possessing the nations. “Out of our bellies” means the Holy Spirit will go ahead of us and then we will follow. I remember an Ivorian fisherman with a French vessel who fellowshipped with us while in Seychelles. At a point, for 20 days, on the Indian ocean, their vessel had caught no fish. His Frenchmen challenged him to speak to “his friend up there” (referring to God) to help them. He called me and I told him to stretch his hands on the Indian ocean as I prayed as asked God to gather fish to their vessel by the wind of the Spirit. That night, to the glory of God, they caught many fish and had to leave some fish behind. Hallelujah! Glory to God!

A life of rest and maximum impact is a life that understands the sovereignty of God – that, God has a plan and desires to lead us and all we need to do is to respond by following His lead. Maximum impact, at the personal level, is to know the will of God for your life and to follow His lead in all aspects of your life. Maximum impact in possessing the nations is to know where and how God is moving and to flow along as local churches; it is to know where the Spirit of God has moved ahead to bring enlightenment to a person and a people. Jesus said, if the Father does not draw a person, he or she cannot come to salvation. God is merciful and gracious in giving opportunities for people to have enlightenment so as to make a decision to come to faith in Christ.

And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” (John 6:65)

Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-45)

If we do not pray to know the move of God and we just try by our own strength and experience, we do so much but, like Peter and his colleagues, we achieve very little. In Acts 16:6-10, we see the Spirit of Jesus resisting Paul from preaching in some places and leading Him to preach in another place. It is God who moves ahead to prepare the hearts of people for us to have harvest in soul winning. Our duty is to pray and discern the move of God and flow along. Sometimes, the resistance is the devil and we must discern and contend in prayer against his works and prevail over it; other times, the resistance is from the Lord. Effective prayer in evangelism and church planting is seeking to know where God is moving. If God could lead king Cyrus who did not have the Spirit of God indwelling him, how much more the new creation?

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So, they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:6-10).

This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut: “I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and the riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name (Isaiah 45:1-3)

I remember in my first ministerial station, Poyentanga in Wa Area, Upper West Region of Ghana, we planted a number of assemblies but how two of them were planted really highlighted the sovereignty of God so clearly. In both cases, a young man will come from a community and tell us that they need a church in the community and people are gathered and waiting for us. Before they came, like in the case of Peter and Cornelius, the Lord will grant peace in our hearts as we waited upon Him in prayer for direction. It was amazing! The sovereignty of God would always bring to mind, the song, “The cloud of glory is moving”. Hallelujah! Singing…

The cloud of glory is moving

Move with the cloud (2x)

The cloud of glory is moving

Move with the cloud (2x)

Let your spirit arise

And your mouth filled with praise

Come, let us worship together

And wherever He will be

New heights will be achieved

Move with the cloud (2x)

FISH OR SCORPION?

At the personal level, the principle is the same. To make maximum impact, one must understand the sovereignty of God in their lives and flow by the leadings of His Spirit. The sovereignty of God in the life of a person is in two folds – God uses situations and circumstances the person has no control over to draw them to the point of enlightenment by the gospel then He gives them the space to take a decision to receive or reject the gospel by their freewill. This phase also includes the role a person plays, as an unbeliever, in the salvation of others. Once a person receives the gospel, he or she receives forgiveness of sin and the Holy Spirit now comes to indwell them and begins the next realm of the flow of the sovereignty of God in their lives. If they reject, God continues to give them periodic visitation so as to expose them to more opportunities to accept Christ. When the allocated period of God’s visitation is over – the person seals their condemnation. This happens especially when the person after so many exposures to the gospel, refuse to repent and turn to Christ, and rather choose to go deeper in a false doctrine, religiosity or be a frontline advocate for any of the agenda of Satan such as the ideology of secular humanism and homosexuality. Such a person is very likely to die in their sins because after so many exposures to the gospel, they feel they know it all; they blaspheme the Holy Spirit and trample the Spirit of grace underfoot. They have crossed the line – to into the realm of unpardonable sin. The devil takes over and lead them into more and more depravity resulting in death without repentance. Every sin is forgiven by the blood of Jesus but what will forgive the unpardonable sin which is the sin of rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit about the blood of Jesus as atonement for sin? Nothing! A person in deliberate or willful sin of rejecting the testimony of the Spirit of Christ about Christ becomes a reprobate – damned! Such people are “scorpions”, not “fish”! The Father will not give the church “scorpions”, but “fish”.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29)

“Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Matthew 3:28-29)

Paul talks about such reprobates but gives thanks to God on behalf of the redeemed for their obedience to the gospel – Paul speaks about two sets of people – the redeemed and the reprobates:

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruitsto be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:9-13)

In the book of Jude, Jude creates awareness to the church about these reprobates. He encourages the church to be aware of them and to stay aware from them while they focused on getting grounded in their faith in Christ. In creating the contrast between the church and these reprobates, Jude describes the reprobates but when it comes to the church, Jude would start by saying, “But you, dear friends…”. This is what Jude says in verse 3 & 4:

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written aboutlong ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 3-4)

It is difficult for a person who has had many chances of enlightenment to come to be renewed again to repentance when they have consistently rejected the offer! This was the state of many Hebrews after Jesus had ascended into heaven and the gospel was being preached to them; they struggled to receive the gospel after many opportunities. The writer of Hebrews talks about these people to the believers among the Hebrews and assures them that, their case is different because they have taken advantage of their time of visitation and received the gospel. Hallelujah! We do not need to waste time on people whose time of visitation is not yet up or whose time of visitation has passed – awaiting another merciful time of visitation. We must go where the Spirit is visiting; we move when the cloud moves!

Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so. It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallenaway, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised (Hebrews 6:1-12).

NO COMPETITION FLOW ALONG “THY RIVER”

As has already been discussed, God’s sovereignty is in two folds for a person. The first part is the events and people God uses in the attempts to draw us to salvation in Christ as well as the part we play in our state of unbelievers in the salvation of others. The second part is God’s plans for us after we have come into Christ. When some of the roles a person, as an unbeliever, plays in the salvation of others are ordained by God and prophesied ahead of time, like in the case of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Cyrus etc., God gives increasing mercy and often long life for this “vessel of wrath”, as Paul’s calls them it in Romans 9, to have opportunities to make a decision for the gospel.

It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory (Romans 9:16-23).

So, he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:14-15)

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing (Ezra 1:1)

The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it whichever way He wishes (Proverbs 21:1)

God has sovereign plans for each person before salvation and after salvation. Before salvation, there are things that will happen to us which He has ordained to happen to us without our control so as to contribute to His redemptive plans and there are other things that happens to us because we used our freewill to decide leading to disastrous consequences. We cannot blame God for such decisions within the realm of our freewill. It is indeed true that, sometimes, “The foolishness of man undermines his way [ruining whatever he undertakes]; Then his heart is resentful and rages against the LORD [for, being a fool, he blames the LORD instead of himself] (Psalm 19:3). Satan often operates on the freewill domain to ensure that a person dies before their time so that God’s sovereign move in their lives towards their salvation and those of others will not happen.

As discussed earlier, some, like Pharoah, are ordained as vessels of wrath to try to stand against God’s salvation and for such people, God gives mercy for them to have more chances to be saved. When they are ripe for salvation and we are discerning, God will always lead us to them like He led Peter to Cornelius (Acts chapters 9 & 10). Others who are vessels of honor such as Moses, Samuel, Jesus, Timothy etc., born as exceptional children with redemptive purposes, receives godly direction right from infancy, guiding them right into their salvation when they become adults. They may have their struggles with the flesh, but God disciplines them and guides them into salvation so as to use them for their divinely-ordained redemptive purpose.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

In his book, “The Making of a Leader”, Dr. J. R. Clinton posits that, right from birth, God ordains six (6) phases in the life of a person with different sets of process items (events and people) – all with the aim to drawing the person to salvation in Christ and thereafter into ministry (receiving God’s goodness and sharing with others under the power and leading of the Holy Spirit). These six phases are: Sovereign Foundations; Inner Life Growth; Ministry Maturing; Life Maturing: Convergence; and Afterglow (or Celebration). The events ordained by God to lead a person to salvation in Christ and their role, as unbelievers, towards the salvation of others is what Dr. Clinton refers to as “Sovereign Foundation”. Details of each of these six phases will be focus for another article.

