The reason was that none of the Apostles cured anyone with a dreaded skin disease (leprosy), the only healing that required going to the priests for purification, as stipulated in Leviticus 14:1 – 32. This is clear if one reads all the chapters in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy where the laws of God are in the Old Testament.
Of all the people Jesus cured of diseases, cast out demons from and the blind he gave sight to, it was only the eleven he healed of a dreaded skin affliction that he sent to the priests to carry out animal sacrifice. The first of the eleven redeemed from leprosy was the man whose story is in Matthew 8: 1 – 4, Mark 1: 40 – 45 and Luke 5:12 – 16, while the cure of the ten lepers is in Luke 17:11 – 19.
But Jesus did not send to the priests the dead daughter of Jarius, the Jewish official, whom he brought back to life and the woman whose 12 years of severe bleeding experience he ended (both in Matthew 9:18 – 26, Mark 5:21 – 43 and Luke 8:40 – 56). Jesus also did not send to the clerics for the performance of sacrifices, the two blind men he made to see in Matthew 9:27 – 31 and the dumb man he made to start talking in Matthew 9:32 – 34. The same with the man whose paralyzed hand he restored in Matthew 12:9 – 14, Mark 3:1 – 6 and Luke 6:6 – 11, and the sick people he cured in Gennesaret and the surrounding territory in Matthew 14: 34 – 36 and Mark 6: 53 – 56.
The others Christ bailed out of their problems were the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb and others with different ailments he made whole in Matthew 15:29 – 31. And the epileptic boy troubled by demons he rescued from torture and disgrace in Matthew 17:14 – 21; Mark 9:14 – 29 and Luke 9:37 – 43.
As stated in last week’s column the shedding of blood by Jesus on the cross only ended the animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins as stipulated in Chapters 1, 4, 5 and 6 in the Book of Leviticus, not for other purposes.
The healings or relieve from evil spirit attacks performed by the Apostles began with Peter making the man who had been lame all his life to walk (Acts 3:1 – 10). It was followed by Philip who in the principal city of Samaria cast out evil spirits from many people and got the paralyzed and lame to be on their feet (Acts 8:4 – 8). There was also the case in Lydda of Aeneas, a man who was paralyzed for eight years, whom Peter made to walk. And the dead woman named Tabitha (a Greek word that means Dorcas) whom he revived back to life in Joppa. The two stories are in Acts 9:32 – 43.
Finally, were the wonders performed by Apostle Paul making the man crippled from birth to walk (Acts 14:8 – 20) and the slave girl he cast out evil spirit from in Philippi, a city in Macedonia (Acts 16:16 – 40).
What I do not know is, if like Jesus Christ, the Apostles also healed someone or people with a dreaded skin disease, but the accounts were removed from the Bible. This would have been by the orders of a Pope or a Christian Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, who would not have wanted people to know that as in the time of Jesus Christ that sacrifices were also carried out by his disciples and Apostle Paul after his crucifixion.
I will find out the truth from the Ancient of Days in about two or three years, when by His grace, I plan to write a book or books on the explanations He had made to me since 1997 and those He would still tell me on issues in the 66 Books in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation.
For now, let me reveal that it is not every time that the Lord gave immediate reply to the questions I asked Him. Although He could always answer promptly, there were times when it took weeks, months or years before He responded to my enquiries.
It was in 1997 I asked Him about the duration of Job’s ordeal in the Bible (the Book of Job from Chapters 1 through 42). But it was not until ten years later on Saturday, January 13, 2007, that the Most High told me they lasted 30 years. That was the day as I had reported about twice now that He lambasted me and two others He made a covenant with in 1994. We had pleaded that 13 years were long enough for Him to have fulfilled His promise to us.
Three weeks ago, a reader of this column, Mr. Casmir in Port Harcourt, Rivers State (080 – 3671 – 1782), requested me to find out from the Heavenly Father how Cain got his wife. Since he and Abel were the only children Adam and Eve were reported to have had (Genesis 4:1 – 26). The Lord just said He would let me know one day, if He created her miraculously as He did with Eve or if she was a daughter she had but whose birth was not revealed in the Bible.
I stopped taking peoples’ questions on Biblical issues to the Supreme Being in May or June, last year. But I entertained that of Casmir because the clue to how Cain’s wife came to the world is not in the Bible. So, he cannot say I was wrong or disagree with me rudely, as some had done when my reply was different to their opinion on the issues concerned.
To be continued next Wednesday
Farewell Admiral Koshoni & Dr. Victor Olaiya
Vice Admiral Patrick Seubo Koshoni, Minister of Health during the regime of General Muhammadu Buhari (January 1984 – August 1985) and Chief of Naval Staff (Head of the Navy) from October 1986 – January 1990, was someone whose parents and their children I knew very well from close quarters from 1965 through 1967. It was also in 1965 that I came close to Dr. Victor Abimbola Olaiya, the legendary Highlife musician.
I find it remarkable that the two, who were the greatest achievers and best known in Nigeria and internationally among those whose parents lived in Bamgbose Street on Lagos Island, died 19 days apart and on the day of the week each was born. Vice – Admiral Koshoni who was born on Lagos Island on Saturday, April 17, 1943 marched out last month on Saturday, January 25. While Dr. Olaiya who came into the world on Wednesday, December 31, 1930 in Calabar, now the capital city of Cross River State, departed on Wednesday, February 12, exactly a week ago today.
I also find it astonishing that the houses where their parents lived were at corner-pieces in Bamgbose Street and another street. The frontage of the storey-house of the Olaiyas was at Tinubu Street, opposite the fountain in a roundabout where it was No 1. But the same building was also No 2 at Bamgbose Street where it had a side entrance. On their part, the Koshonis lived in a bungalow whose frontage was 76, Bamgbose Street and the backyard where it had another entrance was No 55, Kakawa Street.
Like most Lagosians who are not Aworis, the indigenous people of the city, Admiral Koshoni’s father came from the Republic of Togo, while Dr. Olaiya’s dad was from Ijesa – Isu, a town near Ikole in present – day Ekiti State created in 1996.
More to come next week