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.