The Golgotha Trialogue

The above quote was Jesus’ response to a plea from a criminal who was crucified next to him. There were two in fact– one on His left and the other on His right. In Roman times, criminals were crucified for committing the most heinous crimes so it can be understood that the personalities involved criminals.

The conversation between the three at Golgotha is a very interesting one that resulted in a Christ promise to admit one of the two to his bosom in paradise after all was over. But why? The idea itself is consistent with the very reason why Christ died on the cross in the first place. So that anyone who believes in Him and His word, qualifies for the safety of His bosom. This begins with the preaching of the Gospel(the message of salvation) which is why Christ sanctioned the great commission just before His final departure. This in fact what happened on the cross. Just before He was put on the cross He makes a statement to some women who were waiting for Him:

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ 31For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Effectively delivering a sermon on the end times even in the midst of the worst affliction that can be bestowed on a man. Shortly after they finally nailed him to the cross and probably hurled him up for doing nothing wrong. Instead of being angry over injustice and cursing the assailants;

34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Demonstrating the forgiveness and praying for your enemies he had previously taught. The loudest sermons are those lived and the Christ was the kind that lived what He preached. Then comes the dichotomy of jeer and cheer and the rebuke of the believer;

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”40But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him,

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

There in that small scenario lies a snapshot of the whole salvation enterprise in its totality. Two criminals on the cross with Christ were real criminals and therefore in the words of one of them, deserved the crucifixion they were getting.

“All men have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God” – Romans 3:23

The foundation of the Christian faith is simply that all have sinned and essentially fallen out of favor with God. We have estranged ourselves from His holy safety We are therefore all condemned to death– no different from the two thieves on the cross;

“ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” – Romans 6:23

Christ had previously said in his ministry;

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. – John 3:16

He had taught and established as Paul will later explain in his epistles that faith and salvation is through faith in Christ alone. It is those who believe in Him that will have eternal life. So that when the two criminals found themselves in His presence, they both were granted an equal opportunity for salvation. This is important because we see that there are two kinds of people who hear the Gospel as in the case of the parable of the sower(Mathew 13). There are those who no matter what happens will never believe. It is a choice because faith in God challenges those who enjoy their sin and prefer to persist in it. In the apologetics ministry, one of the most useful methods used to understand who we are sharing the gospel with is to ask them whether they would believe if they found out that Christianity is true. Surprisingly, most of the answers are NO. It is clear that the many arguments some put up against Christianity are simply excuses to make themselves comfortable in their sin. Romans 1 explains this in startling detail and the reader is encouraged to read the entire chapter along with all the scriptures embedded in this article. Indeed Christ had also taught previously that those who come to Him had been hand-picked by the Father(John 15:16, John 6:37, Ephesians 1:4-5, Ephesians 1:11 John 6:44, Romans 8:29 -30). Whiles t

There is a second lesson encoded in the scenario and it is about last-minute salvation. Many have inquired if one would be saved if they finally decide to accept Christ on their death bed IE the last moments of their lives. The answer is yes and it is based on the salvation of the thief on the cross. Both men had death staring at them in the face. There is no better time for one to make a turn around because there is nothing else to reach out to. Typically; a dying man cares very little about who saves him. This is why many have come to Christ when they were in prison and others when they were at their wits' end. But Christ had previously taught this in his ministry with the parable of the vineyard workers in Mathew 20:1-16;

a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Having agreed to pay a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard to work. At nine in the morning, he hired another group of workers to work in the same vineyard. He hired another group at noon, another set at 3PM, and yet another group of workers at 5PM. When the day ended which is usually at 6PM, he paid all the different groups the same wage. Naturally, those who worked from the early morning were not happy and they grumbled(Compare the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32). The vineyard owner had only one thing to say;

“ I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

Christ enforces the lesson

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” – vs 16

The vineyard owner demonstrated sovereignty (an important attribute of God and an important – Colossians 1:16–17 )over his wealth and property. He could do what he liked with it and he knew it. In his sovereignty, he decided that it did not matter when one comes to the vineyard. As long as they are connected to the vine or are working in the vineyard, they will be rewarded any way he sees fit. If we considered the likes of Judas who was with Christ all through His ministry and finally missed it because in his heart he never really believed, we can see how he became the last even though he was the first and the criminal who deserved eternal death became first even though he came late and barely did any work at all. It is not how much work one does or how long one does it that guarantees eternal life. There on the cross lies the Christian doctrine of salvation by grace alone guarded by the sovereignty of God.

