Opinions of Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Columnist: Kwarteng, Francis

NPP & God

But, let us suppose that if a lesser god like the NDC’s umbrella “Samba” can crush the superior elephant “God” of the NPP twice at the polls, then what does this say of the NDC’s lesser god and the NPP’s superior “God”?

As well as of the superior “God” which he, Pastor Edmond, purportedly worships?

Let us also point out that Pastor Edmond is not implying or saying all his church members, colleagues and friends are NPP?

And if some are indeed NDC members which may likely be the case, are they also believers in “Samba”? If so, what happened to the once-jealous God?

What about those members of Pastor Edmond’s extended family who are NDC?

Are Ghanaian pastors who are members, sympathizers and supporters of the NDC also “Samba” believers?

If Pastor Edmond says his God had told him in his vision that Akufo-Addo truly won the election, why then will he, the same Pastor Edmond, warn Ghanaians not to vote for the NDC?

Is Pastor Edmond implying that this constituency of the Ghanaian electorate that he is warning, is more powerful and intelligent than his God?

Evidently this “warning” smacks of Pastor Edmond’s strategic shenanigans, thus also exposing his pastoral charlatanry as well as his purportedly divinely inspired vision as a self-made, self-serving, self-gratifying and self-edifying concoction, for the prophetic content of the vision in question and his “warning” to Ghanaians both essentially make God an author of confusion.

That is, this “warning” turns one of the central pillars or strongest foundations of the New Testament completely upside down, which is that God is not the author of confusion.

Yet we also have the same God creating the Devil or Satan and using the blood and death of Christ to atone for man’s sins!

The same God who reportedly created humanity but claimed Jews, a section of humanity, as a “chosen people.”

Is this not the same God who created the “Samaba” of the NDC?

One then wonders what all these mean in the larger scheme of secular Ghanaian politics, given that both President Mahama and Akufo-Addo are professed Christians and that God, in his infinite, can directly make his intentions known to these two men if he so chooses.

The point here is that secular politics should be entirely exclusive of religious sentiments or politics, the separation of church and state.

On the other hand it does take rocket science to understand another strange phenomenon that, Pastor Otabil, perhaps the “smartest,” the most outspoken and the most visionary among the Christian choir of modern-day prophesiers, knows his friend Akufo-Addo is not going to win the upcoming elections hence his subtle or more nuanced call to Ghanaians, to take the country back from politicians.

Of course, he would not have issued this call if God had revealed to him in a vision that Akufo-Addo had won the elections.

Pastor Otabil, an open sympathizer of the ethnocentric NPP and a possible registered yet closet member of this same party, may have been explicitly told so in one of his numerous divinely inspired political visions.

In fact all these divinely inspired political visions are man-made for purposes of political expediency.

Yet the same outspoken juggernaut Pastor Otabil and his church, the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), are finding it almost impossible to deal with the “Temple Refuse” or the “Rubbish of Babel,” a figurative allusion to the poorly managed or mismanaged national economy.

This is why Prophet Kobi is right to criticize the poor management of the national economy under Finance Minister Seth Terpker, although the his [the former’s] characterization of the latter as “blockheaded” was rather unnecessary, disrespectful, or grossly uncalled-for.

If in fact managing a national economy were that easy as Prophet Kobi made it out to be, then Pastor Otabil would surely have eliminated the “Rubbish of Babel” or the “Temple Refuse” by now, without sweat.

And yes, Prophet Kobi is also right to say that the government should accept criticism but, are Bishop Obinim, Prophet Kobi himself, and the larger Ghanaian church above criticism? In other words do these entities and the throng of men and women who follow them accept criticism?

What Prophet Kobi should know is that political economy is not as intellectually and emotionally simplistic a subject matter as soteriology or prosperity theology.

Even liberation theology is a more relatively complex intellectual undertaking than the emotional doctrines of soteriology and prosperity theology…And Prophet Kobi should have known this!

