All-die-be-die movement launched

News Ghana
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All-die-be-die Movement affiliated to the opposition New Patriotic Party has been launched in the Ashanti Region.

The movement seeks to protect the country’s young democracy and to project the opposition flag-bearer Nana Akufo-Addo who is credited with popularising the ‘all-die-be-die’ phrase.

Its spokesperson Kwame Asamoah told Nhyira FM’s Kofi Asante the movement has been formed to demystify the misrepresentation which has been associated with the ‘all-die-be-die’ phrase.

Nana Akufo-Addo first made the controversial comment during a durbar with the constituency executives and party supporters in the Eastern Region as part of a nationwide tour.

His comments provoked a sea of controversy with political opponents describing the comments as irresponsible and accusing Nana Addo of inciting ethnic violence.

Several months on after that comment was made, a group in the Ashanti Region has institutionalized the all-die-be-die comment forming a movement out of it.

According to Kwame Asamoah, every Ghanaian has a responsibility to protect himself or herself in the face of intimidation and repression by political opponents, especially when the security forces, whose duty it is to protect lives of all Ghanaians look on helplessly.

He cited cases of Agbogbloshie murders – where NPP supporters were butchered to death -, Akwatia bye-election in which there were reports of electoral manipulation and violence, admonishing party supporters to stand-up against intimidation even at the peril of their lives.

Kwame Asamoah said the movement is for ‘peace and tranquility’ not for war.

He stressed the statement was taken out of context and deliberately misrepresented by political opponents.

He observed there is the need to protect the country’s young democracy and the movement will play a crucial role in educating many Ghanaians on their civic responsibility.

According to him the young group has branches across the country.

Source: Myjoyonline

IPS, Rector, face contempt charges

myjoyonline.com
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Joshua Alabi, Rector of IPS
Joshua Alabi, Rector of IPS

The Rector of the Institute of Professional Studies, Prof. Joshua Alarbi, and the institute have been jointly charged with contempt of court.

The charges are in respect of the willful refusal of the school to restore the BSe Marketing Degree of a former student of the Institute in total disregard of a court order.

IPS cancelled Mr Asore Maxwell Abugre’s BSc Marketing degree, claiming falsely that he falsified the results with which he entered the institute.

Attempts to explain issues to the authorities failed forcing Mr Asore to file a case at the High Court (Human Rights Division) to assert his fundamental human right to education.

The court, presided over by Justice Uuter Paul Dery upheld his argument, noting that the IPS had not been able to prove its case that the complainant falsified his results.

The court, consequently ordered on July 28, that IPS should within 10 days release Mr Asore’s Degree.

Since the ruling, all attempts to get the authorities to comply with the court’s ruling have failed. Letters written by the lawyers of Mr Asore reminding the institute to respect the court’s ruling have been ignored.

IPS, this week wrote to the lawyers arguing that they print certificates yearly and that Mr Asore could only get his certificate next year.

In the wake of the letter, the complainant, through his new lawyers, Tometi Legal Consult filed for contempt at the High Court.

The case will be heard on October 13, this year.

Mahatma Gandhi

News Ghana
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Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India, Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the world.
Known as the father of the Indian Nation, Gandhi helped liberate India from the British rule through nonviolent resistance. The name ‘Mahatma’ was given to him by the people of India, meaning Great Soul.
At age 13, Gandhi underwent an arranged marriage ceremony between him and Kasturba, a girl of the same age. Gandhi and his wife had four children.
Gandhi moved to London to study Law and returned in1891 to India to practice. In 1893 he took on a contract to do legal work in South Africa where he spent 20 years opposing discriminatory legislation against Indians.
He developed a method of action based upon the principles of courage, nonviolence and truth called Satyagraha. He believed that the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. Satyagraha promoted nonviolence and civil disobedience as the most appropriate methods for obtaining political and social goals. In 1915 Gandhi returned to India. He supported the Home Rule movement, and became leader of the Indian National Congress, advocating a policy of non-violent non-co-operation to achieve independence. His goal was to help poor farmers and laborers protest oppressive taxation and discrimination. He struggled to alleviate poverty, liberate women and put an end to caste discrimination, with the ultimate objective being self-rule for India.
Following his civil disobedience campaign (1919-22), he was jailed for conspiracy (1922-4). In 1930, he led a landmark 320 km/200m march to the sea to collect salt in symbolic defiance of the government monopoly. On his release from prison (1931), he attended the London Round Table Conference on Indian constitutional reform. In 1946, he negotiated with the Cabinet Mission which recommended the new constitutional structure. After independence (1947), he tried to stop the Hindu-Muslim conflict in Bengal, a policy which led to his assassination in Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic.
Even after his death, Gandhi’s commitment to non-violence and his belief in simple living–making his own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet, and using fasts for self-purification as well as a means of protest–has been a beacon of hope for oppressed and marginalized people throughout the world.
Ghananewslink.com

Trees: Over protected or rejected resources?

Guuroh Reginald Tang
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During my days as a student in KNUST, we were discussing deforestation one day and I remember a friend told me that it was impossible for all the trees to disappear and hence he added that there was absolutely no need for me to study Forest management. That is the extent to which we can take the trees and forests around us for granted. Contrary to my friend’s view, there is no doubt whatsoever that all the mature trees can indeed vanish. Current trends of degradation and deforestation suggest that much of our country will end up as desert within the next half century. See tables 1 and 2 below.