The key lessons in this portrait of Christ’s salvation on the cross have roots all over His ministry. This is in fact the power of the Gospel; its core theme cannot be lost on anyone unless they deliberately choose to distort and misdirect it. The salvation of God is available to all; it takes only belief. It does not matter when one believes but it does matter that one believes now. James 4:14 teaches no one knows if they will live to see another day. Besides, God in his wisdom had ensured that no one knows exactly when Christ will return (Matthew 24:36-44 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3). All will hear the Gospel but much like the parable of the sower(Matthew 13), some will reject and it and in fact mock and the preacher just as they mocked Christ Himself. It is in fact possible to walk with Christ and even eat His miraculous bread and fish and be satisfied. It is possible to follow Him only also for His bread and nothing else. For as we have seen, many love the gifts in place of the giver. It is how they may miss it and as we approach the end of days, believers must ensure that they have truly believed and also ensure that no matter how difficult their lives get, they will get the Gospel to others even though they reject and mock. The Lord who knows the end from the beginning is aware of who His followers are and had predestined them IE handpicked for his own purposes. The two criminals on the cross epitomized the two groups and paint a vivid picture of Christ’s whole salvation enterprise.

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Church in wrong hands: From Sylvester Ofori to Avram Moshe

 

Sylvester Ofori is what happens when church is in the wrong hands. His recent apostasy has become a common thing in the church. The now prominence of the new age and the very large gnostic door it opens while not a new thing, has now reached its crescendo. Those who understand the church know that from its very inception, it has been battling strange ideas and distorted views. A large chunk of the Apostle Paul’s work was around contending for the faith and clarifying its truth and he indeed admonished us in Jude 1:3. There is a two thousand year history behind the church and it has to be understood by its leaders in order for them to help believers navigate the treacherous waters of religion and heresy. This is the reason why inadequate training is extremely dangerous when it comes to leading a church.

I know nothing about Sylvester Ofori and his Church. What appears to be true however is that he murdered his wife in cold blood. It seems also that it was premeditated and followed a recent altercation that came out of a pending divorce. It seems also true that while wearing the title of prophet, he had founded and pastored a church for some 5 years which he has now led into apostasy. While I have no knowledge of his background, level of training, and theological position, his use of the title “prophet” and the nature of the church he pastored gives a good enough indication. He belongs to the Charismatic fraternity where there is a distorted Christology and a very low view of Scripture. The movement is also anthropo-centric in nature if one examines the nature of the message preached, the promises made, and even the prayers.

On the lower end of The charismatic spectrum rests the prophetic churches whose regard for Scripture is nothing short of disheartening from the biblical Christianity perspective. The core teaching primarily revolves around the subjective experiences of the god-like prophet who often sits on a huge throne, dresses outrageously glamorous, and is consulted for everything by the sheep he literally owns. It seems that Prophet Sylvester Ofori operated within that space. This observation is based on videos from the church’s YouTube channel where services have been broadcasted live and archived as well as social media comments by people who claim to know him and his church.

In a video that showed him in fisticuffs with his brother-in-law over his separation and the impending divorce, his brothers-in-law was heard calling him an occult pastor.  In another video, a fellow who claimed he was good friends with him and had in fact preached several messages at his church suggested that Sylvester had veered off the path of Christ and have started reading strange books that were bound to shake the foundation of his faith as a Christian. The friend also mentioned that Pastor Sylvester had been seen in an event with the chief progenitor of the all-inclusive gospel movement, bishop Carlton Pearson—a man who has over the years come to epitomize the very word apostasy within the evangelical community of the USA. It was clear from the videos and comments that Osofo Sylvester Ofori had departed from the true teachings of the bible and was following a new spiritual path. He was in fact heard proclaiming that there are errors in the Bible.

The final video that triggered this article and confirmed everything that had been said came from a fellow who claimed to be the champion of what he called “expanded consciousness”. He had apparently been brought by Sylvester Ofori to articulate the transitioning of the church into an expanded consciousness Church (so to speak). His comments suggested that he had become some sort of a spiritual mentor to Sylvester Ofori except the prophet had not told him all the truth about what had been going on in his life. While this article does not capture everything said in the videos, the points above paint a good enough picture of the scenario within which the crime was committed. Friends of Barbara (Sylvester's wife) have also said that her reason for wanting a divorce had everything to do with the new spiritual path that Sylvester had taken.

Sylvester Ofori is the perfect example of the young pastor that seems to dominate the church today especially in the Charismatic community. Having been involved in church for a few years or perhaps all his life, he sees through the charade and buys into the pyramid scheme. He makes outrageous claims about revelations from God just as his senior pastors have done. He has no fear of God because his Christology is unclear and his view of scripture is abysmally low. He does not understand what he really believes and has not the slightest clue what fundamental Christian doctrine is. He sees the Bible as a book one can cherry-pick from to validate some nice ideas. Consequently, he is always on the hunt for interesting ideas with which he hopes to dazzle his vulnerable congregation. Every time he hears or reads something interesting, he goes to the bible, finds some text to validate , and preach it. He succeeds in gathering miracle seeking and prophecy devouring pseudo-Christians who care very little about what the Bible actually says as long as they can be fed with drama and gimmicks. The two are a perfect match and have come to represent to most what church or Christianity really is.

