Bad Luck and Evil Spirits: Christopaganism in Eastern Bolivia

One of the most visited pages on our old website was an article titled "Bad Luck and Evil Spirits: Christopaganism in Eastern Bolivia," first published in November 2011. According to our web stats, web surfers from around the world landing on this very article, presumably because they were interested in the connection between bad luck and evil spirits.

The original article appears below in its entirety, followed by an update of the evangelical church in San Lorenzo:

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It's called "Christopaganism," a syncretism of Christian beliefs and animism. Each instance is a complex mixture unique to the local culture. Often a veneer of Christianity covers deeply rooted traditional religions, with Roman Catholic patron saints becoming stand-ins for pagan gods and goddesses.

We face Christopaganism in Latin America as described in the following story told by LATCOM missionary Nathan Ramsey. As part of the NETS project under the direction of our national missionary Onesimo Rojas, evangelical Christians are building a new chapel in the Lomerio village of San Lorenzo. But the project had to stop briefly. Onesimo and Nathan report:

"The evangelical believers had to suspend all work on the project for over two weeks. What happened is that the neighboring community, Coloradillo, was in the middle of a religious festival. As is their custom, they were parading their patron saint through the streets of the community on a platform set on poles and shouldered by four men, accompanied by the faithful and marching to the sounds of flutes and rawhide drums with ocassional loud bangs from four shot fireworks noise makers. Somehow the platform tipped and the saint fell and was broken by the impact with the ground. As the locals began to discuss the horrible significance of why this had happened, someone suggested that it was because the evangelicals were building a church in San Lorenzo, thereby resulting in bad luck and the evil spirits caused by the building of the church to enter into the surrounding communities and to attack the saint in the midst of the holy procession honoring him.

Somehow the platform tipped and the saint fell and was broken by the impact with the ground…

"As they began to talk about this," Onesimo recounts, "someone suggested that, in order to prevent further bad luck and God's wrath, sure to bring ruin to the communities, they should march up the hill to the construction site and tear down the walls of the chapel that were by now as tall as the top of the windows. The columns had been formed and poured up part way and the evangelical believers finished pouring up to the level of the adobe before they were stopped by the elders of San Lorenzo who had been asked by the community of Coloradillo to allow them to tear down the walls.

"The debate swirled back and forth for two weeks with cooler heads prevailing, and the go ahead has been given, so the local believers have decided to begin working again on the project next week and have organized a work day for the following weekend."

Nathan Ramsey, who grew up as a missionary kid in this part of the world, wasn't surprised. "This brought vivid memories from the past of evangelical believers being whipped, beaten, their homes and crops burned by the superstitious stirred to a frenzy by the belief that change would bring about bad luck and destruction to their community.

"Although such acts are illegal and considered as religious discrimination, they nevertheless still occur when a mob mentality inflamed by superstition and fear take hold. Just two years ago just outside of San Antonio, the capital of the Lomerio, a person was tied to a stake and burned alive because they had been accused of witchcraft," he added.

…a person was tied to a stake and burned alive because they had been accused of witchcraft…

The evangelical church is San Lorenzo has been a long time coming. Nathan writes, "This a fulfillment of a dream for some of the older believers who have yearned for this moment over 20 years. For the younger believers they are excited at having a place where their young people can learn and grow and reach out to the rest of the community."

In 2006 Nathan and a survey team from the USA visited San Lorenzo. They "listened to a small handful of older believers pour out their hearts yearning to reach their community for Christ and heard their stories of how some of their youth that had made a profession for Christ had been whipped for doing so by their parents…."

These elders "laid out some simple plans," Nathan says, "among them was the concept of building a church building to draw new believers and encourage them by the teaching of the Word. As they have grown in the last 4 years I rejoice in finally seeing that wish come to fruition."

Work is scheduled to continue on the church building, which sits on a hill overlooking its community, but cannot be completed until more funds become available. When it is completed, the church leaders "expressed the desire to create a cross with glass block above the entranceway awning so that the light emanating through it at night will be visible by all in the community below."

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According to LATCOM representatives Ken and Nancy Whisler, all the NETS-related churches are experiencing growth and renewal, including the church in San Lorenzo. Indeed, the Whislers report that the congregation in San Lorenzo is in the third stage of constructing a new church building. A short term missions team, from First Baptist Church of St. Cloud, FL, this summer poured cement floors, plastered walls, and installed electricity. The fourth stage will be putting in doors and windows, painting, and making pew benches.