Now, here is a visualization I was working on towards the Christmas celebration – but I completed it about a week ago, so I’m now able to share it. It shows the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the birth of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. I was specifically interested in the topic because of the euphoria that characterizes modern-day Christmas festivities. A lot of it is just secular with zero reference to the Birthday Boy himself. This is my attempt to draw attention back to the reason for the season. There were numerous prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to the birth of this one individual and how they all come together in the mysteries surrounding the birth of Jesus. Now, if you are a student of biblical prophecies, you know there is a somewhat sub-genre called Messianic prophecies. I didn’t focus on Messianic prophecies as a full scope but only prophecies that deal with the birth of the Messiah.

The visualization is made up of a prominent Sankey chart and 3 bar charts beneath it.

Sankey Chart:

The Sankey chart features green nodes on the left and red nodes on the right. The green nodes represent prominent Prophets in the Old Testament who prophesied the birth of the Messiah. The size of each node is indicative of the number of times the said Prophet prophesied about Jesus’ birth. The red nodes represent the New Testament books in which these prophecies were fulfilled. Again, the sizes of the red nodes indicate the number of prophecies fulfilled in each New Testament book. The entire visualization is an interactive one; hence, you can especially check out the links between the green and red nodes to reveal more useful information. Once you hover your pointer over each green link, it reveals the following: the name of the Prophet, the exact Old Testament reference where the prophecy is recorded, the theme of the prophecy, the New Testament book in which it is fulfilled, and then the exact New Testament reference.

The bar charts

1. The green bar chart shows the number of prophecies each Prophet declared regarding the birth of the Messiah.
2. The blue bar chart shows the number of these prophecies that were recorded in the Old Testament books.
3. The red bar chart shows the number of these Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in New Testament books.

Follow this link to my Tableau Public account to check out the interactive version of the visualization:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/eli.sabblah/viz/MessiahBirthProphecies/MessaiahBirthProphecies

In most cases, coagulated lies lead to the prevalence of specific sinful activities amongst people groups like families, tribes, nations, generations, etc. Other times, they may not necessarily lead to sin, but to subtle negative human traits like gullibility, lack of purpose, laziness, skepticism, loss of hope, etc. The bottom line is that if a lie you believe goes unchecked, it grows to become a monster you are not equipped to deal with. 

Let’s take, for example, Postmodernism as an intellectual movement. I am no expert on the topic, but it is a philosophy that I find interesting, especially because of its prominent yet discreet presence in the trendy ideas of today. 

• Postmodernism is a movement that is characterized by skepticism, relativism, and a critique of grand narratives and universal truths. This philosophy indicates that there are no absolutes; everything about human reality is subjective. It has influenced disciplines such as architecture, art, and literature, creating unconventional approaches and non-uniform interpretations. By its name, it is obvious that it is a reaction to the earlier prevalent philosophy of Modernism. 
• Modernism is an intellectual movement that holds to grand narratives such as objectivity, rationality, historical progress, and identity. 

I would like to go on to share two postmodern ideas, and perhaps we can see how they play out in our world today: 

1. According to postmodernism, objectivity is dead. This is a very serious idea that has severe implications. The death of objectivity implies the death of truth. It means everything is subjective; ideas find their basis in the perspectives of individuals and not in this grand, imposing reality that we call the TRUTH. Postmodernism centers the individual’s feelings and view of things as the major driving force of their life. You can imagine the kind of chaos that this will generate in public discourse, education, life, and co-existence with other humans. Before I go down the never-ending rabbit hole of this postmodern idea, let me point out its impact on humanity today. I believe this idea has both catalyzed and radicalized the atheist movement in our world today. Atheism, itself, holds to the idea of subjectivity, especially regarding morality. To the atheist, the idea of an objective moral standard that all humans are supposed to submit to is non-existent. The truth is, objective moral reasoning points back to the existence of God, who is the objective and ultimate Moral Lawgiver. So, it is no news that atheists the world over will subscribe to this. The philosophy of the day also influences the language of the day. Hence, today, you will hear a lot of people using the term “my truth” or “your truth” in their speech. This personalization of truth is often a direct reference to the individual’s perspective or opinion. But truth, by nature, cannot be personalized; it is objective. Therefore, it should be classified as “THE TRUTH”; truth should always be preceded by the definite article “the”, not the indefinite article “a” or by any personal pronoun. Opinions and perspectives can be preceded by personal pronouns, but not the truth. All this is indicative of how pervasive and influential the postmodern philosophy can be. 
2. Postmodernists do not believe in dialogue (according to Jordan Peterson). This implies that they are often unwelcoming of divergent views on a topic. Hence, they tend to only entertain ideas similar to theirs or those that affirm theirs. I believe that this gave rise to the “cancel culture” we see pervasive in our world today. Where individuals are stripped of their credibility and credentials, sometimes because they shared an idea that is not in tune with the trendy philosophy of the day. Some speakers have been banned from speaking at some universities for this reason, and public figures have been ‘cancelled’ for things they said or shared on their social media pages. To be cancelled in this generation is to be boycotted; you, your person, anything that concerns you, and anything you produce will be disregarded by the masses. 

This is what I mean by untruths coagulating into something far more dangerous than the base lie. Postmodernism is only one of such philosophies. You can imagine how deadly this reality of coagulated lies and their impact on humanity is. My focus in this write-up is on the mob mentality of most people who hold to such philosophies. Usually, you will find that they act and serve the community of people who think like them without necessarily interrogating issues. So long as they identify with an idea and the community that is pushing it, that is always ample reason to act in the interest of that group without seeking the truth. 

Moving on, I will illustrate the above-stated argument from the bible. The biblical case study for this write-up is found in Acts 19, which tells the story of Paul’s missionary work in the city of Ephesus. I won’t bore you with the details; I will only highlight the aspects relevant to this article’s theme. 

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul achieved great things in his ministry. Entire cities turned to God, forsaking idolatry; case in point, the city of Ephesus. Not only in Ephesus, but throughout the whole of Asia, according to Acts 19:25. This alarmed Demetrius, a silversmith and astute businessman, who made and sold silver shrines of the goddess Artemis. He gathered the craftsmen and others in the city and stirred them up against Paul’s ministry for the following reasons: 

And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship. Acts 19:27

We can draw a few conclusions based on the bible verse above, but the most outstanding claim here is that the worship of Artemis was widespread in all of Asia and the ancient world. Paul’s message seemed to draw people away from it and rather towards God. In verse 26, Demetrius states that Paul taught throughout his ministry in Asia that “… gods made with hands are not gods”. This is very consistent with Paul’s teachings, seeing that he speaks against idolatry in 1st Corinthians 8, where he said: we know that ‘an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one”. And even in 1 Corinthians 10:20, Paul states that when pagans offer sacrifices to idols, they do so to demons instead.

The point here is: Is it true that gods made with hands are no gods? And is it true that idols are just props with demonic backing? I believe these questions are legitimate. The people of Ephesus, especially the business community, should have been preoccupied by these questions and a quest to find answers, instead, they thought of the decline in the demand for their products and the waning interest in the worship of Artemis. 

Demetrius’s campaign threw the whole city into an uproar. I would like to emphasize two interesting characteristics of the riots that accompanied it. 

1. The people were enraged, and they came together chanting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”. The chants went on for 2 hours (v. 34).
2. Now, some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Acts 19:32.

