GOD WAS WITH US A LONG TIME AGO

(#GBOHghana)

I heard someone say "a society becomes great when old men begin to plant trees, whose shades they will never sit under". Such is the kind of wisdom that should propel all of us in Africa, to work for the next generation to benefit. I hope those of us working for church and country will even do more, sacrificing ALL to make our fellow Africans do well, to the point of living freely and fully to the glory of God.

In the coming days and weeks I will be writing about some trendy issues, concerning the modern church in Ghana, (And by extension Africa), but for now I will be ironing out some age long creases that seem to have dented our image from the days of the early missionaries, which I need to get out of the way before tackling these 'newer' issues. To begin with I need to express a heartfelt appreciation to every honest missionary who sacrificed their dear lives to come over to Africa with the gospel, today Christianity has become the belief of over 2.2 billion people worldwide, and according statistics from the World Christian Encyclopedia in 2025 there will be 633 million Christians in Africa. There are over 300 million who subscribe to the Pentecostal branch of this faith, worldwide, and interestingly about 107 million Africans are Pentecostals.

Before I address some of the pertinent issues that persist, I want to go back in time and point out some structural evils that was committed against Ghana and our whole continent by some of the early missionaries. To this end, we must go back to basics, asking questions like, ‘was this religion offered to us, in a tailored form, to make us dazed and easy to control? Some say it is an opium that was simply used to control our forefathers, and certainly I agree that this wonderful religion and its enduring benefits, have been used in many wrong ways over the centuries, but the best way forward, is not to take away the faith from the people, as some would wish, but rather to make it better for us, just like the Apostle Paul wrote about the Israelite, ‘For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge’ (Roman 10:2). Even Israel needed knowledge to stay in line with God's New Testament promises; truly knowledge is what we need, and a lot of it.

One of the first evils the earliest missionaries did was to see us as heathens, even after we were ready to accept his God and become like him 'a saved and refined being'; we were supposed to be their fellow brothers in Christ, but sadly the perception didn't change much - 'heathens you are and heathens you will always be'. He simply didn't present the God of the New testament to us, because the God of the new testament accepts both the Jew and gentile as one in Christ. So much was the equalisation in the New testament that Paul entreated Philemon to call his run-away slave, Onesimus, his brother in Christ. Interestingly, commoners in England were treated much in the same way, where they were not allowed to have a copy of the holy book, peradventure they read and realised God sees them not as second rated, but first citizens of the Kingdom. John Wycliffe and William Tyndale suffered death and humiliation for interpreting the bible into English for all to freely read.

Sadly, we were not accorded the same respect as Paul accorded to those he reached during his journeys. Over time many Western nations have continually seen us like that, whether we were in Church or 'unchurched', as they presently refer to those who do not belong to the Church - the story is the same! Anytime I have attended conferences in several advance nations, I have met certain Christian delegates who try to engage me in conversations about Africa, but unfortunately the subject of choice is always around the problems of Africa and not very much about the good in our land (that makes me feel sick); this boils down to 'wrong imaging or perceptions', which they have about us. I have never in all my travels met anyone from, for example Philadelphia, and I go 'oh my God I was there some few years ago and saw so many dilapidated buildings, so many homeless and hungry families, who spend their nights in shelters' - of course that may come up in a conversation, but there is much more that defines Philadelphia than this. Ours is a a situation of 'pre-judgement', and except the image of the new African changes globally, we are bound to continue receiving funny questions, strange looks, and at best surpluses in the form of aid, after they have heard our sad stories. (#thechurchinafrica)

I have lived in the UK for thirty years and have encountered some very 'interesting people' who haven't got much to give in respect and honour, to the African. Some look down upon us not because of something we did or currently doing wrong, but because of what they were told - 'these are heathens, they will always be heathens'. The stories the first visitors to our shores wrote about us didn't give us a good image at all; the one good thing they said was that we were strong enough to farm the cane plantations, trusting enough to hand over the wealth and humble enough to allow their rule over us for years and years, but too docile to stand up for ourselves, and if we became frustrated while voicing out our dislikes, they say we are too aggressive, overemotional and overreacting.

