Episode 39 - Pagan Origins of Kava.

In this episode, we go deeper than culture and tradition to uncover the true origins of kava. Where did it come from? What beliefs shaped it? And why does its history matter today?

We explore ancient Tongan stories like Kavaʻonau and ʻAhoʻeitu, revealing a world rooted in pagan beliefs, sacrifice, hierarchy, and spiritual systems very different from what many people follow today. From stories involving sacrifice and cannibalism to the role of kava in royal ceremonies connected to divine ancestry, this episode challenges the idea that kava is simply harmless tradition.

We also compare this history with the Bible, looking at how God commanded His people to completely remove idol worship and not mix it with their lives, raising an important question:
Why are some practices from the past rejected, while others are preserved and defended?

This is not just about kava, it’s about truth, discernment, and the courage to question what we’ve been taught.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Malu Lele, Talo Fala, Pulabinaka, and hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Pacific Empowerment Podcast with your host, Akanessika Fusi. As you can see, I am now in my new place and with my whole new uh podcast studio. I have to say it's been very busy in the past week. Moving is always exhausting and you know, trying to pack everything and move, and then when you get to the new place, you unpack it. So that has kept me very busy in the past week. And now I'm so glad that we are able to set up my podcast series so we can continue our podcast and continue raising awareness about the FIKA and Doa issue and continue fighting the FIGA man. So in this episode, we have so much to talk about. One of my videos went viral. I didn't know it's gonna go viral. Uh, but last week, one of my videos about the church in Tonga having the cover of the gospel before church uh went viral. And um, one of the comments caught me, you know, a Tongan church minister in Tonga was uh commenting on the video and said that I should go back to the origins of the cover and learn why the church is using cover in the cover of the gospel. You know, I should go back to the origins. So, challenge accepted, today we will dive deep into the origins of the cover and how it originated in Tonga, how it came about, and why Tonga and the Pacific is devoted to keeping this cover culture. So, I have done some research, I've done some readings. So, we are doing a lot of readings today because I want you to listen to the actual story of the origins of the fight cover. So, to start off our episode, before we dive into the myth and the legends of how cover was originated in Tonga and the Pacific, we will touch on the scientific research on the origins of cover. Because according to most academic sources, they say that cover was likely originated from Manuatu, you know, around 3,000 years ago. And then it's spread through Pacific migration and trade routes. They said that cover cannot naturally spread by wind or birds. A bird cannot take the cover to another country, it has to go through human. Only a human can take the cover and plant it somewhere else. So scientifically, they believe that cover did not originate in Tonga, but from northern Vanuatu. And I feel like it's true because as you can see how cover is spreading through the Pacific today, like in Kiribati and other Pacific regions as well, their main importer is Vanuatu. So Vanuatu has so much cover exports all over the world. But culturally and spiritually, Dongga developed its own powerful origin story that made cover part of chiefly identity, sacrifice, ceremony, and social order. And that is what we will be diving in today. So this is a myth and a legend that I have heard since I grew up. Um, usually in Tonga we listen to the radio when I was in primary school. They usually tell the story of our myth about cava, and I usually sit very close to the radio trying to listen to the story because it's you know always fascinating. We will start reading the story now and then we will unpack it as we read. It says here The Origin of Kawa from Tongen Myths and Tales by Edward Winslow Kifford, 1924, told by Malakai Lavulo of Bangai Lifuka Island, Habai. This is the story of how Gava grew. It is said that there was once a chief called Loau, whose ancestors resided in Lifuka, and for whom the district of Haloo in Lifuka is named. It is said that his dwelling had eight enclosures or fences, and that a great number of people lived there. Whilst Loo resided at Haamea, a man called Fivanga paid a visit to Loau. The name of Fevanga's wife was Fifafa. After residing some time with Loau, Fevanga told him that he would like to go to Ewiki to see his relatives and that he would soon return again. To this the chief agreed. Fewang went to the island of Ewiki and stopped there with his wife. They had a daughter who was a leper. Time went on and still Fivanga tarried in Eweki. Loao missed Fivanga and finally decided to go to Eweki himself, so he has his dependents prepare for the voyage. A large rowing canoe, Tafanga, was