However, ‘women in ministry’ has always been a controversial subject that has divided the body of Christ to an extent. There are denominations that believe women are not allowed to stand in the pulpit to instruct men publicly. Others see no problem with that. I don’t seek to merely take sides (although my opening paragraph gives my position away). What I seek to do with this write-up is to point out what God’s word says on the matter and I hope I do just that and not let my personal opinions and preferences cloud my judgment.

First of all, this problem arose from the misinterpretation of some portions of the New Testament – specifically the writings of Paul. In two separate passages found in two of his epistles, Paul admonishes the recipients of his letter to make sure the women in the church keep quiet and learn in submission. These two passages can be found in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14. Due to the instructions, Paul gave in these two passages, some believe that it isn’t scripturally correct for a woman to pastor a church. Before I proceed, I’d like to clarify a few things. The controversy is not necessarily about the prohibition of women from sharing the gospel with people – as that would have been an outright contradiction of the great commission Jesus gave to believers. I believe what is in contention here is whether women should be allowed to pastor a church thereby instructing men in scripture and exercising authority over them.

I will start with the easier of the two texts, 1^st Corinthians 14:33-36. In this passage, Paul states emphatically that women are not permitted to speak in church and that if they would want to learn anything they should ask their husbands at home. The second part of this instruction gives us a hint of the context of the events Paul was addressing. However, this isn’t clear to all so we would still have to delve deeper into the issue. So Paul prohibits women from speaking in church. How can we convince people that the gospel of grace is one built on the foundation of love if there is a verse that seeks to suggest that women as a sexually-defined group of people are not allowed to speak in the church simply because they are women? It is hard to reconcile this notion with the ethos of the New Testament. We don’t need to go far, let’s stay in the book of 1^st Corinthians. In the 11^th chapter of the same book, Paul admonishes women to pray and prophesy with their heads covered. Throughout the book of 1^st Corinthians, we see the apostle speak elaborately on the gifts of the spirit and how they should be administered in the church. The gift of prophecy being one of the most prominent of all the gifts was duly addressed by Paul. He stated that when one person is prophesying, there should be total silence in the church. Since it is already an established fact that women can prophesy in church just like their male counterparts, doesn’t this tell us that they are at liberty to speak in church?

Indeed women are permitted to speak in the church to the hearing of everyone. This doesn’t in any way render Paul’s instructions for women to keep quiet in the church void. What we should be asking ourselves is, what kind of ‘quiet’ was the apostle referring to? Analyzing the text soundly would reveal that the apostle gave the instructions amongst several other instructions that would promote orderliness in church. Hence it is safe to say that he instructed women to be quiet in the instance when their talking was distracting the flow of the church service. It is believed that during service some of the women were fond of asking their husbands questions, seeking further clarifications of what was being taught. Hence the apostle’s instruction that they should ask their husbands at home if they didn’t understand what was being taught. The same Paul who said women should prophesy with their heads covered couldn’t have said in the same book that they are not permitted to prophesy (or speak publicly) in the church. In his essay on ‘Women in Ministry’, Adoniram Judson states that ‘So it seems, at least, for this word “prophesy” in the New Testament “signifies not merely to foretell future events, but to communicate religious truth in general under a Divine inspiration” (vide Hackett on “Acts”, p.49)’. This tells us that women are very much allowed to instruct men in scripture – I will delve into this a little more later on.

The second passage that causes confusion about women in ministry is in 1^st Timothy 2. This is a far more difficult text because it introduces some historical events as the basis of the instructions given by the apostle. Here again, Paul instructs that women should not be allowed to teach nor usurp authority over men. Let’s look at the context in which he makes this statement. So Timothy was head of the church in Ephesus that is why this letter was being addressed to him. If you know anything about the ancient city of Ephesus, you would know that it was a city that was wholly given to idolatry. Specifically the worship of the goddess Artemis. The temple of Artemis was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It is an edifice that took 120 years to build. The temple was supported by 127 columns, each being 65 feet high (roughly 7 stories). Inside the building stood the huge multiple-breasted statue of the goddess. The servants (temple functionaries) of Artemis were mostly women. The men who were allowed to serve in the temple had to be castrated first – basically stripped of their manhood. This gives a bit of a background to the text under consideration. Some of these women had been converted and brought into the church. They were exposed to a system of worship where women exercised undue authority over men. It is believed that it was this particular problem that the apostle sought to address when he said I do not permit a woman to exercise authority over a man. It is worthy of note however that the apostle began this particular passage by stating that ‘let the women LEARN in silence and with all subjection’ (v11). This indicates that he wasn’t against female education and that is very important to this topic. It may appear trivial to us today but we need to understand that in those days women were not allowed to study the word of God. Kenneth Bailey mentions that:

Judith Hauptmann, in her essay on “Images of Women in the Talmud,” notes Rabbi Eliezer’s view that it is better to burn the words of the Torah than to give them to women.

