In Ghana today, we are girdled by people who claim to be working for Jehovah God. Needless to say, most of them do not live up to the expectations of “men of God”. They have succeeded in lulling many people further into the “wilderness” instead of directing them toward the Kingdom of God. Anyhow, it should not be a new thing to us because Jesus Christ forewarned his disciples of false prophets before his departure from the Earth.
Jesus commanded His first disciples, "Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves" (Luke 10:3).
Again, within the augmenting Church, Paul had to warn about false ministers arising with selfish motives (Acts 20:29, 30), more concerned with their influence among people than serving the flock of God from a pure heart. Obviously there are many wolves (false prophets) in the Churches! They appear good to others, but their virtues are a sham (2 Cor. 11:13-15). It is pretty obvious that their laudable-appearing exterior lurks a hidden agenda predicated on self-seeking and pride.
Such bizarre scenario is the case in Ghanaian Communities in this day and age, with so- called men of God who are running churches and others who have sought prominence either by riding on the coat-tails of others who are genuinely working for Jesus, or who seek their own self-aggrandisement or self-expansiveness through similar gospel means. These mountebanks are swindling the uncritical people of God to finance their own personal ambitions. Of course, it is not conspicuous to others that their ambitions ARE suspect. They appear to be taking the gospel to the world, and making a platform for Jesus. But, in actual fact, they are making a platform for themselves by using Jesus' name.
Some people will definitely chastise me for highlighting the flagitious deeds of the so-called men of God. But, my advice to the uncritical followers is to employ circumspection when dealing with these “wolves”. Paul for example, warned of certain individuals in his time who were dangerous to the progress of the Truth (2 Tim. 4:14, 15), and others who had deserted him (2 Tim. 4:10). Thus, it is biblical to 'name and shame' (1 Tim. 5:20; Rom. 16:17).
Again, Jesus openly lambasted the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and deceit (Matt. 23). And He forewarned that the scheming guile of false ministers would be publicly exposed (Luke 12:1-3).
It goes without saying that false Prophets are at work today, just as they were in B.C.
Therefore, the way forward then, is for people to look for true prophets who can lead them to the Lord Jesus, the gateway to the Kingdom of God. Obviously, true prophets are part of the Churches’ spiritual structure (Eph. 4:11). But, the fact of the matter is the vast majority of Christians today do not want the pure truths of God. They want adulterated, more 'palatable' forms of Truth, watered down and compromised for convenience.
This approach, while appearing benign, is actually extremely subtle and devious. Jude warned of the “enemies of the nation”-apologies to Honourable Anas Amareyaw (church leaders who were of corrupt motives and morals), turning the grace of God into lewdness (Jude 4). The modern version is much more subtle and 'refined'. The vast majority of believers don't see it for what it is, nor acknowledge how damaging it is to their spirituality.
The activities of these so-called men of God are becoming rampant in every corner of the Globe. Nowadays, the number of “Diasporian” churches supersedes the number of General Practitioners Surgeries in United Kingdom. Not a day passes by without hearing the men of God promoting their “Anointing oil” on Ghanaian Radio stations. This “mount banking” leaves me with puzzled countenance, in the sense that the Anointing oil will not give the “Christians” eternal life, but they will only be saved by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal saviour (John 3:16). But, the puzzlement here is the so-called men of God are encouraging their uncritical followers to purchase Anointing oil as their means of salvation. “For lack of knowledge my people perish indeed”.
Recently, a church minister was jailed for two years for benefit fraud. The church minister (name withheld), 46, falsely claimed nearly £38,000, in housing and council tax benefit from Thurrock Council over five years. The minister, a father-of-five, was convicted of eight counts of benefit fraud after denying all charges relating to false and forged documents, at Basildon (United Kingdom) Crown Court. Following the jury’s guilty verdicts, the Judge said the church minister was “dishonest to the core”. He said the church minister’s crime was fraudulent from the outset, professionally planned, carried out over a period of time and using false identities to commit multiple frauds. The court heard the minister created a false identity in the name of someone, using a forged passport to buy a property. The self-acclaimed church minister, of Elmway, Grays, told the court he was a pastor in a London church and so would not lie. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment on each indictment, to be served concurrently.
May the Almighty God help us! With such “men of God” leading the flock, where will the flock be heading to?
K.Badu, UK.
