In the seventies, Nii was a young Ghanaian working in the UK. One day he returned home to his flat in London to find his mother sitting in the hall waiting for him. Nii was shocked to find her for several reasons: (I) His mother was based in Korle ¬Gouno in Ghana and did not even own a passport and so how did she manage to travel from Ghana to the UK?; (II) He has never directed anyone to his house and so how did his mother find her way to his flat?; and (III) He locked his flat before leaving for work, so how did his mother enter the flat? When Nii had recovered a little from the shock, he asked his mother, “When did you come to London, how did you come, how did you find your way to my flat and how did you get in?” His mother waved away all the questions and said, “Son, I don't have much time to be here so, sit down and listen to me very carefully. This night at exactly 12 midnight, three flies will enter your flat in a file. Kill the last two and let the leader go.” Now Nii had even more questions for his mother but she refused to answer any of them. She just said, “Remember what I have just told you. Three flies will enter here exactly at midnight and they will be moving in a file. Kill the last two and let the first one go.” Nii was still puzzled but his mother was in no mood for questions. She said, “I've got to go. Don't bother to see me off.” And with that she opened the door and vanished into the night. Nii was confused, shocked, and shaken and did not know what to make of his mother's mysterious appearance in his flat and her even more mystifying message. Was it a dream or was this for real? And if it was a dream, how could he dream when he was not asleep? Of course Nii could not sleep and true to his mother's prediction, exactly at midnight, three flies entered his flat. How? He had no idea, but just as his mother had said, they moved in a file. He acted according to the instructions and killed the last two and let off the leader. The next day, Nii asked for a short leave from his employer and flew to Ghana. When he arrived at his family house, he found that two of his aunties had died during the night. I don't know what you make of this story but this was a true story published in one of the weeklies in Ghana in the seventies. You may dismiss it if you like but for me it touches on something the Bible in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We are justified to complain that Ghanaians focus too much on powers of darkness and ascribe everything to witches, demons and the devil. We are justified to be appalled at the fact that almost every Ghanaian film focuses on witches and demons. We have every right to question why the average Ghanaian blames everything on witches and demons. But to move to the other side and deny completely the existence of these realities is the kind of willful ignorance that can be very costly to you. The fact is that there are spiritual realities in this world and we trifle with them to our own doom. Why the talk about spiritual realities now? Recently, during a discussion with a group of about forty young people, the issue of casual sex came up. They told me of how a young man and a young woman these days can agree to have a relationship based solely on having sexual intercourse without any commitment. Both parties understand that they are together just to have sex and nothing more. Each of them can date someone else and even pursue a love relationship with someone else but they still get together regularly just for the sex. I was surprised that many of them did not see anything wrong with this arrangement. And they were quite amused at my surprise, telling me that I was out of touch with the ways of young people these days. They assured me that casual sex was very rampant and that these days, people can be married and still enjoy sex with someone different from their spouse. As I reflected on what they said, I realized that our young people see sex as only a physical thing. For them, you can have sex only for pleasure and nothing more. Yes, indeed, sex is pleasurable but it doesn't end there. Sex has very serious spiritual implications. Sexual intercourse in the wrong context exposes you to the risk of spiritual bondage that can be very difficult to break. Sex is a powerful force and casual sex (that is, sexual intercourse outside the confines of a committed relationship) has been responsible for the destruction of many people, their careers, their destinies and even their families. Lives have been shortened because of casual sex. No wonder every major religion in the world cautions against casual sex. I don't have the right to tell young people how to live but I think I owe them a duty to let them understand that there is another aspect to this life than the physical and we should all be careful how we live and the choices we make. There is more to life than meets the eye. There are wicked spiritual forces and nothing opens us more to their attacks than casual sex and certain lifestyles. It is a good personal policy to watch your appetites - be they the appetite for food or for alcohol or for sex because your failure to exercise control over your appetites could land you in bondage and in serious trouble. Let those who have ears to hear, listen and order their lives accordingly.