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REPORT ON THE TRIP TO GHANA FROM  21ST – 27TH NOVEMBER 2005

FIRST LEG
Through the grace of God Almighty, I left Port Harcourt for Lagos in the early morning of Saturday 19th November, 2005. I arrived safely in the evening to the warm embrace of the brethren who kept monitoring me on the way with calls.

On Sunday 20th, I joined in the church fellowship and was given the privilege of delivering a lesson which I titled “Being loyal to Christ”. The Christian was presented as a soldier in the preambles. As a soldier of Jesus Christ, chosen to fight for Him in the interest of souls, it was said that he must show loyalty to his commander (Christ) through submission and obedience. For him to be classified as a good soldier, he must endure difficulties which might come his way against the faith and to do all things in a way to please his Master who had chosen him to be a soldier. He had to put the world and her deeds behind him to be focused on his duty. (II Tim. 2:3, 4 referred.) For one to be loyal to Christ therefore, he must honour Him, and be ready to do whatever he had commanded in His word. This, we were further told, would require one being honest, sincere, faithful, humble, meek, submissive and obedient to Christ. We learned that the lack of the above in the Christian would lead him to disloyalty.

The main passage was then taken from John 13:21 – 30, 36 –38. The character of Judas Iscariot was first examined and his conduct classified as a display of disloyalty to his Master, Jesus Christ, whom he betrayed. It was noted with regret that Judas could be spotted among the disciples, and used as instrument in the hand of the chief priest and their co-plotters, with whom he collaborated to kill Jesus Christ. Reference was also made to the record in Luke 22:2 –6. In view of this, we were advised to be careful and watchful over our thoughts as well as the spirit controlling us, whether truly of God or of the adversary who could cause us to do his bidding. Just as Judas, though selected to be one of the twelve, was used by the devil to betray his Master, so he could use any one else with the view of destroying the truth and the spirit in the body of Christ while thinking he might be doing service to God. The word of truth it was added, would reveal all the hidden character in the man that went contrary to God’s word which would not help us unless we surrender to Jesus fully.

Simon Peter was presented as the second character, whose attitude was considered as a display of loyalty to His Master, Jesus Christ. His _expression of willingness to lay down his life for Christ even when he had not died to fear and self, was appreciated. We also noted his boldness of heart but lack in spiritual power to withstand the moment of trial of his faith and love for his Master. This, the all-knowing Lord, we learnt saw in him and fore told him of his denying Him (Christ) before it really happened. We saw Peter as being sincere as he acknowledged his guilt and repented when he was faced with the reality of what the Master had told him earlier. Beyond this point, we began to see Peter waxing strong through the power of the Holy Spirit whom he received through obedience to Christ and worked loyally for the Master. We re-called how eventually, following his suggestion, the enemies of the gospel crucified him in a manner more humiliating than the way his Master was crucified. This we considered as total loyalty to Christ and saw it as a good example to follow-to love Christ with our whole heart together with the total surrender of our being to serve Him in obedience to His word.

We admonished ourselves to work more diligently in the knowledge of Christ and His word. Realizing the influence and power of the Holy spirit working in the live of Peter, we began to appreciate more of the need of the Holy Spirit to abide in us and to be renewed in our strength day after day. Looking at Christianity today: the so much of lies and pervasion of His truths, we advised ourselves to be mindful of the doctrines peddled around us. It was also remarked that, many who were doing this and causing confusion among the children of God were ignorant about the mind of Christ. Such, also lacking in His Spirit, the Spirit of grace and truth, were going about establishing their own kind of doctrines with human philosophies to draw men to themselves. It was viewed that, such would amount to disloyalty and that we could not afford to fall among that category of Christians. The advise in conclusion, was for all to contend for the old faith adding that only those who were truly Christ’s would the Father honour and welcome into His kingdom for being faithful and loyal to the Lord. Prayer request which had been on continuous basis for the Ghana trip was made again at the end of the fellowship. This request was granted and prayer for a successful trip was offered before we finally dismissed.

On dismissal we visited the home of some brethren where we shared some encouraging words from the Lord. Those were also profitable meetings with fervent prayers made for our spiritual well being to crow them all. It was a renewal of strength and courage to face the battle ahead. Happily I retired to the home of Bro. Mark (Jr.) Njoku together with Bro. Damien Uba in the evening. This being the nearest take-off point to the motor park, we agreed to spend the night together here for early and easy commencement of the Journey.

21st November, 2005

Being joined by Bro. Damien Chinedu Uba of Lagos, we took-off the park for Accra at about 6.30 am. Due to delay at the three borders, we arrived our destination in Accra later than the time estimated. We left Accra for Kumasi at about 6.55pm. Again, due to hold-up arising from a major road construction work on that highway, a journey estimated to last Four (4) hours, took us about 6 hours to arrive Kumasi. At Kumasi we had to wait for the vehicle having the turn to be fully loaded before leaving. We left the park at about 2.a.m, arriving Akumadan at about 4.25am on Tuesday. The brethren had expected we would arrive between 10 and 11 Pm Ghanaian time and had therefore waited until 11pm before retiring to their homes.

22nd November, 2005.

Having being on the road through the night, we had to sleep for the few hours left to bring us to dawn. Soon after we woke up, Brothers Emmanuel Atobrah and James Badu, who had been around waiting, came in to welcome us. After we had familiarized ourselves, I began to recall some of the events that had taken place in our midst.

Copies of the camp meeting report for 2003, which they attended, as well as that of 2004, were taken along with me. Also taken along were articles on topical doctrines written by me, which I intended to share with Ministers. They included: “Divorce and re-marriage;” “Tithe”, “Women head covering and plaiting” as well as the church of God at a glance”. Bro. Damien and I have had prayer earlier together. On our knees we had to pour our hearts to God, thanking him and asking him to kindly guide us with the wisdom and knowledge of His Spirit. Also asked for, was power to do works that would glorify Him in our missionary assignment in Ghana. With them around, I began with section of our 2004 camp-meeting report that dealt with the women forum (meeting) and how beneficial it was. I read out the contribution of a sister “on virtuous woman”, the need for every women to know that, once she was married, nothing but death alone could dissolve the marriage between her husband and herself. This surprisingly aroused the interest of the two brothers. They asked us, “what about except it be for fornication” as said in Matt. 19:9?

Welcoming the question, we began to handle it with interest and a desire to throwing light on this controversial question that had often come up in meetings of brethren. We realized that these brethren also needed more enlightenment to get a better understanding of this question. This we believed would help them to be more guided by the word of God in dealing with it.

Through the grace of God, we expounded the scriptures, telling them that God’s plan right from the beginning was for marriage between a man and a woman to last for life. Besides, that he did not give conditions for the dissolution of a marriage once it has been legitimately contracted. We emphasized that, Christ who had existed with the Father from the beginning and had always agreed with Him could not have turned round to contradict what they had decreed together. We made them to understand that Christ’s presentation to the Pharisees had to deal with a condition that had existed under the law. Moses then “permitted” them (those under the law) to divorce their newly married wives found to have committed fornication which we said, Christ told them was not the case from the beginning.

