'What's prophetic about saying a 100-year-old man'll die' – Opuni-Frimpong

A past General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, has said death prophecies of prominent people made in the public, especially on New Year’s Eve, are not biblical.

It has become a trend for some Ghanaian pastors to make doomsday prophecies on the last day of every year.

One of those prophecies got the Founder of the Glorious Word and Power Ministry International, Rev Isaac Owusu Bempah, in trouble with the Muslim community in Ghana when he said at a 31 December 2018 Watch Night service that the Chief Imam, Sheikh Nuhu Sharabutu, would die in 2019.

Apart from the Chief Imam, Rev Owusu Bempah also prophesied that Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, as well as former presidents John Kufuor and John Mahama, may also die.

Rev Owusu Bempah later apologised to the Chief Imam.

Dr Opuni-Frimpong, who was a guest on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Wednesday, 30 January 2019 told host Benjamin Akakpo that in the bible “prophets were not prophesying to specific individuals from rooftops but now that has been the trend”.

He continued: “Now, it is like in Ghana, God speaks to us on 31st December night and the 31st December night are full of who is going to die and sometimes you ask yourself, ‘What is even prophetic about saying a 100-year-old man is going to die’”.

The lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) explained that in the Bible, “Even when David has sinned, he had committed adultery, murder and everything, God sent a prophet to him [David] and the prophet went to him [David]”.

He said Prophet Nathan, for instance, employed wisdom and diplomacy till the king reached a point where he realised that he had made a mistake.

Rev Dr Opuni-Frimpong is, therefore, advocating a regulation of religious activities in Ghana to curb excesses.