Prophets and Politicians (2) – The Business & Financial Times

By Rev’d Fiifi Afenyi-Donkor

The recent failure of Prophet Bernard ElBernard Nelson-Eshun’s widely publicized prediction that Mr Kennedy Agyapong would win the New Patriotic Party’s national primaries has reignited a familiar debate about prophecy in Ghanaian politics. What drew attention was not only the prophecy’s inaccuracy, but that it came from a prophet whose earlier predictions were widely regarded as reliable.

In religious contexts where credibility is often measured by past “successful” prophecies, such a public failure raises pressing questions for believers and sceptics alike: Should one failed prediction diminish trust in a prophet, or does it invite deeper reflection on the nature and purpose of prophecy itself?

This moment calls neither for ridicule nor blind defence, but for a careful recovery of the biblical ethics of prophecy in public life.

Ghana’s Long Relationship with Prophecy

As I noted in my earlier article, “Prophets and Politicians,” https://thebftonline.com/2025/09/23/prophets-and-politicians/, Ghanaian leaders, from Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to the present Fourth Republic, have often sought prophetic counsel during times of uncertainty.

Prophetic influence goes far beyond politics. Many Ghanaians attend prayer meetings, follow prophetic messages on radio and television, and share them widely on social media. These messages offer hope, reassurance, or warning, shaping how people think about leadership, morality, and society. This widespread reach helps explain why failed public prophecies attract so much attention and debate.

Why Political Prophecy Remains Popular

This strong interest in prophecy is not only a religious issue; it is driven by social and political realities. In a political environment often seen as unstable, where personal connections can appear more important than policies, and where many people face economic hardship, prophecy offers a different way of understanding events.

It gives people a sense of control in situations where they feel powerless. Political events are reinterpreted as part of a spiritual story about God’s approval or judgment.

In this way, prophecy helps people manage uncertainty and fear about elections and leadership. When prophets and politicians publicly align, both sides benefit: politicians gain a sense of divine approval and access to religious supporters, while prophets gain visibility, influence, and relevance in public life.

This means that the demand for political prophecy is not simply a failure of rational thinking, but a reflection of deeper human needs for security, meaning, and influence in a democratic system that often feels confusing and unpredictable.

How Prophecy Developed in Ancient Israel

Prophecy did not begin with Israel. Many ancient Near Eastern societies practiced divination, dream interpretation, and oracles. Kings in Mesopotamia, for example, received messages from the gods through formal rituals.

What set Israel apart was the theological reshaping of prophecy. As Walter Eichrodt notes in The Theology of the Old Testament, Israelite prophecy was closely linked to God’s covenant with the nation.

After settling in the promised land, Israel faced pressures from monarchy, foreign alliances, economic inequality, and mixed religious practices. Prophets were not primarily fortune-tellers, they were covenant messengers, raised when leaders or the people strayed from God’s Law. Their task was to interpret events, call out moral failures, and guide the nation back to justice, responsibility, and loyalty to God.

Israelite Prophecy Compared with Modern Charismatic Practice

In ancient Israel, a prophet’s authority came from loyalty to God’s character and moral demands, not from popularity or how often predictions came true.

In contrast, much contemporary charismatic prophecy, especially in public and political settings, focuses on prediction, personal relevance, and immediate outcomes. Prophets are often judged by how many predictions “come true,” with their authority strengthened by media presence, large followings, and perceived spiritual power.

Authority shifts from moral accountability to public reputation, from ethical challenge to visible success, and from community discernment to individual prophet-centred platforms.

Israelite prophets often challenged political power at great personal risk. Figures such as Nathan, Elijah, Amos, Micah, and Micaiah confronted kings, exposed injustice, and spoke judgment without concern for approval.

Modern prophetic involvement in politics, however, moves toward supporting political interests rather than challenging them, risking the spiritual endorsement of partisan agendas or election outcomes.

Prophetic Mediation and Political Risk

Prophecy is always mediated, not raw revelation. Messages are filtered through a prophet’s language, imagination, social context, political assumptions, and moral disposition. What is presented as “what God showed me” already carries human interpretation.

This does not deny divine communication, but it underscores the fragility of human perception and the need for humility. Competing prophecies about the same event often reflect these limits rather than deliberate deception, highlighting the importance of communal discernment and ethical testing.

