Examining pastor-prophet authority in neo Pentecostal deliverance practices

Abstract

A popular and growing feature of contemporary neo Pentecostal Christianity in Ghana are regular deliverance practices in search for solutions to diverse forms of existential predicaments, known in Pentecostal diction as afflictions. Pastor-prophets have become very popular for these practices with thousands of deliverance seekers attending one deliverance service or the other in search for solutions that these pastor-prophets proffer. Using ethnographic semi-structured interviews, this article examines the phenomenon of deliverance practices within neo-Pentecostalism in Ghana, and particularly focuses on the authority of pastor-prophets around which the activities of deliverance evolve. Findings indicate that supernatural authority and attaining of breakthroughs over life’s predicaments, become the barometer and legitimacy for the authority of pastor-prophets