We then advised that the “clause” in question needed proper spiritual understanding for the harmonization of all the scriptures that taught on marriage, starting from Genesis. Because this question had already been treated to some extend in my article, reference was made to the relevant portions and read out for explanation at the moment. This meeting ended on a profitable note with more questions that followed which we also answered. We all felt the blessing of sharing the truth together and were happy.

This meeting was to lay the foundation for a crucial minister’s meeting to discuss the topic of marriage at a larger forum. When they had gone on our dismissal, Damien and I prayed again, praising God for his leading. We agreed on a further step to conduct fasting and prayer the following morning to ask God for more direction and help. Considering it to be one of the problems in their midst, we felt we would be required to throw sufficient light on the issue to them while in their midst. We later had our break fast which had been made ready for us long ago. This was followed with another rest. How ever, it was not all rest, we had discussions, made enquiries and had prayer for the rest of the day.
 

The brethren later in the afternoon unfolded their plans for us. We were to rest on Tuesday, though we had set our minds to start work on that day and felt strong enough to do so, but had to comply.

Wednesday 23rd - Crusade at Nkenkasu

Thursday 24th - Crusade at Tanoso

Friday and Saturday 25th/26th - Crusade at Tadieso

Sunday 27th - Combine fellowship at Akumadan



Wednesday 23rd November 2005

We commenced with morning devotion attended by some brethren of the local congregation. A brief message with the title: “The power in the word of God”. Was delivered by me.

Texts: Heb 4:12, Rom 1:16, Psalm 119:105.

The message was to let all of us know the importance of the “Word of God” and to have all hearts prepared to receive it by faith for a wholesome salvation. The word of God, we were reminded, as a device of God, had been described as being quick, powerful and sharper than any two edged sword and had been placed in the hands of his ministers in the work of deliverance of mankind from sin. Further more, that it would have it’s own course unhindered in the lives of men and pleaded with everyone to take heed as no one would go contrary to God’s word and make a success of their Christian career. The failure of some Israelites in entering the Promised Land was attributed to their “unbelief in the word that was preached to them in their days. This was cited as an example and that it could be the consequence of resisting the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by any one even today.

The word being God’s power of salvation, it was said, was the principal instrument in the hand of every preacher sent by Christ, whether they were Americans, Germans or Africans to take to the people for their spiritual emancipation and the pulling down of the strong holds of the power of darkness. The Holy Spirit and the blood of Christ, it was pointed out, were the forces giving power to the word and to act according to God’s pleasure, and that we must therefore be ready to submit ourselves to them for our empowerment for service to our Saviour. Further more, that the word of God had been given as a light to guide the paths of all those who have given their lives to Christ. All were therefore admonished to be prepared to receive the Holy Scriptures the Lord had prepared to be shared amongst ourselves during the period of our fellowship. And that everyone should pray and look up to God for the supply of His Spirit for the understanding of His word so that our fellowship might be profitable to all of us. At the end of this preparatory message, prayer was offered to dismiss us with God’s blessings to keep us prepared for the day’s works.

FASTING AND PRAYER
Soon after we dismissed, Bro. Damien and I began the fasting and prayer meeting as earlier agreed. We had it in our apartment as the chapel was being used as classroom for the school children programme. We prayed for the Holy Spirit empowerment and anointing of his word for our fellowship and preaching to uplift souls. We rounded up the session by midday.

I was told later that Bro. James Badu on hearing that we were in for fasting and prayer, entered into his room for a similar exercise. This disclosure was made as a consequence upon the result of the work at Nkenkasu that evening. He was said to have been very glad and attributed the result to the fasting and prayer we had.

CRUSADE BY NKENKASU

The Lord had given me a message to deliver: “God labouring to save man”.

Texts: Daniel 6:14, John 5:17; 6:27, 29.

It began with how king Darius Laboured to deliver his beloved and preferred president, Daniel, (because of the excellent spirit in him), from death contrary to the decree he had signed himself. The king, the people were told, did not only had compassion for Daniel, but fasted for him, something perhaps he had not done in his life before. He was the first to be at the lion’s den and became glad to observe Daniel being saved by God contrary to the plan and expectation of his enemies. Daniel 6:14, 18 – 20 and the 23 verses were read out to encourage everybody. The audience was further told that Christ, similarly had laboured by giving up even His life on the cross to deliver man from sin and death mastermind by the devil.

The healing of the man who had been an infirm for thirty eight years, whom Jesus met at the pool of Bethesda was brought to focus as a typical example of the Saviour labouring to save man from satanic bondage. His response to His accusers for achieving this feat on a Sabbath day as recorded in John 5:17 was referenced. Then came the admonition that, Christ having done His part and as He was still labouring through His servants, every person privileged to hear the gospel should make effort spiritually to obtain the Salvation Jesus gave His life for. Also that no one should labour with his eyes or mind on material gains that would perish, but for the obtainment of everlasting salvation. John 6:27 was referred. What then would be the work or labour on the part of man to gain the everlasting life. Verse 29 had to clarify our minds on this, explaining that the work of God which the man would do was simply believing on whom He had sent, that is, Jesus Christ. This point was buttressed with the story of how this “God sent” saved the woman caught in adultery from death. It was made clear that but for Christ, she would have been stoned to death under the provisions of the law. He did not only save the woman, but also those blood -thirsty murderers who could not have been guiltless before Christ if they had killed her. John 8:11. We proclaimed Christ indeed as just and compassionate, ever willing to save all who would acknowledge their sins and be willing to come before Him for pardon.

Heb. 4:10 and 11 was also cited to show the vanity of the man labouring on his own to save himself by doing some good works. We were therefore directed to labour to enter into God’s rest of the soul from sin as provided by Christ, not a seventh-day rest of the body as some would like to tell us.

We reminded ourselves of God’s plan of purifying the hearts of those who gave their lives to Christ so that He might redeem them with His blood for them to have zeal for good works. Titus 2:14 was referred, and that such zealousness would sustain the salvation of the Christian. When so occupied, the Christian, we added, would no longer be engaging himself in anything that would be to the pleasure of the flesh.

Every body was admonished from Phil. 2:12, 13 to receive the word of God with fear and trembling from the heart so as to be able to work out his salvation offered by Christ. It was pointed out that, God would work out His will in those willing hearts to do His good pleasure in the interest of their soul’s salvation.

Finally we were advised from II Peter 1:10, that diligence was required for everybody to make his call and election sure which we said, had been made possible by Christ through the preaching of the gospel.

A fairly reasonable crowd turned up for the crusade, out of which, a good number, made up of adults, young boys and girls as well as children responded to the alter call. Names of 9 adults were written down after the prayer for follow-up activities. We were thankful to God and glorified Him for the work done that night. Led by Bro. Atobrah, we went down to see their place of worship soon after the altar call with a crowd following us behind surprisingly. A number of them when asked claimed membership of the church. It was a classroom in a Primary school building and we thanked God for that provision.

