PEACE and LIFE IN THE WORLD Enoch Immanuel A. Agbozo
It has been stated that the world is a stage in which all men are but actors. That may well imply that life is no more than acting. We act out a part, our part, some part, their part consciously or unconsciously for whom and for what purpose, for whom and for what end, only to leave the stage by choice, by design, by circumstances, by fate, by destiny, on the whole outside our control.
That implies that man created in the image of God or man that sprang out of the mammal genes is a helpless and powerless being subject to forces totally out of his control.
If he is created by God, the Alpha and Omega, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscience being, the I AM THAT I AM THAT HAS NO BEGINNING NOR ENDING, then his life is totally dependent upon the Creator God who not only determined the powers, times and boundaries of man but is the full owner, determinant and controller of the world, the universe of which the earth is a part.
That is to say, from the point of view of man the actor on the world stage, life is a mapped out, pre-determined, circumscribed affair.
Our entry, virtues, acts, environment, contributions and exit are but a shadow, a fleeting thing in a quicksand of shadow. We neither know fully nor have we power and time to determine by ourselves the part we play, the times, with whom, and where we play it and when we exit.
The Bible gives a hint here when it states in Psalm 90 verses 3-10 “You turn man to destruction, And say ‘Return, O children of men.’ For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night. You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the evening it is cut down and withers. For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days have passed away in your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years. Yet their boast is only labour and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
If man is but shooting gene of a mammal, what a pitiable thing he is indeed. His life is completely mapped, circumscribed, and out of control. There is no avenue for bargain. In any case, there is no one to bargain with.
But in the case of man, the creation of God, he has opportunity not only for bargain with the Creator, there is opportunity for life ordered lived, expressed and enjoyed in the joy, glory and presence of the Creator.
Moses, the Psalmist (in Psalm 90) saw the opportunity of bargain and exit from the life of shadow, sorrow and sigh.
His bargaining point was who knows the power of Your anger? So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Return, O Lord! And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Let Your work appear to Your servant, and Your glory to their children and establish the work of our hands for us.
Moses was given opportunity to see the glory of the Lord, the moving hand of God, the Creator in wrath and judgment, in compassion and mercy, in redemption and mighty works. So he realized and understood that there is opportunity for meaningful fulfilling life and peace in the soul and total escape from the anguish and drudgery of circuitous, life, however noble a part man plays on the stage.
The Bible tells in this connection that it is for this cause CHRIST JESUS came, to reconcile the world with the Creator and bring PEACE TO THE WORLD to save man from sin, redeem him from the fallen nature and powerlessness and to usher him into glory in a NEW LIFE of the original Divine nature, not image or shadow and to impact Divine graces, love, authority and power for the new life in a new redeemed reconstructed world. CHRIST has come to establish a new world of PEACE, and LIFE, JOY and GLORY in heavenly glory to the world.
All peoples, all nations that reject this offer of PEACE, LIFE, JOY and GLORY from, through and with the Creator abide and remain in the life of anguish, sorrow and sigh under the wrath and anger of the Creator, where Satan, evil spirits, and wicked men pry into, prey upon, terrorise and take tribes, peoples and nations captive.
This was the end state of affairs of men, nations and the world until Christ came to open still wider the heavenly doors that Moses opened for Israel, the tribes of the offshoot of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham to the entire peoples of the world including also the other children of Abraham and Isaac.
CHRIST JESUS The vision of the Creator for the world through THE SON GIVEN, CHRIST JESUS IS PEACE on earth, Goodwill towards men. Jesus sealed this with HIS OWN blood and His word on The Cross “IT IS FINISHED.”
To-day, inspite of the spread of the GOODNEWS of PEACE and LIFE, JOY and GLORY, in life and light and victory in the world, otherwise dominated by darkness and death and the establishment of PEACE on earth and GOODWILL among the human race, the world is now turned into greater darkness and consternation and death, wars and rumours of wars, travail and tribulation in political and economic crises in nations, environmental hazards and the complexity of diseases and sickness of body, soul and spirit of men and nations. Many nations are sick and in anguish, flooded with political strife, economic uncertainties and poverty, children out of control in a cultural melting port and social desolation.
As the Bible puts it, everywhere there is shaking, shaking in the heavens and shakings on earth.
It is here that we want to appeal strongly to the chiefs, elders and politicians, the academics and intellectuals, professionals and business to be weary, indeed extremely careful about the rejection of God, the knowledge of Him and faith in Jesus Christ as far as the affairs of the nation are concerned.
All the nations, including the USA, the UK, and Europe, that have rejected God, CHRIST and THE WORD OF GOD are now facing crisis. The peace, stability and promise of life in these nations are now threatened not as so much by so-called Islamic terrorism as sin, darkness and death, state and peoples, terrorism and social disquiet, the breakdown in morality, social sanction and decorum. Life has become not just a state but indeed brutish, even in the IT world.
In this respect, the greater challenge Ghana faces to-day is the temptation of so-called African renaissance, or if you may Africanism where our chiefs, elders, and fetish priests, politicians, academics, and religious gurus, including some theologians, leaders, ministers of the church of God and His Christ turn to angels, dwarfs, mermaids, gods, goddesses and deities, including ancestors and spirits of the dead with diverse kinds of sacrifices, blood, animals, birds and man, food and drinks.
AS IF THEY ARE THE SOURCE and CUSTODIANS of the SPIRIT of LIFE and the ULTIMATE hence the good life and determinants of the movements of times, seasons and territories.
But this is not the truth. God the Creator is the main and only source, custodian and the ultimate determinant of life and affairs of the world. The thieves, robbers and deceitful may and do create situations and circumstances for man to fall prey to their devices and thereby cause them, tribes and nations to worship them.
Praise the LORD, Ghana has passed the stage of ignorance and rejection of God and His worship of creation. Ghana has entered the stage of BLESSEDNES, PEACE, LIFE, JOY, HOPE and GLORY in the knowledge and Hand of God.
Let us not return to the day of dwarfs, blood and wars, nor mermaids and powers of rivers and lagoons, seas and mountains. THEN SHALL WE RETURN TO THE WRATH of GOD and the life of woes, sorrow and sigh.
PEACE TO GHANA GOODWILL TO AFRICA and the WORLD!!
