Forsaking the Gods

African Traditional Religion in the Church

Steve Phillips

Forsaking the Gods

African Traditional Religion in the Church

Steve Phillips

Forsaking the Gods

African Traditional Religion in the Church

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved
by Steve Phillips

ISBN 978-978-56754-6-7

A composite English translation of the Bible
Has been used throughout

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[Note: Page numbers will not correspond in this format]

 

Contents
1 The Folly of Idolatry p.1
2 The Evil of Idolatry p.5
3 The Gods of Our Fathers p.7
4 Curses p.10
5 Forsaking the Gods of Our Fathers p.12
6 Animism, ATR, & the Christian Home p.15
7 Basic Elements of ATR p.18
8 ATR & West African Christianity p.20
9 Repentance p.24
10 Balaamism p.45

FORSAKING THE GODS

Formerly when you did not know God, You were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental spirits?

Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?
Gal.4:8,9

     Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an
Empty deceitful philosophy that is according to
Human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world,
And not according to Christ.
If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world,

Why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?
Col.2:8,20

1

The Folly of Idolatry

     The foolishness of idolatry is mentioned in several places in the Word of God. The manifest folly of idolatry is evident when these passages are brought before our hearts.
“Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear;
“Noses they have, but they do not smell; They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them” [Ps.115:3-7].
Idols have no life; they do not exist. They are only the work of men’s hands. Why should a man who can walk and speak and reason and see and hear bow himself and serve a piece of stone or wood that can do nothing?
If he does, he will become like the lifeless and senseless object he worships: blind, powerless, without reason, and hearing no truth.
“‘Present your case,’ says the Lord, ‘bring forth your strong reasons…Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; Yes, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together.
“‘Indeed you are nothing, and your work is nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination’” [Isa.41:21-24].
The Lord not only exposes the nakedness of idols, He mocks the complete emptiness and stupidity of it. Any who would choose to follow the nothingness of idolatry is an abomination.
“They called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice; no one answered…And so it was at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said,
“‘Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied [with Asherah, his goddess, or merely daydreaming], or gone aside [to the toilet], or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.’
“So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves… and…raved [“prophesied”] until…evening…but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention” [I Kings 18:26-29].
Raving, prophesying, shouting, ritual cutting, and drama from morning till night: but there was no response from their god of vanity, either with word or action. What stupidity to pay 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah to deities who do not even exist. Such is the delusion and folly of idolatry.
“The Lord said to him…’pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah [wooden female deity] that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold…’ Then Gideon…did as the Lord had spoken to him.
“Then the men of the city said to Joash, ‘Bring out your son that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal…’ But Joash said to all who stood against him, ‘Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him?…If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar’” [Jud.6:25-31].
Here is the complete foolishness of men arising to punish those who have forsaken and destroyed the gods of their fathers. If Baal is a god, and Asherah a goddess, let them avenge the one who has torn down their shrines. These so-called gods can do nothing; for they do not exist. They are not real; they are only a deception.
“Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; for the customs of the people are a delusion/foolish. It is wood cut down from the forest, and a craftsman carves an idol.
“They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over. Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk!

“Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good” [Jer.10:2-5].

True believers need fear nothing from the false prophets/priests of these fake gods. Omens, signs, enchantments, predictions, astrology, etc. are all false messages from deluding things of nothing. Do not fear them; they cannot harm the real believer and certainly can do no good at all.
“Those who make an image, all of them are useless…Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing?…The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms…He cuts down cedars for himself…Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself.
“Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; with this half he eats meat…and the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image.
“He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’…And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, ‘I have burned half of it in the fire…and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?’” [Isa.44:9-20].
“The house of Israel is ashamed…saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me…’ But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble” [Jer.2:26-28].
A father who is a tree and mother who is a stone are parents of no one. They produce no life; they make no provision; they are unable to move; they know nothing. They only abide in the dirt where they are found. Will such “arise”? Do they hear your cries of terror in your distress?
This is folly beyond that of a madman. All who trust in them will perish while the tree and stone silently continue unaware and unconcerned about your plight. Are you not ashamed?

2

The Evil of Idolatry  

     “Therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry…What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?” [I Cor.10:14, 19-22].
Will the Lord not be provoked to jealousy and wrath if we worship Him one minute and the next moment turn aside to serve idols?

“You turned to God from idols to serve the living God” [I Thess.1:9].

     They presented their backsides to their idols when they turned to face the living God. A man cannot face both ways, and two masters cannot be served.

“You cannot serve God and Mammon [the idol/god of riches]” [Mt.6:24].

“And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’

“Therefore, ‘Come out from among them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” [2 Cor.6:14 – 7:1].

The Light of Christ scatters the darkness of demons. Christ has no relationship with Belial [meaning: worthlessness]. Belial represents that impure form of religion personified by Aphrodite/Artemis of Ephesus noted in Acts 19:27: a religion of sexual immorality with the goddess of love/fertility and the prostitute priestesses at that shrine.
No idol has a place in the Temple of God as was done by the wicked Manasseh who “put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God” [2 Chron.33:7]. With this, the God of glory will never agree.
“Beware that you are not ensnared to follow them…and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods that I also may do likewise?’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods” [Deut.12:30,31].
“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

“For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so” [Deut.18:9-14].

“The nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, worthlessness and there is nothing profitable in them. Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods!” [Jer.16:19,20].

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” [Mt.7:13,14]

3

The Gods of Our Fathers

Many fear ancestral covenants and sins of their forefathers coming upon them. Others are fearful that the gods they abandon will harm them or their families if they forsake them because of love for Christ.
Persecution from the family and tribe often will result as it did in New Testament days. But there will not be persecution from the gods who have been forsaken; they are not real.
They are nothing and can do nothing. The Thessalonians who turned to God from idols suffered affliction from their people, but not from the gods because of it.

“We constantly thank God that when you received the Word of God…you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren,
became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews” [I Thess.2:13,14; 3:3,4].

The temptation is to compromise between idolatrous practices and the Gospel of Christ: trying to maintain traditional practices to not offend the gods, ancestors, and family, while vainly holding onto a hope of eternal life from Christ. It cannot be done; we cannot serve both.
Though a man has two eyes, he can only look in one direction. His two legs can only walk upon one trail. Only one voice can be listened to at a time though his ears are two.
Serving two masters is an impossibility.

“No man can serve two masters” [Matt. 6:24].

There must be repentance from all aspects of idolatry if the Gospel is to be received unto salvation. There can be no compromise between God and Satan.
Light immediately scatters darkness so that it disappears altogether. It must be one or the other, not both.
Here are passages from the Scriptures that deal with the gods of our fathers and ancestral traditions.

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your empty way of life received by tradition from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ” [I Pet.1:18, 19].

Ancestral traditional rituals and practices are wholly based upon instructions passed down from the spirits of the ancestors through the fathers. The Word of God says that they are empty ways of life.
These are the very things that the blood of Christ has redeemed us from: false practices of false gods. They must therefore be abandoned.

“The Lord…charged them, saying: ‘You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; but the Lord…you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice.’
“‘And the…commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies’” [2 Kings 17:35-39].

