Bishop Obinim and Prophet Owusu Bempah are exactly what Ghana is

THE POLITICS OF RELIGION AND THE RELIGION OF POLITICS

It is not quite certain if the constitutional affirmation of the freedom of conscience, of the press and speech, and of religion have anything to do with the confused state of affairs in the Fourth Republic. Certainly, what is rather in question is the sweeping decadence or declension in the standards of moral values. This spans the religious, political and social spaces. The trend is worrisome indeed! Therefore, the exegetical rationalism of cause and effect tend to lose any deeper sense of direction in the relations of political constitutionalism and collective responsibility.

We see this clearly in the collective internalization of impunity and universal disregard for laws and the social contract across the geopolitical space of Ghana. One possible reason for this could be that laws are not equitably applied in the social-political space as it, expectedly, should be the case on a person-to-person basis. Again, we may have all witnessed the partisan application of laws from the exclusive viewpoint of elitist incumbency and the Opposition, thereby quashing any need for a discursive analytic elaboration on our part. This sentiment is not open to debate.

It is in this popular atmosphere of impunity and seeming unfettered guaranteed constitutional freedoms that, the likes of Bishop Obinim and Prophet Owusu Bempah on the one hand and on the other, gullibility and uncritical emotionalism from the running current of manufactured consent gain an enviable measure of social currency. We also should not overlook the fact that Bishop Obinim and Prophet Owusu Bempah are no different from the National Democratic Party (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in their philosophical and ideological outlooks. A closer look at their modus operandi says it all. This juxtapositional empiricism, nonetheless, is ideally far from farfetched.

Among other questionable claims, Bishop Obinim and Prophet Owusu Bempah have made it eloquently clear to have all the powers in the world to solve all human problems. Politicians claim the same unlimited powers for themselves. The fact is that such unlimited quanta of power, whether divine or transcendental or otherwise, essentially derive from the collective psychology of a tactically and strategically managed critical mass in the special case of the ruled or religious following. Yet we also know these unbridled powers are merely instruments of a tactically managed, controlled, or manipulated perception fed by the emotional tributaries of popular gullibility, a sharp decline in assertive faculties, the grinding fear of eschatological uncertainties and of the transcendental unknown, and finally, unquestioned loyalty to the harbingers of apocalyptic destructiveness and political nihilism.

This uneven profile exactly fits the largely unimaginative and uncritical dispensation of modern times where the culture of respect, prosperity theology, and popular sycophantic idiocy trump the majestic authority of scientific rationalism. Against this backcloth, Ghana’s political animals and their clerical mammonists have seen a convenient need to take advantage of the presence of popular intellectual apathy in the body politic to, as a matter of fact, usurp national resources, private wealth, and popular sovereignty for the exclusive benefit of their sophisticated and callous cabals of thieves, passing on fermented crumbs to their useful idiots.

It is therefore not a strange phenomenon that amorphic, shapeshifting and therianthropic mortals can assume science-fiction zoological dimensions under the blanket of nocturnal anachronisms and sting-bite their enemies and detractors, real and perceived, with some highly educated yet religiously intoxicated caricatures and androids not finding these otherworldly-initiated transmigrational dimensions problematic and mindboggling. Thus, Ghanaians need to be wary of the strategic and tactical Machiavellian theatrics of these political animals and clerical Pharisees. On the other hand if the moral center of gravity of the Ghanaian clergy follows a locus of adulteration, one cannot certainly expect any better of the deeply secularized political landscape.

Also, one cannot expect any better from the clerical and political leadership of a banana republic where women dissemble and hide some aspects of their anatomic naturalness, which they disapprove of for one reason or another behind convoluted interlocking walls of waist trainers, padded braziers, corsets, padded panties and other butt enhancing garments and technologies, and where its so-called jurists, corrupt as they are, still religiously adhere to the cultural anachronisms of imported judicial horse-hair wigs. In fact, some banana republics can be serious but not so with our Ghana.

