SO I HEARD YOU MET GOD

Is it true you met God? I have seen the way your life has turned out. Your clothes haven’t changed; you still haven’t gotten a job five years after graduation nor have you started anything on your own. You are not getting any younger they said and the right man you keep talking about hasn’t showed up yet. I know you are faithful to God; I mean I see you go to church and do church activities Monday to Sunday. I even know you have less to feed on but you give to others more than you spend on yourself. Pardon my sarcasm but am just an ordinary person who sees only the physical so am tempted to ask and question only what I see in the natural. Every man of God that has visited your church knows you because you have served each of them, so I heard. I don’t mean to be mean but from experience I know that when someone has an encounter with the supernatural everything about the person seems to change for the better. So I am tempted to ask again are you sure you met God? because am having serious doubts. All these I heard and witnessed. 

Well I have an answer for your critics; wait a minute your life rings a bell. You are not the first and you certainly won’t be the last. I read about a man who met God and all he had to show for it was a broken limb. Funny right, I mean how he is supposed to explain to the world that he met God and yet he had nothing to show for it. To make matters worse he was limping that’s almost worse off before the encounter. I mean he had been 'chosen' by God right from his mother’s womb and even after he was older in all his flaws, it was obvious he has been 'chosen' but he had nothing to show for it (everything he had then he got out of cheating). Even the ‘unchosen’ one got wealthy after a while, but you see that’s not how the story ended. After a number of years when the appointed time of Jacob had come the difference was clear.  After several years of wondering in strange lands when his time was up, God showed up in a grand style.  And for that reason Christians will forever continue to mention the God of Jacob. When the set time comes your story would be told and the difference would be clear. 

You see my dear because of the difference in missions and assignments. Some people would have to go through longer periods of preparation than others, the bigger your task, the bigger your challenge. There are hurdles you must cross and prove yourself worthy for the task. Don’t give up keep stay on course; study all you can, master your craft, whatever the talent, explore all angles, make the mistakes and when you fall get up, dust yourself and get back in line. Prove your worth anything you have center stage, be at the right place at the right time. It will not make sense in the beginning but several years down the lane like Steve Jobs said “the dots will begin to connect’. I know the most difficult times in life is the patience to wait for the right moment. But just hold on a little bit longer, if your story was over you would have been long dead. It’s a long journey up there to the high table with lessons to learn. While you are on your way up there are lessons you must note;

1.     DON’T WASTE YOUR HURT

One time I was chatting with a friend, and then at a point I decided to share with her some of my hurt and pain in the past. Just when I had said the most sensitive part of my story and expected her to sympathize with me she smiled. I was shocked then she said, 'you have been through nothing, let me tell you my story so you understand' as I listened to her I actually came to a conclusion that I have been through nothing. Normally, when I hear such stories I start asking myself 'is God watching at all; does he see what they are going through? But after I have allowed myself to wonder, I get back on track and remind them. somehow I have looked at the likes of Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs all of blessed memory, Joyce Meyer and some others and have come to a conclusion that most often than not it is pain that produces passion. It is your most painful experiences that God uses the most to prepare you for your life's purpose. He never wastes a hurt: in fact, your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your worst hurt. Who could better comfort someone whose heart has been broken than one who has survived that agony. Who could better feed the hungry than one who has known hunger? The very experiences that you have resented or regretted most in life - the ones you've wanted to hide and forget - are the experiences God wants to use to help others. To be bitter about the people who caused you pain is a choice, it is not a direct outcome. So whatever you do DON'T WASTE YOUR HURT.  In the midst of pain there is unbelievable growth. Perhaps the most encouraging words with regards to the 'benefit of pain' is given by our trainee boxers at James Town in Accra, Ghana with the phrase “no pain no gain”. It means that before you can become that world champion you would need to survive those heavy blows with its injuries. Pain has a way of birthing passion depending on how you look at it. It is in pain that we regain purpose, pain is a miracle.

2.     DON’T OUTGROW THE SMALL TASK

Ms Carson is one woman a lot of people might never have heard of, She was a single mum and had no education, however she determined that her children should have a better life than she did. She trained her children very well, gave them a responsibility of reading at least two books from the local library every week. She gave them an additional task of writing reports on the books they read for her to read and mark them. It was only when the children were old enough that they noticed their mother could not read but by then she had achieved her purpose. (Extract from “GIFTED HANDS” by Ben Carson). One on these children is Doctor Ben Carson a very popular man who became the first surgeon to separate Siamese twins. And this man would forever be remembered. Not all of us will be congratulated on camera or receive an award in our life time. But the truth is someone's destiny may be dependent on the small unseen things you are doing. So if you are given the role of a mother, an Usher, a cleaner or a babysitter do it like nobody's business. Give it your best, because the person you are in contact with right now may be the next big thing the world is waiting on and maybe when their story is told yours might be mentioned, but if that never happens the truth is you achieved your PURPOSE and that is the whole duty of man.

