Lisa Fields: What’s up, everybody? This is Lisa Fields, the founder and CEO of the G3 Project, and I have some exciting news about Giving Tuesday. We have a generous donor that has agreed to come alongside us and partner with us to double your impact this Giving Tuesday. What that means is for up to $15,000 our donor will match dollar for dollar. So consider partnering with us this Giving Tuesday. Plan ahead, and think about what God will have you to give to partner with us for Giving Tuesday this year. And what that gift does is help us continue the work of helping faith make sense for the next generation and beyond. It will help us with our acts initiative on HBCU campuses, courageous conversation pop ups, multimedia resources. And so consider partnering with us. We cannot do what we do without generous support from people like you, and this is an incredible chance for you to double the impact you have on the G3 project this Giving Tuesday. So mark your calendars and partner with us to help faith make sense. God bless you. Hello. Welcome to the Jude three Project podcast. I’m your host, Lisa Fields. I’m the founder of the Jude three Project.
Justice Okoronkwo: I bring you greetings from Nigeria. My name is Justice Okorongpo, and I am an Anglican priest with the Diocese of Jaws in Nigeria. I am also part of the Azadine community. I’m an adjunct speaker for Africa here, and, it’s an honor and a privilege to be with the Jude three Project. I want to acknowledge Lisa Fios and the wonderful team of people working with her, and to acknowledge the fact that it’s a noble project. I agree with the fact that Christianity is at the crossroads, and there is a need for us to make a defense of the faith much more now than before. And for this particular segment, I’ll be taking a topic that is on African spirituality. So on this particular aspect, we’re talking about African spirituality, and African spirituality is a subject that character is characterized by so much pliability and so much nuances because depending on where you are coming from, it’s presented with so many shades and it has so many gray areas. So it makes it difficult for you to present it within a quadrant, within a bracket, within a strict corridor of definitions. But for this particular purpose, I’ll try to have a broad spectrum presentation so that anybody listening will have a fair idea of what African spirituality is all about and a fair understanding at least to be able to navigate within this jungle. So some of the things I’ll try to bring out, I’ll try to clarify some concepts. After that, I’ll try to look at how spiritual is the African, just in summary. Then we’ll look a little bit into the African cosmology. Then we’ll also look at African spirituality as it is perceived today. Then we’ll look at the wealth of African spirituality. After that, we look at the woes of African spirituality. Then, we look a little bit contrasting the clash of worldviews, comparing the worldviews briefly to that’s the Christian worldview and African worldview, seeing how they interact and the tension points. Then we’ll look a little bit again into how the gospel can be presented within the context of Africa, and how that will be assimilated and and accepted. Why it is important to understand or to know about Africa. But even when we look at geography, Africa is said to be the second largest continent after Asia. That is quite significant. When you also look at the demographics, you will see that Africa is the second most populous continent again after Asia. It is parading nearly 1,300,000,000 people, and this 1,300,000,000 people spread across different countries that you also find that it has more than 3,000 distinct ethnic groups that are operating under the hegemony of about 2,100 languages that are being spoken. This is quite significant. In terms of land mass, we’re talking about the the continent that occupies more than 20% of the total land mass on earth and 6% of the earth’s surface. You are talking about a part of the world that we cannot wish away and that we cannot do without. Now, from this particular place, when you talk about the pedestal, and cultural roots to the African traditional societies despite the geographical area where the person is located. So we are talking about people that could be in The Americas, could be in the Asian countries, could be in Europe, but in one way or the other, directly or indirectly, they’re even people living in Africa who can directly trace their ancestry to the African cultural heritage, we’re talking about the African in that sense. But when you talk about spirituality, in spirituality, you are talking about the belief in the unseen, the belief in the non physical, the belief in the immaterial, the non material world or the non material part of the universe. A metaphysical belief system from which the physical life is said to be springing and stemming out of the spiritual. In this belief system, the physical world is said to be a shadow of the spiritual, that the spiritual actually bears down into the physical. Now that kind of belief or that system of belief is said to be spiritual. So when you’re talking about African spirituality, we are referring to the distinct and dynamic ways in which the African cultures and people interpret and interact with the spiritual. This is about the collection of outward and visible signs which you find through rituals, through, rites, through, through sacrifices, symbols, and practices that are actually representing something which is happening to the African internally or spiritually, from which the African also draws his identity, from which he conceives, supports, and sustains meanings of his experiences. So when you look at it from that particular point, you can see that you are having a fair understanding of African spirituality. Because from that particular point of view, the African finds relevance, gives validity to his experiences, and authenticates the world that is around him, even the physical world. Now there is a misconception about African spirituality, and I want to clear that a little bit. That African spirituality is not an experience that the African goes into once in a while. You know, it’s not a