The Reverend Dr Lawrence Tetteh, the Founder of Worldwide Miracle Outreach, says the Police cannot stop the Church from making prophetic statements on December 31.

“In every community, we have the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Police should not use the attitude of a few bad ones against the hard-earned reputation of the majority of the Clergymen. The work of the Church should not be taken for granted,” he said.

Contributing to discussions on the ban on pastors making panic prophecies on December 31, Rev Tetteh disagreed with the directives of the Police, saying: “We have to be very careful not to throw the baby with the water away”.

“I am the first to agree that some of my colleagues have been irresponsible with their statements during December 31, by pronouncing death and horrifying things, but that should not undermine the fact that prophecies are real, and it is not in the place for the Police to determine what prophecy should be given at the end of the year.

“I believe that should be considered an insult to the Church, and I personally take a strong objection to the Police assuming that authority,” he said.

The Clergyman said Ghana was a very religious community and that Ghanaians took December 31 very seriously because there were many people who did not get the opportunity to go to Church, except on that day to reaffirm their faith in God.

“Whether we like it or not, in the Bible, prophecies are real and are of God, and the fact that somebody has given a scary prophecy does not mean that the Police should give such a ‘blanket’ statement that gags the Church.

“It is very dangerous and undermines freedom of expression, freedom of views, and freedom of worship, and I think it is wrong for the Police to make such a pronouncement,” he stated.

Rev Tetteh urged the Police to engage such pastors and talk to them instead of making a general statement, stressing that the organs of government should be very mindful not to forget that, but for the religious community, everything would have been doomed.

“We should also consider the Bible because there were prophecies that Nathan had to give to David. There are prophesies that are for the nation and those that are for individuals.”

He said the Police should be thinking about a variety of issues on December 31, such as armed robbery and not what the Church was doing, stressing “a nation without a prophetic word is lost”.