% To%be% saved%by%Jesus%?irst%you% have%to% fall%at%the%foot%of%the% cross,% you%have% to% % accept%%your%sins...then%it%is%the%impact,%you%burst%with% repentance!%You%have% to% % suffer!% The% more% you%suffer%the% higher% you% will% rise!...like% a% bouncing% ball,% the% % harder%you% impact,% the%higher%you%rise...Yesterday%we%hit%the%bottom,%we%killed% % our%brothers,%we%fell.%We%went%to%Campbell%Street%to%see%the%devil.%Satan%colluded% % with% our% Ministers.% On% impact,% we% suffered,% we% forgot% Jesus,% now% we% are% % repenting!% Our%suffering% will% make% Sierra% Leone% rise!% We% will% prosper% in% the% % name%of% Jesus!%Jesus%is%our%man!%Our%warrior!% Our%Saviour!%(Bishop%Cyril%Luke,% % CLEMI%2011)%
Bishop%Cyril%Luke’s%sermon%alluded%to%the%idea%of%‘deliverance’%when%he% referred%to%the% ‘impact’%of%‘falling%at%the%foot%of%the%cross’%in%this%part%of%his%sermon.%‘Deliverance’%entails% the% ‘radical%transformation% of% the% self% through% rupture% with%a% sinful% past’,% by% literally% ‘delivering’% demons% out% of% the% body.% These% events% are% the% main% stage% of% the% battle% between%good%and%evil%(Corten%and%MarshallCFratani%2001:%6).%
Deliverance% is% key%to%the% process%of% becoming% ‘born% again’,% where% individuals%forsake% their%previous%life%and%are%literally%‘reborn’% into%a%new%one.%Among%those%I%met%in%Sierra% Leone,% people% often% introduced% themselves% as% ‘born% again’% rather% than% ‘Pentecostal’.% Often% this% could% be% traced% to% a% moment% where% they% underwent% a% conversion% from% Catholic,% Methodist%or%Anglican%Christianity.%For%many,% this%was%described% as% a% deeply% emotional%experience,%but%also%as%something% felt%physically%in%the%body.%‘Deliverance’%is% often% described% as% a% painful% process% as% those% conducting% the% service% battle% with%
demonic% forces,% causing% bodily% convulsions% (van% Dijk% 2001:% 226;% Shaw% 2007:% 86).% Corten% and% MarshallCFratani% (2001:% 8)% note% how% these% events% entail% a% private% experience%of%personal%transformation%which% must%be%made% public%to%gain%recognition% within%the% Church.%The%greater%degree%of% public%suffering%during%deliverance,%the%more% profound%the%salvation.%
‘Demons’% are% thought% to% enter% the% body% through% several% means,% the% most% signi?icant% being%during% rituals% which% traditionally%involve% calling% on% spirits% such% as%nameCgiving% ceremonies% and% initiations% (van% Dijk% 2001:% 225).% Meyer’s% (1999)% work% in% Ghana% demonstrates%how%demons%can% pose% a% threat%through% bloodlines%either%as%a% result% of% curses%laid%on%a%person’s%ancestors%which%are%inherited,%or%a%more%recent%curse%directed% at% the%individual%by%rural%kin.%She% recounts% contexts%where% members%of% the% Ghanaian% Evangelical% Presbyterian% Church% in% Peki% repeatedly% suffer% from% witch% attacks% orchestrated%by%jealous%and%less%af?luent%family%members.%This%has%led%scholars%to%link% deliverance% with% a% moment% of% ‘rupture’% from% the% past% where% familial% ties% are% often% broken,%adding%to%the%notion%of% quite%literally%being%‘born%again’% into%a%new,%Pentecostal% family.% Meyer%highlights%a% key%advantage% of%cutting% such%ties%for%successful% and% urban% Pentecostal%youth,%where%familial%obligations%mean%the%majority%of%ones%wages%are%sent% back% to%the% village% (1999:% 181).% These% obligations%prevail% in% Sierra% Leone,% though% as% Shaw%notes%‘such%kinship%ties%that%remain%are%precious%when%several%members%of...[the]% immediate%family%may%be% lost,% killed,%living% in%a% camp% far%away,%settled%elsewhere% with% other% relatives,% or% without% the% resources,% even% if% physically% present,% to% support% others’% (2007:% 76).% Though% Shaw’s% comments% are% based% on% research% undertaken% in% 2001,% when%the%end%of%the% war%remained%uncertain,%family%was%still%important%in% 2010% where% even% distant% relatives% living% outside% of% the% city% visited% the% Museum% to% greet% Bertha%and%sit%and%chat%in%her%of?ice.%
Besides% breaking% family% ties% and% driving% demons% out% of% the% body,% deliverance% also% entails% making% a% break% from% certain% practices% or% rituals.% These% include% visiting% traditional%healers%or%being%in%contact%with%esoteric%objects%and%substances,%all%of%which% make%the%Church%and%its%congregations%vulnerable%to%demonic%attacks.%Such%attacks%may%
result%in%‘blockages’,%limiting%‘upward%mobility’%despite%investment%in%the%faith.%Van%Dijk% notes% that% this% is% a% common% diagnosis% for% Ghanians% struggling% to% immigrate% due% to% problems%accessing%visas,%work%permits%or%passports%(2001:%224),%whilst%Gifford%(2004:% 85)% and% Meyer% (1999:% 178)% highlight% economic% shortfall% or% dif?iculty% in% ?inding% employment% as% a% symptom%of% such% attacks.% Van%Dijk%discusses%this%as%a% ‘battleground% between% a% superior% future% and% an% inferior% past’% (2001:% 216),% highlighting% the% importance%modernity%and%change%to%Pentecostal%doctrine.%
Rather%than%focus%on% individual% deliverance,% the%Bishop’s%sermon% at%the% Christian%Life% Era%Church%explored%a%moment%of%national%deliverance.%As%he% spoke,% he%waved%a% small% Sierra% Leonean% ?lag.% Sierra%Leone% is%depicted% as%‘falling’% as%a% result%of% participation% in% traditional% life% or% going% ‘to% Campbell% Street% to% see% the% devil’,% referring% to% the% debul% masquerades%discussed% in% the% previous% chapter.% His%narrative% also% highlights%political% corruption% as% central% to% this% fall:% ‘Satan% colluded% with% our% Ministers’.% As% has% been% discussed% by%Richards% (2000;% 2009),% and% Shaw% (1997),% political% corruption% in% Sierra% Leone% is% deeply%engrained% in% cosmologies% of% esoteric% power,% with%associations% drawn% between%the% consumption%of%wealth%and%ritual%processes%entailing%the% consumption% of% human%?lesh%and%blood.%Richards%(2009:%501)%discusses%this%in%relation%to%concerns%that% political% ?igures%and% ‘big% men’% transform% into% wild% animals%and% undertake% attacks% on% children%and%young%women,%particularly%during%election%campaigns.
