A Biblical Scholar’s Response to Issues in ‘Christian Pastors and (Alleged) Child Witches in Kinshasa, DRC’

The research project, ‘Christian Pastors and (Alleged) Child Witches in Kinshasa, DRC,’ authored by Robert Priest, Abel Ngolo and Timothy Stabell (2020) is a monumental empirical work about children who have been accused as ‘witches’ and of ‘witchcraft’ by Christian pastors in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The extensive project engages the subject of child witch allegations from different perspectives which include, anthropological, ethnological, sociological, historical and theological ones. It covers almost every aspect of the issues usually discussed on the subject matter. The role of the EPED team that assisted in the research project and in helping many pastors and deliverance ministers to come to terms with the evil of child witch allegations and persecution is highly commendable. The research is well thought out and takes into consideration all the details that are required of this kind of research.


Introduction
The research project, 'Christian Pastors and (Alleged) Child Witches in Kinshasa, DRC,' authored by Robert Priest, Abel Ngolo and Timothy Stabell (2020) is a monumental empirical work about children who have been accused as 'witches' and of 'witchcraft' by Christian pastors in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The extensive project engages the subject of child witch allegations from different perspectives which include, anthropological, ethnological, sociological, historical and theological ones. It covers almost every aspect of the issues usually discussed on the subject matter. The role of the EPED team that assisted in the research project and in helping many pastors and deliverance ministers to come to terms with the evil of child witch allegations and persecution is highly commendable. The research is well thought out and takes into consideration all the details that are required of this kind of research.
Issues, Suggestions, and Recommendations 1. My response to whether girls are more frequently accused than boys (7) is that both sexes are accused irrespective of the sex. This is unlike the reference to the word ‫מכשפה‬ mekhashshephah 'a woman who practices magic ' in Exodus 22:17 [MT] where the Hebrew word is marked to emphasize that the women folk are more involved in the practice which may be the intention of the author for using the feminine gender. However, in Deuteronomy 18:10 the masculine ‫מכשף‬ mekhasheph is used by the Deuteronomist which I believe is used generally to refer to the practice and not just to the male practitioner alone.
2. The case of child witch accusations is usually 'status based', 'appearance based' and/or 'character based'. By this I mean that the majority of children accused are from very poor family backgrounds of which some serve as houseboys or housemaids or servants (status based), some are unkempt, disfigured, physically challenged, weird, have body rashes, body and mouth odours, boils and wounds or sores (appearance based), and some are lazy, violent, shrewd, mischievous, heady, disobedient, sleepwalk, sleep-talk, talk to themselves, bedwet, are arrogant, abusive, disrespectful or cruel (character based). From my personal experience, by observation of children accused as witches and of witchcraft, and of interactions with adults who suspect and accuse children as witches and of witchcraft, the circumstances and description fall basically into these three categories. It is very rare or uncommon to see a child from a rich or wealthy family accused as a witch or of witchcraft, even when they are stubborn, abusive or even belong to a cult. Instead, their behaviour or predicament is usually attributed to a child who may be serving as a maid or servant in the house whose appearance and behaviour cause suspicion.
3. With reference to the age brackets (7) of the children who are mostly accused, it is not surprising that children between the ages of four to seven and eight to fourteen are the ones most frequently accused. Children within these age brackets who come from very poor families and serve as housemaids or servants are the ones most frequently accused. Again, the age brackets are not necessarily the factor determining the accusation, stigmatization and abuse, but their status, appearance and character are the major factors used for the accusation. Expressions like, afo nyin ifot ('you this little witch' or 'you this child of a witch'), idiok ifot ('bad or wicked witch'), adia ifot ('she/he has eaten witchcraft') are used to describe such children.
4. There is need to emphasize that semantically the word 'witchcraft' implies a teachable profession like 'blacksmith', 'handcraft' etc., and is practiced for a living. It is a means of livelihood not just to cause harm to people. It can be passed on from one generation of practitioners to another as a kind of occupation. But how are children taught the craft? There is need to clearly demonstrate the apparent contradiction in the understanding of the word 'witchcraft' and the claim that children become witches by eating 'witch food potion', or 'mystical witchcraft seed', etc.
5. The biblical words used to describe the occult such as ‫,מכשפה‬ ‫,כשף‬ ‫,אוב‬ ‫,חבר‬ ‫,ידועני‬ ‫,נחש‬ ‫,ענן‬ ‫,קסם‬ play a significant role in understanding how the occult operated in biblical times and need to be carefully studied from the Hebrew and Greek source texts. These words need to be given some attention as some Bible versions indiscriminately use the word 'witch' and 'witchcraft' to translate them. The practitioners were part of the royal council and entourage that provided counsel and guidance to administrative policies and adjurisdiction for both national and international politics of their time. They do consultancy services and charge for their services (cf. 1 Sam 28). They were paid from the treasury of the State for their services to the State (Exod 7; Dan 1-4). They were often trained and given professional tutorials and qualify for their employment after being duly examined and found qualified and certified (Dan 1-2).
6. I find it difficult to be convinced of the existence of a so-called "'mystical witchcraft seed' that empowers accused "witches" 'towards harm, evil and destruction and that this witchcraft seed can be transmitted into someone by means of contact with a gift of food, drinks, clothes, or toys" (40). As much as this seems to be a general belief particularly in Africa, it still lies within the realm of superstition and speculation. I consider this a propaganda orchestrated to keep the so-called deliverance ministers in business. The deliverance ministers cannot give any evidence to this claim. It sounds strange to me as a biblical scholar to read that "Witchcraft is the means by which Satan accomplishes his goals as articulated in John 10:10-"to steal, to kill, and to destroy'"(40). This to me is a misapplication of the Scripture and an overloading of the obvious meaning of the text just to justify the claim to the existence of 'witchcraft' and a 'mystical witchcraft seed'. References to Nabal in 1 Samuel 25 and Judas are also a misleading interpolation of the biblical texts to justify a speculation or superstition. 14. There is need for pastors to be given proper theological education on the challenges of the society and how they can be solved without compounding the problem due to misinterpretation and misapplication of the Scriptures.
15. There is need to have a broad-based curriculum that will combine different related disciplines to tackle the menace of witchcraft related incidents in the society.
16. There is need for a clear proactive action plan to deal with the issues of witch and witchcraft accusations, stigmatization and abuses. EPED is doing an excellent job and the membership should be extended to scholars who are recognized to be engaged in witchcraft related situations.
17. I strongly suggest that the research project carried out in Kinshasa, DRC, should be repeated in other parts of Africa and Asia and scholars from diverse disciplines be engaged to come up with more qualitative results that will change the course of history as it did in Europe.