Fear only God, not sorcerers or demons

I REFER to sorcery in PNG and the consequences suffered by those accused of sorcery.
Firstly, I would like to say that those involved in the dark arts prey on those who fear them and the forces they attempt to control.
They capitalise on the fear of superstitious people to hurt or kill them.
I do believe that the supernatural exists but if you look at “civilised countries”, there are not many sorcery-related deaths or incidents.
This is because these people do not give sorcerers and dark forces the very thing they want – fear.
It is fear that gives them power and fear given to them is misplaced fear.
In the Bible, fear is talked about in many places.
The Scripture talks about the fear of God.
Fear has more than just one meaning in this context.
It is not just about being afraid, but it is also about acknowledgment, awe, and respect.
Therefore, fear God and not the evil of men and demons and you
will not fall victim to their traps.
Secondly, how do people in PNG know if someone is a sorcerer, witchdoctor, etc?
Is there a certain criteria that the suspect has to meet in order to be a branded a “bad magic person”?
Or do we just torture people until they tell us what we want to hear?
It frightens me to read about people accused of sorcery being yanked out of wherever they are at and being hurt badly and then killed by an angry mob.
I have never seen this happen, so I am curious and deeply concerned.
The thought that people can mobilise against a person on the grounds of suspicion alone and mete out their own punishment, which most of the time results in death, is very disconcerting.
How many of us are experts in the occult and black magic?
I have never met any so-called experts.
I hear people talk about such things as “leaves”, “wasman”, “poison” (magical poison), “sanguma”, etc.
They are vague and bad magic
is not properly defined.
Sorcery does not allow us to take the law into our own hands.
When we do that, we are no better than criminals.
Not only that, we take a step backward instead of going forward.
If we want to be civilised like the rest of the world, then we have to think and act civilised by following procedures, the correct order of things.
I am all too aware of the frustration that sorcery-related killing causes.
Unlike murdering a person by gunning them down, sorcery-killing uses invisible and intangible things.
Will the courts and judges accept tree barks or leaves used by a sorcerer to kill someone as evidence?
Obviously not.
In the end, there is no option but to dish out our own brand of justice. But doing so is wrong.
PNG is on the road to development, so let’s not go astray by allowing the old, savage, superstitious mentality to hinder our progress.

Rubbish dog
Lae