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Fake prophets! Leave God out of your nonsense!
The late Professor P.A.V. Ansah, the former Dean of the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, had a way of announcing his anger in his column anytime people presumptuously deviated from the norm. “Today, I am going to town,” he would warn. That meant he was going to descend heavily on shameless trespassers. Today, I feel like him. I am angry. So, I will go to town.
When I was about 16 years, an old man in Cape Coast and my mom exchanged some views about God that have stuck with me since. Everybody called him Papa. On hindsight, I guess he might have been in his late-70s, or early 80s. Occasionally, he would drop by our house after a stroll, relax for a while, chat with my parents, and move on.
One evening, while with us and watching TV, black and white for sure, a scene popped up in the Akan drama sketch. I think the actors portrayed God in a bad light and Papa remarked in both Fante and English, saying: “Siseyi, Nyankopcn twer ne lazy chair mu reka d3, you rascals.” This loosely translates to: “By now, God is relaxing in his recliner and slamming these people, saying: you rascals.”
In response, my mom said: “Ah, Papa, abc akcd3ena etwer lazy chair mu ntsi, afa no d3, d3m ara na Nyankopcn so tse,” meaning, “Ah, Papa, because you are an old man, and love to relax in a reclining chair, you are imagining that God is like you.” We all laughed over the issue. But time has taught me how poignant that exchange was. It has given me an idea about how vainly some people treat God.
“Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord in vain,” so commands the Word of God. But, of late, many so-called men of God and spiritualists are doing just. They lie and claim, “Thus says the Lord.”
In the run-up to the two-legged epic encounter between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Super Green Eagles of Nigeria, a flurry of lying prophecies filled the airwaves. The conclusion was unanimous: the Black Stars would never qualify.
A man calling himself Seer Gyan, predicted that the first leg in Kumasi would end one-all, while the scores for the return match in Abuja would be zero-zero. That implied that Nigeria would qualify on account of the away goal rule. He claimed that in the spirit realm, he saw two goals in Kumasi which could be shared by the two teams.
Alternatively, if the Black Stars fought hard, they could claim both goals, otherwise Nigeria could grab them. The man was just trying hard to leave a window of escape in case his prediction backfired. But try as he did, God dribbled him. It was goalless in Kumasi and one-all in Abuja. So, the Black Stars rather qualified against all odds.
Another one, Bishop Isaac Appiah, also known as Ogya Nyame, founder and leader of the Shining Grace Chapel International, was careful not to give specific scores in a bid to leave an escape route for himself should he fail.
“I saw in a vision that the game will not be determined in Kumasi, and I said it last week. An angel made me to see after the final whistle in Abuja, that the Ghanaian players were sorrowful while the Nigerians were jubilating and saying they had won the game. We should go before God and pray because in the spirit realm, what I saw has not been reversed.” Rubbish!
Pressed to be more specific, he repeated what he saw in the vision. When told by the interviewer that Ghanaians would think he is a coward by not coming out with a scoreline, he replied that Ghanaians do not want to hear the truth. According to him, they would brand you unpatriotic if you told them the truth. He said as someone who loves the country, sometimes he sees some evil coming against us, and he stands in the gap for Ghana to avert the danger.
But listen to the “patriotic” pastor’s response when asked if he could do something to turn the tide if “consulted.”“Yes, that would be better than doing it with their own strength.” Nonsense! What did he mean? That Partey and co should depend on his prayer and intervention to win in Abuja? Surely, he wanted to make an easy buck. How dare you try to rip off the whole nation like that? Papa rightly said: You rascals!
The prediction that infuriated me the most is the one by that uncouth idol worshipper who calls himself “spiritual father.”He had the nerve to declare that Ghana is an idolatrous country established by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah with the help of “Kankan Nyame,” an idol that Ghanaian folklore claims to have been worshipped by Nkrumah. For that reason, he vehemently urged Ghanaians to go back to that idol.
Foolish man! Who told you that Ghana was established through the help of an idol? The Bible says: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” God’s Word also declares: “The fool has said in his heart that there is no God.”Are you not ashamed of yourself that in this day and age when wise men are still seeking Jesus,you have the audacity to recommend idols for Ghana?