Other gods are not to be feared by the true believer. They are powerless before the one true and living God because they “are nothing, and your work is nothing” [Isa.41:24]. The Lord protects those who fear Him from all spiritual enemies, including the false gods of earth.
“Therefore hear the Word of the Lord…because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol/hell we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.’

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily…Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol/hell will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it’” [Isa.28:14-18].

Ancestral curses and covenants are not to be feared or trusted. These ancestral covenants are powerless before the Almighty God. They will prove to be a false and empty protection from the sure wrath of God coming upon all who trust them and follow other gods. The only ones who will escape are those who are resting upon the unmoving Foundation laid by God Himself, which is Christ Jesus the Lord [I Pet.2:4-6].

“Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.
“All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.
“Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame…Each of them goes on in his error; there is not one that can save you” [Isa.47:12-15].

All sorcerers, oracles, and herbalists cannot save even themselves from the fiery wrath of the living God. Their power is weak, evil, and false. They and all who follow their directives, prophesies, and rituals will be destroyed along with them.

4

Curses

Many times a traditional worshiper will fear curses coming upon him if he abandons the old ways for the Narrow Way of Christ Jesus the Lord. He may know very well that he is a sinner and in need of salvation, but fear may keep him from truly repenting and confessing Christ. The following passages from the Scriptures address curses and whether they affect true believers.

“Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight” [Prov.26:2].

There is no cause for a curse to come upon a true child of God. No matter what the curse, the power of God is greater to protect His child from that evil.

“They hired Balaam…to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you” [Deut.23:4, 5].

Here was an international professional sorcerer of great reputation hired to curse the people of God. But God is in control of all things, even curses, not the devil. The Lord turns even the curses of evil men unto good for His people, to those who serve Him alone apart from compromise with idolatrous ways.
“He has blessed, and I cannot change it…The Lord their God is with them…There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’” [Num.23:20-23].
Hear Balaam himself who had been hired to curse Israel admitting that his curses are powerless against the true people of God. Though he wanted to curse them, he could not. There is no sorcery against the true people of God, for the Lord our God is with us. True believers need not fear curses, charms, incantations, generational sins, or juju.

“Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, for God is with us” [Isa.8:10].

Schemes and incantations spoken against the true people of God fall to the ground harmless. Ritual language and charms have no power to harm God’s real children. Why? The simple answer is this; God is with us. And “greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world” [I Jn.4:4].

“Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, but let Your servant rejoice” [Ps.109:28].

The curses of men and of the ancestors do not fall upon the true servants of God. Rather, all who truly belong to the Almighty rejoice and are blessed.
“Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?” [Lam.3:37].
No curse or incantation has any effect upon a true believer because God has not commanded it. He is in control of all that comes upon His children. Juju is powerless against all those Christ has redeemed for Himself.

5

Forsaking the Gods of Our Fathers

Believers in the true and living God are always called upon to completely abandon their traditional idolatrous practices. There can be no mixture between the two. The following passages from the Word of God will show different situations in which this was done.

“And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress…’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears” [Gen.35:2-4].

A true believer cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons at the same time [I Cor.10:14-22]. Idols and everything connected with them must be abandoned before one can truly sacrifice to the Lord God.

“Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain” [Deut.9:21].

Moses broke, crushed, and burned the golden idol that the nation of Israel had made under Aaron’s direction. He so completely destroyed it that no traces of it could ever be found again.

“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served…Serve the Lord! Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served…or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” [Josh.24:14,15, 20].

No compromise can exist between idols and the living God of heaven. We must choose whom we will serve. Both cannot be served.

“When they left their gods there, David gave a commandment and they were burned with fire” [I Chron.14:12].

The everlasting portion of gods and those who serve them is fire. Often idols, charms, and fetishes associated with them are burnt by those who have repented from the evil and of idolatry.
“And the king commanded…to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem…And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the Lord…burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes.

“Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land…that he might perform the words of the law.
“Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him” [2 Kings 23:4,6,24,25].

This true servant of God had one of the highest commendations ever given to a man. He made no compromise with idolatry. The temple of God and idols have nothing in common.

“And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. So the Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed” [Acts 19:18, 19].

There can be no mighty work of God when idolatry in all of its forms is not utterly rejected. When it is, the believers are protected by the Lord from spiritual assault and their testimony prevails in the land.

“He who sacrifices to any god other than to the Lord alone, shall be utterly destroyed” [Ex.22:20].

“They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know” [Deut.32:16,17].

“For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is terrible above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens” [Ps.96:4,5].

Gods do not exist; they are things of nothing, the superstitious imaginations of sinful hearts. There are no gods. There are only demons masquerading as gods. The Lord Jesus tolerates no arrangements with demons.
“Do not turn to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek them out to be defiled by them, I am the Lord your God” [Lev. 19:31].

“When they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the wizards who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them!” [Isa.8:19,20].

“As for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, your sorcerers who speak to you…for they prophesy a lie to you…and I will drive you out and you will perish” [Jeremiah 27:9,10].
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” [Col.1:13].

God Himself is the One who has delivered all who have been redeemed by Christ. No further deliverance is needed when God delivers.
He delivers from all powers of darkness. His work is complete and final. No man can add to that. No true believer in Jesus Christ needs deliverance; God has already accomplished that work.
And that work is so complete that these real followers of Christ have been removed completely from any remaining contact and influence of the power of the kingdom of darkness. They are translated into a new kingdom, the kingdom of King Jesus, His beloved Son.
And no power of evil spirits, principalities, or the prince of darkness, Satan himself, can touch them in that kingdom of light and life. Any attempt to assault Christ’s servants will be met by King Jesus who has “disarmed principalities and powers [and] made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through it [the cross]” [Col.2:15].

“If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” [Jn.8:36].

6

Animism, ATR, & the Christian Home

Because the animist views all of life as means to his own ends by manipulating, controlling, or even deceiving the forces he encounters, this has direct bearing on his home, especially his women. The basic orientation towards women in African Traditional Religion [ATR] is a result of his whole outlook on life. To him, women are disposable possessions: a means to achieving the man’s end for pleasure, profit, power, and progeny [children].
The following passages from the Word of God must transform our thinking from this ATR perspective to that of a genuine Christian home.

The Christian Woman/Wife is:

[1] to be honored, understood, and not mistreated since she is weaker [I Pet.3:7].
[2] to be loved as one’s own body, not treated as property [Eph.5:25,28,31].
[3] a dignified and respected helper, not an animal used as a sexual object for pleasure and to simply provide children [Gen.2:18-20].
[4] not a slave whose labor profits the man. The man is to provide for her [I Tim.5:8]. The Christian man is head, but not king; rule with oppression is part of the curse [Gen.3:16], not the example of Christ for the Christian husband.
[5] not to be divorced [Mal.2:16] and barrenness is no cause to do so [Lk.1:7; Gen.11:30; 18:10,11; I Sam.1:5-8].
[6] not under the authority of the extended family or clan. They have no rights over the wife of their male relation [Gen.2:23,24].
[7] not the one held responsible for the training of the children; the man is [Eph.6:4; Gen.18:19; Deut.11:18-21; Prov.4:1-4; Ps.78:3-8].
[8] not to be isolated and separate from the man and all that concerns him; no secrets are to be covered up. All is freely shared [Gen.2:25].
[9] a fellow heir of the grace of life, not of lesser privilege [I Pet.3:7; Gal.3:28].
[10] not to be shared among other wives. Polygamy does not have God’s approval [Gen.2:18-25; Mt.19:4-6; Deut.17:17].