CONCLUSION

Let me conclude by saying that, God has brought together lots of past experiences and people (some of whom were very evil) to draw us to salvation in Christ. He has now given us the Holy Spirit to flow out of our bellies as rivers of living waters to direct us into His plans for our lives. There is no room for comparing ourselves to others; God has unique plans for each of us. There is no need to restlessly compere for positions at all cost – even leading to the death of other humans. We are called to help one another to practice a life of hearing the voice of the Lord and walking in them. This understanding helps us to avoid restlessness and manipulation because we know that our lives are in the hands of the Lord. When we flow with the leading of the Spirit as our response to the sovereign moves of God, the result is maximum impact of our personal lives and maximum impact of our lives as local churches in possessing the nations for Christ. There is no room for worry, fear, anxiety etc. The song that will describe the true state of our hearts at all times will be:

You don’t have to worry and don’t you be afraid
Joy comes in the morning, troubles days don’t last always
For there’s a friend in Jesus, who will wipe your tears away
And if your heart is broken, just lift your hands and say:
“I know that I can make it

I know that I can stand
No matter what may come my way
My life is in your hands”

So, when the tests and trials, may seem to get you down
And all your friends and loved ones are nowhere to be found
Remember there’s friend in Jesus, who will wipe your tears away
And if your heart is broken, just lift your hands and say
“I know that I can make it

I know that I can stand
No matter what may come my way
My life is in your hands

With Jesus, I can take it
With him I know I can stand
No matter what may come my way
My life is in your hands”
“I know that I can make it

I know that I can stand
No matter what may come my way
My life is in your hands.

Written by Apostle S. K. Fianko-Larbi (CoP-Kenya National Head & CoP East African Bloc Coordinator)

Ten years after the birth of Pastor James McKeown, the founder of The Church of Pentecost (CoP), the World Missionary Conference (WMC) sat down in Edinburgh and, as it were, saw no hope for the progress of Christianity on the African continent. Africa, including Ghana, where the CoP is headquartered, has been regarded as a backward people group whose spirituality has no preparatory ground for the Gospel. It was predicted that Africa would rather be Islamised. God to whom mission belongs proved them wrong to teach a lesson that the Gospel is powerful and able to save all manner of persons, and turn all cultures to Christ.

Not too long after that conference, Christianity began to rise, rather exponentially, in Africa. Sixteen years later, at another missionary conference in Le Zoute, Belgium, the importance of Africa was recognised. Some Africans began to own the Gospel and express it in forms that respond to their religious aspirations. Their presentation of Christ in the African context was nothing but welcomed by their African brothers and sisters, significantly. Eleven years after Le Zoute, Pastor James McKeown, an Irish middle school leaver, started a journey toward the Gold Coast (now Ghana). His mission was to make known, in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So impressive was his missionary work in Africa, that the curiosity appetite of many was wetted to start exploring the causative elements of his missionary prowess. Undoubtedly, McKeown but for his skin color, was an African at heart. He was so identical to the African context that no one should classify him with other European missionaries who could not relate adequately to the African religious identity. Integral to his adaptation to Africa was his Celtic background. I posit that elements within the Celtic cultural milieu, that is primal spirituality, which was in confluence with the African worldview, significantly prepared James McKeown to find a home in Africa to extract and make use of the pervading religious gold, making him a connoisseur of missions in Africa.

THE WAY OF THE CELTS

The Celts live in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. Ireland in particular developed a distinctive expression of Christianity in the time during which the heartland of Christianity shifted from the Greco-Roman world to Northern and Western Europe where the “Barbarians” dwell. As has been the case throughout history, when the Christian faith shifts, it carries along features identical to its old context even as the gospel interacts with the culture of its new haven. The Europeans assimilated Greco-Roman culture that heavily impacted Christianity, and also expressed the Christian faith per their own spirituality. The Celts exemplified this most excellently.

During the time that the Roman Empire was in prominence, much of Europe, Britain inclusive, was a Roman colony but not Ireland. They were isolated geographically at the time of the transmission of the Christian faith in Europe. Meanwhile, the Celtic society was primal. Therefore, the Celts developed a Christianity that is distinctive from the influence of Roman civilization and power. A unique Christianity emerging as a result of the interaction between the Christian faith and primal spirituality is an important phenomenon seen in the pilgrimage of the Christian Gospel into primal societies in Christian history.

