BY THEODORE M.K. VIWOTOR
Ghanaians have once again witnessed the annual ritual of some men of God predicting events in the new year and many are left in a state of fear and panic over the latest list of those billed to die this year.

Tongues continue to wag on the way such prophecies always come with bad instead of good news, considering the goodness of God, who always wishes His children well.

There is a school of thought that believes that, since prophecies are meant to redeem mankind they ought not to come in a frightening form, creating fear and panic as the ones Ghanaians have become known for.

There is no need spending too much time explaining what a prophecy is but it matters much at this era of doomsday prophets, to question our attitude towards prophecies, especially ‘negative’ ones that always keep Ghanaians unleashing insults on prophets.

One may wonder if Ghanaians truly deserve the frightening prophecies men of God keep worrying them with. Also, do we truly understand prophecies?

Of course, yes we as Ghanaians, especially Christians, deserve to be bombarded with constant negative prophecies and even worse ones than what they are running away from.

It is mindboggling to see Ghanaians hurling insults at prophets who come out with unpleasant predictions, especially those announcing the deaths of personalities. Interestingly, many of such prophecies have come to pass, with some prominent persons losing their lives as predicted, whilst disasters, such the air crash at the Kotoka International Airport, have also happened to the amazement of the world.

Negative prophecies are not a new thing in this world, if one is to consider biblical records on prophecies. The Bible, a book of prophecy itself, predicts doom for the world we live in. In 2 Timothy 3, Bible made it clear that, “In the last days perilous times shall come….”

The Bible is replete with several prophecies of deaths and warnings of deaths and evil times for some people for several reasons, chief among them for sins that the people weren’t ready to repent from.

On many of such occasions, God ‘changed His mind’ when the people involved took the right steps. Thus, the purpose of such prophecies is to get men to repent, but not necessarily to punish them for God doesn’t delight in punishment but to put man on track for blessings.

What type of prophecies do we want?

It is interesting to think that Ghanaians expect to hear good news from God at the beginning of every year when they know very well that all is not well with the country spiritually and physically.

Spiritually, we need no soothsayer to tell us that, we have all contributed to polluting our country with all sorts of things that should be making God angry at us. I was shocked to the bone when I overheard an advert by a fetish priest on a radio station in Kumasi, inviting pastors to come for powers to boost the numbers at church. I thought I was dreaming.

If innocent persons can no more run away to the church as a safe haven from the devil just because some or many churches have now become camouflaged abodes of the devil, then you can imagine our spiritual state as a nation. The Church in any country is the key determinant of its spiritual health; when the church becomes sick it affects the nation. Suffice to say that, Ghana still has many good churches that follow God whole-heartedly.

It is an open secret that, many of our politicians consult a medium at one time or another, good or bad. Their consultations and interactions with the spiritual world, they are much aware, would certainly result in physical events; it is a basic spiritual knowledge that increase in spiritual activities results in increase in physical events.

When our spiritual health as a nation isn’t the best, what else can we expect but prophecies to warn us of calamities we have brought upon ourselves? If, in the midst of all that we are dong spiritually, we expect to hear prophecies of prosperity, success and all the goodies, then we have a big problem. We need to be put on our feet to avert the looming dangers.

At the physical level it is a pity to note that the sense of love, mercy and compassion is gradually eroding from the nation as Ghanaians subject each other to acts of wickedness. From the church through the political leadership of this nation to the lowest level, everybody is trying to outsmart and cheat the other.

I won’t waste time speaking about the acts of corruption that transcend our very fabric and how leadership at any level in the country is now seen as a means of taking advantage of others for selfish gains. And, we all dress well to church on Sunday after meting out our selfish acts to each other, only to return to the same acts from Monday to Saturday.

If God could be revealing all the bad things to our prophets all the time, then we should be thankful to Him for loving us so much as to want us to see the dangers ahead of us. If “God reveals to redeem” as we always say, then we should always thank Him.

He can only redeem evil things and logically can only reveal evil things. These revelations can only come from His prophets since, “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.”

Why then should we insult, malign and attack those who receive these revelations that God wants to redeem us from? Do we want to continue living in our sins and be deceived with sweet prophecies only to be caught off-guard by the devil who hasn’t changed his mind?

Let’s leave the prophets alone and rather consider how we can change our ways, draw closer to God and pray more for God’s will to be done in Ghana. His thoughts for us are for good, not evil and are meant for an enjoyable end. He loves us so has no option than to warn us of dangers ahead; dangers of evil being plotted by the devil on a daily count.