If you ministered in a very animistic environment how would you minister to people with sacred oaks, charms, fetishes, and witch doctors?
Some in the past cut down sacred oaks and challenged "local dieties" in a showdown fashion. Some have welcomed being cursed to show the futility of such curses. Fetish and charm burning is also big.
(a side note: I know some who have mailed these charms home as keepsakes and others who burned them all and claimed that they were evil, even when removed from their context....what do you think? Can there be any power in the thing itself? )
Others do not aggressively attack the local beliefs but just live among the people and let the people themselves slowly begin to ask about the differences between their faith and the Christian faith. These avoid showdowns in the name of not putting one's self in danger.
I have been put under a curse once in the past and responded by laughing at the person and saying that nothing from their spirits could hurt me. I did not have time to think of another response and punching the person out seemed a bit inapropriate. What is the appropriate response if cursed?
Others I know have responded by holding a special time of prayer and fasting.
Do we acknowledge these "local powers", ridicule them, attack them, let them be and not stir them up?
What is our approach to be when confronting blatant animism and even ritualized "black magic" and local shamanistic practices?
Some in the past cut down sacred oaks and challenged "local dieties" in a showdown fashion. Some have welcomed being cursed to show the futility of such curses. Fetish and charm burning is also big.
(a side note: I know some who have mailed these charms home as keepsakes and others who burned them all and claimed that they were evil, even when removed from their context....what do you think? Can there be any power in the thing itself? )
Others do not aggressively attack the local beliefs but just live among the people and let the people themselves slowly begin to ask about the differences between their faith and the Christian faith. These avoid showdowns in the name of not putting one's self in danger.
I have been put under a curse once in the past and responded by laughing at the person and saying that nothing from their spirits could hurt me. I did not have time to think of another response and punching the person out seemed a bit inapropriate. What is the appropriate response if cursed?
Others I know have responded by holding a special time of prayer and fasting.
Do we acknowledge these "local powers", ridicule them, attack them, let them be and not stir them up?
What is our approach to be when confronting blatant animism and even ritualized "black magic" and local shamanistic practices?