The Spirit of the Sangoma

The ache accumulates, the healer bandaids,

It goes deeper, the healer bandaids,

It consumes me in the early hours but I can escape during the day,

It takes more, I ask for more,

I drown it in a stew of pharmacopeia to numb the consciousness of it

I remove the pharmacopeia so I am no longer numbed.

I chose the pain.

I am consumed by it.

I take from my family until they need to severe bonds

I fear losing control because it has invaded all of life.

My healers stand aloof as I reject their council

I search for an escape but it would be too undignified to take my own life…

I will ask the healer.

The first healer comes. I present my case.

She says, “ I hear you. Let me do a cost/benefit analysis.

Yes, you will die but not necessarily shortly. But that doesn’t matter because to fix it would be costly to society, to you. And to what end? You still chose to suffer. I agree with your request.”

Irremediably. What is it? Soul, mind, body?

Intolerable. Is not all suffering intolerable while you are in it?

Hopeless. Is there something other than self-focus?

The wait. Too fast, too slow.

I am resolved. I am distant. My world is me… no more.

The second healer comes. He reviews my case.

“Society aches from past “mis-healing”. I will provide some restitution through honouring your ‘brave’ request. Ending suffering is more important than ending life. I will end it for you.”

The date is set. The task performed. Death has arrived.

The spirit of Africa’s sangoma is amongst us.

Society is appeased….for the moment.

written by David Falk 2017

Rays of Light in the Darkness

I wrote this poem while sitting in my parked truck after leaving a hospice where a patient was succumbing by the hand of a fellow physician under the disguised concept called MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying).

There is a lot in this poem, some of which may go over the heads of anyone who has not been involved with those who are dying.

Let me explain some of the concepts shared in this poem.

The context of this poem is from a spiritual or existential perspective on suffering.

Modern medicine is very capable of helping the physical aches and pains but it is only a “bandaid” if they do not address the existential and spiritual aspects of the suffering one.

If these “bandaids” are medications which, if used for existential or spiritual type of suffering, usually produces side effects, not relief from pain.

Another “bandaid” is the withdrawal of the caregiver from discussion on this level. Over 90% of those who ask for their life to be terminated prematurely do it for existential or spiritual reasons, not physical.

It is this fact which I have tried to convey in the poem.

Topping this list of existential reasons is control - control of body, control of emotions, control of belief system, control of ego. Death means total loss of control if you are self reliant and self satisfied.

Anxiety over this makes the “dying process intolerable”, is the phrase being used today.

Another reason for asking for MAiD is because they are fearful of suicide and what it means… It means, “I” am responsible for my own death, not the state, not physicians. And there is a social stigma attached to suicide which we blame as cultural but it really comes from our spirit which wants life.

Therefore the request that someone else do it for you, namely the physician or nurse practitioner.

It is interesting that when someone is given lethal poison in pill form to take on their own, only ⅓ - ½ of those prescribed take it. Whereas if the physician injects the poison into you, over 90% take it.

To me, this is an example of our built in desire for life and that the decision of someone to experience euthanasia is not what actually happens in ⅓ - ½ of cases.

The poem goes on.

These people feel lonely, abandoned, and worthless, without purpose or meaning. They are also very scared. Scared of living, scared of dying, scared of people, scared of death.

The Book of Job in the Bible portrays these issues very well.

In the poem, I also try to convey the rationalizations and motives going through the minds of the health professionals who feel justified in providing the lethal dose to honour the sufferer’s request.

Most everyone will understand the message of this poem up to this point.

But it is in the last two phrases of this poem that the meat of the matter comes.

What is the spirit of Africa’s sangoma?

Most of us do not know about “sangomas”. Let me explain with a story I encountered while working for 12 years amongst my fellow Africans.

Our church’s medical work includes over 20 rural clinics which are manned by nurse practitioners who are provided a simple home to live next to the clinic they man every day and night. These two buildings are in a complex which includes a church, parsonage, and school. They serve a rural community of some 10,000-20,000 people.

This one clinic was serviced by a very godly, wise woman whom everyone respected and sought counsel from.

She was the classic Proverbs 31 woman but without material riches, only making enough to ‘get by’. She served with grace, compassion, truth, and life-giving spirit. One day the sister of our nurse practitioner arrived for a visit driving a Mercedes Benz, dressed in the latest fashion, and looking very important. Our nurse practitioner knew she was from the traditional medicine branch called sangoma.

