Stupid things religious people say

[Fake Messiah]

Catholic priests are doing their best to evangelize tribes in South Africa, but they rudely still practice their previous religion. That is a huge problem because by doing that they are contacting some dubious spirits, and since we live in a PC culture, priests are not allowed to tell these poor Africans that they are contacting demons.

What are we going to do about this terrible problem of people in Africa practicing religion of their ancestors instead of the one being forced on them by European and American colonists?

Priest faces ancestral veneration in rural South Africa

Father Michael Wojciechowski is a Polish missionary priest of the Koinonia John the Baptist community, currently serving in rural South Africa.

Overall, only about 6% of South Africa’s population is Catholic. In our area, however, it’s a bit higher — around 10% to 15%. That’s because the region was more actively evangelized in the past, thanks to the work of Austrian and German Trappist monks.

That said, there are still a lot of traditional beliefs and practices, even among Christians. Many Catholics, for example, still visit local shamans.

The issue is that culture is often mixed with the occult, and that's a huge problem. Very few people make a clear distinction between the two. Even among Christians — even pastors — it's hard to tell where culture ends and the occult begins. This is often tied to invoking spirits, which they believe are their ancestors. The discernment of spirits is very needed.

There are certainly spirits — people will tell you things they couldn’t possibly know by natural means. The actual question is, what kind of spirits are communicating with them? Is it the Holy Spirit? Angels? Saints? Souls? Or demons? If it’s supposed to be their ancestors, which ones? Are they from hell, purgatory, or heaven?

There are a lot of questions, but I don’t hear many people asking these. People just accept it because they don’t want to offend anyone or be politically incorrect.

That said, based on the fruit and the effects these spirits have on people - often separating them from the faith, especially during long initiation periods, and the fear they bring - I think, in some cases, it's demons we are talking about.

The South African bishops’ conference set up a commission to study this phenomenon, and I was invited to join it. It’s an important work. I’m actually doing research now, talking to local shamans, or Sangoma, and analyzing the initiation rites they go through, as well as the beliefs behind them.

After 15 years here, I have some experience. I’m also an exorcist for the diocese, so sometimes we deal directly with spirits and see the effects of spiritual attacks on people.

Most people believe these spirits are their ancestors, so we have to go through a process of discernment. But usually, people are not doing that. They just say “This is our culture,” and they continue consulting their shamans, invoking spirits, and following their instructions.

There’s a huge wave of [younger] people returning to these traditional practices. Many young people are becoming Sangoma — shamans.

They’re told they have a “calling,” and if they don’t answer it, they’ll get sick or even die.

This “calling” usually comes with sickness and visions of spirits — what they believe are their ancestors — summoning them to become a Sangoma. Often, they don’t want to do it, but they feel they have no choice. So, they go through the initiation process. It's very common — it’s not something rare or hidden.

I once asked one woman who was going through the initiation process if I could pray for her and bless her, but she refused. She said that if I did, she’d have to start her initiation all over again. So you have to ask: What kind of spirit is so disturbed by a priest’s blessing?

It’s a big problem here in South Africa, not just in KwaZulu-Natal province, but across the whole country.

That’s where we need to step in, to help people find freedom in Christ because many are afraid to speak up or challenge things for fear of being politically incorrect. Sometimes, we could end up accompanying people to hell with a smile because we’re afraid to seek for the truth and courageously speak it.

It's a big issue, and the Church is still confused. For years, Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg defended ancestral veneration, but recently he admitted that he was wrong. He said in an interview that “the ancestors are enemies of Christ.”

https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/where-c...the-occult

[Fake Messiah]

So the Black Christian women are discovering that the church tricked them into staying unmarried so that they can be exploited?

Christian women spend years praying and waiting for husbands who may never come. Is the Church to blame?

Single Christian women who want to be married to a fellow believer are being put in an impossible position. Many are told to wait and pray, but statistically speaking, when it comes to finding lasting love, they’re at a significant disadvantage.

In 2020, a book was written called Black Single Christian featuring 13 different contributors. One of the writers said that she’s angry at the Black Church because the Church sold them a lie.

The lie was that if you become the Proverbs 31 wife, keep yourself pure, pray, fast, stay in church, don’t get involved with anybody outside the church, then your Boaz will come along. This writer was now in their late 50s - no Boaz, no husband, no children. Yet their friends who left the church got married and had kids.

The writer said she was angry at the Church for failing to provide sufficient men for them to get married, because the ratio of men to women, especially amongst the Afro-Caribbean churches, is seven women to one man. The Church should have done more to get more men in, and, importantly, to empower the men so that they can be suitable husbands. Because even the few men that are in Church are not marriage material - financially, emotionally or spiritually.

The author had posted their book extract on Facebook, and it resulted in a big debate. There was a controversial US psychologist in the comments arguing that keeping Black women single is a deliberate decision, because it serves the purpose of the church. Black women are more educated than Black men. They earn more money and they’ve got more time and resources for the church when they’re single. Once they get married, they have less time and resources. So the church intentionally keeps itself feminine and does not attract men, because they want to keep women single. I’m like, hang on a minute! Is the church really somehow responsible for this?

It’s from that I wrote a play "Why Didn’t I Get Married?" which asks if we should hold the church responsible for the high levels of singleness. The play is a courtroom drama where we are asking the questions and putting all of the arguments out there.

https://www.premierchristianity.com/inte...11.article