Africans have been stigmatised simply because of these age long negative labelling and the early missionaries cannot be blameless. I remember once being asked by a bible college mate in Sussex, who was interested in missions to Africa, 'what do Africans eat for breakfast?', and before I could answer, another quickly said, some kind of meat, obviously referring to TV images of hunters running after some endangered animals – looking for their breakfast? funny!, 'proper heathenish behaviour'. Truly the word heathen, which has been used many times in the bible, has a very vile connotation in the English language; but unfortunately we Africans humbly agree with these wrong inferences. The truth is that before they turned up on our doorstep God was surely with us; we behaved better and feared God more before they arrived. We may not have encountered the God of Israel, but our heart was ready and looking for God the creator, and if he was the same as Abraham's God, we were certainly ready to accept him. A lot of our forefathers did so, hoping for a better life, but they were offered more promises in the afterlife, of good things to come after death and not the promises of God in the now present, which is included in the blessings of Abraham, through whom the nations are blessed and not enslaved.

Sadly after these many years and damage that has been done against us, certain men (our own brothers and sisters) do worse to their people. Calling them fools, they turn the power of God into amulets and strange objects for the poor to buy. I will certainly be turning my attention to these lot in subsequent blogs, however, today, let’s address this deeply seated evil that has damaged our global image for many centuries. Sadly we endorse their assertions with our own words, often resounding it with joyful songs. Before I delve into this matter, let me firstly define who a heathen is: “The definition of a heathen is someone who does not belong to an accepted religion or is someone who is lacking in morals or principles. An example of a heathen is a person who is uncivilised and not religious. An example of a heathen is a person who lies, cheats and does other immoral things”

If this definition is anything to go by, then, I don’t know how to describe some modern African Christians. They have rather become heathens now that they have found their names in the Church register, and qualified to be baptised, dedicated, married and buried by the Church. Anyway! Sadly, some modern African folks behave like heathens indeed - this is because of our craving to cheat and lie. These attitudes makes us waste the scarce resources of our nations without the slightest guilt, while ‘happy-clapping’ in Church; we have certainly become worse than when we first began. Churches cover the land but we cheat and lie more than the days of our forefathers, whose fear of their deities made them stick to the rules, somehow.

The truth is that God the creator has always been a potent part in our life; Obo-ade Onyankropon, the creator has always been among us. The gye-nyame symbol says it all. Many hundreds of years before the colonialist arrived our ancestors could have easily agreed with the Bible verse in Psalm 127:1 “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” (KGV), which by Akan interpretation means “Gye Onyame si dan no ”. Most of our tribes and clans in Ghana believe there is God the creator of all things, Oboade Nyankropon, who is invisible and lives in the skies above – this God has never been compared to an idol (Bosom).

Our ancestors believed in God the creator, but may not have known this is the same God who met and covenanted with Abraham, through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. A verse of scripture in Romans best describes this: “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Romans 10:2

Like the Israelite, our forefathers too had a great zeal for God, and they raised us to believe without wavering that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, adding that with Him all things are possible – these are common wise sayings that have been woven intrinsically into our culture, long before the missionaries arrived. That we do not know the God of heaven, is a total lie by those who for many centuries have described us as heathens, who cheat and lie, and lacking in fellow-feeling.

The African has always lived not just closer to nature, but to the God who created the nature - we really hold Him in high esteem. If Paul and his team were the people who got to us first with the gospel, I believe it would have turned out differently, because their words carried love, honour and reconciliation and they extended the same respect to women, who were considered lower than men in those days. Since no one will accord us this honour, we must be ready to do this ourselves; it is essential that we assure ourselves daily as Africans or Ghanaian, in this context, that we have such a favour with God, and like any nation who have placed their trust in God, WE ARE SO VERY BLESSED. (#Godinghana)

