Despite its long history of encounters with colonialism, slavery, and neocolonialism, Panama continues to be an under-researched site of African Diaspora identity, culture, and performance. To address this void, Renée Alexander Craft examines an Afro-Latin Carnival performance tradition called "Congo" as it is enacted in the town of Portobelo, Panama--the nexus of trade in the Spanish colonial world. In When the Devil Knocks: The Congo Tradition and the Politics of Blackness in Twentieth-Century Panama, Alexander Craft draws on over a decade of critical ethnographic research to argue that Congo traditions tell the story of cimarronaje, charting self-liberated Africans' triumph over enslavement, their parody of the Spanish Crown and Catholic Church, their central values of communalism and self-determination, and their hard-won victories toward national inclusion and belonging. When the Devil Knocks analyzes the Congo tradition as a dynamic cultural, ritual, and identity performance that tells an important story about a Black cultural past while continuing to create itself in a Black cultural present. This book examines "Congo" within the history of twentieth century Panamanian etnia negra culture, politics, and representation, including its circulation within the political economy of contemporary tourism.
In subsequent pages we will learn much about Satan: his ways, how he works deception on the whole world, his role as the accuser, his vicious, murderous nature, his role as God's servant, his power, his weaknesses, and his drive to survive even after he has been condemned to eternal suffering by God in his own created pit of hell. Although Satan has been limited by God in what he can and cannot do we must not forget that he is very real and very dangerous to both the believer in Christ and to all inhabitants of the earth. After Christ's resurrection, Satan became a defeated foe and his outcome made certain (see Revelation 20:1-10). However to this day he rages in anger seeking who he may devour. 1 Peter 5:5 says: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Satan is not the enemy of God he is the enemy of man Some think that Satan was inert during the years comprising the Old Testament and only made his appearance fully known at the time of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. Satan was at work from the inception of the matters recorded in the Old Testament. He was at work in every nation on the earth from the beginning. Every nation that worshipped pagan gods and was at odds with Israel was ruled/inspired by Satan. This began with the Sumerians (the first civilization) to Babylon, Egypt, Chaldea, Philistines, Persians, Greeks/Macedonians, Rome, The Roman Church, to name just a few. John wrote in the First Century a verse of scripture that could easily be applied throughout history: "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father;" (1 John 2:22-23). Since the entire Old Testament wrote of Christ this scripture applies both to the New and Old Testaments. Christ said to the religious leaders of the day: ""You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). The entire Old Testament was written about Christ the Savior and Messiah who was to do away with sin and would banish Satan forever. There are two scriptures in the Bible which clearly define Satan. In Isaiah 14:12-17, which began as a taunt against the King of Babylon, he speaks of Satan showing the close tie between Babylon and Satan. He starts the taunt referring directly to the King of Babylon then mid-way through he changes and begins speaking of Satan directly. By doing this he is not distinguishing one from the other showing that God saw Babylon and Satan as one in the same (a subject that will be discussed in detail below). Isaiah speaks prophetically of Satan: "You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, [Heb Helel; i.e. shining one] son of the dawn!, [Dan 5:22, 23; 8:10; 2 Thess 2:4] And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself LIKE THE MOST HIGH.' "Nevertheless [says God] you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. "Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?" (Is 14:12-17). In the end Satan is shown to be no more than a man.
Just because you feel like you're in bondage, it doesn't mean you have to stay there. After reading this book, I will have the insight needed to rupture the enemy's grip on my life. I will gain the invaluable tools needed to fight in the spirit and take up my God-given authority as more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. Many believers are not victorious and not living lives of purpose and destiny because they don't understand the schemes and wiles of the devil. Using powerful teachings, this book will unveil and expose the devil and his kingdom to the very core of his ministry, strategies, and weapons he uses against the church today. The church has fallen asleep. We do not understand the things of the Spirit. We don't understand the enemy of our souls. He comes to kill, steal, and destroy using satanic strategies, game plans, and arsenals of weapons that he wants us to believe are nonchalant, easygoing, harmless, and unpredictable. The church is not teaching and equipping believers to teach our hands to war in the spirit. In Psalm 144:1, David asked God, "Lord, teach my hands to war." Now, instead of our hands being taught to fight the good fight, we find ourselves in handcuffs--limited, depleted, and spiritually anemic. This book will help you unlock your spiritual handcuffs so you can understand the works of the devil and expose him before he sets foot on the battlefield of your life. You will learn how to crush the head of the serpent in any season of your life, and how you can see him coming in the blind spots of your walk with the Lord. It's time for believers to be trained, equipped, and become a spiritual army. It's time to fight and expose the so-called devil and his entrapments. We will rise up and take back what he has stolen from us once and for all in the unmatchable name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Jesus will be proud that He picked us for the ultimate battle.
Every Believer can overcome the enemy and be victorious in life. Watch Out! exposes many of the tactics the enemy uses–in his sly and deceptive ways–to infiltrate, deconstruct and eventually destroy lives, families, etc. The author guides the Believer to overcome the enemy’s strategies and obtain victory through Scriptural references, Biblical examples, personal experiences, prophetic dreams, and Words of Wisdom from the Lord. In this book you will learn: - How to take authority over the enemy - How satan uses our words against us - How God uses the Word of God, spoken through us, to stop our enemy so we can receive God’s blessings - How to free your children from extreme, unexplainable problems - How the enemy uses certain entertainment and literature to gain entrance to our lives - How to guard the mind from oppressive or defiling thoughts that foster mental illnesses - And more
An emotional journey of an autobiographical young man named Yossef Ohana. Actor and creator Yossef Ohana, who has just released his debut album. Worldwide Success, is launching a new digital book explaining a complex and exciting emotional journey that travels between the religious world and the secular culture, between the mainstream and the closet, the search for roots and the path to self-realization of all dreams. The new gospel in the world of self-development is the new digital book by former creator and journalist Yossef Ohana which exposes and takes us on a complex emotional journey ranging from the spiritual worlds to the routine, between the bad and the good, the transition between studying at the Chabad meeting. To the Sheinkin culture (his place of residence), and the way to find answers in the universe calling to us.
The Two-Knock Ghost is the story about a good man, a psychologist, who slowly slips into alcoholism after the death of his parents and his paternal grandparents on their way home from his twenty-fourth birthday party. They are killed by a drunk driver. After thirty years of drinking to anesthetize his emotional pain, his wife, a nurse and a great person, asks him to leave because he is not the man she married. She says shell wait for him, but he needs to get his act together before she accepts him back. He leaves in shock, not having a clue that hes an alcoholic. While living away, he is troubled by dreams of the devil, whom he doesnt believe in in conscious life, and by a pesky ghost that knocks twice in many of his dreams but never comes in and reveals itself. It is the story of his personal search for answers and the truth about himself and what or who the two-knock ghost really is.
