PENTECOSTALISM IN AFRICA
BY: KORMI NOBERT GOODSMAN
There is no single person left on Africa’s soil who remains unaffected by the activities of christian religious groups and their ever-increasing influence on the continent since they began to emerge over two centuries ago.
In fact, Christianity which started with only nine million Christians in the 1900s has now expanded to about 380 million Christians today across the continent. This according to the World Christian Encyclopedia will further increase to 633 million people by 2025.
The presence of the religion on the continent dated back to the earliest days of the Church when the newly found faith spread along the Mediterranean and the Red Sea Coastland of north and north-east Africa and their hinterlands until it was displaced by Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries.
When indigenous Africans later took control of the religion after the missionaries, the Oriental Orthodox Christianity was speedily transformed and adapted into the African-Christian denomination. This helps them to fully interpret the new faith in light of their own concepts and made it their own.
In recent times, there has been the attempt and a successful one at that to redefine the original themes and doctrine of the Early Church often emphasizing prophecy, miracle and healing. These three in most churches are believed to be powered by the “anointed oil” whose efficacy the pastors tout before their congregations.
As seen all over the continent, Ghana is not left out of the new madness in town. Ghanaians as usual in this regard also are in the best of rivalry with their Nigerian counterparts who boast of the continent’s richest and famous pastors and prophets.
In 2016, the BBC aired a documentary on how over-religious Ghanaians have become in recent times. Even in that report, there has been constant comparisons between the two West African countries (Ghana and Nigeria) where the religious craze seems to be at its height. The reporter sought to explore the business part of the “church industry” which has grown huge over the years. Churches make millions of money and are currently running their own economy.
The most disturbing trend seen among Ghanaians today is their love for religious activities more than investing in productive ventures. From the look of things, this is not only a trend but a fast growing culture among Ghanaians. Today, it is not unusual to see Christians in church throughout the days of the week in Ghana. They go to church services and prayer meetings right from Monday to Sunday, and l am always lost as to how these people work to feed their children at home. Meanwhile, at end of each service , they pay offertory too. So if you spend all your productive hours in church, where do you get the money to pay offertory?
THE AFRICAN GOD OF PROSPERITY
Ghanaians and Africans at large now believe that, their God is a God of reward who always blesses them no matter their effort; whether they make some attempt or simply build their bans in church buildings. Therefore when they go to church and simply shout “hallelujah” with resounding echoes of “Amen” multiple times, God will come to their aid. Clearly, the current crop of Christians are only reward-seeking and have lost sight of the greater responsibility expected of them as Christians –live a righteous life and be light for all men.
The average Ghanaian who is Christian nowadays can hardly give you a bible quotation off-head. The only scripture they keep is the admonition “thou shall not judge” which they constantly use to drive away anybody who wishes to point out their sins to them and to put them in line. Their pastors also ride on Jesus’ promise to his disciples that, they will perform greater miracles than he Christ had done.
These self-acclaimed prophets and pastors are not interested in teaching salvation and holiness; instead, they preach about things that will bring money into their pockets. They conveniently close their eyes to the rot in their churches Thus, members swim in the pool of sin before their very eyes; acts of fornication, adultery, dishonesty, wickedness, thievery, alcoholism, murder through multiple abortions and all forms of feculence smelling down their nose but they pretend not to see. Perhaps making people aware of their sins would mean a drop in their “daily sales” and gradual return to poverty which they ran from in a “smart way”.
In the view of majority of these churchgoers, the “African-God” is a God of blessing and prosperity, thus no hard-work is required on the part of worshippers, so they are in their churches all day. Their praise-songs harass you from sleep at 3am. In the nights, you have to battle with the cacophony until sleep whisks you away. The real punishment is meted to those who have their houses closer to churches. Sadly for them, there is no proper regulation on noisemaking in Ghana. We have no zoning for the use of our land space. Churches are built in residential areas giving residents a hell of their nights.
Unfortunately, the “church business” is making most young people lazy and are increasingly exploited by the so-called pastors and prophets in town. Able-bodied men and women who should work and build their economy and that of the continent at large rather spend their energies singing and praying to the African-God who probably rewards laziness by providing free Visa, dream cars and perfect husbands and wives for marriage. But when they become poor, instead of blaming their gullible selves and ill-formed ecclesiastical beliefs, they rather turn to blame the government for their failures.
Apart from the churches, the practice is present at our various work places also, especially at the government sector. Workers will report to work at 8am and before normal work commences, they engage in long hours of praise and worship; by which time they have wasted a good number of productive hours for the day.
CHURCH SERVICES IN GHANAIAN SCHOOLS
Sadly, this phenomenon has trickled down to our schools. Some teachers, headmasters, and proprietors in the case of private schools have virtually incorporated church services into their curriculum. In some schools, the school authorities unreasonably wastes lesson periods by engaging their students in these religious absurdities. They engage in prayers and worship services intermittently with lessons until school closes for the day.
It is unfortunate to see society misleading the young generation into believing that hard work doesn’t pay anymore, and that you just have to be a prayer warrior to achieve academic excellence.To those religious fanatics, burning the midnight candle is no longer the key but “with God, all things are possible”.
This practice has climbed the ladder to insanity levels in both the public and privately-owned basic schools when it is time for the students’ final examination, BECE. Ironically, instead of engaging candidates in a finish-hard-race to prepare them thoroughly for their exams, they organize mini-crusades on daily basis. The students fast and pray all day under the supervision of their teachers. Some schools even postponed all revision exercises for prayers. Long prayers are said in the morning, break the fast in the afternoon and some other short prayers follow throughout the day. Unfortunately, these teachers do not remind themselves and their students of the biblical cliche: “God help those who help themselves”.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
It is sad where we have come to as a people; building a nation of religious fanatics; men with no thought of building tougher economy that will help them eradicate illiteracy, diseases and poverty. As a people, we need a paradigm shift. The most successful countries in the world with comparatively bigger and resilient economies with first class human resources do not reach those heights by simply “looking on to God”. It has been done through proper investments in the right places; spending time judiciously conducting serious scientific research into challenging spheres of life – into education, health, science and technology.
One could not fathom why Africa which is arguably the poorest continent in terms of development continue to believe that, God loves them more than He does to inhabitants of any other continent, so wasting all their productive hours praying and calling out to His name is the surest way to catch His attention. Africans are becoming increasingly lazy and lack innovation. The more they pray, the poorer they become. When Japan, China, the US and other world super powers are building massive technologies, Africans are still battling the continent’s worst enemies: disease, poverty and illiteracy through prayer.
We must shake off ourselves from the spell of religion and invest our time and resources in building our country and continent free of infant mortality, malaria, cholera, chicken pox, Ebola, abject poverty, hunger and illiteracy.
CREDIT: BBC , WORLD CHRISTIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA
Africa Global News Publication
