It is all over in the media that the chiefs and traditional leaders in Nogokpo are at war with Bishop Agyinasare. The renowned man of God was alleged to have made a statement which angered the leaders and natives of this town, famously noted among a few other towns in Ghana, for traditional form of worshiping.
The story goes that Bishop Agyinasare made a remark that Nogokpo is the headquarters of demons.
This is what blew the storm into, the otherwise calm Anlo town along the Aflao road. Certainly, Nogokpo is legendary like Antoa in the Ashanti region and no one dares provoke these towns.
Like all lesser gods, the Nogokpo gods belong to the Rapid Results group which have no heart to forgive the wrong doer and will never give him a second chance. This attitude puts fear in indigenes who endeavour not to cross the paths of the gods.
Are such gods demonic? Some visionaries and very holy men and women who walk in the Lord God Almighty, were made to see things which only the chosen are to see. Some put their revelations on paper and informed the world about lesser gods.
According to the revelations about the fallen angels, when the rebellious angels were driven out of Heaven, some of them immediately regretted their ways and pleaded for forgiveness, but it was too late.
These repentant fallen angels were said to have taken shelter on earth and do works of charity as their form of penance, with the hope that on the final judgment, God will forgive them and invite them back to Heaven.
These fallen angels will do good to mankind and protect them from the evil ones who are known as the demons; Satan and the devils. They suffer attacks from the demons, because their strength and power, according to the revelations, are much lower than that of the other wicked rebel angels.
One would expect, that anybody who worships any of the lesser gods who are not demonic, will always get justice and mercy from them. However, all we hear, is that such gods are quick to punish the wrongdoer and dispatch him to eternal damnation in hell.
Torgbuioo, Christ is known for being just and merciful, and for this, traditionalists turn round to mock Him. The question is, are traditional gods just and merciful? A good example is of the Ewe gods in communities where fiashidi or trokosi are practiced.
This is where people found guilty of any offence are not punished; rather a young virgin girl is put into perpetual servitude in the shrines and made a sex slave to the gods for life. She will never see her family again. Now if after several years this sex slave dies, a replacement is taken from the family.
Another virgin, who was not born when that family member committed the offence is bundled against her wishes and thrown into the shrine to continue serving, for life, the punishment of a crime she never knew of. Torgbuioo, are these the gods one has to be proud of serving? Punishing the innocent but allowing the guilty to walk freely?
Yes, because of the harshness of such gods, there may be some orderliness with people endeavouring to do the right thing at all times. But in Christendom, social vices can be practiced freely without instant justice coming from God.
The reason is this. In Ezekiel 18: 23, God expressively stated that He does not take delight in the sinner’s death, but will want him to repent from his evil ways. Repentance is very important to God, because He does not want humans to languish in eternal damnation in hell fire.
That explains why sinners have a future and saints have a past. Many sinners who repented and turned to God Almighty, ended up suffering for the faith while drawing souls to Christ.
Matthew was a tax collector, who wrongfully took excess money from the poor to enrich himself. He obeyed the call of Jesus and became His apostle.
Dismas had a past as an armed robber. He saw salvation on the cross with Jesus next to him. He repented and entered into Paradise with Jesus that day. Dismas gives us the example that whenever we get the least opportunity, we must repent and follow Jesus. And that least opportunity is Now.
Saul Paul was persecuting innocent ones until he encountered the Light. He repented and become a Christian, put his life on the line and drew souls to Christ.
Christianity gives everyone the opportunity to turn their lives round and follow the path of righteousness to salvation. You do not wish hell damnation, even to your worse enemy.
Do Christians believe that only Christians will make it to Heaven? As much as some do, the answer to this question is ‘No.’ According to the first Christian Church, the Catholic Church, which respects all religions, every human is a child of God and the Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in other religions.
Catholics, believe that Christians cannot truly pray to God the Father if they treat any person in ways other than brotherly love. (Ref: Vatican II, Nostra Aetate, October 28, 1965).
According to the Catholic Church, in every religion, the Truthcan be found. And when followed in spirit and in truth, salvation will be won by that soul, even though he or she may not be Christian.
And that Truth is found in Jesus Christ who is the Truth, the Way and the Life. So, the Catholic Church gives respect to other Christian denominations and other religions who can also make it to Heaven.
Having stated the above, it is right to say that Christianity and other religions can lead people to Heaven. On His Judgment Throne, God will judge each soul according to the Truth in his or her religion.
I will therefore want to humbly state here that the Togbuioo of Nogokpo should not to seek to interpret Bishop Agyinasare’s statement as an attack on the people of Nogokpo. The bishop never mentioned that the indigenes from there are demons but only said that town is the headquarters of demons.
Well, what did Jesus Christ say about the world? When the statement is made about things of the world, it means the desires of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:15). And about two times Christ designated Satan as the prince or ruler of this world (John 12:31 and John 14:30).
The Bible is clear that either the world’s inhabitants are under the influence of this world with its cunning, deception, spellways and always in opposition and contradiction to all that is Godly; or they are in Christ and under the direction of the Spirit of God. There is no neutral ground.
If Togbuioo, take it that by Bishop Agyinasare statement he meant all people of Nogokpo are demons, then by Jesus’ own statement every human is a demon, because the world is Satan’s kingdom.
Togbuioo cannot deny knowledge of the fact some Akan towns in this country are degraded as citadels of witchcraft and others as places where evil money rituals, sika duro, are engaged in. Ewes look down upon people from this ethnic group or most importantly, such towns which to them, must be avoided at all cost.
To this day, such towns have been labelled for all that is evil and wrong,yet to this day, no traditional leader from these towns has cautioned people from making such statements.
Togbuioo, please just chill and refrain from daring Christ in this matter. You cannot fight Christ. There are many instances in history where people who dared Christ met fatal ends. One of such happened on October 7, 1571 in what is called the Battle of Lepanto.
That was when the mighty fleet of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, with larger, better equipped and faster naval vessels, were crushed in an astonishing defeat by the smaller and ill-equipped naval vessels of the Holy League, which were completely outnumbered. To this day, no one can explain how this happened, except to attribute this to Christ.
Besides, have Togbuioo considered the repercussions that will follow when traditional worshippers clash with Christians in this country? In such a clash, Ghana will be the loser.
Calling upon your gods will not help matters but rather put Ewes in a bad light. Togbuioo, why is it that once a statement is made against Ewes, it is a reason to go to war? Akans, especially have always been on the receiving end andare mostly always attacked. Rawlings in 1979 made an Asante chief to carry night-soil for no reason.
In 1999, Rawlings, disrespectfully talked harshly to the Asantehene and poked his fingers into the king’s face for something the Otumfuo knew nothing of. In all these Asantes never reacted.
But when the Aflao chief gave ultimatum to President Akufo-Addo to complete a school block in Aflao and the president who knew the work was almost completed responded by saying the chief could complete it by himself, some Ewes took offence.
The other day, on the Facebook page, Ewe Radio Germany, Akans were accused for allegedly saying that any Ewe who could not speak Akan, Ga or Guan is not a Ghanaian. And the author warned of war. Meanwhile, only a few years ago, a group of Ewes declared they are not Ghanaians and have never been.
They wanted their independence, saying they are now from Western Togoland. And they were ready to go to war and die for independence. So, who are saying Ewes are not Ghanaians?
Togbuioo, once again, may I humbly and respectfully appeal to you to let go? Because Bishop Agyinasare never said Nogokpo indigenes are demonic. Any attack on the bishop and his church in particular and Christians in general, could break up Nogokpo in particular and Ewes in general, because as you know there are many faithful followers of Christ who are Ewes.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
