Scripture: Isaiah 29 v 1 - 7; 1 Samuel 28.
This study was sparked by a South African newspaper letter where a woman asked why the
African people relied on the spirits of their dead ancestors to help and guide
them when surely once they are dead they no longer exist. Its a very important question.
I wrote an indepth study on my blog called "The
Witch of Endor" which is the full story of King Saul consulting a witch to
bring up or manifest or as New Agers would say, channel, the spirit of the dead
prophet Samuel, that the King may enquire about the outcome of the war against
invading Philistines.
The familiar spirit of Samuel did indeed manifest and
told Saul that the enemies of Israel would triumph and he and his sons would
die because he had made God his enemy through disobedience.
Consulting the ancestors or even attending a seance
conducted by a psychic medium are an open door for serious problems coming upon
your life. People are conned into believing that their dead mother or husband
are talking to them through the psychic.
What is actually happening is that Satan has familiar
spirits ie spirits that know everything about the people who died. They are a
demonic clone of the dead souls. When a vulnerable person like a mother whose
child has died wants to make (forbidden) contact with her lost child, the
demonic familiar spirit will manifest through the medium and speak just like
that dead child.
It is a huge lie because there is no ability to speak to
the dead, and you the seeker of a familiar spirit receive a curse or some other
evil for partaking in something God warns against in His Word. You are engaging
in occult and witchcraft practices when you consult a medium and you will be
bound by the lies you hear and believe.
Africans go a step further. Their religion is to worship
the ancestors. They carve and sculpt statues of their heads and make idols out
of them. They bow down and worship them and through mediums known as sangomas
or inyangas (witchdoctors) they receive instruction from the familiar spirits
of them who are nothing more than demons masquerading as dead chiefs. Poor
Nelson Mandela. They cannot wait for him to die to be available and 'trending'
on an ancestral worship plane. Satan will be merciless.
The tragedy of dealing with the dead is that you reap
death into your life and family whether through accidents like the 10 girls who
died returning home from the Reed Dance Ceremony a few weeks ago or the 23 who
died in an horrific accident involving a truck without brakes last week. Or
through HIV/AIDS or TB or other pandemics to which African people have little
resistance. Or just the family massacres, rapes, murders and anarchy or the
horror of Marikana or Boipatong or Sharpeville.
I cannot say every incident is directly linked to the
ancestors but many are. It extends further to you the reader who may have
brought home souvenirs of carved African heads or other things like drums,
masks, beads etc which have all been used in ancestral worship. In Deuteronomy
7 v 25 - 26 it clearly warns us to not bring such things into our homes but
rather burn these abominations with fire lest you become cursed like them.
Jesus died to set us free from all these things and we must worship Almighty
God and not serve demons.
We do not seem to grasp the enormity of the problem. I
didn't until I had to have my own bonfire to burn African idols that I thought
were cute. These idols bear the same familiar spirits on them to wreak havoc
with your lives. I learned the hard way and want to spare you many hardships.
Many South Africans have maids and gardeners who are
under the influence of witchcraft. Sometimes these servants bring curses on
your home through envy. Suddenly your business is going under for no legitimate
reason or you are in serious strife with your mate or your children are on
drugs. These are not just random "it could happen to anyone" events.
You have become a specific target through objects in your home or disgruntled
employees. Or both.
The only safe place on this planet is in the Ark. His
name is Jesus Christ and He is able to save, heal and deliver from all evil.
Before Jesus resurrected there was no way of dealing with the dark side. If you
engaged with demons on any level you were slain. Jesus took that death on
Himself so that we could be forgiven and live.
We must believe before we can receive but when we submit
to Jesus the gifts are available to set the captives free and restore sanity to
your lives.
Prayer: Heavenly Father You said we must not learn the
way of the heathen or pagan people but renew our minds according to Your will.
Help us to correctly discern our own lives and homes by Your standards and the
light You have given us to live by in safety and love. In Jesus' name. Amen.