Who are Sangomas, Ancestors and Traditional Doctors? Part One

 

There are a number of verses especially in the Old Testament that deal with the topic of sangomas and traditional doctors. Obviously the Bible does not call them using those words but rather uses words like mediums and necromancers. Mediums are those people who consult the spirit of the dead and necromancers are those people who allow the spirit of the dead to occupy and use their bodies. Mediums and necromancers represents more or less what we understand today, and have always understood as sangomas and traditional doctors. In saying this, sangomas and traditional doctors, just like mediums and necromancers, consult the spirit of the dead as the main part of their work. Some allow the spirit of the dead to speak through them.

Ancestors are dead people whose spirit can allegedly be consulted for whatever purpose. They apparently have interest and are believed to can influence what goes on in life.

 

What does the Bible say about Consulting the Spirit of the dead?

There are a number of verses but I will only use some to make the point.

In 2 Kings 1:1-5, We lean about Ahaziah who fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and lay sick. He sent his messengers to inquire from an idol god called ekron. This idol god called baal-zebub, was to tell Ahaziah whether he shall recover from the sickness. While on the way, God send an angel to Elijah to tell the messengers, to tell Ahaziah that because he went to enquire from an idol god instead of from the true God, about his sickness, he shall surely die of his sickness.

In Isaiah 8:19, God through Isaiah asks, when people say let us go an inquire from mediums and necromancers, in the case of sangomas and traditional doctors, and they will tell us what to do. Should people not actually ask God instead for guidance? Should the living ask guidance from the dead? God is asking this question because mediums and necromancers, in our case sangomas and traditional doctors, consult the spirit of the dead to get guidance, which they then pass on to those that consult with them. This is why God asks whether the living should ask guidance from the dead. The answer is that people should not consult mediums and necromancers, in our case sangomas and traditional doctors, but instead they should consult God for guidance.

The living should not consult the dead for guidance. Let’s read the following verse Deuteronomy 18:10-12.

¹⁰ Don’t let anyone among you offer a son or daughter as a sacrifice in the fire [12:30–31]. Don’t let anyone use magic [divination; Ex. 7:11; Ezek. 21:21] or witchcraft, or try to explain the meaning of signs [augury or sorcery]. ¹¹ Don’t let anyone try to control others with magic [cast spells], and don’t let them be mediums [consult/inquire of ghosts or spirits] or try to talk with the spirits of [consult] dead people [1 Sam. 28]. ¹² The Lord hates [detests] anyone who does these things. Because the other nations do these things, the Lord your God will force [dispossess] them out of the land ahead of you.

The form of interaction with sangomas, ancestors and traditional doctors, might be different among the respective cultures but this interaction is prevalent. How should we then as Christians relate to all of this? Can we continue to be obedient Christians and still continue with this interaction with sangomas, ancestors and traditional doctors?

What is a Human Spirit, Dead Human Spirit and an Evil Spirit (Demon)?

A HUMAN SPIRIT

A Human spirit is when a living human being astral projects their spirit to places and people.

Astral projection is the idea that one can, with practice, “project” one’s consciousness, soul, or spirit, outside of the body while in a sleeping or awake state.

They try to “get out” of their bodies while asleep or awake and roam around in their spirit. All the while their body remains open and unguarded. If one leaves their body, it is a very real possibility for another spirit to come in and occupy it as well.

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 “Remember him-before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

This belief in the reincarnation of the "soul" is also called the "transmigration of souls".

The reference to the “silver cord” in the above Bible verse is a reference to the silver cord that is thought to connect our spirit to our body that is at times reported by those who have left their bodies. If this cord is ever severed, we cannot get back into our body. The separation of spirit and flesh becomes final. In other words, we die. Our body then becomes a carcass.

DEAD HUMAN SPIRITS

• A Dead Human Spirit (DHS) is a person who has died without knowing Jesus as their Messiah and they were very deeply steeped in the occult when they were living. They go to the underworld - a place in hell - and can be called up by satan to be used for his dirty work. A DHS is also called a disembodied spirit.

