Apocalypse That Never Came

Last Saturday saw some Ghanaians unduly anxious. They were not alone in their anxiety as they shared the apprehension of their doomsday colleagues in the US and elsewhere. They half-slept, awaiting a big bang of sorts to signal the commencement of the apocalypse or Armageddon but the prophecy of their doomsday prophets never came to pass, nor will it do so through their predictions. The American radio evangelist who threw the story around the world via social media and other channels succeeded in putting the world on edge. Many did not pause to question the sense in how the American planned ending it all- staying glued to a TV to behold how the end-time was going to unfold. Evangelist Harold Camping�s success in cunning, as it were, the whole world into seemingly buying into his doomsday craze is not in doubt. We might be able to overlook the American evangelist but not the few Ghanaian evangelists who have also bought into the craze about the world coming to an end on a particular date or so. They sound as though they have entered into a sort of covenant with God. When they are therefore dishing out what can best be described as their complex form of hallucination, they do so with a certain spiritual authority that should not be questioned. That is how far we have come with managing religion in our part of the world. Religion, as the opium of the people, has been manipulated by unscrupulous spiritualists to their monetary advantage. These are men who continue to make attractive yet worrying headlines in the media about unthinkable scandals. It is our prayer that we are not beset with the challenge of a pastor asking his flock to drink a poisonous potion in preparation for the end-time. Given the idolization of some Men of God by their congregation, we can bet that many of these persons are those who would readily drink such potions and go straight to Heaven. These charlatans are threatening the good works of the real Men of God whose social interventions in our troubled country cannot be overlooked. After a heavy meal of banku and tilapia with freshly ground pepper and onion, or even palm oil enhanced okro soup as supper, these so-called Men of God retire to bed only to be disturbed by nightmares. Seeing trees and sometimes men with their feet up and heads down, they translate these esoteric sights to their congregation who accept them hook, line and sinker. We have had enough of the garbage called prophecies and would rather these so-called evangelists or prophets concentrate on cleaning our country of bad politics and enhancing the living conditions of most Ghanaians. Worsening the plight of an already-distressed people with weird pictures of an apocalypse that never is, should be the last prophecy we can contain. Shouldn�t these prophets of doom give us a break from this fear and panic prophecies?