Such pastors even if they mean well are easy prey for the enemy. Any encounter with other spiritual ideas that appear advance leaves them breathless and confused.  Very quickly they buy into new ideas especially if it explains Christ differently and promises more drama and experience. The most common is the new age movement that has now succeeded in creating its own version of Christianity. The likes of Sylvester Ofori are guaranteed to swallow its ideas hook-line-and-sinker. He does not know better as he has not understood true biblical Christianity, its simplicity and power, and its historic relationship with unbiblical Christianity. He has no idea of the danger that follows these supposed new ideas and their sources. He has no understanding of the history of the church and its relationship with other religions from the early days. In fact, he does not see any difference between the two and now perceives that Christianity is just another of the many spiritual paths out there. This latter point is the new thinking being peddled all over the world and is consequently rapidly shrinking the size of biblical Christianity. It is not new and its old name is gnosism.

Sylvester Ofori’s story is a natural outworking of this situation. And while it is among the worst cases, there are many more going on even as you read this. Miracle staging, the abuse of congregants, and the many scandals we see on our TV screens and hear about on our radios are slowly becoming a part of the church. Such pastors epitomize the idea of church in the wrong hands. But perhaps that statement itself is an understatement. 

But why would church be in the wrong hands? To answer that I must remind you about a certain young man who calls himself Avram Moshe. He is Ghana’s loudest anti-church evangelist who calls himself a thinker. He claims to have served for years in the SDA church and planted many churches. He believes he was as Christian as could be before seeing some kind of light. He now preaches what he calls errors of the bible and challenges pastors and church leaders in debates he supposedly wins. In one of his many escapades, his attempt at articulating what the Christian faith is really about exposed him quite badly. By the end of his presentation, he has articulated a works view of Christianity. Not surprising given he was a member of the SDA church. Per Christian standards, Avram was not a saved individual and had no clear relationship with God. Yet he planted and led churches. One only has to look at the zeal with which he has amassed a following he calls common-sense movement, the energy, and confidence with which he speaks falsity and the low quality of his arguments. The latter is at its lowest for a man who claims to be a thinker. He appears to have a warped unclear worldview and really should not be speaking in public on such matters. This is why planting churches around a faith he does not understand well is easy to understand. So when a man like that decides that the Bible is full of errors and therefore does not believe anymore, there really is no surprise. He didn’t know what he was doing in the first place. He still doesn’t.

The Sylvester Ofori case has many parallels with that of the self-proclaimed don of common sense.   Both men were running false churches; preached false gospels, misled people, and did not by any stretch of the imagination promote salvation Christianity. The chasm between that and false religion is a narrow one straddled by a rather wide bridge tilted enough to force an exaggerated slippery slope. Prophet Ofori had been on that slope even before he ran into the pope of inclusivism. It was the natural progression towards the occult. No wonder then that, when he threatened during the altercation with his brother-in-law that he was going to kill his wife, he carried it through even after a 24-hour space that afforded him an opportunity for repentance. Saved men are not necessarily perfect people but anyone indwelled by the holy spirit, fears God enough, understands the work of Christ on the cross and the fact that he had been formed to serve as a vessel through which God is to do His will, would not make such a pronouncement. Even if they do, they would have repented by morning and gone to the Lord for forgiveness. Only certain people have the will to carry it through. Only a special breed would go as far as shooting another bearer of God’s image they claimed they loved at their place of work; throwing all caution to the wind. Was it really a throw-caution-to-the-wind or is there something else at play? Have the two of them been sacrificed in broad daylight? Time will tell.

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Failure of the northern fathers

For believers the statement; God works in mysterious ways is used sometimes rather flippantly. Yet anyone who walks with Him long enough in truth and in spirit soon discovers how true this really is. While God’s providence is a regular feature of the true believers life, the amazement that accompanies it never seems to wear out. I have had one of those moments recently.

In my quest to ascertain the means by which man can obtain a maximization of his existence, I have come to the conclusion after over 10 years of research, that the Christian worldview is the only way. My experiment with new age ideas, philosophy and psychology has failed quite woefully. But the Christian worldview had some challenges I was struggling to resolve. Chief among them: its “European face”.