According to Mongabay.com, between 1990 and 2000, Ghana lost an average of 135,400 hectares of forest per year. This amounts to an average annual deforestation rate of 1.82%. Also, between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change increased by 4.2% to 1.89% per annum. In total, between 1990 and 2005, Ghana lost 25.9% of its forest cover, or around 1,931,000 hectares.

Table 1: Ghana’s Forest cover 2010 

    Total Land Area (1000 square kilometers) — 22754

 

    Total Forest Area (1000 ha) — 4940

 

    Percent Forest Cover — 22

 

    Primary Forest Cover (1000 ha) — 395

 

    Primary Forest, % total forest — 8

 

    Other wooded land (1000 ha) — 0

 

    Percent other wooded land — 0

Table 2: TOTAL FOREST COVER (1000 ha)

    Year ——- Remaining cover
    1990 ——- 7448
    2000 ——- 6094
    2005 ——- 5517
    2010 ——- 4940

Source: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Ghana.htm

As seen in table 2 above, the forest cover continues to decrease from 1990 to 2010. This suggests that if pragmatic measures are not taken to halt or reverse the trend, Ghana could be moving towards serious problems.

In this article I intend to assess the tree resource of our nation, highlight their important uses and hence redirect public interest towards tree planting and forest protection in general. First of all it may be prudent to answer the question of what a tree is. One great Forester defined a tree as any plant which is big enough such that you can climb it. For the purposes of this article I think it is sufficient but from a more scientific point of view, a tree is any plant greater than 5min height and with an upright stem.

It is an undeniable fact that trees play a vital role in our very existence as humans. They perform vital ecological, environmental, cultural, economic, and spiritual functions. Trees release oxygen through photosynthesis, enabling animals and humans to live. Many people may be familiar with the expression “when the last tree dies, the last man dies” but the question is, how seriously do we take this saying?

Trees are important for maintaining the energy balance of the earth. They also play a vital role in the water cycle and hence can help regulate rainfall distribution and intensity. Also, trees bind soil particles together thus minimizing the risk of soil erosion and may also serve to maintain and improve soil fertility. Trees are also found to be useful in conserving and prolonging the life span of water bodies as they tend to conserve the moisture levels. Due to the soil-binding properties of the roots, trees can also help prevent siltation of water bodies through erosion. Furthermore, trees have the potential to minimize risk of floods by regulating surface and subsurface water flows, thus enabling gradual recharge of groundwater. Firstly, trees prevent the direct physical impact of heavy rains on the soil. Secondly during rains, water is intercepted by tree leaves, branches, stems and roots and this is released gradually thus preventing what would otherwise have been a direct one-off input of water into the ground. Though not the complete solution to flooding, floods are more likely to occur where there are no trees than where there are trees.

Trees also play a vital role in nutrient cycling by taking up nutrients from the deep parts of the soil (with their deep rooting system) and returning it through litter fall to the top soil where other plant roots (with different rooting strategies) can make use of the nutrients. In this regard, if appropriate species are selected, trees may help to improve fertility and thus improve crop yields and productivity. This is why our farmers must be encouraged to embrace the planting of trees on their farms. Trees also help to reduce wind speeds thus playing a crucial role in reducing damage associated with storms. A house with no trees around it is more likely to have the roof taken off as compared to one with lots of trees. Private households and public buildings must be encouraged to plant lots of tall trees around to minimize the occurrences of wind disasters that happen on a yearly basis in the country.

Planting trees would also help improve our health. The more trees we have around, the more refined the air around. Trees help to absorb carbon dioxide, dust and other gases present in the air and thus may reduce air related diseases.

Last but not least, trees provide shade to allow us to hide from the searing heat of the sun. We all know the relief we feel when we get under a nice shade after a long walk under the sun. Trees are also known to store carbon and thus reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This helps to fight climate change and global warming. It is known that the amount of carbon currently stored in trees is twice as much as the amount in the atmosphere now (IPCC 2007). Imagine what would happen therefore if all of this is released into the atmosphere as a result of deforestation. This means that we would have three times as much carbon dioxide as we have today and several times as much climate related disasters as we have today. Another important issue to mention is that tropical trees store twice as much carbon as trees in the temperate zone (Ravindranath and Madelene, 2008), hence it is even more important to protect our trees and to plant more. Temperate regions are particularly reliant on tropical regions for storing carbon up in trees.

Comparing the deforestation rates with the amount of replanting in Ghana, I feel it would be right to say that trees have been more a rejected resource than protected. I would make the following recommendations as a way of helping improve the tree cover of the nation.

1. Our housing laws must be restructured to ensure that every one who builds a house also incorporates tree planting around the house. This will reduce the amount of destruction caused by wind. Note also that trees planted around houses must be well managed to reduce risk of damage from tree fall.

2. The media should devote some time to raise awareness on tree planting as well as tree protection. What people hear more often tends to influence their perceptions and behaviours hence if more about tree planting is talked about, it will hopefully help. Tree planting should be a daily affair and not a special thing that happens once in a year.

3. Agroforestry practices should be embraced and farmers should be encouraged to incorporate tree planting into their normal agricultural activities.

4. Government and other development partners such as NGOs should introduce schemes that provide farmers with incentives to incorporate tree planting activities as well as reward farmers who do not cut down already existing trees on their farm lands

5. Government and other development partners should provide seedlings for interested farmers at low cost and also encourage community wood land establishment
All said and done, this piece of work will come down to a mere rhetoric if no action is initiated as a result of it. I encourage readers to plant a tree each upon reading this article. Come to think about it, can we not plant a tree each year say on our birthdays? I am pretty sure that this would not be too much to accomplish and we can each find land at home, or at the office to do this. Plant it on your birthday and assess how well you have done by your next birthday and plant another one.

