Clan Spirits

I mentioned in my post yesterday that people were talking about Tom being disturbed by clan spirits, that these spirits were the ones making him do odd things, including not want him to study at school. People talked of these spirits being the one to have killed him.
I didn't put much in this. I'm not a very superstitious person and just kind of look at things in black and white, usually. However, after what I saw and heard today, my perception has changed. I know that I definitely need to keep myself covered in prayer, that spiritual warfare is real, and there are battles that are being fought that we can't even imagine, especially over children.
Tom's burial was way out in the bush, the middle of no where. There were many shrines along the way and one on the homestead of the family. It was probably one of the darkest places I've ever stood while in Uganda. Most of the men were drunk. No one seemed to be interested in the service. Any time a song was sung or the name of JESUS was mentioned, you could see most of the people becoming very agitated, hear murmuring, and see movements among the crowd that were not natural. When it came time for the Word to go forth, the family elders physically stopped the pastor from preaching. They wanted none of it.
It really made some things add up to me of what I've seen over the last year. Each incident on its own was meaningless, but put them all together and something strange was going on. Tom was a normal boy just a year and a half ago. Then the nightmares began. When arriving at school, Tom refused to sleep on a bed alone. He would do strange things like instead of putting on a belt, tie banana fibers around his waist. His clothes were ever dirty and it was like he was becoming a mad man. It became evident by the middle of the year that Tom had some mental problems.
There's a lot that I'm trying to process in my mind and I can't adequately explain all that I experienced today. It was definitely rather spooky to me. I've known that I live in a country where witchcraft abounds but usually I choose to ignore it. Today, was a wake up for me to realize how much work remains to be done here, how many strongholds need to still be broken, how much this land is still entrenched in the demonic, and how much we as believers need to understand the spiritual battle that we are fighting. We don't need to be complacent on such issues, but realize they are real.