I have dropped Christmas is not idolatry from the caption because I proved last week that a Christian was the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire when the celebration of the birth of Jesus on December 25 began in the fourth century. The only thing I am adding is that it happened in 336 during the reign of Emperor Constantine I The Great and not in 352 during the time of his second son, Constantius II who was on the throne from 337 – 61. I have had to make this clarification because last week I had it that some people said it began in 336 while others put it at 352.
Emperor Constantine I who made Christianity to expand to most parts of present – day European countries (East and West) through conquests is said to be the one whose coming into the world was predicted several centuries before it happened by Prophet Daniel in Daniel Chapter 2. Ditto the statement of Apostle John, the disciple of Jesus, in the Book of Revelation Chapter 6 verses 2 and 3.
Since it is possible that Pastors Kumuyi and Olukoya might not have read my column of two weeks ago, I need to return to the issue of the shepherds who visited Jesus in Luke 2:8 – 20 briefly mentioned in that edition. This is because like other people, the two pastors said that the herdsmen could not have been in the fields with their animals because December was a winter month. And as a result that Jesus could not have been born on December 25.
Winter could not have prevented the shepherds from being in the field with their flock. I know this because I visited three farms in America and Europe in the 1970s and 80s. In 1979 when officers of the United States Embassy in Lagos organized a tour of their country for me, Dr. Tony Iredia and late Jimmy Alte, former Director – General and Deputy Director – General respectively of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), we visited a farmer on his farm in Freeport in the State of Illinois.
I visited a farm in Plovdiv in Bulgaria in 1987 and another one in Baku in the defunct Soviet Union in 1988. The trips which were exclusive to me were sponsored by the embassies of the two countries in Lagos. Like the horses used in races and the game of polo, farmers in the three cities had their animals and birds in shelters on their farms.
I believe this was the situation with the shepherds who went to visit Jesus Christ in the Bible. Their animals would have been in sheds in the fields (farms) and it is in their stables or enclosures that they would have fed and attended to their herds. So, the shepherds were not in the fields in winter following their animals eating grass from place to place as is done in today’s Nigeria and other African countries.
Christians did not celebrate the birthday of Jesus in the Holy Book because at the time it appeared that only pagans did such. Indeed, Herod, the King of Judea, was the only one reported to have marked his birth anniversary in the New Testament (Matthew 14: 1 – 12 and Mark 6:14 – 29).
In the Scriptures the Heavenly Father did not order people not celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As a result, Pastors Kumuyi and Olukoya and the members of their churches and others who do not mark the anniversary are not committing a sin. But the two clerics should stop condemning Christmas as an idolatry event. I had a fortnight ago and last week proved that this is not true.
Next week: Proofs I speak one-to-one with Almighty God
PROFESSOR DAVID – WEST’S TAIL – END RELATIONS WITH BUHARI
He was the Minister of Petroleum in General Muhammadu Buhari’s military administration (January 1984 – August 1985). He wrote two books on his boss. The first published in 2010 was: Who really is General Muhammadu Buhari? The second was: The sins of Buhari which came out about three or four years ago.
In both books he exhorted Buhari as an incorruptible leader of integrity and a true patriot. And that he was being falsely lampooned as a dictator, ethnic and religious fanatic by critics who did so because he did not allow them to embezzle public funds. He said the other opponents were people against him because he probed them or who were found guilty by the courts and jailed.
Given this background of his 44 – year relationship with President Buhari, I thought Professor Tam David – West was still close and had direct access to him. It was because of this that I phoned him one day last year to urge him to advise his former boss to do something about the insecurity and bad economy devastating the country. Shock was the word when he told me he had not spoken with Buhari nor visited him since he became president in 2015, about five years ago. He said he was handicapped because the President’s Chief – of – Staff, a northerner, did not allow him to reach Buhari.
Prince Tayo Obisanya who is 70 today, having been born on Sunday, January 8, 1950 was someone I told of this. He had tried for 30 minutes to speak with me on phone that day but couldn’t get across because my line was busy. When he eventually did I told him it was Professor David – West that I was on to. He too was flabbergasted when I informed him of what the don had just told me on the tail – end of his relationship with President Buhari.
I seize this opportunity to congratulate Tayo on his birth anniversary. I also pray that he lives long in good health and comfortably unto the end and that he would not lose any of his children and grandchildren.
Next week: As if he knew death was near, Professor David – West became deeply religious
Buhari, 2020 is not new decade
I could not believe it when I saw in the Daily Sun of last Wednesday that President Muhammadu Buhari began his New Year message with My Dear Compatriots. Today marks a new decade. He was wrong in saying or writing that this year, twenty – twenty, is the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century. Rather, it is the end of the second decade (2011 – 2020).
Although a decade is a 10 – year period, a century is one hundred years and a millennium a thousand years they do not start with a year which ends with O (zero). As stated in the Pocket Dictionary of Current English published by Clarendon Press, Oxford, England, a decade, century and millennium begin with a unit of 1 (one).
To make this clear the authors of the lexicon used the just ended century to explain it by having in brackets (1901 – 2000 is the 20th century). In other words, the 21st century started in 2001 and will end on December 31, 3000, while the next century (the 22nd) will be from 3001 – 4000.
To be continued next week.