The Turning Clock: Are Some Ghanaian Prophets Dining With The Devil?

Ever wondered why there seem to be more and more prophets in Africa? Some ‘men of God’ actually brag that they possess powers to perform any type of miracle while some see themselves as superior to others.

Strolling through the Nkawkaw Township to ascertain the truth in what a friend told me some years ago, that "on every street in Nkawkaw one can either see an ‘Apeteshe bar’ or a church, at least.

The survey I conducted undoubtedly proved to be true. I observed that it is the society that provided the fertile ground for this canker to grow, in the name of winning souls for God. An article published by Deutsche Welle by Isaac Kaledzi in March 2016 captioned 'Too Many Churches in Ghana?' revealed that there were more than ten thousand churches in Ghana including all faith-based meetings.

In my early years during the 1980s, I figured that the only churches were the Orthodox churches like the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, and a very few Pentecostal churches. Individually owned churches, sprung up in exponential rates in the early 2000s, the majority of which I perceive to be business entities rather than churches.

The sudden explosion in the number of cases where some prophets turn against their own, accusing their colleagues of using ‘juju’ and sacrificing humans to aid them to perform miracles and to get more members to invest and grow their church businesses is really alarming. I doubted these allegations and saw it as mere envy of those prophets/pastors with more members.

It saddens me when I watched Nana Agraada (a fetish priestess) on Thunder TV lambasting occultic prophets/pastors who only use the name of God to amass wealth from their poor congregants. For how long shall these prophets throw dust into the eyes of distressed people? For how long shall they compound the miseries of the poor, innocent and gullible members, who look for respite in the church?

I watched in utter shock a banter on the 24th February 2020 between a self-acclaimed prophet (Owusu Kwaakye) and a fetish priest (Okomfo Sakumba) in Sunyani, who allegedly leaked the nude pictures of the prophet for failing to pay for alleged spiritual services rendered to him. What has light got to do with darkness?

This situation reminds me of David Diop's poem titled ‘The Vulture’ which explored the British colonization of South Africa and its ramifications. The poet articulates the inhumane actions of men that resulted in the inevitable exploitation of native Africans. He conveys this through the utilization of the symbolism in ‘the vultures' as symbolic of the prejudicial discrimination the natives had been subjected to’. Sadly, these inhumane actions still exist in the Christian religion in this 21st century with these fake prophets executing the role of 'the vultures' to perfection.

Again, on the 3rd September 2019, the GhanaWeb published a news article about how a powerful Afrancho fetish priest, Nana Kwaku Bonsam claimed to have helped over four thousand (4000) powerful prophets with voodoo to perform wonders and miracles. It is baffling why these so-called ‘men of God’ seek spiritual powers from a fetish priest, relegating the Omnipotent God to the background. No wonder these prophets have taken over all the television channels and preaching prosperity at the expense of salvation, just to get people into their web. These prophets hardly preach salvation and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Such prophets demand from poor members an amount of money or material goods (food items, clothing, car, plane ticket, etc) in return for prayer or prophecy. They sometimes demand sexual favours or even certain items like someone’s picture or hair follicle when consulted for help.

Currently, Ghana has more churches that seem to be growing faster than many other sectors of the economy. Unfortunately, this tax-free growth only ends up in the pockets of these pastors who do no social responsibility for the benefit of the nation. Inasmuch as there is the need to spread God’s word amongst the nations, the fake shepherds need to be exposed and expunged from the system before they drain the poor and desperate men and women in the society of their last penny.

The so-called prophets who are dinning with the devil use the name of Jesus in vain to deceive people and are being used by the devil to deceive the congregation. A Ghanaian prophet name prophet Elisha (aka Spiritual Bulldozer) on Sankofa radio, confessed being once a member of the occult society and using a demonic power called ‘MAHANTA’ to perform miracles to influence the congregation.

For the past months, there has been some level of attacks on some prophets in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Member of Parliament of Assin South Constituency, Kennedy Agyapong is leading the crusade on television, exposing the alleged dirty deals of some prophets considered as fake. In his exposé, he revealed how some prophets used human parts in their dastardly activities just to acquire spiritual powers. The MP’s crusade against “False Prophets” in the country has won the hearts of many, who, hitherto, had doubts whether or not these prophets are fake.

The sixth verse of the fourth chapter of the book of Hosea admonished us to seek knowledge lest we perish. Frankly, people have heard the message and yet remain adamant. We should not allow desperation for a husband, a wife, a child, money, a house, and material prosperity to sway us from our Christian values, like ‘Vultures’, these ‘falling angels’ are lurking around dupe unsuspecting victims out of their hard-earned life savings. Beware of these prophets clothed in the wolf skin. It is indeed not easy battling in life but when the breakthrough comes, it shall be smiles forever. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy shall certainly come in the morning.

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