With the passage in 1Timothy 2, the main problem is the fact that Paul makes reference to historical data as the basis for his instructions. He states that the reason he prohibits women from teaching and exercising authority over men is that in the garden, it was the woman that was deceived and not the man. This is interesting. So our quest is to find out why the woman was first deceived and not the man in the garden. Now it was Eve who was deceived first. That is to say that Adam was deceived as well so let’s not get ahead of ourselves and assume that there is a device preinstalled in men that prevents them from falling prey to deception. As a matter of fact in the book of 2Timothy Paul states categorically that there were some men teaching false doctrines, entering into homes of women who were burdened by the guilt of their own sins hence these women fell for their lies (2 Timothy 3:6). We can see that all the Apostle is advocating for is the teaching of sound doctrine. This cannot happen when the one being taught is exhibiting a haughty attitude towards the teacher. That is why he admonishes women to learn in quietness and not usurp authority over their teachers – who were men. This looks very much like the event in the garden where a woman was instructed by her husband and it was her who FIRST sinned. Was Paul admonishing all women to submit to the authority of all men? I doubt that, that is an instruction meant for married people. Paul was admonishing the women in the church to submit to sound teaching by being silent while they learn and not fall prey to deception like Eve did. 2Timothy 3 actually proves that they had already started falling for the lies of heretic male teachers in the city.

The last verse of this chapter talks about women being saved in childbearing. This is a tough one too. If you are familiar with the writings of Paul, you would know that he was vehemently opposed to any teaching that suggested that anybody could be saved in another way other than confessing Jesus. So definitely, he wasn’t saying here that women will obtain salvation in the Lord through childbirth. The word translated as ‘saved’ is ‘sozo’ – which can also mean ‘prosper’, ‘to be in good health’, ‘blessed’ etc. Therefore, we can understand that portion of scripture as Paul saying women shall prosper in childbearing. Why would he say that? Because it is believed there was a false doctrine going around intending to prohibit women from having children or even getting married. Again, we see the apostle address doctrinal issues here.

This is the end of part one of this short series. Do look out for the continuation in the next blog post. Remember to make your contributions and ask your questions in the comment section below.

References:

Ken Bailey – “Women in Ministry – Woodstock Q and A”

Adoniram Judson – “Women in Ministry”

Hugenberger – “Women in ministry”

Kaiser – “Women in Ministry, commentary on text”

One thing that made me even more excited about the movie was the gender rhetoric that undergirded the entire story – in a somewhat subtle manner, yet very profound and powerful. However, that is the same thing that caused all the controversy concerning the movie. Ok, God is portrayed as a woman in The Shack. Do I see anything blasphemous about this? Certainly not! First of all, God isn’t male either. Indeed, anytime we see God manifest in the flesh, he does so in a male body but that doesn’t mean we should assume he is a man. This desiringgod.com article did a good job of establishing the fact that even in scripture God is given so many feminine attributes. You can check it out. We would have to agree on a few things before I proceed.

1. God is not a man, he is a Spirit (according to John 4:24)
2. He created man in his own image, male and female made he them (Genesis 1:27)

It is true that when God decided to come to the earth in a human form as Jesus he was a man (male). So it was when he appeared in the form of 3 men to Abraham. All these are still not enough proof that God is male. We might have gotten accustomed to seeing God appear in the flesh as a man to the extent that we think his portrayal as a woman in a movie is heretic and blasphemous. This is so wrong. If God created man in his own image and made them male and female, appears as a male in the flesh, why can’t he appear as female as well? I’m not saying he is obligated to do that to prove a point or anything. All I’m saying is, women were made in his image too, therefore, his portrayal as a woman in the movie shouldn’t bring about this level of controversy. When Jesus was being baptized in the River Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove. Is this blasphemous and heretic too? Besides, this movie is even a work of fiction to project a certain aspect of God’s character that is predominantly common amongst women, so everybody can chill and just munch on the essential message of the movie.

