Effects of espiritismo

We lost one of the little girls in our preschool. She had lived in La Caramuca with her mother as the only parent in the household, but then the mother's mind became unbalanced as a result of her involvement with "espiritismo", or attempts to communicate with the spirit world. Because of some experience she had while engaged in this occult activity, the woman was found running through the streets of La Caramuca stark naked and stark raving mad. So the little girl and her mother have been taken in by relatives in Barinas and no longer live here. We will continue to pray for them.

This kind of thing is not at all uncommon in Venezuela, where much mental illness is associated with the witchcraft that pervades the culture here. The practice of magic is not confined to the poor and uneducated, but is found among the highest levels of society as well. Astrologers and mediums take out advertisements in the newspapers, television and radio, boasting of their supposed accuracy in predicting the future. especially in regard to the lottery, horse races and other forms of gambling that are so prevalent here. It is often said that when Venezuelans get sick, it is typical for them to consult a bruja (witch) or espiritista (medium) before going to a medical doctor. Of course, many people seek magical aid in gaining either love or revenge, too.

We discussed much of this in the seminar on the Psalms that Eduardo and I attended in Caracas during the last week of May. Our professor was Dr. Rudy Blank, who currently is a member of the faculty of the Center for Hispanic Studies at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.

Dr. Blank was born the son of German immigrants in Chicago. He graduated with a master's degree in divinity from Concordia Seminary in 1959, after serving a year of vicarage in Venezuela from 1957 to 1958 (the year of my birth). From 1959 to 1962 he served as pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Cambridge, England. In 1963 he returned to Venezuela to serve as a missionary until 2003. During this period, he was also able to complete additional postgraduate studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif., and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. For 19 years he was based in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, where Luz María lived at roughly the same time. She received much of her theological instruction from "Pastor Rodolfo."

Concordia Publishing House has published several books by Dr. Blank. One of them, "Salmos: Una Ventana Al Antiguo Testamento Y Al Mesías" served as a our textbook for the seminar in Caracas.

There was a lot of material to cover. Perhaps most enjoyable was learning how the Psalms have inspired many hymns in many languages. For example, Psalm 46 provided the basis for Martin Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress" ("Castillo Fuerte" in Spanish) and "Dios es nuestro amparo", which is a favorite at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas:

"Dios es nuestro amparo, nuestra fortaleza,
Nuestro pronto auxilio en la tribulación.
Aunque se traspasen los montes a la mar,
Y aunque la tierra tiemble, tenemos que cantar.
Aunque la tierra tiemble, tenemos que cantar.

"Cielo y tierra pasarán, más Tu Palabra no pasará
Cielo y tierra pasarán, más Tu Palabra no pasará.
No, no, no pasará. No, no, no pasará."

Likewise, Psalm 92 is the basis of another Spanish hymn, "Bueno es alabarte, Jehová," which Pastor Francisco Cabarcas, chaplain of Cristo Rey Lutheran School in Maturin, recalled singing in the small village in Colombia where he was born and raised:

"Bueno es alabarte, Jehová, cantar salmos a Tu nombre.
Bueno es alabarte, Jehová, cantar salmos a Tu nombre.
Anunciar por la mañana Tu misericordia
Y Tu fidelidad de noche.
Anunciar por la mañana Tu misericordia
Y Tu fidelidad de noche."

Just as enlightening, but more sobering, were the parallels between the culture in which the psalms were written and that of Venezuela today, especially the psalms which declare the sovereignty of God over all other powers, whether those of human government, the forces of nature or spiritual entities.

"Ba'al" was a Canaanite word that meant, in its broadest definition, "lord". It was used in reference to human kings and heroes as well as many local deities. The great Ba'al spoken of in the Old Testament, the chief god of the Canaanites, was believed to have the power to send rain for annual crops and fertility for crops, livestock and humans. The priests of Ba'al were believed to have the power to foretell the future and cast spells. Worship of Ba'al included animal and human sacrifice, self-mutilation, and acts of ritualized sex, both hetero- and homosexual, all aimed at placating the god and gaining his favor.

