.

Name of Student: Ofosuhene K. Godwin

Full address: Christ Holy Church International, P. O. Box 252, Onitsha, Anambra State.
Nigeria

E – mail address: homerefugemin@yahoo.com

Mobile phone number: 002348034052902

Date: May 21, 2006

Title of Thesis: The concept of God in the traditional religion of Akan and Ewe ethnic groups
compare to the Bible

International Faith Theological Seminary http://intfaiththeolseminary.cjb.net

Master Degree Study Program

Thesis submitted to Program Supervisor Prof. Dr. Trudy Veerman, IFTS faculty member and Prof.
Dr. Muhammad Schmidt, IFTS President, as requirement for the Degree of
Master in Christian Ministries

---------------------------------------------------------------------
 ABSTRACT

The concept of God in the traditional religion of Akan and Ewe ethnic groups compare to the Bible

By

Godwin Kwame Ofosuhene

I am going to focus this writing, on how the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups of Ghana,

understood God in their traditional religious practices and after that compare or discuss these

beliefs in the light of the Holy Scriptures. Before you discuss on how somebody is doing something,

it is also good to look at the reason why the person is doing that thing, so that you can be in a better

position to educate the person properly.

From this view point, I’ll begin to say that African Traditional Religion (ATR) involves the

belief and worship of the Supreme Being known and revered all over Africa as Onyame in Akan,

Mao in Ewe, Chineke in Igbo and Oludumare in Yoruba etc. The worship can be direct , but is done

(mostly) indirectly through divine agents like the gods or divinities (abosom in Akan , legbaa in

Ewe ) and the ancestors.

Traditional theologians explained that one could not worship the Supreme Being formally,

without the agency of the divinities or ancestors. Just as within the traditional political and

diplomatic contexts, one cannot formally contact the king without the agency of his linguists or sub-

chiefs. Therefore, these traditional theologians condemned those who said, “ATR and similar non-

western religions are followed by irrational or foolish people who in their stupidity bow down to

stones, trees and rivers instead of the Creator who created such objects and themselves”. They

claimed or argued strongly that in the light of the more objective or scientific study of religions,

ATR can no longer be justifiably characterized as stupid, since the worshippers do not worship the

2
said material objects per se, but the Spirit of the Creator reflected in them. The traditional

theologians also emphasized that as in all religious traditions, the belief and worship of the Supreme

Being in ATR does not just mean the strict performance of certain rituals. But it is also the strict

commitment, to the observance of certain (written or unwritten) divinely inspired moral

prescriptions or codes of ethics, promulgated by the religious authorities and enforced by sanctions.

These are called Taboos.

In the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups the above phenomenological conception of ATR called

for education in the light of the scriptures. For instance, in the southern Volta Region of Ghana, and

in Togo and Benin, thousands of young girls of the Ewe (say Ay-vay) tribe are held as slaves in

unspeakable conditions under a traditional religion belief called the “trokosi” system or “wives of

the ancestral gods. This is one of the most amazing opportunities l have to speak or write in the

hope of bringing freedom, to show the value of every human life, and to help girls who are in

immense suffering. It is also an opportunity to help the Christian churches in the Akan and Ewe

ethnic groups from which l come from, to see it as their duty to find means and ways to evangelise

our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and children who are still under the African

Traditional practices. For this reason, they can come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus

Christ through the teaching of the Word of God because it is home going time.

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All glory and honour to God, the Father, for showing His love and grace towards me through

the Lord Jesus Christ and equipping me with gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is a real fact that whoever

believes in Him will not be disappointed (Rom. 10:11)

The road to achieving this great goal in life could not have been become possible without the

numerous contributions by many people whose names deserve mentioning but for lack of space.

However, l am grateful to my deceased parents, Daniel Kweku Nkansa Ofosuhene and Janet Kpen

Ofosuhene, who dedicated their time, efforts and resources to educate me with the little that they

have. They did their best to educate me to Technical Institute level.

The vision of coming to this level and deciding now to study, research and write a

dissertation of this magnitude could not have been possible without the priceless support, prayers

and encouragement of my wife. To Jewel Wilhelmina and children l say AKPE NA MI KAKA!!!

The desire to study more from the Word of God was a thing l learnt from the inspirational

teachings of the late Prophet William Marrion Branham, the seventh messenger to the Laodicean

church age and also my Bible teacher from Jeffersonville, the late Pastor Raymond Jackson of Faith

Assembly Church.

I am very much grateful to the brethren at True Light Fellowship, Ho - Ghana formerly

Goshen Assembly and their vibrant and great teacher, Rev. Ted Ofori Kennedy for laying a solid

foundation for me in Christian Education. This stirred up the gifts of the Holy Spirit inside me to

attend Bible College.

I am also grateful to the staff of Ghana Christian College and Seminary, especially my

lecturer in African Traditional Religion, Professor Joseph Nsiah for their job well done by imparting

an in-depth knowledge into me for missionary work.

4
 I cannot by passed members of my first missionary group called Christ Ambassadors

Movement for their total cooperation in missionary works in rural areas especially in the Volta

Region of Ghana.

My missionary journey to Nigeria would not have been made possible without prayers,

counselling and encouragement of the following personalities; Rev. Samuel Attuah of Gospel

Foundation Church Sekondi, The late Rev. Theophilus Danso of International Believers Ministry,

Ashaiman, Pastor Victus Boateng of City of Refuge Ministry International, Pastor Eric Sorgah and

Pastor Thomas Kwabla Fiave of Christ Ambassadors Evangelistic Gospel Church, Pastor Christian

Tsikata of YAFCA ministry and Lady Evangelist Beauty Awaga of Global Evangelical mission.

It is with great joy l am also grateful to the General Superintendent of Christ Holy Church

International, Most Rev. DR. D.C. Okoh. I had the opportunity to travel with him on several

occasions for missionary works from Nigeria to Ghana and this enabled me learnt more about the

Ewe and Akan ethnic groups. I am also grateful to the founders of Christ Holy Church International

and the board of Central Executive Council whose vision for spreading the gospel of Christ across

boarders, races and cultures have given me a depth of insight into missionary activities. I cannot

also forget to appreciate the efforts of the Ghanaian community in Christ Holy Church International

for their various contributions to missionary work in Nigeria.

I am indebted to Prof. Dr. Trudy Veerman, IFTS faculty member and Prof. Dr. Muhammad

Schmidt, IFTS President who gave me this great opportunity to study, research and write a

dissertation of this magnitude. Their action is a step in the right direction for assisting the less

privilege ones to achieve their hearts desires in education.

I humbly salute Rev. Dr. Osei who is currently a visiting professor from the University of

Ghana at Auburn University. His teaching and research interests include Ethics, Social and Political

Philosophy, African Philosophy and Culture, Philosophy of Religion, and Logic & Critical

Thinking. . While in Ghana, Dr Osei was a lecturer in the Dept of Philosophy from 1993-1999, and

5
served as acting head of the Dept  from 1996-99. He was also an adjunct professor at Trinity

Theological Seminary, the University of Cape Coast, and the Military Academy, Burma Camp.

None of these academic engagements overshadowed his ministerial work for the Methodist

Church , Ghana. He served not only as a Methodist chaplain at the  University of Ghana, but also as

the first minister-in-charge at Adenta Methodist Church, and held regular preaching appointments in

several other churches in Accra including the Police Church, and the Burma Camp Presby-

Methodist Church.  Rev Osei who also holds a diploma in journalism from the UK also doubled as

the editor of the Methodist Times from 1994 to 1999. Many T.V. viewers in Ghana may recognize

him as a regular guest-artiste on such programs as ’In the Light, ‘Life‘, and ‘Talking Point’ and

‘Reflections.’  between 1995 and 1999.

Rev. Dr. Osei’s material he wrote on African traditional taboos and development: (insights

from a philosophical analysis of akan and ewe taboos), found on the Internet assisted me a lot to

complete this project on time.

Last but not the least, l am very grateful to my students at Christ Holy Church Seminary,

formerly Marius Okoh Memorial Seminary. My years of teaching and association with them have

made a big difference in my life.

6
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------4

CHAPTER ONE
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION, DEVELOPMENT, AND TABOO: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

1.1 Definition of African Traditional Religion, development and taboo.--------------

1.2 Nature and Purpose of Work
1.3 A Brief Discussion of Existing Scholarship
1.3.1 Taboos and Development
1.3.2 Cultic taboos and their significance for development
1.3.3 Moral taboos and their significance for development
1.3.4 Economic taboos their significance for development
1.3.5 Political taboos their significance for development
1.3.6 Scientific taboos and their significance for development
1.3.7 Environmental taboos and their significance for development

CHAPTER TWO
GENERAL DISCUSSION

2.1 Counter- productive taboos

2.2 The overriddability of taboos
2.3 The openness of taboos
2.4 Conclusion
2.5 Methodology and Data Collection

CHAPTER THREE
GHANA: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

3.1 Ghana: an Introductory Data

3.2 Ethnic Groups
3.2.1 The origin of Akans
3.2.2 The origin of Ewe
3.2.3 The belief of God among the ethnic groups
3.2.3.1 The Trokosi system belief among ewe

CHAPTER FOUR

7
THE GOD CONCEPT COMPARE TO THE BIBLE

4.1 The Bible

4.1.1 The uniqueness of the Bible
4.1.2 The reliability of the Bible
4.1.3 The Nature of God in the Bible
4.1.4 The Worship of God in the Bible
4.1.5 Comparison of God concept in African traditional religion to the Bible

CHAPTER FIVE
THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN EVANGELISM AND TEACHING

5.1 Converting people from African traditional religion into Christianity

5.2 Establishing churches with the aim of converting people to worship the true God

CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

6.1 The unfinished task

6.2 Contextual Method of writing African Traditional Religion
6.3 The contributions of Akans and Ewes to the study of God
6.4 The explanations of Traditional theologians on the concept of God: Is it truth or lies?

Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
Appendix G
Appendix H
Appendix I
Appendix J

BIBLIOGRAPHY

8
 THIS THESIS IS DEDICATED TO:

Daniel Kweku Nkansah Ofosuhene and Janet Kpen Ofosuhene (my parents)
For their dedication to bring up their children – Thomas
Ofosuhene, Godwin Ofosuhene and Emmanuel Ofosuhene
in the way of the Lord. They made sure that although they did
not have much, used the little resources that came into their
hands to train and educate us.
May God grant unto them an eternal rest with joy in His presence.

Wilhelmina Jewel Ofosuhene (My wife)

She is a woman of a noble character and worth far more than rubies.

Joshua Ofosuhene, Caleb Ofosuhene, Pastor Christian Tsikata and entire family, Uncle
Refuge Dogbey of London, Pastor Victus Boateng, Pastor Thomas Fiave, Pastor Eric
Sorgah, Lady Evangelist Beauty Awaga, Lady Evangelist Agnes Ezu, family of Senior
Evangelist Eugene Okoli, Channel Freda Asamoah, students of Christ Holy Church
Seminary formerly Marius Okoh Memorial Seminary and great anonymous missionaries for
their consistent support and prayers for me.

9
 Chapter 1

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION, DEVELOPMENT, AND TABOO: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

1.1 Definition of African Traditional Religion, development and taboo

 For the past 50 or more years, controversies generated concerning divergent theories and

conceptions of development. From these matters, it is becoming increasingly clear that defining

development in purely materialistic or economic terms is no longer rationally or morally

acceptable.  The word development cannot only be defined as economic growth or westernisation

but, it also mean the total sum of a country’s well-being virtues minus the total sum of the country’s

well-being vices. Let me go further by explaining that well-being virtues include modernization,

democratisation qualitative education, and critical consciousness. The well-being vices include

dependency, bribery and corruption, unwarranted military interventions, dictatorships and the abuse

of human rights etc. 1

Consequently, if one could show that a given set of taboos, xyz, promote some well-being virtues
and help diminish some well-being vices one would have shown by implication that some taboos
promote development. This moral and holistic conception of development is shared by the eminent
African Scholar, professor Kwame Gyekye2 who has also argued that to take development seriously,
“means to take it in terms of adequate responses to the entire existential conditions in which human
beings function, conditions which encompass the economic, political, moral, cultural and others
spheres, and not just economic or materialistic spheres”.
----------------------------------------------
1
Definition for development is a collection of insights from a philosophical analysis of Akan and Ewe taboos by various
authors.

2
The name Kwame is giving to a male boy born on Saturday and Kwame Gyekye is a Ghanaian name.

Etymologically speaking, ‘taboo’ is a derivation of the Polynesian term ‘tabu’ which means

forbidden. It is applicable to any sort of prohibition regarding certain times, places, actions, events

and people etc. especially, but not exclusively, for religious reasons.  The closest equivalent to tabu

in the Akan is ‘akyiwadee’. Ewe called it “enugbegbe” i.e. that which is forbidden or prohibited

and ‘mmusu’ or “eko” usually, reserved for prohibitions against very grievous evils.  Among both

10
the Akans and Ewes3 of West Africa, most taboos are taken seriously since they are believed to have

been imposed by traditional rulers or traditional priests on their behalf and in the general interest of

the community in the form of creeds or religious vows.  Hence, unlike ordinary wrongs, taboos are

taken more seriously and may require blood sacrifices for the appeasement and forgiveness of the

gods and ancestors etc. who might otherwise visit their wrath on the living. The taboos are

mostly about don'ts and have the tendency to make one passive and consequently, conservative.

Since they dwell on fear they also tend to make men superstitious.  However, despite all its obvious

defects, the philosopher of Culture, Ernst Cassier 4 observes that the taboo system was the only

system of social restriction and obligation in the early stages of human development. For example,

he cites the relation between rulers and subjects, political life, sexual life, family life as well as

economic life.  The taboo system was the main source of bonding in all human relations and

transactions.  Eventually they were assimilated into the great religions by religious leaders who

made obeying such restrictions and obligations religious obligations. Since African traditional

Religion and taboos are not considered among the major religions, Cassier and like-minded

philosophers and anthropologists unfortunately discard the

----------------------------------------------

3
Akans and Ewes can be found almost in the 10 (ten) regional capitals of Ghana. However, they are densely populated in Ashanti,

Brong – ahafo, Eastern, Central, Western and Volta Regions. See chapter 3 for details.

4
Find more on Ernst Cassier through an essay he wrote on man and was published by Yale University Press, 1992.pp.106,108

taboos and described them as “savage taboos.”

1.2 Nature and Purpose of Work

This dissertation will have a two-fold purpose. First my analysis will show that even if

African Traditional Religion does not qualify on their terms to be characterized as a major religious

tradition, the taboos associated with them, are by no means savage since they have rational and

11
various scientific explanations and moral principles comparable to any system of taboos or code of

ethics found in other cultures, including The Golden Rule and Kant's Categorical Imperative. 5

Unless otherwise specified, these would be the senses in which the terms African Traditional

Religion (ATR), Development, and Taboos will be used throughout this paper.

My second purpose is to bring all my analyses of the God concept in African Traditional

Religion into the Bible. Traditional theologians/philosophers explained that one could not worship

the Supreme Being formally without the agency of the divinities or ancestors just as within the

traditional political and diplomatic contexts one cannot formally contact the king without the

agency of his linguists or sub-chiefs. That is the reason why they bow down to trees, rivers,

images, animals etc. By such acts they do not worship the said material objects per se, but the Spirit

of the Creator reflected in them. These traditional theologians or philosophers again emphasized

that as in all religious traditions, the belief and worship of the Supreme Being in ATR does not just

mean the strict performance of certain rituals but also the strict commitment to the observance of

certain (written or unwritten) divinely inspired moral prescriptions or codes of ethics, promulgated

by the religious authorities and enforced by sanctions, which are called Taboos.

----------------------------------------------
5
Having mastered epistemology and metaphysics, Kant believed that a rigorous application of the same methods of
reasoning would yield an equal success in dealing with the problems of moral philosophy. Thus, in the Kritik der practisehen Vernurft
(critique of practical reason) 1788.

I will address these issues or claims in the light of the scriptures and ask very thought

provoking questions which; the traditional theologian must consider or answer with appropriate

facts. It is my hope that this dissertation will go a long way to bring many African theologians and

their followers to the saving knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

I am also going to discuss extensively the traditional worship in the southern Volta Region

of Ghana, Togo and Benin. Thousands of young girls of the Ewe (say Ay-vay) tribe are held as

slaves in unspeakable conditions under a traditional religion belief called the “trokosi” system or

12
“wives of the ancestral gods”. Many of these young girls were not happy at all to be held captives

under such conditions and have been looking forward for a way of escape. Their situation reminds

of Daniel and his companions who were Hebrews, from the tribe of Judah. They were among the

Jews who were taken captives from the land of Israel by the king of Babylon. The king ordered his

chief eunuch to select some good- looking, strong boys and train them in the language and learning

of Babylon, to qualify them for the king’s service. Daniel and his three friends were not the only

Hebrews among the chosen young men, but they were singled out from the rest because of their

singular commitment to, attachment with and resolve for God. The chief official changed their

names as a way of neutralizing their original nationality to make them Babylonian nationals. Their

original names, which had a mention of God in them, were changed to ones that honour Babylonian

gods. This is a way of removing their memory from the true God they worshipped and turned them

to worship the idols of Babylon. They were given food plated with royalty that will becloud and dull

their conscience to what is clean and what is not. However, they resolved in their hearts and minds

to retain their faith in and devotion to God, and keep themselves undefiled for Him.

1.3 A Brief Discussion of Existing Scholarship

1.3.1 Taboos and Development

In this section I wish to explain that Traditional theologians teach that some set of taboos

promote development. For this reason, I will classify and examine various Akan and Ewe proverbs

and analyze their meanings and significance for development.  It is almost self-evident to every

student of ATR or African Culture that most taboos can be traced back to ATR given the well-known

and generally accepted dictum by Professor J. S. Mbiti that “The African lives in a religious

13
universe.” 6

Some of the taboos are created by cultic personalities 7

to protect the sacredness of their

shrines and chieftaincy institutions and the environment. While others are created to protect the

moral integrity and well-being of the whole community. Through their teachings about taboos and

the application of sanctions cultic personalities and their adherents also promote other taboos known

to be useful to the community.

From this point, I will proceed to present and analyse what Traditional theologians called the

“ seven sets of taboos from the Akan and Ewe 8 speaking areas of West Africa” and to suggest their

significance for development. They are Cultic Taboos, Moral Taboos, Economic Taboos, Social

Taboos, Political Taboos, Scientific Taboos, and Environmental Taboos.

---------------------------------------------
6
Professor John S. Mbiti, a Kenyan (see MBITI, J.S. African Religion and Philosophy, Heinemann,. London, 1985,

passion) and Laurenti Magesa from Tanzania. “See MAGESA, L, African Religion”

7
A cult personality or personalities is/are a person or a group of people who placed their ideas, words and personalities in a position

that cannot be challenged by the Bible and who refused to accept the authority of the Bible, but instead devise cunning and clever

doctrines that fit their fancy.

8
See number 3 footnote at page 10

The classification, admittedly, lacks the precision of the expert anthropologist or sociologist,

but for our purpose it will help to emphasize the multi-dimensional nature of the contribution,

which traditional theologians acclaimed, ATR makes to development through the creation and

promotion of development-bearing religious taboos.

1.3.2 Cultic taboos and their significance for development

14
 Cultic Taboos refer to taboos associated with the worship of a deity.  They provide directives

to the cultic priests, servants and the adherents or consulates in terms of who, when, where and how

to worship or not to worship.  They thus represent religious taboos in the narrow sense of the term

religions. Examples of these cultic or ‘religious’ taboos include: Visiting the shrine with slippers on;

having sex near a shrine; visiting the shrine shortly after sex without taking a bath; swearing by the

gods or ancestors for fun; pouring libation at a shrine with the sandals on or the cloth not off the

shoulders; showing disrespect to a cultic priest or devotee.; Cultic priests or devotees not violating

their cultic vows or sexual purity or charity and poverty (where applicable). `The significance

of these cultic taboos can be seen in the contribution they make to the cultivation and promotion of

a life of holiness and righteousness.  Initially, this may be realized in and around the shrines, but

overtime this consciousness can permeate and resonate in the lives of the entire society within their

domain of religious and moral influence. Since the righteousness of citizens, to use the Biblical turn

of phrase, exalts every nation and sin is an abomination to all nations, the observance of these

taboos can be credited with the promotion of development in any nation so affected, especially

when it also becomes a challenge for other religious practitioners including Christians and

Moslems.  A healthy competition can be cultivated when the life-styles of Christian, Islamic and

Traditional Religious authorities are compared.  This may well result in the reduction of immoral or

unholy acts performed by religious personalities including corruption, adultery, rape, and other

human rights abuses. Baring the ramifications of unhealthy competition, more religious citizens

could become genuine models of virtue for their followers and the general public.

1.3.3 Moral taboos and their significance for development

Every moral system requires the existence of Guiding Principles, Source of Motivation, and

some grounds for objectivity.  Additionally, some moral systems also provide moral transformation. 

In ATR the taboos represent the main source of guiding principles regulating and directing the

15
behavior of individuals and the community towards the Supreme Being and especially the gods and

the ancestors.  The motivation for abiding by the normative principles are provided and reinforced

by the religions sanctions from the gods and the ancestors or directly from the Supreme Being. 

Their cultic code of ethics, written or verbal serve as a point of reference in determining traditional

law-breakers and in the adjudication of ensuing cases at the traditional courts and shrines.  Those

found guilty of serious moral or legal violations are made to undergo ritual cleansing as a means of

moral or ontological purification and transformation. In one sense of the term

'moral' dating back to Aristotle, whatever affects the well being of human being is of moral concern.

But in this context, the narrower sense of morality, especially regarding interpersonal relations,

would be more appropriate.  Examples of moral taboos 8 in the narrow sense from Akan and Ewe

include: Murder i.e. (The intentional killing of an innocent person without just cause.

(awudie/amewuwu); Suicide - In the home or the bush;  A young girl breaking her virginity before

the performance of puberty rites; Incest or having sex with a close relative; Rape (ntohyesoo nna in

Akan or akpasese fe dodo in Ewe); Seducing someone’s wife (mmonaa in Akan or ahasiwowo in

Ewe); Stealing especially from another’s farm or a hunters trap; Shifting land or farm

boundaries; Attempting to embarrass someone by tracing his or her genealogy or ancestry.

  `It must be evident that any religion that can provide any of the four conditions for the

promotion of a good moral system and morality in the society is an asset but not a hindrance to

development.  The types of taboos mentioned so far represents a significant attempt by ATR to

achieve such goals through the promotion of both individuals and communal morality.  ATR  must

consequently be seen as an instrument for national development since no nation can develop

without an effective moral system protecting  the physical and emotional security of the lives and

liberties of the people as well as their private properties.

This contribution to morality is more urgent for many Christianised African countries,

16
especially Ghana and Nigeria where, in the words of the African Studies research fellow, Rev. Dr.

Abraham Akrong 9 there is now shift “from the holiness paradigm to the power paradigm, especially

within the Penteco-Charismatic Churches." 10

1.3.4 Economic taboos their significance for development

A good number of taboos are designed to influence the means of production, distribution and

management of wealth at both the individual and social or national levels.  Hence they are

appropriately termed Economic Taboos.  Examples of Akan and Ewe Economic taboos include the

following: Stealing of private or communal property, especially things of considerable value;

Fraudulent practices especially related to sacred objects and persons including the chief; Shifting

---------------------------------------
9
Rev. Dr. Abraham Akrong is a research fellow in African studies. He wrote an introduction to source book of the world’s Religions

in chapter 1 on African Traditional Religion.

10
Some

modern churches propose a faith that we ought to be willing to die for. In this way emergent could become a charismatic penteco. It is

also the combination of the strict high standard holiness lifestyle exhibited by Pentecostals coupled with the contemporarization and

contextualization of the Holy Spirit as exhibited by the charismatics.

farm boundaries without authorization; Uprooting of planted food items without authorization;

Farming near watersheds and or destroying sacred forests and bushes; No one should fell a timber

tree without the prior authorization of the Chief. One should not sweep at night (since he might

sweep away precious jewels or even gold-dust).  No one should sell or lease a piece of land without

the prior approval of the Chief; Also the Chief can lease land but he cannot sell it.  (He is the

custodian but not the owner of the land).

Since economic growth and the fair distribution of resources are essential to the (overall)

development of any state it must be acknowledged that any efforts towards the realization of

17
economic growth and the fair distribution of national resources is ipso facto 11 a contribution towards

the development of the state in question.  The taboos in question, do not only protect, private and

state property but also ensure that no one, including the chief, can monopolize the land, which is the

greatest natural resource in any economy.  Traditional

theologians suggested that the effectiveness of these taboos for economic growth could further be

enhanced if the chiefs and other traditional authorities in places with frequent bush-fire could be

encouraged to assemble their subjects at ceremonies where such taboos could be boosted with new

ritual sacrifices and oaths/vows by both the chiefs and subjects concerned.

1.3.5 Political taboos their significance for development

Some taboos are directed at the protection and well being of the traditional chieftaincy

system and the rulers as well as the relations between them and their subjects. These have been

classified as Political Taboos. Examples in Akan and Ewe include the following: The Chief should

not travel alone or unaccompanied; He may only be called by his stool name; One should not insult

----------------------------------------------

11
ipso facto means by that very fact

or argue with the Chief angrily in public; It is a taboo to enter the palace or greet the chief with your

sandals on; It is or taboo to strike the Chief; It is a taboo for the Chief to seduce the wife of his

subjects or to be caught in adultery; A chief should not have sex with his wife or any one the day

prior to the sacred day of the stool; A Chief should not drink or eat in public; The Chief can lease a

piece of land but he cannot sell it to his subjects or anyone; The Chief does not lay his eyes on a

dead body laid in state (Exceptional cases require special rituals); A chief should not impose a

foreign religion on his people; No one should proclaim himself/herself a chief.  It is the prerogative

of the kingmakers; No one should sit on the stool of a chief, or a paramount chief, and especially,

the Golden Stool; 11 No one asks for the Golden Stool; No foreigner should meddle in the internal
18
affairs of the Golden Stool; one does not ask for the Golden Stool in the name of another person; A

red (white) man should keep his hands off the Golden Stool12; you do not ask for the Golden Stool

for a woman (not even the Queen of Britain) ; The King of Asante does not sit on the Golden Stool

except in a symbolic sense.

-----------------------------------------

11
The famous Golden Stool for the People of Ashanti is their spiritual symbol. Covered with pure gold, it flew out from the sky in

thick cloud of white dust and rested on the knees of Osei Tutu I who united the Ashanti Kingdom. This happened on a famous Friday

at a gathering of chiefs from Ashanti and was made possible by an intelligent and powerful fetish priest, Okomfo Anokye.This

Golden Stool is never allowed to touch the ground. When a new Ashanti King is enstolled, he is merely lowered and raised over it

three times without touching it. Whenever the golden stool is taken out on special occasions, the Asantehene follows it.The Ashantis

have never lost the Golden Stool and it serves as an enduring symbol of their culture. It has also helped to keep the Asante people as

one people.Tradition also has it that, this stool contained the spirit of the Asante people. Just as a man could not live when his soul is

departed, so the Asante people would disappear from history if ever the Golden stool were taken away from them.On the advice of

the Fetish Priest Okomfo Anokye, Osei Tutu I also established the great annual festival called Akwasidae (or Odwira). On the

occasion of this festival, all the Asante kings assemble at Kumasi and renew their allegiance to the Golden Stool and their loyalty to

the Asantehene.

12
In 1900 an attempt by the British Gold Coast governor, Frederick Hodgson, to capture the Golden Stool, led to an uprising,
spearheaded by 'Yaa Asantewaa', which took several months to put down.

The democratic nature of the traditional political systems of the Akans and other African

cultures have been recognized by anthropologists and sociologists since the works of R.S.

Rattray.13 Eva L. Mayerowitz,14 and Professor K. A. Busia.15 That these are generated and sustained

mostly through the moral force of taboos is however not so well known. The foregoing political

taboos, are by no means exhaustive, but it indicates the dependence of the traditional chieftaincy

system on taboos, in spite of being embedded within the current national democratic system.

In response to the political violence that has been disrupting the process of democratisation

and economic restructuring for several decades in Africa, the taboo for instance, which, says “No

one, should proclaim himself/herself a chief.  It is the prerogative of the king makers” could be
19
reinforced at the national level by the appropriate traditional authorities to help stabilize democracy

and economic growth. In Ghana for example, the National House of chiefs could institute taboos

prohibiting the subordination of their subjects to coup-makers, violent revolutionaries or any non-

democratically elected state officials. Political parties could also be prohibited by traditional rulers

from imposing curses on those who take their gifts but refuse to vote for them during elections. 

During the 1996 elections in Ghana, it is believed that many rural voters were manipulated into

voting favorably for some political parties using or threatening to use such curses.  Since there is no

question about the effect of such taboos or threats on the people, it is immaterial whether one

interprets the effectiveness in psychological or spiritual terms.  Therefore, political taboos

prohibiting such manipulative use or threat using curse in public, recognized as effective and

peaceful instruments democratic and economic stability and consequently important instruments for

development. 

----------------------------------------------- 13

Noel Machin wrote “Government Anthropolosgist of Life” on R.S. Rattray 14

See Meyerowitz, Eva L.R. 1951. The sacred state of the Akan. London.
15
Professor K.A. Busia was former Prime Minister of Ghana’s 2nd Republic

Since without ATR one can neither explain their existence nor effectiveness, Traditional theologians

recognized that far from being detrimental or peripheral to the goals of development, ATR, from this

perspective is generally contributive to Africa’s development.

1.3.6 Scientific taboos and their significance for development

According to theologians of Africa Traditional Religion, Taboos are mostly presented in

‘personal’ idiomatic expression, since their promulgation and sanctions are attributed to the gods

and the ancestors or beings with will and intentions etc.  For this reason the attempts to explain in

phenomenological terms why certain actions are permissible or forbidden have been termed

20
personal explanations since they reflect the will or intention of certain supernatural beings. 

Personal explanations are therefore contrasted with naturalistic or scientific explanations since

unlike personal explanations they appeal to physical laws of time, space, mechanism and

psychological states to explain phenomena or the existence of certain rules.

Most Akan and Ewe taboos appear to have not only personal explanations but also rational

or scientific explanations.  Since most of the classifications discussed earlier could be termed

scientific, Traditional theologians limit the examples to medical science and health and apply a

narrower conception of science for this segment. Examples of Scientific Taboos in this narrow sense

are:

 One should not have sex in the bush:  While this is said to offend the near by and the earth

goddess (Asaase Yaa) who may strike the offenders with venereal and other diseases several

scientific explanations can be given for this taboo.  For instance, it helps to ensure that sex does

not take place in an unsafe environment such as the bush where there are dangerous insects,

scorpions and snakes; not to mention micro-organisms.  There’s also the possibility of a heart

attack or bleeding on the part of any of the parties, which could prove fatal, especially, if the

farm or bush is far from home. 

 One should not sing while taking his or her bath:  It is feared that one will lose the mother to

death just by refusing to stop such a habit.  The Scientific explanation for this is not hard to

discern.  Soaps used in the olden days were highly acidic and therefore poisonous if swallowed

in a large measure.  The essence of the taboo then is to prevent people from the harmful effect of

unsafe traditional soap.

 It is a taboo to leave soup overnight without putting in charcoal:  The personal explanation

to this taboo is that a ghost who visits the house at night might dip his/her finger.  As a result

whoever eats the soup the next day may fall sick and may die. The scientific explanation for this

21
 is very interesting.  Since charcoal is known to have the natural properties for absorbing the

carbon content of the liquids and thus prevent the action of micro-organisms on the soup with

charcoal can therefore stay overnight without going bad.  The taboo is therefore intended for the

medical protection and well-being of the community.

