Truth Magazine

By Paul K. Williams

Drums beat their monotonous single-beat rhythm announcing another ceremony of the sangomas (one of the Zulu words for “witch doctor”). Onlookers, both curious and devout, gather as the sangomas begin their ritual dance. Dressed in skins, feathers and beads they go through various gyrations, calling on the ancestors and working themselves into a state where they can commune with the spirits.

Someone gets married. Very important in the ceremony is the sangoma, sprinkling water mixed with chicken blood and invoking the blessings of the ancestors. The father of the bride gives a cow to his daughter which will be the cow of her ancestors. Whenever she wishes to commune with the ancestors of her family she can talk with the cow. It will not be killed or mistreated. It is a holy cow.

One of the huts of the family is dedicated to the ancestors. In the back is a small area filled with ashes. This is a special place for communing with the ancestors.

A young man has been rejected by a girl. He goes to the sangoma for help. She (or he) first drinks a concoction that makes her vomit. Then she sits on the ground and throws a handful of bones, stones and coins. After studying the way the bones have fallen she tells the young man his troubles. Finally she gives him a love potion guaranteed to cause the girl to love him.

A person has died – young or old, it makes no difference. The family of the dead one goes to the witch doctor and inquires why that person died. After throwing the bones the sangoma finds that a close neighbor “witched” the person and caused his death.

Thunder is greatly feared, so the witch doctor is called. He sprinkles his medicine all around the dwellings, protecting the inhabitants.

Two young wives in the kraal (cluster of dwellings which include the father, his wives, their sons, their wives and children) have failed to become pregnant. The inyanga (another kind of witch doctor) cuts all the adults with a razor blade, making shallow slits on their foreheads, chests and backs and then rubbing medicine into the cuts.

A funeral is held. All relatives and friends are present because if any one is not there, he is suspected of having caused the death. Among other rituals, a special concoction must be drunk by the relatives.

A teenaged girl was being treated for glaucoma at the hospital in Durban. Her mother took her away from that treatment and sent her to stay with a sangoma who promised a cure. The girl is now blind and a Christian. The mother continues to put hope in sangomas and I have driven long distances twice in order to bring her back from witch doctors.

A soccer team employs a witch doctor to give them medicine which will make them win. Soldiers believe that the witch doctor can make them invincible even to bullets.

The Universal Religion of Africa

Ancestor worship is the almost universal religion of Africa. Though Islam has conquered north Africa and Christianity (as the world sees it) has conquered the rest, through it all is the power of ancestor worship. It is common knowledge that the African preachers of the leading denominations consult witch doctors. The most popular denominations openly combine Christianity with ancestor worship, much as Roman Catholicism combined idolatry and Christianity in centuries past.

It makes no difference whether a person is educated or not. At a Zulu College of Education when someone stole a TV set the students seriously considered calling a witch doctor to determine who did it. (That threat worked, for the TV was returned one night.)

Their Concept of God

Africans believe in a supreme God, whom the Zulus call UNkulunkulu; however they do not understand him. To them he is far away. He sends thunder on people for unknown reasons and sometimes does bad things. It is impossible for living people to communicate with him but when a person dies his spirit goes to that land where UNkulunkulu lives. That spirit then can have some influence with him and can have influence on the lives of people living on the earth. The ancestors stand in relationship to UNkulunkulu in much the same way as the Catholic saints stand in relationship to Jehovah.

A Religion of Fear

Ancestor worship (sometimes called “animism”) is a religion of fear. The believers are always in fear of angering the ancestors. When anything goes wrong the sangoma is consulted. Invariably the diagnosis is that the worshiper has angered the ancestors and that a feast must be held. A feast is expensive because everyone must be allowed to come and eat. A cow or a goat is killed by the witch doctor in a traditional way, much beer is made, and great pots of stiff corn meal porridge are prepared. All relatives and friends and neighbors attend and many get drunk. Of course, the witch doctor gets a nice fee for his services plus the best piece of meat.