He said if the country failed to apologise to the former GFA president, Kwasi Nyantakyi, Ghana would miss Qatar. Besides, Partey should not accept the captain’s band unless he apologised to Asamoah Gyan. Otherwise, he would be injured in the return match in Abuja.
Banging his hands repeatedly on the table, he swore in twi.“Whether it is a mallam, fetish priest or whoever it is who can help Ghana win, if that happens, I would give the players 50,000 pounds.” The Akans say,“Kwatrekwa se ob3ma wo ntoma a, tie ne din.” It means:“If a man called Naked promises to clothe you, be advised by his name.”
Asked what he would do if Ghana qualified, he pulled an over-sized weapon like a matchet resembling Goliath’s sword, raised it to his neck, and swore that he should be beheaded should Ghana qualify.
He brought out a fetish and shook it in the air saying it had never failed him. While still being pressed on his crazy effusions, he deceptively assumed an out-of-this-world posture as he bowed his head and pretended to be in a trance communicating with the fetish. Suddenly, he raised his head as if he had just been released from the spirit world to talk to mortal men and asked the host whether he was saying something to him. Impudent liar!
After Ghana qualified, he was defiant. He argued that he only said the Black Stars would not win the match, and that came to pass because it ended in a draw. Questioned how come Ghana qualified, he claimed that some “big men” called him on his phone and pleaded with him to do something about the situation. Besides, he boldly declared that the “big men” went to apologise to Kwasi Nyantakyi and Asamoah Gyan as he directed them to do and that led to the qualification. Eeeii!
When he ran out of excuses about why Partey was not injured but rather scored the goal that earned Ghana a slot at the World Cup, the pathological liar easily invented an escape route without scratching his head by instantly claiming the phone line seemed jammed and that made the interviewer’s voice inaudible.
The truth of the matter is that a jaded, faded Black Stars failed miserably at AFCON with a profusely leaking defence, and broke the nation’s heart. Imagine a team like that pitted against the Super Eagles of Nigeria who had the luxury of a dilemma in choosing from the array of world-class attackers like Victor Osimhen of Napoli, Ademola Lukman of Leicester, Victor Ighalo, Simon and others.
With Ghana lacking such strikers, besides a defence that had given the nation cause for alarm, the foregone conclusion was that the Black Stars would be buried under an avalanche of goals. And so, these liars parading as prophets and spiritualists, took the easy road, judged by the trend, and deceived us that they had heard from the Lord.
Hear the Word of the Living God!
I expose the false prophets as liars and make fools of fortune-tellers.
I cause the wise to give bad advice, thus proving them to be fools.
But I carry out the predictions of my prophets!
Isaiah 44:25-26, New Living Translation
The Bible declares: “He traps the wise in their own cleverness so that their cunning schemes are thwarted,” Job 5:13, New Living Translation.
This is how God exposed these liars and made an open show of them, You do not know God. Leave Him out of your nonsense!
Contact: teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk
By Tony Prempeh
THE state of feeling rejected, could be a terrifying experience especially for those who have become used to fame. If not properly addressed, it could lead to depression and the consequences, could be disastrous.
When you are on top of your game in whatever profession you find yourself such that you become famous, a lot of people try to associate with you. The phone never ceases to ring and one is tempted to feel loved and very important.
When a disaster strikes and the fame or the money which was the source of the attraction fades away, the circle of friends and fans begin to shrink and the phone will start to stop ringing until the call stops voting completely.
You will be shocked at how people you considered friends, will no longer be calling you or pay casual visits as they used to. You will begin to notice that messages you leave after calling them and not getting a response are not replied to and that is when you begin to know who your true friends are.
One of the most popular movie stars was an actress called Sharon Stone. In an interview with one of the media houses that was published, she spoke about how people who should have come around to encourage her in her moment of depression, shunned her. The calls stopped coming.
This is what the Bible admonishes that the arm of flesh will fail you and therefore we should put our trust in God. It could be a very frightening experience and can easily lead to depression.
Human nature being what it is, people will want to get close if things are okay. Everybody wants to associate themselves with interesting things, famous people, rich people etc for mainly selfish reasons.
