Who Is On The Lord's Side? - The National Cathedral Debate

Before independence, we had more non-Christians than Christians than today.

But since as a people we knew, believed and still believe that, 'God rules in the affairs of men', we entrenched our National Anthem with the opening words, 'God bless our Homeland, Ghana', and later signed off the National Pledge with, 'So help me God'. These have never changed till today.

Thus we tacitly identified, announced and still proclaim ourselves a Christian nation committed to God's purposeful direction - the Nation (House) of God.

Christians today constitute about 71.2% of the population whiles Moslems and others constitute the other 18.8%.

God is democratic and gives free will and choices to men at all times; and a leader's heart shows the direction of a nation's heart at any time in the sight of God.

King 'Asa did what was Right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David. And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made'. 1 Kings 15:12-13.

And God counted the state at the time as right with Him because the king's heart sought to serve God.

We always have choices to make, and they have consequences, good or bad. But the ability to identify and accept when a choice is wrong, is essential for progress.

Our first President Kwame Nkrumah made a freewill choice for us. I believe he thought, with all the money, wealth and resources at our disposal, we should 'seek ye first the Political Kingdom and all shall be added unto it', for us. He therefore socialism for our national political direction. So he directed the nation to rely on our strength, brawn and intellect, with a lot of political planning and mobilisation, hoping, that would take us to 'Canaan'.

But with the chosen path, we gradually and unconsciously drifted from God, the Almighty, we had pledged to anchor unto.

In seeking this 'political kingdom' and to pursue and justify political dominance by any means necessary, we claimed and promoted 'politics is a dirty game', and bragged that 'the only thing a politician could not do was to change a man into a woman' and vice-versa. We thus grew to equate 'politics' as synonymous with 'deceipt'; but we wrongly turn round to blame people engaged in active politics alone, for our woes.

With these, we set ourselves on a collision course with the rules and dictates of God, as we replaced Him with human capabilities.

So we brazenly contradicted and still contradict God's rules and standards, and bastardise our own motto of 'Freedom and Justice'.

To provide fuel for the search for this 'political kingdom', political propaganda' was introduced and practiced in devious forms, irrespective of injury to the morality and social fibre of the living and posterity.

Unfortunately, when this monster of 'politics is a dirty game' and its twin brother, political propaganda were introduced, the Christian fraternity either went into deep coma or pretense and, weaned these evils, consciously or unconsciously, to worm into every fabric of our lives; through our socio-cultural systems, with education as the drilling rod.

These have contrived to produce poor functional and hypocritical persons from our systems to the chagrin of the uneducated who had placed so much premium on the integrity and capability of the educated' over the years. So disappointed some have become that some have cause to jest about the systems. For example, one syllabised 'University' as, ' yi nava fi fi', to wit, 'go and steal', in Ewe. With another concluding, 'agbalenyalawo gble Ghana', to wit, 'the educated have destroyed Ghana'.

Definitely, 'a dirty game must not be played in the 'House of God' but once'dirty thoughts became the norm, it bore fruits of injustices, corruption, greed, avarice and the like as seen in all fabrics of our lives today.

And this has gone deep because governments that believe in Dr Nkrumah's political mantra have ruled this nation longest and persisted these choices for over half a century. Their consequences are what we live with today - negative attitudes.

It is one big reason we have high partisan politicisation in which we lazily analyse issues based on mere political advantage we think we can gain of issues, other than what really will inure to sustainable national good and development.

It is also a reason politics of emotions, other than reason, thrives so dangerously in our nation.

Yet still, a reason why 'perception' has become 'truth' and 'real truth' has been thrown out through the window and may only be seen in political colours with despicable theories in tow; and this has deprived us of deep analytical thinking to address our challenges; we churn out more literates we wrongly call, 'educated' and hardly make good progress; why many countries that took inspiration from us at independence have made more strides than us; sadly we now pay to learn from them . Indeed, with our systems producing hypocrites adorned with mediocrity for success and integrity, we are heading into an abyss.

During the Election Petition in 2013 at the Supreme Court, men called 'learned', in clear view of TV cameras, without any qualms, ascribed wrong and criminal entries on 'pink sheets' as 'mere errors', irrespective of the harm to morality and criminality of effects on our national integrity capacity.

The love of money has gripped our psyche such that we think money answers all things, forgetting that the love of money is injurious to integrity. So we have made our children slaves to corruption. How? From creche we begin 'teaching' our children how to spend money. From creche through to University, we lavish money on kids - 'teaching' them how to spend money irrespective of the negative moral and criminal consequences; but not how to make money; by so doing fastening the base of worldly love.

So we have become so corrupt that, we swear the oath of office on the Bible and lie through the teeth.

Micah 7:2-3 aptly tells our situation, 'The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net. That they may successfully do evil with both hands - the prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire; so they scheme together'.

There is unanimity that, after 61 years or two generations of independence, we have fallen far short of our achievements; the weak hearted have even given up on Ghana, saying it is beyond redemption. But it is false!

Jesus Christ foretold our hypocrisy in Mat. 15:7-9 thus: 'Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'.

Isaiah 59:1-4 reveals, 'Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear'.

That being the case, what do we do? Do we know where we have gone wrong? Lines in a Methodist hymn warns, 'the arm of flesh will fail you; you dare not trust your own'.

We care less to think about how we got up from sleep today and why some died; why we cannot see the plant grow but agree it grows, etc..

So we argue outside God, from feebleness of human knowledge to justify why God MUST NOT receive due recognition and honour in Ghana today.