Older people are greatly honored because they will soon become ancestors. It is to your advantage if the old person dies liking you. Then he or she will be willing to help you from the spirit world.

But the ancestors are not very bright. If you move house, you must first tell the ancestors and spill beer in the right places so they will not lose track of you. If you displease the ancestors, it may be that they will kill someone else. Recently a young Christian married with out having her parents at the wedding. She was informed by her mother-in-law that the ancestors are angry with her and that they will kill someone in the family. The Christian replied, “The ancestors must be very stupid to kill someone else when I am the one who made them angry!” The mother-in-law replied quite complacently that that was true.

It is a backward-looking religion. The standards of the ancestors are the all-important things. This retards progress because progress is not according to the traditions. I think this is one very big reason why Africans failed to progress in scientific knowledge the way the Europeans and Asians did. As with the ancestor-worshiping American Indians, not even the wheel was known until the Europeans arrived.

The more I see of this religion the more I hate it. It breeds hate, suspicion and fear. There is nothing ennobling about it. The worshipers are truly slaves.

The Bible is uncompromising in its condemnation of ancestor worship and all the ceremonies that go with it. I have been surprised to see how often this false religion is condemned in the Bible. Some passages which we have typed out and duplicated for use in teaching on this subject are: Deuteronomy 20:2-6; Matthew 4:10; Acts 10:25-26; Revelation 22:8-9; Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:9-15; and Isaiah 8:19-20. There are many other passages which show that the dead have nothing to do with the living.

In standing uncompromisingly against ancestor worship the Lord’s church is unique and this causes Christians to be persecuted by their families. Almost every African Christian can tell stories about such persecution. A number of young people here have been driven from home because they stopped worshiping the ancestors. Their courage and devotion to the Lord is an inspiration.

In thinking of the influential religions of the world, do not underestimate the religion of Africa – the worship of ancestors.

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 10, pp. 300-301
May 16, 1991

By John A. Smith

What Can Be Done?

Parents need to teach their children how to say “no.” We need to help our children recognize the cycle of temptation and sin (Jas. 1:14-15).

stimulus + thought + meditation + determination + opportunity =Action

Once they understand how they face temptation, they will be better prepared to break the cycle. We need to help them understand how to break the cycle by rejecting the meditation or determination (Phil. 4:8) or by denying the opportunity (Eph. 4:27).

Young people need to set dating standards before they begin dating. They should never be afraid to tell a date what those standards are. If the date won’t respect those standards, then he don’t deserve you. Some questions to consider when arriving at dating standards:

1. What is a good age at which to begin dating?

2. What are some guidelines to follow about whom to date?

3. What are some guidelines to follow about where to go on a date?

4. What is the purpose of dating?

Young women and men need to dress in keeping with their conviction to remain morally pure (I Tim. 2:9). Immodest clothing (and if you’ll be honest with yourself it’s not very difficult to determine what is immodest) fosters a state of mind which sets the stage for sexual activity. Regarding dress one teen put it this way: “Keep all of your clothes all of the way on all of the time. Don’t let any part of anyone else’s body come anywhere between you and your clothes. Avoid arousal!” The cycle of sin can be impeded by dressing in a modest manner and keeping dressed.

There are a number of ways that a young person can express love without acting it out in a sexual way. Think about it for a moment. You love your parents and perhaps even your little brother, but I doubt that you are tempted to act out that love in a sexual way! How can you show a boyfriend or girlfriend that you love them?

• tell them
• do something nice
• write them a note
• hug and a kiss
• hold hands
• buy flowers, candy, etc.
• be kind to them
• spend time with them

With a little creativity, I am sure that you can come up with more expressions of love. The point is simple: if you love a young man or woman, you do not have to act it out in a sexual way. There are safer, healthier and more moral ways to tell and show someone that you love him. If a date insists that you act it out sexually, you can be sure of one thing: they do not love you! If they did, they would not pressure you.

