While delivering a valedictory at Antioch AME Church, George Pratt, a 2023 Christian, history, and religious graduate from Morehouse College urges the congregation to embrace ancestral worship.
Pratt who claims to be a sixth-generation son of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a liberationist told them that they can call on both Jesus and their ancestors for assistance.
“We know that God as Spirit also presents themselves in other manifestations. Specifically through Jesus Christ, our elder brother, as an intermediary, and the Holy Spirit, our comforter,” said Pratt.
“God also blesses us with our ancestors as intermediaries who can work on our behalf in the tradition of our African and indigenous ancestors. Ancestors are too viewed as manifestations of God, the divine creator, and can intercede for us in the spiritual domain,” he added.
Pratt asserted that Christians who are experiencing difficulties coping with daily life might find comfort by turning to their ancestors for guidance. He further remarked that when he required academic assistance, he invoked the aid of his ancestors.
“Sometimes we find it hard to get up, to go to work and school. But if we were just to call on the resilient, strong-willed, and do anyhow spirit of our ancestors, somehow or another, we’ll find ourselves receiving a boost, a source of strength to get through the day,” Pratt said
“Lord knows there were times when I did not feel like going to class or meetings. I didn’t have the energy to write my 45-page senior thesis in history and religion. But I called on my ancestors,” he added.
Pratt’s teaching has stirred reactions as his concept of ancestral worship tends to contradict the biblical teaching of Orthodox Christianity.
Orthodox Christianity is of the belief that “spirits of the dead go to either heaven or hell and do not remain in the natural world (Luke 16:20-31; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:11-15). The belief that spirits continue to reside on earth after death and influence the lives of others is not scriptural,” explains the Christian apologetics website Got Questions.