When faith overcomes fear

My father told a story about a childhood experience of a bad premonition that a traditional priestess revealed about him. At age six, he met the priestess in one of the streets in our hometown where she pronounced the following malediction, “Look at such a handsome boy and witches are going to kill him this Christmas”. Many Ghanaians believe in the operation of witches and according to traditional belief, witches can cause many misfortunes including death in persons’ lives. Legend recounts how witches kill individuals prior to Christmas seasons in Ghana.

Upon receiving the news, my father rushed to the house and narrated the incidence to his mother (my grandmother) who was a committed Christian of the Seventh-day Adventist church. She didn’t take the news lightly. She fumed and confronted the priestess with a stern warning to stay away from the child. This was not a normal thing victims of maledictions will do knowing that the traditional priests possess great authority.

In most African social settings, the traditional priests are said to possess special revelations about future phenomena. They derive their powers from the divinities whiles few others possess magical powers from dwarfs and charms. For that matter, the utterances of the priest cannot be challenged. In cases like that of my father, the person involved would have to seek protection from the gods by offering ritual sacrifices to redeem the person from the misfortune. Victims, out of fear, go to every extent to protect their destiny.

But as my father narrated the story, as far as my grandmother was concerned, the malediction meant nothing more than a diabolical scheme to cause panic. Indeed nothing happened to my father. Neither did my grandmother suffer any invocation from the traditional priestess. In fact my grand mother died at a very old age, and my father died at the age of 80. If my grandmother had succumbed to fear, she would have been deceived and dubbed by the priestess.

False prophecies will thrive where fear abounds. And when a person loses sight of studying scripture, death threats will surely overcome faith. If we walk uprightly with the Lord, why should we then be afraid of death threat? Today, if any so-called man of God or voodooist tells you that you’re going to die this year, and that you are to give an offering for a prayer of intercession, courageously point to him by scripture that “I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done” (Psalm 118: 17). And when you feel death-stricken by sickness, remember Jesus’ words, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11: 25). Don’t be driven by fear instead of faith. God’s throne welcomes every sincere suppliant (Hebrews 4: 15). Jesus encouraged us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mathew 7: 7). It’s time to shun frightening prophecies by the Word of God.