Pentecostal Conceptions of Warfare Prayer among the Yoruba in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Warfare prayer is a common ritual practice among Yoruba Pentecostal adherents in southwestern Nigeria. It entails visualization of a supposed enemy or battle and the utilization of warfare prayers, songs, and Bible verses to supposedly neutralize opposing forces. In fact, scholars have established that the continued growth of Pentecostalism and the proliferation of Pentecostal churches in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Nigeria, includes its feature of warfare prayer deployment. This study examines the Pentecostal conceptions of warfare prayer among the Yoruba in southwestern Nigeria. The study is basically qualitative, with data collected from branches of four purposively selected indigenous Pentecostal churches. Findings have revealed that warfare prayer is associated with the Yoruba belief system that attributes the so-called ‘spiritual diabolical’ and their human agents with incapacitating capabilities, resulting in devastating effects on victims. Yoruba Pentecostals believe that such diabolical forces can only be vanquished by warfare prayers.