launched and away they went to Eweki. They arrived there at dusk. Loau ordered that the canoe be carried to Fevanga's home and put close to a large kappe plant, with the outrigger on top of the kappe. Fewang came down to greet his visitors and they responded saying, Happy to see you in good health in this island. Loo sat down with his back to the big kappe whilst Fivanga searched for food. Fevanga's search was not fruitful, for Ewegi was suffering from famine at the time. Nevertheless, he fired his earth oven, which is called Umu, and at the same time suggested to Loo that if he would not mind going down to the beach, he would find it cooler there. Fevanga was desirous that Loau should move in order that he might dig up the kappe plant to roast. So after Loo had accommodatingly removed to the beach, Fivanga dug up the big kappe plant and put it in the oven. He then killed his leper's daughter and roasted her together with the kappe. Shortly after Loo and his men returned, the oven was opened and the food set before Loo. Loau issued orders that the head of Fevanga's unfortunate daughter be cut off and buried in one place, while the body was to be buried in another place. Loo told Fevanga to take notice that two plants would grow from the head and that he was to care for them. Farewells were said and Loao returned to Tongatapu. Fewango remained in Awake to care for the plant, as it was his duty to take them to Loo in Hamir when they had reached maturity. They proved to be kava and sugar gain. He watched them carefully and one day when they were nearly fully grown, he saw a rat gnawing the cover. After eating the cover, the rat chewed the sugar gain. All the Tongen people drink the cover and eat the sugar again because the rat ate the cover first and then the sugar gain. Then Fivanga knew that the time had arrived to pull up the two plants and take them to Dongatapu for a meeting of the chiefs. When Loau saw Fivanga approaching with the plants, he cried, This is the cover of Fevanga and Fefafa from Faimata, a single chief for the Aluvaha, the plain on the side of the Gava bowl which is towards the presiding chief at a cava party, and many for the Apaapa, the place occupied by other chiefs at a cover party. Husk of the coconut for cleaning the cava root, a bull was brought and Amanda Pule directed a person from the Doa, the place occupied in the cava party by the people as opposed to the Aloft, the place of the chiefs to make cover. Coconut husk were used to gather the pieces of cover in, as it was split, then it was given to the people sitting in the doa to be chewed. After being chewed, it was placed in the bowl mixed and served. Directions were issued to chop the sugar again, which was used as a relish, the yam, banana or other food eaten at a cover drink ceremony with the kava. The place where the kava grew is still to be seen in Awegi even unto this day. So this is the original story of Vivanga and Vifa. It's really good to hear the whole story. So many people are telling the story online and they only tell part of it, but this is the full story, according to this article written in 1924. So as you can see in this story, it is rooted in sacrifice, human sacrifice, cannibalism, hierarchy, and service. It requires sacrifice of a woman, you know, for for chief, for men to enjoy. As you can see today, women and children's happiness are sacrificed in order for men to enjoy their cover. There's a pattern here since ancient times. A young woman's body becomes the foundation of something that later serves a chiefly system or later serves men. And today the same sacrifice is still happening. Men drinking kava nowadays, they drink kava night after night. Wife then had to carry the burden at home, you know, sacrificing everything her time, her body, her sleep to uphold the home while the man is out there enjoying his kava and then come and sleep. Not only the women have to endure many nights of loneliness without their husbands, they have to attend to their children. So when men come from Fai Kava and sleep during the day, the wife has to go and work for money. As we hear from many testimonials, you know, one wife has to weave and think of a way for their family to earn money while her husband is drinking kava every night, then just come and sleep. The wife is suffering, and then the children felt that pain. They felt the suffering, they felt the trauma. This is not the only myth about kava. There is another myth, and it's the myth that appears in the story of Aitu, the first Duitonga. So it says here in this article, his divine father Dangaloa Eitu Matupua descended from the sky to impregnate the mortal woman Ilaheva Vaipopua, who was descended like all the Komonas from worms. So they were comparing Kamonis to worms. Reaching his majority, her demigod son Aitu ascended into the sky to claim his inheritance. His four divine half brothers, however, jealousy killed him and ate his body. Discovering this, Dangaloa forced the brothers to regurgitate Aitu's remains into a gavable to woman, in which Dangaloa magically resurrected him. Thereafter both dead and alive