71% or twenty-four million Ghanaians out of the current population of over 34.1 million are Christians. If Ghanaian Christians are serious about their God, then we must see the Christian identity in Ghana.
Unfortunately, what Christians are generally offering this country is a competition for followers, with the New-Religious Groups going out to win souls for Christ by twisting the Word of God to favour their leadership.
The powerful message of God found in Psalm 105:15 and 1 Chronicles 16:22, where God said “Touch not my anointed,” has been carefully misinterpreted to favour only the leadership of such churches. When in that message God was directly referring to His anointed, the people of Israel, and in these times the faithful in general.
Tithe and tithing, have become another big issue in Christendom, today.
In the true definition, tithes must go to pastors and leaders of churches who are not suppose to be in any business or income generating venture, but rely solely on the church (Levitical Tithe – Deuteronomy 14:27). Tithes must also be kept by the congregants for the celebration of annual religious festivals and in these times, we mention Easter festivities (Feast Tithe – Deuteronomy 12: 5-7).
And tithes must be used to provide for the needs of the poor, orphans, fatherless and strangers (Poor Tithe – Deuteronomy 14:28).The question is, is that what we see today? Pastors in big time businesses are demanding tithes for their upkeep.
And by the way, in the New Testament, Christians were not commanded to tithe anymore but rather are encouraged to voluntarily give to God (through the poor and needy) and to the church in proportion to their wealth (Mark 12:42). The question again is, what do we see today? Tithes, offerings and sowing of seeds. Even blessings from God are priced.
Back to the issue at hand. Ghana has over 71% of its population being Christians, but Christianity in the true sense and meaning is not felt. Apart from places of worship, nothing stands out distinctively to show the Christian nature of this country.
Christianity is the personification of love and togetherness and a Christian is someone whose behaviour and heart reflect Christ. So, if this country is truly a Christian country, it must be felt and seen all over the place. But not so, divisions, quarrels and with some very confident in their own righteousness and always looking down on others (Luke 18: 9-14).
Christian love and unity are what need to be manifested in Ghana and one way is to have an icon that will benefit the whole of Christendom and unite Christians as one (John 17:21). One such icon is to have a temple (church) that will belong to and unite all Christians of the various denominations.
There is the need for such edifice in Christian Ghana. And H.E. President Nana Akufo-Addo came with the idea of building a national cathedral to honour a pledge he made to God.
Instead of seizing this opportunity to unite as one and build this cathedral, Christendom in general, in Ghana decided to wait and see whether the president can fulfil that dream. This is very sad indeed, because if the president had singled out one particular church and attached this project to it, it would have been embraced by all the church members and today, the cathedral would have been at lentil level.
Even as the president called together leadership of Christian churches to oversee the project, we started hearing things that are un-Christlike. For how could we hear of corruption and rumours of corruption where people who are supposed to be upright in the Lord have gathered? Can one imagine that even some Christian leaders are resigning from the committee due to lack of accountability.
Some of us are forced not to be surprised because of something that happened in the eighties. That was the time when the Holy Spirit swept across the land and many youths gathered in various churches to worship God as they deemed fit.
These churches, who prided themselves as always in the Light and looked down upon the main line churches, decided to have fun games among themselves. Then set in the vice of greed and desire to win by any means possible, even if foul.
So, some of these churches went outside Christendom to poach good footballers from the Islamic community. Muslims came to play soccer in Christian teams and jerseys. When it was found out, the friendship games were cancelled.
Maybe, some of these pastors today were among those who implemented that dishonesty and maybe we find such elements in the committee to supervise the construction of the national cathedral. The question is must corruption and rumours of corruption come out from areas where the righteous have gathered?
Instead of selling the idea of the national cathedral to their congregants and asking a donation of not less than GH¢100.00 a month targeted at, at least a quarter of Christians (six million people), where an amount of GH¢600 million or over US$52 million could be raised every month for the project, they are messing things up.
Meanwhile, the Muslims, knowing the importance of the National Cathedral, contributed their widow’s mite.
Today, some Christians are condemning the president for thinking of this national cathedral project. So, who will build a Cathedral for the Lord?
Hon Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
