REPORT ON THE FOUR - DAY EASTER CONVENTION HELD AT THE SAINT BRANHAM TABERNACLE AT AFLAO IN THE VOLTA REGION OF GHANA - WEST AFRICA FROM THE 21ST TO 24TH MARCH, 2008, HOSTED BY APOSTLE DAVID AND LED BY THE GUEST PREACHER REV. ROGER CLYDE COLLINS OF THE US

(Report written by Bro. Hilarius Seshie)

Inside St. Branham Tabernacle

SAINT BRANHAM TABERNACLE is a 'little flock' of membership between 100 to 150 men and women excluding children. It is pastured by Apostle David Dowou, a man called of God and filled with the Spirit of the Lord. As the Lord revealed to the apostle, this Easter convention is organized by the Church in Aflao to help in the spiritual upliftment of believers and to allow God to reveal Himself to followers in a miraculous way as has never been witnessed before in Aflao and its environ and to make the Message real in our lives.

The convention started on the 21st day of March 2008 at 6:00pm as planned. The service started with congregational song led by Bro. Francis of the Aflao assembly. In attendance were brothers and sisters from far and near within Ghana and Togo with their Pastors.

On the first night of the convention, the guest preacher Rev. Roger Collins read from the scriptures a text from Gen. 18:1-14, a scripture reading he did verse by verse alternatively with his interpreter, Bro. Hilarius Seshie of the Saint Branham Tabernacle in Aflao. From the text, he preached a sermon titled 'IDENTIFYING GOD IN FLESH'. The sermon exposed how God in flesh visited Abraham and fellowshipped and dined with him. Bro. Roger emphasized how it is important for us today to identify God in order for Him to commune and fellowship with us like He did Abraham. The sermon went down well with the congregation that they could not help but punctuate each point with a shout of 'Amen, God bless you, preach on' etc.

At the end of the sermon, Rev. Collins had a prayer line based on Mark 16:18. All with any form of disease, affliction or burden were asked to pass by and pastors laid hands on them according to that scripture with no prayers said. Four pastors including Apostle David in two rows together with the interpreter and Rev. Collins in front laid hands on the sick and afflicted as they walk past.

Bro David giving the testimony

Prior to the laying on of hands, the host pastor Apostle David gave a testimony to the congregation. In a sermon he (Apostle David) preached to the Saint Branham Tabernacle, Aflao on Friday 14th March 2008 during an all-night service, Apostle David who has a prophetic gift, told his church that when Rev. Collins comes, he would put on dark grey checked shirt and a wrist watch with a dark face. He told his church that day that when they see that sign, then they should expect great visitation and miracle from the Lord.

True to the prophecy of Apostle David, Rev. Collins had a silver metal watch with a dark face on. The Apostle said Rev. Collins arrived with the shirt in the prophecy but did not wear it to church. Apostle David therefore told the congregation that based on the fulfillment of that prophecy, all should walk by with faith and allow the Lord to do His will, something great in their lives.

On the second day of the convention, service started at 8:30am. Rev. Collins was picked from his hotel by Apostle David and Bro. Simon, a deacon in the church at Aflao. Congregational song was led by Bro. Emmanuel Dowou also of the Aflao assembly. In attendance was a choir from Notse in Togo, another church also pastured by Apostle David.

Rev. Collins read a text from IKings 17:8-16 to expand on the theme he chose the day before. Again, the service was well attended and the message went down well with the congregation and the ministers present. In the midst of the sermon, sister fell ill and the deacons had to go fetch her. There, Bro. Roger stopped preaching and prayed for the sister saying the devil just want to do that to interrupt the service. The sister got well and resumed her seat after the prayer.

The main themes of that day's sermon was based the widowed woman of Zaraphat who obeyed God by doing what was told her by Elijah, God's prophet. He typed it with today's believer who must listen to the word of God spoken to him/her by God's prophet for this day. The service ended at 11:00am after a short prayer by Rev. Collins.

The feeding of the people

After the service, the entire congregation was fed by the host church according to Matt.14:13-21 as was revealed to Apostle David.

The third service of the convention was held on Saturday afternoon at 4:00pm. Rev. Roger was ushered in at exactly 4:30pm and was given the pulpit after a short worship led by the Apostle. Rev. Collins based his sermon on a text he read from the gospel of Saint Luke; Luk.24:15-32.

The central points in the sermon was how Cleopas and his friends were hooked at the events on the cross and failed to recognize that the risen Christ was walking with them. He draws the analogy to today's believer also being in the same condition of failing to see Christ among them but busy discussing modern events.

Bro Roger Collins and Bro Hilarius Seshie

The service ended with a prayer line where Bro. Roger and some ministers present prayed in humility for the sick. Due to excessive heat, Bro. Roger had his shirt all soaked up with sweat. Again, the entire congregation was fed after the service.