The colonialist, backed by their able 'pastors' who travelled on the same ships, condemned and labelled us as heathens, making us believe that we deserved every treatment they gave to us; after all, sinners are doomed for hell, it wouldn’t hurt if we can begin to put them in chains and take their wealth for free. They believed it was right in the sight of God to label us and everything that belonged to us as an abomination. The dondo, ntumpae, dawuro (musical instruments) couldn’t make it pass the doors of the Church until recently. (Even now some leaders will not accept them in their churches) "In 1931 after Ephraim Amu preached wearing his African attire on a Sunday, he was summoned to appear before the church court. The Rev. Peter Hall told Amu, "We were taken aback to see you conduct Sunday service in a native cloth. We hope you will not do this again." Amu therefore in his polite manner took leave of the church session but decided in his heart to continue to work in the church as a catechist and music teacher rather than to become a minister of the Gospel, to accept wearing unsuitable European dress." (Wikipedia)

I say this not to endorse every understanding and activity of our forefathers but to point out that, it was so wrong for the early missionaries to judge us so badly, therefore numbing their conscience as they stood there supervising those who meted such treatment to us, holding the perception that these were heathens who needed to be punished, therefore endorsing the actions of those who held the guns, swords, shackles and whips. The early missionaries can never exonerate themselves from the hardships we have suffered from slavery, colonisation, and till today, the several inequalities that we suffer as a result of neocolonialism. A clear example exist in Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, where it is historically documented that the rooms above the dungeons was used as the chapel, so while men and women moaned to death, lying in their faeces, they were upstairs singing and praying to God.

These initial treatment and obvious descriptions of who we are, have over the years invited such ill-treatments to us wherever we go. Our fathers like the Athenians worshipped idols, but our fathers were certainly not treated like the Athenians, who called the great and supreme one THE UNKNOWN GOD (Acts 17:23), till Apostle Paul came through town and introduced properly to them this god they always called UNKNOWN. Paul was polite to them and won some for God. During his time alone in the city, he became more and more concerned at the idolatry he saw all around. Luke writes that “his spirit was provoked within him” (Acts 17 verse 16). Paul was astonished by the number of temples, altars, objects of worship, and statues of Greek gods and Roman emperors that he found there.

Our forefathers knew about this God and tried to reach him the best way they could, through his awesome creations, like the skies, the sun, the moon, the rivers and seas, the trees and many more. This is a God who deals with us according to fairness and mercy, and never would destroy any group of people because they misunderstood Him. Paul helped the Athenians - he corrected their misunderstanding with grace and honour. The God of the New testament brings restoration to people. He doesn't place people in perpetual bondage - because they defined Him in their own way? Unfortunately some advocates of the faith have talked about Africans as though we are still being punished for the ignorance of our fathers, who worshipped idols. It is so sad that many preachers (many from Africa) continue to preach that we still suffer in Africa because of the sins of our forefathers who worshipped idols – it is a lie from the pits of hell. Aren’t there many nations who obviously worship and burn all kinds incenses to deities, but continue to prosper? If anyone has become idol worshippers today, it’s rather the millions of learned people in advance nations, who have turned to idols, worshipping rocks, the sea and more. Surely they continue to prosper too?

Our misunderstanding of God comes at a great cost to our nation, as many spend hours and hours pursuing God in ways that often end up becoming counterproductive. We are like the blind men who were asked to describe an elephant by which part they touched – one said it feels like a wall while touching the body, and another said like a rope, touching only the tail, another like a tree, holding onto the leg and many more. Depending on where you are touching, you may try but give a wrong interpretation, of something that belongs to the the Holy Spirit to teach, only through the Holy Scriptures. You must be careful to preach nothing but the entire truth, therefore we need to commit ourselves to studying to be able to show ourselves approved. One of the misconceptions to correct very quickly is that the black man is cursed because of his fathers idols but God has favoured the white man. That, the white man is next to God in knowledge, and he should always be in the lead - these are wrong perceptions that was planted in us in time past, but now the light has come, and we must arise and do greater works as promised in the Holy book. No one can do this for us, we must do this ourselves - CHANGE THAT MINDSET! That understanding ought to change, because this God we serve as Christians came for that very reason, that we who were not His people, should now become a special people, doing mighty works. 'God Bless Our Homeland Ghana' (#revjoeapenteng)