A Dangerous Road Doesn’t Always Look Dangerous.

January 10, 2023

I spent way more time than I wanted to and really even needed to on the topic of Voodoo. However, for the purpose of explaining this week’s photo and sharing what God taught me in my study, I’ll share a little of what I learned. I took this photo on a business trip to New Orleans in 2015 as I walked with my colleagues one night. I didn’t go in but was amazed at how prevalent Voodoo was in that city.

When many Americans hear the word, Voodoo, they think of New Orleans. And with good reason. Voodoo is a religious practice that came from Haiti immigrants to the New Orleans area in the 1700s. The Haitian practices came from tribal religions in West Africa. Once in New Orleans, Voodoo mixed with Roman Catholicism to become what it is today.

“The core belief of New Orleans Voodoo is that one God does not interfere in daily lives, but that spirits do. Connection with these spirits can be obtained through various rituals such as dance, music, chanting, and snakes.”[1]

Jerry Gandolfo, a native New Orleanian whose family has run the Voodoo Museum in the French Quarter since the 1970s, says people can still communicate with our ancestors. “In Voodoo, an ancestor is as much alive as a living person,” Gandolfo said. “You just go to her new home now.”[2]

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Many articles downplay the harm in religions such as Voodoo. They claim that Hollywood and sensationalism has created a view that Voodoo is evil when it is anything but that.

Lilith Dorsey is a Voodoo priestess, filmmaker, author, editor, publisher, and blogger. “A committed practitioner, Dorsey was keen in her presentation to set the record straight about her religion: ‘Voodoo dolls? Not a thing (employing a “poppet” for sympathetic magic comes from European traditions, she said). Evil? Hardly, and to suggest so, she has written before, is offensive.’”[3]

So, what did I learn in all this?

Voodoo involves the worship of spirits and occult practices like consulting the dead—those ancestors, several experts talked about. And while Dorsey says there is nothing evil about Voodoo, the Bible tells us that these practices are forbidden.

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-11, NIV)

The god of Voodoo is not the one true biblical God. To practice Voodoo is to go against God’s commands and is in opposition to God. That is the biblical definition of evil.

But on a broader level, whether it’s testing the waters of Voodoo, telling small lies, hating our neighbor, or making any area of life more important than our Lord, it’s all the same. We are opposing God and heading down a dangerous road. My encouragement to you and to myself, is to spend more time with God, in His Word, and with His people so that we aren’t tempted to head down a dangerous road.

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[1] https://www.neworleans.com/things-to-do/multicultural/traditions/voodoo/

[2] https://www.frenchquarter.com/true-history-faith-behind-voodoo/

[3] https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/voodoo-new-orleans