Totems and the word of God

Unmasking the idolatry behind the practice

By Ruvimbo Muchemwa

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Contents page

Introduction 2

Chapter 1: Definitions 6

Chapter 2: Praise names and poems 12

Chapter 3: The Name of Jesus 18

Chapter 4: Doctrines of demons/ devils 28

Chapter 5: The gods of Egypt 34

Chapter 6: Provoking God 40

Chapter 7: Noah’s ark - saving the animals 46

Chapter 8: Understanding covenants 51

Chapter 9: Renouncing and denouncing the practices 58 Chapter 10: Be sanctified and consecrated unto the Lord 65

Chapter 11: Bible imagery 73

Conclusion 80

Glossary 85

Apendix One: Accepting and receiving Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour 89

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Introduction

Since I received salvation when I was born again on 13 December 1993, I have never felt comfortable with using any totem. Since then I have had a conviction in my heart that the practice is not of God. Surprisingly most Christians I talked to about it just after being born again would usually look at me sadly but would not comment. This led me to think that they may have realized the truth I was sharing but were so involved in the wrong practice from birth that they would find it very difficult to change their lifestyle accordingly.

This shows the mistaken view in some totemic cultures of thinking of the use of totems as conferring respect upon the person who is being greeted or ‘honoured’ with the totem. This to me is a great deception of the enemy. It may be part of ‘culture’ but if some of our cultural practices seem to be at variance with scripture then Christians should choose between the two hopefully choosing to forsake any wrong cultural practices that they may adhere to scripture.

People have all sorts of totems usually animals ranging from elephants, lions, various types of birds, antelope, kudu, bears, wolves, snakes, even body parts, mice, water, monkeys and so on. This has

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parallels in satanism, witchcraft, occultic movements and the new age movement all of which are not of God, but are part of counterfeit options peddled by the devil to lure people to worship him. There is no sense in greeting or thanking someone by saying to them , “Thank you. Lion” etc as to do so is not to honour them but to exalt the totemic spirit which obviously represents a principality or dominion having a covenant relationship with the people of that particular clan, tribe or family. With Jesus Christ in us we need no other name given among men whereby we might be saved. (Acts 4v12). The bible acknowledges that Jesus Christ has a name above all things in heaven and on earth (Phillipians 2:9-10).

Notice the apostle does not just say all people but uses the phrase all things to ensure that we understand Christ’s supremacy and pre-eminence over all creation, both within the physical and the spiritual realms. In fact, instead of people yearning for the likeness or image of animals and inanimate objects, it is actually all of creation that yearns and longs for the revelation of the true sons of God (Romans 8v22-23)!

Denying, denouncing and revoking one’s totem or totemic emblem and covenant is not to deny your roots or identity but it is part of what Christ encouraged us to do when he said, Whosoever will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me Mark 8v34. It’s also part of

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what the apostle Paul spoke about when he wrote about becoming a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). In the days of Moses the people of Egypt worshipped many gods. Such views are what Wikipedia defines as pantheism, the belief that all nature is one substance with and equal to God.

Wikipedia also defines totems as, “A totem is any entity which watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan or tribe.” The idea of something else watching over us other than God is in itself abhorrent to any committed christian as it goes against the concept of having no other god besides Jehovah who has revealed himself fully to mankind through his Son Jesus Christ.

My purpose in writing this book is not to provide a scholarly expose` of the subject but rather to write in a simple way for the ordinary guy in the street and above all to cause all that read it to consider their ways whether they be acceptable or not before the Lord. One will always reach their own conclusion but if I succeed in provoking meaningful debate, meditation and prayerful consideration of the issues raised then glory be to God. It can provide a good starting point for discussion in adult and junior Sunday School and christian education programs.

Hopefully this will lead more people to seek to lose themselves and immerse themselves fully into Christ

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Jesus, that they may no longer live but that Christ may live in them and through them. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but LOSS for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the LOSS of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. (Phillipians 3:8).

Above all may this book lead the reader to that which the apostle Paul refers to as “…the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13).

Thank you

Bondservant and slave of the Lord Jesus Christ

Pastor Ruvimbo Muchemwa

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Chapter 1

Definitions

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/totemism defines totemism as, “belief in kinship with or a mystical relationship between a group or an individual and a totem.” The Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus defines the word mystic as “Having beyond normal human understanding or magical.” The same thesaurus says the word mystical is synonymous with occult, cabbalistic, dark.

All these attributes are not godly. The aforementioned website also defines a totem as an animal or object that serves as an emblem or revered symbol. Yet Christians are meant only to revere God. Even the definition quoted above underscores the fact that totemism is mainly about the spiritual relationship between the individual or group of people with the animal or object. God clearly states in His word that we are not to have any other god besides him. Neither are we to take on ourselves the image or likeness of anything in heaven or on earth.

This remains true whether the image is physical or mental. Idolaters started with real physical animals and then internalized or intellectualized the concepts such that the image is at times mental. Even then in totemic cultures it is often forbidden to eat the actual, physical animal as well.

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The very fact that the mystical relationship between people and animals is thought to be magical makes it unthinkable for Christians to dabble with. The biblical track record has shown time and again that magical powers are of the devil and contrary to God. Examples include the magicians, astrologers and the sorcerers of Babylon and Media and Persia during the days of Daniel, the magicians of Egypt during the days of Moses, and Simon the magician who in New Testament times tried to buy the anointing that would enable him to lay hands on people so that they could receive the Holy Spirit.

Simon the magician did not even try to use his magic to compete with the signs and wonders that God wrought through the apostles but was convinced to lay aside his magic and accept Jesus as Saviour. However it seems he still craved the selfish power that he had wielded over the city. The apostles had to rebuke him firmly that the anointing was not for sale. This shows us that magic is no match for the earthquatic resurrection power of Jesus Christ which He operates in us through the Holy Spirit. If first century magicians were abandoning their magic for Jesus why can’t we then abandon the ‘magical’ totem culture for Jesus. From the above it appears the emblematic use of totems in Africa, North America and indeed in the adoption of totem poles as a form of art in the UK and

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other developed countries where even some town squares are now adorned with totem poles is ritualistic and demonic. It may seem an innocent kinsmanship emblem or identity procedure but the practice is inherently evil and has no biblical precedence.

It is not for Christians to take for themselves the name or title of the mental image of any animal or object as to do so is to deify the object, to make it equal with God, to worship it as one seeks to become like it in some way which is a desire our Jealousy God has reserved to be expressed only towards him.

Even the popular practice of having an animal emblem or shield for customized family stationery and for organizations such as football clubs, nations on their coats of arms, noblemen, royal houses or dynasties is itself linked to totemism. It stems from people admiring animals to such an extent that they idolize them and seek in a way to enshrine some of their attributes in the totem, emblem or symbol.

Even big companies and corporations are not immune to such excesses with even car models being adorned with various animals. In countries like China and Japan, people name years after animals so that you have the year of the dragon, the year of the pig, the year of the rat and so forth. People at times think it’s innocent culture but the adherents of such processes usually understand the spiritual

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significance. That is one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ said that we have eyes but we do not see and we have ears but we do not hear.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me.(Exodus 20:3-5 NKJV).

This scripture clearly states the fact that we should worship no other god besides the Lord God, identified as Yahweh in Hebrew which is translated in English as Jehovah meaning the self-existing one, the one who calls himself I AM, Amen and Alpha and Omega.

It seems people are always tricked into worshipping creatures more than the Creator. No wonder why astrologers look to the sun, moon and stars for guidance instead of seeking guidance from the One who created them and knows each one of them by name. It belies the desire for people to have a predictable and observable God. They are not comfortable with the true God who is sovereign and is not answerable to anyone except to His own word

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that He Has decided never to violate or leave unfulfilled.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:22-23 NKJV). This testifies to the supposed wisdom and great learning of human beings when they discover and note down the characteristics of different animals, birds and even plants and seek a communion with them the Creator never intended. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 1:25 NKJV).

Many people have had restrictions of certain foods and practices because the totem demands it when the same people would never submit themselves to the will of God concerning their life. Thus they find it easier to obey totemic traditions rather than to obey God.

Having any laws or rules or customs imposed by totems is contrary to God’s will. We have liberty in the Spirit to live as the Spirit leads rather than as the customs or any other totemic culture dictates.

Images or idols may be physical in terms of the idols and images made in ancient times and even the

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totem poles and totemic walking sticks still made in parts of North America and parts of Africa today. Even for those who use totems in the abstract, they at times use pictures or stone and wooden sculptures of the animals to remind themselves of them. Though they may not see this as idolatry the fact remains that they ascribe particular regard or respect to such animals than to any other animals.

It’s not for us to decide whether or not something is spiritual when the people who originally invented it meant it to be spiritual. One is reminded of Achan who brought a curse upon the entire nation of Israel for possessing things that were unclean in the sight of God. God was not amused. If this is not spiritual then what is it?

Prayer

Lord Jesus help me to examine myself concerning this matter. Illuminate the issues involved through the Holy Spirit. Reveal to me spiritually if there is anything I am doing wrongly.

Amen.

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Chapter 2

Praise names and poems

Most totems are honoured with praise names chidawo in Shona, a Zimbabwean dialect and most totemic people have praise poems which are psalm-like in nature as they extol the qualities and attributes of the totemic emblem be it an animal, a plant or a bird. This kind of worship should only be reserved for God. It is thought by many theologians that people become that which they worship to some extent, with for example, people that idolize pop stars at times adopting subconsciously some of their unruly behaviour.

That is the premise on which the whole concept of role-modelling in society, in education and in sport rests. We should take Jesus as our model, the blue print for born-again man. He exemplified all that man has to be in order to live a full life while pleasing God and man. His example to me is to be sought more than any characteristic of any animal no matter how beautiful or strong the animal is. At the end of the day we shall all be answerable to Christ on the day of judgement For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ; and everyone that everyone may receive the things done in his body; according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10).

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Even John the Revelator, the disciple whom the Lord loved, states that when He shall appear for the second coming we do not know what we shall be like, but one thing we know and it is that we shall be; like Him (1 John 3:2). Is it not better to be like Him who was tempted in all ways and yet without sin? Is it not better to like him of whom God Himself testified saying He is my Son? Is it not better to trust in Him whose blood speaks of our redemption, deliverance, liberty, prosperity and holiness? Is it not better to be like Him who loved His enemies and even interceded for those that were in the act of killing him on the cross even as he felt the searing pain of the crown of thorns on his forehead and the pain inflicted by the nails in his hands and feet?

