THE HEART IS THE THING ( Introduction)

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Proverb 4:23(KJV)

In 1870, Tetteh Quarshie undertook a voyage to the Spanish colony Fernando Po (now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea), and returned to Ghana after six years with several cocoa beans, instead of settling in his home region of Greater Accra, Teshie to be specific, Tetteh Quarshie moved from the plains of Accra to the fertile land of the Akuapim Hills, beyond the Aburi Mountains to settle at Mampong in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Whiles at Mampong he acquired a land and started what is known as the first cocoa farm in Ghana.  In 1879 Tetteh Quarshie planted the seeds at Mampong with some success. Friends and relatives also undertook the planting of cocoa when pods were distributed to them.

Soon other farmers followed suit. It was only at this point that the Basel Missionaries stepped into the picture by importing large quantities of the crop into the country. From the Gold Coast (Ghana) cocoa beans or cuttings were sent to other countries such as Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The export of cocoa from Ghana began in 1891, and the official export in 1893 (two bags exported). Ghana once provided almost half of world output. Between 1910 and 1980 Ghana was the world's largest exporter. This position was ceded due to bush fires. However, Ghana's cocoa is still of the highest quality and the country earns hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the export of the beans and processed materials. Ghana economy heavily depends on the cocoa industry up to date. 

Tetteh Quarshie brought from his trip, the main backbone of a Ghana’s economy in the form of cocoa beans; the man carried a whole nation’s economy in his hand. Cocoa is the most important agricultural commodity Ghana produces and the mainstay of Ghana's economy. Cocoa is Ghana's second leading foreign exchange earner, worth about 30 percent of all revenue from export and responsible for about 57 percent of overall agricultural export. The sector directly and indirectly employs about 2 million people, and constitutes a large chunk of Ghana's GDP (8.1 percent in 2006). “So what can Ghana do without cocoa? Can you imagine what Ghana could have possibly been if there was no cocoa industry?

There would have been a loss of close to two million jobs, loss of massive revenue and foreign exchange, a huge shrinking of Ghana's economy, the stalling of infrastructural development including health facilities, school children dropping out because of the absence of support, and in the long term, a drastic reversal in efforts to reduce poverty and attempts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Ghana is indeed cocoa and cocoa is Ghana. Cocoa is the lifeblood of Ghana's economy and the heartbeat of Ghana's socio economic development. Views are sometimes even expressed that the inability of weather conditions in the three Northern regions of the country to support cocoa production is one of the reasons why they are the poorest regions of Ghana, and that if cocoa production was possible there; their economies would have been transformed by now. 

You cannot dispute an assertion as this even if you don't agree with it because it has no scientific basis.” From the narrative of Tetteh Quarshie it is obvious that it was his choice of land that made his experimental farm successful; there was nothing wrong with the cocoa beans that he brought from the former Spanish of colony Fernando Po, now Equatorial Guinea. However, he would have had a major setback If he had chosen the plains of Accra as an avenue for his experimental farm because of the type of land and climate.

In Luke 8: 4 - 15(KJV) Jesus Christ gave a parable Called THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER   “And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying,What might this parable be? 

And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

From the historical narrative of Tetteh Quarshie's first cocoa farm in Ghana, to the scriptural narrative of the PARABLE OF THE SOWER, the success factor in both scenario was the ground in which the seeds were sown in. The choice of land is what accounted for the success of the seeds sown in these two scenarios. All Tetteh Quarshie had to do for his experimental cocoa farm to be successful was to find a good and fertile ground that was beyond Accra; that might explain why he never settle in his hometown of Teshie in Accra when he returned from his voyage, but move from the coast of Accra through the Accra plains to settle at Mampong in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

The type of soil and the climate in Mampong ensured the success of his farm. Similarly, in the case of the PARABLE OF SOWER in Luke Chapter Eight it was the kind of ground that the seeds were planted in that determined the various outcome of the four fields; the seeds sown in the first three fields ( ground) weren’t successful because of the type of soil and the climate around it, however Just the like the field of Mampong, the fourth field which the bible refers to as the good (fertile) ground was very successful in reproducing what was sown in it according to Luke 8:15(KJV)  “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.“. 

The remaining three grounds were unable to reproduce after the kind of seeds that were sown in them because they lack the necessary nutrient and climate, just like the way the ground and the climate in Accra was unable to ensure the success of Tetteh Quarshie’s first experimental farm. The obvious factor in both scenario is the fact that there was nothing wrong with seeds, but the ground that the seeds were sown is where the challenge was.  According the narrative in Luke 8:11 (KJV) the seed represent the WORD OF GOD “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God” and the ground that the seed was sown in also represent the HEART OF MEN according Luke 8: 12 (KJV) “Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” 

There is often nothing wrong with the WORD of God (The bible) but just as in the case of the Tetteh Quarshie Experimental Farm at Mampong and the PARABLE OF THE SOWER in Luke chapter 8, what determines our success relative to the word of God and to a larger extent our relationship with God is our HEART- the truth is “THE HEART IS THE THING”

Our heart conditions are very important in our walk with God, in fact salvation start in our heart Romans 10:9B (KJV)  “……………………………………………………………………..shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,”

Mark 7:21 (KJV)

  TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK WITH A SUB TOPIC -“WHAT IS THE HEART”…………..

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