By Oreva Godwin
What is witchcraft? It is the practice of sorcery, black magic, or the use of supernatural powers to influence or predict events.
For Christians, witchcraft is highly condemned. Deuteronomy 18:10-11 of the Bible states: “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”.
Relatedly, Exodus 22:18 says, “You shall not tolerate a sorceress”, while Leviticus 20:27 states: “A man or a woman who has a ghost or a familiar spirit shall be put to death; they shall be pelted with stones—and the bloodguilt is theirs”.
The scripture that says; “suffer not a witch to live”, has been the backbone used to destroy so many homes and have cost the lives of innocent people in society. Let’s look at the Salem witch trails in the 17th century, the first witch trials in the world. The trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused, 30 were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men).
One other man, Giles Corey, died under torture after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in disease-ridden jails. Arrests were made in numerous towns beyond Salem Village (known today as Danver) and its regional centre Salem Town, notably in Andover and Topsfield. The grand juries and trials for this capital crime were conducted by a Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 and by a Superior Court of Judicature in 1693. Both held in Salem Town, where the hangings also took place. It was the deadliest witchhunt in the history of colonial North America. 14 and other women and two men were executed in Massachusetts and Connecticut during the 17th century.
The Salem witch trials only came to an end when serious doubts began to arise among leading clergymen about the validity of the spectral evidence that had been used to justify so many of the convictions, and due to the sheer number of those accused, “including several prominent citizens of the colony”.
Years after the trials, several of the accusers – mostly teenage girls – admitted that they had fabricated their charges. In 1702, the General Court of Massachusetts declared the trials unlawful”, and in 1711 the Massachusetts legislature annulled the convictions, passing a bill mentioning 22 individuals by name and reversing their convictions.
Research shows that, in Akwa-Ibom and Cross River States of Nigeria, about 15,000 children have branded as witches, and most of them ended up abandoned and abused on the streets.
As someone born and who grew up in Cross River State, Calabar, to be precise, I have a lot to say about the plight of so called witches and wizards. Akwa-Ibom and Cross River are states that invest more in prayer houses. Permit me to say they are the number one in this business. Sadly, these prayer houses have destroyed homes, all in the name of prophecies.They will give prophecies, claiming any of your relatives is a witch and is the cause of your problem.
Skolombo boys and Lakasara girls, as alleged wizards and witches are called in Calabar, are abandoned children who roam the streets. Most of them are abandoned by their parents, for reasons like: drugs, violence, witchcraft etc. The high population of these children roaming the streets of Calabar is alarming. At midnight, when you walk the streets of Calabar, you see them in groups sleeping on the road. It’s very saddening and heartbreaking to see a horde of children without homes. They are a nuisance to behold. Many beg on the streets to survive, and subsequent are introduced to selling drugs for drug dealers. Some are into robbery and commit other havocs.
One day, a church I grew up in decided to hold every Friday fellowship in a member’s house. What is known now as a “cell meeting.” This cell meeting would have destroyed my family completely. So many atrocities were perpetuated in those cell meetings.
This was the time when, once you were tagged a witch, you would be abandoned by your family. It was a time that you had to make sure you don’t exhibit any syndrome that would make your family tag you a witch. In one of the cell meetings, while prayers were on, my mom was called out and told that my immediate senior sister and I were witches.
My mom was in a dilemma. She got home that evening and was very moody. I remember vividly that my mom was looking at us strangely, but we were just kids. Not yet teenagers. We simply shook off the feeling and labelling. It was when we became teenagers that my mom sat us down and opened up.
She said when she got home that she was looking at us and soliloquised. She told herself; “me, Akpezi, go born winch? Impossible. My children cannot be witches. ” She brushed off the so-called revelation”.
A few years later, it was revealed that the so-called prophetess of that church was a witch, giving false prophecy to destroy homes. My mom was perplexed. She broke down before us and was like, “imagined if I believed her and drove you both out of the house. Would I ever forgive myself?”.
Imagine my mom had abandoned me, would I be the Oreva Godwin, that I am today?, would I have amounted to anything good?. Would I have had this opportunity to have you my amazing readers read my articles?. There is no clear answer to my question. It’s more of a hypothetical question. But these are the issues.
Most of these children roaming the streets of Uyo and Calabar are innocent. They are victims of envious agents assigned to destroy promising futures. I don’t want to mention a church in Calabar that encourages parents to abandon children tagged as witches. The church is already dragged enough. But the prophetess needs to be stopped.
We call ourselves Christians, yet we act so barbaric. Has God lost the power to deliver the possessed? For all I know, witchcraft is a spirit. It can be cast out.
In Acts 16:16-18. Paul casted out the divination from the slave girl. That is witchcraft. Why did Paul not demand for her to be persecuted? No, he casted out the spirit from her. So why will your prophet who claim they can see, yet can’t cast out the spirit of witchcraft from your children? Can’t you see that they are powerless? And that their prophesy is false?.
It’s high time we wake up and address these menace. It’s sad that up to date, this evil practice is still going on. This has resulted in the high rate of crime in our society. How can cultism, rape, prostitution and other crimes end in our society. When these children are exposed to hard lives at such a young age. Why won’t they become hardened criminals?. Some parents go as far as chaining their children and starving them. What kind of barbaric act is that? Are you starving the demon out of them?. Illiteracy is a disease. It’s only the illiterates that fall for this scam.
When will the law take its full force on these parents? Why is the Child Act not enforced on these parents? Why do they abuse these children and go free? The government should protect these children.These children are supposed to be leaders of tomorrow, yet we just turn a blind eye. Who will bell the cat and save our children from this ugly scourge?