24th November, 2005

Morning Devotion

A message, ”you are the light of the world” was delivered by Bro. Damien.

Text: Matt. 5:14 – 16.

We were told that the purpose of the Lord calling us out of the world was to make us a light to a sin darkened world, so that they seeing the light of God in us might be able to embrace it and walk in it. The church was likened to a city founded on a hill which could not be hid. It was made clear to us that what constituted the church were the children of God and that Jesus Christ, the light of the world, must be manifest in our lives for people to see. The fear of God the message went on, would cause us to be obedient to His word and would certainly be manifest in our conduct, in our appearance devoid of worldliness, in our utterances, as well as in our interaction with others at home and in the public. Furthermore, we were told that what things we do, places we go and the general conduct of our lives must show the life of Christ in us. People, it was added, must see the goodness and the love of God through our good works so that His name would be glorified. The plea was therefore for the church in Ghana to shine forth as the light of God as was expected of their brethren in other parts of the world. This, we were assured would bring more of God’s blessings upon His children through whom His name would be exalted.

The impact was felt and prayer was offered to close the devotion.

Ministers’ meeting in the Afternoon

A ministers meeting to discuss further on marriage was suggested to Bro. Maxwell. Our earlier meeting with the two brothers was also explained to him. He readily agreed to the idea which gladdened our hearts. Damien and I would often agree in prayer. Before the meeting we had done so again.

The time came for the meeting. Ministers in attendance were

Bros: Maxwell Nkansah - Akumadan

Emmanuel Atobrah - Nkenkasu

James Badu - Tanoso

Emmanuel Boateng - Tadieso

Chinedu Damien Uba - Nigeria

F. Naths-Igbanibo - Nigeria

In the introduction made by me, the reason for the meeting was explained. From all indications, marriage was seen and accepted by all as ordained by God. Also accepted was the approach: to give it legitimacy, a due and acceptable process we agreed, had to follow to fulfil necessary customary demands. What, however, had posed the confusion, was the idea put forward by some Christians, including a number of church of God groups, who borrowing a leaf from sects, were saying that, one could divorce and engage in re-marriage on the ground of fornication by the wife. Matt. 19:9 had always been quoted by the advocates to give backing to this argument. The clause, “except it be for fornication” therefore had to form the basis of our discussion in the meeting.

We began once more to give explanation to this question beginning from Gen. 2:23 – 24. Particular attention was given to the phrases, “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” as well as “cleave”, all of which we said, were clear indication that marriage as ordained by God was to last for life. Christ’s statement to the Pharisees that “from the beginning it was not so”, was also given focus to buttress the point that He was not compromising or conflicting issues.

We went further by submitting that, since Christ said that what obtained in the law was a “permit” granted by Moses to put away their wives due to the hardness of their hearts, that “permit” could not have superseded the original concept of God. Besides, that the provision in the law as recorded in Deut. 24:1, and 2 affected only newly wedded wives, not wives married for years. The permission therefore we said was a temporary measure awaiting the fullness of time in Christ Jesus. This being fulfilled, that in this dispensation of Christ, there could be no scriptural backing for one to divorce his wife or the wife to devoice her husband, whether they were old or newly married couples. Once joined by God, they have become bound by the law governing marriage. (Romans 7:3 was cited). In our endeavour to clarify things, we explained the meaning of, when a man had “take a wife”(wedded her) and “married her” (going into her for the purpose of being joined together by God) and where he observed her to be unclean in the process, (meaning she might have committed the sin of fornication), he could put her away if he wished to do so. But this, had to be with a bill of divorce which she could present to a new husband ready to marry her. However, we quickly added that this had changed under the gospel era we are in. We referred to Christ’s teaching that such a divorcee, whether man or woman would be committing adultery if married to another person. We again referred to the catalogue of sins recorded in Gal. 5:19 and noted the sin of fornication standing separate from the sin of Adultery.

We reasoned that even if Christ had meant repeated adultery or whoredom by the word “fornication” which had been used as ground by some for the man to divorce his wife, He never permitted him to re-marry. God having made the two one flesh through the marriage, they remained one flesh and could not have been separated by sin but by death only. But that if for any reason, they divorce, they should remain unmarried for the reason that the union remained unbroken. The gospel, we said, enjoined for reconciliation and peace, re-tierating one of Christ’s cardinal teachings was “forgiveness” adding that forgiveness must cover all sins, including adultery. This being the accepted truth of the gospel in this dispensation of grace, we advocated that even if adultery was committed in the matrimonial home, the offending one must be forgiven as a mark of love and regard for God’s word. One other thing that was mentioned which was acceptable to all of us, was that, as children of God under the governance of the good and gentle Holy spirit, we were not expected to be associated with “hardness of heart” as was the case with the Israelites of old. If it was observed that the woman had fornicated before her marriage to the husband or she committed adultery after being married, all sins must be forgiven, we maintained. We added that failure to abiding by the Lord’s commandment on the matter could lead someone from one sin to another. We observed with sadness that many dear Christians being led astray on this, have failed from the grace of God. We added repeatedly that even if the wife had committed repeated adultery, an indication of low morality, the husband could not put her away, having become one flesh with her. Reference was again made to 1 Cor. 6:16 and was seen as a strong support to our reasoning which also relaxed tensed nerves.

Responding to a request for the explanation of “Wife” and “Married” as contained in Deut. 24:1, which had been visited earlier, a common tradition in some part of Africa was put forward as an illustration. A girl engaged to a man, particularly in a rural setting, would be regarded as the man’s wife, while she was still remaining with her parent. As an engaged wife the man could be advancing her money for her up-keep and this would be to the knowledge of the parent. She could on her part be rendering him some domestic services under the watched eyes of her mother in particular. At that stage, if she was found to have made love with a man, the engaging husband would be at liberty to terminate the idea of marrying her. No matter how much he might spent on her, he could not make any claim because he had not married her.

Marriage on the other hand begins when the stipulated customary rites had been performed and she had been taken home to the husband for them to be joined together by God. The meeting of the two we said, would now make them one flesh and on no account could they separate on their own choice except by God through death they having been married. Taking a Bible reference, the story of Joseph and Mary was told as a further illustration. She was only betrothed to Joseph but the angel of God while ministering to him called Mary his “Wife” in that engaged state. Matt. 1:20.

Having clarified these points we advised ourselves to be careful about this false teaching of divorce and re-marriage made popular by sects and some groups going by the name of church of God. We brought their knowledge that they abound even in Nigeria. But we added that the church founded by Christ and being built on His word, could not deviate from the original truth. We therefore concluded that since marriage was to bind the husband and wife together for life, the bond could be broken only by death to allow the living partner marry if so desired. But we cautioned that marriage should be approached with care and prayer, leaving it in the hands of God to make the appropriate choice for His two-fold purpose to be achieved in the life of the couple remained the best thing.