I would like to stress the second point here because it relates to the mob mentality point I made earlier. When a lie grows to become a philosophy, religion, worldview, or even church doctrine, sometimes it tends to be a strong movement that fuels a lot of disorderliness and chaos. People often subscribe to it without knowing the full implications of their choice. Especially in the story of the revival in Ephesus, many joined in the religious chant of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” who knew nothing about the origin of the riots. Yet they joined in the riots. The chaos is proof of who is behind the riots: the father of lies. He is behind the idea of men worshipping man-made artefacts and serving them as gods. This is why Paul refers to idols as mere props with demonic backing. Demetrius was a businessman who played on the religiosity of the people. he had selfish reasons for doing so and knew how to incite the masses to his advantage. He was looking out for his business, and presented it to the people in a way that made it seem like he was standing up for the worship of Artemis. The belief in idols had grown to the point where it was a coagulated lie in Ephesus that even influenced the kind of thriving businesses being done there. This is another testament to the pervasiveness of coagulated lies; they permeate every sphere of life and occupy every little space if allowed to. As a Christian, of course, I don’t believe idol worship is a true pursuit of GOD. The way, the truth, and the life is Jesus.

I would like to conclude by answering two salient questions:

How do you dispel coagulated lies? 

1. The GOSPEL: (So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily, Acts 19:20). This was the impact of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus.
   1. “… the gospel functions as a critique of all temples, whether the Parthenon in Athens, the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, or even … the Temple in Jerusalem itself”.  (According to NT Wright)

2. Spiritual warfare: For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion (philosophies) raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

How do you guard against coagulated lies?

By being vigilant, keeping your eyes on Jesus, always keeping watch over your faith, and doing an inventory of your core beliefs to ensure that you are still holding strong to the core tenets of Christianity. I put the responsibility on the believer because the bible says in Colossians 2:8 that “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ”.

It is already established from the previous article who the father of lies is. In this one, we will explore, from the biblical perspective, how Satan employs all manner of devices to spread lies. 

At the center of the Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:16, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Furthermore, belief in the resurrection differentiates Christianity from other faiths and world views. The historicity of Jesus Christ is not often disputed. In Islam, he is seen as a Prophet and Messenger of God and according to renowned secular (read agnostic-atheist) New Testament historian Bart Ehrman, Jesus did exist. Often, the bone of contention between Christianity and other worldviews or faiths is the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. According to scripture, as early as the very day Jesus was resurrected, the father of lies attempted to employ his greatest weapon to cover up the resurrection. This scheme of Satan, aimed at the very heart of Christianity, would have ended the spread of the gospel in the ancient world. According to the account in Matthew 28:11-15, the resurrection was indeed reported to the Chief Priests of the Jews by the soldiers guarding the tomb. But what was their reaction to this news?:

And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

The devout religious leaders and elders of the land took counsel to bury the truth of Jesus’ resurrection by silencing eyewitnesses with money and binding themselves with the commitment to defend them before the governor. All of this constitutes the hatching of the plan to spread a lie instead of the truth having its free course. But was it successful? To an extent, yes, it was! According to Matthew in verse 15 of the chapter under consideration, the soldiers did take the money “and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day”.  The phrase “… to this day” implies that the false story was still circulating when Matthew was penning his gospel.  Historians differ in their estimations of the dates the gospels were written. However, it is widely believed that Matthew was written around AD 80. Some scholars estimate a later date. Now, whatever the case may be, it points to the fact that the lie that Jesus’ body was stolen by his disciples was spread for 80+ years. Even though there were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ, the lie still traveled for 80+ years. Even to date, some people still believe this lie; it is called the stolen body hypothesis.

One thing you should always remember about lies is that they spread! Indeed they spread swiftly like wild fire. Lies spread by the agency of people; I call them agents of falsehood. Of course, the father of lies is at the helm of affairs. Remember from the previous article that Jesus referred to the Jews as children of the devil because of their opposition to the truth. In this case, the Jews served as Satan’s agents of untruth and the spread of lies. Agents of falsehood often disseminate a lie or oppose the truth so that lies spread. We must endeavour to know them, expose them, and do everything possible not to imitate them. 

Below I have characterized the agents of falsehood according to their intentions and flaws. 

• Evil-intentioned people – these are individuals who either spread lies by themselves or facilitate the spread of lies to fulfill the will of the father of lies. Sometimes, their greatest contribution to the spread of lies is to oppose the truth. People who fall into this category spread falsehood to promote the agenda of Satan and this is what makes them evil. In the context of this series, a typical example would be the Jews and religious leaders of Jesus’ day. In John 8, Jesus describes them as children of the devil because of their murderous intent towards him and the fact that they don’t stand in the truth. Again, from the resurrection story discussed earlier, the Chief Priests and the elders of the Jews fall under this category as well, especially because of their strong opposition to the truth of the resurrection. They bribed the guards at the tomb and even fed them with a contrary story to spread. From my earlier estimation, this story was passed on for nearly a century. The impact of this lie, probably, is that some people heard it, accepted it, and denied the resurrection based on it. That is evil!
• Ignorant and lazy people – these are people who hold to the poor work ethic of not fact-checking the information they receive. They tend to spread lies without doing the necessary due diligence. They spread lies with no evil intent only that they lack the discipline of fact-checking the information they receive before spreading it. Other times, such people are way too confident about the assumptions and conclusions they draw about others. They tend to observe a person and draw heavy conclusions based on very little evidence. This kind of agents of falsehood can be seen in the story of Demetrius (Acts 19) and how he influenced people in the city of Ephesus to oppose the truth of the gospel. What fascinates me about this story is the fact that Demetrius’ influence caused a riot in Ephesus and the bible says in Acts 19:32 that most of the people involved in the riot, chanting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”, did not even know why they were there. Simply put, they joined in the chorus to oppose the truth of the gospel and spread the lie of the worship of Artemis but they didn’t bother to find out why the riot was happening and to what end. At some point, the bible says the riots continued for 2 hours (Acts 19:34). These are lazy and ignorant people who will not do due diligence before contributing to opposing the truth or spreading a lie. 
• Greedy People – these are people who stand to gain a lot when lies spread. In most cases, they either start the fire of deception themselves or support its spread. A typical example of this is Demetrius. Paul’s ministry was influencing people in the city of Ephesus to desist from idolatry. This was affecting Demetrius’ business as a silversmith who made silver shrines of the goddess Artemis. He opposed the truth of God’s word for selfish gains. He started the riots by joining forces with the craftsmen of Ephesus to oppose the truth of God’s word because his business was being affected by the spread of the gospel in Ephesus.  
• Fearful people – these are individuals who happen to either know the truth or doubt the lie however, they spread the lie anyway because they are afraid of the repercussions of doing otherwise. Sometimes they do not spread lies intentionally, but fear grips them causing them to disassociate themselves from the truth. This facilitates the spread of lies. A biblical example of this category is the story of Peter and the number of times he denied knowing Jesus. Interestingly, Jesus had already told Peter this would happen. However, Peter still failed to uphold the truth or defend his association with the truth even before a little girl, the servant of the High Priest, according to Mark 14:66. In a situation where it felt like there was a mob running on the energy of the lie that Jesus was blasphemous and deserved to die, anybody who was found associated with him or defending him would have faced a similar punishment. Hence, Peter, and we can include the rest of the Apostles except John, did not associate himself publicly with the truth because of the fear of losing his life. 