3.     FRIENDSHIP

You will meet thousands of people along the road. Some are meant to stay while others are just passing through. Your journey will put them to test and in the end you will be surprised; the ones who will be willing to stand by you will be the people you least expect. Don’t force anyone to stay, if they like you they will have the patience to stick out their neck for you. Anybody can be happy for you when you have things going on, but only few will be there when you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea. Your friends are not those who are with you when you find yourself on the mountain top but those that are with you while you are in the valley.

When you have gone through all of these and passed the test of time. Then the world will answer the question on your behalf. Everything around you would prove that indeed you have encountered the Supernatural and all that was needed to prove it was time. The road is messy but in the end it will all make sense. Be persistent, show consistency in any field of work, and don’t give up because your target is a global record. Don’t let your critics have the last laugh. They have seen your struggle they must see your greatness. The world is waiting to hear your story. But it is only a matter of time and for a true child of God you can always say "my relieve will surely appear ... with Christ in the vessel, I will smile at the storm (MHB 511). No one can ask if you have met your God at all.

By: Bekina Mirekuah Mensah.

AFRICA; ENOUGH OF THE BLAME GAME

Thinking and worrying about my continent Africa. So out of curiosity and learning I chanced upon this letter.

LETTER FROM KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM TO COLONIAL MISSIONARIES, 1883

“Reverends, Fathers and Dear Compatriots: The task that is given to fulfill is very delicate and requires much tact. You will go certainly to evangelize, but your evangelization must inspire above all Belgium interests. Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is never to teach the niggers to know God, this they know already. They speak and submit to a Mungu, one Nzambi, one Nzakomba, and what else I don't know. They know that to kill, to sleep with someone else's wife, to lie and to insult is bad. Have courage to admit it; you are not going to teach them what they know already. Your essential role is to facilitate the task of administrators and industrials, which means you will go to interpret the gospel in the way it will be the best to protect your interests in that part of the world. For these things, you have to keep watch on disinteresting our savages from the richness that is plenty [in their underground. To avoid that, they get interested in it, and make you murderous] competition and dream one day to overthrow you. Your knowledge of the gospel will allow you to find texts ordering, and encouraging your followers to love poverty, like “Happier are the poor because they will inherit the heaven” and, “It's very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” You have to detach from them and make them disrespect everything which gives courage to affront us. I make reference to their Mystic System and their war fetish – warfare protection – which they pretend not to want to abandon, and you must do everything in your power to make it disappear. Your action will be directed essentially to the younger ones, for they won't revolt when the recommendation of the priest is contradictory to their parent's teachings. The children have to learn to obey what the missionary recommends, who is the father of their soul. You must singularly insist on their total submission and obedience, avoid developing the spirit in the schools, teach students to read and not to reason. There, dear patriots, are some of the principles that you must apply. You will find many other books, which will be given to you at the end of this conference. Evangelize the niggers so that they stay forever in submission to the white colonialists, so they never revolt against the restraints they are undergoing. Recite every day – “Happy are those who are weeping because the kingdom of God is for them.” Convert always the blacks by using the whip. Keep their women in nine months of submission to work freely for us. Force them to pay you in sign of recognition-goats, chicken or eggs-every time you visit their villages. And make sure that niggers never become rich. Sing every day that it's impossible for the rich to enter heaven. Make them pay tax each week at Sunday mass. Use the money supposed for the poor, to build flourishing business centres. Institute a confessional system, which allows you to be good detectives denouncing any black that has a different consciousness contrary to that of the decision-maker. Teach the niggers to forget their heroes and to adore only ours. Never present a chair to a black that comes to visit you. Don't give him more than one cigarette. Never invite him for dinner even if he gives you a chicken every time you arrive at his house.”

The above letter which shows the real intention of the Christian missionary journey in Africa was exposed to the world by Mr. Moukouani Muikwani Bukoko, born in the Congo in 1915, and who in 1935 while working in the Congo, bought a second hand Bible from a Belgian priest, Dr. Chiedozie Okoro who forgot the letter in the Bible.

Has anything changed after colonialism? Or maybe am asking the wrong question, is colonialism over at all? But before we miss the point and start talking the brain washing intent of the colonial master lets handle our home issues. The history of slave trade in Ghana has some interesting facts we overlook. The white man came, gave us mirrors, spices, bottles of drinks e.t.c. and what did we give to them in exchange – human beings. Our leaders and chiefs were willing to give out their own people and lands in exchange for such items. The issue to me has never been what someone is doing to us but what we did to encourage it. If you don’t nurse or feed something it dies. Based on history the only reason the Portuguese left and came back to settle was because the rate at which we were willing to exchange items was overwhelming. So before we point fingers “let him who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7).