• There can also be DHS hanging around a crime scene / accident area / grave yards / places where war took place and many people died.

• There can be DHS (in the sea where people drowned.

The above points are very controversial - the Bible schools do not hold this view point but MANY counsellors and pastors and people working in the field of deliverance KNOWS that this is true.

I give you the scripture that clarifies it for so many who have experienced this in deliverance:

This takes place right at the end of time:

Revelation 20:13-15, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

This also explains that the ancestors who the First Peoples of all nations worship and fear, really DO exist - for example the African people worship and fear their ancestors who control their every move … nothing is done if they do not consult the dead and bring sacrifices for the dead … this is exactly what the Word forbids us to do! It is only people who die as Believers in Jesus as their Messiah, who will go to Heaven.

God warns His people NOT to contact the dead when they get to the Promised Land and see the practices of the pagan nations - why would He say that if it was not possible? The judgment for contacting the dead was very severe.

In a Practical Way:

It is important to note that you cannot bind a human spirit or a dead human spirit. That will open you up to witchcraft. God has given the human spirit freedom of choice.

1. Dead human spirits

You pray and ask God to send His Escort Angels to remove these dead human spirits and to take them to the place that HE has ordained for them to go.

If the Holy Spirit leads you, you can preach the Gospel to these DHS  (Dead-Human-Spirits) and then ask God to send His Angels to take them to the place that He has ordained for them to go.

We have many examples of where believers have prayed at battle-grounds / accident
scenes, etc, where many soldiers / people had died. There had been much spiritual activity in that area. (In the case of accident scenes, more accidents were taking place at the exact same place – as blood calls for more blood to be spilt.)

The believers were led to preach the Gospel and then they prayed for God to send His Angels to come and fetch the DHS and to take them to the place that He had ordained for them to go.

Another example is where people have reported “ghosts” / spirits of dead relatives hang around homes, rooms, buildings, and so forth. One then needs to go and spiritually “clean” the area, stand in the gap and repent of any sin that took place – like sexual sin, rape, murder, and so forth – and then ask the Father to send His Escort Angels to remove all DHS from the place.

Also bind the demons and send to the Feet of Jesus to be His Footstool. Cut the building / home / ground loose from every demonic portal and then close these portals in the Name of Jesus. Also cut free from sun, moon, stars, constellations and fallen angels as well as four levels of the spirit – heavens, earth, waters, under the earth. Cleanse the four elements7 and dedicate these elements to the Lord God of Israel.

Understanding DHS activity will encourage us to pray at every accident / murder scene (anywhere where people have died) and to silence the blood that has been spilt with the Blood of Y’shua (Jesus). Not doing so leaves the altar of sacrifice in the spirit standing to call for more blood.

Understanding this truth about DHS, helps us to realize that our problem is not with
demons – demons we can bind and cast out in the Name of Y’shua (Jesus) – our biggest problem in spiritual warfare is when we don’t know about DHS and when we don’t know how to pray about this very real problem in the spiritual domain.

2. Fear

Fear is a very real factor that will stop people from praying about DHS. If you have
believed for years that the ancestors will punish you if you don’t listen to them, then it will be very difficult to take up your God-ordained authority in the Name of Y’shua (Jesus) and deal with them as God has commissioned us to.

3. Human spirits - Astral projection

Again, you cannot bind a human spirit – this opens you up to witchcraft. When you sense a human spirit projecting into your room you can also preach the Gospel to them – they normally leave as fast as possible! – and again you ask God to send His Escort Angels to remove this human spirit and to return them to their body.

There are some people that have prayed for God to cut their silver cord that means that they will die as we learned from the scriptures. I personally will be very careful to pray this and one will have to really have heard from God to do so. If you have not heard from God it makes you a murderer!

An Evil Spirit (Demon) Evil spirit: a spirit tending to cause harm.