My sojourn through theology and its history brought me face to face with the master theologians of the African continent. The likes of Alexandria’s titan; Origen, Hippo’s maestro; Augustine, Tertullian, Athanasius and their acolytes have made such startlingly profound contributions to the faith; it is shocking some would refer to Christianity as a European religion. Lurking behind the complex veil of African ingenuity, I detected a failure that grieved my heart deeply. As an African, I felt that these theologians had failed us by not undertaking south-bound missions that would have brought the much needed light to the rest of the continent. The Christianity that flourished in the north would have reached the west and south at least a thousand years before the first European ever set foot on the shores of the Atlantic. It is a real tragedy when one considers that, it is about the only commandment Christ handed down before His departure.

 

“And he said unto them, Go ye into the entire world, and preach the gospel to every creature.¹⁶ 

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”.

- Mark 16:15-16 

It is that command that brought the faith to North Africa and Syria and Persia and later India and China. Men did their duty, why not our African fathers who by their writing alone have showed such dexterity with the word. Have we not failed the Lord? Is the arrival of the Whiteman not a punishment then?

Only yesterday I had resorted to writing an article expressing my thought on this seeming failure. There are too many people claiming that the Christian faith is the white man’s religion and it’s God, the Whiteman’s God. My planned article was going to show them how the faith reached us first before Europe. But then I would have to explain why it did not spread to the rest of the continent. These thoughts had populated my mind when I chanced upon a video on Facebook. It was an Afrocentric complaining about African American Christian Apologists calling them liars. He mentioned names and I went goog-ling. The surprise that waited would solve a problem I have been living with for years. That surprised will change the direction of this article. 

Read part two here >>

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What you think is true

Communication theory has taught us a lot in our time. Yet what they reveal is in fact, human behavior that has gone on since the beginning of time. There is something about man that makes him want to project himself as “good” even when he knows very well that he is nowhere near anything that is beginning to even look like good. Tell him he is fallen and totally depraved and he will have your head for dinner. It is perhaps the Imago Dei that must necessarily seek to value good even when one has no standard definition of what it is.

For those of us who believe, this is a simple matter. But the unbelieving are laboring pointless to produce all kinds of theories to validate the place of good. You only have to juxtapose the theory of evolution and its natural outworking against the many attempts by the likes of Richard Dawkins to find an anchor for morality. I digress!

Imagine that in 1000 years from now; when our civilization has collapsed (I promise you it will), a new generation digs up the information we are producing today. It will include government, corporate and mainstream media propaganda, false claims that go unchallenged, falsified accounting, the half-truths of academic autocracy and of course your lies and fake news on social media. They would think it all true and go on to reconstruct what they will think represent our lives today. Let that guide your understanding of how we think about today as ancient text.

We are learning now that a lot of what we see on the walls of Egypt (for example) and other civilizations are not necessarily accurate representations of what was. They tell stories from their own perspectives. They carved perfect statues of people when in real life; they were pot-bellied deformed lunatics. It wasn't until the Ahkenaten revolution that we got some more accurate representations of the appearance of the rich and powerful. I believe it has something significant to do with his famous theophany (I shall tell that story another day). It was not pretty. Well, when you pay someone to paint a picture of you, you want it to look good. Especially when you want others to think you are a god or the son of one, you will ask the artist to throw in a halo around your head. I get it. Today, you are even photo-shopping your photographs so they look better than you really look. In this era of “image is everything”, we must have very little confidence in autobiographies and narratives crafted to influence us in some direction that favors some and demonizes others.

The Bible stands out in this regard. It is God's story and it is presented exactly as it is/was. David's dirt is presented along with his humility and godliness. Abraham' half-truth about his wife/sister is there with his faithfulness. Jesus and his table-kicking adventure in the temple are there along with his amazing love and salvation. The supposed genocide in Canaan is there for you to criticize and challenge a God you should have known is sovereign.

It is disturbing that we don’t seem to realize that when we say truth, it does not simply mean good things. As we have seen, the non-believing has little trouble falsifying information to satisfy their prideful self –centeredness. This can be said to be a product of his fallen-ess and its attendant lack of a moral anchor only found in Christ. He says;

 

“I am the way, the Truth and the life” - John 14:6

It might be troubling for some to accept that Truth begins with Christ. When we work our way from Him as a starting point, a completely different world begin to unfold. It is the true one. It is a key that solves all of the ancient puzzles with almost no effort. It has taken thousands of years of attempt for some to begin to realize that the answers already exist.

The next time you quote some ancient text to prove something, think again. You don’t know truth until you know Christ. He is the light that brightens all that is true and illuminates and reveals falsity. Start from Christ. See what happens.

K3 osumoo anukwale eh , osane y3h morbor ooo!

