spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

manifests itself, but it is definitive and conclusive, because it is demarcated by the Holy Spirit
who represents the ultimate victory in Christ.
The importance of the complex concept of power is expressed in the prominence of a spiritual
warfare hermeneutic within the church-based healing discourse. Spiritual warfare involves the
belief in an ongoing battle between good and evil spirits, with the outcome of the battle having
direct consequences for the visible reality. The relevance of the spiritual warfare idea is that it
provides a framework for explaining illness and misfortune in the everyday life of believers: evil,
in whatever manifestation, is attributed to the work of evil spirits and demons. Spiritual warfare
concepts are firmly rooted in African traditional religious ideas as well as in biblical texts, of
which Ephesians 6:12 is the cornerstone. The spiritual warfare discourse becomes tangible in
exorcism or deliverance rituals, in which possessing demons are driven out with a powerful
petition to the power of the Holy Spirit. The presupposition is that the Spirit intervenes on behalf
of the possessed believer, since man is not able to overcome the power of evil spirits
independently. The combination of a material conception of evil, an interventionist theology, and
the concept of salvation as life in abundance (which definitely includes health and well-being in
the present tense) constitutes the foundation of exorcism or deliverance ministries.
The spiritual warfare interpretation relies on the absolute power of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate
life-giving force of God. The power of the Spirit brings a new cosmic order in the sense that the
power of evil forces has been demarcated and the perspective of the gospel is central: liberation
and salvation become reality in the believer’s perspective on life. The experienced liberation and
salvation through the power of the Spirit are expressed in spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues,
healing and prophesying. The manifestation of the Spirit’s powerful presence is usually also
embedded in healing rituals, and perhaps the most prominent of these rituals in the church-based
healing scene is the application of anointing oil. The (olive) oil represents the promise of the
divine power entering the reality of the believer, which allows the ministry of anointment to be
interpreted as equal to the ministry of the sacraments: it is a sign of God’s salvation in a very
tangible way. Just like the oil is a symbol of divine power, so is the healing prophet seen as a
medium of divine power; furthermore, the personal change of the believer after exorcism or
healing rituals is likewise interpreted as the effect of divine power in the life of the believer.
The various aspects of the church-based healing discourse, as described in this chapter, revolve
around one particular notion: the concept of power. It has become clear that the concept of power
covers more than one meaning (vital force, spirit force, Holy Spirit force), but that these
different, yet related, meanings share common ground: power is the postulation of health, well-
149