African
religion has invaded the USA and beyond from Cuba, Haiti, and other Caribbean
nations. It is a harbinger of things to come, and people who knew about Christian
truth are turning back to Satan.
This
means it is the end of the line for the USA and any nation that follows Satan
after they were enlightened.
What
is Santería? The
following is a secular discussion followed by a biblical discussion.
Santería
or La Regla Lucumí originates in West Africa in what is now Nigeria and
Benin. It is the traditional religion of the Yoruba peoples there. The slave trade
brought many of these people to the shores of Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Trinidad and
Puerto Rico among others. But along with the bodies being brought over for sale
into a life of misery, something else was being brought along. Their souls. And
their religion.
First
of all, Santería is not a 'primitive' religion. On the contrary, the Yorubas
were and are a very civilized people with a rich culture and deep sense of ethics.
We believe in one god known as Olorun or Olodumare.
Olorun
is the source of ashé, the spiritual energy that makes up the universe,
all life and all things material.
Olorun
interacts with the world and humankind through emissaries. These emissaries are
called orishas. The orishas rule over every force of nature and every aspect of
human life. They are approachable and can be counted on to come to the aid of
their followers, guiding us to a better life materially as well as spiritually.
Communication
between orishas and humankind is accomplished through ritual, prayer, divination
and ebó or offerings (which includes sacrifice). Song, rhythms, and trance
possession are also means with which we interact with the orishas and how we are
able to affect our day to day lives so that they we may lead deeper and fuller
lives during our stay in this world.
In the New World the orishas and much of the religion was hidden behind a facade
of Catholicism with the orishas themselves represented by various saints. The
slave owners would then say "look at how pious this slave is. She spends all of
her time worshipping Saint Barbara." Unbeknownst to them, she would actually be
praying to Shangó, the Lord of Lightning, fire and the dance, perhaps even
praying for deliverance from that very slave owner. This is how the religion came
to be known as Santería. The memory of this period of our history is also
why many in our religion regard the term Santería as a derogatory.
The traditions
of Santería are fiercely preserved and full knowledge of the rites, songs,
and language are prerequisites to any deep involvement in the religion. Initiates
must follow a strict regimen and are answerable to Olorun and the orishas for
their actions. As a person passes through each initiation in the tradition, this
knowledge deepens and their abilities and responsibilities grow accordingly. In
fact, during the first year of their initiation into the priesthood, the initiate
or Iyawó or 'bride' of the orisha must dress in white for an entire year.
The iyawo must not look into a mirror, touch anyone or allow themselves to be
touched, and they may not wear makeup, or go out at night for this year.
La Santería
is famous for its 'magic'. This magic is based on a knowledge of the mysteries
or orishas and how to interact with them to better our lives and the lives of
those who come to us for the aid of the orishas. We live under the premise that
this world is a magical one. This knowledge seems 'supernatural' only to those
who don't understand it, but it really is quite natural.
Although the people were yanked away from their homes in Africa and enslaved in
the New World, the orishas, the religion and its power could never be chained
down and the religion survives now. Not as an anachronism, but ever growing even
now in such places as France and the Netherlands.
____________________________________
THE
REST OF THE STORY ON AFRICAN PAGAN RELIGION
We
begin with a quote from a Roman Catholic missionary to Africa:
"African
Traditional Religions should not only be seen as "stepping stones" to Christianity,
but should be appreciated as genuine experiences of the Divine. Only then should
they be evaluated in the light of the Gospel." Father Fritz Stenger.
This
is exactly what the Catholic fathers did all around us in Tanzania in the 1950s.
Some of them attended devil dances and handed our Mary and Christopher medals.
The Africans, under demonic influence, gladly added another trinket to their collection
of talisman hanging around their necks. Also, the Catholic priests would go to
a beer drink, after the man were totally drunk and passed out, and they would
slip a Mary of Christopher medal over their heads. Voile, when the drunks woke
up the next morning, they were Catholics, much to their delight. This is Roman
Catholic evangelism. So, Fa. Fritz statement comes many years later and is simply
a more sophisticated form of the practice of the Maryknoll and Dutch priests I
saw as a kid.
This
has been the pattern for hundreds of years, and was the method used in the Caribbean
by Roman priests. This resulted in the African slaves being invited to combine
their African religion and Roman Catholicism, and the result is well known.
A
Catholic priest who was a friend of mine was a missionary in India. He ran several
boy's homes which were quite famous for their academic level. He was a Tridentine
priest and very conservative. He told me that the Vatican, under John Paul II,
ruled that the Indian Puna religions rituals must be added to the Mass. The Lingum,
a phallic icon to Hinduism, was ORDERED to be placed on the altar during the Mass.
My friend and his whole Order refused to do this, though all other Catholic orders
in India did so. For this, his whole order was excommunicated from the Roman Church
by the Pope.
IS AFRICAN
RELIGION IN AMERICA?
