I had a revival at our church and the visiting speaker, Dr Casillas, was familiar with our town. He said: " Wow! You are doing well for a place like this, your town being the center of Spiritism in Puerto Rico and all!" I had not realized this, but it turns out that he was right. And it does explain a lot of things and activities I have seen during our church planting years our this town of Comerio.
Well what is it anyway? A long story, but many who are in the drug business and have left the church feel the need for spiritual protection when they are afraid, so they turn to the tribal gods their ancestors worshiped to deal with their fears. It also is an attempt to try to fill in the void left they feel after abandoning a faith that would inhibit their involvement in the drug trade. It involves a lot of all white clothes, cigar smoke and chicken blood sacrifices. They pray to the god Babalu, the same one Ricky Ricardo of "I love Lucy " fame would sing to while playing his Congo drum. Well, Ricky Ricardo is from the same Region as we are, and he even has a restaurant in San Juan, our capital city. Cubans, such as he, Puerto Ricans and many other Caribbean people follow this religion.
It is true that Comerio is an important center for Spiritism. We are bringing the light of the gospel into the heart of darkness! In spite of Babalu, his priests, witches and followers here, the Lord has giving us victory and we are seeing growth in the church and lives changed in our town. Amen!
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