Newly ordained Reverend Ministers and graduates of the Great Harvest Bible College have been advised against exploiting members of their congregations to enrich themselves at the expense of the purpose of their call.
According to Rev. Professor Edwin N. Korley who led the fourth convocation ceremony at the Great Harvest Bible College Saturday, every chosen man of God has an obligation to fulfill which is to preach about Christ and be a positive impact on the lives of their congregations by being a priest “after God’s won heart”.
He bemoaned how most pastors in recent days have turned their churches into business ventures and are more keen on making money rather than preaching and teaching about the good news to the people they have been called to lead.
He said, inasmuch as it is good to be wealthy, using the church as a platform to enrich oneself is a sin.
Rev. Prof Korley warned the Ministers against selling of holy water and oil to their flocks and also charging consultation fees before meeting members of their congregations who may need special time with them.
“Don’t go and sell holy water and holy oil. Don’t go and do anything to exploit your congregation. The Lord will surely take good care of you. You are to prove that Jesus Christ is in you indicated in the scriptures. Don’t be like Churchians. You must live a victorious Christian life and be example of the Saints,” he advised.
He further urged the ordained Ministers to step out of their comfort zones and establish their churches in rural communities where most of the citizens are marginalized and need them most.
“Go to the village and build your church there. Beware of the love of money, temptations, lustfulness, pride and lies. Money is good and solves lot of problems but the love for it is problematic. Make sure you stay away from that. You represent the integrity and nature of God,” he stressed.
He also drew attention to the trend where some so-called pastors are misleading and abusing their congregations in the name of miracles and cautioned the Great Harvest Bible College graduands to be exceptional and act in accordance to the Gospel of Christ while enduring hardships.
“If you check social you’ll see some are walking on people to preach, some are washing their feet and faces on people and some order them to eat grass. No, you’re to be a minister of God because if you misbehave they’re not going to talk about you alone but the Director and the Bishop because you’re disgracing the priesthood. Preach nothing but the truth. You need to be very cautious and trust God for all your needs,” Rev Prof Korley emphasized.
You need the Holy Spirit to perform miracles – Bishop Joseph Baffoe Peprah
Leading the ordination of the Ministers, Bishop Joseph Baffoe Peprah observed that it is difficult to build a church without performing miracles.
He, therefore, prayed for the spirit of God to descend on the Ministers and empower them to be able to perform miracles and save the people from sicknesses while liberating those possessed by evil spirits.
He urged them not to compare their faith to science as the two are separate things, and explained that “Science is about proof and Christianity is about faith. You can’t prove faith so put all the Science knowledge aside and impact the spirit of power and miracle into your congregation. Go and bring Rhema to the people. Explain the revelations.”
Don’t use Satanic powers to draw people to your church – Lawyer Daniel Ofei
For his part, Chairman of the Convocation ceremony, Lawyer Daniel Ofei beseeched the Ministers to beware of fake powers and occult groups in their bids to perform miracles and draw crowd to their churches.
He urged them to depend solely on God’s power and the Holy Bible as “all power belongs to Jesus”.
“Don’t go and use the fake power of Satan to induce people to come to your churches because Satan has no power. Dwell on the word of God. Don’t give praise to Satan and God at the same time. Rely solely on Jesus Christ who is the alpha and omega,” he advised.
Speak against bad governance – Apostle Richmond Frimpong
In a brief sermon at the ceremony, Apostle Richmond Frimpong also entreated the newly ordained to be Ministers of God and the country as their call is to serve humanity just as Christ did.
Rev Frimpong explained that being Ministers to the country means they should not be silent on bad governance and should be bold to speak out on the ills of society and governments.
He advised them to stand for the truth and avoid being used as political stooges.
“You live in a country so do not separate yourselves from the country. The Church mistakenly watched on for Ghana to be taken over by people without Godly knowledge. They told us we’re going to heaven, we’ll go but we have to set things straight here. The Church sat down for Ghana to go through transitions and pastors didn’t talk about it! So as you go talk about society and don’t be a political party stooge and be toyed around,” he admonished.
The 2019 convocation is the fourth matriculation, graduation and ordination of the Great Harvest Bible College since its establishment in 2015 by Reverend Joseph Mensah Aggrey.
The college has trained and produced credible Reverend Ministers of God with Certificates and Diploma in Biblical Studies and other theological courses.
Speaking at the 2019 Matriculation, Graduation and Ordination ceremony, Rev. Joe Aggrey, Founder and Vice-Chancellor of the Great Harvest Bible College encouraged the new men and outgoing Ministers to be worthy ambassadors of Christ and the college.
The matriculants
He urged the newly ordained and graduands to “walk in freedom and never forget that the freedom of nations and generations behooves” them.
He invoked the Holy Spirit into their lives and asked that God guides their path and watch over them as they set out to fulfill their callings to serve God and His people.
He expressed his excitement and congratulated the graduating Ministers, calling on them to go and preach nothing but the word of God, win souls into the Kingdom and jealously defend the gospel of Christ.
The graduands and ordained Ministers
He said, “It will be my utmost satisfaction seeing you liberate lives from the shackles of the devil including the tens of thousands of people under religious and political vassalages. May you continue to be a shinning and a burning light to the world out there.”
Rev. Joe Aggrey announced the opening of a new academic year and called on qualified and interested persons to call the Great Harvest Bible College 0244588558/0271511151 for details on how to enroll for the various courses.
By: Kekeli Kuatsenu/awakenewsonline.com