Like the Celts, the worldview of the Africans is also primal. That is, the people believed in the wholeness of life as spiritual. This sense of the spiritual is intertwined with their everyday life and nature, and it informs their religion. The Christianity that emerged from there was influenced much by this primal understanding of life. It was a vibrant Christianity.

The Celtic society upholds the ethos of community as is seen in the African appropriation of the concept of Ubuntu. With respect to its politics, there are a number of kingdoms that are ruled by kings. There were kinship groups, clans, and family units. Meanwhile, these kingdoms meet together annually. The Celts were economically self-reliant. The inhabitants are tall, fierce warriors who show courage but are hospitable. Per their religion, there is a belief in the afterlife, and ancestors hold a special place as is also seen in Africa. Furthermore, kings are held to have a mediation role between humans and the Divine. There are a number of divinities that are believed to exist in the community. Concerning the foregoing discussion, it is apparent that a conversation between the Celtic and African societies would reveal integral similarities per primal spirituality. Significantly, one who has been shaped by the Celtic way of life would not find himself lost in Africa since the person would have developed adaptive qualities from the former for the latter.

Essential to the Celtic culture is the love for poetry. There is an oral culture that is seen in their love for the artistic use of words. This was to prepare Pastor McKeown who, unusually, permitted Afua Kuma of Obo-Kwahu in Ghana, the mother-in-law of Apostle A. T. Nartey (1930-1990) of the CoP, to use stylish appellations based on the African context in her prayers and praise of Jesus. This testimony of Afua Kuma concerning Jesus Christ whom she encountered in her own context, has become a source of African theological reflections as evidence that Christianity has become a religion of Africa. Pastor McKeown has thus become a missionary who does not clothe the Gospel in western thought forms and pushes it down the throat of Africans.

Another integral aspect of the culture of the Celts is a religion that gives place to religious experts called Druids, a term that comes from the Celtic word for oak. In the Indo-European language, the term means knowledge. It is used to connote knowledge of oak or great deep knowledge. These experts and the role they play originated with the Celts. The oak tree especially is considered as sacred as it serves as the home to spirits in the Celtic context. In Ireland, where the Celts dwell, dwarfs, fairies, and other spirit beings are considered to live in oak trees. Pastor McKeown would not be oblivious to this. This is reflected in his famous allusion to an oak tree. He intimated that he does not want to ‘plant a British oak in African soil.’ I consider this disposition to be central to missionary work in the African context where he skillfully contextualizes the Christian Gospel. No theological seminary taught him that. It was his reception to the leading of the Holy Spirit, first, within the Celtic background he came from, then, in Africa.

A GIGANTIC OAK TREE IN GHANA

Since in Africa, important people are considered gigantic trees within societies and families, considering the importance of Pastor James McKeown in Ghanaian Christianity, it is not far-fetched to see him in this light. He was an impressive figure. He has defined a paradigm for the work of missions which takes into account primal worldview, respect for the culture of the receiving end of missions, full reliance on the Holy Spirit, disapproval of western imperialism (or dominion disposition of the benefactors of missions considering the ‘reverse mission’ of today), self-reliance, mentorship, and the pure message of the cross of Christ. What he has bequeathed to Christianity in Africa and the work of missions continues to amaze Christian thinkers.

He has been nurtured in a Celtic indigenous worldview. The disposition of the Celts to life has enabled them to appreciate primal spirituality. Through oral tradition, the knowledge of his background would be reinforced as he lived in 20^th century Ireland. With both parents being Irish, the Celtic understanding of life would be at his disposal. Though he grew up in a Christian home, the marks of the Celtic society would significantly define him. His contact with Pentecostalism would consolidate his primal disposition. Pentecostalism itself has been infused with African spirituality, which is also primal, at the Azusa Street Revival led by William Joseph Seymour, an African-American.

James McKeown would have appreciated the fact that God does not live himself without witness in the cultures of people. His embrace of primal spirituality found great application in Africa. The Celtic attitude of self-reliance that may have been nurtured by how they survived on their own economic activities devoid of Roman dictates in the earlier years, and its passage to succeeding generations, has arguably influenced the mission mindset of Pastor James McKeown. Other factors may have contributed to this as well; like Rufus Anderson and Henry Venn’s ‘Three-Self’ principle which has influenced the work of missions around the world. Consequently, Pastor McKeown encouraged his African brothers and sisters not to depend on foreign aid. The Celt’s sense of community would have shaped his idea of living together. He thus regards the Africans as his brothers and sisters and lived cordially with them. The oral culture, and concept of Druids, among other elements of the Celtic society, have had a significant impact on Pastor McKeown and consequently informed his missionary work in Africa.

