The Ongoing Afcon: Where Do We Place Ghanaians’ Predictions And Ejaculated Prophecies?

In the build up to the ongoing AFCON tournament in Egypt, numerous predictions were poured out from both print and non-print media outlets across the continent and beyond regarding which participating nations would likely sail through the competition and emerge as the new African champion.

In Ghana, our traditional and social media platforms weren't spared with soccer enthusiasts giving similar prefigurations concerning Ghana's chances.

As if that wasn't enough, several Ghanaian men of God also joined the euphoria with their foreshadowings that sought to reinforce the fact that the Black Stars were God's ordained and favourite side to win the trophy.

But beyond the predictions (something that's usual with sports), how do we know that the raw prophecies that were pontificated from the pulpits tipping our national team as the 2019 AFCON's winner were actually the mind of God?

Certainly, Ghana's premature exit from the tournament has proven this to the contrary. And it’s time for the prophets who have misfired in predicting victory for the Ghanaian national team to do serious spiritual postmortem on their prophetic gifts and abilities, and if necessary they must offer unqualified apologies to their congregations and Ghanaians.

To be honest, as a sports loving nation, we need to get this right: God can’t lie because He isn't a human being. As such, He'll always say and do things that are right.

Interestingly, if what's disclosed in the Bible that God can't do anything without making it known to His prophets is something to go by, and then it’s important we categorize the prophets who prophesied for Ghana as follows: the uncalled prophets, the corrupt prophets and the genuine prophets.

To begin with, the uncalled prophets in this tournament were those who were never prophets, however since prophecy is what's in vogue, they've suddenly made themselves one and were all over the place prophesying victory for the Black Stars. Even as it appears some might have their predictions accurate, that couldn't make them the speakers of God's mind—they're only fans like others.

Beside the uncalled prophets were the corrupted prophets some of whom have also predicted victory for Ghana. And like the Biblical Balaam, they’re those who have answered the call of God into the prophetic office. However, because they've become froward, God has left them to their fate. So, they only exist in name and can't pick divine signals any longer.

Notwithstanding that, there were few genuine prophets who boldly spoke concerning the game because there were divinely led to do so. But they didn’t do that without attaching precautions. This is because they knew prophecies without necessary actions would result in mere announcements.

To be able to know what has actually led to Black Stars' defeat, in the first place, we must find out whether our national team took the necessary actions and fully prepared as a team before the tournament since a good preparation plus opportunity would always result in success.

In contrast, in this year's AFCON game the least said about our officials' tactical ability especially the fighting spirit of our players, before and during the event, the better.

So, it's obvious that we've paid the price for poor ‘coaching' and poor team spirit simply because going into the round of sixteen, we acted like the Tunisians, our Maghrebian opponent, won’t exactly do what they've done when we knew we've defeated them six times in eight similar encounters.

Indeed, in any competition the most prepared side always wins. And since God is the God of all nations and acts blamelessly toward the blameless, and blamefully towards the blameful (2 Samuel 22), why'll any prophet believes s/he can force Him to defect to an ill-prepared side who's already determined to lose?

Certainly, God won’t do that!
So, it goes without saying that God's prophets, as it stands, are those who’re burdened to speak His mind, any day. And such high office belongs to the serious minded people—praiseworthy men and not the blameworthy men who’re taking the venerable office of the prophet for granted.