 

The Difference between Fallen Angels and Demons

In our opinion there is a difference between demons and fallen angels. Fallen angels are the angels that followed Lucifer in the rebellion. They are demented, twisted malicious and sadistic creatures and can manifest in our time / space continuum and appear in a variety of forms, even as an angel of light.

We believe demons are not fallen angels, they are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim that were killed in the flood. In order to manifest in this dimension they must possess something.

We clearly see from the Bible that Jesus has power over the demons and casts them out. Man becomes free of the demons. The Great Commission in the Word calls each one of us who believe in Jesus to set the captives free and cast out demons.

Different names given to demons:

1) bad fairy: a fairy that tends to cause harm
2) bogey, bogie, bogy: an evil spirit
3) daemon, daimon, demon, devil, fiend: an evil supernatural being
4) cacodaemon, cacodemon: an evil spirit
5) ghoul: an evil spirit or ghost
6) goblin, hob, hobgoblin: (folklore) a small grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble for human beings 

7) kelpie, kelpy: (Scottish folklore) water spirit in the form of a horse that likes to drown its riders viii) lamia, vampire: (folklore) a corpse that rises at night to drink the blood of the living.

Isaiah 61:1-4, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has  anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] [a]and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion—to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit—that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.”

Scripture vs Sangomas, Ancestors and Traditional doctors.

Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.

Other translations say no other gods besides me. Whatever translation, the first commandment is clear, we shall have no other gods except God almighty. What does this mean? How must we understand this? Look at the following verses:

2 Kings 17:35, The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,

The word Hebrew word used here for fear also means respect or reverence. This means that we shall not fear or bow to other gods, we shall not serve or sacrifice to them.

Jeremiah 25:6, Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.'

Again we see here that we are not to serve or worship other gods

Jeremiah 35:15, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to me.

Any kind of worship, serving or bowing down or sacrifice is reserved only for the true God.

Once more we see that we are not to serve other gods. Therefore, our understanding based on these verses is that we shall under no circumstances, fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, worship them or sacrifice to them. So any kind of worship, serving or bowing down or sacrifice to any other god is prohibited. This also means that these acts of fearing, bowing down, serving, worshipping or sacrificing are only reserved for one God who is the God almighty. Others might argue that these acts can be done as long as one is not doing them for a god. My argument would be that since these acts are only reserved to God almighty, any performance of these acts would indicate and declare that entity as god. So, it is not your intent but rather it is the performance of these acts that are prohibited and only reserved for God almighty.

Performance of anyone of these acts of fearing, bowing down, serving, worshipping or sacrificing for or to an entity other than God almighty is strictly prohibited and scripture says it will provoke God to anger.

What about ancestors (the dead)? 

Most if not all of the acts that sangomas performed for or on behalf of ancestors, involved fearing, bowing down, serving, worshipping or sacrificing. These people feared and respected ancestors, and their wishes and believed that they had the power to either bless or curse them. When sangomas bowed down all the time, they speak to ancestors either at the graves or at the house. They also served ancestors by doing what they believed to be their commands without question. Took instructions from them. Worshipped ancestors by performing worshipping ceremonies. Giving ancestors glory when they seemed to get what they wanted. Sacrificed to ancestors by slaughtering all sorts of animals. So, clearly, sangomas regarded ancestors through our acts, as gods, and therefore, sangomas were in conflict with God almighty. Sangomas were basically breaking the very first commandment of God. What sangomas also do, is to cut themselves and shave their heads for the dead family members and this is specifically prohibited in the bible.

Deuteronomy 14:1, You are the children [sons] of the Lord your God. When someone dies, do not cut [lacerate; gash] yourselves or shave your heads [^Lset baldness between your eyes; ^Cto show sadness; mourning customs of the pagan Canaanites].

Today, many are physically and emotionally sick because of their contact with the dead people and from seeking help from the spirits and mediums (sangomas, nyangas, etc) who are in reality people possessed by demons posing as their dead relatives.