Perhaps even more terrifying than Ba'al was his consort, the goddess Anat, who, it was said, liked to bathe in the blood of her enemies. Worse than either Ba'al or Anat was Mot, the god of death and chaos, who was Ba'al's chief adversary. Nevertheless, Mot had his worshipers, too.

There were many other cruel and capricious deities worshipped by the nations surrounding Israel, such as Moloch, the Phoenician god who specifically demanded child sacrifice.

Many of the ancient Israelites believed that the supplication of these dark deities could be harmonized with the worship of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who revealed Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai. In an age of tribal gods, they thought perhaps the power and authority of Yahweh had geographical limits. Or, if Yahweh seemed distant and unwilling to answer their prayers, other deities could be called on to lend their aid.

Attitudes in Venezuela today are not very different. The Triune God is only one among a number of spirit-beings to whom one may appeal. These may include the Virgin Mary and the saints, pagan deities peculiar to Venezuela, and "imported" cults such as Santeria (a Caribbean-based cult derived from ancient African beliefs) and the cult of Santa Muerte (Holy Death).

The cult of Santa Muerte is similar to ancient Canaanite worship of Mot, the god of death and chaos. As a modern cult it originated in Hidalgo, Mexico, in 1965. Now with millions of adherents in Mexico, the United States and Central America, the cult has made some inroads into Venezuela. It is a revival of the worship of the Aztec goddess of death, who in ancient times was offered animal and human sacrifices. The cult is especially popular among drug traffickers, other smugglers, gangsters, prostitutes and homosexuals, but also claims followers among the higher classes. The basic idea is that by making a pact with Santa Muerte, one can gain invulnerability to death, the power to inflict death upon one's enemies, or other benefits in this life.

Thank God the Psalms affirm now, as they did in ancient Palestine, that the practitioners of witchcraft and idolatry, whether they are simple con artists or actually in communion with demons, have no real power. As Psalm 96 says:

"For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised,
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens."

It is the Triune God who is truly Lord of creation and in Whom we can trust for whatever we need. We also have the messianic promises of the Psalms which have been fulfilled in Jesus, as in Psalm 110:

"The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion,
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!"

We say in the Apostle's Creed that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty because in the imagery of the ancient Near East this means Jesus has been invested with all the authority of God the Father and speaks for Him. Likewise, "Till make Your enemies your footstool" refers to the custom of a conqueror placing his foot on the heads of the kings that he has vanquished, who have been forced to lie face down in the dirt.

And finally, we have the promise of Psalm 22:

"All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
For the kingdom is the Lord's,
And He rules over the nations."

Elemental spirits and vain philosophy

"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."
Colossians 2:8

I rely on the Internet to keep up with what is going on in the world outside of Venezuela. One blog that I regularly read is getreligion.org. On this site, professional journalists of various religious backgrounds post comments about how the "mainstream media" covers news about religion.

One contributor is Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist who is also a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and, in fact, a pastor's daughter. On June 28, 2007, she cited a Los Angeles Times article that she thought was a good example of writing about religion, especially for the sports section of a newspaper. The article actually had to do with Venezuela.

More specifically, it had to do with Santeria and Ozzie Guillen, the Venezuelan who is manager of the Chicago White Sox. Guillen became a national hero here after the White Sox won the World Series. Here is what sportswriter Kevin Baxter reported about Guillen:

"Guillen’s religion is Santeria, a largely misunderstood Afro-Cuba spiritual tradition that incorporates the worship of orisha — multidimensional beings who represent the forces of nature — with beliefs of the Yoruba and Bantu people of Africa and elements of Roman Catholicism. And Guillen, born in Venezuela, is one of a growing number of Latin American players, managers and coaches who are followers of the faith..."

“When you talk about that religion in the States, people think you’re a monster,” said Guillen, whose children were baptized in the Catholic faith and have become, like their father, babalaos (followers of Santeria). “Sometimes you have to be careful what you say about religion and when and how.

