The Head Pastor of Wa Revival Assembly of Assemblies of God Church, Reverend Robert Akolbugri, has enjoined followers of Christ to hold steadfast the celebration of Easter since “Christianity without Easter celebration is a mirage”.

He was delivering a summon on Easter Sunday in the Upper West Regional capital where hundreds of worshippers converged at the Wa Assemblies of God (AG) Church to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The celebration was on the theme: “Behold the empty tomb, Jesus is risen”.

Rev Akolbugri, who is also the Upper West Regional Superintendent of the AG Church, said the central truth of Christianity was the Cross, which is the power and wisdom of God, stressing: “Christianity without the cross is a confusion gathering”.

He described the celebration of Easter as the most excellent one in the Christian calendar and noted that Christians could do away with the celebration of Christmas and New Year, “but they cannot do away with the celebration of Easter”.

He entreated Christians to hold in high regard the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross and that it was not about how much offering and tithe being doled out in church that mattered, but the need for believers to value the significance of the death of Christ.

He called for equal treatment of congregants, the rich and the poor alike in church, wondering why many churches in recent times tended to celebrate the rich or members with the wherewithal to give more money in church without extending similar gestures to the underprivileged.

He said what matter most was the willingness of people to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal saviour and not the size of their financial contributions to the Church.

The District Pastor for the Church of Pentecost, Wapaani Branch in Wa, Henry K. Takyi, called on Christians to use the occasion to ponder over the death of Jesus Christ and not limit it to merrymaking.

“Ghanaians should not lose track of the spiritual side of Easter, which is to reflect and meditate on one’s relationship with God,” he said; and urged Christians to see the occasion as a period of reconciliation and forgive one another.

Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, as described in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, as having occurred on the third day after his burial following His crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary over 2000 years ago.

The resurrection signifies a renewed faith between Christians and their maker God as well as forgiveness of sins.

However, in Ghana, the day like many other Christian festivals, has become synonymous to merrymaking characterized by wild jubilations and excessive consumption of alcohol.

The Head Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Wa District, Rev Samuel Atobi Yeboah, also in his sermon, charged worshippers to prepare their lives for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

He also called on them to surrender their lives fully to Christ and avoid excessive celebration.