 

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About Covenants

The topic of covenants have popped up a few times in our Bible Talks fellowship. Consequently many people have been asking questions about when we are going to discuss it since many people believe they are suffering from all kinds of spiritual setbacks. Finally the wait is over.

On the 5th of August 2020,
we will be hosting an amazing team from the California based
Jesus Mountain Ministries
to discuss the  issue of covenants, generational curses and
everything that comes with it. To follow the discussion we encourage
you download the 5 page document and read ahead. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wcv4lZddAwvSKPoajy8piOSa3NY8RKJe/view?usp=drivesdk

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Ghana's crumbling illusory walls

 The current house cleaning taking place in the Church through the efforts of NET2 TV and Kennedy Agyepong is but one phase of a series of events in a chain that has been growing since 2018. The events are all offshoots of seeds sowed by voices that have in been crying out to the lord concerning the plight of the vulnerable who are the true victims of the nefarious activities of charlatans who are slowly destroying not only the image of the church but also our beloved nation in the process. Those who have been paying attention would remember two significant songs by KODA(ns3m pii) and the more recent offering from Kofi Kinaata(things fall apart). Anybody with a basic understanding of the Bible would see clearly that there is something significantly different about what the Bible teaches and what the “church” has become.

For the 6 years that I was an active part of the charismatic community in Ghana, my struggled has always been with the need to reconcile three things; what was happening around me, the Christianity I knew as a child and the Christ I found in the Bible. I could not find answers to simple question as I work myself towards the expected conformity that my whole system rejected. Can there be a Church 2.0 based on the same Bible that birthed Church 1.0? What does the expression; revelation is progressive really mean? Is it possible that the early Church missed something that the supposed new church has found? I learned as much as I could and observed rather keenly without engaging in the behaviors that I was suspicious of.  

In Beijing, I explored the church to see what I could learn. I was seized by the urge to start talking about the need for change as the church I saw in Beijing was significantly different from the one I knew back home. It dawned on me that the problems I had been harboring were in fact, real. The Church in Beijing was nowhere near perfect. Yet, it showed itself closer to scripture than what I was used to. It appeared as if we read the Bible for our own purposes; never for what God really is saying.

I had written a few books prior to my arrival in Beijing and part of my mission was to print them before I left. Out of nowhere, I was led to write what will later become the first 10 theses of the Ecclesia Africanus Reformanda. It started off as a series of Facebook posts. After weeks of posting I was still having sleepless nights about it. I knew then, that I need to put my thoughts into full writing or I would have no peace. By November 2019, I had completed several drafts. Typical of me it was full of errors as it was raw and unedited. I threw it on amazon and made only two sales. I was sure the Lord had led me to write this little book. Consequently I had to put it at the top of my to-do list.

The Covid-19 pandemic that supposedly originated from Wuhan changed China and a great deal and forced residents into the world's first lock-down of our time. This afforded me the time to dig deeper into my concerns and put the material together, find a printer and have it all printed ready to be shipped to Ghana my motherland without leaving my flat. There was some push-backs and applause in equal measure as I passed the PDF around to fellow ministers for their views. I accepted suggestions and took out some names that some thought might bring me unnecessary hatred from the Charismatic community and end up with no friends at all. Well…I did not have any to start with. I had no idea what was about to happen.

By the time the books arrived in Ghana, the whole nation was alight with the Kennedy Agyepong fire. On Net2 TV, supposed fake pastors have been confessing their abuse of God's people and exposing the people responsible for the abuses that everyone is aware of and seems not to care about. It became clear to me then that, the assignment that God had placed on my heart was a necessary piece in His house-cleaning agenda. The Bible teaches clearly that the cries of the vulnerable reaches God at some point and when it gets too loud, His wrath must locate the perpetrators of evil. The events preceding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Nohaic deluge (Exodus 3:9, Genesis 18:20-21, Genesis 6:11-12) are great examples.

It is important to remember first of all that, the corrupt church did not start with these supposed fake pastors. They are but products of a corrupt church led by those pastors who appear to be beyond criticism. Having influenced the nation for the past 30 years, they have become the shoulders on which the new generations of abusers stand. The reason people fall prey to fake pastors begins with their understanding of the faith and the lack of it. Yet, it is the one thing they have not received from the most trusted voices in the land who in a more covert manner, have exploited the vulnerable more. Consequently, we have believers who are tossed about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14) wrapped in the name of Jesus and perpetrated by fake-miracle peddlers. This is why any solution to this multi-dimensional conundrum begun with the so-called fathers of the land and their churches from which these false prophets and the confused believers have been produced.