CONCLUSION

Pastor McKeown’s contact with Celtic culture through diverse means available to him, has had a significant impact on his missionary work in the African context. I suggest that this is the doing of the Lord, the owner of mission. James McKeown is to be celebrated also because he allowed himself to be prepared by the Lord who by his foreknowledge knew that he (the Lord) has an assignment for James McKeown in Africa. The shadow of missions that McKeown has cast must continue to provide soothing direction to today’s work of missions in and out of Africa. As churches in Africa grow their missions to foreign places, James McKeown’s paradigm must be very much considered. May the fire of missions continue to burn its way into the various nations of the world to bring Christ home to the cultures.

Written by Elder Dr. Stephen Ofotsu Ofoe

Introduction

Within the local church are found persons with diverse health concerns. This may be physical, psychological, and even emotional and social. Such people long for wholeness and acceptance. It is not difficult to sight such persons in a local church that is on the cutting edge. The local church must speak to their healing situation and bring them to reconciliation. The wave of the charismatic renewal which blew over the Christian landscape in the 1960s brought with it a novel understanding of the sense of the spiritual. The powerful presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian is an understanding that accompanied the movement. Many Christians today have it that the active presence of the Holy Spirit offers them the ability to find the solution to every form of ailment and frailty that bother humankind. The Christian who struggles with the challenges is regarded as a person who does not have a good understanding of the Christian faith. It seems that a point on which this disposition and practice hang is the teaching that it was never recorded in the Bible that Jesus, the founder of the Christian faith, became indisposed hence Jesus’ followers must follow suit in demonstrating this holistic divine health in their life. The fate of Christians who battle various health concerns hangs in a balance. By careful examination of some examples from Jesus’ life and utterances, this essay departs from this philosophy and presents that, excepting his sinless nature, Jesus Christ was fully man and bore all the weaknesses of man, including the possibility of becoming unwell. It suggests a rethinking of this concept of divine health and points to the local church as the instrument that can enable the shaping of the concept of healing and reconciliation. Health has been used in the sense that World Health Organization defines it.

THE DISTORTED VIEW OF DIVINE HEALTH

Some are often of the view that once a person comes to accept Christ, divine health is imputed unto the person. This will make the person not liable for ailment. They usually proudly say that “I have never been to the hospital,” “I am problem-free,” and statements as such. Medical science, though it is pursued, is looked down upon.

Perhaps this issue of whether health is provided by the divine or medical science has been in existence for many years. It is on record that ancient Egyptian publications define scientific ways of approaching healthcare. Before this time of medical science, people pray to gods to provide health to their subjects. Then, came a time when medical science was combined with an appeal to the divine to provide a life without ailments. Due to the teachings of some church fathers such as Augustine that demons are responsible for all diseases of the Christian, medical science was looked down upon again until the enlightenment.

The Christian movement, which puts emphasis on divine healing among other spiritual experiences, revived the old practice of appealing to solely the divine to provide health. Essentially, this belief is no news to world history. This belief hangs to a large extent on the life of Jesus—albeit it is a mistake of his life—that he lived a life free of ailment. This problem calls for a reflection on the life of Jesus as one who is fully man.

CHALCEDON AND THE BIBLE: THE HUMANNESS OF JESUS

Before the Chalcedonian ecumenical council of the Church, teachings about the nature of Christ to a large extent presents Christ as divine and human though the Jews in the days of his earthly life saw him as just man, the son of Joseph and Mary. These contrasting views about Jesus eventually birth numerous arguments concerning the true nature of Jesus in the days when the West was the haven of Christianity. Popular among the controversies is that of the Arians. The Arians scratched away the divinity of Jesus and made him inferior to the Father with the argument that Jesus was the first being created by God, the Father. Consequently, the first Council of Nicaea was convened to discuss the Arianian argument. This was followed by the fourth ecumenical council which was conveyed in AD 451 after the Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. The Chalcedonian Council defined Jesus with respect to the trinity thus:

Following, then, the holy Fathers, we all unanimously teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is to us One and the same Son, the Self-same Perfect in Godhead, the Self-same Perfect in Manhood; truly God and truly Man; the Self-same of a rational soul and body; co-essential with us according to the Manhood; like us in all things, sin apart; before the ages begotten of the Father as to the Godhead, but in the last days the Self-same, for us and for our salvation born of Mary the Theotokos as to the Manhood.

