Virtues, Updated version.

 

This overwrites everything. Here's how I intend to live.

...Man, know thyself.

I do not say I want to be perfect. but these are virtues I aspire to attain. To be my guiding principles to achieve a life worth living.

1. Taste: Be strong about things you like, don't let external influence drown out your inner voice, consistently aspire to attain the best of things, expose yourself to the best quality to the level you can afford. Never settle for mediocre things. It comes down to taste.

2. Order: Everything must have its own place, always fight against entropy, chaos is the enemy don't tolerate it, it will kill good things.

3. Do what you say: Always do what you said you'd do, what is the power in your words if you won't do what you resolve to do?

4. Eat Good: Eat food as medicine, a lot depends on your gut. Your gut depends on your food. Never eat to dullness, or get drunk.

5. Never Get Used: Don't allow yourself to be used by anyone or an institution. Be sure you're not being used as a pawn by anyone. Put your needs ahead.

6. Community: Associate with the best, Love people, always make sure you have some people you can count on and they can count on you too, community is everything, always be making meaningful friends. Do for them as they do for you, make sure you have people at every facet of society.

7. Subconscious: Be very intentional about what you consume in terms of tapes, videos, music, what you follow on social media they have a reflection on your mind, and decisions you make. We become what we repeatedly consume.

8. Listen More: Always speak less than necessary. Less information about self, more about others. Win through actions, not words.

9. Schedule: Plan, before executing, Everything must have it's schedule, it makes it easier to focus on more pertinent things.

10. Act of Timing: Master the times, never seem to be in a hurry, do things in your own planned time and don't encourage lateness. Just be on time.

11. Purity: Do not encourage dirtiness in place or apparel. Always look dapper, like a king is supposed to be. Retain Semen, rarely use venery, but for offspring production and for your reputation and clarity of mind.

12. Act: Just do it, we learn by doing. Win through doing, ideas don't matter if there's no doing.

13. God: Always be a reformed protestant.

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Project Success Algorithm

 I think what separates the successful causes and projects and those that don't are several factors. And intelligence is not part. The ability to plan, the ability to be organized, the ability to execute the plans because you trust it counts. Then repeat the process, while removing what doesn't work. Then handling relationships.

Planning.

I think it's just doing guesswork, asking yourself, questioning and giving honest answers with dates and deadlines. Total costs, funding etc

Organizing.

Make sure all plans are well drawn, and bring everything to one place, where they're supposed to be. Making arrangements for procurement, making sure things are easy for the team or yourself during execution. An intensional effort to reduce chaos. 

Execution.

Doing the work, doing what you said you'd do at the planning stage at the said dates and before the deadlines, just doing it. No excuses, something came up, just doing as promised. Doing it with some crazy intensity. Only crossout tasks or write "DONE" when completed. Execution has three statues: 1. Yet to Start, 2. Inprogress, 3. Completed. Everything else falls within the three. Execute, Just Do it.

Relationships.

The most complex part of it all, you may not get what you want because people react to things differently. Do what you would want for others with good conscience, check on them when you think they're off the grid, and be in a position where you can offer great help when they need it. Be loyal to your troops, and they'll be loyal and when you see that you are being used, stop. Don't be the fool, see through the bull shit and the forced politeness. 

Funding.

Ideas don't matter if there's no funds to fuel them, this is the life blood of the project. You need funds to execute the plans, to create the best things you can work on. You need funds to encourage staff or volunteers. Pay them the best things you can afford. Don't underpay them, they will feel devalued, if it is a nonprofit cause, make sure they always have something to take home, it helps. Raise good funds and spend them wisely, make sure you account for the money well. Reputation and integrity of the project hinges on it. Account with transparency.

Repeat.

After there's an initial success, repeat what worked, and delete what didn't, sack those who don't do well, eliminate B players, and C players who sit on the fence they'll kill the project. Like a design work, keep zooming into various parts you'll see the problems, solve them in a hierarchy based on how urgent they are.  By the time you zoom out you have a great design like an artist. 

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Entropy, order and disorder

A lot of things in the world depend on our ability to work against disorder, the default state of the world and things in it is chaos, eventually, everything will lose its hotness and bend towards coldness and decay.

The only time you can do anything meaningful is when you become orderly. Put a lot of intentional energy into planning; planning depends on your ability to have clarity of mind to be organized.

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Maybe, I'm back

 It's been so long, but most important thing is. I'm back. Lots of things have happened, good friends lost. I almost married someone out of pressure. Built a publishing business accidentally which manages about 5 websites on 5 different fields. A lot has happened. I thought I would never write again. I'm glad to be writing.

