What will you remember Prof. J.E.A. Mills for?

I first got to know the late Prof. John Atta Mills as a secondary school girl at my church (yeah, I’m that old). We were in the same Bible study group, he and his wife, along with some lecturers and university students. I was the youngest in the group at that time. Those days, he hadn’t gotten heavily involved in politics and hadn’t yet been nominated as Vice-President to former president Jerry John Rawlings.

It may sound cliché because just about everybody is saying the same things, but I knew him to be a humble, modest and... very intelligent. I say intelligent because my church Bible study is structured in the group discussion format, so I get to rub shoulders with sharp minds as we grapple theological issues and how they apply to our modern, everyday life. He was one of those who would offer insightful comments during our study times.

Even after he became Vice-President, Pres. Mills was still the same simple man. He attended church services with an unmarked car and a casually dressed bodyguard, not an entourage, and sometimes would “hide” in the congregation so as not to draw attention to himself.

When He became president, he was always honest about his challenges as leader of the country the few times he visited (he wasn’t regular in the past 5 years or so) and was sincere in his request for prayer support. However, I disliked how the presidential entourage took up our parking space and how the security team were a source of distraction as they did their work before and during church service.

I believe his wife and close family members will have deeper things to say about him, however, humility, simplicity and sincerity are the 3 things I will remember him for. 

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints, (Psalm 116:15; NIV).

Rest in God’s strong, loving arms, Prof. Atta Mills. That’s where you belong.

Amen,
Lady Akofa.

Prof. Atta Mills! Damirifa due!!!

You may have heard Ghana’s sitting president, Prof. John Atta Mills, died 2 days ago.

I was in the office when my boss walked in with two of our workplace drivers talking about the announcement of the death of somebody. I didn’t catch the name but I already knew who they were referring to. I had seen President Mills on television news a few days prior to his departure and passed on a comment to my mother, “It seems Atta Mills has lost some more weight.” My mother agreed with my assessment. Whatever it was, we knew this was the reason he sought medical attention prior to his 68^th birthday.   

While Ghana is in grief, President Mills’ death has brought a sense of unity among Ghanaians. The voices of his loudest critics and ‘haters’ have turned into a mournful, “Oooh!”  There is nothing more to say, is there?  Political parties have suspended their campaigns as a mark of respect for him. Lots of Ghanaians were seen clothed in black or black and red as a sign of mourning the day after the announcement. Flags were flown half-mast as directed by the newly sworn in President, John Mahama. 

Conversations and news seem to revolve on two things:

     1. How good, humble and modest President Mills was, as tributes and condolences pour in, of course, not without tears. 

2   2.  Who killed him?  The sickness? Work? NDC, his party? Himself via self-sacrifice? Ghana? Or the devil?

The day I heard the news, I was so sure that God had revealed President Mills' death beforehand to one (or more) of His prophets but I didn't know who. As of the time of writing this blog post, I know of one young man who says he had dreamt of Pres. Mills’ death about 2 months ago. The dream made him depressed but the good thing though is that he prayed and shared the dream with a few others to pray along.

So here is my take on the issue number 2:

1. Sometimes God reveals a person's death so that it can be prevented.

2. Other times, God reveals a person's death so that we (the person and his/her loved ones) can be prepared for the heavenly homecoming when it happens.

3. Sometimes, when God wants to save an unbeliever prior to his/her death, He may choose to reveal it to a Christian so that the Christian will pray or even evangelize to the dying person. 

God alone holds the keys to life and death, I strongly believe this. Since President Mills is gone, I believe it was God's will to call him home. Even through the sickness, God could have kept him alive but He didn't. It's not sickness, or work, or the devil that took Pres Mills home, IT IS GOD who took him home. He was a dedicated Child of God and as such ONLY God could say, "Come home, my son."

I figure, if he had been alive till the elections, I suspect people would have kept on saying, "Atta Mills didn't achieve his Better Ghana Agenda" and all the negative things they used to say. I think God has preserved Atta Mills' reputation in his death. And I will attribute that to Atta Mills being a Christian, who truly loved the LORD. And that is a really good thing because God gets all the Glory. 

We do not know who our next Vice-President will be, although a few names are being tossed about in the airwaves. And we don’t know who our next President will be after the December 2012 elections, but I would encourage Christians in Ghana to keep on praying for leaders after God's heart to rule this nation. That’s the way to go.

Rest assured that good will come out of this (Romans 8:28) and God’s glory will be shown in the days ahead.

*** The photo was NOT taken by me. It's a public image being circulated in his memory.

Let God’s glory be seen in this loss,

Lady Akofa.