The official name of this religion (and it is a religion with initiations and baptismal rites in addition to other rituals and customs) is Vodun. We know it as Voodoo, and it is normally associated with witchcraft, blood sacrifice, curses and rituals that were never overcome by Christian evangelism in the West Indies.
An Associated Press report filed April 10, 2003, by AP writer Michael Norton states that Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide invited voodoo adherents and organizations to register with the Ministry of Religious Affairs. This registration will permit Voodoo priests to legally officiate at ceremonies heretofore reserved for the clergy.
Voodoo priests in Haiti will now be permitted to perform marriages and baptize initiates into the Vodun faith. This religion principally came into the western hemisphere from its homeland in central Africa, particularly the former Kingdom of Dahomey, now the Republic of Benin where it is the official state religion.
The Associated Press report quotes Voodoo priest Philippe Castera as saying he hopes the government’s decree is more than an effort to win popularity amid economic and political troubles. “In spite of our contribution to Haitian culture, we are still misunderstood and despised,” said Castera, 48.
It isn’t too clear in what way Voodoo is misunderstood, since Voodoo adherents admit to various blood sacrifices, curses and zombies, which seem to be largely the impression the western world has maintained with regard to the Vodun religion. While there are various attempts on a major Voodoo web site to equate some aspects of the Vodun religion with Christianity, this would seem to be a propaganda effort to both disguise the nature of Vodun and to attempt to legitimize it in the western hemisphere, which in previous centuries has had a largely Christian population along with various Native American religious practices.
So another “mystery” religion is now out of the closet and the Voodoo priest hopes Haiti will build this misunderstood set of victims a brand new temple. Since Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, no doubt the funding will be supplied by adherents in other, more prosperous nations, so the new victims of misunderstanding can expand their influence in world affairs.
But as with politics, where there’s religion there’s also a money trail — even with the “neo-Christian” practices of liberally construing the Bible to say what it does not say and to feminize God, blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ and denigrate the mental capacity of those of us who are genuine Bible believing Christians. Voodoo dolls will most certainly pop up among the artifacts used in the practice of Voodoo, perhaps at Wal-Mart.
However, this could present a problem for the Muslim faith, which has been doing conversions in prisons and expanding the “Black Muslim” segment of Islam, since Vodun is far more African than Islam ever was or is. Surely one cannot refer to Vodun as a “new” religion, but it’s been more of an underground movement, meeting in secret, and practicing things which might be unlawful (such as some types of animal sacrifice) in the United States and other western nations in which such practices are disallowed under laws protecting animals and humans from sacrifice or mutilation.
There is no secret to the fact that Voodoo involves such sacrifices, or that it communicates with the spirits of the dead, believes in reincarnation and has a pantheon of “gods” with on superior “god” heading up the lot. Further, since the Catholic church never had an infrastructure in Haiti to do much more than perform routine baptisms and hold mass, there has been very little association of the people with this “western” religion (which Bible Christianity is not). Voodoo has been the practice for centuries, albeit in a closet where necessary.
If ever the world evidenced the fact that it is imploding upon itself, it is the infusion of various religions into the lives and customs of the people, with rituals that proclaim peace and practice bloodshed. Not only is the world troubled with wars over economic and social ills and lusts, but now religion has re-emerged as a factor that could cause further hostilities. Jihad is the first name that comes to mind. But who knows who might be sticking pins in someone’s “doll” to cause them all manner of illness?
However it is not the practice that is new, only the legitimacy of it is new. What has been generally regarded as a dark religion of rituals and drums, communicating with the dead and conjuring up various spells is now being recognized in one western hemisphere nation as a legitimate religion. It isn’t far from Haiti to the United States, so watch for Vodun to ask to be legitimized here also.
We used to jokingly say “the world has gone crazy.” Well, this time when we say it, we aren’t joking.
But as we say it, we might also look at the prophetic fulfillment:
Luke 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. (KJV)
A lot of strange things are coming to light now, being publicly revealed and disclosed for the whole world to see, thus vindicating the coming day of Judgment when such shall be judged along with the world’s political and commercial systems.
It would be much more courteous, however, if these strange religions just left out the name of Jesus Christ in any reference to their practices in some lame effort to sanction their beliefs and “connect” with the true God.
But the dark religions are doctrines of devils and they are running amok, not just deep in the Louisiana Bayous, but more openly as they lay claim to “tolerance” and try to associate some of their beliefs and practices with the words of the Bible and the historic Christian faith.
However, the multiplying of various religions will lead the rulers of the coming One World Government to “blend” them into one approved world religion so that law and order, as it exists in the NWO, can be preserved. Most people will think this is a splendid idea and very progressive.
But that kind of tolerance is intolerable for those who indeed follow Jesus, the Christ. There is no fellowship between light and darkness, truth and error.
At this point, I am not very tolerant. Jesus Christ is Lord. Maranatha!
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”