If repentance from the ATR view about the wife and home is not actual, it renders our Christianity an empty masquerade, because our prayers will be ineffective and hindered [I Pet.3:7].
One of the most critical issues facing the church of West Africa is that of the influence of ATR upon its beliefs and practices. Specifically, a major concern that must be responded to biblically, both in teaching and in practice is this:

What is The Christian Home?

Three crucial areas need to be brought into conformity
to the life of Christ in the home:

[1] Birth [2] Marriage [3] Burial

ATR has very specific and powerful rituals and expectations surrounding these three events. Because these have not been thoroughly addressed by the West African church itself, there has been no distinctive Christian culture emerge in the more than one hundred and fifty years that the gospel has come to this part of the world.
In these areas in particular, little difference can be seen between the Muslim, Animist, and Christian in their basic assumptions about and daily treatment of wife and children. Expectations and rituals with respect to weddings, births, and burials show little distinction between Christians and tradition.
These are all highly important events in which the “blessings” of the elders, ancestors, gods, and ancestral spirits are expected to be obtained. It is surrounding these events that fierce opposition is encountered by the true believer in Christ who refuses to partake and participate in receiving such “blessings.”
Burial rites are especially significant to those practicing ATR. Without the proper ritual ceremonies, it is believed that the departed spirit will not be admitted to the blessed state, but be doomed to wander as a haunting evil spirit who will trouble the living. This is why one-year anniversaries to honor the deceased are common practices among traditional peoples.
There is pressing need for the African believers themselves to determine what can and cannot be done in order to glorify Christ in the Christian home. Especially significant are the strong temptations to compromise with ATR at the times of marriage, birth, and burial. If the African brethren will search the Scriptures and take a stand upon what is truly Christian, a truly godly and distinctive Christian culture will arise as a testimony to Christ.

7

Basic Elements of ATR

ATR attempts to manipulate, control, direct, and command spiritual powers according to the will of the man by using ritual language and means.
His key to a successful life is the ability to manipulate forces according to correct formula. He views bodily posture, certain words, objects, and rituals as possessing effective power of their own which can be employed to obtain his wishes.
The culture of the animist is determined by ancestral tradition and conformity to that. He therefore is ultimately concerned about the “who” and “why” of life rather than the questions of “what” and “how” that Westerners focus upon.
To discover who is in power and why this power acts as it does is a constant pursuit. Meaning to life is always to be understood in a spiritual way rather than in a physical or material manner.
Therefore in ATR, the causes behind disasters, sickness, deaths, poverty and other details of life will be sought for in terms of who made these things happen and why they did so. Power is needed to discern the events of life, to obtain protection from forces, and to also direct their course.
This makes the correct performance of prescribed ritual of utmost importance. An animist’s relationship with power has little to do with morality, but has everything to do with the expertise needed to get results by proper technique.
It is not the will of the god that is his concern, but the compelling, controlling, or manipulating that god to perform his desire. Thus by rites, rituals, incantations, or use of sacred objects, he seeks to use spiritual powers to produce success, happiness, or whatever else he may want, whether good or evil. Simply stated, man is the focus of all of life and the spiritual forces are viewed as existing solely for his benefit.
He believes that life can be transformed by techniques applied to mind, body, and spirit. There is no “sin” other than to not correctly perform the proper rituals. In ATR, there exists no absolute standard external to himself that judges his actions or to which he is accountable.
Essentially, good and evil are judged by whether the action promotes accepted tradition, not in terms of moral truth according to a written standard. Because he sees himself as an extension of the corporate community, tribe, and its spirit world, he does not view himself as blameworthy of misdeeds. Any failure must be attributed to some means used against him and the cause must be sought, not in himself, but in divining its spiritual source.
Feeling, experiencing, and participation are what make his life meaningful, not ideas or knowledge derived from written sources.
World religions, by way of contrast, are institutionalized rather than experiential and pragmatic [whatever works being considered right or true]. They point back to a founder, have sacred writings, and appointed places of worship. Sin is judged by an established written code and membership is determined more on moral grounds and agreement with documents rather than by ritual participation.
ATR practices oral traditions passed down through ritual to insure the continued involvement of the ancestral spirits among the living. As such, a broken relationship between people of the same group is a serious breach in animist “theology” and is the closest thing to being considered “sin.”
The ancestors are thought to be the guardians of the living who determine which spirit will come to inhabit the unborn. Thus, to disrupt the harmony between the spirits of the ancestors and the group as a whole becomes a horrifying prospect.
This is not to say that an animist cannot have his own thoughts and distinct behavior. He may, but he must not violate ritual practices or this will provoke the anger of the spirit world and the wrath of the community to which he belongs.
Great pressure is therefore upon him to conform to the accepted practices with respect to his assigned role within it. It is why individuality, diversity, and inventiveness are discouraged and rarely seen.
To be cut off from the family, clan, or tribe is therefore the most terrible punishment that can be inflicted upon anyone. A man without relatives or children of his own is like someone without citizenship, identity, friends, or help in this life or the next.
Yet his participation in the community is essentially self-seeking. His desire is to gain power both within the group and over his own destiny. Prayer, sacrifice, and rituals are not performed out of devotion, but in order gain what he wants by “using” the spirit world.
Ritual is the foundation of animism and ATR. Through the correct formula, access is gained and help obtained from the spirit world. The basic belief is that if a man will perform so and so, a sure result must necessarily follow. The ritual act is sacred and effective merely by being performed according to correct formula.
There is a reciprocal relationship between the man and his deity. The god cannot influence the world apart from the ritual of the man and the man has no power to change his situation apart from the god. They are, in that sense, mutually dependent and one together in the stream of life as they influence their world.
ATR believes that using the proper words correctly will always produce the desired results. There are certain power words that must be used with great caution. “Positive” and “negative” confessions are believed to bring either prosperity or a curse.
Animistic healing takes place using this technique. Through power ritual language, sickness is commanded to leave the distressed and enter the body of a sacrificial animal or return to its source.
In ATR, the supreme God is at best distant and unconcerned with the practical affairs of men. He may be respected, but He is not personal, certainly not a Father, though He may be considered to be Creator or even Judge.
The existence of an impersonal power often referred to as the life-force is a common belief among animists. This force has no moral nature but can be tapped into and used for either good or evil.
Symbols also play a vital role in sustaining the animist’s contact with the spirit world all around him. Horns, swords, crosses, crescent moons, calabash, and bodily gestures all convey spiritual power.
Dreams, visions, and ghosts play a significant role as they are viewed as bringing contact with the ancestral spiritual world. Ceremonial meals are common expressions of the community’s ritual practice along with dances, drums, songs, ceremonies, and parades.

