When Strangers Come Knocking---Part 20

 

This is the next installment of my series to be published the first Monday of each month.

There are members of false sects, like Jehovah's Witnesses, that come knocking door-to-door hoping to convert you. Instead of ignoring them, it is we who should try and convert them. In 1 Peter 3:16, our first Pope writes, "But in thy hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks thee to give the reason for the hope that thou hast. But do this with gentleness and respect,..." Before the Great Apostasy, the Church would send missionaries to the ends of the Earth to make as many converts as possible. 

Those in false religions don't always come (literally) knocking at your door. It may be a Hindu at work who wants you to try yoga. It could be a "Christian Scientist" who lives next door and invites you to come to their reading room. Each month, I will present a false sect. Unlike the Vatican II sect, I do not see them as a "means of salvation" or possessing "elements of truth" that lead to salvation. That is heresy. They lead to damnation, and the adherents of the various sects must be converted so they may be saved.

In each month's post, I will present one false sect and give an overview of: 

• The sect's history
• Their theology
• Tips on how to share the True Faith with them

Voodoo/Santeria/Yoruba

I wish to credit  Alfred Metraux Voodoo in Haiti (2016), and Jeffrey Anderson Hoodoo, Voodoo, and Conjure: A Handbook (2008) for much of the informtion in this post.---Introibo

The word voodoo conjures up images of Africans in tribal clothes engaging in corybantic dancing  while someone sticks pins in a doll. While not entirely untrue, there is more to it than that. In 1993, John Paul the Great Apostate visited the African country of Benin. The L’Osservatore Romano gave this definition of voodoo upon the occasion of his visit:

VOODOOISM (voodoo-deity) is a religion originating in West Africa (particularly Benin) that is also widely practiced in Haiti and the Antilles. It is characterized by various rites to the “Great Master” or good God who is the creator of the spirits responsible for protecting human beings. The great God and the spirits are identified with the Christian God and the saints of the Catholic Church. The calendar of voodoo feasts imitates that of Christian worship.

Voodoo ceremonies consist of rituals invoking the spirits and the great God and are marked by drums and songs accompanying an animal sacrifice. The rite culminates in a trance in which a ritual dancer is thought to be possessed by a divinity. Ceremonies are conducted by a man (hungan) or a woman (mambo), who are often knowledgeable about witchcraft as well.

While the practitioners of voodoo have a nominal belief in a “master creator,”--similar to the "Great Architect of the Universe" in Masonry-- it is a "god" incompatible with the Theistic God of Christianity. Voodoo does believe in a deity above the other gods, though one without many of the qualities the Church recognizes in the True God, such as omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, etc. It is a god far removed from the affairs of the world, which it allows "lesser spirits" or "lesser gods" to control. These spirits are thought to reside in trees, water, animals, and other natural phenomena. This primitive cosmology is known as animism.

Likewise, the Yoruba religion system is comprised of traditional African practices and spiritual concepts. They believe that before one is born, they determine their destiny. They decide long before they ever arrive on Earth on what they will be doing in the world, where they will live, and who they will love, and even on how they will die. The religion also states that after one is born into the world all their plans and promises are forgotten and similarly their destiny is even forgotten. There are orishas or spirits that inhabit things and act for or against humans. Olorun (also called Olodumare) is the supreme deity. You must become one with him through successive reincarnations. Unlike Eastern pagans (Hindus, Buddhists, etc.) they view reincarnation as something positive; each alleged rebirth bringing you closer to Olorum.

Santeria derives from the correspondences made by some devotees between the Yoruba deities and the saints (santos) of  Catholicism. It has its origins in Cuba, and many identify as "Catholics." They will also pray to the statues of the true saints, but to them those saints signify demonic "deities." The very name is Spanish for “The Way of the Saints." Santeria is based upon the development of personal relationships through divination, sacrifice, initiation, and mediumship between practitioners of the religion and the orisha deities, who provide their devotees with protection, wisdom, and success. About 60 percent of Cuba's 11 million people are baptized in the Vatican II sect, however, an equal number practice Santeria or another form of Afro-Cuban religion. 

Voodoo and Santeria began in the West when African slaves brought their pagan traditions with them as they were transported to the New World. However, they were generally forbidden from practicing their evil religion. To get around these restrictions, the slaves started to equate their gods with Catholic saints. They also performed their rituals using the items and imagery of the Catholic Church. These sects have no so-called sacred texts only oral traditions. It's not hard to understand how backwards, poverty-stricken countries like Haiti would cling to pagan traditions from Africa. The Church was trying (successfully) to make in-roads eliminating such false religions--but then came Vatican II. 