Notice that the apostle John does not say that we will be like any other of God’s creatures. We won’t even be like any of the angels though we will share their spiritual state in that we will no longer have mortal human bodies as we now do. We will have spiritual bodies as described by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57. So is the likeness of an animal preferable to likeness to God through Jesus Christ? One cannot but marvel at such an attitude as Paul did when he wrote to the Galatians, wondering what had come over them to accept another gospel because any other traditions combined with the gospel form another gospel. Even when Paul wrote to the Galatians it was because people wanted the physical

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sign of circumcision to be made compulsory for all Christians though it had been a shadow of what was fulfilled in Christ and christians re now circumcised in their hearts, rather than in their bodies.

The Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus defines worship as to ‘adore, esteem, honour, revere, venerate, deify, aspire, pray, adoration, homage.’ The Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words defines worship as, “to make obeisance, do reverence.” All these are what people do as they use the praise names and praise poems of their totems. Even between in-laws and when people try to show utmost respect they invoke the totems. Would it not be better especially among born again believers to say things like, “Thank you child of God,” rather than say, “Thank you zebra, monkey or lion,” to someone.

It’s actually insulting to God to degrade ourselves by likening ourselves to lower beings, i.e. animals. If animals were to be consulted I am sure they would give anything to become like humans with the capability of managing the rest of God’s creation and being in dominion. This dominion means humans are to responsibly and accountably manage the flora and fauna as well as the inanimate resources of the planet in a sustainable way, seriously taking their role as the stewards that God placed on the planet for such a noble purpose. Instead of people being stewards and indeed custodians of animals and all

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other aspects of nature, they have been sold a lie by the devil and they now expect animals, in the form of totems to have oversight of their affairs. This is like a person expecting a computer to operate or control a human being rather than the other way round.

People are closer to God than any other creature as the bible says they are a little lower than angels. They are however superior to angels in that angels serve or minister to man and not the other way round. Man can become a child of God enjoying a far more superior position and relationship to God than angels or any other spiritual being fallen or not fallen.

Man was made with the glory of God upon him, the likeness of God, the spiritual position of being closer to God than any other physical being or spiritual being. The apostle Peter even talks of man sharing the divine nature of God (2 Peter 1:4). God loves man so much that he sent His only begotten Son to die for him, something he did not even do for the fallen angels who rebelled against him together with satan to become the evils spirits that try and deceive humanity to distance themselves from God. See Hebrews 2:16.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

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(Revelation 21:8 NKJV). In the garden of Eden it was Adam who named the animals and the names he gave stayed even until this day. In the Hebrew culture, naming carries a lot of significance beyond just giving something or someone a name.

Naming also signifies defining its purpose, acknowledging its value and predicting its future at times as seen in the prophetic names of most of the bible characters with Abram being renamed Abraham which means ‘father of nations’ and Jacob being renamed Israel which means ‘prince of nations’ and the disciples renaming Joses as Barnabas which means ‘son of consolation’ or ‘son of encouragement’. In all cases the names were prophetic and defined the blessings and character that was being bestowed by God on each person.

What this then means is that people that call and identify themselves principally by a certain totem or an emblematic animal image are defining their hopes, aspirations and expressing their worship in that particular animal or object of worship. It’s part of the process of self-determination and self-explanatory philosophy which is the reason why it’s not necessary for Christians who should instead define themselves and identify with Christ Jesus more than with any other entity in heaven or on earth. It’s one reason why Jesus emphasized that He has all authority in both heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). There are some that think Jesus only rules the heavens but that they

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need other custodians and helpers here on earth. Though satan as the prince of this world (earth) has some power on earth, he is subject to the authority of Jesus who as King of kings and Lord of lords has power over all the power of the enemy.

A king is superior in rank to any prince. Jesus is the Creator while satan is but a creature. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made…. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not (John 1:3, 10). The bible identifies the innumerable group of people that John saw in his vision as those that had “…washed their robes, and made them clean in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev 7:14 KJV). That’s all the identity we need rather than any other label to get us to heaven. We need to be identified with the Lamb and be written in His book of life.

In heaven there will not be any people of this totem or the other but rather the people who would have surrendered their lives fully to Christ so that they might get their crown of glory. Are you going to be one of them or are you going to be like one animal or the other? For when He comes He will easily identify those that will be like HIM. He is the unique person of the whole universe. He is God and He is also the Son of Man, though we no longer know him after the flesh or in terms of his humanity, rather we know Him after the spirit.

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Let us learn to sing songs of praise to God when someone has done well, when an in-law visits us or when someone impresses us, instead of saying ‘What’s your totem by the way?’ Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms (James 5:13). You did not need someone’s totem to interact with them initially, only when you want to appreciate them do you then ask for the totem. Does that not make it clear that totems are used for praise. The early apostles and the church at Jerusalem when Paul had given them an account of the work that God was doing through him among the gentiles, thanked and glorified God because of him.

In other words they knew that all the glory and honour for what Paul was doing, was due to God. They did not praise or thank Paul, or his totem, but God. They appreciated that Paul was a channel through which the abundant grace of God was flowing and indeed overflowing to the gentiles so that they too could be reconciled to God. So next time someone impresses you thank God because of him/ her or glorify God for making that person do such an impressive thing. That way you will guard your heart from idolatry. Take the example of Moses when he had led the children of Israel across the Red Sea by the direction of God. He led them into singing a song of praise unto the Lord. He could have taken credit for himself

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or Aaron and Miriam or any of the other elders that helped him govern the people, but he knew that they were only cogs in the machinery that God was using to deliver His promise to his people the children of Israel. So no matter what we do, own or possess, God has a hand in it. He has oversight over all the affairs of man. The bible tells us that all good gifts and good things come from the Lord and at times He uses human hands. It is important to appreciate the vessels that God chooses to use for their obedience to God but most of the credit should ultimately be given to God. That’s why even though the bible was written by more than fifty different authors, they were all acting under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit much like secretaries to whom a manager or official may dictate some documents.

The ownership of the documents will always be with the one who dictated or decided what to write. So in reality the Holy Spirit is the author of the scriptures through the human hands who were his scribes or in modern times they could have been his typists. Glory be to God and not to any totem for all the good that people do as they obey his word and His command to love God and to love their neighbour.

Prayer

Lord Jesus help me to identify myself with you as a bride identifies herself with her bridegroom even to the extend of changing her name to that of the

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bridegroom and letting his God become her God, his people become her people and his passions become her passions. Put on me the brand of your Holy Spirit, the seal of the saints of God.

Amen.

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Chapter 3

The Name of Jesus

The main name by which Christians ought to be identified with is that of Jesus. We are called ‘christians’, a word derived from Jesus’ title and role as the Christ which means the anointed one of God. This in turn means in him we are the anointed ones of God serving under him and derived our anointing and delegated authority from Him when we are fully submitted to Him and living in obedience to Him. Obviously He is The Anointed One in a special sense in that all the anointing or spiritual power in believers emanates from him and by His choice.

So being called ‘christians’ means we bear and are called by the name of the Son of God who is also God the Son, who Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6-7 acknowledges as being among other things, “Mighty God.” Isn’t it better then to value this identity with Christ above any identity with animals. Even the Old Testament prophetically acknowledges that we are called by His name. If my people, which are called by MY NAME, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV)

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Does Christ not have enough attributes for us to emulate that we would resort to emulating and seeking to become in even the tiniest way like animals? God forbid. If our fore bearers instituted such practices in ignorance because they had not yet received the gospel of Jesus Christ then we should repent in dust and ashes before Almighty God and seek forgiveness for such blatant idol worship. It should suffice for us to be identified as the bond servants and indeed willing slaves of the Lord Jesus.

There are some who would propose that misfortune and curses will come upon us if we disregard our totems. This in itself shows that the whole practice in anchored in people’s fear and their way of trying to interpret and give meaning to the world around them. Glory be to God who sent Jesus Christ to overcome death and set free those who were bound by the spirit of fear of death. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14-15 KJV).

Many of the superstitions concerning totems include the belief that disregarding the totem would bring curses such as losing one’s teeth, mysterious death and diseases. This proves that there are spirits behind the whole practice that carry out these threats

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usually to people who believe in them. It has been known to happen that people who through sheer stubbornness reject all such claims and disregard them, nothing ever happens to them. This shows that fear is perverted faith, which is faith in the ability of the devil or his demons to harm you rather that true faith, which is faith or confidence in God to take care of and protect you according to His will, purpose and promises as stated in scripture. So people who possess and express positive faith towards God get the fruits while those who possess negative faith (fear) towards the devil and his demons also get their negative fruit. Which one do you possess and express?

The contrast is also of the earthly minded and the heavenly or divinely minded man. One focuses his attention, energy and reverence on things that are material while the other looks at the things that are spiritual and intangible. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:18). Why focus on things that are dependent on us that man has tamed for ages past when there is a Living God so immense, so unsearchable, and so perplexing that no one has ever or will ever fully comprehend Him. Even Methuselah who lived up to the ripe age of 969 was still learning new things about God even in his 969th year on earth.

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It is well documented that even tigers, lions, crocodiles, venomous snakes, huge beasts such as elephants, buffalo, sharks, bears and so forth have all been tamed by researchers, circus people, animal enthusiasts and stunt men over the ages. Many documentaries films and books have been produced by National Geographic and other organizations to demonstrate the fact. This shows the authority and dominion that God put in humans even to control animals more dangerous and bigger and powerful than we are, yet there are still some people willing to be fooled by the devil into leaving the worship of the Creator for the worship of the creature.

One reason why people easily swallow such delusions is that there is no absolute authority in animalistic philosophy and religion. So people then easily cope out by adopting such religions which do not oblige them to be holy, righteous or pure before a Just Saviour. This allows them to live a carefree, sinful life. Its satan’s way of ensnaring people and most people follow the practice without ever questioning why it’s there and why it’s done. The fact that everyone else is doing it or I was raised up that way is no excuse before God. If we have questioned other traditions such as wife battering, polygamy and ancestral worship, which though they may have been commonly accepted in our grandparents’, days are sinful, why not extend our scrutiny to this issue as well.