It is clear from this statement of Chalcedon that Jesus is fully human. He carried the complete nature of humankind except that he is without sin. This underpins the fact that Jesus Christ bears any other weakness of humankind. To reject this is to reject the full humanness of Jesus. The Charismatics of Accra in their look upon Jesus with respect to health, place emphasis on his divinity and ignore his humanness. This remains an unsolved problem.

RETHINKING DIVINE HEALTH: THE BIBLE AND THE FRAILTY OF JESUS

Drawing on the Chalcedonian confession, the man Jesus would bear the physiology of humankind. He would need air to breathe and respire to gain energy for physical activities. He would need to eat. He would need to grow. He would be sensitive to his environment. Jesus would also need to move from one place to the other as part of the life processes of humankind. He would have to bear emotions. The list continues. The Bible bears witness to this life’s activities of Jesus.

A reading of Heb. 5: 7 reveals that Jesus is aware of his own weakness. It was recorded that, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and pleadings with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” The “flesh” mentioned connotes Jesus’ humanness. His crying shows that Jesus had fears thus he was emotional as humankind. The part of the human brain called the amygdala located in the temporal lobe that is responsible for human emotions was in full function. This calls to attention his human anatomy. He will bear all the body parts of a male human being.

So human was his body physiology that when he became hungry whilst, on his way from Bethany to Jerusalem, he looked for food on a fig tree. His unsuccessful harvest led him to command the tree not to beat fruit again (Matthew 21:18-19). With respect to his nutrition, he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard because he “came eating and drinking” (Matthew 11:19). Being human and exposed to frailty would mean that he gets tired from his work. John 4:6 records that, “Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.” The fact that he gets tired would mean that he would have to take rest to become revived. Consequently, after a long and hard day of preaching and teaching, he undoubtedly became tired and while he was en route to a place on a boat with his disciples, he fell asleep. So deep was the sleep that when a storm broke out and placed the boat and their lives in danger, Jesus was per his human nature oblivious of what was going on (Mark 4:36-38). With respect to physical growth, the Bible bears witness to the fact that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52).

It is too obvious that Jesus was indeed human. Being subject to human weakness would mean he may have fallen ill before. It is too weak an argument to put forward that it is recorded nowhere in the Bible that Jesus was taken ill. We can extrapolate from his other weaknesses. There are other physiological needs of any humankind and hence the physiological needs of Jesus, that were not stated directly in the Bible but can we conclude that he did not mean those needs? For instance, it was not accounted anywhere in the Bible that Jesus passed urine. But can we deny that he did not go to the gents? He takes food and water. These undergo digestion. Excess water would have to be excreted. Jesus would have had headaches or stomachaches and other ailments humankind is exposed to.

In an utterance, Jesus appealed to an axiom about a physician. He quoted, “Physician, heal yourself.” Jesus was aware of the existence of medical practice even before he was born nevertheless, he did not in any of his teachings disprove seeking healthcare from medical practitioners meanwhile issues of healing come up every now and then during his ministry. Before Christ, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine who lived between 460-377 B.C., gave a rational explanation for disease and adopts a scientific approach to healing. Jesus rather appealed to the saying about a healthcare provider. In a parable, he told a story of a Jewish man who was attacked by bandits and left injured while on his way to Jericho from Jerusalem. A Samaritan came by and took the dying man and provided him with medical care (Luke 10:30-35). He used this story to teach about hospitality.

We must not teach that after someone is born again, the person will not be liable for ailment. Divine health essentially does not mean a Christian life is without ailments but a health that is kept by God’s strength even in weakness. Rethinking divine healing will enable Christians to bear with those who suffer and not regard such people as people who are faithless. This must be pursued in the local church.

A HEALING COMMUNITY

The local church must be positioned as a healing community. Here the wholeness that many people desire must be attained. This special niche that the local church occupies in the larger society must be pursued by all means. It is a place in which those who are heavily laden are supposed to find. The rest they find in Christ is nurtured in the local church. This does not merely make the local church a help group where people join to find acceptance, but rather, a place where the divine encounter with Christ is made tangible. It is a place where the divinity and the humanity of Christ are supposed to come home to people and be applied in everyday life.

