GC Life 101 is a new feature on GhanaCelebrities.Com. This will look at various life realities in short story forms as we try to entertain, educate and inform our readers on a variety of life experiences. Articles for GC Life 101 will be filed under Blog.
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At Christmas and even before the festive season, lots of churches advertise their programs on radio and television inviting people to attend. As if the above is not enough, majority who can’t afford advertisement on the above networks also advertise via posters on every available space [walls] in Ghana despite the fact most of these walls have inscriptions on them indicating no posters allowed.
After my friend’s (Kwaku) ordeal with a pastor, it has changed my perception about going to church. Anytime I see people rushing to church on Sundays, it makes me laugh my heart out. I know it’s weird, but must church activities be advertised? Must church activities be forced down the throats of the would-be-congregations?
Now churches are springing up on daily basis in Ghana. Every available space i.e. cinemas and football playing fields are/has been turned to a church premise. I know very soon, just very soon, nightclubs will be evaded by these pastors. It’s just a matter of time.
Sadly, but the growing number of churches in Ghana can partly be blamed for the dying nature of cinema life in Ghana, as most of the cinema halls have been converted to church auditoriums.
Some few years back when one can count the number of churches in Ghana, there were lots of cinemas around and these places were highly patronized on daily basis if not on special occasions like holidays.
I don’t know about other countries but here in Ghana, there is always a new church at every 200 metres [maybe 100 metres]. Do you know that people are now using their compounds to start a church? Ouch!.
One graduate from pastoral college, directly, the person gathers his friends and begins a church at his compound to the detriment of the people living around.
Also, the church services have been taken to the schools in the country. The brave and suspicious pastors turn their attention to the cemetery to preach and disturb the dead. Church service at the cemetery is beyond my understanding.
Is it really their fault? It has come to the notice of everyone that perhaps the easiest way to make fast money in Ghana contrary to what people think is not being an armed robber but a pastor. Being an armed robber brings you to some dangers, but become a pastor and you will be smiling all the way to the bank. Since the population of women in Ghana is still very huge, you know you will definitely be successful.
It’s simple! I reckon all one has to do is to start a church and force this statement down the throats of your doubters ‘I have been called by God to do his works’. A mere ‘flash’ by God is misinterpreted as a call by Him to preach his gospel. Maybe, God dialed the wrong number and cut it off upon realizing it. Yet, the missed call is a calling to the desperate wannabe pastor. Why do I get the impression that you are laughing on this one? Funny, isn’t it?
Make no mistake, if you are an eloquent person who can talk in front of people, it means you can have a successful career in preaching. If you doubt it then perhaps you don’t listen or watch television in Ghana.
What does it take to be a pastor in Ghana? Surely, it doesn’t take any special attribute; anybody can be a pastor in this part of the world. What it takes in my opinion is to firstly claim to be ‘called by God’ as they say and not be a shy person.
Talking about the supposed men of God on the streets, I dare not forget about their extreme noise making on radio and television. Now it looks like shouting has now become the norm for these pastors. Last time, a friend asked if shouting by these pastors makes the congregation grab the message quickly. I can’t understand it myself, probably; they think we have hearing problems.
These days, pastors don’t preach about the gospel, they rather talk about money. All the messages are centred on or about prosperity rather than salvation. I’m not religious but I’m a God fearing person. I don’t think one needs to be forced to the church room, besides no one forces someone to eat when hungry.
The tag ‘pastor’ has now become a money making title. Kwaku, a class mate whom I have lost contact with for years after school resurfaces after many years of staying in the UK. He happens to be one of the many Ghanaians deported from the UK recently.
Kwaku failed to return to Ghana after the expiration of his visa. He went into hiding until his sudden arrest and deportation. His once bright future has suddenly been knocked to the ground. He has lost everything he owned.
Things were not moving on well for Kwaku, hence his aunty introduced him to a pastor. Sorry but as ‘dumb’ as he is, he thought the best person to solve his problems is a pastor.
These days people are so ignorant in Ghana that, even a common ‘headache’, ‘stomach ache’, ‘body pains’ are believed to be spiritual and that the best person to solve these problems is the pastor.
No wonder in Ghana no body dies in his or her own time, every death is attributed to something. Someone dies because this person or that person doesn’t like him and wants him dead.
After telling the pastor his problems and the purpose of his visit, which is to seek help [whatever help, he didn’t tell me]. The pastor prayed with him, after which the pastor said God has revealed to him who is behind his problems. Kwaku was surprised when the pastor mentioned his mother in-law as the cause of his problems.
“Which mother-in-law”? kwaku asked. “Your wife’s mother I mean”, the pastor answered back. A lot of things ran through Kwaku’s mind since he wasn’t married. He has no girlfriend yet, not to talk about a fiancé. So what gibberish is the man of God talking about?
According to him, he managed to gather some courage and told the pastor that he wasn’t married yet, not even has he met the woman of his dreams. The pastor then started vigorous praying again, after which he came out with another revelation. This time, he told Kwaku that, the problem is now from the car he drives to work.
Kwaku became more shocked and surprised. This is a man who has not driven a car before. So he was taken aback by this new development and turn of events. At this juncture, it dawned on him that, the pastor doesn’t know what he was talking about.
He wondered if it was a mistaken identity. But the self-styled pastor told him, he knew exactly what he was saying. He does this with annoying confidence.
It didn’t take long for Kwaku to tell him that, he has not driven any car before. He doesn’t own any car. At this moment, it has become obvious to the pastor that, all his guesses were wrong. It was glaring; he didn’t do his work home well like other pastors do.
Most pastors employ the services of people to have a background check of their victims. This time, it appears he didn’t employ the services of such a person to do any background check for him.