The burden on my heart that led to the writing of Volume 1 of the Ecclesia Africanus Reformanda which comprises of ten propositions that must be considered towards a reformation of God's true Church (a safe haven for the vulnerable and an incubator for informed believers who by default cannot be captivated by false doctrines and the peddling of fake miracles). The timing of all the mentioned events and a few others that I have noticed is a demonstration of the hand of God at work and I am more confident now than ever about what the Lord wants to do about the Church in Africa. The voice of the weak has reached the Lord and His wrath has been provoked. The illusory walls are crumbling.

Koda's nsem pii : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR3JaXIcpW4

Kofi Kinata's things fall apart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTAFC8aAQ5g

Ecclesia Africanus Reformanda is now available in bookshops in Accra. It is also available on amazon https://www.amazon.com/1st-theses-Ecclesia-Africanus-Reformada-ebook/dp/B083J5L66F/ref=sr_1_2dchild=1&keywords=katey+aklie&qid=1592784151&sr=8-2

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All things have passed

Ruins of Ephesus , Photo: https://images.app.goo.gl/9sDvmpB39WAPA2de60

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” - Matthew 24:35

Today, I was captivated by a documentary about Ephesus. Remember the book of Ephesians? It was written as a letter to the Church in Ephesus to address issues born out of the diverse backgrounds of its members. Ephesus was also one of the seven churches of Asia to which Christ wrote a letter through the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation. It is believed that the Gospel of John may have been written here too. The city was the site of two ecumenical Christian Councils

Once a magnificent city under Roman control, it is located in modern day Turkey-- previously the heart of the Byzantine Empire. It may have started as an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia. It gained prominence as a major port city with a respectable status and was the home of the famous temple of Artemis (goddess of fertility) one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Temple attracted pilgrims from all over the world. It was also home to many 14 other gods and their temples including Emperor Ceaser, the impressive Library of Celsus and a 25,000 amphitheater.

Once home to temples that housed the statues of Emperors; Domitian ( Titus Flavius Domitianus 81 to 96) and Augustus(Gaius Octavius Thurinus - 27 BC – 19 August AD), Ephesus one among the important cities of the Empire. It was attacked and nearly destroyed by Goths in 263 and begun to decline. An AD 614 earthquake nearly completely destroyed it. Today it is nothing more than a tourist site.

While scanning through the material about the ancient city, what stood out to me are the industry, prosperity and the moral decadence of its dominant pagan culture. What I found most impressive however, is the public places of convenience.  Truly impressive! I couldn’t help but wonder how such a magnificent city could have been brought to ruins. Why could it not flourish forever? The words of Jesus quickly came to mind:

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” - Matthew 24:35

The statement seemed to have come out of nowhere and appears out of place as Jesus was dealing with a different matter. None of His words will go to waste. I couldn’t help but be reminded of magnificent civilizations such as Greece, Rome,  Egypt, Babylon, Sumeria all of which were ruled by kings who thought themselves gods. They have all fallen and today, their magnificent temples are nothing more than tourist sites. Their god’s now just stones in the ruins.

Persecuted and run under, the Christian faith that was nothing more than a tiny spark in a dark pagan world, have grown and reached the ends of the earth. There are things we take for granted as believers but God continues to show his power over all throughout the ages. Augustus and Domitian were among those who persecuted the church the most. Little did they know that they were watering the tiny seed planted by Christ with the blood of those they martyred. And true to His word, all have passed away while the light of his word has now grown to illuminate the world to its very ends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpJ-IWw5_Mc&t=359s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus

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The trouble with self-improvement

“We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. -1 Corinthians 8:1  

The things that supposedly make us better tend to make us seem superior in comparison to others. Superior and inferior cannot exist without each other. A healthier body due to a well-planned diet and the discipline for exercising supposedly makes us look and feel better than the obese.

The more of something we acquire, the more confident we get and the more likely we are to look down on those who do not have it in an equal measure. Education, money and others are just like muscles. As they say; knowledge is power so the more you have the better- ie the more superior. Money is power in the same manner. The PhD holder is intellectually taller/stronger/more capable in comparison to the high school graduate in the same manner the billionaire is financially stronger than the pauper.

For these haves, what they have acquired tends to be the source of their security. They will feel weak without it and because of that they fight hard to hold onto it. Even if they don’t flaunt, they show their muscles when it becomes necessary. At that moment, everyone caves in a give way.

The Bible teaches that knowledge puffs up. It makes a person proud with a sense of superiority. Shockingly this puffing knowledge also includes knowledge about God. Power they say is nothing without control. So that the power we acquire is useful only to the extent to which it is subjected to love. Paul’s point was in reference to food for idols of course; but what can be deduced is the underlying idea of pride that power breeds. Those who acquire must therefore realize that love is their only safety and love is of God. One must be more dependent on God than his personal strength.

