Traditional healer or Prophet?
What is the difference between a sangoma (traditional healer) and a prophet or pastor? The reason I ask this question is because prophets as well as pastors, are telling their congregations their future and advise them on how to deal and solve problems, while reading scriptures from the bible.
I have come across modern sangomas who have their own churches, read from the bible and give their congregation traditional medicine for their ailments.
So what is the difference between the two? Both claim to be able to cast out demons, they prophesise and preach the word of God. Or is it that they do not want to step away from our ancient African heritage, which has been carried on from generation to generation. And now in the modern times, it is perceived as evil and bad, therefore the solution is to use both the bible and our ancestral medicine to please everybody.
People should also stop judging, of course in every so called career path that a person chooses or is born to do, there will be bad apples, people who mislead.
Today we hear horror stories about traditional healers and pastors, but why should the earlier group of people get most of the flack?
Nobody complains about all the churches opening left, right and centre, open until the wee hours of the morning, people chanting, singing and shouting. But if they just hear that a traditional healer is practising near their area, all hell breaks loose.
Such hypocrisy! And these prophets have the decency to make people pay to touch them, so that their magic rubs off on them, for luck and prosperity. How can one person have so much power, to brain wash thousands of people. Have we not learned through history?
For those of you who do not stay in Katurura, you will be surprised of all the churches there, in almost every street there are little churches or people preaching in their houses. I don’t have a problem with this, but churches are also destructive in our neighbourhood. For example I have heard many stories of individuals who give their whole life saving to churches and traditional healers, and we think shebeens are our main evil or problem that we have in this country. No my people wake up, churches are making million from people.
So I better start planning on opening my own church, who is with me? I just need five individuals to be with me. No funny business just motivating and encouraging people in their difficult times. For who ever is going to join be, no chancers please.
We come together and each one can read their favourite scripture, and we can grow together and encourage each other, only positive energy. No speaking in tongues, no laying on of hands, just happy thoughts and messages. And please no doomsday predictions, no please.
These are just my thoughts, like them or don’t, agree or not its up to you. But its not going to stop me from letting readers know what I feel about what is going on in the work, especially in Namibia.
No jokes people ‘lets do this’, ‘yes we can’.
