Matthew Stuckey here and I want to make a quick video on three common myths of the religion of
voodoo. Three common myths of the religion of voodoo. The number one most common myth of the
religion of voodoo is that it's a very rare isolated religion. I think people think of
voodoo as something that only a small number of people worldwide practice. It's this bizarre
sorcery and cult and witchcraft and stuff like that. It's actually far more common than people
realize. There are 60 million people that follow voodoo worldwide. 60 million people practice voodoo
on a regular basis as their main religious and spiritual system. Now when you look at charts of
the most common religions, number four on the list is gonna be Buddhism. And then oftentimes after
that you'll see Sikhism and then all these other religions. You never see voodoo pop up in the top
25. The reason why is it's pretty much listed under the African traditional religions when
you look at charts. But 60 million people, their religion is voodoo. And another reason why you
don't see it pop up on charts is voodoo is a syncretic religion. Which means that people
practice voodoo as their main spiritual system but they also practice other religious systems. Now
people that practice voodoo and other religious systems, they truly are voodoo worshippers. That
is their religion. They worship the gods of voodoo and the spiritual practices of voodoo as their
main spiritual source above any other. But sometimes those people might be listed under
another religious system because of the fact they are worshipping multiple systems. They're not just
practicing voodoo. They're practicing multiple religions. This is a little bit different when
it comes to Christianity because under Christianity the Bible says Jesus said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so if you're following the God of the Bible,
you should only be following the God of the Bible. However, with voodoo you're able to worship,
you know, and follow voodoo as well as other religions. So it's often said in Haiti, which
is the most prevalent country when it comes to voodoo, that 60% of people are Catholic,
30% of people are Protestant, and 100% of people are voodoo. Now I'm sure that there's a small
remnant that reject completely the religion of voodoo, but basically people they say,
well on Sunday morning they're a Catholic, on Sunday morning they're a Protestant,
and Sunday night they worship voodoo, right? So here's the thing, obviously when it comes to
Christianity that's wrong because you're supposed to only worship the Lord God. But people that
practice voodoo, they see no problem with just mixing these religions together. So oftentimes
you won't see voodoo pop up on the charts because those people would be listed under Catholic or
voodoo would be put under the African traditional religions. Now when it comes to Haiti and it comes
to the Catholic religion, what they'll often say is that voodoo embraced Catholicism with their
voodoo system and they had no problem because they basically took the saints in Catholicism and those
became the gods in voodoo. So you'll have Mary when it comes to Catholicism and they have a
version, a warped satanic sort of version, in voodoo of Mary. And so basically they merge the
two religions together. So here's the thing, voodoo is actually followed by a lot of people. We think
of it as a very rare religion and in the United States it's not that common, but actually worldwide
more than 60 million people practice voodoo as their main spiritual system. So that's myth
number one. Myth number two is this, people have this idea, as you would assume in most religions,
that the gods of those religions or the spirits or whatever you want to call them, depending on
what religion you have, that they're good always. But see in voodoo the the gods or the spirits,
however you want to call them, they're not necessarily good. Oftentimes they're bad,
it depends on what the spirit is. And when it comes to voodoo, your goal is actually to keep
the gods and the spirits happy. And so basically they might not be good, they might be violent,
they might be wicked, but your goal is to keep them happy. Because if you do not keep them happy,
then they are going to basically curse you and cause you a lot of problems. And so in the
ceremonies of voodoo, people will pray to get possessed by these spirits and they get possessed.
