Hi folks, I promised a 'comeback on the aftermath of the 11/11/11 hoax. I must tell you though that only Ghanaians got busy about nothing regarding this apparent doomsday falsehood. None of my friends here in Portugal has any idea or even my social contacts on the cyber space had the least hint. I tried a search on the internet using certain key words like doomsday and nothing about Ghana's 11/11/11 obsession popped up. I for one never lost a sleep of this blatant false prophecy. But that is me! Many people in Ghana did though.So what is the 11/11/11 aftermath?
Many of us for reasons best known to us only feel shy to tell other people about our hometown. I really don't understand this attitude or the reason for it. At least I can attempt to appreciate the reason why some people try to cheat nature regarding their 'real' age but not this. Well, fortunately this is not the case for this man. He is a self-acclaimed prophet of God. It is obvious that such claims can never be challenged anywhere not even in the court. And we will never be able to ascertain the authenticity of such too. I am just waiting for the day that someone in Ghana will publicly declare that he/she is the prophet of the Devil. Yes if we can have many 'prophets and men of God, then logically the rest of us are what? The conclusion does not lie in my mouth to utter. There can't be a class distinction without a class system. If you are going to take a measurement of any variable, you will be confronted by the choice of measurement scale as your variable will determine. You may use one of four scales: Ordinal, Nominal, Interval or ratio. Similarly, we can't classify someone as a prophet of God or man of God if there aren't men of 'the old foe'.
And so it came to pass that there was no show. He now says maybe God changed his mind and he is now going to consult God to find out the reason. Preposterous! Why do you presume 'God changed his mind' when you are yet to get the reason from God? Is this an excuse to cover up your shame? Be careful. Who says he is ashamed? He must really be a very proud man. His town folks must be holding him in a very high esteem having brought them into the limelight and so much popularity. There is no gainsaying that a little known settlement called Zuarungu Tua has now firmly established itself on the tourist and religious map of Ghana if not the whole of West Africa. This is due to the claim or if you like the hoax by a certain Brother Peter Anamoah that his hometown Zuarungu Tua near Bolgatanga in the Upper East region was to be a safety for the righteous. Already his congregation at Machaira Community Church and a number of superstitious-minded Ghanaians including the media trailed him from all parts of the country to his hometown Zuarungu expectantly. This unpaid advertisement has if nothing, rewritten the history and changed the status of Zuarungu Tua for good.
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| Was Brother Peter Anamoah's proclamation of 'the end of the world' a false prophecy? |
What is however surprising to me and I believe many other Ghanaians is the apparent lack of interest shown by the Ghana Police Service in this drama. History has thought us that many of such self-acclaimed apocalyptic visionaries are nothing but twisted charismatic megalomaniacs. Often they end up as killer cults after fleecing largely their ignorant followers of all their belongings. They are usually drunk with lust and power that have physical and sexual control over their followers. In most cases their beliefs stem from twisted interpretations of established doctrines. These self-proclaimed divinities usually amass a large arsenal of weapons before bringing forth their personal day of reckoning. The lack of absolute interest shown by the Ghana Police Service is thus very alarming. While admitting that the right to worship is guaranteed by the constitution, same goes with responsibilities. Such responsibilities, I believe include freedom from 'causing fear and panic among the people in the name of freedom of worship. In our modern system of things,we can't stand aloof and watch rampaging 'killer cults' exploiting and fleecing gullible people in the name of religion. Time to act is now and I am calling on the police to bring this man to book for playing this prank on his followers and some gullible members of the Ghanaian society. Anything short of this is most regrettable.The Rev. Jones incident has made Jonestown a popular town albeit a regrettable episode. James Warren "Jim" Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple headquartered in San Francisco. Rev. Jones is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip. The incident in Guyana ranks among the largest mass murders/mass suicides in history, and was the single greatest loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the events of September 11, 2001. Among the dead was Leo Ryan, who remains the only Congressman assassinated in the line of duty as a Congressman in the history of the United States.
A cult suicide is a term used to describe the mass suicide by the members of groups that have been considered cults. This incident plus many other religious/cult massacres have caused many lives in the past 23 years. Some examples here to buttress my point:
1.Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God: March 17, 2000, Kanangu, Uganda, 778 members,
2.Heaven's Gate: March 26, 1997, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., 39 members,
3.Order of the Solar Temple: Dec. 23, 1995, Grenoble, French Alps, 16 members,
4.Order of the Solar Temple: Oct. 5, 1994, cult farmhouse and three chalets, Switzerland, 48 members,
5.Branch Davidians: April 19, 1993, Waco, Texas, 80 members,
6.Mexican Sect: Dec. 13, 1990, in Tijuana, Mexico, 12 members, and
7.South Korean Sect led by "Benevolent Mother": Aug. 29, 1987, in Yongin, South Korea, 32 members.
So you see Ghana might not be so lucky next time when a cult and its leader mesmerizes a whole group and uproot them south-north and let them return safely to lick their wounds. Do not ignore apocalyptic activities, there may be a more serious underlying problem that meets the eye. A word to the wise...