“Beware that you are not ensnared to follow them…and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods that I also may do likewise?’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods” [Deut.12:30,31].

8

ATR and West African Christianity

The roots of basic ATR thinking and practice have not been abandoned in the Christianity of West Africa. When the Orthodox church came initially many years ago with its liturgy, rites, priests, ceremonies, cassocks, religious objects, and sacred places, essentially they were received by Africa within their ATR framework.
These things brought by the early missionaries were believed by many to be vehicles of power that were effective in and of themselves, rather than merely representative and symbolic. And so even today, the Bible, as a sacred object, often is used as a talisman, pictures of Jesus as a means of grace, and water and crosses as charms for protection or blessing. Extreme forms of these characteristics are seen in the so-called White Garment churches.
Modern Pentecostalism in West Africa stemming from the 1970’s is ever as much infected with this ATR orientation. Here the “Man of God” has taken the place of the Ifa, the oracle priest who speaks for the god. Thus it is thought that the “pastor” has contact with the “Spirit” in a way that the uninitiated do not, and he therefore must never be questioned.
It is thought that power is transferred by his touch through the laying on of his hands. Objects such as water, oil, and handkerchiefs that he has “blessed” are believed to transfer the “anointing.”
Even clothing that he has worn, sweat from his brow, and sand that his foot has walked on are viewed in this way. This is sorcery, magic, and fetish practices merely dressed up in “Christian” clothes.
All of these things are ATR to the core and must be repented of if our religion will be Christian indeed and be conformed to the Pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ the Lord says:

“Repent…or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place – unless you repent” [Rev.2:5].

“Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth” [Rev.2:16].
“Behold, I will throw her on a bed…and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent…and I will kill her children with death” [Rev.2:22,23].

“Remember therefore how you have received and heard; and keep it and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come upon you like a thief” [Rev.3:3].

“Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth…be zealous therefore and repent” [Rev.3:16,19].
He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches

9

Repentance

The influence of ATR has entered the West African Church like water enters the body. The “church” is now saturated with uncountable practices, superstitions, traditions, fears, taboos, and outright idolatry: all in the name of Christianity and Jesus.
If these things are not repented of, Christ Himself will rid the “church” of them. It will not be pleasant when He does. The obvious things such as pouring out libations upon the tombstones of ancestors, visiting juju men to obtain charms and potions, the evil of polygamy, and offering sacrifices to other gods ought never to be practiced.
But other elements of ATR have crept into the wayward “church” to corrupt and derail it. Some of these practices may not be as clear as the ones just mentioned, but they are equally evil and hated by Christ.
An attempt has been made in the following ten broad headings to summarize the areas where ATR has been absorbed into the “church” and its practices. Repentance is called for in every area.

We Must Repent Of:

Categorical Gods

We must repent of the concept of categorical gods. The true and living God is in an unrivaled category by Himself and shares no arrangements with other deities.

“We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods…yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things” [I Cor.8:4-6].

All others must therefore be cast away and He alone worshiped and served. But with the ATR thinking that is present in the “church,” too often Jesus is viewed and “served” as the God whose specialty it is to forgive and carry His followers to heaven, but who does not involve Himself in other matters.
Practical concerns, however, such as crop production, protection from enemies, fertility, wealth acquisition, etc., are the “specialty” of other deities, local gods. When help is needed in these “practical” areas, a person must go to them and not Jesus; those areas are not His “specialty.”
Some people go so far as to deceive themselves that these “gods” are ministering spirits/angels sent by the distant Almighty to assist in these needs of everyday life. But they are not. This is a huge delusion.
The true and living God does not “partner” with other “gods” since, in reality, they are things of nothing;

“there is no god besides Me” [Deut.32:39];

“all the gods of the peoples are non-existent things” [I Chron.16:26].

They are not idol/gods; they are demons.

“What the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons” [I Cor.10:19,20].

All arrangements with these false deities must therefore be cast away and the God of Glory alone be worshiped and served.
We must repent of thinking that each god has its own specialty: rain, crops, fire, fertility, death, love, etc. There are no gods; they are only unclean demonic spirits.

“The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols He shall utterly abolish. When the Lord arises to shake the earth, his enemies will crawl into holes in the ground…In that day men will cast away to the rodents and the bats their idols of gold and silver while…they hide among the jagged rocks before the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty” [Isa.2:17-21].

Better to cast those away now of your own choice rather than in terror and panic in that day. Repent of categorical gods.

Oral Tradition

We must repent and abandon the practice of serving gods based on oral tradition. ATR views the priest as speaking for the deity and as the mediator of power and contact with the supernatural. But for the true believer, the oral tradition of the elders received from the ancestral spirit must be abandoned for faith in the written revelation of the true God.
The Scriptures supplant oral tradition. That Word is external, objective, and verifiable. It is preserved in durable form available for all to read and judge whatever is said by anyone concerning it.
Oral tradition follows the crooked trail through the bush over centuries of time. Each individual is expected to walk in the same path established by the ancestors without questioning. Because it is passed on orally, manipulation and misrepresentation are easily achieved in the mouth of the one in authority who is speaking it.
Because oral tradition is not written, the one speaking it can add or leave out whatever suits him when he speaks. He can invent whatever he wishes to influence and control others. And the hearers have no way of knowing whether he has done that or not. That is what is meant by subjective.
On the other hand, the Word of God is objective. It is not dependent upon the man who is speaking it. It is outside the man, can be read by all, and each one can judge for himself whether what the man is speaking is what the Word is actually saying.

“And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the Law and the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them” [Isa.8:19,20].

The Word of God is not a talisman and its writing is not white magic. ATR views the Bible as a charm to ward off evil or that speaking its words is a ritual incantation to obtain one’s desires. As such, it becomes the most powerful juju available to man within the traditional mindset.
Even though someone may say he believes the Bible, he may nevertheless be receiving it within an ATR framework of thinking. So not only do the Scriptures’ content need to be conveyed, but the process by which it is apprehended must also be transformed.
The reasoning approach conditioned by centuries of ATR and embracing its oral tradition unquestioningly must be transformed. “Do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” [Rom.12:2].
Learning by rote memory and demanding compliance via ancestral tradition must be replaced with a different mode of apprehending truth. Each one reasoning for himself from the pages of the Word of God within the context of mutual contribution and discussion must be developed.
That can be facilitated through mutual discussion, using repeated questions that lead a person to reflect for himself. This develops critical analytical skills and is the only way that a change in mindset, mental processing, and eventual altered worldview can be achieved. Otherwise, the new content of the Bible will be received, processed, and twisted via the traditional and faulty outlook of ATR.
Oral tradition establishes and reinforces hierarchy. Since there is nothing except the spoken words of the elders/ancestors, all must bow to and obey whatever they say. Thus they rule unquestioningly.
Writing, however, places every man on the same level. Each must interact with the message and decide for himself. The Word judges every man, elder and youth alike.
And thus by the very fact of having a written Word, the evil of ruling over others in the church is eliminated. The oppression of clergy dominating the laity [“common people”] has no place when there is a written Word available to all:

“I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say” [I Cor.10:15].

