play videoBishop Dr Adonteng Boateng says the directive by the IGP have been taken out of context
Police issues directive to prophets
Police directive to prophets described as attempt to gag pastors
Bishop Adonteng Boateng calls for discretion with prophetic utterances
American-based Ghanaian preacher, Bishop Dr Kofi Adonteng Booateng, has stated that he believes some prophets may have taken the recent directive by the Ghana Police Service on prophecies out of context.
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The police service, ahead of new year eve, issued a directive asking prophets and pastors to be circumspect in their issuances of prophecies. The directive was described by critics of the police and some church leaders as an attempt to gag the church.
However speaking in an interview with Oman Media from his base in America, Bishop Adonteng Boateng said the order by the police may have been taken out of context by prophets who seem to have issues with it.
"The way some pastors have received the directive by the IGP, I don’t believe that was what the IGP meant. But then everyone has the way they interpret what they read,” he stated.
Contrary to some of the meanings attached to the police directive, Bishop Adonteng Boateng explained that in his view, the police were only requiring pastors to be discreet about how they delivered their prophecies so as not to create tension for the nation and the recipients of such prophecies.
“Let’s take President Akufo-Addo for instance, he has a lot of loved ones; if I, Adonteng Boateng, who has a lot of following and is believed by many comes out to say excuse me to say 'he will die', it is going to create a lot of panic and troubles.
“What I feel the man (IGP) is trying to say is that everyone should be thoughtful about what they say. To say things like Shatta Wale will be shot is creating an avenue for confusion, so it is just for people to be circumspect in what they say,” he stated.
He noted that there is a need for pastors to adopt a more personal and private means of delivering sensitive prophecies.
In light of the police directive, some prophets have argued that they do not have control of themselves when they are in the spirit hence cannot decide the appropriate means to deliver a prophecy.
However according to Bishop Adonteng Boateng, such arguments do not hold and are not defensible with the teachings of the Bible.
"That is not true, the Bible says the spirit of a prophet is subject to the prophet. I am not condemning prophecy, I am speaking generally; What it means is that, if God gives you the gift of prophecy, he gives you wisdom in addition. As I am talking to you now if it is revealed to me that a woman is standing beside you and is in red pant and yellow brassiere, In my wisdom as a man the gift that I have to see as a prophet is subject to me.
“So the fact that I see her in white 'dross' [panty] with some ribbon on it does not mean I can burst out and say it without discretion, no. The spirit is subject to the man so when it is revealed to you, God wants it to be processed through your senses before you can say. I can't just tell you your mother is a witch. Someone might just go home and butcher his mother,” he stated.