Why would people in the United States and other developed countries choose to practice voodoo? It lures a dark part of the human psyche that covertly craves uninhibited behavior and revenge. Voodoo dolls are mostly associated with a form of African folk magic called “Hoodoo,” which is a mixture of animism, spiritism, and a combination of other religious beliefs and practices originating in Africa. Hoodoo/Voodoo dolls have traditionally been made to represent an individual who the practitioner is attempting to put a spell or curse upon during a religious ceremony. It satisfies a person's anger and desire for revenge.

There is no hierarchy, only lone practitioners in these pagan sects. They believe that all objects have indwelling spirits; hence the spirits can be invoked by means of objects they manipulate as amulets and charms. Hungans and mambos sacrifice animals to the "spirits" and channel them, asking that they may injure someone who hurt their client in some way, or cure said client of illness, or bring some other benefit upon them. Hence, at the heart of Voodoo, Santeria and Yoruba is spiritism. The Bible makes it clear:

 "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you." (See Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Emphasis mine.)  According to theologian Jone, "Spiritism claims to be able to communicate with the spirit world and endeavors to establish such commerce with it. Although spiritism is for the most part fraud, still the intention alone to enter into communication with spirits is gravely sinful. Therefore, it is mortally sinful to conduct a spiritistic seance or to act as a medium." (See Moral Theology,[1961] pg. 100; Emphasis mine). 

While "spiritism is for the most part fraud," it sometimes is not. When Fr. Jone's theology manual was published in 1961, the Great Apostasy had not yet occurred. Most of spiritism at that time consisted of old ladies reading palms and pretending to contact spirits (or souls of the dead) for extra money; it was a fraud. Since Vatican II there has been an occult and pagan explosion world-wide, such that Fr. Jone couldn't comprehend at the time of his writing. While some spiritism is still fraudulent, I dare to say much--if not most---is real today. The direct and deliberate calling upon "spirits" (i.e., demons) to enter your life will rarely go unheeded. I will examine the striking similarities between Biblical accounts of possession and voodoo practitioners in Haiti calling upon a loa; their name for the Yoruban orishas. 

Demonic Possession in the Bible

There are nine (9) cases of possessed people in the Bible:

1. The demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum (St. Mark 1:23-26; St. Luke 4:33-37)

2. The Gadarene demoniac (St. Mark 5:1-20;  St. Matthew 8:28-34; St. Luke 8:26-39)

3. The daughter of the Syro-Phenician woman (St. Mark 7:24-30; St. Matthew 15:21-28)

4. The demoniac boy (St. Mark 9:14-29; St. Matthew 17:14-20; St. Luke 9:37-43)

5. The mute ("dumb") man (St. Matthew 9:32; St. Luke 11:14-15)

6. The blind and mute ("dumb") man (St. Matthew 12:22-28)

7. The crippled woman (St. Luke 13:11-16)

8. The slave girl at Philippi (Acts 16:16-18)

9. The strong man at Ephesus (Acts 19:13-17)

According to theologian Sagues, the signs of someone possessed are: (1) to speak a foreign language never studied or to understand someone speaking it; (2) to know things hidden far away; (3) to possess strength beyond one's age or natural condition. (See Sacrae Theologiae Summa, II B:221; these signs are also mentioned in the Rituale Romanum). 

The first sign is not expressly mentioned in the Bible. 

The second sign is also referred to as clairvoyance; which is defined as perceiving things or events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact. The clearest example of this is the slave girl in Philippi. In other instances, the possessed person appeared to recognize Jesus for all that He was without ever having been introduced to Him. This happened in both of the cases in the book of Acts as well as in the cases of the Capernaum and Gadarene demoniacs.

The third sign of superhuman strength is not mentioned in every Biblical case, but the exhibition of unusual or supernormal strength characterizes some instances of Biblical demon possession. The possessed man in Ephesus overpowered seven other men. The Gadarene demoniac could tear chains apart. 

