A potpourri of Christian adulteration - who cares?

I would be most grateful if this article that raises great concern not only to me, but also to Christendom, is brought to the attention of the following:

a.Minister of Religious Affairs;

b.Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection; and

c.The Ghana Medical Council.

This quotation in the Bible relating to children clearly shows that God loves children and views them as innocent and sinless.

Matthew 18:3-6 states, (3) “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

(4) “Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as these little children, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

(5) “And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.”

(6) “But whosoever shall offend one of these ones which believe in me to stumble, it will be better for him that a millstone was hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

This shows the love, reverence, innocence that our Lord accords little children.

Having ample time to myself to observe current happenings on our tv screens, I am compelled to comment on the influx of these so-called “most senior prophets, prophets, archbishops, right reverends (never left reverend), general overseers and others who have undergone three months seminary courses and graduated as pastors.

I have become very much concerned about what the authorities stated above are doing with regard to gender, particularly women and children protection.

Worrisome scenes

I wonder whether the doctrine of Christ and the tenets of Christianity are being interpreted in modern-day Ghana. I say this because…

i.A view of the TV and whatever we listen to in the media indicates that we are in the woods regarding the Holy Book that our Lord has given to us to follow.

ii.It is generally noted that women, productive women, constitute about 90 per cent of the congregation of these newly founded churches that worship from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

Don’t these women have income-generating businesses to attend to or God showers you with income automatically if you are found spending the most time in a chapel, speaking tongues and clapping?

I wish I could touch the palm of any of such women and relate it to that of a hardworking carpenter. Most often, these women go to their various churches with children well below the age of adulthood, i. e. children of school age. They are paraded before the congregation and individually made to confess as being witches/wizards.

A typical scene will involve a child of between eight and 15 years being made to confess that, “I am a witch! I have killed nine people in my family.”

Surprisingly, the so-called leader of that congregation would ask, “Which parts of the people you have killed do you enjoy most?” This innocent child would quite often, out of fear, state that he enjoyed very much the thigh or the legs of his/her victim.

Astonishingly, these women (hereby assembled) will react in exasperation and begin to continuously clap to show that indeed, “the man of God” is powerful “paaa oooh”.

These women have now given names to the preachers, names such as Prophet One, Nation Prophet, Prophetic Shatta, Papa, and even Mobile Money Prophets. For the mobile money, you need to be pretty rich to meet them.

The fact that they receive media coverage daily makes it more laughable. They go to the extent of attributing instantaneous cure of fibroid and other clinical ailments to the various items they buy from the church such as “anointed oil, abura mu nsuo,” “spiritual balm,” and “church stickers of the head of that church to cure affliction and ailments in Jesus’ name.

Most often, these women display scans and medical reports from well-established hospitals to authenticate or prove that they had been to those hospitals.

Questions

The questions I am asking are:

1. Why is it that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection does not come out to warn or condemn the gross misuse of children by these “so-called” men of God”? Don’t they have a means of knowing when such wicked events go on in these churches?

2. The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the Charismatic Council, Pentecostal Council and the Peace Council do not even come out to register their concerns at the misconduct of some of these ‘so-called’ religious leaders.

Should we attribute these gross acts of misconduct to “freedom of worship” because it is enshrined in the Constitution?

Finally, it is surprising that the public relations officers of these well-established medical associations/hospitals even fail to come out to refute or object to these scans and medical reports which these women display in the churches as documents that were given to them by doctors to prove that trained professionals or specialists did refer their ailments to the churches because I believe that even a “houseman” would not do such references for whatsoever reason!

Let us remember that as a country, everybody counts and if the society is taking a nosedive, we should all stand up and let our voices be heard and openly cry against such activities that affect the nation’s development agenda, including policies that will continue to stagnate the Lord’s kingdom.

The writer is a member of Church of Christ.