The man of God started praying again. The prayer was intensified. The impression he gave was that, he was in the spirit and speaking some gibberish – I guess he was speaking in tongues. Whatever he was saying didn’t make any sense to Kwaku’s ears but he had to sit and endure it.
After about 10 minutes of praying, he went into his consulting room and returned with a piece of paper which, he handed to Kwaku. Guess what was written on the paper. What was written on the paper spin my mind a bit. A car number ‘GC 1407 A’ was boldly written on the piece of paper.
After handing over the paper to him, he continued praying. In Kwaku’s bid to find out exactly what to do with the paper, he shoved him off and asked him not to interrupt his prayers and that he’s in the spirit.
You can imagine the look on Kwaku’s face. Earlier, Kwaku had told me, he has heard lots of stories about Ghanaian pastors back in the UK but he never dreamt of coming so close to any of them if not for his aunty.
Kwaku had the rudest shock of his life when the man of God told him that “… don’t sit in a vehicle with this registering number GC 1407 A”. I couldn’t stop laughing. This infuriated Kwaku to leave the pastor’s office.
As he made his way out of the office, Kwaku stopped and looked at the people in the queue to meet with the pastor. He smiled and left. Only God knows what was in his mind. As Kwaku told me this, I only managed to laugh intermittently.
But on a more serious note, what would have happened if indeed Kwaku was married? Would he have gone to beat the hell out of the mother-in-law? Would he have divorced his wife to avoid his mother-in-law?
What of if he was working – would he have stopped working or stop driving the company’s vehicle?
Now we have decided to stop going to church. Can we begrudge for that? God help us!
Have you had any encounter with a fake pastor before? Share it with us please!
“why i stopped going to church”……. you stopped going to church b’cos an encounter your friend had with a particular pastor? LOL. Don’t let that discourage you from going to church.
I do agree with you that there are lots of fake pastors out there but like i always say, its a matter of choice. Out of the lot of churches out there, there are those who do not indulge in such activities (pray for me, all kinds of deliverance etc.)
I love my church (Methodist) and i know no matter what i wont be at any “pray for me” church.
@B.B,Well said. It’s funny why he will use one of the few isolated incidents to stop going to church. Deep down inside the choice had been made already not to keep going to church…just needed a catalyst to use an an excuse.
@ghallday, I think your comment is spot on…..from the reasons listed and stuff seems like he already had a negative perception of church anyways…and the friend’s bad experience just provided him with the perfect catalyst not to go…if u dont want to go to church say its because of fake pastors, etc etc rather than saying after your friend’s bad experience was the one that changed your perception about church
2Pe 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2 And many will follow their pernicious ways, and because of them the way of truth will be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness they will use you for gain with well-turned words; for whom judgment from of old does not linger, and their destruction does not sleep.
dats true BB the scriptures sayz ‘by their fruit ye shall know them’ so wen u sit in front of the television or listen to the radio n hear the way they speak u have this inner feeling which tells u whether they’re from God or not.
This article is so on point! It’s unbelieavble how many people are being brainwashed by these so call pastors. Aside frpm fake pastors some churches hwve also be a place where from show of their clotheing and have no clue what christianity is all about. So
Atheism: The belief that we have a long way to go before we even begin to understand the infinite complexities of the universe.
Religion: “The big magic sky-man made it all, now give me some money.”
Okay so you’re simply sayinG that you don’t go to church because of advertisement of churches…etc ? Or you were also trying to add that you don’t believe in God ? Because if you do then you should know that He said that in the end of time, there would be a lot of false prophets so don’t be surprised..& don’t let this be an excuse of you not goinG to church to worship the Lord.
exactly soo many churches in ghana. its about tym the gov’t start taxing them. pple shd stick to the traditional churches like presby, catholic etc.
Hmmmmmm
Why do all ghanaian pastors shout cos i went with my godmother to pentecost and she is white the first thing she said was “why is he shouting i thought God is soft and caring”so they should stop shouting cos there is no need to if someone will listen it will not be because of shouting but the word itself.A pastor tryed to push me once and when i didn´t fall he told me i was bad and people thinks its funny when i tell them but false prophecy is becoming common in ghana
@adwoa, YOU MAKE ME LAUGH! WELL,FOR THOSE LED BY THE SPIRIT,I DO NOT THINK IT’S SHOUTING.LOOK AT IT THIS WAY,WHEN YOU PICK UP A QUARREL WITH SOMEONE YOU AUTOMATICALLY LOSES CONTROL OF YOUR VOICE.THE SAME WAY WHEN A TRUE SPIRITED MAN OF GOD IS MINISTERING,MUST ESPECIALLY THE PROPHET’S OR APOSTLE’S,I MANE WHEN THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS FULLY AT WORK IN THEM ,THEY CANT BUT GET YOU ALSO SCREAMING AND SHOUTING AMEN AT THE TOP OF YOUR VOICE TOO! OKAY,LET’S SAY THEY PEEK UP A QUARREL WITH THE DEVIL FOR ALL THE PROBLEMS HIM AND HIS AGENTS HAVE COURSED THE CHILDREN OF GOD,WHICH IS WHY THEY COME TO CHURCH TO PETITION HIM,THE DEVIL. REAL MEN OF GOD ARE GOD’S INSTRUMENT TO SHOUT OUT ALL YOUR TROUBLE’S!
what is ti
This is not enough reason for you to stop going to church. there is no activity whether good or bad that will take place on this earth which cannot be found in the Bible. The bible talks about all these things which are suppose to occur in the end times. Like the bible says, lack of knowledge my people perish. Majority of people who go to church cannot read the Bible on their own hence they cant make out a fake pastor from a good one. there are still good bible believing churches in the world. Do not stop going to church because the Bible tells us to look to Jesus Christ and not any other man…HEBREWS 12:1