concurrently, Dangaloa sent Aidu back to earth to rule Dongab as the origin of the state's mana. So here is another story of death and cannibalism. Can you see that? So these two stories of the origins of Kaaba and a myth about Kaaba is connected to killing to death, sacrifice, cannibalism and then resurrected in the gabbable. So I think this is what many today would call witchcraft or black magic that they perform, you know, to bring back how it well we don't know if the story is true, they say it's a myth. But today cannibalism has been completely rejected. No one defends it and no one calls it culture worth preserving because of Christianity. And yet Kaaba, which emerges from the same body of stories and belief systems, continues to be protected and practiced and justified today as tradition. So we have to ask ourselves honestly, why do we draw the line at some practices from the past but not others? You know, if something is rooted in a system we now recognize as harmful or outdated, then being part of our culture alone should not be enough reason to keep it. You know? Real growth requires discernment. The courage to recognize what should be left behind and what truly deserves to move forward in our culture, especially as a Christian nation that was converted from paganism, from worshipping gods, using cover, cannibalism, human sacrifice, why do we still preserve some and leave the others? So as I continue diving, you know, on how cover was used to pre-Christian, back then cover wasn't a normal drink. It wasn't a social drink like we are doing it now. You know, it was only used for royal ceremony and for hierarchy and for political purpose, to show their hierarchy or chiefs. So according to this article, I'll read some part of it because it's very interesting. Elite commensality became most socially charged through the royal cover ceremony, Tonga's highest political right. In this enduring ceremony, the sitting position and drinking order of chiefly title holders in the circle above the cover bowl directly reflects their relative rank. Traditionally, people of intermediate mua class sat below the bowl, while dua communists merely looked on from outside the building, behind the mua. So this is a powerful indication of the cultural legacy of the Manava system, that the Tongan Nation's highest political ceremony still inscribes the hierarchical organization of the nobility through a succession of public consumption acts. So this passage is explaining that the royal kaba ceremony in Tonga was not just a cultural gathering, but one of the most important political events in the nation. So when high ranking chiefs came together to drink kaba, the way they sat and the order in which they drank were not random. So those with the highest rank sat closest to the kaba bowl and were served first, while those of middle rank sat further away, and the common people, commoners, they weren't even part of the ceremony of the cover ceremony. They were just watching from outside, from a distance. So this shows how deeply shuttered and unequal the system was, with clear boundaries between different levels of society. So the ceremony itself acted as a public display of hierarchy. By drinking cover in a specific order and arrangement, the chiefs were reinforcing the social system for everyone to see. So this reflects what is known as the Manava system, a traditional structure that organized society into ranks and roles. It didn't have anything to do with social drink. They didn't drink it for just for fun. Why is this important? It's because everyone is saying, you know, they are drinking cover now in the cover clubs, in the regular fai cover because it's culture. But as we see here today, it wasn't culture. Kava was only used in traditional ceremony, in royal cover ceremony. It wasn't drunk by commoners, it wasn't used randomly as a social drink. It was used as a public display of hierarchy and political system. So a clear picture of what I just talked about is showing here in this article where it shows pictures that was taken by John Weber. These are some of the missionaries they took when they went to Tonga. And as you can see here, it illustrates of a Tongen Galia double held vessel, Autrika canoes and uh alaful lao. The alafolau was a significant house structure that was constructed for housing the Kaliya and its Alangabaka. And this atta also displays a haofunga people sitting in a circle of an ilokava, a chieflikava ceremony. The ilokava was probably organized to welcome the visitors, or the temple specially mark an important cultural occasion, such as the bestowing of a chiefly title or the beginning-ending of an important endeavor. Um, and also the reception of Captain Cook here in Hapai. This is another photo here. And interestingly, as you can see in this photo, uh, I think it looks like entertainment. You know, two men are fighting. And as you can see, the two gones inside the circle, there's one gone on the left and one cone on the right. And it's it's funny because when I saw the photo, I had no idea what it was. But when I read it, it says here, so the two