Oral tradition reinforces tribalism. Only the message of one’s own particular tribe handed down by the elders has validity in ATR. Other traditions and customs are therefore looked down upon as inferior, weak, and irrelevant.
The written Word, however, eliminates all basis for tribal superiority. All are equal members of a new family, a new community, a fellowship that does not take into account any man according to what he is in the flesh.
“Therefore from now on we recognize on one according to the flesh…he is a new creation; the old things passed away” [2 Cor.5:16,17]. “All of you…have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek…slave nor free…male nor female” [Gal.3:27,28].
Oral tradition keeps one a prisoner of his own isolated world. He knows nothing outside what he has been told. Other perspectives are suspect and resisted. What others think and practice is rejected as alien, inferior, and threatening.
But with writing, one is transported beyond the limits of his own immediate experience. Vast new vistas of knowledge are opened up to the mind to consider. The Scriptures carry us beyond everything known here below on earth to now view life from a higher, heavenly, and eternal standpoint.

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man…to us God revealed them through the Spirit” [I Cor.2:9,10].

We must repent of the twisted deceptive path of oral tradition.

Oracle

We must repent of the longing for an oracle priest to connect us to the spiritual world. It is believed that he has broken through to the spirit in a way that the common person cannot.
He knows the mind of the deity. He understands the prescribed rituals to join us with unseen powers. He can provide the means to achieve our desires, whether good or evil.
The words of this juju man are thought to be the very words of the god. As such he becomes the necessary mediator between the god and the common people.
He is the sacred spiritual priest; the common people, the laity, are helpless to know what to do apart from his intercession. He alone can bring the message of the deity to the people. In short, the words of the oracle are the words of the god.
We must repent of the delusion that the “Man of God” is the oracle of God: that the “Pastor” has replaced the juju man. It is error to imagine that such a man has contact with the God of heaven in a way that the “ordinary” people do not.
It is the inbred thinking of ATR that the priest at the shrine alone knows the message and has access to the power of the deity he serves. Such a man is the mediator between the god and men.
This evil thinking has been transferred into the “church” where clergymen actually become antichrists in a very practical sense, seeing that they now have become secondary and competing “mediators.”
“Prayer Points” have their origin in this mentality of the oracle priest who speaks for the unseen god. The “Man of God” tells the people what God wants them to practice, believe, and pray; this is ATR.
Many believe that the “pastor” hears from God and then transmits to the people the word from God that he has received. This is the traditional mindset in ATR. Here is how it works.
The people have no direct access to the deity. They therefore come to the oracle priest who alone has entrance there. The priest through sacred ritual, divines the message from the deity.
He then brings the message of the god to the people for a price. The people pay the oracle/priest and leave with the message of a god they have never known and never encountered.
It is what is done in the village; it is what is done in the “church.” Of this mentality, we must repent.

“There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” [I Tim.2:5].

A pastor is not your mediator. If he is, then he is an antichrist, a substitute for the One and only Mediator, Christ Jesus the Lord. He has no more access to God than any other true believer. Heaven is open to the lowliest and weakest Christian.

“Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. This High Priest of ours understands/sympathizes with our weaknesses.
“He is One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” [Heb.4:14-16].

There exists no separate and special class of priests among believers in Christ. All are priests. All have equal and direct access to the Majesty in heaven, the true and living God, apart from human mediators. You need no “Man of God” to intercede for you or to tell you what to pray.
The Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit both intercede for you; seeking human mediators is turning back to the deception and bondage of ATR. Jesus is

“able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” [Heb.7:25].

What will the mediation of a “Man of God” add to that?
The Holy Spirit Himself teaches us and guides us in what to pray. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for…the saints [holy ones/true believers] according to the will of God” [Rom.8:26,27]. Why do you need a “Man of God” to give you “prayer points”? You don’t.
In ATR, the Oracle is “anointed” with supernatural abilities and access to the god that the common people do not possess. Therefore it is only through him that average people can experience the supernatural. This we need to repent of.
In Christ Jesus, all are anointed with the same Holy Spirit, equally and fully. No one’s anointing passes that of another.
There are no “super” Christians. We share in the same life, spiritual blessings, and anointing.

“Little children…you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know…the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as it has taught you, you abide in Him” [I Jn.2:18,20,27].

These truths are what are known in the Bible as the priesthood of all believers and the anointing of all believers. Practice these; abide in these. Throw aside the bondage of ATR’s oracle/priest mentality.
We have the written Word of God open and available to all. All genuine Christians are anointed spiritual priests with full access to the throne of God. Because of these wonderful truths, we must adopt these godly orientations:

“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the rest pass judgment” [I Cor.14:29]. “Examine everything carefully, hold fast to what is good” [I Thess.5:21].

“Receive the Word with eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things [are] so” [Acts 17:11].

The mutuality of true Christian fellowship among equal brethren cancels the misguided idea that obedience to the hierarchy of elders is to be absolute and unquestioning. In true Christianity, truth and love prevail, not subjection to ruling men whether they are right or wrong.

“There are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers…who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole households, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain” [Tit.1:10,11].

In ATR it is unthinkable to not hearken to the elders since they embody the ancestral spirit and all the traditions and values of the ages. But in true Christianity, elders are to be honored but not obeyed when in error.

“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned…he was afraid of criticism from [false teachers]…even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy…not walking straightly about the truth of the gospel” [Gal.2:11-14].

Many today, however, are like Diotrephes who loved to be first among the brethren and reign like an oracle/priest. He was an ungodly man. He did not receive the written Word of God from the Apostle John.
He maliciously accused John and the brethren with wicked words by talking nonsense against them. He did not welcome and fellowship with the true brethren. His reign was so authoritative, that any who wished to share lovingly with the genuine believers were thrown out of the church.

“I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to the deeds that he is doing, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. And not being content with that, he not only refuses to welcome the brethren himself, but forbids those who want to do so and throws them out of the church!” [3 Jn.9-10].

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good” [3 Jn.11].

Repent from the deception and bondage of the Oracle/Priest: in the bush and in the church.

Incantation

We must repent of the concept of incantation: manipulating spiritual powers through ritual language. The true and living God cannot be manipulated with ritual words.
The spoken word has no power to change the physical world. It is error to imagine that the true God can be influenced or controlled by ritual activity as the spirits are.

The “Positive Confession” [PC] doctrine
Is nothing more than the foundational assumption of all ATR:

The mind of man through images
creates reality by spoken ritual language
which releases powers either positive or negative

It is delusion to imagine that the true God can be influenced or controlled by the ritual activity of PC. Performance of “correct” religious requirements, prescribed prayers, or simply invoking “In the name of Jesus” do not move Him to act.
ATR employs such methods for selfish ends by commanding spirits using ritual power language. That is sorcery, but not Christianity.
The church has been deluded by deceivers to use the techniques of PC that have been borrowed from ATR and gleaned from Satan. Often Isaiah 45:11 is quoted in the King James Version to support their false claims: “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands, command ye Me.”
We have foolishly believed our “Oracle” men of God, but have not examined the Scriptures to see if these things are so. The NIV translation says: “Concerning things to come, do you question Me about My children, or give Me orders about the work of My hands?” The Good News version reads: “You have no right to question Me about My children or to tell Me what I ought to do.”
The New Living Translation has it this way: “Do you question what I do for my children? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?” Again, the ESV translates: “Ask Me concerning things to come; will you command Me concerning My children and the work of My hands?”
The surrounding verses in Isaiah 45 refute the wickedness of PC, rebuking and asking in anger:

“Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker…Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’” [Isa.45:9].