I want to write about,  having potential. There's this thing about having potential which can become your main blockage to succeed. Because you may end up living in your head about a bright future, which has not arrived and may cause you to relax. 

You know my biggest fear? It's not that I would loose my businessss or investments. My biggest fear is that I may end up not living up to expectations. And it will be like "Oh he had so much potential" but what happened? 

I've been reflecting on this issue for long. This subject has been on my mind since last month and I've been digesting it. I came to conclusion that to fight against the arrogance of having potential and dwelling on it and not doing anything I would rather live in the present.

Who I am I?

What do I do?

What are skills?

And How much value are these skills?

How can I get to where I want to be?

I've stopped dwelling on my past accomplishments. I've literally deleted everything from my LinkedIn. Because the past is gone and I believe if you do something good, you to go and do something greater. 

And in victory, learn how to celebrate well.

Do not be consumed by the feat, don't let it enter your head. Get back to the drawing board and start again from scratch. That's how consistency is built. That is a winning mentality.

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Reformation Day, thoughts on The Reformed Church in Ghana

 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.””

‭‭John‬ ‭4:24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Last time I wrote something about reformation for reformation day was two years ago. 

Yesterday I had a lengthy discussion with a friend on phone about the state of the reformed church in Ghana and why there’s great need for reform theology in our churches. So when I woke up, I decided to write some thoughts down in my google keep app but now I think I have published it as an article.

The resurgence.

There’s a lot happening right now, young people are discovering Dr. MacArthur’s grace to you podcast, People are reading Spurgeon, Paul washer’s famous the youth shocking message is getting replayed, people are doing zoom meetings to discuss Luther’s 95 thesis and it’s reflection on the modern church, people are downloading RefNet radio, RC Sproul’s ligonier app is being installed, apologetics are being done on Facebook, etc but nobody is paying attention to it, mainstream media is not talking about it but seriously this thing is happening. 

The Ghanaian Church.

Here I will do my best and talk about my view on the Ghanaian church in here, her current state. 

A summary of what is practiced in most churches in Ghana is African Traditional Religion Repackaged as Christianity.

This is a type of Christianity that seeks to manipulate God and get something out of him

Christianiity that seeks to make God small and elevate a man

Christianity that induces emotionalism at the detriment of sound biblical teaching 

Christianity that is void of reason and logic but full of pseudo spectacular charades. 

There was this facebook live video I watched of a church where the preacher said an angel left feathers in his hotel and I saw how the church stood up in awe of this spectacular testimony from this so called pastor. 

Another "prophet" was saying  there is an angel of money and that God is interested in our prosperity than our salvation whatever that means, 

Now there is a video of 5 pastors healing the same woman in different services and facebook is awashed with rage. The truth is many young guys are into this and it's not going away anytime soon. 

"THIS IS WHAT HAS SACKED MANY FROM CHURCHES" because these things are happening in some of these “reformed Protestant churches” too under the guise of “Revival Service”. And nobody is bold enough to say it. 

The idea of Expositing scripture verse by verse is now very strange and now people prefer mystical topics. Fundraising Events have flooded church Almanacs and now it’s all about the money.

Carl Desmonds posted on his Facebook this week about the 7 solas of the modern church and most reformed  church in Ghana are no different.

The Seven Solas of the Modern Church:

1) Sola Cultura – let culture define church life

2) Sola Successa – Let numerical success legitimize activities

3) Sola Entertaina – Let entertainment be the guiding principle

4) Sola Edificia – Let the edifice be the center of church life

5) Sola Programma – Let programs dominate the peoples time

6) Sola Thralldoma – Let the people be enslaved by whatever thrills them

7) Sola Processa – Let the church be managed by business philosophies and processes

In contrast to:

The Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation:

1) Sola Scriptura – by Scripture alone

2) Soli Deo Gloria – All for the Glory of God alone

3) Solus Christus – By Christ’s sacrificial atonement alone

4) Sola Gratia – Salvation by the Grace of God alone

5) Sola Fide – Justification by Faith alone

The need for reformation.

One of the questions at this year’s evangelism 101 gathering was “looking at the current state of the Ghanaian church, do we need a reformation? I think there’s great need for a form of reformation.

Now, after 500 years of The Reformation many people are ignorant again when it comes to the texts of the Bible.  Why? The strategy of the enemy has not changed. He still wants people to rely on religious people and experiences instead of reading the Bible yourself.

