From Marabout to Christ

Burkina Faso along with many other West African countries experience what one might call mixed religion. Because of the animistic culture, the doctrines of many religions have been altered to fit into a mold that will work in this culture. For those of you who are not familiar with animism, it can be defined as the belief that a spiritual force is in all living creatures and even in inanimate objects such as rocks or the wind. They use magic, spells, enchantments, superstitions, etc., or anything that they believe will help to protect them from the evil spirits and placate the good spirits that are found everywhere in everything. Their religious leaders are what we would know as witchdoctors. One example of this doctrinal alteration is found in certain forms of Islam. They have their mosques and religious leaders, but many Burkinabe also consort with the “Marabout,” or Muslim witchdoctors.

Two weeks ago we celebrated our church’s one year anniversary. We had a great day with many visitors. One of these visitors was a man by the name of Mamadou. After the service, while everyone was eating, he came to me and said he wanted to be saved. Earlier in the week, he had listened to a message on the radio that Jesus was the only way to go to Heaven. That morning, he heard me speak from John 10 that Jesus is the door. Isn’t it amazing how the Holy Spirit works! We talked about salvation for more than thirty minutes. He confessed that he was a Muslim and relied heavily on the counsel of the Marabout. He was now ready to leave it all for Christ. As we bowed our heads to pray, he said, “WAIT, what should I do with all the ‘stuff’ from the Muslim witchdoctor?” I explained that first, he needed to repent and ask Christ to save him, then he needed to go home and get rid of it. Praise the Lord, he did! He told me he was going to go home and get rid of it immediately. I asked him about it last Sunday at church and he confirmed that everything was gone.