And then following verse 11, the folly of commanding God and decreeing His actions is reproved stingingly with these words:

“It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands and I ordained all their host” [Isa.45:12].

What arrogant stupidity to attempt to command God. Yet this is the essence of ATR with their small “gods.” It is also the essence of the PC that has infected the “church” like a disease.
We must repent of PC; it is not Christian or biblical at all. PC is deeply ingrained into the fabric of traditional cultures worldwide.
But PC is devilish and has its origin, not in man, but in Satan himself. By PC, Lucifer, the shining star of the morning, became the devil.

Lucifer said in his heart,
“I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly…
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High”
Isa.14:12-14

This is the origin of PC: the decrees, commands, and confessions of this wicked deluded spirit Lucifer who thereafter is known as Satan.
PC is satanic. PC is an insult and assault upon the Most High God. It is lawless revolt that is rooted in pride.
Did Satan’s PC work? Did what he decreed come to pass? Did he possess what he confessed? Let us see.

Satan said, “I will ascend to heaven!” The Lord Almighty said, “You have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer…you have been cut down to the earth” [Isa.14:12].

This is failure number one.

Secondly he decreed, “I will raise my throne above the stars of God.” But in reality the Most High thrust him out as one, “who [will] go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse” [Isa.14:19].

This is failure number two.

He then declared in arrogance, “I will sit on the mount of assembly.” But the Lord cast him out as a filthy thing, saying, “Your pomp is brought down to Sheol/hell…maggots are spread under you, and worms are your covering” [Isa.14:11].

This is failure number three.

In the fourth confession he exalted himself, boasting, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.” But this too was not so. “Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol/hell, to the lowest depths of the Pit” [Isa.14:15].

This is failure number four.

Finally, he spit forth this insane blasphemy, “I will be like the Most High!” That madness was met by the God of Glory with this rebuke, “The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked…Hell from beneath is excited over you to meet you…you have been made weak…you have been cast out…like an abominable branch” [Isa.14:5,9,10,19].

This is the fifth and final failure.

PC is an arrogant delusion. The God of heaven rejects it as the satanic deception that it is. So should we.
But even with these manifest failures to actually possess anything that he confessed, Satan has not abandoned this technique. He uses it still to tempt, delude and destroy.
He continues to promote the deception of PC, and has successfully introduced it across the spectrum of Christendom. He even dared employ it with the Lord Jesus Himself.
After forty days of fasting in a wild wilderness, the tempter directed Christ to use the satanic failure of PC to satisfy His needs.

“Command that these stones become bread” [Mt.4:3, emphasis added].

The satanic delusion of PC says, “Speak to your need; decree your prosperity; your words have power to create; you have the ability to speak things into existence; confess what you can imagine and it will come to pass.” That is Satan.

This is Jesus: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God” [Mt.4:4, emphasis added].

Trust is to be put in the written Word of the Living God, not in our own positively confessed words, and certainly not in the words proceeding from the mouth of the devil. “It is written!” That is faith and that is how to resist the devil.
It is evil to imagine that the spoken word of man has creative power if properly expressed according to prescribed ritual. This is sorcery and magic, not Christianity. Jesus rebuked and resisted this temptation.
We need to do the same. PC is incantation practiced by ATR and derived from the devil. That is the simple hard-bones truth. Let us be done with it.
“Warfare” prayers are incantations that take the name of Jesus and of God in vain. No such prayers are found anywhere in the New Testament.
Shouting, “Back to sender,” is a popular method used by “deliverance” ministers to transfer spirits, curses, or problems to a sacrificial victim. In this case, the curse is “returned” to the “enemy” who is the “source” of the spiritual affliction. But this is sorcery, not prayer.
Presently, using the name of Jesus as an incantation is widely practiced in the ATR “church.” Such deception was actually noted in the NT. There certain men attempted to use the name of Jesus as an incantation in their “deliverance ministry.”
It failed miserably because the name of Jesus has no power in itself. “In the Name of Jesus” is not an incantation to guarantee the results of what a person confesses.
“Some of the Jewish exorcists…tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in an incantation over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘We command you [to come out] in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.’

“And the evil spirit answered and said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’ Then the man with the evil spirit, leaped upon them and overpowered them [violently], so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded” [Acts 19:13-16].

PC considers the Name of Jesus to be a powerful charm/ritual language: indeed, the most powerful incantation that can be uttered. But it is not.
Using the name of Jesus as an incantation is what the many “deliverance” ministers were actually doing in Mt.7:21-23. But in reality they were taking the name of Jesus in vain. He never knew them. Never once did a demon depart from anyone under their “ministry.”

They are charlatans, frauds, 419, and hollow trees. Jesus said, “I never knew you” [Mt.7:23, emphasis added].

His name was on their lips, but their hearts were far from Him since they were actually lawless: deceptive masquerades.
Since they themselves were not delivered from the power of darkness; how could they ever deliver others? They cannot, and did not, and all perished. And Jesus says there are “many” [Mt.7:22].
We must repent of PC and rather submit to the written Word of the one true Sovereign God.

Curses

Repentance must be made from the deeply ingrained practicing of cursing adversaries and enemies. “As the spike of the palm tree rises higher than the branches, so will I arise.” This is a common positively confessed blessing/incantation found in the traditional culture.
At the very same time, however, it is also pronouncing a corresponding curse upon others who are hindering our way. It is at once an exaltation of self, and a decree of failure and ruin upon others blocking the confessed prosperity.
When a wayward “church” holds vigils to destroy enemies with violent “prayers” to take the kingdom by force, we have entered fully into the stream of ATR. This is witchcraft and the cursing of sorcery. But it is neither prayer nor Christian.

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” [Rom.12:14]. “Have I rejoiced at the destruction of my enemy, or exulted when evil befell him? No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life in a curse” [Job 31:29,30].

Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” [Lk.6:27,28].

The tongue is “an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be” [James 3:9,10].

What should be done when men reject Christ and hinder our way? Shall we scatter and destroy? Shall we call down destruction upon them? Jesus provides us the answer:
“They did not receive Him…and when His disciples…saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?’
“But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them’” [Lk.9:54-56].
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” [Mt.5:44]. Those are Jesus’ words. Whom will we obey, our Lord and Master, or ATR “Men of God”?
Repent of cursing.