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The name of Jesus should be more than adequate for us as the apostle Paul asserts that he did not seek anything among the people at Corinth except for Christ and Him crucified. So mighty is His name that demons have been driven away, the dead raised to life, the lame have walked and paralysed people have had functions restored to their limbs through the power that is in His name. Hardened criminals have been reduced to tears of the sorrow that leads to repentance.

There is no greater name in heaven or on earth. It is the only name that transcends cultural, social and ethnic barriers, or even language barriers. What I mean is that even if you travel to another continent and encounter sicknesses there, or evil spirits, though you may speak a different language you can still use the name of Jesus to rebuke all manner of sickness, disease or evil spirits. Even if you say Jesus’ name in your own language in another country, the demons there will still obey you. You don’t have to be understood by the people there to exercise your spiritual authority in his name.

No other name in the history of mankind has ever been or will ever be so significant. Even followers of other religions acknowledge His greatness. Even historians the world over reckon time by His birth in the use of BC which stands for ‘before Christ’ and AD

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anno domini in Latin which means ‘in the year of our Lord’. So in actual fact saying we are in the year 2008 is really a shortened form of saying we are in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2008. So which ever way you look at it, which ever religion you follow the moment you write and agree with the date you are in actual fact acknowledging Christ. Glory to God people all over the world from school children, television stations, radio stations, scientists and meteriologists acknowledge him as the order of the day in their use of the day’s date. Some theologians have suggested that the bible scholars who calculated the year of Jesus’ birth which is taken as AD1 were mistaken by at least 3 years meaning that he was actually born in 3BC but even though we acknowledge such an error it still shows the significance of his birth to humanity.

Other great philosophers, inventors, pioneers and statesmen have walked the face of the earth and left great legacies of discoveries, teachings and examples that will benefit humanity but none in as much the sense as Jesus Christ who can change hardened criminals into sobbing, penitent seekers of God’s grace, who can transform entire cities, nations and regions. He is the one to whom all must give an account one day.

Many books have been written over the ages by people both ordinary and great, but one book is unique to all f them. It is the book about God and His

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Son Jesus Christ, the bible. It remains the world’s best seller. It has more translations, more versions and more copies than any other book on earth. Even people that do not like it still acknowledge its historicity and accuracy of its prophecies about both past events and the future. Archeological evidence emerges every few years to authenticate the accounts given in the bible.

All other of history’s great people have had buildings named after them, trusts established in their honour and at times even days to commemorate them as well as statues and other memorials but none of them has had time and eras, ages reckoned according to when they were born. So the Name of Jesus remains by far more preferable and significant not only in this day and age but also in eternity than the name of any person or animal. It is also notable that his name is also great in heaven. Only has all authority in heaven and earth. Only he has the keys of life and death and the power over all the power of the enemy. Only he could claim and rightly so that he who had seen him had seen the Father, that he was the only way to having a real life-saving relationship with God. All the other gurus, founders of religion and holy men that have lived in ages past fade into the shadows of the brilliance of his light. He is the light that shines in darkness and darkness can never comprehend him or overcome him.

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In light of all this my challenge to you is simple: Do you need any other spiritual power or entity in heaven or on earth besides Jesus? Even angels are subject to His authority, they worship him even as they did at his birth in Bethelhem two thousand years ago. So even those who worship and call upon thenames of angels, or of any other human being are wasting their time for He declared that no one has ever seen the Father except him who came from heaven: Jesus Christ. Why don’t you cast away all other gods and follow Christ alone in faith.

Prayer

Lord Jesus help me to fully understand the revelation of your name. To do things as if they were being done by you yourself and to ask myself each time ‘what would Jesus do?’ in a similar situation.

Amen.

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Chapter 4

Doctrines of devils

Chapter 2 of the book of Acts applauds the early church for continuing in the doctrine or teaching of the apostles. This was because they were eye witnesses of the reality of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth and the mystery of his deity. However it seems there are some doctrines which the Apostle Paul refers to as the doctrines of devils;

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5). The apostle clearly states this comes as a result of people’s conscience being seared with an iron meaning that it will be inactive and unable to alert them to their idolatry. One of the effects of this seduction by the devils or demons involves the command to abstain from meats which god created to be received with thanksgiving. The apostle likens the myths and

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superstitions promoted by such evil spirits to profane and old wives fables (1 Timothy 4:7), which are to be rejected by born-again believers.

People should eat or not eat foods on the basis of whether or not they find them palatable or appetizing rather than on the basis of whether or not they are forbidden in their totemic culture. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17). Doing so would attach undeserved reverence or sanctity on ordinary animals which are there to serve the interests of mankind and not the other way round. This is evidence of the fall of man from being God’s confidante and partner in managing and regulating the universe to an idol worshipper.

Choose to no longer pay homage to these evil spirits in disguise. Choose to only give all glory and honour to Christ Jesus. It has been known that people of the same totem usually present with certain similar characteristics in their inclinations towards certain usually negative behaviour such as an inclination towards violence or stealing etc. This would lend weight to the fact that such attributes which are usually mentioned as part of the totem’s praise name and poem are imparted on them as people say them. Even infants are ‘blessed’ at birth by using the totems

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and the totems are usually mentioned at marriage ceremonies and other occasions invoking the attributes of the totem on the person or people. This shows the power of the tongue in human affairs.

Even in the Old Testament Aaron the brother of Moses who had witnesses for himself the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of manna from heaven, the slaying of the firstborn by the angel of death and many other miracles was convinced by the Israelites to make for them an image of a calf. People were willing to pay with their gold jewellery to provide for this work. (Exodus 32:1-35). Even today many people display on their walls praise poems, pictures, icons and representations of their totems. They say to themselves that these are just innocent reminders of their totem but that what being deceived means. It means to be duped, hoodwinked, misled or deluded into thinking or accepting something as right which is not right in the eyes of God.

During Aaron’s time it was the people led by Aaron who ennobled the image of the calf ascribing to it godliness. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten CALF: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 32:4 KJV). This ennobling was akin to worship and indeed they sacrificed to it as they would have done to God. Thus it became a substitute for God. They therefore attempted to make

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their own god. Lamentable and foolish as it is many who ennoble and revere and hold their totems sacred are likewise also trying to make their own God.

If Aaron could be so deceived by people who thought of themselves as somehow connected and related to a calf more than they were related to God who appeared to them in physical form as a cloud during the day and as a pillar of fire during the night, then how easy is it for modern man to be tricked into doing the same. No wonder why some people today prefer the company of dogs and other pets to that of a spouse or children. Many will say I will never get married I have a dog or cat. Some even say they will never have children as they that position is reserved for a beloved pet.

While it is not bad to care for animals we should never ennoble them and equate their importance with man who was created in the image of God and is a co-laborer with God. The apostle Peter even says born-again man is a partaker in the divine nature of God meaning that the godliness of God, the power of God rubs off on us as we draw closer and closer to Him. No wonder why Stephen’s face shone like that of an angel with the glory of God as he was being interrogated by the Sanhedrin (Acts 6:15). The same thing happened to Jesus at the mount of transfiguration (Luke 9:29) and to Moses when he came down from the mountain where he had been communing and fellowshipping with God for an

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extended period of 40 days and 40 nights initially which was extended to 80 days and 80 nights when he had to return to the mountain because he broke the first tablets of the law in anger when he realized that the people had made an idol in his absence. (Exodus 34:33-36).

God told Moses that the people had corrupted themselves in other words devalued themselves in the sight of God by worshipping this idol. Instead of aiming higher towards God they were aiming low and trying to worship and ennoble a creature. They knew the real, true God who had parted the Re d Sea, fed them daily with manna from heaven’s bakeries, fed them with quails and caused a rock to spew water to quench their thirst. This was the same God they had seen sparing their firstborn sons in Egypt during final plague and when He had told them that “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” (Exodus 12v13) Yet they abandoned Him for a man-made god, an idol. Such a practice will separate us from God.I

f we have sinned out of ignorance let’s acknowledge our sin and that of our forefathers and be accountable to God for both corporate and personal sin as Daniel did in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel and Nehemiah did in the ninth chapter of the book of Nehemiah. Please read the whole chapters from the bible to understand the importance of owning up to sin and confessing it before God and thus breaking

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the curse and barriers between us and greater spiritual maturity.

The fact that Aaron was a priest and yet was deceived shows us that even pastors and church leaders can be misled into adopting and tolerating idols. May the Lord open especially the eyes of the leaders that they may not be spiritually blind people trying to lead other spiritually blind people.

Prayer

Lord Jesus help me to depart from the doctrines of demons and cleave to the true word of God as revealed in the bible. Help me to shun and hate those practices that are not expressly promoted in the word.

Amen.

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Chapter 5

The gods of Egypt

Ancient civilizations including ancient Egypt and ancient Greece abounded with idolatry which at times took the form of animal gods such as Apis the god that Aaron is thought to have made for the Israelites in the wilderness in Exodus 32. This god’s symbol was always the cow/ bull/ calf. As it is well known that after the dispersion of the people of the earth after the rebellion on the tower of Babel, it is reasonable to assume links in some of the cross-cultural beliefs of humans. For example a certain researcher has established that in almost every single culture in the world there is a flood story derived from the story of Noah’s flood, obviously with local variations here and there.

The same researcher found up to 80 000 of these stories lending credit to the fact that all humans share a common ancestry if we go back far enough and were only scattered to various continents after the separation of the continents, an event even eminent geologists agree to. With this in mind it would thus be reasonable to link totemic cultures today to the ancient Egyptian gods. Most Bantu speaking people are historically known to have migrated to Southern Africa from Central and North Africa and could have carried and adapted some of the belief systems that were practiced there.

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The Hutchinson Encyclopedia comments on ancient Egyptian gods: In the civilisation of ancient Egypt, totemic animals, believed to be the ancestors of the clan, were worshipped. Totems later developed into gods, represented as having animal heads. (p.348)It is understandable from this fact that people from other areas of Africa where writing, drawing and advanced painting had not yet fully developed could have adopted the culture of totems without actually using physical idols of the gods they represented. They instead used just the mental image. They are in actual facts demons.