 A widow or widower should not be at the cemetery for the burial of the spouse.  The

personal explanation is that this will disturb the peaceful separation and departure of the

deceased to the world of souls.  Consequently, it is believed that the ghost of the dead spouse

would visit the offending spouse at night. This taboo is however also associated with a very

plausible scientific explanation.  In psychological terms it can be explained that it is aimed at

protecting the mental health or emotion well-being of the bereaved spouse.  The moment of

burial marks a definite point of separation and the bereaved spouse could be overpowered and

become totally devastated by emotions.  In extreme cases this could result in collapse or death

of the bereaved.

 Young children especially twins are not supposed to see a dead body:  The personal and

scientific reasons for these taboos are similar to the foregoing, which says, “A widow or

widower should not be at the cemetery for the burial of the spouse”.

 It is also a taboo to talk while eating:  In terms of personal explanation, it is feared that one’s
mother would die if one breaks this taboo. The Scientific counterpart to this personal
explanation is simply that the prohibition is necessary to prevent people from getting choked. 
Food-choking is a common phenomena in Africa since many ethnic foods have to be swallowed
with soup or sauce without chewing.  These include balls of fufu16, akple16 and toozaafe16 etc,
especially with very oily palm-kernel and groundnut paste soups etc.  

1.3.7 Environmental taboos and their significance for development

The term environment taboos has been reserved for taboos intended by traditional

authorities for the regulation of the ethical use of the environment in view of its resources for

22
material and human development.

The examples in Akan and Ewe include: Clearing of sacred forests or bushes; Felling of

forbidden timber species; Hunting of animals during forbidden seasons and sacred days;Fishing in

the sea on certain days e.g. Tuesday (Fante and Ga areas of Ghana); Eating of totem animals; Eating

of sacred or forbidden fish; Setting of bush-fires for hunting in certain forests or bushes; Digging of

graves for burial without due authorization from the chief; Desecration of graves.

Traditional theologians claimed that environmental consciousness, which is now beginning

-----------------------------------------

l6
Fufu, akple and toozaafe are all Ghanaian foods which are eaten almost by the main ethnic groups of Ghana. These

foods are made by cassave or maize – chief cash crops for farmers in Ghana. Conventional West African fufu is made by boiling

such starchy foods as cassava, yam, plantain or rice, then pounding them into a glutinous mass, usually in a giant, wooden mortar and

pestle.

to have a grip on the western mind, has been part and parcel of the mind of the traditional African

from time immemorial

Writing as late as 1992, Professor Tedros Kiros of Harvard University17 could write and

condemn the refusal of the traditional African farmer to cut down certain forests as economically

unintelligent “A reasonable African, he argues, must not refuse to cut the trees.” 

This statement is condemned by the Traditional theologian as unwarranted in the absence of

any sustained effort to explore possible alternative scientific or rational explanations for their

attitude towards the sacred forest. As evident to most indigenous scholars and down-to earth

anthropologists, there are various scientific and rational explanations to their attitudes known to

many of the elders or wise men and women in the traditional societies.  In many cases forests,

usually about one mile square, are reserved for the burial of their kings, queens and other royals. 

Since these royals used to be or are buried with golden and silver ornaments, which could be dug

out for the state treasury in case of war, natural disaster or similar emergencies, such forests were in

23
the past effectively secured from robbery just by being declared “sacred” by the appropriate

authorities and rituals. Further, some of the forests serve as natural wind breakers, natural foliage or

------------------------------------

17
Tedros Kiros is Professor of Philosophy at Suffolk University in

Boston and a writer and journalist. He received his B.A. at University of Wisconsin, as well as a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy, Kent

State University. His areas of interest are moral philosophy, ethics, philosophy of race and gender, African philosophy, and

constructions of identity. He is author of the books "Toward the Construction of a Theory of Political Action;" "Moral Philosophy and

Development: The Human Condition of Africa;" "The Promise of Multiculturalism;" "Self Construction and the Formation of Human

Values" (Winner, 1999 Michael Harrington Book Award for an outstanding book that contributes to human progress.) and

"Explorations in African Political Thought"(2002). Other forthcoming books are a novel titled "Cambridge Days" and a collection of

short stories and essays. He is also a columnist to The Somerville Journal; and editor and writer at large for The Ethiopian Reporter,

an English-speaking newspaper in Addis Ababa. At Harvard he is researching "Zara Yacob: On the Rationality of the Heart." Yacob is

a seventeenth century philosopher of African enlightenment.

His new book, The Rationality of the Human Heart will be published in October 2003.

cover for small streams and water sheds as well as the home of certain rare plants and animals that

need to be preserved for medicinal, food, and educational purposes. 

The point to note then is that long before Westerners began to develop their environmental

consciousness, African peasants knew that cutting all or most of the available forests will not only

deprive the future generation of rare plants and animals, but will also affect the climatic conditions

leading to drought, excessive wind-storms, and soil-erosion etc.

The issue of bush-fires represents a serious challenge to many African countries especially

near the Sahara region. For not only do the bush fires destroy and endanger human lives they also

destroy plant and animal life -including the life of rare and endangered species. They at the same

time cause rivers to dry and accelerate soil erosion and the spread of the Sahara Desert 18.  Any

attempt to halt or even minimize such destructive activities, including the institutionalisation of

appropriate taboos should therefore be given due recognition and encouragement.

24
 -------------------------------------

18
The Sahara is the world’s largest non-popular desert, over 9,000,000 m 2 (3,500,00 mi2) about the same size as the

United States. The Sahara is located in northern Africa and is 2.5 million years old. The boundaries of the Sahara are the Atlantic

ocean on the west, the Atlas mountains and the Mediterranean sea on the north, the red sea and Egypt on the east, and the Sudan and

the valley of the Niger River on the South. The Sahara is divided into western Sahara, the central Ahaggar mountains, the Tibesti

mountains, the Air Mountains (a region of desert mountains and high plateaus), Tenere desert and the Libyan desert (the most arid

region). The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (3415m) in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad.

The Sahara divides the continent of Africa into North and sub – Saharan Africa. The southern border of the Sahara is

marked by a band of Semi - arid sayanna called the Sahel; south of the Sahel lies the lusher Sudan and the Congo river basin. 2.5

million people live in the sahara, most of these in Egypt, Mauritania, Morroco and Algeria. Dominant ethnicities in the sahara are

various Berber groups including Tuareg tribes, various Arabised Berber groups such as the Hassaniya speaking Maura/Moors (also

known as Sahrawis) and various “black African” ethnicities including Tubu, Nubians, Zaghawa, Kanuri, Peul or Fulani, Hausa and

Songhai. The largest city in the Sahara is Cairo, in the Nile valley and Egypt’s capital. Other important cities are Nouakchutt, the

capital of Mauritania; Tamanrasset, Algeria; Timbuktu, Mali; Agdez, Niger, Ghat, Libya and Faya Chad.

In both southern and northern sectors of Ghana, for example, recent increases in bush

burning and their devastating consequences for the economy and human life have led to the

creation of such taboos against indiscriminate bush-burning.  But there is still room for

improvement especially in the area of enforcement and adjudication.  Since these

environmental taboos protect the environment and promise their economic and  rational

usage, it cannot be denied that they simultaneously promote national development which is

so dependent on economic growth and the sustainable utilization of natural resources.

The African Theologian concludes that relevant taboos could be discussed but there

is no need to belabor the point.  What remains to be examined are some of the implications

of these taboos for re-conceptualizing the relationship between ATR and development, and

related philosophical issues.

25
 Chapter 2

GENERAL DISCUSSION

2.1 Counter- productive taboos

Counterproductive taboos within the context of this paper are those detrimental towards
Africa’s developmental objectives.  They include but are by no means limited to:

(1)        Taboos that restrict the eating of eggs or meat by children and pregnant women.

(2)        Taboos that protect such heinous institutions like the Trokosi System in Southeast Ghana by
which virgins are sent to shrines against their will to serve as atonements for the sins of their
relatives such as rape, theft or murder by their fathers, uncles or mothers etc. Many still maintain
that it is a taboo to free such victims from their virtual enslavement.

26
(3)        Taboos that prolong the number of days farmers cannot go to do farm work after each death
in the community. Until recently some parts of Asante had two weeks as the limit and local
authorities sanctioned farmers breaking the taboo.

(4)        Taboos that encourage female genital - multination (misleadingly termed female
circumcision) given the abuse of human rights, the physical and emotional torture, and the
risk of infertility, infection and life involved. Many traditionalists especially the elderly
women still believe it is a taboo to marry the “uncircumcised” women.

(5)        Taboos that encourage cruel widowhood rites against women.  For example, the literal
throwing of pepper into the eyes of widows in Ga area and the starving and harassment of
widows in Akan areas etc. especially by the relatives of the diseased.

Using development as our yardstick, it must be evident that the above taboos are counter-
productive since they do not promote the well-being of the people concerned.  The dietary taboos
for instance are bound to affect the health of children and pregnant women.  Without adequate
protein in take from eggs and meat the children are likely to become protein-deficient and develop
what the Gas call Korshiorkor.  This does not only retard their physical growth but also their
intellectual development since proteins are essential for the development of the brain.  The infants
born to the pregnant women denied of such diets are also liable to Korshiorkor and its side-effects.
The effects of this protein deficiency  on pregnant women is equally significant. For many of them
are likely to become, anemic and this increases maternal mortality in the local areas affected by the
taboos.

The second set of taboos are also detrimental to development since they affect economic
productivity by unnecessarily limiting the number of working days in the week for farmers.  In
some parts of Asante including the Kokofu-Mensase area under the spiritual jurisdiction of an
obosom called Kankamea, it was, until recently, a taboo for farmers to work on their farms on the
death of a citizen of the area until the one has been buried.  It was also a taboo to go to farm on the
day of the funeral and two days after.  The only exception was when one had to go to fetch food for
domestic (but not for commercial) purposes.  After a series of criticisms initiated in the 1970’s of
some of these restrictions have however been limited by district councils or district administrative
secretaries.

27
 Unless such unnecessary restrictions on farming activities are checked, food productivity
could be seriously affected especially where the number of deaths per year are significant and the
taboos are taken seriously and uncritically by many. The taboos in numbers 3 to 5 are in clear
violation of the human rights of the victims concerned.  They tend to degrade the female suggesting
that they are inferior to men and put the young girls at unnecessary risk mostly against their wish.
To temper with a female’s sex organ for the sole purpose of meeting the interest of her future
husband at the expense of her own pleasure or health and psychological well-being is to treat her as
a mere sex object.  Such acts are therefore to be condemned as dehumanizing and  unjust. Since
respect for human rights are essential to any meaningful definition of development such taboos
should be seen as counter-productive for developing nations. 

Equally dehumanizing and unjust are the taboos perpetuating the practice of the Trokosi
system and cruel widowhood rites.  The virgins of the Trokosi system no matter the alleged benefits
to society - are evidently in bondage or slavery.  They have no rights and are totally under the
tyranny of the chief priests who use them as instruments for his sexual gratification and as
instruments of economic production on his farms.  Although for a shorter period of time compared
with the demands of the Trokosi system, what some Ghanaian women are forced to go through in
the name of culture and tradition on the death of their husbands are equally dehumanizing and
painful, but ironically, in the hands of their fellow women.  The United Nations Charter on Human
Rights, clearly condemns all such acts as inhuman, degrading and unjust  when it states in Article 3,
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.” Article 4 also states, “No one shall
be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishments etc.”

To the extent that the above taboos violate these human rights provisions, they are
inconsistent with human well-being and consequently morally unacceptable.  This is more so in this
post-Beijing era when all people in authority - political or religious have been sensitized to the
exploitation, oppression and repression of women at the global level and the need to intensify
efforts aimed at their immediate and total liberation.  The persuasive argument by Mrs. R. Clinton
the Beijing Conference was not meant just to impress but to inspire both men and women to take
the rights of women seriously. “Women are human .  Therefore, women’s rights are also human
rights.”  She argued.

These, negative taboos should however not diminish one’s interest in taboos as a whole
since by their nature, taboos, (at least within the Akan and Ewe areas in our study) are - unlike the

28
absolute laws of the Medes and the Persians - both overriddable and open to modification and
supplementation as explained below.

2.2 The overriddability of taboos

Another interesting feature of taboos is that they are overriddable. This means, they are not
construed as absolute or eternal and therefore unchanging rules. To say that a taboo is overriddable
means that where there is a conflict with another taboo or other more morally compelling rule or
law than the taboo, the taboo can give and should yield to that rule or law.

Thus, if it is a taboo to shout your mother’s name in the middle of the night but doing so is
likely to help her revive after collapsing, one is morally justified and even obligated in breaking or
setting aside the taboo for the movement.  Among the Akans, this overriddability of taboos is
expressed graphically in saying, “If it is necessary for one to remove a foreign object from one’s
mother’s vagina, and one does so with his penis, he has not violated the incest taboo.” Similarly,
while it is (generally) a taboo to carry anything in a palm leave basket to the king’s palace, it is also
said, emphatically that notwithstanding this prohibition, “It is not a taboo to carry nuggets of gold in
a palm leave basket into the kings palace.”  Taboos are therefore, unlike the absolute or categorical
imperatives of Immanuel Kant presented as unconditional and non-overriddable moral
prescriptions, since they permit reasonable exceptions as necessitated by special circumstances.

When it comes to conflict-resolution involving conflicts generated by conflicting moral or legal

values therefore, the taboo imperatives of the Akans and Ewes are ethically superior to the

Categorical Imperatives of Kantian Ethics and similar moral principles cast in absolute and

consequently non-overriddable terms.

2.3 The openness of taboos

One may think that since taboos are associated with traditional societies, there could be no

opportunity for adding new ones in the sense that they are metaphysically closed.    That fortunately

is not the case.  Taboos remain traditional but like legal principles they can be added to, modified or

reinterpreted to meet compelling existential circumstances.  The openness is justified in the popular

Akan proverb that maintains “It is not a taboo to go back to retrieve values that one has forgotten.”

In this connection, it is interesting to note the results of some experiment in (in what Karl popper

29
might term) “social engineering” conducted by, Nana Baffour Professor Boakye-Boateng of the

Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and the Chief of a town south of Kumasi.  In

response to increasing cases of teenage pregnancy in his traditional area of jurisdiction, he

introduced a taboo with severe sanctions for both male and female violators, to minimize teenage

pregnancy among the girls in junior and senior secondary schools.  In a follow- up study three years

later, it was found that only one girl-child in the traditional area with hundreds of school girls had

violated the taboo and become pregnant.  Even so, according to Nana, the taboo was so effective

that her parents hid the pregnant girl and unable to come to the public anytime the chief visited the

town.

In order to curb the recent increases in bush-fires, grave-looting, rape, incest, the mysterious
serial murder of over 40 women in Accra and especially the spread of AIDS in Ghana and similar
problems throughout Africa, etc. the National House of Chiefs and similar traditional institutions,
could be charged with the introduction or re-launching of certain relevant taboos. This study
recommends the promulgation of such taboos since unlike ordinary constitutional laws and
sanctions, taboo sanctions go beyond terms of imprisonment or fines to include public humiliation. 
Depending on the religious orientation of those involved, traditional rulers may require that certain
prayers be said in public for forgiveness. Even religious rituals were performed for the pacification
of the gods and the ancestors or the Supreme Being etc. This is necessary because, it is believed that
such rituals provide spiritual protection of the offender as well as the offenders’ extended family,
from curses and calamities. As a result, they are taken more seriously than constitutional laws and
their corresponding sanctions. The taboos and their sanctions are however not recommended as
substitutes for the latter but only as supplements.

2.4 Conclusion

As stated in the introduction, if one could show that certain types of taboos tend to promote

human-well being and hence development, and that such taboos are created, sustained or

transmitted by African Traditional Religion, then one would have shown by logical deduction that

African Traditional Religion promotes development. This foregoing exposition and analysis of

30
seven types of taboos ranging from the cultic, the moral, the economic, the political, through to the

scientific and the environmental have demonstrated that a substantial number of taboos in the Akan

and Ewe cultural traditions enhance, rather than impede, the goals of development as broadly

construed in this paper.  Since all these taboos are known to be promulgated or transmitted largely

by ATR as principles for moral guidance, motivation, grounds of objectivity and transformation, it

goes without saying that ATR, - contrary to the views of the adherents of the Stupidity Theory and

other critics,- can and indeed does promote development.

The question of anti-development or counter-productive taboos has also been addressed.

Since taboos are considered non-absolute and hence overriddable as well as open to modification
and supplementation or abolition etc., the challenge to the present generation is to analyze them
objectively and critically and to make the necessary deletions, supplementations or modifications
without prejudice to their own religious orientations, as part of their contribution towards the
accelerated development of the whole continent.

If under the spell of the Stupidity Theory and similar influences development experts 

marginalized, ignored or forgot the potentialities of taboos towards development, the traditional

African  Philosopher has finally broken the spell, and is reminding all concerned, “It is not a taboo

to go back for values one has forgotten”.  A word to the wise is enough.

2.5 Methodology and Data Collection

As part of the preparation to write this dissertation, l visited the Internet café for several

times to make voluminous research work for information. Things that are not clear to me were

research again and again to make sure that what l am gathering are ipso facto. Apart from the

Internet, which assisted me a lot, l also gathered information from the lesson notes of my

lecturer and the Academic dean of Ghana Christian College and Seminary, Professor Joseph

31
 Nsiah. He specialised in Old Testament and African Traditional Religion teachings. The lesson

notes of this my Professor is an immense contribution to my work.

There were also books l read to clear my understanding on several terminologies like

Polytheism, Monotheism, Animism, Primitive, Fetishism, Paganism, Heatheism, Ancestor

worship and assessment of the use of the terms.

My purpose for studying ATR19 as a Christian has many reasons: The first reason is for

-------------------------------------------
19
ATR means African Traditional Religion. It would be used throughout these writings.

knowledge sake. Like other things in God’s universe, ATR needs to be explored, research and

understood so as to discover what actually Africans know, actually believed and actually think

about God and the unseen world.

The second reason, is for evangelistic reason. I am studying ATR because it is the

religious background of African peoples whom Christians seem to evangelise today. Failure to

do this, the Christian cannot speak effectively and persuasively, and relate the message of the

gospel to the problems and needs of the African peoples.

The third reason is because of its challenge for Christians. I am studying ATR so that

l can effectively help many African Christians who rely on ATR in times of crises from Biblical

point of view. The study will help me to answer why African Christian resorts to the traditional

resources in time of need.

The fourth reason is for contextualization purposes. Christians should study ATR because

the Christian church in Africa needs to contextualise faith so that it becomes truly rooted in the

life of the people.

The fifth reason for studying ATR, is because of the recent revivalising of ATR by African

32
 nationalist. Linking traditional religion with nationalism poses serious problems for the

Christians church (i.e. Church of Christ that Christ built). The problem, which is the call for the

acceptance of the ATR as small part of the African heritage, authentic religion for the African,

and the only indigenous religious institution, which promotes African identity and personality, is

alarming for the Christians response.

If this is the situation, my study of ATR from the viewpoint of nationalist interest is

first also for corrective purpose. This means, to help we Christians to get the deep insight into

the true nature of ATR. That again also is to correct wrong impressions and interpretation of

ATR given by early Christian writers and missionaries as well as their biases. The insight one

gets will reveal that terms like paganism, animism, fetishim, totemism, heatheism and

monotheism, which have been used to describe ATR are inappropriate and derogatory. Besides

the study exposes the biases and prejudices of early western scholars.

My study of ATR is also for comparative purpose. The study will enable the Christian to

make a comparative study of ATR in line with other religious such as Christianity, Judaism,

Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Shintoism and confuciosnism. The study would help the

Christian to find the similarities and differences between ATR and these religions, which would

help us understands and appreciate the behaviour and practices of other religions.

Other reasons for studying ATR are for peaceful existence. This means African

society is a religious pluralistic society. Understanding ATR therefore, will help people of other

religion to promote peaceful co- existence with the African traditionalist.

Again study of ATR is for historical value. The study enables us understands African

past history ( for example, the history of Ewe and Akans, which l am now researching). The

study will give a better understanding of the present world and how to plan for the future. For

example, the past help us to understand why certain animals and plant are held in honour of

certain ancestors. This enables one to be able to plan for the future by maintaining the good

33
 aspects of the past.

The study of ATR is also for preservation purpose. That means to preserve our

culture. The word culture, is the sum total of a people way of life including the following –

language, beliefs, arts, literature, drumming, dancing, music, inheritance, occupation, moral

value, festivals, socio – political institution, customs and practices. Such as birth rights, puberty

rites, marriage rites and death rites. All these aspects of one’s culture can best be know and

preserved only through active study of ATR because ATR permeates the whole fabric of African

life.

I am studying ATR for religious purpose. That means to provide the African with a religious

interpretation of life and mysteries in this world based upon this tradition. Every religion in this

world has got its own view of life and mysteries in this world. African myths throw light on

African understanding of the universe – the why of the world, how the world was created, how

man was created, how God became separated from man etc.

The last but the least, the study of ATR is for moral value. It means to inculcate good moral

behaviour among the youth. ATR forms the basics of moral value of society. It has ethical

standard against anti – social practices and those that promote social practices.

From the general reasons given above, ATR can be defined as a religious system by

which African people consciously and voluntarily, by means of beliefs, practices and rituals,

religious leaders and specialists places and objects, morals and values, establish meaningful

relationships with powers, which according to their beliefs, have control over the needs,

interests, destiny and infact every aspect of their community life.

By this definition ATR is said to have three dimensions to it. These are powers

involved in ATR, means of establishing relationship with these powers and the people involved

basically Africans. These scholars have presented ATR in diverse forms: A.E. Godfrey

34
 Parinder,20 Bolaji Idowu,21 John Mbito22 and Richard J. Gehman.23

---------------------------------------------------------------------
20
A.E. Godfrey Parinder in his book West Africans Religions(1961), divides the subject of ATR into four parts as follows: The

supreme Being; The chief divinities, including non – human spirits; The divined ancestors; The charms and amulets

21
Bolaji Idowu in his book ATR – a definition 1973 divides the ATR in to 5 (five) groups. These are, belief in God; Belief in the

divinities; Belief in Spirits; Belief in the ancestors; The practice of magic and medicine.

22
John Mbito in his book, African Religions and Philosophy (1969) divides the ATR into 6 (six) categories. They are, The Supreme

being; spiritual beings, spirits and the living dead; mankind, including the cycle of life; specialists; mystics power, magic, witcraft

and sorcery; evil, ethics and justice.

23
Richard J. Gehman in his book ATR in Biblical perspective (1989) divides the subject into 3 (three) categories. These are, Mystical

powers; Spiritual world; Supreme being

In my data collection for this project, l came to understand the means used in ATR to

establish relationship with the powers who have control over African worshippers life. For

example: Religious leaders and specialists include diviners, mediums, seers, priests medicine

men, ritual elders, rain makers, traditional rulers, magicians, sorcerers and witches. These are

people who conduct religious matters such as ceremonies, sacrifices, formal prayers and

divinations. In many cases they are trained men and women. Without these people religious

activities would ground to a halt and much of the religious matters of the people would be

forgotten.. Another example are religious objects and places. They cover the things and places

which people have set apart as been holy and sacred. These include places like shrines, groves,

sacred hills or mountains and objects like rivers, amulets, charms, mask and many others.

Another example are the practices and rituals. These include activities like worship, prayers,

making sacrifices and offering, singing and dancing, festivals, initiations and different forms of

rituals. Another example are values and morals. These deal with ideas that safeguard the life of

the people with their relationship with one another and the world around them. These covers

35
 subjects like truth, justice, love, right and wrong, good, bad, beauty, decency, respect for people

and property. The keeping of promises and agreements, praise and blame, crime and

punishments, the rights and responsibilities of the individual and his community, character,

integrity and other things.

All the above information became available to me during my research work on ATR

and it has become very necessary to make it known. This would now form a foundation for me

to narrow my work down to the concept of God in the traditional religion among Akan and Ewe

tribal groups.

CHAPTER 3

GHANA: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

3.1 Ghana: an Introductory Data

Formerly the Gold Coast, Ghana is a young republic, which became independent from

Britain on March 6. 1957, the first black African colony to achieve its independence. Ghana

occupies the pinnacle spot in Pan-African history having hit the torch for African Emancipation and

became home, in famous Pan-Africanist such as W.E. B Du Bois24 and George Pad more.25 Dr.

Kwame Nkrumah26 whose mausoleum adds to Accra’s landscape was Ghana’s first President.

European power struggle between the 15th and 19th centuries started with the Portuguese

who built Elmina Castle in 1482. The Dutch, Swedes, Danes, Prussians and the British looking for

fortunes in gold and ivory followed them.

This intense commercial rivalry ended with the growth of the tragic trade in silvery. About 42

European castles and fortifications were used as dungeons for the millions, most of whom lost their

lives or whose descendants compose the African diaspora today. In

36
Ghana you can find 42 forts and castles, including Elmina and Cape Coast Castles, which are

recognised by UNESCO as World I Heritage Monuments27.

------------------------------ 24

1868-1963 born February 23, 1868 died August 27, 1963. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a noted scholar, editor and African

American activist
25
George Padmore was born in Trinidad in 1901 and died in 1959. He was a leading figure of Pan-Africanism and Black liberation.
He wrote The Life and Struggles of Negro Toilers, which championed the cause of Black labor throughout the world.

26
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was born at Nkrofu in Nzima, Ghana on September 18, 1909. He led Ghana into independence
and republic both in 1957 and 1960 respectively. He was Ghana’s first president. The Government of Nkrumah was toppled
in 1966 while on his way to Hanoi via China.

27
There are many World I Monuments, which you can find in places such as Middle East and India . In Ghana forts and castles are
visited by tourists, which UNESCO have recognised.

 Things you can also see are the following: sites of wars between the British and their

indigenous population especially the Ashanti peoples; ancient artistry in fabrics with the

colourful and popular Ashanti Bonwire Kente Cloth28 now adopted as a focus of identity by

many people of African descent the world over; an antique collector’s haven for ancient terra

cotta work. Traditional gold jewellery, Krobo beads, northern leather and straw product,

woodcarving of Ahwiaa-Ashanti and the practice of ancient herbal and alternative medicine

side by side with orthodox medical practice throughout the country. It is belief that

herbariums preserve the ancient medical heritage.

You may also find in Ghana, colourful traditional festivals full of pomp and

pageantry with Chiefs and Queen Mothers riding on lushly gilded palanquins. This also

included, colourful traditional open markets and lorry parks, which provide the sounds and

sights of the African bazaar. Ghana is rich in natural heritage and it features;

37
 ------------------------------------------------

28 Kente is an Asante ceremonial cloth hand-woven on a horizontal treadle loom. Strips measuring about 4 inches

wide are sewn together into larger pieces of cloths. Cloths come in various colors, sizes and designs and are worn during very

important social and religious occasions. In a total cultural context, kente is more important than just a cloth.

It is a visual representation of history, philosophy, ethics, oral literature, moral values, social code of conduct, religious beliefs,

political thought and aesthetic principles. The term kente has its roots in the word kenten which means "basket". The first kente

weavers used raffia fibers to weave cloths that looked like kenten and thus were referred to as kenten ntoma; meaning "basket

cloth". The original Asante name of the cloth was nsaduaso or nwontoma meaning "a cloth hand-woven on a loom" and is still

used today by Asante weavers and elders. However, the term kente is the most popularly used today, in and outside Ghana.

Many variations of narrow-strip cloths, similar to kente are woven by various ethnic groups in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.

Traditionally, kente is mainly woven by the Asante and the Ewe tribes of Ghana. The Asante kente is woven in villages just

outside Kumasi in the area around Bonwire and Ntonso. Kente is also woven by the Ewe in the Volta Region around Kpetoe,

Denu, Wheta and Agbozume.

 Dense tropical rainforests being developed into nature parks for the ecology-minded tourist.

such as the new National Park at Kakum, and in Ankasa Forest in the south of the country.

Birds and butterflies are particularly numerous in Ghana’s forests. The forests’ nature trails

are attractive and a great way to see the birds and butterflies

 Unique eco-system where colonies of monkeys live in symbiotic relationship with the local

human community. A form of ecological conservation, which has emerged naturally. This

can be seen in the nature sanctuary at Buabeng-Fiema village in Brong Ahafo.

 Crocodile’s ponds are found in different parts of the country.

 Coastal wetlands for indigenous and migratory birds abound for bird watching enthusiasts

notably at the Volta Estuary. Songor Lagoon and Panbros Beach near Accra.

 The century-old Aburi Botanical Gardens serve as a museum of natural history for tropical

species from all five continents.

3.2 Ethnic Groups

38
 3.2.1 The origin of Akans

The Ashanti, Adansi, Akyem, Assin, and Denkyira peoples of Ghana, like the Baule of Ivory

Coast, are subgroups of the West African Akan nation said to have migrated from the vicinity of the

north-western Niger River after the fall of the Ghana Empire in the 1200s. [1] Akan political

organization centred on various clans, each headed by a paramount chief or Amanhene. [2] One of

these clans, the Oyoko, settled Ghana’s sub-tropical forest region, establishing a centre at Kumasi.

[3] During the mid-1600s, under Chief Oti Akenten, the Oyoko started consolidating other Ashanti

clans into a loose confederation that occurred without destroying the authority of each paramount

chief over his clan.[4] This was done in part by military assault, but largely by uniting them against

the Denkyira, who had previously dominated the region.

King Osei Tutu I29 founded the Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana in the seventeenth century. He was able

to do this with the help of his Fetish Priest Okomfo Anokye30. Tradition has also said that Okomfo

Anokye conjured the famous Golden Stool from the sky and landed it on the lap of King Osei Tutu,

the first King of the Ashantis. The Fetish Priest declared that the soul of the new nation resided in

the stool and the people must preserve and respect it. The safety of this Great Stool which united the

Ashanti Kingdom has however been fought for on certain occasions.31

Although located in the heart of the forest, the Ashanti Kingdom was extended by military and

political skill towards the European rulers. In March 1900, a Governor in the then Gold Coast told

the Ashantis to bring the stool for him to sit on. This demand was rejected and War broke out

between the Ashantis and the British. The Supreme Commander in this war was a brave and

intelligent Ashanti woman called Yaa Asantewaa the Great.

She was born in 1863 at Ejisu, near Kumasi, in Ashanti and later became the Queen Mother of

Ejisu. Brave and fearless as she was, she led the men of Ashanti or the “Ashanti Warriors” to fight
39
the British when the Asantehene (Ashanti King), Nana Prempeh I and other important chiefs were

captured and sent to the Seychelles island.32 She and her army fought well, but they were defeated

by the British army. After the war, the British arrested Yaa Asantewaa and took her also to the

---------------------------------------------- 29
See foot
note number 11 at Page 19

30
See footnote number 11 at Page 19

31
See footnote number 12 at Page 19
32
Seychelles island is located in the Indian Ocean. It is a group of about 115 small islands. The main islands are Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. Victoria
is the capital of Seychelles island located in Mahe. The first wo visited the island were the Arabs. The French took possession of Seychelles islands
in 1756. From this date until 1903, the Seychelles colony was a dependency of Mauritius, which passed from the French to the Bristish in 1814. In
August 1903, Seychelles became a separated British colony crown colony. In 1976, the Seychelles became an independent republic within the
commonwealth. The languages spoken in Seychelles are English, French and Seselwa.

Seychelles Island. She died there in 1923. She became the first woman commander of the Ashanti

Kingdom. Most of these great Ashanti Kings returned to the country in the late 1920`s after their

release by the British. Notable among them was Nana Sir Agyeman Prempeh II, who ruled from

1931 until his death in 1970. Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, a professional surveyor born into the royal

Oyoko clan, succeeded him. He was loved by all his subjects and contributed immensely to the

development of the Ashanti nation. He unfortunately died on 25th February 1999 after ruling for 29

years.