I have found that, on a personal level, you will encounter people who fall into any of the groups listed above or a combination of two or more of them. These individuals might be your friends or close family members and relations who will facilitate the spread of lies about you either by their actions or inactions. Again, at the helm of affairs is the father of lies but he needs human agents to facilitate his schemes. And at any given time he can use anybody who avails himself to him. Anytime I hear complete falsehoods being propagated about someone to tarnish their image or for whatever purpose, I almost always attribute it to the father of lies. Yes, the individuals involved must be held responsible for spreading untruths, half-truths and fake news, but behind the scenes is the great liar. In such cases, I have found that prayer is a more potent attempt at saving your reputation than actually trying to employ PR tactics. Sometimes, the extent to which the lies are spread is beyond your reach hence there is very little you can do. You can explain yourself over and over again but it will not suffice. I suggest you spend time praying about it and trusting God to allow the truth to come out so you can be vindicated. It is not easy to seek to nullify the impact of a viral lie about you with the truth. But God is able to do all things.

Looking back at the analogy I made about lies and truth in the opening paragraph, I will say that although lies spread faster, the truth is more majestic, hence its seemingly slow pace in catching up with the lie. But when it eventually does, it disintegrates the lie into nothingness. God has a way of exposing the folly of lies and liars by introducing or confirming the majesty of the truth. There is no hope for the lie when the truth catches up. Liars and agents of falsehood often suffer bigger dents to their credibility and reputation than the subjects of their lies. If you find yourself battling the spread of lies about you, no matter the virality or coverage the lie seems to have received, take it to the LORD in prayer. He will vindicate you and redeem your image because you are his child.

As you may already know, the Bible begins with the description of a formless, empty, and dark earth. Then, we are systematically taken through the creation of the earth and everything that dwells in it. We will not go into details regarding creation but rather God’s sustainability plan for the planet. This is seen in two concepts that we are introduced to in the opening passages of the Bible. 

These are:

• The concept of Goodness: “Good” literally means anything that is desired or approved. It also means anything that possesses required qualities or meets a particular moral standard. The concept of goodness therefore encapsulates all these definitions and illustrations of “good”. This concept is first seen in Genesis when God was so pleased with his own creation that he called it good! This is the first time anything is described as good according to scripture and it was based on God’s assessment. This simply makes him the originator and definer of goodness. Hence, it is important that we consistently check back with him to ensure our definition of goodness aligns with his. This proves the point that God remains the objective point of reference for morality as well. He is the supreme assessor and the originator of the concept of goodness. Nothing was said to be good until he said so; nothing will ever be good outside of his assessment and stamp or approval.

• The concept of Stewardship: Stewardship refers to the careful and responsible management of something. Hence, the concept of stewardship in this context refers to the charge God gave man to keep the earth and to be good stewards of his creation. The Bible states categorically that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord (James 1:17). God handed the earth to man (as a good and perfect gift) to keep, to have dominion over it and subdue it. This presupposes two things:
  • The earth doesn’t belong to man; the earth is the LORD’s
  • God has given the earth to man to keep it. 

God didn’t command man to let the earth be as it is. He said in Genesis 1:28 that man should subdue the earth. To subdue anything implies to bring it under control. It also implies, in this context, that the earth or nature has the propensity to go rogue, hence there is the need for special attention and the development of specific capacities that can help humans work to keep the earth in its pure state. This is the idea that has necessitated such professions and fields of study as environmental science, environmental conservation, natural resource management, etc. To subdue the earth doesn’t imply that man has the right to treat nature in whatever way pleases him. Especially, since God declared creation “good” then it means that our sole duty as stewards of the good gift that creation is to us is to preserve and conserve it so that the Master will still find it to be good. It is a lot of work to keep nature in its purest state. No wonder some professionals have dedicated their lives to keeping the earth. Every human being, so long as they live on this earth, must contribute to the sustainability and preservation of nature. Why? Because “the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). This is God’s charge to the human race concerning the earth: to work it and keep it. 

Therefore any human activity that degrades nature and our environment is diabolic and against the will of God. This is why I spent considerable time and space explaining the two concepts above, they go hand in hand and if adhered to, the purity of nature will be preserved and conserved, first to the glory of God then for the benefit of mankind and nature itself. The concept of stewardship refers to the command to subdue the earth. Adhering to this alone without understanding that God has declared creation good and requires it to remain good could spell doom for us all. Without an understanding of the concept of goodness, it seems man is given the sole responsibility of keeping the earth without an objective point of reference as to how to keep it and what the benchmark for a well-kept earth is. But once we combine the two concepts (goodness and stewardship), we have both the charge to keep the earth and the standard we have to maintain in doing so. In this case, the standard is “goodness according to the LORD” and the charge is to work and keep the earth.

God assessed and declared creation “good” 6 times in the creation story alone, when he appears here on earth today will he still find it “good”?

From the Christian perspective, God is deeply concerned about what happens on and to the earth. Some people believe that God set things in motion and left the earth to its fate; they are called Deists. Deism is a philosophical belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. Jehovah, the God of the Bible, cannot be equated to the Deist god because throughout scripture he shows us that he cares about how humans live and what they do on and to the earth. Here is proof; a few environmental laws the LORD gave in the Old Testament: 

1. Sabbath for the Land (Leviticus 25:1-7): Every seventh year, the land was to be given rest from cultivation. This practice allowed the soil to recover and prevented over-exploitation.
2. Preservation of Fruit Trees (Deuteronomy 20:19-20): When besieging a city, the Israelites were forbidden from destroying fruit trees. This law promoted the preservation of valuable resources.
3. Waste Management (Deuteronomy 23:12-14): Specific instructions were given about designating areas outside the camp of Israel for human waste and covering it, maintaining cleanliness, and preventing disease. In verse 14, we are told that the reason for this particular instruction is that “the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp…”. This presupposes that the Israelites previously disposed of human waste within their camp and it wasn’t pleasing to the LORD. 

God used to walk in the midst of the camp of Israel, I believe he is still doing that today: walking in the midst of his people. My concern is, if he walks throughout the country of Ghana, will he be pleased with how we have kept the land, water bodies, plant and animal life, etc? The idea of establishing a natural ecosystem where different living things rely on each other for survival is God’s original plan. From the creation story, we are told there was a river that flowed through the garden of Eden to water it (Genesis 2:10). This depicts the dependency of plant life on water bodies. The flourishing of plants is highly dependent on proximity to sources of water. This reality is even used as a metaphor to illustrate the state of a godly man who delights himself in the LORD in Psalm 1:3. The Bible describes such a man as “a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither”. 

It is also interesting to note that there was a river in Eden called Pishon which flowed around the land of Havilah, where there was a lot of gold. The gold in Havilah is described as good. It is as if the creation story in Genesis is trying to emphasize the fact that a land that has a lot of gold in it can (or should) coexist with rivers in their purest state. The point is that rivers don’t have to be polluted because there is gold in the land. Unfortunately, we cannot say this about Ghana. Illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as Galamsey, has destroyed the vegetation of most mining communities in the country and polluted the rivers in those same communities. 

One thing about water is that it flows; it flows with the pollutants and the impurities in it. Hence, the pollution is fast spreading into other water bodies all over the country. I saw this for the first time while on a flight to Cote d’Ivoire in 2019. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the extent of degradation and the fact that it was visible even on a flight got me concerned more. Guess what, on my flight to Ghana from Senegal a few days ago, I took the pictures below. I heard the pilot mumble a few words but I wasn’t paying attention till I heard the phrase “… we have entered the Ghana air space…”. Just to be sure, I looked out of the window and there it was; proof that we had entered the Ghana air space.