A few other common sense precautions will go a long way. Young people need to choose friends and dates carefully. There is no reason to get in a hurry. Make definite plans for dates and avoid situations in which you know you will face temptation. If you do find yourself in a tempting or compromising situation, look for a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).

Mom and Dad, stay married. You can teach by example what joy and pleasure can be found in a mutually faithful marriage. Strive to maintain a happy home where you talk with young people – really talk and more importantly listen! Take your responsibility as a parent seriously – provide the leadership needed. Daddies – love your daughters; mommas – love your sons! Many sexually active young people are looking for the affection that they did not get at home.

Young people are intelligent, morally responsible creatures capable of making right choices. They are more than “primates in tennis shoes” driven by ungovernable desires to mate. The unique dignity that is in man, but absent in the rest of creation, allows man the freedom to make choices. We need to equip our young people with the knowledge and morals to make informed, healthy and morally responsible choices.

Remember, if you mess up, life isn’t over. God still loves you and longs to forgive you!

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 10, p. 299
May 16, 1991

By Don Partain

An expedient is a spiritually profitable or advantageous method for carrying out the Lord’s instructions to us. To be a true expedient the practice must first be lawful – that is, it must lie within the scope of direct statement/command, apostolic example, or implication of either of these. Then, too, it must not cause any to stumble (1 Cor. 10:23f), must be spiritually profitable (though not necessarily convenient), and must be selected with consideration for the feelings and needs of all concerned.

Several years ago, members of a large congregation were wanting to use an overhead projector to aid in teaching and preaching. But for no real reason, the elders refused. When the leaders of another large church were considering a change in Sunday evening meeting times from 6:00 to 4:00 for reasons of expediency, several members threatened to pull away. Many more examples could be listed to illustrate the difficulty many brethren have when it comes to accepting expedients they are not used to.

What are some reasons for such resistance?

1. Ignorance about how to test the scripturalness of a practice. In other words, members are not confident in their ability to establish scriptural authority for a practice. This lack of confidence produces a kind of paranoia about any practice they are riot used to. So, such brethren simply cling to whatever expedients they have traditionally used (thus, placing their faith in their tradition). Or, they also look to expedients practiced by churches they consider faithful (and thus, place their faith in the practices of these churches). The unhealthiness either of relying upon church tradition or relying upon other churches’ judgment as to what is scriptural should be obvious.

Forty years ago, we were stressing the need to teach brethren how to establish scriptural authority so that they could recognize the unscripturalness of institutionalism. But we have still another reason for such teaching – namely, so that brethren will also know how to recognize what is scriptural, whether it has been traditionally practiced or not. Thus, they would not be found condemning (or at least shying away from) perfectly scriptural practices just because such expedients are unfamiliar to them. And, on the positive side, they would be able to take advantage of the benefits these expedients could afford them.

2. Complacency and laziness. As he anticipated one of the hindrances to replacing the Old Covenant with the New, Jesus made a very astute observation on human nature: “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough'” (Lk. 5:39). In a word, having settled into one way of doing things, we do not want to go to the trouble of changing and having to re-adjust. It’s just too much trouble of changing and having to readjust. It’s just too much trouble to do things differently from the way they have been done – even in cases where doing them differently would be better. It just requires too much thinking. It’s the law of inertia operating in the church – “a body at rest tends to remain at rest.”

Having done things the same way over and over, we no longer have to think in order to do them. We can pray the same prayers, sing the same songs – and in the same order, and mumble the same remarks before the Lord’s Supper. Easier to worship. Yes. But edifying? “In spirit and truth”?