The current Asantehene or Ashanti King is the son of the Asantehemaa or Queen Mother by the

name Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. Known in Private life as Nana Kwaku Dua, he was trained in Britain

and has a private company based in Kumasi, the Ashanti Capital. This Great Ashanti King is also

referred among his people as “King Solomon” and was recently awarded doctorate degrees by two

universities in the United States of America.

The Ashanti Kingdom also expanded with trade. Many travelers all over the world visit this

great nation at the very center of Ghana. Accompanied by the rich gold reserves, this kingdom also

became famous for wonderful works of art especially in the field of Kente weaving.

40
 3.2.2 The origin of Ewe

The Ewe occupies southeastern Ghana and the southern parts of neighboring Togo and

Benin. On the west, the Volta separates the Ewe from the Ga-Adangbe, Ga, and Akan. Subdivisions

of the Ewe include the Anglo (Anlo), Bey (Be), and Gen on the coast, and the Peki, Ho, Kpando,

Tori, and Ave in the interior. Oral tradition suggests that the Ewe immigrated into Ghana before the

midfifteenth century. Although the Ewe have been described as a single language group, there is

considerable dialectic variation. Some of these dialects are mutually intelligible, but only with

difficulty.

Unlike the political and social organization of the Akan, where matrilineal rule prevails, the

Ewe are essentially a patrilineal people. The founder of a community became the chief and was

usually succeeded by his paternal relatives. The largest independent political unit was a chiefdom,

the head of which was essentially a ceremonial figure who was assisted by a council of elders.

Chiefdoms ranged in population from a few hundred people in one or two villages to several

thousand in chiefdom, with a large number of villages and surrounding countryside. Unlike the

Asante among the Akan, no Ewe chiefdom gained hegemonic power33 over its neighbor. The rise of

Ewe nationalism in both Ghana and Togo was more of a reaction to the May 1956 plebiscite that

partitioned Eweland between the Gold Coast and Togo than to any sense of overriding ethnic unity.

Substantial differences in local economies were characteristic of the Ewe. Most Ewe

were farmers who kept some livestock, and there was some craft specialization. On the coast and

immediately inland, fishing was important, and local variations in economic activities permitted a

great deal of trade between one community and another, carried out chiefly by women.

3.2.3 The belief of God among Akans and Ewes the ethnic groups

41
 To give me a good foundation for this discussion, l want to briefly throw a little light first on

divinities in ATR. The word divinity is the translation of the various vernacular words in West.

--------------------------------------

33
The presence of a hegemonic power denotes the predominance of one state over all others in international affairs. Generally, this
ability to dominate world affairs is derived from other means than the exercise of brute force. The United States has assumed the role
of the world hegemonic power since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. During the Cold War era, the two superpowers
dominated world affairs, but neither could really be said to dominate the other. The superpower status of the United States and the
former Soviet Union, and the dynamic interaction between the two, had polarized world politics for nearly fifty years. However, in
1997, the United States stands alone as the world's only hegemon, the sole remaining superpower. Not only have its tremendous
wealth and resources allowed it to act as the dominant force in international affairs since the end of the Cold War, but in many
instances, its domestic policy has also had a dominating influence on the policies adopted by other states.

Bringing this type of hegemonic power to Ghana, it is found among Akans.

Africa such as Obosom in Twi, Fudu in Ewe form – Orisha in Yoruba, Arusi in Igbo. These spiritual

beings according to ATR, are below the Supreme Being and above the ancestral spirits and the

lesser nature spirits. They are said to be ministers of God who act on the behalf of God. For

example, the Yoruba of Nigeria have about 1,100 divinities.34 Besides Olorun or Olodumare whom

they referred to as the Supreme Being, they also see the following divinities as most powerful ones.

Orisa – Nla; Oduduwa – ancestors of Yoruba; Orunmila – god of wisdom; Shango – god of thunder;

Oya – goddess of Niger river; Shopona – the lord of the earth and Orisha Oko – goddess of farm.

The Ewe of Ghana have the following. Mawu – Lisa, the supreme gods of the earliest. They are

twins. Mawu – the female (represented by the moon ) and Lisa - the male (represented by the sun);

So – god of thunder; Ayi – li – god of the earth and Sapata – god of smallpox (king of the earth).

The Akan of Ghana also have the following. Nyame or Onyankopon – the Supreme Being; Asase

Yaa – goddess of earth, consort of Onyame; Tano river god of the fertile land of West Ghana (this

river flows from the Brong – Ahafo region); Bia – river god of the barren lands of the Ivory Coast;

Bosomtwi – divinity and the only nature lake in Ghana, etc.

Divinities can be classified as nature divinities and human divinities. Besides these, there is

another classification, which is based on ownership in time of origin. These classification falls into

42
two categories – The communal owned divinities and individually owned. The communal owned

divinities are type of Divinities, which are the ancient, Tutela (protector) divinities. A whole

community from time in memorial worship them. These divinities protect their communities from

harm and are called in Akan “Tete Abosom”. The individually owned divinities are god of recent

origins and they may be put to beneficial harmful or destructive use. They are physically objects or

--------------------------------------------
34
African beliefs and study of divinities in ATR may be divided into two groups. Those living in West Africa and some kingdoms in

Uganda have large Pantheons (the gods of a particular people) of gods or divinities. Those living in Central, Eastern, Southern

African have no belief in divinities.

instruments used in the practice of magic, which have been elevated to the status of gods. Example

include, Tigare, Kune and Tongo.

Apart from the above-mentioned basic discussions on divinities, African peoples believed

in the Supreme Being. The belief, which is at the centre of African religion, dominates all its other

beliefs. I do not know how the belief originated but the following three possible reasons had been

put forward to explain the origin of these belief.

The first reason is that the belief might have originated with peoples reflections in the

universe. People realised that this vast and complex universe must have an origination. This

originator they considered to be the Supreme Being or God.

The second reason is that the belief originated with people’s realization of their own

limitation and weaknesses. Man realized that he was limited in knowledge and power to control the

world particularly death, calamity and forces of nature. This realisation might have caused them to

speculate that there must be somebody who was greater than both man and the universe to control

them both. This being they regarded as God.

The third reason is that the belief originated with people’s observation of the forces of

nature. The observation of the powers of the weather, storm, thunder and lightening, the
43
phenomenon of day and night and the sky with its heavenly bodies like the sun, moon and stars,

might have caused man to conclude that there is a being behind all this. This being they referred to

as the Supreme being.

Who is the Supreme Being in ATR? It is shown and seen in the names, titles and

attributes they give him. The Supreme Being is known by name, which is equivalent to English

names. The Akans of Ghana (Ashanti, Twi and Fante) referred to him as Nyame or Onyankupon,

meaning, one who satisfies anyone who has got him. The Gas of Ghana called him as Ata – Na-

nyumo, meaning grandfather. The Yoruba called him as Oloram meaning, the owner of the sky or

Olodumare, meaning in the deity with superlative qualities ever stable and unchanging. The mendes

of Sierra Leone called him as Ngelewo, meaning in the sky long ago. The Fon of Benin called him

as Soko, meaning God who created the sky. The Igbo of Nigeria called him Chineke. Almost every

African people have a name for God and other names that describe him.

From titles and attributes revealed through proverbs and every day sayings, received the

following African ideas about the Supreme belief. In Akan for instance, the Creator of the universe

is referred to as Odumankoma, Oboa dee or borebore. In Yoruba it is called Eleda and in Igbo,

they called him Chineke. The phrase, Controller and sustainers of the Universe mean the following.

The Igbos called him Osibuluwa, which means the Lord who upholds the world; the Ewe of Ghana

called him Mawu nuse kata to, which means the God who possesses all powers. The Akan called

him Nyamea wo ti mi ade nyina ye, which means the God who is able to do all things. Other

examples are, the Edo of Nigeria called him Osanobua, meaning the source being who carries and

sustain the universe and the Bulus of Cameroon called him Nebee, meaning the one who bears the

world. Some of the Akan titles are Amowia – giver of sunshine and Amosu – giver of rain.

The immortality of God, is an attribute which is express in the following titles.

Tetekwaframoa (Akan) meaning, he who is there now as from ancient times; Orinsa – Mikutu

(Yoruba) meaning, the king who never die, in him there is eternity; Meketa (Sierra –Leone)

44
meaning, the one who remains and does not die – the everlasting one; Gbogbo mawo, mawo kple

afisia fi no la (Ewe) meaning, a Spirit which no one can create but dwells everywhere.

Other attributes like the following are expressed in Africa. Judge: The Supreme being is

regarded as a judge, the giver of morality, for instance Fia Hhonudrola (Ewe) meaning, a King who

judges; Ohenea wo dea sem pepee’pe (Akan) meaning, a King who judge cases truthful and

accurate. Merciful: Amenuvela si li tso mavome yi mavome (Ewe) meaning, the merciful God who

exists from everlasting to everlasting; Nyamea wu ho no yen bobo (Akan) meaning, the God who is

merciful. Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent (all powerful, all knowing, present

everywhere). The Akans have the following, Otumfo, meaning the powerful one; Biritsruhunadi,

meaning he who sees all even from behind; Nyansa wura a wonim bibiara, meaning the possessor of

Wisdom, who knows all things. The Ewes have the following, Nusekata to, meaning all-powerful;

Afisiafi no la, meaning present everywhere and Nusianu nya la, meaning He who knows all things.

Africans believed that God controls man’s destiny and that after death, man’s soul returns to God

for judgement. Terms, proverbs and myths of Africans demonstrate these beliefs.

I want to conclude with the ATR’s belief of Supreme Being’s relationship with the lesser

gods (divinities). In relationship with the divinities, the Supreme Being is the creator and above

their pantheon, while the divinities are regarded as the Supreme Being’s agents on earth in various

ways. Such as sons, ministers, messengers, intermediaries, linguists, executioners, lieutenants,

guidance of morality of the Supreme Being. For instance, Orisha –nla and Oron –mila are the sons

of Oludumase (the Yoruba Supreme deity); Tano and Bea as sons of Nyame (the Akan Supreme

deity); Vedo kpakple tro as sons of Mawu (the Ewe Supreme deity). According to ATR, there are

channels, through which worshippers approach the Supreme Being. The African especially those

from West Africa regards ancestors as channel through which man can approach the Supreme

Being. He is looked upon as a father by a number of Africans and themselves as his children. In

some places they consider him as mother and some called him as a friend. The means by which

45
worshippers in ATR relate or communicate with the powers believes in are through religious

practices. This includes, the personnel or specialist who leads in this practices at sacred places with

objects, symbols, time and values. These values include prayers, libation, sacrifices and rituals,

which are used to relate to the powers they believed in.

3.2.3.1 The belief of Yewe and Afa in Ewe ethnic group

Before the Bremen missionaries reached West Africa in the 19th century, the Anlo-Ewe

knew God and called him "Mawu". When they invoke his presence, they elaborate on the name: "O

Mawuga Sogbolisa, Kitikata adanu wo to amesi wo asi wo afo."This means the Great God who

created hand and foot. But they have worshipped him through their traditional intermediary deities.

Some of them are: Yewe, Eda, Nana, Mamiwota, Afa, etc. Before medical science was known in

West Africa, the priests of these deities healed our patients.35 A West African god of thunder and

lightning, Yewe, is worshipped among the Fo of Benin and the Ewe of Togo and Ghana. It is called

Shango among the Yoruba of Nigeria. Like African Christians who adopt what we are told are

Christian names, the initiated members of Yewe are given the Yewe names. The new name would be

announced at the member's graduation performance to inform the community and to forbid the

public from calling the member by his or her old name. Anyone who calls the member by his or her

forbidden name after the official introduction will have committed an offense against the member

and the deity. The offender will be summoned and tried before a jury of priests and the Yewe elders

according to the laws of the religion.36 Afa, the younger brother of Yewe, is the West African astral

god of divination. It originated in IIe -Ife in Nigeria among the Yoruba who call it Ifa. The Fo of

46
Benin call it Fa and the Ewe of Togo and Ghana call it Afa. As a visionary deity, Afa sees the past as

well as the future and communicates that through "Agumaga" to a diviner. Agumaga is a divining

-------------------------------------------------------
35
The traditional healers do not take God's Supremacy lightly. He created the universe and everything in it: water and herbs. Because

they use water and herbs to treat their patients, the healers always give God credit when their patients survive. Their usual expression

is "God has blessed our efforts. If someone is ill, you only let the person wash him or herself with the water in the basin before the

icon" or wash him or her with the herb water and the sick person will recover.

36
If the offender is found guilty, he or she will pay a heavy fine.

chain with four concaves on each side of the chain and looks like a horseshoe when held by the

loop. The diviner holds the loop-like head and throws it on a mat to communicate with Afa in the

spirit world to answer questions.37

Consultation with Afa is not limited to individuals. Groups may consult on group issues. A

social dance group may consult a diviner to find out if their group's perfomances would be

successful. If they would not, would there be anything they could do to assure their success. Also,

elders of all the other deities, including Yewe, consult Afa diviners to know what their deities want

done before their annual festivals begin. Membership in Afa is by personal choice. Unlike Yewe, the

members do not adopt new names after initiation; they keep their given names. Both members and

non-members perform its music provided the non-members, wear white clothing like the members.

But non-yewe members do not perform alongside the members unless the performance is at a

funeral of a member. On that day only, the non-members will perform alongside the members and

sing the Yewe songs with immunity. That day's performance is always referred to as "free-for-all." A

non-member who sings the songs a day after the free-for-all performance violates the moratorium

and he or she will pay a stiff fine.

Supremacy of God is recognized among Afa members also. After invoking the names of the

major kpoliwo or signs, the officiating priest will call another sign, "Kpoli, Gudafluwogbe" to
47
deliver the congregation's requests to God, to leave the bad omens there, and to bring God's

benediction to the members. Anlo-Ewe Christians have denigrated Afa. They put an

-------------------------
37
When the divining chain lands on the mat, the concaves are guided by both the spirits of Afa and the client to turn in an unpredicted

manner to reveal the sign that would answer the client's question. The first "kpoli" or sign that reveals itself would answer the

question. The client also may ask questions for clarification. When the process is over, the diviner will analyze the literature of the

kpoli that answers the question and what the client needs to do or not to do to experience his or her good wishes.

accent mark on the second "a" to change the meaning of the word to "half." They claim that

anything that is half could not amount to much. Without an accent, the followers say the name

means, "Afa na wo" meaning that after initiation, one would find relief. Most of the followers have

found the relief that they sought.38

3.2.3.2 The Trokosi system belief among ewe

In the southern Volta Region of Ghana, and in Togo and Benin, thousands of young girls of the Ewe

(say Ay-vay) tribe are held as slaves in unspeakable conditions.

The girls are victims of ritual slavery, held in idol shrines (called fetish shrines in Ghana).

Many of them are taken just prior to adolescence, but many also are taken in early childhood—as

young as four years old. Although the time they are supposed to serve in the shrine is sometimes

defined in years, the price of exit is placed so high that in practicality most remain slaves all their

lives, or until the priest no longer finds them desirable. The girls are called “trokosi” or “wives of

the gods,” a term that shows the sexual side of the practice.

In practical terms, these girls are slaves of the priests, who serve the idols of the shrines,

48
 ----------------------------------
38
This is a case study of a man who was an avid bible reader. He chose Christianity over Afa but was initiated when doctors in the

Gold Coast could not cure him. During his long illness, his maternal uncles, who were members of Afa, divined for him. The "kpoli"

that answered the question indicated that he would recover if he was initiated into Afa but he would not concede. To see doctors, he

was carried to the hospital but when they got closer to the hospital, he would ask to walk. Every time they went to the hospital, the

doctors found nothing wrong with him and they carried him away. When the pressure to be initiated mounted, he threatened to sue

anyone who would dare suggest initiation into Afa. But when he was running low on money, he relented. After his initiation in 1940,

he became a strong believer, still read the bible, until he passed away in 1970.

working long hours without pay and often without having their simplest life needs met. They served

the fetish priest sexually in any way he demands, and these deprived them of all normal human

affections. These girls become slaves for one of several reasons. Some are taken because someone

in their family committed or was accused of some kind of offense. Some are second and third

generation “sacrifices,” because the offenses require a fresh virgin from each generation in order to

“atone” for a sin of some ancestor. Other girls are given into slavery by their families in payment for

the services of the priest, seeking the favor of the gods in order to assure a good crop or success in

an exam. A common reason for becoming a slave is to break a real or suspected curse resulting in

deaths of several family members. In each case, the priest consults the spirit of the idol through

divination, and the oft-demanded payment is the perpetual servitude of a virgin daughter of the

family. Families go along with the priest’s unspeakable demands out of fear that if they do not, they

and their families will be cursed and die. 39

The practice of trokosi was made a criminal offense by the Ghanaian government in 1998,

but the law has not been enforced. The reason is simple—too many fear the curse of the priests,

which they believe has power to kill. For the most part it is only Christians who realize that Jesus

Christ has power greater than any god who have the courage to speak up against the practice or to

seek release for the girls.

49
 When workers of Every Child Ministries, interviewed some of these girls who were held in

slavery, they all described a life of horrendous suffering and hopelessness. At puberty and

------------------------ 39

Every Child Ministries is partnering with Ghanaian national efforts to release the girls and negotiate community-wide settlements to

end slavery in those areas, as well as to help the girls start a new life afterwards. This is one of the most amazing opportunities Every

Child Ministries now have; to bring freedom, to show the value of every human life, and to help girls who are in immense suffering.

sometimes before, there is an occult sexual initiation by the priest. He then calls for their services

whenever and however he pleases. The girls are forced to chant praises to the idol gods, offer

sacrifices and do heavy hard labor in the priest’s fields all day without any compensation, while

strictly forbidden to eat even a morsel of the grain they raise. The girls live with constant hunger,

and some of them are refused all food. In such cases they have no alternative but begging or

scrounging in garbage discarded by others.40 An average of four children are born to each girl

through being raped repeatedly by the priest. Yet the priest never takes any interest in or

responsibility for the children he fathered, and never owns them or shows affection towards them.

The law of the shrine is that the woman is solely responsible for the care of the children. Thus the

mother struggles to provide for children, even while seeking out an existence for herself. Because

her own nutritional level is so low, she often gives birth to malnourished and unhealthy children.

While the children are not technically classified as trokosi “wives of the gods,” they all—boys and

girls alike— serve the priest and all live in the shrine without affection, without a father figure,

without adequate food, without medical care, and without education. This is the more reason why,

Every Child Ministries is working in partnership with Ghanaian national efforts to liberate the

slaves, negotiate community-wide agreements to end slavery in as many places as possible, and

help those freed to rebuild their broken lives.41

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----------------------------------------- 40

When the girls refuse anything commanded by the priest, when they do not make their work quota, or when they displease him in any
way, they are given a choice. It is the only choice they ever face. Many of them tell of two items being laid in front of them. One is a
whip. The other is broken glass. They can be whipped long and hard while others hold them down, or they can kneel for hours on
large shards of broken glass, with no medical care afterwards .
41
With the exposing of the practice of trokosi to public view and the rise of public opinion against it, some shrine owners are willing
to release the trokosi they hold as slaves. In order to bring this about, compensation is necessary, for the trokosi provide free labor
and thus are a source of income for the priest. The priest receives only a small amount of the total cost of liberating the children,
however. The remainder of the average cost of $200 goes toward the cost of the negotiation team, the public ceremony which helps
the community accept them back into society, counseling, and programs to help the girls and their children after liberation. All the
girls’ children go free with her, so the cost of $200 actually frees an average of five people!

After liberation, other missions offer vocational training to the girls. Options include dressmaking,

tie-dying and batik, weaving of traditional kente cloth, hairdressing, soap making, baking, and

catering. The training is offered free of charge to former trokosi, and basic materials for getting

started in their own small business are supplied on graduation, through the generosity of partners

who support the work. Many former trokosi slaves now operate businesses that are flourishing.

Every Child Ministries helps the areas that have freed their slaves to develop Christian

education programs so that those freed have opportunity to learn the teaching of the Scriptures.42

Unbelievable as it may seem, there has been opposition in recent years to the release of the slaves.

Some well-funded traditionalists are working to strengthen traditional devotion to the idols gods and

to oppose release of the trokosi slaves. The most pitiable of their claims is that the girls are not

really slaves but are treated more like queens. An interview by Every Child Ministries to former

trokosi about this claim, proved false. None of the former trokosi ever saw any good thing, which,

came out during their era of slavery. This claim brings to memory of Hitler’s naming of his vans for

gassing people to death as “Charitable Transport for the Sick.” What kind of a queen is raped,

whipped, starved, and forced to work without pay?

Another claim of these well-funded traditionalists is that trokosi should be preserved as a

tradition. It is interesting to note, however, that the very same people who make this claim at the

same time condemn slavery in the West and even demand reparations. Americans could defend

slavery as a part of their tradition, too, but l sincerely believed that most Americans, especially

Christians are very glad that they got rid of slavery.

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 ---------------------------
42
ECM’sTeachers’ Resource Library loans a wide variety of educational materials to churches, schools, and individual Christians in

the heart of the slave belt of Ghana. Specialized trainers help develop Bible teaching programs throughout the region.

CHAPTER 4

THE GOD CONCEPT COMPARE TO THE BIBLE

4.1 The Bible

4.1.1 The uniqueness of the Bible

The Bible is comprised of 66 separate books, and it was written over a period of at

least 1.500 years by more than 40 authors who for the most part didn't know each other

personally. The writers of the Bible came from different social and occupational

backgrounds. To explain this, Moses became a political leader who was educated in

Pharao's palace, Joshua turned to become a general, Solomon was made a king, Amos was a

shepherd, Nehemiah worked as a cup-bearer. Daniel became a politician, Peter’s occupation

was a fisherman, Luke was known as a physician and Matthew became a tax-collector.

The authors of the Bible wrote in completely different geographic environments and

as a matter of fact, under different circumstances. Take for instance, Moses wrote from the

desert, Jeremiah from prison, David from the mountains and in his palace, Paul from prison;

Luke wrote during his journey and John wrote during his exile on Patmos.They wrote in

different states of mind – one in a state of great joy, the other in a state of mourning and

despair.The Bible was composed on three different continents, which are Asia, Africa and

Europe and in three languages, which are Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

Although the Bible was written by about 40 different authors during a period of at

least 1.500 years and although these writers lived on three different continents and belonged

to various cultures, the Bible has a unifying objective. The main theme is to give anwers to

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these basic questions: Who is God? Who is man? Is there a possibility for a relationship

between God and man, and if so – how?

The Bible wants to lead man to God (cf. John 20:31 and 2 Timothy 3:14-17).

The whole book is about one central figure – Jesus Christ. Basically, the complete Old

Testament points to this Person, be it through metaphors or be it through direct prophecies.

The New Testament shows us the fulfillment of these prophecies and the meaning and the

consequences of the coming of Christ.

Although the Bible is already many centuries old, it is still read regularly and with

great interest by very many people. The Bible is a book that has been relevant in every

epoch of world history – whether in times of war or peace, in the Dark Ages or in our

modern technological age. Millions of people have found nourishment, help, and

encouragement in this book. The Bible is the only book in the world that is read by people

from all walks of life and from every age group.

The Bible is one of the first books that have ever been translated. About 250 B.C.

the Old Testament was translated into the Greek language (the Septuagint). The Bible was

the first major book that was printed – in form of the Latin Vulgate on Gutenberg's press. It

is the most-translated and most-spread book in the world (in 2002, the Bible had been

translated into 2287 languages: the complete Bible into 392 languages, the New Testament

into 1012 languages and single books of the Bible into 883 languages), with a still

increasing tendency.

Although the Bible was written on perishable material and therefore had to be

copied by hand for many centuries until the art of printing had been invented, neither its

accuracy nor its existence has suffered.

The Bible has withstood the most malicious onslaughts of its enemies like no other

book. For centuries people have tried to burn, ban, and outlaw the Bible. An army of

53
rationalists arose who thought up the wildest and most intense attacks against the Bible. But

nevertheless, the Bible has been distributed more, read more and cherished more than any

other book.

According to Arthur Brisbane (a non-Christian), the Bible contains brilliant

examples of great literature in any form: lyric poetry – the Psalms, epic poetry – Genesis;

dramatic poetry – Job; historic narrative art – the Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles;

rural idyll – Ruth; patriotism – Esther and Daniel; practical wisdom – Proverbs; philosophie

– Ecclesiastes; moving depth – Isaiah; short stories – the Gospels; letters – the various

Epistles of the New Testament; thrilling mysticism – the Book of Revelation. A long literary

stream of books inspired by the Bible testifies to the influence of the Bible on the world

literature. The

absolute unique moral character of this book forces man to make a choice, a decision. It

seems that nobody can remain untouched or neutral in the presence of the Bible. For that

reason is the Bible not only the most-sold, most-spread, most-translated and most-read, but

also the most-hated book in the world. But it is just as much the most-cherished book in the

world. Other books may represent certain ideals. But practice proves the impossibility of

lifting fallen man up to the level of these ideals, because the power is missing that only the

Bible seems to possess. The Bible brings the impossible about by bringing us into contact

with Jesus Christ who does not “repair” fallen man, but who has died for them. And fallen

man has died in and with Christ, and has become a completely new human being, a new

creature in the risen Christ. Scripture tells us that everybody, who truly has accepted Christ

in faith, can rest in this assurance. – The biblical answer to the moral problem of the

modern man is a personal, spiritual new birth, an actual inner change – not the conversion

to a system, but to a Person, and the sincere, believing trust in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.43

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----------------------------------
Bible Study And Christian Evidences http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/html/body_bible_studies.html
43

Die Geschichte der Bibel (points 1-7) http://www.thewaytogod.infold.buecher.links.htm/#bl

The Bible (NASB)

The Bible itself tells us how it was written: “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2

Timothy 3:16). Men “moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). The Greek

word for inspired, theopneustos, means “God-breathed.” The Holy Spirit carried men along,

moving and guiding them as they wrote in their own words what God wanted them to say.

Thus we have verbal inspiration, because the words of the original text were inspired by

God. Many indicators for the accuracy of the Bible can be found in the fields of science,

such as astronomy, physics, medicine, or biology.44 No historic fact in the Bible ever has

been shown to be in error.45 One of the strongest objective evidences of biblical inspiration

is the phenomenon of fulfilled prophecy. The Bible is essentially unique among the

religious books of mankind in this respect.46

-----------------------------------------
44
You will find many examples to support this statement if you follow this link: Scientific Evidence for the Accuracy of the
Bible http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/html/christian_evidence/science_in_the_bible.htm
45
For more information on this claim, please visit the following link: Historical Evidence for the Accuracy of the Bible
http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/html/christian_evidence/bible_prophecies,htm
46
– Prophetical Evidence for the Accuracy of the Bible
http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/html/christian_evidence/bible_prophecies,htm

4.1.2 The reliability of the Bible

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 Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events--

in detail--many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2500

prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled

to the letter--no errors. (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen

unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been

fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the

prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these

prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10^2000 (that is

1 with 2000 zeros written after it)!

God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people's

attention. Satan does too. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce),

mediums, spiritists, and others, come remarkable predictions, though rarely with more than

about 60 percent accuracy, never with total accuracy. Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail

to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance.

The acid test for identifying a prophet of God is recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:21-

22. According to this Bible passage (and others), God's prophets, as distinct from Satan's

spokesmen, are 100 percent accurate in their predictions. There is no room for error.

As economy does not permit an explanation of all Biblical prophecies that have been

fulfilled, what follows in each paragraph, is a discussion of a few that exemplify the high

degree of specificity, the range of projection, and/or the "supernature" of the predicted

events. Readers are encouraged to select others, as well, and to carefully examine their

historicity.

Some time before 500 B. C. the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel's long-awaited

Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 years after the issuing of a decree to restore
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and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26). He further predicted that the Messiah would be "cut

off," killed, and that this event would take place prior to a second destruction of Jerusalem.

Abundant documentation shows that these prophecies were perfectly fulfilled in the life (and

crucifixion) of Jesus Christ. The decree regarding the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by

Persia's King Artaxerxes to the Hebrew priest Ezra in 458 B. C., 483 years later the ministry

of Jesus Christ began in Galilee. (Remember that due to calendar changes, the date for the

start of Christ's ministry is set by most historians at about 26 A. D. Also note that from 1 B.

C. to 1 A.D. is just one year.) Jesus's crucifixion occurred only a few years later, and about

four decades later, in 70 A. D. came the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. 47 In

approximately 700 B. C. the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the

birthplace of Israel's Messiah (Micah 5:2). The fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of

Christ is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in history.

In the fifth century B. C. a prophet named Zechariah declared that the Messiah

would be betrayed for the price of a slave--thirty pieces of silver, according to Jewish law--

and also that this money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem's poor

foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13). Bible writers and secular historians both record thirty

pieces of silver as the sum paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, and they indicate that

--------------------------------------------------

The estimates of probability included herein come from a group of secular research scientists. As an example of their
47

method of estimation, consider their calculations for this first prophecy cited:
Since the Messiah's ministry could conceivably begin in any one of about 5000 years, there is, then, one chance in about
5000 that his ministry could begin in 26 A.D.
Since the Messiah is God in human form, the possibility of his being killed is considerably low, say less than one chance in
10.
Relative to the second destruction of Jerusalem, this execution has roughly an even chance of occurring before or after that
event, that is, one chance in 2.
Hence the probability of chance fulfillment for this prophecy is 1 in 5000 x 10 x 2, which is 1 in 100,000, or 1 in 10^5.

the money went to purchase a "potter's field," used--just as predicted--for the burial of poor

aliens http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?Matthew+27:3-10(Matthew 27:3-10).

57
 Some 400 years before crucifixion was invented, both Israel's King David and the

prophet Zechariah described the Messiah's death in words that perfectly depict that mode of

execution. Further, they said that the body would be pierced and that none of the bones

would be broken, contrary to customary procedure in cases of crucifixion (Psalm 22),

(Psalm 34:20), (Zechariah 12:10). Again, historians and New Testament writers confirm the

fulfillment: Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross, and his extraordinarily quick death

eliminated the need for the usual breaking of bones. A spear was thrust into his side to verify

that he was indeed, dead.

The prophet Isaiah foretold that a conqueror named Cyrus would destroy seemingly

impregnable Babylon and subdue Egypt along with most of the rest of the known world.

This same man, said Isaiah, would decide to let the Jewish exiles in his territory go free

without any payment of ransom (Isaiah 44:28), (Isaiah 45:1), (Isaiah 45:13). Isaiah made

this prophecy l50 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of

these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were

taken into exile.

Mighty Babylon, 196 miles square, was enclosed not only by a moat, but also by a

double wall 330 feet high, each part 90 feet thick. It was said by unanimous popular opinion

to be indestructible, yet two Bible prophets declared its doom. These prophets further

claimed that the ruins would be avoided by travellers, that the city would never again be

inhabited, and that its stones would not even be moved for use as building material (Isaiah

13:17-22), (Jeremiah 51:26,43). The description is, in fact, the well-documented history of

the famous citadel.

The exact location and construction sequence of Jerusalem's nine suburbs was

predicted by Jeremiah about 2600 years ago. He referred to the time of this building project

as "the last days," that is, the time period of Israel's second rebirth as a nation in the land of

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Palestine (Jeremiah 31:38-40). This rebirth became history in 1948, and the construction of

the nine suburbs has gone forward precisely in the locations and in the sequence predicted.

