Before I mention anything about Haitian Vodou, I would first like to talk about the Holy Spirit. When Jesus died on the cross, He sent the Holy Spirit down to every human being regardless if they believe in Him or not. We all have a Holy Spirit inside of us and are considered the holiest of temples. Because of this, God lives inside of us, and no evil in this world can overcome the goodness of God. Jesus died and rose again, solidifying this truth for all of eternity. You will never have to fear darkness because where light is, darkness cannot be. (The Holy Spirit is something that I have learned and witnessed a lot during my time on the World Race and it’s something I am super passionate about. If you have any questions or are curious I would love to talk to you about it.)
Vodou is a common spiritual stronghold that is found here in the DR and Haiti. In basic terms, the Vodou spirit an evil that feeds off of desperate people by giving earthly wants and needs for the sacrifice of anything living. Yes, that includes people. During our SMT time, our team has run into Vodou victims quite frequently and it is depressing to hear the stories. Many times we are told that they had to sacrifice their children to make money, or their friend, healthy one morning, will drop dead by the afternoon because they were targeted by someone who wanted them dead by a Vodou doctor. The US, in some ways, is shielded by the evils of dark spiritual strongholds because of our strong Christian morals, but evil is working here and at home.
One specific time we were talking to a man that was tied to a Vodou promise of some sorts. He believed in Jesus and wanted a life of freedom and all that God’s goodness had to offer, but He said he could not accept Jesus just yet. He told us that he had to complete his vodou task for the doctor so that He could then have a relationship with God. This, for anyone that does not know Jesus personally, is the reason why He came down to earth. Jesus wants your brokenness, pain, and suffering. There is no perfect time to come to God except the moment you are currently in right now. This man was captured by fear that he would not tell us. In the end, He wanted to stay in his darkness, and that is okay because I believe in a God that is far greater than evil and so my team and I prayed down the street that this man would experience the freedom of God.
After our conversation, our translator shared his experience with Vodou. His father was a Vodou doctor that became wealthy off of using the evil spirit to cause pain for others. Many times people would come to his home desperate for food, a medical miracle, riches, or revenge, and many times he would see the evil play out in his community. In return of their desire, Vodou victims must pay the spirit back with animal sacrifices, child sacrifices, or sacrifices of their own lives. But because Vodou is an evil spirit, it turned on his father and killed him. He has lost many friends to the evils of Vodou and the stories he shared were heartbreaking. But God is greater than evil, and our translator found the Lord and was free from the grips of the evil that ran in his family. His testimony is a power to reckon with when it comes to Vodou victims looking for hope in Jesus.
This problem has opened my eyes even further to the evil in this world, but I’ve seen God work in such mightier ways. I have seen evil fall when God moves. Darkness cannot be where light is. I write this blog to shed light on the evil and ask you to join me in prayer as D Squad continues to break the evil spiritual strongholds on Vodou in Haitian communities.
