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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.