Refrain from prophecies to avoid tension
The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC), Rt. Rev Dr Paul Kofi Fynn, has urged Ghanaian pastors and preachers of God’s word to refrain from prophecies that would create tension and needless worry among the citizens.
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He particularly mentioned prophecies on election results, the pronouncement of death on people as declarations that had the tendency to plunge the nation into chaos.
“Unfortunately, the gullible followers of these so-called prophets include the poor widows, graduates, academics, professionals and politicians who ought to know the truth,” Rev. Fynn said at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
The purpose of the press conference was also to throw light on some of the happenings the ELC considered to be unbiblical and unreligious.
Some of them include the mounting of giant billboards displaying the faces of well-known pastors and bishops and the use of the pulpit to engage in political discourse.
More destruction
Rev. Fynn said a lot of Christians had allowed the prophecies of pastors, archbishops, bishops and self-styled prophets to direct the course of their lives, adding that many were now experiencing fear and perpetual torment because of these prophecies.
“As a result of these prophecies, many lives and homes are being destroyed; husbands are divorcing their wives and wives are divorcing their husbands because of what a so-called prophet had said about them,” he said.
He said the emergence of many self-styled prophets who deceived people with destructive and untrue doctrines in recent times had created divisions among families, work, among others.
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Prophecy as Old Order
“Some of them, lured by money, fame and power, are giving all kinds of prophecies, including pronouncement on death, election prediction, jobs and financial breakthrough to unsuspecting people”, he said.
Rev. Fynn also bemoaned the soaring negative “prophetic declarations” that seek to create needless tension among the Christian community in the country.
Describing such prophecies as “spiritual malpractices,” he said those declarations would not bring any meaningful growth to the people and the nation at large.
Quoting Romans 16:17-18, he said: “I urge you, my friends, watch out for those who cause divisions and upset people’s faith and go against the teaching which you have received. Keep away from them! For those who do such things are not serving Christ our Lord, but their own appetites. By their fine words and flattering speech, they deceive innocent people”
On that note, he cautioned Christians to beware of false prophets who would come to deceive people, and added that “one does not need a prophet to determine the success in life but a study of the word of God and a communion with Him.”
Rev. Fynn said prophets belonged to the old order, noting that in the new order, God spoke through Jesus Christ and could only be done through reading, understanding and speaking the word of God.
He urged churches to reinforce Bible teachings in order to firmly ground their members, adding “we must not leave Bible teachings in the hands of laymen”.