gone-like structures on the sides appear to be kavao or thorough shugagin. You know the story of um the leper's daughter from Fivangan Fife. The name of the daughter is Kabaonau. It's not mentioned in the article that I read, but her name is Kaabaonau. Both plants emerged in the cosmetry of Kava, which I read earlier. In the ancient Fulitaunga Kava ceremony, the Do Shugangin is the phono chaser for the kava. Although the gone-like structures appear to be do shugagin, it is more likely that they are gava plants. The kava plants were probably part of the tributes in the reception cover ceremony. And then we go to another important photo that I found. Very interesting, these were all taken by John Weber and William Sharp. So it says here, this attack portrayals a royal cover ceremony of the Tuidonga PAO. The Tuidonga's royal cover ceremony was called the Fulitaunga, where the daunga hanger of the cow ball is towards the Tuidonga. So it's it's the guy in the middle here that's sitting in the middle facing the duidonga, which is sitting in the front. The Tuidonga is located in the Olovaja, the front and center position of the Fulitaunga. In the Fulitaunga, the Olovavaha is located on the east to mark the rising of the sun during the equinoxes in the Doa, Kava Mixa is placed on the west to mark the setting of the sun. So they had Doa, but as you can see here, the cover ceremony, all the images here of cover ceremony, they were all male. Even the Doa was male. The serva bowing in front of the Duidonga is showing veneration and deep respect to the Duidonga, who is a descendant of the defied ancestor Dangaloa Etimatupua. In Tongan Deep history, the cover was used by Dangaloa Eitimatupua and his son Ahaidu, the first Duidonga in Langi skyscape. Langi is a heliaki for Manua in Samoa. Very interesting. So are they saying that Langi was in Samoa? So Ahoidu went back to Samoa and Dangaloa was there? So this means that Aha'eidu went to Samoa and his brothers in Samoa killed him, and then Dangalua Eti Matubua you know brought him back to life. That was the story I told earlier. That's very interesting. But uh the whole point of why I'm showing these images is to show you know how cover was used and the type of ceremony that they used back in the days before Christianity came. It was used for chief ceremony only. It wasn't used randomly, like people are claiming to be. And as you can see in all the images of the cover ceremony back in the day, there was no woman in the cover ceremony. Even the doa was a male. So woman do'a wasn't a thing back then, it wasn't part of the Tongan culture. This challenges the idea that serving Kawa was always a female role, which it wasn't. So let's continue on to when the missionary comes in. So according to a paper by Abarossa, one of the Kawa professor that I spoke about before in his one of his articles, he explains that early missionaries encourage destruction of objects linked to traditional worship. But in Tonga Samoa and Fiji, Kawa was not fully eradicated. Instead, a kind of stalemate happened and Kaaba became absorbed into Christian practice. So I had another Fai Kava man in the comments, he said, Well, if Fai Kawa was so evil, why wasn't the missionaries banned it? Why wasn't the missionaries stopped the Kava drinking, you know? Um and it's funny because I I have touched on it in my previous podcast that the missionaries did try to uh stop it, but I didn't really go into details. So let's dive into a little bit more detail on this topic. Um, so these uh fai government understands that the Christianity they didn't agree with this couple of practices. That they are doing now. So, according to this article, Gava, the Devil and the Snake, Pentecostal Iconoclism in Contemporary Fiji, it says here, within a period of little more than 10 years, starting in 1812, the indigenous peoples of Tahiti, Hawai'i, and 15 other closely related societies destroyed or desecrated all of their temples and most of their god images and sacred igons. The driving force behind this cataclysmic event was the arrival of Christian missionaries, mostly from the London Missionary Society, who encouraged locals to reject their traditional cosmologies and instead embracing Christianity. That event is the focus of Associate Professor Jeff Sizen's book entitled The Polynesian Iconoclism. Iconoclasm is a compound word formed through the following word elements. Icon means image. Cataclysm means violent break or disruption. So iconoclism means a violent break with the worship of sacred images. The Polynesian iconoclasm also included the renunciation of cover, its cultural and medicinal use and consumption, and the destruction of cover-related utensils. This was due to cover's link with the ancestral gods and their mana or spiritual power. Cover's union with the ancestral gods encouraged the Christian missionaries to view cover as a symbol of the dark ways and the drinking of cover as a heathen practice that was holding the natives back from the one true religion, Christianity. Narrative and belief that social scientists term the diabolization of culture. Most regents