The
traditional Yoruba religion and its Santer�a counterpart can be found in many
parts of the world today, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama,
Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States, mainly as a result of mostly Cuban
and Puerto Rican migration.
In
2001, there were an estimated 22,000 practitioners in the US alone, but the number
may be higher as some practitioners may be reluctant to disclose their religion
on a government census or to an academic researcher. Of those living in the United
States, some are fully committed priests and priestesses, others are "godchildren"
or members of a particular house-tradition, and many are non-committal clients
seeking help with their everyday problems. Many are of Black Hispanic and Caribbean
descent, but as the religion moves out of the inner cities and into the suburbs,
a growing number are of African-American and European-American heritage.
In
Puerto Rico, the religion is extremely popular, especially in the towns of Loiza,
Carolina and Bayamon.
Operating independently of the historical syncretism described above, there are
now individuals who mix the Lukum� practices of Cuba with traditional practices
as they survived in Africa after the deleterious effects of colonialism. Although
most of these mixes have not been at the hands of experienced or knowledgeable
practitioners of either variant of the system, they have gained a certain popularity.
A very similar religion called Candombl� is practiced in Brazil, along with
a rich variety of other Afro-American religions. This is now being referred to
as "parallel religiosity" because some believers worship the African variant that
has no notion of a devil and no baptism or marriage, yet they belong to Catholic
or mainline Protestant churches, where these concepts exist.
Santaria
in Hialeah, Florida caused a fierce battle of wills and words because of live
animal sacrifices by the alleged "Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye." a Satanic
ritual group with Cuban pagan roots.
For
decades, Santeria has operated in a muted underground here, its rites confined
to basements and living rooms far from the condemning eyes of outsiders who labeled
it hoodoo. Recently, however, the religion has jumped out of the shadows. It has
burst onto the Internet. It has smitten musicians like David Byrne and Paul Simon,
and will hit Broadway next fall in a musical. And it has slowly seeped into city
life through its African and Cuban culture, its houses of worship and the innumerable
botanicas, shops frequented mostly by Santeria devotees -- santeros and santeras
-- who buy needed herbs and religious objects.
''The
religion is absolutely more public and more popular and more secular now,'' said
Emilio Barreto, ''People are more willing to talk about some of the things that
go on. There are more initiates every day and more people coming to the celebrations
to witness what they are about. People are spreading the word and people are showing
up.''
For
thousands of New Yorkers, such a ''toque'' (pronounced TOE-kay), or performance
for the saints, is now no more unusual -- or secret -- than attending shul or
kneeling to Allah. Once dismissed as a ghetto religion practiced only by the Caribbean
poor and uneducated, Santeria has a growing following among middle-class professionals,
including white, black and Asian Americans. There are police officers in New York
who pray to Obatala, the father of all deities, or orishas, before they slip on
their gun belts. There are lawyers and professors, civil servants and musicians
whose homes are filled with altars laden with flowers, rum, cake and cigars to
keep the gods happy and helpful. Many dress in white to symbolize purity. ''This
isn't the bush here,'' said Anthony Cabrera Mondesire, a Santeria priest and a
former regional transportation planner who lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section
of Brooklyn. ''We are not hicks and peasants.'' NEW YORD TIMES
No
children watching please, and no one who you know is not born again and has been
into the occult. This is trance music, and the off beat is extreme. The off beat
is African and was originally the foundation of all African Religion. This off
beat is the foundation also of rag time and stride music from Bourbon Street in
New Orleans, and this beat is the reason Southern Gospel music feels so good.
More on this in the next section. It is the beat of the groin. All Satan worship
runs to this. . More
on the Southern Gospel Music connection in my article on this.
IS AFRICAN
RELIGION IN AMERICAN CHURCHES?
Here
is a devil dance allegedly to Gospel music. The dancers think they are a civilized
choir, but they are possessed of devils, at least temporarily. When such things
happen in alleged churches, we need to call it what it is-- Satan worship. The
Hebrews dancing around the golden calf at Sinai were God's children, but they
were reverting to Satan worship.
Here
is the African devil dance beat, body shaking, and the affect. Note the rubber
face of Jake Hess, and the jive activity of Hovie Lister on the piano. The bass
is "Big Chief" Wetherington, who was an American Indian. I heard various
quartet members from many groups give a "personal testimony" of salvation,
but NEVER Big Chief Wetherington. I suspect some American Indian devil was hanging
around. I ran to Southern Gospel conventions in So. California long ago before
I repented of the filth. These men had vile immoral lives, and I saw that up close.
That was when I realized something was suspect. Get Away Jordan is the most banal
rubbish I ever heard as to doctrine, but the crowd went mad with frenzy at the
Long Beach Auditorium, and the girls in the from row would scream like at an Elvis
concert when Jake Hess did his solo. Here is African religion in the beat circa
1963:
Conversion
of a Santaria priest in New York City:
So,
do you think I am just making this up?
Your
turn-- Is this an African devil dance? Who is the "Jesus" the lady sings
about?
Romans
1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without
natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