Ironically, I was returning from a Climate Change workshop. According to the Ghana National Climate Change Policy 2013, illegal mining and even other forms of mining are key challenges this country faces in the “Management and Resilience of Terrestrial, Aquatic and Marine Ecosystems”. This is to say that mining activities, whether legal or illegal, could have negative implications on nature – be it life underwater or on land. 

We are facing a major challenge with this menace. It is the commercialization of environmental degradation and since the effects on the general populace are not readily visible, the advocacy against it will always appear irrelevant to perpetrators. There is a lot of advocacy going on online and through protests in Accra, some other parts of the country, and even in the UK. One thing is for sure, people are concerned and worried sick of this menace. We rather find a certain level of reluctance or unwillingness on the part of the authorities in charge to nip this issue in the bud. I will not make assumptions here, but if it is the case that we found out that there is illegal mining being done 200 meters away from a Police Station in Anyinam and the police are yet to make an arrest, what kind of conclusions do you expect us to draw from this?

All of this is embarrassing and those in charge should bow their heads in shame. In a proper jurisdiction where the laws work and policies are implemented, all involved parties would be facing some jail time or some other punishment due to their actions and inactions. 

If you walk away from this post remembering nothing at all, I need you to remember that the earth is the LORD’s and he assessed it and found it to be good. Have we done a good job at working and keeping the earth? Will God be pleased with the state of our environment? I have no biblical basis to assume that we have been good stewards of the good gift that the earth is to us. Again, the earth is the LORD’s and he has given it to the children of man (Psalm 115:16). We haven’t been good stewards of the LORD’s good gift. 

(Feature image taken at Twifo Praso by Mawuli Adjabeng in 2019)

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today”, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin – Hebrews 3:13

Glad to have you here once again to read my blog. I read Hebrews 3:13 some time ago and was intrigued by the phrase the deceitfulness of sin. This blog post is basically a summary of my thoughts on the phrase . It is my prayer that as you read this post, you come to the realization that sin is deceitful and will never fulfil its meagre promises.

• Deceitfulness refers to the quality of misleading and giving the wrong impression. It is the tendency to be deceptive and dishonest. 
• Sin is said to possess the quality of deceitfulness. This implies that it doesn’t deliver on the promises it makes to you. 
• Sin is alluring, tempting and attractive for a number of reasons including the following:
  • It promises long lasting pleasure. 
  • It promises relief
  • It promises secrecy
  • It promises security 
  • It promises independence and freedom
  • It promises happiness
  • It promises painlessness
  • It promises everlasting excitement
  • It promises peace / peace of mind
  • It promises to serve you rather than to be served
• The consequences of sin are its secret promises. The seeming promises of sin are actually fake marketing campaigns. It’s like the screen saver of a computer and the appearance of the desktop. Once you touch your mouse or the touchpad, the screen saver disappears and gives way for the appearance of the desktop background. This is the relationship between the promises sin makes you and the actual consequences of sin. 
• According to the verse under discussion, sin has consistently proven to fail at delivering on any of its promises. The deceitfulness of sin points to sin’s lack of integrity; it cannot keep its word even if it tried. 
• Time and time again, we all fall for the allure of sin and just give in to its demands. In our hearts, we sort of harbour a slight hope that sin could be miraculously truthful or honest to us and grant us our wishes or the things it promises. 
• The reason why we are so tempted by sin is that we confer on sin God-qualities. One of which is “goodness”. But sin is not good. 
• Sin is consequential; every single sin is consequential. 
• Some of the consequences of sin include:
  • Physical death
  • Eternal death
  • Open and secret shame
  • Guilt 
  • Sickness
  • Depression, anxiety, sadness etc. 
  • Servitude to the flesh and sin
  • Loss of glory and favour with God and man
  • Hardness of heart
  • Rebellion (especially against God)
• Sin hardens you or hardens your heart by rendering you insensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. Pursuing the ephemeral pleasures of sin will render the individual numb to the nudge of the Mighty Holy Spirit therefore resulting in either “backsliddenness” or a falling away from the faith. 
• Sin is costly. It is so costly that dealing with it required divine, holy and eternal blood. Jesus had to come and die for the sins of the world (past, present and future). That’s how costly sin is. 
• Sin has the most bitter after-taste. However, its allure is as strong, hence it is able to imprison people and subject them to a repeated cycle between chokehold and slight relief we like to call addiction. 
• Enslavement to sin starts as a willful action. The chains of sin are light when you decide to put them around your neck, wrists or feet. But soon enough you will realise how heavy they are to shake off or even cast off. 
• Therefore, we shouldn’t joke with sin especially because it has eternal consequences. 
• Sin is not a thing to be toyed with because it is capable of ruining lives and leading people out of the presence of God and straight to hell. 
• Sin must be avoided like a plague. Because, to put it mildly, it is a plague or even worse than a plague. For whereas plagues may have no eternal consequences, sin does.

Many Christians have asked questions about the fate of the soul of a person who committed suicide. Is suicide a one-way ticket to hell? Does God’s mercies make provision for people who commit suicide? Etc. I would like us to first look at a few suicide stories in the bible and see why those individuals committed the act in the first place. There are a number of such stories in the bible – especially in the Old Testament. I’m no expert in this however I will attempt to put these stories into categories. First we will look at the bible characters who almost committed suicide or expressed their desire for death, those who did it with the help of others and then those who actually did it on their own. 

I would like to start with the stories of those who almost committed suicide or expressed a strong desire for death. From my observation of some of these stories, I have come to the realization that ‘death before dishonour’ was a guiding principle for most people in ancient Israel. This points to the fact that in some of these stories the individuals were prepared to kill themselves lest they endure the pain or shame that accompanies dying at the hands of their foes or being put to death by their superiors because of some error on their part. This fact cuts across all the categories of suicides in the bible listed above. For example, in the famous jail-escape story of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:25-28) we see this happen. The two of them spent time singing praises to God and praying at midnight, soon there was an earthquake and the jail gates were opened. When the jailer realized the gates were opened he supposed the prisoners had escaped so he drew his sword and was ready to kill himself. Paul cried out and told him to stop. Now let us analyse this event critically. The jailer in this story was prepared to die rather than face the punishment that would be meted out to him if the prisoners who had been put in his care had escaped. Whatever the punishment was, it couldn’t have been worse than death. Hence, it appears in his bid to commit suicide, he was aiming at preventing something more severe, shameful and dishonourable than death. He preferred death to dishonour. This jailer is in this category because he didn’t follow through with his intentions. He was stopped by Paul and later, he gave his life to Christ. 

Elijah also fits into this category. He did not necessarily make an attempt to end his life but he expressed his desire for death because of some challenges he was facing. He prayed and asked God to kill him. He said ‘It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1Kings 19:4). He said this because Jezebel was after his life. This may not quite fit perfectly into the principle of ‘death before dishonour’ but in some sense it does. Here we see Elijah expressing his desire to die at the hands of God rather than Jezebel’s. Maybe because it wasn’t death he was really afraid of but the dishonor of dying at the hands of Jezebel. 