they do away with cover. They destroy the cover balls, you know, anything that has to do with cover. They get rid of everything related to cover and they stop growing cover. It says here, when the anthropologist Louis Lewin arrived in Tahiti in 1931, he wrote that as a result of bans on cover drinking by the missionaries starting 100 years earlier, it was no longer possible to find a single specimen of the plant, and many Tahitians no longer even knew it by name. Not long after Lewin was in Tahiti, Edwin Lammert visited Teao Maohi or the Greater Rarotongan Island group and reported that Kawa was suppressed so quickly and thoroughly by the missionaries that no observations were made of its importance. In Hawaii, the influence of the Christian missionaries almost eradicated Kaaba use. I say almost, as those few who continued to use Kawa did so in secret. Although our focus here is the Polynesian iconoclasm. Christian missionaries also played a key role in diapolization and resulting eradication of Kawa from Pacific Islands further afield, including coastal areas of PNG, Baba New Guinea, the Solomons, and Kosray. So as you can see here, almost all the regions, the Pacific regions, where the missionaries were successful. That's listed her regions. So it was Tahiti, Rarotonga, Hawaii, Babua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Gosre. Christian missionaries were successful in banning cover and getting rid of cover from the regions. They no longer observe its importance. They no longer remember its name. But what about Samoa, Tonga and Fiji? That is where it gets interesting. Because and it's funny because these regions, they listen to the Christian missionaries and that is what it means to be a Christian. When you convert into Christianity, you should be doing away with all those beliefs. Because it doesn't have anything to do with the Bible and it clashes with what the Bible teaches. So what about Samoa Tonga and Fiji? Why wasn't cover appolished? Why wasn't cover banned just like these regions? Why was Samoa Tonga and Fiji different? Well, according to the article, it says here, it appears that while the missionaries were able to influence massive change in Samoa Tonga and Fiji, a stalemate of sorts occurred regarding cover. And in past, the missionaries realized they were not going to win. What the stalemate means? So it says here according to Google, a stalemate is a situation in a dispute, contest, or competition where no progress is possible and neither side can win or gain an advantage. And that is what the missionaries saw in Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji regarding cover. That is how strong the cover culture was in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. So it says, let's continue. Again, I am heavily summarizing the situation, but that impasse led to cover in these three island nations being subsumed into Christianity. So Keating summarizes the situation nicely regarding Samoa, so instead of accepting Christianity and allowing it to remote their lives, Samoans have taken the religious practices taught to them and fitted them inside Samoan custom, making them a part of the native culture. And in Fiji, where the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society dominated misenization, Davola states Methodism itself became crafted to Fijian culture rather than displacing it. This is your answer. So instead of Tonga Samoa and Fiji, instead of them turning away from all their pagan traditions with a pagan culture, you know, all those rituals, they try to blend it along with Christianity. So just, you know, adopting Christianity into their culture. And this reminds me so much of what we see in the Old Testament in the Bible, you know, where God commanded the Israelites to destroy idols, you know, burn sacred objects and not bring anything tied to pagan worship into the land of Israel. But there was no mixing what came from idol worship with God. It has to be completely removed. But in places like Tonga Samoa and Fiji, the research shows something different happened. You know, instead of being fully removed, cover was largely left in place and even incorporated into Christian practices. So while the biblical motto was complete separation from pagan practices, the Pacific experience often became one of adaptation, raising a deeper question about where we draw the line between culture and faith. When we look at the Old Testament, God was very clear about how his people were to deal with practices connected to pagan worship. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 5, he commands them to break down altars, smash sacred stones, and burn idols in the fire. In verses 25 to 26, he goes further and warns them not to even bring those things into their homes. In Deuteronomy 12, it makes it even clearer, destroy completely the places and systems where other gods were worshipped, and do not worship God in their way. So when we compare that to what we see in Pacific history, where practices connected to earlier belief systems were often reshaped and carried forward by Tonga Samoa in Fiji, it raises a serious question. Are we following a model of complete separation or one of compromise? On the weekend, I was watching the House of David show on Amazon. It's a new show about David, King David in the Bible. I binge watch it because it was really good. If you have time, do go check it out. And I really love how in the show it depicts the conversation between Samuel and Saul when Saul disobeyed God. So in Samuel 15, God told Saul to go and attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Everything put to death, human, animals, objects, and don't leave anything alive, just destroy them all. And instead of destroying them all, King Saul, he took King Akak alive, the king of the Amalekites, of the enemy that they were destroying, as well as the best of the sheep and of the cattle and of the fettered calves and the lambs and all that was valuable, and then they destroyed the rest. Which God told them to destroy. They um did witchcraft, they were sorcerers, they were worshipping, you know, idol gods, and God didn't want Israel to do anything with those bacon gods. It doesn't matter if it's animal, you know, human, everything, God wanted to get rid of them. And then the Lord came to Samuel and said, I regret that I made Saul ging, for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my commands. So Saul told Samuel that they took these sheep from the Amalekites, you know, the best of the sheep, so they can sacrifice it to the Lord, to the God of Israel. And Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heat than the fat of the rams. Surely to obey is better than sacrifice, take note. For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. And then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore I pray, pardon my sin and return with me so that I may worship the Lord. Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. To obey is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice. As you can see here, obedience to the Lord is so much more important than sacrifice. Then whatever culture or whatever service you are doing, if you are disobeying the Lord, to do that sacrificial or to do practice that in the name of the Lord, the Lord is not pleased because you have disobeyed him. And then Saul said to Samuel, he feared the people and he obeyed their voice. So he feared men, human. He feared people rather than fearing God. And what I love about the show, the House of David show on Amazon that I watched on the weekend, because when Saul and Samuel were talking, Samuel was shaking Saul, he was hurting Saul, and he was saying, Obedience is better than sacrifice. And then when Saul told him, Well, because I fear the people, I fear the people, and then Samuel told Saul, you should be fearing God, not the people. You should be fearing God, not the people. And I felt that so deeply because uh it happens today, you know, our church ministers, they are afraid to speak against this man-made culture, this bacon traditions, because they fear the people. Because cover is so deeply rooted in our culture, and people, you know, are drinking it heavily, you know, they can't stop. It's it's embedded in our culture and in our everyday life, and the church ministers are afraid to speak against this tradition, this bacon traditions that's destroying our people. We I wouldn't be fighting against this if it didn't destroy our people. Because people said kava is not the problem, it's the people. But if people drink mango juice all night, they won't get drunk because mango juice is not a drug, it's not a psychoactive substance. The difference between mango juice and kava is because kava is a psychoactive substance. It's a truck, so when you drink it heavily, when you abuse it, you get drunk. So kava is the problem. Both kava and human is the problem. And you know, I wouldn't be talking about it today if it didn't destroy our people. You know, it's breaking up so many marriages along with this Doa thing. It wasn't part of the culture. So Doa just came after God told Israel, Saul and Israel to destroy every bacon things, anything that has to do with bacon worship. And Saul and his army thought it's best to I mean if it if it was today, it would have been a waste. You know, if you if you if it was if we were Saul and his army, we would see the sheep, the calf and everything. It would have been a waste to kill them. You know, we would have maybe done the same thing as Saul and bring them because it's a waste, it's food, you know, we don't want to waste a good food. But then they said it's to offer the Lord. They wanted to take it to make sacrifice to the Lord, but the Lord was not pleased because in the Bible it says obedience is better than sacrifice. So what the church is doing, bringing this cover culture that they were doing that was part of a bacon tradition before Christianity and adopting it with Christianity, that's where the problem is. That's why there are so many problems in Tonga and the Pacific today. I mean, we brought our own girls because we didn't leave these bacon traditions behind. You know, when Christianity came and they tried to eradicate