|
Away with these prophets of doom!!
By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Folks, as is to be expected, the prophets of doom are doing
overtime as part of their politico-religious Ministry to create
needless panic and fear among peace-loving Ghanaians. They are
not satisfied that Ghanaians are living their lives in some
measured comfort after Election 2012 and are stoking the fire to
suit their political agenda, hiding behind their calling as
Men-of-God and their veil of Christianity.
Two instances have so far emerged; and I expect more in the next
few days as the hearing of the NPP’s bogus petition by the
Supreme Court moves into another gear, drawing close to its end
for the party’s sad fate to be confirmed and sealed till
Election 2016.
Yesterday, it was Mensa Anamua Otabil who babbled that his heart
was full of something ominous for Ghana. According to him,
“something evil may befall the nation in coming weeks.” This
prime-moving message of doom from none other than this General
Overseer of International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) has added
to the pre-Election 2012 collection. Rev. Otabil said last
Sunday that he could sense evil befalling Ghana within the next
one month if Christians did not wake up and pray for the
country.
Hear him: “I have a sense of heaviness in my spirit concerning
the destiny of this country that there is something heavy ready
to fall upon this country that if we don’t take charge of that
we will be in a different state a month from now,” he stated in
his sermon to the congregation at Christ Temple on Sunday July
14, 2013. (See
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=279554).
His call on Christians to offer prayers for an aversion of the
disaster doesn’t really change my impression of him. It’s just a
mere smokescreen behind which to hide. We know all that happened
when his take on Akufo-Addo’s promise of fee-free SHS education
became a hot political cake!!
Even before the dust could settle on his odious prophecy,
another Man-of-God (founder and leader of Glorious Word Ministry
International, Reverend Isaac Owusu Bempah) followed suit. He
took his turn to say that from where he stands as a spiritual
leader, he can smell war from far away heading towards the
direction of Ghana. Only he has the sensitive nose—and a big one
at that—to smell war from afar!!
To his discredit, this Owusu Bempah is well-known for his
tantrums regarding the defeat of Akufo-Addo at Election 2012. We
are not surprised that he would stand somewhere and see war
approaching Ghana from afar. Only he has the frog-eyes to see
far into the extra-terrestrial realms and pinpoint WAR
approaching Ghana. If any war should destabilize Ghana, it won’t
start from ‘afar” but from within the country, probably
engendered by the senseless rabble-rousing that these men-of-God
will do in collusion with their disappointed political diehards.
Let me be brazen to flay these prophets of doom because they
have given a very bad account of themselves. Preaching peace and
working for nation-building should be their resolve, not putting
baseless fear in the people to exploit.
We have had the occasion to take on these so-called Men-of-God
in Ghana who have found very cheap means to take their religious
fervour beyond bounds. We have on several occasions pointed out
to them that despite the proliferation of churches all over the
country, little is felt from them to conclude that the country
is benefiting in any way from their activities.
It hasn’t been lost on us that they have taken liberties to
manipulate the gullible who think that Christianity is a jacket
to be worn or a piece of arm-band to be displayed on purpose.
They have turned Christianity into a baggage to carry and dump
anywhere at will.
Clearly, those attention-seeking Men-of-God who have turned
Christianity into layers of power to wear on their sleeves or
who have elevated themselves to the status of potentates are all
over the place, making hollow utterances that give them away for
whatever they are.
I have not hesitated over the years in pointing out that
Christianity is a lifestyle to be lived, not professed by word
of mouth. That is the scriptural foundation, which is
encapsulated in the admonition: You will be known by your fruit
(deeds). And we already know these Ghanaian Men-of-God by their
tasteless fruit.
In Ghana, we have been unfortunate to have churches constantly
sprouting all over the place with all manner of people as the
founders. Our problem is that these mushroom churches belie
reality, which is that the more they proliferate, the more the
crime and immorality rate grows.
Many instances of church leaders, notables, and ordinary members
committing heinous crimes occur daily. We also know of the
internal fights that go on in the churches over material things.
It is also known that some church leaders indulge in all kinds
of activities, including providing spiritual fortification for
armed robbers in exchange for a good measure of the booty,
snatching others’ wives, and plain thievery or murder.
Make no mistake, a huge chunk of the Ghanaian population is made
up of Christians or church-goers—depending on the lifestyles
that they lead. Is it not ironical that the more these churches
grow, the higher the crime rate goes in the country? What really
is the benefit of these churches?
It takes more than the physical presence of churches and the
utterances of their leaders and members to change the situation.
And to imagine that such characters will now turn themselves
into war mongers!!
