The Head of the Eastwood Anaba Ministries, Rev. Eastwood Anaba, has charged Ghanaians to stop idolising pastors and other public figures as that is detrimental to the growth of society and the people’s relationship with God.

“It is sad to note that people, even religious folks, always want to elevate religious leaders and other public figures to cult status. Virtually, they want to worship us. That is what I call the hypnotising power of man’s personality,” he said.

Rev. Anaba was speaking to The Mirror in an interview ahead of the Love Revolution Conference 2013 to be held at the Accra International Conference Centre from Wednesday, June 5 to Friday, June 7.

The conference would be held on the theme: “Speak the Word” and it will be in two parts; the morning and evening sessions starting from 9 a.m and 5:30 p.m. respectively.

Speakers at the three-day event include Pastor Mensah Otabil of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Rev. James Saah of the Action Chapel, Madam Rosemond Anaba and Rev. Eastwood Anaba.

Rev. Anaba explained that the theme of the conference was meant to draw people’s attention to the Word of God, which he said is the foundation on which we should build our lives. “Thus we are going to talk about the Word of God as one of the ways of counteracting the hypnotising power of man.”

“Look at how preachers, entertainers, sportsmen, politicians, academicians and other top public figures mesmerize us. We, therefore, speak the word to keep people connected to God instead of putting their trust in man,” the preacher stressed.

He urged politicians, especially, to desist from confusing the masses by making numerous promises and failing to honor them. Politics, he said, should be about getting people to coexist peacefully.

“The politicians should work together towards a common national objective to develop the country and promote national sovereignty, promote self-sufficiency and also empower us to reach out to other nations,” he added.

Again, he advised politicians to begin to “wear their party colors in the manner that footballers wear their jerseys – they wear the colors only when they are playing matches; after that they take them off and get together as friends with everybody.”

He observed that the world, and for that matter Ghana, was in challenging times, pointing out that the quality of the human being was reducing while technology was getting smarter.

“Mobile phones, televisions, computers, etc., have improved while human life,” he said, “is on the decline as people now live shorter; morality is weakening, man looks weaker and is more susceptible to diseases.”

“Morality has weakened to the point that the traditional and customary societies of the past had more moral values than the church today. Some time ago, when you talked about religious people you were talking about the peak of moral standards,” he reminisced.

The Word of God, he said, is the weapon with which man can change the society and resist the negative changes that are coming up.

The Love Revolution aims at conscientising the people about the need to love God and their fellow human beings. “The more we mention love, the more it stays, and we believe that the love of God will take hold of our hearts so that we can enjoy the true values of life, which include care for one another, justice and high moral standards.”