cover because it was tied to heathen bacon traditions, but we tried to adopt it to with Christianity. We why we tried to mix the bacon tradition, this cover, so-called cover traditions, with God, with Christianity. And that is what God is angry about. And they say cover of the gospel, you know, because they are doing it for the Lord. So whatever culture we think is best to do in church, it is not. Because we are mixing bacon traditions with Christianity with the Lord, and the Lord does not want that. According to the Bible, to obey is better than sacrifice. You know, I saw one of the comments they said in Fiji, they go to church and then after church they drink cover until 3 a.m. So they only spend one hour in church, and then the whole of the Sunday they spend in cover, drinking, getting drunk. Where is the holiness that the Lord has commanded for the Christians? Where is that holiness? If you go to church for one hour and instead of going home to your family and going and meditate on God's word and continue reading your Bible, keeping the sabbath holy. Our people are drinking cover and getting drunk on Sunday on the Sabbath. So the kava bar is closing alcohol, you're not allowed to drink alcohol, you're not allowed to do anything shoppening, but the church is drunk drinking cover on Sunday and getting drunk on cover inside the church hall in the church. Can you see the hypocrisy of it all? On Sunday, when it's supposed to be the day of the Lord, we should be holy, we should be clean in clear mind, we should be sober to receive the word of the Lord. We should be receiving the word of the Lord with sober mind. With clear mind. I do not understand why the tongue and church minister told me to go back to the origins, because the origins of Kava is pagan tradition. It's human sacrifice, it's cannibalism. So how does that have to do with Christianity, with the word of the Lord, where we are told to be holy because God is holy. And yet these so-called church members, church ministers are getting drunk every Sunday and every day of the week. And I wouldn't be fighting against this if it wasn't causing any problem. The reason why I'm here fighting this issue is because the women and children are suffering. Just like the sacrifice of the daughter of the parents where the cava grew. You know, it's the it's the same kind of story. It's happening today. It's like a curse. Because we didn't leave Kaaba behind. We brought it with us to the Christianity. This is what happens. Women and children are suffering. Marriages are broken. So which one is important? I'm asking you, church ministers. Broken marriages, dirty talk and you know, sexual abuse of Do and Fai Kaba. This all goes against the word of God. These are sinful behavior from cover, from drinking cover. Not just that, but cover addictions, addictions to cover, getting drunk. The Lord talk about drunkenness. So I'm asking you church ministers, I mean, if you are saying it's culture, doing these traditions at the cost of women and children suffering and broken marriages, which one is important? Obedience to the Lord or sacrifice? Your so-called culture. Because I'm telling you now, according to the Bible, the Lord is not pleased with what you are doing, with observing your bacon traditions and your bacon culture. The Lord is not pleased with you. You are afraid of the people, so you fear the people more than you fear God. When you will be facing judgment day, it'll be you church ministers that will be charged for your followers if they go to hell. Their blood will be on your hands. So I'm saying to you today, just like Samuel told Saul, to obey is better than sacrifice. Obeying God's word means stop drinking kaba. Obeying God's word means stop mixing bacon cover traditions with Christianity with the word of the Lord. Obeying God means going to church sober, clear mind, ready to receive the word of the Lord. Obeying God means spending time with your family at home, doing your fatherly duties at home, doing your husband duties at home. Obeying God means not lasting towards the Doa or having a woman doa to last on and to sexually abuse. Obeying God means keeping the Sabbath holy, not getting drunk on Sunday, not getting drunk before going to church, and not spending the whole day drinking cover instead of spending time with God, meditating on God's word and spending time at home with your family. Obeying God means putting family before drinking cover. Obeying God means totally transformation of your life. Leave the old bacon traditions and transform into God's word alone. God's word alone is enough. Not mermaid culture, not traditions. So that is the end of our episode for today. I have so much more to talk about in the history of Fight Kava. We will continue next week. But today I think it's enough that we learn about the origins of cava. So I'm encouraging the church to review your policy and rule around cover, because I don't think cover should be drunk at church. That is going against God's word. So thank you so much for listening. I hope you learned something. Thank you, Mala Pito, and have a blessed week.