During their conversation, the nurse practitioner said, “You must be happy with a beautiful car, well dressed, and a respectable occupation.”

Her sister responded, “Not really.”

The nurse practitioner looked puzzled and asked, “What do you mean?”

“You do not know how imprisoned I am.” she replied, “You see, to maintain my power as a healer, I have to give sacrifice to the “spirit-god” in that corner of my house,” as she pointed to a distant corner,

“And then I need to give sacrifice to this other “spirit-god” in the other corner of my house, and then I need to give sacrifice to this other “spirit-god” over here…”

And so she carried on recounting some dozen “spirits” she was subservient to. If she did not honour their control of her life, their power would leave, her conscience would get the better of her, and she would be destitute of person if not materially as well.

She concluded by saying, “I am imprisoned.”

She was imprisoned in her spirit, with fear of loss, fear of death, fear of having to face her conscience.

Her sister nurse practitioner was left speechless with a heart aching for her sister. There were so many trap doors in her sister’s life, she was not sure where to begin.

It was during my next monthly visit that she shared this story with me. Her heart was still aching, her gratitude for her simple life with its annoying little problems, and her fullness of a free spirit (thanks to God), very evident as she recounted it.

We had a word of prayer for her sister.

You see, those who follow the Spirit of Christ and Christianity can avoid the traps of the spirit used by the sangoma.

African Christians will search out a traditional healer from the “inyanga” branch as they deal strictly with herbs and plants, but they will shun the “sangoma” branch.

If you were to google “sangoma” you will find articles trying to reshape a “tarnished” reputation and place emphasis on their use of herbs, but, as I see it, it is just “gaslighting” the true nature of their spiritual significance.

How does this apply to our present day Canadian context, you may ask?

Well, we need to examine by what spirit is euthanasia being performed. Let me start by asking you a few questions which can reveal the trap doors or spirits who imprison you.

1) Is the taking of a patient’s life determined by scientific facts, subjective assessment, or existential/spiritual distress?

2) Is a patient in full control of his/her decisions without the influence of the community they live in?

3) Are the motives of health professionals God infused purity and righteousness?

4) Are the motives of the requesting patient God infused or self infused?

5) What are the lasting effects MAiD will have on society?

6) Were we created to kill without spiritual consequences?

Let’s examine each question in light of the “sangoma’s” worldview.

1) Unfortunately, a physician cannot say his decisions are based on scientific facts. Our ability to prognosticate is at about the same accuracy as the weatherman - 50/50 at best.

The closer to death we get, the better our prognostication, but by that time, the course of how one is to die is usually set. Therefore his decisions are like the sangoma’s decisions, based upon moral choices or worldview (another word for existential or spiritual things).

Nor can the physician say it is based on eternal values because he/she is suppose to “suspend” his/her beliefs and society’s beliefs when it comes to this “individualistic” decision.

And a good number of physicians neglect the spiritual aspects of care anyway, so it would be considered beyond their competency and not worth pursuing.

This is the direct opposite way of dealing with spiritual significance from the “sangoma’s” method. The sangoma is cognisant of drawing conclusions from worldly spirits whereas the western physician denies this fact but still comes to conclusions based upon worldly spirits.

2) You may ask, “Where is patient autonomy in all this?” “Doesn’t the patient have the final word in this? Isn’t patient autonomy the most important, not the doctor’s?”

These “theoretical questions and concepts” do not bear out in practice when a serious illness or end of life enter the picture.

a) Decisions are made in relationship, with input from both health professional and patient.

b) A prior decision of what one would choose does not hold true at the actual time of decision as things are dynamic and ever changing with circumstances. Thus the final decision is different from the prior decision. Recent medical ethicists are discussing this phenomenon more and more as patient autonomy does not work well in many medical situations.

Therefore there must be mutual input and what input is given is based upon worldview and values… just like the sangoma.

Our worldview is determined by our values, our beliefs, and the “spirit” of the age around us….just like the sangoma.

Nor can the physician say it is solely based upon the patient’s subjective assessment of the situation because full “informed consent” is a misnomer.

Informed consent is provided for two reasons - to protect the medical establishment from law suites and to give the patient some understanding of what the physician can offer.

