By King Amoah
The escalating menace of illegal mining popularly known as galamsey is not only a grave environmental and societal concern but it is also directly impacting on the sacred practices of religious institutions.
This concerns have been raised by the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost Apostle Eric Nyamekye who has called for action to discourage the menance.
. Speaking at the church’s recent annual conference Apostle Nyamekye expressed dismay over how galamsey activities have been rendering once clean rivers in the country unusable for baptism which is a cornerstone sacrament for Christian denominations.
The spiritual leader indicated that this deep seated challenges faced by the Church of Pentecost, an organization that represents a portion of Ghana’s population estimated at almost 13%.
Apostle Eric Nyamekye observed that the alamsey activities have been creating troubles when repentant souls are expected to be baptized in rivers as commended in the Scriptures.
Such challenges he he hinted are very worrying in that rivers that are expected to administer or immerse repentant souls are polluted beyond human comprehension.
He said the scriptural mandate for baptism by immersion in natural bodies of water is a practice that deeply entrenched in Christian tradition but today it is becoming impossible due to the rampant pollution caused by galamsey operations.
We can no longer baptize our members in rivers, Apostle Nyamekye lamented and highlighted the forced deviation from scriptural directives.
So contrary to the scriptural directives we have no option than to baptize our members from the outside rivers.
The Church of Pentecost recognizing the immense damage inflicted upon the water bodies has declared its readiness to actively fight against illegal mining.
The Pentecost church is also ready to collaborate with the government to fight against the galamsey menace, Apostle Nyamekye declared and emphasized a proactive stance to archive the aim..
Our willingness to partner with the government signifies our commitment to inform other major religious body to address this national crisis that transcends spiritual boundaries, A postle Nyamekye concluded.