Plant a tree today and save your local environment and the climate and the world

Credit: Guuroh Reginald
Email: [email protected]

[email protected]
[email protected]

References
1. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Ghana.htm
2. IPCC 2007. Synthesis report
3. Ravindranath N.H and Madelene O., (2008). Carbon Inventory Methods Handbook for Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Carbon Mitigation and Roundwood Production Projects

Forest Degradation/Deforestation in Ghana

Guuroh Reginald Tang
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Deforestation is a global menace which has received much public attention in most countries in recent years. The international community, governments at national level, NGOs, and other such organizations are raising awareness about the dangerous consequences of forest loss to the environment and hence humanity. The FAO 2010 report revealed an alarming rate of deforestation with a global loss of around 13 million hectares of forest each year in the last decade (2000 to 2010). This deforested area is more than half the total area of Ghana. The report indicated that Africa has the second highest rate of deforestation worldwide (with 3.4 million hectares of forest loss annually).The situation is not any different in Ghana where forest has been under pressure from human activities over the last century.

This article seeks to highlight the state of Ghana’s forest resource, considering trends over the past 100 years. The article will also briefly discuss the causes of deforestation and present some suggested solutions.

Definitions 
The terms degradation and deforestation may be familiar to workers and students in forestry, but probably not to all. Deforestation is defined as the conversion of forest to non forest land uses. This means that if a land previously occupied by forest is cleared for agriculture or a building project, then deforestation would have occurred. Degradation however refers to any activity that affects the quality of the forest. For example, bush fires may cause degradation but may not necessarily result in deforestation. By FAO definitions, an area is considered to be forest if it covers an area greater than 0.5 hectares, and has 10% or more tree crown cover. In turn, trees can be defined as having a single stem and the potential to reach a minimum height of 2-5 metres at maturity. An alternative definition is that it is possible to climb a tree at maturity, in comparison to shrubs which cannot be climbed.

Deforestation rates
Total land area of Ghana is about 23.85 million hectares. At the beginning of the last century, about one-third (i.e 8.2 million hectares) of the area was covered by high forest while the remaining two-third (15.7 million hectares) was savanna woodland (Owusu et. al., 1999). The area of high forest (off reserve) has drastically reduced and the only remaining portions today are mainly in protected areas. Records show that at the turn of the last century, Ghana had about 8.8 million ha of primary forest. By 1950, the area had been reduced to 4.2 million ha and further to about 1.5 million ha by 1999 (Owusu et. al., 1999). This implies that from 1900 to 1950, the nation lost 50% of its primary forest cover and also lost 60% of it between 1950 and 1999. On a 100 year scale (1900 to 2000), the nation lost over 80% of the closed forest (a reduction from 8.8 million ha to 1.5 million ha). Farrhead and Leach, (1998) estimated the deforestation rate to be a massive 22,000ha per year around the late 90’s. From some more recent trends, Mongabay.com reported that, between 1990 and 2000, the average annual deforestation rate was 1.82%. Also, between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change increased by 4.2% to 1.89% per annum. The recent FAO 2010 report has estimated Ghana’s deforestation at 135 395 ha per year.

Causes of deforestation
The causes of deforestation are numerous, interrelated and complex in nature. Most causes can be linked to livelihood and development. There are both direct and indirect causes. The indirect (underlying) causes are those factors that trigger the actual causes and these include; poverty, ignorance, corrupt practices of governments, security & forestry officials, weak institutions, inappropriate policies, lack of law enforcement, lack of concern by local communities, land tenure issues among others.

According to Nsenkyire (1998), the main causes in Ghana are (i) forest clearance for cocoa and food crop farms and (ii) logging (both legal and illegal). Illegal logging is a major cause of deforestation, depriving the Ghanaian economy of fibre, legal employment and tax revenues. This is done by selfish people who try and keep all the benefits away from the nation. Legal logging could also still be harmful to forest if not done in environmentally friendly ways. Clearance of forest for agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation not only in Ghana but in the whole of Africa (FAO 2003). Because of reducing soil fertility, an ever increasing area has to be planted in order to grow sufficient food. As a result, rural families clear portions of land yearly for crop cultivation. Other causes of deforestation are shifting cultivation, bush fires, harvesting of fuel wood, human settlements and overgrazing. Conversion of forest lands for industrial activities or infrastructural development is another cause of forest loss. Examples include forest clearance for mining, industrial development, building of stadia, schools and other large infrastructure projects.

Suggested Solutions 
One would think that the solution to degradation and deforestation lies with stopping the direct causes of deforestation. I agree with this only to some extent. In my opinion, halting forest loss should rather tackle both the direct causes and indirect causes, i.e. both prevention and cure. For example, one direct cause of deforestation is illegal logging. In trying to fight deforestation, we may not go very far if we are merely trying to stop illegal logging. We might be better off solving the underlying cause of illegal logging which may be weak institutions or corruption or both. Similarly, we can only stop deforestation triggered by poverty when we have been able to tackle and deal with the poverty problems. Poor families who cannot afford alternative energy sources for cooking cannot be stopped from harvesting fuelwood since this will lead to hunger. In developed countries, the majority of people do not directly depend on the forest for energy to cook, hence it is easier to conserve forests.