The local church is supposed to be an organism that should facilitate easy access to people who are infirm. How the local church conceptualizes wholeness would enable this. The idea of healing must conform to the doctrine of Christ. Just as Christ did not hide his humanity, we must not pretend that we are a super breed with no frailties. The result of this would be a local church that is made of people who are smiling behind tears, which tears can be dealt with by the local church machinery standing on the power of the Gospel. The local church must create space for the infirm within the congregation. All must be welcomed and they must feel accepted indeed.

In addition to prayer for healing, the local church must intentionally employ the services of professionals such as psychologists, medical doctors, and counselors, among others, to provide therapy of various kinds to persons who will need them. This would also contribute greatly to healing. The liturgy of the local church must be designed in such a way that people are allowed to share their advice, concerns, and testimonies toward the edification of all.

CONCLUSION

This essay has shown that Christians are still exposed to frailties thus while the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement came with it a lot of good things, the movement’s divine healing perspective is found to be faulty. The view of the life of Jesus has been redirected to show that the man Jesus has human qualities indeed. The concept of divine healing is seen to be an awakening of an old idea of total reliance on the divine for healing without paying attention to medical science. The local church has a special role in tipping the balance. The local church must rise to the task of being the hub of healing and reconciliation.

Written by Dr. Stephen Ofotsu Ofoe

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as a servant of God (1 Peter 2:16).

Just as our names have greater impact on our lives, our relationship with God and our fellows also impacts our spirituality. This year’s theme: “Repositioning the Local Church for Maximum Impact in the Nations,” places a responsibility on youth members of The Church of Pentecost to “reposition” themselves to possess every sphere of their life and society. 

This is very important in this generation, where principles and values of the Kingdom of God are deemed to be outmoded, and most youth subscribe to living in a way that pleases them.

We must, however, be reminded that as Christian youth, we are to lead holy lives in order to please our Maker. God desires to have an intimate relationship with us, but this ought to be done in a holy and acceptable way.

God expressed His love by showing humankind how He cherished them and wants good things for them. We are, therefore, to do same and cherish our fellows through our love. The fate of every good relationship, especially, those between the opposite sex, is not determined by sex but love. 

Unfortunately, in a season of love like this, some youth, particularly young females, would look to express their love for their male partners by offering their bodies to them. But the question is, does sex in boy-girl relationships really prove love?

No, it does not. It is rather a sign of infatuation, which could also be described as a misdirected affection that breeds lust, fondness and admiration for the other. Knowing the difference between love and infatuation is very important because they are not the same. For instance, while love is lasting, infatuation is temporary; while love grows, infatuation ends after a period; while love is selfless and thinks of the next generation, infatuation is selfish and is only interested in the next “erection.” More importantly, while love says “NO SEX” till marriage, infatuation says pre-marital sex is a field to explore.

The writer of the letter to the Corinthians admonishes Christians that love does not insist on its own way, love is patience, kind, not jealous (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). A relationship that is characteristised by sex is dangerous since one party or both parties are only focused on satisfying their lustful desires. 

ADVICE TO THE YOUTH

To my fellow youth, I appeal to you to be wise and use your body as a living sacrifice to God Almighty in every relationship you find yourselves. This season of valentine is not for sex but a period to remember the love God gave to us and show how precious it is to show love to others. In our relationships with the opposite sex, let us exercise the spirit of patience and not defile ourselves. This is because premarital sex grieves God’s spirit in us, brings disgrace, causes hatred and destroys the future of the unmarried youth. Your choice of a marital partner in life is so precious to God and future generations.

CONCLUSION

Beloved, I urge you, as a sojourner on earth, to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul (1 Peter 2:11). Having distinguished between love and infatuation and a good relationship from a bad one, I urge the Christian youth to be zealous and let the will of God reign in your relationship. This is because it would be better to find a lifetime partner who can connect to God with you in the spirit than one who would “just eat and run.” Sex does not prove how one loves or cherishes you rather abstinence until marriage shows how one loves and values you.

Written by Dennis Quaicoe (CoP-Axim Area / Pentecost University)