space or a dimension the African enters when he wants to, maybe through sacrifices or through rituals and rites, and then he can have the spiritual experience. No. For the African, spirituality is a norm. It’s his lifestyle. The African lives in the spiritual. He interprets the world from the spiritual. So from the spiritual plane, he interacts and interprets with the physical world. He looks at the physical world from the lens of the spiritual, and from that particular point of view, from that worldview, he gives validity to his experiences and gives meaning to his world. So if you understand it like that, it means that the for the African spirituality is not something you can separate him from. You cannot separate the African from this because it’s like his his his ecosystem. That is what he lives in. That is where he breathes. How spiritual therefore is the African? If you look at the works of John Mbiti and the works of Bolaji Ido, they have done some extensive work on African spirituality and the African traditional religion in terms of comparative studies. So the things lifted from there, which I’m going to emphasize a little bit, that when you look at the philosophy of African religion and you look at those branches of philosophy that we use to score different aspects, you realize that once you try them on African traditional religion, you’ll find that everything about it is spiritual. Everything about the African in those aspects is spiritual. For instance, epistemologically, that when you are talking about how we know and how we we how we can be assured of what we know, the limits of knowledge and the ways of gaining knowledge, for the African, it is spiritual. And that is why for the African, the more you are open to the spiritual plane, the more you can know. So for them, when there is need to find out something, need for clarification, they go to the mediums because these are said to be people who are in tune with the spirits, people who are in tune with their ancestors, people who are connectors to the deities, and these people, therefore, are said to have revelation. They have more knowledge than in the present. For the African, it is spiritual. Ontologically, when you’re talking about the nature and the relation of being, the concept of being for the African is totally spiritual. He sees a person as either being the material person, the physical person, the spiritual person, or the moral person. But for the African, this is wrapped up in a spiritual capsule and then person. But for the African, this is wrapped up in a spiritual castle and then it resonates with the spirit. You talk about the anthropo the anthropology. From anthropological point of view again, the African traces and connects with his ancestors and and and his heritage purely from the spiritual point of view. So for the African, you cannot separate him from that that he exists as a person in time and space, but with a spiritual in a spiritual cocoon, in a spiritual shell that you can only evaluate him really from the spiritual point of view. Etymologically, that when you also look at the origin of the languages in Africa, you see that it’s also stemmed from the spiritual. So when the African languages, when African tribes, when they are talking about about the origin of their their languages in terms of semantic expressions, they’ll tell you that in their mythology, that the gods or the deities actually deliver this to them. So you find that rooted in the spiritual. Theologically, again, you know that the African theological space will not accept you know that the African theological space will not accept atheism. It’s quite alien to the Africans generally because for the Africans, that particular space is there to acknowledge that there is God. The sense of the the divine is something that is second nature to the African. In that sense, you realize that in many African societies or many African cultures, the Africans are not just theistic or monotheistic, they are even polytheistic. So the African theological concept accepts the spiritual. Sociologically, the African lives in a community together with people, and they believe that the more spiritual you are, the more you are able to enhance social cohesion and social harmony. So you find societies where they have been able to gain stability, it’s because they also believe that they are open to the spiritual imperatives. Then when you look at the African cosmology again, which we’re going to take a little time to look at it, you realize again that there is an acknowledgment of the spiritual for the African to find his place in the universe. He has to understand that the universe is having the spiritual aspect of the universe, the physical universe, and then the point of interface to the intermediaries, the deities, the the spirits, and the ancestors. I’m going to talk about that a little bit, later. Now coming to African cosmology, just the issues I’ve I’ve mentioned, I’m going to what we refer you to some of these slides, a few slides that we’ll follow right now. Now from the slide you are seeing, that the African bricks in in terms of its cosmology, it is broken into these realms. The first realm is the realm of the supreme being, where you have the ultimate God, the supreme God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. Now, after that realm of the supreme God, you have the second realm which you find in African, in African spirituality, and that is the realm of the spirits. In the realm of the spirits for for the African spiritualists, that is the realm where you find the spirit beings, you find the deities, and then you also find the ancestors, all living within that particular quadrant. Then be below that particular level, you now have the physical realm where you’re talking about the the physical features, the rivers, the the mountains, the trees, and the things that you can interact with physically. For the African, this this spirit world bears on these things, and then those things now relate to him in terms of how he engages with them in finding activities, how he engages with them, you know, in in terms of flooding, in terms of natural disasters, creating balance and relating with the environment. So