Purity of Thoughts Will Save Ghana

People who strive to be Great thinkers in the Kingdom understand that God is the epitome of quality thought and that purity of thought produces peace. The bible says in Isaiah 55:8-9 that “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Purity of God’s thought resonates with His peace for man. It is what caused Him to send His Son Jesus to come and die for us and establish peace between God and man. This presupposes we as His image are expected to have purity of thought. Unfortunately, we do not have it as the bible categorically states in Isaiah 55:8-9.  But that does not mean we should not strive to attain purity of thoughts.

There are many in Ghana today who believe that peace conferences, concerts and demonstrations is what will ensure a peaceful elections in December 2012. Paradoxically, these steps can initiate peace but cannot sustain peace. Peace comes from God and He alone can grant peace to Ghana.  You see the issue is not the intimidating or inflammatory statements that anyone has made or is making but what God is saying. Vendetta-proned statements or behaviors should not stop Ghanaians from seeking for peace that comes from above. We have a motivation. The bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that “if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”. Again, the bible says in Isaiah 53:1 that “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed”. These bible texts explicitly states if we humble ourselves, and seek God’s face He will hear us and heal the land of Ghana. Secondly, the report of man will always be overridden by the report of God once we believe the report of God. Thirdly, God will cause us to turn away from our wicked ways producing purity of thoughts that promote and sustain peace in the nation. In fact, two important products of healing the land of Ghana will be Peace and Purity of thought for the people of Ghana. Purity of thought will change the mindset of Ghanaians where the mind will be saturated with optimistic contemplations of peaceful and prosperous Ghana before and after the elections in December 2012 as against pessimistic contemplations of civil war or trouble. For those who are pessimistic about a peaceful atmosphere in the country before, during and after the December elections. I have news for you. You have forgotten God is involved in the affairs of Ghana and if we call on Him He will hear us. There is nothing prayer cannot do and if Ghanaians intensify their prayers instead of relying on strategies of political parties to pursue peace a successful Ghana is inevitable.  To our political factions, I say this: to the campaign, add prayer campaigns which encourages all and sundry in Ghana and Diaspora to spend time praying for the country instead of politics of insults. The decider of Ghana’s fate in terms of who would be the next president will not be the political or peace campaigns but the perpetual prayers to God. The bible says God alone sets up kings and removes kings. As a Ghanaian if you have not gone down on your knees to pray start immediately. Don’t accept the status quo of the country which is wobbly based on the inflammatory statements and recent obnoxious developments in the political arena. Remember Hezekiah in the bible (Isaiah 38) whose life was spared by God because he refused to accept the report of the prophet Isaiah from God about his imminent death. Some will say that Hezekiah exhibited a self-justification personality before God which could have made things worse. But at least I know God heard his prayer and saw his tears and added 15 years to his life. God will do the same for Ghana if Christians in Ghana will incessantly cry out to Him in humility. God wants to hear the voice of Christians in Ghana so that He will change the destiny of Ghana for better. Now, let me talk a little about the importance of purity of thought.

In all spheres of man’s life, purity of thought is very important and inexcusable. Whether in your business, education or job, purity of thought is paramount to good success. As a matter of fact, you are no different from what you think. For the bible says in Proverbs 23:7 “as a man thinketh in the heart so is he.”  The bible also says in Jer. 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?  I the Lord search the heart I test the mind even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.” That means your behavior is a product of what you are thinking about. Also our thoughts can be acceptable or unacceptable before God depending on the level of purity. Unfortunately, as humans we are moved at times to see the pessimistic side of issues we face every day and there is the tendency for us to default on being optimistic. But the bible enjoins to have purity of thoughts and in fact boldly commands us in Phil.4:8 to have quality thoughts. Philippians 4:8 states that “Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtues, meditate on these. This bible text is drawing our attention to the six things purity of thoughts focus on. Purity of thought focuses on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely and of good report. The last one “good report” fascinates me.  Good report of peace and prosperity for God is what Ghanaians need. The country does not need the bad report of civil war or chaos. Bad report is orchestrated by the forces of evil. Spiritually, we must understand that the mind is the battle ground for the forces of evil (Satan and cohorts) and forces of good (God and His Spirits). In fact Satan is interested in fighting our minds than our actions because he believes that when he is able to overcome our minds by letting us have impure thoughts, evil actions will follow suit. He also believes that in so doing he would be able to turn us against one another and bring chaos in Ghana. But we refuse to be intimidated by his threats because we have a bigger God. You see whereas God is constantly working on us through His Holy Spirit to bring us to the level of quality thinking and make us solution people, the devil is working hard to make us problem people. Now, as Ghanaians we have a choice to make whether to pursue purity of thoughts which is God inherent or to subject ourselves to impure thought which is Satan orchestrated. Remember, if the devil influenced Adam and Eve with impure thoughts to initiate their downfall Ghanaians are not immune to his reproaches. Don’t spend your time engaging in impure thoughts such as immoral thoughts, evil thoughts of instability or political feud in Ghana. Rather spend time praying to God to give you purity of thought that will contribute to the peace in Ghana. Referring to one of the articles I wrote recently, God is the architect of Ghana and whether people like or not, He will give us peace. God bless our Homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong! God bless Ghana and its citizens both home and abroad. Ghana will overcome because God is with us.

