During the opening of the affiliate campus of the North Carolina College of Theology in Kumasi, the Anglican Bishop of Kumasi, Rt. Rev. Daniel Yinka Sarfo, bemoaned the recent mushrooming of self-styled men of God in the country. He continued that he was worried about the unchecked situation in which these so-called ministers have turned the service of God into gold mine by exploiting unsuspecting members of the public. According to him, the conduct of some of these self-appointed men clearly demonstrates that they lack the ability to proficiently propagate the gospel.
These fake pastors depend mostly on tip-offs and trial and error techniques to prophesy into people's lives. Let us look at the following true stories:
1. Agyemang, who was deported from Norway after a month's stay to Ghana, got another chance to travel to the USA. He met a fellow Ghanaian who helped him to get a job the very first week of arrival. During the second week, his friend asked him to accompany him to a Ghanaian party. A few hours into the celebration, a fight ensued between two revellers. There was great confusion and within a matter of minutes, eight policemen arrived, apparently called in by someone living nearby. They began to inspect their green cards and passports.
Agyemang and three others had nothing to show. Once again Agyemang was deported just after two week's stay in the U.S. When he went to Kumasi, a friend advised him to follow him on a Sunday to see his pastor to break the evil spirit responsible for his deportations. His friend went earlier on to the pastor and told him everything about Agyemang's misfortunes. He followed his friend to the church. When the pastor finished the sermon, he went straight to Agyemang and told him to walk to the front. The so-called pastor, counting on the information he had already received, told him the reason for all his deportations, putting the blame squarely on her mother who, according to the pastor, was a witch who had blocked all his travel ambitions. After the service, Agyemang did not wait to buy the five bottles of olive oil to be used to break any devilish hold on him. He rushed home and beat the mother to death. He was arrested. This is a true story. Many people suggested the pastor should also be arrested. Genuine pastors don't speak into people's life so carelessly. Even though the pastor had a tip-off from Agyeman's friend concerning the problem he, Agyemang, had gone through, the pastor pretended he was hearing these from God. Read another true story that happened in Kumasi.
2. At a church service, tithes and collection were brought into the bowl placed in the middle of the room. All eyes were supposed to close for the pastor to pray over the collection. During the prayers, a church member walked to the middle and took the bowl containing the money and sneaked out of the church and hid the money in the bush and rushed in to join in the prayers. When the pastor had finished praying and all eyes were opened, he discovered, to his surprise, that the bowl with all the day’s collections had disappeared. He asked seriously, "Whoever has taken the money should bring it in Jesus' name." His faith began to shake. He continued, "I know you people don't fear God. Whoever took the money is given 30 minutes to bring it because I have decided to entreat the river god "Antoa nsuo Nyamaa" to kill the thief immediately. The thief went into the bush and brought back the money. No one fears God these days, not even the pastor, the so-called man of God. Nyame kakra, bosom kakra ( little of God, little of Fetish).
These so-called pastors, in an attempt to help barren women overcome their problems, end up sleeping with these women. Just three days ago, the 20th of January 2011, an Accra Circuit court, sentenced a pastor, Nana Kofi Yirenkyi aka “Jesus One Touch,” founder and General Overseer of the Jesus Blood Prophetic Ministry at Oblogo in Accra, to ten years on each count of incest and rape of his own 10-year old daughter! His family and members of the church wailed as the so-called pastor was led away in handcuffs to start serving his sentence. What a disgrace for a man of God! Sometimes those who consult fetish priests to get powers to start a church are given very strict and difficult conditions to abide by. One pastor was told by a fetish priest that in order to continue to maintain his powers and be sure of increased growth in numbers, he should have sex with two women weekly. Two different women every week! Yes.
These days, church planting has become one of the fastest and most profitable, risk-free and tax-free ventures in Ghana. Due to this, these so-called men of God don't wait to receive the call but rather consult fetish priests to give them powers to form a church. The fetish priests most often grant them their wishes but with strings attached. A pastor who was deeply humiliated when he impregnated eight women in his church gave a startling confession to an FM station in Kumasi. According to him, he got his powers from a fetish priest who told him that in order to maintain his power and control a full church, he should make sure that he has sexual intercourse with eight women every month. Eight different women every month! Yes. Anytime his unholy activities became known, he moved to another city.
Last year, Kwaku Bonsam, who boasts of giving powers to more than one thousand pastors, descended heavily on this same "Rev." Kofi Yirenkyi (aka Jesus One touch) and Eric Amponsah (aka Computer man) all based in Accra, describing them as fake men of God who are using the name of Jesus to deceive innocent Christians in the country. Nana Kwaku Bonsam asserted that even though these men don't come to him, their source of power is definitely not from God. He revealed that the adulterous act between the wife of Computer man and Jesus One touch, and the recent brawl between Rev. Ebenezer Adarkwa Yiadom and Rev. Obinim should tell all Christians that these pastors are charlatans.
Kwaku Bonsam caused a stir recently when he stormed a church in Kato near Berekum in the Brong Ahafo region to recover the juju a pastor had taken from him to establish his church. The recovery of the juju was necessitated by the failure of the so-called pastor to pay the remainder of the agreed fee for the juju. The police were even called in. A video clip of this incident was spread on the internet last year. It showed an angry Nana Kwaku Bonsam confronting a begging and penitent pastor who claimed that the juju (a black stone) he got from Kwaku Bonsam didn’t work as promised by the fetish priest who still wanted his stone back.
The Faith Healers Association of Ghana has vowed to provide legal services for women duped and sexually exploited under the guise of spiritual protection by fake pastors and spiritualists.
These fake pastors and spiritualists have developed an appetite for horrible scandals ranging from fraud and sex abuse. According to Kwaku Bonsam, the nation should expect more pastors to get involved in worse scandals including even homosexuality. The situation is critical and for God to bless Ghana, it behoves on all the genuine men of God like Pastor Mensah Otabil, Archbishop Palmer Buckle, Bishop Agyin Asare and the rest to pray continuously for Ghana.
It is also the belief that if the genuine pastors do not come together to speak against the recent spate of pastoral scandals, there will come a time when the fake pastors will outnumber the good ones and end up confusing genuine Christians and precipitating God's departure from Ghana, thus calling forth the wrath of God on Ghanaians.
Written by: Stephen Atta Owusu
Author:Dark Faces At Crossroads
Email:stephen.owusu@email.com
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