‘Eschew greed and envy to attain national development’ - Presby Moderator

The Right Reverend Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, has asked Christians and Ghanaians in totality to eschew greed and envy to attain national development.

The Rt. Rev. Mante, who gave the advice in his Easter Message to Ghanaians on Thursday, urged members of the public to use the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as a turning point in their lives and change from their negative attitudes by pursuing the attributes that would bring progress and prosperity to their respective societies.

He described greed as a spiritual and moral killer disease, which had been the greatest problem throughout all generations.

“Let us exorcise greed anywhere we find it, whether in the church or in government or at the work place or in the palace,” he said.

Rt. Rev. Mante said there were several lessons to be learnt from the Easter event, and illustrated his message with how Judas betrayed Jesus in the Bible, saying that God wanted to teach the world that greed was the number one destroyer of lives and communities globally.

He stated that people always wanted more money than to help their communities to develop, but in as much as money could do good things, greed was a spiritual killer disease, which could cause people to betray their good friends and also destroy any good community.

“Judas was a disciple, the treasurer of the disciples. Yet he wanted more money than the community of the beloved. So he betrayed his master for money.”

Rt. Rev. Mante said it was because of envy from socio-political perspectives that Jesus was killed and even Governor Pilate, himself, realised this. “As written in Matthew 27:18, for he knew that it was out of envy that they handed over Jesus to him”.

The Moderator said, unfortunately, there were several people in churches, in church leadership, and in societies who were still killing Jesus because of envy.

“If people are in one political party, everything that the other political party does must be wrong, even if it is excellent. Once a good idea does not come from them, it must be branded as wrong.” The Rt. Rev. Mante described the pull him down syndrome as an evil spirit that must be exorcised wherever it was found, noting that no nation could progress in an atmosphere of envy. “Let's get rid of that evil spirit from our families, churches, communities and from our nation. Easter teaches us that no great thing is achieved without some sacrifice,” he said. He said some nations had developed because of the sacrifices and sufferings of others in the past, and that for a community, church or nation to progress, somebody or some people must be willing to sacrifice and suffer now. It was critical that several church leaders and political leaders learnt this basic principle of life, which dwelt on the acceptance of “No Cross no Crown,” which he explained as although their crown may not just be the heavenly one, they should sacrifice to enable their children or community share that glory now.

The Rt. Rev. Mante further insisted that for Christians, Easter was a very special season, as they remembered and re-enacted the significant event in the salvation history of God, and identified with the sufferings of Christ, as they went through the forty days of lent including the Passion Week.

He said it was a solemn moment for Christians and a period of serious reflection and prayers, and that was why every Christian must have a “holy anger” against the commercialisation of the Passion Week by Ghanaians or people around the world, adding that: “To turn the Passion Week into party events is an insult to the Christian faith”.

The Rt. Rev. Mante advised the Christian community and all other citizens to observe the Easter season as the period of appreciating of the atonement, which happened on Good Friday, and the conquering of death and evil forces on Holy Saturday.

He said the complete triumph and hope, which occurred on Easter Sunday, marked the actual celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ to give hope to humanity.