THE PREGNANT VIRGIN

THE PREGNANT VIRGIN

Afia Noway was highly admired, liked and loved by both the young and old alike. She was a proud native of Dwakrom City. Dwakrom was well known for its fervent trading and religious activities. Noway was well known in her native land. Her electric fame was grounded on her unique beauty and character. As a true Christian, righteous and holy living was her most important pursuit in life. She was a staunch member of Looking unto Jesus Ministries. Noway was among others the leader of the singing group.  Pastor Hasty Carnal, her pastor, was proud of her and always mentioned her name during service and appeal especially to the young congregants to emulate her. Of course, Noway was a pure virgin. But one day she was found to be pregnant. Both her church and the entire Dwakrom community were not convinced of her explanation for the pregnancy. To her mind, she has never known any male person. The church expelled her in accordance with its Constitution, and the community banned her based on its custom. Was justice being done?

Justice is mostly never achieved by merely applying applicable laws to relevant facts. Application of applicable laws to relevant facts may definitely lead to judgment, not necessarily justice. Judgment is never justice. It has been variously said that justice emanates from the people. False! Justice emanates only from God. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Therefore, it is impossible to do justice outside God and His Word. People may easily accuse or judge a matter, not so with justice! While judgment is mainly based on the use of the senses justice is spiritually discerned.  Judgment mainly emanates from the seeing of the eyes and hearing of the ears. Justice on the other hand flows from righteousness judgment and equity. Justice is always surrounded by mercy, peace, righteousness and truth. For instance, through truth, justice dispenses freedom. Thus there is no freedom outside justice. 

Joseph, Daniel, Prophet Hosea and Virgin Mary once found themselves in complicated matters. Joseph was wrongly accused of rape and thrown into prison; Daniel was innocently cast into a lion’s den for praying to God; Prophet Hosea was commanded by God to marry a prostitute and he obeyed; and Virgin Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps, they were criticized, condemned, damned, and wrongly judged by many people. By human judgment, they were guilty but before God they were blameless. Their generations inflicted injustice against them but God decreed justice in their favour. People scorned and rejected them but God glorified them. 

Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate, was even judged and punished more severely. People questioned his birth and ministry. His power and authority were attributed to devilish powers. Jesus was also opposed and rejected by his own Jewish brethren because of wrong judgment. God never forbids us from accusing, criticizing, or judging people. He however forbids us from doing so falsely or wrongly. We accuse falsely or judge wrongly when we ignore God and His word and rely on our senses and physical facts to do so. How will you judge Afia Noway?

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Persecutions are Promotions. borncapy@yahoo.com/www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com.

LEGALISTIC RIGHTEOUNESS

LEGALISTIC RIGHTEOUNESS

“…Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” – Philippians 3:6 (KJV).

I like Right Your Writing Association (RYWA) for its unique greeting (RYWA!), and response (The Right Group). For RYWA, any human activities including right writing must be done in the right way, at the right time (now), and with the right-self (passion!). RYWA also seeks to right human wrongs by inculcating the habit of real reading and right writing in real people to raise real leaders. Doing things in the right way usually calls for obeying some principles and procedures relating to a particular action.

Real judges and lawyers are practitioners of both principles and procedures in all or relevant fields of Law. In addition, real persons are law-abiding. They endeavour to obey the laws (with their procedures) of any society they may find themselves. Besides, parents mostly love their obedient children. Obedience is a great virtue! It can make and unmake a person; ask King Saul. However, obedience does not always denote real righteousness. Besides, lawfulness does not always denote real righteousness.  For instance, right to sexual orientation (same-sex) as lawful as it may be, it can NEVER pass the real test of real righteousness (good morality and good conscience). It at best licenses naked demonstration of depravity of the human mind; ask God. God eventually rejects depraved minds. “All things are lawful but not all things are expedient…” Real lawyers like Apostle Paul know this. Law and order does not necessarily exalt a nation, real righteousness does! Constitutional governance is not a substitute for righteous governance. Real righteousness eliminates sin. Besides, it aims at promoting purity and integrity.

