Refrain from instilling fear in people through prophecies - Very Rev. Asamoah-Gyadu

The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, the Very Reverend Professor J.K. Asamoah-Gyadu, has called on pastors and prophets to refrain from instilling fear in people through prophecies.

He said sometimes, these prophecies that were churned out tend to come from human imagination, wishing death on people and making claims that God had not revealed.

The Presiding Bishop was speaking at a press briefing to broadcast the Church’s End of Year message for 2024 and the coming year 2025.

He said those who claim to occupy a prophetic office are to be measured in the prophetic declarations.

He said, “If you do that, the name that the Bible gives you is a false prophet.”

Very Rev. Asamoah-Gyadu said sometimes even the prophecy might be true, but prophecy must be guided by wisdom.

He said if a message was for a particular individual, they should be told personally to avoid any public humiliation that revealed personal details of people’s lives.

“God reveals for the purpose of redemption, so, as we go through our watch night services, and as we make our resolutions, let’s be measured in our pronouncements,” he added.

He commended the Electoral Commission for a successful election at a very difficult period, saying, “Our prayer is that those who have won will be gracious in their triumph, and those who have lost will also be sober.”

The Presiding Bishop said the acts of violence and destruction that occurred were totally unwarranted and expressed the hope that the security agencies would do their work and bring those who were causing mayhem to book.

He said small-scale mining had damaged the country’s environment in many ways and expressed the hope that the new government would tackle this problem head-on and save the fine environment.

“It is very sad that this phenomenon has been politicized in many ways, but we must be aware that its evils affect everyone in spite of your party colour,” he added.

He called for collaboration to tackle the menace of Galamsey and bring it to an end, save our water bodies, return agriculture to where it belongs, and make sure that the resources God had given us would be used for the common flourishing of the people.

On streetism, the Presiding Bishop said it was heartbreaking to find children who otherwise must be in school peddling all kinds of goods at traffic signals, putting not just their future in danger but also their lives.

He urged the new government to take this problem of streetism very seriously because not only does it hamper the future of children, but it brings moral problems as well.

He said the Methodist Church of Ghana, in 2025, would be 190 years old, and they would be rolling out a series of activities for the celebration, but most importantly, “as we receive a new government, we will be praying for the government, the nation, and hoping that God will bless our efforts together.”