The tragic death of our two ministers, Dr Omane Boamah and Alhaji Mutula Muhammed, three other government officials and three dedicated serving personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces, who perished in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, August 6, 2025 and the death of the sixteen members of the Saviour Church of Ghana, Obogu branch, who died in a head-on collision on July 29, 2025, should make us think about this most inevitable aspect of life called death.
In Sacred Scriptures, when a prophecy of death comes from God, it means both the physical and the spiritual, with the soul thrown to hell. This is called death.
On the other hand, death that leads the soul to eternal life in Heaven, is defined as life. In John 11: 25, Jesus spoke these words of eternal life when He said: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.”
Life can be compared to schooling. No matter what happens, anyone who enters school will one day, surely be out. So, is it that everybody’s life will end one day.
Is death that sends the soul to hell, of God? Or is death the will of man? Some humans try to show how powerful they are by cursing people with death and even killing some.
God in Ezekiel 33:11, solemnly declares that He has no pleasure to see the wicked die. So, if God does not want the wicked to die, why should some humans wish death for others? God does not will the soul to go to hell, it is rather the unfortunate misuse of the gift of free will, that make the soul end up there.
So, people who take delight in cursing others with death or ending lives of others, have no idea what it is like to be in hell, a place they unknowingly, prepare for themselves.
Death can come in so many ways;insofar as the body is separated from the soul, death has taken place. Dedicated men and women of God, who have been given the sight to see beyond the physical, tell of this separation. It is the most painful as the two inseparable beings, the body and the soul, are to be apart. It is like love ones, example a child and mother separating, for good. This usually happens at departure lounges when flights are called or during wars when enemy troops invade a community and start separating people.
The body and soul cannot withstand this inevitable separation, but it has to happen and when it does, the body goes still and lifeless and the soul proceeds to the next level, where it would either go to Heaven or to hell.
For the love of God, souls of those who died in His love but have some scars of sin, are not fit to be go to hell. He purges these souls through purgatory. It is like this; no parent would allow their beloved infant child who is so dirty to sleep in bed with them. The child will be purged off the dirt, by way of been given a strong bath to remove all dirt, so he becomes neat and clean.
Why did God allow these twenty-four people to die the way they did?It does not matter how one dies, the most important thing is to die in the state of grace, so as to enter into Heaven. Many believers and saints died more horrible deaths by way of being eaten alive by lions or thrown into boiling oil, among others. The process of death may look horrifying to humans, but that could be a grace from God, remember His Son Jesus, died a horrifying death on the Cross.
God may allow someone to die, when they are in state of grace, because if they were to live a bit longer, they may commit grievous sins against Him, which would lead them to hell.
As the nation is mourning the death of Omane Boamah, Mutula Muhammed and the other six, let the nation honour the memory of the sixteen members of the Savior Church of Ghana, who also perished in a horrible accident.
The most terrible thing to happen to any person, is when death separates them from their love ones. As we mourn these twenty-four Ghanaians who met their tragic end within eight days apart of one group and the other, let us pray for their love ones and ask God to console them. They need our prayers; they need our attention for they in a painful state of loneliness and sorrow.
Death is a blessing when one is in the state of grace but a curse when one is in the state of mortal sin. As we mourn the dead, let us remember that one day we will also be mourned. Let us keep that hour in mind and strive to do what pleases God, especially forgiving one another. Let us sacrifice to make the other person, especially those in need, get what they pray for, so that they will look up and say “Thank You, Jesus!” These three words will return divine favours on us.
May all the souls of the departed find favour in the sight of God and Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Amen
By Hon. Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