 Charles Horace Ampong

www.icgcchicago.com / www.charliepee.blogspot.com

 

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God’s Credit – Hurry, Get Yours!

Earth or Eternal Credit

Do you have a good credit rating? Do you want a good credit? What is the big deal with having a good credit or bad credit rating? What is the big deal with having a good or bad credit rating? In our current business oriented world having a bad credit rating or history can stall your progress in life. Life will be extremely difficult from renting a place through getting a job to obtaining a new loan. Most importantly starting your own business may be a herculean task because you will be limited in initial capital acquisition from bankers or creditors. Consequently, many people in order to stay qualified for loans meticulously avoid the setback of bad credit by doing all in their power to maintain a good credit. Interestingly, as human beings our stay on this earth is ephemeral but the world system compels us to seek good credit on the earth so that we can invest in the system generating wealth to make life better. The perception is that the upshot of good earth credit and better life guarantees a good earthly destiny. Nevertheless, to make life consequential, commemorating and interminable there are two types of credits you and I need. The two types of credit systems are earth credit and eternal credit.    

 Earning God’s Credit

The earth credit which is physical in nature (provided by man) may determine our earthly destiny. The eternal credit most important of the two credit systems is spiritual in nature and is the determinant of our eternal destiny. This type of credit comes from God. Unfortunately, most people in the world are anxious to get good earth credit and are indifferent or reluctant towards obtaining good eternal credit a provision of God. Now, why is this eternal credit so important? Explicating on this issue I would like to say that every human once born into this world already has a bad eternal credit because of an inherent spiritual debt. You and I know that debt emerges as a result of money or something owed that could not be paid. Next, why is that all humans enter this world with a bad eternal credit?  The answer is simple: because of the sin committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Sin committed by these two personalities became debt which encompassed all generations. Know that sin is a form of spiritual debt. Adam and Eve by their act incurred a spiritual all-encompassing debt with predisposition to affect all generations after them including you and me. The bible says in Romans 5:18 that “Therefore by one man’s sin judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation even so by one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous”. Once again, sin is a spiritual debt which cannot be redeem by a physical or tangible means. No amount of goodwill to our fellow man or woman can redeem the debt of sin incurred inherently by every human being from Adam and Eve’s sinful act. There are some who believe their good works can be credited towards their sins committed everyday. God’s credit towards you and me to redeem our debt of sins is not earnable through our good works. It is freely given through Christ alone. Truly, since you and I were born the spiritual debt on our lives has been increasing exponentially with time because of daily sins. Know that man and sin are inseparable without Christ in the equation. Solomon puts it this way in Ecclesiastes 7:20 “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin”. Our spiritual account the determinant for eternal life or death is saturated and threatened by sin. The good news is that God through His Son Jesus has paid for the spiritual debt of you and me and in addition is crediting us with righteousness. All we need to do is to acknowledge and receive this act of kindness from God by first accepting the fact we owe the debt of sin and we cannot pay. Secondly, we have to believe and confess Jesus as our creditor and that He alone has paid for the debt we owed and could not pay. It is an undeniable fact that Jesus our creditor and advocate has paid for our debt of sin we inherited from birth. Now, by taking the two aforementioned steps of belief and confession, your spiritual account will be cleared of the debt of sin (debit of sin) and in addition you will be credited with righteousness. As in fiscal accounting where debit can be turned into credit, your spiritual account will be changed from debit to credit.  Let me give you three biblical texts that document this issue of being credited with righteousness once you accept Jesus and decides to live for Him. The bible says in Galatians 3:6 that “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness”. It says also in James 2:23 that “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God”. Then it says in Ezekiel 18:20 that “ The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the sin of the father, nor the father bear the sin of the son. The righteousness of the righteousness will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged (debited) against him”.

