Actress Lydia Forson has described as a shame, the three days of fasting and prayers for the Ghanaian economy by the Church of Pentecost.
Members of the Church of Pentecost have been asked by the Chairman of the Church to begin the fasting and prayers from Thursday, November 10.
In a communique signed by Apostle Eric Nyamekye, members are to pray and intercede for the nation and the global community amidst the economic crises.
“The fasting and prayers, which are scheduled to end on Sunday, November 13, will be observed on the theme: ‘So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer’ (Ezra 8:23), all assemblies have been asked to go about their existing programmes for the week, nonetheless, these prayer and fasting sessions may be fused with any existing programme scheduled for the week.
“All Area Heads and ministers are to get involved and organise these meetings at any convenient level that will yield the maximum result,” the communique added.
Reacting to the instruction in a series of tweets, the actress questioned why the church didn't use its position to hold the government accountable beyond fasting and prayers.
"Imagine the church actually took a positions to HOLD government accountable beyond prayers[sic]. Imagine the church used its power/influence to get our government to do right by its people. Instead, the church (most) use their position to only advance itself and agenda[sic]. Shame.
"I would have respected the church's position a lot more if they kept the same energy [with the LGBTQ+]. But I’ve reiterated many times that a lot of religious bodies are NOT for the people, many unfortunately just use religion to advance their own agenda.
"Imagine Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. asking black people to fast and pray for 3 days to end discrimination and not speaking against the injustices people of colour were facing. Prayers, yes, but action too," Lydia Forson stressed.
Source: Ghanaweb.com
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
Deep Reflection! I am beginning to understand that the Paying of tithes is just like E-levy, every new hand (receiver) is expected to pay something (smh). The church and the government of Ghana is the same. They are all scammers, or something is not being done right. This is the reason why the government is not able to control the churches and the leaders of churches are also afraid and/or fail to speak up about the government. They are all doing the same exact things. Let's all speak truth to power. What about if we decide to have religious representation in parliament? What about if the government institute an entity that would audit churches? The mega corporate churches in Ghana (all you know their names and don’t force me to mention any church) are the biggest culprit of the spiral depreciating value of our once strong cedi. Trust you me, almost all churches in Ghana have some sort of forex account (predominantly, dollar, pound, Euros). The same offerings and tithes are used as a weapon to devalue our currency because, these collections in cedi values from churches are changed into the hard currencies. Is the government not aware of these? Passing of a bill or amending parts of our constitution and backed by stringent penalties will help in diversifying power in more hands and strengthening our institutions. I believe none of these bodies (churches and the government) would be afraid to discharge its core constitutionally mandated duties without fear or favor. Guess what? A true and pure checks and balances would be injected into our social, political, religious, and economic landscape. The church remains the biggest institution with the largest human capital and perhaps the biggest revenue generation. How can a country that is serious, would decide not to have any policy or law to regulate the activities of the largest organization within her territorial borders? This does not make any sense to serious minded person. I perfectly understand the dicey nature of infusing religion and governance (politics), hence, the need to addressing them with dispassionate inclination. We cannot also refuse to accepting the fact that religion plays an integral part of our democratic dispensation. After all, our kind of democracy is still at the test lab, if we try and it does not work, we will use the appropriate parliamentary procedure to amend or completely expunge it. I hope someone will listen to this so that all of us can start working together in building a more resilient and a robust economy. God save our Nation. God save our country. God heal our land.