Over the last years, religion-politics interrelation in Ghana has come to be a very divisive matter especially in the light of the making of prophetic statements by Christian pastors and self-proclaimed prophets. These religious leaders have taken the front seat in influencing political rhetoric particularly in the time of elections. Their claims about political outcomes have affected not only the general perception in society but have also created an allegation of ethical determinants of the fusion of divine declaration and electioneering activities. This tendency, commonly known as the prophetic propaganda, has become the highly effective instrument that effectively projects the message on any related political agendas and attracts media coverage, but, most significantly, promotes the personal gains of the prophets themselves. What we get is a disturbing picture of the church as a churchpreneurship or a commercialization of the church where spiritually based power is used as a means to an end at the expense of the profit and at the cost of the essential Christian message of salvation.
Obviously, Ghana is a religious nation, and the Christian religion holds the biggest pieces of the cake thus, there has been an increase in the number of prophetic churches and charismatic ministries. These organizations that are headed by charismatic individuals who have insinuated that they have Godly revelation have become more encroached in politics. It is not unusual to hear pastors during election months declaring a winner of the country; telling who God has chosen to rule the nation. These deliveries are not done in secret; instead, they are told with much pomp and flair usually at an audience in a church service or on the highly reported media. The prophets are not only oracles but instead an announcement of divine blessing or displeasure towards specific political leaders and political parties. The consequences are severe since a large number of believers will consider these prophecies seriously and as religious guidance that cannot be considered in the form of human intellect or political thought.
The influence of these prophecies to the political discussion is enormous. Depending on the utterances of the prophets, political candidates and parties are always referred to as divinely appointed to occupy the political office or spiritually doomed. This adds to the perilous dilemma of polarization of people in an imagination, where politics is no longer a contest of ideas, or policy, but rather a spiritual battlefield of the powers of God against the devil. As a result, voters can overlook the actual political debate, thus they can elect a candidate who is believed to have the divine support. This negates the proper democratic procedures, and miscarries civil duty, and transfers political liability to the pulpit instead of leaving it for the electorate to decide.
Surprisingly, these prophecies are not necessarily driven by the spiritual underpinning.. Looking beyond surface details will show that most of these prophetic statements are tactical and selfish. The phenomenon of churchpreneurship elucidates the emergence of a new type of religious leaders whose churches are operated as business-making establishments. The prophets have a thriving lifestyle based on visibility, power, and money, which go to another level when they take part in political prophecy. In line with political leaders, prophets end up getting access to some financial assistance, gifts, and state contracts or assignments. Their churches increase, their flock multiplies and their own good increases. The prophetic message that was supposed to lead believers into further spiritual development and salvation turns into an end in itself i.e. fame and fortune. These churches are entrepreneurial as reflected by their operations. Most of them demand money to consult, sell anointed materials and seek huge donations in order to get their miracles or breakthroughs. As a marketing strategy, political prophesies make one prophet stand out among the other in such a competitive market of religion. The bolder or the more controversial the prophesy or the shocker, the more the media attention. This media amplification only sends their power further deep into the ground making the prophets celebrities and their churches empires.
Nevertheless, this commercialized spirituality comes at a price; it water-downs the gospel. Creation of salvation, repentance and moral change as the central principles of Christianity have been lost in the highlights of sensationalism, materialism and political opportunism.
Consequences of prophetic propaganda on Ghana’s political culture.
To start with, it kills the independent thinking of the voters. When people think that political decisions are made by God, they are not inclined to challenge decisions and hunt down manifestos and leaders. Rather, they are susceptible on the feet of spiritual creations.
Secondly, it polarises the voters on religious grounds. Various churches have different parties to which they lean so that the church leaders can encourage their followers to vote as instructed by the leaders and this causes an aspect of politicizing the worship places and causing a fracture among the Christians.
Additionally, it discredits elections. Unsuccessful prophecies usually set the stage of accusing the elections of fraud or divine manipulation causing uproar and dissatisfaction with the democratic system.
Lastly, it undermines moral authority of the church. Because prophecies are always proven to be not materialised or turned out to be manipulative schemes, the less and the less people trust the religious institution, especially the younger and more critical people.
In summary, the popularity of prophetic propaganda in the political discourse in Ghana indicates the spiritual and cultural crisis at the so-called much deeper level. What would ideally be a divine vocation is in most case a profitable venture. The church is very powerful in moulding the society and its power comes with the responsibility. Prophets betray not only the religion but the country when in positioning the audiences, they become manipulators of the voters or those that propagate partisan strengths and those that use the position to enlighten and enrich themselves. In the interest of religion and the quality of democracy, Ghana is forced to rediscover the real prophet voice, a voice that tells power the truth, and advocates justice, a voice that leads the people to spiritual, as well as moral reform, not material wealth. Then the church will be a place of hope, instead of the place of propaganda and profit.
Derrick Desmond Nyame
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