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Among many African Christians there are always spirits incharge of every unfavourable situation. There are, for instance, spirits in charge of poverty, barenness, road accidents, fire outbreak, cancer, fibroids, mental sickness and so on. Hence it does worry us that our medical doctors are leaving the country en masse on daily basis while pastors and churches are increasing.
When accidents occour, rather than blaming those who embezzled the money mapped out for the construction of roads, we tend to put the blame on the spirit of road accident. When someone psychologically breaks down, the spirit of madness is to blame. When a lady remains unmarried, spiritual husbands are responsible. In case of childlessness, the spirit of barenness is the cause.
During fire outbreak, it is not uncommon to see people casting the spirit of Inferno rather than calling the fire service. I also hear that there are spirits of unwanted pregnancy. A Nigerian woman who believed the spirit of barenness was the cause of her chidlessness gave birth as soon as she relocated to America. She only visited a gynecologist and that was it.
The thing is that we dedicate the time we should spend with God, our fellow humans, government, experts, professionals and ourselves to non existent spirits. The fear and time we dedicate to these spirits even question our believe in God’s supremacy, omnipresence and love. It questions also our God-given intelligence and common sense. Sometimes I wonder, wether we are also among those created in God’s image and likeness.
Have a blessed day.
Fr Angelo Chidi Unegbu