Shrines

We must repent of the concept of a local deity inhabiting a sacred place. This evil thinking was institutionalized by Nimrod at the tower of Babel.
It is a Babylonian idolatrous tradition that spread throughout the entire world when God scattered languages. Every culture carried Nimrod’s traditions with them: ancestral traditions of a ruling priest, a shrine, oral tradition, and sacrifice.
His was the first building erected that was devoted to religious purposes, a “tower whose top will reach into heaven” [Gen.11:4]. Before that, men could worship the true God anywhere that earth or stones could be built according to Divine direction [Ex.20:24-26]. Then, all were priests; all could worship God in Spirit and truth.
But with Nimrod, everything changed. Worship in Spirit is quenched by external ritual. Worship in truth is supplanted by man-devised traditions and decrees.
Now men must travel to his “sacred” location in order to “worship.” There they meet a custodian/priest who would “connect” them to the god resident in that shrine. Oral tradition from that oracle/priest directed their every religious ceremony.
Where there is a shrine, there must be a priest. Where there is a priest, there must be sacrifice. Where there is sacrifice, there must be payment. This is the legacy of Nimrod to all the tribes of earth.
In true Christianity, there are no sacred totems: particular animals, places, objects, or plants that have a special brotherly relationship with believers. Trees, groves, rocks, streams, or mountains and high places are examples of totems in ATR.
“Prayer Mountains” and church buildings have become Christian totems in the minds of many. But they are not holy places. God does not inhabit them in any other way than He inhabits any part of His creation. God is everywhere.

“Where can I go from Your Spirit, or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there” [Ps.139:7,8].

Church buildings are not the house of God, neither are they “holy places.” Burning candles in the “sanctuary” does not indicate that God is present there any more than He is outside on the street. “Cleansing” the environment and inviting the Holy Spirit as a welcome guest in worship meetings does not “sanctify” that building.
It is a matter of historical record that the church from the time of Christ did not gather in buildings devoted to religious worship. There were no church buildings, sanctuaries, or cathedrals for some 250 years. The NT church simply met in homes as recorded in Rom.16:5; Philemon 2; etc.

“The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord” [Acts 7:48,49].

“Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them” [Mt.18:20]. Jesus said that the hour “now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth…neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem” [Jn.4:3,21].

That hour is now.

We must repent; there are no shrines in the church that Jesus is building.

Tribalism

We must repent of division, sects, and proud thoughts of superiority. The root of tribalism is the connection with the ancestral spirit and traditions of the elders. Tribalism has no basis to be continued since the ancestral spirits and gods of the tribe are wicked delusions and must not be served.
Each tribe in conceit esteems itself superior to the inferior gods and ancestral traditions of other tribes. And this proud tradition has infected the “church.”
Denominations and their shrines are considered as sacred totems, having a special brotherly relationship with their members that can only be experienced within that tradition. Association with Christians outside the circle of each denomination is discouraged, even forbidden by the ruling elders.
The General Overseer [GO] of each shrine’s tradition is viewed as having a special connection with “God” in a way that the common member does not. That same GO is believed to have a special anointed access to spiritual things that other “Men of God” do not. And thus the tribalism of ATR remains deeply entrenched in the denominational spirit that rules in Christendom.
But there are no sects among true believers in the Lord Jesus.

“You are all one in Christ Jesus” [Gal.3:28].

In the true church built by Jesus, there is “one flock, with One Shepherd” [Jn.10:16].

Christ is the Head of one body, not of many.

“There are many members, but one body…so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members might have the same mutual concern/care for one another” [I Cor.12:20,25].

All who maintain this tribalism of denominationalism in the “church” are fleshly at best, and maybe even worse than that. God hates

“the one who sows/sends out discord among brethren” [Prov.6:16,19].

It is an abomination to Him, but not to us.

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as to carnal…you are still carnal. For since there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like unregenerate people?
“For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not merely human?” [I Cor.3:1-4].

The answer to those questions is an unhesitating, “Yes.”

Christians are a single culture as citizens of one kingdom and tradition.

“For our citizenship is in heaven” [Phil.3:20].

In that kingdom of heaven, there is one King, one Father, and one law. From there we have been born again, receive our spiritual life, as well as a single culture; we are one people with no earthly tribal or denominational distinctives.

“Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith…one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” [Eph.4:3,4].

But we have not been diligent to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the church. We have willingly embraced the evil of ATR’s tribalism and become comfortable with denominations as if they are a normal spiritual condition.
But it is not; it is hated and condemned by God as an abomination. We must repent of tribalism.

Power

Repent of the unholy desire for power. Power in ATR can be gained in a variety of ways: through sacrifices, offerings, incantations, liturgies, taboos, charms, fetishes, ceremonies, witchcraft, rituals, talismans, sorcery, magic, blood or by contact with powerful persons or objects, through the laying on of hands, or articles of clothing, anointing, candles, incense, pomade, herbs, drinks, etc.
Because of the universal belief that the spoken word carries power to affect reality, speaking in tongues is widely practiced among animists and is thought to have more power than understandable prayer. It is an “evidence” of being possessed with a spirit and powers beyond those of the person’s natural abilities in himself.
Whenever we imagine that an object, or ritual language, or prayers, or speaking in tongues, or contact with “anointed” men have power in and of themselves, we have crossed over into ATR. None of these have power in themselves. To think that they do is sorcery.
What we need is Christ, not power.

“We preach Christ…Christ the power of God” [I Cor.1:23,24].

What we need is the true message of the gospel, not power.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” [Rom.1:16].

What we need is King Jesus, not the “power” of anything or anyone else. Christ is the One who will abolish “all rule and all authority and power” [I Cor.15:24].
What we need are not “blessed” objects of “power” in Christendom – oil, herbs, candles, water, rings, handkerchiefs, clothing, Bibles, pictures of “Men of God,” rods, etc. What we need are the eyes of our heart to be opened to see Jesus.
To see Him and the

“surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe…the strength of His might which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand…far above all principality and power and might and dominion” [Eph.1:19-21].

That’s what we need, not the charms and incantations of ATR, the “blessed” objects in Christendom believed to convey power. We need to repent of our quest for power and abandon reliance upon “means” and truly trust Christ instead. He is the power of God.

Payment

Repentance must be made from the deeply entrenched concept of obtaining spiritual favor, power, or blessing through payment/sacrifice/offering. In ATR, nothing is provided freely. No access to the spiritual world or help in the present life are obtained without cost: a cock, rice, a goat, money, or any one of a hundred other payments.
No blessing is bestowed on the one who dares approach the Oracle/Priest empty handed. “What did you bring me?” rings in the ears of the rich and poor alike. Tribute to the exalted father is expected and demanded if his key to the mysterious and terrifying world of the spirits will be inserted into that lock.
The deluded church of our generation has adopted this ATR practice and “sanctified” it with nonsense religious words. “Tithes” are promoted as a source of blessing and even the source of all blessing. Popular deceivers in the “church” are unashamedly proclaiming: “No heaven without tithes; No burial by the church without tithes.”
Curses are threatened for failing to pay tithes, offerings, thanksgivings, levees, and first-fruits to the “Man of God” and his “divinely ordained” ministry. This is the wickedness of ATR; God’s blessings and favor are not for sale.

“Who has first given to God, so that God needs to repay him?” [Rom.11:35].

The Lord Himself asks:

“Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine” [Job 41:11].

