Ghana Bible Conference
Dear Prayer Warriors,
Thank you again for your prayer support!
Once again, the Lord opened the door for me to teach the same group of men as before (my fourth time with them) at another week-long pastors conference at Bold Grace Bible Institute in Ghana. They are all very hungry for Bible teaching. They listen intently with impeccable manners and take lots of notes. And they ask good questions.
We gave all of them a copy of Rick Hughes’ book, These Things (it tied in with what I was teaching), and a copy of The Canon. Last year we provided all the attendees with the entire life of Christ on a USB drive. Eric Soglo, one of the pastors attending the conference, told me that he is close to finishing the series. That may seem unbelievable since there are over 1,400 hours, but life in Ghana in many ways is much simpler than in America. Social life as we know it is non-existent except with the very wealthy. And most Ghanaians cannot afford Wi-Fi. They are not streaming movies or a TV series. All do have phones, but data is very expensive and is used sparingly.
This trip I discovered a grace provision for the people of Ghana related to their food supply. For most Ghanaians, the butcher shop where they obtain beef and chicken is a local open-air meat market complete with cattle stockyards and chicken pens, and all the odors you might expect with such (pictures below). Not being wasteful, Ghanaians eat the meat of the cow plus the cartilage (a source of calcium), the lining of the belly, and the liver. The meat sits in the heat of the market throughout the day until it is sold. That presents the opportunity for bacteria that causes food poisoning. However, Ghanaians cook their food with hot green and red peppers, which have an active ingredient that kills the bacteria that causes food poisoning. That’s God’s grace to the Ghanaians.
One source of divine blessing for them is that the people are predominantly divine establishment and divine institution oriented. As a result, they are content and unified as a nation. They have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and privacy and property rights. They do not have a welfare system. Everybody works. If you do not work, you do not eat. As a result, Ghanaians by and large are a happy people in the sense of the satisfaction that hard work brings. They believe marriage is only between a man and a woman. Homosexuality and lesbianism are not accepted in their society. They believe in family. And they believe in nationalism. They are a nation with borders.
Although Ghana has many tribal languages, with Twi being the most dominant, everyone who attends school learns English and the teaching of subjects is in English. All the pastors I teach speak English. Their government, like any government, is not perfect, but it does ensure that freedom is maintained. And the people love America and Americans.
Even though the country is about 72% Christian, their greatest issue is that there are so few who are positive for real Bible teaching. Emotion is rampant in the churches, with tongues and healing services as a regular occurrence. But there are the few who are interested in accurate Bible teaching. That is the focus.
The last leg of my trip from Minneapolis to Dallas changed. The gate agent working the change for me was a Muslim (I could tell by her headscarf). She had just boarded a flight. The boarding gate was closed. That gave me a private moment with her. I asked her if she was bothered by the fact that when her time comes to give an accounting to Allah, he is very arbitrary in his acceptance of good deeds to get into paradise. She replied that is why it is important that she strives so hard. That opened the door for me to explain grace and salvation. Our Heavenly Father, responding to your prayers, totally arranged for the private moment that I had with her.
Please continue to remember Cyprian in your prayers. He is a most gracious host. He arranges all the logistics for the conference. That is no small task. It always runs very smoothly thanks to him.
Thank you again,
Terry Wilson
“The Lord your God goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go” (Deuteronomy 1:33).