"Because in this country there’s so many different ideas, people get offended so easy.

“People call me a criminal because we do stuff with blood and animals. I don’t blame these people. They believe what they believe and I believe what I believe. Have I ever killed an animal in the States to do my religion? No. I did in my country.”

Ms. Hemingway's only criticism of the article was that the writer repeatedly described Santeria as "misunderstood" without offering any evidence of that being the case. My observation is that the rise of Santeria in Venezuela, Latin America and the United States is something to think about the next time you hear someone say there is no need for Christian mission work in Latin America.

In addition to Santeria, there are in Venezuela, as I have mentioned before,various other forms of witchcraft and occultism. For example, there is the cult of Maria Lionza, who combines aspects of a fertility goddess, a water elemental and elements of the Roman Catholic concept of the Virgin Mary. Even before I came to Venezuela, I was struck by pictures of a 15-foot-tall image of Maria Lionza located next to the Caracas freeway. The figure depicts a nude woman astride a tapir (a pig-like animal native to South America) who is holding a human pelvic bone above her head. Worshippers adorn this image (idol) with flowers and other offerings every year. Vibrations from heavy freeway traffic have done some structural damage to the statute and there has been talk of moving it. One proposal is to relocate it in the same district as the city's main mosque, synagogue and Maronite Catholic church. Needless to say, Muslims, Jews and Maronite Christians are as one in their lack of enthusiasm for this idea. (Ironically, the presence of a large Maronite church, and of Maronites, an ancient people from Lebanon and Syria, in Caracas is the result of native Christians fleeing the Middle East in the face of Muslim persecution).

Maria Lionza actually is supposed to "live"on a mountain in the western state of Yaracuy. Devotees gather there annually during which time it is said non-believers who value their lives are best advised to stay away.

Maria Lionza is said to be one of the three most powerful spirit-beings in Venezuela. The other two are Negro Felipe (Black Philip), an earth elemental who also represents the spirituality of African-Americans, and Chief Guaicaipuro, a wind elemental who represents the wisdom of the indigenous tribes.

In addition to these beliefs, you can also find throughout Venezuela Masons (despite the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to Freemasonry), Rosicrucians, Gnostics, practitioners of yoga and New Agery, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists (the last two being particularly numerous around Barinas).

July 12, 2007, marked the end of my fourth year of living in Venezuela. As the date rolled around, I took some time to reflect on some of the things I have described above and other things that I have learned during my time here. One important lesson has been the importance of apologetics (reasoned defense of Christian doctrine) in mission work. Even when working with children, as we do, a shallow understanding of what you believe and why you believe it is not enough. Subjective experience is not enough, nor, in the grand design of things, is your "personal testimony" particularly important. Above all one must present the promise of eternal life in Christ, revealed in Holy Scripture, as sure and certain. If you believe this yourself, you can do no less.

Many people want to reduce the faith once delivered to the saints to a series of vague platitudes that no one in their right mind would disagree with. For people in Latin America and other parts of the world where life is still a series of storms and trials, platitudes are not enough. Everyone needs solid truths to live by and to die by, when their last hour is at hand. If we believe we have the pure, apostolic doctrine, we cannot stand silent when there are so many peddling spiritual counterfeits.

This past Wednesday, July 12, was also the day that we had a graduation ceremony for the children that will be leaving us for first grade. Each one received a little banner inscribed with Psalm 16:7: "I will bless the Lord who counsels me and gladdens my heart."

Unfortunately I have no photos of this event. Nor do I have photos of the great progress that has been made on our new fence. My digital camera is broken (to make a long story short, it's the monsoon season here and I had to walk over a mile in a tropical downpour). Now I have to decide between getting it repaired (very expensive here; they want more than I paid for it in the first place) and seeing if someone will bring me a replacement from the United States, where anything electronic is much cheaper.

Finally I would like to note that we continue to pray for the family of Kent Heidenreich, a member of Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, Freeburg, Illinois, who recently died in a farming accident.