Now that that is out of the way, back to the movie. In the early parts of the movie, we see the family set off on a trip without the woman of the house. While seeing them off she made a comment that appears casual yet pregnant with so much information. She said to the kids “I have faith in your dad’s mothering skills”. This is by far the most important statement in the entire movie. Through the harsh seasons of our lives, how much faith do we have in God’s mothering skills? Nan made this comment because she wasn’t going to be with her kids on that trip hence they need not worry because their father doubles as a mother. This is a flamboyantly colorful feather in the cap of the man. Did he live up to expectation? We shall find out soon.

On their way, his two older kids begged him to stop by a waterfall. He refused the request initially only to barge at the end. While they stood on a bridge having a closer view of the waterfall, his older kids once again asked him to tell Missy, the little one, the story of the Indian Princess. The waterfall, therefore, appears to be a site he and his elder kids had been before, maybe way before the little one was born. So he goes on to narrate the story. From the story, we find out that there was an Indian Princess, who gave up her life for the sake of her people. The waterfall was therefore created by the ‘Great Spirit’ in memory of the Princess. It is a no-brainer that this Indian Princess is an allusion to Jesus Christ. Once again, we see God portrayed as a woman.

They finally got to their destination and it was a lakeside where other families camped as well. It seemed like a pretty cool and decent place to have a little family vacation. The following morning, the two older kids were on a boat not too far away from the shore and  Missy was by her father drawing with her crayons. All of a sudden, Josh fell off the boat after his sister stood up to get the attention of their father. Mack ran, dived into the water and swam all the way to the boat to save his son. They all came back to the shore only to realize that Missy was gone. She was gone. The police couldn’t find her anywhere. Later they discovered her bloody dress in a shack up the mountain, but her body was not found.

The death of the little girl tore the family apart. Kate withdrew from the rest of the family obviously because she felt it was her fault her little sister died. Josh had also become secretive. Mack also lost faith in God. I must say the little girl is almost the perfect character to die to arouse all the needed emotions and questions that often flood our minds when we go through hard times. She was innocent, sweet and very inquisitive. All these make it hard for anybody to understand why she should die. Or why she should die in such a callous manner.

Not too long after her death, Mack checked his mailbox and found a letter in there from ‘Papa’ inviting him to the Shack up the mountain. He looked but couldn’t find a trail of footsteps in the snow leading either to or away from his mailbox. Which was pretty strange. His family nicknamed God ‘Papa’ so definitely he knew who it was. He decided to honor the invitation and go to the Shack alone although his next door neighbor had wanted to go with him. The Shack was this old dilapidated wooden structure that appeared to have been abandoned for years.

While walking through the woods, he met a young Middle Eastern man who invited him to ‘his house’. All this seemed to happen in a trance because all of a sudden the mountain became a garden with beautiful flowers – especially the path leading to the stranger’s house. Mack arrived at the house only to be introduced to the entire Godhead. Apparently, the Middle Eastern man who led him to his home was Jesus, the Son. And here is another shocker, the other two members of the Trinity were women! How strange it would be to meet the Godhead only to realize two-thirds of the trinity is female. So Papa was a black woman and the Holy Spirit was a slender Asian lady. Mack’s interactions with the Godhead marked his journey to complete healing from the hurt he felt after his daughter died. In one of his earliest interactions, Papa told him ‘after what you have been through, I didn’t think you could handle a father right now’. Papa said this right after Mack questioned her gender. This is another amazing revelation in the movie. God revealed himself to Mack as a mother because he had had a rough childhood experience with his father. Therefore, his perception of who a father is was based on the kind of relationship he had with his earthly father. This is probably why most of us can’t have a great relationship with God because we are seeing him through the lenses of our earthly fathers and those lenses are giving us a poor image of who God is. It is amazing to know that God knows when to be what in our lives. Now when Mack accused God of always abandoning those he claims he loves, especially Jesus on the cross, Papa showed him his nail-pierced wrist. Indicating that while Jesus suffered on the cross, God did too. Which means God shares in our suffering; he understands our pain.

Papa did drop some nuggets in her interaction with Mckenzie. She said “You were created to be loved. Living unloved is like clipping a bird’s wings”. Then she went on to say that ‘this is your flying lessons”. ‘This’ here refers to ‘the Shack’ experience that the Trinity was taking Mckenzie through. The painful experiences are our flying lessons. We need them to first muster the courage to fly and that is how we experience the Love of God.