The bible clearly states that, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5). The Hutchinson Encyclopedia quote above also establishes a clear link between the totemic spirit/ demon and the ancestral spirits as the whole system of religion was based on the belief that people were descended from animals. You can see that the evolution myth was peddled by the devil to humanity centuries before evolution as a counterfeit to the clear biblical teaching that God created man as he is and made a woman for him out of one of his ribs. The bible does not say he evolved man or caused an animal over some time to develop into man.

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Further proof that such Egyptian gods and their worship is not right in the eyes of God comes from the fact that God had to take his children, the nation of Israel out of Egypt so that they could worship him and only him. The reason why they were told in the ten commandments to worship Jehovah only stemmed from the fact that other gods such as the totemic gods of Egypt from which they had fled existed. Such gods were clearly defeated by Moses as he unleashed the ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. I will examine just a few of them here to illustrate my point. The first plague was the turning of the water of the river Nile into blood. The Nile was venerated by ancient Egyptians and even hymns to the Nile have been found in some ancient Egyptian writings. The second plague was that of the frogs which was to demonstrate that frogs were not in any way divine as they were thought to be. A goddess, Herqet represented by a woman with a frog’s head was thought to be responsible for giving the breath of life to all living things.

The gnats caused the magicians who as the devil’s agents in this whole saga had performed their own miracles to replicate the first two plagues, to declare that “This is the finger of God.” (Exodus 8: 19). The fifth plague of the killing of many livestock again showed that their animal and totemic gods were powerless as gods such as Apis (bull), Hathor (cow) and Khnum (ram) which were all worshipped at the

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time. The ninth plague of darkness also struck down many gods such as the sun-god, Ra, who was thought to provide sunlight, warmth and productivity and the Pharaoh himself was seen to be a human representative of this god and thought also to be divine hence the practice of erecting statues and building temples in honour of and for the worship of living and dead pharaohs. Another god associated with the sun was Horus and Nut the goddess of the sky was humiliated openly by being shown powerless in the face of God’s clear authority over all these i.e. the weather, the sky, and the seasons.

The plagues would have led people with discernment to completely relegate the totemic gods and their worship usually masked as culture by the devil, to the rubbish heap. They proved impotent at the onslaught of God’s judgment and even today they will not help any man get close to God. Those that value culture should do so while sifting it to remove the chaff of idolatry and keep the moral values and ethics that remain. These (the universal moral values found in almost every culture) of course can be traced right back to the Ten Commandments and God’s law as contained in the Mosaic covenant. You will still be a true son of your father or member of your clan without a totem, but you will be more pure and spiritually clean before God.

You have to make a decision, a choice between God and the gods of Egypt which I am using literally here

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not just as a figure of speech as I have in this chapter explored the origins of totems and their link to the gods of Egypt. Joshua presented the same choice to the children of Israel, the second generation after the first one perished in the wilderness. Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:14-15)

Even the Jews, while they were in captivity, worshipped totemic gods! God raised Moses to bring them out of there. They couldn’t have concentrated on God in the midst of all that idolatry they had to leave Egypt. In your case you do not need to physically leave any location, but you need to leave the gods of Egypt.

Prayer

Lord Jesus help me to sift through my cultural values and examine each practice under the microscope of scripture, knowing that I shall be accountable for every word and deed before you. Help me to discard

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from my lifestyle and culture all things that are not godly, all things that do not edify my spirit. Cleanse me Lord from all hidden and unknown faults. Help me and lead me to see things the way you see them.

Amen

Chapter 6

Provoking God

The first generation of the people that left Egypt with Moses headed for the Promised Land did not make it. The main reason was that they provoked God at every turn by turning to idols and by murmuring and complaining all the time. But they rebelled, and

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grieved his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and] he himself fought against them. (Isaiah 63:10).At one time as earlier noted, they even made an idol and proclaimed that it was their god that had brought them out of Egypt. They had all seen Moses extending his staff over the Red Sea so that it could be parted after he had prayed to God. They had all witnessed the ten plagues of Egypt. They had all seen their first born sons spared by the angel of death after they followed God’s orders to sprinkle the blood of the lambs upon their door frames. Yet they couldn’t be content with worshipping a God who is not visible and tangible in the physical domain. They had to make their own god, and later their own gods.

Even during the time of the kings of Israel, the children of Israel ended up making high places to worship false, lifeless and powerless gods. Some kings were commended in scripture for tearing down such high places while others are condemned for building them and allowing them to flourish. On which side would you be in terms of totemic gods? Are you ready to tear apart the practice in your own household, your own ministry and within your sphere of influence or are you going to remain silent.

Elijah wouldn’t let the false god Baal triumph over God so he challenged the 450 prophets of Baal to prove the existence of their god while he would prove the existence of Jehovah. (1 Kings 18:22-40). God

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answered with fire on that day to humiliate the 450 prophets of Baal and their false god. Today we live in times when the devil deceives people to focus at least some of the attention, give some of the honour due only to God, to other animate or inanimate objects of worship, at times without even realizing that they are indeed worshipping this thing. This is because the deceit is presented in a very subtle way and the word worship is never mentioned but if you know what to worship means then you can see that there are instances in which people including you have worshipped other things other than the Lord God Almighty.

The question has to be asked that if something spiritual is thought to have power, such as the power to cause misfortune on those that violate totemic customs is the question of where that power comes or emanates from, bearing in mind that in the spiritual realm there are only two superpowers, God and satan. All other powers and beings are subject to one or the other. So if the power or influence of some spiritual phenomena does not emanate from God, this coming from the fact that such a phenomena is not expressly mentioned as requiring our obeisance in scripture, then it must be coming from the father of lies, satan whom I choose not to mention with a capital letter for he is not worthy of one.

When the Israelites provoked and grieved the Spirit through rebellion, he turned against them and fought

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against them through the series of judgements that Israel has had including Babylonian captivity under Nebucchadnezer, Roman occupation etc. We should be warned not to provoke or grieve God by continuing to follow and honour other gods. He states in his word that he is a jealous God who will not share your devotion with anyone or anything else but seeks to have all of you for Himself. Jesus Christ taught us to deny ourselves, to lose ourselves that we may gain life in Him. For whoever desires to save his life will LOSE it, but whoever will LOSE his life for my sake, the same will save it. (Luke 9:24). He meant losing some of the things that may seem to us to be essential components of our lifestyles and culture but which may actually be barriers to our full commitment and total surrender to Christ and to the control of the Holy Spirit. He Himself is the life as He affirms; I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. (John 14:6).

We need to fully appreciate the fact that in Christ we have become …a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). There are some that will question what type of person you will be without a totem. The answer is simple a new creature in Christ. Jesus warned of trying to put new wine into old wineskins as this would

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rapture them. In the same way many Christians are just trying to graft onto their old belief system the truth of the gospel. This is a recipe for error. The scripture above in this paragraph tells us of becoming a new creature and that all the ‘new things’ are of God. So any practice which does not stand up or measure up to the scrutiny of scripture should be discarded for the prize of gaining Christ.

The apostle Paul also grew up with a rich religious and cultural heritage. He even called himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee of Pharisees, of the tribe of Benjamin, a zealous Jew, but he writes in one of his letters: Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. (Phillipians 3:8). This means that he had to look at those aspects of his tradition that were not godly and lay them aside so that they would not be a hindrance for him in seeking a closer relationship with God through Christ.

Jesus warned us of the fact that the traditions of the elders can become a stumbling block for us in our relationship with God. He even stated that they are taken for doctrine. They reduce the effects of the life-giving, saving, healing and inspiring word of God. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many

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such like things do ye. (Mark 7:13 Read passage from vs 1-13). This was after the Pharisees and scribes challenged him, not concerning scripture, but rather the traditions of the elders.

Things do not become right simply because some ancestor or the other once did or instituted them, but rather because of what the word of God says about them. So Christians should not blindly follow the totemic religion because it was practiced by our ancestors but should examine the practice fully to determine whether or not it’s godly. Why do people not live in caves because their ancestors once lived in caves, or kill disabled children like they used to, or oppress women like they used to? Having discarded all the mentioned practices why can’t Christians today discard the spiritually bankrupt totemic culture? This will help us not to provoke God.

Prayer

Lord Jesus please forgive me if I have in any way ever provoked you through my deeds and words. Help me to understand which practices grieve and provoke you. Help me to flee from such practices and avoid judgment for myself and my loved ones.

Amen

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Chapter 7:

Noah’s ark - saving the animals

Those that know any animals which they then falsely worship as totems, owe it to God’s plan through Noah to preserve the animals during the time of the flood. Had it not been for God, and Noah, then these animals would not have survived to this day. Even our ancestors would not have encountered them and been so awestruck by them as to enshrine them in theirs minds as gods. Evidently the animals depended on Noah and not the other way round. This defeats the whole purpose of having them as totems. They are utterly spiritually powerless. They did not of themselves predict the disaster that would have wiped them out completely from the face of the earth. Had God not made plans for their preservation, they would have perished in the flood. Conservation started with God. The flood would have at that time made every animal species an endangered species threatened with total extinction.

So honouring animals as totems would be to try and put the cart before the horse. This set up would not be helpful and cannot be innocent or harmless as it violates one of what Jesus describes as the two chief commandments that in actual fact summarise the purpose of all the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments deal primarily with the relationship between God and man, and secondly with the

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relationship between man and other human beings on earth whether they are believers or not. Notice that they (the Ten Commandments) do not prescribe the deification of animals but rather forbid the observation of any other image or likeness of anything in heaven or on earth other than the image of God in which man is made. The image of God here means the character of God and some of the attributes of God such as His authority over creation, His spiritual dominion over the forces of darkness etc also being inherent in born-again believers. Christians should aim for Christlikeness rather than likeness to any animal or other being.

So whether your totem is the lion, baboon, zebra, elephant or secretary bird, that particular animal had to obey Noah’s instruction and to yield to his control so that it could survive to this day. It’s not even worth comparing animals to God, as they can’t even match the innovativeness and authority of mere man. I have seen oxen weighing over two hundred kilos each being driven by a little boy of four or five years of age. They recognize his authority though they may have more brute strength. I once saw a poster in a barber shop that said, “To some God gave muscles, to some he gave brains.” While that would be very insulting and insensitive to say to fellow men, it is appropriate to apply to animals. Even elephants are at times kept behind a wire fence when they could easily break down any man-made structure within miles of where

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they will be. I have spoken before of elephants and buffalos being tamed and even domesticated. It all shows the power and dominion that God put in man. Yet some people want to lower themselves to the position where they look up to animals for guidance, inspiration and awe.

