Ezra's Sonnet: Revisiting The Cathedral Controversy

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God.

We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.” Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.

They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Ezra 4:1-5 NIV

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.......do you know that some very good, people-friendly policies of various governments of the nation couldn't see the light of day because others who might have owed their allegiances to other authorities or nations, betrayed us by leaking these great policies to those who might suffer through loss of businesses that they might suffer if the policies are implemented….in the instances of foreign governments, we are betrayed by our own kith and kin who are puppets of these governments...and they in turn virtually 'blackmail' their agents in government to make sure that those policies never see the light of day...?

....do you know that sometimes the good plans you have, ready for implementation never see the light of day because others who just hate your guts......who just don't want to see you succeed at anything will scheme and make sure you fail....they don't even care paying money to occultists and fetishists and spiritualists to consult various altars to ensure you fail...?

....do you know that sometimes those very, very close to you are spoken to, to be your agent provocateur to provide all sounds of pessimism to put you off track and lay foundation for you to doubt yourself and give up...these close people could be your wife or husband or child or children or other relations...?

....such are the challenges we face and responsible for derailing our dreams and purposes and destinies....and in turn, taking us off our very essence of the reasons why we are here on earth..?

.....they employ all kinds of skirmishes....
….WHEN THE ENEMIES OF JUDAH AND BENJAMIN HEARD THAT THE EXILES WERE BUILDING A TEMPLE FOR THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, THEY CAME TO ZERUBBABEL AND TO THE HEADS OF THE FAMILIES AND SAID, "LET US HELP YOU BUILD BECAUSE, LIKE YOU, WE SEEK YOUR GOD AND HAVE BEEN SACRIFICING TO HIM SINCE THE TIME OF ESARHADDON KING OF ASSYRIA, WHO BROUGHT US HERE"....

….using deceit and lying tongues to get involved and when they were rebuffed….:

…."YOU HAVE NO PART WITH US IN BUILDING A TEMPLE TO OUR GOD. WE ALONE WILL BUILD IT FOR THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, AS KING CYRUS, THE KING OF PERSIA, COMMANDED US"....

….then the people showed their true colours.....as they set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building....

….DOES IT SOUND FAMILIAR...
….they bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.....thus for years they frustrated all plans to rebuild the Temple of the Lord.....sabotage of all kinds....unfortunately that's what has been happening to us as a People and as a Nation....

….funnily, that's what we do to ourselves as one party loses elections...they seek to undermine and sabotage the new party in power through all kinds of subtleties....as if whatever plans and projects the new government are pursuing are for Nigerians or Ivoirians in their respective countries and not GHANAIANS IN OUR OWN COUNTRY....what kind of people are we....such shameful acts...

....remember in the days of yore...when one team of people who wanted to take over the administration of football clubs at that time like Accra Hearts of Oak F/C...or Kumasi Asante Kotoko F/C....Brong Ahafo (BA) United F/C....Standfast F/C.... chose to PAY LOSING BONUSES to the players, bonuses which were over and above their winning bonuses to induce them to deliberately lose football matches....just so that the then administrators and management would be ridiculed...compromised...be seen as incompetent...incapable of delivering victories to the teeming supporters of the club in question and get the supporters agitated and demonstrate to get the administrations in question sacked and be replaced by those who were paying the losing bonuses...what evil....

….as they say the person who slaughters another with a knife in his sleep, is afraid himself to sleep....that's what we have been doing to ourselves as a people and as a nation....how sad....

….but worse still...that's why we aren't progressing as a people but rather going round in circles.....repeating same mistakes....mirroring same wrongs, inimical policies of increases in fuel prices...immediately after winning elections and sworn into offices...forgetting all the campaign promises and what we said of the losing, past governments....only to find ourselves repeating same...now under different terminologies as well as justifications to confuse us the people....

....can you imagine the number and different kinds of people...FRIENDS AND ENEMIES alike...who are, as I write this, PAYING LOSING BONUSES to ensure that you fail at everything you set mind and heart and hands to accomplish to glorify the Lord our God...your own rebuilding of His Temple....

….it's funny but during the last days of Ghana's hosting of the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2008) like during all our participations in such tournaments...stories were rife that some political parties were praying that the Black Stars, our national team does not win the tournament...otherwise the then ruling party will be difficult to beat at the elections scheduled for same year....so all sorts of fetishists had been consulted to ensure the team was eliminated before they could reach the finals....weird if you ask me…not for a moment believing these stories to be TRUE though...but such is life and its realities...believe it or not....have lived my fair share of this life to know and appreciate LIFE and its mysteries....

….WICKEDNESS is as part of life as day and night....after all...sons kill fathers...fathers kill sons...husbands kill wives...wives kill husbands...brothers kill brothers...otherwise how can anyone explain what happened between CAIN and ABEL from same mother and father....such sibling rivalry and envies and petty jealousies are still with us today...as enemies...as they were in the very beginning… or better still how on earth can you explain Rebecca’s love for one son, Jacob against his twin brother, Esau for a father’s blessing for his first son….?

....these enemies whose sole plan and plot is to make sure that we never rebuild our fathers' houses...or pursue the right policies and programmes that will make lives more bearable...these perceived enemies who don't want to see us progress...in our personal lives but rather always play second fiddle to them...remain their subjects and house helps and servants not only for our lives but perpetually to include our children and children's children to CONTINUE TO SERVE THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN AND CHILDREN'S CHILDREN...

….mind you it isn’t always the foreigners who take over our father's house and nation...but most times those very close to us...who have 'EYES'...mean spiritual eyes to see our future greatness as well as bright destinies and futures of unparalleled elevations...those very close to us like those we share our alleged secrets and private plans with....colleagues in offices and in the churches we discuss our plans for new projects with...and are able to hide their envies and petty jealousies...listen and plot our downfall at close quarters...

….invariably they are the very last people that we would ever suspect....they will pay bribes to others so they sabotage our plans for elevation....SUCH WICKEDNESS....of highest order....no wonder, we are told to always be as WISE AS A SERPENT…..in all the things we do or intend to do...our plans for our future...like rebuilding the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem....because man is fundamentally and primarily EVIL....and so pretentious....come close as if a friend and then plot our downfall...so be wise and discerning as the serpent....

…the Biblical references and or justifications as who ought to build Ghana’s Cathedral – state or people is a subject for another day but honestly hypocrites are many of us, especially those who should know better as leaders of the people…

By Magnus Naabi RexDanquah, the Ghanaian