Among the Watchi the name you receive is usually based on what day you were born. That is, until the fateful day when you first “need” major assistance from the voodoo spirits. On that day your name usually changes to reflect whatever voodoo you have been linked to. This name then becomes who you are in more ways than one. There are, of course, other trappings that go along with the worship, but it is the name that really establishes your identity and reminds you of whom you serve as you are hailed daily by that new moniker. One of my dearest friends I have called Houndzo ever since I met him over six years ago after he began serving Jesus. About two months ago I noticed that those closest to him began calling him by the name Bertin. Upon some investigation I found out that the name “Houndzo” had been his voodoo name and that he was getting rid of that. Bertin had received his new identity in Christ six years earlier and has worked selflessly to plant five other churches in these last years, but had somehow forgotten to change his name. So, all of you out there who have regularly prayed for Houndzo, please stop. Don’t pray for him anymore, pray for Bertin, Houndzo died over six years ago.
Praise God for his grace that renews us daily and the frequent reminders of that renewal.
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.” (II Cor. 5:17)
2 comments:
I always wondered about his name. It will be weird calling him Bertin, but I know that's only part of the deception that makes us think we're somehow different or not equal to the reality that is in Christ.
thanks, Martin! (I said that with a French accent)
I'm just now catching up on reading blogs since the move -- which is still in progress -- we're in Albany, but not in our house yet.
This is cool. "Houndzo" is probably the equivalent of "Houndzlo" in Fon which is the name of the market in Abomey and would mean something like "desire for blood."
We had one woman in Benin who wouldn't even tell us her "name" and asked to be given a new name at her baptism
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