Dangers Of Cultism

On Wednesday, the 16th of January, I had the privilege of being the guest speaker at the Michael and Cecelia Ibru University, Agbarah-Otor, as part of the orientation program for new students. I want to thank Dr. (Mrs) Cecilia Ibru, the President and co-founder of the University for this privilege, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ibiyinka Fuwape, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor E. L. Dabor, Registrar, Dr. Thomas N. Kolo, and Mr. Daniel E. Monday, who gave me a very warm reception at the University. My gratitude also goes to the Chaplain of the University.

The subject matter of cultism was a topic I had spoken on some time back on my radio broadcast on Quest FM, 93.1.

I was prompted to speak on cultism when I met a Christian brother who was a shadow of himself in a bank. Inquiries proved that his eldest son he had managed to train in a polytechnic was shot dead by the police because he was a cultist.

A young, new student in a university decided to become a cultist. One night he was in a room with his girlfriend when a hit man entered his room and ordered them to lie face down and place their pillows on their heads. The assailant pressed the gun against the head of the young man and fired; the skull of the young man exploded and his brain spilled out. The girlfriend, without realizing what had happened, groped in the dark to feel for her lover only for her hand to enter the skull grabbing a handful of brain tissue. She screamed and subsequently had a mental breakdown.

In a University in Southern Nigeria, a group of cultists shot severally at a young man without any effect. They subsequently removed a pole from a contraption he was using for weightlifting and pierced him through his back and the pipe went through him. He died a very violent and sudden death.

A young boy, I know, was hacked to death with shovels members of the rival cult were using to dig the foundation of a building; they tore him to shreds with the shovels.

The daughter of the former Deputy Governor of a state in Southwestern Nigeria was killed by her boyfriend who is a cultist. He buried her under his bed.

Spiritual Background to Cultism

Proverbs 1:10-19, Ephesians 2:1-3, John 10:10.

Cultism involves ritual practice by a group of people whose membership, admission, policies, and initiation rites are done in secret. Their activities usually have negative consequences on themselves and non-members. They are usually started by someone with a very strong and charismatic personality, and a group of friends who might not know the spiritual covenant he has had with satan.

Cult leaders are satanists. They are usually involved in every activity that attracts the wrath of God. They benefit from bloodshed. Their rise in the satanic realm is dependent on bloodshed. Sexual promiscuity leads to pregnancies outside wedlock; therefore, abortions usually follow. The blood of innocent children is a step ahead of sacrifices of cats and dogs. So, the rape and sexual immortality of a cultist is a demonic influence from the prince of the power of the air, which is the spirit of disobedience. It is the spirit at work in cultists.

Older satanists sleep with young married women and they usually advice the women not to abort such children. When the time to renew the blood covenant is due, that child dies mysteriously in the house of the supposed father, who does not know he has been harbouring another person’s child. The satanist is not emotionally attached to the “sacrificial lamb” in another man’s household.

Satanists believe that violent and sudden gruesome death by vibrant young people enhances their advancement financially and spiritually. That’s why there has been a recent upsurge in violent ritual killings by desperate young men and women to harvest breasts, female genitalia, and hearts by desperate people to get rich or attain power.

Occultism is the mother of cultism. The leadership are occultic, but the naive cultists are just sacrificial lambs. All the activities that seem to excite naive cultists like gang rape, sexual promiscuity, robberies, murder, and reckless lifestyles are all attempts for satan to steal, kill, and destroy.

Cultism is an anti-Christ and satanic activity. Cultism was initially restricted to tertiary institutions, but today, it has spread to secondary schools and even primary schools. In neighbourhoods, they operate as gangs, but they all fit into the devil’s agenda to destroy as many young people as possible.

In 2015, an online publication reported a case of 46 graduating students, from a popular mission school in Ebonyi State in Southeastern Nigeria, who were arrested during an initiation ceremony into a cult. This is in a very rural part of Nigeria.

