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MISSION TO “SET THE CAPTIVES FREE”: HEALING, DELIVERANCE, AND GENERATIONAL CURSES IN GHANAIAN PENTECOSTALISM
Author(s) -
AjatnoahGyadu J. Kwabena
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international review of mission
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.118
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1758-6631
pISSN - 0020-8582
DOI - 10.1111/j.1758-6631.2004.tb00468.x
Subject(s) - charisma , christian ministry , context (archaeology) , sociology , declaration , order (exchange) , charismatic authority , christianity , gender studies , aesthetics , law , theology , history , political science , philosophy , archaeology , finance , economics
The rue of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement in African countries like Ghana had inspired new ways of dealing with the challenges of life. A critical area of operation for the movement is the “healing and deliverance” ministry, through which supernatural evil is confronted in order that Christians may be freed to enjoy the abundant provision,) of God in Christ. Systems of “shrine slavery” in Ghana, also found in various forms among certain sub‐Saharan African peoples, offer examples from traditional religions of how such institutions may stigmatize victims and generations after them, sometimes perpetually. In keeping with the prophetic declaration by the prophet Ezekiel that, “The sins of the fathers shall be no more be visited on their children”, the Pentecostal/Charismatic ministry of “healing and deliverance” provides a Christian ritual context in which the enslaving effects of generational curses resulting from the sins of one's ancestry may be dealt with. This is in order that those born‐again in Christ, in keeping with the objective of Christian mission, may experience fullness of life in Christ. The phenomenon of “healing deliverance”, discussed here from a Ghanaian perspective, serves as a ministry of restoration in the hands of Africa's new Pentecostal/Charismatic movements and churches as they seek to provide holistic pastoral care to their followers.