Christianity and Spiritual Warfare in Africa

CHRISTIANITY AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN AFRICA
Part Two

In the limited circles of Kampala, the capital of Uganda where we stayed one week, there was evidence of education and Christian faith. The Anglican Church we attended had a vibrant service which became my favourite of all the churches we attended during our twelve weeks of travel. It combined solid biblical truth in hymns, liturgy, two Scripture readings and an expository message from the Word, with enthusiastic singing, dancing and praising God by the people for twenty minutes. The people were well dressed, English is the official language of Uganda (as was true in every other country we visited, except Ethiopia) and we found churches everywhere. However, a missionary told us that just beneath the surface one finds deep, traditional, cultic beliefs in ancestral spirits and mystical powers. Indeed, when we visited the Kasubi tombs where the last four kings of the Baganda were buried we could detect an underlying world view of spiritism. More than seventy descendants of the late kings’ wives still live there and several are always in the building. They perform rituals and give offerings for the dead. The well being of the Baganda depends on these offerings to the spirits of the dead kings.

In Swaziland where 80% claim to be Christian only 19% are church members. 50% of all church members belong to one of 73 Zionist denominations which are mostly syncretistic without knowledge of the Gospel. Swaziland prides itself in its strong traditional culture but this includes performing rituals and ceremonies for the dead. Christians in a couple’s seminar we attended from an evangelical church admitted that most of the Christians, even in the evangelical churches, perform these rituals simply because it is Swazi culture, without any understanding that this is anathema before God.

Pentecostal type of Christianity (both mission churches and African indigenous churches) is sweeping over Africa with its emotional extremes, theological errors and lack of biblical depth. In Ethiopia, during the years of persecution under the Marxist government when all churches were closed, the Christians clung together for survival in house churches with constantly changing locations and times. As a result of this mixture and lack of biblical teaching, all churches tend to be similar in their theology and Christian practice. In one SIM daughter church during a choir number, one woman jumped to her feet in hysteria, made some emotional outburst and then collapsed to her seat. When I inquired later what this meant, I was informed that she had just been “filled with the Spirit.” I was greatly disturbed as we attended church after church, how seldom there was Scripture reading in the service. Even in the best of churches, there was no Scripture reading. The message we heard in Addis Ababa was nothing but random talk about Christ’s death and resurrection without any biblical basis, theme or biblical instruction. Worship is becoming louder, nosier, more emotional and ecstatic, with the focus seemingly on how good one feels rather than focusing on God and praising him for his glory and greatness.

When we were in Malawi I asked one Malawian what he felt was the greatest need in the church. He thought for a minute and then replied, “Revival.” Many churches have lost the Gospel through a liberal theology. Others have lost their zeal for evangelism and devotion to the Lord. Church leaders are often pre-occupied with retaining their position and see the educated younger clergy as a threat to them. Thus church growth is squelched. The Presbyterian Church in Malawi opposes evangelism and excommunicates anyone who claims to be “born again.” They desire to co-exist in peace with the Muslims which are now spreading rapidly because the President is Muslim and the Arab oil wealth is pouring into the country. Evangelical churches founded by faith missions have lost their zeal for evangelism in several South African countries we were in. Those with an evangelistic zeal are seen as a threat to the leaders who were never known for evangelistic outreach.

So what is our conclusion? There is a spiritual warfare going on in the African continent. On the one hand, there is the voice of the Christian Church, over radio and TV, in public arenas and official circles and within the churches. But competing for the attention of the peoples are two other voices: the traditional attraction of African religion with its mystical powers and dependence on the ancestral spirits and witchcraft, and the modern attraction of materialism, hedonism and humanism. On one bus we heard the gospel sung and preached and later on saw a western movie full of violence and lust.

CONTINUED IN PART THREE