The second category of suicide victims in the bible are those who asked someone else for help. The first of such stories is that of Abimelech. Abimelech, had just won a war against Gaal and his brothers. Later he heard that some of the men (he had just fought with) were hiding in the stronghold of the temple of the god of Berith. He and his men went after them and set the stronghold on fire and killed as many as 1000 men and women. Afterwards, he went to Thebez and he encamped there. The people there had also fled into their strong tower, shut it and went up the tower. Abimelech came near the tower and drew near the door to burn it, but a certain woman at the top of the strong tower dropped a millstone on Abimelech’s head. Abimelech preferred death to dishonour or a seemingly braver death than a dishonourable one. So he called his armour bearer and said to him, “draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me ‘a woman killed him’” Judges 9:54. The armour bearer killed Abimelech at his command. It is a kind of suicide. It was also inspired by the ‘death before dishonour’ principle. Just like the others, he didn’t fear death per se. What he feared was the ‘dishonourable’ death at the hands of a woman. 

 The second person in this category is Samson. He also committed suicide with the aide of someone. When the Philistines had finally captured him, they gouged out his eyes and brought him out into their temple to make fun of him while they made merry. He asked the young boy who held him by the hand to take him to pillars that supported the temple so he could lean on them. He later prayed to God to give him strength. Samson positioned himself in the middle of the pillars and said (to God) ‘let me die with the Philistines’. He pushed the pillars and the temple came tumbling down. It was said that the death toll of this act far exceeded the number of Philistines Samson killed before his capture. Samson did this not because he wanted to prevent a dishonourable death, but he wanted vengeance against the Philistines for gouging out his eyes. And so vengeance is one of the reasons people commit suicide.  

The last group of suicide victims are those who actually did the act on their own, unaided. 

One of the most prominent suicide stories throughout all of scripture is that of Saul, the first king of Israel. He had spent a long time pursuing David in an attempt to kill him. While warring against the Philistines one time, they struck down the sons of Saul. The Philistine archers also wounded Saul badly. In that state, Saul told his armour bearer ‘draw your sword, and thrust me through with it,lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me’. Again, we see the principle of ‘death before dishonour’ at play here, even with much more detail. Saul, preferred to die at the hands of his armour bearer than to be killed by the Philistines ( referred to as uncircumcised) who would have mistreated him. His armour bearer couldn’t obey Saul’s command because of fear so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 

Ahithophel also committed suicide when his counsel was not followed. In those days the counsel of Ahithophel was as if one had consulted God on a matter. But when he joined Absalom’s camp, David prayed to the LORD to turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. It did happen and Ahithophel couldn’t bear the shame of having his counsel ignored by Absalom. The bible says, he went home and put his house in order and hanged himself. 

I dare say the most prominent suicide story in the bible is that of Judas Iscarriot. His, was prophesied by David in the Old Testament and quoted by Peter in Acts 1:20. Judas’ suicide is the most popular because of the reason he did it. He had betrayed Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world for 30 pieces of silver. He later committed suicide because of shame and guilt. When he learnt that Jesus had been crucified he attempted to return the money he got for the betrayal. Then he hanged himself and died. He couldn’t bear the guilt of being the one disciple who collaborated with the enemies of Christ to kill him. 

I just wanted to make the point that people desire to die or commit suicide for so many reasons. It could be that they do it to prevent something dishonourable from happening to them, some also do it because of vengeance and others because of shame and guilt. At least these are the reasons why these characters in the bible attempted or committed suicide. 

Death is the most certain event in every human life yet its suddenness still leaves most of us in shock and fear. Death causes grief however, death by suicide causes a special kind of grief. This is because both the dead and the living close relations of the dead are all victims. Those who die by suicide are called victims of suicide. In some parts of the world, attempted suicide is a crime, implying that the worth of every human life is protected under the laws of the land against (even) him/herself. ‘You cannot get up one day and take your life’, that is what the law seems to say. Life is sacred. Life gets its worth from the giver of life himself who is God. 

On the question of where the souls of victims of suicide go, I can neither say ‘to hell’ nor ‘to heaven’ because it is a matter of judgment. Moses called the LORD ‘the judge of all the earth’. I trust that in such matters the judge of all the earth will judge righteously. Dr. Ravi Zacharias, who himself attempted suicide at the age of 17, was asked this same question. His answer was very profound. He too mentioned that only God can judge where any of us would spend eternity. What he added to that statement is what I find outstanding. He said ‘I wouldn’t want to meet Jesus after I have committed suicide’. What would you tell Jesus when you meet him after committing suicide? That you lost hope? That you preferred killing yourself to experiencing something dishonourable? So long as there is life, there is hope. I pray that anybody who reads this piece and is suicidal would reach out to God and the support system around them for help. Some of us actually need to get professional help from a counselor or a therapist. Your life is precious. Your life is precious. God wants you to be on this side of eternity until he calls you home. Hold on tight!

We will all stand before the LORD after we die to face judgment. I don’t know about any of you but I sure wouldn’t been looking forward to seeing after committing suicide. 

Justice is defined in the dictionary simply as fairness,equality, equity etc. It is a term we are all familiar with especially in this generation. In our world today, there are many people working tirelessly to ensure that others get justice, by way of being treated fairly by other human beings and equally before the law. It is so interesting to see how many people (both young and old) who identify themselves as socially conscious people and use their little power and influence to advocate for justice and social justice for others.  The modern day term for that is ‘woke’. Being woke is almost becoming trendy nowadays. In rap and popular music,the term that is more widely used for artists that address social issues is‘conscious’. For obvious reasons, conscious rappers are more respected than the commercial ones. This is because they are seen as artists who give up a certain level of commercial success just so they can do advocacy through their art. Commercial rappers have always been seen as those that would make songs for the radio;songs that would make people dance and not necessarily carry a socially beneficial message. In recent times, conscious rappers are selling as many albums as the commercial ones, which didn’t used to be the case in the not so distant past. ‘Consciousness’ is commercial nowadays. Why? Because this generation is fast becoming a ‘woke’ one.

 Christians have been involved in many socially beneficial projects over the centuries. At the same time some Christians have done injustice to individuals, nations and generations that have caused many to doubt the core tenets of the Christian faith. Nevertheless the theme of Justice is prominent throughout scripture. As early as the 4^th chapter of Genesis, we see God revealing himself to us as the God of Justice. The story in this chapter of Genesis is about the murder of Abel by his own brother Cain.One of the things I find so remarkable about this story is that, even before Cain acted upon his evil desires, God came warning him. God said to Cain, ‘sin is crouching at the door, its desire is for you, you must rule over it’. One thing we must know about God is that, he hates injustice. In this instance we see him speaking to Cain before he commits the act. But as we all know, Cain didn’t heed to the warning God gave him. He went on and slew his own brother. For his punishment, God cursed the ground that he worked on as a farmer and made him a fugitive and a wanderer. Then the Lord put a mark on Cain lest anyone should kill him for the evil deed he had done. This part of the story amazes me too.In meting out punishment, God is still merciful. God’s justice is fair and his punishments are deserving. Cain himself admitted his punishment was too heavy,therefore we can say the judgment of the Lord was fair. However, certain people out of disgust at what Cain did MIGHT HAVE TAKEN IT UPON THEMSELVES to mete out a seemingly stiffer punishment to Cain by killing him. To prevent this, God put a mark on Cain. This is the first time we are introduced to the theme of ‘mob justice vs God’s justice’ (although in a subtle way).

