Athanase and His Talisman

Athanase was brought up a “Harrist”​—a nominal Christian sect founded by William Wade Harris. He was a Liberian who claimed to have been appointed as a prophet by the angel Gabriel. About the year 1913, Harris left Liberia for the Ivory Coast and began preaching. One book says: “At his voice, the fetishes fell in powder, those ministering to idols renounced their false gods, whole villages accepted his religion. . . . He advanced, supporting himself on a cane surmounted by a wooden cross, followed by six women all dressed in white as he was and whom he called his ‘disciples.’”

Athanase’s father told him that he was to become a Harrist priest when he grew up. While the Harrists supposedly condemned fetishes, they claimed that the Bible had miraculous powers! Like their founder, Harrist priests would use the Bible to bless and to heal people. Athanase observed, however, that few actually read, much less followed, the Bible.

When he finished school, he decided to spend two weeks with a high official of the Harrist religion, hoping that this would result in his obtaining a job. To his great surprise, the religious leader gave him a talisman​—a perfume bottle filled with kaolin powder, sand, and water—​and told him that this would guarantee his success in finding work. “But,” said the official, “if you throw it away, you will go mad and eventually die!”

Athanase was confused. He could see no difference between this perfume bottle and the fetishes used by members of other faiths. However, out of fear of his parents and the religious leader, he kept the talisman. It did not bring the good luck he had been promised. A whole year was spent looking for work but without success. Nevertheless, Athanase, too, came in contact with someone who freed him from the fear of the talisman.

The Truth About Fetishes

All three men had come in contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Through a Bible study with the Witnesses, they learned the origin of the spirits. The Bible showed that before the Noachian Flood, angels rebelled against God and materialized so as to enjoy sexual relations with women. The Flood forced the spirits to dematerialize, and they have been trapped in the spirit realm ever since. No wonder these demons place so much emphasis on material objects, such as fetishes!​—Genesis 6:1-5; 2 Peter 2:4.

In time each of these three men built up a love for Jehovah God and a hatred for spiritistic practices. The Bible quite explicitly condemns seeking contact with wicked spirits, saying at Deuteronomy 18:10-12: “There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, anyone who employs divination, a practicer of magic or anyone who looks for omens or a sorcerer, or one who binds others with a spell or anyone who consults a spirit medium or a professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead. For everybody doing these things is something detestable to Jehovah, and on account of these detestable things Jehovah your God is driving them away from before you.” Not wanting Jehovah’s disfavor, the three of them now followed the advice of the Christian disciple James: “Subject yourselves, therefore, to God; but oppose the Devil, and he will flee from you.”​—James 4:7.

Athanase, too, had to throw out something​—that talisman he had been given. After doing this, he became very sick. ‘Could it be because of disobeying the order not to throw it out?’ he wondered. But he, too, turned to Jehovah in prayer. Rather than succumbing to pressure from his relatives to resort to spiritism again, he sought medical help. In time his health, both physical and spiritual, improved. Athanase now spends his weekends helping neighbors learn Bible truths.​—John 8:44.

The experiences of these three former captives of superstition confirm that the Word of God is able to work mightily on those who come to believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Acts 19:18-20)

The experiences of these three former captives of superstition confirm that the Word of God is able to work mightily on those who come to believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Acts 19:18-20)