he sees that all these things bear down directly to him. So when you look at it from the slide, you will see that the realm of the supreme God in different African cultures nearly all over Africa, you find the same thing that there is an understanding of the existence of a supreme God. But in African cosmology, the supreme God is not accessible. You cannot just connect to the supreme God directly. You have to go through the spirit realm, and in the spirit realm you find the lesser deities. You find the gods that have specific functions. The gods that work in agriculture, the gods of fertility, the gods of fertility, the gods of, war, the gods of nature, all those ones within that particular realm of this of the of of the spiritual. Then after that, you also find the nature spirits. These are particular deities that are attached to particular aspects of nature. You find those that manifest in thunder, those that live in the rocks, those that are living in the rivers, the marine spirits, those that are also, manifesting maybe in some of those natural forces like wind, like rain, like thunder, like rivers, like flooding. You find these activities, these natural activities being attributed to particular deities. Then you now have the impersonal forces which the Africans also believe could be manipulated through rituals, through chants, through amulets, and through different ways of appeasing the gods who eventually release these impersonal powers to you. These powers could be used to harm another person, they could be used in battle against fools, they could be used to protect an environment and protect, the the community. All these are accessed. Then all these bear down into the physical world. The earth, land, sea, wind, fire, and these eventually reach the man. So for the African, he as a human being, for him to live a fulfilled life, he has to have access to all these particular aspects of nature, but he cannot have access to them until he pleases the spirit world. And the spirit world, he accesses it through the mediums, through people who are the diviners, people who know the wishes of the gods. He make the sacrifices as recommended, and through them, he can receive the favor of the almighty God whom he cannot access directly. If you have that understanding that I’ve just presented, then you will look at it from the schematic I just brought out here. That you see the supreme God that, therefore, the African cosmology comes out in a diamond shape. That you find it’s tempered at the top where you have the supreme God. He is there, it is his acknowledged, but he’s not really so much in terms of the everyday life of the African. That the robust sector is the middle sector where you have the spirit wall, and this is where the African interacts more with because that is where the ancestors are, that is where the lesser deities are, that is where the nature of spirits and the gods which people may also call the God of the gods, that is where they exist. Then it tapers down onto the physical wall when you find man at the bottom of it. So when you understand this, then it gives you a fair understanding of some of the things we’ll be talking about. Now, African spirituality today, you’ll I want to present seven points under this particular aspect, but not the first one is that African spirituality has been largely misunderstood because people have engaged with African spirituality from the narratives of people who are not Africans. And I want you to know that many times, they have not been able to give a total presentation, a holistic presentation of what it is supposed to be. So sometimes, it is presented from a limited point of view of knowledge, a bias or prejudice point of view, or even from a hostile source. The non availability of a fact is not saying the nonexistence of a fact. So the fact that many people do not know about the African this aspect the total aspects of African spirituality doesn’t mean that it’s not as robust as it actually is. The second aspect is that it has been demonized and paganized by Christian missionaries. And I want you to know again that when the Christian missionaries came, that they were seen to be riding on the on on on the horses of colonialism. So for the African, they treated them with suspicion. And many of them also also, also regarded the African traditional religion as that which is outrightly taken and had nothing for which Christianity could relate with. But it’s on record that the concept of the divine was not brought to Africa by the missionaries. It was with Africa even before the missionaries came. The number three, you need to know again that African spirituality has been largely misrepresented by the form of its manifestation African Americans, some of the African Americans, and some of those that have been met in the diaspora. Why is it so? Not because of their fault, but you need to let me give maybe this example. Imagine the American forces that went for interventions in Iraq or in Afghanistan. Imagine young people from a community seeing America from the eyes of these soldiers. They have never been to America. Maybe some of them have never watched movies that will explore the the the American culture, the American society, wherein they could see different aspects. For them, at that particular point, the America they know, if the the figure they have representing the concept of America will be like what I’ve just put out on a slide. That you find the special forces, you find the soldiers armed to the teeth and ready for combat. Now if somebody from that community describes America in the light of these soldiers that are so dressed for battle, will that be a correct presentation of America? I’m sure you will agree with me that that will not be. We are talking about the slaves that were moved from the shores of West Africa mainly, and they were, they went across the Atlantic, they were deprived, they were cut off from their cultures, they were cut off from home and society, they were people that were oppressed, they were people that were in danger, They saw many of their family members killed. They saw many people that were sick thrown overboard into the rivers. They saw that they were going to a hostile