Christians of today and even pastors view miracles as the essential reason why Jesus came. Mind you, Jesus performed miracles out of compassion for the people he came in contact with. He was not by that fact coercing them to follow him. I guess that is why after some of His miracles, He told the people He healed not to tell anyone. He possibly wanted a relationship which came from the heart and not because He favored them. In His miracles, Jesus did not create enmity between those He healed and their relations or friends. I believe, that is why St. John referred to miracles in his gospel as signs. As a matter of fact, signs point to a reality. In other words, miracles are not ends in themselves but means to an end. Miracles are things hoped for and not events we plan to receive: things we paid for, with time lines, dates and worse of all generating strife among families.
Prophecy, on the other hand, is also misunderstood by our men of God today. Sometimes I tend to wonder the difference between a soothsayer and a prophet of our time.
A prophet in simple terms is a messenger of God, who brings God’s message to His people. It is God’s message and not your message. It is directed to His people and therefore don’t get personal with it.
Primarily, in God’s prophetic messages, which we read in scripture, He often intends to alert, remind and correct His people so as to strengthen the relationship that exits between Himself and the person or people and obviously not to scare, frighten, threaten, destroy or give you some absurd punishments. I know and believe this because of His ever faithfulness and compassion. God certainly punishes but he does that to correct and not to destroy.
Honestly, what makes you think anyone would be spared of suffering in life? Anyone who makes you think that way, certainly hates you! Changing churches, pastors, priest, prophets or bishops would not solve your problems or eliminate the sufferings you are going through.
A better deal, however, in my opinion would be to check your attitude to life, be positive and open minded. Religion is gradually being reduced only to a problem solving enterprise; painfully and annoyingly, we create such problems ourselves through negligence, laziness, pride, self-centeredness, unforgiving spirit, arrogance and useless hatred. I am not God though, but believe me, you have a long way to go in whatever church and prayers you are engaged in. The million dollar question is, what makes you think God does not love you the way you are? The truth of the matter is, mostly, we do not love ourselves the way we are; we preoccupy our minds to thinking how we want to be like the other person, as oppose to how probably God wants you to be; we are never content with what we have and who we are. We spend a considerable time of our lives trying to change things we cannot obviously change.
The continuous message of prosperity can be gained on a silver platter and the mindset that suffering is intrinsically evil have gained grounds in the minds of many Christians today. This certainly makes a lot of people, especially the youth to be rest on their oars. Invariantly, Christianity today is promoting laziness but enriching others for the wrong moves and reasons. Churches have now become showrooms for showcasing our fancy and new dresses, a place of entertainment and opportune moments to pay lips services to God.
The Christian sense of holiness before God today, takes place in the church but does not travel to other areas of our lives. Holiness, strictly speaking is wholeness; the entirety of our lives: from our bedroom to the church, to the office or workplace, to your friend’s house, the way we talk to others and our attitudes in our relationship.
Believe me, a good number of these pastors, priests and prophets are wolves in sheep’s skin; they use any tricky way possible to siphon money from their members, create prophecies which tally with people’s predicament and sometimes encourage their members to kill human beings for quick riches. Idling young people are often used to carry out these killing and rituals in the name of making money within a short time.
God has high regards for human dignity: that is why He loved us to the extent of sacrificing His beloved Son Jesus Christ for us, that is why He has compassion for the poor and needy and that is why it is His joy to see us return to him from our sinful ways. Anything short of these ideals is from the evil one. Be on your guard!
A passionate appeal to the ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Christian Council of Churches and Ghana Pentecostal Council of Churches to help instil sanity in the country regarding these dens of thieves called churches that are springing up in every corner of the country.
There should be a constitutional review on Religious activities in this country; put certain criteria in place to stamp out some of these tricksters and their churches. Pastors and priests should be made to attain certain level of education with certified degree from well-known and established Universities, to be allowed to function as a man or woman of God openly.
Arguably, some would ask if Jesus’s disciples went to school. Surely!! They did. That is why they are called disciples and Jesus, a Rabbi (Master or Teacher). That was a form of schooling at the time. Those who have not gone through formal education should pass through some of training.
As a country and a continent, we should not trivialize this matter all because of respect for God’s anointed. The atrocities that are caused each day, all in the name of serving and worshiping God is rather appalling.
Many Christian or better still citizenry are going through hell in some churches, all because of the respect and fear of God, which makes them revere some pastors, priests and men and women of God. Such atrocities in my view should also be treated as criminal issues and something done about them real quick before they degenerates into a National Tragedy.
Nicholas Nibetol Aazine, SVD is the Coordinator for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, Ghana-Liberia Province) Divine Word Missionaries: A Catholic Missionary Society || Email: justiceandpeaceint@gmil.com or nicholasbetol@gmail.com
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