AM I MAD?????????

I am very sure i will make a few more enemies by the end of this publication but who cares, we always have enemies no matter what we do. I am sure by now you know my disgust for preachers and pastors already. Don’t make a mistake, I am a Christian, you can call me so or lets me be more precise, a church goer. I go to church, I believe in God. I am a catholic. I will however want to put things the way I understand them in the bible when I read than how someone who calls himself a preacher will put it.

Let us analyse this issue objectively then and afterwards you can judge me if you want. In my understanding after the death and resurrection of Christ, His disciples did everything together. It is said that they held everything they had and earned in a common treasury so that they could all benefit from it. I also believed that in the Old Testament when the people of Israel gave a 10th of everything they own to the Lord through thanksgiving offerings and tithes, those burnt as sacrifice were burnt and the rest was used for the common good of the people. My believe comes from the fact that in the story of Moses and the plague in Egypt, when the lamb was killed and the blood was used to mark the doorpost, the people fed on the meat.

Enough of my bullshit, right? So why is it that pastors and preachers take tithes and collection and again ask for welfare collections? This is really senseless to me. What in God’s name do they use the money from the collection and tithes for? You should just take off you religious sentiments and do an objective analyse of this and tell me if I am crazy of not. I won’t mind if you think I am really crazy.

I heard a pastor appeal to the local authorities of a town to put up street lights on the street behind the walls of the church after an unfortunate incidence took place there. Mind you, it was happening before but because it did not affect a love one, he did not see the need to take action.

I can tell you for a fact that the church he runs has so much money that if that which he appeals to local authorities is done by the church which he leads, it will not affect a 100th of the churches budget. You see the Ghanaian attitude I talked about is working again.

“What is the government do about…….”

I appreciate the efforts of some pastors and preachers, this one I just referred to is one of them who do well to help society but I will say that appeal in the church was just out of place. Most preachers use the bible to instil fear in their follower and to intimidate them. I remember one phrase I use to here a lot being used by preachers, “touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm” which the quote from the bible it is still used these days but at a reduced level.

I say let pastor accept that they are humans just like all of us who either believe or don’t believe in God. Let them stop putting the name of God into contempt. I heard a radio ad that a pastor had prayed over “anointing oil” and was selling it. The ad claimed it could cure infertility and other sickness as well as heal and deliver people from torment of evil spirits and curses.

I am I blind or I just read in the bible “freely ye receive, freely ye shall give”. If what the ad claimed was true, what happened to the phrase I just quoted? Now I think I am mad because I see things differently from the rest of the Christians. Did you hear of the New Vision party? It is led by a pastor who upon been acclaimed the presidential candidate of the part said

“……. Our leaders don’t have the vision of God ………. for lack of vision my people perish”.

I just said to myself indeed. For lack of wisdom my nation Ghana is perishing. For goodness sake, Could we make a policy that without at least some post secondary education in government, public administration, political science or public law, one could not contest in parliamentary and presidential elections?

May be I am wrong on this suggestion but I believe it will take the “IGNORAMUS” from politics and save us some unwanted bombardment. I think the pastor should be made to quit the office of the church as a pastor to become a politician. If public servants have to, why shouldn’t the pastor?

Preachers make themselves more knowledgeable than they actually are. They say what they think and when you challenge them, they claim it is a vision from God and bet you, you can’t challenge that.

A male preacher once said that when called him, he heard a voice say “(his name)… my daughter”. His colleague pastor who was there then corrected him and told him it was “son” and not daughter. He shouted back at him saying “were you there”.

Believe you me, his church was always full. You will me educated intellectuals in there listening to this self acclaimed pastor say anything to get money from their unsuspecting victims or let me say religiously blinded victims. Ok I don’t know of his where about now.

The church is doing so much service to the nation. True! But there is more to be done. Let me take on my church. The Catholic Church has a lot of school and hospitals in Ghana doing the nation so much service. Congrats. On a Sunday, we give a second offering for catholic university. At least once a year, yet the fee at the university is 1000 USD per semester. How many average Ghanaian and poor Ghanaians can afford this?

Another thing I observed in my church is that we always see the poor to be somewhere else, in a village or somewhere else but in the parish itself. My parish does a lot of charity to other places but I can tell you there are more charity cases in the parish than outside it. This is our predicament. I am not saying the church is doing terribly but I am saying we are dodging our responsibilities. Charity they say begins at home.

These are but a few of the reasons that I do not personal like preacher though most of my friend are preacher. I don’t hate them but I disagree with them on a lot of things they do. did you know that there is a catholic church in Ghana with split air-conditioning in the church auditorium? Whose money went into that?

Let’s leave the rest for later. I don’t want you to hate preachers. I just want you to take a closer look at them. Put them on their toes. Let them know that actually they are touchable and accountable to the people who actually give the money for the work of God.

Like the Americans will say
“In God we trust”.