So after centuries let’s ask some worrying questions –
Has our educational system changed? Because we seem to have an educational system that is good at churning out graduates with first classes and yet have no idea how to bring that knowledge to the field of work because the two are most often not related anyway. We have an educational system that has no solution to the problems we face in Africa.

Has our choice in leaders changed? Over the years Africa including our beloved country has been bedeviled with leaders who superintend over corruption. No doubt the bane to the progress /development of the continent and our beloved country is corruption. In reference to a speech by Prof. PLO Lumumba a former Chairman of the Kenyan Anti Corruption Commission at the 3rd Anti Corruption Convention. In his speech, the good professor revealed how he was victimized for having stood his grounds in the fight against corruption. Thus according to the politics of the day, he rather misunderstood his mandate. “My mandate was not to fight corruption but to appear to be fighting corruption… “it appears in Africa if you serve your full term it is because you have refused to fight corruption. A great Philosopher said it is in the nature of man to harm the small thieves and elect the great ones into office… Our leaders offer us a system of education and health that they themselves have no trust in. They would rather fly abroad for medical attention and fly their children outside for education...”

Our Public sectors are full of corrupt practices and personalities who call the shots and cause more problems than the governments in power. Nobody questions them and sadly they never get to be voted out. They are not accountable to anyone and no one questions them. The level of maladministration, injustice and mediocrity is outrageous. The public sector seems to have all the sharks with the PHD’s and all the qualifications you can think of. And what has the continent benefited from it. They run at losses year in year out, so at the end we make a decision either to sell out or privatize most of our state owned companies.

What about the question of abuse of power? Unfortunately, the plight of the African voter is to make their leaders kings over them, where in other fine democratic jurisdiction is not so. Tony Benn, a British MP posed what he termed the “five democratic questions” during a debate in the 1970’s on the European Parliamentary Elections Bill.
“(a) what power do you have?
(b) where did you get it?
(c) In whose interest do you exercise it;
(d) to whom are you accountable; and
(e) How can we get rid of you?

We need to question the powers that be, It’s about time they know they must be accountable. It might not fix our problems but it will be the beginning of something great.

Africans today do not have colonial masters walking our shores asking to buy slaves. Truth is they don’t have to; People are willing and ready to go anyway they don’t have to force anyone. The sentimental call by the likes of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was enough to make the white man go away but little was done about us the natives. One great personality in the era of the slave trade said “I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed more only if they knew they were slaves”. We have become slaves to something bigger than a colonial master.

In the famous Independence Speech by Kwame Nkrumah March 6, 1957, Accra, Ghana he said “At long last, the battle has ended! And thus, Ghana, your beloved country is free forever…Also; I want to thank the valiant ex-service men who have so cooperated with me in this mighty task of freeing our country from foreign rule and imperialism. And, as I pointed out… from now on, today, we must change our attitudes and our minds. We must realize that from now on we are no longer a colonial but free and independent people. But also, as I pointed out, that also entails hard work. That new Africa is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.”

What then must Africans of today begin to do to save themselves from brainwashing by their White World enemies here on earth? – That is a legitimate question but enough of the blame game; Africa must work and it can work again only if we are willing to change our mindset and attitudes. Looking around I’m tempted to think the most powerful act of the colonial masters was the work they did with our minds and not the gold or the minerals they took. If anything must change it is our mindset. So what if they did succeed in brainwashing us – hello African it was centuries ago. Have we become robots that can’t change and do Something  for ourselves?

 by: BEKINA MIREKUAH MENSAH

THE OTHER WOMAN

 A woman, created after man but then again you always make a rough draft before creating the final masterpiece. This however is not to compare a woman to a man or for that matter belittle the role of men. I believe we are all unique in different ways. God created man and woman to be different and unique not to compete but rather complement each other.

In life today, you find so many women who have decided to be the “other woman” to a man. They have taken up a role of playing second; this could either mean that the man they are with is a married man or is in a very serious relationship leading to marriage. What these other woman fail to recognize is that they have chosen to take less than they deserve.

When a man decides to cheat, it’s mostly because there is a woman out there who is willing to cheat with him. Men have varied reasons why they cheat, either his wife or fiance lacks something or have stopped doing something in particular that makes the man happy, or some men do it to satisfy their own selfish ego, in this case the reason has very little to do with the women in their lives. Interestingly what the “other woman” who jumps in to fill this vacuum fails to recognize is that. The man is only looking for a small piece which is missing at home, these accounts for less than 20% of what a man looks out for in a woman. He searches for 20% 0r less because he has 80% at home or in his fiancé. Any woman who chooses to be the “other woman” is only good enough for something small and very disposable. Truth is he will never leave the chosen woman in his life who has the 80% of all the qualities he would ever need in a woman. She is his first choice and such a woman to him is hard to come by.

