This column commenced on December 19, 2007 but it was not until a year later, on November 19, that I began to write on issues in the Christian Holy Book and religion. This followed a popular General Overseer of a Pentecostal Church in the country claiming ten days earlier in a report in the Sunday Vanguard of November 9 that God created only Eve for Adam because He wanted a man to have one wife.
But I countered him that this was not true because the Heavenly Father in Exodus 21:10-11 and Deuteronomy 21:15-17 gave rules to a man who had two wives. This was for them to treat their spouses fairly and not favour one and her children above the other and her offspring.
Before my series on polygamy pastors and prophets were preaching that the Lord in Genesis 2:24 was instituting monogamy. This is where He said: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall become one flesh.” They said if the Lord wanted a man to be polygamous He would have said cleave to their wives.
Since it was a subject I had raised with the Ancient of Days I was able to prove them wrong. I did this by letting people know that in the passage He was putting in place the seven – year service a man was to undergo with his prospective father – in – law before giving him his daughter as his wife.
The story of Jacob’s marriage to Leah and Rachel the daughter of Laban was what the Most High used to explain the issues to me (Genesis 29:1 – 35 & 30: 1 – 24). I also made it known that the seven – year service was why only three men had more than two spouses in the Bible.
These were Esau, Jacob and Gideon. Esau had three because he married foreigners whose fathers he did not serve because they did not practice the Israeli type of marriage system (Genesis 26:34-35 & 28:6-9). Jacob had four because each of his two wives gave him one of their slaves to have children for him (Genesis 30: 1 – 24).
Gideon had 70 sons not counting his daughters. To have such number of children he must have had 10 to 25 spouses or more (Judges 8:29 – 35). And he was able to do so because he was a warlord and must have acquired them, with the exception of his first wife, as spoils of war after defeating their people (Judges Chapters 6, 7 & 8).
The next Bible issue I treated was in 2009 and it was on Christians and Muslims worshipping the same God. In the series, I showed that members of the two religions could not be serving different deities. This is because such a belief means that each of the people who belong to other faiths in the world, the Hindus, Buddhists and the others were created by different Gods. Of course, this is not true because there is only one King of kings and Maker of mankind.
If Christians and Muslims were created and worship different God which of the two Lords created the children of a Christian husband married to a Muslim wife and vice versa? Through my series I showed that the discord between Christians and Muslims and the hatred the Israelis and Arabs have for themselves originated from the Supreme Being’s statement in Genesis 16: 1 – 15). And this is that before he was born the Lord had said that Ishmael will be against everyone and everyone will be against him.
Another religious issue I wrote on was the papacy and I did so when Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013. I had to do so because people said that the church Apostle Peter established on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1 – 12 is not what is today known as the Catholic Church. This is because the name of the first denomination in the world and the title Pope are not in the Bible
But in my series I was able to prove the claim to be false. I did this by letting readers know that Linus, the second Pope and successor of Apostle Peter as the head of the Catholics (68 – 76 AD) was one of the Christian leaders Apostle Paul sent greetings to in 2 Timothy 4:20 – 21). And that Pope Clement I, the fourth Pontiff (88 – 99 AD) was the person Apostle Paul named as one of those helping him to spread the gospel in Philippians 4:1 – 3.
The last Bible issue I wrote on was letting people know why Jesus sent only those he cured of leprosy to go to the priests to perform the animal sacrifice as prescribed by Moses (Matthew 8:1 – 4 & Luke 17:11 – 19). This was because it was the only healing that God ordered such rites to be carried out in the Book of Leviticus 14: 1 – 32.
I thank the Heavenly Father that all the Bible issues I wrote on in this column were so popular that readers urged me to publish them in a book or books. It was also at the request of readers that I had to return to treat the issues twice or more times. Some of them were those who saw an edition of a series I wrote four to six years earlier and pleaded that I repeated the articles.
This happened this year but I am tired of writing on the same subjects after doing so for 13 years (2008 – 2021). Consequently, I have put an end to penning scriptural scripts and sending them for publication in this column.
I am grateful that readers enjoyed my series on Bible issues. The appreciation gave me joy especially as online service made it possible for me to receive applause from readers across Nigeria, other African countries, the United Kingdom, United States and Canada.
But what made me extraordinarily happy and gladdened my heart most was the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree awarded by Zoe Life Theological College of Philadelphia, United States on March 15, 2009. This was for my series on polygamy from November 2008 through January 2009 and letting people know the truth of God’s statement in Genesis 2:24.
It was double honour I received that year because four months later, on July 5, I was chosen for the International Merit Award by the African Chapter of Yeshua Embassy Network of the United States as its Tested and Outstanding Personality for 2009. The citation on the day of my investiture was: “You are conferred with this award for your exemplary contributions in spreading the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ around the world and your service to humanity.”
The Founder and International Presiding Primate of the Church, the Right Reverend A.J. Milner, an African – American, came from Philadelphia to present the certificate to me and three others honoured that day in Lagos.
To be continued next Wednesday
10 topmost immigrant Lagosians – Sapara Williams, of Ijesa ancestry (3)
Last week’s piece ended with Barrister Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams, the pioneer attorney in Nigeria also being the first to champion press freedom in the country in 1909. This was his opposition to the Seditions Offences Ordinances of that year, a law which banned press criticism of the British Colonial Government.
How sad that what Sapara Williams campaigned against in 1909 has one hundred and twelve years later become a distinctive feature and irritable pre – occupation of President Muhammadu Buhari to bring back in the country. It is unfortunate that he wants to add undemocratic anti – press freedom to his other unpalatable legacies.
These are the uncontrollable and embarrassing acts of terrorism, banditry and reckless borrow – borrow loan policy which have brought penury, agonizing living and premature death to several thousands of Nigerians and foreigners in the six years of his administration. Negative happenings which have made many a people to regret having a doleful and bringer of multiple – misfortune as their president since 2015.
Next week: The immigrant Lagosians from Abeokuta.