The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, has said prophets whose election predictions fail are not speaking for God, in a JoyNews interview.
Bishop Gyamfi, who has led the Catholic Diocese of Sunyani since 2003, said the Church’s view of prophecy rests on close study of Scripture and of the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms. A prophet, he said, is not a seer of future events but someone who receives a message from God, usually a conditional one. He pointed to God’s covenant with Israel, where blessing depended on obedience and refusal carried consequences.
He rejected the practice of people waking from a dream and announcing it as a divine revelation. Anyone who truly knows the Scriptures would not call that prophecy, he said. Turning to predictions of election winners that later prove wrong, he asked: “Is God lying?” Such claims show the speakers are not telling the truth, he said. They might be doing something else, but they should not call it prophecy.
A wider pushback from mainline churches
His remarks add the Catholic hierarchy to a growing pushback from mainline church leaders. In January, Methodist Church Ghana Presiding Bishop Professor Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu warned ministers not to “fake the voice” of God. He spoke after Prophet Elbernard Nelson-Eshun of Spirit Life Revival Ministries said an angel had revealed that Kennedy Agyapong would win the New Patriotic Party’s presidential primary on 31 January 2026. Former Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia won the contest and is now the party’s flagbearer.
The state has also stepped in. Elvis Ankrah, the President’s envoy for inter-faith and ecumenical relations, set up an online portal to review “sensitive prophecies”. The move followed the August 2025 helicopter crash that killed the defence and environment ministers, after which videos of pastors claiming to have foreseen an air disaster circulated online. Police have also warned that prophecies that cause fear or panic could lead to prosecution.
Some charismatic leaders reject outside control of prophecy. Perez Chapel founder Bishop Charles Agyinasare has argued that the police lack the means to legislate on what he considers a spiritual matter. Other defenders of failed prophecies have argued that a prophet is only a messenger and cannot be blamed if a message does not come to pass.