territory. There was no plan for their welfare. Many of them were not going to return. It was obvious for them. These were people in a defense mode. These were people that were struggling to survive, and they explored that part of African spirituality which is involved with conjuring of spirits, which is involved with projecting of spirits, which is involved in using the powers to also harm and to also protect, and that is voodoo. And many times, people look at African spirituality from the lens of voodoo, from the lens of black power or black witchcraft, and the thing that is what it’s all about. That is not what it’s all about. Just as America is not just all about interventions, it’s not all about the the rockets, it’s not all about the bombs, it’s not all about the the the, attack helicopters and all that. That is not what America is all about. There are many other aspects that you cannot see from the lens of the battlefield in Iraq. In the same way, looking at African spirituality from the experiences of those in diaspora is to have a narrow view of it. Again, it has been branded as being primitive by the colonialists. And this for a reason, because the colonial powers would have wanted to assert authority within the regions they are colonial colonizing. But the African spirituality already gives the African a sense of being, a sense of fulfillment, a sense of a sense of self esteem which is drawn from the fact that it’s connected to the transcendental, and they needed to deflate that aspect, so they called it primitive. And I want you to know that when you check the African cultures, you’ll find that largely they were not primitive, that they were not schooled in western education didn’t mean that the African was primitive. It has been found that complex cultures, complex engineering and architecture, complex systems of preserving crops, complex post harvest technology have been found within many African cultures, and it wasn’t primitive. And they believed that those things were tied to the instruction they received from their ancestors. Again, it was seen as a threat by the imperialists. The imperialists were out to exploit the resources in African land. And for them, the African traditional religion gave the African the boldness to make him be seen as a threat and as a deviant. So it was seen and it was outrightly put out as something that is a threat and put in the black books of the imperialist, and many people have seen it from that light. Again, it has been brutally targeted by globalization. Globalization as you see it today has not really been fair to the African in the sense that it has not given an opportunity for cross fertilization of ideologies. Rather, it has been mainly from the West to the rest, and Africa has been a dumping ground of western ideologies, of westernism. And I want you to know that it has been at the detriment of the expression of African spirituality. It has been shouted down because it doesn’t have the tools of communication that expand the speed and scope of communication as we have with the tools of globalization today. So when you look at it at in these slides, many people that try to relate to African spirituality or African spiritual life just engage with the stereotypes, and these stereotypes will not give you the proper view of what African spirituality is all about. So again, I want to emphasize that there is wealth that could be picked up from African spirituality for instance. When you look at the anthropology of African spirituality, you see that African societies have been known to have social harmony, to have societies that have been so complex, and yet the social institutions account for every aspect of human endeavor, and there is a total balance. There is harmony, there is hierarchy, there is the the political structures, administrative structures affecting every aspect of life, and they draw strength from the spiritual. The philosophy of being the second aspect for the African is has made the African to be a highly moral person. So in Africa or within African cultures and societies, moral neutrality is alien. For the African, there’s no moral neutral neutrality. He has a sense of right and wrong in everything. He wants to discern what is right and what is wrong. That is positive from the African spiritual heritage. Then again, you find that for the African, when you are talking about theology, for the African, his worldview is theocentric. Everything gravitates towards pleasing or displeasing a deity, pleasing or displeasing God. So the the theistic worldview or the monist worldview will be alien to the African because for the African, God is involved in his life daily. Every aspect of life draws strength, draws validity, draws aspect of life draws strength, draws validity, draws meaning from God. Again, the ethical system that you find in Africa, the African, each time he approaches a moral dilemma, he is able to take a decision. He’s able to exhibit selective acceptance from the ethical framework that has been laid down based on his worship of the gods and based on the imperatives that the gods have given. So we have an elaborate system of punishment and rewards, a system that creates taboos, a system that creates restrictions, a system that gives some guidelines in how to live with each other, in how to how to do business in the finances, in the family, and in faith. And it has made it to be a system that is very, very robust in terms of of of promoting morality. Then again, you have the system of norms and values. The African traditional religion also enhances and fosters that kind of platform where norms and values for communion living are highly emphasized. It is highly anthropocentric highly anthropocentric. So for the African, that somebody that is responsible should show it by the tendency of the person to promote social cohesion, tendency of the person to promote family values, tendency of the person to be his brother’s keeper, tendency of the person to show hospitality, fact that you know that the gods placed you there to be responsible for others, and you find that it is highly, highly anthropocentric, and people draw meanings and values from the fact that they have been able to