3. Making commonly used expedients into law. When we limit ourselves to using only the same expedients year after year and decade after decade, we tend to promote our expedients to the status of law. That is, we begin to think that all other congregations should use the same expedients we use – not adding to or taking from them. Thus, we begin to bind where God has not bound. In fact, this was one of the errors of the Pharisees Jesus exposed. Over the centuries, they had come up with a number of religious practices as expedients to their religion. Some of these traditions were in themselves unlawful, such as, “Corban” (Matt. 15:5). But others were, in themselves, at least innocent. For example, there was nothing wrong with washing one’s hands before eating. And there was certainly nothing wrong with observing the sabbath’s day journey restriction. But what was wrong was that the Jews began to bind these traditions as law. We see this as the Pharisees and scribes rebuked Jesus for not requiring his disciples to wash their hands before eating bread (Matt. 15:2). Yet, we dare not denounce these Jewish leaders, and then turn around and do essentially the same thing ourselves!

4. Denominational thinking. In order for an expedient to be acceptable to them and beyond suspicion, it must first have been practiced by most other congregations. In effect, an expedient must be “standardized” by the brotherhood before it can be totally acceptable to them. On this basis, many brethren (at least in the past) prima facie rejected any translation other than the KJV. Here in Missoula, the church uses a notebook collection of hand-written songs in addition to using a standard hymnal. Most of these songs contain lyrics straight from Scripture, and they are sung in an orderly and reverent manner. Yet, because this collection has not been standardized by use throughout the brotherhood, some of our visiting brethren (including a preacher’s wife) have expressed at least serious concern. Such brethren do not understand local church autonomy. Rather, they think of the church as a collectivity of congregations governed by an unwritten, yet real, set of rules that tell us which expedients we can and cannot use. Such thinking is indeed denominational.

Have any of the above hindrances kept you from considering expedients that could prove to be more edifying to your congregation?

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 10, pp. 296, 301
May 16, 1991

By Larry Ray Hafley

When angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner that repenteth (Lk. 15:7, 10), we can know that “the holy Spirit of God has been offended, grieved, made sad by sin” (Eph. 4:30; Psa. 78:40; Isa. 63: 10). Jesus keenly, deeply and emotionally felt pain as he saw blind eyes, hardened hearts and closed minds (Isa. 53:3; Mk. 3:5). It is no less true today. Angels have rejoiced over me and over you, but only after “the holy Spirit of God” has been greatly grieved.

It is by one Spirit that we have access or entrance unto the Father (Eph. 2:18). That access is implemented by the Spirit through the gospel (Eph. 3:6; 6:17; 2 Thess. 2:13,14). This gospel is that which “the holy apostles and prophets” preached “with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven” (1 Pet. 1:12), Hence, through an obedient faith we are made fellow heirs (partakers, sharers) of the Spirit’s promise in Christ (Eph. 3:6; Rom. 5:2; 1 Pet. 1:22). No wonder, therefore, that we read of “the communion of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor. 13:14). It is a common, shared relationship, an inheritance, executed by the “holy spirit of God” in, by and through the gospel (Jn. 14:26; 15:26,27; 16:13; 17:17,20).

Every spiritual blessing, every morsel of hope, every mountain of mercy and every ray of grace that we have comes through the Spirit in his law, the gospel (Rom. 1: 16; 8:2; 16:25,26; Eph. 2:18; 3:6). With an “everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,” how do we dare to grieve “the holy Spirit of God”? Surely, only a vile, depraved wretch would curse his aged, loving mother and scorn a sacrificing father. How low am 1, then when I do despite and insult unto the Spirit of grace? That is what I do when I sin. I spurn the only One who has never done an ill thing toward me, the only One who would die for me and gently apply the soothing balm of the gospel when I need it most but deserve it not at all.

So, the next time you are tempted to lie or to lust, to hate or to hurt another, reflect on the grief you will bring, not only to yourself and your soul, but also to “the holy Spirit of God.” Certainly, such thoughts should stifle your tongue when it would lash out in anger; such remembrances should purify your heart from its pride and bitterness and cleanse your hands of evil. “Grieve not,” my brother, “the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 10, p. 295
May 16, 1991