Commonly known as the nation’s prophet, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah has got a lot of people intrigued by his recent comments about how unhappy he is with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The surprise is profound because the Glorious Word Power Ministries Founder has always been a fan of the president and his government.
On several occasions, President Nana Akufo-Addo has worshipped with this controversial preacher, sealing the nickname that Owusu Bempah is the “nation’s prophet.”
But this tag seems to have sharply taken a nosedive as the preacher has openly been expressing his disaffection, unhappiness, and regrets about the administration of the New Patriotic Party and the president.
So, what really happened to the once ‘fairytale’ relationship between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah?
In 2021, news broke about a chaotic confrontation between Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah and Evangelist Patricia Oduro Koranteng (Evangelist Mama Pat), formerly known as Agradaa.
The two had been hurling threats and unprintable words at each other on social media. This started when the now repented fetish priestess (Evangelist Patricia) labelled the head pastor of the Glorious Word Power Ministries International a ‘useless prophet’ via social media.
In a bid to address claims that Rev Owusu Bempah was her ‘spiritual father’, she said her connection to the prophet was only based on some alleged gay activities he (Owusu Bempah) was caught up in, where she had to intervene.
To make matters worse, Evangelist Patricia Oduro dragged Rev Owusu Bempah for being a man who wears make-up and further accused him of being a paedophile.
Though these claims were not verified, it emerged that Rev. Owusu Bempah and his church flock did not take the allegations lightly.
Owusu Bempah and his church members respond
In July 2021, Rev Owusu Bempah responded to the claims by invoking curses on the former fetish priestess.
He is said to have done so because he claimed the former priestess was only out to ridicule him, hence, her resolve to share old videos on social media, showing him raining insults at another pastor, Rev. Opambour.
“These people want to destroy the Man of God and in turn destroy the work of God. These people who have risen against me, I curse them with the thunder of God. They will be cursed in everything they do, wherever they find themselves will be cursed and they will be poor and beg before they feed themselves and family,” Owusu Bempah lashed in a sermon.
But on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, some junior pastors belonging to Owusu Bempah’s church, during a Facebook live stream, threatened to ‘retaliate’ Evangelist Mama Pat.
The pair, while brandishing a weapon in the video, said they were ready to attack Nana Agradaa for the insults hurled against their prophet.
Two days later, on Friday, September 10, 2021, Rev. Owusu Bempah and his junior pastors, according to reports, stormed the house of the repented fetish priestess in a bid to ‘show her pepper’ for disrespecting their prophet.
Per videos available on social media, Evangelist Mama Pat was heard daring Owusu Bempah and his men to step onto her compound and see if she would not use whatever destruction they caused at her home in a court of law.
Police arrest Owusu Bempah, four others
Two days after that incident, GhanaWeb reported that the Ghana Police Service, on Sunday, September 12, 2021, arrested Rev Owusu Bempah and four others for their involvement in the creation and circulation of multiple videos which contained threats of causing harm and violence.
The police explained that the men were also arrested for brandishing a weapon, as well as assault on some police personnel, as the uniformed men were injured in a scuffle with the men.
According to the police, the suspects were arrested “after critically analysing the said videos and based on intelligence gathered.”
Circuit Court denies Owusu Bempah bail
An Accra Circuit Court presided over by Judge Afia Owusuaa Appiah on Monday, September 13, 2021, denied bail to Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah and four others.
The charges brought against the men were offensive conduct conducive to breach of peace, the threat of death, and the assault of public officers.
The men were kept in police custody and were expected to reappear on Monday, September 20, 2021, for further hearing in the case.
Explaining the bail, the court said it was in order to give the police more time to conduct further investigations into the incident.
According to media reports, some members of the Glorious Word Power Ministries International church thronged the court premises, demanding that their prophet be released.
Owusu Bempah hospitalised after arrest
News later emerged that the “nation’s prophet,” Rev. Issac Owusu Bempah, had been hospitalised at the Police Hospital in Accra.
As the story developed, Rev. Owusu Bempah was eventually granted bail on September 15, 2021, in the sum of GH¢200,000 with two sureties after an appeal by his lawyer, Gary Nimako Marfo, was granted by the high court.
In all of these, there was an unspoken expectation from the controversial prophet, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, that being ‘close’ to the president, he would get some preferential treatment or that, in the moments of his embattlement, the presidency would have stepped in for him.
This is an assertion espoused by the prophet himself when he spoke in a radio interview recently.
Read what Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah said in that interview below:
“This is not to disrespect the president, but I have stopped praying for the president like I used to do. I (used) pray for the president and that God should protect him and make sure that his tenure is successful; to pray for the president like I used to do some time ago, I have stopped doing that,” Rev Owusu Bempah said.
“Like Saul, Samuel and David in the Holy Bible as instances, Nana Addo has turned away from God. He is no longer the man ruling the country because he has become disobedient like Saul in the Bible.
“If you claim to be of God, then let the people of God back you with prayers; if you claim to believe in other gods, then let your magicians intercede for you like King Pharaoh because, without power, you can never succeed in life,” he stressed.
When asked what has brought about the ‘bad’ blood between him and the president to the extent that he has stopped interceding for him, he explained that, as a man of God, he is willing and ready to intercede for anybody who approaches him for spiritual help and direction but “when I see that after praying for you, you do not have any belief in the prayer, I will just withdraw and stay within my lane.
“I am human, and if after fighting to do whatever that you want, you decide not to mind and appreciate whatever I have done for you, therefore, you keep disregarding me, [I won’t mind you again].
“It is very painful to go all out and help someone to achieve some status in life, and later the person behaves like you have been rejected; it makes you feel that you have fought and done all that you needed to do in vain. I am not saying if I do something bad, nobody should confront me or the law should be twisted to favour me, no, but at least the person should be able to remember whatever I have done for him; the person should remember that if not for this individual, I would not have achieved such status.
“I do not want the glory or recognition for myself, no. When President Akufo-Addo mentioned my name during his victory speech, I took that recognition for the Lord; what I mean is that when you start with God, you need to finish with him. The battle is the Lords should be the altar and finisher of your faith…,” Rev Owusu Bempah explained further.
Another very clear reason behind what has gone wrong between the once ‘lovebirds’ is that the access the prophet used to have to the president seems to have been curtailed, making it difficult for him to still relate with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.