One major question that followed was on Matt. 19:12, specifically on how someone would make himself a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. First, we had to explain to our understanding who is a eunuch in a general context. In the course of explaining the meaning, Bro. Maxwell came handy with an illustration. He reveled that the man, who attended to the wife of the king of Kumasi, headquarters of Ashanti region in Ghana, had to be operated upon to make him a eunuch. The operation was to remove the relevant organs to make him impotent, losing his sensitivity for sexual desire.

Coming to the word of God, we said that some people had to live the life of a eunuch as a corrective step on the realization that taking another wife or husband would amount to transgression. We added that no one could make it to heaven without righting his wrong deeds in compliance with the word of God. Bro. D. S. Warner of blessed memory was mentioned as a typical example in this case. We narrated how his wife being deceived by false ministers, parted ways with him. All effort to persuade her return to the home failed. She eventually got married to one of the false ministers.

A modern day preacher holding to the false doctrine, we said, would have jumped to the high heavens on this and would happily take another wife on the assumption that he had been losed rather than take the same step as did D. S. Warner, who live the life of a eunuch. He got married only when the wife died.

This, we concluded was applicable to everyone in the same shoes and advised those engaged in wrong marriage to take appropriate steps according to the scripture to make their ways right with God.

This study meeting lasted for about three hours and was very profitable to all in attendance. Bro. Maxwell at last suggested that marriage should be taught on Sunday as a number of people were involved in wrong marriages. We praised and glorified God, thanking Him for coming through His word to help our poor estate. We prayed and dismissed this wonderful meeting of ministers of no value but chosen of God in this part of Africa. We began to feel the burden of a great responsibility to our brothers and to our selves. Damien and I went to the room and held prayer, thanking God for His word and to prepare the hearts for the next programme.

Meeting with Noah Adomako
We met with this young man at Tanoso, who attended the first crusade we held there during our first visit to Ghana. This friendly man gave himself to us for the gospel work as soon as he came in to join us for the crusade. We took notice of him and did not hide our _expression of love for him. Bro. Damien and I reasoned that he could have been a good material in the house hold of God if he had responded to His call. We made enquires about him and were surprised to learn that he was a Sabbatherian. We told him briefly about the church and encouraged him to maintain close relationship with the church for more spiritual benefits.

It was a great joy therefore to find him coming down to Akumadan to pay us a visit as soon as he was told we were in Ghana. Our hearts rejoiced together for meeting again. After all the pleasantries, I asked if he was still with the seventh-day Church. His answer was positive but added that, he used to fellowship with the brethren on Sundays and other days in the week for activities whenever he had the chance. On this note, we expressed our appreciation and encouraged him further to get closer to the church for the knowledge of the truth of the gospel. Further more, we assured him that he would gain more spiritually if he should come out from sect and wholly be long to the body of Christ. We promised to see him at Tanoso for a discussion to throw more light on the church before the crusade. He happily agreed. Mean while, I had given him a copy of one of the articles “The Church of God at a Glance” to take home for his studies. He was so thankful for it and returned to Tanoso.

Crusade At Tanoso
We arrived here but not early enough as planned. Yet, we found time to visit him with James Badu leading us. On our way, we had a stopover at the home of a lady said to have been a member of the church but had backslided. Her joy was noticed with the smile on her face, on sighting us, admitting she was around when we visited the first time. We spoke with her briefly, wanting to know what her problems could be that she had decided to stay away from Jesus who would have been the one to take care of her needs. Not much was forth coming from her, though still in an amused state. We began to persuade her to flee the world and return to Jesus Christ advising that it would be more gainful for her to belong to the Lord. We reminded her of the great privilege of being called into the body of Christ, and that she should ensure she did not loose her place. We pleaded with her and finally invited her to the crusade which, we learnt, she did.

Eventually we met Noah Adomako getting ready for the crusade. We went straight to Deut. 18:15, 18,19 and read out the directive Moses gave to the Israelites in the wilderness. We explained to him the relevance of this scripture to those who were still adhering to the works of the Law of Moses to retrace their step to Christ. We told him that the prophet Moses, assured them that God would raise up from among them a prophet that would be like him whom he advised, they should hearken to, and ensure compliance of what ever He commanded them to do, and that was reference to Jesus Christ. God the father had been pleased with Him and said He was going to put His words in His month and He would speak to the people all that He commanded Him to speak. Those who would not hearken to His words, He said, He was going to require if from them. We added, this is the very one (Christ) who said, He was the Lord of the Sabbath. Who also, threw light on the superiority of the Son of man over the Sabbath by saying that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath we added, was part of the law which Christ had come to fulfill and that it would not be profitable for one to remain under a system that had been replaced with a better covenant. But before we could go further, perhaps, realizing he had already gathered something relevant, said he was satisfied with all that had been said already. With this, we all moved to the crusade ground, which was being arranged. Noah began working with the brethren to get the place set.

We had some difficulties getting our systems connected to electricity. He worked with them to get the light on later and performed other duties such as translation of the message. We were so thanking to God that this good and open-hearted young man had been persuaded and was gradually identifying himself with the church.

The Crusade
The message delivered by Bro. Damien Uba was titled “Jesus the light of the world”. This message, appropriately chosen by the Lord, was timely and was delivered under the anointing power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord demonstrated to us the power and the relevance of light to give meaning to the message. People had gathered around the ground with no light yet. The long extension with many joints had given us real problem. With thick darkness surrounding the area, people could hardly see each other. As soon as the work was completed and the light came on, the darkness was driven away, making all men to rejoice, praising God for the light. We all would now see ourselves. It turned out to be a great lesson for all to know the importance of the spiritual light that was to be the message.

The message began with this incidence as a good illustration, calling on the people to embrace Christ whom the Father had given out to be the light of the world. The assurance was that anyone finding Christ in himself would no longer walk in darkness. Those in Christ, as such would not be harmed by the devil working about under the cover of darkness.

Scriptural quotations: John 8:12 - Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. The story of the woman caught committing adultery, who was brought to Jesus Christ already condemned by the Jews under the provisions of the law was narrated to illustrate how Jesus indeed became the light of the world. He came with power to save mankind by driving away the power of darkness from darkened hearts that have been given to evil deeds. It was pointed out that without Christ that woman would have been stoned to death in her sin with no one able to save her. So had God ordained Christ to be the only Saviour of mankind from sin and eternal death, assuring that as many as would surrender their lives to Him, He was ready to pardon and save.

The story of Jesus Christ giving sight to blind Bartimaeus to be able to see the physical light as recorded in mark 10: 46 – 52 was also narrated. We were assured that those spiritually blind would similarly be given the light of eternal live by Jesus Christ. And with reference to John 12:35, 36, 46: every body was encouraged to embrace the light of God as the gospel was being preached to them, so that they would no longer live their lives under the power and influence of the devil who walks under darkness; that Jesus, the light himself would give them the light of life that would abide in them and guide them into everlasting life. The message ended with many other persuasive words.

