The battle begins - Episode 3

The battle begins - Episode 3

Our arrival at Half-Assini and the subsequent welcome service coincided with the struggle between the churches and the traditional rulers, as already stated. During the initial stages of the ban on drumming, the congregation of the Methodist Church was the first to flout the order during their evening service “praise and worship” session on Monday, 18th October 1993. No attempt was made by the chief or his elders to interrupt their worship. They simply ignored them. 

But the next day, when they went for church service, they were shocked to find their drums completely destroyed. The Christ Apostolic Church and the Action Church also defied the directives the following day, Tuesday, 19” October, during their evening service. Their drums were seized and taken to the chief’ s palace. The Church of Pentecost had their evening service on Wednesday, 20th October. At the onset of the service, the chiefs Asafo group” entered the chapel and seized the drums. According to an insider, the chief took that action to forestall any unknown circumstances, believing very well that the Church would also beat their drums. 

Before these incidents, I had already (in the morning of that fateful Wednesday), consulted the then Area Head of The Church of Pentecost in Takoradi, Apostle D.K.Arnan, concerning the problem I had come to meet. He advised that, since all the churches had agreed to continue their normal way of worship, including drumming, The Church of Pentecost should tow that same line of action. 

He, therefore, encouraged me to allow The Church of Pentecost to continue with its normal way of worship on that Wednesday. Thus, we would have drummed during our “praise and worship” time after the opening prayer, but for the confiscation of our drums by the asafo group.

 Anger and Aggression 

After the confiscation of our drums from our chapel by the asafo group, we decided to go before the Lord in prayer for strength to ‘stand’ united and tight and also to be able to face the aggression and challenges which had already started. The leadership of the affected churches foresaw a long, spiritual and physical battle between light and darkness - the power of God and the power of Satan. 

The chiefs, their elders and the traditional priests of the area also saw it as a battle to sustain their ancient traditional belief  in times past, many Christians in the area had the notion that the powers of darkness had ruled the place for a very long time and, therefore, had absolute control. However, they now believed that it was time for the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, to deliver them, by waging a war against these domineering and territorial evil spirits of Nzemaland. On Thursday, 21” October 1993, a member of the Charismatic  group of the Roman Catholic Church, Brother Pius Amenlema, decided to defy the authorities.  Thus, he went to church and, without the consent of the parish priest, intention- ally beat the drums during the worship session. He was declared insane and stubborn. No attempt was made by the asafo group to seize the drums. 

 Law and Faith 

Subsequent to the events recounted above, the churches and some pastors involved in the struggle were served with a legal summons, dated Friday, 22nd October 1993, to appear before the Magistrate’s Court Grade 1 in Half-Assini.

 The charges were as follows: 

Reference RO. 193, No. 6203 from the Magistrate’s Court Grade l of Half-Assini to The Church of Pentecost, Half-Assini, of whereas your attendance is necessary to answer a complaint of: Offensive conduct conducive to the breach ofthe peace Section 207 of Act 29/60 - for that you, on the 20th day of October 1993, at Half-Assini, in the Westem Magisterial district and within the jurisdiction of this court, with intent to provoke the breach of the peace, did behave in a manner whereby a breach of the peace was likely to be occasioned. 

In spite of the above charges preferred against The Church of Pentecost, we still decided to drum during our worship service the following Sunday, 24"' October 1993, using the drums the asafo group left behind. incidentally, this was the Welcome  service to officially hand over the administration of The church of Pentecost in the District to me.  

 Official Welcome Verses Hope   

The bright, sunny Saturday weather gave way to a cloudy weather condition at the dawn of that fateful Sunday. Few brethren led by two of the Executive Committee members of former congregation, Koforidua West District of COP, Antwi Boasiako and Sekyi Awuku, made the rough, journey to witness the Welcome Service. 

They had defied a warning not to come from one claimed evangelist and prophet, Stephen Adu Armah, defected from The Church of Pentecost in Koforidua to organize his own fellowship, known as the “The Gospel Life fellowship" This self-proclaimed evangelist said, God had revealed to him that I would die in an accident along with all who would accompany us to Nzemaland. This false prophecy woefully failed. We realized it was Satan’s strategy to put fear in us.

Fear is one of the strongest weapons Satan uses to attack In Jeremiah’s oracle against Damascus, he lamented    

 “Damascus has become feeble, she has turned to flee bid panic has gripped her, anguish and pain have seized her ” Jer   49:24. 

A careful study of this scripture reveals Jeremiah's comments on a type of fear that actually grips, resulting in giving up and fleeing in panic. But we thank God that we were able to triumph over this false prophecy. We made our journey and arrived safely at Half-Assini in the Nzemaland. 

Interestingly, the Senior Minister, who was to chi' k Welcome Service that Sunday, failed to turn up. Later, we learnt that he had been warned not to come, and he had heeded the caution without giving us any prior notice. Therefore, the Junior Minister,” who was delegated to accompany me from Koforidua, had to officiate. 

I watched all these events unfolding before my eyes with uncertainty. I envisaged every moment that, hope for the future of my ministry and of the Church was blur. Our drums had been seized right before me and carried away to the palace. I pictured a difficult new page of my ministry being opened right before me. I whispered to myself: “Lord, what is this and why me? Am I going to end up miserably here?” But later, I realized how wrong I was. I was there to serve God’s divine purpose.