connect with others. For the African, there is a proverb that says that it is only a lunatic that laughs alone. For the African, he has he doesn’t want to eat alone. He doesn’t want to live alone. He doesn’t want to cry alone. He doesn’t want to laugh alone, and he doesn’t want to die alone. He believes that all his experiences are validated when it is communally based, and he draws strength from the community. You are part of the ubuntu in South Africa when they say I am because we are. We are because I am. That sense is, is representing the African philosophy of being because it is anthropocentric. It thinks about people. It is about people, and it doesn’t understand segregation, doesn’t understand individualism as found in the postmodern world. Again, the African, traditional religion promotes industry that laziness for their in an African culture is seen as a taboo. A thief can be cast out of the of of the community because he has no reason to steal. The land is there. The gods give ability. The gods are giving rain, and we should engage we should engage in industry. So the African the African sense of of spirituality, the African spirituality promotes the dignity of labor. These are things that should be upheld. The African spirituality also creates the system of values that promote respect, promote courtesy. For the African, this respect of elders is paramount, is found in every culture. Respect of parents, respect of those who were there before you, respect of hierarchy, respect of authority, that all these things you find, showing courtesy, caring for women, caring for families, caring for children, for the African, these are things that come with your belief in God, with your fear of God, and your reverence for God. Again, let me also add that the aspect of aesthetics, you find that the African traditional religion also gives us so much that the world could have gained from. Is it from the arts, the folk lore, the rich compendium of proverbs, the oral tradition that has been sustained, the the music, the fashion, the cuisines, the different foods that you find in different African cultures, so much to be talked about. So African traditional religion breeds that platform wherein we can have all these expressions of the wonderful aspects of this culture. When you still look at that, for instance, I just want to give an example as I put out on the slide, that in most African cultures, the sense of the supreme being, the knowledge of the supreme being is there. Talk about Nigeria for instance. The United Nations say we have about 515 distinct ethnic groups, but they are mainly organized and find themselves within a hegemony of about three main or the large ethnic groups and that is the Hausas in the North, the Yorubas in the Southwest, then the Ibus in the Southeast. Let me pick the Yorubas and the Ibus for instance. That among the Igbos, they believe, that is even before the missionaries came, they believe in the existence of the supreme God called Chi. So you hear among the Igbos talk about Chi and when they talk about chi, every single thing comes from chi. This you hear chi neke, that is the God that creates. Then you look at the names of the Igbo people for instance. My own middle name says which means who is greater than that God? It’s a question. You get some other names like God is beautiful, God is good. God is good. God is good. God’s time is good. God’s time is what guides my life. You find so many names. God has done valiantly. You find names like that. Now these are not names that came with Christianity. These are names that existed before Christianity because for the African, he draws meaning and strength from the fact that there is God. You find the same kind of thing even within the Yorubas. When you’re talking about Olua or Olorun and you hear a Yoruba person can bear the name Olua Femi, God loves me. God loves me. You hear another one say Ife Olua, the love of God. I love God. You find names. Danielola, you find names that are tied to God. It’s not just within that. Different tribes like in the plateau where you find some of the tribes like, the tarot language or the language where God is and within them you hear names like. These are attachments to God. You you find even in the many other what I’ve just told you now, if you have time, you can find that in every African society spread across the continent, particularly Sub Saharan Africa, you find this particular concept. Then again, you find that the the names also go with virtue. Like, you know, among the Igbo, somebody could get the name Dimba. You can find somebody which is the somebody that is brave and courageous. Ugo, which is ego. Now all this is because within the African spiritual, quadrant, these are names that bear the attributes of the gods. So for the African, it would be strange to bear names that are abstract. This is not to to to denigrate any particular culture with terms of names, but some of the names that you may find from the Western world, the African will find it quite strange because it has no bearing with a god. It has no bearing with something alive. It has no bearing with the virtue that should be emulated and it’s just an abstract. So you can see that African spirituality actually stems from this. Now let’s talk a little bit about the woes of African spirituality. Some of the bad aspects that have been overemphasized. That one, African spirituality could actually lead to the fear of deities. I’ve told you about that segment. So the African lives in fear of the deities. He’s so much afraid not to, you know, violate the expectations of the deities because it will come with retribution. So there is so much fear. Then there is bondage. Number two, bondage to the ancestors Because of the ancestral worship, you need to please the ancestors. You can find in an African community, before somebody eats, he wants to, first of all, serve the ancestors by making a libation or a living food because he doesn’t want to annoy them. He doesn’t want to eat without serving them a little bit, something for for for themselves. So he actually lives in bondage and this creates fear and superstition a lot. Number three, you have the unchecked powers of the mediums. The mediums