Chapter 1. Our story begins with an attempt to kill an African witch doctor in 1854. The witch doctor did not succeed in killing the victim, but he did cause this little boy, Bambata Muganga, to be sick. And so the witch doctor was punished by the people who knew him and knew that he had not murdered his victim, but had caused the boy to be sick by magic. And because the little boy had been sick, his relatives wanted to know the cause of his sickness. But their witch doctor was still in prison, so they had to look elsewhere for an explanation. And so they called a Christian missionary to come and see if he might know the cause of the sickness. The missionary was so kind and understanding and sympathetic that he immediately understood the cause of the sickness. And so he told the boy's parents how to expel the evil spirits from their child. And so the child is healed and goes home healthy and well. Now, then, back to Bambata and the ancestors of the Muganda. The people who came to them and said, "There is a devil here. We cannot understand why you are sick." And they were confused because the Muganda were a very powerful people. They had their own traditions. They were respected. And they did not have any cause for going to a Christian missionary and trying to get help to expel the devil from the sick boy. But then they remembered the evil magic. So they went in search of this witch doctor. They went into the jungle to find him, because the Muganda were very strong in the use of nature. And so they followed the traces of his steps. And after a while they found the village and they found the witch doctor. And so the witch doctor began to curse and to curse them with the same kind of magic that had been used on Bambata Muganga. But this time he had it stronger, and he cursed them. He cursed the village. And with the power of his magic, his curse, he turned the trees, the rocks, and the animals into enemies. And so they began to destroy each other and anything that might be living and growing came to an end. Then the witch doctor searched for his prey, for his trophy, for his victims who would suffer. And the Muganda found a man who had an old mother. And the witch doctor brought the curse upon the old woman's face and paralyzed her for life. And so this old woman was a member of the Muganda community. And she was a member of the extended family of this witch doctor, as well as being a wife of one of her grandsons. And there was no way for the relatives to reverse the curse or to heal the curse, because it was the authority of a witch doctor who had made the curse. And so the relatives suffered for the mistake that they made of not getting a Christian missionary to expel the witch doctor. Then the witch doctor, the enemy of the Muganda tribe, took the witch doctor's daughter from her father. But the father would not give the daughter in marriage to a European missionary from the Western country who had come to seek them. And so the daughter could not get married, and this was a great suffering for the witch doctor's daughter. Bambata, the little boy, had been taken by the missionaries. And they nursed him until he was well. But this witch doctor would not help his daughter at all. The people were really, really suffering. And they did not know why they were suffering because the witch doctor was not here. He was in prison. And the Muganda were so weak that they did not know how to get rid of this curse. And then the chief of the tribe was sick. And so he made himself better by believing that there was an evil magic. So they sent for the witch doctor. The chief became so sick that he did not think he would make it to the end. And so he sent for the witch doctor. He was so sick that he could not do what he wanted to do because of the curse. So they were all suffering. They sent for the witch doctor. But he did not come. And so the chief died. And there was great suffering, of course. Then one morning they woke up to find that the curse was still in the land. And the curse was still being felt and felt by everyone. And so a big problem had been posed by the missionary that was able to make everybody uncomfortable and to have everybody sick. But who was going to clean up after this curse that had been brought in by the missionary who came to help people escape from witch doctors? Because they had not been able to find a Christian missionary who was able to overcome the curse of the witch doctor, that curse had gone into their land and had had its effect. And the witch doctor was still in prison, so he could not do anything to help. And so the curse was felt, and still felt by the Muganda, but they could not tell what it was. And so this is what happened in the land of the Muganda in 1874. And what did the Christian missionary who had tried to help find the cause of sickness do? The missionaries went back home. There were no missionaries there to do what was necessary to help the people of the Muganda. And so they were left to suffer the curse of the witch doctor which had been brought into the land through the Christian missionary that had come to try to help the people but had not been able to overcome this evil magic. The witch doctor had used that magic upon the Muganda. And the Muganda themselves had been unable to do anything. They were helpless to help. And so all they could do was suffer. When you go to Africa, it is important to realize that there are things in Africa that you cannot overcome by your own effort to overcome them. And you have to realize that. And when you go to Africa, you have to realize that just because you are a white Christian man or a white Christian woman, that does not mean you have a solution to the problem. It might be that the problem has the capacity to destroy you, because you might be a white Christian missionary. Your life has to be protected. It is important to see the forces that are present in Africa which you might not understand if you just think of Africa as a place without religion. There is an indigenous pagan religion in Africa. And so there is a Christian, as well as an indigenous pagan religion. And we have to think of Africa as a mixture of these things. And we have to realize that when there is an element of idolatry and the use of magic, this can do damage. And we have to think of Africa in this light. And that it is a mixture of things. And you have to know that. And it can be dangerous. And so that is why the Christians who come to Africa need to be very careful. You cannot be an opponent of the pagan religion of Africa if you are to be of value and effective in trying to do what you are there to do. You cannot deal with these forces by saying to the indigenous people, "We are a good religion, and you must become a member of us." And so they say, "No, we do not want to become a member of you. We have a different religion from you. We do not want to become a Christian. We do not want to become like you. We do not want to be like you. We want to have our own religion." And they do have their own religions. And they have to be respectful to these languages. And they have to have their culture, and their religion, and their tradition, and whatever they have. And you have to realize that there is no