Mckenzie’s next interaction was with the Spirit of God. They took a walk through a garden where the spirit made a very profound illustration. She showed Mckenzie a twig that was poisonous. Then she mentioned that on its own it is poisonous, but combining it with the nectar from a particular flower produced a substance with incredible healing powers. This goes to show us how both the good and bad times in our lives are meant to come together for a greater good. When we single out the bad times, it may seem our lives are on the rocks, but having a holistic view of our lives – both the bad and the good times – can produce incredible healing anytime we need it.

By far my favorite interaction in the movie was between Mckenzie and ‘Wisdom’. He met Wisdom in a dark cave sitting on her throne. Wisdom told him he was there, in the cave, for judgment. No, not to be judged, but to judge just as he always did throughout his life. The conversation that ensued is probably the most powerful in the movie. It was laden with so much wisdom and offered answers to questions that I have been grappling with for some time now. Why does God allow evil to happen and not do anything about it? Why can’t evil people be condemned to hell immediately to rid humanity of all the hideousness? Wisdom made some profound statements worthy of note. She quizzed, ‘doesn’t the legacy of brokenness go all the way back to Adam?’. Anytime you want to judge somebody, make sure you judge everybody else in human history whose actions had an effect on the said person – all the way to Adam. That is when you can claim to have judged the person justly. The legacy of brokenness indeed goes all the way back to Adam.

The time spent with God was an exercise to heal him of all emotional and psychological pain. So one morning Mckenzie woke up and there stood papa in the doorway. This time not a black woman but an Asian man. Papa said ‘for what we have to do today, you are gonna need a father’. BAM! So you see, God is the complete parent, no wonder he made men and women in his image. His nature couldn’t be revealed in one gender alone. When he wanted to make a being in his image he had to make two of its kind, hence we have men and women, fathers and mothers. The task that day was to get Mckenzie to forgive his daughter’s killer. This exercise required the stern persuasion of a father. That is why Papa chose to reveal himself as a man in this scene. Mckenzie did forgive the killer, pretty much to my amazement.

There is so much I want to say about the movie but time and space are not my best allies now. I learned so much from it. The shack (where Mckenzie found his daughter’s bloody clothes) represents a place of pain yet a place where God is ever present. C.S Lewis said ‘… God shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world’. God is indeed loudest in our pains if only we can pay attention and listen.

Rather than it being an indictment on the credibility of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is a bold stamp of approval. Let me explain. One of the strongest arguments anyone can ever make for the bible is its Prophetic essence. The bible is laden with the prophetic. Past events in human history were predicted by prophets of the ancient world. Jesus himself had to fulfill about 61 prophecies (According to this article) in the Old Testament as proof that he was the promised messiah. Daniel prophesied the global reign of various kingdoms of this world and how their reigns would be succeeded by others. There are so many prophecies in the bible that have been fulfilled and evident in our day. One of such prophecies is the eruption of false prophets and teachers. Jesus said it. Paul said it. Read how John put it:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

Test all spirits. To test the credibility of anything, there must be a standardized system of measurement. To test or verify how straight a line is, you must use a ruler. To test for the alkalinity or acidity of a liquid, you use a litmus paper. To test the spirit of a prophet, the bible is that standardized testing kit. If what the prophet is doing is not biblical, he is false – as simple as that. But you know people are lazy, right? They don’t want to read and find out for themselves. One thing I have realized in my walk with God is that all he yearns for is a very strong relationship with us. God’s aim isn’t to rid your life of pain. Let me repeat this for emphasis. God’s aim isn’t to rid your life of pain. If that were the case, he would have said, ‘take up your pillows and wait for me’. Instead he said, ‘… take up your cross and follow me’. That is supposed to be painful.

