I thank Almighty God our very merciful Lord, for making us to survive 2016 and pray that He would make 2017 one of good health, better achievements and greater joy for everyone than the blessings of last year. I am promoting the special topics I will write on this year because of the issues raised by some people in the scriptures and journalism and as a way of attracting new readers to my column. One of them is Mr. Dominic Ndubu (080 – 3346 – 7663) who suggested that I do more of religious articles during Yule – tide and ended with: So, next year (2017) start early enough. I pray God shall be with you in this thankless scriptural scripts that you do to enlighten people.” Indeed, this year I will be doing a lot on biblical topics and column writing in Nigeria where I have noticed some shortcomings as what some write are essays and are therefore essayists and not columnists while many a people have problem with hyphenated words.
The major and most important issue I will write on this year will be the series on the Bible, Almighty God and me. This will be on what the Heavenly Father in the last 24 years, in response to my questions or on His own, told me about issues, occurrences and personalities in the Christian Holy Book and the Qur’an (or Koran). It is a unique or rare grace which as the Lord told me in 1993, when He granted me the privilege, He had not bestowed on anyone since He created the world.
This explains why before I did so in 2009 nobody knew what the Omnipresent Creator meant in Genesis 2:24 when He said: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” Most Christians in Nigeria and elsewhere thought He was instituting monogamy when He was actually setting out the type of dowry and marriage system the Israelites were to have. In which a man will leave his parents to go and serve the prospective father in-law for seven years before he is given the daughter as wife. People also did not know that it was because Abraham in Genesis 15: 1 – 21 asked the Lord for a sign on the promise to bless him and his descendants that caused the Israelites to be slaves in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12: 37 – 42).
It is also because the Most High does not discuss issues in the Bible with all and sundry that nobody knew how many years the ordeals of Job lasted until I revealed it as 30 years in this column two years ago, in September 2014. And the reasons why He raised Jesus Christ to establish Christianity and Prophet Mohammed Islam until I wrote about them six years ago.
The Almighty One in Heaven only reveals or discusses with most prophets and pastors about living human beings, not about issues in the Bible or about the dead. What such seers or “servants of God,” some of who use occultic or satanic powers, do with scriptural topics is give their own interpretations of the statements in the Holy Book, claiming it was Almighty God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit who told them. It is because it is their own personal opinions that they express that make two pastors or prophets who claim that their messages are divinely inspired say different things on Lord’s position on the payment of tithes, polygamy and other issues.
Apart from writing on past ones in the interest of those he missed them, the other Biblical topics I will treat in the new series will include what the Ancient of Days told me on whether or not the payment of tithes is still compulsory, a very controversial issue among Christians in Nigeria, the clergy and laity alike. The others are if it is right for Christians to slaughter animals for deliverance from enemies or to have breakthrough, which is another contentious issue. I will also write about what He told me on whether African ancestors worshipped Him or idols and if a Christian or Muslim should pray to Him to punish or kill an enemy as some churches including Pentecostal ones do in Nigeria.
I suspended asking the Ancient of Days questions on the scriptures in 2013 because of the book I am writing on the Popes of the Catholic Church. And will not do so until it is published. But when I resume I will be finding out from the Lord how old the world is? Is it about six thousand years plus as the Bible suggests or millions of years as scientists portray it in giving the ages of rocks and others? I also want to know why God created only Adam and Eve and not a couple in each of the races, in the world African, Caucasian, Asian etc. And since Adam and Eve were Jews, how come there are different races instead of everyone being white – skinned like the Israelites? Also to be raised with the Lord are the contradictions or questionable issues in the Old and New Testaments in the Holy Bible.
To be continued next Wednesday
Other history-making juju bandleaders
I really felt bad when writing the story of Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, the sixth I did in the series of eight, I came to realize that I had not included Orlando Owoh and the first woman juju bandleader, Ikale, Ondo State – born Lady Oladunni Decency among the outstanding and pioneering juju bandleaders. Initially, it was Sir Sina Peters who was to be eighth person I was going to write about. Thus I had to substitute him with Orlando Owoh who was senior and made it to prominence before him.
The legacy of Sina Peters in juju music is that he was the first of the lot to play the brand with fast tempo like in western beat and to introduce dancing it with fascinating gesticulation of the shoulders, body and foot works different from the traditional graceful and rhythmical movement. That was when he released the album called Sina Maniac in the late 1980s.
Before he became a star, Yoruba people living in other parts of the country were the ones who used to invite juju bands in Lagos or Ibadan to come and play in the North, South – East and South – South. Sina Peters’ band is the first juju outfit that I know was engaged by non – Yoruba people to play outside the South – West. That was about 26 or 27 years ago when he performed in Anambra State at the invitation of an Igbo club.
Next week: The story of Lady Oladunni Decency, the first woman juju guitarist and bandleader