know that they are the connectors between the ordinary person and the deity, so they command so much power. And many times, they take advantage of the Africans. They take advantage of the worshipper or the adherents of this religion, and they make outrageous demands that eventually make the people to be at their mercy. So you find that there. Number four, accessing power for her. There is power that could be tapped. Of course, as a Christian, I know that these powers are demonic and but they are used many times to enhance maybe business, enhance industry, to manipulate nature, to harm people, to to protect themselves, and even to attack when they go to when they go into battle. And these powers are real, but with the use of the powers, there comes an appeal. There comes a demand for more. So you find the African going deeper into it because accessing these powers will require making sacrifices. And this now leads to the next one that the African is the African landscape, the spiritual landscape is full of altars and blood covenants. Because many times to access these favors from the spiritual realm, covenants have to be made, altars have to be set up, sacrifices have to be made, and sometimes even blood sacrifices, sometimes even human sacrifices. And this this tells us that the gods within that particular setting that are providing these favors many times are bloodthirsty, and they seek to tie people into these contracts, these spiritual contracts that are very difficult to move out from later. Then you also find sacrifices and fear, the fear of divine retribution. Many of those sacrifices are not driven by a sense of love for the deity. They are actually driven by fear. Then you find again repressive cultural practices that may have their roots in the imperatives that are being handed over by the gods. For instance, female circumcision, killing of twins because of the superstition surrounding them, dehumanizing of some people, you can find gender discrimination, you can find gender discrimination, you can find environmental degradation, and some of those things that today we can look at and find obnoxious. But for the African, some of those practices were actually handed down as part of the rituals of an adherent of the African traditional religion based on the particular demands that have been made by the deity in that cultural context. So when we look at some of these things that I’ve just presented right now, these are some of the woes or some of the the negative aspects of African traditional religion. Here comes Christianity. Where do they clash? Of course, they clash. Because the African traditional religion is a worldview of its own. Christianity is a worldview of its own. And some of the flash points where tension is generated where they clash. The first one, that Christianity promotes monotheism. It is monotheistic, but the African traditional religion is polytheistic. So the concept of talking about one God to the African who sees so many gods around, who are intervening in different aspects of his life, so you find that there could be a clash. But if the Christian, I’m going to talk about it later, that if the Christian could take advantage of the fact that the African believes in the supreme God, then you could actually make a presentation of who that supreme God is through the incarnation of Jesus. Then again, the second clash point is that for the for Christianity, relationship interaction with God or, the interface with God is all about a relationship. For the Africans, it’s not about relationship. He is not relating with the gods. He is coming to the gods for relief. Relief from his enemies, relief from hunger, relief from the elements. He comes for relief. He comes for what he can get. But in Christianity, it is the relationship. God came down to us. So that aspect, again, sometimes creates some flash points. Again, Christianity promotes liberty. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there there is liberty. But African traditional religion actually creates bondage. You are bound, you are very very careful not to disobey, not to be found, not to have, not to be found to have desecrated any of the requirements. So you find again that there is a difference there. Then in Christianity, when you’re talking about the end of life, that the end of life, you you you you Christianity talks about dying once another, that judgment as Paul said in in Hebrews chapter nine verse 27, it’s appointed unto man to die once and after that, judgment. For the African, the if you live a life that pleases the ancestors, they could grant you passage into life again. So there’s this cycle of reincarnation and because of that, the African wants to just please the ancestors so that in the next life, he comes in as somebody better. You also find the issue of Christianity blessing enemies and not taking retribution, not taking vengeance. But for the African, you curse the enemy, you fight the enemy, you need to protect yourself from the enemy. You find again that there’s divergence there. Christianity has taught again priesthood of all believers. First Peter two nine, he said, for you, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people called out of darkness and into the marvelous light. In Christianity, we experience royalty and priesthood coming together. For the African, that cannot happen because royalty is exceptional, and then priesthood is for the mediums. He cannot access God except through the medium. But Christianity is saying that, look, you can do that directly, and that again is a very, a place where you hide tension. Same in Christianity is same as divine transgression, transgressing the will of God, deviating on the will of God. But for the African, in African traditional religion, sin is causing social disruption. Doing that which disrupts the environment. So it’s sin from down up, whereas from for Christianity, it is upwards and stands down. Again, that is a place where you can find tension. Then again, Christianity is talking about when you talk about grace, you’re talking about the inward and spiritual grace, the activities of an adherent, the activities of worship, the liturgy, and all the things we do are expressing