#VMBARTICLES: The Witches Are Not To Blame By Oluwabi Mobolaji

#VMBARTICLES:  

“if he was asked to open a church based on business strategy, it would definitely be the ‘witches and demons must die’ one because it conforms with the African mentality already.” 

 “lebra densa tab deto”, Iya Nkechi said as I watched the fourth customer leave her shop. Iya Nkechi,  a member of my local church in fact not just a member, a core member, leader of the prayer warrior department, maybe that explains why all four customers left. Once she starts her shop-opening prayer; no one knows when she will end.

My pastor is very convinced that all of us are under some spiritual attack either witches, familiar or ancestral spirit. I don’t know which is attacking me but I know the ones after Iya Nkechi – witches. Well that is what she also thinks, judging from the amount of time she prays against them. She doesn’t know them, neither do I – except one (yes I know one of the witches after Iya Nkechi).

Iya Nkechi’s “market” doesn’t seem to be moving at all. It has to be the witch who has a bigger provision store, just a few shops to her right or the ever-smiling wizard at the other end of the road. No! It has to be the one who answers with “What do you want?” before giving you the once over. Assessing your perceived worth or worthlessness – as the case maybe. These are the witches (including the ones from the village), Iya Nkechi prays against for two hours every morning.

Religion is a very touchy issue in today’s world, so I really want to be careful and not stir the hornets’ nest. I do not have problems with prayers, but I do have problems with people who think other people are responsible for all of their problems. No disputing the fact that some of you (not us: intentional choice of words), have witchcraft problems and people pursuing from your villages, but when our spiritual leaders communicate a message of fear concerning witchcraft, there is the problem. This backward, mind limiting thought pattern, is one of the innumerable causes of poverty in our continent. Because she failed just when she was about to hit pay-dirt, some demon called failure-at-edge-of-breakthrough is responsible. Therefore she goes into 40 days of fasting, rather than look for the reason she failed and try to handle it better in future. Thoughts like these are fueled by spiritual leaders who always seem ever ready to conduct deliverance services.

However, this connects to the on-going argument of spiritual leaders telling their congregation what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear. A friend of mine once said “if he was asked to open a church based on business strategy, it would definitely be the ‘witches and demons must die’ one because it conforms with the African mentality already. We as Africans should now learn some failure-analysis and stop blaming failure on external forces.

This Article is written by Oluwabi Mobolaji