This truth is even more evident in the story of Lazarus. John’s account stated clearly that Jesus loved Lazarus and his two sisters. It doesn’t make sense why Jesus would love these people so much and yet there was no sense of urgency when news of Lazarus’ sickness reached him. If Jesus’ aim was merely to rid Lazarus of physical pain, he would have set off immediately to heal him. There was a bigger plan. He waited for the situation to deteriorate to the point where ancient – and even modern – medical expertise could not save Lazarus. After resurrecting Lazarus, all the Jews that saw the miracle believed in Jesus (John11:45). That is evangelism. Do you see the actual purpose of the miracles of God? They are not intended to just tickle you or make you happy. There is a greater purpose for God’s miracles: they are to build your faith; establish your relationship with him and draw other men to him. My problem with some of these preachers is that they ‘advertise’ God – or themselves – as a quick fix for every problem. You are definitely walking away with a miracle once you encounter them.  God is not a genie. You don’t rub a lamp for his nebulous self to appear to you, ready to do your bidding like he doesn’t have a grand scheme that you are just a pawn in. I am by no means introducing you to a sadistic God who derives pleasure from the pain of his children. All I am saying, is if it took the death of one man to make salvation available to all men, then you should best believe your physical pain can be useful in making the world a better place. The financial challenges you are facing now will be the very reason for you to extend a philanthropic hand to the needy when you become wealthy; because you have been there before. For every pain you go through, God will give you boundless joy and pleasures unthinkable in heaven if you remain faithful to him. Be encouraged and be of good cheer.

Now, let’s get back to these fetish pastors. One thing that is prominent in their ministry is the glorification of Christian paraphernalia and sometimes the sale of it. The very moment a pastor or prophet exalts anything physical above God, I try not to have anything to do with him. The sale of special anointing oil; holy water; anointed handkerchiefs etc. are all not biblical.  However, it is clear from scripture that believers are admonished to use the anointing oil to pray for people and take the communion in remembrance of Christ.

The bible is rife with instances where Jesus and the apostles deflected attention from themselves or anything physical and rather pointed people to God. Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is an example. Jesus told her that there is a time coming where ‘the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth’. Simply put, no physical entity will matter in how we worship God – neither geographical location, nor paraphernalia nor anything else. Worship is a spiritual experience. Every man of God is supposed to STAY OUT OF THE WAY and let the people worship God in spirit and in truth. Human beings have this inherent desire to worship. I believe God put it in us for the purpose of the worship of him alone. But people who turn away from God tend to make idols of anything at all. They make idols of their pastors. They make idols of their jobs, marriages, academics etc. These pastors are taking advantage of this and that is why they sell ‘anointed’ items to their congregants. Study the life of the apostles and Jesus himself; you will notice that whenever they performed a miracle with the aid of anything physical, they barely repeated it. Remember when Jesus healed a blind man with his spittle and mud, how many times did he do that? He knew if he had made a practice of this act, people would be after his saliva and not him. This is what is happening now. People are after the miracles and not the giver of all miracles. So God may tell these pastors to do something symbolic just one time, like, praying over water for their congregants; but they will turn it into an entire ministry. If it were one of these pastors who healed the blind man with spittle and mud, they’d probably name their churches after this. Paul didn’t start an apron ministry when people rubbed aprons on him and took them home to heal the sick with. Peter didn’t start a shadow ministry, when his shadow fell on the sick and they recovered immediately. But holy water is for sale in a certain church as we speak. I even hear the blood of Jesus is for sale too. This is more fetish than Christian.

Do not fall for the acts. I believe every man of God is a messenger. Every messenger bears a message. God still sent Moses to be a deliverer in spite of his speech impairment. When you know the sender of the message, you can easily detect whether or not the message is coming from him. Let’s look at the case of Moses vs. Pharaoh’s magicians. Notice how they replicated most of the plagues wrought by Moses’ staff. The miracles can be replicated by foul spirits but the message can never be replicated.  One of the plagues they couldn’t replicate is the one God prides himself in most: the killing of firstborns as a precedence for the freedom of those in bondage. This was just a foreshadow of the death of Christ. If Christ is described as the firstborn of all creation, then his death – just like in Moses’ story – is that which can never be imitated or done by anybody else. Just like the death of the firstborns of the Egyptians was the last straw that broke the camel’s back and set the Israelites free, the death of the firstborn of all creation set us all free. And that is what we are supposed to keep our minds stayed on. If your eyes are fixed on Christ, his death and resurrection, no wind of doctrine can blow you away. In John 10, Jesus said that he is the door hence anyone who enters into the sheepfold without passing through him is a thief. As sheep of his fold, we must keep our eyes on the door. Not the window. Not the crack in the roof, but the door. For this is where genuine, qualified shepherds will come from.

Christianity is not Jewish cultural assimilation: where we are supposed to copy Jewish traditions. Some of these traditions were vehemently opposed by Christ himself. My stomach turns at the new trend in some churches these days. They are of the view that the more Jewish they are, the more spiritual they are. Some pray covering their heads with prayer shawls, like the Jews do. Some pray at certain times because that is what the Jews do. Some also travel all the way to Israel to touch the Wailing Wall to say a prayer. Here again, I will make reference to Jesus’ response to the woman at the well: the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth.