Real righteousness is being right with God. There are two types of righteousness-real righteousness and legalistic righteousness. Real righteousness is imputed upon human beings (born-again persons) by God based on His mercy. Thus such persons contribute nothing to acquire their righteous state. God favourably imputes it upon born-again persons and command them to live holy or pure lives towards their fellow human beings. Thus whilst real righteousness is towards God; purity (honesty) is towards human beings. Purity must be in the heart, at the hand, and in thought. It calls for integrity and honourable living. Besides, it demands living at peace with all persons. Thus real righteousness and holiness are one coin with two sides. Legalistic righteousness on the other hand is acquired through human efforts. It comes by knowing, practicing or obeying laws, even strictly. Whilst real righteousness is inward (towards God), legalistic righteousness is expressive or outward (towards human beings). The main product of legalistic righteousness is hypocrisy; ask the Pharisees and the Scribes. This means that legalistic righteousness is devoid of holiness. It is lawfulness divorced from integrity.

Apostle Paul was blameless or flawless in keeping the law. He obeyed it to the letter. Paul was admirably counted righteous for obeying the law. But his righteousness was legalistic. No wonder he later counted it as garbage for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. Garbage life is life outside Jesus Christ. Obedience to laws without Jesus is rubbish! It is vanity of vanities. True!

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of right your writing.

borncapy@yahoo.com/www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

DILIGENCE IS SUPERIOR TO HARDWORK

DILIGENCE IS SUPERIOR TO HARDWORK

Many people cling to tradition. The assumption is that if something is tradition, it must be a better way. But that’s not necessarily so – John C. Maxwell.

It is said in many cycles that in the world of dictionaries, hardwork always precede, speaking alphabetically, success. Human traditions also assume that hardwork is a condition precedent to a successful living. Unfortunately, however, the conclusions of both the world of dictionaries and human traditions are not true, although they convey some logical sense. Firstly, in a real world of dictionaries, diligence precedes real hardwork and real success. Thus real hardwork, speaking mathematically, is a subset of diligence (being the universal set). Secondly, mere hardwork never translates into a successful living; real hardwork does the job! Thus real successful living is a product of diligence, not necessarily hardwork. Hardwork may just be a ‘harsh-work’, or, say, slavery. It usually pains or brings sorrows, although it pays sometimes. Diligence on the other hand dignifies, rewards, and satisfies. Whilst hardwork is self-centred, diligence is God-centred. Besides, whilst God is the rewarder of diligence, humanbeings are the ‘rewarders’ of hardwork. In addition, diligence has eternal value but that of mere hardwork is both temporal and temporarily. Finally, whilst hardwork is job related, diligence is work related.

The true formula for real successful living is as simple as reciting ABCD. Where A denotes seeking first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness; B denotes discovery of a person’s God-given purpose, gifts and talents; C denotes developing the discovered gifts and talents; and D denotes the diligence pursue of the discovered purpose by voluntarily serving humanity with the developed gifts and talents. Doing ABCD gives a person a work. Not doing ABCD on the other hand gives a person a job. Work is different from a job. Whilst work is your God-given assignment on earth, job is what you are just paid to do. Thus whilst work is service-driven, job is money-driven. Work demands diligence but job demands a mere hardwork. Therefore, engaging oneself in an official or personal task from 8am to 5pm and so forth is not working but ‘jobbing’ (if it is outside doing ABCD). Similarly, real best students are diligent, not necessarily hardworking. Diligent students are ABCD-driven; ask Daniel, Paul, and Jesus!

God has expressly stated in a plain language that, “…Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please (Him): for he that (come) to (Him) MUST believe that (He) is a REWARDER of them that DILIGENTLY seek (Him)”- Hebrew 11:6(KJV) (Emphasis is mine). God is ONLY pleased by faith. Faith simply means doing ABCD. God rewards ONLY those who do ABCD. Unfortunately, many people are living the deception that hardwork in any human-chosen endeavour or venture attracts blessings from God. Even thieves work hard to steal. Perhaps, those who think that way have forgotten that Satan once offered to give Jesus the whole world if he would just worship him (Satan). Jesus rejected the offer because he knew that without doing ABCD it is impossible to please God. God ONLY blesses what pleases Him. He greatly takes pleasure (is pleased with) in persons who DILIGENTLY seek to KNOW who He is! Are you doing ABCD or you are “jobbing”? Please be wise!

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Persecution are Promotions.

borncapy@yahoo.com/www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com