The Ghana forestry commission is committed to tackling deforestation. Their efforts will not be successful until they are complemented with efforts of forest fringe communities. These groups often know of illegal activities in their local forests but tend to condone these activities. It is common recently to find chain saw operators even in northern Ghana selecting and cutting the few economic trees left in the area. Local people are those who help these illegal people to locate such trees in order to make their own gains at the expense of the whole of the nation. These rural dwellers may not be well informed about the benefits of preserving trees and even if they know, they value the money they get from chain saw operators much more than allowing the tree to stand.

There should be more training given to forestry officers to enable them to deal with the challenges of forest management in current times, in particular their ability to work together with forest fringe communities. With the advent of climate change for example, foresters must be equipped with necessary skills and technologies to be able to adapt to the anticipated changes. They should also be trained to understand and implement forest management approaches such as reduced impact logging, sustainable forest management, multiple use forest management, participatory forest management, and community forest management among others which have been found to be useful in other countries.

In addition, just like many crime related issues, Forestry officials need the support of other state security agencies to deal with these illegal activities. The police, customs, and military all have a role to play in the campaign against deforestation and illegal logging. I observed that most logs illegally cut in Upper West Region of Ghana were being transported across to Burkina Faso, through the borders. Training border officials in the identification of illegal logs is required. Government must step up forest protection by ensuring a multi-sectoral approach. Government should also review existing laws to ensure that punishments for illegal logging activities are severe enough to discourage people.

Increasing forest cover?
The only way to regain lost forest is by reforestation or afforestation. Reforestation is to plant trees on land which carried forest within the previous 50 years or within living memory. Afforestation on the other hand is to plant trees on land devoid of forest or land that was deforested in the distant past. The Ghanaian government has been making great efforts to increase the nation’s forest cover through plantations. Since 2000 the Forestry Commission of Ghana has embarked on a national plantation development programme with a target of 20 000 ha a year (FAO 2010). This is to be applauded but should also be done with more participation from local dwellers. Successful schemes such as joint forest management, participatory forest management and community forest management should be introduced and studied. Tree planting could be made easier by encouraging local people to get involved through provision of incentives. Initiatives such as ‘Tree Aid’ provide an example of how such aspirations can be realised.

Conclusion
The protection of the nation’s forest is a collective responsibility of every Ghanaian. Hence every citizen should be a guardian of the remaining trees and be inspired and encouraged to plant trees. Some people argue that trees take too long to grow but I say that it is better to plant today and have it in 50 years than not to plant today and be forced to plant it in 50 years and end up using it in 100 years or more from now. I would like to end with an old Greek proverb which says, “a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in”.

Help prevent deforestation now!

Credit: Guuroh Reginald Tang
Email: [email protected]

Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Dr. James Walmsley of the University of Wales, Bangor-UK 

References
1. FAO 2006 and 2010 reports
2. Owusu, J.G.K, Abeney, E.A, Frimpong, E.A (1999). Workshop for media personnel on forestry and wildlife reporting
3. Fairhead J, Leach M (1998) Reframing Deforestation: Global Analysis and Local Realities –
Cases from West Africa. London: Routledge
4. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Ghana.ht

Student wins landmark court case against IPS

myjoyonline.com
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Maxwell Asore
Maxwell Asore

A BSc Marketing Student of the Institute for Professional Studies (IPS), Mr Asore Maxewell Abugre has won a landmark case against the institute.

The Institute wrongfully withdrew Mr Maxwell’s BSc Marketing degree and published his photographs on notice boards, accusing him falsely of falsifying the certificates with which he entered the IPS.

All attempts to get the Institute to revoke their decision failed as the school refused to give the applicant a listening ear, forcing him to jointly sue the IPS, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, the Head of the Technical Examinations Unit and the Attorney-General.

In an affidavit supporting his application, Mr Maxwell through his lawyer, Mr James Agalga, represented by Mr Raphael Alijena, explained that while a student at the Accra Polytechnic, he sat for exam in May/July 2004 as part of his Diploma in Business Studies course.

When the results were released, he failed the Business Communication course and decided to register the private exam in November/December but was given an index number different from the one he used for the May/July exam. He passed the re-sit paper and received the results slip from the Technical Examination Unit which conducted both the first and second exams.

Subsequent to that, the Technical Examination Unit, the applicant argued, issued him with a certificate in which they decided to merge the results of the first and second sittings in one certificate under one index number – the one with which he sat the first time.

The applicant told the Human Rights Court in Accra, presided over Justice Uuter Paul Dery, that he used the two result slips with the respective index numbers to apply for admission into IPS. After completing his studies there, the authorities as part of their verification processes noticed that the applicant’s certificate as issued by the Technical Examination Unit had one index number inconsistent with the result slips which had two different index numbers. On the basis of that, the authorities cancelled his BSc Marketing degree, accusing him of falsifying the results with which he entered the institute.

The IPS authorities, according to the affidavit, did not only refuse the applicant a fair hearing, they also ignored a request by the exams unit that they be furnished with the original results slips of Mr Maxwell Abugre to help them make a determination as to whether the results were falsified.

Mr Abugre therefore argued before the court that his fundamental human right to education was breached by IPS, more so when he was not given a fair hearing before his degree was cancelled.

The court upheld his argument. In its ruling, the court said the IPS had not been able to discharge its burden of adducing evidence to support its assertion that Mr Maxwell Abugre indeed falsified his entry requirements into the institute.

“Further still, and perhaps more importantly, the 1st respondent (IPS) had the applicant’s certificate which confirms that he had the requirement to enter …the institution. So, why did …IPS ignore same and tried to rely on the results slip?”

The court therefore ordered the IPS “to reinstate the applicant’s BSC Marketing Degree.”

The court also awarded GHS10,000 general damages and GHS5,000 costs against IPS.