It is rather ironically laughable that while Apostle Kwadwo Safo uses his “head” for inventive purposes such car manufacture, Prophet Kobi uses his “blockhead” to donate imported cars to members of his bodega church in the strategic and tactical likeness of Oprah Winfrey who, not too long ago, used her powerful business model of philanthropic paternalism to expand her viewership and listenership, hence an increased commercial patronage of her shows, personality, products, and brand.

Again, Apostle Kwadwo Safo uses his “head” in pursuit of scientific, industrial and technological “breakthroughs” while Prophet Kobi uses his “blockhead” to endorse Bishop Obinim and to prophecy about the latter’s supposed greatness or meteoric rise in the miracle and prophetic ministries.

How can “blockhead” Prophet Kobi elevate Bishop Obinim while a member of the larger African Christian clergy from Nigeria, Emmanuel Eni write a controversial book “Delivered from the Power of Darkness,” to condemn scientific, technological and industrial thinking?

What is more, Prophet Kobi’s view that Ghana needs new leadership is neither here nor there. Ghana rather, including the church, needs spiritual awakening and intellectual, moral revolution to bring the sort of change we all desire.

No wonder these so-called Men of God are crucifying themselves, or even want to be crucified, if Akufo-Addo does not win the presidency.

These fake Christian clerics who are more likely to crucify themselves for money (“mammonism”), adulterous sex, and material things than for the God they claim to worship!

Yet also, it is this same hypocritical Akufo-Addo who does not even want to see the Face of God in Ghana or in any part of Africa, the same God these hypocritical prophesiers claim to worship.

Akufo-Addo will rather want to see this Face of God in Europe and the State of Israel, Jerusalem (“Wailing Wall”) to be precise.

But he, that is Akufo-Addo, will not bring Europeans and Jews down to cast votes for him in Ghana.

And let these fake apocalyptic prophesiers crucify themselves for both President Mahama and Akufo-Addo while the country progressively becomes poorer, underdeveloped, and while politicians go on stealing sprees!

What if neither Akufo-Addo nor John Dramani Mahama becomes the next president?

Lest we forget, where is Rev. Owusu Bempah with his own political or election predictions?

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Some web portals report on this Shakespearean draggle-draggle of a fake prophesier, Prophet Kobi (with our emphasis):

“The man of God [Prophet Kobi] hinted that, in the spiritual world, the numbers 7 and 11 respectively denote bad luck and hence the date for the general election should be changed. He added that if the date is not changes the consequences would include bloodshed and a coup d’état.

“Prophet Kobi mentioned that the leaders have done Ghanaians no good in choosing Nov 7 because it will only lead the country into crisis…”

Baloney!

It beats the imagination why the Ghanaian media allow these backward-thinking medieval prophesiers platform to spew garbage, to spew their unscientific nonsense!

Oh Ghana, how can you tolerate these fustilarian doomsayers in your midst? Who is going to lead this bloodshed, this coup d’état…The Satanic “God” of Prophet Kobi or Prophet Kobi himself?

How many days make a week?

What is the total number of apostles Jesus entrusted with the Great Commission after his purported resurrection…if not 11 (excluding Judas Iscariot)?

Were the 11 apostles who successfully went about executing the task of the Great Commission in the first century “bad luck”?

Did Prophet Kobi and Jesus Christ pass through ages 7 and 11?

What did Prophet Kobi do when any of his children passed though ages 7 and 11?

How many continents are there?

How many oceanic bodies are there?

Sometimes, listening to our airwaves we are compelled by the “uneducated” utterances or rhetoric of these educated men and women, so-called Men of God, to believe that they are either on heavy psychotropic drugs or been bribed by our duopolistic politicians to do their bidding, or simply just both, because it is always almost difficult to follow the emotional illogic of their minds!

REFERENCES

Ghanaweb. “Crucify Me If Akufo-Addo Does Not Become President…Pastor.” June 9, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Ghana Needs New Leadership…Prophet Kobi.” June 13, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Terpker Is Blockhead; He Must Be Sacked…Prophet Kobi.” June 10, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “ICGC Cries Over Heap of Refuse.” May 10, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Coup D’etat Looms If Nov. 7 Is Not Changed…Prophet Kobi.” June 13, 2016.