Even having animals as pets is only possible because we exercise authority over them. There are however some New Age religious teachings that promote the use of pets as totems. This idea is purely evil and stems from beliefs in using witchcraft, sorcery and magic in all their forms which are not of God. A number of them who had been practicing magic brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of them was several million dollars. (Acts 19:19 NLT). Notice the fact that the practice of magic involved incantations much like the ones that totemic poems and praise names involve.

There are also parallels in the ancestral worship where incantations are common and in pagan worship practices practiced for example in the UK by druids who still use Stonehenge for their pagan rites. It is well known that Satanists also congregate at the same locations on Halloween Day etc to offer sacrifices to demons. satanists are also known to have familiars which are animals they turn into to carry out their evil business. Self-confessed former satanists like Emmanuel Eni and Rebecca Brown

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have written about the practice. They have also written of demons appearing in animal form. All this leads to the fact that we ought to look beyond the animal symbols or emblems of demons to the evil spirits behind them which when we have unmasked them, we should clearly denounce, renounce and abandon.

We may not have our incantations written down in book form as writing was not accessible to our fore fathers but still the incantations have been passed on through oral tradition from one generation to another. While we can’t burn the books like the people we have just read about (in Acts 19v19), we can still discard the customs. These people did not worry about the monetary value of losing such valuable books as they were known to be worth millions of dollars. They knew having God’s favour was by far more valuable than any amount of money. Other things that happened in the past have been forgotten and lie buried in the graves of ancient people yet the customs and traditions of totems have survived the ages testifying to their spiritual significance.

This will take time to sink in for someone who was ignorantly following or at least tolerating the practice. Prayerfully seek God’s will for your lifestyle in this matter. If you are someone who is already filled with the Holy Spirit, ask Him to teach you and to guide you into all truth in this matter for this is part of His mandate in your life. Bury yourself in the scriptures

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and consult other godly people in your life in the light of scripture to seek their view. Ultimately you will have to decide one way or the other but do not rush into a decision. Consult God first.

Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus Christ. Help me Lord to understand the danger of meddling with evil spirits. Help me to look beneath the surface and examine my practices in the light of scripture. Holy Spirit reveal to me the truth in this matter and guide me as I seek to obey God’s word.

Amen

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Chapter 8

Understanding covenants

God is God of covenant. Covenant simply means promise, pledge, agreement or contract. The two main covenants God has made with humanity are the old covenant (testament) based on the Mosaic Law and the new covenant (testament) based on the grace of God which we access by faith in Jesus Christ. In the spiritual realm covenants are usually made by humans and a spiritual being and are binding to the person and his or her offspring. This applies to the Abrahamic covenant concerning the promised land which was only fulfilled during the days of Moses and Joshua and the covenant that God made with David that he would have someone from his lineage sitting on the throne forever, which was fulfilled in Christ.

Covenants by nature are two-way agreements with obligations and benefits for each partner. In the Shona culture there are covenant friends (Sahwira) who have a ceremony to mark the beginning of such a covenant which will bind even their offspring to the relationship. In Genesis 15 God made a covenant with Abraham. In the ceremony to mark the beginning of the covenant God Himself walked between the two pieces of each of the animals that were being sacrificed to Him by Abraham. At another time God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac and, as a

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covenant friend of God, he agreed. This was a prophetic occurrence to typify the fact that God Himself would one day also offer his only begotten Son to die for us for our sins.

The covenant with Abraham stipulated the act of circumcision as the sign of the covenant for Jews. In the same way I would like to think that our forbearers must have made covenants with evil spirits and then started to worship these totemic spirits with the signs of covenant including the use of praise names and praise poems. They might have had rites or rituals that they carried out in order to start the covenant relationship with these evil spirits. Whatever rites or rituals they carried out which may have included eating or sacrificing the blood of that particular animal was not of God.

In return the totemic spirits were thought to watch over the tribe or clan or make it stronger or powerful. This may have been as a result of lack of knowledge about the true God. The apostle Paul once encountered the people of Athens, who surprisingly enough, even worshipped an unknown god in addition to all their idols in case they may have missed one other god, much like today’s practice by governments the world over of having a memorial for the unknown soldier after times of war to honour those whose remains may never have been recovered. Paul noted that the people of Athens were “…too superstitious…” (Acts 17:22). They had so

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many objects pf worship as many people have so many different totems that they honour. We therefore should separate ourselves from any superstitions and practices not expressly promoted in scripture.

In Christ we have been made into a royal priesthood(1 Peter 2:8-10), with Jesus being the chief high priest of the new covenant. He established this new covenant not with the blood of bulls, rams or goats but with His own precious blood. His blood is the blood of the Son of God, the blood of God the Son. No wonder why His blood is so powerful in the affairs of man: it is the blood of God the Son, Emmanuel, God with us whom Isaiah calls in Isaiah 9:6-7, “Mighty God.” What this means is that all born-again Christians having been washed in the blood of the Lamb no longer need a human middleman between them and God, a priest. Instead there is now the priesthood of all believers.

Priests as we are now before God, are expected to be holy and righteous to enable them to maintain 24/7 communion with God. They were anointed with oil signifying the Holy Spirit anointing we now have. Old testament levitical priests had to have blood sprinkled upon their ear, their thumb and their toe to signify sanctification in their hearing, the work of their hands or their deeds and their walk or character (Exodus 29:20-22). Honouring totems would not have and even now is not in keeping with the holiness expected of the kings and priests before the Lord. (Rev 5:10)

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In Christ we were redeemed. To redeem is to buy back, to release, to compensate for, to deliver. We might have been included in the terms and conditions of any spoken or unspoken covenant between our ancestors and totemic spirits. In Christ we were bought back from being bound by any such terms. We are now free in Christ and our obligation in terms of reverence, honour and worship is only to God and Jesus Christ His Son.

Jesus has all the authority and we have the authority through His Name to nullify any ungodly covenants or pacts with the devil or any of his demons whether they come in disguise or not. It’s time to break the ungodly covenants, to overturn them to desecrate them and turn to God. Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14 NKJV). The covenant is against you, it is contrary to you so discard it now in the Name of Jesus.

This is what the Apostle Paul has to say concerning ignorance: And the times of this ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent: because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world… (Acts 17:30-31 NKJV). If God overlooked our ancestors’ ignorance because they did not have the word of God revealed to them and available to them as we do

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today, what excuse do we have to carry on in this idolatry. From the scripture above the truth is God now commands all men, in other words all human beings, to repent and worship only God through His son Jesus Christ who purchased us with His own blood to make us heirs of the new covenant.

Hosea 4:6 also tells us that people can be destroyed through lack of knowledge. Compare the results of centuries of ancestral worship which is actually idolatry and totemic culture and the accompanying poverty in primitive societies to the affirmation of God in America for example where even the dollar bills proclaim, ‘In God we trust’, and the accompanying national blessings, which are now starting to be eroded by widespread apostasy and departure from godliness. If our fore fathers laid the wrong foundation for us spiritually we need to lay another foundation in Christ for ourselves and our offspring.

The path that lies open to us is therefore that of repentance rather than trying to justify ourselves or trying to trivialize the practice as being inconsequential. It’s not what we think about it but rather what God says in His word that matters. We should be like the Bereans who when Paul taught them something …received the word of God with all readiness of mind , and searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11). I encourage scholarly and layman debate on the issues raised in this book whose aim is

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not to prescribe anything but to suggest that people begin to search their bibles and see if these things are so. Ultimately it’s not human approval or acceptance that is important to us but rather the approval and acceptance of our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s possible that today’s custodians of totemic beliefs will challenge us about discarding the ‘traditions of the elders’ as they did concerning the first century disciples. Let it suffice to say that we are not willing to please men but rather to please God in this matter.

As you break and nullify any ungodly covenants made by your fore fathers with evil spirits masquerading as totems, meditate on this promise from God in his word: As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever (Isaiah 59:21). This is the covenant extraordinaire that God wants you to keep with Him for yourself and your spiritual and physical offspring. I am using spiritual offspring here to mean the people that you will be enabled during your life on earth to lead to Christ as the Holy Spirit uses you to witness and to be a witness of the reality of God.

Prayer

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Lord Jesus please forgive me for being ignorant of the full meaning of totems and the use of praise names and praise poems. In your Name I denounce any totemic demon that may be claiming a covenant relationship with me and my children. I nullify all these covenants with the blood of Jesus. I know I am no longer bound by them. I am free in Jesus Christ who redeemed me.

Amen

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Chapter 9

Renouncing and denouncing the practices

The tongue has enormous power in the spiritual and indeed in the physical realm as well. Wars have been declared verbally, love declared, marriages proposed, deals sealed or broken all through the words of someone’s mouth. Even fights have started or tempers have cooled down through words uttered by someone. Governments all over the world ask their soldiers, police officers, presidents, prime ministers and judges to take an oath of office when they start their career as public servants and they all have to make it verbally. They do so because they know the value of the spoken word, the power of the tongue.

In dealing with the totemic spirits we should deny them the honour given to them by those who call their praise names or chant their incantations through their praise poetry. It’s not harmless as some would think. And because it is not in honour of God then it’s not for us as the heirs of the kingdom of God.

The bible says about the tongue: Death and life are in the power of the tongue…(Proverbs 18:21 NKJV). We can use our tongues to declare our liberty from demonic oppression and to denounce these totemic spirits and the totems they hide under. We should openly declare to them that we no longer belong to them regardless of what might have

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happened in the past and that any control they may have had over us is no longer possible now that we are the Lord’s and only His. We belong to no one else and we will serve no one else.

That way we can reverse any evil that may have come upon us or that follows the bloodline such as avenging spirits and so forth which are demons and have no power or right over the redeemed children of God who are born not of flesh and blood but of the spirit. Speak out if you have been silent all along and have been hoodwinked by the enemy. Tell him you are not ignorant of his devices and that he cannot succeed against you. Lest satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Deny the devil any allegiance. Deny him any room (Ephesians 4:27). Denounce him for the dirty tricking liar that he is. You don’t need any other spiritual being in your life other than God. He is sufficient to meet all your spiritual and material needs. Seek Christ alone and exclude any other gods or idols from your life.

