As I was busy getting my internet business done, before my costly hour was up, at the ARA (American Recreation Association). They have a radio station always playing in the common area and the station was doing their regular news update on top of the hour.
I usually block out the voices, but the repetitive use of the words “evil spirits” kept interrupting my thought process. As I tuned in, the story unfolded as such. A Boarding School (these are VERY common in Uganda) in a local district, had after several attempts to remove the “evil spirits” that were plaguing them, had to shut its doors, until someone could come and fix the problem. Furthermore, accusations were being laid at a gentleman’s feet that he had been taking money from the school to help remove the “evil spirits” but that he had in fact invited more in. Several parents having heard of the “evil spirit” problem had already picked their children up from this boarding school thus sparking the shut down. Now this information was reported as fact on this credible radio station. No words like “supposedly” or “allegedly” were ever used, it was all reported in tone and verbiage of complete validation. To say the least, stories of the supernatural appear here every day. They are woven through people’s daily experiences; conversations over lunch, or over the water cooler at work and as already discussed reported daily in the news. Is this pure superstition or the things of the spirit more blatant and more bold in Africa? Are they present in the United States, but just hidden better -behind our luxurious exteriors and orderly processes?
2 comments:
Your blog here, dear Sarah, struck a chord with me. On December 7th, here in the U.S. a new movie is about to be released called "The Golden Compass". The trailer is stimulating. I even turned to Kevin and said "I really would like to see that", simply based on the effects and what appears to be a great story line somewhat like Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia.
Literally the next day, I had a few emails from fellow Christians explaining that this movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.
Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."
While "The Golden Compass" movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman's hatred of Jesus Christ.
"The Golden Compass" is set to premier on December 7, during the Christmas season(and staring Nicole Kidman), and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas.
A boycott of the movie and the books is being asked for, but it is disheartening to me just how far some Americans will go to underhandedly destroy the faith of children & bring doubt to the masses, all the while encouraging the denouncement of God.
Yes, I agree that the sounds of evil are muffled here in the U.S. We live in privilege and can be roped into darkness without even knowing how close we have come. Africa may experience the raw supernatural more physically since there tend to be no blinders, vanity, pride or wealth. There is nothing that keeps them too busy with self that they can't see the truth. Everywhere else, we see obsession with evolution and human gain & development that leads to the belief that man is alone.
If our blinders were removed, if we stopped to see the spiritual realm, if we had the freedom to speak about the supernatural without ridicule, if people weren't told not to believe in supernatural things, we too might experience what Africa sees on a daily basis... and then, it too would be a daily topic of conversation. But because our free country "protects" all walks and beliefs and because we are so focused on gain, egotism, and running the daily rat races, we may never have ability to see through ourselves to the darkness that surrounds us.
Is that truly privilege or demise of soul?
We have two Africans in our small group, and we had a conversation about the spirit world recently. They both confirmed that the spirit world is much more "tangible" in Africa than in the US. The forces of darkness are much more subtle here, but no less powerful.
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