The Decision Is Ours

My dear friend or fellow Ghanaian reading this article please reflect on the issues discussed in the article so far and make a decision. And if you have not received God’s free credit I would like to encourage you to take the necessary steps to get this free credit. You do not have to work to get it like you have to do to get a good credit on earth. Now, if you have a good earth credit, thank God for that. But what you seriously and urgently need is God’s credit which will secure your eternal destiny. We have only two options for our eternal destiny: Heaven or Hell. Which one do you want? I believe you don’t want an eternal destiny in Hell. God’s free credit through Jesus alone is what can grant you eternal destiny in Heaven. All you need to do like I said before is to accept Christ and be determined to live for Him. Tomorrow might be too late so hurry and get yours. You don’t need an attorney, bankruptcy lawyer, an advocate to help you get this free good credit from God. Jesus is your creditor, advocate and through Him alone can you have this good credit from God. Abraham and David in spite of their imperfections believed God and so received the credit of righteousness and secured a place with the Father in Heaven. There are many of us who have been condemned, disgraced and rejected by society because we are drug addicts, fornicators, adulterers, sexual perverts, gays, lesbian, armed robbers, trouble makers, prisoners. I have good news for you. I want you to know that you qualify for this free credit from God if only you will accept Jesus today and determine by means of the Holy Spirit to live for God. Once again, you don’t need any earthly qualification to get this credit. Though you have difficulty in the purchasing of a car, a house or even getting employed because of bad earth credit yet don’t worry. You can have eternal credit free from God which ensures that when you die you will have a place with the Father in Heaven. Make the decision today and you would be happy you did after you die. God bless you.

Charles Horace Ampong

International Central Gospel Church Chicago

www.icgcchicago.com / www.charliepee.blogspot.com

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We Must Prepare – God Cannot Lie!

For many years there have been lot of doubts and misconceptions about not only the existence of God but if He is true to His Word. Two groups of people constitute the spectrum here. Those who doubt His existence whom the world calls “Atheist” and those who know He is there but cannot understand His workings. Which ever group you belong to, the record is clear – God is real and His ways cannot be discerned with the natural. The bible says in Psalm 14:1 that “Only a fool will say in his heart that there is no God”. It again says in Isaiah 40:28 and Psalm 147:5 that there is no searching of His understanding. In other words His understanding is infinite. Infinite understanding and personality of God transcends the understanding and personality of man.

Human understanding and personality is finite. Ultimately, no advance science, and technology can decipher the ways and the trajectory God operates on. Such limitation places man on a position of struggling and trying to digest a certain question with no definite answer at hand. That question is: Whether God’s prophetic declarations through His Word about the end of the world, the rapture or the Second Coming of Christ are authentic and certain to happen. There are two schools of thought here: the Evolutionary school of thought that says the Universe invented itself and continues to reinvent itself so there will be no end. The other school being bible-oriented school of thought which I subscribe to. It predicts the creator of this World is sending His Son Jesus again not to save the world but to judge the World in future. Which ever school of thought you subscribe to, one thing is clear – God cannot lie. Some people ridicule this statement but we know the bible describes such people as scoffers in the last days. It says in 2 Peter 3:3-4- “Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying where is the promise of His (Jesus) coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation”. This scripture suggest scoffers’ idiosyncrasy of the Earth reinventing itself with no end. Strangely, the syndrome of scoffing is even becoming popular in Christian circles after prophetic declarations in 2011 about the end of the world failed. Recall the prophetic declaration by Rev. Camping (in the U.S) that the world was going to end on May 21, 2011 and when it did not happen he changed the end date to October 21, 2011. Rev. Camping changed the date because he said there was a miscalculation. Next in line was Prophet Anamoah who prophesied in Ghana that the world was going to come to an end on November 11, 2011. So far this year there has not been a major declaration of that sort except for the rumor circulating the world will end on December 21, 2012. In spite of all these developments, one thing which is clear and indubitable is – God cannot lie. Now, let me give you five (5) primary reasons why God cannot lie.

