Can Food Sacrificed to Ancestors Really Grant Blessings?

In many cultures in South Africa, food is an integral part of our culture and customs. Like hosting a braai on Heritage Day or enjoying a delectable peppermint crisp tart at a wedding. In most parts of our lives, food has become so integral to how we celebrate big events, how we connect with friends, family and even our neighbours in the spirit of “Ubuntu.”

On the other hand, numerous people utilise food in ancestral worship. Animals like sheep, bulls, and goats, as well as various foods and drinks that are said to be preferred by their ancestors, are offered in exchange for blessings. As Christians and followers of Christ, is it correct for us to participate in such acts of worship?

Why Do People Sacrifice Food to Ancestors?

South Africa is a multicultural nation known as the ‘Rainbow Nation.’ This has greatly influenced how people view religion and traditionalism, with many asking whether the two can go hand-in-hand. A large aspect of traditionalism is receiving guidance, wisdom and blessings from the ancestors.

Many people who practice traditionalism will partake in this ancestral worship because they believe giving food offerings to their elders who have passed away would grant them blessings. Therefore, before big events, they would have these ceremonies to ask their ancestors for good luck, prosperity or protection. However, as Christians, is it correct for us to participate in these ceremonies? What is the teaching in the Bible regarding these matters?

Who Are These Ancestors and Do They Hold Any Power?

Firstly, who are these ancestors, and what is their importance to many people and their families? Usually, ancestors are relatives who have passed away, such as your great-grandmother, who died some time ago. Families rely on them for spiritual guidance because they believe that the spiritual form of said relative has now gained divine wisdom and power. However, this is not true.

Isaiah 45:12 It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it.

The “I” in the above verse refers to God the Father, and it is testified that it is God who created the earth and mankind. What is important to remember is that all of mankind is a creation of God. Our spirits also came from God and belong to Him. In death, we hold no power over creation. These ancestors are simply spirits of human beings who have passed away.

Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Ecc 12:7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. God created us, humans. Therefore, only God has the power over life, death, blessing and curse.

Isaiah 8:19-20 When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult of God’s instruction and testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

God’s Teaching About Food

Everything that God has commanded and taught us contains His will for our salvation. This fact is true even in the teaching about food.

Acts 15:28-29 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

When we are born again and receive a new life in Christ, we are given some teaching about food. As stated in the above verse, we should abstain from foods sacrificed to idols.  When we study further in the Bible, we can confirm that God tells us not to eat food sacrificed to idols.

1 Corinthians 10:18-22 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

1 Corinthians 10:28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of the conscience

To participate in ancestral worship is an act of idolatry; this is the teaching of God. We cannot be believers in God and participate in acts of idolatry like eating or offering food sacrificed to the ancestors. We cannot receive the blessing of salvation from the spirits of the dead. It is only God who can give us blessings and salvation.

How Can We Receive Blessings From God?

Through the Bible, we have confirmed that ancestral worship is not an act of God that leads us to blessings. As Christians, we must learn from the Bible the correct way to worship God and receive God’s blessings.

When reading the first commandment of the Ten Commandments, God tells his people not to worship any other gods before Him.

Exodus 20:1-3 And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

Then, how do we worship God only? It is through the Passover of the New Covenant. When we keep the Passover of the New Covenant, we will be blessed by God.

The Passover That Grants Us Blessings

In the Bible, we can find two examples of kings who, once they realised they were worshipping idols, destroyed all of them and only worshipped God.

In the first case, we can find the example of King Hezekiah.

2 Chronicles 30: 1 Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.

King Hezekiah commanded that all of Israel and Judah participate in the Passover.

2 Chronicles 31: 1 When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah…

After keeping the Passover, King Hezekiah and the people of Judah destroyed all the idols. Therefore, in keeping with God’s word, when the nation of Assyria tried to invade the nation of Judah, God protected them.

2 Kings 19:30-32 Once more, a remnant of the Kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The Zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

2 Kings 19:34 I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.

At that time, the nations of Ephraim and Manasseh that didn’t keep the Passover were utterly destroyed by Assyria. However, because Judah kept the Passover, they were saved by God.

Let us review the second case of King Josiah.

2 Kings 23: 21-23 The king gave this order to all the people: ” Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

What happened after they kept the Passover?

2 Kings 23: 24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfil the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah, the priest, had discovered in the temple of the Lord.

After keeping the Passover, King Josiah and the people of Israel could also realise the idols they were keeping and worshipping and destroyed them. King Josiah was greatly blessed by God and was known as the one who loved God with all his heart, soul and mind.

2 Kings 23: 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did with all his heart and with all his soul and with his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

In both cases, King Hezekiah and King Josiah kept the Passover, and had their eyes opened to see that the temple of God had been filled with idols, and they themselves had been worshipping idols instead of God. Once they realised this, they destroyed all the altars and idols, and in the end, they were blessed by God for keeping His commands.

Our blessings come from God, and it is He from whom we should ask for blessings, especially the gift of salvation. In this age, we have been given the truth of salvation, the Passover of the New Covenant that destroys all idols. As believers in God, we should keep the Passover of the New Covenant, and we, too, should let go of ancestral worship. When we wholeheartedly worship God and keep all of His commands, we can receive the blessing of salvation.