Church Participates with Community and Interfaith Leaders at Planetary Liberation Day

On 16 September 2023, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, celebrated Planetary Liberation Day in Accra Ghana with community, interfaith, and traditional leaders from throughout Ghana.  Planetary Liberation Day is a yearly event organized by Brother Ishmael Tetteh after the terrorist attacks on the United States of America on 11 September 2001.  The event has been held every year since on the 3^rd Saturday of September.  This is its 22^nd year.

The focus of the event is to help the interfaith and traditional communities work together to bring about world peace.  The theme for this year’s conference was: Building a Family Character, a Road Map to World Peace.  The event was held at the Etherean Mission in Accra.

Brother Tetteh, the founder of the Etherean Ministry, encouraged all to leave a legacy of peace. “World peace is not an event waiting to happen. We are all here together but are all in our own world. We need to bring about peace in our own world,” he said. “Our vision is that of a unified world in which everyone is a catalyst who is activating and promoting the innate good in one another.

Sister Josephine Kafui Tetteh shared that peace begins with proper education of our youth. “They need to know that they are made after God and have their own unique individual identity.”  She noted that young people today know their human rights, “but do not know who they are. They can be very vocal about their rights but are not prepared to step into marriage; not able to be grounded and to make an impact in their future.”

Representing the Church of Jesus Christ was Elder Samuel Annan-Simons, Area Seventy of the Church serving and overseeing leadership in the Accra area.  Elder Simons spoke on the effect of technology on modern day parenting and the family. “We have so much! But the abundance requires a responsibility,” he said. “With a click of a button, you can have your desires. What are your desires?”

““There are so many applications for the use of technology in appropriate and inspired ways. We should do all we can to teach the righteous use of technology to the rising generation,” said Elder Simons. “We must educate children about the dangers of misusing media and technology.”

In speaking of the youth, Elder Simons noted that knowing who they really are makes a difference. “Embed in their minds their divine origin and destiny. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. They need to know they are of infinite worth.”

Brother Tetteh concluded by asking the audience to ask themselves three questions.  Who am I growing to be, what world do I want to live in, and what must I do to make this happen?  “We must be the best version of ourselves.  Think of who we want to be and what type of world we want to live in and then make it happen. Re-educate and do things that you don’t like to do but need to do.”