Some Ghanaian Pastors Are Fetish Priests In Disguise.

Before the advent of Christianity Ghana and for that matter, Africa had its own culture, tradition, religious beliefs but with Christianity the ordinary Ghanaian who has accepted this western religion and culture needed to abolish some of his practices which weren't in conformity with the western religion he has accepted.

He needed to otherwise also embellish some of his religious practice and better still with others he needed to inculturate fittingly into the western religion. It is these, which weren't properly done or noticed at the advent of Christianity that have profusely affected the Christian religion till date to its core.

Even though my concern has to do with Christianity in Ghana yet these problems aren't restricted to Ghana alone but Africa as a whole. The way and manner some Ghanaian pastors act and conduct themselves in the course of exercising their ministry is sometimes very disheartening , strange and shameful yet it seems many people see nothing wrong with it, since it has become the order of the day.

What's this new order of the day ? The pastors who are able to scream, shout and cry out louder on top of their voices in prayer, deliverance and preaching are considered the powerful pastors in the society. In fact there is a secret I want to break out now to all Ghanaians , many of the church members of these pastors have ear defects and they have their pastors to be blamed.

The question still holds, why should these pastors scream and scream louder before they could cast out the so called "Demons and evil spirits" in people who come to them. Yes there is no doubt that sometimes in the Bible some of the prophets of God cried out in loud voices in prayer to God , yet this isn't usual with God. Isaiah reminds us the nature of God in (cf. Isaiah 59:1) " Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save ,nor his ear too dull to hear " lets at this jincture akin these pastors to the native fetish priests .

what do we see these fetish priests in our societies do when at their shrines ? Are they not those who make all these screams and loud chants and cantations all in the name of commanding their gods and spirits to come to their aid. For the traditional African religious man , it is his believe that the louder and repeatedly they mention the name of their gods the faster they respond to the quest.

Seemingly it's this same idea that most Ghanaians pastors are still patronizing in their practice of Christianity. And so for me it is these pastors who act in this like manner that I call the "western fetish ".

It must be noted that this practice can also be traced to the Jewish cults practices.(cf 1kings 18:27) " Elijah to the prophets of Baal , Shout louder , surely he is a god!.......and they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears until blood flowed."

Elijah in his days ridiculed these prophets of the gods of Baal to shout louder, akin to our current situation I strongly believe that if Elijah was to be in our days ,he would have in the same vain ridicule these "western fetish " who are among us in our society.

The Christian Bible gives us several incidence and evidence of a God who is Gentle in spirit and silent in action.A God who isn't deaf or dumb , a God who doesn't grant our request base on our screaming and loud voices.

Again, Biblically" the Messiah himself", thus the son of God himself did us the greatest privilege by teaching us how to pray to his father in heaven (Mathew 6:6) " when you pray, go into your room,close the door and pray to your father who is unseen , then your father who sees what is done in Secret will reward you " ,I'm tempted to believe therefore that Jesus foreknowing this was by so doing only warning us against this new order of religious practice.

Did God not choose to appear to Elijah in a "gentle whisper" after the earthquake and loud winds with destructive and terrifying noise have passed by ? To the ordinary Ghanaian Christian I will admonish that the power of a healing and deliverance isn't in shouts of voices and screaming. Isn't it funny then that while the chief Vatican exorcist is casting out legions of demons in the closest of sacred doors ,"the western fetish" will also be delivering witchcraft on football pitches for no apparent reason than ignorance and extreme imitation. It is high time we begun to learn and stop being naive , ignorant and a disgrace to Christianity

I will hereby conclude by saying that even if there is any healing ,miracle, deliverance and repentance ,it is well felt mostly in solemn, gentle and silent prayers.

From; Divine Agyenim- Boateng Bassanio,
Sunyani.