Of the 18 readers who reacted to last week’s column only two raised issues on the article, all the others appreciated what I wrote. So I will report on the positions taken by the twain and one of those with complimentary remarks because his text message is one that makes it necessary for me to reveal how Almighty God communicates with me.
This is more so, because one of the two who challenged what I wrote and who sent me 13 text messages from GSM number 070 – 4912 – 2474 does not believe the Lord communicates with me one – to – one. To him, it may be in dream, trance or vision that He speaks into my ears and as a result I may not hear what He told me well.
But my presentation of the reactions of the three readers is on the basis of first come first served as I am responding to their text messages or phone call in the order I received them. Consequently, I am starting with Chief Nwabugwu (080 – 5752 – 5085) whose text message came in on Friday at 4:31:31pm. And this was what he sent: “Dear Adedipe, as a regular reader of your column, I appreciate your piece on why Ishmael was the one Abraham was to sacrifice in the Qur’an as against Isaac in the Bible. It is very educative. Kindly educate me on how you get messages from the Supreme Being.”
As I informed him in my text message – reply I have had the grace since February 1969, 52 years ago, of speaking directly with the Heavenly Father as when two human beings are discussing. So, I have the opportunity to ask Him questions and if I did not hear what He said clearly I would request Him to repeat the statement.
As those who have been reading this column since 2010 know there are two proofs that the Ancient of Days speaks with me one – to – one. The first was that late Dr. Ore Falomo (September 4, 1942 – November 2019), the personal medical doctor of late Chief Moshood Abiola (August 24, 1937 – July 7, 1998), did not refute what I wrote on him in this column in 2010 and to which I made reference three times before he died nine years later in 2019.
The article was that on the instruction of the Supreme Being I took him on a spiritual retreat to Ado – Ekiti on Saturday, September 24, 1994. And that the Most High told him I brought Chief Abiola’s electoral matter to Him and that it was because of me He made him win the June 12, 1993 presidential poll.
The Lord also told Falomo that He caused the results of the election to be annulled. This was because Abiola violated His order to send unfailingly on June 14 his thanksgiving offering to the 41 Muslim clerics He raised in Ado – Ekiti and who fasted for 41 days and made his victory possible. Abiola did so on June 15 and sent the little amount of one thousand two hundred naira to each of the cleric, a sum not acceptable to Lord. Since Falomo did not challenge me people came to believe that I speak directly with the King of kings.
The second proof was my revelation in this column of the true meaning of God’s statement in Genesis 2:24, which is “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh.”
Since Christianity came to Nigeria in 1842 (179 years ago) pastors and prophets had been preaching that the Supreme Being by that statement was instituting monogamy because He did not say cleave to his spouses. They back their claim or assumption with the fact that the Lord created one wife (Eve) for Adam (Genesis 2: 18 – 23).
I raised the issue with the Mighty One in Heaven in September 2003 and what He told me was that in Genesis 2:24 He was instituting the type of marriage the Israelites were to have. This was for a man to leave his parents to live with and work for seven years for the father of the woman he wanted to marry.
This is revealed in the marriage of Jacob to his first two wives – Leah and Rachel, who served their dad, Laban for 14 years to marry them (Genesis 29: 1 – 35). It was because of this seven – year service condition that only three men in Israel had more than two wives, apart from King David who has at least 20 spouses (2 Samuel 3:1 – 5; 5:13 – 16 and 1 Kings 1:1 – 4) and his son King Solomon who had 700 wives and 300 concubines who were the slaves his wives gave him to be sleeping with (1 Kings 11:1 – 4).
The first of the three who had more than two spouses was Esau who had three and he was able to do this because he married foreigners whose marriage system did not include seven – year service to his prospective fathers – in – law. Although his last wife, Mahalath, was the daughter of Ishmael his uncle he did not have to serve him because he was brought up in Egypt, where the marriage system was different from that in Israel. See Genesis 21: 9 – 21 for when and why Ishmael left Israel to live in Egypt and Genesis 25: 12 – 18, 26:34 – 35 and 28:6 – 9 for the stories of the wives of Esau.
The second who had more than two wives was Jacob who had four, Leah, Rachel and a slave of each of them. Jacob did not have to serve their fathers because his wives had bought and paid for them (Genesis 30:1 – 24).
The third man with more than two spouses was Gideon, a warlord, who had 70 sons from many wives whose numbers are not available in Judges 8:29 – 35. But for him to have had 70 male children apart from his daughters he must have had 10 to 25 or more wives.
He was likely to have married only the first one or the first two through the seven – year service condition. As a soldier who conquered territories he must have acquired his other wives as spoils of battles he fought and won
Apart from letting pastors, prophets and people generally know that God was not instituting monogamy in Genesis 2:24, I also made everyone to realize that He is not against polygamy. Among others, this is because the Lord gave a rule to men who have two wives in Exodus 21:10 – 11 and Deuteronomy 21: 15 – 17. This was that they should not favour one and her children above the other spouse and her offspring. Aside this, the Lord did not either in the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20: 1 – 17) or His other laws from Exodus 20: 22 through those in Leviticus and Deuteronomy ban anyone from having more than one wife.
Secondly, the Ancient of Days did not punish anybody for being polygamous. On their part, Jesus and the Apostles did not preach against multiple – marriage. Christ only spoke against adultery and divorce during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:27 – 32).
Finally, I let people know that God in Deuteronomy 27:11 – 26 placed a curse on anyone who would not obey His laws and teachings, including polygamy which He has no law against while Jesus and the Apostles did not condemn it. When the article was published in 2017 some clerics phoned or sent text messages to thank me for letting them know that God is not against multiple – marriage.
And that He placed a curse on anyone who would act against His laws and teachings. Since then I have not read in a newspaper report or heard on radio or television anyone write or say the Lord is against polygamy.
Next week: How God in 1999 stopped me from establishing a church and instead chose to use me to write on issues in the Bible for people to have proper understanding of the contents in the Christian Holy Book.
NB: 10 topmost immigrant Lagosians series returns next week