It is very easy for people to assume this is an African phenomenon. The propagation of the prosperity gospel in America is just a westernized form of the situation in Africa. Jim Jones is one clear example of such fetish men of God from the west. The thing is, because of the traditional background of Africans, we are used to the mode of operarion of spiritualists. A spiritualist or fetish priest will give you what you need at a fee. He will give you a token to keep and rituals to do to maintain the efficacy of whatever token he gives you. So even after being converted to Christianity, we expect same from our pastor – which is so wrong. There is nothing wrong with asking a man of God to pray for you. But he shouldn’t take the place of God in your life.

 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matthew 24:24

There were ushers everywhere: directing traffic; welcoming people; and some were running here and there like headless fowls. Senyo whispered something about the organizational structure of the church. I didn’t quite get that because I was distracted. There was a humming sound coming from the church auditorium. People were praying. That made me smile. The moment the usher opened the door for us, the prayers didn’t sound like humming anymore. They sounded more like a multitude of people having a conversation on top of their voices. Well, that was just what it was. The room looked filled to capacity, nevertheless the usher managed to find two empty seats for us somewhere in the fifth row. We didn’t sit down when she took us to our seats. Everybody else was praying and we were supposed to be praying too. I felt Senyo shove something into my pocket. Before I could ask what it was he whispered into my ears ‘Dela, that’s a deodorant. Prophet asked us to bring one each for today’s service. I got you one too’.’ A deodorant? For what?’ I quizzed myself in my thoughts. But I didn’t protest; I let that thought slide away. Right after that, Senyo zoomed into prayer. He was praying on top of his voice. I could hear his voice over the multitude of voices in the room. It warmed my heart to see young men praying fervently. Just in front of the pulpit, a group of five men had circled one short man. They were praying to a rhythm by swinging their waists two times and then clapping twice. They repeated the cycle over and over again. Who on earth prays by alternating between pelvic thrusts and claps? Anyway I thought it was very funny. I literally had to cover my lips with my palm to contain the pending outburst of laughter.

The young man leading the prayer was spotting an oversized long-sleeved shirt; a hugely knotted flying tie; a white belt and a white shoe to match it. He was sweating profusely as he prayed – swinging his left arm here and there while holding onto the microphone with the right. He suddenly uttered an extended hiss, indicating that he was about to change the prayer topic. ‘Hallelujah! Oh Hallelujah!’ he said with an extremely hoarse voice. Even before the congregation could respond he went on to elaborate on the next prayer topic:

‘Brethren, we are going to pray against the shpirit of doubt: the shpirit that compels many of us to doubt the anointing on the head of the Prophet. You see, in the bible, Paul refused to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Until Jesus appeared to him and the rest of the disciples in the room they had locked themselves in…’

‘Paul? Paul doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ? That was Thomas’ I thought to myself. But I shook off the thought and generously handed him the benefit of the doubt. I began to whisper a few words under my breath too. About two minutes into this prayer session I heard a few voices from behind me chanting ‘Baino! Baino!! Baino!!!’. Soon the entire auditorium was electrified as many began chanting ‘Baino!’ too. I couldn’t understand what was going on. I asked Senyo, who told me the prophet was making a majestic entry into the church from the back. I looked very confused. But with a smile on his face, Senyo explained, ‘The name is actually Prophet Binoculars. Many call him that because of his exceptional ability to see that which the naked human eye cannot see’. ‘So it is some sort of a nickname’, I retorted. The chanting went on and even gathered a lot of energy with each passing second. One could tell that this was a church tradition. The entry of the prophet was obviously more important to them than the prayer. I turned around to catch a glimpse of this glorious sight only to be surprised by the fact that it really was what I expected it to be: a glorious sight. He took slow steps as if he had no cares in the world. With raised shoulders and slightly pouted lips he waved his hands at the people who were cheering now. Prophet Bino looked angry – maybe just pompous. As he made his way past our row, I realized that the white velvet robe he wore swept the floor after him. The atmosphere was charged now. Many ran back and forth in the aisles as if possessed by the ‘Tazmanian devil’.