The peace we so much boast of, do you think it is by our might that peace reigns? It is God's long-suffering mercy that has made us an oasis of peace in a troubled sub-region.

But we arrogantly try to provoke God to jealousy. We swear on the Bible and in the Name of God as a religious ritual and carelessly lie with glee. There are more church- goers who warm the pews than Christians, to the chagrin of God. 1 Corinthians 10:22 asks, 'Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?'

But do we just blame the pessimists for opposing honour to God? No! For, many claiming to work as men of God have not been straight with us; some have been crookish. But that does not nullify the existence and authority of God, and therefore does not free the pessimists either. We all have an account to render and blame-excuse will not absolve any who slights and demeans God. God is NOT mocked! For what a man sows, shall he reap.

Paul admonishes, 'Behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation'. (1 Corin. 6:2b)

Israel found itself in similar situations on many ocassions. It was when a leader turned to God that they were rescued and restored to the path of peace and prosperity. God respects His Word when people repent and return to Him and give Him the honour and reverence due Him.

I know immediately some may argue that countries that do not honour our God are far advanced than we are. Yes. But listen and watch. God gives without sorrow and you can see the type of disasters that occur in those countries that have not made The Ancient of Days their anchor. God does not lie. He gives without sorrow. Ps. 10:22 'The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow to it'.

The Bible declares, 'And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth..!' Deut. 8:18a. It is not your policies or political savvyness. He has the whole world in His hands.

Most of us agree Ghana has retrogressed in almost every aspect of life, and we are ascribing all manner of spurious reasons to it.

In 2007, there was drought in Ghana and the Akosombo Dam was low. Bold clergymen went to the dam to pray. The kind of mockery and spurious arguments that unbelievers hurled at them were terrible. But after the prayers on the dam, the following year the rains came in torrents and flooded the dam and its banks, as God responded positively to the prayers. Unfortunately the mockers joined life in the cemetery; they were mute when the Rock of Ages responded. The mockers hardly learn, and they are ascribing similar sentiments against the building of a National Cathedral to honour God.

If you call yourself a Christian but deep down your heart you oppose this project, rethink your relationship with your Maker.

The time has come for the elected to be counted again. Just as God always used one person to salvage a repentant backslidden sinner nation, so I perceive such repentance has emerged with the call for a National Cathedral, with facilitation from the number one Gentleman of the land.

A National Cathedral is a physical manifestation of a repentant nation; a sign and call on God to forgive us our sins and redeem this nation. I do not believe this is a fluke, because for a President who had campaigned on the basis of 'the battle is the Lord's' for a decade and over to lead this charge, reveals the man's love for God and a gift to redeem us from our national misdirection.

This is the call for Christians to be counted, and I invite church goers come in tow. This is the time Christians must reveal what salt and light we are to ourselves and the world; the peculiar people we are deemed to be.

Christians! Arise to honour our God, who does not cede His praise and honour to any other.

He is awesome: He uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise; and uses weaklings to overcome the strong. He is unfathomable, the Creator uncreated.

Who is on the Lord's side? Who will face the doomsayers? Let us honour the God whose mercy woke you up from sleep today and allows you to breathe freely at no cost.

'And Elijah came to all the people, and said, 'How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him'. But the people answered him not a word.

'Then Elijah said to the people, 'I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty many'. 1 Kings 18:21-22.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, lead to do the will of God and live long. Return us from the path of destruction to the life of hope.

Isaiah 60:13b states, '..beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious'.

No cost is too high to honour the merciful God who provides free air, dew and rain for even those those who insult Him, disdain Him, doubt Him, deny Him; and His Servants. He is patient even with those who pervert His Name.

No cost is too much to re-establish our first Love and faith in God Almighty, the Ancient of days, who blessed and increased our population from 6 to 30 million over half a century. He alone deserves to be truly honoured at the CHOICEST location in this land of our birth.

But some are not happy, not His making, but because we have chosen the path of destruction by glorifying human tales and fables. As the Bible says, the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who will perish.

'Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are MANY who go in by it.

'Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are FEW who find it'.

So Mr President, you will one day return to your Maker. What legacy will you leave behind; what honour will you leave for your MAKER?

Your human capacity will fail you; but it is God alone who gives enduring success with contentment. It is He who has refreshed you and given you the energy and zeal to work more than fourty year olds; we envy your toughness on the road, since 2007.

I therefore call you all to plead and pray with Jermiah 14:7 & 9 thus, 'O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for your Name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against You. ..Why should you be like a man astonished, like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, oh Lord, are in our midst, and we are called by Your Name; do not leave us!' Amen!

Honouring God with the choicest of your possessions is not subject to democratic gymnastics. It is a command! ' What shall I render to my God?' Therefore the location and the cost do not come for debate at all; else you will be asking God to hold your breath for just five minutes to consider value and essence.

Who therefore is on the Lord's side, to honour the Lord with the choicest and most treasured property of the land, as show of restitution, respect and reverence to Him who gives life and all? Who is on the Lords side? Jesus said, You are either with Me or against Me.

Let us join the President and like-minded leaders to return Ghana to winning ways, to 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness' so that all that we have lost in six decades of political wilderness, 'shall be added to us'.

I ask again, 'who is on the Lord's side to restore love and reverence for God and country with the virtues of love, honesty, service, hardwork and integrity?'

I am on the Lord's side, and I will never give up. Are you? Let us join to redeem this nation from shame and damnation.

God bless you for making the right choice, and may He prosper all your endeavours. Amen!

Delali Ndo
Executive Director,
RONJECT Group,
Ho
020-2628105
[email protected]