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Gossip, Conscience and Remorse

In our daily walk, God has promised and given us the Holy Spirit to guide us in all our endeavours. The Holy Spirit, who is with us as Christians, is in the form of our conscience and your conscience could be sharp if you have a good relationship with the Holy Spirit. This relationship, like every other, is built through daily communication or prayer. You can also kill your conscience if you’re completely oblivious and do not engage with it at all.

I realised I had a sharp conscience as far back as senior high school when I would have loved to have as much fun as my classmates during entertainment shows but no, this conscience would prevent me from doing that. Be it a musical or dance show where people will ‘chill’ to the core, I was always an observer.

I admired those who were in relationships at that age and I wanted such a thing for myself but no, my conscience would not permit me to. When those entertainment shows were happening, I always found myself far away from where the action was. My conscience prevented me from exploring in that regard.

This followed me all the way from SHS to the period we stayed at our home prior to going to the University. During that time, I found myself in very compromising situations that would have changed my life forever. I relate some of these experiences to naivety and the eagerness to be adventurous. I accepted certain proposals and invitations but after a meeting or two with these people, my conscience would eat me up so bad that I either broke off those friendships or relationships and never made my way to those places again. It was the same in the university – there was an invisible force that protected and kept me in check. I had a reputation for breaking a few hearts back then. When I look back, I can tell that it was the hand of God.

I am not saying I am the purest of all souls but I believe my conscience guides me (a lot). Recently, I found myself talking about people behind their backs (gossip). I say things, which may sound like a joke, but in my heart, I knew they were mean utterances. This happens when I am in the company of my very good friends. For some reason during the latter part of last week, I started having vivid pictures of the people hearing me when I speak about them. How would I feel if they actually heard me say those things about them? Would I be bold enough to say them if they were in front of me? Do I want to be known for something as negative as being a gossip?

These questions ate me up so bad that I started having palpitations. It was almost as if the people I have spoken about have heard what I have been saying. My heart would beat so fast that I started asking God to forgive me and I have promised myself that I won’t speak about people in that manner anymore. I want to have positive relationships with everyone even if I know some of them may not be reciprocated. I want to be far away from gossip spaces. Practically, I am limiting myself from the environment that make me gossip about people and I have shared this with my accountability partner who will keep me in check.

I am grateful for the insight I got into this negative behaviour in these last few days and I am trusting God for more ways to become a better person in this new year. There are a lot of things I want to be known for but being a gossip is definitely not one of them.

Have you been in situation where you have vividly felt your conscience pricking you? Share that with us.

Feature image credit: AI generated on Canva

#WBC2020 – How Funeral Rites are Performed in Ghana

When a person dies in most communities in the Ghana, especially in the Greater Accra Region, the immediate family is informed.

While the body of the deceased is kept at the morgue, the family organises a one week-celebration to announce the date for the funeral. People who attend this ceremony may be very close friends, neighbours, work colleagues among others. This particular celebration is an entire day’s event. Individuals, who pass through this ceremony, may make donations of money, bottled water, beverages and food items to be used by the family during the actual funeral rites. Those who pass through this celebration are lightly refreshed with food and beverages.

On the scheduled date of the funeral, the corpse is laid in state (mostly in the family’s residence) at dawn on Saturday (mostly). After a brief ceremony with close family, the body is then made available for viewing by guests and attendants of the funeral. If the deceased was a Christian, church songs are normally sang during the filing past.

A church service may be organised for the individual at home. If that happens, the deceased may still be available for viewing. If the memorial service takes place in the church, the body is placed in the casket and transported to the church building. A short service is organised where songs are sang, prayers are said and tributes read by family, work colleagues, friends etc.

After the church service, the casket is lifted and taken to the burial grounds for internment. The dead may be buried in the city/town that he/she resided or could be transported to their hometown which could be several miles away from where funeral is taking place. At the cemetery, brief rites are performed before the body is lowered to the ground. Wreaths are then laid and final prayers are said amidst wailing and weeping.

The family and guests then move to a chosen venue where they are treated to some form of refreshment. Donations are made to the deceased’s family by the guests. A table is set where the donor makes the donation and their details are recorded. That information is furnished to an announcer/master of ceremony who mentions it through the microphone and publicly acknowledges the donor. This goes on till the donations stop coming in.

The next day, which is normally a Sunday, close family and friends attend a thanksgiving service at the deceased’s church. This is done to thank God for a safe burial. Prayers of protection, strength and good health are said for the family.

A ‘gbonyo’ or ‘dead’ party is organised after the church service for the family and the guests. Meals and beverages are served and the latest music is played over loud speakers and people dance.

