That I May Know Jesus Christ And The Power Of His Resurrection: A Personal Reflection On Faith And Truth

I have the habit of talking about death, because it is probably the greatest threat to the perpetuity of human happiness. But in my closet, I think about the power of the resurrection of my savior, Jesus Christ. This is because the resurrection is the opposite of death. Death is humbling, but knowing that there is hope after death (once one places one's faith in the Lord) is reassuring and a guarantee that cannot be compared to anything.

I am very adamant about believing in prophecies. But in 2004, I had a prophecy over my life. The prophecy was blunt and clear about what would happen to me, at least as I went through my first degree and postgraduate education. I was a freethinker when I was a second year student at West African Secondary School (WASS) in 2000. I was a thorn in the flesh of my colleagues who were members of the Scripture Union (SU). I left SSS in 2001 deeply rooted and established in my freethinking predilection. I enjoyed reading the Bible to find what I considered were errors and contradictions.

I finished SSS, having good grades in all subjects, apart from mathematics, which I barely passed. Without mathematics, I had grade eleven (11), but with mathematics added to it, I had sixteen (16). In 2001, grade sixteen qualified me for university admission, at least as a General Arts pupil. But for reasons I now know, none of the three universities I applied to (University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) was willing to admit me. This was because of my grade in mathematics. I was also not ready to rewrite mathematics. I felt I had gone beyond the drudges of SSS education.

So, instead of spending time reading SSS subjects, I immersed myself reading tertiary materials. I spent years at the Libya Culture Centre, learning the Third Universal Theory of Gaddafi. I emerged as an excellent student of the theories of Gaddafi (memorizing most of the Green Book). I was offered scholarship to study in Libya, but I turned it down, because I felt I could not part company with my parents at that age (19 years). I also spent productive hours at the Du Bois Centre, Accra, learning under the Egyptologists, Dr. Maulana and Dr. Osei Kwame. And since I had become disillusioned about freethinking, I decided to read religious books. I reread aspects of the Bible that I felt were contentious and ambiguous. Graciously, I met Dr. John B. Ghartey (the current General Secretary of the Assemblies of God Church, Ghana) and Dr. Rockeybell Adatura, a Ghanaian and international apologist (who defends the Christian faith around the world) at the time when I was at the crosswinds of faith. Rev. Dr. Adatura's programme, Grace and Truth, on Top Radio, was a blessing to me. Both Drs. J.B. Ghartey and Rockeybell Adatura are my mentors.

As a Zongo boy, I also spent hours reading about Islam. I mustered the history of Islam, from the period of Jahiliyyah (the first hundred years of life in Arabia before the advent of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam) to Islam in West Africa. I picked interest in the works of Ahmed Deedat and Jawal Badawi. I learned from other Muslim scholars in Maamobi. I also picked interest in reading about some Eastern religions, particularly Buddhism and Hinduism. Buddhism caught my attention because my maternal uncle, Nana Andrew Gyebi, whom I visited in 1998 when I had finished basic school, had books on the Buddhism that got me interested in the religion (or philosophical tradition). In the case of Hinduism, one of our neighbours, Wofa Abona, in Maamobi was a member of the Hare Krishna movement. I loved how he chanted Hare Krishna, Hare Rama hymn of the Hindu sect. I also studied with the Seventh-day Adventists (which has now given me a closet friend in life), Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. I spent some time with members of the Church of Christ, learning some of the hymns.

After comparing the teachings of these non-Christian religions, I found the teaching of Jesus Christ very compelling and convincing. The fact that He claims to be the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6) struck a cord in the quest I had/have for the truth. I was struck by the fact that, while all the other religious leaders claimed to be teaching the truth, Jesus alone claimed to be the truth. He never said He was teaching the truth. He said He is the truth (that most people seek), the life (that we covet) and the way to eternal bliss. Consequently, in 2003, I once again gave my life to Jesus Christ. The following year, I bought only the admission forms of the University of Cape Coast, and I got admission to read Bachelor of Arts in African Studies.

Because the programme had just started in 2003 (and I had gone in 2004), I had the chance of forming part of the guinea pigs. This meant that in order for the programme to be accredited, we were made to read and write as though we had committed the heinous crime of killing 'Academus'. After going through the rigorous and mind racking academic training, I graciously graduated with unprecedented First Class in B.A. African Studies in 2008. But before going to UCC, I had had a prophecy over my life, concerning the path I was going to chart. The prophecy was also clear that I was going to be involved in doing the work of God (not necessarily as a pastor).

Till date, while many of the prophecies have been fulfilled, I do not feel to have fulfilled the other prophecy (perhaps the most important) about me doing the work of God. Am I disappointing God? Am I behaving like Jonah? Since coming to Christ in 2003 and receiving prophecies in 2004, I have wandered many times away from the faith (though not falling into the state of apostasy). Through it all, I have always tried not to recant my faith in Jesus Christ. But sometimes, I find myself straddling the 'science' of academics and faith.

In the quagmire of searching for a religious home, there is one thing I have learnt about the Lord. He is faithful, even when I remain unfaithful. He continues to pour His love on me, even when I deserve the opposite. He continues to guide me. He continues to show me mercy, even when I do not deserve it. But tonight, as I was reflecting and taking stock on my life, I read the Pauline quest that "That I may know Jesus Christ, and the power of His resurrection' [Philippians 3:10].

The definition and conceptualization of knowledge is a branch of philosophy called Epistemology. Throughout the ages, the idea of what constitutes knowledge (truth) has been a subject of considerable debate. In the world today, the idea of poststructuralism and postmodernism has withered away the notion of absolute truth. We live in a world where we do epistemic injustice to knowledge. Everything has been relativized. Truth is a matter of opinion and option. We have deconstructed and demystified God. God is a matter of figment of imagination (courtesy Sigmund Freud, the psychoanalyst). In the 1960s, many modernization theorists, inter alia, Peter Berger and Harvey Cox predicted that science will bury religion (and God), as God would be made redundant. But by the 1970s, it became obvious that the ubiquity of religion and God in the public sphere could not be argued against. There was the need for a revision of human fallible knowledge about the eternity of God.

But in the midst of the brouhaha over what constitutes knowledge, I have been reflecting on what it means to know the Lord Jesus Christ. After succeeding in my education at the University of Cape Coast, I still ask myself about what can be compared to knowing Jesus Christ. This is primarily because the euphoria of First Class is long gone. What remains in my heart is the quest for theocentric/Christo-centric knowledge, which is hardly taught in the classroom. Indeed, Augustine of Hippo was right when he rightly said that our hearts are restless until the find rest in God. When we know Jesus Christ, we act upon His word. When we know Jesus Christ, we obey what He tells us. When we know Jesus Christ, we develop personal relations with Him, as opposed abstract assumptions. When we know Jesus Christ, we live every moment of our life seeking to honor him. When we know Jesus Christ, we see Him as the epitome of episteme. Tonight, as I prepare to retire to bed, I am praying that I will know Jesus Christ. In my next essay, I will discuss the power of His resurrection.

Satyagraha
Charles Prempeh ([email protected]), African University College of Communications, Accra