The applicant is also to pay GHS2,000 cost to the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, the Head of the Technical Examinations Unit, for dragging them into the case when in fact they played no role at all in the cancellation of his degree. “The action against them is misconceived and is hereby dismissed,” the court held.

THE PARABLE OF SAMARITAN TARES Part Five

Chris Bapuohyele
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Many salvation-seekers today are living in just the same delusion that Samaritans and tares have lived in the past. But as said earlier, this delusion of being in God’s salvation is not peculiar to people of today. Since the apostolic days, people have been misled into believing and acting on false gospels. In believing and acting on false gospels, many have come to think that they are Born Again into the salvation of God in Christ Jesus, when in fact they are not.

These people are many and can be found everywhere in the world today. They are found everywhere the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached. They are those who, on hearing the gospel (maybe an impure version of it), have not been properly taught how to respond to it for their Born Again experience. These are the most pitiful people on earth: who think they are Jews and or wheat, when they are in fact, Samaritans and or tares.

Their situation today is even worse than that of Samaritans or tares of yesteryears, since they now live in a combined delusion as Samaritan-tares. They are Samaritans because they are not begotten out of the loins of God. They are not born from above and of God. They are not born of water and of the Spirit. They claim to have been born of God when in reality they are not.

They are tares because even though they may have access to the written Word of God, they do not know how they can be recreated by this same Word into new creatures. They may use this Word to change their thinking in the many ways they live, and possibly to good effect.

As the good effects of their use of the Word of God may become visible to themselves and many observers, these tares-people delude themselves as being in God’s salvation.

They may be ignorant of their impending disappointment at being refused entry into Abraham’s bosom, and into Heaven, but that is assuredly their fate. Until their eyes and hearts become opened to the Word of God, concerning how they may gain entry into Christ, they remain doomed to disappointment, in-so-far as gaining entry into Abraham’s bosom and into Heaven is their ambition.

There is only one thing that the many Samaritans and Tares of our generation must do to avert the imminent disappointment and doom which await them at the soon-coming judgment of God. They must face the Word of God squarely and boldly. They must believe the Word of God in its purest form.

And what does the Word of God say about how any people can be transformed from being Samaritans and or Tares to be the children of Abraham (of God) and to be wheat? It is important we know this Word of God and obey it in faith.

As mentioned earlier on, under the tutorship of Philip the evangelist, and the ministries of Peter and John, two great apostles of Jesus Christ, the Samaritans of old, found this Word of God, and acted on it, and thereby gained the true salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

Philip, an able minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the City of Samaria, led hordes of Samaritans, to believe, accept, and act appropriately on this gospel. The Samaritan salvation-seekers accepted this gospel in repentance of their sins and baptism into the name of Jesus Christ.

Their repentance from sin, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, brought these Samaritans (Assyrian-Jews), remission of their sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 38-39, and 8: 5-25), and therefore the full package of God’s salvation.

This appropriate response to the gospel, in repentance of sin and in baptism into Christ, brought the Samaritans into the new birth in Christ (and therefore into Abraham), making them obtain what they had been craving for over a period of over 750 years.

For 750 long years, the Samaritan memorized the Torah, hated and denounced sin, fasted and prayed according to set times, showed the human-kind of love to fellowman and to God, and lived in some confidence of being a child of Jacob (and of Abraham), yet only succeeded in deluding himself as being on his way to Abraham’s bosom. That was sad then, and I still feel this sadness in me today.

Let me warn you, my dear reader. If you are living like such a Samaritan, take my coming advice. If you prayed a certain kind of prayer, believing that you have become Born Again by God into His family, take my coming advice seriously. Otherwise, you will be living in the same delusion as Samaritans and Tares did in some time past. And your sure disappointment, at the Gates of Heaven at the end of time, would simply be a matter of time.

Let me warn you my dear reader; many men, who have not been called of God and given His mandate to lead people into His salvation in Christ, are going about everywhere, offering prayers for the Born Again experience. They call this prayer the “Sinners’ Prayer” or the “Prayer for Salvation”.

They claim that when one has said this prayer, repeating it in sincerity, after a so-called man of God, they are instantly Born Again. Such so-called men of God, have only succeeded in making many salvation-seekers live in delusion of their salvation, and assurance of being in Heaven to spend Eternity with God.

Does the Word of God teach salvation-seekers to offer prayers to God to become Born Again, and thereby become eligible to enter His salvation? If the Word of God indeed teaches this, where can we find that word?

If God has never led mankind to offer prayers to Him to enable him grant us His salvation, then we delude ourselves of being in God’s salvation when we act on the word of pious- and or sanctimonious-looking so-called Men of God, to pray so-called “Sinners’ Prayers” and or “Prayers for Salvation.”

My dear reader, are you are living in this delusion of Samaritan Tares? Then begin to seek deliverance from that delusion, by acting appropriately on the Word of God. Act on God’s Word on repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, so you can get the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart.

Only this is your only assurance of being in God’s salvation in Christ Jesus. I hope I have warned you enough.

Shalom.
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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN TARES Part Four.

Chris Bapuohyele
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Let us at this point, recap some of the things said so far in this article about the Samaritans. The Samaritans were Assyrians who came to inhabit parts of Israeli lands in the year 721 BC, after their king conquered and carried into captivity, all the Israelites who were occupying these lands. The Assyrian occupation of Israeli lands continued into the days that Jesus Christ walked our earth.

