Easter is due! Jesus will die on the cross and be buried in the tomb from where he will res­urrect after three days and people who see will think he is ‘Madam High Heels.’

His death and resurrection are of much significance to Christians but people consider it little more than an ecclesiastical drama that was staged in Golgotha during which Jesus was nailed on the cross. Many even do not believe the Lord once lived.

But believe it or not before his death, he lived in the era of Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate who were in charge of religious and secular affairs and who contributed to the success­ful mis-trial and murdering of Jesus.

The significance here is not his death but his blood which was sup­posed to save those who believe in the Son of Man. It is for this reason that for Christians, Easter should be a solemn occasion when sinful man must supplicate to the Lord and re­unite with Him.

However, in general terms, this is not so. Easter is seen as being synon­ymous with picnics, swinging on the mountains where old girlfriends are met and new ones impregnated.

It is also an occasion when new dance styles from the capital are outdoored when Amakye Dede is on stage. And it is normally during Eas­ter that people dance as if they were fighting, perhaps with the devil.

FOOTING THE BILLS

Now coming to think of it, devot­ed Christians must be commended for keeping the flame of the Christian religion burning. At the school parks at night, you are likely to see them vibrating with energy and reverberat­ing in tongues, praying for everybody and the nation so that guinea fowls will stop causing civil wars.

And if you are not aware, such Christians in fact flow in the spirit and when they dance, it is by way of the spirit such that the steps they take are heavenly-inspired.

Most often, you’ll also meet them preaching the good news to the jobless, reassuring them that there is fuller life in heaven where food is free and there is no electricity and water bills to be paid. God foots all bills.

And after every preaching ses­sion, they demand ‘chop money’ from those who hear the word. There is nothing wrong with that if the preachers are full-time Evan­gelists because the Bible stipulates that they must be catered for by the church. But I am against those who are not full time clergymen but go out to preach only when they are broke. They must repent!

Now how do they preach and where? Sometimes it is at dawn so that people can be sufficiently disturbed to wake up and hear that news that would save them. And those who are fornicating at the mo­ment can be delivered.

“We are from so-and-so gospel ministry. Our mission is to bring the good news to your doorstep. It is free; you pay nothing for it. Howev­er, there is one condition. Stop what­ever you are doing now and listen intently, for your salvation depends on whatever you hear from us this morning.

“If you’ve joined forces with the opposite sex at this moment, I command you in the name of Elijah to disengage. It is only then that you can listen to the gospel and be saved. Halleluyah!”

Now preaching the good news at dawn or at lorry parks is not irritat­ing to people as delivering the gospel on moving vehicles. At the lorry parks for instance, it is only those who are interested who will come around and listen and be blessed. You have no problem with those who want to remain ‘sinners.’

On the other hand, those who organise churches and conventions on passenger buses and force passengers to listen may have good intentions at the wrong place.

First, it is not fair to preach your religion in a bus that has different religions. And those people of other faiths do not want anybody to impose his beliefs on them, no matter how laudable such belief might be. They are entitled to a peaceful ride to their destination and should not be disturbed.

I remember somewhere in the mid-eighties when I was travelling on a bus on which an evangelist was preaching. At the end of it, he asked everybody to shake hands with the person sitting next to him. Unfortu­nately for me I was sitting between two Alhaji’s who found the entire session irritating. And I was to shake them by hand.

But first I had to make sure they were also prepared to shake hands with me. So I looked into the eyes of the one on the left and realised that he was fuming and ready to explode if detonated. Upon close look study of his visage, I saw that he was also twitching his moustache. I wondered whether I was safe.

SHAKING OF HANDS

Looking into the face of the other, I got horrified by what I saw. He was opening and closing his eyes at me like a maniac. I wanted to ask him whether he was normal but quick­ly decided against it for fear that he’d break my jaw. If I had insured my jaw, I would have risked it, but I wasn’t covered.

As it were, I raised my head a bit and lowered it down coolly as the bus sped on. I guess the Evangelist didn’t see the expression on the faces of the Alhajis. If he had, he would have apologised for organising a Christian sermon for Christians, Moslems, Bud­dhists, Krishnas, and forcing them to shake hands.

In fact, when these Alhajis alight­ed at Nima Police Station and were going away, one of them said a sen­tence which I heard the word ‘wala­hi.’ Lucky me.

Preaching on buses is also not good because the driver’s attention is distracted. He might even join sing­ing the chorus and unconsciously try to dance alongside. Before he realis­es that he is not in a church room, it is too late, Obituary!

Deaths on our roads have often occurred because drivers merely want to change a cassette they are playing which meant their attention was distracted for just a few sec­onds.

I think a law must be put in place to stop evangelists from preaching on moving vehicles. Passenger vehi­cles must not be turned into church rooms. They can still convert people at the lorry parks if they choose to.

If Moslems, Krishnas, Bahais, Buddhists, Shinotoists and all others also want to use moving vehicles to spread their respective ‘gospels,’ how would it be like in Sikaman?