He motioned, and the room was as quiet as an examination hall. The very moment he took hold of the microphone he said with a deep voice, ‘you are welcome to the Christ Resurrected Nazarene Calvary Church, be seated’. ‘Christ what?’ the name of the church defies every single semantic rule in grammar. Just there and then he pointed at a woman in the front row. Ushers rushed to wrap a cloth around her waist. He said something about some yellowish liquid that had been oozing from the woman’s nether regions. She nodded in agreement – at this point she was standing right in front of the prophet. His thick left hand landed on the woman’s head in what appeared to be a struggle. He kept twisting and turning her head roughly while praying. After a while he declared, ‘I HAVE DELIVERED YOU!’. The cheers that followed this declaration were louder than the one that heralded his entry into the church. He shrugged and kept that posture while turning around: as if to say ‘you know me. This is nothing compared to the other mighty things I am known for’. Wow! I had never seen such a display of self-glorification before.

Prophet Bino instructed the congregation to take out their deodorants and rub it in their armpits. I didn’t want to be a part of what was going on at all. Many were mumbling a few words of prayer while doing it. Senyo was doing it with a special kind of zeal that he didn’t even notice I wasn’t complying with the instruction. At this point I was lost in thoughts. But I could still hear him say – well I heard it faintly – that anybody who was tickled by the rolling ball of the deodorant would know no sorrow and would laugh for the rest of their lives. The entire congregation roared with laughter at this point. I was far away from them. I was nowhere near the church. I could see scenes from my village square playing in my head. When I was 12 years old my mother took me to the village square for the very first time to witness the ‘Trogbor festival’. ‘Trogbor’ means ‘the return’ in Ewe. It is celebrated by the people of ‘Etodzi’ to mark the return of the spirits of dead relatives. Every year, these spirits paid the villagers a visit by possessing the fetish priest and his subjects. The fetish priest and his subjects would display several magical skills to the admiration of many as a result.  And when those gathered there clapped, he shrugged and kept the posture for a few seconds (so this was where I had seen that pose before). It was believed that the spirits of the villagers’ dead relatives possessed the priest and his subjects but one couldn’t tell whose relative was controlling which of them. They ran up and down like they had no sense of direction; occasionally crushing into each other and falling in the process. The villagers waved at them, in hope that they were waving at their departed kinsmen

I guess this was the connection between Prophet Bino and the fetish Priest: the conceited demeanor he exuded. I was literally deaf and blind to what was happening around me. Suddenly, I remembered the day I gave my life to Christ. I could almost still feel the rain water dripping down my face mixed with my own tears as I stood in front of the crusade grounds. The Evangelist who made the alter call spoke with such passion and fervency that many gave their lives to Christ that day. Somewhere in his sermon, he spoke about the eruption of false prophets and teachers especially in the cities. He spoke about how most of them are shepherding millions to hell. Anytime he mentioned ‘hell’ it was as if he was about to break down and cry. You could tell that he was grieved by the fact that some people would end up there. I now understood that that part of the sermon was about Prophet Bino and the many like him. I wondered if his followers ever read their Bibles to know what it said about such Prophets. Prophet Bino is nothing like Jesus. He isn’t meek, gentle or driven by compassion when he sees the multitude of people. Heck, from what I hear, he rarely preaches a sermon; he only shows up to display his ‘super powers’.

My heart was broken. I told Senyo I was leaving and handed him the deodorant: while trying to get up he held my arm, but I yanked it from his hands and walked away never to return.

See? So this is why Ghana may never go into the production of cars. Because other countries produce cars at a lower comparative cost and therefore we would have to concentrate on the production of goods that we have comparative advantage in. All I am trying to say is this, to the layman, the government of Ghana must attempt producing cars and assist private companies like Katanka. But this seemingly intelligent suggestion doesn’t make economic sense. Therefore, what seems logical to the layman isn’t logical in the field of Economics.

When it comes to religion – Christianity to be specific – people do not understand this simple idea. People do not understand the fact that what is completely logical in Christianity may come across as nonsense to them because they aren’t Christians. It is simple, just know that once you are not a Christian, certain things Christians do will never make sense to you so you just have to respect that and move on. I am saying this in connection with the recent frenzy about what men of God say. I think nowadays, too many journalists go to church for the wrong reasons (to fish for catchy headlines). Archbishop Duncan-Williams prayed a few months ago, commanding the cedi to rise! Well, I don’t particularly know what inspired him to do that but I was shocked when he became a laughing stock after that. Wait, shouldn’t we be laughing at the people who were trained in school to fix the problem and are in the position to do so but are fumbling badly like they were being electrocuted?  He is a man of God, what do you expect him to do? Pass a bill? Implement government’s policies? Clearly, he did what he was supposed to do and maybe if we all did same this country would be a million miles away from where we are. It isn’t as if he declared a fast and required everybody to stop working and pray? He just said a simple prayer and this prayer, when its answer materializes, will be beneficial to all of us. So what’s up with all the demeaning comments? For some mysterious reason, people believe prayer is a cheap getaway for lazy people and being prayerful simply means inactivity. Really? It is the bible that stated that faith without works is dead.