However the tactic has changed, instead of withholding information, he gives you Free information but in such quantity that you will not find the truth. And finally give up to Entertainment. You know you could read the Bible in two clicks but you won't because of the next soccer game, the next tv series or an event you're going to attend. The result is the same. We don't read the Bible, we don't know it, we have lots of opinion about the Bible but do we know the texts, do we know its message? Let's challenge each other of celebrating 504 years of the Reformation to tune down our Entertainment consumption and read the new testament. The works that will happen is that you will have Hope.

There's another kind of reformation on its way, it has started with movements like young Calvinists, young Restless reformed and new reformers, Apologia Africa. 

True Christians are now seen as intolerant, bigots, backward, ignorants, socially regressive and now we are being stereotyped. We are seen as stupid by those who see themselves as 'progressive'. It is challenging and very costly to do what Luther did 500 years ago. And stand firm.

The truth is there's still good news to tell, the fire of the Holy Spirit is not quenched, the light of the Gospel is still shining. Today we've more than 2.2 Billion people around the world profess to be believers and out of that number, sub saharan Africa alone is projected to reach 1.1 Billion Christians by 2050. Clearly God's Gospel does not fail.

There's Hope.

The reason we have hope is that ultimately because of the sovereignty of God. That God reigns in the Heavens and over all. And what man means for evil, God intends for good. Even in the darkest hours of History, the light shines the brightest. The darkest cannot extinguish the light, the light will extinguish the darkness. 

Christians should have Hope today because Christ is still on the throne, Christ is risen. It doesn't matter what the authorities in our churches will do, it doesn't matter what society does, it doesn't matter what your neighbor says about you. God is still sovereign and Christ is still saviour.

Happy Reformation Day.

I wrote this from my heart,

Grace to you.

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Worship the Lord in Spirit, Thoughts on RevAkua exposition on Teni for your Case Song

 God is Holy, and the only consumer of our worship or service is God. Not us.

The purpose of worship is for God, God Alone.

So the music and other tools are supposed to be holy that is theologically sound.

I don’t have a problem with Christians singing love songs, no there’s nothing wrong with love songs. God is love there are books in the Bible dedicated for love but I didn’t say “lust” songs.
In our modern world we Christians should be careful with songs we call love songs.



Back to the narrative.

RevAkua got it wrong. You can’t do an exposition on a worldly song. Are you done expositing the Bible? Or even the Hymns, or Hillsong or Elevation worship or worst of all, Bethel music? Maybe firstlove’s Aida.

The song, for your case” has cursing in it and the one true God who is the consumer of our service or worship will not like it since he has commanded believers not to use curse language.

The problem is not charismatics or one-man churches. The problem is that the church in Ghana cannot separate herself from the world. She thinks in other for her to be relevant she needs to copy the world. But you only become relevant when you do the opposite of what the world does. The church is the bride of Christ.

The issue is that most of these orthodox churches are trying their best not to lose the youth by doing the worst they can. They have refused to pass the teachings down to the next generation but they take joy in doing funny funny things in our attempt to be “cooler”. The other time it was Rep your jersey, yesterday it was showing the UCL final in the chapel, few hours ago we are doing an exposition on a song by teni.

Bible says in John 4:23-24 that we should worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Are we doing it?

Now let me ask are we doing it for God or we are doing it for ourselves in the name of God?
Grace to you.

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18 Thoughts on Tongues: The gift of tongues speaking

 Tongues.

So back in Presec Legon and later at the University, I realized something fascinating.

When I was in Form1 and not really a Christian, I normally went to these places for prayers either alone or for congregational prayers. I observed what I may want to call “Rhythmic Prayers” or “Jama Tongues”. 

You will find people in a circle with their hands around each other or in a circle clapping and saying some repetitive things. So there is a call and a response during such prayer meetings.

So Yesterday I was having a Christian Fellowship discussion with some brothers in the Reformed faith and this thing popped up. Here are some observations From the various campus prayer meetings in Ghana:

1. There was a group in UCC called Agapao Ministries. There was this leader who will always say “Yagayaga” and the rest will respond “pao”. They could do this for hours! Was all “Yagayaga” and “pao”.

2. At Science Gardens in UCC, you will hear “montie” and they respond “yate ooo”

3. Perhaps the most interesting one was at Paa Joe Park. One evening while they were praying this group came and started praying. The leader will say “Holy Holy Holy” and the others respond “Ghost”. 

These “rhythmic prayers and tongues” could go on for hours and that’s all these groups will do and they will finish and say “Charlie, today we pray oooo”🤔

This Writing is not targeted at anyone.