Jesus taught us that we shall have whatsoever we SAY in prayer. This is when he taught the principle of speaking to your mountain which could be your insurmountable challenge or any obstacle between you and a deeper, more fulfilling relationship with God through Christ. So begin to make a prayer of

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confessing your allegiance to God alone and also a verbal renouncing and denouncing of idols and other gods. Verbally TELL the enemy that you denounce him and all his wicked devices. DIVORCE him in the way the children of Israel divorced the strange women during the time of Nehemiah. The strange non-Jewish women typify other allegiances that are at conflict with our relationship with God Almighty, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul also states that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. What he meant was that no physical or spiritual or abstract concept would ever dislodge Jesus from his throne as the Lord of all our beings. Yet some people have allowed some of the created things to have an unworthy honour ahead of the Lord of glory Himself. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39). So do not allow any other creature that you deify as a totem to separate you from God. Declare to the totem that it cannot separate you from Christ and that it will not hinder your progress in the Lord.

Some will argue that to deny or denounce their totem is to deny their tribe, clan or family. Though it is not

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good to alienate yourself from family, if there is need to choose between God and family, then every christian ought to choose Christ before family. The twelve apostles had to leave their homes, families and businesses to follow Christ. They had to give up some things to fully surrender to Christ. So if need be do not hesitate to give up what you have to give up for the sake of Christ.

Moses had to give up his position as a prince of Egypt and leave the royal palace so as to identify with the people of God’s covenant. In all human thought this would have seemed like madness, but God was working out a great plan through him that would culminate in the release of his people from four hundred years of captivity. Many have been in captivity through totems for centuries but regardless of how long this has taken, God can still set you free, you and your household. If the Son of man sets you free, you will be free indeed!!! (John 8v36).

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:37). Let this scripture help you put your priorities right. Let God come first before any other consideration. What would it profit you to gain the approval of your family, tribe, clan or indeed society at large if you lost your relationship with the Lord in the process or you appeared to God to be a double-

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minded person whom God promised will not get anything from Him (James 1:6-8). Do not waver and do not be tossed to and fro by the traditions of men.

Men have failed since the days of the tower of Babel to come up with solutions to human problems. They may erect imposing edifices like the tower of Babel, but their aspirations come to nought if they are not Christ-centred and lead them to be Christ-like. Jesus never revered or honoured any animal as a totem, neither did any of the apostles or even the early church after Christ’s ascension. Be clear about which side you are on, which side you stand. Are you with God or against God? Let the Holy Spirit lead and guide you into getting the real true answer to these questions. He is the one who testifies in our hearts that we are the children of God. Why is it so difficult for you to give up your totem? Is it not because though you deny it, there is a spiritual bond between the two of you? Is it not because you feel it’s so much a part of you?

Paul speaks of no longer living but Christ living in him (Galatians 2:20). Is it Christ living in you who honours totems or is it self? Self has to be suppressed, self has to die so that we may be quickened, renewed and transformed in Christ. John the Baptist when Jesus was revealed to him had this to say about self. I must decrease and he must increase (John 3:30). Is that the case in your life? Is Jesus’ influence, his

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thoughts, his attitudes, his emotions having prominence over and above your own? These are tough questions, but questions which a true christian should not leave unanswered.

Ultimately it will take courage to depart from age old traditions and it will be difficult just as it would have appeared incomprehensible to the Samaritan woman that Jesus meant that true worship could take place without the mountains of Samaria or the temple at Jerusalem. In the same manner it takes moral and spiritual courage to contemplate life without a totem. You will need to stand up and be counted and even go against your brethren as it was during the time when Aaron made the golden calf in the wilderness and Moses had to ask the men of Israel which ones of them were on God’s side.

The Levites chose God’s side and slew (killed) their idolatrous brethren that day and since then affirmed their role as priests under the old covenant. When God had made Aaron, the Levite and his escendants priests, he had made a good choice (Exodus 4:14). You have to choose which Master to serve. You cannot have two masters. You cannot be the same spring that spouts forth bitter and sweet waters at the same time. Take your pick now that you have known the truth. The truth will set you free.Prayer

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Lord help me to gather the courage to denounce and renounce my totem and any spirits that may have disguised themselves in my life through this practice. Enable me to walk in your statutes and not to let anything in heaven or earth come between me and you.

Amen

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Chapter 10

Be sanctified and consecrated unto the Lord

Sanctification means being separated unto the Lord. It also means the course of life befitting those so separated as informed by the word of God and the example of Jesus Christ. In practical terms this implies that there are some things that Christians ought to give up for the sake of living according to God’s will as they understand it in scripture. This means mainly repenting from sin and iniquity in all their forms and all self-serving behaviour. This entails examining our cultural and humanistic norms to see if they are aimed at glorifying God or just pandering to the fantasies of the human mind. We also need to scrutinize such practices and see if they are in fact ‘spiritual’ and if they are spiritual and not directed towards God, then they are directed towards other spiritual beings which the bible informs us are evil spirits (Ephesians 6:10-14).

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines sanctification as, “Sanctification is the separation of the believer from evil things and ways.” And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 5:23). According to that scripture there are three main areas in which we need to be sanctified:

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the spirit, the soul and the body. The purpose is that we may be blameless and unblamable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 3:13). In light of this are we without blame concerning our use of and belief in totems before God? We should be blameless not in the eyes of men but in the sight of God. Even things that we think are right could actually be wrong in God’s sight.

Firstly we should be blameless in our spirit: the spirit part of us. This is what the Apostle Paul refers to as the inner man (Ephesians 3:16). It is also the part of us that is in the image or likeness of God, for God is spirit and is worshipped in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).This is the part of us that is born again when we receive Jesus at the moment of salvation. This is the part of us that discerns spiritual things and senses the tugging and the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the small still voice of God through conviction by the Holy Spirit or by the word of God.

The spirit is the real you. In Luke 8:55 we read that when the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue was raised back to life, her spirit came back to her. That is another way of saying she returned to her body. When you die we no longer talk of burying you, but of burying your body or corpse because the real you would have departed to be with the Lord. You can never be buried. You can only transfer either to heaven or hell while your body, the earth suit in much the same way as astronauts have a space suit, is

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buried here on earth because your spirit does not need it in heaven or hell depending on where you will be headed. This inner and spiritual part of you needs to be clean. Your spirit can only be clean when you worship no other gods, real or imagined. When you do not give the same level of honour to any animate or inanimate object as one should normally give to God.

While it is only God who can ultimately sanctify us through the Holy Spirit, there is also a part we have to play by being separated from anything that could pollute our spirit. We have to obey God’s word which is the truth that can sanctify us (John 17:17). So our sanctification can not be imputed but has to be learnt and built up little by little as we submit ourselves fully to the teaching of the word of God and the example of Christ.

We need to be sanctified in our soul which is made up of our mind, our emotions, our conscience and our will. Our mind is the man battleground in which most of our spiritual warfare is fought. The battle is for control of our attitudes and our mindset which will determine our behaviour. The more we internalize and apply scripture in our minds the more we begin to think and behave in a godly way. This should affect the way we think about various things and our mental attitudes towards spiritual issues. Our minds should not regard anyone or anything else as holy unless it is so described clearly in scripture. We should separate

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our minds from belief in totems and their supposed relevance and potency in our lives.

Our conscience should be active and submitted to God so that He can use it to convict us of sin and any wrongdoing. This is mainly achieved by getting to study scripture and to meditate upon it as it is our only source of absolute wrong and absolute right. Modern man has tried to do away with the idea of absolute right and absolute wrong or sin and has instead propagated the idea that truth is relative which means that according to this view anything could be right or wrong depending on how well you can justify it. This is self-justification and licentiousness in the disguise of modern, progressive thought.

If one subscribes to this point of view then your conscience will be disabled as you would justify stealing or fornication for example as satisfying your needs. However the bible clearly tells us that there are things that are wrong or sinful simply because God says they are. We may justify or excuse them in one way or the other, but that is just a delusion as we will one day be called upon by God and not human judges to give account for everything we have ever done or said. So you had better take God’s word rather than man’s opinion on the matter.

Our emotions or heart as some theologians and indeed most people call it in everyday language

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refers to our emotional intelligence our ability to feel, understand and deal with our own and other people’s emotions be they positive or negative. Sanctifying our emotions as a part of our soul would thus mean expressing our awe, reverence, godly fear and adulation only to God. We should therefore not adore our totem more than we adore God or feel in any way ‘attached’ to it. Attachment to people, objects and experiences can at times become counterproductive if the attachment supersedes our attachment to and our submission to God.

Another part of the soul is the will which means our decision making component with which we can choose between right and wrong. Many have wondered why God made man a free moral agent at liberty to choose for himself which path he may take in life, even to the extent of allowing him to choose turn away from God. This shows us the great love God has for humanity. He could easily have made us as automatons only able to live righteous and maybe even remote controlled, but he has given us the freedom to choose even between life and death. Even though His heart grieves over all those who deny, denounce and even mock Him, He also enjoys the reverence and honour given to Him by those who choose to walk the narrow path of a life surrenderd to Christ. It’s easy to give up everything when you begin to appreciate how much our Maker has given up for our sake. He put on the garment of humanity to adopt

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us into the very family of God. He calls us no longer strangers or just friends but actually His brothers and sisters. Isn’t that wonderful! We have a Big Brother in heaven! We will no longer be bullied by any spiritual forces, we have Jesus to protect us and fight for us.

We should also be sanctified in our bodies meaning that our bodies should not be tattooed with symbols of any animal. Tattooing with animal symbols is associated with occultic practices, and at times with totemic culture. Our bodies need to be separated unto the Lord and they should remain as clean and holy temples for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. Jesus cleansed the actual physical temple at Jerusalem during His last week on earth and because we know from Scripture that God does not dwell in temples built by man’s hands, He now wants the temples of the Holy Spirit, our bodies to be likewise clean before God.