We need to develop the habit of putting our trust in God and relying less on human beings. The lesson we have to take along in life is that, no one marries his or her enemy so how come people who took vows that they will love each other become so hostile to each other that they want to go their separate ways in life? Such is the reality of life.
It is therefore prudent for people to recognise that, life is full of uncertainties and so there is the need to prepare your mind for uncertainties so that when they occur, they do not disorganise your mental sanity.
A lot of people have experienced situations where people who they could have sworn will never betray their trust have disappointed them when they were through challenging moments.
If there is one thing famous people should desire, it should be the ability to identify who are true friends are. Countless stories abound regarding incidence of celebrities who have lost their shine and their wives divorcing them soon after.
It is sometimes useful as a famous or rich person to sign a prenuptial agreement before marriage to safeguard or protect yourself from any future unpleasant surprises.
People can be very pretentious these days, it goes both ways. There is this real life story where a man married a divorced wealthy woman and convinced her to sell her house so they could build a new one together, with the excuse that people are gossiping that he is being housed by a woman.
The woman agreed and they put up a new building. After a few years the man asked for a divorce, only for the woman to realise that the land on which the building was situated, was bought in the man’s name.
This can drive a person insane, if you are not mentally tough and this happens to you. When people hear that you are homeless, a lot of your so-called friends will stop calling, so that you do not become a burden on them.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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‘But, er …. I don’t even know your name’.
‘Paul. Paul Allotey. I’m Sarah, by the way. Paul, why don’t you leave me here, since this is the last important thing I’m doing today’.
‘Okay. Now Sarah. I was just thinking. You will be here at the cafe for about an hour. By then it will be about twelve thirty. Then, you would be thinking of buying yourself some lunch, to eat here or to take home. So if you would please allow me, I will take you to one of the nicest eating places in town, and after you have sorted that one out, then I can drop you home. Just that one errand, then I won’t bother you again’.
‘You are not bothering me at all. You are being very kind to me. And I just realised you are a mind reader too. The last item on my agenda was lunch’.
‘I’m so glad I appeared at your doorstep, just in time’.
‘Okay. Now Paul, since you say the cafe is a comfortable place, let’s go in together, and you can do your work while I get my application done’.
‘Okay, Sarah. Thanks. Let’s go’.
We got back in the car at eleven forty-five.
‘So where are we going, Paul?’
‘To Royalty restaurant. It’s a twenty minute drive away’.
‘So, do you enjoy your job?’
‘Most certainly. I won’t change it, not even to be President. And am I right to say that you are preparing to enter the university?’
‘That’s my plan. I hope it works’.
‘It will, if you are determined, and disciplined. You look very much like a disciplined person’.
‘Thank you very much’.
We arrived at Royalty in twenty-five minutes, ‘You are joining me for lunch, Paul’.
‘Thanks for the honour, Sarah. But the bill is on me’.
‘Aren’t you taking on too much for one day?’
‘I never do anything that is bigger than me, Sarah’.
Over the next hour and a half, we discussed fashion, local and international politics, and sports, as we ate and relaxed. Finally, he drove me to the shop.
‘I will never forget you, Paul’.
‘I’m glad to have been helpful. But if you don’t mind, I’ll say it again, your husband is extremely lucky. You are really beautiful’.
‘Thanks again. But do you mind if I call you sometime in the future?’
‘Certainly not. Let me write it here. I will not ask for your number, for obvious reasons. But I will be looking forward to hearing from you. And hopefully, I will see you next month, when I call to drop your bill’.
‘Okay Paul. See you then’. What a lovely day, I said to myself as I opened the front door. I closed the shop and got home by seven. I went straight to the bedroom, stood in the mirror and took a good look at myself. ‘You are a very beautiful woman, Sarah. Never forget that’. I will not forget that, again.
Over the next several weeks, Martin and I had very little to do with each other. In the morning he ate his breakfast and after a shabby ‘I’m going’, he left. He came home around eight at the earliest, ate his dinner and, already soaked in beer, went off to sleep.
