Presidential Envoy for Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has explained why his office is urging religious leaders to formally share specific prophecies with national authorities before making them public.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Monday, August 11, Mr Afriyie Ankrah said the request was not an attempt to limit the freedom of prophecy, but to ensure that messages with potential national security implications are handled responsibly.

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“Most of us are aware of various and diverse video, audio clips, TikTok posts of all kinds, since the unfortunate incidents of last Wednesday occurred,” he said, referring to last week’s tragic helicopter crash that claimed the lives of eight people.

“Most of them, when we go behind this, they do not have any means of getting in touch with the individuals concerned or officials. And so we decided that it was important that we create an avenue and a channel to be able to manage some of these things, because a lot of them have serious security implications.”

Mr Afriyie Ankrah stressed that the government respected the right of prophets to speak freely. “Every man of God, a prophet, has every right to prophesy about any and everything they choose to. There is no problem about that,” he said.

“But we are humbly requesting that issues that have to do with the President, Vice President, senior government officials, and that have security implications, should be formally relayed to the Office of the Presidential Envoy for urgent review and appropriate escalation.”

He likened the situation to the reaction in another country if a similar prophecy were made. “Can you imagine if a prophet gets up in America and says Air Force One is going to crash? What would immediately happen, the kind of actions that that will trigger? We don’t want to get to that point,” he explained.

Citing scripture, he noted that Christian teaching supports the review of prophecies. “First Thessalonians 5:20-21 says, ‘Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all. Hold on to what is good.’ Again, First John 4:1 says, ‘Test the spirits,’” he said. “The Bible actually encourages review… All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial.”

Mr Afriyie Ankrah said the aim was constructive engagement. “If you have to be called, you will be called, you will be spoken to. What did you see? What can be done about it? Behind the scenes, quietly. At the end of the day, we are urging the Christian community to pray,” he said.

“Whether it’s prophecy, whether it’s a vision, whether it’s a revelation, everything begins and ends with prayer.”

He added that Ghana had “more than enough” experienced and trusted spiritual leaders to help assess such messages, and if necessary, the person who received the prophecy could be directly involved in private discussions.

“This is not about negativity,” he said. “It’s about making sure that whatever God reveals can be acted on in a way that protects the country and honours the responsibility that comes with spiritual insight.”