Beyond the discursive sentiments expressed in the preceding paragraphs however, the bleached Sodom-and-Gomorrah faces of Bishop Obinim and Prophet Owusu Bempah come across as a generalized symtomatology of social and moral decay in the body politic. As an aside the bleached Sodom-and-Gomorrah face of Daddy Lumba, one of Ghana’s respected versatile highlife and gospel musicians, is an entirely different matter. In other words, these bleached Sodom-and-Gomorrah faces underscore moral and social putrefaction in the body politic, a banana republic otherwise referred to as Ghana. This fact has made it extremely difficult to tell a saint from a sinner.

Prophet Owusu, a fake apocalyptic prophesier, reportedly challenged his pastor colleague Bishop Obinim, another fake oracle of Baal, to a spiritual duel, but, expectedly, Bishop Obinim reportedly did not show up to honor his boastful threats. It may never have crossed the deranged psychologies or mental distortions of these two clerical magicians that the devil cannot stand the stinking aroma of bleached Sodom-and-Gomorrah faces. Their gullible followers are not seeing what the devil clearly sees in these anachronistic “Men of God” clad in sheepish clothes meant exclusively for wolfish religious demagogues. It could as well be that these fake “Men of God” mistake the Bible for a grimoire or the corpus of Harry Potter!

Their following may be guilty of this characterization as well! “Birds of a feather,” they say, “flock together.” This is truer than their bleached Sodom-and-Gomorrah faces! They will continue to bleach until they develop terminal melasma. What is more, Prophet Owusu Bempah’s and Bishop Obinim’s fake prophesies are not exceptionally different from those churned out by our Machiavellian and devious political animals, just like we have elaborately said or implied elsewhere. Throwing Bob Marley’s and Marcus Garvey’s therapeutically prophetic lines, “emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds,” at these two grotesque characters and their gullible following is like casting pearls before swine.

MUSICIANS CALL OUT OUR FAKE PROPHETS AND WICKED POLITICIANS

In this context Culture’s “Jah Alone A Christian” makes perfect sense, so too are Max Romeo’s “Stealing in the Name of the Lord,” Guru’s “Law of Karma,” Mutabaruka’s two-part track “The People’s Court,” and this Bob Marley quote about the Machiavellian deviousness of our highly sophisticated yet unintelligent political pen armed-robbers: “See they fighting for power, but they not the hour; so they are bribing with their guns, spare-parts and money, trying to belittle our integrity now. They say what we know is just what they teach us; and we are so ignorant, ‘cause every time they can reach us through political strategy, and they keep us hungry; and when you gonna get some food, your brother got to be your enemy…well, what we know is not what they tell us; we are not ignorant, I mean it…”

Then again, as a matter of fact, classic songs like “Stealing in the name of the Lord” should be part of the praise-worship formula of churches manned by the fraudulent likes of Bishop Obinim and Prophet Owusu Bempah. “My father’s house of worship,” sings Max Romeo, “has become a den of thieves; stealing in the name of the lord;..strike the hammer of justice, and set my people free…or let my people go…they tell us of heaven where milk and honey flow, stealing in the name of the lord; they said this place called heaven, the rich man cannot go…yet the reverend drives a fancy car, buys everything tax-free; the people have to sacrifice, to give in charity…my father’s house of worship, has become a den of thieves…stealing in the name of the lord…”

The other major question for all of us, after all is said and done, is, “How different is Bishop Obinim from Branch Dravidians’ David Koresh and Prophet Owusu Bempah from Peoples Temple’s Jim Jones, all four being dangerous apocalyptic lies? After all, the poison Jones and his gullible discipleships drank are the same poison of political rhetoric and failed promises which Ghana’s political animals feed the masses with on a daily basis. Likewise, Koresh’s apocalyptic failure to protect his gullible discipleships which led to their timely or untimely deaths directly speaks to the poor judgments and partisan decisions of our political animals which are also killing national development and citizens.

The similarities and contrasts are endless…Let us therefore watch out for these quack clerics and politicians!