After staying in these lands for many centuries, making every effort to imitate the lifestyle of the true children of Abraham, these Assyrian colonists deluded themselves into believing that they were true children of Abraham. And why would they not delude themselves, after many centuries of living in Israel, to think of themselves as being true children of Abraham?

After all, they had lost all physical, emotional, and cultural links with the lands of their births. The only visible links they had were with Israel. Israel, being in fact, Jacob, the Samaritan saw himself as being related to him alone. No one else was his relative. To claim son-ship to Jacob seemed to be his only option and apparent right.

The way of life and occupations of the Samaritans had come to change over the centuries of their sojourn. Their religion looked more like Judaism than idol worship. Their diet must have changed, to be the Israeli kind, which was cut out for them (Israelites) by their religion. Their manner of dressing must also have changed in conformity with the dictates of their new-found religion.

After living in Samaria for centuries, and undergoing radical transformations in almost every facet of life, the Samaritans had come to lose any trace of belonging to their roots in Assyria. They looked more like Jews than Assyrians.

To tell anybody they were Jews would sound and seem convincing. But that would be a palpable lie to anybody who knew them, and their ancestry, and kept genuine records about them. The Samaritan could not be a child of Abraham because he was never begotten out of the loins of Abraham. No matter how hard he tried to prove he was a child of Abraham, he could never pass a DNA test.

The Samaritan could be the look-alike of the Jew, but that was only how close he could come to the Jew. The ignorance of the Samaritan about this, and his false claims of being a child of Jacob (and of Abraham) could not change anything. A leopard cannot deliver itself of its spots and become a lion. And so can a snake living in water for a long time not be able to change into a fish.

Things do not work that way. The Irishman staying in Zimbabwe for a long time does not evolve to be an African. One day one day, somebody will embarrass and or offend him by telling him in the face the plain truth of him not being an African. This evolution thing does not seem to work, I dare say.

Now, let us focus on wheat and tares. Many people know what wheat is, simply because wheat is a major cereal for bread. So let me not waste time asking what wheat are. But let me ask: what are tares? Tares are the look-alike of wheat. Tares only have one close similarity to wheat which is–appearance. Beyond appearance, the two have nothing else in common.

Very often, wheat and tares grow side by side. When they do, they both take the same soil nutrients and water. Also, they very often appear outwardly to have the same health status, but inwardly, this is never to be so. They may seem to have the same prospects of yielding a good harvest, but alas, this is never to be; for it is impossible for tares to bear grains, as wheat is able.

From the parable of Jesus Christ, we are able to distinguish between wheat and tares, only at harvest-time. Tares will never be able to bear useful or useable grains, no matter how much soil-nutrients and water they have access to, and no matter how long they stay in the fields. Tares by their origins can never bear the grain that wheat by their nature can bear.

Maybe, the Assyrian colonists living in Samaria did not know these simple truths. If they knew them, I am sure they would in wisdom, apply them to their situation, and correct or deliver themselves from their delusions.

Or were they deceived by somebody into their delusion of being Jews, when they never came out of the loins of Abraham? Did somebody, somewhere in far-back home Assyria, encourage them to believe that because they had been marooned on Israeli lands for centuries, they could claim inheritance of them and all the blessings, spiritual and economic, due all true children of Abraham?

They lived in their delusion till the Messiah of God came to earth and accomplished his sacrifice, opening the door for mankind to be begotten spiritually, out of the loins of Abraham. This spiritual rebirth, into the family of Abraham, became possible, not only for the Samaritan dwelling on Israeli lands, but for all mankind. This rebirth is what many people, who subscribe to the Christian faith, believe and call, the Born Again experience.

It was in the year 30 AD, or thereabout, when the Samaritans benefited from the works of Philip the evangelist, Peter and John, apostles of Jesus Christ, when they were guided into the genuine Born Again experience, and thus into the family of Abraham, and of God (Acts 8: 5-25).

Jesus Christ, after opening the door into the salvation of God in his sacrifice, made it possible for all men of non-Abrahamic blood to enter the fold of Israel. The Samaritans had therefore been living in their delusion of being the children of Jacob (and of Abraham), from 721 BC to about 30 AD, a period of over 750 years!

Today, there are many people living in delusion in the like manner that Samaritans did for over seven centuries. There are many salvation-seekers in today’s post-Messianic times, who, live in the kind of delusion as Samaritans did in pre-Messianic times.

The simple reason being that many salvation-seekers today have been misguided by their spiritual leaders on how to be born of God into today’s spiritual family of Abraham (and of Israel). This post-Messianic delusion has existed since 30 AD, for 1800 years; more than twice the period of the Samaritan delusion!

There are many people today who are not in the kingdom of God, and yet delude themselves as being in it. This is because they are not genuinely Born Again. They are not born of water and of the Spirit.

The Word of God demands of all who want to enter God’s salvation, and thereby have the hope of being in Abraham’s bosom, to be born of water and the Spirit (cf. Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 16, John 3: 3, 5, Acts 2: 38-39, Romans 6: 3-6, First Corinthians 12: 13, Galatians 3: 27, First Peter 3: 20-21, KJV, and many other verses in the Bible). [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Five: soon to be published].

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN TARES Part Three

Chris Bapuohyele
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By the time the Lord Jesus Christ sojourned on our earth, that is, between 4 BC and 30 AD, these colonists no longer saw themselves as being Assyrians. They had by then, been staying in Israel for about seven hundred and fifty (750) years, and had completely lost touch with their roots.

This situation did not come about only with time, but was also speeded-up and aided by the frequent political turmoil in their homelands, which brought about changes in governments, in the part of the east which was known as the Fertile Crescent.