Oftentimes, these men give a lot of lines to make this other woman fill comfortable such as “well I was forced to marry her because of …..” or “ I should have met you first” or “ I thought you were not ready for marriage” interesting reasons. But come to think of It - it’s not too late is it? If he really means it, why hasn’t he left her for you all these years? Face it dear he will never leave 80% for 20%. You can cook, clean, give him the best of sex but truth is, his heart belongs to that one woman his first choice.

What worries me most in all of this its toll on you as a woman. In such relationships whenever he tells you, things like “you are the best thing that ever happened to me” or “I love you more” or “ You are the most beautiful woman I have ever set my eyes on”, there would be that part of you that gives you a reason to doubt him. You are then caught in the web of always questioning yourself and wondering if he is telling you the truth. And in all of this, deep down you know you deserve better. This has  a negative impact on your self confidence. It is not something any woman should take for granted. It breaks you down bit by bit until you can’t hold your head up high anymore so long as you your conscience is active. Gradually, the most drastic effect of them all is, you come to a point where you turn to place yourself second in everything. You feel someone else deserves better than you, you feel less qualified for some appointments and favours. As a woman, you also turn to have trust issues; you turn to distrust everyone around you. It has ripple effect on your relationship with other people. What you fail to notice is that these negative processes are so slow and oftentimes may even go unnoticed.  Before you notice the effects it might just be too late. Note that” who we have become today is because of the choices we made yesterday”.

A man who is not faithful enough to keep a promise he made before God and a whole congregation of witnesses to his wife, is definitely not someone you should trust to keep a promise to anyone else especially you. We are warned to be as wise as the serpent, do not fall for his cunning ways. He is only using you to satisfy his selfish desires. He didn’t make you his first because you don’t come top on his list of women.

You were created to be someone’s first and not a photocopy of another man’s partner. It’s ONE MAN ONE WOMAN, the Creator made you special for one man who is definitely not the one who has already been taken. You deserve a man who will put you first above all others.  One who will go against all odds to walk you down the aisle. Choose to be someone’s number one because that is the Creators original intention for you, don’t settle for less. There is a man out there praying for God to bring you into his life, to him you will be his 80% and he will value you more. You are an answer to someone’s prayer. Instead of playing second role in another man’s world, focus on yourself. Serve God with all of you, get the best of education, upgrade yourself, achieve all you can, while you wait for your very own Mr. Right to find you. The Bible says ‘he who finds a wife fineth a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord’.

My Advice – If you are on a road to nowhere find another road. Let him go because you need to deconstruct in order to reconstruct. They only way for your Mr. Right to locate you is when you are not busy chasing another woman’s own. If it’s about the money, well sweetheart all the money in the world cannot buy you happiness. Oftentimes this cheap wealth goes as fast as it comes because it is used on worthless things that create more emptiness in your soul. And I quote “what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and losses his soul”. Life is worth more than things and all the money in the world. Don’t sell your priceless soul for silver or gold you will be short changing yourself. At the end of life you would notice its all vanity and a chase after the wind. You deserve better and were made for better than this.

You maybe that one woman telling yourself right now “well the mistake has already been done and I cannot undo it” Girlfriend hear me out, those who never made mistakes never learnt anything and the sooner you make your first five thousand mistakes the sooner you will be able to correct them. Get up dust yourself and get going. Don’t live in the mistake of yesterday rather, let it give you a reason to push some more and be better. The world needs to know your story and it better be one of victory and not of defeat. Our greatest weakness lies in giving up but the most certain way to succeed is always to try one more time. You must survive to tell your story.

Often, the opinion of people who know your past is one of the greatest obstacles to moving on. Don’t let the opinions of people around you especially those who call you ‘husband snatcher’, ‘gold digger’ , ‘prostitute’ , ‘percher’ or any other name discourage you and make you stay that way. Let them call you all sort of names so long as it is in your past. Truth is whatever you do good or bad people will still talk. Do not let your peace depend on the hearts of men; whatever they say about you, good or bad, you are not because of it another man, for as you are, you are. Let the noise of their opinion give you a reason to want to be better. You don’t necessarily have to prove anything to them because they are not God and cannot have the final say about your life. He is the God of a second, third, fourth and hundredth chance, not that we should take advantage of his mercy but just so you know he never writes anyone off and never gives up on us. You are one of his masterpieces and like the gold smith he is never done with taking you true fire, polishing you until he sees his reflection in you. Daughter you can make it because buried deep down within you is the spirit of excellence tap into it and go for pure gold.

BY: BEKINA MIREKUAH MENSAH