The average Ghanaian is very much aware of the proliferation and rise in stature of self-ordained pastors and their mega churches in our communities. They have overtaken the mainstream churches in membership by all account. But as we have seen over the ages, their churches die out with them in the end. In the meantime most of them do a lot of financial and psychological harm to the communities they serve.

Every so often current events bring back memories of similar situations that happened many years ago. The 1960s and 1970s produced a cadre of conmen aka “azar” in Kumasi. These fellows were thought of as the worst in society but they were allowed to carry on their shady schemes with impunity at the major Kumasi lorry parks. They targeted the traveling farmer. Little children and adults watched the humiliation meted out to these strangers with both amusement and disgust but did nothing about it. We gave assent to the old saying “a fool and his money are soon parted”, not recognizing that it was not a fair competition since the traveling farmer was out of his league.
The recent video recordings of a pastor in Ghana, boasting of his ability to turn into a snake and also walk with Jesus, whether in physical or in spiritual form, should give the society some pause. The development here with this pastor is eerily similar in its fundamentals to the modus operandi of the Kumasi conmen.

The ring master of the crooked group was called Ky?ade??, which literally translates into “The Benefactor”. He was from the Ashtown area, of course. He had an associate from the Asafo area called Urigee, an impeccable dresser, with other people’s money. They always accorded the trusting farmer free bets “w? no free ma me” at whatever con game they were hawking. They had a large python helping out with “miracles” by spitting out cheap trinkets. Of course the farmers always “won” at the free bets until they decide to put money on it. Many a transiting farmer and unwary traveler lost whatever was in their waistbands and pockets to these lowlifes. The only time we can recall them temporarily going out of business was one Christmas holiday period in the early 1970s.

One day a gentleman who was in transit at Kejetia from a long working stint on a farm in the Brong Ahafo area came across the conmen. He was loaded with all his money and was lured into Kye?ade?? and his henchmen’s trap. The conmen swindled every penny out of him including his lorry fare. It is alleged that he pleaded with them for the lorry fare to his destination but they refused. The gentleman took a few steps away from the thieves den and grabbed a machete from a nearby store.

He lost it. He went on a killing spree and when it was over many innocent people lay dead including the gentleman. Tragically society lost a known hardworking man from a cocoa farm and other innocent people. Ky?ade?? and his group who did not contribute anything productive to the society they lived in survived the carnage. The citizens of Kumasi finally woke up and demanded that Ky?ade?? and his ilk be shut down. For a while there the authorities shut down Ky?ade??’s business.

Currently, the snakeman pastor sets the bait with wild but calculated claims for those who wear their broken dreams and unfulfilled aspiration on their sleeves. They are desperately looking for someone to tell them what they want to hear.

To the faithful or should we say the unwary, the pastor has “powers and anointing”. The afflicted are looking for solutions because based on their perceptions of how the world works, there are supernatural answers to their problems. Therefore they believe a pastor with “powers and anointing” who walks with Jesus and can turn into a snake holds the keys to unlocking the solutions.

Then the con game moves into the fleecing phase. Now, with the faithful whipped into shape by way of the claims of miraculous acts come the sale of numerous mementos and anointing oils in addition to the constant pleas for “planting seeds”. In the end, the poor followers are left helpless, monetarily.

Furthermore, the snakeman pastor needs to constantly step up the empty rhetoric and make wilder claims. This is to outdo the last outrageous claim that may have brought in thousands of cedis already or the one-upmanship of his competition to generate more cedis.

We have seen this episode before with the Rev. Jim Jones who left the USA for Guyana in the 1970s. Rev. Jim Jones was ignored for years by the American public despite evidence of his mental instability. He finally came under the public’s scrutiny for his outrageous claims and acts. He quickly fell apart and took thousands with him.

The classic satirical American novel “Elmer Gantry” by Sinclair Lewis was loosely based on the corruption and hypocrisy in the revivalist and fundamentalist movement in the 1920s Kansas City, USA. The era of the 1920s in America was very similar to today’s Ghana by way of: mass education and new found ability to read the Bible literally, mass movement to the larger cities and towns from the farmlands and the need to belong to a group in the new environs in place of the lost connections. The one-man run charismatic churches step in to fill the void. Give them old time religion!!!

The Rev. Dr. Elmer Gantry (do the titles sound familiar), conman extraordinaire, of the novel plied his trade with shameless abandon. He was at the same time very successful at it. The city of Boston, Massachusetts was the first city to ban the sale of the book as sacrilegious when it was published in 1927. The book eventually became a bestseller around the USA and was later adapted into a movie. Trailers of it can be found on YouTube. Today you will be hard pressed to find much of organized religion much less fundamentalism in Boston, arguably the best educated populace in the USA.
This “I walk with Jesus” pastor is losing touch with reality, yet thousands still throng to his church. Such is the sad underbelly of charisma! This pastor is one day going to make a final big claim he cannot fulfill, not that he has fulfilled any past claim. He may end up demonstrating the old Akan adage, “f?r?? ne owuoo de?, fanyinam owuoo”, it is better to quit life than lose face, which is the fate that befell the Rev. Jim Jones. It seems like the Ghanaian public is doing what the Kumasi public did with Kyeade?? by ignoring all the warning signs until the big one happens. We certainly hope that the security agencies, while still respecting religious freedom, have their ears to the ground within this pastor’s inner circle to act with expedition on any apocalyptic possibilities.

We know that we all react differently to tough situations in our lives. But how hard is it to ignore such an ignoramus? What about just living by the Golden Rule and John Wesley’s “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. … To all the people you can. As long as ever you can”, since the Grace is already given?

We hope that someday the children of Ghana will be encouraged to show healthy skepticism towards what is being taught to them. That may be one sure way that future generations will be bold enough to challenge outrageous claims by those in authority, including the church.

In the meantime, calling Boston for tips or Anas anyone? Or long live the resurrected Ky?ade???

By F. Yaw Berkoh Nketia yawberkoh@yahoo.com and David Mahony Owusu-Hemeng davemahoney@sbcglobal.net