something that is happening internally. But for the African, it’s all about the outward and visible signs and rituals, that which is observable. What have you done? How many sacrifices have you made? What are these tangible things that have been witnessed as the evidences of your pity, the evidences of your adherence to this God? These are areas where you find that, that that they are different. So while Christianity will talk about grace, the African traditional religion is highly legalistic. It has structures that you must observe, and based on the observance of those structures, you are seen to be religious in that particular setting. So what’s the way out? There is a way out, and the way out is that as Christians who are interacting in a world where you find African spirituality also been established or or, or in the context where Africans are also trying to express spirituality, the Christian worldview needs to know that there are entry points for us as Christians. And if you are here, maybe you are an African or an African American in the in The US or in The Americas or you are right here in Africa and you’re listening to this and you’ve been wondering how do you merge the two? Is it is there a need for the African to leave African spiritual religion and embrace Christianity? Can you go with both or do you just avoid the Christianity and then remain an African traditional religion? I need you to understand that the gospel of Jesus has brought light into the darkness of the whole world. It has brought revelation that we may have a clear understanding of what we ought to do because it is the worldview that has been able to answer the main questions or the main test of a new worldview, and that is the test of origin of life. The test of the meaning of life, The test of morality in life. And then the test of the end of life. Christianity is the worldview that has been coherent and and in terms of the correspondence test, it has passed that particular test. So I just want to say without going into that aspect deeply, that for the Christian worldview to engage African traditional religion, it has one main aspect that needs to be highly emphasized, and I’m going to treat that aspect the at at the end. The second aspect is the aspect of the good news. Presenting the gospel as a good news, it appeals to the African because the African traditional religion is not about good news. But Christianity is talking about good news, the God that came. African traditional religion tells you the things you need to do to rise up to the level of acceptability before the gods. African traditional religion, again, will find Christianity appealing when you open up the fact that Christianity is about the nations coming to Jesus, Jesus dying for the nations. The African landscape is highly multicultural. But if the African highly multicultural. But if the African traditional religions looks at Christianity from the eye of the colonialist, he sees something that is not multicultural, something that is biased, that is prejudiced against others. African traditional religion again finds meaning if Christianity is presented with a social face. If we find Christianity as the religion that also talks about the environment being affected, That somebody as a Christian is also shows in the care for environment, the care for each other. It shows in love, in generosity, in hospitality for the Africa that is appealing. The next one, is that African traditional religion has already seen power displayed by demons. It has seen power in the forces of nature. So when Christianity is presented to the African and you do not also explore the aspect of power demonstration, demonstrating the power in the name of Jesus. Therefore, the African demonstration, demonstrating the power in the name of Jesus. Therefore, the African, it sounds hollow because he has already seen power. And I’m going to, at the end of this, just allow for a few seconds you watch a video clip of, a young girl who was serving as a medium in African traditional religion. And eventually, she came for one of the church programs we had. And in the course of the prayer, the the power of Jesus disarmed these demons, and you could see see some of the things that the demons were doing. Then again, in African traditional religion, we appeal to higher spirituality. The African is already spiritual, so why should he embrace Christianity? But when you let him know that in Christianity, you are not linking him to ancestors, you are linking him to God directly. In that particular setting, African traditional religion will find Christianity something to think about. Now, I have put out the world view again, the cosmology that we the cosmological in, presentation of the African in terms of the traditional religion. We showed the supreme God, as you have seen there, the supreme God, then you find the spirit world, the physical world, and man just as shown before. Now this is the the ideal or the the the the simple, schematic showing how the African sees the spirit world and how he interacts with the universe. But for Christianity, we are talking about God connecting with to man directly. So in Christianity, God links up to man and then man is able to affect his world, affecting his world as somebody who has stepped out of darkness into the marvelous light as the Bible has told us. Now when somebody engages in African traditional religion or syncretism, it goes to the next slide, the third slide there, and I put the spirit world in red. What the person is trying to do is to again try to access God through the spirit world, the same thing that Christianity had cancelled because in Christianity, you access the supreme God which African traditional religion say is inaccessible but you access this God directly because the blood of Jesus has paved the way. The bible say in Hebrews chapter four verse 16, come boldly before the throne of grace that you may receive grace and find mercy that will help you in time of need. So in Christianity, there is access directly to the throne of grace. In African traditional religion, you cannot access the throne of the supreme being until you go through the deities, until you go through the mediums who grant