I don't usually agree with the President on many issues but this is one of the few which I side with him. If Ghanaian Christians are serious about building a cathedral, we have enough big Churches who can fund this.
I must also add that, The deafening silence of prominent pastors following the scandal, in stark contrast to their previous vocal advocacy, reflects poorly on the Ghanaian Christian community.
Not every day by day is for prosperity preaching
Forgiveness can be very tough especially when the recipient doesn't deserve it. But we all need mercy.
If you haven't been following the recent developments, it all started when a video of an Imam (Masud Abdullah) trended on social media (The Imam's call to violence). In the video he recommended the killing of anybody who speaks against Mohammed. Obviously, this sparked outrage from Christians but the shocking part is the delayed response. He wasn't picked up until the chief Imam called for his arrest. In an obviously desperate attempt to appease Muslims, Ghana police included a pastor ((Daniel Junior Yaw Adjei) with the false claim that he triggered the Imam's threats.
Even though this issue has been "resolved" weeks ago, I still bring it up because IMO it wasn't done properly. As much as I'm against the insult of other religions, there's no part of the laws of Ghana that criminalizes religious criticism. Ghana police treating both actions as criminal offences is a mistake. CALLING OUT FOR THE MURDER OF A GROUP IS A CRIME. But insulting a religion is not.
This issue bothers me a lot cos it was obviously handled in a way to appease Muslims. In the Imam's apology, he clearly stated that it what he did was not wrong according to the Quran (video). Going by his statements, a true Muslim who believes the Qur'an is above any law, should actually kill. And somehow, we've swept this under the rug cos we are afraid of offending Muslims.
We want peace but clearly there are some people who would prefer violence if they don't have their way. I'm not calling for a ban on Islam in fact, the old testament of the Bible has some pretty violent punishment for violence too. But Christians have rightly interpreted it as a different era of the faith which no longer applies. If some Muslims cannot do similar but keep threatening violence while law enforcement appeases them.
Ghanaian Christians talk about the spirit realm a lot. In fact, the goal of most churches is to influence what goes on in the unseen realm either by prayer, offerings, praises and other spiritual practices
But I find it fascinating that the Bible rarely talks about it and even when it does, it's not the main lesson of the passage. It's more of what a character does in the physical.
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We hear the excuse of bad behavior as one of the major reasons Ghana is underdeveloped. Even recently, the president blamed the recent floods on poor discipline by the citizens. But I don't think that's the case at all. We need to go deeper than that. Really think about it.
If you pay attention to what goes on around the world, do you really think Ghanaian attitude is worse than that of other developed countries? No offence to citizens of these countries but I don't believe that South Africans, Moroccans, Americans, the French have significantly better attitudes. If you don't agree, just ask any Ghanaian you know in the diaspora how their fellow Ghanaians act in different countries. We are not known for breaking even simple laws like littering. You hardly see a Ghanaian get in trouble with the law in a foreign country.
So what's the problem then? Why do Ghanaians act this way when at home? Its the environment. I don't believe a citizen who litters in a place like Chokor would do same in Cantoments. The environment influences behavior. This is especially true for a group of people. Its simple. FIX THE INFASTRUCTURE. If there was a proper aff0rdable waste management system, a market woman would not throw out her garbage in the gutters. If a builder could get his building plans vetted quickly from AMA without having to wait months or years for a permit, he wouldn't bribe someone for it. JUST FIX THE BASICS.
They want to pass a bill they know nothing about.
Instead of fixing the basics like internet quality, they're just power hungry hypocrites who just put on eye service to make people think their doing something. That Sam George guy erhn..
What a prick!!
As much as they will deny it, a major part of western civilization was built on Christianity. But the corrupt version we practice in Africa is destroying our's.