Now, let’s focus more on them. Over the years, they have come to
notice as using subterfuge and their gift of garb to survive by
raking in huge material benefits from their calling. They have
succeeded through-and-through by adopting the stagecraft and the
method of preaching on the basis of “prosperity messages.”
Their sermons aim at motivating their followers to “claim”
prosperity in the name of Jesus. They have turned Christianity
into a tea party, finding very adroit ways of raking in profits
for themselves through their numerous extortionist approaches
framed around all manner of donations during church services.
And they hold such services throughout the week under various
guises, exhorting the congregants to give bounteously because
“there is more joy in giving than in receiving.” The gullible
are easily ensnared to such an extent that they will be more
willing to pay tithes than making their earnings available for
the upkeep of their families. And they indulge in nefarious
activities to be able to give to the church and be recognized as
such. They are given the “high places” in the chapel, and they
work hard to retain that status.
The crafty Men-of-God are always on the quivive to exploit
anybody or any situation that crops up. In this 4th Republic, we
have seen how some of these Men-of-God have aligned themselves
with the politicians and turned their Ministry into a whole new
game.
Take, for instance, what the Methodist Man-of-God (Re. Samuel
Asante Antwi) did with Mensa Otabil, Rev. Adjin Asare, and many
others who constituted themselves into the spiritual wing of the
NPP when Kufuor was ushered into office on January 7, 2001.
These were the very people who converged at the Osu Castle to
perform a so-called spiritual healing exercise to exorcize the
“evil spirits” that former President Rawlings had been accused
of installing to desecrate the official residence at the Osu
Castle—which Kufuor was scared stiff of and won’t reside there
for that matter unless the area was cleansed and refurbished. It
is an event that easily comes to mind to portray the level to
which these Men-of-God had sought to muddy the waters for their
own good.
Others sprang up and we saw how the late President Mills’ flight
into Christendom under the guidance of the Nigerian TB Joshua
turned the table against him.
Then, turn the searchlight on Akufo-Addo before and after
Election 2012. He immersed himself in the religious vein and was
left at the mercy of the Rev. Owusu Bempahs and all others who
turned him into a specimen for all manner of religious
experimentations. The ugly noises they made about a “one-touch”
victory for him have rather motivated the petition now being
heard by the Supreme Court. Even after the fact, they are still
not sure that the Lord has already fought the battle. They can’t
disburden themselves of that folly in the name of Christianity
and have found a new avenue for confirming their notoriety.
That new niche is to turn themselves into prophets of doom at
the level of dry politics, predicting WAR for Ghana just because
“things are knocking things” for their political allies at this
time in the hearing of the NPP’s petition regarding Election
2012. So, their new-found instrument is to predict doom for the
country to sustain the negative political agenda of their
political favourites. An indirect incitement to war!!
Let the Mensa Otabils and Owusu Bempahs cry themselves hoarse,
spreading their self-serving prophecies of doom from one pulpit
to the other. Nothing will happen. Ghanaians will continue to
work for oneness, peace, and national development. The petty
partisan political differences that some are bent on exploiting
to add value to themselves as “men-of-God” can’t tear them
apart.
More pointedly, let me tell these so-called Men-of-God that they
have chosen to chart paths that will lead them to utter shame
and damnation. I have no respect for such charlatans. In my many
years on earth, I am yet to hear of any of them who has any
spiritual power that he has used to serve society. I challenge
all these church leaders to live above reproach and stop
behaving as if they have any more spiritual power than the
ordinary Ghanaian walking the streets, looking for solutions to
his existential problems.
In fact, I am poised to prove to them that their only strength
as “Christians” is their ability to study the Bible and quote it
glibly to suit their self-serving agenda. It is one thing
knowing the Word of God and another being imbued with spiritual
powers deriving from that Word to be able to do what Jesus
Christ will commend them for on the day of reckoning, the Great
Commission notwithstanding.
Let the Man-of-God who has used his so-called spiritual powers
to heal the sick, the physically challenged, the blind, the
infirm, or to feed the poor rise to be counted. None has any
such power to do so. All they do is to quote the Bible at will
and to put the fear of the unknown in the gullible people
following them and then turn round to exploit that fear of the
unknown. Ghana will not benefit from the wily ways of such
charlatans.
Let the Mensa Otabils and Owusu Bempahs chafe all they can. Let
them prophesy doom all they can. God has already deserted them
as far as the politics of Ghana is concerned and will not turn
round to speak to them to reverse His own appointment. They
should stop fouling our air with their jaundiced prophecies of
doom. We have no need to look up to them for anything. Let the
war they are promoting come; we shall fight it and survive its
whirligig. Long live Ghana; short live the scare mongers!!
I shall return.
• E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
• Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor
|