The above is the general structure for most funerals in Ghana but it could vary depending on the status of the individual in the society (chiefs and other traditional leaders), the mode of death (accident, natural), religion (Islamic funerals are totally different) and their age (young or old).

Funerals in most communities in Ghana are known to be costly and lucrative for those in the business. Example caterers, masters of ceremonies, professional mourners etc. Recent times have seen a lot of families resorting to private burials due to the covid-19 because a bann has been placed on large gatherings. This is causing low revenue generation to those in this business.

How are funerals organised in your community? Let us know 😊

***This is 14/22 of the #WinterABC2020. The prompt is share about one cultural aspect from your community or country.***

The Purpose of The Christian Blog Ghana

The Christian Blog Ghana has gone through a number of phases in its development and the platform turned five years in May (2020).

Initially when I was creating this blog, the larger vision was to provide Christians an avenue to add their voices to the blogosphere. I thought of a platform that was going to motivate Christians to share their opinions on subjects concerning them. In other words, we were going to be a community of Christian bloggers but that has not happened yet.

As the days went by, I realised I was not getting as much content from my fellow Christian brothers and sisters as much as I had envisioned, thus, I had to carry my own blog on my shoulders 🤣🤣

Perhaps, I did not market the blog properly or the people I contacted were not prepared to create free posts or they were not real bloggers. A big shoutout to those who heeded to the call and still provide me with guest posts.

The good news, however, is that I possess some level of creative abilities and I’m able write my own content. So currently, I have modified the posts I put up here. Even though, I mostly write from a Christian perspective, I have decided to give my creative voice exposure here as well.

I haven’t given up the hope of creating that community of Christian bloggers, though. Send me a message if you are interested in joining this community.

The lesson: Don’t create a blog with the aim of using other people’s content to grow your audience. You must be ready to take up the challenge of creating your own posts.

***This is 2/22 of the #WinterABC2020. The prompt is to state the main goal of your site.***

On My Playlist Right Now – December, 2018

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Wisdom Treasures the blog

Music continues to play a vital role in our Christian lives. To think that God actually had an angel who was made of musical instruments, tells us how important music is to our father. As men, we will always find comfort, encouragement and a means to worship our creator through music.

This month #OnMyPlaylistRightNow comes with an interesting twist. We had the Admin at The Christian Blog Ghana, tell us all about her favorite music. As usual, we believe this will help us choose new music for our playlists. Introducing, Delali Sogah and her top five artists.

My Top 5 (plus 1) Music Artists – by Delali Sogah

I love music and my choice of music changes depending on my mood, the time of day it is, as well as the situation I find myself in. Don’t be shocked if you hear me mention different names or artists as…

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5 Actions that Kill Relationships

For the past couple of weeks, we have been describing various ways of building relationships. While we build them up, it is important to keep in mind that there are certain actions that can also kill these relationships. Below are five such killers:

1. Introducing your partner to everyone in the early stages: In their excitement, a number of couples announce their relationships too quickly to the world which isn’t a bad idea but the best thing to do is to build the foundations properly before introducing yourselves to friends, family, work colleagues, etc. The more you introduce third parties, the more you open the relationship to varied opinions which may be contrary to what you saw in each other. You may second guess and that could be disastrous for your relationship.

2. Announcing on social media: One of the deadliest actions which kills relationships is this. We know we must have faith as Christians but changing your relationship status or the display or profile photos to your partner’s does nothing but attract attention to you and your partner. What if you announce on social media and the relationship does not go as planned? As much as possible, let us keep our relationships to ourselves. They are private and not meant for the world.

3. Avoiding early warnings: Most of the time when we fall in love, our brains go on vacation 🙂 We avoid all the signs and allow our hearts to lead us. This guy is not generous; everything he acquires is for him. The lady spends all the money she acquires on clothes and make-up. You know you would have preferred the opposite but you are allowing your heart to lead you. These signs develop to something different and they kill relationships.

4. Not investing in the relationship: Building a relationship requires time, money and creativity. If you know you do not want to invest in any of these then don’t start one. You need to spend time with each other and on each other. The Bible mentions that in Proverbs 21:26 – the righteous gives and does not hold back.

5. Fornication: Most young people quickly give in to sex in the relationship. Guilt from the encounter normally kills what has been developed earlier. Having sex also takes away the innocence of the couple. Sex is addictive; it has the power to take away a lot of things from the relationship including the time that the couple spend discussing and planning for the future. In 1 Corinthians 6:18, the Bible warns, Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.