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Faith in its fullness

Faith is the force behind every great achievment. Those who do not have it soon find they will die without actually living. Faith is a permanent part of our lives. We know this because it is clear that without it one cannot get from point A to B. All men have faith, just not in its fullness.

Faith is belief. It is fair when the two words are used interchangeably even in a secular context. Everyone believes something. But not many are clear about what it is they believe and to what extent. The Bible’s view, while taken for granted as with everything religious, is quite instructive: it can move mountains. Some may look at this as a metaphor of a sort and they may not be far from the truth. But even then, the spirit behind the expression is a powerful one. If we are to look for the chief proponent of the faith idea, we must end up with the most accomplished human being to ever walk the earth– Jesus himself. 

 

His teaching is loaded with faith and what it can do if one has enough of it. And when men have failed to accomplish, he has attributed it to the lack of it. He posits, that faith is so powerful one only needs a mustard seed helping in order to move mountains. Even if we were to hold on to the metaphor school of thought, this idea still carries an enormous amount of weight. The thought that anything or faith for that matter can move a mountain no matter how big, with a mustard seed size of itself is disturbing and incomprehensible from first level thinking. One is going to have to reason beyond everyday thinking and wonder into the realm of the supernatural. For in the natural, this cannot be.

But faith like its many counterpart is not physical. It is an intangible force whose outworking is only perceivable in the actions and accomplishment of men. In other words, it cannot be seen until men have enough of it to act. It is not surprising them that in Christian thought where the supernatural is the driver behind the natural, faith is held as supreme. So that the natural remains how it is until the supernatural moves it. Those who do not believe do not act and therefore never change anything. 
 
It is followers of Jesus like Paul and James who will clarify this powerful teaching of Christ by which men have change the world and bring it to our understanding. James posits that faith is made perfect in works. Paul pushes for a walk by faith and not sight– in order words making choices by what you believe and not so much what you see. Philosophers and scientist of old and present have proposed that our natural senses are not always honest with us and every human being knows this first hand. Some have even gone as far as denying the existence of themselves and the world as it is. The things you think you see (in the natural) are not necessarily there. The things you do not see (in the supernatural) can be if you believe them enough. For they are manifested through your works that is the result of what you have believed. Those who believe enough must of necessity act or they don’t believe enough. 

This brings us to my most important point, it is true that all men have a measure of faith. For they are not sitting like stones. They act and do things according to their beliefs. How far they go in their works is our only opportunity to measure their level of faith. By this, it will appear that many of us are functioning from a tiny fraction of a mustard seed. Nothing in its 'half-ness' is comparable to its 'fullness'. This is why faith-fullness is key to any kind of success. Too many do not understand that faithfulness is a level of faith. Whatever you are faithful to, you have faith in. What you are faithful to you give your only true possession– your time which in effect is your every existence broken down into units of hours and eons. What you are faithful to, you are devoted to and you make sacrifices to and for. It has no choice but to give you its rewards. But it can only give you what it has so it is wise that you are faithful to the right people or things. One cannot give what one does not have. Those who truly believe (have faith) in a God are truly faithful to him and this is exhibited through their works. Their presence when he calls and their level of sacrifice is the means by which they demonstrate their faith. No one gives their only possession to one who does not exist to them.

Many claim they pursue something, perhaps a dream or even a career. Many may choose a life partner to whom they cannot be faithful. Many simply lack the understanding that the success that they seek is only possible through faith-in-fullness. One cannot have the best relationship with a spouse without faith-in-fullness. One cannot have the best career without faith-in-fullness. For one to be their best at anything, they must have stayed with that thing through thick and thine. He stays and fights even when everyone has deserted and death is imminent. Malcolm Gladwell’s idea that one can only break into the genius level after 10,000 hours of practice is a rare portrait of faithfulness. Men like Bill Gates and John Lennon reached this level through long hours in obscurity. There are some who desire the achievement of the great and yet are not faithful to a cause. They lack the Jesus prescription which in my opinion is above all prescription. Scepticism in any form is a tragedy.
Ref: Luke 17:6 – Jesus, James 2:14-26 – James, 2 Corinthians 5:7 – Paul

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THE LEGITIMACY OF RESISTANCE

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07J3TJL4M

The annals of history is dotted with men and women who have brought progress to humanity through change. They have defined and redefined the way we do things and provided us with better ways. But change have not always been progressive. In many cases what seemed progressive have turned out to be something else. But with more change, we are able to rescue the situation and bring humanity back on track. The invention of plastic packaging sent us on a downward spiral .We got comfortable with it because it made life easier. The knowledge that it takes over a century to decompose and also poisons plant and animal life when it does represented a threat to our very existence as a specie and necessitated biodegradable alternatives. No one was interested in the possible consequences of the use of petrochemical based plastic back then. We were high on what can be done with it. Now though, more change is needed. 

