Dialectics of “Satanic technologies” through the lens of Mountain of Fire and Miracles ministry, Nigeria

Pentecostalism in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, has brought a new chapter in the history of Christianity. However, one of the conspicuous peculiarities of the kind of Pentecostalism that has emerged, especially in Nigeria, is the spiritual warfare and rituals of the movement. There is also the dawning fear and the use of prayer as performative acts that disarticulate visible and invisible political hegemony. Contextual and close-reading methodologies are employed for the study to discuss these peculiarities of Pentecostal doctrine and practices. As notably practised by the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), Pentecostalism in Nigeria has been at the forefront of teaching and employing the doctrinal teachings and practices that deal with local satanic technologies. The contextual approach concentrates on a critical study of the literature produced by Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) on ‘Satanic technologies’. In contrast, the close-reading approach relies on the Bible interpretation of selected Biblical texts on which the ideology of satanic technologies is built. The argument here is that the theological praxis of Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, especially in ‘Satanic technologies’, undermines the basis of classical Pentecostal theologies and the Reformation theological orientation that interprets exposition of Biblical passages in their contexts for salvation and transformation to a ‘cacophonous’ phenomenon.