During the altar call, 4 persons identifying themselves with Christ came out. We knew that many other were touched but lacked boldness to come out. We pleaded with the Lord to pardon their offences and save them according to His mercy as promised in His word. Those standing around, as well as the entire people, were prayed for. The residential addresses of the four were taken by the brethren for follow-up activities. With joy and praises to God in our heart for the accomplishment of the day’s work, we returned to Akumadan far in the night, Praise be to God!

25th November, 2005.

Morning Devotion
A message on ‘’Walking with God by faith’’ was given by me. Emphasis was given on the need for every child of God to walk with Him by faith as did the saints of old, since it would not be possible for us to see God with our physical eyes. And that, for us to gain from His word, we have to believe, see and take the word into our hearts as God Himself. We were admonished that working by faith means that, we would do everything as if God was presently there. The scripture in Heb. 11:6 was taken to direct our minds on the importance of faith – for us to believe in his eternal existence and that those who seek Him with their needs consistently, he would reward them. Heb 4:2 and 1 Cor.10:5 were also cited to draw our attention to the consequences of receiving the word of God without faith. We had to admonish ourselves: the word being preached to us was preached to them, the Israelites, but they made no profit from it as they did not apply faith to it. The case of the Israelites in the wilderness was re-called and was given as an example: how, many of them were overthrown as God was not ‘’well pleased’’ with them. What caused God’s displeasure with them was given as their turning to idols as their good providence in place of God who with a mighty hand brought them out of Egypt, offering them great care as they began their journey to the promised land. Moses, we were told, had gone up to mount Sinai to meet God and had to wait. To them he had delayed and had disappointed them. They felt they needed something they would see with their physical eyes to lead them in place of Moses. The devil having turned their minds, we were told how they pressurized Aaron to make “gods’’ to lead them to the land the Lord God had promised them to inherit. Turning to adore and worship the molten calf, we had to tell ourselves the evil of their engaging themselves in eating, drinking and dancing upon instruments. Those involved in the act it was further mentioned did not reach the Promised Land. This failure was attributed to faithlessness or unbelief. We were advised therefore to be very careful as many idols have come into existence today and have been brought in even into the church world. Those we said, were the things people would love to do above the works of faith the consequence of which would be the hindering of God working and manifesting himself in the lives of such people. Some examples of today’s idols were given as: use of instruments in worship, worldliness in dressing, material prosperity, carnality, self exaltation, etc. Some gains through faith were also mentioned such as: salvation, divine healing from God, peace to the soul, comfort and joy from the Lord in every giving situation for the Christian to live a victorious life. We were finally admonished not to be like the faithless Jews but be those seeking to walk with God to His pleasure in all things by faith. We dismissed with prayer for an increased faith from God.

ATTEMPTING TO BRING BRO. EMMANUEL ATOBRAH’S WIFE HOME

In the earlier meeting we had with Bros. Emmanuel Atobrah and James Badu, we were made to appreciate God’s wisdom in giving the man a suitable wife to support him in all his endeavours. We had trumpeted that the need for the support is more needful for the children of God, particularly ministers of the gospel.

Incidentally, Bro. Atobrah’s wife, we were told, had been away from the home for over two months. How soon she would return to the embrace of the family was not known. Bro. Atobrah could not give any reason serious enough in our view to cause breach in love and harmony in the family. Enquires made from others, however, suggested that the mother could be of assistance with information to help us in our approach to the situation. Based on this, we invited the mother through Atobrah. He came back later to tell us of her promise to come but added that he met her sick. We waited for her through Thursday but without success. Damien and I become concerned. After the morning devotion, we suggested the option of going to her at home. This was accepted by the brethren. Bro. Atobrah leading Bros. Damien, James and myself got to the house and met her really sick with malaria fever and pains, a common sickness in our part of the world. We were glad she received us warmly and gave positive response to our enquiries about her daughter. It became glaring to us that what she did not tell her husband, she had disclosed to her mother, in addition to disclosing the reason why she decided to stay away from the town. We finally agreed that someone had to go to the settlement to bring her home. We on our part promised that we will finance the trip. At the end of the discussion, we began to speak words of faith to her and offered prayer for her healing. After that, we turned to some young and fairly old woman sitting in the large compound. We took advantage of the ideal situation to preach Christ as “a good shepherd” to them. As the preaching was going on more people gathered around and listened with Keen interest. We told them of the need to see Jesus Christ as a good shepherd and themselves as sheep, assuring that he would save them and take their responsibilities upon him. Reference was made to Psalm 95:7 - the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. We urged them to take the place of king David who took Jehovah as his shepherd and rested absolutely from worries and fear of what the enemy might have planned to do to him. We made it clear that the enemy was the devil who had made Himself King of the world, ruling and subjection men to the problems of sin, thus denying them of the privileges they could have derived from God. We admonished them to turn away from the world which could disappoint them any time, to Christ with the offer of eternal life to those who would come to Him. The spirit of God gave us much comfort and joy as we were afforded the opportunity of speaking to these people the word of salvation. The attention they gave us also encouraged us and thanked them for doing so. They requested for prayer which we gladly offered, requesting our heavenly Father to mercifully save their souls from the power of sin. On a happy note we left them with an invitation to fellowship with the church on Sunday.

Getting home, we reported to Bro. Maxwell the outcome of our meeting with Bro. Emmanuel Atobrah’s mother in-law. We held another meeting there with Bro. Boateng also in attendance. We took a final decision for Bro. Emmanuel himself to go in search for his wife. We emphasized, we would not like to return to Nigeria without seeing his wife. We had prayer, committing him and the journey to the Almighty Father, to bring success to His praise and glory. We made funds available to Bro. Atobrah and he left for his wife in the afternoon of that day.

