The Northern Ghana Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Corrects one of its Institutions for “Gross Misrepresentation of the Church”

We must learn from the church in Africa how to deal with situations that can lead to a crisis of faith in Adventism. While North America is experiencing a faith crisis, Africa is experiencing unprecedented church growth and spiritual vigor. While the American church seeks to unite with the rest of the world by embracing secular postmodern philosophy, the African Church has emerged as the leader and defender of Biblical values. Believers and leaders in the United States and around the world can learn from the faithful in Africa.

Take, for example, the letter issued by the Northern Ghana Union Conference on October 20, 2022. The Northern Ghana Union Conference wrote the following letter to one of its institutions that was going off the rails and openly and publicly violating the Sabbath. The letter stated:

Beloved,

Adventist Senior Hight School, Bekwai (SDASS) Competing on Sabbath Hours

The attention of the Northern Ghana Union Conference has been drawn to the fact that Adventist Senior High School, Bekwai participated in the National Maths and Science Quiz on 15th October 2022 (Saturday).

This is a gross misrepresentation of the Church by the institution. We want to thank all who have raised concerns over the issue. The Union disapproves and frowns at the perpetuation of such an act by the school.

The Union has met with the leadership of the institution on the issue which has the propensity of derailing all efforts of the Church to stand by our beliefs, especially that of the Sabbath. The school, through the Headmaster, the General Manager, and our Regional Manager of SDA schools has rendered an unqualified apology to members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Indeed, the leadership of the Church finds it difficult to understand why an institution like SDASS should smack on the Church, its philosophy and beliefs. We strongly believe that no entity of the church would involve itself in such an act in the future.

The Union regards this act of the school as a desecration of the holy Sabbath hours. We will continue to deal with the situation until its final conclusion. We want to assure all Church members that we will continue to hold on to the truth of the Bible, and also protect “Thus says the Lord.”

Again, we appreciate the concerns of our members who always care for the right representation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We especially thank GNAAS Alumni for standing by the faith and also protecting the Sabbath truth.

God bless you,

Issued by NOGH Communication and Education Department [1]

Wow! This is the kind of leadership that we need in the church. Faithful watchmen who are not afraid to speak the truth. This is the type of leadership that is sorely lacking in North America. Leaders who will carry out their pastoral responsibilities and take action to protect the faith from those who would corrupt it. I pray that President Ted Wilson, President G. Alexander Bryant, and others take notice and learn from our African leaders what God expects of them.

Tragically, the opposite is happening here in North America. Tragically, we have leaders who seek to model the church after the world, accommodating sin and sinners while ignoring the gospel of repentance – with no church discipline, no moral code compliance, no membership expectations, no compliance with a “Thus says the Lord,” and no calls to renounce sinful and reckless lifestyles. When will the North American Division or the General Conference write a similar letter, like the one above, to our hospitals (AdventHealth) and educational intuitions?

It could happen. They could do it today if they wanted to. But will they? Or would we rather be judged in the balances of the heavenly sanctuary and be found wanting:

“God held Eli, as a priest and judge of Israel, accountable for the moral and religious standing of his people, and in a special sense for the character of his sons. He should first have attempted to restrain evil by mild measures; but if these did not avail, he should have subdued the wrong by the severest means. He incurred the Lord’s displeasure by not reproving sin and executing justice upon the sinner. He could not be depended upon to keep Israel pure. Those who have too little courage to reprove wrong, or who through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church of God, are held accountable for the evil that may result from their neglect of duty. We are just as responsible for evils that we might have checked in others by exercise of parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been our own” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 578).

“The church cannot measure herself by the world nor by the opinion of men nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward. The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 83).

We praise God for the faithful in Africa, who, for the most part, have refused to embrace liberal ideas on Sabbath-keeping, sexuality, family and marriage. They refuse to acknowledge same-sex unions, the gender identity crisis, or the ordination of women into pastoral ministry. Unfortunately, in churches across Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States, a very large number of Seventh-day Adventists are being influenced and seduced by a secular, postmodern culture.

There are only two possible outcomes for God’s people in this time of spiritual crisis. We are either preparing to receive the Latter Rain or we are preparing to receive the plagues of God. Notice the experience of those who will have a part in the closing work:

“Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children” (Great Controversy, p. 464).

Consider the experience of those who refuse to wake up and continue in silence, inaction, compromise, and rebellion:

“Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive the truth and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist church, calling themselves the commandment-keeping people of God, and yet possess no more vitality and consecration to God than do the nominal churches, will receive of the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of God. Only those that are sanctified through the truth will compose the royal family in the heavenly mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those that love Him and keep His commandments” (Manuscript Release, Vol. 19, p. 176).

I pray that God will give us the spiritual discernment to distinguish between those who betray the faith and seduce our young people by causing them to err and those who defend the truth by keeping our biblical historic faith alive in times of universal unbelief.

Sources

[1] https://www.myjoyonline.com/bekwai-sdas-participation-in-nsmq-on-sabbath-day-a-smack-of-our-philosophy-sda-church/