As we invited everyone we passed to attend church with us, they simply looked at us confused, laughed, and continued on their way. When we arrived at the church location, I couldn’t be more excited to see people everywhere, sprawled around a hut and all over a hill. I had worked up an appetite from our hike, and It looked like there was food cooking. I couldn’t wait to be a part of a Christian gathering in Southern Africa.
It didn’t take long for my excitement to turn into a state of confusion. When my brain actually focused on my surroundings, it started to process what was going on, and I had a hard time piecing together what I was seeing…
-The groups of people on the hill were not praying or mingling. They were passing around drugs and lighting up pipes.
-The smoke I saw from ‘food cooking’ was not on a grill, it was billowing up from the center of an enclosed thatch fence.
-The atmosphere was not light and friendly; In fact I got a tangible feeling of darkness.
We were informed this was a Christian gathering. So what kind of Church is this? Where’s the pastor? When does it start? Can you see why I was confused…
After invited in, I entered the hut with a teammate only to see an ornamented gentleman sitting in a chair in the center with a slaughtered pig and buckets of blood laying out on the floor to his left.
To explain this event in short, many African cultures believe that in order to reach the heavens, they must communicate through their ancestors and sacrificial practices… and often celebrate their religion for days on end. There are many Medicine Men with connections to the ‘good’ spiritual realm, and witchdoctors that connect to the ‘dark’ spiritual realm. I could go into detail about these beliefs, but the bottom line is that it is NOT of God. They do not agree that Christ was sent as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and are caught up in a worldly lie that there is a series of steps to reach God… Including sacrificial practiced. To me, this all falls under the blanket category of Witchcraft. This stuff is real… Not because I read about it, but because I was right in the middle of a ceremony.
This was clearly an uncomfortable situation to be thrown into. The instinct of most would be to turn right around, and make the hour hike back home. Not for me. I was actually overwhelmed with an urge to stick around in that smelly hut and speak with the witchdoctor.
Instead of condemning the man, all that kept running through my head was that this was a SON of God, just as I am a daughter. God’s heart breaks for the confusion and darkness that is over this person… so mine did too. I did not see a drunk witchdoctor with evil intentions; I saw a lost soul that Satan has gotten hold of. This ‘medicine man’ had an entourage of people coming up and offering him gifts as I stood by his side. I whispered prayers for darkness to flee, and God to tangibly reveal himself to that Man in his lifetime.
Our God is SO much bigger than any of this darkness. If we are not willing to make ourselves present to these kinds of people, who will?
I want to be the kind of person that brings God everywhere I go. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that we stumbled upon a witchcraft ceremony last Sunday. It was eye opening for all of us to see that these people are confused on the difference in Religions. No one lied to us when they invited us to a Christian gathering… They REALLY thought we all believed the same thing.
A lot of Africans believe in ‘God’, just not the same God that gave his son as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and we can have a personal relationship with. Without proper guidance and leaders, their beliefs are twisted by tradition and witch doctor leaders.
We did not stay for long, but I hope our accidental presence at this ceremony is the start of a change in this community… Even if it was just to make people aware that people are walking in confusion about what Christianity really means.