CRUSADE AT TADIESO
We arrived there before night fall. Tadieso, we were told, was a hamlet made up of farmers mainly. It was indeed seen to be so. But they have a secondary school as well as a pipe-borne water supplying drinkable water to the settlement. Electric poles had been planted all over the place but with no supply of light yet. A small capacity Generator had therefore been hired to provide light. The first sight gave the impression that the inhabitants might not be interested. But God proved it otherwise. The arena was set with our systems now made functional. Bro. Damien and I began to sing Choruses common to us in Nigeria. This was follow by some of the sisters from Akumadan singing some beautiful choruses in their language. This, in our view was an improvement of the past. A sizeable crowd had gathered around contrary to our expectation. With this we gladly offered prayer to God for the message with the title “ Satan a Deceiver” and was taken by me. It was made clear that the ways of Satan were opposed to the ways of God. Satan’s work were for destruction while God’s works were for the building up of life. The calamities therefore that awaits anyone obeying Satan was stressed. On the other hand, what those who gave their lives to Christ, a faithful Friend and a Saviour, would gain from Him were brought to view. To begin with, we narrated how Satan through the serpent told lies to deceive Eve to make her believe in him. Gen.3:1-4, 5,6,8,22,23 was referenced. Satan was painted as an envious being, who was not happy over the good relationship that had existed between God and the people He had found to be his good friends. He had to go through the serpent described as a more clever beast than the rest of them in the field that were created by God. His point of contact, the message went on, to the two – man world was Eve, the woman, described as the weaker vessel. We noted what God had commanded them in His word that they must not do. You should not eat nor touch (stay clear from) the tree in the middle of the garden. The day you do that in disobedience, you would die. Satan, knowing what God had commanded them came on the other hand through the serpent to reverse the commandment. We noted this sorrowful event, the reversal of God’s word that brought the calamities upon them and to all men. You would surely (certainly) not die if you eat the fruit of the tree, he told them confidently. With reference to verse 6, we threw light on the danger in man’s desire to be more knowledgeable than required or as provided by God; how being filled with pride and lust, the man plunged himself in sinful deeds, became separated from God and died. Death was explained to mean separation, which takes place in the man when the soul and body became separated from each other. We made it clear that for as long as man was separated from God, the source of life, he would remain dead. This, it was said, was what took place in Adam and Eve who were the first to run away, separating from God their Father and faithful Friend. Raising the hope of all, we said that Christ had been sent by God to draw men to Him the Father but added that any man who preferred to stay far away from God, refusing to accept Christ the Saviour’s invitation to salvation, remained dead spiritually. Mention was made of how the fruit of disobedience imparted to our first parent by Satan spread through them to their son, Cain, who killed his brother, Abel out of envy. Reference was made to the records in Gen 4:8 to drive home the destructive tendency in the deceitful spirit imparted to the man. Today, the spread of sin, we said, have had universal effect which included Tadiaso and that Satan was still doing his works every where: envying, killing, rebelling, causing confusion, hatred and division even among Christians. The call was made for all to save their lives by running to Christ. The Lord Jesus was then presented as the only one with power to save man from sin and Satanic devices; who alone could give man the power of sonship to those who believed on Him to become children of God. Matt 1:12 and John 1:12 quoted as reference.

Referring to 1 Cor. 15:22, 45, 46, comparism was made between Adam and Christ – Adam bringing death to all men through sin while Christ bringing back from the dead state to life all those who believed on Him. Furthermore, that the first Adam in whose image we were all born, was only a living soul, living only in the physical life: alive and intelligent, eating and drinking, having strength to work to promote self, knowing good and evil but lacking in the ability to do good, having love and hatred, loving self and close associates, but without love for God. Whereas, the last Adam, that is Christ, was made by God a quickening spirit – to awaken the man with the power of the spirit from his dead state of sin to a spiritual state of life to be able to live unto God. The call, the plea, and the admonition was for all to accept Jesus Christ into their lives and be made sons and daughters of God. The people were warned not to be deceived by the natural man from Adam who, they were told, could not do anything to please God and therefore would never be the Christian of God’s expectation. Warning was also given for every body to beware of the consequence of simply belonging to church but not belonging to Christ. That such would be a sorry state of the man and nothing would save him from the power of Satan and hell. The gains derivable from accepting Christ were enumerated to close the message.

Indication on the faces of some seemed to affirm that the Spirit of God had put the message into their hearts. Nevertheless, when the altar call was made, only 4 persons responded. Inspired by the spirit, I requested all those touched by the word and were desirous to receive Christ to indicate by the raise of their hands. Surprisingly, more than half of the crowd did so. This development amazed us and caused us offer praises to God.

With joy we committed all of them into God’s hand, pleading for His pardon on their behalf and for Him to offer them His gift of salvation. Some of them came closer to us at the end of the altar call to express their joy for the word and the work done, asking if we would repeat. We were equally happy, thanking God and encouraging them to turn up for the church activities so as to be more rooted in the word of God for their spiritual growth.

With our heart full of appreciation to God, we returned to Akumadan late in the night. To God be the glory!

26th November 2005

Morning Devotion
Attendance was very poor and this was attributed to a number of “wake-keep” activities in the town in honour of some departed souls, including the mother of Mr. Jim Akwasi, erst while pastor of the church. Burial being a communal activity, some of the brethren were also involved for the all-night activity. We simply prayed, asking for God’s blessings of the activities lined-up for the day. Bro. Atobrah’s journey was also taken up to the throne of grace one again.

TO KUMASI EARLY IN THE MORNING

We were hinted earlier that with lack of funds for the hire of a Generator and for the purchase of fuel, we might not return to Tadieso for the second day crusade as planned. Seeing the situation as challenging, Bro. James took me to kumasi soon after the devotion for the purpose of changing naira to cedis. The Lord accorded our mission with success. But what crowned our joy on our arrival at Akumadan by the afternoon, was the news of Bro. Emmanuel Atobrah’s return with his wife. Our hearts were lifted up which caused us to offer praises to God.

After lunch, we got ready to interview her. She arrived the church premises with the husband, Bro. Emmanuel to another round of joy and praises to God. Prayer offered, we began our interview with her in the chapel. In attendance were Bros: M. Nkansah, J. Badu, E. Boateng, E. Atobrah, C. Uba and F. Naths-Igbanibo.

When asked if there was any problem between the husband and herself recently, she responded by saying, no problem! Then what made her to leave the home for more than two months without due approval by the husband? This gentle and goodly young woman calmly narrated a pathetic story to draw out our bowel of compassion. She told us that her absence from the home was occasioned by economic and domestic obligations. This investment driven lady had taken a loan from a micro-credit outfit to invest on a business. Goods had been paid for but the supply had not been made before the expiration of the re-payment period. The creditors began demanding their money with interest and in the process had often embarrassed the family. This situation, she disclosed, compelled her to stay near the source of supply of the local goods and to take home the value of her investment as soon as the goods were ready. In addition she had feared some sharp practices in her absence and that if that happened, it would be difficult to recover her money. Some of the brethren confirmed her fear as being genuine. The husband admitted knowing about the business but disapproved of it and the loan taking. However when the problem came to his knowledge, he said, he made attempts to help the situation but it did not go a long way. The wife corroborated and in response to a question maintained that the money was not mis-appropriated but simply tied down in the business. This gave much joy and hope to us but we could not help but querying her for taking a very bold investment step without the husband’s consent.

In the course of the interview a number of lapses became evident to us. Based on that we began to counsel both husband and wife on how they would live up to the responsibilities placed on each of them by God, adding that if they do so, they would be keeping the enemy at arms-length from the home. We particularly spoke to the wife to know the need for her to give serious support to her husband as a minister of Christ so that he would not have many things to worry about in the course of performing his duties. We pointed to her what we had already noticed the few days we had been around and encouraged her to be around him always. The marriage background itself was sought and we realized that it was not Christ –based. A counseling touching on every aspect that could make a good Christian home which lasted for more than one hour was given by both of us. The need for her to surrender her life to Christ was also emphasized. Appealing to the church to take up the matter with the creditors, we had prayer to close the meeting, inviting both of them to see us the following morning for more intimate counseling.