How much is given is determined by the individual physician who judges what would be appropriate to share and what would not be appropriate.

And, who says that what the physician offers is the final authority on the subject?

That places the physician in the realm of “god” or spiritual values. These are the issues and concerns just like what the sangoma uses to make decisions.

3) How does he determine how much is appropriate?

It is based upon his personal worldview and professional experience, both of which are subjective and limited in perspective.

A good example of this was shared by a respected palliative care physician who wrote about our society’s need to change the “golden rule”.

He recounted how a physician approaching a gentleman who was terminally ill offered him MAiD even though the patient’s amount of present suffering was not extensive and the gentleman did not want it based on his faith.

When the physician was asked about this encounter, he said, “I think the Golden Rule would apply here as I would want MAiD in this situation… as he quoted, “’Do unto others what you would want them to do unto you’.”

You see, the physician applied his spiritual view of life to the patient, not the patient’s spiritual view. He had perverted the context of the Golden Rule to apply to his spiritual purview. The spirit of “self rules”, not an objective external moral code or God.

How is western medicine limited? If medicine can no longer help the patient, then no-one or nothing else can, says this worldview. In other words, they consider themselves the final authority in this matter, not considering the fact that may be the patient or the patient’s Creator or family or others may have the final authority.

This narrowed perspective determines how much and what kind of “informed consent” is given.

This is the spirit of the sangoma who determines for you what the “spirit of the community” determines as “right”. It is a spiritual or existential decision. And if the doctor determines what he should share and what he should leave out, he/she contains the “trump card” just like the sangoma contains the “spirit card”.

4) And then there is the delusion that all of this is under the control of the patient, not the physician. That is complete hogwash. This is where Satan disguises himself as an angel of light all dressed in white. No different than the sangoma.

John Ivison, a journalist with the National Post, wrote an article outlining the abuses of our present day Canadian euthanasia law but started it out by saying, “The changes in laws for physician assistance in dying are an excellent example of public activism working well.” (The angel of light part).

He then goes on to show how it has been abused without limits and concludes that we need to work on this to get it right.(Satanic results)

Do you think so, John? Maybe public activism based upon patient autonomy has come from a corrupt spirit base and should not just be adjusted but abandoned for another spiritual base.

So. Truly, who is in control of this decision? The patient or the physician?

As stated above, the patient, in the midst of illness, may not see things clearly or completely, nor can he be given full information.

But here is the rub. Some physicians want to be “god” - consciously or unconsciously. They want control and they find it hard to give up. Does this come from the Spirit of God or from the spirit of the world - demons is the “old fashioned” word?

If that particular physician feels he/she needs to maintain control, and maintain the power it gives them, then patients who are submissive to authority will accept what they say as the full truth. They have been drawn into the spirit of the age and conformity is the order of the day.

Therefore true autonomy of choice is a misnomer.

This is precisely the spirit of the sangoma who uses the imprisonment of their population’s spirit to control and manipulate.

This is the full exposure of where the sangoma gets his power to heal… Satan, his followers, and resultant spiritual imprisonment.

5) Long term result - the community is trapped by the spiritual ills of society and these ills are strengthened by acting upon this spirit as those who request MAiD and those who administer MAiD do.

Once the conscience is silenced, spiritual sensitivity disappears and being able to discern moral goodness from evil intent becomes increasingly difficult if not impossible.

And the medical profession finds itself going deeper and deeper into spiritual entrapment just like the sangoma sister found herself.

The medical profession admits that burnout and moral residue is increasing in our Canadian system. As a result, some jurisdictions have increased access to spiritual care for their health professions.

I would also ask the question of John Ivison, “Are you saying that our Canadian public is so brainwashed they cannot see effects this activism has on society?” Very short sighted from my point of view.

But it is true. Many in our Canadian public are so spiritually ignorant or imprisoned they are easily brainwashed by whatever new teaching comes across the table. They can be bathed in Christian principles without developing the spiritual life behind them, hence they have lost the ability to discern spiritual realities.

And this is just what sangoma’s thrive on.. spiritual ignorance. That is why African Christians avoid the sangoma. These Christians have seen the spirit behind the sangoma’s decisions and run from it. It is a spirit which imprisons and they have found freedom and don’t want to lose it.

I want to pick up on another one of my phrases above where I said, the physician can neglect the spiritual aspects of care, knowingly or unknowingly.