Even girls are not left out, we have cults like Daughters of Jezebel, Black Brazier, Temple of Eden, Frigates, and Barracudas. For the boys, you have Eiye confraternity, Black Axe, Sea Lords, Marfia, Dragons, and several others. I did not include the Pyrates Confraternity because they do not operate on campuses and are not associated with the vices mentioned earlier on.

Why Do Young People Join Cults?

1. Stunted psychological development

According to Sigmund Freud, there is a stage of development when boys move in groups and girls move in their own groups. It is a period of gender awareness. However, at a later stage of development, these groups now gradually disperse as men get attracted to the opposite sex and fall in love, get married, and form bonds with their wives and children. Cultists, however, get trapped at the level of same-sex groups.

2. Fantasies about cultism. Tales about “sailing and gyrating” as they call their nocturnal activities.

3. Misconceptions that you will form a network of friends who will help you in future.

My observation is that there are many wretched members of different cult groups who just tag along with the successful ones. A lot of the successful ones succeeded on their own merit, and many of them are from established families. It is true that in recent times, cult groups have controlled the executive and the legislative arms politically. However, the spate of political prostitution in Nigeria has debunked such claims; most of these guys are as selfish as any person controlled by the desires of the flesh.

4. Peer pressure

Weak minds, who dare not walk alone, are usually prone to being drawn into cultism. Most of my friends in medical school were either in one confraternity or one social club in the university, but I never joined any. I have always preferred to walk alone and live like the duck in the pond.

5. Defense mechanism to cover an inner void, and sense of inadequacy

Do they want to derive relevance by being seen to be tough or belong to a special class?

6. Lack of defined vision and purpose early in life

7. Dysfunctional families

This includes divorced parents, parental negligence and poverty, and children wealthy homes, who have been over-restricted and are suddenly tasting freedom in tertiary institutions. This could also include over-pampered and spoilt children.

8. Erosion of educational standards

When students are admitted with very low grades into universities, this could result to them failing or dropping out and resorting to intimidating lecturers and fellow students.

9. Sexual harassment by primitive lecturers who want to use their privilege position to satisfy what they could not do when they were younger.

10. Unemployment and the subsequent disinterest in education

11. Impunity and oppression.

12. Militarization of the Nigerian political scene and politics of hooliganism, where criminality is rewarded and celebrated.

13. Quest for shortcuts to success in all aspects of the Nigerian situation.

Signs Of Cultism

1. Restiveness and disinterest in academic activities.
2. Disrespect for constituted authorities.
3. Rough and dirty dressing. They usually smell like sulfur, which is the smell of the devil.
4. Withdrawn lifestyles.
5. Use of peculiar colours like black, red, yellow, etc., and some secondary school girls carry white towels.
6. Use of coloured rosaries like red, yellow, and blue rosaries.
7. Special handshakes and signs of greetings.
8. Group discussion in very subdued tones, usually with special lingo.
9. Strange friends and visitors and reckless lifestyle.
10. Sexual promiscuity, alcoholism, and drug abuse.

Motives

1. Control of turf for drugs, prostitution, motor parks and bus-stops, markets, and ticket collections from transporters.
2. Control of water ways.
3. Control of fallout from oil and mineral exploration.
4. A standby army for violence, to be used against opponents, rivals, and protection of “big” men.
5. Protection from intimidation.
6. Intimidation of girls and non-members.

Consequences

1. Death
2. Poor academic performance
3. Recklessness and backwardness in life
4. Broken homes and a repeat of the cycle of dysfunctional families
5. Drug addiction and insanity
6. A life of constant fear
7. Frequent battles with the law
8. The wrath of God

Solutions

1. Strong family bonds
2. A purpose-driven life
3. Belong to a good Christian fellowship
4. Have a mentor you can confide in
5. Vigilance by parents, school authorities, security agencies, etc.

Cultism is spreading at a very terrible rate in our society and we must enlighten our children and youths about the consequences. A great percentage of them die before they get to 40 years old.

God Bless You.

I want to acknowledge that I gleaned a lot of information from various online sources. I thank all those in the pursuit of saving our youths from destruction. I want to thank my partners, Salimo Wits Foundation for reinvigorating the passion of raising a new generation and the SOS4 campaign.