A new book set for launch today by the renowned preacher and author Batsirai Java of the Tabernacle of Grace church is set to raise eyebrows as it launches attacks on African Traditional Religion (ATR) which the author castigates as demonic and against God’s values.
The book titled, “African Religion, A Blessing or a Curse” says that ATR is premised on idol-worshipping rather than the Creator and he urges people to desist from consulting the spirits of dead people.
“In this book, we exposed through thorough research and verification how the vadzimu to Mwari cult emanated from. The ancestral worship we call our own here in Africa actually started in the Middle East in Mesopotamia to be specific and it is idolatry, it started about over a thousand years before Jesus Christ was born,” Java explained.
For centuries, African Traditional Religion (ATR) practice has been known to be praying and worshipping the Creator via the ancestral spirits but Java says there is a difference between the two.
“We need to start separating our good tradition of love, honour, respect, righteousness and justice from religion which is the cultic practice of worshipping the dead and totally against the Bible,” he said.
“Just because someone lived and died first does not give them power over how our walk or life as a grouping should be. We should always take things from the Bible, the Word of God and if one does not believe it or the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it is to their peril.”
The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of ATR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious dialogue an urgent necessity, which Java’s book seeks to confront.
Unlike the colonial encounter with ATR, which was characterised by hostility and the condemnation of ATR, the postcolonial encounter has been characterised by mutual respect, understanding, tolerance, and some level of freedom, liberation and genuineness.
In this way, suspicion has been reduced, because, despite the adherents’ confession of Christianity, ATR is not about to be extinct.
According to Java, some ATR ceremonies were premised on human sacrifices, which is in conflict with Christianity.
“They had a god responsible for various things such as fertility, rainmaking and even global dominance. This god is one of the oldest idols to be worshipped in ancient times. To worship their god’s there would raise altars and appoint priests and prophets who would minister on the altar.
“It is on these altars that human sacrifices were made annually to the god’s which gave them an appetite to gather as many slaves as they could because they god’s were fed using blood,” he said.
Java’s book will be available in neighbouring countries and internationally through Amazon books