Let’s discuss the merits of that command the Archbishop uttered. He said ‘I command the cedi to rise’. This is a statement of authority which can only come from someone with spiritual oversight and jurisdiction over a particular area. What is wrong with this? Oh yeh, I get it, he was speaking to an inanimate entity and expected it to obey his voice. Excuse me, have you heard about Jesus Christ? Jesus was out there speaking and commanding invisible things like the wind. He cursed a fig tree. He healed an epileptic boy, not by casting out epilepsy, but by casting out a demon. I am not saying that every single physical occurrence has its roots in the spiritual world, but a lot of them do. I am more concerned about the fact that some Christians came out to openly deride the man of God. My question to them is this, is the bible a fable to you? Jesus said he who has faith can command a mountain to be uprooted and be thrown into the sea and it will happen. Well, maybe you are right when you assume He was speaking metaphorically. If He was, then it is only right for the man of God to command a mountainous economic situation. Remember what I said earlier, logic isn’t absolute; it varies from field to field. So what is logical in a particular worldview may be irrational in another.

As I stated earlier, people tend to assume that prayer gives prayerful people the impression that things are happening for them supernaturally hence they can fold their arms and look into the skies and manna would pour down. This isn’t correct. What prayer does sometimes is it sets physical processes in motion. The tree that Jesus cursed started withering from the roots gradually. Let’s look at the creation story for example; it is recorded in two different chapters in Genesis: these are Genesis one and two. Chapter 1 contains all the commands: the ‘let there be’s’ and the ‘calling forths’. But chapter two contains an account of the physical processes that were underway for the commands to materialize. Let’s take for example the creation of plants or the calling forth of vegetation. In verse 11 of chapter1, we see God command the earth to sprout vegetation. Nevertheless, in verse 5-7 of chapter 2, the bible says because there was no rain, plants couldn’t grow. So God caused a mist to hover on the earth thereby watering the earth which created an enabling environment for plants to grow. This is what the creation story in chapter2 of Genesis gives us: a detailed account of what transpired after God commanded. This goes to support my earlier point that commanding things spiritually(Prayer) comes to begin or even quicken physical processes. What if the Archbishop’s prayer was actually meant to give ideas to the economic team at the Central Bank of Ghana? What if it was going to quicken the process? A command is a command but there are things that work in the background to make it materialize. And this is seen vividly in the creation story.

On the other hand, we have seen many things happen in the church that don’t even make logical sense in Christianity. It seems the church is the last place to think. The truth is, you need to know the bible for yourself and weigh what you hear in church by it. As the bible itself said, in the last days there will be an eruption of false teachers and prophets. Therefore there is the need to be guarded with the truth of the word of God. Believers must think. Thinkers must believe. Nowadays, people seem to be drawn by miracles and signs and wonders more than the unadulterated word of God. On TV these days, we see so many churches airing deliverance sessions and it is an awful sight mostly. This is what a friend of mine, Abotsi, calls ‘prophetic journalism’ or ‘spiritual journalism’. These prophets seem to enjoy interviewing demons that are manifesting through people. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t like to be in a church where I would hear the voice of a demon more than the voice of God through my pastor. They spend countless minutes having discourses with demons meanwhile Jesus and Paul didn’t waste time on demons at all. They cast them out immediately; Paul and Silas cast out a demon from a girl who was even speaking the truth about them. The truth is you can’t trust the words of a demon. So to prevent confusion, shut them up and cast them out. I believe that a deliverance-centered ministration won’t waste precious time on one case but would want to deal with one quickly and totally before moving on to another. A lot of these things, I believe are just for showmanship.

Anyway, let’s just respect the fact that the activities of people who hold a different worldview may never make sense to us if we are not believers of that worldview. Also, the best way to judge if someone is doing what his worldview dictates, is to look at the originator. In Christianity, Jesus is the originator. So if Jesus didn’t interrogate demons, then it isn’t biblical to do so. But if Jesus spoke to inanimate objects, we SHOULD do same.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.