And oftentimes a lot of these gods or spirits that possess them wind up doing a lot of violent acts,
such as, you know, rape and, you know, violent crimes and things such as that. And that's very
common. And they're not necessarily saying that their gods are good or their spirits are good,
but they believe that they need to keep them happy. And so you must do whatever the spirits
want you to do when you get possessed, and you must go along with it. Otherwise God is going to
curse your land, right? The gods are going to curse your land, according to voodoo. So their
goal is to actually keep those gods happy. Many of their spirits and gods are their ancestors from
the past that have died, because they believe in a much different system than we would look
at in Christianity, much different than heaven and hell. And the spirits are kind of just floating
out there. And if I just reject my ancestors that have already died, and I don't pay homage to them,
and I don't give them food and things such as that, then my ancestors, my relatives,
while they were here on earth, they're going to curse me and cause me problems. And so basically
your goal is to try to keep these gods and these spirits happy. So they don't necessarily think
that these gods and these spirits are good gods, but they believe that they need to keep them happy,
otherwise their existence is going to be cursed. So the number one myth is this, that voodoo is a
very rare, isolated religion. That's not true. Number two, a myth is that voodoo practitioners
believe that all their gods and spirits are good. They don't necessarily believe that. They believe
a lot of them are bad, but they still must try to keep them happy. And that leads to point number
three. And this goes to Haiti with the major earthquake in 2010. See, people have this
misunderstanding when it comes to voodoo, that when the big earthquake happened in Haiti,
the people that practice voodoo thought it was a random occurrence. They didn't believe that the
gods were actually mad at them. But actually, what voodoo teaches is that an act such as that
is an act of the gods. And what they actually teach in voodoo is that that earthquake that
was sent by Haiti was sent by the gods because they worshipped the land, and they worshipped
the mountains, and the rivers, and all these different gods that are out there. They believe
that was an act of the gods that was sent upon them. Now, the only difference is they don't
believe that that act of the gods was sent because they were practicing voodoo, but they do believe
that the gods were mad at them, were mad at the country of Haiti. And that's why that earthquake
killed perhaps 300,000 people. You must realize that the population of Haiti was only 10 million
at the time. So we're talking 250,000 or 300,000. We're talking 3% of the population. That is a
major, major disaster that took place. And here's the thing about this. Some Christian leaders made
comments about that Haiti had been cursed by God because they are worshipping Satan, and they're
practicing black magic and sorcery. And people got really angry about it. Like, how could you say that
that was an act of God? But actually, the people of Haiti, that's what they believe, that it was
an act of the gods. The only difference is that in Haiti, they believe the reason why God was angry
was not necessarily because of voodoo, but because of something else. That is actually what voodoo
teaches. Now, the most common voodoo practitioner in Haiti, an expert, his name was Max Beauvoir,
and he has since passed away in 2015, I believe. And when this earthquake took place, what he
claimed was that the gods set things in motion, but now it's just kind of random. And it wasn't
that they were cursed by the gods. But that's actually not what voodoo teaches. He was trying
to cover for his religion and what they actually teach, because they do teach that an act like this,
when there's a major earthquake that kills hundreds of thousands of people, it's because the gods of
the land are angry with you. And so people got all up in arms with Christianity for saying that Haiti
was cursed by God for their sorcery and black magic and voodoo. But that's actually what voodoo
teaches, that it is an act of the gods. The only difference is, a Christian perspective would be
that that earthquake was sent to destroy them because of the wickedness of sorcery and black
magic and worshipping Satan. And make no mistake about it when it comes to voodoo, because it used
to be that all Christians, no matter what your denomination, would be in agreement that voodoo
was a satanic black magic sorcery sort of religion. And now people are trying to kind of give them the
benefit of the doubt. But look, if you look at any other practices, if you've ever seen their videos,
they're praying to get possessed by spirits. They've got a cross that's black and very dark
and satanic looking. Make no mistake about it, voodoo does worship the devil. They worship false
gods. The animal they worship is the snake. And they revere the snake, which is obviously, you
know, you look at the devil in the book of Genesis, appearing as the serpent. And it's just like, you
know, they are a satanic religion. So the three myths you have are this about voodoo. Myth number
one, that voodoo is just an isolated, rare religion. That's not true. Myth number two,
that the gods of voodoo are good. They don't necessarily believe that. They believe a lot of
the gods and the spirits are evil. And number three, a myth is this, that they believe that
the earthquake sent in Haiti was just a fluke occurrence. That's actually not true. They believe
it was an act of the gods. Thank you and God bless.