Ancestral worship has been a thorny issue that has left a lot of Christians not in the clear. This has caused a lot of them who are in the church still continuing being actively involved in ancestral worship.
Ancestral worship involves religious beliefs and practices consisting of prayers and offerings to the spirits of dead relatives. Ancestor worship is found in many cultures all across the world. Prayers and offerings are made because it’s believed the spirits of ancestors live on in the natural world and are thus able to influence the futures and fortunes of the living relatives. Ancestors spirits are also thought to act as mediators between the living and the Creator.
Ancestors are believed to influence the lives of later generations by blessing or cursing them, in essence acting as gods. So praying to them, presenting them with gifts, and making offerings are done to appease them and gain their favour.
The Bible tells us that the spirits of the dead go to either heaven or hell and do not remain in the natural world (Luke 16: 20- 31). This belief that spirits continue to reside on earth after death and influence the lives of others is not scriptural.
While we may have received teachings on this subject as children of God, it is not easy to let go and so like the children of Israel struggling to let go, so are the children of today who struggle to let go of their ancestral worship.
THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT
The children of God were in Egypt for about 215 years. They were well educated in Egyptian culture and way of life. Though Jacob and his children had been in the land that God had given them before hand, staying in Egypt for such a long time had influenced a lot of things in their lives.
Depending on God for their everyday supply was a challenge since they had gotten used to the Egyptian way of supplying their needs, though it was a stringent way. To them it was better to be in a system you know and that has become predictable than to be in a place of unpredictability.
They left Egypt but they were still caught up with the false comfort that Egypt gave them. They were oppressed but at least they could get a meal. They did not believe that they deserved better than just a meal.
They are people who walk with the saying: “Is better the devil you know.” Hey, I don’t want no devil in my life.
THE CHURCH TODAY
The church finds itself in the very O same environment that the children of Israel found themselves in. The environment of people who would not want to let go of false security of ancestral worship. They would still consult witchdoctors; they would hide wools tide around their waists and still allow incisions on their bodies.
These old traditions and religions that we are born with or born in are most likely what proves to be our Egypt. They are what we have known since a very young age and they are more predictable than the unpredictability of having to walk with the God, we have not known all along.
The unpredictability of walking with God is built upon walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) and it is hard for them to believe when they have lived most of their lives in the predictable provision of Egypt.
It is for that reason the saints are unable to move into what God has for them because they are wilderness wonderers. They have seen ancestral worship produce false miracles and never counted the price they had to pay for the miracle.
UNDERSTANDING FAITH
The Israelites said that they remembered the food they ate in meaning that The Egyptians had become their God and they depended on the Egyptians for their daily provisions.
In Egypt faith was based in what they saw.
This is what the Israelites said, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this. desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 16: 3)
In the desert there is no pot or meat that can be seen with the eyes but that does not mean that God will not supply and in the Christian faith there are no incisions, holy water, wools on our waists with rituals dedicated to cleanse or cause good luck but that also does not mean God will not come through for us. We have faith in God to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Some people are easily tempted because they simply miss their old ways.
To them it does not matter how hard it was to be in that situation, they just miss Egypt. They would not get a short lived joy out of their memory. They usually give this reason, “we remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost-also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic” (Numbers 11: 5). These have no faith but have come to test if God can perform on their behalf.
THE CHALLENGE OF EVERY MAN
Jesus told the young rich man to go and sell all that He had owned and follow Him (Matthew 19: 21). The problem is not in the things the young ruler owns but more in him having faith that as he walks with the Lord, the things he has given away will be restored.
He must detach his faith from the things he owns and attach his faith in the Lord. This is what happened to the Israelites who could not detach their faith from Egypt so that they are able to attach it to the Lord for their daily provision.
LEADERS ARE AFFECTED TOO
This struggle is not only felt by the people of God but it is also found in men of God. Even though they may have started well, serving the Lord they now find themselves in the very trap of going back to what they had practiced while still in the world before their conversion.
This is seen with leaders such as Korah and his company who Moses concedes they are leaders. Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites-Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth-became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.
They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?” (Numbers 16: 1).
Originally published in the print edition of DIVINE Magazine, Issue 02.
