Death spoils everything, but l will see my son again: How to resolve death's antinomy

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills (Bishop Dag) met me and my friend, Maxwell Amofa, in 2005, soon after he had held his "Healing Jesus crusade" on the campus of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

I still recall how, in 2004/2005 academic year our Communication Skils (CS) class, Mr Nartey (our CS lecturer) asked me my mates to disambiguate the title of Bishop Dag's crusade: whether Jesus is the healer or Jesus needs healing?

Little did l know that Bishop Dag would later in 2005 meet Amofa and me and tell us: "Gentlemen, please after all your knowledge, never turn against Christ."

Graciously, by the time l personally met Bishop Dag, he and a few others, including Rev Anyani Boadum, Rev Gabriel Ansah, and Rev Dr John B. Ghartey had become the Lord's instrument in routinizing my faith.

Together with the above gallant men, Rev Dr Rockeybell Adatura became/and still is my source of both intellectual and faith exemplar.

While my journey in Christ has simply been checkered, with rises and falls, the good news is that: I am pressing on the upward way, gaining new heights every day.

Among the neo-Pentecostal leaders, Bishop Dag is perhaps the most unassuming and yet deeply committed to the Great Commission.

He never claimed holiness; he never claimed flawlessness. And, yet through the dusty pen of an investigative journalist, Bishop Dag was nearly sequestered from public ministry.

A few days ago, when l heard about the death of his 31-year old son, l simply told my Josephine that the world of cancel culture had somehow forced Bishop Dag into obscurity.

Later when l read his statement with respect to his son's death online that "death spoils everything", l could simply understand his pain.

In life, we can be alone or lonely. Loneliness can be dealt with by going public.

But none of us stays in public forever. That is why our challenge isn't about loneliness, but being alone. That's why several celebs with thousands of funs die alone in their rooms

Many people survive loneliness by public appearances, but they die through being alone.

The twenty-first century world of technology produces its own complex forms of alone together - perhaps, the most dangerous.

We all make up on social media as though we are having fun. Worst of all, are a bunch of religious people who survive loneliness with online holiness - refusing to face life as it is in the hope of the resurrection.

In the end, when push comes to shove, alone together becomes the antinomy of our social being.

Relating all this Bishop Dag, l can imagine when a journalist sought to ruin Dag's ministry, Dag would seek comfort in his son - a medical doctor.

As a medical doctor himself, who chose the service of the Cross to save souls, he may have found in his son a composite fulfilment.

And l imagine when he goes home after preaching to thousands of people - saving souls, he would ask his son to work hard in providing physical salvation.

Today, if l had been asked to offer such a child to death, l would have said exactly that, "Death spoils everything."

That death spoils everything also reminds me of the sui generis of Abraham's faith.

When God asked Abraham to sacrifice Abraham's son, Abraham just said, "Death spoils everything, but you l hear."

Let's be honest, assuming l am Abraham and having struggled to have a child in my old age, l would have told God, "Papa, death spoils all things, but let this cross pass on to my neighbour."

Nevertheless, unlike the people of Shinar who rather wanted to break ontological boundary by extending their technological advancement to dethrone God, Abraham acquiesced in God's command.

It is speculated that Sarah may have died out of the shock of Abraham attempting to "kill Isaac." Did Abraham gather courage to inform Sarah about he wanting to kill their son?

Back to Bishop Dag, on the re-enactment of Jesus's resurrection morning last Sunday, Bishop Dag was compellingly gladdened when he said, "I will see my son again."

The possibility that he would see his son again wasn't like seeking immortality in a tower like the people of Shinar, but in the truth and fact of Jesus's resurrection.

As l wrote severally on both Good Friday and the Resurrection Day, life comes to fruition only when death and resurrection are seamlessly possible.

That Jesus died means until He comes, none of us shall escape death. The good and the wicked will all die.

That Jesus resurrected means none of us shall remain physically death forever. The good and the wicked shall all resurrect.

If you are very wicked, not even suicide will save you from resurrection to face eternal damnation.

If you are a true, persevering soldier for Christ, not even the dusty iron of Caesar will keep you captive in the grave forever. You shall resurrect to receive the Crown of life.

As l reflected on the antinomy of Bishop Dag's statements early this morning, l see the resurrection of Christ as the answer to life's antinomies.

Because Jesus Christ lives, l will live. Because Jesus Christ lives, Bishop Dag will see his son again on the resurrection morning.

In the days of Jesus on earth, a Christian who died was said to have fallen asleep, not in the sense of soul sleep- as the soul isn't material.

But a metaphor for death as nothing to the Christian, but "a long sleep" in waiting for the resurrection morning.

That "sleep" means we shall awake and appear with Christ when He comes in His Father's glory.

That sleep after Christ's resurrection also means, when we die, we go to be with the Lord to return with Him to rule with Him (cf. Philippians 1:23).

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, may the Triune God continue to hold you in Him and grant you hope.

The hope you have in Him is worth more than what the world gives to those who destroy and cancel Christians for an ultimate dusty reward.

I stand with you, your family, and church in prayers. Indeed, God shall wipe away all tears, because He resurrected.

In the land of fadeless day;

Lies the city four square

It shall never pass away

And there's no night there

God shall wipe away all tears

There's no death, nor pain nor tears

And they count not time by years

For there's no night there!

Blessings

Satyagrah

Prempeh Charles