From 2003 to 2008, Apostle Dr. Alfred Koduah (Rtd) served his first of two terms as General Secretary of The Church of Pentecost under the Chairmanship of Apostle Dr. Michael Kwabena Ntumy (Rtd). For thirty-nine years, he has known the former Chairman, whom he described as his brother, friend, chairman and room mate during their training at the Bible school in 1984.
The two of them developed a close-knit relationship that saw them discuss issues concerning the church mostly in the evenings, way back at the Bible school, as he recalled in his sermon titled, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good”, with Psalm 118:1-4 as biblical reference,preceded by the song, “we give glory to the Lord, He reigns” at the former Chairman’s retirement service in Hamburg, Germany.
One night when they were discussing the church, Prophet Appiah- Kubi remarked, “ these two people, you have been consistently discussing this church; God will in future entrust this church to your hands”. This came to pass in 1998 when at age forty, Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy was elected the fourth Chairman of the church, whiles Apostle Alfred Dr. Koduah (Rtd), was elected General Secretary in 2003.
Following his in-depth knowledge of Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy’s life, Apostle Dr. Alfred Koduah was better positioned to deliver the sermon on the occasion of the former Chairman’s retirement service. And what a call he made on all who followed the service – “Give thanks to the Lord; for He is good”.
Apostle Koduah’s call on all to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness was not without reason. He knows too well, the multiplicity of battles, the tough times and the close-shaves the former chairman has had with life-threatening situations, and how phenomenally, the Lord showed up for him, delivering him from them all.
For the thirty- nine years of his ministry, Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy encountered four wars, but the Lord delivered him; he was involved in three accidents, yet the Lord spared his life; twice he came out unscathed from food poisoning; and when some hoodlums attacked him, and inflicted cutlass wounds on him near his official residence at North Ridge, one night on his way home from jogging, the Lord once again came to his rescue.
What’s more! He has survived many surgeries, yet so remarkable has the deliverance of the Lord been in his life. Last, but not least of the Lord’s mighty acts in his life has been His sustenance of Apostle Dr. M. K. Ntumy’s life for the last fifteen years when a giant step towards dealing with a spinal challenge he had, following one of those three accidents he has previously had culminated in his current situation- paralysis.
The afore-mentioned experiences and many more of the Lord’s goodness to the former Chairman, especially, being alive to bring to an end thirty-nine years of authentic ministry backed by miracles and excellent demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power gave Apostle Koduah reason to exhort all to give thanks to the Lord on the occasion of Apostle Dr. Ntumy’s retirement service instead of focusing on his current situation.
He stressed that as Christians in this contemporary world full of negativity, fundamentally, as Christians, we have to give thanks to the Lord because goodness is the Lord’s composition.
Report by Elder David Tagoe