The next service which was the fourth in the series started at 9:00am the next morning. Bro. Francis led the congregational song. Some few brothers and sisters sung solo to the glory of God.

The service started with a short ordination of one Brother from Togo. He is Bro. Emile. Rev. Roger based the ordination on two texts; I Tim.4:14 and II Tim.1:6. Other ministers including the host pastor Apostle David helped Rev. Roger to lay hands on Bro. Emile to usher him into the pastoral work according to scriptures.

The choir

The service continued thereafter with songs from the choir. The Apostle announced that according to the words of the Prophet which he spoke in Dec. 1963 and recorded in the Conduct, Order, Doctrine (COD) of the church, it is a good thing to have a choir in the church. So all should go and do same.

The sermon for the morning was based on scripture reading from Matt.27:50-56, 62-66. The central points in the message were based on the plan by the Pharisees and Sadducees to prevent the resurrection of Jesus. They did that so that Jesus would not take their place. They realized too late that He was the true son of God. Jesus went to hell to break loose the gates of hell and claim that which belongs to Him. He proceeded to paradise and had interaction with the saints of old that passed on. Bro. Roger said his favorite man of the Old Testament is David because of the amount of mercy God showed him. Many times he fell but God restored him all those times. He liked David because he fell many times himself but God always pitied him and showed him mercy and never left him alone.

The service ended with prayer. Bro. Roger asked all to lay hands on each other and pray for that person's needs while he prays for all. As usual, all were fed like Jesus fed the 5,000 in the desert after the service.

The afternoon service which was the fifth in the series started at 4:00pm. That afternoon's message was based on scripture reading from Matt.3:10-15. Rev. Collins based his sermon on two words, righteous and fulfill. He laid more emphasis on fulfillment where he said he was going to place each person present where he/she belongs. He said the word of God promised for this day cannot be fulfilled without 'you' - believers. He said each believer should be at the centre of God is doing instead of being on the threshold or outside. He said 'it takes you to bring the word of God promised for this day to be fulfilled'.

After giving Webster's definition of the two key words, he gave his own definition of fulfill as 'to convert into reality the word of God spoken to you for this day without unbelief'.

Referring to the ordination earlier in the day, Rev. Collins said the highest calling of any minister is to be called to be a minister to the bride of Christ. He said that calling is higher than that of the president of any nation. He said the reason is that the highest calling in life anyone can have is to be called by Christ to be His bride.

As usual, he ended short sermon with a question. He told the congregation to answer honestly before the Lord. The question he asked was 'how many are willing to be placed where they belong in order to bring to pass (fulfill) the word of God promised for them in this day? The entire congregation raised their hands and Rev. Collins prayed.

Worshiping in St. Branham Tabernacle

As usual there was food for all after the service.

The final service in the series was held on Easter Monday morning. The sermon was based on a text read from Matt.17:1-8. Rev. Roger talked about how it is today that Christians want to make monuments out of any message they are given like Peter tried to do. He said people have made unto themselves rules out of the message. He said the message has removed Christ from the pages and placed Him in our hearts. He asked the congregation to keep themselves from rules and unbelief and the word of God and the promise of God for this day a reality.

Being the last service of the convention, Rev. Roger thanked the congregation for coming and being attentive to his sermons, the local church and the host pastor for inviting him to worship the Lord with them, the other ministers for taking their time to hear him and wished God's blessing for all.

TESTIMONY
After his sermon, a lady deaf in one ear was brought for prayer. Rev. Collins asked her to identify the deaf ear and the lady said it was the left ear. Rev. Collins stood behind her and prayed with his hands on both ears. After the prayers, he covered the right ear and shouted praise the Lord and the lady responded. The Lord had restored the deaf ear. The congregation was filled with shouts of praise the Lord.

He said the Lord restored hearing to the lady to show that His word is truth. He left the pulpit with the song 'Because He Lives'.

After the first service, a woman in her late thirties who has been experiencing menopause started having her menstrual period just the next day after the laying on of hands by Rev. Collins and the other ministers for first time in more than two years.

The feeding of the people

In all, over 1200 - 1300 men and women excluding children of the same size were fed three times a day for four days by the sole efforts of the local church - Saint Branham Tabernacle. This was based on the revelation Apostle David has on Jesus' miraculous feeding of 5,000 people in the desert when he told his disciples to find them food (Matt.14:16). In all, two large bulls and a cow were killed by the local church feed visitors and large quantities of rice and maize were consumed and there was still some left.

Later that evening, Rev. Collins had a meeting with the ministers to answer some of their questions as best as he could. He worshiped with the local assembly only on Wednesday evening and asked for their prayers and urged them to act in the Lord.

Bro Roger, deacon and congregation member