Our bodies should therefore not attend any rites, rituals, chantings or praise poetry sessions for totems because just our attendance will be bringing the temple of the Holy Spirit to such occasions. We need to understand who we are and what we stand for. We are no longer ordinary people as we are now ambassadors of the kingdom of God, indeed ambassadors of Christ. In diplomatic circles, an envoy or emissary will never attend any questionable or doubtful events for fear of appearing as if the

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government that he represents endorses whatever is being done there. In the same manner a child of God should be careful of what he or he says and portrays. Ask yourself the question: In which practical ways have I become a new creature? Are there any real changes in behaviour, thought and emotions that distinguish you from any other person on the street?

All gestures of obeisance to evil spirits such as clapping, ululating and dancing as totems are being uttered or the praise names are being uttered need to be brought under the spotlight of God’s word, the bible, if the body is to be sanctified before God. Is it not possible to greet one another by name rather than by totem? Would we lose anything? Even those that stick to them may or may not have the right original totem as it is known that at times people lost their totem or had it changed after losing in battle to another chiefdom or clan. If totems were just about identity why would another clan want to seize the totem of the vanquished? Would it not have been better to impose their own totem on them to assimilate them? All these issues seem to reinforce the concept of totems as being more than just an identity symbol. Even fatherless or disowned children and dumped children end up with what may not have been their original totems but still do not lose anything, so is it worth it having any totem at all?

Prayer

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Lord Jesus I pray that you may cleanse me in the inner man. I ask that you may cleanse my inner self of all evil associations with any other god beside you. I also pray that you may cleanse my heart and mind making them free of any in godly thoughts or emotions. Help me to use my will to decide to be good and to decide to obey you and live for you.

Amen

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Chapter 11

Bible imagery

There is a lot of imagery in the bible with deeper symbolic meaning for us especially in the prophetic and apocalyptic books including Daniel, Isaiah, Revelation, Ezekiel and others. Such imagery is also common in the parables that Jesus told. While some may equate this with use of totems, I beg to differ. The reason is that when such imagery is used it is not used in the context of people emulating or idolising animals but rather as shadows of that which was to be fulfilled in Christ. For example Jesus is likened to a Lamb in that He was silent before His tormentors just as a lamb is silent before its shearers.

The lamb typology also extends to the fact that lambs were used as a sacrifice since the days of Abel, the son of Adam and Eve and Jesus was revealed to become the once for all time sacrifice to replace forever any need for animal sacrifice. Even the fact that animals were first killed by God himself in order to make a physical covering for Adam and Eve to cover their shame after they had sinned shows us that humans are more precious than animals in the sight of God as animals were sacrificed for man’s sake and not the other way round. It is thought that this became the basis for all future animal sacrifice as people knew what God had done to cover man’s shame and his sin, though this method did not

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actually transform the sinner’s character and lifestyle in the way that the blood of Jesus will do.

Even the use of actual lambs at the first Passover that God instituted through Moses was just a type of Jesus as the ultimate Passover Lamb who died to be the only acceptable sacrifice to pay the price of all the sin in the world, past present and future. The blood of the Passover lamb was smeared on door posts but in our case the blood of Jesus is sprinkled over all aspects of our being to cleanse us and sanctify us unto the Lord.

Some of the imagery such as the horses and riders of Revelation and the book of Daniel are angels riding actual horses which we do not know whether they will be physical or spiritual just like we do not know whether the horses and chariots of fire that Elisha’s servant saw when God opened his eyes were physical or spiritual though we know that they were part of the army of heaven which God as the Lord of hosts (armies) leads.

The devil is also likened to a dragon or snake in scripture due to his cunning and the fact that he used an actual snake to deceive Eve by possessing it and speaking to her through it. It could not have been a virtual snake as God would then not have pronounced the curse or judgment upon actual snakes making them slither on the ground up to this day. Demons are likewise likened to scorpions by

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Jesus in Luke 10:19 due to their sting or irritating potential.

From all the examples above while some people will see bible imagery as being problematic in relation to the justification for totems by those who believe in them, it should be noted that imagery in the bible is not used to denote any particular tribe or clan as having a totem though at times the attributes of certain tribes were likened to one animal or the other or one phenomena or the other.

At the time that Jacob was blessing the children of Israel before he died in Egypt in Genesis 49, he likened Judah to a lion due to his strength, Asher to a donkey due to his industriousness, and Issachar to a serpent due to his cunning. Joseph is likened to a fruitful branch due to his God-given prosperity and Benjamin to a wolf due to his doggedness in pursuing his goals. Though Jacob used this imagery it was never taken as a banner or totem by the children of Israel and the likening of his children to natural phenomena was more of a figure of speech and poetic than anything else as the concept did not extend to each one of them, but only to some of whom he used metaphors to better describe them as all senior citizens are wont to do the world over.

When Moses blessed the children of Israel before he died he never likened any of them to any natural phenomenon at all (Deutoronomy 33). He only

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blessed them according to the way God revealed to him. So when we want to bless, appreciate and laud the efforts of our fellow man we should bless them according to the blessings mentioned in the word of God rather than to invoke their totem as this will be activating other spiritual forces that are contrary to God and to the best that God has in store for each one of us.

In Revelation we also find the use of the beast (An antichrist man) and dragon (satan). In these two cases it is the symbolic use of these words in the same way that Jude refers to apostate people in the last days as brutes or beasts in that people will be animalistic and more controlled by their emotions and lusts than by their spirit through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit whose fruit includes among other things self-control, faithfulness and goodness. Note that Jude the younger brother of Jesus thinks it’s degrading to be likened to animals rather than uplifting or ennobling as those that believe in totems would portray.

Even John the Revalator in the book of Revealations equates some unrepentant and apostate people to dogs: For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie (Revealation 22:15). If being likened to a dog was ennobling then these people would surely not be outside the gates of heaven at the end of the ages. Even the apostle Paul

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likened some dangerous double-minded and insincere Christians to dogs: Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision (Phillipians 3:2). See also Isaiah 55:10, Isaiah 56:11. Peter likens backsliding Christians that return again to sin to dogs that return to eat their own vomit and pigs/ sows that return to the mud even after being cleansed by their keepers (2 Peter 2:22).

The following quotation from Deutoronomy should put the matter to rest: And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that all of you might do them in the land where all of you go over to possess it. Take all of you therefore good heed unto yourselves; for all of you saw no manner of embodiment on the day that the LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest all of you corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the embodiment of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, And lest you lift up yours eyes unto heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has divided unto all nations under the whole heaven (Deutoronomy 4:14-19).

Moses went further to restate the following: Take heed unto yourselves, lest all of you forget the

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covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD your God has forbidden you (Deutoronomy 4:23).

So bible imagery does not contradict the prohibition not to serve or worship the image of any animal, person or the stars, sun, moon and other natural things in our universe. These are the gods that can not see or hear us and are powerless to help us. They have no answer or solution to the problem of our estrangement from God or sin. The last few scriptures had an admonition to take heed, which simply means to seriously think about, to be careful of and to be warned of the danger inherent in what is being warned against i.e. idolatry.

Prayer

Lord Jesus help me through your word not to be deceived into believing bible imagery can be equated to any false religion and worship of idols in any form whatsoever. I denounce any allegiances I may have made with the devil through ignorance. Blot out the handwriting of any ordinances, covenants and statutes that are written against me as you have already nailed them to your cross.

In Jesus’ Name

Amen

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Conclusion

Having laid out my views and the truth of the word of God, I rest my case and argument. I leave it to the reader to make their own decision, which I hope will be an informed decision, not just informed by human tradition and customs but by the word of God and the revealed will of God. It’s so easy to say we love God in the abstract but when he challenges us like He did to Abram to leave his family, his people and his country, or the young rich man to go and sell his possessions and follow Him, when we face issues that require us to weigh the odds, to count the cost of following Christ, only then do many begin to falter and to hesitate. This leads to lives lived on the fence between God’s side and the devil’s side: the valley of decision. You cannot continue to sit on the fence.

You need to decide one way or the other. You need to choose. Even Joshua after having brought the children of Israel to the Promised Land, finishing off the journey Moses had started with them, confronted them with a choice. At one time the prophet Elijah when he had perceived the pervasiveness of idolatry in the land had to confront the children of Israel to choose between God and Baal, an idol.

Abram’s choice led him to having his whole life and even his very name changed. No longer was he the idolatrous Chaldean, he became Abraham the father of nations, the friend of God. So much was his life

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changed that he even refused to take the spoils of battle when he fought with the four kings (Genesis 14) but relied on God to prosper him. He became so wealthy that at one point one valley was not big enough to accommodate both his and his nephew Lot’s livestock.

In the rich young ruler’s case he chose to disobey God after counting the cost. He chickened out. He chose the seemingly easy option of deferring the matter till another time. Doing so means the opportune time never comes. It’s much like some people in the diaspora who always talk of going back home to their home country ‘some time in the future’ but never actually do so. It may be appealing for you just to postpone a decision now but let me encourage you to act now if you have taken your time to think, meditate and search the scriptures about this issue.

Even Moses had to choose his true identity as a Hebrew man above his position as a prince of Egypt, which was the leading civilization of its time. He chose poverty in the place of riches, hard labour in the place of being waited upon in the royal household; he chose enslavement instead of nobility and being in line to the throne. He was looking at the bigger picture of eternity and God’s will instead of just the here and now of comfort and convenience today: he chose rags in the place of his royal wardrobe; he chose obscurity in the place of fame and popularity. He had to make a hard choice. He had to align

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himself with his God-given destiny. He knew there was more to life than convenience and hiding in the crowd.

Moses made a difficult choice and had to pay the price of a premature, unwise intervention by fleeing to the desert where God trained him in the university of life, at the school of hard knocks to become the great vessel of the Lord that he was 40 years later when he came back to Egypt to pry God’s people loose from the grip of a despotic Pharaoh. He learnt to find his identity in God rather than that conferred to him by his foster mother, a princess, and the royal household and indeed the people of Egypt.

At times discarding that which people identify you with needs a lot of personal sacrifice, but if it is the will of God we should be ready to give up anything and indeed become poor that we may gain the riches that are in Christ. Where our treasures are, our hearts are also.

If we value earthly labels and seals above the invisible seal of the Holy Spirit and the inner witness of the Spirit that we are indeed the children of God, then we will try and hold on to earthly things. It’s important to note that while we sojourn on earth, our real citizenship is that of heaven. We do not become citizens of heaven by dying; we are already citizens of heaven now. “For our citizenship is in heaven,

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from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phillipians 3v20).