He spent the greater part of the weekends at the club house with his friends, playing tennis and partying. My mind was focused on furthering my education, so I didn’t complain to him, and didn’t bother to inform my parents about what was happening. I had decided that I would only take action if he lifted his hand against me again. I spent my free time reading all manner of interesting stuff on the internet, and chatting with my sister on WhatsApp.
One evening, he came home at about eight, rushed to the bedroom and rushed out. An envelope, obviously containing money, dropped out of his pocket, and I picked it up and followed him. I was going to call him and give it to him, but I noticed that there was a young woman in the car, so I went back in, counted it and put it in a drawer in the hall. He came back after some ten minutes.
‘Excuse me, I dropped an envelope containing money. You must have seen it’.
‘Yes, I saw it. Actually, I followed you, and was about to call you and hand it over to you when I realised that there was a woman in the car, so I came back in. I counted it. One thousand cedis.
‘Well let me have it. I have to be going’.
‘I will let you have it if you will tell me who the woman in the car is, and why you are going to give her that amount of money’.
‘Listen, if you waste my time, I will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Give me the money now!’
‘Here’s what we will do, Martin. I know you will give money to her anyway, so I will give it to you, if you will withdraw the threat you just issued. But I want you to know that I will be taking some steps from tomorrow. Things are getting out of hand’.
‘Okay, I’m sorry I threatened you. Can you please give me the money’. I handed it over to him, and he ran out’.
The following morning, I waited for him to finish having breakfast, and told him I wanted to have a word with him urgently.
‘You better be quick. You know I’m going to work’.
‘Well, I want to inform you that I will inform my parents, and your parents, about the situation in this house. As I said yesterday, things are getting out of hand. You spend most of your time drinking. You get drunk every evening, and through the weekend. And you are also spending your time and money on a prostitute’.
‘How dare you? One more stupid word from you …’
‘Am I lying, Martin? You have just started life, yet you are behaving like a rich, elderly man who has already seen his children through university, and can afford a life of fun. As I said, I’m going to inform our parents. Maybe your parents can straighten you out before it is too late’.
‘Look, we can talk this evening. It’s nothing like what you are saying’. He walked away, shocked.
That evening, I was expecting to have a meaningful discussion with him, but his mother called early in the evening to offer me some ‘advice’. Her son had called to say that certain developments at home were disturbing him so much that they were beginning to affect his work.
And, ‘as a loving mother to her daughter’, she was advising me to submit to my husband, and support him in prayer, and not ‘drive him from home’. Men would always be men, and she was telling me ‘from experience’ that no matter how much time Martin stayed away from home, he would always come home to me.
She had been a young wife before, so she understood the challenges I was facing. So I could be assured that if I followed her advice, all would be well. And, of course, she didn’t allow me to tell my side of the story.
Martin came home very late, and very drunk. And from the next morning, he carried on as before. With some hesitation, I called my dad and told him all that had gone on.
‘Well, my daughter. I’m not going to say “I told you so”. I was only trying to protect you. So here’s what we’ll do. Continue doing the best you can, and try not to give him any excuse to harm you, but if things continue to deteriorate, I will take you back.
A couple of days later, my cousin Dinah arrived in Accra from Brussels, having completed her medical course. With Martin’s agreement, I went to Koforidua and spent a couple of days. I spent most of the time chatting about her experiences in the US, but we also discussed my relationship with Martin, and she endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if Martin’s behaviour did not change after two weeks Elaine informed Mom and Dad. We endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if there was no change in two weeks.
Dinah returned with me to Takoradi. Her plan was to spend a couple of weeks, and return to Accra to be posted. I called Paul Allotey, and asked if he would meet her for lunch and, if possible, show her some interesting spots. Delighted, he suggested that we meet at Royalty the next day.
I told Martin about it, to remove any possibility of future disagreement over ‘going out with men’.
‘It’s fine with me’, he said, ‘if, of all the people who could show your sister round this town, you chose a borla man. Doesn’t that indicate the kind of person you are?’
‘ First of all, Martin’, I’ve spoken to him a few times, and he comes across as a decent guy, so I think it is rather unfortunate that you are writing him off when you don’t know him’.
By Ekow de Heer
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