President of Ghana Charismatic and Pentecostal Council, Reverend Paul Frimpong-Manso, has disclosed that giving of prophecies by faith leaders is not wrong but how it is delivered makes the difference.
According to him, prophecies must not infringe on another person’s freedom. Rev Frimpong-Manson explained that the country’s constitution guarantees religion and freedom of association but one’s freedom should be within the “framework” of the constitution.
Rev Frimpong-Manso lauded the Police for its initiative on prophecies. He revealed that “policing” is hinged on peace, safety and security of the public. As such, if there is anything that will bring peace, safety and security they should be on board. He commended the Service for being proactive to some of these things.
His comments follow the Ghana Police Service’s caution of Ghanaians especially religious groups and leaders on their end of year pronouncements, particularly how they communicate prophecies to their members and the general public.
“On the other hand, one’s freedom should not also affect another person’s freedom, safety or security. Where as a Christian and Bible preacher I believe in prophecies, that is God speaking to his people now… Some prophecies whether we like it or not will make some of us uncomfortable [and] some will give us comfort. To me, prophecy is not wrong but how we deliver it; the fears and the threats that are associated with [it]. So, the police statement I read some one line which gave me some form of consolation that they are not against prophecies, they are not opposed to it”.
Reverend Paul Frimpong-Manso
Prophecies during 31st watchnight
Rev Frimpong-Manso indicated that most of the prophecies that come especially during the 31st December watchnight service is about who will die. By virtue of this, he noted that what the police is only trying to say is that we should be cautious, ethical and must handle some of these things with care. Following this, he urged pastors to be circumspect in their prophetic pronouncements.
“We have already met them; I think some few months ago when the IGP took office. He invited all the faith leaders and we had a chat. The challenge was that, those people who actually give these prophecies were not part of the meeting… So, I remember people saying that the police are banning prophets. That was never the case but they were telling us how we can cooperate with them to bring peace in the nation”.
Reverend Paul Frimpong-Manso
Meanwhile, a legal practitioner, Kweku Paintsil, expressed that he has his doubt on whether there’s a proper legal bases for the police statement. According to him, he regards the police statement as any advice that any public interested body may wish to convey to citizens or people in this country.
“But the difficulty about the police statement as I find it is generally about the difficulty [in] enforcing it, what to say and what not to say. Don’t forget that it’s not only the criminal aspect of it, we also have the civil aspect of freedom of speech”.
Mr Kweku Paintsil