The prophet Moses foretold (with some additions by Jeremiah and Jesus) that the

ancient Jewish nation would be conquered twice and that the people would be carried off as

slaves each time, first by the Babylonians (for a period of 70 years), and then by a fourth

world kingdom (which we know as Rome). The second conqueror, Moses said, would take

the Jews captive in ships, selling them or giving them away as slaves to all parts of the

world. Both of these predictions were fulfilled to the letter, the first in 607 B.C. and the

second in 70 A.D. God's spokesmen said, further, that the Jews would remain scattered

throughout the entire world for many generations, but without becoming assimilated by the

peoples of other nations, and that the Jews would one day return to the land of Palestine to

re-establish for a second time their nation (Deuteronomy 29), (Isaiah 11:11-13), (Jeremiah

25:11), (Hosea 3:4-5), (Luke 21:23-24). This prophetic statement sweeps across 3500 years

of history to its complete fulfillment--in our lifetime.

Jeremiah predicted that despite its fertility and despite the accessibility of its water

supply, the land of Edom (today a part of Jordan) would become a barren, uninhabited

wasteland (Jeremiah 49:15-20), (Ezekiel 25:12-14). His description accurately tells the

history of that now bleak region.

Joshua predicted that Jericho would be rebuilt by one man. He also said that the

man's eldest son would die when the reconstruction began and that his youngest son would

die when the work reached completion (Joshua 6:26). About five centuries later this

prophecy found its fulfillment in the life and family of a man named Hiel (1 Kings 16:34).

The day of Elijah's supernatural departure from Earth was predicted unanimously--

and accurately, according to the eye-witness account--by a group of fifty prophets (2 Kings

2:3-11).

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 Jahaziel prophesied that King Jehoshaphat and a tiny band of men would defeat an

enormous, well-equipped, well-trained army without even having to fight. Just as predicted,

the King and his troops stood looking on as their foes were supernaturally destroyed to the

last man (2 Chronicles 20).

One prophet of God (unnamed, but probably Shemiah) said that a future king of

Judah, named Josiah, would take the bones of all the occultic priests (priests of the "high

places") of Israel's King Jeroboam and burn them on Jeroboam's altar (1 Kings 13:2), (2

Kings 23:15-18). This event occurred approximately 300 years after it was foretold.

Since these thirteen prophecies cover mostly separate and independent events, the

Bible record may be said to be vastly more reliable. There is every reason to expect that the

remaining 500 prophecies, those slated for the "time of the end," also will be fulfilled to the

last letter. Who can afford to ignore these coming events, much less miss out on the

immeasurable blessings offered to anyone and everyone who submits to the control of the

Bible's author, Jesus Christ? Would a reasonable person take lightly God's warning of

judgment for those who reject what they know to be true about Jesus Christ and the Bible, or

who reject Jesus's claim on their lives? Now is the day of salvation! Now is the time of

God's favor! Please do not let it go by without further consideration. 48

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr.
48

Hugh Ross

Pasadena, CA 91107

4.1.3 The Nature of God in the Bible

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 The Bible describes many important characteristics and attributes that God possesses. In this

lesson we shall discuss some of the attributes of God, those that form an essential part of His nature.

What is a Spirit? Webster’s Dictionary includes in its definition of the word the following; “A

supernatural incorporeal, rational being usu. invisible to human being but having the power to

become visible at will ---- a being having an incorporeal or immaterial nature. The Hebrew word

translated as Spirit is ruwach, and it can mean wind, breath, life, anger, insubstantiality, region of

the sky, or spirit of a rational being.

The Greek word translated as spirit, pneuma, can mean a current of air, breath, blast, breeze,

soul, vital principle, disposition angel, demon, or God. All three definitions emphasize that a spirit

does not have flesh and bones. Luke. 24:39. Similarly, Jesus indicated that the spirit of God does not

have flesh and blood. Mt. 16:17. So, when the Bible says that God is a spirit, it means that He

cannot be seen or touched physically by human beings. As a spirit, He is an intelligent, supernatural

being who does not have a physical body.

Since God is a Spirit, He is invisible unless He chooses to manifest Himself in some form

invisible to man. God told Moses, “thou can’t not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and

live” Ex. 33: 20 “No man hath seen God at any time” Jon. 1:18; 1st John 4:12.

Not only has no man ever seen God, but no man can see God. 1st Tim. 6:16. Several times the Bible

described God as invisible Col. 1:15; 1st Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:27. Although man can see God when

He appears in various forms, no man can see directly the invisible spirit of God.

Because God is a spirit He can be everywhere at the same time. He is the only spirit that is

truly omnipresent. For all other spirit beings such as devils, angels and satan himself can be

confined to specific locations. Mk. 5: 10; Jude 6; Rev. 20:1 -3. Although God is omnipresent, we

cannot equate Him with the nature, substance, or forces of the world (which would be pantheism)

because He does have individuality, personality and intelligence.

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 Solomon recognized God’s omnipresence when he prayed at the dedication of the Temple,

saying “behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee” 1st Kings 8:27 see 2nd Chron.

2: 6; 6:18. God declared His Omnipresence by saying what I want you to read in Is. 66:1 and Act

7:49. Read also what Paul preached in Acts 17: 27 – 28. Perhaps the most beautiful description of

God’s Omnipresence is found in Psalm 139: 7 – 13. Read it.If God is omnipresent, why does the

Bible describe Him as being in heaven? Here are several reasons.

 This teaches that God is transcendent. In other words, He is beyond Human understanding and

He is not limited to this earth.

 It refers to the center of God’s reasoning and activity – His headquarters, so to speak.

 It refers to God’s immediate presence that is the fullness of God’s glory and power, which no

mortal man can see and live. Ex. 33: 20.

 Also, it may refer to the visible manifestation of God to the angels in heaven. It cannot mean

God lacks omnipresence, is limited to one place, or is limited to a body.

Similarly, when the Bible says God came to earth or appeared to a man, it does not negate

His omnipresence. It simply means the focus of his activity has shifted to earth at least as far as

a certain individual or a certain situations are concerned. When God comes to earth, heaven is

not empty. He is still just as much in heaven as ever. He can act simultaneously in heaven and

on earth, or at several locations on earth. It is very important that we recognize the magnitude of

God’s omnipresence and not limit it by our human experience.

Since God is an invisible spirit and is omnipresent, He certainly does not have a body as we

know it. He did, assume various forms and temporary manifestations throughout the Old

Testament so that man could see Him. However, the Bible does not record any permanent bodily

manifestation of God until Jesus Christ was born. Of course, in Christ, God had a human body

and now has a glorified, immortal human body.

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 Outside of temporary manifestations of God and outside of the New Testament revelation of

God in Christ, we believe scriptural references to the eyes, hands, arms, feet, heart and other bodily

parts of God are examples of figurative language or anthropomorphisms (interpretations of the

nonhuman in terms of the human so that man can understand)

In other words, the Bible describes infinite God in finite, human terms in order that we may

better comprehend Him. For example, the heart of God denotes His intellect and His emotions, not a

blood- pumping organ. Gen. 6:6; 8:21. When God said heaven was His throne and earth was His

footstool, He described His Omnipresence, not a pair of literal feet propped up on the globe (Is.

66:1). When God said His right hand spanned the heavens, He described His great power and not a

large hand stretching through the atmosphere Is. 48:13. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place”

does not mean that God has physical eyes in every location but indicates His Omnipresence and

Omniscience Pro. 15:3. When Jesus cast devils out by the finger of God, He did not pull down a

fiant finger from heaven, but He exercised the power of God. Luke 11:20. The blast of God’s

nostrils was not literal particles emitted by giant heavenly nostrils, but the strong east wind sent by

God to part the Red Sea. Ex. 15:8; 14:21. Infact, literal interpretation of all the visions and physical

descriptions of God would lead to the belief that God has wings (Ps. 91:4) In short, we believe God

as a spirit does not have a body unless He chooses to manifest Himself in a bodily form, which He

did in the person of Jesus Christ.

Some say that in the Old Testament God had a Spirit body visible to other Spirit beings such as

angels. They raise this hypothesis because human spirit seem to have a recognizable form visible to

other spirit Luke, 16:22-31 and because some passages indicate the angels and satan could see a

visible manifestation of God in the Old Testament. 1 Kings 22:19-22; Job 1: 6. However, God did

not need a spirit body to do this because He could have manifested Himself at various times to other

spirits just as He did man. One key verse of the scripture implies that ordinarily God is not visible

even to the spirit beings unless He chooses to manifest Himself in some way. ‘’God was manifested

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in the flesh…..seen of angels’’ 1Timothy 3:16.At the least, if God did have some type of Spirit body

He certainly was not confined to it like other spirit beings are confined to their bodies; for then He

would not be truly omnipresent. For example, God’s omnipresence means He could have appeared

simultaneously to men on earth and to angels in heaven. Also, we must realize that in New

Testament times God has chosen to reveal Himself fully through Jesus Christ.Col.2: 9. There is no

possibility of separating God and Jesus, and there is no God visible outside of Jesus.

Psalm 139:1-6 teaches us that God knows everything including our movements, thoughts

paths ways and words. Read Job 42: 2.God has completed knowledge of everything including

foreknowledge of the future.Acts2: 23.Like omnipresence, omniscience is an attribute that belongs

solely to God. He is ‘’the only wise God’’ 1 Tim. 1: 17.

The Bible does not identify any other being [including Satan] that can read all the thoughts of man,

foresee the future with certainty, or know everything there is to know.

God calls Himself the Almighty many times throughout the Bible [Gen.17:1; 35:11, etc.]. He

has all the power there is and no being can exercise any power unless God allows it Rom.13: 1.

Again only God is omnipotent, for only one being can have all power.1st Tim.6: 15 describes God as

‘’the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords’’. The saints of God in

heaven will proclaim ‘’Alleluia; for the Lord God Omnipotent reignite ’’ Rev. 19: 6. God beautifully

describes His great Omnipotence in Job, chapters 38-41.The only limitations God has are those He

willingly places on Himself or those resulting from His moral nature. Since He is holy and sinless,

He abides by His own moral limitations. Therefore, it is impossible for God to lie or contradict His

own Word. Titus 1: 2; Heb.6: 18. We looked at

some of the important characteristics and attributes that God possesses. We shall continue with the

studies.Read Duet. 33:27; Is. 9:6; 1st Tim. 1:17; Is. 44:6; Mal. 3:6; Jonah 3:10 and Gene. 6:6. All

these passages explains the fact that God has no beginning or ending. He does not change because

that is His character and attribute.If you read these scripture passages, you will see things such as

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God is an intelligent being with a will, intelligent mind, love, delight, pity or compassion, hatred of

sin, Zeal for righteousness among many others. Roman. 9: 19; 11:33 – 34; Is. 1:18; Gen. 1:27; Ps.

18:19; 103:13; Pro. 6:16; Ex. 20:5; Ps.103:8; Deut. 4:25; Gen.6:6. From the scriptures in 1st John

4:8, 16 the scripture spoke concerning God’s love. The following explains God’s Moral

Nature.Love, Light, Holiness, Mercy, Gentleness, Righteousness, Goodness, Perfection, Justice,

faithfulness, Truth and Grace (1st Jon. 4:8; 1st Jon. 1:5; 1st Pet. 1:16; Ps. 18:35; Ps. 103: 8; Ps. 129:4;

Mt. 5:48; 1st Cor. 10:13; Is. 45: 21Rom. 2:4; Jon. 17:17; Ps. 103: 8) These qualities do not

exhaust the qualities of God. In actual sense, God is transcendent and no human can comprehended

Him fully. Read Is. 55:8 – 9 and Rom. 11:33 – 34.One possible way that God became like man

himself in order to communicate and deal with him is by the use of Theophany. This word means

God taking the form of a man and expressing Himself through such bodily form.The following

scripture passages explain the Theophanies of God.

Gen. 15: 1; 15: 17; 18: 1 – 33; 19: 1; Gen. 28: 12 – 16; 32: 24 – 32 (Hosea 12:4)
Exodus 24:12- 18; 33:9 – 11; 33: 18 – 23; Ex. 19:11 – 19; Deut. 5:4 – 5, 22 – 27; Lev. 9: 23 – 24;
10: 1 – 2; Job. 38:1; 42: 5; Is. 6; Ezek. 1:26 – 28; 8: 1 – 4; Dan. 7:2, 9; Amos 9: 1; Dan. 3: 25.
Many other scriptures tell us that God appeared to someone but did not explain the reasons many of
such appearances.
Gen. 12:7; 17:1; 26:2, 24; 35:9 – 15; 1st Sam. 3:21, Ex. 34:5; 24:9 – 11; Num. 12:4 – 9; 23 : 3 – 10,
16 – 24; Joshua 5:13; Rev. 19:9 – 10; 22: 8 – 10.

The appearances of Angel of the LORD seem to be Theophanies. Gen. 16:7 – 13; Ex. 3; Acts

7:30 – 38; Ex. 13:21; Ex. 14:19; Jude. 2: 1 – 5; Jud. 6: 11 – 24; Jud. 13: 2 – 23.

Other visitations of the angel of the LORD did not indicate if it is the LORD Himself or not. Gen.

22:11 – 18; Num. 22: 22 – 35; 2nd Sam. 24: 16; 1st Chron. 21: 15 – 30; Zech. 1: 8 – 19. Further

discussions on these will come later in other lessons.In the New Testament an angel is not Jesus

Christ Himself. Mt. 1: 20; 2: 13; 28:2; Acts8: 26.

From the scriptures above it can be understood that the angel of the LORD is a

manifestation of God in some instances and not in others. However, some also believed that

although the LORD is used, the angels became mouthpieces, messengers and agents of God.

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Many believed that Melchizedek is a theophany. Gen. 14: 18;Heb. 7:1 – 17. Christ was more than a

theophany, He was not just God appearing in the form of a man but He was God clothed with a real

human body and nature. God is fully expressed in Jesus Christ and reveals the father. John 1:18.

Jesus has become the express image of the invisible God, the brightness of His glory, and the

express image of His person. Col. 1: 15; Heb. 1:3. God used different names or Titles to identify

Himself. A name is used to reveal something about the characteristics, History, or nature of a

person. This is the way God did also.For Example, Abram (high father) to Abraham (father of a

multitude).Jacob (heel catcher, Supplanter) to Israel (strove with God and men, and prevailed)

Simon (hearing) to Peter (a rock)

“The Amplified Bible quotes in a footnote on 1st Kings 8: 43 from Davis Dictionary of the

Bible, Ellicott’s commentary on the whole Bible and the New Bible Dictionary to point out the

significance of the name of God. To know the name of God is to witness the manifestation of those

at tributes and apprehend that character which the name denotes … God’s name, that is His self-

revelation.. The name signifies the active presence of the person in the fullness of the revealed

character.Baylor University professors Flanders and Cresson states, “to the ancients the name is a

part of the person, an extension of the personality of the individual”

We shall explain the following that God used names as a mean of progressive self-

revelations. (See Ex. 6:3 – 8; Gen. 22: 14.);God associate His name with a new understanding of

His character and presence (see 1st Kings 8: 27; 29 & 43.); God’s name reveals His power and

authority (see Ex. 9: 16; Ex. 23: 21.); God demands fear (reverence, respect) for His name (see

Deut. 28: 58 – 59; Ex. 20: 7.); God warns His people not to forget His name (see Ps. 44: 20 -21;

Jere. 23: 25 – 27); God promises a blessing for those who know and think on his name Ps. 91: 14 –

16; Mal. 3: 16

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Below are list of names or titles used for God in the Old Testament.

ENGLISH HEBREW SCRIPTURE REF.

GOD ELOHIM GENESIS 1:1

EI GENESIS 14; 18
GOD
ELOAH NEH. 9 : 17
GOD
ELAH (ARAMAIC FORM) DAN. 2 : 18
GOD
YHWH (YAHWEH) GENESIS 15: 2
GOD
YHWH OR YH GENESIS 2: 4
LORD
YHWH EXODUS. 6:3
JEHOVAH
YH (YAH) PSALM 68: 4
JAH
ADON JOS. 3:11
LORD
ADONAI GENESIS 15:2
LORD
EHEYE ASHER EHEYEH EXO. 3 : 14
I AM THAT I AM
EHEYEH EXO. 3:14
I AM
EL- ELYON GENESIS 14: 19 ,20
MOST HIGH GOD
EL-ROLY GENESIS.16 : 13
THE GOD OF SIGHT
EL – SHADDAI GENESIS 17 :1
ALMIGHTY GOD

EVERLASTING GOD EL- OLAM GENESIS 21:33.

In addition to the above, the Old Testament uses a number of compound names of Jehovah to
describe God and to reveal Him further. Look at them in the next page.

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 COMPOUND NAMES OF JEHOVAH

NAME SCRIPTURE MEANING

Jehovah – jireh Gen. 22 : 14 The LORD will see
(i.e. will provide)

Jehovah – rapha Ex. 15: 26 The LORD that heals

Jehovah – nissi Exodus. 17: 15 The LORD our Banner (i.e., victory)

Jehovah –M’kaddesh Exodus 31 : 13 The LORD that sanctifies

Jehovah – shalom Judges 6:24 The LORD our peace

Jehovah- sabaoth 1st Sam. 1 : 3 The LORD of hosts(i.e. almighty)

Jehovah – elyon Psalm 7: 17 The LORD most high

Jehovah – raah Psalm. 23: 1 The LORD my shepherd

Jehovah – hoseenu Psalm. 95:6 The Lord our Maker

Jehovah – tsidkenu Jeremiah 23: 6 The LORD our righteousness

Jehovah – shammah
Ezekiel 48: 35 The LORD is present

In the Old Testament God revealed more about Himself as various needs arose in the lives of man,

and He used names to express this self revelation. That is the compound names described above.

However, none of them is a complete revelation of God’s nature.

At the fullness of time, God revealed Himself to mankind through the name of Jesus.

“Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name variously rendered as Jehoshua (Numbers 13:

16) Joshua (Ezra 2: 2), or Joshua (Exodus 17: 9)… Jesus means Jehovah – savior, Jehovah our

salvation, or Jehovah is Salvation”. See Mt. 1: 21 Although others have borne the name Jehoshua,

Joshua, or Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who actually lived up to that name

Jesus is the culmination of all the old testament names of god it is the highest, most exalted

name ever revealed tomankind”

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 4.1.4 The Worship of God in the Bible

True worship is God-centered worship. People tend to get caught up in where they should

worship, what music they should sing in worship, and how the worship looks to other people.

Focusing on these things completely misses the point. Jesus tells us that true worshipers will

worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). This means we worship from a pure heart!

Worship can include praying, reading God's Word with an open heart, singing, participating in

communion, and serving others. It's not limited to one act, but is done properly when the heart and

attitude of the person is in the right place.

Worship and praise are reserved only for God. Only He is worthy; not any of his servants

(Revelation 19:10). We are not to worship saints, prophets, statues, idols, angels, or any other false

gods. We shouldn't worship for the expectation of something in return, such as a miraculous healing.

Worship is done for God, and God's pleasure alone! Worship can be public praise to God (Psalm

22:22, 35:18), in a congregational setting, where we can proclaim through music and praise our

adoration and thankfulness to Him and what He has done for us. True worship is felt inwardly, and

then comes out through our actions. "Going through the motions" out of obligation is unpleasing to

God, and is done completely in vain. He can see through all the hypocrisy, and He hates heartless

worship (Amos 5:21-24). A powerful example of this is the story of Cain and Abel, the first sons of

Adam and Eve. They both brought gift offerings to the Lord, but He was only pleased with Abel's.

Cain brought the gift out of obligation. Abel brought his finest lambs from his flock out of true faith

and admiration for God.

As far as worship is concerned, King David was a phenomenal example for all of us. He

had a pure and grateful heart towards God and worshipped Him with the entirety of his being. Many

of the Psalms reflected David's passionate heart for worship. "It is good to give thanks to the

LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your loving kindness in the

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morning, And Your faithfulness every night" (Psalm 92:1-2). I will call upon the LORD, who is

worthy to be praised… (Psalm 18:3a). Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his

greatness is unsearchable (Psalm 145:3). David was a man after God's own heart, because he truly

glorified God in his heart!

True worship is not confined to singing in church or open praise (although these things are

both good and we are told to do them in the Bible), but it is the heartfelt acknowledgment of God

and all His power and glory in the things we do. To truly worship God, we must know Him and not

be ignorant of His good and glorious nature (Acts 17:23). In a nutshell, worship is to glorify and

exalt God; to show our loyalty and admiration to our Heavenly Father!

Ray C. Stedman stated that since the first century, the churches of the world have recognized

a threefold mission: worship, evangelism, and edification. But of these three the greatest is surely

worship because true worship is the source of the other two. The proclamation of the good news to

the lost and the building up of the church by the maturing of each believer flows from hearts that are

made warm and vital by the worship of the living God. Jesus spotlighted that fact with the words:

"...and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all

your mind..."this is the great and first commandment!" (Mark 12:30, NIV).Worship is a heartfelt

encounter of men and angels with the true God. It is an act of attention to the living God who rules,

speaks and reveals, creates and redeems, orders and blesses." The essence of worship is

genuineness. "It is to be with all your heart, your soul, and your mind. Worship may find expression

in thought, in prayer, in praise, in song, in body position, and in activity such as dancing or uplifting

of arms-but without genuineness all becomes false worship. Jesus instructed the woman at the well

in this matter, saying: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the

Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him." (John 4:23, RSV).True

worship reflects the biblical truth that we are made in the image of God. It is a way of discovering

God and in that discovery becoming more like him ourselves (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is therefore an

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essential to finding out who we are as men and women. Since we are made in the image of God we

must find out what that image is in us by discovering what God is like. Worship itself does not

invoke the presence of God---rather, worship is a response to the presence of God. If we fail to truly

worship we will be something less than human, living shallow and often hollow lives. The

knowledge of God obtained through the reading and proclamation of the word of God is

indispensable to true worship. "When the word of God is expounded in clarity and power, the

congregation begins to sense and see the glory of the living God. It is then they are ready to bow

down in awe and joyful wonder before his throne. Therefore acceptable worship is impossible

without preaching, for preaching is making known God's Name, and worship is praising the Name

of the Lord made known." The preaching of the word of God is the great corrective to false

worship, continually calling the people of God away from unbiblical extremes and the sinful

exaltation of self, and refocusing their attention upon the greatness and majesty of God and his work

of gracious redemption.The individual worship of a believer is likened in Scripture to fragrant

incense arising to delight the heart of God. It is not because God needs to be worshipped that he is

delighted, but because he knows we need to worship and it delights him to see us fulfilling that

which is essential to all spiritual health and ministry. The danger in worship is that of pretense or

self-deception. Words and phrases may be uttered with the lips which are not felt in the heart.

Prayers may be spoken mechanically or repetitiously; intercession for others may be a mere recital

of names with the superficial catch-all, bless so-and-so. All this is false worship, for the heart

(which God is reading) is not in it.

Another threat to worship is unacknowledged sin. Lack of self judgment is a common

hindrance to genuine worship. Also, true worship cannot happen without the horizontal

relationships with our brothers and sisters being cleared up, as Matthew 5:23-24 and 6:14 make

clear. We are to forgive others because we have ourselves been forgiven. Those who claim they

cannot forgive implies that they have forgotten their own gracious forgiveness, or perhaps never

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really known it! God requires that we genuinely forgive those who have offended us before we can

worship him with a clear conscience and a true spirit of praise. "Freely you have received, freely

give," says Jesus. (Matthew 10:8, NIV)

God is not only to be worshipped individually, but also corporately, in company with other

believers. We can learn much about corporate worship from the Old Testament. There God taught

Israel that there was a divinely predetermined place for corporate worship in the Tabernacle,

corresponding to the congregation of believers today (Hebrews 3:6; 1 Corinthians 3:16-19;

Ephesians 3:20-21). Also there was an acceptable basis for worship in the sacrifices offered (1

Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19), picturing the death of Christ as our sin-bearer, and the continuing

emphasis of the cross in believers lives. Further, there was a visible result of worship made evident

in healed antagonisms, confessed rebellion, restitution, and restored relationships, followed by

passionate joy and praise uttered for the grace and mercy of God.

Corporate worship, like individual worship, can easily drift into external expressions without

heartfelt participation. The motive for worship may subtly shift from the praise of God to gaining

the attention or approval of others. Hymns may be mouthed with no comprehension of what is being

sung. Rituals may be observed mechanically or biblical phrases chanted in a formal or routine

manner. Frigid formalism requiring bodily stillness and solemn, expressionless faces; harshness and

authoritarianism from leaders; guilt-appeal centered offerings; showmanship and attempts to

program the Holy Spirit; use of exalted titles; claiming of special access to God-all these vitiate

worship and reveal it as fleshly and unspiritual. Many passages of scripture describe God's revulsion

at that type of hypocrisy. He is not honored but rather insulted by such phoniness. Such worship

becomes a pathetic charade in which people often try to get God to pay attention to them or to do

something for them. It is destructive and deadening, and will soon result in a terrible drain of

spiritual vitality from an individual or congregation. But authentic worship breaks down personal

antagonisms, eliminates selfish ambition, produces genuine humility and thankfulness, and links

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heart to heart, building the church up in love.

It is the responsibility of leadership to correct congregational worship when it begins to

become artificial, predictable, or routine. Leaders must be aware that the world, the flesh, and the

devil are all at work to make worship superficial, shallow, and performance oriented. Leaders can

best oppose this by maintaining truly worshipful hearts themselves. They must teach the whole

congregation what God desires in worship and resist the constant drift toward mere entertainment

rather than devotion. They must take prompt action to limit excesses of movement or voice which

call attention to the worshipper and not to the Lord. At the same time they must resist attempts of

individuals or groups to deny proper biblical expressions of worship because of tradition or

prejudice.The sign that true worship is being achieved is a maturing congregation. Personal witness

is widespread, loving service to those who hurt should be increasing; friction among members

should be decreasing; appreciation for benefits and public thanksgiving should be often manifest;

moral standards are held in high regard, but deviations are not coldly treated and the steps of

discipline given in Matthew 18:15-17 are lovingly followed. The exposition of the Word of God lies

at the heart of every ministry, and the exercise of personal gifts is continually encouraged. When

these things are happening a congregation has clearly become the household of the living God, the

pillar and ground of the truth, is people belonging to God. Remember that the Father is seeking such

to worship him!

The closing chapters of the book of Revelation make clear that the ultimate exercise of

God's people is worship. When the long agony of sin is over and creation is restored to its pristine

glory, the angels and the redeemed are seen around the throne, endlessly praising God for His

wisdom, love, and power. That may sound boring and routine to many, but in reality it represents

the awed wonder of creatures who continually are discovering new aspects of God's nature and

character. So awesome is our God that we shall never reach the end of his amazing attributes. In

true worship something happens to the worshippers. Minds are cleared, perceptions come into

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focus, spirits are renewed, truth breaks out in new clarity. That is what sends us out to tell the good

news to those who long for hope, or peace, or freedom from guilt.

4.1.5 Comparison of God concept in African traditional religion to the Bible

This section will be discussed with a view of the African traditionalist or theologian

understanding of God in mind. For that reason the address will be presented as African theologian

looking at how he understands God as compared to the Bible. According to Richard Chowning, the

Supreme Being in most African Traditional Religions is seen as the creator of humans and all other

living things. This Supreme Being is viewed in different forms and dwelling places, yet he is the

almighty. He is often distant from humans because of some bad actions of humans. There is much

discussion among African theologians and missionaries alike concerning whether or not the creator

God of various African Traditional Religions is Jehovah God. Some bible translators have chosen to

use the traditional name for creator God and others have settle on "Jehovah" or "God".

"The fool says in his heart 'There is no God.' " In traditional Africa there are no such

"fools." In his inaugural lecture delivered at Ibadan in 1974, Professor Bolaji Idowu discussed "the

reality and unreality of God" under the title "Obituary: God's or man's?," bringing to that university

the "God is dead" debate of the 1960s. Idowu believes that "man's estimate of himself and his

destiny, his interpretation of the phenomena of the universe and his philosophy of history depend

upon this one central point: belief in God, because He is; or unbelief. . ." Elsewhere Idowu asserts

that "God is universal and so is revelation."49 Here he agrees with the Tanzanian who said that as

people everywhere see the one sun, so they all have the one God

------------------------------------------------------
49
Mercy Amba Oduyoye is a widely known African theologian, author of Daughters of Anowa (Orbis, 1995) and -- with Musimbi

Kanyoro -- The Will to Arise (Orbis, 1995). Her essay appeared first in a special issue on Africa in The Way, the English Jesuit journal

of spirituality, Summer 1997.

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 On the other hand, Betty Goviden, in her article "In search of our own wells," quotes Malusi

Mpumlwanas, a South African poet, who asks "What do I mean when I say I believe in God?50. . . .

Is God of the 'Die Stem' and 'Nkosi Sikelela' one and the same God?"51

In traditional Africa, that is, Africa when people are being themselves, discounting

Christianity, Islam, and Western norms, God is experienced as an all-pervading reality. God is a

constant participant in the affairs of human beings, judging by the everyday language of West

Africans of one’s experience. A Muslim never projects into the future nor talks about the past

without the qualifying phrase insha Allah, "by the will of Allah." Yoruba Christians will say "DV"

("God willing"), though few can tell you its Latin equivalent, and the Akan will convince you that

all is "by the grace of God." Nothing and no situation is without God. The Akan of Ghana say Nsem

nyina ne Onyame ("all things/affairs pertain to God"). The Ewe of Ghana will say Ne Mawu ga lo

ko.(“if only it is the will of God Almighty”). That Africans maintain an integrated view of the world

has been expressed by many. In his autobiography, Nelson Mandela writes:

“My father was an unofficial priest and presided over ritual. . . . and local rites. . . ., he did not

need to be ordained, for traditional religion of the Xhosa is characterized by a cosmic wholeness so

that there is little distinction between the sacred and the secular, between the natural and the

supernatural.”52

-------------------------------------------------------

50
Joseph Healey and Donald Sybert, eds., Towards an African Narrative Theology (Pauline Publishers Africa, 1995), 295.

51
Betty Goviden Devarakshanam, "In Search of Our Own Wells" in Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro and Nyambura J. Njoroge, eds.,
Groaning in Faith: African Women in the Household of God (Nairobi: Acton Publishers, 1996), 112-35.
52
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (Abacus, 1994), 15.

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 The Yoruba respond to prayer with Ase, the divine and highly potent power with which

Olodumare (God) created the universe and maintains its physical laws.53 The belief in the all-

pervading power and presence of God endows the universe with a sacramental nature.54 The African

view of the world is nourished by a cosmology that is founded on a Source Being, the Supreme

God, and other divine beings that are associated with God. As God is the foundation of life, so

nothing happens without God. God lives, God does not die, and so indeed humans do not die. Even

when we do not occupy a touchable body, we still live on. The way we experience God is portrayed

in the language we use about God, especially the names by which God is known. Early researchers

into AR like G. Parrinder, E. B. Idowu, and J. S. Mbiti have recorded for us several African names

of God with copious annotations, which it is not necessary to rehearse at this stage.55 What needs to

be said is that these names are still current and that more names descriptive of people's experience

of God are available in proverbs, songs, and prayers. These names, says Idowu, are not mere labels:

"They are descriptive of character and depict people's experience of God."

When words fail, symbols take over. For the Akan of Ghana the Adinkra symbols, the

minuscule figures for gold weights and those on royal maces, include many that are theophorous.

The star in Adinkra is a symbol that says "Like the star, I depend on God and not on myself." The

symbol of hope says, "God, there is something in the heavens, let it reach my hands."

-----------------------------------------------------------
53
Wande Abimbola, Ifa Divination Poetry (Paris: UNESCO, 1975), n. 115.
54
Osalador Imasogie, 84.
55
Healey and Sybert, Towards an African Narrative Theology, 80-82, record names collected between 1992 and 1995.

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 The dependence of the existence of the human spirit on the spirit of God is expressed in

another symbol; and the more well known Gye Nyame is the Akan expression of the belief that

without God nothing holds together, and is variously interpreted as "except God" or "unless God" --

God is experienced as the very foundation of existence.56 All these examples demonstrate the

difficulty of translation and the inadequacy of words to express the African experience of God.

