Engaging the Evil Forces in the Spirit Realm: A Theology of Spiritual Warfare in African Neo-Pentecostal Spirituality
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle 
Issue: Vol.10 No.4 April 2024 Issue Article 1 pp. 66-72
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20241041| Published online 5th April, 2024.
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Prayer is traditionally used as a way of communicating with God and giving petitions to Him. However, within African neo-Pentecostal spirituality, prayer is more than communication and petitions; it is a way of addressing the evil forces in the spiritual realm. This is informed by the link that African neo-Pentecostals make between life challenges and evil forces in the spirit realm. In other words, problems such as diseases, sicknesses, miscarriages, misfortune, curses, and others are seen as coming from the spirit realm and as being caused by evil spirits. Surprisingly, even problems of unemployment, visa application, poverty, and inequality are linked to the evil forces in the spirit realm by some African neo-Pentecostals. Previous studies have addressed this phenomenon within the context of African neo-Pentecostal spirituality. What is new in this article is the development of a theology of spiritual warfare within the African neo-Pentecostal spirituality. This article argued that not every situation emanates from the spirit realm. Some challenges have a human element of incompetencies, greed, corruption, and so forth. The study is a literature review on spiritual warfare. The study makes a new contribution to the Pentecostal theology of spiritual warfare by paying attention to other life challenges that are not linked to evil forces. This changes how Pentecostal scholars and theologians study the concept of spiritual warfare, there is a need for considering other causative factors in life situations. It is recommended here that a Pentecostal theology of spiritual warfare should holistically look at life rather than always perceiving all life challenges as emanating from the spirit realm.
Keywords: Evil Forces, Spirit Realm, Pentecostal Theology, Spiritual Warfare, African Neo-Pentecostal Spirituality
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Mookgo Solomon Kgatle is a Professor of Missiology at the Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, University of South Africa (UNISA). He has published several peer-reviewed articles in the Pentecostal tradition, particularly New Prophetic Churches in South Africa. He is an NRF rated scholar in the area of African Pentecostalism. He won the Vision Keeper Award at the University of South Africa (2020-2022).
Kgatle, Mookgo Solomon. “Engaging the Evil Forces in the Spirit Realm: A Theology of Spiritual Warfare in African Neo-Pentecostal Spirituality,” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, 10 no.4 (2024): 66-72. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20241041
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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