Over the many centuries of their occupation of the nation of Israel, therefore, they came to delude themselves as being the children of Jacob, and by logic, the children of Abraham (John 4: 12, 20), simply because for a long time they dwelt on the lands of Abraham, somehow followed the religion of Abraham’s children, maybe dressed like them, and ate their kind of foods.

It was then difficult for anybody who knew of their Assyrian ancestry or lineage, to convince them that they were not the children of Jacob and of Abraham, as they (Samaritans) thought.

At the time of Jesus Christ, they were so much steeped into their brand of Judaism as to have built for themselves on Mt. Gerizim, a counterpart of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. They also had come to evolve for themselves, a version of the Torah (the five books of Moses), which they called the Samaritan Pentateuch.

With their dedication to their version of the Pentateuch, a worship of God in a highly visible Temple built on top of a mountain, and a way of life very much akin to the children of Jacob (and of Abraham), they lived in a joyful hope of a life in the bosom of Abraham after death.

But to any discerning spiritual person, the hopes of these Assyrians as being qualified for and or eligible to enjoy life in the bosom of Abraham were false, since they could never prove descent from the loins of Abraham.

Abraham’s bosom, a place of rest for the souls of righteous men who exit earth on their way to spend Eternity in Heaven, belonged to only those righteous people born out of the loins of Abraham biologically and or spiritually.

No people, who were simply imitators of the lifestyle of the children of Abraham, no matter for how long, could ever have access to Abraham’s bosom if they did not have in their genes, the DNA of Abraham.

From Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, we are told of a Samaritan who was more righteous than most children of Abraham. This Samaritan showed more commitment to the obedience of (their version of) the Law Moses, than even some priests and Levites of Israel, in his day. And even though he did better than most Israelites in showing love for fellow men, which according to Jesus, summed-up the whole Law of Moses, this could not earn him life in the bosom of Abraham.

Reason for this was simple: he had not the DNA of Abraham in his genes. All through the days of Jesus Christ on earth, the Samaritans remained as strangers to Israel. They were outside the Commonwealth of Israel, no matter whatever beliefs to the contrary they held. To all Jews including the Messiah, the Samaritans were strangers to Israel; this we are told from Luke 17: 11-19 and John 4: 9.

Let us go back briefly to the history of Israel we were following. As mentioned earlier on, God masterminded the return to Israel of all Jews of both the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, when he stirred the heart of king Cyrus to bring this about. Beginning in the year 536 BC, by the authorisation of king Cyrus, many long caravans of returnee-Jews trekked out of the land of their captivity, back home to Israel.

These caravans continued to flow into Israel over a very long period of time, ending in about 445 BC. As mentioned earlier, they were led at various times by such servants of God as Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. The Bible books Ezra and Nehemiah contain all the details of these return-journeys.

When the returnee-Jews arrived back in their lands, after being in exile for over a period of one hundred and eighty-five (185) years, they were to meet a strange and hostile people on these lands. The governors and their kinsmen, who were put there by successive kings of the empires which carried Israel into captivity, were very hostile to the Israelites.

Of course, having become very comfortable in these lands over centuries, the colonists had come to consider themselves as the landowners, and were therefore not ready for any intruders. Again, from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we get to know who the leaders of these enemy-colonists of Israel were.

They were: Tatnai, Shetharboznai, Tobiah, Sanballat, and others. Also, all the persecutions, impediments to the rebuilding efforts, and challenges which the returnee-owners of the land suffered at the hand of these Assyrian usurpers, are chronicled in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

From the year 445 BC, when the last convoys of exiled returnee-Jews arrived back home, to the year 4 BC, when Jesus Christ the Messiah was born, a fierce hatred and animosity had developed and festered till it became dangerous for Jews to encounter Samaritans. This hostility continued till the time the Messiah started to execute his God-instructed mission to earth.

It had then become so fierce that, Jews and Samaritans could neither walk freely on each others lands, nor offer each other water to drink. It was against this background of the Samaritan-Jew animosity, that Jesus taught the Parable of the Good Samaritan, aimed at provoking his Jewish audience to wake up to the obedience to the love commandments of the Law of Moses.

Since the arrival of these Samaritan colonists, till the days the Son of Man walked the length and breadth of Israel, they occupied the middle portion lands of present day Israel. They were thus strategically positioned, as to be a real thorn in the flesh the children of Abraham.

And this explains why no Israelites would want to travel through Samaria on one’s way from say Jerusalem in the south, to Nazareth in Galilee to the north. It also explains why the north-south route of Israel at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, lay roughly parallel to the north-south flow of the river Jordan, and clear of the lands of Samaritan occupation.

And for any Jew who must of need pass through Samaria on a journey, as Jesus and his disciples often found themselves in (Luke 9: 51-56, John 4: 3-4), that Jew must be adequately prepared and ready to experience hostility, attacks by robbers and bandits, once on Samaritan soil.

Maybe, in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, the traveler who went from Jerusalem toward Jericho in the direction of Samaria, alone, was asking for real trouble to come upon him.

As for the Zebedee Brothers–James and John–who were also known as the Sons of Thunder, and an ever-present pair of disciples in all the travels of Jesus Christ, the lasting solution to Samaritan opposition and hostility lay in their calling upon Heaven to rain down fire and brimstone, in Sodom and Gomorrah style, upon them.

I know many people today, who would have easily subscribed to this suggested line of action of the then soon-to-be-ordained apostles–James and John. [—this article is continued in Part Four: soon to be published].