People believe that all the good and well-being they enjoy come from God, and that if one is not yet

enjoying well-being it is because one's time has not yet come. "AR holds that the world and nature

are good gifts that God entrusted to human beings: they provide nourishment for life, security and

home for our bodies" (Lutheran World Federation [LWF] document on AR). The experience of God

as beneficent is not only Muslim or Christian, but a living faith of Africans that has been reinforced

by these "missionary" religions. The current interest in the nature of Christian missions has sparked

off studies in the theology of religions, interreligious relations, multi-religious communities, gospel

and cultures, and has therefore renewed interest in the religion of "the other." It is in this context

that the LWF established a working group on AR which is described as "an indigenous system of

beliefs and practices integrated into the culture and world views of African peoples." This original

religion of Africans expresses the African experiences of God and pervades all cultural norms. All

human relations are affected by the belief that we all belong together in God. Onyame nti (because

of God, or for the sake of God), we act or refrain from acting. God is experienced as the sole creator

and sustainer of all things, who expects human beings to be to God as children and to each other as

siblings, and to respect the earth and other natural phenomena.

----------------------------------------- 56 
For other

examples of the use of symbolic language in narrative theology in Africa, see Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Daughters of Anowa: African

women and Patriarchy (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1995).

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 The belief in the unity of God goes with the unity of the cosmos. God's sustenance and
beneficence are seen in the rain as in the sunshine. Indeed when the dark clouds begin to gather,
some say the rain is angry, while others say God is angry. But even as we say muna, which in the
human face is a sign of anger and displeasure, the muna of God issues forth in the blessing of the
rain. If there is too much rain or flood, we do not attribute them to God but to the anger of the
divinities that are associated with nature or the ancestors whom we may have wronged by some
unethical behavior or lack of reverence for what pertains to the spirit world. God always gives what
is sufficient.The experience of God as good and the experience of evil becomes a challenge to
Africans. In the tradition, some would say both come from God but that "when God gives you
disease, God also gives you the cure."57 There is this believe that Africans experience the total
dependence on God in AR in their prayers.58 God is the ultimate receiver of all prayers, so all
libations begin with calling upon God. This God has been with Africans from the beginning and
features in prayers and greetings, blessings and curses: "God will pay you back" is feared as a most
potent curse. People are discouraged from using it as it may rebound on then when they deserve
what they have received at the hands of those they curse. In AR it is not God who suffers from the
evil we do to each other. God does not suffer at the hands of the exploiter and the oppressor, it is the
individual who suffers. However, when individuals suffer through evil not of their doing, God who
is the Creator of all humans demonstrates concern. Behind the unpronounceable curse is the
expectation that God judges impartially, that God sees when we cheat and exploit the weak. Most
important is the experience that God guards the weak. Often, when children and others deemed
weak in society escape calamity, all agree that it is God's doing. The immediacy of God in African
affairs is also demonstrated through the God-related names we bear. Theophorous names like
-------------------------------------------- 57

Kwesi A. Dickson, African Theology, 60.

58
J. S. Mbiti, Prayers of an African Religion.

. Nyamekye (gift of God) and Dardom (depend on God) are examples from Akan names. Yoruba

names beginning with Olu or Oluwa speak of human experience of God. In names we encounter the

African ontology that is centered on God who is the source of life and cohesion, whose sovereignty

over all cannot be questioned. We experience blessings when ideals like unity, community, caring,

faithfulness, excellence, steadfastness, etc., abound among human beings, for in these we

experience God. It is a fact that God is experienced as the good parent, the grandparent Nana, a

source of loving-kindness and protection. Some say Nana is father while others say Nana is mother,

but the sentiment is the same: human beings experience closeness to God which they describe in

terms of motherhood and fatherhood. There was never any need to debate the existence of God. The

challenge was always to discern God at work. Does God take sides? If so, whose side is God on,

and why? The African experience of God is that ultimately God is on the side of the weak and the

side of justice. No one can explain God. Nsa baako ntumi nkata Onyame ani (no single hand can

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cover the eye of God), and so Africans grant a plurality of approaches to God and experiences of

God. Experiences of God vary according to the circumstances surrounding people's daily life. To

illustrate this let me review some contemporary scenes that indicate shifts in the language about

God that correspond to change situations.

The South African case is illustrative of how traditional Christian language

about God is modified to cope with the people's experience of God at work. Alan Boesak, writing

on "Coming in out of the wilderness" in Emergent Gospel, tells of Isaiah Shembe (1870-1935), the

founder of an AIC (African independent church), and records this statement made by people in his

church:

“You my people, were once told of a God who had neither arms nor legs, who cannot see,

who has neither love nor pity. But Isaiah Shembe showed you God who walks on feet and

who heals with his hands, and who can be known by men.”59

In this church the African meets a God who loves and has compassion. Like Betty Goviden, Isaiah

Shembe underlines the South African dilemma of a God who seems to decree injustice so as to

favor some and oppress others. In this, as in other contexts, the experience of God as a healer and

companion on life's journey is very important for Africans, and the "exodus" from white-led

churches into AICs, says Boesak, is a theological statement. Further theological statements issuing

out of the South African experience of God have been collected in Black theology: The South

African Voice60 edited by Basil Moore. In South Africa, God was experienced by the Africans as

active and operating with a whole lot of envoys when missionaries arrived to declare the whole

system of AR idolatrous and without God. It has taken the AICs to reestablish African language

about God in the vocabulary of African Christians. The South African experience of racism included

a Christian God who was boss (the South African secret police) and partial to the dominant group.

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Black theology had to debunk the underlying theory that God is partial and favored the white race

and subjected the black race to servitude under them. A fresh profile of God was needed to heighten

the experience of God as compassionate and just. Revelation is through experience, and South

Africans, black and white, were experiencing afresh the presence and essence of God in that

situation. In this collection of essays we find a testimony to people's experience of God in South

Africa.

---------------------------------------------

59
Allan Boesak, "Coming Out of the Wilderness," in Sergio Torres and Virginia Fabella, eds., The Emergent Gospel

(London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1976), 76.

60
Basil Moore, ed., Black Theology: The South African Voice (London: Hurst, 1973).

In the context of apartheid, where white people set themselves up as gods who determined

how the humanity of others was to develop, it was a real challenge to talk about the Source Being in

meaningful terms. God in the apartheid system was depicted in patriarchal and hierarchical terms,

lending support to the oppressive regime. Traditional Christian theological terms like omniscience

and omnipotence fueled the oppressive authoritarianism and were no use to a people who

understood God as abhorring slavery. The Africans found white authority incongruent to their

traditional philosophy in which authority derives from serving the unity and well-being of the whole

people. Authority is not power over. Besides, their traditional experience of being human is in life-

giving relationships. This results in images of God that are freeing and that depict unity and

wholeness.

God has to be experienced as the source of humanizing relationships of love, truth and

justice, of mercy and kindness. New language developed and South Africans, both those of African

descent and those of European and Asian descent who were awakened to the evil of apartheid,

began to experience God as freedom. God as freedom became a theological symbol. They began to

80
discard the anthropomorphic language which fuels sexism and to create relational expressions. In

the contribution of Sabelo Ntwana and Basil Moore titled "The concept of God in black theology,"

they state that "God is love" means that God is a person who loves me, but "God is freedom" means

that God is the freedom made known in our history, calling us from oppression into wholeness of

life. God is this wholeness which exists in the spaces between people when their dignity and worth

is mutually affirmed in love, truth, honesty, justice, and caring warmth. God cannot be represented

in any created object.61

-----------------------------------------------

61
 Ibid. 25.

Mokgethi Motlhabi in his essay declares that the Church had become an oppressive human

organization. "Only God is freedom." By definition, therefore, our freedom is reflected in the image

of God.62 From Motlhabi's experience in the South African context, God was to be imaged as "both

creator and liberator to all people in their entire situation, not only religious but also social, political

and economic."63 Here is a call to the holistic cosmology of AR that is also biblical. In South Africa,

God has been experienced as freedom and truth, as comrade and friend in the struggle for freedom.

The South African reimaging of God revolved around ridding themselves of the patriarchal

model that supports the hierarchy, domination, and sexism of their experience under apartheid. On

this, the editors of Black Theology: The South African Voice wrote: "The symbol 'person' for God

attracts both gender and color and has strong overtones of authority." "God is male" has had

repercussions in Christianity that one cannot continue to uphold; therefore, "Black theology of

liberation that is relevant to South Africa cannot afford to perpetuate any form of domination, not

even male domination; if its liberation is not human enough to include the liberation of women, it

will not be liberation."64 The constitution of the new South Africa has been true to this vision, a

81
vision shared by many African women and articulated by women who have constituted themselves

into a Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.65

--------------------------------------
62
Mokgethi Motlhabi, "Black Theology: A Personal View" in ibid., 74-75.
63 
Ibid., 77.
64
Ibid., 25. 65

The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians came into being on the initiative of Mercy Amba Oduyoye to enable African

women to contribute to the theological literature that is being developed by Africans. Since its inauguration in October of 1989 two

pan-African books and three regional ones have been published. Papers from the August pan-African conference are being processed

for publication.

Since in the Church in Africa men and the clergy presume to speak for God, and to

demand the obedience of women, it is not easy to experience God as empowering and liberating

when one is in the Church's ambit. Women experience God as the one who orders their

subordination, who requires them to serve and never be served. God is the one who made them

women, with a body deemed to be the locus of sin and impurity. God is experienced as source of

women's oppression and Jesus as the author of the exclusion of women from sacramental roles in

the Church. This is the God the Christian tradition wants women to love and obey.

For many women, however, this is a clear substitution of the will of God for the will of

the male of the human species. Many women experience God differently and cannot allow

themselves to be subjected to cultural codes that mask the image of God in women. They

experience God as empowering them with a spirituality of resistance to dehumanization. The

androcentric Bible and Church have not been able to warp women's direct experience of God as a

loving liberator. The experience of God is articulated by these women in terms of a theology of

creation and the implications of the Christian affirmation that "God was in Christ." The Christology

of African women is centered on Jesus, friend and liberator who upholds the dignity of the humanity
82
of women. They experience God in Christ as affirming the goodness of the sexuality of women, a

factor that has been a pretext in both AR and Christianity for the diminution of women,

discrimination against them and their marginalization from centers of power and the ministration of

sacraments. Writings of women theologians from Africa are replete with these experiences.66In The

Will to Arise Teresia Hinga describes an experience of God in Christ that is very real to African

women. Women often describe Jesus as the friend and companion who helps them bear life's

burdens.67

----------------------------------------
66
See Part 1 of Kanyoro and Njoroge, Groaning in Faith, for examples. 67

Teresia Hinga in Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Musimbi Kanyoro, The Will to Arise (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1995), 190-91.

There is also the prophetic Jesus who challenges oppressors and hypocrites but forgives

sinners. In Jesus, women experience the God who is love. These experiences of God are affirmed by

women in terms of "nevertheless." Women describe themselves as being in the image of God even if

sexism denies their dignity. ` In

the women theologians' circle, studies of God's hospitality, African hospitality, and women in the

household of God reveal women's experience of God as the Great Householder who empowers all

and recognizes all as children in a parent's home and around the one table. They give expression to

experiences of the God who sustains in times of dire need and who brings victory where it is least

expected. They have constantly attributed all recognition and inclusiveness to the power of God

which transforms human beings and human conditions. They express their experience of God in

affirming cultural beliefs and practices, while they feel called by God to denounce and to

deconstruct oppressive ones.

Despite sexism's making it difficult for women to experience God in the Church, women

have nevertheless witnessed to their experience of God in Christ, the one who brings salvation.

While critical of certain aspects of biblical culture, they have nevertheless testified to their

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experience of the liberating God of the Bible in events in their own lives. Rereading Scripture, and

especially the stories of women in the Bible, has brought God closer and enhanced the Presence

around us.68Women experience God as groaning with them as they participate in straining toward

the birth of a new Africa free from sexism and racism, from poverty, exploitation, and violence.

All experiences of "love beyond self," all that is just and life-giving, are understood to be

expressions of the presence of God.69 All that enhances the dignity and worth of women is

-----------------------------------------
68
Christine Landman, "A Land Flowing With Milk and Honey," in Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro and Nyambura J. Njoroge, Groaning in

Faith, 99-111. 69

Grace Ndyabahika, "Women's Place in Creation," in Kanyoro and Njoroge, Groaning in Faith, 256.

attributed to the presence of God. Women who take the image of God in human beings seriously see

it in the faces of the starving children around them and in all those who suffer needlessly in Africa.

When women live by caring, they are expressing the caring God in whose image they are created.

Hopefully those who experience love and justice and compassion will realize that God is present.

How do these experiences of God in Africa relate to the building up of the Body of Christ in

Africa? How do the churches respond to peoples' experiences of God? There is a revival of

traditional African images of God, in the AICs and, to a lesser extent, in the "Prosperity

Christianity" that has taken Africa by storm for nearly two decades. The AICs have a profile of

being prophetic-healing-praying churches. Africans move to these churches to hear God through

prophets, as they used to do through the divination of AR. They seek and experience healing of

body and soul and the efficacy of communing with God in prayer. Religion comes alive, it ceases to

be a formal gathering with an ambience that is devoid of African culture. However, to a significant

extent the charismatic-pentecostal-prosperity churches have returned Africans to the anti-African

culture of the Western missionaries. They maintain that to succeed you must move away from

African beliefs related to ancestors, African practices and ritual, and seek "deliverance" from evil

84
and poverty through the Church, your new family. The music, song and dance, tithing, and

exuberant demonstration of spirituality may be similar in both types of church, but there is a marked

difference in their attitudes to things African. Those who flock to join these churches presumably do

so because they experience the presence of God they yearn for. These churches are said to be

building up the Body of Christ by seeking to meet the felt needs of people.

The South African experience of God as liberator has encouraged churches in other parts of

Africa to confront governments with their lack of care for the populace. Contemporary experiences

of atrocities committed in Africa by Africans on Africans lead people to ask "Where is God in all

this?" "On whose side is God?" some have asked.

Some have surmised that God is apparently not interested in what happens to humanity in Africa.70

In other words, Africa experiences the absence of God when evil triumphs. This is the case with

adherents of AR as with Christians. Mandela quotes the ending of a speech given during his

initiation into manhood:

“I know that Qameta (God) is all-seeing and never sleeps, but I have a suspicion that
Qameta may in fact be dozing. If this is the case, the sooner I die the better, because then I
can meet him and shake him awake and tell him that the children of Ngubengcuku, the
flower of the Xhosa nation, are dying.”71
When apartheid was formally dismantled, all Africa, indeed the whole of the justice-loving world,

rejoiced and the religious gave glory to God. The presence of God has been demonstrated. To build

up Christ's body we need to demonstrate the liberating presence of God. When we are able to

empower Zaire and Rwanda, Sudan and Nigeria to learn to live creatively and justly with

difference, we shall be helping to unveil God. African myths of separation attribute the felt absence

of God to human acts of greed and callousness. To build up the Body of Christ everywhere requires

building up human relations, seeing humanity as one family under God who is the source of the life

of the human family. We cannot continue the rhetoric of loving, caring words about God if people

are not experiencing loving, caring acts from one another.

85
 We cannot tell people that creation is a "pure gift from God, unsolicited" when some enjoy

more of these gifts than others and the Church does little to alleviate poverty. African affirmations

about God and creation have to come alive in the projects, program and attitudes of the Church.

What does it mean when we say "Nothing is too difficult for God?," when we affirm it is "God who

gives the cow to the Masai" or that "When God gives no one can snatch"? All of this is empty

rhetoric if people cannot testify that "What God says God does." And how is this to be demonstrated

--------------------------------------

70
Kwesi A. Dickson, African Theology, 91.
71
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 35.

if the Church proclaims a "God in Christ" who has arms too short to reach the hurt of people? We

seek the presence of God who saves now, in the being and doing of the Church. For many it is the

absence of God, the alienation from God the source of life, that is the immediate experience.72

The African theologian believed and teach that Faith in a God of love lives on in Africa in

spite of the apparent absence. For Africans like the Masai for whom there is no life after death, and

even for the Akan who are gathered to God and to the ancestors when they die, it is important to see

the goodness of God here in the land of the living, for that is what establishes the presence of God

among human beings. Many women are like Buchie Emecheta. They know that God has more

important things to do than to punish them for having "ambitions" of fulfilling their potential. Like

her they pray for miracles. God is a miracle-working God. Emecheta says, "When I saw a miracle

flying by I would grab it." Winning a scholarship for secondary school education was for her one

such miracle. African women expect God to "deliver." In lyrics, traditional and modern, they sing

about the God who says and does and they invite all to come and see what God has actually done.

They declare that words are not up to the task of expressing thanks to God.73

In conclusion for this section, when Africans can testify to sight for the blind, that becomes

86
evidence that God is being experienced. To respond to these expectations and experiences of God in

Africa is to build up the Body of Christ, not only in Africa, but worldwide. For God cannot treat

Africa and Africans differently from other places and people and still remain the sole source of

human being. The Church will build up the Body of Christ if it acts to heal, strengthen, nourish, and

treat with dignity all of its members, and that means acting as God-in-Christ expects of the Church.

---------------------------------
72
  Healey and Sybert, Towards an African Narrative Theology, 29.

73
Buchie Emecheta's Head Above Water: An Autobiography and several Fante lyrics, including the one below, testify to this
experience of God.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN EVANGELISM AND TEACHING

5.1 Converting people from African traditional religion into Christianity

The concept of conversion is as relevant to African indigenous religions as it is to many

other religions of humankind. Christian missionaries had benefited from the favourable climate

created by European colonialism in Africa. Urbanisation, western culture and civilisation, science

and technology all played a major role. But the missionaries themselves were equipped with

different viable evangelical methods and strategies. 'They proclaimed the Good News of salvation

through open-air preaching, offered various humanitarian services including rehabilitation of slaves

and socially disadvantaged people and set-up Christian villages where they settled many early

convert 74. Medical care equally played an effective part in disposing many traditional adherents to

accept the Christian message, so did pastoral visitation and vocational training for young men and

women. By far, the promotion of formal school education proved to be the most viable and effective

instrument of conversion evolved by Christian missionaries among many traditional African groups.

87
Hundreds of thousands of young men and women, who attended such schools, also received

instruction in the faith, accepted baptism while in school and thereby broke the ancestral covenant

with deities. It was not too long before the missionaries of the different mainstream Christian

groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians began to

harvest the fruit of their vigorous evangelical efforts 75.

-------------------------------------
74
Nwosu, V.A. The Catholic Church in Onitsha, People, Places, and Events (Onitsha; EPL, 1985), pp. 16-41.
75.
G.O.M Tasie, "Christian Awakening in West Africa, 1914-18, A Study in the Significance of Native Agency", in Kalu, O.U. Op.

Cit. pp. 293-306.

In Liberia, as in the coastal region of Nigeria, the charismatic ministry of the renowned

William Wade Hams and the fiery preacher Garrick Braide of Bakana respectively swept like tidal

waves across towns and villages with the conversion of thousands of former adherents of African

indigenous religions to the Anglican faith. In lgboland, Chief Samuel Idigo abandoned his

traditional religious belief, and symbols of indigenous rituals and his staff of office, to embrace the

Catholic. He had left his elevated position as the traditional ruler of his people to settle with

numerous fellow converts in the new Christian village "Ugwu Ndi Uka' established by the

missionaries in Aguleri 76. Presently, lgboland, has well over 80% of its approximately twenty

million people converted to Christianity. It has been cited as a typical African society in which the

walls of the traditional religion have collapsed Jericho-wise. E.A. Ayandele title his review article,

"The Collapse of 'Pagandom' in lgboland". And he described the conversion of a vast majority of

Igbo people to Christianity as nothing short of an epic" 77.

The current proliferation and attraction of Pentecostal and Evangelical groups in several

parts of Africa is no doubt, one of the intriguing aspects of Christianity in the Continent today. The

development is particularly manifest in urban centres. The groups excite, attract and draw their

clientele mainly from among the youth and the middle-aged, both employed and unemployed. The

88
founders/leaders are usually charismatic individuals, literate, and often loud and flamboyant in their

life-style. They adopt very modem methods of preaching employing electronic gadgets and modern

music. Their overall bearing in life is generally Western-oriented. Some of them employ all kinds of

modem means of promotional advertisement to propagate their message. Vigorous evangelical bible

study, deliverance from evil and demonic forces and counselling are some of their major schemes.

----------------------------------------------------
76
Nwosu, V.A., Op. Cit. pp. 16-41
77
Ayandele, E.A. "The Collapse of Pagandom in Igboland" in Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria, (Vol. Il, No. 1, Dec. 1973), pp.

126-7.

'They propagate the so-called 'prosperity gospel', assuring their followers of quick success and

material prosperity. The Pentecostal and Evangelical groups are probably the fastest growing

churches in many parts of Africa. Many of the mainstream Christian churches including the Roman

Catholics, Anglicans and Methodists have been provoked and challenged by the fast rate of growth

of the Pentecostals to devise schemes to counteract the drain in their numbers. While a considerable

number of people who attend the Pentecostal churches appear to experience deep personal religious

conversion and are committed to the ideals and mores of their new faith, it must also be pointed out

that very many of the people who crowd into the rallies and fellowships of the new groups

ostensibly go to search for quick miracles and wonders.

Christianity is now a dominant faith in Africa today, while the law of diminishing returns

has befallen the indigenous religions. A vast majority of former members of the traditional religions

have abandoned the ancestral rituals and symbols to embrace Christianity. The mass conversion of

former adherents of indigenous religions in Africa to Christianity has evidently brought about the

discontinuation of several aspects of the traditional religious culture of the people. 'The

homogenous traditional religious background in which the indigenous religions undergirded all

aspects of life including the social, political and economic aspects, has more or less disappeared,

89
making way to religious plurality which now prevails in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Huge

cathedrals, churches, schools and public buildings now rise on the former sites of sacred groves and

shrines dedicated to powerful traditional deities. Certain brutal rituals like human sacrifice,

traditional customs and taboos that discriminated against individuals and groups like women,

outcastes, people suffering from various kinds of sickness and disease, the killing of twins among

some African groups have been eradicated. 78 In lgboland for instance, most traditional
------------------------------------------------------- 78
Ejizu, C.I.

"Continuity and Discontinuity in African Traditional Religion, The Case of the Igbo of Nigeria', Cahier Des Religions Africaines,

(Vol. 8, No. 36, 1984), pp. 197-214.

communities had, prior to the advent of Christian missionaries reserved dreaded places, Ajo Ofia,

'bad forests' as such places were called, where people dumped away tabooed persons and those who

had seriously infringed the approved norms of behaviour to die miserable death. Such individuals

like leprosy patients, sorcerers, witches, notorious persons were abhorred by the physically living

human beings, ancestors and the gods. Today most of those dreaded places and forests have been

cleared. They are now the location of many churches, schools and public institutions. Some

important traditional institutions, including priesthood of some prominent deities, initiations and

festivals have been abandoned since the people to uphold and continue them have left the

indigenous religions of their people to embrace one or the other of the missionary religions.

Some analysts have easily concluded, based on these visible features of the prevailing

religious situation in the Continent, that the demise of the traditional religions is a "fait accompli" 79.

But statistics do not tell the full story. Religious conversion is such a complex and fluid matter.

Particularly in Africa, with the tremendous resilience and adaptability of the indigenous religions,

the persistence of vital beliefs among many converts to Christianity, it is extremely difficult to be

categorical about the state of religious conversion of the majority of people. The astonishing stories

of phenomenal achievements of the missionary religions and of heroic lives of faith by numerous

90
converts to Christianity ought to be taken together with the constant complaints against shallowness

of faith, nominal membership, syncretic practices among a large segment of the population of new

converts. The traditional world-view, including a strong belief in the dynamic presence and

activities of spirit beings and cosmic forces in people's lives, belief in re-incarnation persist among

most Africans. The scenario depicted by Bishop (now Archbishop) Albert K- Obiefuna about Igbo

--------------------------------------------------------

27.
Ejizu, C.I., Op. Cit. p. 198.

converts to Catholicism could easily be said of most other sub-Saharan African groups. In a fifty-

one paged pastoral letter titled Idolatry In A Century-old Faith published in 1985 to mark the first

centenary celebration of the Catholic Church in Eastern Nigeria, the Bishop called attention to the

two sides of the picture.

“Christianity has made an impact on our people. There is no gainsaying it. Thousands come
to our churches. Many also avail themselves of the Sacraments. But times without number
the remark reaches us that our Christians are worshipping 'idols'', false gods. They swear on
idols. They erect shrines in their homes, in their compounds. They hide fetishes in their
shades in the market places and in their workshops. Catechists, Seminarians on apostolic
work in the towns and villages are stunned at the degree of idol worship and superstitious
practices that still exist among a people that are mostly baptised Catholics. At every retreat,
Catholics bring out from their homes fetishes and charms of all kinds. Idol worship,
superstitious practices, fear of witchcraft, charms, and all sorts of vain observances are
realities among our Catholics. We cannot simply deny they obtain” 80
The indigenous religions remain very much the living faith of many rural dwellers in

Africa. Both in urban and rural areas the religions continue to adapt to the changing circumstances

of life of the people. Modem houses built with cement and zinc now feature as shrines of deities.

People use such contemporary items like rice, mineral drinks, pieces of cloth as materials for ritual

sacrifice. Traditional priests, diviners, mediums and shrine attendants dress in decent outfit for

traditional religious cult of deities in present-day African societies. In another development, the

91
beliefs and rituals of several traditional African deities like the Yoruba Orisha continue to be

maintained by many adherents and practitioners of the Voodoo, Santeria and Cumina cults in the

Caribbean Islands, Cuba, and parts of the United States of America 81. These forms of religious

practice by Africans in the diaspora combine indigenous African religious stuff with elements from

Christianity. Furthermore, the effort at modernisation of the traditional religions themselves is

-------------------------------------------
80
Obiefuna, AK., Idolatry In A Century-Old Faith (Enugu; Cecta Ltd., 1985), p. 11
81
Holloway, J.E. (ed.), Africanisms in American Culture, (Bloomington; I.U.P. 1990).

manifestly evident in such contemporary religious systems as Godianism of Chief G.O.K Onyioha

in lgboland, the Ogboni Fraternity and Eruosa National Church among the Yoruba and Edo peoples

of Nigeria respectively. The African Independent and Aladura churches, including the Kimbangu

Church of Congo, and the Cherubim and Seraphim groups, have also greatly contributed to keeping

alive certain vital aspects of the indigenous religious culture of the people such as the belief in the

dynamic presence and influence of ancestral and other spirit beings in people's lives, divination,

belief in magic and the practice of traditional rituals.

To conclude, both in the traditional homogenous religious background as well as in

contemporary plural society, religion has always been a major determinant of life of African people.

The fluid and complex nature of religious conversion is clearly a reflection of the characteristic

dynamic nature of religion itself among the groups. Prior to the encounter with Islam and

Christianity, the traditional religions of Africa pervaded and permeated all vital life-interests of

people, investing the social, economic and political facets of life with meaning and symbolic

significance. Religious change had proceeded not in any dramatic and radical way, but rather in a

slow-rate manner. The religious and spiritual fervour of people flowed and ebbed in response to

changing circumstances of life. Significant historical situations brought about novel religious ideas,

values, beliefs, symbols, taboos and rituals. The cosmology of the different groups was particularly

92
accommodating, as the size of the pantheon of the different groups enlarged or diminished in

response to varying stimuli. Individuals and groups had experience of genuine religious conversion.

Their cumulative spiritual heritage and religious insight were preserved and handed on from one

generation to the next through such oral media as speech-forms, including myths, legends, stories,

proverbs, and names, art-forms including sculptures, carvings, and festivals, and important

institutions like shrines, masquerades, kingship institution and so on. According to By Christopher I.

EjizuThe advent and spread of Christianity precipitated a different kind of religious situation in

contemporary Africa. A vast majority of the population have abandoned the religions of their

ancestors to convert to one or other of the missionary faiths now available in the Continent. In spite

of the many problems and difficulties confronting the converts, it is unarguable that Christianity

have sunk deep roots in Africa. 'They have made irreversible impact on the Continent's religious and

spiritual landscape. The faith of the vast majority of the population now lies mainly with

Christianity. The religious hunger for the sacred which has evolved from the traditional religious

background to the contemporary plural society still persists. This is the central value that must not

be wasted, but ought to be vigorously preserved and sustained by all well-meaning religious people

in Africa.82

93
_______________________
82
Barrette, D.B.(ed.), World Christian Encyclopaedia (Nairobi; O.U. P), p. 529.

5.2 Establishing churches with the aim of converting people to worship the true God

There is no mistake in the world as bad as leaving people alone in their sins.Someone may

asked, “What is our sin”? The sin been referred to is one of falling short of the glory of God, which

made anyone who has not given his/her life to Christ an enemy of God. Every Christian has to be a

soul winner. It should become the main business of every preacher, missionary and Christian

worker. There is no way that one has to give excuses concerning this business and live it alone for

preacher and professional soul winners to do. It should be understood that a person is not a

Christian when he cannot win souls. The fellow is just not taken orders and obeying the command

of Jesus. Going is the main part of soul winning and God wants saints to seek for sinners. However,

the fear of man, false and sinful excuses holds many back from doing the plain will of God. Others

think that soul winning is done by human talent or by eloquence or personality. No one ever

becomes a soul winner who is not willing to work at it. Aggressive efforts are blessed of God in soul

winning and one who does not make the effort will not get people saved. A

soul winning preacher makes a soul winning church. Oh God help our preachers and churches to

call every Christian back to the main business of personally winning souls to Christ. God should

teach us to have compassion such as He has for sinners. Personal soul winning will make the

difference in the success or failure of any preacher’s ministry. Only the preacher who works at

getting a crowd and who builds a visitation program inviting people to come to attend services has

many lost souls to preach to. Every Evangelist should preach soul winning messages and should lay

94
on the hearts of Christians a burden for souls, show them their duty to win souls and show them

how. Soul winning is a

general order for everybody and that great soul winners are simply people who work hardest at the

business of going after sinners. I ask you to consider whether or not you are just a backslider. Have

you not lost your first love? Where is that heart union with Christ that would make you love what

He loves, want what he wants, and be ceaselessly concerned about poor souls for whom he died?

How can anyone claim to be a good Christian if he does not have a genuine burden of soul for

sinners? To make people

good, happy and blessed through eternity as well as keeping people out of the fires and torment of

Hell forever is the most important business in the world. This requires understanding, development

of character, conviction of heart and obedience to do this great work. Let this be your heartfelt cry.

“Lead me to some soul today, Oh teach me, Lord just what to say. Friends of mine
are lost in sin and cannot find their way. Few there are who seem to care, and few
there are who pray; Melt my heart and fill my life to win some soul today”

There are many important reasons why establishing churches in Africa are so important

with the aim of converting people to worship the true God.Time is short, the end is near; Souls are

precious to God.; Hell is the end of all who die in sin; Multitudes dies everyday; Powers of darkness

and cults are growing; Plenteous harvest ripe already, delay causes waste; Those who neglect Soul

winning will be guilty; Neglect hinders our prayers and progress; Conversion of sinners causes joy

in Heaven; every Believer ought to have the mind of Christ; you are saved to serve. There is no

useless member in the Body and the last but not the least, you don’t belong to yourself.

Take your time to read these passages to help you understand why Christians should not play at all

with evangelism in Africa. (Jon. 9:4; 1st Cor. 7: 29, 35: Rom. 13: 12; Mt. 24: 33, 34;Mt. 16:26; Mk.