AN UNENDING CONTINUUM OF SHAMEFUL IRONIES

Even more shocking, Bishop Obinim reportedly cursed a child he supposedly fathered through an amorous adulterous relationship with one of his junior pastors’ wives, leaving this innocent child mentally challenged and crippled. Prophet Owusu Bempah, on the other hand, reportedly cursed blabbermouth “celebrity” lawyer Maurice Ampaw, with the former claiming to be spiritually behind the latter’s recent vehicular accident. Lawyer Ampaw has since called for the public arrest of Prophet Bishop Owusu whom he also believes to be a potential contract killer, though he himself has consistently failed to produce Castro’s and Janet Bandu’s dead bodies in line with his vaunted promise to the public to produce them at the appropriate time…Lawyer Ampaw hounds Asamoah Gyan for money claiming the latter had raped and sodomized his client, Sarah Kwablah…Reggae musician Ekow Micah and others allegedly extort money from Asamoah Gyan…

What a country of apocalyptic intellectual, clerical, and political jokers! Political animals allow “dumsor” to kill businesses and citizens in highly preventable situations…The appalling and disgusting rhetorical filthiness on our airwaves, particularly the Akan or Twi ones…The ceaseless temper tantrums and perseverative if congenital lies of Kennedy Agyapong…Prophet Owusu Bempah has alleged that Bishop Obinim has buried dead bodies under his church…Prophet Owusu Bempah has speculated that dwarfs usually surround Bishop Obinim even though the latter claims to be an angel and promised to use one of his angelic wings to smack Prophet Owusu Bempah…The courts set businessman and self-financier of the NDC Alfred Woyome free…

Member of Parliament Nelson Abudu Baani says adulterous women should be stoned to death in Ghana…Stan Dogbe was alleged to have been behind J.B. Danquah’s gruesome murder…Afia Schwarzenegger has said Kennedy Agyapong’s mother is a prostitute…The latter has also alleged that the former is a prostitute…Nana Aba Anamoah posted fake pictures which she claimed to factually represent her physical presence at a soccer tournament in the United Kingdom, though that has shown to be a glaring lie…Afia Schwarzenegger has alleged that Kennedy Agyapong is a pedophile…Wisa and Wanluv the Kubolor expose their genitals to the world…Ana Aremeyaw Anas exposes judicial corruption big time…Amanda Afriyie Acquah claims Jordan Ayew has a “mandingo penis”…Afia Schwarzenegger begs Jordan Ayew to send her pictures of his mandingo manhood…

President Mahama admits to having the Goat Syndrome…Führer Akuf-Addo says he will not steal from Ghanaians because of his “old” age, as if there is a standard age limit for kleptomania or stealing…Samia Nkrumah alleges the NDC’s financial patronizing of Ivor Greenstreet led to his winning the presidential candidacy of the CPP…Political rivals of Führer Akuf-Addo Bishop accused him of the same thing…President Mahama and the leadership of the NDC chased George Boating, the president’s potential rival, to an insane asylum…Obinim’s spiritual father Okomfo Yaw Appiah, a traditional priest, believes his mentee’s days are numbered…Bishop Obinim calls his pastor colleague “a fool” and “stupid”…Kweku Bonsam advises Bishop Obinim to apologize to Rawlings just because the latter told his audience that men like Bishop Obinim were misusing God’s name…

Prophet Owusu Bempah threatens to behead Kweku Bonsam…Ex-President Kufuor says corruption is “normal” because Adam and Eve also did it under the unsleeping watch of God and the Devil…Prophet Kumchacha threatens to “beat the devil out of Kweku Bonsam”…Sapeur Kwesi Kyei Darkwa, a media personality and La Sape fashion aficionado, reportedly raped 19-year-old Ewuraffe Orleans-Thompson…Giana Chachus Das, of the Hare Krishna Movement of Ghana, says of Bishop Obinim when he [the latter] threatened to appear in Afia Schwarzenegger’s dream and as he put it “deal ruthlessly” with her: “No pastor can appear in dreams unless he is a magician, sorcerer or practice witchcraft…”

RAWLINGS ON THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC)

“Mr. President, fellow Ghanaians it is said that we should not throw out the baby with the bath water, but what do we do when babies with hard teeth, biting and spewing some very horrible invectives? Should they not be lowered out with the dirty water? After all one bad nut is all it takes to spoil the taste in your mouth? When we find ourselves at a wooden bridge with some planks rotten, do we wait to get new planks before removing the rotten ones or do we remove the rotten ones immediately.”

