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General News of Tuesday, 26 August 1997

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Rawlings Slams At False Prophets

Accra, Aug 25, -- President Jerry John Rawlings today called on church leaders to weed out the false prophets among them who have put Christianity into disrepute. ''The church has been invaded by people who have no true calling to it, but who see it as a means to the enrichment of themselves or the satisfaction of their egos. ''These people are breaking up homes, dividing families, and sowing seeds of suspicion and social tension misusing the name of Jesus Christ,'' President Rawlings told the 68th Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The week-long synod is being attended by 850 delegates from the 13 Presbyteries of the Church. It is under the theme: ''Troubled, But Not Destroyed.'' President Rawlings said there are some ''in the church leadership of whom the only priestly thing that can be said is the collar or garb of office that they wear. ''They are predators who exploit the worries, fears and even greed of simple people who seek the love of God,'' he said. President Rawlings asked the Pentecostal Council to investigate the activities of a foreign evangelist in Ghana who wrote derogatory things about Ghanaians while soliciting for funds for his missionary work from his home country. He said the evangelist, whom he did not name, circulated a letter in his country that in Ghana the government approves of every sermon before any priest mounts the pulpit. The evangelist also said that Ghana is so backward that cowries are used as the medium of exchange. President Rawlings said although the evangelist has apologised to the security agencies for his conduct, he would want the Ghana Pentecostal Council to look into the matter critically. He called for cooperation between Church and State because their activities complement each other. "Despite the tendency to neatly assign material matters to the State and spiritual matters to the Church, we must all acknowledge the inseparable inter-connections. ''If the Church cannot instil moral values, love of truth and integrity among its flock, the State will find it hard to implement the measures necessary for development and prosperity.'' The Reverend Anthony Antwi Beeko, the Moderator, said the church has acquired 10 plots of land at 13 million cedis at Koforidua to build flats for Ministers and elders of the Church who have no accommodation when they retire. A Vocational Training Centre will soon be opened to help school drop-outs and the unemployed acquire skills, Rev Beeko said, adding that 35 instructors have completed training for the project. The Church has opened a Metal Making Project in Takoradi to give job and business opportunities to females in non-traditional vocations. Rev Beeko said the Church has enjoyed cordial relationship with the State and hoped that this will continue. He called for the instilling of the "proverbial Presbyterian discipline" in the youth to help stem the tide of lawlessness in the society. The Church will deal drastically with all acts of indiscipline and discrepancies that are brought to its knowledge, he said stressing that "unless we do this, we cannot criticise wrong-doing in the society," he added.