This year’s Ministers and Officers’ Retreat (Apostolization) kicked off on Wednesday, March 13, 2018, with great zeal and enthusiasm in the Dunkwa Area of The Church of Pentecost under the leadership of Apostle John Osei Amaniampong.
Speaking on the topic: “Privileges and Prohibitions” at the ministers and wives’ session of the retreat on the first day, the Asankragwa Area Head, Apostle Robert C. Ackon, who is one of the main speakers of the retreat, charged ministers not to love the world but to be content in life.
Quoting from Genesis 3:2 and 1John 2:15-17, Apostle Ackon defined privileges as “the benefits enjoyed by an individual or group beyond what is available or a special advantage processed for a group or reserved for an individual.”
According to him, God gave Adam more privileges than prohibitions because He granted him access to everything He created except the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, yet Adam was interested in just one thing God prohibited them from.
In addition, Adam had the privilege of being the only person among the creation of God to have been created in the image of God. Also, Adam had the privilege of having a glance of heaven by fellowshipping with God daily in the garden.
“Adam also had the privilege of leadership. He was given authority to rule over the things God had created and was given the privilege of naming all the things God created. Also, Adam had the privilege of a wife, who became his helper in the task God had given him,” he stated.
Apostle Ackon said that Adam was not content with all these privileges that were given to him and rather went after the one thing God had prohibited him from.
“Sometimes what God prohibits you from having is a privilege in disguise. Adam’s prohibition from eating the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a privilege in disguise. The prohibitions of God are for our own good,” he advised.
He further stated that “Christians have been given many privileges, yet some of them are interested in the prohibitions of God. Christians have the privilege of being set free from sin, being sons of God and co-heirs with Christ, having eternal life, and having a relationship with God.”
The Asankrangwa Area Head, therefore, admonished Church leaders to stay away from anything God has prohibited them from and to be content with the privileges they are currently enjoying. He also urged them to implement the policies of the Church wholeheartedly and to eschew practices that contradict the basic message of Christ and the policy of the Church.
Bringing his message to an end, Apostle Robert Ackon advised ministers, ministers’ wives and officers to love God more than the world and exhibit good morals in the ministry.
The Dunkwa Area Ministers and Officers’ Retreat ended on Sunday, March 17, 2018.
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