Personally, I think the issues on tongues is simple but due to some beliefs by the charismatic, word of faith and some members in the Pentecostal movement it has become complicated.

My view on the topic kept changing but for almost a year and a half now it has been this.

1. I believe the giftings still exist, they have not seized. The gift of the Holy Spirit still exists, and the lord keeps blessing his church with them. So based on this background tongues have not seized. Because the work is missions depends on the gifts. And the work on missions has not seized. Corinthians 13:8-13, Matthew 28:18-20.

2. Since tongues is also a gift, it means I believe it has not ceased. 

3. Now let’s look at tongues from a biblical point of view: The issue about tongues is an issue of language. And if we are talking about language then I think we should talk about the first experience in the Tower of Babel. Somewhere in Genesis 11. Where the diversity in human language started. It’s a long story so I wouldn’t go there.

4. Then later tongues was promised as part of a package for the people in the later age in the book of Joel.

Joel 2:28 ESV: “And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. ESV: English Standard Version 2016

5. Let’s note that in the Joel, we consider tongues as part because it’s a gift of the Holy Spirit. Joel didn’t mention tongues. In my ESV. From Joel, I think the next time tongues or gifts became an important part of a project in the Bible was in Acts 2. 

As a Protestant, I prefer the ESV because of it’s historical background. No big deal.

Back to tongues!

6. So, the next time we saw tongues was the beginning of the church. The day the church was founded. In Acts 2.  The verse 4.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2:4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

7. It is clear here, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and one of the signs was they spoke in other tongues. Not gibberish.

8. So tongues is supposed to be a known language. But the one speaking it is someone who originally cannot speak it. For example, I am an Akyem, then suddenly by the power of the Holy Spirit, I’m speaking Hausa or Spanish. Mind you they were not speaking the tongues with the aid of some drums nice music in the background.

9. After they started speaking in tongues, one of the confirmations we see there is, they made utterance.

utterance

/ˈʌt(ə)r(ə)ns/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a spoken word, statement, or vocal sound.

   "he whispered, as if to lend his utterances an added confidentiality"

According to Google’s inbuilt dictionary, a spoken word or vocal sound. So there’s the meaning behind it. The real meaning behind the sound.

10. And because there was meaning behind the utterance, translation came. The men over there from other parts of the country or the world who understood the language(tongues). Heard the disciples glorifying God. And it drew them closer, which gave Peter the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Christ to them.  That day souls were won.

11. Based on Acts 2, tongues helped in getting people to hear the Gospel. 

12. Brothers and Sisters, if you don’t speak tongues and you have repented and believe the Gospel. You’re a Christian.  The basic requirement of becoming a Christian is not speaking in tongues. We can see it clearly through the Gospels. 

13. Another misconception is that it is a heavenly language. It gains roots from 1 Corinthians 14, They read on the verse 2 and close the Bible. If you speak the tongues and nobody in the room is able to translate then for the good of the church. You shouldn’t.

14. There’s a great need for orderliness in the church. The entire 1 Corinthians 14 explains the concept of tongues but hey sakof feelings so we want to focus only the 2. Still, on the heavenly language point, 1 Corinthians 13 too has been misconstrued. 

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:1‬ ‭ESV

We all know Paul, the Apostle the guy who wrote this was a great wrote and here he was just applying hyperbole or exaggeration. But people focus on the first part and claim it’s a heavenly language.

15. Now, maybe I’m not clear, maybe I have confused you. But what I’m saying is simple. The gift of tongues exist. It even manifested itself during the era of the Basel missionaries. So it is believed. The German missionary, Christaller. The guy who translated the Bible to Twi had the gift of tongues. And it wasn’t "heleba helebaba" He didn’t know how to speak Twi but he was able to translate the Bible to Twi. That’s how practical the gift of tongues is.

16. What do we see in our churches now? Are we speaking tongues or we are lying to ourselves? Those here who speak tongues, in your heart of hearts, do you really speak tongues or do you want to fit in so you pretend to speak? 

17. Well, I’m not trying to frustrate your belief. Or belittle your beloved gift but as a brother in the faith. Who keeps learning I am asking you that deep within yourself are you speaking in tongues or do that so you can pray for long?

18. The lord said we should worship him in spirit and in truth. Here are my findings so far on tongues are according to scripture and as a Protestant, my conscience is a captive of scripture. If by scripture you can prove something else I will be able to change my stand.

John 4:24.

Here I stand.

Grace to you ❤️

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