When multiple prophetic voices publicly contest a political outcome, prophecy risks becoming performance rather than moral witness. Political victories and defeats may be framed as spiritual conquests, sacralising partisan interests.

Treating electoral defeat as a spiritual failure can erode civic trust and peaceful acceptance of results. Prophets may shift from covenant messengers to validators of political power—a role Scripture never endorses. Israelite prophets were measured by truth, justice, and fidelity to God, not by which side they supported.

Prophecy operates where God’s sovereignty meets human responsibility. Spiritual insight complements, rather than replaces, ethical action. Over-reliance on predictive prophecy can inadvertently disempower citizens from the hard work of political discernment, policy analysis, and ethical accountability of leaders.

Scriptural Tests for Prophecy

Israelite prophecy operated within a clear moral framework, subjecting prophets to tests that protected the community and ensured integrity in divine communication:

• Moral Test: A prophet’s character mattered. Scripture warns against claiming God’s authority while living unjustly or exploiting others (Isaiah 1:15–17; Micah 3:5–11).
• Theological Test: Prophecy had to align with God’s character and covenant (Deuteronomy 13). Even accurate predictions were rejected if they encouraged injustice or false worship.
• Practical Test: Prophecy was judged by its effects on people and society (Deuteronomy 18; Matthew 7:16). Failed predictions required careful evaluation and accountability, not automatic dismissal.

Most Rev’d Prof. Johnson K. Asamoah-Gyadu, Theologian and Presiding Bishop of The Methodist Church Ghana, in Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity notes that in modern charismatic contexts, formal structures are often lacking, allowing failed prophecies to be normalized or reframed as spiritual insight without ethical reflection. This can shift prophecy from moral guidance to commentary on personal or political preference.

He recently warned through a Facebook post that some failures stem from deliberate deception, such as embellishing revelations, which violates the commandment: “Thou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” True prophecy is God speaking through human vessels, and misrepresentation demands humility, repentance, and careful ecclesial correction.

Lessons for Church and Society

1. Exercise Discernment: Evaluate prophetic messages morally, theologically, and practically; do not rely solely on reputation.
2. Uphold Integrity and Accountability: Prophets must maintain ethical and theological fidelity; leaders should ensure prophecy promotes justice and aligns with Scripture.
3. Balance Divine Guidance with Human Responsibility: Prophecy complements moral action; leaders and citizens must respond ethically and prudently.
4. Manage Social Impact and Foster Humility: Prophecies shape public behaviour; the Church should educate members about interpretation, and leaders must act with humility.
5. Consider Structural Oversight: Ghana’s prophetic landscape exists within a constitutional framework guaranteeing freedom of religion. Anyone can become a pastor or prophet with minimal oversight, often outside ecumenical bodies. One possible area for national conversation is whether voluntary ecumenical affiliation could provide ethical accountability. Licensing and internal oversight could be enforced, with the option to withdraw recognition for abuse or misconduct. Such a proposal inevitably raises concerns about entrenching hierarchies and stifling charismatic spontaneity. Any workable model must therefore be strictly voluntary, focused on grievance redressal and ethical education rather than doctrinal control. This approach does not “quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) but protects the integrity of prophecy and the credibility of the Church. This is not a call for state control of religion, but an invitation to continued public and ecclesial conversation about accountability in Ghana’s prophetic space, discussed at length in my earlier article, https://thebftonline.com/2025/09/23/prophets-and-politicians/.

Conclusion

The biblical understanding of prophecy, holding together God’s sovereignty and human responsibility, offers a way to interpret contemporary prophetic activity in Ghana. Failed public predictions need not invalidate prophecy, but they do demand humility and accountability.

Prophet Bernard ElBernard Eshun’s apology and accountability statements model how acknowledging error and submitting to discernment can strengthen rather than weaken prophetic credibility.

Prophecy should guide conscience, not control political outcomes. Scripture measures authenticity less by predictive success than by fidelity to God’s character and the pursuit of justice; even accurate predictions lose moral authority when they serve pride or partisan interests.

The task for Church and society is not rejection but responsible practice. Accountability restores trust, protects communities, and preserves integrity. With humility and ethical seriousness, prophecy can illuminate public life without replacing informed civic judgment, forming believers who honour genuine prophecy while resisting exploitation and participating responsibly in democracy.

The writer is an Ordained Minister of The Methodist Church Ghana who writes on theology, ethics and civic responsibility

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