Friday,
February 8, 2013
The so-called prophecy by Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah (Founder and
leader of Glorious Word Ministry International) that President Mahama will die
this year is the most outrageous message coming from the pests that parade our
country, masquerading as “Men-of-God.”
I have written several opinion
pieces to make it clear that the preponderance of prophecies from all manner of
people calling themselves “Men-of-God” is not only annoying but it is also a
clear demonstration of the depth of moral depravity to which the country has
sunk—which creates the loopholes for such charlatans to exploit.
Those researchers who recently placed
Ghana atop of the list of countries considered to be most religious have opened
to us a huge window through which to view ourselves as a nation at risk of
being thrown apart by the morbid Christianity that has dominated our national
life.
Ghana is a secular state and
cherishes religion; but when certain elements begin abusing religion to create
needless tension, we must sit up.
Yes, we have been religious all
along to make it possible for anybody professing any religious faith, doctrine,
or belief to use that religion to find meaning to his/her life and not to be
coerced in any way to subscribe to any other faith.
It is against this background
that the Christian community has expanded to astonishing limits. Proselytizing
has reached its zenith in our age. Almost every corner of the country has a
chapel. Almost every community has a “Man-of-God” professing Christianity as
the only key to unlock the iron gates of life. Prosperity messages have taken
over the sermons that the “Men-of-God” deliver anywhere they find themselves. It
is as if there is no more “an eye of the needle” for anybody to be wary of.
Every such “prosperity message”
is couched in the kind of language that frontloads “claiming in the name of
Jesus” as the “Open Sesame.” Being a Christian today means craving for
prosperity even without carrying the cross—or looking for a Simon of Cyrene to
thrust one’s cross on all the way to claim the crown. (Mark
15:21 “A certain man from
Itinerant “Men-of-God” are
everywhere (in passenger buses, the lorry parks, at radio stations, market
places, etc.). They use every space and time for their activities. Go wherever
they are, and you will hear them stridently sermonizing and lacing their
pontification with condemnatory messages about non-believers and promising them
hell fire in the afterlife.
They even go to the extent of
condemning other faiths, especially the African Traditional Religions and
Islam, which they see as not only an anathema but also as a passport to hell.
Hardly do we hear Muslims and adherents
of African Traditional Religion bad-mouthing Christians or even questioning the
basis of their faith and trust in Jesus. At least, I haven’t yet heard any
Muslim or follower of African Traditional Religions embarking on any crusade
anywhere to challenge what the Christians and their leaders practice.
In our part of the world, where
Christianity has become a goldmine being exploited by all manner of “Men-of-God,”
the religion has virtually become a tool with which to settle personal scores,
intimidate opponents, or summon the spirit of the unknown as a smokescreen behind
which to hide and exploit the ignorant believers.
So-called “Men-of-God” of Owusu
Bempah’s type are all over the place, fouling our air with their self-serving
inanities camouflaged as “prophecies.” I piss on them all.
They fail to realize that even
when Jesus was ministering unto the Jewish society, the worhsippers of Baal
were also practicing their trade. Nowhere did Jesus take it upon himself to
scare anybody or to divide the society with prophecies. He concentrated his
work of redemption on spirituality and urged his followers to constantly look
beyond this mundane life to a brighter one in Heaven. That was the “crime” for
which he was crucified in fulfillment of a truly divine prophecy.
And that is why Jesus still
survives in the hearts and minds of millions all over the world. Had he gone
the way of this Owusu Bempah and others like him, he would have ended up as a
nuisance to be thrown out of mind.
But Jesus still “lives” because
he exercised his power and authority, living by example, and urging his
believers to live above reproach. From him, we can learn that Christianity is a
lifestyle to be lived, not a religious faith to be merely professed by mouth as
our Ghanaian “Men-of-God” are wont to do.
Despite all that he implanted in
his followers, how many of them, in truth, managed to obey his “commandments”
to the full? Even those who lived with him, saw his miracles, and witnessed the
astounding efficacy of his spirituality denounced him when faced with the
reality of the clash between the mundane and the spirituality. How many times
didn’t Peter deny him?
Yet, when they regained their
composure and got imbued with the force of the Holy Ghost, they performed miracles
without waxing in this kind of swoon that Owusu Bempah and others fall into
only to emerge with the weird “prophecies” that they torment us with daily. And
their prophecies always verge on the gloomy and dreary part of existence.
Nothing re-assuring!! Why so?
I am more disturbed at the
realization that despite the high rate of proliferation of these churches and “Men-of-God,”
the country isn’t benefiting in any way. It is clear that there is a
proportional relationship between this incidence of proliferation of churches
and the rate of immorality in the country.
Obviously, Christians constitute
more than half our national population. If their lifestyle were worthy of
emulation, why hasn’t it rubbed off positively on our society?
Sadly, much of what has been
reported as heinous incidents verging on immorality has been committed by known
Christians. Among the circle of “Men-of-God” itself, immorality is high. Theft
of church funds, extortion, adultery, fornication, plain anti-social
activities, provision of spiritual support for armed robbers, and many other
jaw-dropping occurrences are perpetrated by them.
Just take a cursory look at the
news reports about crime and immorality over the years and you will see things
for yourself.
Even in their own circles, these “Men-of-God”
are at each other’s throat over mundane substance. They have put Marmon far
above the spirituality that calls for self-denial and service to God and mankind.
How many of these so-called “Men-of-God” haven’t instated such exploitative
practices as charging consultation fees and others when approached for counseling
by their congregants?
Or how many of them haven’t gone
under the cover of darkness to consult occultists and powerful fetish
priests/priestesses for spiritual backing and amulets that they bury in their
chapels to attract followers? Kwaku Bonsam has exposed some already for us to
know how they are desperately whitewashing their sepulchres!!
The frequent internecine fights and
splintering of churches have resulted from their own waywardness. Unfortunately
for us, our country’s laws are too weak to deal with these churches and their “Men-of-God.”
That is why they have grown wings and are all over the place, acting and making
outrageous public pronouncements with impunity.
These pastors and their churches don’t
pay tax despite all the profits they make, exploiting the fear of the unknown
that they put in their benighted followers to catalyze their shady deals when
they extort huge sums of money from such hypnotized members. And they do so
under various guises (tithes, “Kofi-and-Ama offerings, Missionary offerings, “harvests,”
and many others).
Again, because there is no
control over how these churches spring up—granted that anybody at all who
claims to have received the “call” can spring into action at will and use
stagecraft to attract attention to his presence—these churches keep on
mushrooming. Go to any public school premise in the evenings and at the
weekends and you will see all of them dotted around, sometimes entering into
egregious agreements with the school authorities to use the classrooms for
fees.
The problem continues to worsen
because these church leaders know what the weaknesses of the people are, and
they are quick to exploit those weaknesses.
As the situation stands now, it
will take very drastic and concerted efforts to clamp down on the activities of
these charlatans masquerading as “Men-of-God” and politicizing their Ministry
just because they know how to attract the politicians.
It is not too late for our
leaders to see how wily these “Men-of-God” of God have become. To me, they are
social pests to be flushed out. That is why I will advise President Mahama not
to be bothered by the effusions of Owusu Bempah. No one will live on this earth
forever. Once we have a beginning, we should expect an end to our lives.
I am reminded of the story of a
so-called “Man-of-God” who claimed to have foreseen the untimely death of a
church member he had been counseling. During the consultation, the “Man-of-God”
revealed that the church member would die on Wednesday of the following week. On
Tuesday of the following week, that “Man-of-God” visited his hometown and early
the following day (Wednesday), he died. The church member whose death he had
predicted to occur on that day is still alive today.
Apparently, the “Man-of-God” could
foresee someone else’s death, not his own. Better still, he was not gifted
enough to know that what he had foreseen was his own death.
Ghana can do better without these
“Men-of-God” who are hiding behind Christianity to do dry and empty partisan
politics.
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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