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN TARES Part Two

Chris Bapuohyele
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Not long after the break-up into the two kingdoms, the people accelerated their drift from the true worship of God into idolatry. This, they had started to do, under king Solomon. They were further led away from the faith of their ancestors, by most of their subsequent kings, into Baal-worship.

The few holy priests and prophets, loyal and dedicated to God, were unable to stem the tide of the spiritual decadence, as their warning messages from God were ignored. They watched, saddened and shocked, at the toll idol worship was taking on the value of life of the people, as both the Northern and Southern kingdoms fell head-over-heels in love with strange gods and Ball-worship.

The reprisals from God for their bad ways and their loss of faith in Him were of course, though long in coming, very severe and unforgettable. The Northern Kingdom was the first to be hit by these reprisals, when in the year 721 BC God gave power to the king of Assyria to carry them and their king into captivity. King Hoshea, the then incumbent king, the nineteenth and last of the Northern Kingdom, was carried together with all the inhabitants (low and high) of the Kingdom, to serve as slaves to the king of Assyria.

The exile of the Northern Kingdom did not bring any lessons worthy of causing their brothers in the Southern Kingdom to mend their ways and, to turn with contrite hearts, to serve the God of their forefathers. They continued to go deep into Baal-worship, displaying the folly characteristic of all idol worshippers.

It was therefore not a surprise when they were also carried into captivity, in the year 587 BC, during the rule of king Zedekiah, the twentieth and last king of Judah. The Babylonian Empire, under king Nebuchadnezzar, which had evolved to take over the Assyrian Empire, carried these unrepentant Israelites of the Southern Kingdom out of the lands of their ancestors, to be its hewers of wood and drawers of water.

For many years afterwards, they were to sit by the banks of the rivers of Babylon in exile, with no altars in a foreign land on which to offer sacrifices to God, bemoaning their condition, and singing songs of lamentation.

The exiles of Judah were luckier than their kinsmen of the Northern Kingdom, since they stayed in a shorter period in servitude. After only some fifty years in captivity, they and their brethren of the Assyrian captivity, who had been living in it for about 135 years, started to enjoy the goodwill of the then king of Persia, Cyrus. Cyrus, who had earlier-on conquered the Babylonians, later on, issued a decree authorising the return of all Jews in his kingdom, back to the lands of their ancestors.

Many of the late arrivals to the Babylonian captivity, who were all of the stock of Judah, had the opportunity of joining the convoys of returnees back home, under such God-ordained Israeli ambassadors as Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, between the years 536-445 BC, that resulted from Cyrus’ decree.

When the Northern Kingdom was carried into captivity, the lands that were managed by the ten tribes of Israel, that constituted the Kingdom, became vacant. It was not long when the king of Assyria saw the economic sense in sending an occupation force to work these fallow lands. After all, whatever economic gains that would accrue to these Assyrians would go to benefit the home-government, if they were later repatriated.

The king of Assyria therefore sent people from the lands of Cathah, Ava, Hamath and Sepharvaim in his kingdom, to go and inhabit these lands. Maybe, this was some decongestion exercise carried out by the king in those cities.

Well, when the colonists arrived, they did not stay for long before they started having problems. God sent lions from out of the bushes to attack and kill them.

The colonists, maybe by intuition or by divination, got to know why this serious and deadly mishap. They knew it was because they did not serve the God of Israel, who is the God of the land that brought them these calamities and disasters, by the invasions of lions into the land.

They therefore sent a request home to their king to send back to them, one of the young priests of Israel carried into the captivity, who would teach them how to serve and worship the God of the land of Israel. They were blessed by their king, who granted their request.

Not long after the request of the colonists, a young priest arrived back in Samaria to teach them the way to worship the God of the land of Israel. He taught them the true worship of YAHWEH, the God of the land they were occupying. They heeded the instructions of the young priest and started to worship the God of Israel.

This brought to the colonists a great relief, as the invasions into the land and killings by lions stopped abruptly. We can learn much about the foregoing, by reading from the book of Second Kings 17: 24-41, KJV.

Now, as is always the case with mankind, religious faiths, beliefs and practices do not easily die off; even when they are wrong and unbeneficial. The colonists had come into the Kingdom of Israel with a horde of idols, which were as diverse in shapes, scary awesomeness, and prescribed manner of worship, as were the variety of towns and cities in Assyria from which they had came.

So, while they obeyed the Israeli priest and worshipped the God of the land under his instructions and leadership, they also worshipped their idols which they had brought with them. Well, somehow, they got to enjoy peace on the land.

This idolatry-tainted Judaism however became the manner of worship and religion of these colonists. For the many centuries they stayed in the land, this pseudo-Judaism became institutionalised as their religion; one which was in effect, an unholy fusion of Judaism and idol worship and practiced by a people who were essentially a hybrid of Jews and Assyrians. This was what prevailed in the nation of Israel for centuries, running into the days of Jesus Christ.

Let me say that it was when the Assyrian colonists came to occupy the lands of the Northern Kingdom that the term ‘Samaritan’ evolved to derogatorily describe these colonists. Hitherto, the term Samaritan did not exist. It was also during their occupation that all the lands of the Northern Kingdom were collectively called Samaria.

Though the name Samaria existed during the pre-captivity regimes of the nation of Israel, it was only used in reference to the capital of the Northern Kingdom, in its being called–the City of Samaria. During the pre-captivity days, all the people (only Jews), who resided in the City of Samaria, and in other cities of the Kingdom were never called Samaritans, but simply, the people of Samaria. [—this article is continued in Part Three: soon to be published].

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected]

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