Christian Pastor charged of Trafficking in Human Body Parts

[Zephonith Serpent Woman]

"Religious leaders in Manguzi in northern KwaZulu-Natal have distanced themselves from alleged ritual killings in the area.

In a recent incident, a senior pastor allegedly placed an order for body parts of a woman with albinism. The pastor will appear in court on Tuesday after 21-year-old Thandazile Mpunzi was murdered two weeks ago.

Mpunzi’s mutilated body was found buried in a shallow grave. Her eyes, skin and other body parts were removed. Her boyfriend allegedly confessed to members of the local community policing forum, that he had killed her.

It’s not the first time a pastor is implicated in such killings. Two years ago a church was burnt down by angry community members after body parts of a four year old were found on the premises.

The Advent Christian Church of Zion, Nkosingiphile Khumalo, says, “We know for a fact that some pastors want more congregations to collect more money; to enable them to sustain their expensive lifestyles. If they don’t have the holy spirit, they find themselves forced to consult traditional healers and herbalists to have magical powers and perform miracles in the church .This will then lead to the ritual killings.”

Church leaders say the police must do their work and the killers must be dealt with. “According to our knowledge and Christian teachings one cannot kill a human being.

Any rule to the contrary really disgraces us and it’s a huge disappointment on our part as Christians,” says Thobisa Khumalo from Niniva Second Church of Zion.

Reverend Regina Tembe from the Advent of Ekukhanyeni Zion says, “The recent incident has shone a bad light on us as the Christian community as it might cause many people to doubt our preaching.”

The pastor and four others have been charged with murder, abduction and defeating the ends of justice."

-SABC

http://www.thenewage.co.za/kzn-religious-leaders-slam-ritual-killings/

So here we have the proof and the real reason for so-called 'witchcraft' and the dealing in body parts in Africa.

This does not come from Pagans- it comes from backwards Christians in Africa who commit these crimes themselves and then conveniently blame it all on Witchcraft.

Notice that even when they are caught out, it is inferred that it is 'traditional healers and Herbalists are the culprits. This false and slanderous accusation is a transparent attempt to shift the blame onto people who proudly practice indigenous belief systems in Africa and who specialize in healing people, not murdering them for body parts.

The Sangoma or Traditional Healer uses natural herbs and white magic to heal people and has done so in Africa since time immemorial. Ever since Christian and Islamic influence came into Africa, indigenous spirituality has been under constant threat.

And the propaganda war against Pagans continues, even in this day and age - as we can clearly see from the article above.

I was drawn to this article after following up on another story which evidently made headlines in South Africa. A few days ago, an entire family was brutally murdered by three men and chopped up into pieces, also in the same general area. The term 'Witchcraft' was used as a possible motive for the attack in the media, although this may not be the actual truth of the matter.

According to some people in the village, there had been a family feud going on between the murder accused and the victims.

In Africa, unlike in the rest of the world , the term 'witch' refers exclusively to a malevolent type individual who uses black magic (the wrongful use of occult powers), and is seen as the cause of misfortune of all kinds.

This caricature of a witch was promoted by the Christian missionaries as part of their attempt to discredit and wipe out Paganism in Africa. The superstitions around 'witches' come directly from the Bible, and these misguided, discriminatory and unjust texts are still very much believed in by especially the more fundamentalist Christian sects.

Superstitions aside, the real motives for witch hunts and accusations in Africa are social in origin. When resources are scarce, and there is resulting social tension, the person who is envied for his or her possessions or wealth is a target for witchcraft accusations. The easiest thing to do to get rid of someone is to then accuse them of 'witchcraft'. Thus the actual motive behind witchcraft accusations and burnings is based in malicious envy, and jealousy.

In the future I will remind those on the internet who still practice religious discrimination by labeling witches as devils and who promote the idea that Pagans are evil and use body parts and human sacrifices and are connected to the Biblical devil that they are also indirectly to blame for the murders. Because many people believe what they read.

I would like to appeal to everyone who reads this to please consider the real effects of their words regarding Pagan spirituality - it could mean the difference between life and death for these poor people.

As soon as more news is available on the murders in South Africa I will follow up on this discussion.

[3r8we85pgsehl]

I'm also a South African. Here in South Africa there is a big problem in media. They don't really investigate the news. They just publish what they hear from people and/or what they think. Any odd thing that happens, is blamed on witchcraft.

The other problem is English. In South African languages, they differentiate between the person who kill people and the person who heal people.

INYANGA (in Zulu) or NGAKA (in Sotho) is the person who heal people using herbs and/or "supernatural powers" only.

UMTHAKATHI (in Zulu) or MOLOI (in Sotho) is the person who 'kill' people using herbs and/or "supernatural powers" only. 

This are opposite people. There is a believe that you can not do both.

The third person is a SAGOMA. This one does divination only.

Because of lack of employment, you find one person doing all of the above, LOL!

When I say there is problem with English, is because in English all these people are called "Witches". They don't differentiate.

[Zephonith Serpent Woman]

It all revolves around a basic misunderstanding of the actual word,'witch'.

I realize that most of our members already know about the difference, but for the sake of reason I will just point out that Africa is nowhere different to the rest of the world in the sense that many Christians still believe that witches are the pawns or puppets of this Devil chappie. The word 'witch' actually derives from the root word in a number of European tongues for a wise person, ie. someone who wants to know about everything and who basically lives in harmony with Mother Nature.To 'weik' means to know, or to have gained wisdom. The witch is not a demon, and even logic tells us that if someone is dedicated to the acquiring of knowledge, then she or he will not be so gullible to believe in that mythical character in the first place. 