The three signs of possession are primary, but not exclusive. Demons can display themselves possessing a human in other ways. (See https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344067436_The_Devil's_Habits_and_Exorcism_in_the_Catholic_Church_Father_Amorth's_Account).  Two such traits exhibited in the biblical accounts are moral impurity and seizures.  The Gadarene demoniac, for instance, ran about naked, and the spirits in him seemed to have no regard for the property rights of others. The demoniac boy had seizures, convulsions, and other symptoms such as rigidity and foaming at the mouth. According to Alfred Metraux in Voodoo in Haiti (2016), mambos and houngans need the "gift of eyes" to see the future; often dress half or fully naked; roll on the ground frothing at the mouth; speak strange words; and can lift heavy objects when in a trance. Sounds like possession? I'll let the readers decide. 

The Great Apostate and Voodoo

Keeping in mind all that has been shown about Voodoo, Santeria, and Yoruba, here is what Wojtyla ["St" John Paul II] had to say to a Voodoo houngan in Benin on February 4, 1993 [English translation of Wojtyla's words from page 4 of L'Osservatore Romano 2/6/93]:

Dear friends,

I am pleased to have this occasion to meet you, and I very cordially greet you. As you know, I came to Benin principally to visit with the Catholic community, to encourage it and confirm it in the faith. However, I have always thought that contact with persons who belong to other religious traditions is an important part of my ministry. Indeed, the Catholic Church[sic] is favorable to dialogue: dialogue with Christians of other churches and ecclesial communities, dialogue with believers of other spiritual families, and dialogue even with those who do not profess any religion. The Church establishes positive and constructive relations with persons and human groups of other creeds for a reciprocal enrichment.

Vatican Council II …. recognized that there are truth and good, seeds of the Word, in the various religious traditions. …These provide the foundations for a fruitful dialogue, as the Apostle Paul said to the first Christians: “Everything that is true, noble, just, pure, amiable, honorable, whatever is virtuous and deserves praise, let all these things be the object of your thinking.” From this comes our approach of respect [toward you]: respect for true values wherever they are, and overall respect for the man who looks to live these values that help him set aside fear.

You are strongly attached to the traditions which your ancestors transmitted to you. It is legitimate to be grateful to the ancestors who transmitted to you the sense of the sacral, faith in a one and good god [sic], the taste for celebrations, and consideration for moral life and harmony in society. (Emphasis mine). How can anyone maintain this man was "pope"? A true pope would not, indeed, could not say such about paganism.

Proselytizing Members of Voodoo Sects

I have dealt with people who practice Santeria. Since those sects (Yoruba/Voodoo/Santeria) will have some superficial knowledge of the Vatican II sect, they will claim to be "Catholic," and even cite to Wojtyla's approval. I was shown a pamphlet by the National African Religion Congress, which said, “Voodoo is based on the belief in one God. We recognize Christ as the Savior and we believe in the Holy Spirit (the Holy Loa). The Loa (singular or plural) are divine forces or the messengers of God. You may know them as the Holy Spirit, the saints or as angels. The Loa guide us and govern the activities of our daily lives.” They teach the (alleged) compatibility of Voodoo and Christianity. This is  syncretism, i.e., he combining of different beliefs, sometimes even when incompatible. 

Traditionalist Catholicism cannot be combined with Voodoo or with any other form of religious worship. To worship Christ at all is to worship Christ alone. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (St. John 14:6); He did not say, “I am a step along the way, a partial perspective on the truth, and one among many equally-valid lifestyle choices.” With Christ it is Him and His One True Church alone that saves. 

Point out the contradictions between Voodoo, etc. and Church teaching. Remember the words of Jesus himself: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (St. Matthew 7:21). The native pagan African religions are a good example of what Christ meant. None of them believe that the one true God exists in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For them, the Holy Ghost is not a Person, but a "divine force." Or He is made up of hundreds of angels (which are really demons in disguise). Since these pagan religions do not recognize God’s true Spirit, they cannot worship the true Christ, Who has unity with the Father and with the Holy Ghost but does not consort with pagan gods and goddesses.

A person could even use the heretical 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, to show inconsistencies. If the Voodoo follower then asks, "Then why did the pope say what he did?" that would be a great opportunity to talk about sedevacantism and True Catholicism. Remember, these people converse with demons. You should always, in today's evil world, carry a St. Benedict medal on your person.  Leave them with somethings to think about and pray for them much.

Conclusion

The African pagan sects are on the rise thanks to Vatican II and its ecclesiology from Hell. Have nothing to do with these sects and their works of darkness; to do otherwise is to invite evil into your life. By giving such evil recognition, Wojtyla was, in fact, helping them spread their wickedness. With apologies to Cole Porter, John Paul the Great Apostate is paying the price for doing that voodoo he did so well.