Some of those who went to the camps disclosed that, they did not belong to any church and only had faith in prayers at camps to solve their problems. However the striking revelation was that, most of them were members of the various churches – a testament that perhaps, their churches have failed to satisfy their spiritual needs apart from the inevitable reason of the insatiable lust of people today.

Women constituted about 80 per cent of ‘inmates’ in the camps. Whilst the smaller percentage of men go to the prayer camps for divine healing to mostly mental illness, and prosperity, their women folk go in drones, crawling at feet of some prophets for life partners or marriage, and fruit of the womb. Occasionally, others also visit the prayer camps for “direction and prophecies”. Apart from mental patients who constituted an important group of people at the camps, there were also people of both sexes including children, perceived to possess witchery and needed to be exorcised.

It is a naked fact; the readiness of women today of every class and status to join prayer gatherings outside their usual churches and so their concentration at the camps may not be unexpected. However, what is intriguing is the rush for spaces by women and willingness to stay under even deplorable conditions. 

These prayer camps are now sprouting like shrubs (even the Osu Castle has one) and it was not surprising to also discover that, they were new avenues of the 'Men of God' called by their bellies and not God, to dupe unsuspecting Christians. For instance, there were as many as five to ten camps concentrated in a particular area. Whilst owners of the camps (Pastors) improvised with their churches, many others were makeshift wooden structures which often took more people than necessary. Most visitors slept on pieces of cloth on the ground, and others on benches; only a few of them had beds.

Aside the traditional set-ups, is the new development of people pitching camps in some forests. Prominent amongst them was the Achimota forest which has been artificially demarcated into sites for different prayer groups. Similar forest-camps also existed in other regions. In the forests, people normally slept in tents.

A very disturbing observation was the unhygienic conditions pertaining at these camps. Most of the camps were untidy and were over-populated which could easily spark disease outbreaks. What constituted a clear violation of human rights were, mental patients who were chained, beaten and given unspecified concoction to take in forcefully. The old and rusty chains used caused severe injuries that exposed them to other maladies. The finding showed clearly that dehumanizing and agonizing treatments were meted out to mental patients in the prayer camps.

The mode of operation of these camps, this reporter found out, normally involved long periods of fasting and prayers led by some self-styled men of God. Apart from general prayer meetings, special sessions were organized for ‘peculiar problems’ like bareness and spiritual interventions. This reporter also witnessed what was called “Dangerous Prayers” – sessions when they literally dealt with the devil and their human enemies by ‘caning the air’. Here also, what was most interesting was the fact that, people were made to call out the names of their enemies whiles caning.

Visitors to the camps were made to pay hefty “tokens” for their stay and for consultation. However, depending on their predicaments, they were asked to go through certain rituals. Some were made to buy anointing oils of different fragrances, and were told every fragrance performed specific impartation; various attempts that were made to fleece women off their booties. Our findings also revealed that, some women were sexually assaulted and others made to pray nakedly.

At a popular camp at Kasoa, a Central Regional town closer to the Capital, a bitter woman who had gone back to the camp to settle some scores with the pastor there had this to say: “That devil tried to bring enmity between myself and kinsmen, declaring that they were witches and wizards etc. He later took large sums of money from me on the pretext to getting me a U.S visa.”

These women who have fallen prey to the manipulations by ‘Pastors’ in prayer camps advised their kind to know the Word of God and pray on their own, since the presence God was enough to cater for all. Others raining curses on these ‘men of God’, called on law enforcement agencies to deal ruthlessly with them as they were criminals, “dirtier than armed robbers”. Another bitter woman shared that her pastor took over her car and other properties saying that, God had revealed she could have accident if he did not drive it to exorcise some bad spirits.

More women are falling victims to these wolves in sheep clothing and it is obvious that the trend might just continue. Christian Journal is however posturing itself to blow the cover off these confidence tricksters who are not only perpetuating fraud and committing human right violations, but are sinking Christianity into the mud. WATCH OUT FOR MORE PRAYER CAMP REVELATIONS!

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