you access to the ancestors. The ancestors grant you access to the higher spirits and the deities, and they eventually tell you what the will of the supreme God is. Now for somebody to go into syncretism as we are seeing the trend, the trend in African Americans, the trend in South America, in Brazil, the trend in Haiti, the trend in many of the countries where the slaves the slaves had left their footprints, the danger is that you are again connecting to the spirit world for favors, spirit world for protection, for prosperity, But when you have contact with them, they introduce themselves as different things under different names, under different guises, but really you’re actually dealing with demons. You are dealing with demons And they create the umbrella, they create the shoe, the canopy that denies you direct access to God himself. So listen to me. If Christianity is showing you how to have access to to God directly because of the redemption that the redemption through the blood of Jesus, why would you want to be linking with spirits, with demons when you could have access to God directly? And linking with these demons and spirits leaves the person in bondage. So you find that anybody that is going back to African traditional religion now, whatever you may think you are gaining from the spirits, ultimately you are going to be in bondage to them. Ultimately, you are entering covenants with them. Ultimately, you’re going to be possessed by these demons. And some people say, well, I’m accessing these powers and it is good for me. How would you know that the powers you’re accessing actually not good for you? At this particular point, I want you to watch that particular video just for a few seconds. You see, these are what the demons can do to you when they encounter the power of Jesus. That anybody that is engaged in African traditional religion, if the person now engages with the power of Jesus, the demons inside the person bow to Jesus or they manifest to show that the authority of Jesus is supreme and they also have to obey it. Now that clearly shows us we are the highest spiritual authority resides. Colossians chapter one fifteen sixteen told us that everything that we are seeing was created by God through him and for him. It is only in Jesus that’s that that every single thing consists and finds reality. Why would you want to go into that? So syncretism actually is going back into bondage, and I wouldn’t want anybody to do that. Anybody that still doesn’t understand this aspect, I am very open, and I want anybody that wants to talk about it to contact me and we’ll still talk about that. I’m here in Nigeria. I’m here in Africa, and I can tell you that same criticism, linking up, having one of your legs in the church or have one of your legs in Christianity and with the other one you’re exploring African traditional religion is actually setting up yourself for a great fall with demons. In conclusion, from the things we’ve presented here, I believe you need to understand that the African is a very significant and positive element of the global community, that the spiritual is essential to the philosophy of being of the African, that African spirituality could be seen as positive or negative depending on the lens from which you entered into it, from the lens which you made contact with it. That African spirituality and the West and the western point of view, or let me say African spirituality and the Christian worldview have their points where they clash, and that these points of clash could also generate some tension. That globalization has unfairly eroded the strength of African spirituality because many ways with which it has been engaged with have presented it as being a negative thing, something to be abhorred, something that is obnoxious. But that there are very positive elements from African spirituality that could be explored from which the whole world would have gained. That there is need to uphold these possible positive positive values drawn from African spirituality and condemn the negative practices in African spirituality, and that this the that Christianity offers something that African spirituality has in terms of a structure but has not explored. That African spirituality believes in the supreme God but does not create the platform wherein a person can relate with him, and Christianity brings us into that relationship directly with the supreme God. And that an objective approach to African spirituality makes it easy, therefore, for the presentation of the gospel of Christ within the African context, that the incarnation of Christ within the African context could be easily accepted when the Christian explores the fact that already, the African already has that compartment that needs to be filled. And in Christianity, we’re able to present the God that from the foundation of time, created that compartment for he alone to fill. With this little present with these few things that I’ve said, I want to hope that you have gleaned something that will help you in how to engage with African spirituality. And if you still want to know more, I believe that from the Jude three project, you could be able to be linked up to more people that will give you more resources. But the bottom line is that Jesus is Lord and he is Lord over Africa, He’s Lord over the whole world, and he has saved us from the power of sin and death, and that it would be a disservice to grace for us to wonder, but for whatever reason, whether in protest to white supremacist activities, whether in protest to the colonialists, whether in protest to the imperialist idealism, whether in protest to the the raiding of Africa during the eras of the the era of the slave trade and all that, I still want to say that it is not an excuse to go out of light into darkness. African traditional religion has its positive aspects, but to go to God through the deities again, to begin to explore those powers is to put yourself in bondage whereas the blood of Jesus has delivered us. The bible said the name of the Lord is a strong tower in which the righteous can run into it and they are safe. Wherever you are, however you are, run into Jesus because that is where you find safety. God bless you.