The answer to both questions is: No one. Blessings from God cannot be gotten by money.
Sorcerers think that the God of glory can be motivated, influenced, or bought with money. ATR tells them that He will return blessing for adequate payment made to “Men of God.”
We see an example of this in a powerful juju man named Simon of Samaria [Acts 8:9-24]. He had for long claimed to be someone great and amazed the people of Samaria with his sorcery and magical arts [Acts 8:9-11]. So much so, that they all referred to him as “the great power of God” [Acts 8:10].
But he encountered a greater power in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and witnessed miraculous powers far beyond his own. So he himself “believed” and was baptized and stayed close to Philip in continual amazement [Acts 8:13].
When Peter and John came, the Holy Spirit came upon those who had believed, but not upon Simon.

“When he saw that the Holy Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this authority as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit’” [Acts 8:18,19].

The “Men of God” today would gladly have received Simon’s “offering” and “blessed’ him for his devotion to the gospel “ministry.” But that was not the response of Peter and John.
“But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

“‘Therefore repent of this your wickedness…for I see that you are in the gall/poison of bitterness and the bondage of iniquity’” [Acts 8:20-23].

Thinking that spiritual blessings, benefits, or power can be obtained by offering money to servants of God and their “ministries” is devilish. That is nothing more than ATR masquerading as Christianity.
Any who think so have never been purged from their sin, their hearts are not right with God, but are still in bondage to iniquity with a bitterly envious heart.
We need to repent of this evil practice of payment in the church.

“Freely you have received, freely give” [Mt.10:8].

10

BALAAMISM

Balaam is the General Overseer of a “church” gone mad that is fully infected with the deadly plague of ATR. Balaam was a mixture of both “Prophet” while being at the same time a “Diviner.” He attempted to maintain contact with both worlds: with that of the God of heaven and of the gods of the land.

“Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam…who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet” [2 Pet.2:15,16].

Yes, it is madness to try and mix the Word of the God of heaven with the divined oracle of the ancestors. Even a donkey knows better than that.

“The sons of Israel also killed Balaam…the diviner with the sword” [Josh.13:22].

Balaam was a juju man, a renowned international professional sorcerer. The enemies of the people of God sent for him to come all the way from Babylon and curse the Israel of God.
The Moabites “hired Balaam against them [Israel] to curse them” [Neh.13:2]. The record of his wickedness is preserved in the Scripture narrative contained in Numbers 22-25.

“They hired Balaam…to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you” [Deut.23:4, 5].

His mission of cursing was an utter failure.

He himself had to admit:

“He has blessed, and I cannot change it…The Lord their God is with them…There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’” [Num.23:20-23].

At the end he confessed:

“How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?” [Num.23:8].

But his love for money, reward, and prosperity drove him to equally treacherous and deadly means. What he was unable to accomplish through sorcery, he did through lust and deception. His twisted mind led him to think that holiness and truth can be compromised to achieve one’s desire.
He counseled the king of Moab to have the Moabite women seduce the Israelite men and so to provoke God Himself to judge whom Balaam could not curse. And this same perverted thinking is in the “church.”
Jesus said: “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality” [Rev.2:14].
Balaam yet reigns in this generation. Balaam’s disciples, like their master, have the name of God on their lips, the lust for money in their hearts, and ATR saturating their souls. His influence passed down by traditional thinking and practice is noted in three NT passages.

Balaam has corrupted true religion by his:
Error:

God can be persuaded/manipulated given
enough time and proper ritual [Jude 11]

Doctrine:

The end justifies the means [Rev.2:14]

Way:

Greed [2 Pet.2:15]

The growing influence of “hot” prayers calling for the destruction of enemies both spiritual and physical is to be expected within the ATR mindset. But we do not expect to see this within the church, yet there it is: a sure sign of the infiltration of ATR into Christendom.
For many years now, PC has not worked to obtain prosperity, breakthroughs, promotion, visas, conception, etc. In the traditional culture confessing one’s advancement and achievement is, at the very same time, placing a curse on any who would hinder, block, or wish to do one harm.
Simply put, every positive confession uttered is also simultaneously pronouncing a curse on any that would frustrate that. And so multitudes continue to decree their prosperity, hoping God at last will grant it.
That is the Error of Balaam: God can be persuaded/ manipulated given enough time and proper ritual.
The Yoruba proverb states: “If the medicine doesn’t work, there is a missing herb.” PC hasn’t worked. What is the missing herb?
ATR supplies the answer; begin to decree forcefully the destruction of anything [including people] who are standing in the way of achieving what has been positively confessed. Such violent and merciless “prayers” are now sweeping throughout the “church” that is desperately attempting to command their own blessing at the expense and even death of others.
This is not only wickedness and raw self-centeredness, it is ATR sorcery. And the “church” is embracing this at an alarming rate.
“Holy Ghost fire! Die, die, die!!” have become increasingly the watchwords of a derailed Christianity. It is not Christianity, it is ATR dressed up in “Christian” cloth: a masquerade and deadly drama.
As such, the name of Jesus is increasingly being taken in vain. His name is attached to decrees, commands, confessions, demands, and curses to secure riches, power, promotion, and ease. “In the name of Jesus!” has become the favorite and most “powerful” incantation of a perverted “church.”
That is nothing more than “sanctified” juju, and “the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain” [Ex.20:7]. Truth and holiness are willingly sacrificed on the altar of Mammon.
That is the Doctrine of Balaam: The end justifies the means.
We have entered full stream into ATR when the name of Jesus is now invoked to demand the very things He has told us to flee from. “Prosperity” is nothing more than the love of money that ruins our souls and plunges men into ruin and destruction. It is a doctrine of demons, yet we lust after it.
“As they go their way, they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life; and they bring no fruit to maturity” [Lk.8:14]. “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and Wealth/Mammon” [Mt.6:24].
“This you know with certainty, that no…covetous man who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ” [Eph.5:5].
And the delusion is that “Prosperity’s” greed, lust for gain, and love of money can be “sanctified” by attaching the name of Jesus to ATR’s positively confessed “prayers.”
Only those who are depraved in their minds and deprived of the truth maintain that: “people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of financial gain” [I Tim.6:5].
“But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts that drown people in ruin and destruction.
“For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” [I Tim.6:9-11].
Wanting to be rich, the desire for it, the love of money, longing after it: these lusts of the heart are what stumble and ensnare men, cause them to wander away, and pierce themselves.
The result? Temptation, snares, ruin, destruction, drowning, evil, slain.
That is the Way of Balaam: Greed.
What we meet on ground today in Christendom is another religion altogether. It is not Christianity.
Christendom is serving another Jesus by a spirit other than the Holy Spirit of God, while proclaiming a different “gospel” entirely. And the curse of the True and Living God falls upon it.
Of all these things, we must repent or else Christ Himself will visit this “church” like a thief, remove that lamp stand, and slay those in it with His mighty sword after vomiting them out of His mouth.

It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God
I Pet.4:17

But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
Should preach to you any other gospel
Other than what we have preached to you,
Let him be accursed/condemned to hell!
Gal.1:8