2ND DAY CRUSADE AT TADIESO

Soon after the meeting with Bro. Atobrah and the wife, we got ready for Tadieso. Money for the second day hire of the Generator and purchase of fuel had earlier been made available and Bro. Boateng had gone in advance to arrange things. Surprisingly, on getting there, we discovered the machine had developed fault in the process of trial-run and was beyond our ability to rectify. Even Bro. Maxwell, who had in the past displayed some measure of competence in electrical works could not successfully handle the situation. The people had begun gathering around but under darkness. We saw the disappointing situation as challenging and so decided that we would, through the grace of God, give them the word of life which they needed before returning to Akumadan. With the head light on the two motorcycle put on to provide some amount of light on the arena, Bro. Damien began to address the gathering with his natural voice as the spirit of God gave him utterance.

He brought back to memory the message of the previous day “satan a Deceiver” vividly, and started enumerating instances in the Bible of how some people, who being deceived by the devil became disobedient, received a due reward from God. He assured them of God’s love and urged them to accept Christ who would save them from the deceitful power of satan, adding that with Christ in their lives they might no longer be deceived into doing the wrong things to invite the wrath of God upon themselves.

The devil who might have made his plans against the church was put to shame as more souls surrendered to Christ during the altar call. A particular girl who had shown much interest the previous day but could not come to the altar, came out openly to identify with us and was among those prayed for. We sang happily to the glory of God for giving us victory over satan. We saw God at work indeed and we pray that He may humble us more and be more exalted through our lives.

TREATING MORE QUESTIONS

Soon after our return from Tadieso, we gathered for another ministers meeting to treat more questions brought forward to us.

QUESTIONS

1.  How could one forgive someone who had seriously offended him and caused pains to his heart?

2.  What about blood transfusion, is it proper to do so to save life or not? Some group of people have taught that it is sin to donate blood.

3.  What could be the meaning of Rev.13:18? some have taught it to be a future event and that those without marks would not buy and sell or do any business under an emerging economy?

4.  Explain Acts 15:29. In view of this scripture, could it be proper for someone to take home animal found dead in the forest for consumption?

5. What about the use of projection or film to attract people at a crusades?

OUR ANSWERS

1.  Forgiveness happened to be one of the cardinal teachings of Christ in His gospel to mankind. Believers have to practice it to prove they were the children of God and a light to the world. It might perhaps be difficult to forgive with pains in the heart as humans, but as children of God, we must not allow bitterness to rule our hearts. Just as God for Christ’s sake forgave us our sins, so we must also forgive, letting go those bitter are revengeful thoughts for the heart to be kept clean, remained the temple of God for Him to dwell and walk in it. Since it would be impossible for someone to offend his fellowman up to seven times seventy i.e., 490 times in a day, Christ in His teaching in Matt. 18:22 meant that before an offender would come to you for forgiveness, you have already forgiven him. The heart would then be made free at all times, receive and deal with the offender as if he had not offended you. We must not retain a hurtful feeling, waiting to be begged before pronouncing forgiveness.

Satan might attempt to work in the heart to bring to remembrance the offences often, our place must be to rebuke him, claim victory over his thoughts through the power and Spirit of God. We must learn and practice love in our hearts to be able to overcome hatred and bitterness which satan could easily use in sustaining unforgiveness in the heart.

All subsequent questions on this were answered to the best of our knowledge, maintaining that if God must forgive us our trespasses, we must also forgive others for our sacrifices to be acceptable to our heavenly Father.

2.  We have heard it taught ourselves, that blood transfusion amounted to sin, but we have not been convinced that it really amounted a right teaching. The background of those teaching this doctrine had to be put into consideration. We need to depend on the word and the Holy Spirit for conviction to believe a teaching.

3. A brief on pagan Rome, the emergence of the Roman Catholic Church with borrowings from Paganism with the attempt to supplanting the Christian church and the coming into being of the protestant era, was given. This was followed with the explanation of three basic symbols

- Dragon - signifying Pagan Rome

Beast - signifying the Roman Catholic Church
Image of the Beast - signifying the Protestants.
Mention was made of how the Roman government established the Roman Catholic church under the leadership of the Pope and that these two organs persecuted the Christian church. Also, that protestant movement, protesting against the unbiblical practices of the Roman Catholic Church, could not retain the light revealed to them for a long time. They gave recognition to the Roman Catholic church and borrowed or adopted some of their Paganic beliefs.

Example was given of the apostolic creed of the church of England (the Anglican church) read every Sunday. The creed, it was explained, contained

Phrases like “I believe in the Holy Roman Catholic Church” and “in the virgin Mary” whom the Catholics worship.

After this preamble, we explained the meaning of the beast in question and what the number 666 signified. Happily we said, the spirit of Christ had revealed to John that the “number of the beast” is the number of a man and that incidentally, the man with the number happened to be the Pope.

We went on to say that among the robes he wore, the inscription;” Vicarius Fillii Dei” meaning “Vicar of the son of God”, is written. And that these alphabet in Roman figures gave accurately the number 666. The derivation could not be done from memory on the spot, but they were referred to get the details from our books such as “Revelation explained; unraveling Revelation, etc.

However, for the purpose of the record in this report, I wish to insert the derivatives taken from “the Revelation explained” by F.G. Smith

V-5 F-0

I-1 I-1

C-100 I-1

A-0 L-50

R-0 I-1

I-1 I-1

U-5 D-500

S-0 I-1

666

We concluded that the revelation was talking about a false religion with the Pope as the head and the number. It had nothing to do with a government to be established in future, according to the advocate in which those without the mark of the beast would not do business. Further more, that it amounted to false hope to expect a system of government or economy that everything would be under the control of a singular authority and those not subject to that rule would not survive the system. While some people were claiming to belong to that dangerous and false system here on earth, the children of God, we added, have their hope in Christ and the kingdom of God in heaven where all the saved would reign with him in his glory.

4.  In view of the commandment of the Lord in the scripture under reference, we advise that, brethren should not bring home such animals found dead in the forest for consumption.

Whereas the meat is given by God for our lawful use, we said, we were not meant to take the blood which had sustained the life of the animal. We must give due care and not to suffer the animal in our hands through strangulation before eating it. The animal found dead might still be retaining the blood in Him, the cause of which death might not be known. Anything the child of God was not sure about we advised must be avoided.

5.  Upholding that our work should be by faith and not by sight, according to the scriptures, we maintained that we do not believe in the use of projection or films to attract people to Christ. We added that our conduct in the public in the handling of activities should be seen as the same when they come to our place of worship, so that we might not appear as deceivers or seen as a people with double standard.

This brought us finally to the end of the day’s activity far into the night. We had prayer and dismissed happily.


