The Finance and Administration Director (FAD) at The Church of Pentecost Headquarters and the Resident Minister for the D. K. Annan Worship Centre, Apostle Lawrence Otu-Nyarko, has asserted that Jesus Christ has fully paid for the sins of humanity, hence anyone who receives Him becomes debt-free.
Apostle Otu-Nyarko said this yesterday when he opened this year’s Easter Convention for the English Zone of the Teshie-Nungua Area at the Fred Safo Memorial Temple, Nshorna, Nungua.
The event is under the theme, “He Paid It All” Isaiah 53:4-6 and Colossians 2: 14-15.
Reading from Colossians 2:14-15, he explained debt as a sum of money that is owed or due, or a state of owing money to another person, an institution or an entity.
He further explained that debt is the cost incurred as a result of the consumption of goods and services. The cost incurred as a result of transacting goods and services for a past or present or the future. “A debt can accrue from the past, it can accrue now and it can accrue for the future,” he said.
According to Apostle Otu-Nyarko, as Christians, their past sins, which are post-paid, present sins, which are cash and carry, and their future sins, which are prepaid, have all been taken care of by the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
He explained that the debt that has been generated came about as a result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2: 15-17, Romans 3:23), so God sent His son, in the person of Jesus Christ, to pay their debt.
He further indicated that God created humankind in His own image (male and female), blessed them, and charged them to be fruitful and increase in number.
He said that God gave everything to man, but there was one tree that God exempted man from eating – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, as a result of disobedience, man became indebted to God.
“We do not become sinners because we are doing sinful acts after birth and no one can say he was born by a Minister of God so they are holy,” he said, adding: “The fact is that once you are born by a woman, you are a sinner if you do not have Christ.”
“If you are a child of an Elder, a Deacon, or a Deaconess, and you think that because your father is in good standing you are saved, you need to make a decision for Christ and stop playing in the corridors of the devil since your debt has been paid,” he advised.
Enumerating some of the consequences of having a debt, Apostle Otu-Nyarko said indebtedness could cause sicknesses, unhappiness, restlessness, and even death.
“When we became indebted to the devil, we became slaves to the devil, and in the slave market, you lose your identity; you lose touch with your family,” he said.
He also observed that those who are still under the bondage of sin are not of themselves since they have been enslaved by the devil, the slave master.
“This is why some people are addicted to cocaine, heroin, and womanizing, among other vices. they cannot control themselves, the slave master controls them,” he said. “The good news, however, is that, it does not matter how sinful you are, it does not matter how you have conducted yourself, Jesus paid it all,” he added.
Apostle Otu-Nyarko noted that Jesus purposely came down to earth to save, redeem, rescue, regain, reclaim and retrieve humankind so that they will no longer be under the control of the devil.
He, therefore, called on all who are yet to receive Christ to do so in order to have their debt cancelled and be liberated.
Report by Yaa Asantewaa Adu Boahene & Isabella Orhin