 

Change agents are a special breed. The resistance they face in their missions is not one that is easily surmountable and perhaps this is for good reason. For those who have not given it much thought, change means new ways and new ways must lead to new outcomes. One can only imagine what this world would look like if it were to respond to every single wind of change that blows its way. Every single one of us could just change things for all of us simply because we have a new idea. This is not only recipe for chaos, it is also a guarantee that progress will travel in a new direction every time and consequently, never get anywhere. Perhaps a cursory look at where the likes of Hitler would have brought us would suffice.

The world is predictable. People are not as complex as they might seem and however different they are, their fundamental needs remains the same. But that’s a matter for my people dynamics class. What cannot be explained tends to cause a kind of discomfort referred to by psychologist as cognitive strain. The mind will not rest until it has produced a coherent narrative (an explanation it will consider the truth even if false) that will engender the cognitive ease that is need to generate a feeling of security. Don't be fooled by the many theories of human nature, security is always high up the ladder because one's existence is really all they have. One thing that is predictable about people is the fear of that which cannot be explained. Beyond the fancy cognitive strain, it threatens existence with its bag of uncertainties and those who do not fight tooth and nail to stop it, cannot be said to be in their right minds. For years I have struggle with this—I never understood why people will fight you even when you are trying to help them. It is clear now that it is because they don’t understand two things. The first is; why the change and the other is; what the outcome will mean for the preservation of their existence. Often no one has the answers to these questions except for the agent who in most cases is drunk on an idea and cannot foresee the guaranteed rejection.

We are social scientist in our own capacities and it seems this is necessary. To guarantee this much needed security, we want to see something work repeatedly so we can be sure it will continue to work the same way even when we stop paying attention. Once we have accepted it, any agent who attempts to change it is a threat because we do not know what the new outcome will be. The over-rated empiricism depends on this fundamental idea which finds itself one too often against reason. Yet it is empiricist who will claim the title of reason and call those who actually reason differently; irrational. Between this murky milieu of ideas and the instinct-driven empiricism rest our worst vulnerabilities. Those who understand this enough have a field day taking advantage of us all. This is one thing I agree with Robert Green on. He has after all made a bestseller out of telling us all that we are predictable and that we actually prefer it so. He must have been right or how else has he managed to sell so many books. His 48 laws of power is a hit because we believe that between those pages, we will find the key that will place us in a secure position. A position from which we can predict everything and every situation so that we can remain in control. You will never meet a better social scientist of his kind unless you meet Dale Carnegie who wrote the book how to win friends and influence people. His was also a proposition on how to ensure predictability and certainty. Not surprisingly it is also a bestseller.

This need for predicability is not the only one that is antipathetic of change. Progress in one certain direction is useful because that is what ensures that we are in constant match towards the specific destiny even if we don't know what it is. This is why resistance to change is such a powerful tool. Its job is to test not only new ideas that threaten us with change but also to test the will of the agent for change. Maybe this is why the concept of the chosen one is so important. For it is only he or she that can actually carry out this change. Resistance manifests itself as opposition, hindrance, obstacle and setback. Not many know that it is a mere test of the agent and the change they bear. The chosen one is the only one with the depth of will which produces persistence, perseverance and consistency needed to pass the test. Most of us also don't realise that it provides the mechanism for producing the best method for making the change as we have seen in the story of Thomas Edison and his light bulb. So that in the end, the agent would have proven themselves the worthy chosen one. This will not only ensure that opposition gives way to change in the end for progress in the right direction, it also effectively eliminates negative change. As a general rule, the bigger the change, the bigger the resistance. This is why the whole world gets together to fight men like Hitler. His change is global and needs a test of that magnitude.

There is yet another reason why the agent and his change must be tested. It is important that the change itself is sustained once it has occurred. It is not unheard of for a change to take place and die either with the demise of its agent or his will. A test of his will and the high price he pays ensure a continuous enterprise until such a time when another change takes place. You cannot just introduce new ways, you must see it through. When you have paid a high price for it, you will take it more seriously.

Regardless of what you are doing, you will be safe and comfortable if you are not trying to change anything. Routine people have the easy life living in their comfort zone. In fact they are the most effective bunch in the change resistance matrix. We know now that this makes them extremely useful because they secures us from the many winds of change the will keep blowing. If you have a burning need to make change however, you are the chosen one and must be equipped with the tools needed to pass the test. Time is your resource vault.

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