It’s been exactly a week since my last post. This indigenous ritual was actually taken on that very same day. High temperatures exceeding 100 degrees is a recipe for being homebound. We have an AC, but only for upstairs. Even when cooking and sitting for dinner, I’m melting like ice cream! The sticky, hot and humid feeling is one of the things I disdain.
Talking about this was for today since my Scripture reading for today carried a similar theme to this indigenous tendency, well not just indigenous people really, but people in general to worship just any god.
“Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.“
Acts 28:1-6 NIV
Two takeaways from this short passage is that though some people are bitten by poisonous snakes or are in harm’s way, if it is not God’s appointed time (Psalm 139:16) for a person to die, he/she will survive the ordeal. The other one is that people are easily impressed by the supernatural– and in this case defying the odds of an expected outcome can easily mislead people to deify a created being.
I looked intently at this woman while she was drumming and for some time, she looked like she was entranced. I have no idea if this was something to celebrate their myth of the deer woman, but if it is, the deer woman is supposed to be some shape shifter.
I did not bother to ask around what exactly this ritual was for, but seeing that they are kneeling is quite telling. No one kneels unless it is praying to a higher power. Sadly, this higher power they are praying to is one of the enemy’s many guises. Behind any idol worship is none other than the god of this age.
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV
“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
John 1:18 NIV
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 NIV
Related reads: The Gates | Ancient Needles & Obelisks
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