I've been looking for a Church to attend since graduating uni and stumbled across ICGC. I overhead Pastor Mensah Otabil's preaching on my Dad's phone comparing the new generation of Ghanaian Christianity to the old one. Basically saying that God used the previous generation of church leaders in spite of their flaws not because of it. I must say, it was my first time hearing a preacher criticize his own generation and somewhat credit the new one. I resonated with that sermon cause I feel like this generation is more critical and likely to read the Bible for themselves rather than just agree with what the Pastor says. It's a very scary thing to criticize a man of God who is clearly anointed but that's why Otabil made that statement.
So I decided to visit a branch of ICGC near me but to put it shortly... The sermon from the branch pastor didn't feel inspired. The offerings were divided into the days of the week on which the givers were born to promote competition amongst them. For me personally, this feels wrong. I'd like to read others' arguments. It's not like I'm searching for the perfect church but there are some big NOs for me. And a church that exalts financial gains to that level is one of them. I thought this was a thing with ICGC but a colleague from work told me otherwise. Apparently, it's not all branches that do that.
Then I thought; instead of looking around for another branch to attend, why don't I just visit the main branch? After all that's where Pastor Otabil resides and it's his sermon that attracted me to the church in the first place. I'm going to try to be as neutral as possible with my thoughts.
This is not a major criteria in my review but it deserves to be mentioned. The church looks really good. The lighting, sound, seats and generally, the members dress well. As I said, it's not a major criteria at all for me but it should be mentioned.
Secondly, I felt the music was just too much. I get the fact that music is supposed to prepare the heart for the word but it doesn't make sense for the music to take longer than the message itself. . It's as if church services nowadays are more of music concerts which feels like entertainment that spirituality. I'd also like to hear others' arguments on this
Now, unto the sermon which I thought was quite short. Only about 30mins. This is more of a preference than a criticism. I'm used to longer preaching of at least an hour.
Pastor Otabil was introducing a series he titled "KINGDOM WAREFARE" where he began with "Light and Darkness". Basically, he was explaining the origins of both the kingdom of light and Darkness referencing the first Chapter of Genesis.
What I admire about Pastor Otabil is that he preaches like a lecturer. Trying to arrive at conclusions logically. Which as much as I admire it, it's very difficult to do with the word of God. The Bible is not a text book but a spiritual book. It's not read with the mind but with the heart.
Back to the sermon; he explained that light comes from the word of God cos the source of light was the words "Let there be light". But his explanation for the source of darkness made me itch a bit. To be fair, he admitted jumping prematurely into conclusions on that part but if your going to preach in a logical way, you can't do that. He just concluded that darkness was a bad thing because light is good and God separated both. God said the light was good but didn't say that darkness was bad. He admitted this but still concluded from nothing that darkness was bad and the kingdom of light and darkness are at loggerheads. That's a huge jump.
It's hard to explain the source of darkness the same way it's hard to explain the source of evil. Scientifically speaking, darkness is simply the absence of light. It doesn't have a source. The same way that evil is simply the absence of God.
Moving on... There was a part where he criticized the use of anointing oil which is a widely used spiritual medium in Ghana. It's one thing to criticize the abuse of it but a completely different thing to criticize it in general. He claimed the pouring of anointing oil on a purchased land does nothing but fertilize the soil. All a Christian has to do is walk unto the land and the darkness disappears. Because the Christian reflects light from Jesus Christ.
To simplify my take on this; I don't see the anything wrong with using any medium given by a man of God to achieve a spiritual goal. This was done in the early days of Christianity (Acts 19:12) and it worked. If a Christian has enough faith to walk unto a land by themselves and disperse darkness, that is fine. But to criticize another Christian's little faith is not fair.
This is the issue that "Biblical critics" tend to have. There's no logic in faith. A christian may not have a complete and correct theology but all they need is faith.
These are my positives and negatives from the visit. I'll listen to the rest of the sermon in the series and update my thoughts. You can watch the preaching here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0pmmRtsuTs&t=3527s I'd like to hear your thoughts and arguments. Thanks for reading this far.