The hotel where Dr Steere and I stayed our last night in Accra is named El Elyon — “God Most High.” It is directly across the street from the entrance to the Embassy for Cote D’Ivoire. That’s French for “The Ivory Coast.” Cote D’Ivoire is the nation immediately west of Ghana. Accra is the capital of Ghana, the name of an ancient African kingdom which once ruled much of the territory arbitrarily named by its European conquerors “The Gold Coast.”
I don’t know how much ivory there is in Cote D’Ivoire or how much gold there is in Ghana. But neither the ivory nor the gold have significantly improved the lives of the people. And I didn’t meet the owners of the hotel where we stayed last Friday evening, but there’s reason to think that El Elyon might not be pleased by much of the activity taking place at this hotel on a typical night in Accra.
Everywhere we traveled in Ghana there were businesses with names referencing the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit. But it seemed to me, that in most cases God’s Name was used for the same reasons the early Europeans wanted people to picture Cote D’Ivoire awash with ivory and Ghana glittering with gold.
Ivory. Gold. God. The ivory and gold made some foreigners wealthy and enriched a handful of Africans. But these commodities failed to significantly impact or improve the lives of the people.
Maybe God can do better. Riding down the road in Ghana was like thumbing through the Christian yellow pages. Plumbers for Jesus. Construction workers for the Lord. The Holy Spirit’s laundry. The idea seems to be: “If we use His Name maybe we can gain His blessing.”
As many have said, Christianity in much of Africa, is ten miles wide and an inch deep. There are many churches, and many are Presbyterian. This provides an opening from which to teach. However, they haven’t provided the people with much understanding of what the Scriptures teach.
Dan and I had the opportunity to share with several church leaders the foundational truths of covenant theology. By doing so, we hoped to provide them with a better understanding of the overall teaching of Scripture, of how to handle God’s Word, of how to interpret it, and of how to apply its truths to all of life.
Ghanaians know a lot about Jesus being the Savior and the Bestower of health and wealth. They have little understanding of why throughout the NT, Jesus and the apostles keep talking about the Gospel of the Kingdom. They have little appreciation for the biblical teaching that if Jesus is your Savior then He is your Lord, and if He isn’t your Lord then He isn’t your Savior.
Our students had some understanding of the OT. But they lacked appreciation for how
the message of the OT impacts and enlightens the NT Scriptures.
Dan did some wonderful teaching. I did a lot of preaching from various OT texts.
I have many things to share with you – both good and not so good. But for now, I’m asking you to pray for these men in Ghana. Next week I’ll tell you a little bit about Nigeria. These Ghanaian church leaders impact the lives of thousands of parishioners. By God’s grace may they reflect prayerfully upon the things we taught them and begin to teach these things to their people.
May the name El Elyon become more than a mantra.
It’s good to be home. Thank you for your prayers. How good it was to know that Pastor Mullinax and the rest of the staff were continuing to care for you while I was far away. I’m eager to see each and every one of you. I look forward to the celebration of our Lord’s Supper this coming Lord’s Day. May it be a day when we gather before El Elyon and celebrate together this great salvation that is ours because Jesus is Savior, Lord and King.
Pastor Caines