8:36, 37; Mat.10: 31; 6:25, 26; Ps. 49:6 – 9;Mk. 9:43 – 48; Lk. 16:19 -31; Ps.9:17; Rev. 20:10 –

15;2nd Timothy 3: 13; 1st Tim. 4:1; 2nd Phil. 3:3; 2nmd Cor.10:4, 5;Jon 4:3; Mat 9:36, 37; Ex. 3: 17 –

95
20; Mt.25:14, 15, 19, 24 – 30; Judges 5:23; 1st Kings 20: 39 – 40 1st Cor. 9:16; Pr. 21:13; 24:11, 12;

11:26; Hag. 1:4 – 11; . Luke. 15:7, 10;Phi. 2:5; Acts 10:38; Mt. 9:36; 1st Cor. 6:19, 20; Mt. 25:14 –

19, 30; Ez. 3:17, 18; 33:1 – 6)

From the records of Ghana Evangelism committee, about 14,000 towns and villages are

without Gospel churches. There are about thousands of people in the churches who are nominal

Christians. About 3 million people in the North, are non- Christians and 2 million people in the

south are also non- Christians.

The person who can win souls must have these requirements: He must be saved. Salvation

comes before soul winning. One must be a Christian, a born again child of God before he can be a

soul winner. Otherwise, as an example, one can go about preaching a social gospel. Gal. 1:8, 9.

He, who desires to win souls, must have full assurance of his own salvation. If one lacks assurance

of salvation, he needs to get it settles in order to become a successful soul winner Jon. 3: 16; 5:24;

6:37; Acts 16:31.He, who desires to win souls, need to know clearly the saving Gospel of Christ. We

may add our personal testimony and our earnest entreaty, but without the preaching of the Gospel,

no one is ever saved. 1 st Cor. 1:21. A soul winner must realize that all are sinners, totally depraved

and need regeneration, which is the new birth.A soul winner, must understand that the New Birth is

a miraculous work of God in the Heart of a sinner making Him a child of God.Apart from this, he

must know that the only way a sinner get the new birth is by dependence on Christ as savior and not

rely upon any human merit.Other requirements for a soul winner are as follows:He must have the

word of God burning in His Heart, He must be a prayer warrior i.e. He should pray for the power of

God, and then when God in mercy gives the power and souls are saved, he must expect that when

another opportunity arises, he will need to pray again,He must be a surrendered Christian, willing to

give up any known sin to please Christ and to have God’s power the Holy Spirit for soul winning.

2nd Tim. 2:19 – 21; 1st Cor. 29: 27; Acts 1: 8 and He must have a compassionate heart Rom. 9: 1 – 3;

Mt. 20:18 – 20; Mt. 9:36; 14: 14; 15:32; 20:34; Mk. 1:4; Mk. 6:34 1stCor. 7:13; 19:41.

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 Apart from requirements, methods to use for winning souls are also very important. Some of

these methods are: Out –door preaching campaign i.e. moving out into a public area and preaching

to all. and inviting them to worship especially on Sunday and in this way bringing them to Jesus

Christ;life style evangelism i.e. presenting Christ both in word and in deeds; service evangelism i.e.

Christian services are used as channel for reaching people with the Gospel; audio- Visual

evangelism i.e. modern electronic equipment are used in presenting Christ to unbelievers;literature

writing and tract distribution i.e. message of salvation is written out in clean and simple form for

distribution to the unsaved. This also includes already written tracts by people for the

unsaved;drama and songs i.e. acting of good Christian plays or inspiration songs taking either from

the Old or the New Testament and cross culture i.e. sending the gospel to people of a different

culture. All those methods in one way or the other will save souls.

Let me use this opportunity to give an example on how to prepare for an evangelistic event

With reference to Luke 14:28 – 34, projection planning is very important. It is worthy to

note that planning an evangelistic event is very important, because an unplanned evangelistic effort

is a useless venture. Planning must go along with thinking and writing.You must know the types of

planning and how to plan to ensure success.Some types of planning and definitions are as follows:

The first one is projection planning. This is a type of planning that follows – the vision one has got.

The plan goes according to the projection of the vision, the purpose should be identified, and the

goals should be clear and the priorities. Just as a building is constructed according to the plan for its

use, so every projection planning should be. The second one is presumption planning. It is an

attempt to imagining what you intend to do without any action. It is simply a matter of building

castles in the sky. It is a careless planning and cannot yield any results.

There must be planning processes and let’s observe these three important points.First,look at

the past to assess your possible failure or success.Second, set your goal and know what you want to

accomplish and thirdly, check your resources, how to mobilize people and finance to achieve your

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aim.In setting out your priorities, the following questions must be fully answered.Why, …… the

Evangelistic event? Find the purpose for the effort; either you are making an effort to plant a New

Assembly or to revive the weak ones.Where, ------ the Evangelistic effort would be organized?

When, ------- The date for the effort should be clear. How, ----- the method or strategies you intend

to employ should be worked out.Who, ……….people you would need to help in the effort, e.g.

Evangelism Team, Good Women Fellowship, and follow up workers and other well meaning

people.

There must be a good process for effective preparation. The first thing is to propose the

areas you intend to plant churches and get the names listed.You must also conduct surveys in the

area listed. Such as to get places of worship – e.g. places like school blocks, cinema Halls, rented

halls or any other convenient places like garages and so on.To ensure the success of this, select

competent people to conduct the survey. They should be people with ability to contact people.It

should be noted that, surveying is very essential factor to a successful evangelistic effort. With

reference to Nehemiah 2:12 – 16, you may find out how Nehemiah conducted his survey before

commencing his work.

An effective evangelistic trip or event must be bathed in prayer. I will suggest t something

like Monthly Prayer Calendar (Fix calendar dates for prayer meeting and specific items to pray

over. You may code-name it like Prayer Bulletin, Prayer Rally or Tarry Prayer Meeting. Praying

without the preaching and teaching of the Word of God is not effective. Serious emphasis should be

laid upon the sowing exercise, which is, preaching the word and be instant in it in season and out of

season. The following activities could be organised to get members involved in the sowing

campaign.House to house programme, street preaching,dawn preaching,distribution of Tracts,

Schools, hospital and prisons visitation – preaching in the institutions.Relationship emphasis is very

important in successful evangelism. Train the members to develop their human relations ability. The

following areas can be covered in the training programme. How to visit people and make contacts,

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the application of tact,how to appreciate opportunities and the principles of dying in earnest.

Involvement emphasis is vital in effective evangelism Therefore, emphasis using maximum number

in all recruitment programmes – choir, ushers, counselors, prayer group, youth, women, men,

deacons and ministers are very important.Manage to reach organization levels by planning series of

meetings to ensure proper decision making and effective implementation of the evangelistic

programmes.Hold evangelism committee meeting,church management council meeting,church

council meeting and various committee meetings.

In conclusion a great soul winner is described by, the late brother Charles Finney, as a young

convert who should be trained to labour for Christ just as carefully as young recruits in an army are

trained for war. The plan is to train a body of devoted Chrstians, who knew how to pray and how to

converse with people about their souls, and how to attend anxious meetings and deal with enquirers

and how to save souls. When the day comes that the whole church will realize that they are here on

earth as body of missionaries, and shall live and labour accordingly then will the day of man’s

redemption draw nigh. How

strange for Christians to be so absorbed in things that do not interest heaven. We may be concerned

about place and salary, honour, ease and security. The Lord Jesus is concerned about having every

place filled at the heavenly banquet. He is telling us to “go out unto the highways and hedges, and

compel them to come in that my house may be filled”. Lk. 14:23. Lukewarness is the sin that makes

God spew out His people. He says in Rev. 3:14-16, the proud, the self righteous, the self-contained

and self-sufficient person has gone wrong in his heart before he goes wrong in his head. The danger

of the church today is not primarily modernism of doctrine. The danger is that coldness of heart

which is essentially unchristian and spoils all the sentiment and heart of the Gospel, because it does

not weep over lost sinner and urgently at any cost nor seek to save them.

If soul winning is the main purpose and concern of God, Satan will do everything possible to

hinder Christians. So he constantly seeks to confuse Christians about the power of the Holy Spirit

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and the endowment of power from on High. He takes great advantages of God’s people in getting

them to put second thing first and to miss God’s emphasis by distracting their attentions.

A soul winner needs to learn to come again and again to the fountain and drink deep. He

needs to come again and again before the throne of God in penitent waiting and pleading to God

gives him power from on High to be filled with the Holy Spirit for the work He commands us to

do.If we are to do God’s business. Let us ask for His equipment. And that includes clear leading,

day by day, and His direction and supervision. Whether we can always see it or not, make sure, dear

Christian, if you are to have the leading of God’s spirit in soul winning that you do not quench Him,

argue with him, disagree with Him and disobey Him. God wants you to be constantly beseeching

Him for wisdom and guidance and open doors and for the power of the Holy Spirit. The best

Christian is the best soul winner and the best wisdom is the wisdom of the soul winner.83

-------------------------------------------
83
Godwin Ofosuhene research work on the Greatest Business on Earth which is unpublished work from 2000 at YAFCA ministries

CHAPTER SIX

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 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

6.1 The unfinished task

This work examines the concept of God in the traditional religion of Akan and ewe ethnic

group compare to the bible. African Traditional Religion (ATR),which involves the belief and

worship of the Supreme Being known and revered all over Africa as Onyame in Akan, Mao in Ewe,

Chineke in Igbo and Oludumare in Yoruba etc. The worship can be direct , but is done (mostly)

indirectly through divine agents like the gods or divinities (abosom in Akan , legbaa in Ewe ) and

the ancestors.

Judging from the voluminous work on African traditional religion, one would be tempted to

think that an appreciable knowledge of them has been acquired. There remain several factors which

are not yet explored. The first to be discussed is the Ghanaian view of Globalization and Youth

Ministry Project. It is important to take a longer term view of the issues than might arise simply

by tracing the origins of the term ‘Globalization’ to the 1970s and 80s. This is because what is

referred to is a process in sub-Saharan Africa that began with the advent of the European in the 15th

century. What is important is to focus on the ways in which local people have appropriated and

transformed the processes and products of the interaction between Africans and Europeans since

that time.Globalization is related to imperialism, colonialism and the exploitation of the African

continent. Waves of missionary activity, latterly in the form of audio and video technology, have

made a significant impact on the continent. Globalization is related to the ways in which Africans

lived and exchanged goods and services before the advent of the colonialist. It is also related to the

manner of life of African people since – including the changing relations between Africans

themselves, the struggles for independence and the post-colonial realities of the post-modern era.

There is this need for the changing relationships between traditional and Christian

thinking on the one hand, and modernity on the other. Much is made of the attempt to maintain

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faithful Christian witness in the face of increasing secularisation, corruption and the negative effects

of globalisation. What is clear is that there is considerable ambivalence about the products and

processes of globalzation.What is emerging is the need to focus our study in Ghana ( and several

other parts of Africa on five main areas:The first one is to talk about Pentecostal/charismatic present

and future. The Church of Pentecost is currently the largest and fastest growing Protestant Church in

Ghana. Whilst the ‘spiritual churches’ (African Independent churches) are declining rapidly, those

missionary related churches which adopt the freer (Pentecostal) styles of worship and practice are

maintaining their numbers. It is clear that the trend for Christian youth in particular is towards the

Pentecostal, Charismatic churches. Many recent studies point out that the shape of Christianity in

Africa in the future is likely to be Pentecostal (see for example, Paul Gifford, (1998), African

Christianity: Its public role, London: Hurst & Co.) The Ghanaian and Nigerian charismatic churches

now have branches in major US cities and European countries. One of the largest churches in

London ( Kingsway International) is led by a Nigerian pastor.The second thing to look at is also the

ambivalence of the processes and products of globalization for local Christian youth. (See Brigit

Meyer, “Commodities and the Power of Prayer” ). Western goods are desired as dearly as they are

feared. Pentecostals offer rituals of purification which acknowledge the ‘evil’in these products and

then cleanse them for use by believing Christians. The third thing to look at is the notions of

consumption. Material blessings are seen as evidence of divine favour. But the dangers of wealth

and possessions are also recognised. How do young Ghanaian Christians navigate their course

through these murky waters? The fouth point for discussion is the cultural identity vs. global

participation. There is an onslaught on historic African traditional practices and values (e.g.

outdooring and namingceremonies). Any association with things traditional is seen in some circles

as ‘pagan’, dangerous – rendering one liable to possession by evil spirits. At the same time there is a

desire for authentic African lifestyles. A very real anddeep tension exists in the lives of many

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Ghanaian youth. The fifth point for discussion is education, militarization and the youth. Many West

African young people have witnessed or else participated in the atrocities of war. There is a

great need to counter the effects of this and to help in the re-integration of the young into society.

Re-education is a crying need. Ghana has received refugees from and sent peace-keeping troops to

Liberia and Sierra Leone.The realities of participation in regional and global politics are very much

in the minds of young people.According to Emmanuel Y. Lartey of theDepartment of Theology

at the University of Birmingham, U.K.an interesting and important study which must be undertaken

is an exploration of the experiences and views of the Ghanaian (and for that matter African)

diasporan youth in Britain vis-à-vis globalization. According to Lartey, through interaction between

African youth on the continent and those in the diaspora (increasingly through IT facilities) there is

mutual influence. This is an area where there is much need for study to unearth needs and formulate

strategies for ministry among youth.

Another unfinished task is the intensive argument of African theologians concerning the

future of African gods, which is the clash of civilizations.A speech on this subject, was delivered by

Professor Molefi Kete Asante at Accra - W.E.B. du Bois center - July 10, 1998. According to him,

until an African leader publicly acknowledges honors and prays to an African God, we Africans will

continue to be viewed as pathetic imitators of others, never having believed in ourselves. So

powerful is the concept of religion when we discuss it in connection with civilization that to deny

the validity of one's religion is to deny the validity of one's civilization. Indeed to deny one's

religion as valid is to suggest that the person is a pagan, a heathen, uncivilized, and beyond the

sphere of humanity. So to talk about religion is to talk about our views of ourselves, our

understanding of our ancestors, and our love of our culture.

There is a crisis in civilization because we have a crisis in religion Professor Molefi Kete Asante

made several points dealing with the themes of tradition, history, religion, and human action.

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There are no people without traditions and traditions are the lifeblood of a people. A people who

refuse to express its love and appreciation for its ancestors will die because in traditions, if you are

not expressing your own, you are participating in and expressing faith in someone else's ancestors.

No person is devoid of an attachment to some cultural fountain. Whose water are we drinking? He

asked. According to the Professor, humans cannot advance without answering some basic questions

like, Who Am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of existence? Who are we as humans,

Africans, Ghanaians, Gas, Ewe, Guans and Akans?By these questions, he explained that religion

provides compelling answers and often small communities of others who believe like we do.

African deities and the Almighty God of Africa do that for us. They give us identity and direction.

We are the children of the Supreme God sustained by our ancestral connections, formed to glorify

the best values of Maat, encouraged to assume responsibility for each other in a community of

consciousness.

6.2 Contextual Method of writing African Traditional Religion

Let me begin by saying that Religious Studies is an interdisciplinary humanities field,

which is concerned with the objective and analytical study of religious phenomena. In this sense,

religion is approached as social phenomenon and not as a faith. Although, scholars differs on the

definition of religion, there is no denying fact that religion permeates most social systems, and in

Africa, religion is central to the values, cultures and worldviews of the people.Therefore, in keeping

pace with the national aspirations for technological advancement savoured with sound morality,

there is the need to contextualise the writing of African Traditional Religion, which focuses on

human intellectual and cultural development. This is to be achieved by its strong emphasis on

comparative study of religions; pragmatic or functional approach to the study of Christianity, Islam,

African Traditional Religion; and the socio-cultural analysis of religious phenomena in the society.

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 To contextualise the writing of African Traditional Religion one must look at its sociological,

philosophical, political and objective theological dimensions. Human values and good morals

should emerge and be embraced. To contextualise the writing of African Traditional Religion should

also examines the implications of religion on societal and other issues that affect human’s

meaningful, peaceful and harmonious coexistence at local, national and global contexts. This must

go a long way to producing minds of a broad spectrum conducive to pluralistic society such as

Ghana or Nigeria. In fact he/she who contextualises the writing of African Traditional Religion is

prepared for a wide variety of fields, including teaching, government and administration, social

work, media and diplomacy. Many African societies like Ghana who demands sensitivity to human

cultures, values and aspirations will appreciate those trained to contextualise the writing of African

Traditional Religion. Furthermore, it will help the ministry of the church in evangelism A few

scholars deserve special mention for their pioneering role in the irruption of AIC studies and the

subsequent exposure of the significance of these churches for African Christianity and African

theology: Bengt Sundkler, who wrote one of the earliest in-depth studies of AICs,84 Christian

Baeta,85 David Barrett,86 Martinus Daneel,87 and Harold Turner.88 Following the work of these

-----------------------------------
Bengt G. M. Sundkler, M., Bantu Prophets in South Africa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1948); The Christian Ministry in
84

Africa (Liverpool: Charles Birchal, 1962); Zulu Zion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976).
85
C. G. BaJta, Prophetism in Ghana (London: SCM Press, 1962).
86
David B. Barrett, Schism and Renewal in Africa: An Analysis of Six Thousand Contemporary Religious Movements (Nairobi:

Oxford University Press, 1968); World Christian Encyclopedia. 87

M. L. Daneel, Old and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches (New York: Mouton Publishers, 1971); Quest for Belonging

(Gweru: Mambo Press, 1987).

88
H. W. Turner, History of an African Independent Church (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967).

scholars, a flood of theses and books on AICs has occurred.89 The basic proposal of many AIC

‘theologians’ is that the praxis of these churches must now be regarded not only as the best

illustration of African Christianity, but also as ‘enacted’, ‘oral’, or ‘narrative’ African theology—a

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type of theology which is no less valid than written African theologies, they would add. In this way

AICs are adding to and becoming a facet of African theology at one and the same time.

Furthermore, the numerical growth of these churches90 means that they have, in many parts of

Africa, become, the mainline churches. These churches, together with similar Christian movements

among other primal societies . . . may indeed be seen as the fifth major Christian church type, after

the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Reformation, and the

Pentecostal Churches.91 African theologies will no longer be able to ignore or dismiss the

theological significance of the AICs in African Christianity. However, these churches must neither

be romanticised nor studied in isolation from other African churches—including the so-called

‘mainline churches’. In the same way that an African theology based only on a reference to mainline

churches is inadequate, so too will any African theology based exclusively on African independent

churches. The tendency to regard AICs as the most authentic if not the only authentic African

churches has often created some unhealthy theological rivalry—notably between theologians rather

than African Christians—wherein AIC praxis is supposed to be more African

--------------------------------- 89

Cf. Tinyiko Sam Maluleke, “Theological Interest in African Independent Churches and Other Grass-Root Communities in South

Africa: A Review of Methodologies,” Journal of Black Theology in South Africa 10, no. 1 (May 1996): 18-48. 90

Cf. Barrett, World Christian Encyclopedia; Anderson and Otwang, Tumelo. 91

Bosch

in Daneel, Quest for Belonging, 9.

more grassroots-based, more local, and more genuine than so-called written African theologies. I

have found such distinctions and theological rivalries to be generally unreliable and artificial—at

least in the South African context.92 The issues are further complicated by the fact that, by and

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large, authoritative AIC scholars in this century have been overwhelmingly white (missionaries),

with Africans themselves taking a back seat. But African silence on AICs may be a loaded and

eloquent one, needing to be decoded and reflected upon. The white missionary domination of AIC

studies may be attributable to the fact that the emergence of AICs almost without exception was

initially viewed as a ‘problem’, ‘reflection’, or ‘failure’ of missionary work. In many colonial

African countries, AICs were supposed to either be political movements (Ethiopianism) or

ecclesiastical movements with a political agenda. The call for a distinction between African

Christianity on the one hand and literature on African Christianity on the other93 may help clarify

here. Reflection and research on AICs, however excellent and authoritative, must never be equated

with the actual praxis of AICs. Yet at the end of the day no serious African theology can ignore

either the studies mentioned or the African Christianities displayed in AICs—for research and

reality always mirror one another, albeit imperfectly.

----------------------------------------

92
Maluleke, “Theological Interest in African Independent Churches and Other Grass-Root Communities in South Africa,” 18-48. [B
93
Bediako, “Five Thesis on the Significance of Modern African Christianity,” 21; Christianity in Africa, 264. [Back to text]

6.3 The contributions of Akans and Ewes to the study of God

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 In order to discuss the contributions of Akans and Ewes to the study of God, I am going

to use extensively the thoughts of Jones Darkwa Amanor, Th.D.Academic Dean, International

Theological Seminary, Accra, Ghana, which he wrote on Pentecostalism in Ghana as an African

reformation. In all these Ewes and Akans have greatly contributed to Christianity; hence, the study

of God in Ghana.

The earliest contact between Ghana and Christian Missionaries was in the late 15th

century when Roman Catholic missionaries accompanied the earliest Portuguese traders to the Gold

Coast. A succession of missionary societies from Western Europe subsequently lived and worked to

impact life in the nation they christened the Gold Coast because of the abundance of the precious

mineral that was discovered.The impact of the combined missionary effort was to result in the

population of Ghana, which, by the 20th century, was largely “Christian”The extent to which the

population was truly Christianized has, however, come under some scrutiny since the discovery, by

the Ghana Evangelism Committee, that nominalism is the greatest problem of Christianity in Ghana.

  The western worldview, which informed the classification of African Traditional Religion,

by the missionaries, as heathen, pagan, primitive, unscientific and the superstitious beliefs of

uncultured people, is largely blamable.  In the early days of the introduction of Christianity to the

Gold Coast, to convert to the Christian faith meant a complete denigration of one’s past to accept a

God who was largely alien to the culture of the African past.

The result was that many natives who were attracted to Christianity became Christians only

in the mind but not in the heart.  When confronted with the need to find solutions to the existential

needs of life, they found their religion powerless to help. Missionaries working for the historic

Churches had occasion to lament on discovering the patronage of church members of anti-

witchcraft cult shrines, which rose in the depression of the 1900s.

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 The Culture of a people helps in the formation of a sense of individual and corporate

identity.Walls, has explained how in the West, where the missionaries came from, Christianity from

the beginning recognized the need both to build bridges between itself and the cultural milieu of the

people it sought to win; and the need to challenge aspects of that milieu that came under the

judgment of the gospel. He has explained further why Christianity needed both to make itself at

home and relevant to the cultural context, associating Christians with the particulars of their culture

and group.He has, however, shown, on the other hand, how in the non-western world evangelization

was aimed rather at transforming the life of the individual and the society in such a way that they

would feel out of step with their own society.This was a process that was fraught with tension,

according to Walls, and responsible for the largely nominal Christianity of the converts to the

missionary Churches.

The western missionaries failed to see in African religious thought and imagination any

spiritual content and any preparation for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and, in the end, presented a God

to the natives who were ‘alien.’ The inadequacy of this approach of suppressing traditional African

culture and religion was soon highlighted by nominalism in the historic Churches and later by

separatism that became the feature of Church life from the early 1900s.

The separatists were indigenous people who recognized and gave place to those elements of

African Traditional Religion which could serve as vehicles for the propagation of the Gospel. They

represented a desire for a church less alien, which takes the traditional background seriously”and a

desire for a sense of continuity with their past, implying that without such continuity there can be no

adequate sense of identity.They represented a revolt against materialism and shallow religiosity;

against cultural passivity and consumerism; and against a religion that is purely internal, inward

looking and oblivious to community.

According to Chatfield, however, the rise of the separatists cannot be accounted for purely

in terms of reaction to external factors. They were often motivated by a profound sense of call, often

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experienced in dreams or visions, and in this sense it could be argued that their activity was initiated

by God. The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, of which they served as the precursors, and

which were initially on the fringes of society, have now moved into the center, crossing into every

branch of the Church in Ghana. They have given a new face of Christianity to the country, which is

outwardly expressive, inwardly liberating, and which provides adequate identity of a faith that can

be truly Christian and truly African and which appropriately responds to the existential needs of the

African.   

Western European interest in the land they christened the “Gold Coast,” due to the

abundance of the precious mineral, was primarily trade. Trade in gold and later in human beings

became foremost in their minds and consumed their energies. The propagation of the Gospel, which

was one of the reasons for their journey to Africa, was for a long time neglected and showed little

success.The earliest attempt to make any impact in Gospel propagation was by some Portuguese

Roman Catholic monks in the 15th century. They are believed to have established a school at Elmina

in 1529. They had so little success that by the beginning of the 18 th century, there was hardly any

trace of Christianity in the Gold Coast. These attempts were later to be followed by the Church of

England Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG). Following at the heels of the SPG was

the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society. The Wesleyan Christian Mission followed and was also

followed by the Bremen Mission. The seeds that were sowed by these gallant men and women from

Europe are what have today produced demography of Ghana, which is predominantly Christian.

Towards the end of the 17th century, a movement known as Pietism (from Latin “pious”

meaning devout) began in Germany. Tracing its roots, Peter A. Schweizer points to a German

theologian by name Philipp Jakop Spener (1635-1705). According to Schweizer, Pietism took

inspiration from Spener’s book Pious Desires written in 1675. Spener was a reformer of the

reformed Lutheran congregation to which he belonged. He castigated the retained Episcopal

hierarchy of his Church and favored a greater involvement of the laity in Church government. This

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brought his movement closer to the mainstream Protestantism of Zwingli and Calvin, which

practiced a rigorous decentralization and democratization of Church government which had by this

time spread from Switzerland to France, to the Netherlands, Scotland and North America.

The Pietistic Movement opposed the cynical rationalism, the liberal pantheism and the

outright atheism of the Era of Enlightenment. To demonstrate the authenticity of the Christian faith

and the reality of their Christian experience, they aimed at expressing their Christian convictions

through positive deeds and exemplary life styles, including the spread of the Gospel to other

countries.The Pietists believed in the inherent goodness of all people regardless of race. They,

however, also believed that such inherent qualities did not surface by themselves but had to be

brought forth and harnessed through persistent educational efforts. Their hands were strengthened

by the American Constitution of 1776, which recognized the rights of humans, as well as the

egalitarian ideas of the French Revolution of 1789 (though the anti-Christ aspects of the revolution

were abhorred).

The Pietists, who at this time crossed the spectrum of Protestant denominations (Lutheran,

Anglican, Wesleyan, Calvinistic), were at odds with many aspects of the Church politics of their

time. They hit very hard against what they considered to be an unnecessary emphasis on dogmatism

and formalism in the Church when pressing needs of society such as slavery, poverty and social

injustices, in general, were left unattended to by the Church. They did their work with such zeal that

only an enormous faith in the fact of God’s call could sustain it. This belief explains their relentless

perseverance in pursuing missionary goals, despite so many setbacks.The freedom of slaves and the

reintegration of former slaves into societies of their origin bundled the spiritual energies of the

Pietists into an organizational network all over Europe and North America. This was helped by the

passing of the law against selling slaves (though keeping them was allowed) by the British

Parliament in 1807, and the formation of Bible reading clubs, as well as, the formation of

interdenominational missionary societies in Europe, all emphasizing the need for missionary work.

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 It is, therefore, the determination of the Pietists, other Protestant groups and Protestant

countries and, sporadically, Catholic countries, to do humanitarian work, especially, the spiritual

uplifting of indigenous populations in the non-western world, which motivated European

missionaries to leave the comfort of their countries to venture into unfamiliar lands of wild animals

and insects to live among unfamiliar people, sometime savage, to do missionary work. 

The fruits of Roman Catholicism which is seen in Ghana today is as a result of the seeds

sowed by the second Roman Catholic Church’s attempt at evangelization by two products of the

Society of Africa Missions (SMA), Father Eugene Morat and Augustus Morean who arrived in

Elmina in 1880. An earlier first attempt in the 15th century by chaplains who accompanied the

Portuguese explorers had very little to show in terms of natives evangelized for about four

centuries. The only signs of Roman Catholicism that survived the Portuguese era were a small

group of Efutus (tribe along the coast) and their chief, probably converted by Augustinian Fathers in

1572, and an unrecognizable stump of a statue of St. Anthony in Padua in Elmina.

  However, when the SMA arrived in the Gold Coast, the Protestant missionaries who

preceded them were already evangelizing around Accra, Akropong-Akwapim, Cape Coast, and Keta

(towns along the coast of Ghana and further inland), and making converts in the Gold Coast colony.

And since the SMA had come at the invitation of Sir James Marshall, (the then Governor of the

Gold Coast) who had himself converted to Roman Catholicism, it was allowed to freely work and

evangelize in the colony. In 1883, the Sisters of our Lady of Apostles Society also arrived in Elmina

to take care of the education of girls side by side the SMA. By 1901, the Church had spread from

Elmina to over forty townships. In addition, the church was running 17 schools with about 1700

boys and girls. In the same year, the Prefecture of Gold Coast was raised to a Vicariate with Father

Maximillan Albert as its first Bishop supervising 18 priests, 8 sisters and about 40 teachers from his

seat in Cape Coast. In

1906, the White Fathers entered the Northern Prefecture of Gold Coast from Ouagadougou (now

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Burkina Faso) to start missionary work in the northern part of the Gold Coast. Not long after their

arrival, they showed signs of success among the Dagartis of Jirapa, Nandom and other towns in the

north.The period immediately preceding the beginning of the First World War saw a slowing down

of missionary expansion of the Roman Catholic Church. That was because a number of her

missionaries were of German descent and were held in suspicion by the British Colonialists. After

40 years of missionary work, Bishop Ignace Hummel of the SMA, the third Vicar Apostolic of the

Gold Coast gave the following picture of the strength of the Catholic Church to the congregation for

the propagation of the faith in Rome: 35,000 baptized, 25000 catechumens, 10 parishes, 364 out

stations chapels, 22 priests, 301 chapels, 22 priests, 13 sisters and 85 schools with 4,734 boys and

girls on roll. In 1922 father Anastasius Odaye Dogli was ordained the first indigenous priests from

Gold Coast. John Kojo Amissah, on the eve of Ghana’s independence also became the first

indigenous priest to be elevated to the rank of a Bishop. After the

apparently unsuccessful attempt by the earliest Roman Catholic missionaries in gaining a foothold

in the colonies, the Moravian United Brethren Mission sent out two missionaries in what was to

become the first serious attempt at evangelizing the natives. In the 1730s, two Moravian

missionaries Chretein Protten and Henrich Huckuff arrived in the Gold Coast. Protten was actually

of both Dane and Ghanaian descent. Born in 1715 in Christianborg to a Dane father and a Ghanaian

mother, he was educated first in Christianborg castle and later in Denmark. Protten worked till his

death in 1769 but did not win many converts. In 1742,

another mulatto, Jocabus Elisa Johannes Capitein was sent by Moravians in Holland to Ghana. Born

to an Ivorian mother, he was sent as a young boy to Holland and educated at the University of

Leyden. He became the first African to be ordained into the Protestant priesthood since the

Reformation. In Ghana, he started two schools in Elmina

in 1742 for mulattos and one for black natives but both collapsed after his death in 1747.

Next to follow the Moravians to the Gold Coast was the Church of England Society for the

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Propagation of the Gospel. In 1754, the Society sent Rev. Thomson to Cape Coast. After five years

of hard work with little success, he returned home an invalid. What he is best remembered for,

nevertheless, was the sponsoring of three Cape Coast boys to be educated in Britain. Unfortunately,

two of them died in Britain, leaving Philip Quacoe the only survivor. He successfully completed his

education in Britain and returned a fully ordained priest of the Anglican Church to work in Cape

Coast in 1766. He also could not convert many natives in cape Coast where he worked till his death

in 1816. His main contribution, however, was the school he established and ran till his death. From

1828, the representative of the Colonial Administration revived the school and was continued by the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel till their activities ceased in Ghana in 1904.