EARLY MORNING MEETING WITH BRO. ATOBRAH AND WIFE
They arrived early as requested to meet with us. Bro. Damien and I went into further counseling, advising them more from the scripture on how the will of God would take effect in their home. Beside, we suggested to them to let us know if they were having any problems not yet addressed and that we were ready to assist with the word and prayer. The wife then came up specifically, requesting us to pray for God’s strength. Gladly we went further into the scriptures to offer counseling more intimately. While in the process the presence of Bro. Atobrah’s mother in-law was disclosed to us. Ushering her in warmly, we asked if she had come to see us with any problem. Her response was to testify of God’s healing and to request for further prayer. Through the interpretation made by Bro Atobrah we gathered that she came with the desire to let us know how the Lord healed her through the prayer we offered the other day. To crown it all, she said, she did not take any tablet. How our hearts were lifted up with joy and praises to God for the resounding witness to his work.

She eventually asked us to offer more prayer for self, children and members of her household for God’s care and blessing in their endeavors. We read the scriptures to encourage her more, showing her how it would be more blessed to have Jesus Christ in her life who, we assured her, would give her soul and body needs. And that, it would simply need her surrender to Jesus for Him to take over her life. Having said enough, we prayed for her. She thanked God and us before taking her leave. Going back, we went on with our counseling of the husband and wife until we were all satisfied.

At last we prayed for them and encouraged her to begin her journey to Christ (for she had not gotten Him). To be begin with, we invited her to join us for the Sunday fellowship. This meeting was fruitful and another proof of God’s good plan for our meeting with our Ghanaian brethren.

SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP.

This combined service held in Akumadan was comprised of brethren from Nkenkasu, Tanoso Tadieso.

The lord had given me a lesson to teach with the title DEEDS OF THE FLESH NOT WELL PLEASING TO GOD.

Texts: 1 Cor. 10:1-11, Gal 5:17-21, 1Cor 7:10-12 and 1 John 2:15-17. Rather than taking up marriage as a single topic the lesson was designed to embrace other deeds of the flesh that God would not want his children to engage themselves in. The works of the flesh recorded in the above texts were properly analysed. How those acts of disobedience invited the wrath of God upon the Israelites, stressing that engaging in them today would still amount to offending God, the reason why they served as lessons to people of all generations. We were advised therefore to avoid engaging in those things that amount to sin, including wrong marriages.

The lesson eventually anchored in marriage, man’s approach to it to satisfy his lust and God’s ordained or approved approach to it to save man from wrong doing. It was made clear that God never approved of divorce and re-marriage, urging all who might have fallen victim to this simplistic teaching to re-trace their steps for a corrective measure that would make them to be right with God.

It ended with how the world and all in it were passing away according God’s words, drawing every body’s attention to the fact that only those who have done the will of God would abide forever.

A number of relevant questions on marriage came up. Answers were given to them scripturally to the satisfaction of if not all, to a good number of brethren. The final admonition was for all those on the wrong side to endeavor to take the appropriate steps that would place them on the righteous side in their own interest as they have the opportunity availing to them to do so. They were also advised to take the truths the ministers would present to them, after we had gone, into their hearts seriously as well as taking any other question on the same to them. Warning was also given to them not to be deceived by false minister who would give wrong interpretation to the scriptures to encourage them on wrong marriage. After this very lively Sunday school session we began the worship fellowship. A message on “Endurance” was delivered by Bro. Damien.

Scriptures included: James 1:12, 5:11, 1Pt. 2:19 11Tim. 2:3,4 Ps. 66:8-12, Hab.3:17-19.

The message took us through the passages to throw light on what it would take to endure temptations, trials, hardships and opposition from the world to remain victorious in the faith. But endurance we were told, must go with patience for God’s will to be done in our lives.

To be obedient to the word of God taught, we were further told, would require submission to Christ and endurance to wait for Gods will to be done at his own time. The message gave every body an idea of how happiness would be for those who would patiently endure and encourage all to do so. At the end of this inspired message, we had prayer to bring the service to a close.

But that was not all. On behalf of the church in Ghana, Bro. Emmanuel Atobrah gave us a vote of thanks in appreciation of all that had been done while in their midst. Through the grace of God, he expressed happiness over all that they were taught, pledging to God that, through His helping grace, they would endeavour to abide by them. It was all praises and glory to God.

We felt elated and in that joyous mood I responded to the vote of thanks by remarking how glad we were for being in their midst the second time and thanked them for their hospitality and care to make us comfortable. Satisfaction in the way God saw us through the various tasks in our mission was also expressed. The regard they accorded us was also remarked, saying that it was unlike some Africans who with pride, would find nothing beneficial in their brothers. They were made to understand that it was this humble attitude that had contributed to the joyous story, urging that they should cherish that spirit.

I further remarked that what we had taught them was what we believed and maintained at home, expressing the confidence that our brethren from abroad from whom we have learnt a lot, teach the same as we had taught them. They were encouraged therefore to remain firm and be loyal to Christ and to His gospel to bring about true unity among themselves and with other true believers.

Our beloved friend, Noah Adumako who was also in the service expressed his joy and offered us immense thanks for a gainful trip. He had earlier wished that in future a bigger crusade was held to spread the gospel, which in his view, had not been common in that area. Final prayer amid sustained joy was offered, thanking God for all his blessing and also asking Him to accord us safe return Journey back to Nigeria.

GOD’S PRESENCE WITH US

It is worthwhile noting and it may not be possible to give God all the glory and honour deserving of Him, for making His presence real with us more than we could think. We felt nothing in us but gave ourselves to Him. He then programmed and directed us, giving us his support and leading in all our undertakings. He gave power and authority of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of his word to be a blessing to the people. A number of healing as a sign following the work, were done.

Bro. Maxwell’s daughter suddenly developed stomachache. She was crying and screaming on the ground, confirming it was a stomach bite. She was taken in and prayed for. The Lord healed her and immediately after the prayer, she began to play with other children as if nothing had been wrong with her before.

Two children of the school were reported sick and prayed for. We heard no more report about their ill-health until the day we left. In the process a teacher also requested for prayer for her healing. Bro. Emmanuel Atobrah’s mother in-law’s testimony had already been reported to the glory of God.

During the service on Sunday, a brother from Tadieso who could not come to Akumadan on ill-health, sent us words to pray for him, believing the Lord would heal him through the prayer of faith. We humbly took him and the family to the throne of grace accordingly.

We offer thanks and adoration to the highly exalted name of our Lord through Jesus Christ who made all things possible which, in our view, was remarkable and have been a blessing to us for which we are not able to thank Him enough.

The trip was solely sponsored by Bro. Michael Smith. The report is made not only to record the event of the trip but also for posterity to know how much the Lord had hitherto come to help us to promote His truth among us in African, so that we also might be truly saved through his gospel of salvation and be counted among the blessed.

May the Lord make us His glory through Christ-Amen.
 

BY BRO. F. NATHS-IGBANIBO.

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