The 86-year-old who recently graduated from the Central University, Rev. James Acquaah, has revealed his reason for deciding to return to the university at his age.

According to him, it was a revelation from God that he should pursue a course to enable him to become a more learned evangelist, since he was already practising.

Recounting the revelation on Joy Prime’s Changes show with Roselyn Felli, Rev. Acquaah narrated that he travelled to Nigeria to teach French after completing the University of Cape Coast in the early 1960s. Upon his return to Ghana, God told him to begin evangelism in secondary schools, which he did.

While he was practising, God revealed to him again that he should pursue a course to deepen his knowledge of the word of God and become a learned, rather than an ordinary, evangelist.

“I started my secondary school at Mfantsipim. I went there in 1954 and left in 1958. I worked for some time and continued at Cape Coast University to do French. When I got my degree in French, things were hard in Ghana, so I had to go to Nigeria to teach French. I was teaching in public schools but my appointment was not a pensionable appointment. So I had to leave and start teaching the children of rich people in Nigeria so that I could get more money.”

“So I was teaching those children until 2018 when I felt I had to come to Ghana. When I came back home, God told me loud and clear that I have to evangelise, inspire and guide students in secondary schools. So, when I came back, that was what I was doing. As I was evangelising and guiding these secondary school students, God spoke to me again that I should not be an ordinary evangelist, I should be a learned evangelist, and to be a learned evangelist, I have to go to the university to increase my knowledge in the word of God, not a roadside evangelist. That’s what took me to Central University to study Theology from 2020 to this year,” Rev. Acquaah recounted.

He said during his stay in Nigeria, he always had the thought of returning to Ghana, no matter how long he remained there. But he needed to stay longer in Nigeria due to the economic hardship in Ghana at the time, as Nigeria was more prosperous.

When he informed his children about his decision to return to school, they welcomed the idea and supported him. Even though he was already retired, he needed to pursue the course because, according to him, it was an instruction from God.

Asked how he was able to study and pass considering his age, he said, “My intelligence is a gift from God.”

With regard to the challenges he faced while undertaking the course, he said he was prevented from writing his Level 300 exams because the son who was sending him money for his school fees delayed in doing so.

“There were four questions and I had written answers to three of the four questions. I was on the fourth question when because I had not paid my school fees, they seized my paper, squeezed it in the presence of the other students. I was very hurt,” Rev. Acquaah reminisced.

However, the school fees were paid later, and he was able to write the remaining subjects successfully.

For him, graduating at age 86 is a great delight, and he is grateful to God for providing him with the intelligence, determination, and perseverance needed to complete four years at the university.

Rev. James Acquaah was part of the 24th Congregation Ceremony of Central University, held on November 19. He was awarded as the Most Resilient Graduate and completed his studies with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology.