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These Jesus’ Men Should Focus On Their Calling Job

Feature Article These Jesus Men Should Focus On Their Calling Job
NOV 26, 2012 LISTEN


It is very sad that, in the heat of our political quest to elect a leader to rule mother Ghana, a part of the clergy, has been seen to be in some contention with a political party. In fact, this situation needs not happen. It is not for nothing that the good people of Ghana would want their traditional chiefs and the clergy protected from our current immature political culture.

May be in future when our politics have been refined, these revered men of our society might be able to express their views without anyone making a political twist of it.

But for now, I pray that our pastors can live above reproach in our present vile political culture. And they can do that by learning from their master.

The truth is that, Jesus Christ lived in Jerusalem at the time when the political consciousness of the people was at its peak. The people of Israel were tired of living under the Roman colonial government and they needed one man –the savior- who will lead them to fight for their freedom from the Roman colonial rule. Jesus Christ was in a fix.

The difficulty for him was how he can let his people accept him as the savior who had come and still stay away from the then political desires of the people. Of course, he wasn't there to help them fight for an earthly political kingdom but to prepare them for a new heavenly kingdom. As God as he was, he had directly influenced the political culture of the people of Israel in the past for a specific reason.

He had anointed King Saul and later King David to lead his people in the past. These kings were supposed to lead God's people to 'raise armies, take territories and secure the safety of the people'.

The kings were supposed to provide some safety for the people of God so that, people can have the peace to dedicate themselves to worshiping God. But even though God kept faith with the people, just as the people began to enjoy the peace he had provided them, they had turned against God. They had not kept his commandments.

And so, that was why they had even lost the right to rule themselves even at the time when Jesus was born.

That was why when Jesus came; he had a different agenda for the people. He fought for an agenda of a change of hearts of the people. That people must live morally upright lives. That was for him more important than helping the people to have political authority to rule themselves. And this is the charge he gave his apostles (pastors).

For me, I believe our pastors can indirectly affect our political culture –even if that is what they want to do- by focusing on the job assigned to them by their master. God forbid, if tomorrow all our youths become gays and lesbians because the clergy have not done its duty to preach the truth, the youth will seek in an election to vote for a president who will be sympathetic to their inclination and the clergy cannot do a thing about it.

They will be then forced to live under a president who will pass laws encouraging gay marriages. The truth is, if our clergy focus on ensuring that we act honestly even in our political culture, we will vote for Godly and honest leaders who will act in office in a way that will be pleasing to our clergy and there will be no need for them to always be in disagreement with the political power at the time.

My belief is that, the clergy must refocus their agenda on getting their congregation to eschew corruption and immorality in our society presently, instead of raising champions from their congregations to take earthly territories.

They should encourage their members to seek the welfare of the poor and the needy and stop leading the wicked desire of some smart thieves in cassocks whose aim is to extort material possessions from the vulnerable who come to them seeking remedies for their earthly afflictions.

This attempt to raise arguments for the clergy to make pronouncements on every issue in our political discourse should stop. The clergy should leave such interventions to other civil societies. But if they cannot resist the temptation to make pronouncements on heated political issues, then they have to be ready to face the scrutiny of every word they utter.

They cannot seek protection from any biblical injunctions when the society tries to interrogate their pronouncements. If they have the truth, they will be able to stand boldly to defend what they have said.

They wouldn't need to raise invectives on their accusers. But the safer thing for them is to concentrate on helping their master to wage war against our increasing desires to do what is wrong. Jesus did same perfectly without having to engage in any antagonism with the then political government at that time.

In the century when the missionaries came to us with the gospel, they came to help our people to escape poverty and ignorance. They gave everything they had, to build schools and hospitals for the people. They sought for the welfare of the people. Today, our pastors live like gods. They just take and take and take from the people. They are selfish.

They only align themselves with the rich and the mighty in society and give populist messages. Why wouldn't the people hear them in a certain way if they make certain pronouncements? You will wonder if they are still working for the carpenter's son who was born in the manger and died serving the poor and the marginalized in society. But we know God cannot be mocked for long.

And Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4:23 'A time is coming when God's people will worship him in truth and in spirit'. Pardon me. All that I have said is from my sinful mind.

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