One of the most outstanding facts I discovered throughout our studies over the past weeks is that God loves to identify himself as the God of Justice. Our reaction to this should be a recognition of the fact that he is indeed the God of justice and since we are his people we must also become‘people of Justice’. The 10 commandments are recorded in Exodus 20. Before the Lord dictated the laws to Moses, he said in verse 2 ‘I am the LORD your God,who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’. The Jews were in slavery for over 400 years in the land of Egypt. God through his servant saved them and went on to punish the Egyptians. By saying what he said in the verse quoted above, he was basically saying ‘I am the God who heard your cry while you were in slavery and gave you justice’. When Moses saved the Israelites, Justice was served. God loves justice and associates himself with it.

 In 2^nd Samuel 12, there is a very interesting story that is very essential to the topic under discussion. The story is about how God uses a prophet, his mouthpiece, to speak truth to power and to correct injustice. This is how God often used the prophets in the Old Testament. In this case, Nathan received a message from God concerning the killing of Uriah which was orchestrated by David the king. God sent Nathan his prophet to speak to David and also tell him the punishment that was due him for sleeping with Bathsheba (when he had numerous wives) and killing Uriah to cover up his evil deed. This is God’s punishment to David, ‘I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun’. God hates injustice and when it comes to meting out punishment he is impartial.Justice was served and God used a prophet in the process just as he did with Moses (a prophet) in bringing justice to the Israelites.

 The justice thread remains prominent in all sections of the tapestry of the Old Testament. Be it the law, the prophets, the wisdom books etc. the theme of justice can be found there. Here are a few verses that prove this point:

Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, and plead the widow’s
cause.

2 Samuel 8:15
so David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people.

 Amos 5:24
but let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

The New Testament is no exception to the dominance of the theme of justice in scripture. At a later time I will look at the theme of justice exclusively in the New Testament. However, there is one passage that stands out for me and it is also very significant to the topic under discussion. Jesus told a parable about the unrighteous judge and the persistent widow in Luke 18. This woman kept going to this judge saying ‘give me justice against my adversaries’. The bible describes the judge as someone who ‘NEITHER FEARED GOD NOR RESPECTED MAN’. Please keep this description in mind as you read on. The woman’s persistence led the judge to then say this:

Though I neither FEAR GOD NOR RESPECT MAN, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming

It is for this reason that the bible describes this man as an unrighteous judge. One of the reasons Jesus told this parable was to point out the fact that not everybody fighting for justice is doing it for the right reason. Not everybody who claims to be ‘woke’ is ‘woke’ for the right reasons. Some people are doing it for personal gain and sometimes just for their own comfort. Just like this judge, he didn’t grant the woman justice because he thought she deserved it, but he did so because he wanted her to stop bothering him.

 In this very same parable, Jesus gives us the formula for pursuing biblical justice: FEAR GOD AND RESPECT MAN.These are the very two qualities that the judge himself admitted he didn’t have. He neither feared God nor respected man. Never get it mixed up. Your ‘wokeness’ should stem from a reverential fear of God first, then a respect for human beings. Your ‘wokeness’ can drive you away from God if you don’t follow this formula. There are so many social justice movements in the world today that go against the word of God. As a Christian, you have no business taking part in these all in the name of ‘wokeness’. Does it glorify God? Does it benefit humanity? Ask yourself these questions before you identify yourself with any social justice and justice movement out there.

At least once every month I see a street magician set up his ‘apparatus’ at some vantage point on the streets of Accra to display his magical powers in the full glare of a captivated crowd encircling him and his side kick. I have been told that it is actually a ploy to create the opportunity for pickpockets to steal from people. I don’t know how true that is but what I do know is that the goal of a street magician is to ‘WOW’ his audience but the end goal of the miraculous is to solve a problem and glorify God.

In 2015 I was in a service and Dr. Lawrence Tetteh prayed for a little girl whose legs were unequal in length. All of us in the congregation literally saw the little girl’s leg grow out slowly. It was amazing. I had never seen anything like that before. I was wowed! It was spectacular. However, the point is God didn’t set out to impress us by that miracle that day. He has already done that enough in the splendor and majesty of the universe and creation at large. That day God simply set out to solve a problem in a little girl’s life. It was a health problem. This reality dawned on me when the lady sitting next to me told me the little girl’s story. Apparently, she knew her and long story short, the little girl was supposed to have a surgery some time ago but her parents couldn’t afford it. It was then that it really dawned on me that what just happened was a major solution to a problem in the little girl’s life only that the solution came dressed in the supernatural. The miraculous is meant to make social impact so let’s not get lost in the grandeur and forget the true purpose of miracles. In my opinion this is the reason why Jesus didn’t sin when the devil tempted him. He knew that the true purpose of the miraculous was to help people and bring glory to God. Miracles are not done to merely show off God’s power. Some of us wouldn’t have even known that the devil was tempting us if we were in Jesus’ shoes. We would have seen it as an opportunity to show off God’s power. But it wasn’t. Where is the problem solved? Where is the glory to God? If Jesus had done the devil’s bidding he would have cheapened the miraculous and dishonored God who gives us power to do miracles.

When Jesus healed the blind, the lame, the leprous etc. he was solving health problems. In the book of Acts Peter’s shadow and aprons rubbed off on Paul’s body healed sick people – a solution to health problems too. When Joseph, used his gift of prophecy (word of wisdom) to save Egypt and other nations from famine, he was solving a hunger and economic problem. When Jesus fed the 5000 men and the 4000 men, he too was solving a hunger problem. When Moses used the power of his rod to save the children of Israel from Egypt, he was solving a slavery and servitude problem. The bad water of Jericho was killing people, when Elisha prophesied over the water and turned it into good water, he was solving an environmental problem. In the garden of Gethsemane when the soldiers came for Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus healed the soldier (by putting the ear back in its place, I suppose) right there and then he rebuked Peter. When Jesus did that, he was dealing with the problem of religious extremism. When Jesus instructed Peter to go catch a fish, open its mouth and remove some money from it and use it to pay the temple tax, what he was doing was employing the miraculous to solve a financial problem in the temple. I can go on and on and space and time won’t allow me to finish giving examples.

In our day and age though there is a dramatic advancement in science and technology yet the miraculous has not lost its essence. Healing evangelists are moving from town to town, city to city and country to country, healing the sick, raising the dead and above all restoring the lost to the fold of God. These are examples of social problems being solved by the hand of God. Advancement in knowledge doesn’t mean the miraculous is outmoded neither does the miraculous imply that there is no need for pursuing knowledge. We need Christians to function in both capacities to the glory of God. I believe the advancement humanity has made in knowledge helps us (those who haven’t experienced certain health problems before) appreciate the cost of a miracle sometimes. Until you know how expensive an eye surgery is, you will never understand the joy of a poor blind man healed at one of the Healing Jesus Crusades organized by Bishop Dag Heward Mills. We may never know what it feels like to be blind, but the fact that we can put a price tag on what it takes to make a blind man see, when his sight is restored unto him by an act of God, we too can understand to some extent what it means.

The miraculous must always be employed to solve problems in the lives of people and ultimately bring glory and joy to God. Jesus said in Matthew 10:8 “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give”. This sounds like a command to believers. We are commanded to do these things. Are you carrying out this command? Am I? The last sentence also sounds like a caveat. We are warned by Jesus to do all these things without taking a fee because the ability to do miracles is given to believers freely. Remember, when a socially impactful activity is made for sale it is no longer a noble act but a business. So may we not make profit from that which we have been commanded to give freely.