The lack of success of earlier missionaries in the Gold Coast was evidenced by the fact that

by the beginning of the 19th century, very little headway had been made in the evangelization of

natives. It was only from 1828 onwards when the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society sent out a

team of four missionaries to Christianborg in Accra that Christianity and western education could be

said to have begun in southern Ghana. The Basel Evangelical Missionary Society was invited by the

Danish Government to Christianborg to help meet the educational and spiritual needs of the mixture

of mulatto and white population that was growing in Christianborg. The interest of the Basel

missionaries, however, seemed to be in the indigenous population rather than on the issues of

European soldiers’ promiscuity. A compromise on the two interests, nevertheless, became a

necessary condition for permission by the Danish authority for inland work.

In 1828, four missionaries arrived in Christianborg from the Basel Missionary Society in

Basel, Switzerland. They were Karl F. Salbad, Gotlieb Holzwarth and Johannes Henke all German

and Johannes Schmidt a Swiss. The slowness of communication in the 19th century delayed the relay

of the information concerning their early deaths so much so that before news of the death of the last

one reached the headquarters of the Mission Board, a decision had been made to send

reinforcement.

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 In 1832, three others arrived in the Gold Coast. They were Andreas Riss and Peter Jager

from Denmark and Christian Friedrich Heinze, a medical doctor from Saxony. Dr. Jeinze was to

study the greatest risk to survival of western missionaries – tropical diseases – and make

recommendations for preventive measures. Incidentally, he was the first of his team to die, leaving

the two Danes. Not too long after that, Riss became a lone Basel missionary when he buried Jager

after his death through illness. He himself nearly followed if a native herbalist who saw him in his

initial convulsions had not saved him. Undaunted Riss penetrated inland and built the Basel

Mission’s first inland station in the Gold Coast at Akropong, the capital of the Akwapim State. By

dint of Riss’ hard work, in Akropong, it soon grew to become the nerve center of the Basel Mission

in Ghana.With the help of freed slaves from Jamaica who were brought in on the advice of Riss, the

Basel Missionary work began expanding to nearby towns such as Aburi and in eight years positive

signs of growth had begun appearing. At this time, about forty native Christians, besides the West

Indians were gathering for service both at Akropong and at Aburi. From the 1850s, considerable

progress was achieved in the spread of the Christian faith far inland to Kwahu, Akim and Asante to

the extent that in 1869 the total membership of the Basel Mission was 1,851 from 8 mission districts

and 24 congregations.

This great achievement was through the additional effort of later missionaries like Ramseyer

and his wife and a host of native who were trained and ordained catechists and priests of the Basel

Mission. Chief among these were Mohenu, a former fetish priest, Boakye, Reindorf (a mulatto and a

historian), Ablo, Quist, P. Hall, Koranteng and Date, In 1917, after the 1 st World War, Britain’s,

suspicious of the Basel Missionaries resulted in the replacement of the Basel missionaries by

Scottish ones. This became significant in setting the stage for the missionary work began by the

Basel Mission to become the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast

Another Missionary Society, which worked in close collaboration with the Basel

Evangelical Missionary Society, was the Bremen Mission (Northern German Lutheran Mission.)

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From 1847 onwards, Bremen missionaries settled and worked among the Ewes at the eastern side of

the Gold Coast, an area, which covered what was later to be, designated “Dutch Togoland.” Out of

the Bremen Mission emerged the present day Evangelical Presbyterian Church. This has lately been

split into “The Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana” and “The Evangelical Presbyterian

Church, Ghana.”Recently the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana has again split into two

and one bear the former name and the other faction is now called Global Evangelical mission.

The introduction of Methodism was the second most serious attempt at evangelizing the

natives of Gold Coast, the first one being the efforts of the Basel Evangelical Society. The Roman

Catholic had made an unsuccessful attempt earlier while the Bremen effort began sometime after

the Methodists had began work in earnest.

Before the Wesleyan Missionary society sent the first mission to the Gold Coast, what was

later to become the Methodist Church of Ghana had began as a Bible Band called the “Society for

the promoting of Christian knowledge” by two natives, Joseph Smith and William de Graft at Cape

Coast. The first missionary sent by Wesleyan Missionary Society in London to the Gold Coast was

Joseph Dunwell. He arrived in the Gold Coast in 1835 and died the same year after some

tremendous work. Joseph Smith and William de Graft continued the work until two more

missionary couples arrived. They also died shortly after their arrival but did work hard while they

lasted. The successor, Thomas Birth Freeman, who was a mulatto, was the person who pushed

Wesleyan missionary work from Cape coast and its surroundings far inland, reaching as far as to

Asante. No wander he is referred to as the father of Methodism in Ghana. The death of his wife only

6 months did not deter him. His warm heart for Africans caused him to push for the expansion of

the Church in Ghana. In 1838, a chapel was built in Cape Coast and within two years, there had

been additional hundred members.Through one of the graduates of the Cape Coast castle schools by

name James Hayford, Methodism reached the Asante State. After graduation, he worked for the

British Administration in Kumasi. He first began by holding services with the Fantes in Kumase.

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Freeman used this contact to open a mission station for the whole of the Asante State. Political

antagonism between the British and the Asantes caused a suspension of activities in 1872, which

was later, resumed. By 1900, the mission in Kumasi had become fully established and enlarged with

a European missionary station there.By 1919, Methodist congregations were found in most towns in

the south as well as in the north towards Asante and Brong States. With much difficulty due to

opposition from the Chief Commissioner, Wesleyan expansion began in 1919 and reached parts of

northern Ghana. Conversion to the Methodist church was given a great boost by the evangelistic

preaching of two African Evangelists, William Harris who preached along the coast from Liberia

through Ivory Coast to Ghana, and Samson Oppong who also preached in Asante and Brong.

Though the propagation of the Gospel and the promotion of Christianity through the

introduction of western education were the foremost reason for the arrival of European Missionaries

to the shores of the Gold Coast, their activities brought improvement of general life of the natives in

the country.This desire to help bring about improvements in general living conditions among

natives was borne out of the desire to compensate Africa for the raping of the African continent of

its natural and human resources. An awakening began and spread through Europe and North

America in the century whose objective was the emancipation and re-integration of former slaves. It

was deemed logical that freed slaves be settled on the continent of their origin. Naturally,

Protestants who had raised questions about the morality of slavery in Europe and North America

lent the greatest support to this endeavor.This Protestant support was very crucial because powers

that had already established themselves on the continent pursued essentially commercial interests. A

thriving trade, which involved battering guns and schnapps against gold and slaves, boomed

between European merchants in league with home governments and natives.The many Missionary

Societies which established missions in the Gold Coast saw to the promotion of not only

Christianity through western education but also agriculture, trade, linguistic studies, architecture

and general improved standards of living.

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 Though some sections of theological scholarship in Ghana attempt to group Pentecostalism

in Ghana with general Protestantism as being Western missionary initiated, the records, as have

recently been set straight by Larbi, indicate that Pentecostalism in Ghana had an indigenous origin.

It is, however, true that though some of the missionary mainline church were suspicious of the

Pentecostal stirrings in some of their members, some of the missionary Churches were greatly

helped in their growth by the young Pentecostal movement.This is borne out by the experience and

contribution of Sampson Oppong, one of the Pentecostal pioneers in Ghana as has been captured by

Kimble:The Basel Mission regarded Oppong as a fetish priest and would not let him preach in their

Churches. But the Methodists were less inclined to distrust an emotional revival, and were able to

make use of the movement as a basis for more enduring evangelical work. The effects in Ashanti

were so marked that the District Synod changed their plans, so that in 1924, their Wesleyan Training

College was opened in Kumasi instead of in the colony, with financial support from Fanti

Methodists.

A phenomenon, which has been referred to as Prophetism which led to the formation of

Churches variously designated as African Initiated Churches, African Independent Churches,

African Indigenous Churches, African Instituted Churches, all of them with the same acronym

(AICs), is an important landmark in the history of Christianity in Africa generally and in Ghana

particularly. Long before classical Pentecostalism (either indigenous or in collaboration with

Western missionaries associated with Missions with links to Azusa Street) became formalized in

Ghana, Pentecostal stirrings in some leading Prophetesses and Prophets had brought renewal to

some parts of the country. Scholars are not in agreement as to the factors, which gave rise to this

phenomenon in Africa in general and Ghana in particular. While some attribute it to nationalistic

feelings of self-expression and independence from Western missionaries which were ripe at a time

when Africa thought she should be allowed by the Colonialists to manage her own affairs, others

attribute it to the failure of orthodoxy in the historic Churches to recognize those elements of

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African Traditional Religion and culture which gave true identity to African Christians as well as

the failure to test the spirits of gifted members of their flock and to utilize these gifts for the benefit

of their Churches.

The AICs have been phenomenal on the African Christian terrain. They seem to adequately

fit the description of Anderson as the African Reformation. Ogbu Kalu, an eminent African

theological scholar, has identified a three-tier African response to the evangelization of the continent

by Western Missionary Societies since the 19 th century in agreement with Ojo. According to them,

the first response dubbed Ethiopianism was the African elite’s protest against white domination in

power and culture over the Church, which led to breakaways, which resulted in the founding of

African Churches. According to

Annorbah-Sarpei, between 1900 and 1950, southern Ghana witnessed strong and widespread

prophetic and spiritual movement activities. The reasons for this development have been variously

given as: an answer to the problem of anti-witchcraft cults (such as Tigare). This had become

unpopular because of syncretism, and thus suppressed at the time, as an element in African

nationalism against ethnic and cultural domination by the superiority-minded European. In another

form it has become a weakness of orthodoxy in the historic missionary Churches in remaining

foreign in liturgy and in not meeting the African’s need of a more holistic salvation 

Emphasizing the widespread influence and the catalytic role, the anti-witchcraft cults played in the

rise of Prophetism in the country. Larbi quotes in his book Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian

Christianity (2000, Accra: Blessed Publications) an observation by Smith:

It is difficult to estimate the importance of these cults in the total religious life of the people:

they are active in many parts of Ghana and from time to time a particular one has gained

sudden fame in a specific area or, as in the case of Tigare, over the entire country. Their rise

has coincided with the decline in influence of the national and traditional abosom shrines

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 and with the rapid development of the country on western European lines. Pastors’ reports

from 1922 to the present day mention the falling-away of Presbyterian Church members to

take the medicine of one or other of them. In the nineteen forties the number of Christians

lapsing to Tigare caused all the Mission Churches deep concern. Nkwantanan in Kwahu, the

headquarters of the chief Tigare priest, became a place of pilgrimage attracting devotees,

so-called pagans, literates and illiterates, Christians and Moslems, in thousands; special

lories were hired for the last part of the journey up the scarp from Nkawkaw railway station.

I recall a week-end at Abetifi in January 1944 when I noted a stream of over two thousand

‘pilgrims’ in one afternoon. 

Of the numerous prophets and prophetesses who pioneered and maintained AICs (also known as

Spiritual Churches or Prophet-Healing Churches) in Ghana, three prominently stand out as the

forebears of Pentecostalism in Ghana. They are Prophets William Wade Harris, John Swatson and

Sampson Oppong. 

  The term “Pentecostal” actually defy any easy definition and categorization. This is because

there are all shades of Christian groupings, which may answer to it. In Ghana, all these shades are

lumped together and usually referred to as Sunsum Nsore i.e. “Spiritual Churches,” a term which

rather more accurately describes AICs. In earlier years, anyone who believed in the possibility of

the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in the New Testament as being available to believers today was

considered a Pentecostal. Pentecostals were those who believed that the “Bible Pattern” of baptism

in the Spirit was an experience subsequent to salvation and evidenced by the ability to speak in

tongues and manifest the other gifts of the Holy Spirit as enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12. In

addition, was the compelling sense of God’s presence in their liturgy, worship and personal lives,

and an urgency to reach the lost of this world for Christ. Contrasting the Pentecostal Churches with

the AICs, scholars have described the latter as having the tendency to veer more towards syncretism

and occultism than their classical Pentecostal counterparts who are “more orthodox in belief and
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base their discipline and practice on Biblical standards.” Classical Pentecostals are, therefore,

Evangelicals by many standards but in the initial stages of their existence were “ostracized” by the

larger Evangelical community for their “unorthodox” Pentecostal beliefs and practices.

This disharmony was later to be healed when

members of the mainline Churches began to experience gifts of the Holy Spirit but turned inwards

to work for renewal in their own Churches instead of outwards to join the Pentecostal Churches.

This is what brought into being the Charismatic Movement, which though “Pentecostal” in terms of

the experience of Spirit baptism, was nonetheless, different due to the linking of “the flow of the

Spirit in the life of the believer with an actualization of what was recipient in him from earlier

sacramental moments, such as baptism and confirmation.” 

In Ghana, the classical Pentecostals are those who

belong to Churches, which are members of the Ghana Pentecostal Council (GPC). This statement is

quite confusing because there are Churches, which could better be classified as Charismatic

Churches, which are, nonetheless, members of the GPC. These Churches include Christian Action

Faith Ministry, Word Miracle Church and Royal House Chapel just to mention a few.Before the

National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC) was formed recently,

Protestant Churches either belonged to the Christian Council of Ghana or the Ghana Pentecostal

Council (GPC). There is also the Association of Spiritual Churches (ASC), which is the umbrella

body bringing together all the AICs in Ghana.The GPC grew out of the larger Ghana Evangelical

Fellowship (GEF), which was a fellowship of Evangelical Churches in the country. GEF was

founded in March 1969 to provide fellowship for the member Churches and also to link them to the

Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar (AEAM). Its maiden meeting was held at the

Evangel Assemblies of God Church, Adabraka. The idea for its formation originated from Rev.

James McKeown, the missionary from Britain who was the then Chairman of the church of

Pentecost. Widening theological differences among the members of the GEF eventually caused the

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withdrawal of the non-Pentecostal members from the fellowship, leaving only the Pentecostal

Churches. As a result, the name was changed to Ghana Pentecostal Fellowship (GPF) in 1977 and in

1981, at the annual delegates conference at the Apostolic Reformed Church, which had joined it in

1978, the name for the second time, was changed to the GPC.The founding member Churches were:

Assemblies of God church, The Church of Pentecost, Elim Pentecostal Church, the Christ Apostolic

Church, and the Apostolic Church. By the silver jubilee in 1994, the membership had increased to

57 denominations and Churches, and by 1999 it had further increased to 150 with many more in the

queue waiting to be admitted.

The governing body of the GPC is the National Executive Council, which consists of Heads

of member Churches and their General Secretaries. Out of this membership, a steering Committee

of a President, Vice President, General Secretary, National Treasurer and three other members are

elected to be the implementing agency of the decisions of the National Executive.

The Presidency and the Vice Presidency are open only to the members of the Executive

Council from the founding member Churches. The position of the General Secretary is, however,

open to all members. The rest must be heads of Churches who have served as ministers for more

than ten years. This initially made it very difficult for the relatively young Charismatic members to

provide leaders for the GPC and is probably, the most important factor, which has not made the

GPC attractive to most of them.There are regional, district and local branches of the GPC. At each

of these levels, the same pattern of electing members for the Executive Council is followed. These

then become responsible for the organization of the GPC at that level.The Ghana Pentecostal

Council has collaborated with the Christian Council of Ghana and the Catholic Bishop’s Conference

to provide a Prophetic voice to the nation on many occasions. Joint consultations have been planned

to provide the Church’s viewpoint on some important national issues. It has provided two members

for the Council of state (an advisory body to the Executive) for the nation. In 1994 the then

chairman, Rev. M. K. Yeboah of the Church of Pentecost was appointed to serve on the Council. In

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1997, his successor, Rev. S. B. Asore of the Assemblies of God Church also served on the same

council.

Peter Anim and his Faith Tabernacle Church are credited with the origins of Classical

Pentecostalism in Ghana. Born on February 4, 1890, Anim was educated in Presbyterian schools

and worked for a while for the Basel Mission Factory as a weighing clerk.  Ill health made his

continued stay at the factory impossible, necessitating his movements and eventual return to his

hometown Boso in 1916, where he married and had four daughters. An interest in a Christian

periodical, The Sword of the Spirit, led him to fraternize, through correspondence, with its editor,

Pastor A. Clark, founder of the Faith Tabernacle Church, Philadelphia. Though non-Pentecostal,

Faith Tabernacle placed much emphasis on faith healing and holiness, themes his Presbyterian

upbringing had not exposed him to. He embraced these teachings and tested their efficacy by

obtaining healing for himself from a chronic stomach disorder and guinea worm infestation

miraculously through prayer. In 1921, Anim withdrew his membership from the Presbyterian

Church and began a healing ministry at Asamankese, which was later to be called Faith Tabernacle.

In 1923, Anim was sent an ordination certificate by Clark indicating his qualification to pastor a

Church.The Faith Tabernacle Church was very conservative, stressing personal holiness and

separation for the world and its systems in preparation of the imminent return of Christ because of

which there should be no preoccupation in the acquisition of property. Because it was also non-

Pentecostal and in fact anti-Pentecostal, speaking in tongues and emotional worship were

considered satanic by the Faith Tabernacle Church. Faith healing was, however believed and

practice to it extreme of non-administration of medicine on contracting a disease.

The first building of the Faith tabernacle was put up on a plot of land, which was

donated by the chief of Asamankese, who was attracted by the healing and evangelistic campaigns

of Anim and his group. It was on the top of this building that the reported “Pillar of Fire” was

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sighted by both believers and unbelievers alike during one revival meeting. This increased Anim’s

faith greatly an in no time, branches of his group had been established in many towns in the

southern part of the Gold Coast and even across the country in Togoland. While this expansion was

going on, another periodical, this time Pentecostal, The Apostolic Faith, published by the Apostolic

Faith Evangelistic Organization, of Portland Oregon, USA was deepening Anim’s desire for greater

spiritual experiences. The teaching on the Holy Spirit was that which caught his attention the most.

This interest in the Apostolic Faith teaching on the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues did not go

down well with some of his pastors. Undaunted by this, nevertheless, Anim continued to study from

the Apostolic Faith and eventually resigned from the Faith Tabernacle in 1930 and adopted the

name Apostolic Faith for his group.   Spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues, which

they referred to as “Holy Spirit Outpourings” became widespread among the membership and gave

the group both popularity and notoriety, since many Christians, including his Faith Tabernacle

pastors, thought it was in error. Some of the rank and file of the Faith Tabernacle Church, however,

sought for this experience after Anim’s. One Kwadwo Duku of Atonsu Faith Tabernacle Church is

reported to have walked to Asamankese (a distance of 160 miles) to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. 

On his return, other members who were inspired by him also walked to Asamankese to get baptized

in the Holy Spirit.

  In 1931, there was a new turn of Anim’s ministry. Through a fellow Faith Tabernacle pastor,

David O. Odubanjo of Nigeria, Anim got into contact with missionaries of the Apostolic Church of

Bradford, UK. Through an understanding between the two parties, Pastor George Perfect (Apostle)

visited Asamankese. His ministry made such an impression on Anim and his Church that before he

returned after two weeks stay, the decision to become affiliated with the UK Apostolic Church had

been taken by Anim and his Church. Anim then requested Bradford to send a resident missionary to

Ghana to assist in the work. In 1937, James McKeown, was dispatched as the first Pentecostal

missionary from UK to Asamankese. He was, later in May of the same year, to be joined by his wife

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Sophia. McKeown’s diligence attracted the admiration of all. He fully participated in the

construction of the mission house, which was to house him. However, his contraction of malaria

began a battle between him and Anim’s followers, which eventually ended in their separation. The

trekking District Commissioner, seeing the seriousness of his condition, sent him to the nearest

European Hospital, the Kibi District hospital for treatment, an action, which was considered

theologically incorrect for Anim’s followers. McKeown responded

very well to treatment and on his discharge, after eleven days of hospitalization, returned

immediately to Asamankese to continue his work. However, he face hostility because the Church

felt betrayed by their missionary who “had gone against their teaching to receive medical treatment.

McKeown requested a transfer to a new station. Without the approval of the executive, he,

nevertheless, moved to Winneba, a town along the coast. After he settled in Winneba, he requested a

leave of absence and returned to the UK.The Apostolic Church, UK did their best to request

cooperation with the missionary without much success since their stand on “no medication” was to

them non-negotiable. McKeown returned from the UK and at a meeting with Anim at Winneba,

threatened Anim and his group with expulsion from the Apostolic Church if they did not modify

their uncompromising stand on prayer alone for healing. Unwilling to “compromise,” Anim and his

group seceded from the Apostolic Church and instead prefixed “Christ” to their original name and

adopted the name Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) at a meeting in 1939.  However, McKeown

continued to use the name Apostolic Church of the Gold Coast for his group, which was

headquartered in Winneba. Anim’s CAC began to organize to establish herself as a Classical

Pentecostal denomination in Ghana. Formulation of her theology and doctrines took time to

formalize as changes in position on matters of theology and doctrine shifted more than a few times

as more light shined on their understanding. Though Anim was the principal formulator of these

doctrines, Larbi indicates that he did this with the approval of his executive.

Initially, McKeown’s Church benefited from Anim’s groups (the earlier Faith Tabernacle

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and the latter Christ Apostolic Church).[lxvii] His earliest trusted assistants and many of the early

members of his Church were all past members of Anim’s Church. These members found the “no

medication” teaching of Anim difficult to keep. And since McKeown taught everything Anim taught

but did not consider medication devilish, inviting discipline, they joined McKeown in droves.  An

invitation by the Twelve Apostles’ Church led by John Nackabah also helped to boost his popularity

and the growth of his Church. His visit to Kajebir in the Western Region where they were based was

to them a fulfillment of a prophecy by Prophet Harris and a vision of John Nackabah that a slender

and a tall white gentleman would come to teach them the Bible. Though McKeown was not pleased

with the cultic worship of the Twelve Apostles’ Church, he nevertheless associated with them for a

while and through that got many to be converted and baptized. Many of these were later to join his

growing Church. 

  The Apostolics at Bradford were very rigid and maintained a centralized Church polity.

They kept themselves to themselves and did not open up to anyone from without their fold. Through

James McKeown’s brother Adam McKeown who had been sent to Canada as a missionary after

serving with his brother in Ghana for two and a half years, James and the Church in Ghana came

into contact with Dr. Wyatt, an American revivalist from Portland Oregon and the Latter Rain

Pentecostal group which he led.The Latter Rain emphasized the unity of the body of Christ and

operated contrary to the rigid centralized manner of the Apostolics. As a result the contact of the

Apostolic Church of the Gold Coast with the Latter Rain, which though was a source of great

encouragement, inspiration and joy to the Africans, incurred the displeasure of the Bradfords.  At

the next Quadrennial Council meeting in 1953 in Bradford, amendments to the constitution, which

were distasteful to James McKeown against which he voted, eventually caused his dismissal from

the Apostolic Church.These particular amendments created separate apostles for whites and blacks,

so that a black apostle could not exercise authority over a white person, and made it impossible for

anyone or group outside the Apostolics to be given any platform anywhere. James McKeown

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thought these were unscriptural and therefore could not out a pure conscience affirm it. He was

asked to hand in his ordination certificate and leave. No Apostolic platform in the world was to

open to him again.  The Africans back in the Gold Coast were adamant. They wanted James

McKeown back as their superintendent but they knew this would not be possible if they remained

under the UK Apostolic Church. A unanimous decision to severe relations with the Apostolic

Church, UK was, therefore, taken. There was now and independent African Church led by

McKeown known as The Gold Coast Apostolic Church and the Bradford Apostolic Church who

fought hard to maintain their hold on the UK-affiliated Apostolic Church.

Some members decided to remain with the Bradfords and, through litigation in the courts,

managed to hold on to property that belonged to the Church. An attempt to decentralize its

administration also resulted in the defections. Some of which resulted in the founding of the Divine

Healers Church and the Apostolic Reformed Church, which exist till today. Many, however,

remained with McKeown and in no time the Church had become an influential Pentecostal Church

in the country.Further litigations over property and name which attracted the intervention of the then

President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to decree that McKeown be left alone to head the Church

and be allowed to live in the country. He also decreed that the name be changed to avoid confusion

with the name of the Bradfords. From August 1962, therefore, the name of The Gold Coast

Apostolic Church headed by James McKeown became known as The Church of Pentecost.

  Other missionaries were sent from the UK and North America from time to time to assist

James in the work in the Gold Coast. These missionaries who worked for relatively shorter periods

made some contribution to the growth of the Church of Pentecost. They included Adam McKeown,

James brother who lived for two and a half years and helped to open many branches of the Church

in the western and eastern regions. Another one sent by the UK Apostolic Church was Stanley

Hammond whose good work in the Witness Movement helped in the expansion of the Church.Other

missionaries who joined James were G. L. W. Ladlow and his wife from the Elim Pentecostal

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Church of UK, Charles Berridge and Millford Grisham from the Latter Rain Movement of USA.

Sydney Scholes, Henri Archim and Stephen Westfall were also missionaries from USA who lived in

the Gold Coast for varied periods to contribute to the development of the church. One of

McKeown’s greatest strengths was his vision of training Africans to be in charge of the affairs of the

indigenous African Church he had in mind. As a result he trained many local evangelists and pastors

who became his trusted assistants though a few became treacherous and led some breakaways. 

These included such loyal men as S. R. Asomaning from Akroso, R. O. Hayford who was ordained

an evangelist and D. K. Boateng as well as E. K. Okanta. Rev F. S. Safo who took over the

chairmanship after McKeown’s retirment, Prophet M. K. Yeboah who was the next successor and R

Egyir-Painstil who was the first General Secretary of the Church were among those who were

trained by James.  Thus McKeown’s Apostolic Church of the Gold Coast, which was later to

become The Church of Pentecost moved from the fringes of Christianity in the country to become a

dominant evangelical denomination in Ghana. The educated elite and the “polished” in society who

considered it degrading to be associated with the Church initially shunned her. The assemblies were

made up initially of the low in society meeting in makeshift worshipping places.

 Forced to have a vision of an indigenous self-supporting, Spirit-filled and disciplined Church, due

in part to the infrequent flow of financial support from his Bradford Apostolics (unlike the other

missionaries in those days), but mainly due to his own convictions of what the African Church

should be like, he labored with his wife Sophia in evangelism to build the Church of Pentecost

which is today the fastest growing in Ghana and, probably in the whole of the West African sub-

region.

The Assemblies of God from the USA arrived in the country in 1931 ahead of the UK

Apostolics. It has been suggested by many that it was the first Pentecostal Church in Ghana. If this

is meant the first missionary sponsored Classical Pentecostal Church, then it is not far from the

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truth. Otherwise, it is not a very accurate suggestion.I have already indicated the indigenous

character of early Pentecostalism in Ghana. Long before and Assemblies of God missionaries

arrived in the country, Prophet Wade Harris had led a Pentecostal revival which had had a large

following. Incidentally, for lack of proper biblical instruction, many of the offshoots tended to be

syncretistic and cultic. The missionaries who arrived later only came to water the seeds of

Pentecostalism, which had previously been planted by Harris and his disciples.

The assemblies of God are believed to have entered the country across the northern frontier

from French-speaking Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). Her mission work thus began in the

northern part of Ghana from where it expanded to the south. The Assemblies of God, therefore, up

till today has a very large following in the northern part of Ghana and people from northern descent

in the south. Its longest serving Ghanaian Chairman, Rev. Dr. Simon Asore is of northern descent.

Being a missionary-sponsored mission, the Assemblies of God depended very heavily on financial

and other assistance from America. In all, about 99 missionaries were sent to work in various

capacities in the Assemblies of God, Ghana between 1931-1970 These included typists, cooks,

building contractors, teachers, medical personnel and Church Planters. These mainly white

Americans had a difficulty overcoming in-bred color prejudices, and as a result, had a relatively less

impact on the natives than McKeown had. The boost in the membership began to occur only after

the Church gained independence in 1970 and became less dependent on America.

In their Church planting efforts, therefore, the Assemblies of God missionaries cannot be

said to have succeeded very greatly, against the backdrop of the explosive Church growth the

various Apostolic Churches in the Gold Coast experience. However, in the provision of social

services such as medical care and education (especially theological education and literature

development), they performed very creditably. The mission is credited with the development of a

vernacular literature and the translation of the Dagomba version of the New Testament and the

establishment of three Bible Institutes. 

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The Assemblies of God is, nevertheless, one of the most prominent Classical Pentecostal Churches

in the country. It was a founding member of the Ghana Pentecostal Council and its current chairman

has served for two consecutive terms of 5 years each as the President of the Ghana Pentecostal

Council.From all these, one must understand that Akans and Ewes played a very major role in

contributing to the study of God in Ghana. Without their contributions by cooperation with western

missionaries, nothing good would have come out today in the propagation of the gospel of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

6.5 The explanations of Traditional theologians on the concept of God: Is it truth or lies?

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 I am going to close this section with the encounter of Christian Faith and African Religion

by John Mbiti94, This is also an attempt to explain if Traditional theologians on the concept of God

is truth or lies?

The editor of The Christian Century has given John Mbiti an undeserved privilege by asking

him to contribute some reflections on "How His Mind Has Changed" in the course of the past

decade. John Mbiti applied "change of mind" here to mean theological growth, and not necessarily a

rejection of or turnaround from ideas that he may have held ten years ago. Indeed, ten years ago he

had no significant theological position. He was like a snail shyly peeping out of its house after a

heavy thunderstorm.

John Mbiti completed his doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge in 1963, the year

that Honest to God, by J.A.T. Robinson, came out. That book was followed by a flurry of literature

on the so-called "death of God" theology (if "theology" it was, for he would call it "atheology").

Following a period of parish work in England, he went to teach at Makerere University, Uganda,

where he remained for ten years until 1974. One read Honest to God and a variety of other works in

an effort to understand the hot debate then raging in Europe and America. Some people tried to

involve Africa in the debate. But to the disappointment of those theological exporters, this fish was

not attracted by the bait. A prominent European New Testament professor visited Makerere

University and interviewed John Mbiti on what he thought about the "death of God" discussion.

--------------------------------------
94
Dr. Mbiti is on the staff of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland. This article appeared in the Christian Century, August

27- September 3, 1980, pp. 817-820. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. Current articles and

subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and

Winnie Brock.

He simply and honestly answered him that "for us in Africa, God is not dead." That finished the

interview. On returning home, the learned professor wrote an article using John’s brief answer as his

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title.At Makerere University Dr. Mbiti taught New Testament, African religion and other courses.

Since he had never heard any lectures on African religion, he set out to do research on the subject in

order to teach the course adequately. The first and most intriguing topic that immediately engaged

his attention was the thinking of African peoples about God. So he read on and on, and conducted

field research to learn more and more. His findings were used in teaching, but eventually he put

them together in a book, Concepts of God in Africa, published by the British publisher SPCK

(1970). The book comprised ideas that he had gathered from 300 African peoples ("tribes" -- a term

that today is sometimes used in derogatory ways). The previous year he had published African

Religions and Philosophy (Doubleday, 1969).

Some individuals have criticized these books -- and no book is perfect. But whatever the

shortcomings of these and his other publications, the materials that went into these two have raised

extremely important issues for him that have continued to engage his reflection. At many points

John see intriguing parallels between the biblical record and African religiosity. In particular, the

concepts about God provide one area of great commonality. There are also other parallels in social,

political and cultural areas, just as there are some significant differences. In one case the thinking

and experience of the people produced a written record of God’s dealings with the Jewish people in

particular. In the other case no such written record exists. But God’s dealings with the African

people are recorded, nevertheless, in living form -- oral communication, rituals, symbols,

ceremonies, community faith. "For us in Africa, God is not dead" -- and that applies whether or not

there is a written record of his relations with and concern for people.