This is where there is a difference between our western medical professionals and the sangomas. The sangomas know their power is provided by the spirit world whereas most western physicians do not.

But the western physicians do use spiritual powers just as the sangomas do, only under disguise, and unconsciously.

And here is the rub. How is it disguised?

They use words like “ethics” or “values” and then to appease their conscience (which is part of their spirit), they change the name of what they are doing

• from “physician killing” to “Medical Assistance in Dying”,

• from Hemlock Society to Compassion and Choice,

• from the label of “lethal injection” to “medication to sleep saying you won’t feel a thing”,

• from one of “pity” to one of “compassion”.

  These changes build acceptance shields around a disturbed conscience. But their root is all spiritual, just like the sangoma’s is all spirit based. The question remains, by what spirit are they guided.

I submit to you that the present day morass and lack of medical servicing is not solely due to the COVID pandemic, nor to “systemic” issues as publicly portrayed by government and the media.

I submit to you that the underlying cause of these woes is due to the entrapment by the “spirits” we have allowed to come into our western medicine, just as the sangoma sister allowed them to come into her life.

Hence the spirit of Africa’s sangoma has entered Canada.

In the last phrase I say, “society’s appeasement is only momentary”. How can I say that?

Well, let me share another story about another sangoma. You must realize that the power of the sangoma extends to the taking of another life as well, just like our present euthanasia law does. This is done under the guidance of the spirits to help correct the ills of society.

One sangoma publicly picked out a young man as the cause for the community’s troubles and stated he should forfeit his life for the community.

The sangoma stated this a number of times in different situations.

This young man decided to take the matter into his own hands and killed the sangoma. The police arrested him and he was brought to trial. The decision of the court’s selected jury was that the young man was innocent of murder.

Why?

They all knew the power of the sangoma and the misguided spirit the sangoma used to point the blame on this young man.

How does that relate to Canada?

Well, it all seems just and right to provide the lethal injection to self selected individuals at present so our ‘society’s appeasement is momentary’.

By doing this, we hope to decrease suffering and the ills of society.

But it does not work that way.

It is being done because medicine is presently failing to provide relief from this type of suffering and instead of admitting this, we try to cover it up by killing our failures as opposed to admitting them and seeking help elsewhere or improving our level of competency.

This works for a while but it soon boomerangs on us and we are worse off than we were before…

More dead in the spirit, more cold and sterile, more mechanical and less spiritually sensitive, less warm and understanding, and less humane.

Society also sees killing as a means to save on resources used by the medical system. I thought this fact would be realized in a few years time but I was mistaken. Studies were published before the parliament had the ink dry on their new law.

But the power given to physicians to kill will be abused and is already being abused no matter what the law says.

Society will soon start to rebel against this and physicians will come under trial by court or by killing. It won’t be long before this consequence happens just as it did with one sangoma.

Suffering is not conquered, it just spreads.

Why? Because we are following the spirit of the world who’s objecctive is to increase your suffering and make you spiritually dead.

Just as the sangoma’s misguided spirit pointed the blame on the young man, our society will use this misguided spirit to allow more “non-perfect” souls to be killed under the guise of compassion.

And what about the present?

Well, how long can a physician serve two masters - the master of life and the master of death?

I’m afraid not long.

He/she must choose between the two. Which one will it be? The One that frees the spirit and gives life or the other one that imprisons you in the name of lessening suffering.

The spirit of Africa’s sangoma is amongst us.

But there is a way out.

In previous African decades, what the sangoma said had to be obeyed. That was the power held over society.

In recent years, the sangoma can be brought to trial and society can decide his fate. The power of the sangoma is being broken… and they will have to change. It begs the question.

When will Canada be willing and able to break the power of this present world’s spirit and overcome the “sangoma” amongst us? Will this happen?

Yes, because evil eats itself in the end. Thanks be to God. We just need to pray for those who are falling victim to this temptation and that the consequences of its actions be restrained while we await this change.

We live in a fallen world and, even though we may make policies and law from a basis of “compassion” and “caring”, this fallen world knows how to twist them.

We need to admit that“compassionate” policies need “truth” in equal portion. A bird needs two wings to fly. Society needs two wings too - wing of compassion and a wing of truth. Only then is it free to fly. Only then is the spirit free.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” [Jesus said]

John 8:36