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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Championing the coaching profession in Ghana

Although fairly new, coaching is an extremely fast growing profession around the world. It is now classified among the high earning professions especially in the USA. A Pricewaterhouse Coopers study commissioned in 2007 by the International Coach Federation found that part-time coaches averaged annual salaries of $26,000 and full-time coaches were averaging $82,000. Most professional coaches charge fees in the range of $150/month to $400/month for a package of 3 scheduled sessions per month. A very manageable caseload for a full-time coach is around 25 clients per month. Gross income projections can therefore be estimated by multiplying the number of clients desired by fees within that range taking local economics into consideration. Twenty-five clients, for example, at $250/month generate $75,000/year. Twenty-five clients at $350/month is $105,000. Even when those Dollar signs are replaced with Ghana Cedi signs, it is still fantastic earning for asking questions for a few hours a day. Coaches who specialize in executive, corporate and leadership coaching often charge considerably more ($600 to $1,000+/month), but prospective coaches are however, encouraged to make conservative projections when considering the field and take their local economy into consideration.

But just how important are coaches and why do they get paid so much? To understand this one must first consider the fact that; the most successful people you see around doing great things have personal coaches you don’t know about. Most coaches don’t mind being the power behind, it’s the nature of the job. As Ghana’s foremost performance coach Katey Aklie puts it;

“our job is to get others to reach their aspirations; that is how we achieve our dreams”.

Some of the aspirations they want to reach are billion dollar ventures. Consider the following scenarios:

Case 1: Imagine if you run a business worth $20 million that is under performing because of two or three key people. You are loosing money on a daily basis because of these two. A coach comes along and gets them to start ticking and your earnings for the year quadruples because of improved performance. What would that be worth to you and your organization? Wouldn’t you give 10% of your 20 million for that kind of results?

Case Two: Your teenage son is lives in the F zone at school and you are worried he will never make university. You have tried everything and nothing has helped. A coach comes along and places him among the top five in his class. What will that do for his future and what monetary value will you place on that? There are parents who will give the world to have that kind of help; they just do not know who to turn to.

“As coaches work behind the scene; accepting your place as the power behind is the mentality you need to be a good coach. It is always about other people and their aspirations and never about you. You succeed only when others succeed”. –Katey Aklie

In Ghana the seeds have only just been planted and it is developing roots really fast. Internationally certified performance coach Katey Aklie, affectionately called HOPEMAN by most is the force behind this growth and he and his team estimates that Ghana alone needs about ten thousands coaches who will shape the destiny of this nation. He insists that our politicians, business people, professionals and everyone else are functioning around 30% of their true capacities. They could really benefit from the services of a coach by just spending an hour with him/her per month. Coaching will move them to the next level and that will reflect on the national output. He also believes that youth coaching is probably one of the most needed niches at this point if this nation is to have a better future. While he conceded that the general public is not used to the idea and do not know how to use coaches, he says that things are changing as more coaches are trained and. They will through their practice show everyone else the value of coaching. He said:

“It is like everything else, you have to start from somewhere but we are already alarmed at the level of change. The thing is that Ghana already has many people who call themselves coaches. The only problem is the lack of right skills to do the job so people can actually see the benefit of the service”.

Currently he is focused on training more coaches and guiding them into the new career area. We will open new options for revenue generation for counselors, teachers, pastors and other professionals who have the inclination to help people reach their best by simply retooling them with coaching skills. There are quite a few people who call themselves coaches without really understanding what is involved. Some think it is a cool tag for motivational speaking and going around telling people to do things no one knows will work. The first training program is intended to certify all these folks who clearly have an interest and a passion to help people improve, put them into the new association and help them build their practices. This is the reason why the cost of training has been cut down by 50%. They will begin to make change as we certify and license them to start taking the profession to the next level.

The next training session begins on the 3^rd of November. The five day training is collaboration between the Performance Academy and the OD institute--Africa’s only graduate School of Organizational Development headed by the world renowned OD consultant Prof. Noble Kumawu. Everyone with an interest in coaching or helping people to be their best (youth workers, teachers, pastors, counselors, managers and just about anyone) is invited to join the groundbreaking training program to prepare themselves for the coming flood of opportunities.  Call   0201197700, 0268388560 for information on the training program.

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A WOMAN LIKE ME

We live in a society that questions your personality, your intelligence, your identity and even your complexion. The same black folks questioning you why you still have a dark skin in the age of Whitening. Same Black folks who will tease your dreams, call you names because you are not anything like them and *they don't them* and they do not believe in the path you have chosen for yourself. A society that  defines  who a smart a woman is by the type of hair they fix on Friday evenings or how many likes they got on their nude pictures on instagram. I question just a society. I ask myself why the smartest kid in school won't have a lot of followers but the bullies? why people won't like and share a great status idea but will let a profane joke go viral? Why aren't some young beautiful women don't aspire to be educated but rather go all up and down almost naked on a some senseless music video? I wonder why some parents become serious course mates of Telenova 101 to their children, an evening subject that do not only weakens their brain but morals and while their homeworks  plead for  attachment.We are jokes! We think this has no significant impact on the lives of these young ones coming up. I am tempted to shut my mouth right now but i won't. Because, it hurts to see how we can sit and waste away our beautiful
minds  away hoping that a white man from the sky will drop to fix our nation and oh i must confess that will be a miraclous sight. I believe in Nkrumah. I belive he had a dream for people like me and the many others who truly understands the transcript of His independence Speech. I wish it was taught in schools, hanged in offices, written on billboards, screen displayed at resturants and bars to make the Ghanaian meditate on the words when He said

" We have awakened. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world!

That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.

We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our own foundation.

Our own African identity"

I have realised like Michelle Obama that i need to keep my sanity and not let others define me, there is the only one thing I can do; To have faith in God’s plan for me.I have to learn to block everything out and focus on my truth.  I have to answer some truth for myself:  Who am I?  No, really, who am I?
I have to keep up with my passion and vision. I may fully accomplish it. I may attain it partially so that somebody will come continue from where i ended. But whatever it is, we must rise as women with a yearn to be mothers and not just house wives, mentors and not just dish washers, teachers and not just sex partners. We must be make it...oh,we have to, because there is a girl out there who wants to be like you.

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