The% Bishop’s% sermon% notes% that% as% Sierra% Leone% fell,% it% eventually% ‘hit% rock% bottom’% during% the% civil% war,% ‘when% we% killed% our% brothers’.% I% suggest% this% is% the% moment% of% deliverance,% the% impact,% from% which% the% Bishop% preaches% Sierra% Leone% will% ‘rise’.% Although%Sierra% Leone% was% part%of% the% Pentecostal%‘wave’% that% spread%across%Africa% in% the% 1980s,% many%Born%Again% Christians%converted% during% or%after%the% civil%war%(Shaw% 2007:%72C73).%Furthermore,%in%the% Bishop’s%narrative,% the%suffering%experienced% during% the% war%seems%representative% of% the% enormity%of% Sierra% Leone’s% salvation% from%which% Sierra%Leone%will%‘rise’%and%‘prosper’.%This%was%symbolised%during%the%sermon%by%placing% the%national% ?lag% onCtop% of%the% large%wooden%cruci?ix% on%the% stage.% %His%‘bouncing% ball’% metaphor% is% used% as% a% way% of% explaining% this% interpretation% of% ‘deliverance’,% as% the%
‘harder%you% impact,% the% higher% you% rise’.% The% Bishops% sermon% might% allude% to% Sierra% Leone’s% future% postCwar%recovery% here,% although% in% this% case% change% is% reliant% upon% intervention% by%a% Christian%God.% Rather%than% being% dependent% upon%international%and% governmental%action,%the%Bishop’s%narrative%places%Sierra%Leone’s%future%in%the%hands%of% the% congregation% by%proposing% that%national% salvation% can% be% bought%through% prayer% and%continued% commitment% to% the%Church.% This%highlights%a% central%component%of% the% Church% which% differentiates% Pentecostalism% from% other% forms% of% Christianity% in% that% salvation% is% ‘this% worldly’% rather% than% ‘other% worldly’,% and% thus% the% bene?its% of% commitment% to% the% Church% occur%in% the%present%rather%than% received%later%in% Heaven.% Often%termed% the%‘prosperity%gospel’,% this%is%a%de?ining%feature%of% Pentecostal%concerns% with%modernity,%discussed%in%greater%detail%later%in%this%chapter.
PostCwar% recovery% is% also% the% focus% of% Shaw’s% (2007)% recent% discussion% of% Pentecostalism% in% Sierra% Leone.% Rather% than% providing% a% tool% for% future% prosperity,% however,%Shaw%is%concerned%with%the%way%‘spiritual%warfare’%provides%a%mechanism%for% externalising% traumatic% memory.% Her%paper% describes% a% play% performed% by% the% Youth% Ministry% of% the% Gospel% Prayer% Ministries% Church% in% Freetown% which% follows% a% young% married%couple,%Nancy%and%Job.%Job’s%jealous%motherCinClaw%attempts%to%meddle%in% the% marriage% and%consults%a% mori%man% to%try%to%kill%Nancy%and%her%unborn%child.% A%similar% climax%to%The$Pains$of$Love%sees%the%arrival%of%the%Pastor%who%prays%over%the%motherCinC law,% who% ‘screams% and% falls% to% the% ground% as% the% Holy%Spirit% enters% her’% as% a% result% (2007:%85).%Shaw%uses%the%play%to%argue%that%this%media,%along%with%prayer,%Bible%reading% and% watching% Pentecostal% ?ilms,% forms% a% ‘reCnarration’% of% violent% memories% which% enables% GP% Ministries’% youth% ‘to% “forget”% them,% transforming% demonic% memory% into% Pentecostal% memory’% (2007:% 88).% This% mode% of% reCnarration% externalises% violent% memories%as%part%of%a%wider%war%between%God%and%the%‘Underworld’,%and%thus%the%youth% ‘learn%to%experience% their%memories%in%ways%that%enable%them%to%be%worked%on,%fought,% and%transformed’%through%prayer%(2007:%89).%Local%masked%spirits%and%debuls%come%into% this% narrative% as% a% central% part% of% the% ‘underworld’% (in% the% GP% youth% play% this% is% represented%by%the%mori%man),%in?luencing% the%‘spiritual%and%moral%condition’%of% Sierra% Leone%which%led%to%the%war.%