The Seventh-day Adventist Church has designated the fourth Saturday in October as Creation Sabbath.
Saturday, October 22, 2022 was marked as the Creation Sabbath, a special time to remember and affirm belief that the world and everything in it belong to God and that God expects human beings, placed on earth as rulers, to exercise benevolent, and selfless stewardship of the earth.
In a press statement, the church said, “As we mark this day therefore, the Adventist Church in Ghana condemns in no uncertain terms the blatant disregard, abuse and over-exploitation of our natural resources in the name of small scale-mining (galamsey).”
“We support the recent call by religious leaders for a ban on small-scale mining (galamsey), and demand that the perpetrators of this crime work to reclaim the lands, water bodies and forest reserves that have been destroyed by their activities. We are also of the firm belief that there are laws in this country, and until they are enforced it will be difficult for perpetrators to stop this destructive act,” it said.
Below is the full statement:
Our stand is based on our belief that human beings were mandated to care for the earth as recorded in Genesis 1:26 “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The command, to have dominion” is not to be misconstrued as a right to abuse the earth.
As we mark the Creation Sabbath today, the Adventist Church in Ghana wishes to remind Ghanaians and Christians especially of our patriotic duty and Christian obligation to pass on this earth and its resources to the next generation in a manner that supports their livelihood and sustenance of life.
In Revelation 11:18, we are told that God will destroy those who destroy the earth.
The Church appreciates the various efforts that have been so far to create awareness on the menace of galamsey and the efforts by Government to provide alternative income sources for those whose livelihoods will be affected by a ban on small scale mining.
The Adventist Church, on Creation Sabbath, reiterates that we are obligated to study nature, learn from it, and preserve it for future generations to do the same, and calls on all Ghanaians to see the fight against galamsey as a patriotic responsibility as well as s a Christian duty.
Seventh-day Adventists are a global family of Christians who hold the Bible as the ultimate authority and observe the seventh-day Sabbath.