In Genesis, for two chapters we are given the account of the creation story. God calls forth the plants, animals etc. and they come into existence. When it got to the turn of man, God said ‘Let us make man in our own image and in our likeness…’. God indeed set out to create a being that would bear his image, his likeness and have dominion over creation. Genesis goes on to state a very important truth that we must bear in mind as we move on. It said ‘… male and female he created them’. This is interesting. It means no single sex owns the rights to the image of God. Not males. Not females. Both men and women equally bear the image of God. Therefore, none of us has the right to claim we are better image bearers of God or we bear God’s image in a greater measure than another person because of our sex. He made us all in his image.

The bible states that God is not a man. ‘Man’ here doesn’t necessarily mean male but human. Jesus also tells us that ‘God is spirit…’. One of the major reasons why God made the two sexes is, reproduction. We are sure of this because the first command God gave to Adam and Eve is to ‘be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…’. To the best of my knowledge, we are not told anywhere in scripture that spirit beings reproduce. Spirit beings are not sexual beings. So is it right to classify God who is spirit as either male or female?

The Incarnation of Christ

God made men and women in his image and this is a fact that cannot be disputed because it has been emphatically stated in scripture. However, the incarnation of THE WORD, Jesus Christ, poses a bit of a problem for us so far as this topic is concerned. Not only that but the fact that Jesus referred to God while he was on earth as his father. Also, the Bible describes Jesus as the express image of the invisible God, so if Jesus is a male then are we to assume God is a male too? This is what I have to say to that, sex (male and female) only came into existence when God created living things. The Bible describes God as the God who was, who is and who is to come. God existed way before he made anything material. He decided to come down as one of the two sexes and reveal himself to us as the father. That is it. However, how do we understand this truth in light of the already stated fact that women too are made in the image of God?

From the get-go, the Jews knew Jesus was going to be a male because of Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah said ‘unto us, a child is born, unto us, a son is given’. Jesus being a man is a fact that transcends time. For when he died he died as a man when he resurrected he did so as a man. A man who could be touched and felt. He even sat and ate with his disciples when he resurrected. Also, he is God. So we are very confident about the sex of Jesus. Concerning God, the first person of the Trinity, he has revealed himself to us as the Father. This is also a fact that we cannot overlook in this discussion. The Trinity is made up of three distinct personalities and we know that Jesus was incarnated as a man amongst the three. Therefore it is Jesus’ sex (both on earth and in eternity) we are 100% percent sure of. There is no contradiction in the fact that God made both men and women in his image, came down as a man and has revealed himself to us as the father. To state that this is a contradiction is to say God’s entire being can ONLY be expressed as a male. Or that God exhausted his entire nature in his coming to earth as a man. And this is rather a contradiction of what is stated in Genesis regarding God making both men and women in his image and after his likeness.  This tells us that bearing the image of God goes beyond sex and any human classification. To bear God’s image is to literally have his DNA and his imprint on you. Whether you are a man or a woman once you find yourself on this earth you are made in God’s image and likeness. So yes, we are sure of the fact that Jesus is male, God is revealed to us as the father and lastly, both men and women are made in the image of God. This is to say that men get their maleness from God and women get their femaleness from God.

The Idolatry of having a wrong image of God

“People are not allowed to make images of God because he already made images of himself – the Bible Project (Image of God)”

Paul makes a very important statement in his letter to the Corinthians that addresses the topic under discussion. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:16 that ‘Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more’. The new creation realities are in reference to the regenerated spirit, not the flesh. So when a man comes to the saving knowledge of Christ we say he is born again, not his body but his spirit. Therefore, we regard no man after the flesh but we know each man in spirit or we regard each person as spirit. Paul says if in the past we knew Christ after the flesh, we do so no more. Jesus is not a man that we have deified but rather he is God who came down to this earth as a man. There are people who raise who Jesus was on earth above his deity or they simply have little or no regard at all for his deity. Some say he was merely a moral teacher, others see him as a Jewish mythological character and some others see him as an ancient street magician. What a poor way to regard Jesus Christ!

Spoken Word poet Jackie Hill-Perry said ‘we have to understand God rightly to know him intimately’ and I agree with her. We have to endeavor to know God rightly to worship him rightly. Take for example someone who believes God listens to prayers only on Wednesdays. This person would have to wait until it is Wednesday to pray to God because perhaps according to his theology God is asleep for the rest of the week. But we know the truth because we are told in scripture that He who watches over Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers, meaning he is accessible all day every day. You can create a caricature of God and worship it because you are not well-informed and lack revelation of who he truly is. This is idolatry.

Apostle Paul said in Romans 1:23 that some men thought of themselves as wise not knowing they were fools and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds etc. The first stage of idolatry is to change the image of God into something else. The concept of idolatry is more nuanced than we make it out to be. Most times it is more mental, psychological, intellectual than it is spiritual and physical. For some of us so far as we don’t have a physical object in our rooms that we pray to in earnest spirituality, we assume we don’t engage in idolatry. When your understanding of who God is is far from the truth, however you are still devoted to that false image of God in worship, you are an idolater. We have to know God for who he is and not for what we want him to be or what we wish he was.

I say this because I’ve seen people raise concerns about the place of women in the Christian faith because Jesus came down to the world as a man and the fact that God has revealed himself to us as a father. I’ve also seen some people claim that men are superior to women because they believe men bear God’s image in a greater measure than women. Both groups of people do not take into consideration what is said about men and women being made in the image of God in the book of Genesis. Basically, the first group is trying to create God in their own image. The second is exalting males over females because God came down to earth as a male and has revealed himself to us as a father. By insisting on putting God into a human classification that we belong to and refusing to worship him until it is universally accepted as such, we are saying until God is made in our image, he isn’t worthy of our worship. Until God looks like us, we won’t worship him. That, my friends, is idolatry. It is not God we desire to worship it is our nature.

Exalting yourself above others because of your sex for any reason at all (including the misinterpretation of scripture) is sexism. This too is idolatry. When we do this, we worship our maleness and not God. This kind of thinking is based on a lie that the revelation of God as a father and his incarnation as the Son is a fact that makes men generally superior to women. Paul said, ‘…there is neither male nor female… for we are all one in Christ’. This doesn’t mean that there is no sex/gender in Christ, rather it implies that the unifying factor in Christianity far outweighs the physical, features that may distinguish us.

Hillsong lyrics are always steep in poetic language and that is what I like about their songs. ‘Seasons’ is no different. In the first verse, the songwriter, Benjamin Hasting, introduces us to harsh realities that humans face using the imagery of winter. In the first four lines he says:

Like the frost on a rose

Winter comes for us all

Oh how nature acquaints us

With the nature of patience.

The imagery of frost on a rose sends chills down my spine. The rose represents everything that is lovely and beautiful in nature. Unfortunately, the rose plant finds itself in the winter, snow has fallen and left frost on the rose petals. This is why the writer goes on to say that ‘winter comes for us all’. It means bad seasons come for all of us – even the most adorable and lovely people amongst us. One of the greatest deceptions is to think that you are the only one going through hard times. That thought alone in itself is an additional burden.  I am reminded of the comforting words of the Apostle Peter when he said in 1 Peter 5:9 that, ‘…the same kind of suffering is being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world’. Winter comes for US all indeed. What should be our reaction to the winter seasons of our lives? Well, let’s go back to the first 4 lines of the song and the imagery of the rose in the winter. The songwriter goes on to say that nature acquaints us with the nature of patience. Basically, all he is saying is, a close study of nature teaches us what it means to be patient through harsh seasons. One of such harsh seasons has already been illustrated by the imagery of a probably lone rose plant, standing in the snow and covered by frost.

