Alejandro, a man in our village, has been suffering pain from a swollen leg for several years. His family asked if we would help him by taking him to the doctor at the hospital in town. We agreed, and arranged for him to have a check-up the next morning. As we were visiting with them before his appointment, we learned more of the story. During his years of pain, he went to several different “local doctors”, even traveling as far as a town 60 miles away. Finally, the most recent “local doctor” told him to go to a doctor at a hospital. The hospital doctor could help, she said, but he also needed to do a blood sacrifice (of a pig and a chicken), because he had offended an unseen spirit. This is the first time we have heard of this ritual of a blood sacrifice being done in our village. The following day, after Alejandro returned from the check-up at the hospital, they invited Stephen to observe this ritual. Stephen went along as an observer, not to endorse, this rare event. It was something he would rather never see again. Yet we are thankful to dig a little deeper in our understanding of the Agutaynen culture and how they try to “appease” spirits to gain a healthy life.
They believe that, by performing this sacrifice, the “curse” that was on Alejandro has been transferred to the sacrificed animals. What a wonderful day it will be when they understand that the curse of sin has been paid completely by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross!