Takoradi Area of The Church of Pentecost has kicked off its 2018 Easter Convention being held in five zones, namely Takoradi, Kwesimintsim, Apowa, Agona and PIWC.
The theme for the convention is: “Maranatha – Our Resurrected and Ascended Christ is Coming Again” (1 Corinthians 16:22).
The Area Head, Apostle Dr Alfred Koduah, in his opening message at the PWIC Zone, said that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to Christianity, because without the resurrection the preaching of Christians is empty, their faith is futile, they are still in their sins and also those who had fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
According to him, taking an exegetical study of the four gospels proves that Christ really resurrected from the death. He added that Jesus has been raised from the dead to be the first fruit of all those who have fallen asleep, and that He will come again to take His own to Heaven.
Apostle Dr Koduah said Apostle Paul wrote the book of first Corinthians by the help of Sosthenes but in his final greeting in chapter 16 he decided to write it with his own hands. When Paul got to verse 22 of 1 Corinthians chapter 16, he made a statement which is the theme for the year’s convention. The statement was, “If any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.”
He explained that Anathema is a Greek work which means “accursed” or someone under a curse. He revealed that the Jews have three types of Anathema which are; Nezifa (a mild form of Anathema), Niddui (the second level of Anathema and it meant being excommunicated from the synagogue or from the assembly of the people of God) and the third form of Anathema, he said, is Herem or Cherem (something devoted for total destruction).
Apostle Dr Koduah noted that because of the fall of man all human beings were meant for total destruction. That is, the whole humanity had fallen short of the glory of God and what was awaiting them was the wrath of God. He quoted John 3:36 and said that, Jesus made a statement that “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” He pointed out that from the above statement all unbelievers were meant for total destruction but Christ came in to take their place and died for them.
Citing 2 Corinthians 5:21, he said Christ who knew no sin was made sin for them that they might attain the righteousness of God, and again in Galatians 3:13, Christ has redeemed humanity from the curse of the law, having become a curse for all humans, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” From this, he said that all humanity were devoted for total destruction but Christ came to take away that curse and that believers are no longer under curse but rather they have now become heirs of the Father and joint heirs with His Son Jesus.
Apostle Dr Alfred Koduah in explaining Maranatha, said Maranatha is an Aramaic word which means “Our Lord is coming.” He said if Christians have been redeemed from the curse of the law then what they are to seek for is the second coming of Christ.
He added that Apostle Paul made this statement because of the persecution that the early Christians were going through. Due to Emperor Worship, Christians were banned from proclaiming Jesus as Lord and were persecuted for their faith. The Christians decided to greet “Maranatha” meaning the Lord Jesus Christ should come so that they will have peace and also to rescue them from the power of their persecutors.
Apostle Dr Koduah noted that if Christians have been redeemed from Anathema and now have the consciousness of the second coming of Christ, it will propel them to live right and also lead them to embark on aggressive evangelism to save those who are still Anathemized. He therefore admonished the church to use this season to consciously evangelize to those who have still not come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Report by: Pastor Emmanuel Opoku Mensah, Takoradi