These people make incisions on the face, neck, elbows, etc to immunize them against bad luck, evil spirits and sicknesses. Many people have serious physical and spiritual problems because of the demons that were invited and given authority over the person treated by these so-called healers. The marks on their bodies are a chap or a stamp, a public identification to evil spirits that the person being treated abides by the rules of darkness.

This is why GOD warns us in His Word.

Leviticus 19:28, You must not cut your body for the dead [C a pagan sign of mourning; Deut. 14:1; Jer. 16:6; 41:5] or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.

One might say, ‘We used sangomas and traditional doctors to communicate with the ancestors.’ Let’s see what the bible say about that:

Leviticus 19:31, ‘Do not go [L turn] to mediums or fortune-tellers [wizards] for advice [L and do not seek them], or you will become unclean [C in a ritual sense]. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 20:6, ‘I will be [^Lset my face] against anyone who goes [turns] to mediums and fortune-tellers [wizards] for advice, because that person is being unfaithful to [^Lprostituting himself against] me. So I will cut him off from his people.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Don’t let anyone among you offer a son or daughter as a sacrifice in the fire [12:30–31]. Don’t let anyone use magic [divination; Ex. 7:11; Ezek. 21:21] or witchcraft, or try to explain the meaning of signs [augury or sorcery]. ¹¹ Don’t let anyone try to control others with magic [cast spells], and don’t let them ·be mediums [consult/inquire of ghosts or spirits] or try to ·talk with the spirits of [consult] dead people [1 Sam. 28]. ¹² The Lord hates [detests] anyone who does these things. Because the other nations do these things, the Lord your God will ·force [dispossess] them out of the land ahead of you.

Isaiah 8:19, Some people say, “Ask the mediums and fortune-tellers [necromancers; spiritists], who whisper [or chirp] and mutter [C using incantations to call up spirits; 1 Sam. 28:8–11], what to do.” But I tell you that people should ask their God for help. Why should people who are still alive ask something from the dead? [or “Should not a nation consult their gods, asking the dead on behalf of the living?”; C in this interpretation the quotation continues to the end of the verse].

Consulting sangomas and traditional doctors for the purposes of consulting the dead is wrong and it is an abomination before Yahweh our Elohim.

 

Whom do we trust? GOD … or the ancestral spirits?

Jeremiah 17:5, “Thus says the Lord: Cursed (with great evil) is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak (human) flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.”

A great many black and white people have no clear perception concerning the dead people and where the dead are.

If the spirits called up by spirit mediums are not the dead, where are our dead?
GOD certainly knows where your ancestors are!

Job 7:9-10, “As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead) shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.”

Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; and they have no more reward (here), for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hatred and their envy have already perished; neither have they any more a share in anything that is done under the sun.

Luke 16:20-26, “And at his gate there was (carelessly) dropped down and left a certain utterly destitute man named Lazarus, (reduced to begging alms and) covered with (ulcerated) sores. 21 He (eagerly) desired to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover, the dogs even came and licked his sores. 22 And it occurred that the man (reduced to) begging died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And in Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime fully received (what is due you in) comforts and delights, and Lazarus in like manner the discomforts and distresses; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who want to pass from this (place) to you may not be able, and no one may pass from there to us.”

The devil turns himself into an angel of light to deceive people.

2 Corinthians 11:14, “And it is no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light;”

2 Samuel 12:23, “But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Anyone who engages in this practice of contacting the dead is GOD's enemy.

At times the black people have so-called 'parties'. White pastors are sometimes invited to the spiritual feasts, because they don't understand the culture of the black brothers and their churches. They don't understand that a great deal of ancestral worship is disguised under a religious veneer.

They don't understand that culture that is in conflict with GOD's Gospel message is
WRONG! Some pastors give their consent when members of the church go along with these wrong doings by praying and blessing the work of the ancestors.

Mark 7:13, “Thus you are nullifying and making void and of no effect (the authority of) the Word of GOD through your tradition, which you (in turn) hand on. And many things of this kind you are doing.