For some it’s easy to choose the path of the children of Israel. They swore total allegiance to God alone and even erected a pillar of stone representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel as a memorial to them and to remind their children of their commitment to God. They were just paying lip-service to God. They did not honour their word. They later succumbed to the alluring idol worship of the nations around them leading to the times recorded in the books of Judges, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles when there was a repeated cycle of idolatry and other forms of sin and iniquity, followed by judgement that would cause them to remember God and to repent which would bring God’s favour which would lead them to relax and start worshipping idols, disobeying God in many ways and rebelling against Him, thus starting the vicious cycle all over again.

This path is full of potholes and hidden ravines and crevices. We should not pay lip-service to God. He knows everything even before we think of it or speak about it. There is nothing hidden from His sight. That makes it impossible to lie to Him or to deceive Him in any way. In fact it is futile to try and do so as in actual fact we will only be deceiving ourselves and wasting our time.

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So my brother or sister ask yourself the question that the crowd asked the Apostle Peter when he preached at the day of Pentecost and they said to him ‘What shall we do?’ His answer that day echoes throughout the ages, ‘Repent!...’ So my brother, my sister, ‘What shall you do?’ It’s about you. If you are reading this book as an unbeliever please read Appendix One which you may find helpful.

Be blessed

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Glossary

covenant comes from the Hebrew word brit which means agreement through mutual trust and commitment made between either man and God or between people as in the case of David and Jonathan.

demons evil spirits thought by theologians to be some of the fallen angels that rebelled against God together with the devil in events recorded in Revelation Chapter 12. It is important to note that they are created beings thus having no power over those who enjoy the protection of God the Creator. They used to worship him before they rebelled against Him. That is why it was evil spirits that were quick to cry out when Jesus approached as they knew Him not from their encounter with Him on earth but in the eternity past in heaven before He put on the cloak of humanity to show us how to live godly lives and to redeem us back to God.

idol false god either physical or in man’s mind

idolatry worship of anything or anyone other than God Almighty, this may include worship of self called Narcissism in the bible, worship of animals, stars, the sun, moon and even human idols.

idolise regard something as being divine or venerate or worship some other object or being other than

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God. This includes viewing something other than God as having any supernatural power(s).

repentance making a decision to consciously turn away from sin and beginning to lead a godly life which we are enabled to do by the Holy Spirit. Ultimately the concept involves change in action, emotions and thoughts as one seeks align these to the word of God. It was the main thrust of both Jesus’, Peter’s, Paul’s and John the Baptist’s messages and ministries. Its the only starting point for the christian life. It’s the response God expects from those that want to accept His offer of salvation in Christ.

revere give great honour and respect

Salvation a word which comes from the Greek word sozo which means complete transformation and deliverance of the spirit, soul and body of the believer as a result of accepting Jesus Christ as Saviour. It is A work of God, though it depends on human response to His offer of free salvation. It is thought to be both an event as in the act of repentance and a process in terms of the fact that though our spirit is instantaneously saved at the moment of salvation, the body and soul will only be completely saved gradually as we allow God to take more control of our faculties and as we grow spiritually. It is for this reason that Paul writes of dying daily and also of the rapture signifying the salvation of our bodies and completion

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of the salvation of the soul as we shall all be fully like Christ in action, thought and emotions. In English the word obviously comes from the root save and this means we are saved from various things including sin, our own selfish and self destructive desires and lusts.

sin anything that is wrong in the sight of God as identified in the bible regardless of how we feel or think about it. God remains the final authority on what is and is not acceptable before him. No sin is too trivial for God to ignore or too great for him to forgive if we repent of it. The bible tells us that sin separates us from God in time and in eternity unless we forsake it.

type an object or person that is likened to another such as the passover lamb in Exodus being a type of Christ who is the real, ultimate Lamb of God.

typify be a type of something or someone.

typology study of theological types.

worship (1) comes from Hebrew word sahah, which means to bow down, to stoop low, to prostrate oneself physically or figuratively before an object of worship. (2) Webster’s Thesaurus defines as to venerate, esteem, deify, honour, revere, idolize, aspire.

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Appendix One

Accepting and receiving Jesus as Lord and Saviour

Maybe you have read this book and you are not yet a believer in Jesus Christ. You are not born-again. In that case everything in this book will not make sense. You need to seriously consider accepting Jesus. That should be the starting point of any journey towards reconciliation with God and godliness. Let me outline a few facts that you may find helpful.

We are all sinners

Since the day Adam chose to disobey God, all humanity is viewed as disobedient to God and born with an inclination towards sin. There is a sinful nature in us. Over and above that we have also individually and corporately committed personal acts of disobedience to God whether knowingly or unknowingly. Ignorance of God’s law is no excuse for wrongdoing. It’s the same with the laws of any nation if you get arrested for any offense you cannot plead innocent simple because you were unaware of the existence of the law. It is important however to note that God hates sine but He loves the sinner (all of us).

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:10). Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin

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did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5). For all have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Sin separates us from God

A holy God cannot fellowship or commune with us if we continue to live in sin and disobedience to Him. We cannot on our own solve the problem of sin. We cannot win God’s favour of ourselves. All our methods and means of trying to reach God are not effective. We need to find God’s way of reconciling pourselves to Him.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear (Isaiah 59:2).

Jesus is the way

God has provided a way for humanity to come back to Him, through His Son Jesus Christ, who came from heaven to show us the way live a life pleasing to God. Jesus has already paid the price or penalty for all sin past, present and future. In Him we can be released from bondage to sin and ungodly habits. We can be cleansed and given a chance to start all over again. He can clean up the mes in your life right now. When we receive Jesus, we are receiving the Father who sent Him, when we honour Jesus we are hnouring the Father that sent Him.

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For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me (John 6:38). Jesus says unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me. If all of you had known me, all of you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth all of you know him, and have seen him (John 14:6-7). Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Receive Jesus as your personal Saviour, friend and companion

In the light of the above I now invite you to take the next step: Acccept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. He loves you. Even now He is knocking on the door of your heart. Will you allow Him to enter? Will you let Him in? He will fill you with His abundant love, His abundant life and His joy and peace. Your life will never be the same again. No matter who you are, no matter what you have done or not done in the past He loves you and will accept you. He died on the cross for you. He can wipe out all the records of all that you have done wrong in the past. In Him you can repent which means to turn away from all past sin and start living a clean free and peaceful life where you will be at peace with God and man.

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But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12). Repent all of you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19).

If you believe Jesus died for you and that He rose from the dead on the third day and is right now seated at the right hand of the Father, please say this prayer aloud. The bible specifies that you have to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Romans 10:13-18).

Prayer of repentance

Lord Jesus I come to you today. I agree with your word that I have been disobedient to god through my lifestyle. I have sinned against you. Please forgive me and wash me clean with your precious blood that was shed on the cross for me. Help me Lord to start afresh and to live a life that is fully surrendered to your will. I receive you today as my Lord and Saviour. Come into my heart today. Live within me and set me free from all my past hurts, my past failures and mistakes. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Give me the power to become a child of God.

In Jesus’ Name

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Amen

See the next page for what to do next now that you have become a child of God.

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Next Steps

If you have prayed this prayer (or any other similar in intention and content) earnestly and sincerely, you are now a child of God, not because I say so, but because God says so in His word (1 John 5:11-12, Romans 10:15-17). You now have eternal life. That’s all it takes to be a child of God, but remember it’ not a destination but rather the beginning of difficult journey along the narrow path of God’s will for your life.

Join a bible-believing church and be baptised

This is important so that you will fellowship with, interact with and learn from other Christians. You need to be baptised to obey Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:18-20. It is a symbol of the inner cleansing of your spirit that takes place in your heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. You can also find encouragement, counseling, teaching, healing and comfort. (Hebrews 10:25)

Pray regularly at least once a day just to communicate with God, to praise him, to honour him, to pray for the needs of others and yourself, to ask him for His power and guidance to help you overcome evil with good.

Read your bible regularly; at least once a day or so. This will inform you about the perfect will of God

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for your life. The bible is our greatest source of information on anything in our past, present and future in relation to the will of God (Psalm 119:11,13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17).

If you have made a decision for Christ, welcome to the body of Christ. God loves you so much that He has time for you individually. He knows all your needs even before you ask. He longs to hear your voice as you pray to Him He has even provided the Holy Spirit to dwell in you from the moment of salvation and to teach and help you to pray (Romans 8:26). Be like the Samaritan Woman. Go and tell others of this great man that you have met. Invite your friends and family to follow Jesus. They will never regret it. And the great thing is you don’t have to pay anything. It’s absolutely free. With drugs, alcohol and other worldy pleasures you pay the price at times you pay with your life but in Jesus your salvation and eternal life are all paid for and ready to be enjoyed.

Be like the four lepers in the bible who when Samaria was besieged and had run out food, approached the enemy camp out of desperation thinking that either way they were going to die. When God delivered the bounty of the Syrian army into their hands by causing the Syrians to hear the sound of many horses and chariots approaching, they first went and hoarded all they could lay their hands on, until one of them reminded the others that they were not doing the right thing, they needed to go and tell the people in the

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city where food and treasures could be found for free. They owed it to the rest of the people to tell. Now that you have found where spiritual food, spiritual treasure and spiritual water can be found, in Jesus, go and tell others about it. A testimony need not be flowery. The people that know you well can tell whether or not you have changed or rather been changed or transformed by the undeserved favour (grace) of God. It is to these people that you can be most effective in telling your story of how Jesus is transforming your life. You are not yet perfect, in fact none of us ever will be in this present day and age, but you are and we all are a work in progress (Ephesians 2:8-10) This means God is working on you and me to make us daily more and more like Jesus, which means ultimately more and more like God Himself. That’s because Jesus possesses in Himself the fullness of the godhead bodily (Colossians 1:15-20, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 7:14).

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Indicative Bibliography

BCA (1997) The Hutchinson Encyclopedia1997 Edition. Helicon. London

Webster’s Reference Library (2005) Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus: Concise Edition. New Lamark, Scotland: Geddes & Grosset.

Vine, W.E. (1970) Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. London: Thomas Nelson.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/totemism Accessed on 27/01/08.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem Accessed on 27/01/08.

Bibles used: mainly New Kung James Version unless otherwise stated.

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