Mushroom Churches Bringing Vices?

- Rather Blame Our Society And The Media – Media Commission Must React To Media Immoralities

Once again, the ever-recurrent discussions and rebukes of some ill-informed religious critics have emerged to the effect that even though many churches are springing up here and there almost everyday, more and more vices and crimes are coming up in our society. Such concerns are the results of some discussions on two FM radio stations – just recently.

I label these as very insinuative, because the statement always seeks to point fingers at penteco-charismatic churches which are said to be mushrooming everywhere, every month! The underlying idea of these religious critics (or precisely, anti-charismatics) is that the penteco-charismatic churches are becoming more and more widespread simply because their leaders are manipulating or want to exploit such churches to make money through preachment on prosperity and miracles, and through false prophecies and not through evangelism on salvation.

But if Christ or his immediate disciples preached the Word of God only without the performance of healing and miracles (let alone prophecies), how many people would have believed and surrendered themselves to God? After all, didn't St. Paul underline the need for, or the workings of, the charismatic healings, miracles, prophecies etc (that is, the operational use of the power) of the Holy Spirit by arguing that “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and also in much assurance (deep conviction)” – conviction that immediately instilled belief and conversion of people?

What several people in our modern times have ignored or even don't know is that salvation operates in three areas of a person, namely; physical, mental and spiritual. How can a person who is physically suffering or spiritually tortured wholly listen to, or believe, the gospel being preached? Yes, unless he is healed or delivered!

MIRACLE PASTORS ALSO PREACH
This argument is based on the premise that the working of miracles, healings, prophecies etc. goes along with the preaching of the Word of God for Salvation of souls, and some of the ever-springing charismatic churches are doing both, owing to the fact that they believe in the symbiotic relationship of preaching and miracles! Fact is, those who work miracles always precede these with the preaching of the Word of God, therefore the charge that mushrooming or charismatic churches are not preaching salvation or the Word of God effectively to change people from their vices is illogical or highly unreasonable.

What about those who only preach the Word of God in churches? To what extent have they been able to change the many vices flooding the society? Are they truly able to assess their degree of extermination of social vices as compared with the measure of expulsion of such vices by the charismatic churches which preach and work wonders?

It is indeed ironical that when people speak of “many churches,” they only refer to penteco-charismatic churches, forgetting the fact that the Catholic and the Orthodox protestant churches (Methodist, Presby, Zion etc) are having their branches springing up in cities, urban towns and in villages every now and then. It is therefore absolutely wrong for people to consider the appearance of many churches on the Ghanaian religious landscape only within the context of penteco-charismaticism.

The stark reality of this phenomenon of ever-increasing social vices is that our social culture has had an overwhelming and irresistible influence on us from time immemorial. Highly ingrained in our social culture are the practices of showing unstinted respect or adulation for wealthy people in our society, permissiveness for polygamous marriages and boy-girl romance and fornication, undue obsession with land matters and traditional heritage etc, and added to these is the insiduous but powerful sway of the media, especially, the television.

RADIO STATIONS, GTV AND THE POLICE
Let's make a special reference to some FM Radio presenters who open their mouths to speak dirty, sexual words which can push listeners to indulge in fornication or adultery. Listen to some radio stations in the afternoon from 1.00pm to 6.00pm and you will get evidence of this. The impression here is that these radio presenters are either untrained or mis-trained.

And it's unfortunate that their immediate bosses or directors continue to permit these nasty words, without so much as seriously rebuking such presenters, and telling them that these are against the laws of Ghana. And why the Ghana Police has still not reacted to these immoral talks still beats the mind. Some newspapers also unashamedly publish pictures of nude ladies and boys or couples in romantic stance, and there are no police reactions to these. Some TV stations continue to show immoral films and go scot-free. And take the case of GTV which sometimes exposes the sexual organs of especially females in pictorial or diagrammatic form. Recently, a lady appeared on the GTV, showing a picturesque diagram of a female organ to explain a news set-off. That was morally putrid and unbecoming of our Ghanaian culture. It is shameful indeed! What must be reemphasized to the news producers is that we viewers are not in a biology class to be shown these dirty diagrams. Such exposition or demonstration was not at all necessary, and I urge the GTV directors to prohibit such an immorality, and since it's against the SEXUAL LAW of Ghana, the police should react to such an exhibition on the GTV next time, as it has very displeasing and immoral effects on children. Of course, such resultant immoralities cannot be the handiwork of mushrooming churches, but of the MEDIA

Some time ago, the one-time Deputy Minister of Defence, declared in Tamale Presby Church, the oft-repeated criticism that “It is sad that even though Ghana can boast of many Christians, we still continue to experience social vices such as corruption, ethnic conflicts, armed robbery, moral decadence and indiscipline, indicating that our evangelistic work has not had the desired impact”. I disagreed to that. However, for not trying to particularise the so called “mushrooming charismatic churches” as conducing to the causes of those enumerated vices, but only referring to Christian churches in general in this regard, the Deputy Minister was making a satisfactory judgment, even though he was not sounding fair. This is because Muslims form the second largest religious group of about 26 percent as against Christians 69 per cent; hence Muslims too have a role to play in the stemming of the tide of vices engulfing the nation, and not only Christians in the majority. It is therefore erroneous to make Christians the moral change-agents because they are in the majority; the minority also has a catalytic function to perform.

Nonetheless, when the vices of corruption, ethnic conflicts, armed robbery, fornication and adultery, moral decadence and indiscipline are placed within the perspectives of our social culture, we would see that it is our customary respect of or love for wealth which induces corruption and armed robbery, whilst our polygamous system breeds immoralities of fornication, adultery and lies, and our undue preoccupation with traditional matters produces litigations, indiscipline, ethnic rivalry and tensions and murders.

In so far as these vices of corruption, ethnicism, armed robbery, indiscipline and immoralities are deeply embedded in our traditional social culture, ordinary evangelism or preaching of the Word of God will do little to extirpate them; the reason being that hearers of the Word spend most of their everyday time in the society where they are continually bombarded with the overpowering vicious emissions from our social culture that wipe away the Word of God which has gone into one's hearts. Haven't you seen people who have gone to church or crusade engaged in drinking of alcohol, fornication, adultery or fighting an hour or so after the worship? Was it that the pastor didn't preach well enough? Not at all. It is only the satanic elements in our social culture that has swallowed that Word of God some people heard some minutes ago. If the critics can study Matthew 13:1 – 9 where Christ describes the “wayside seed” being eaten up by birds (Satan) and the “grow-on-the-rock” seed being scorched by the sun (some difficulties), they will appreciate the fact that churches sow the seed (Word of God), but satanic elements in our social culture are responsible for swallowing them and re-orienting those hearers to practice vices. Ineffective evangelism is not the cause of the vices in the country, but the media and our social strata and their permissiveness and their vices!

By Apostle Kwamena Ahinful