Dr. Mbiti said that since the Bible tells him about God who is the Creator of all things; His

activities in the world must clearly go beyond what is recorded in the Bible. He must have been

active among African peoples as He was among the Jewish people. John asked, did God reveal

Himself only in the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel and other personalities of the

Bible? Didn’t our Lord let it be clearly known that "before Abraham was I am" (John 8:58)? Then

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was he not there in other times and in such places as Mount Fuji and Mount Kenya, as well as

Mount Sinai? The decisive word here is "only." The more I peeped into African religious insights

according to Mbiti about God, the more he felt utterly unable to use the word "only" in this case. In

its place there emerged the word "also." This was an extremely liberating word in John’s theological

thinking. With it, one began to explore afresh the realm of God’s revelation and other treasures of

our faith. John find the traditional Western distinction between "special revelation" and "general

revelation" to be inadequate and unfreeing. This is not a biblical distinction. If they are two

wavelengths, they make sense only when they move toward a convergence. When this happens,

then a passage such as Hebrews 1:1-3 rolls down like mighty waters, full of exciting possibilities of

theological reflection.

The God described in the Bible is none other than the God who is already known in the

framework of our traditional African religiosity. The missionaries who introduced the gospel to

Africa in the past 200 years did not bring God to our continent. Instead, God brought them. They

proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. But they used the names of the God who was and is already

known by African peoples -- such as Mungu, Mulungu, Katonda, Ngai, Olodumare, Asis, Ruwa,

Ruhanga, Jok, Modimo, Unkulunkulu and thousands more. These were not empty names. They

were names of one and the same God, the creator of the world, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One African theologian, Gabriel Setiloane, has even argued that the concept of God which the

missionaries presented to the Sotho-Tswana peoples was a devaluation of the traditional currency of

Modimo (God) among the Sotho-Tswana. No doubt there still remain much research and reflection

to be done in order to work out a consistent theological understanding of the issues entailed here.

But the basic truth seems to be that God’s revelation is not confined to the biblical record. One

important task, then, is to see the nature, the method and the implications of God’s revelation among

African peoples, in the light of the biblical record of the same revelation.

Revelation is given not in a vacuum but within particular historical experiences and

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reflections. When we identify the God of the Bible as the same God who is known through African

religion (whatever its limitations), we must also take it that God has had a historical relationship

with African peoples. God is not insensitive to the history of peoples other than Israel. Their history

has a theological meaning. Dr. Mbiti’s interpretation of Israel’s history demands a new look at the

history of African peoples, among whom this same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has indeed

been at work. In this case, so-called "salvation history" must widen its outreach in order to embrace

the horizons of other peoples’ histories. Although Dr. Mbiti is not a historian, and has not done

careful thinking in this direction, he feels that the issue of looking at African history in light of the

biblical understanding of history is clearly called for. His research into and teaching of African

religion has led to another important area of development. In Kenya where he grew up in home,

school and church, it was held that the African religious and cultural background was demonic and

anti-Christian. In this overpowering environment, one simply accepted this stand and looked at the

world from its perspectives. Later, his theological studies in America and England did not challenge

this position, since that was not a living issue for his professors and fellow students. But upon his

return to work in Africa, and upon careful study of the religious background of his people, there

emerged gradually the demand to examine this issue and to form his own judgment.

The statistical expansion of the Christian faith in Africa in this century is one of the

considerations that led Dr. Mbiti back to the issue of its relation with African religion. In 1900 there

were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of Africa).

This number has since grown rapidly, to the point that in 1980 there are estimated to be 200 million

Christians (or about 45 per cent of the population). This massive expansion within a short time is

unprecedented in the history of Christianity. What factors are responsible for it?

We can list some obvious and often publicized factors. They include the work of missionaries (of

whom there are about 40,000 today, without counting their family members); the work of African

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Christians in evangelism and pastoral care (their numbers are infinitely greater than those of

overseas missionaries, and include men, women and children, both lay and ordained); the role of

Christian schools; the translation and distribution of the Bible (which is now available in full or in

part in nearly 600 of Africa’s 1,000 languages); and the ending of the colonial era during the

decades 1960-1980. But Mbiti have discovered that there is also the fundamental factor of African

religion, without which this phenomenal expansion of Christianity would not be a reality. Of course,

behind all these factors is the Holy Spirit working through them.

There is not space here to argue the case for the role played by African religion in the

establishment of the Christian faith in Africa. We have already noted that the overseas missionaries

did not bring God to Africa. God was not a stranger to African peoples. Spiritual activities like

prayer, thanksgiving, and the making of sacrifices were well-established facts of life for the

existence and continuation of the community. It is in this complex of religiosity that the preaching

of the gospel makes sense; it is this preparedness that has undergirded the spreading of the gospel

like wildfire among African societies which had hitherto followed and practiced traditional religion.

Consequently, people are discovering that the biblical faith is not harmful to their religious

sensibilities. This is, obviously, a general statement, one which needs detailed elaboration. But in

practical terms, there is a Christian Yes to African religiosity. It may be, and needs to be, a qualified

and critical Yes. But it is nevertheless a working Yes and one that demands theological

understanding. A close geographical correlation exists between the location of African religion and

the rapid expansion of the Christian faith. This is not an empty coincidence. It is the southern two-

thirds of Africa (including Madagascar) which we can rightly call Christian Africa, as the northern

one-third is Muslim Africa.

The rapid spreading of the Christian faith where people have been predominantly

followers of African religion provokes interesting questions. That which had been seen as the

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enemy of the gospel turns out (to me) to be indeed a very welcoming friend. African religion has

equipped people to listen to the gospel, to discover meaningful passages in the Bible, and to avoid

unhealthy religious conflict.Theological development in Africa must inevitably grow within this

religious setting. For this reason, some African theologians take African religiosity to be one of the

sources of theological reflection (besides the Bible, Christian heritage, etc.). A conference of mainly

African theologians, held in Ghana in December 1977, said in its final communiqué: "The God of

history speaks to all peoples in particular ways. In Africa the traditional religions are a major source

for the study of the African experience of God. The beliefs and practices of the traditional religions

in Africa can enrich Christian theology and spirituality." These statements await further exploration

by African theologians. Currently Dr. Mbiti is about to complete a book on this question of the

encounter between the biblical faith and African religion.

The church is composed largely of people who come out of the African religious

background. Their culture, history, world views and spiritual aspirations cannot be taken away from

them. These impinge upon their daily life- and experience of the Christian faith. So the church

which exists on the African scene bears the marks of its people’s backgrounds. No viable theology

can grow in Africa without addressing itself to the interreligious phenomenon at work there.Mbiti

feel deeply the value of biblical studies in this exercise, and the contribution of biblical insights in

this development.However, he concentrated these comments on the role of African background in

his theological reflection. There are other areas of exploration in which Mbiti continue to be

engaged. There is no room to describe them, and he mentions only two or three of them briefly. In

Mbiti’s doctoral studies in New Testament eschatology, it led him also to the field of Christology.

He want to reflect and write on this topic, but somehow it makes him feel frightened. He wants to

make a pilgrimage into Christ. He wants to walk with Jesus of Nazareth on the shores of Lake

Galilee and the hillsides of Judea, through the gates of Jerusalem. He wants to see his healing hand,

to hear his word that exorcises evil spirits. For six years he worked with the World Council of

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Churches in Geneva. That experience gave him a face-to-face encounter with the ecumenical

movement and left a lasting mark on him. It sensitized his thinking in many areas, one of these

being the quest for Christian unity. He has seen the quest more sharply. He cannot claim that he has

witnessed much progress in that quest at the organizational level, but perhaps he had expected too

much. The council made him aware, perhaps even frightfully so, of the problems of our world. The

council’s programs in response to these problems are impressive. They constitute an important

channel of the church’s prophetic witness today. The WCC’s very existence as a council of churches

is a living hope. But, it has been a sorrowful, disappointment to Mbiti to experience the fact that

some individuals who exercise great power in the council are not angels. They sometimes practice

the exact contrary of those values and goals to which the council is committed. Nevertheless, he is

convinced that the World Council of Churches is a great witness of the Christian response to the

prayer of our Lord that we may all be one. And this witness deserves one’s support through service

and prayer. The concept of

the church as the body of Christ in the whole world is another growing development for John Mbiti.

He has been greatly enriched by working at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, 1974-1980. It is

here that he discovered the church in Burma, in the Pacific islands, the house church in China, the

basic Christian communities in Latin America, the struggling church in South Africa, plus countless

other endeavors of Christians all over the world. He met here the church not only in its geographical

outreach but also in its historical roots -- seeing, for example, the rich traditions of the Orthodox

Church, the universality of the Roman Catholic Church (even though it is based in the Vatican), the

reconciling positioning of the Anglican Communion, the dynamic vitality of African independent

churches, and so on. He received much in a short period, which will keep him chewing for a long

time, and it will most certainly feed his theological development.

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He is however excited, for example, by the estimate that in 1987 there will be a statistical balance of

Christian population between the north (Europe, Soviet Union and America) and the south (Latin

America, Africa, Asia and Oceania). After that date there will be more Christians in the south than

in the north. This statistical tilting of Christendom from the north to the south, after 2,000 years,

holds tremendous prospects and challenges. Its consequences for theological and ecclesiological

developments are yet to be faced. They will certainly be overwhelming, and he feels very excited

about them.The theological horizon continues to expand. Dr. John Mbiti is tantalized by the fact that

his vision cannot cope with that horizon. But he is grateful for that one step, which may be taking

under the light of this vision, which is Lord, help his unbelief. No matter

what African theologians tried to explain or argue out so that one may believe that all is well in

African traditional religion, l have a different view about mystical powers and magic in Biblical

perspective. From the Evangelical interpretation of the Bible and mystical powers, the following are

found to be taught by the scriptures concerning mystical powers. Behind mystical powers in general

and ATR in particular are satanic and demonic activities. The Bible teaches that there are demonic

activiteis behind magic and divination examples were the Egyptian magicians. Ex. 7:11, 22; Ex. 8:7,

18, 19; II Timothy 3:8; (Babylonian Magicians Dan. 1:20; 2:2, 27; 4:7, 9; 5:11).Renewal of demonic

power can influence. Rev. 9:1-20. Miracles and signs of the antichrist II Thess. 2:9-12; Rev. 13:13-

18. There are demonic activities behind witchcraft and sorcery. According to Geheman the witch of

the Bible is really sorceries for she used magical words, incantations and occult medicines. Ex.

22:18; Gal. 5:20; I Samuel 28:3, 9. There are deceptions of specialist behind some of the alleged

mystical powers for the purpose of personal gain. Biblical examples were Bal – Jesus. Acts 13:10ff.

Biblical teachings and the use of mystical powers and magic can be summarised in these words.

“The use of mystical powers is forbidden by God.”The Old Testament presents the following

passages on the issues. Ex. 22:18; Lev. 19:26; 20:27; Deut 18:9-14. The New Testament presents the

following: Gal. 5:20; Acts 13:6-12; 19:18, 19; Rev. 21:8; 22:15. To draw my conclusion in this

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important subject, we are to observe that no activity which seeks to gain assess to spiritual powers

of the universe is acceptable for God’s people. We as Christians are to teach people to observe the

Biblical teachings concerning mystical powers and to help ourselves to do the same.

Appendix A

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Every Child Ministries' Crusade against Child Slavery or Ritual Servitude in Idol Shrines
 
Yayra's story:
Yayra was a miserable young girl abandoned at an idol shrine when her
mother was given as a human sacrifice in a desperate attempt to appease the
angry gods, and died there as a trokosi slave.  After Yayra was rescued from
the idol shrines, she rejected her shrine name and chose instead to be called,
"Yayra", meaning "blessed."  Yayra believes she is blessed indeed to be free
from the awful system of idol worship that enslaved and killed her mother,
blessed to be able to live at ECM's Haven of Hope through sponsorship,
blessed to be attending school.  She has received Jesus as her Savior and is
developing into a beautiful young woman.
 
Does slavery really still exist even today?
Evil dies hard. Unfortunately slavery exists in many parts of the world even today. One of the most
active places in the world for child slavery is West Africa. There are several
kinds of slavery. Some of it is based on exploiting children for free labor in
order to make products cheap and profitable. Some of it is based on exploiting
children for the sex and pornography markets. Some of it is based on cultural
traditions involving the requirement of a young virgin girl in payment for the
services of the priests in certain shrines of African traditional religion. The
horrific practice known as trokosi (troxovi, fiashidi, woryokwe, ritual servitude
or voodoosi) combines elements of all three.  It is one of the worst forms
of abusive child labor known, forcing young girls to work long days under
harsh conditions for the benefit of the shrines, without remuneration and
without even adequate food or medical care, separating them from family
and friends, from love and all human affection, from every vestige of comfort
and security.  It is sexual slavery in that the sexual organs of the idol priests are dedicated to the
gods of the shrine, and she is considered a wife of the gods.  This gives the priests (and in
practicality the shrine elders as well) sexual privileges with the young virgins.  The girls who have
been forced into it call it rape.  The girls as well as the evil system that binds them are called
trokosi, and it is securing their freedom that Every Child Ministries has undertaken as its first
project in fighting child slavery.
What does trokosi mean?
Trokosi comes from the tribal Ewe (say Ay-vay) language and means "wives of the gods." The girls
are considered to be wives of the idol god who is venerated at the shrine. In practical terms they are
concubines and slaves of the priests of those shrines.
Where are the trokosi slaves located?
The slaves are located in the southern portion of the Ewe tribe, which lives in the Volta Region of
Ghana, and in Togo and Benin, all countries of West Africa. Only in Ghana have any of the slaves
been liberated.
Since trokosi has been outlawed in Ghana, why is it still practiced?

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Through the efforts and influence of Christians, the practice of trokosi was outlawed in Ghana in
1998. However, it continues because it is not enforced. There are two reasons it is not enforced. The
first is the government’s natural and appropriate reluctance to interfere with the customs of the
people. The second and more powerful reason is the widespread fear that anyone who opposes the
priests of the shrines will be cursed. The idols of many of the shrines are war gods obtained at a
time when the Ewe tribe was seeking help in tribal wars over land issues. The basic function of the
idols is to kill, so people live in abject fear of the shrines and the priests who serve there.
The problem of fear is illustrated in an interview a worker with another organization had a few
years ago with what was then the first lady of Ghana. "You speak up for women’s and children’s
rights all the time," he said.  "Why do you not speak up for the trokosi slaves?" She looked aghast
and answered, "What? Do you want me to be killed?"
How have some of the trokosi been liberated in Ghana?
They have been liberated through the intervention of Christians who are willing to pay for their
release and aid the girls after they are released to start a new life. Ghanaian nationals have been
struggling to liberate these poor slave girls.  Now Every Child Ministries has joined with them in
the project.
How many trokosi are there?
It is estimated there were about 5,000 trokosi held in shrines in Ghana when Christians began to get
involved in the 1980’s. On an average each trokosi slave ends up having an average of four children
each as a result of being regularly raped by the priest. Although they are not technically considered
trokosi, they also serve every whim of the priest without pay so they are in reality slaves as well.
Considering this, the system involved about 25,000 lives in Ghana. The number of trokosi in Togo
and Benin has never been counted.  Ritual slaves are commonly called Voodoosi in those countries.
How many have been freed?
About 3,000 trokosi have been freed through the intervention of Christians, thus freeing a total of
15,000 lives. As of this date, an estimated 2,000 remain bound to the shrines, involving slavery of
10,000 lives in Ghana alone, plus an untold number in the neighboring countries of Togo and Benin.
How are the slaves treated?
Horrendously, almost always. They are worked hard and denied food and/or whipped if they do not
meet their scheduled quota of work. Usually this involves hoeing the priest’s fields all day with a
short-handled hand hoe. The girls are made to understand that they will be cursed and die if they
ever eat a single bite of grain from the fields. At night some of them stand over the priest, fanning
him to keep away flies. At bedtime or whenever he desires, they are summoned for sexual services.
If they refuse or if they displease him or sometimes for no discernible reason at all, they are starved,
whipped, or made to kneel for hours on shards of broken glass. They are never shown any affection,
even when the priest is having sex with them. Many of the girls have confided to us that they felt
absolutely worthless while in the trokosi system.
Why are so many of the slaves children?
Although many of the girls were taken into slavery just before or at puberty, many also were taken
as young as four years old. We have met one who was taken so young that they had to make special
arrangements for her mother to continue breastfeeding her. Of course, they grow up, and so trokosi

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on liberation may be any age. In addition, the girls have an average of four children each as a result
of being regularly raped by the priest and sometimes by his relatives. These children are born into
slavery. We have talked to many young adults for whom the dehumanizing life of the shrine forms
their earliest memories.
What happens to the girls after liberation?
After liberature the girls who are of adult age are given the opportunity to receive vocational
training.  One such opportunity is at International Needs’ institute at Adidome. There, the girls are
given an introduction to various skills by which they can make a living, and specialize in one. They
can learn dressmaking, soapmaking, dying cloth, baking, catering, hairdressing, or traditional kente
cloth weaving. They also learn to cook traditional Ghanaian dishes in order to prepare them for
normal life. At the center, the girls also begin literacy training, receive counseling, attend chapel,
and have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of them do choose to become
Christians. After graduation, many of them go into business for themselves.
An attempt is made at reconciliation with their families, and this sometimes succeeds. Some of the
girls are able to return to their home villages. At other times the families still refuse them. When the
families refuse them and the girls are too young for the vocational training center, special efforts are
made to place them with Christian families.  ECM's Haven of Hope orphanage home is
another option for children needing refuge.  At present Haven of Hope has taken in two children
whose slave mothers died due to the harsh realities of life in the shrine.
How is my "freedom money" used?
A modest payment is made to the shrine for each girl. Although the shrine owners, priests and elders
are certainly free to use the money as they please, some have said they would buy corn mills with
which they make money, since in freeing the slaves the priest lose a way of making a profit. Some
of the money is used to facilitate the negotiations which result eventually in the release of slaves
and the ending of slavery in a given area. For instance, if the elders are widely scattered, ECM may
pay the cost for them to come together to discuss the issue.  Some of the money is used for the large
public liberation ceremony in which the girls are given their freedom. This is a public ceremony
which facilitates the re-entry of the girls into the wider community. Finally, a good portion of the
money is used for counseling and to help the girls start new lives after release.

Will the purchase of freedom for some slaves only perpetuate the cycle?
This is a legitimate concern, but an unnecessary fear. In Ghana, not one single shrine area has taken
new slaves or re-enslaved former slaves after release. This is partly because of the 1998 law making
trokosi a crime, and partly because of the way in which the slaves are freed. Rather than working
for individual liberation, we work for a community-wide agreement to release all the slaves in given
shrines and to end slavery permanently in those areas. Because the commitment to end slavery is
made so publicly and with written documentation, it is extremely hard for the shrines to go back on
their word.  So don't worry.  Your "freedom money" does not perpetuate slavery, but helps to end it.
How is this project important for the spreading of the Gospel?

142
For thousands of years the Ewe tribe has been bound by idolatry. Now God has prepared a group of
people who know first hand what idolatry is all about. They have seen it all close up. They have
lived day by day with the priests. After these girls are released, do you think they want to have
anything to do with idolatry? Not a chance!
Every girl is free to choose her religious affiliation, of course, and every one of them should and
must be freed regardless of their religious choices or affiliations.  Many of these former slave girls,
however choose Jesus Christ and become fiery and devoted followers of His. It is tragic that these
girls underwent the sufferings that they did endure, but God is using it to open up a new and better
way for the Ewe tribe. This is a strategic project that helps individuals and beyond that, is opening
up the Gospel for an entire tribe which spreads over three countries.
These girls were used as human sacrifices in an attempt to atone for the sin of some male member
of the family--usually a grandfather or uncle.  One priest told ECM workers that once a sin is
committed, it has to be atoned for forever, until the end of time!  That is why, in the trokosi system,
if a trokosi slave runs away or dies, she must be replaced by another virgin from her family.  We
have met girls who have been the third and fourth person in their families to try to pay for the very
same crime.  Can you imagine what good news the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for a girl who has
suffered such a fate?  The Scripture teaches that Jesus paid all our debt of sin fully and forever.  He
made the final and complete sacrifice that God accepted, and that ended His anger forever.  There is
no more need for human sacrifices to suffer and keep being replaced until the end of time.  Jesus has
paid all our debt, and we can be free!  The message touches them powerfully.  It is incredibly good
news!  No wonder they accept it with such thankful hearts!
How did Every Child Ministries get involved in this project?
During one of ECM’s teacher training seminars in 1999, an advocate for the trokosi came to us and
began telling us about the problem. When we understood that African children were being enslaved,
we were immediately interested. After all, Every Child Ministries is dedicated to offering hope to
the forgotten children of Africa, and who is more forgotten than these poor slave children?  On
investigation, we found that the problem was very real and that some Ghanaian national groups
were opposing the practice.  We became gripped with the needs of the girls and approached our
board with a proposal.  Since then, we’ve been working together on this project and finding that an
amazing synergy occurs when God’s people work together.
It is also interesting how Christian organizations got involved in the project. A new governor
was appointed to the Volta Region some years back. He became concerned about the low level of
development in the area and began to ask why in a fairly progressive country like Ghana one area
should remain underdeveloped. After investigation, he began to realize that the underdevelopment
was tied closely to beliefs and practices involving idolatry, and especially to the practice of slavery.
Having come to that conclusion, he approached a mission to ask if Christians might be interested in
working to stop the practice of trokosi slavery. This man was not even a Christian believer! Isn’t it
amazing the insights that God gave him?
How could anyone possibly oppose the liberation of the slaves?
The main opponent of the liberation of the trokosi is the Afrikania Mission, sometimes called the
Afrikan Renaissance Mission. The name "mission" makes it sound like a Christian group, but we
have found that one of our workers made a pretty fair assessment of them. He said that they look for
devotees of any god or goddess (but not the God of the Bible), and then seek to strengthen them.
The group was started by a Catholic priest who became disenchanted with the church because of the

143
strength of African traditional religion and ended up converting to it. The group maintains a
considerable presence on the web and is very active in Ghana. Having many educated people on
their team, they are constantly writing and presenting conferences on the glories of African
traditional religion. They have nothing good to say about Christianity.
Their line of reasoning is that trokosi is not really slavery. Sometimes they even claim that the girls
are treated like queens! I challenge them to tell that face-to-face to any girl who has been a
trokosi. Afrikania says trokosi is just a part of their traditional practice, and as such, it should be
preserved. They say the trokosi are heroines because they are single-handedly keeping their
communities from disaster by averting the anger of the gods.
The bottom line is, the adherents of the Afrikania Mission value their traditional ways of life more
than they value the freedom and the lives of the girls who are held in bondage. African Traditional
Religion acknowledges the existence of a Creator God.  Yet, Afrikania traditionalists have chosen
their idols rather than the true and living God. They say they are children of Amen-Ra, an ancient
Egyptian idol.  They are slaves of a different kind, and they also need our prayers. Recently we have
seen, however, that sometimes when those who oppose us receive more information, they do see
things more clearly and even come over to help free the girls whose liberation they once opposed.
So keep these people in your prayers.  
What does it cost to free one slave?
The exact amount varies and cannot be predicted in advance. Because we need to have funding in
hand to even begin negotiations, we have estimated the cost based on past experience. It costs about
$200 to free one trokosi and help her start a new life. All her children go free with her, so it ends up
costing about $40 per person when we consider the children as well. Additional expenses may be
incurred in offering vocational training to the girls. So depending on the size of the group, your goal
may be $40 for one child to $200 for one "family" or more. Of course, donations in any amount
always help and are deeply appreciated.

Appendix B

144
 FREED! July 9, 2002 Now my child will not grow up in slavery. Praise God!

Appendix C

145
Lorella Rouster & grandaughter Whitney at the slave liberation ceremony July 9, surrounded by
local chiefsLord, give us more days like this!

Appendix D

146
Our last hour of slavery! Trokosi slave girls and women wait for the release July 9, 2002. The blue
cloths wrapped around them show that they are still in slavery. At the conclusion of the ceremony
they removed the hated cloths.

Appendix E

147
 Patience, from Every Child Ministries' partner organization, International Needs Ghana, calls
Trokosi priests forward for the signing of FREEDOM PAPERS for 93 slaves.

Appendix F

148
 Why are 400 children of all ages starting in first grade this year? Because they, along with their
mothers, have just been freed from slavery! Newly freed, these children wait for school uniforms.
Now they have a life!

Appendix G

149
The youngest of the trokosi slaves who were freed July 9 in the Akatsi District of Ghana thank you
for your prayers. Their days of horror have ended, but they pray that all those in ritual slavery will
one day be free.
The liberation of July 9, 2002 was funded by ECM's partner organization, International Needs
Ghana, and by an international organization fighting child labor. The NEXT liberation, coming up
very soon, is funded by Every Child Ministries. Pray with us for all those still suffering in this
terrible bondage.

Appendix H

TERMINOLOGIES USED TO DESCRIBE ATR

150
Each writer on ATR either because of ignorant, preferences of their background used some terms to
describe ATR which have not been accepted by some African writers. Below are some of the terms.

A. The terms and definitions

i. Polytheism: It is the belief and worship of several gods
ii. Monotheism: The belief in and worship of only one supreme God, to the total exclusion of
other gods – eg. Christianity, Judaism, Islam. Some scholars like Idowu use the definition to
refer to ATR as modified or disused monotheism because of the place of the Supreme Being
in ATR.
iii. Animism: The word is derived from the latin world Anima which means breadth of life or
soul. E.B. Taylor defines it as the theory that endows living and non living objects with life
or soul. This applies to non scriptural religions like ATR, because according to him ATR
believes that living and non – living things have souls and life in them.
iv. Primitive: The term is derived from the latin world PRIMUS which means first early,
ancient, old fashioned simple, crude, original or primary, It was used by Westerners to
describe ATR as undeveloped and still at the fundamental stage like the original religion of
their forefathers and have not undergone any significant changes.
v. Fetishism: The word fetishism is derived from the Portuguese word FETICO which
originally refered to man made religious objects such as charms, amulets, talismans, images
of idols and shrines. The Portuguese use the word to refer to ATR because ATR has man
made objects as mentioned above.
vi Paganism: The word is derived from latin PAGAMOUS. Initial meaning – a village dweller
or a country man or one who does not leave in a polished community. Dictionary meaning –
someone who does not recognised the existence of God or Allah. As applied to religion. ATR
is said to be lower or primitive or rural as compared to the so call higher or urban religions
such as Christianity.
vii. Heatheism: The word is derive from a Germanic word HEATH which originally meant a
dweller on the heat which was the dwelling place of criminals, vagabonds or social out cast
viii. Ancestor Worship: ATR has been describe as ancestral worship because Africans accord
match recognition and attention to the ancestors. Some scholars however, don’t think
worship is appropriate. Instead they prefer ancestor veneration.
B Assessment of the use of the terms: From the use of the terms, the following conclusions
could be drawn.
1. The following three terms – primitive, pagainism and heathism as used by
Westerners to refer to ATR are in appropriate and dissatisfactory, (It is descrediting)
intended to down grade African Traditional Religion and therefore shoud not be
used.
2. The following four terms –Monotheism (Modified or diffused monotheism)
animism, fetishism and ancestral worship describe certain aspects of African
Tradtional Religion and therefore should not be used especially to describe the whole
religion.
3. The closer term to describe ATR should be polytheism which embraces the believe in
a supreme creator above many gods.

Appendix I

151
POWERS BEHIND IN ATR. DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE STRUCTURE

SUPREME BEING

DIVINITIES
ANCESTORS
SPIRITS, FOREST MONTERS, TOTEMS, WITCHES

MAGIC, CHARMS, AMULETS, TALISTMAN, WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY

MORAL VALUES AND TABOOS

Appendix J

MAGIC

152
A Kinds of magic in ATR
I White magic and black magic – these types of magic emphasize effects
1. White magic (Good Magic) is used for man’s benefits and is favoured by the
African Traditional Society. The benefits includes the following
a. Protection against evil forces. According to Geheman, “These are in
the forms of charms, amulets, herbs, seeds, powder, skins feathers,
chanting of magical formula, cuts on the body and other practices to
protect the individuals, cattle, houses and possessions from evil
powers.
b. Increase one’s personal fortune in life
c. Bringing rain by rain makers and predicting the future by diverners
d. Winnig a lover
II Black magic (Bad magic) is used for evil purposes and practices without the
approval of society. They are used to harm people and property.

B Imitative magic and contagious magic:

These two types of magic emphasize the method. They come under what Sir James Frazer
calls sympathetic magic. By these he meant that magic depends on an apparent association
of agreement between things

I Initiative magic: Homeopathic magic. These type of magic uses the principles “like
produces like” or the “effect resemble th cause” That is the things that look alike and
had effects upon one another. Idowu calls it the mechanism of similarity.
a. The magician who wants to harm a person prepares an image of mud,
wood or other material and he tries to harm it with needles, knives,
thorns, or other weapons. Whatever damage is done to the effigy or
image, results in harm done to the enemy.
b. Rain makers sprinkle water into the air in order to imitate rain falling

II Contagious magic: This type of magic uses the principle that “things which have
once been in contact with each other continues to act on each other at a distance even
after the physical contact has been removed” Idowu calls it the mechanism of
contiguity. An important thing to note about contagious and imitative is that both
good and bad magic can be either imitative or contagious.

III Mechanisms of unusulaness and repetions: So far as mechanism or principles in the

methods of magic are concern, Idowu has these two more mechanism to his list.

1. The mechanism of unusualness: This is often used in the protective magic. A

person who fears of being persecuted in court for committing a crime perform
unusual rituals in which he pronounces words which says that “He will not be
persecuted unless the prosecutor performs the same unusual rituals.”

2. The mechanism of repetitions: This mechanism works with the constant repetition
of a prayer. The thought behind is that there is magical power in constant repetition
of prayer. The more it is repeated the more effect it would be. It is the act of the
repetition an not the content of the prayer or the attitude of the person praying which
is important.

153
 3. Personal magic and public magic: These types of magic emphasise the uses

a.Personal magic: Personal magic is the magic used to serve personal need.
They are used by individuals against evil forces – charms.
b. Public magic is intended for your household or village. Houses, fields and
villages are protected by charms etc.
4. The element of magic are 1. mystical power or impersonal forces through the
universe are used. 2. Utterances of set words or performance of set acts also
comes in and this bring either good or bad results.

IV. Products of good magic: Products of good magic are charms and medicine

a. Charms
1. Charms are produced by medicine men (or witch doctor) who use
special material and repetitions of such words. Some of the material are
herbs, roots, barks, insects, skin bones, leaves and animal horns.
2. These charms are used as protective magic
3. The power of a charm depends on the word used and the special
materials used.

b. Medicines
1. Medicine is similar to charm in that they are both products of good
magic in effect and they used similar things ie woes and special .
. materials.
2. The difference between medicines and charms is that, medicines have
four elements in them whilst charms have two. The elements of
medicines are
a. repetition of such works
b. special material
c. recognition that God and the ancestors are needed to make the
medicine work and lastly
d. the purpose of medicine is to heal

V. The products of bad magic are witchcraft and sorceries.

Witchcraft
a. Witchcraft is the practices of black magic to make bad things
happened like a poor harvest, sickness, death, accidents etc
b. Persons who are involved in the practices of withchcraft are called
withches (females) and wizards (males)
c. Witches and wizards are evil within themselves and this is so
because of the withcraft substances which are mostly within their
intenstines which can be seen and felt by they themselves.
d. They often work with animal familiars.
e. Whilst the bodies remain at home, their spirits fly away at nights
and congregate with other withches. They enjoy dancing
completely naked, eating human flesh and sucking their blood.

Sorcery
a. Sorcery in practice is like witchcraft in that it is the result of

154
 black magic against others.
b. It is however different from witchcraft in that sorcery is
practiced by an individual while witches mostly operates in
group
c. According to some scholars one major difference between
sorcery and witchcraft is that sorcery uses poison in its magic.

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