If you read my last blog, you’re probably afraid of what I’m going to say in this one. I will preface it, with this: This may challenge some of what you believe or have thought. I know it did for me. But again, I feel it my job to just be honest and I will encourage you to take your questions to God. I’m still processing everything as well.
Before Haiti, I thought that voodoo was just bad because it was putting an idol before God. It’s scripture: have no idols before me. Then during Haiti, I thought it was bad because I learned that it was actually making deals with Satan for things, be it a visa, wealth, authority, curses, or death.
But then I met a guy named Tony. Tony is a missionary from Canada. He gave his life to Christ in his forties. He had a successful business in construction and a lovely girlfriend when he met Christ. He suddenly felt no satisfaction in those things, so he sold everything he owned and moved to Cuba, a communist country where Christian missions are illegal. For four years he discipled people to Christ in underground churches (since church is illegal), until the government caught up with him and kicked him out of the country for good. Then Haiti happened. Like me, he didn’t care for it and was anxious to leave until God confirmed that he was supposed to be there. And again, like me he doubted the power of God, his enemy, and voodoo.
When he spoke to us, he told us (with extreme passion) story after story of the physical battles between God and the enemy. He didn’t believe in the power of voodoo until he saw it with his own eyes.
He broke it down like this:
There are two kinds of witch doctors. Witch doctors that specialize in receiving gifts for yourself (visa, wealth, authority, etc) and witch doctors that specialize in cursing or killing other people. Each comes with a price.
If you go to the first doctor, you pay upfront and tell them what you want. The witch doctor pleads with Satan, and to my surprise, Tony says that you will get what you asked for every time. He’s seen it happen too many times. He even knows the men in Grand Goave that hold great wealth and power because of it. I guess it makes sense that they don’t go out of business, because it works. But that being said, you always get more than you bargained for. Because the enemy is a deceiver and a liar and never plays fair, he won’t give you anything unless he gets something in return. The 8-year-old boy that was sacrificed is an example of just that. In turn for what you want, the enemy wants what you hold dear. In this case, even though the man held his son the most dear, he was willing to give him up for riches. So the boy was drowned for wealth. There is also a time limit. It is known in Haiti that if you make a deal with Satan, it never ends in old age for you.
There was a man in Grand Goave who made that deal. He received a new business with trucks, wealth, and in turn, women. He had several kids with several women and quickly became one of the wealthiest men in town. After several years, though, it came to an end. One day as he drove alone, he heard a whisper from the enemy that he was going to die the next day. He gave the keys to his mistresses and children to all of his belongings and he died the next day. Not unusual.
If you go to the second witch doctor, you go to curse, harm, or kill someone else. Again, you pay up front and the witch doctor makes his plea, and it is carried out. A business run by hatred and jealousy. And there are several ways to curse. One way is to take someone’s picture and take it to the doctor. He does his thing and then makes you stab the picture with a knife. You are the one that does the deed, so the blood is on your hands. Every time, the person will die (hence, many Haitians get really mad if you take their picture).
Tony told us story after story of people that he knew that have been cursed and have passed away. A close friend of his was cursed. They both knew it and he grew sick at a quick rate. He layed in the hospital for two days and passed away. Even the doctors told him and would tell anyone, if he was cursed there was nothing they could do. He was already dead.
(Insert): I feel like I’ve already given the enemy too much attention. My point in this is not to scare you or make you focus on the power of the enemy, but rather to shine a light on the suffering people of Haiti, and WHY they are so oppressed. We can’t do anything about something we are ignorant to. So let me point this back to Christ.
Tony told us a story about a witch doctor he knew. There was a pastor that had come to Grand Goave. For one reason or another he was hated very much by two men (most likely his faith that challenged voodoo), so they went to the most powerful witch doctor in Grand Goave. The two men walked into the house with two hand mirrors, which is required by one of the death rituals. They put them face-down on the table and told the witch doctor that they wanted the pastor dead. So he did his thing.
What is supposed to happen is that you lift up the mirror and in the reflection will be an image of the person you want dead.
So the men lifted up the mirrors and were confused to find just their own reflection. The curse didn’t work. Frustrated, the doctor does it again and calls on a stronger spirit. They lift up the mirrors and the same thing happened. So they lay them back down and the witch doctor calls upon the strongest spirit, right under Satan, himself. The two men pulled the mirrors up and threw themselves back in terror and confusion, shaking their head and yelling at the witch doctor. When the doctor turned it around, there was no reflection of a face. There was just a hand with a nail through it. Blood dripping on the outside, and they were all terrified.
The voodoo curse couldn’t touch the pastor because he is protected by the death and resurrection of Christ. Voodoo is that powerful. Christ is that much more powerful.
The following week, the witch doctor was saved. Imagine, the biggest voodoo influence in a town, converting to Christianity because he saw God’s power. He is actually currently in the states sharing that exact story of God’s power.
That is the God that we serve. We can choose to live in ignorance once we have the truth revealed to us or we can take it in and let it change us. Let it change our prayer life. How differently I pray now, confident of God’s power. The Bible talks about these things. It talks about demons and healing and miracles. I start to wonder how we can say that we really believe in the God the Bible talks about if we can’t believe in stories like this. Trust me, it’s foreign to me as well. I have been a walking skeptic for 21 years. But I write this having felt every day the presence of evil that can’t touch me because I’m covered in the blood of Christ. I write to you testifying my experiences. God is so good and so strong and so faithful to the ones who call him Father.
