“Why do you want to try to change their culture? They are happy with their traditional religion, and they don’t need a change.” This is a common criticism of Christian missions. What the critics don’t know is what really happens in these seemingly happy families.

In 2006, Toussaint’s 83-year-old father, Kouato, a fetish priest, died and was buried with many ceremonies. Kouato had been the king of the village, so he had many wives and children. Toussaint and his brothers are the children of Kouato’s first wife, so they have a special cultural responsibility to honor the spirit of their father in a two-part ceremony, starting with the burial and finishing sometime later with a second, bigger ceremony. However, since Toussaint is an Adventist Christian, he refused to participate in the first ceremony.

Years went by, and the time normally set aside for the second ceremony passed because the family didn’t have the money to buy all the necessary beer and food for the many guests. Then, last year, one of the brothers was planning an important project and wanted the support of his father’s spirit, so he and the other children decided to have the second ceremony. They went forward with their plans even though it meant spending money their mother desperately needed for cataract surgery.

Word went out to all the brothers telling them what was needed for the ceremony. Even some who considered themselves Christians answered the call. However, Toussaint’s siblings knew he was deeply committed to Christ and would not participate, so they didn’t even bother sending him an invitation. On the invitation cards, they didn’t even list him as a member of the family. It was a very hard time for Toussaint. He felt rejected by his family.
As the ceremony drew near, Toussaint’s brothers bickered and fought over the food and drink and other details of the festivity. The big day finally came, and hundreds of people attended to witness the sacrifices over Kouato’s newly tiled tomb.

When it was all done and the family returned to their daily lives, new problems began. First, Toussaint’s second brother’s wife brought in a second wife for her husband. This is quite common here. It worked for a bit, but then the first wife got jealous and started fighting with her husband. He ended up throwing her out of the home, so she took the second wife with her. Toussaint’s brother took another wife who was more than 20 years younger than he.
Not long after that, Toussaint’s second sister started having problems with her husband. He sent her away, and she went to stay with her mother.

Then Toussaint’s oldest sister, whose husband died a long time ago, suddenly became quite sick. She spent weeks in the hospital and now needs continual medical care. She was scared to go back to her village, saying the spirits there would kill her, so she is now staying with a brother in town.

Toussaint’s oldest brother also started having family problems. He took a girlfriend younger than his own daughter, and he and his wife decided to divorce. However, since they don’t have the money to get legally divorced, they have divided the household, even going so far as dividing the yard with a piece of string.

Toussaint’s second-oldest brother has become paranoid about spirits attacking him. He can’t do anything without consulting an old man who tells him what is happening in the spirit world. Recently, he was supposed to go back to the village where he is a school director. But the night before he was supposed to leave, he dreamed that someone had put a cursed object at his door in the village, so he was afraid to go there. A couple of days later, he got news that someone had stolen all his goats. He again went to see the old man who told him the thief hadn’t killed them yet, so he took off to try to apprehend him.

Overcome by all the turmoil in their lives, Kouato’s family consulted the spirits to find out why it was happening. They were told that one of their cousins, who had been Kouato’s right-hand man in performing sacrifices to the village fetish, was jealous because of the big feast they had organized and had cursed the Kouato family so they would be destroyed.

The story of the curse may or may not be true, but the fact is that the Kouato family has invited demonic influence into their lives through the funeral ceremonies, and they are seeing the consequences. Step by step, Satan is destroying their lives and happiness. Only Toussaint, who clings to Christ and stands strong against spirit worship, has been spared.

This is the nightmare of fear and tragedy people experience when they allow Satan to control them. Critics of mission work who say we should leave people in their traditional culture do not realize the dismay that people in this culture live with. Only the Light of the World can chase away their fear and the darkness. Thanks be to Jesus who broke the power of darkness and offers us the power that changes our darkness into light.

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