Papa Mena Takes on Pastor Stirm in the House
Well-known Pastor Scott Stirm has come under some fire in the wake of the release of a video which has gone viral. In the edited video, Stirm is speaking to an audience at SP Ministries in the U.S. The section of that video which has caught fire is one in which Stirm makes reference to, in his words, a people group known as the Garifuna. Stirm has been vocal against the LGBT community in Belize and members have seized on those comments to condemn him. He’s also caught the attention of the Garifuna community, and was openly called out in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. We’ll show you Dangriga Representative Frank “Papa” Mena’s response to the video, but first we bring you a portion of it for context.
Scott Stirm
Scott Stirm, Pastor
“We have a reasonable…a pretty good amount of witchcraft that still takes place in Belize. I have a dear friend…there is a people group called the Garifuna in Belize, and they are the closest descendants to the African slaves that came over. They fought and resisted slavery so they never submitted to the colonial rule. And then that people group…two of our adopted sons are from that people group. I got to know a wonderful, wonderful lady in the Southern part of Belize…amazing, on fire woman of God….leading people to the Lord, praying for healing and signs and wonders and what happened is that one of her family members was an extremely, extremely powerful witch and also a multi-millionaire off of her witchcraft. This is a real story…this lady told me I was invited to come to a family reunion and when I got there I realized that it was not a family reunion. I realized that it was what is called a dugu, which is the ancestors are upset, this witch lady said, with you, you, you and you. When they started beating the drums all these people fell to the ground except for this lady. And she stood there. She said Scott I lifted my hands to heaven and I said Father I am under the covenant blood of Jesus Christ. She said I looked down and I was floating two feet in the air. I can’t go into all the details of that story but she had asked me to be a prayer cover for her. I knew her and so we were locking in. When I started to lock in and prayer cover for her all of a sudden we started going through crazy warfare.”
Frank Mena
Frank Mena, Area Representative, Dangriga
“Garifuna spirituality is what it is. It is Garifuna spirituality. It is part and parcel of a rich heritage. Much of the black and indigenous cultural practices were destroyed by the forceful introduction of those Eurocentric beliefs as early as the fifteenth century. Those days are gone Mr. Speaker. The pastor’s utterances are obvious signs of the times. If you can’t respect a great people and culture and country then there are daily flights out of Belize on a regular basis. We are a people of faith, courage and resilience and we normally say God in front of us and we follow.”
I understand what the pastor meant. Am sure he did not mean to undermine the garifuna people. What may not be understood is what is ‘spiritual warfare’. Anyone who wants to be a follower of Christ must know that he/she ‘cannot partake in God’s table and demon’s table at the same time’. Philosophy can never substitute God;s word. It is full of loopholes. Anyway, if anyone wants to be contentious do so alone. I have made mistake in making political comments some weeks ago. I left it to rest there. The Truth, the real Truth, really makes a person free. And this Truth is for every people on earth. But it has to be taken seriously, honestly and sincerely. Half half will not do. That is what the Creator of the universe says. Not the back and forth of this world.
Dugu and witchcraft and the celebration of such evil is why we see so much crimes and corruption in our country. This is insult to the most high God. Unless Belize repents a foreign army will come in and take over thus land and enslave this people. The Bible shows this time and time again that when a nation chooses evil over the most high they are brought to sudden run and destruction. This evil must flee we have a duty or we pay the price.
Against most crimes and criminals in Belize are is done by people who claim to be Christians
Commenters Isaias and Against witchcraft completely miss the point. No one questions Stirm’s faith or sincerity, but rather his insulting and condescending description of Garifuna spirituality. Suppose they were to come across a description of their spiritual practice like the following: “The members of the people group who call themselves Christians meet together with a shaman and utter incantations together praising and seeking the favor of their spirit leader, a man named Jesus who died some 2000 years ago, and whom they believe arose from the dead to rise magically into heaven. Then the shaman takes pieces of bread and a goblet of wine and utters other incantations which they believe transforms that bread and wine into, respectively, the actual flesh and blood of their long dead spirit, after which they all partake in a cannibalistic meal of that flesh and blood.” Would these commenters find such a description of their spiritual practices to be insulting and condescending? I know I would.
@Against witchcraft @isaias
Unu damn cunu munu!! Dugu noh have one s*!T fi do with witch craft its all about connecting with ancestors and it is a part of their culture, my culture to be exact. i am not full Garinagu and i was not raised in the culture, a matter of fact i am more hispanic than i am garinigu but I still know a lot about the culture. Stop being ignorant. With unu damn racist self!
It is sad to see that individuals cannot respect one another, and we wonder why our country is the way it is. pastor stirm do not even have a culture like most white men. He doesnt even know who he is worst to understand the garifuna culture. God created the garifunas and what was the term in Genesis, everything he created was good. Dugu is a spiritual cermony where the people communicate with their ancestors. Jesus died one time and we pray to him and no one knows how he looks and yet we worship him as christians. The garifuna are united in the dugu cermony. hwta about all the christian from different churchs, they are not even united. So lets think, am a catholic but choose noty to attend the church because i dont agree with some practice but i respect them, because who am I to judge God people. They are many protestant church who worship God and yet cannot get along. Its sad to see that a respectful leader should insult a culture he dont even understand. Thats the problem with Belize, we cannot respect one another.
@ Commenters Isaias and Against witchcraft , you do not know what your talking about. Thats what churches do. During the dugu ceremony, God is acknowledge.
Stop unu heary so, and if u dont understand something, shut the hell up caz misunderstanding cause problems. The garinagus have been living so for years and are productive people because they’ve been including God in their life.
NGC sent a letter to pastor scott asking him to apologize. Evangelical Association stated, using a scripture text from the old testament book of Deuteronomy, that it is the strong belief of Evangelicals that “all practices, spiritism, ancestral worship, traditions etc. that contradict the Biblical teachings of Jesus Christ and Scripture, those practices and observances must be forsaken and surrendered at the foot of the Cross, in submission to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ.”
What is hypocritical is that they choose certain parts of the bible to practice their faith. Since they are using the old testament, they where many male figures they use as examples such as kin david and solomon who had many wives and many more but yet they are against polygamy. But the Bible supported it then in the old testament. Cultures were here long before and theyve been living in harmony. The Garinagua have their own culture language food, spiritual belief and thats something Good. Everything God created was good