I feel that this is the real difference between the Christian caricature of the 'witch' and reality.The caricature is the purely malignant, evil, "old Hag" or 'Warlock"(the Christian name for an ex-Christian male witch), who is a poisoner and who uses only Black magic, in other words, doesn't care about any universal laws such as the Law of Karma and uses occult powers for exclusively harming others. This type of Hollywood clone is all the worst of the human character rolled into one individual. The 'witch' in Africa has inherited all of the above labels, and this is simply because of Colonialism.

The Missionaries had one main aim in their minds when busy establishing themselves in Africa, like poison blood flowing through someone's veins.And that aim was to wipe out all of the indigenous spiritual traditions of Africa.Therefore, all Pagan Deities were suddenly made into the Devil of the patriarchal pantheons.

So the pattern was exactly the same as that all over the world. And it does seem as if little has changed, because it is obvious to all who are free thinkers that there is a bias against witches(Devotees of the Goddess and God of Nature) in the mass media.This bias comes from the blatant religious discrimination written into the Holy Books of the patriarchal Religions, which continues to this moment in time.

It's just that in Africa, there are still medieval style witch hunts and witch burnings as well as the social discrimination and the discrimination in the workplace that also happens in many other countries.

My advice to anyone who is a Goddess person is to keep silent about who you are to everyone else. It's amazing how quickly attitudes change when people know you are a Pagan, in a heavily Christian-dominated society. One is almost tempted to study up more on the topic and write up something with a title such as "The role of the Christian Churches in South Africa before and after Apartheid"., or alternatively I could save a load of time and energy and just ask them all to fill in this form:

Everyone else in the world is a devil, except for.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................???

(Fill in the blank space on the form and be sure to indicate what race you are before submitting it.)

Thank everything good that I don't have to live with that freaking madness any more.

[RaiB's GhosT]

The propaganda is not just directed towards Pagans but also Atheists. Being an Atheist is as much of a choice as is being a Pagan, Christian, Muslim, etc. Here are the words on a sign in front of a Christian church not far from my home:

AT A FUNERAL FOR AN ATHEIST, THE ATHEIST IS ALL DRESSED UP WITH NOWHERE TO GO

I'm not kidding. Now if an Atheist put up a similar sign stating that Christians will be unpleasantly surprised to find nothing waiting for them at the end, well there would be an avalanche of complaints.

[Zephonith Serpent Woman]

Yes, it is directed towards everyone who is not approved of.

Well I don't need anyone's approvals, and my feeling is that if a person needs the approvals of others to be happy, then they deserve to be sad. As sad and miserable as those who see every other belief system(or none) as the Devil. It's like Apartheid on a global scale.

[Rose]

In places where people are still very uneducated and superstitious, there are still atrocities committed in the name of both religion and witchcraft. It has only been relatively recently that witchcraft has been associated with "Earth-centered religions" and "harming none." Modern neo-pagans, it seems, would like to rewrite history. 

Muti killings[edit]

Main article: Medicine murder

Occasions of murder and mutilation associated with some traditional cultural practices in South Africa are also termed muti killings. More correctly known as medicine murder, these are nothuman sacrifice in a religious sense, but rather involve the murder of someone in order to excise body parts for incorporation as ingredients into medicine and concoctions used in witchcraft.

In February 2010, Deputy Provincial Commissioner William Mpembe of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in North West Province said that “muti murders, particularly those involving young children, seem to be on the rise in the Tshwane areas including Soshanguve, Garankuwa and Rietgat"^[2] That same month, African traditional healers and the Gauteng government convened at a seminar in Pretoria, South Africa to root out the "evil practice of mutilating human bodies for purposes of muti making."^[3]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&sou...

Muti killings are a real thing, and indigenous practices often get intermingled with newer religious beliefs.

[Zephonith Serpent Woman]

Muti killings have nothing to do with the ancient spiritual traditions of African people, who venerated the Goddess as their primary Divinity.
A brief reference to Vodou, the Spirit Religion and the other diaspora religions should suffice to prove this.
Of course people with a colonial mindset will always portray Africans as savage and uncultured.
Meanwhile these religious racists are responsible by default for what is happening today with regard to muti murders.
These muti murders are probably about 0,01% of all homocides committed on the continent. It is always the minority extremists who gain the most publicity from a sensationalist and often biased press.

[Rose]

It is very true that missionaries who are spreading extreme versions of Christianity are not doing any favors for populations who are uneducated and very superstitious. In many cases, it can be like adding fuel to a fire. But to attempt to hold the indigenous beliefs and practices harmless is completely outrageous. And to try and equate them with modern neo-pagan beliefs is equally outrageous. I would truly doubt that there are many practicing Wiccans over there. 

[Zephonith Serpent Woman]

Haha...visit Witch School International and get to meet all the Wiccans from South Africa.Then your doubting will be mercifully dispelled.
Pagan is Pagan no matter what label you try and place on Nature based spirituality, and yes, African witches of all possible varieties love the Old Gods just like it was before Islam and Christianity.

[25eycteribcnc]

Are you for real?!!!

[Zephonith Serpent Woman]