They Speak Doom, Instill Fear and Implore Deliverance: A Study of the Role of Social Media in the Growth of the Prophetic Movement in Ghana.
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Date
2019-04-11
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Abstract
Since the 1990s, one strand of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement that has gained popularity and increased attention in the Ghanaian media are the neo-prophetic churches. The leaders of these churches have the ability to predict, diagnose, and offer solutions to problems and they have attracted a lot of attention. In Ghana, one of the activities of these prophets are their claim to have prophesied or foresee the occurrence of events that happens in the country especially disasters and accidents. Recent studies on media and religion have focused on the role of social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to the development of the church. Prophets/Prophetess in the prophetic ministry have all leveraged social media as a means of evangelizing and publicizing the word of God, praying, prophesying and advertising church events. This paper makes a shift from discussions on how churches can effectively use social media to propagate the word of God to an examination of the activities of some prophets and prophetesses in Ghana, especially those that prey on the spiritual insecurity of believers. The activities of these prophets include posting videos of themselves on social media prophesying about doom events that have happened or are yet to happen to prove their authenticity, which have led to a concomitant increase in the membership of their churches. Through the lens of the mediatization theory, we seek to explore the ways in which some prophetic ministries in Ghana have adopted the use of social media as part of their religious practices to accelerate the growth of their churches. Still an on-going research, data is sourced through digital ethnography by studying the content of selected Prophet’s Facebook pages, YouTube channels and observation of Miracle/Prophetic Services of their TV Stations and other TV/Radio Stations in Ghana.
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Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, Ghanaian media, disasters and accidents, social media