Prophets and clowns

After my last opinion titled, “Mighty America and founders’ nonsense”, comrades have asked me if I was not afraid of how I handled things. 

Implanted in my heart is something grave than fear but not drawn from the dread they were referring to the fear of the consequences of not saying what I ought to say. 

It was in 1996 that a Reverend Father in a Cathedral now elevated  Minor Basilica in Navrongo baptized and anointed me; Prophet, King and Priest. At that moment, this worldly fear for which some of my comrades are enslaved to was exterminated in my heart. In its stead was a new one: The fear of the Lord.

Indeed I am a prophet and I accept it as a divine favour. The choir had sung the VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS (Come Holy Spirit), and the Bishop now late as he lay his sacred hands on my head, imparted the Holy Spirit which saw the demons in me beg for mercy. When they departed, the migraine that had tormented me since childhood instantaneously disappeared. A sudden movement was felt and I became a new being.

The flicker of candle flame handed me by my godfather, Gabriel Akanlu now late too, carried a weighty significance. The candlelight, its symbolism and religious command, to say the least, was to illuminate the paths of others and myself. This, he had warned will be tedious but the light I must hand to the other godsons soon to be born. Quite often, I made the light die through my despicable deeds but with confession, faith, repentance and grace, it is relit.

Ghana is blessed with a lot of prophets. They are in every religion. The importance of Prophets cannot be understated. They have the power to make out of a nation; fire-eaters, fearless warriors, architects of obelisk and pyramids, storehouses of grains and cereals and above all to forewarn the nation of imminent danger. Prophets are also dangerous especially when their prophecies come from something else either than God. In this case, those for whom they lead or pretend to lead are reduced to clowns. The world in which we live now has made most of us fear to accept the title prophet which we assume through baptism and other godly mediums. Apart from the simple fact that Prophets must witness the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, other self-acclaimed have taken it to another level.

Some of them with their clowns of followers have been commanded to eating grass, snakes, burying followers alive, spraying themselves with insecticides, flying on broomsticks to heaven amongst other strange things. The clowns have become unquestionable followers lame in spirit, myopic in faith. Be as it may be, I think for the grandeur of God Almighty such things are allowed to happen. How will we know first of all a false prophet from a genuine one unless there is a situation where their madness of rituals go wrong?

Common sense is not common. 

Though things of the spirit cannot be subjected to the interpretation of worldly knowledge, the WASSCE candidate who went to the prophetess for fortification and allowed herself to be oiled and actually held a naked flame handed her by the prophetess has to know the basic science taught her in the classroom. When has it ever happened that oil is not combustible…? One may argue water and fire were friends in the days of Elijah and Baal’s Prophets. The charring of the student and the arrest of the prophetess indicate clearly there is truly a different God of Elijah and of the prophetess.

We all are prophets but at different levels. Just as we are all prophets’ at different levels we can also be clowns at different levels. At a time when some prophets are warning we may import water in the near future if we continue to pollute our water bodies, others think what is important now is to live the day and allow tomorrow take care of itself. To them, God has enough water and will not be that wicked to let his people die of thirst. At a critical moment in the history of this country when there are indications the country risked a loss of sovereignty, the hitherto loud-mouthed prophets have suddenly become dumb. Perhaps they risk losing the favour found in the government or that their gods have asked them to pause a while.

Thanks to the political prophets the clarity which we seek in the mortgaging of our country is emerging. Common sense coupled with knowledge of scripture and grace should lead us.  God cannot be wicked to the people of Madina, Chorkor, Nima, Navrongo, Paga, and others so much such that, He afflicts them at will with malaria (MAL-ARIA) and Cholera. A look at the sanitation conditions of such places and others will indeed inform us that until we clear the gutters, dispose of refuse properly, God will continue to be wicked, the prophets will continue to deceive us, and perpetually we will be clowns. For He has, by divine command, tasked us to subdue the earth not the other way round.