“Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:31).
As an African, it is a privilege to be raised by a mother who preserves the spiritual innocence of a child, thereby ensuring that the child experiences the joys of childhood to the utmost and matures normally. It is even more blessed to be raised by a mother who preserves the spiritual innocence of a child straight into adulthood, affording the adult the unusual privilege of holding opinions and taking decisions about the spirituality and lifestyle to adopt.
Unfortunately, great mothers such as this, at some point in the process of guiding their matured children inevitably into African maturity or coming-of-age will invariably be referred to as witches; especially in a family where Christianity is the religion of members.
Considering that Christianity forbids all manner of witchcraft and idolatry, any attempt to redirect the mind of a person raised in a Bible-teaching church to embrace the realities of the African maturity will often be met with a brick wall of suspicion of apostasy; and it is often the responsibility of a mother to initiate this process to ensure that the child leads a normal African life.
Failure to transition smoothly into the African coming-of-age will often lead to a precarious life for the child while the mother becomes a subject of ridicule for her poor parenting skills. You may question what I mean by African maturity. African maturity is the maturity attained upon the adoption of the spirituality of our ancestors, Hoodoo. The adoption of an ancestral spirituality is not peculiar to Africans alone but a worldwide reality.
For instance, a Japanese would normally adopt Shintoism, An Indian would embrace Hinduism and Jews would embrace Kaballah. Back in the day when mysticism and idolatry were generally and publicly acceptable among Africans, taking a child through the process of coming-of-age was not a herculean task as parts of the rites of passage are already familiar to everyone with no Christian teachings to cause a batting of eyelids.
However, nowadays with the advent of Christianity coupled with enthusiasm and loyalty to its tenets, the process of taking young adults through the rites of passage is proving more difficult for caring mothers, as many are dedicated church members holding titles such as deaconess, elder, prophetess, etc.
Since inviting a native priest to perform a coming-of-age rite would be openly contrary to the profession of the Christian faith, many mothers are choosing to be more creative, adopting more secret and agreeable alternatives in this process.
For example, an African mother could mystically and deliberately create a situation of marital crisis for a child or unemployment after completion of college just to attract the child’s spiritual attention, with absolutely no intention of ruining the child’s life.
There are also those mothers whose children would struggle through life as a result of their ill-advised spiritual choices and not necessarily maternal wickedness. When these problems rear their ugly heads in a young person’s life, even a most complacent child would be rattled by the situation and tend to seek spiritual guidance.
This explains why the services of ‘African Pastors’ (as opposed to Christian Pastors or native Priests) have become invaluable in the process of making this transition and except mothers are involved in the process of consultations, the announcement; “your mother is a witch” may soon be heard from the African Pastor; a damaging declaration that can potentially ruin the tapestry of family life carefully woven over years of unconditional and dedicated affection.
“Who is an African Pastor?” you may want to ask. An African Pastor is an African in Christian ministry referred to as a ‘Pastor’ but who covertly practices witchcraft alongside the ministry and has a good understanding of the African culture of witchcraft.
Because most Bible-believing Christians abhor spiritual consultations with a native priest but would wholeheartedly welcome a pastor, and also many Christians are unable to differentiate between a Christian Pastor and an African Pastor, African Pastors have continued to successfully aid the transitioning of Christians to the African maturity or coming-of-age by offering spiritual guidance and recommendations that are ostensibly Biblical but are Hoodoo initiation rites, a feat most contemporary mothers are unable to unilaterally accomplish.
African pastors are possessed by spirits of witchcraft, divination, necromancy, and familiar spirits and this explains why a Christian is advised to desist from seeking counsel from these persons as offered in our Bible text above. Furthermore, while a Native priest functions without hiding his identity, the African Pastor is an impostor, and herein lies the danger of entrusting your life to such a one for when he declares, “your mother is a witch”, he is economical with the truth about himself and truth available to him; not explaining why your mother is a witch and would want to ruin your life. Make no mistake about this, this charlatan would seek to win your confidence, and once successful, you become a spiritual slave to him and ultimately lose your soul in the process.
Moreover, the declaration or announcement, “your mother is a witch”, elicits different reactions from young people. Some would seek to murder such a mother, those who would not believe, those who would return home to ‘have it out’ with the poor mother, those who would sadly withdraw as a result of traumatization, and those who would proceed on a spiritual battle with the mother.
Among these groups, I find those who would commence a spiritual battle with the mother most pathetic because these are soon initiated into ‘Hoodoo’ witchcraft in the course of the so-called spiritual battle and pronto, become mama’s best friend; the eyes of understanding now opened.
All the scenarios described above represent the unfortunate reason why some simple mothers opt to commence the rites of passage of their children while young with its attending adverse consequences ranging from poor academic performance, predisposition to sexual immorality, poor self-esteem, inferiority complex, and disrespect for elders to unsavoury character formation.
Despite the potential consequences, a good mother would protect the spiritual innocence of a child and allow the child to mature in the fear of God before exposing the child to the realities of African spirituality, once again allowing the child to be responsible for his spiritual destiny; thereby parenting with a good conscience.
Moreover, It is something for an African Pastor to inform one that one’s mother is a witch and entirely another for the Holy Spirit to draw one’s attention to this truth, the former intending to earn a living while leading astray and the latter seeking to protect from the consequences of the situation.
Either way, if you ever learn that your mother is a witch, before reacting foolishly, calm down and be advised that your mother is only a victim of the African culture realising therefore that she’s not alone for most mothers over 50 are in similar shoes.
At this point, yes, godly help should be sought but while doing this, embrace commandment 5 (Exodus 20:12) to avoid damaging yourself.
