MN: “Don’t let money become your god”-Evangt. Saah tells African immigrants

By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher

Faith Chapel Evangelistic Ministries has a reputation of letting people give testimonies before entering the New Year and Dec. 31, wasn’t different either. By the time it was all finished Senior Pastor John B. Saah was left with only 15 minutes to preach, and to usher his audience into the New Year.

Even though pressed by time, Pastor Saah, an evangelist who runs yearly crusades worldwide including Africa and Asia, still managed to deliver his well-packed sermon just in time before the New Year Ball kicked in. His sermon was drawn mainly from the Gospel of Deuteronomy 8:10-11.

“When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which he has given you. Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today” Deut. 8:10-11.

In his discourse, he informed the congregation of the above instructions God gave the Children of Israel that they ought not forget their God and “follow other gods” once they settled in the new land He has given to them else they would “surely perish,” Deut. 8:19. 

Though addressed to the Israelites, the message, no doubt also speaks to immigrant Africans, particularly, Liberians living in the U.S., most of whom Pastor Saah observed, went there “by the divine power of God.” Despite this fact, he said, they have abandoned their first “Love” who is God.   

He said, People nowadays have become so busy that they no longer have time to even pray saying, “Money has become our God.” In other words, most are busy serving other gods such as money or material things of this world.    

Some Liberians, he maintained, push themselves so hard to take “hours” to work rather than rest whenever they have been given days or time off to rest. 

He warned against such a habit, saying it can “wear off the body” and lead to early death. If that isn’t the case, at about 60-65 years old, the person would end up spending his earnings on medical care in order to survive, he said.  

Another negative behavior he records is the tendency by people to pray when they feel desperate and when God answers, they do not go back to thank Him, a habit he said also translates into disobedience to God.

Once exiled in the Ivory Coast in the 90s due to a civil war in his native Liberia, Pastor Saah cautioned immigrant Christians to reflect on sufferings they endured when they were refugees living in camps in parts of Africa.

At the time, he testified, many of them barely had food to eat. “Some of us who were in refugee camps, ate cornmeal and Agekeh” in order to survive. Agekeh is a boiled food made out of cassava in the Ivory Coast.  

“Have you seen someone put a banana in bread?” he asked, and continued: “We put banana in the bread just to make it heavy, and after eating, we went to bed.”

During this period the refugees fasted and prayed ceaselessly, he said, in order for them to get approved and come to America; fortunately God answered their prayers favorably. 

In spite of such horrible experiences he observed, many immigrant Liberians no longer go into fast or pray like they once did, nor do they remember the “God who brought them to America.”

He reminded his fellow Africans to beware, saying, “there’s nowhere on the face of the earth like America” [in terms of liberty and security] and urged them to view their being in the United States to be a blessing from Almighty God. 

Unlike the refugee life most immigrants once experienced, he said: “No one [in America] can cook on firewood, charcoal or ‘cook pot’…you ride the best of cars and live in good homes.”  

For Evangelist Saah, this goes to say, if one suffers in the U.S., it’s not because he or she lacks, but is simply due to the person’s mismanagement. In such a case, he thinks the best solution would be to pray so the person can die,  go to Heaven and rest instead for lack of appreciation to God.

He urged Christians to carefully choose who they are going to follow, and said they should make a choice by obeying God’s Commandments before they could enter the New Year.

“I want you tonight to think about your lives and make a choice…Remember where you came from.”

“What will you say if God takes you now?” he asked. 

God, he noted, has set before us “life and death!” He pleaded with Christians to choose “life” over death! (Deut. 30:19).

Near the end of the watch night Pastor Saah and his assistant pastors anointed the congregation including visitors who had attended the vigil.  

JESUS CHRIST IS COMING SOON! ARE YOU READY?