African "custom"

In this dialogue, I use the term "African custom" to mean specific
animistic customs related to spirit worship. I do not mean African
customs in general (such as dress, food, etc). The word used in French
"coutume" is translated to "custom" or "habit" in English, but this
translation does not fully capture the meaning the way it was used.

"I'm going to be gone today. Me and my friend here are going to spend
the day at the mortuary place," my friend explained.
"Who died?" I asked.
"Oh, he was the paternal uncle of so-and-so."
"The one who makes grass fencing and palm-leaf hats?"
"Yes, he's the one."
"Was he sick?"
"He was paralyzed on one side for three days. He absolutely refused to
go the the hospital. He died last night around midnight."
Wanting to know more of the story, I continued with more questions as we
walked from my house toward the gate. "Was he sick before that?"
"Yes, he was not stable in his mind. He was crazy. He has been that way
for years."
Seeing that I was still a bit puzzled, my friend continued to explain
more of the story.

"You know that big tree by the Adventist church in Bendele? The really
big cassidra with lots of branches on the same land as the church? That
tree used to be the sacred African custom tree. That tree used to be our
church. My father and grandfather and great-grandfather used to worship
that tree. My great-grandfather gave his knowledge of that tree to my
grandfather, and my grandfather gave it to my father. That tree and the
land around it used to be for the devil. But when my father became a
Christian, he left the tree and did not pass it on to me."

"Very interesting," I replied. "So how does this affect the man who just
died?"

"Oh, yes," he continued. "Years ago, that man cut down a palm tree on
the African custom land. That land belonged to the devil and so did that
tree. Ever since that day, he has been crazy in his head. He has tried
many times to kill himself. He threw himself into the well, but he came
up alive. He went at night to an Arab camp and began beating their oxen,
but then the Arabs saw that he was crazy in his head, they didn't kill
him. He tried throwing himself into the river, but the river spit him
out. And now, God has determined his time to go and he has died. They
plan to bury him today."

"The devil has power, that is for sure," I said. "But isn't God stronger?"

This question aroused a defensive response. At the gate, we stopped
walking and faced each other. "Jonathan," my friend said decidedly, "our
African custom is very complicated. When you are 100% Christian, you
must not touch anything that belongs to the devil. If you do, you will
absolutely have problems. You can't go and cut down something of African
custom. You can't just go and combat Satan like that. It is very dangerous."

My friend continued, "I know someone in our village who works with the
African customs. If you mess with his things, you have two months to
live—maximum. Stealing is still wrong, even if you are stealing the
devil's things. You can't just go and steal those things without having
big problems."

To reinforce his point even further, he told me of another story. "One
man became a pastor of a church. Since he was a Christian and a pastor
for God now, he decided to cut down the tree in his yard. It was the
same kind of tree that is on the land for the church, the same kind that
people worship. The neighbors and other villagers warned him not to
touch that tree, for it was a sacred tree. But he claimed that he was
God's now and that the devil could not hurt him. He cut down the tree.
Right away he became paralyzed and remained paralyzed until he died two
and a half years later. It's God who made the tree grow, not Satan. Why
should he cut down something that God has made?"

"You see," he concluded, "our African custom is very complicated. If you
say that you are 100% Christian and that the devil doesn't have power
over you, you don't understand our custom. The best thing for a
Christian to do is to never touch or go near things of African custom."

My mind begins to think of various Bible examples relating to this. I
think of Gideon who tore down a monument to Baal. I think of various
kings who tore down high places. These people did touch the things of
the devil and destroy them. I also think of Job, who experienced the
power of the devil even though he was faithful to God. I think of the
seven sons of Sceva. I think we have good material here for several
Bible studies together.