Remembering Apostle Enoch Ofori, A True Man of God
Hebrews 13:7 exhorts us, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (ESV).
It’s in this spirit that the Seventh Day Pentecostal Assembly at Esreso, Kumasi, in cooperation with other Seventh Day Pentecostal Assemblies nationwide is holding a special end-of-year Camp Meeting to commemorate the fourth-year anniversary of the death of Apostle Enoch Ofori, the founder of the 7th Day Pentecostal Assemblies in Ghana. Under the theme, “Retracing the Footprints of Apostle Enoch Ofori, a True Man of God”, the purpose of the commemoration is to rededicate ourselves to the unadulterated Gospel truth Apostle Ofori taught for 40 years of selfless service to the Lord.
Born on the 2nd August 1939 to Opanin Yaw Buor, a cocoa farmer, and Madam Akosua Amponsah, ‘Elder’, as he was affectionately called, aimed for a career in medicine, but the Lord had other plans for him. While in secondary school (Wesley Grammar, Accra), Elder had several visions in which the Holy Bible was shown to him with a heavenly voice commanding him to preach the gospel. By 1964, Elder had come to the full realization that he had the call of God to enter the ministry. He felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit on his life which saw him healing the sick by the prayer of faith and ministering in several Pentecostal churches as a guest preacher. Yet he hesitated to enter into full-time ministry; life was comfortable. His wealthy father had opened a big grocery store for him.
Earlier, he had worked for a newly opened insurance company in Kumasi which inexplicably, if not ‘miraculously’, collapsed after a few months of operation. He then decided to go into private school business with a friend, but that too did not see the light of day. His friend ran off with all the money sourced from his father! Now left with the store to run, Elder used the time to pursue Correspondence Courses (especially the English language) with the Rapid Results College of London.
Meanwhile, he could no longer contain the fire of the Spirit burning in him to “go out to do the work”. In the year 1967, Apostle Ofori took a firm decision to feed God’s flock. Then twenty-eight years old, he founded a Pentecostal Church called Christ Holy Church (CHC). The church initially held its Sunday services at the present site of the St. Paul’s Catholic Church at Amakom, Kumasi.
However, on giving it all up to pursue his life’s mission, he faced an even greater challenge: His father stood in his way—bitterly opposed to his becoming a minister of the gospel. He eventually left his father’s house and the grocery to follow his heavenly vision. Elder used to call those days which immediately followed his departure from his father’s house his ‘wilderness days’. He braved harsh and austere conditions that tested his faith in God and taught him to depend on Him for his very survival.
His motto then was “Jesus never fails”. And the Lord did not fail him. Not only was Elder miraculously provided with his everyday needs, but also received an abundance of heavenly visions which strengthened his faith even more and clarified to him his heavenly calling.
By 1970, his patience had been perfected (James 1:4). The Lord miraculously brought him into contact with Bro. L.A. Higley and Elder G.C Gray, two teachers from the Association of 7th Day Pentecostal Assemblies in the USA for whom the Lord had earlier told him in a vision to wait.
In March of the same year, Elder Ofori entered into affiliation with Elder Gray’s Church, and his Christ Holy Church was renamed and registered as Association of 7th Day Pentecostal Assemblies in Ghana.
From humble beginnings, Elder over the years steered the Association of 7th Day Pentecostal Assemblies into a powerhouse of truth and deliverance. By sheer faith in God’s unfailing promises and the power of His might, he came through fire to establish a ministry that is still impacting lives around the world.
End-time Bible prophecy was a subject area he paid much attention to in his publications and gospel radio broadcasts. Those who followed his radio messages will surely remember that he consistently warned of the rise of the last global government of the Antichrist using the number 666. But more important, he said signs of this coming world government had already appeared, citing a plethora of media reports and geopolitical trends to buttress his point.
Apostle Ofori’s radio ministry spanned an 11-year period. Beginning at OTEC FM in 1996, Elder preached on a number of radio stations, some at the same time and others at different times over the period. These included Fox FM (Kumasi), Radio Gold (Accra), and GAR (now Obonu FM). At one time, he preached three times a week on the GBC radio network: Saturday evening on Radio 1, Wednesday morning on GCR (Kumasi), and Thursdays on BAR (Sunyani). The radio station he preached on non-stop from 1996 to literally his last breath in the year 2007 was GCR.
With a lifelong love of farming, Apostle Ofori took to organic farming in his latter years. In 1998, he founded a ministers’ training school and in the following year two preparatory (‘mission’) schools.
He leaves an awesome legacy. A prolific writer, he was the author of several hundred publications and an outspoken preacher who never feared to speak the truth and expose error. When it comes to miracles, he was a wonder to behold with thousands of people having received deliverance (many by phone-borne prayers) by his hand.
By all accounts, Apostle Ofori was a giant for God’s truth, as a talented Bible teacher and a great miracle worker. His was a life well spent in bringing many to deliverance in Jesus the Messiah through the preaching of the sound doctrine and the demonstration of His power to save! May the Lord help us all to follow in his steps of righteousness and dedicated service to God and humanity. Amen.
