The Minister in charge of the Assemblies of God Church at Agona Nyakrom, Rev, Baah Boison has advised the public to guard against people who call themselves pastors and prophets, as according to him, the appearance and utterances of these self-styled men of God leaves much to be desired.
Though he admitted that God has a way of calling one into His ministry and endowed them with different gifts, he however stressed that the activities of some of self-acclaimed men of God, and the directions they give to their unsuspecting congregation in the name of prophecy, sometimes makes one wonder whether those directions are from God
Rev. Baah Boison’s concern follows recent disclosure by the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital that most of the perceived pastors who preach in buses and at lorry stations and markets have some form of mental problems.
According to the PRO, majority of the so-called pastors are clients to the hospital, and visit the facility regularly for treatment, and therefore advised the public to be careful about the kind of prophecies some pastors give concerning them.
As a result of the revelation, Rev. Baah Boison has called on the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana Pentecostal Council and other Christian religious bodies to collaborate with the psychiatric hospital to identify and get rid of all such self-styled pastors with mental problems, before they do any harm to the unsuspecting public.
Meanwhile, the Gomoa East Dep. Pastor of the African Faith Tabernacle Church, Pastor Kofi Ngurumasi Esuon and the resident minister of the Christ Chapel Int. Mission, pastor James Akyerekwah have attributed the development to the introduction of other spiritual powers by some pastors into the ministry, just to gain fame and wealth.
According to them, people who use to practice occultism have now turned to pastors, using the Bible as are means to dupe the unsuspecting public so as to amass wealth by introducing all manner of tricks and mode of worships that are more idolic than Godly into the ministry,
They wondered and questioned why a man of God would demand the under wears of his congregation to give special direction to ward them from evil attack.
They described as such acts as unchristian with no biblical basis, and has therefore warned Christians to be wary of such self-acclaimed men of God.
In a related development, the minister in charge of the Agona Nyakrom branch of the African Faith Tabernacle Church, Snr. Pastor Paul Aidoo and Pastor Ekua Taata of Gomoa Manso have condemned what they describe as unnecessary criticism of spiritual churches by the some charismatic churches.
According to them, some pastors of charismatic churches have continuously criticized the mode of worship by spiritual churches because of the instruments as well as some items such as anointing oil, incense, Florida water among others they use, describing it as fetish, with recourse to ascertain the origin of those items.
Speaking in an interview with this reporter, Rev. Aidoo expressed shock why these charismatic churches have now turned round to use those, often selling them at exorbitant prices to their unsuspecting congregation.
By Robert Ayanful