• A Pastor recently delivered a sermon in which he praised the daily rituals of Muslims and criticised the belief among Christians that they are guaranteed paradise.
• The pastor’s clip has gone viral and has received criticism from some Christians.
Pastor Eastwood Anaba from Ghana has gone viral for comparing the dedication of Muslims to that of Christians. During his sermon, he urged his followers to “go and stand inside a mosque.”
”If we were kneeling down, bowing down, washing ourself before we enter church, many people would stop church,” he told his congregation.
Some Christians online have criticised the pastor for praising Muslims within the walls of the church. Although the sermon was received very well by Pastor Anaba’s congregation.
”They sit on the mat,” the pastor went on to say. He told his congregation how Muslims “say sacred words after mentioning Mohammed.
”Go to them and learn,” he told his congregation. “The Muslim, everyday they go to the mosque..” What was perhaps more striking was the pastor’s observation that many Christians feel assured of their place in heaven while assuming Muslims are bound for hell. He challenged this belief, saying it cannot be right.
According to the 2021 government census, approximately 71% of the population in Ghana are Christian, 20% are Muslim, 3% adhere to indigenous or animistic religious beliefs, and 6% belong to other religious groups or have no religious beliefs.
We pray that Allah (swt) grants Pastor Eastwood Anaba and his congregation hidaya and guidance, just as He did for Ibrahim Richmond. Ibrahim Richmond was the priest of the Corinthian Church in South Africa (who had served as a priest for fifteen years), converted to Islam last year and took his 100,000 of his followers with him.
You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers [to be] the Jews and those who associate others with Allah; and you will find the nearest of them in affection to the believers those who say, "We are Christians." That is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant. (Qur’an 5:82)