Fig.1 (A giant sequoia tree)

When the songwriter said ‘like a seed in the snow, I’ve been buried to grow’ we are likely to overlook his choice of words and what they mean in the song. Notice he didn’t say the seed was PLANTED in the snow – which would have made more sense, agriculturally – but he said the seed had been BURIED to grow. First of all, anything that is buried isn’t expected to grow. Secondly, the anticipation of growth is the reason why we don’t describe the act of putting a seed in the soil as burial but as planting. Therefore, we can conclude that in this scenario either the planter had no hope of seeing a tree sprouting out of the ground in due season or the seed thought it was buried to die. As children of God, our planter is God himself and we are the seeds. When God puts you in the soil, it is up to you to see it as the agricultural activity of planting that it is, or you can see it as your burial service. Often we see it as the latter. We get lost in our comfort zone to the extent that when seasons change we think we are doomed forever. Planting shares some similarities with burial. However, trust your planter and believe with all your heart that though it may look like a burial, it is indeed a planting. If you insist that it is a burial, then please agree with the songwriter when he said that you have been buried to grow and not to rot in the soil. Remember Jesus said ‘unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’.

The promises of God are ye and amen. When God speaks, the word doesn’t return to him void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent. It is as if God sends his word on a mission expecting it to only report back to him when the mission is complete. God’s promise is loyal, from seed to Sequoia, as the songwriter puts it. Through the varying seasons of our lives, God’s word remains the same. Seasons will come and go but God’s word will remain the same. For heaven and earth shall pass away but his word will never pass away. When we come to the full understanding of this, we can boldly declare together with David that ‘thy word o Lord, is settled in heaven’. It is never changing. It is loyal.

The chorus of the song says that:

Though the winter is long, even richer, the harvest for me

Though my waiting prolongs, even greater your promise for me like a seed

I believe that my season will come

By this, we are reminded of the fact that the longer it takes for God’s word to come to pass in our lives the bigger the testimony. The longer it takes for the seed to sprout out the richer the harvest. Ben Hasting, here equates the promises of God to a seed and we know seeds are planted to grow. It is amazing how in the first stanza of the song the songwriter equates the seed to himself (a child of God) when he said ‘I’ve been buried to grow’ but in the chorus, the seed represents the promises of God. It is because as children of God we are a promised generation of people. In these last days, we are the manifestation of many Old Testament prophecies and promises. Being co-heirs with the promised Messiah makes us a promised generation as well. Scripture does not mince words when it says that ‘creation earnestly awaits the manifestation of the sons of God’. Creation is waiting for the manifestation of the children of God. The songwriter informs us that nature acquaints us with the nature of patience and scripture says that creation (nature) awaits (patiently) the manifestation of the children of God. We, as believers, are to learn the nature of patience from creation that is waiting for our manifestation.

The first two lines of the second verse take our eyes off the harsh season and direct it at something that totally contradicts it. It says ‘Lord, I think of your love, like the low winter sun’. The winter sun is a contradicting imagery of the winter season. However, the sun is low. Although it is there, it appears to be present not in its full force. This represents the times when we are sure of God’s existence but we can’t seem to see him at work in all his might in our lives. Looking at the low winter sun will make you crave the sunny days of summer. However, it is a matter of time for seasons to change. In times of trouble, it is best to fix your eyes on the slightest glimmer of hope. If it is a flicker in the bush, look at it. If it is a low winter sun, keep your mind stayed on it. This is why the song goes on to say that “. As I gaze I am blinded, In the light of your brightness”. Light is blinding by nature. God’s light blinds you to the things that should stay out of your sight that you have been focusing on. The love of God should consume our very thoughts and meditations always. The hope it gives us is what we need in the winter seasons of our lives. It sustains us till the promise is fulfilled. Just as manna was a sustenance for the Israelites before they entered the promised land, so is the low winter sun to us during our winter seasons.

The song again goes on to say that “Like a fire to the snow, I’m renewed in your warmth. Melt the ice of this wild soul, till the barren is beautiful”. This is what meditating on God’s love does to your cold, wild soul. There is renewal in the love of God. There is a restoration of beauty in the love of God.

Often I have found that the bridges in Hillsong songs are lyrics I want to continually speak over my life or chant throughout the day. The bridge in this particular song starts with the following lines:

I can see the promise, I can see the future

You are the God seasons and I’m just in the winter

If all I know of harvest is that it’s worth my patience

If you are not done working, God, I’m not done waiting

I am particularly intrigued by the second line that suggests that God is the God of seasons and we are merely trapped in one of them. This literally means our winter seasons are temporal. We serve the God of all seasons who is capable of changing seasons. Therefore, the harvest is worth our patience dear friends. Every farmer will attest to the fact that the joy of harvest is a feeling worth waiting patiently for. Scripture describes Christ as the ‘lamb who was slain from the foundations of the earth’ meaning he was destined to be sacrificed way before the earth was created. This goes to show that God works on the solution before the problem manifests. Therefore by saying if God is not done working, I doubt the writer wants to suggest that God is now working. He is talking from a human point of view. If the harvest isn’t here yet, then it seems God is still working on it or preparing to launch the harvest. Until that happens, I am not done waiting. Until the manifestation of our harvest, we should be bold enough to declare that we are not done waiting. Don’t you run out of patience! God will perfect everything that concerns us.

The bible says that God watches over his word to perform it. Ben Hasting put it in a different way. He said ‘you can see my promise, even in the winter. You are the God of greatness even in the manger’. God can see the promise he made you even in the winter. Although you have either forgotten it or lost sight of it, God is still watching over his word and waiting for the appointed time to fulfill it.

Getting to the end of the song we are reminded of the greatest promise ever made (Jesus Christ) in these lines, ‘If all I know of seasons, is that you take your time. You could have saved us in a second, instead, you sent a child’. God could have sent a 200 ft. sequoia in all of its splendor and majesty, but he sent a seed. Why? Because he is the God of seasons. Why would he be the God of seasons and not trust in seasons? He sent a child knowing that in due time, that child would grow to become a sequoia and bring salvation to the whole world. Like a seed, Jesus was sown, for the sake of us all. Can we ever get to the point where we fully understand the mystery of God himself trapped in the small frame of a baby?

It is sometimes impossible to fathom that an enormous entity was once non-existent or not as big as it is today. It is unbelievable to see who Jesus is right now and imagine that he was once the baby in the manger that the shepherds and wise men worshipped. The songwriter does well to remind us that he is the God of greatness, even in the manger and also that ‘from Bethlehem’s soil, grew Calvary’s Sequoia’. Hallelujah! The seed God planted in Bethlehem grew to become the sequoia at Calvary under which we all gather for shade. In reverse, never forget that the Sequoia at Calvary was once a little seed at Bethlehem. If ever you think your life won’t amount to anything, think about these things I’ve said. That no matter how big and tall the Sequoia is today, it was once a seed.

Bible References

John 12:24
2nd Corinthians 1:20
Isaiah 55:11
Matthew 24:35
Psalm 119:89
Romans 8:19
Revelation 13:8
Jeremiah 1:12