Bishop Charles Agyinasare has expressed amazement that political parties are allowed to hold primaries in this coronavirus era while Ghana cards are also being distributed by the National Identification Authority (NIA) but church services have been limited to 100 people for an hour under strict restrictions and guidelines.
In one of his virtual sermons, the founder of Perez Chapel International said: “This morning, I was chatting with Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams. He said: ‘You see; this coronavirus, it’s not just normal. It is a satanic agenda to make sure that people will not go to church again’”.
“Is it not amazing to you that they are OK to go and vote in primaries, they are not afraid they will get coronavirus; they are OK to got to the market, they are not afraid they’ll get coronavirus; they are OK to go to the supermarket, they are OK to sit in ‘trotro’, they OK to sit in a taxi, they are OK to go everywhere, but when it comes to church, it is like at the gates of the church, we are distributing coronavirus”, Bishop Agyinasare wondered.
“That is what the devil has made people to think”, he said.
“How can you go to the market, where there are so many people, thousands of people; and as for that place, you won’t get coronavirus, and when you come to church, where we are determined to have social distance, as for that place: ‘I’m scared, if I go into the church, [I’ll get the disease]’; the devil is a liar”, he stressed.
He, thus, urged Christians to fast and pray against the plans of the devil.
“And, so, you and I, this kind, if this kind is going to leave, then you and I have to go to deal with it by fasting and prayer”.
He further noted: “Is it not amazing to you that our president, our minister of health and all of them, they are Christians, because we are 71 per cent Christian, but when it comes to taking a decision on the church during this coronavirus [period], everybody is afraid that when we go to church, coronavirus will get us but when people go to market, the coronavirus will not get them. The devil is a liar”.
“Everybody believes that people can go and vote, the coronavirus will not get them; we can go and register, the coronavirus will not get us; they can go and distribute NIA cards, the coronavirus will not get them; even if multitudes gather on one park and they are distributing them, coronavirus will not get them, but if they come to church, the coronavirus will get them”, he emphasised.
“It is a demon, this kind, it is a demon”, he asserted.
“And, you see, there are some churches, they are saying: ‘We want to wait, as for us, we want everything to finish, when everything is gone’, but by the time everything is gone you don’t have a church anymore because already the devil has brought cobwebs in the minds of many Christians”, he added.
Currently, Ghana has recorded 414 new COVID-19 cases taking the total case count to 14,568, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Abaogye told journalists on Tuesday, 23 June 2020 at a press briefing by the Minister of Information.
“We have so far, following the review, recorded 95 deaths”, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said, adding: “Currently, we have 24 severe cases across the country and six cases are critical and five persons are currently on ventilators”.
Also, he noted: “We have a total of 414 new cases reported from 25 districts across the country and three regions”, explaining: “…About 13 regions did not record any new case yesterday.”
So far, the number of recoveries stand at 10,907 while the death toll has gone up by 10 to 95.
The country’s recovery rate stands at 75 per cent.
According to Dr Kuma-Aboagye, there will be no distinction between discharged and recovered patients on the GHS’ website, explaining that the health authorities are relying on clinical recovery. “They have all recovered”, he insisted.
Ghana’s total active cases as of now stand at 3,566.
Below are the guidelines the government of Ghana gave for church services:
Find below the government’s guidelines on the opening of churches:
Churches are to ensure a no-handshake, no-hugging and no-spitting policy at all time.
No crowded dancing and waving of handkerchiefs during church services.
Microphones are to be sanitised immediately after each use.
All persons who speak or sing in churches must wear face masks during the service.
Churches are to discourage singing in groups and instead use pre-recorded songs.
Pre-packaged communion bread and wine should be picked up by members at the point of entry.
Place offering bowls at the entrance and exit points for members to give offerings and tithes when entering or on their way out of church premises.
Encourage cash transfers via mobile money or mobile banking as forms of giving offerings.
In observance of social-distancing protocols, laying-on of hands should not be allowed.