ADU ASARE ON THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY (NPP)

“Wasn’t it under this same NPP that Ghana suffered the biggest embarrassment ever in its life when a simple voter ID card had its colours turned upside down? Instead of the colours of the national flag, horizontal stripes of Red, Yellow and Green, didn’t the NPP government print the Voters’ ID cards with horizontal stripes of Green, Yellow Red? So our cards were in the colours of Senegal? What was the NPP’s response to such a serious embarrassment? Did they call for a probe into that scandal?

"Isn’t it under the same NPP regime that its first Finance Minister signed a loan agreement in the German language, which he could neither read nor write? Isn’t it under this same NPP that the same Finance Minister brought a CNTCI loan to Parliament for consideration where it was later found out that the address of the company was actually a hair dressing saloon in London?

"Wasn’t it under the same NPP regime that saw an Attorney General filing a case in court and titled it the President versus Tsatsu Tsikata, instead of the Republic versus Tsatsu Tsikata?

GRAPHIC PARAHRASES AKUOKO SARPONG’S OBSERVATION THAT THE TWO-PARTY STATE IS NOT WORKING

“He [Sarpong] said it had become evident that the current two-party state was not working and that had led to a serious polarisation of the country; a situation that was not helping the development of the country.”

RAWLINGS ON BISHOP OBINIM AND PROPHET KUMCHACHA

“The misuse of God’s name is the worst form kind of corruption that we can talk about…and we are paying the serious price for it, and we will continue to do so till we wake to the reality of what is scientifically possible, plausible and doable.”

Finally, like Rev. Emmanuel Asante, Rawlings believes Bishop Obinim is “misusing God’s name.”

BISHOP OBINIM ON RAWLINGS

“You have a so-called President (former) called JJ who is in this country and misbehaving...all because I have kept quiet. You don't respect me, so how am I also going to respect you? Your own leaders and people told me to keep quiet...I have a video of the statements you, President JJ (former), made about me. It was your own leaders who called me and said I (Bishop) shouldn't respond. You are a President (former). I respect you. All Pastors here respect you. Respect yourself as a President [former]! If you were old enough, you would have used your wisdom to benefit the young ones coming up. Let this be your last.”

REV. EMMANUEL ASANTE’S POSITION ON FALSE PROPHETS

Rev. Asante, Chairman of the National Peace Council, has said the following about fake prophets in Ghana: “Unfortunately people are exploiting the spiritual gullibility of our people and exploiting the situation to enrich themselves using religion to enslave a lot of people, people’s homes…rob people of you (sic) their God giving (sic) joy. This is something of a worry to all of us.”

REV. EMMANUEL ASANTE’S POSITION ON POLITICIANS

Rev. Asante advises politicians: “There is no reason why an election year should bring about physical and moral tension, psychological tension to people because people are vying for our mandate to rule us to develop our nation…I think it is important for politicians themselves to understand the word politics, what it is that they are trying to do so that they do not create a condition that would cause people to worry.”

CONCLUSION

Are all our glorified and apotheosized pastors, politicians, media personalities…mentally balanced? Then also, are the likes of Bishop Obinim and Prophet Owusu Bempah not what Ghana is?

References

Ghanaweb. “False Prophets Deceiving People—Most Rev. Asante.” March 14, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “J.J. Goes Wild: Sack NDC Babies With Sharp Teeth.” Daily Guide. August 31, 2012.

Ghanaweb. “Brochure gaffe: NPP has no moral right to call for probe—Adu Asare.” March 11, 2016.

Graphic.com.gh. “Ghana needs a new constitution—Akuoko Sarpong.” March 8, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Obinim Is A Sorcerer Not A Pastor—Hare Krishna Movement.” December 1, 2014.

Ghanaweb. “JJ: Obinim, Kumchacha "misusing God’s name." November 10, 2014.

Ghanaweb. “Respect yourself...this is your last warning—Obinim to Rawlings.” November 27, 2014.