When the spirits Answer Back (Part 1)

Why Western Christianity Forgot the Spiritual World - And How To Recover It

Today’s post is from one of our resident theologians, Jeremy Jenkins. Jeremy is the founder and Executive Director of All Things All People, where he equips Christians to take the Gospel into the darkest places and to the least-reached people in their own communities. He also serves as a lead pastor at Element Church in Forest City, NC. Jeremy holds a bachelor’s degree in Religion from Liberty University and a Master’s in Intercultural Studies from Columbia International University. His passion is helping believers understand the world’s religions so they can share the Gospel with clarity, compassion, and confidence.

“He really was hearing voices…”

I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling when I had the realization. This particular epiphany came embarrassingly late in my ministry life. I had already been a pastor for a number of years and was already involved in teaching religions. I had traveled to Havana, Cuba, to do just that. Standing in front of a group of potential missionaries, I discussed with them topics in folk religion that they may encounter as they travel to other cultures. An energetic young woman came up to me after class to tell me the story that led to my awakening. The story was about her town’s Santeria priest.

Santeria is a syncretistic religion that combines Catholicism with elements of West African religions like Yoruba.¹ All around Cuba you can find idols of Catholic saints that have names you’ve likely never heard of. This is because many of these “saints” are essentially standing in for Santeria Orishas, or gods. Santeria is not an example of Neopaganism, as Neopaganism is essentially a modern revisioning of ancient pagan practices typically from pre-Christian eras, but we learn quite a bit that can be applied to our understanding of Neopaganism and the spiritual world from observing Santeria.

Every day, this young woman would walk past the Santeria priest as he sat on the side of the road offering his medium services to the locals. She made a habit of greeting him each day by saying, “Jesus loves you!” As she told me this, her face lit up with joy as she recalled how he would curse at her and cross the road to get away from her.

“One day, a friend of mine told me that the priest wanted me to come visit him at his house,” she said. “I was nervous, but I went and found him packing his things. He told me, ‘I am moving to another town, but I wanted to tell you that you need to keep worshiping your God. Every time you would say his name to me, I could no longer hear the spirits talking to me.’” Her face seemed to shine as she told me this last part, and we both laughed and took great pleasure in how the name of Jesus seemed to have power over the darkest things. But the story stuck with me through the rest of that day; it was what kept me up that night.