Part one encapsulated the scheming guiles of “the men of God” and their irrevocable self-aggrandisement. It also highlighted the lack of reflective thinking skills of Christians who only want adulterated, more 'palatable' forms of Truth, watered down and compromised for convenience, hence being swindled by the so-called men of God for their self-expansiveness. In this part, the focus will be on the authorities nonchalance on the repulsive activities of the so-called men of God. Put succinctly, the authorities have failed to “fish out” these mountebanks.

The grief concern here is the atrocious activities of the so-called men of God are going on briskly and undetected by the authorities. It appears the policy makers have not been conned yet by these false prophets or they fear the repercussions of being labelled blasphemous by the uncritical church goers. A school of thought also frets our politicians do not want to risk votes, considering the massive church population. Thus, the policy makers nonchalance on the despicable activities of “false prophets”, such as noise making, illegal trading (anointing oil), torturing followers, fleecing of general public and unnecessary tax evasions. Not long ago, an old lady met her untimely death through the flagitious activities of the so-called men of God, through “anointing oil”. If the anointing oil is extremely dangerous, what is Ghana Foods and Drugs Board line of action? Do they fear of being labelled blasphemous? There is no justification for ‘GFDB’ to procrastinate their investigations into the efficaciousness and safety of “anointing oil”; notwithstanding the possible ramifications associated with the consumption of such “enigmatic concoction”. The worrying thing here is anointing oil is being administered multi-purposely by the gullible believers who are being fleeced by the “contemporary magicians”. Credible sources have revealed that anointing oil is used both externally and internally. This means that, the vast majority of users drink the anointing oil, and if so, how dangerous is that? I am not a medical practitioner; however, continuous drinking of “diluted oil” might not help with ones fitness. Anyhow, I stand to be corrected by the erudite medical experts out there. If it comes to light that prolong drinking of anointing oil causes complications, then my fear is it will bring untold pressure on the National Health Service. This is because most users might end up falling ill from ceaseless drinking of anointing oil. In this vein, the prudent cause of action is for the authorities to begin sleuthhounding of repellent activities of the “contemporary magicians” who prefer to be called “men of God”.

Of course, in our anfractuous society, there is freedom of worship, however the worshippers must bear in mind that the non-worshippers also have the right to their privacy. In this regard, it is imperative for the authorities to intervene in the excessive noise making and come out with expedient cause of action to solve this long-standing quagmire-unnecessary noise making by some churches. I will entreat the authorities not to allow the so-called men of God to take the law into their own hands with gratuitous noise making that might have connotations on the long term well-being of residents-probable ear defection. I urge our policy makers to act now, because procrastination is not the solution to a potential problem!

Furthermore, there is no justification in allowing these swindlers take home all their incomes from their malpractices without income tax deductions. Put bluntly, why allow these fat cats to go scot free and then turn round and pursue low income earners such as market women for taxes from their meagre earnings? Of course, these churches have registered as charities-non profit making organisations, but do they deserve such benevolent status? I doubt it; they are making a lot of profits from illegal trading, in addition to ripping off their poor followers to feed their sophisticated lifestyles. They have been given charitable status in the view that they will help the needy in the society, albeit they have refused and still refusing to oblige. In brief, they prefer to rip off their poor followers to boost their bank balances. In my view, the “mushrooms churches” are not charitable, thus they must be given tax codes and let us start deducting taxes, which can be used to develop their communities. Unlike the orthodox churches, (Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican etc.); these “mushroom Churches” are not charitable in any means, so why give them concessions? It worth pointing out that the vast majority of Ghanaians owe a great debt of gratitude to orthodox churches for their unstinting missionary endeavours. In my view, orthodox churches deserve their charitable status in view of the numerous eleemosynary works, but not the “mushroom churches”.

As elucidated above, the activities of the unscrupulous men of God are causing a lot of anguish to many discerning citizens, thus the policy makers cannot look on unconcerned. In this regard, our policy makers must attach heightened importance to this quagmire, and implement stringent measures to curb the unscrupulous activities of self-acclaimed men of God, thereby protecting the society. Anyhow, the onus is on the truth seekers to exercise circumspection in their quest to enter the Kingdom of God. I urge you not to allow them to take you for a ride, because we are all equal in the eyes of Jehovah God.

K. Badu, UK.