1. God is not a man

Man changes with time and is deceitful and can be very wicked but God and His Word are not affected by time. In other words God is time independent but is all eternity whilst man is fleeting. The bible says in Numbers 23:19 that “God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Has He spoken, and will He not make it good”. The bible again says in Titus 1:2 that “In hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before time began”. Our world system made up of the economy, families, marriages, jobs, positions, education, relationships (friends), Church and even our beauty is affected by time degrading exponentially with it. Know that anything subject to time dependency will fail, is unreliable and hence a lie. To tell you the truth man and all he is involved in is a lie. The bible says in Romans 3:4 that “….Let God be true but every man a liar….”

2. God is the same yesterday, today and forever

God is the only one who has said He changes not. The bible says in Malachi 3:6 that “For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob”. Also it says in Hebrews 13:8 that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”. If God is saying, He changes not He is referring to His covenant with man. He is referring to His covenant with you and me, the nation Ghana and the world at large. You see God may have changed His mind concerning king Hezekiah but not His will and covenant. Adding 15 years to Hezekiah’s life did not change His will and covenant concerning him. If Christ has not come it does not mean God is lying. God has a covenant with His creation and He wants to redeem man whom He created in His own image. Understand that God does not want anyone to go to Hell but all to come to repentance so as to have a place in Heaven. The bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance”. That is why as Ghanaians much as we pray for the will of God to be done concerning the country’s direction we should also pray for more souls to be won for Christ. It is only the supernatural that can straighten up the way forward for Ghana besides winning souls.

3. God is merciful and His compassions never fails

The bible describes the mercies and compassions of God this way: they are new every morning. In fact the bible says in Lamentations 3:22-23 that “Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”. Something that is new every morning is reliable and sustainable. The reason why you and I are alive today in spite of all the socio-economic stress and evils around is because of the fresh mercies of God received everyday. That is why it is good to put our hope in His mercies everyday and not in our capabilities or credentials. Truly, the day the mercy of God is taken away from you and I trouble will be insurmountable. Why? It is His mercy that is keeping you and me from evil. So far as Jesus has not come, the mercies of God on this world will not fail. Children of God are walking in the new mercies of God every day for old mercies cannot keep you away from the evil all around.

4. God is a covenant keeping God

God will always keep His part of the covenant with His people. However, man has a dismal record of breaking his covenant with God. The people of Israel in the Old Testament can identify with this better. On several occasions God assured them that He will never break His covenant with them because He is true to His Word. The bible says in Judges 2:1 that “Then the Angel of the LORD came from Gilgal to Boachim and said: I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you”. This confirms God will always keep His part of the covenant with His people and creation. He says in Jeremiah 33:19-21 that “If you can break my covenant with day and night so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time then my covenant with David my servant-and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me-can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne”.

5. God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all

The bible says in John 1:5 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all”. Man can have light but is not light originally. The light of man is Jesus Christ. When we walk with Him we can have light. Every presumed light (apart from that of Jesus) in the world is of the devil. The devil has been transformed into an angel of light (2 Corinth. 11:14) and is deceiving people with religion that profess to have light that leads them to God. That is why the bible admonishes us to test all spirits whether they are of God or not (1 John 4:1). There is only one Light in the world that shines and causes men and women to shine out as lights in a dark world. That Light is Jesus. Jesus is the only One who has declared that I am the Light of the World. He is the Light of the world because He is ALIVE and not dead.

After all the preceding deliberations, I would like you to know that God’s prophetic declaration of this world passing away someday is inevitable because God cannot lie. What you and I need to do is to prepare and not be complacent with the deceptive doctrine that disputes the rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. It will surely happen and will not tarry so be prepared to meet Jesus Christ the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the KING OF KINGS to give an account. The best of preparation you can make is to Accept Christ today and be determined to live for Him. What you need is not religion or Church affiliation but true relationship with God through Christ alone. God bless you.

Charles Horace Ampong
http://www.icgcchicago.com / http://www.icgcchicagowordpress.com / http://www.charliepee.blogspot.com

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