To be sure, only the Heavenly Father can say the account that is authentic on the arrest of Jesus Christ, between that of the trio of Matthew, Mark and Luke on one hand and John on the other. But as stated in the first article in this series I will ask the Lord about the correct one only when I am ready to write a book on the explanations He had made to me on some of the issues in the Holy Bible. And those He would tell me on the other ones I would raise with Him before publishing the book.

But for now, it is the story of Apostle John that Jesus identified himself to the people who came to arrest him that I find credible. The first reason is that Jesus for three – and – a – half years preached in the Temples, Synagogues and open places as he himself said in Matthew 26:53; Mark 14:49 and Luke 22:53. As a result, most people in Israel knew him. So, why would Judas have needed to identify him with a kiss for those who went to arrest him to know he was the one they came for, as reported in the Books of Matthew, Mark and Luke?

It is also the story of John that those who went to arrest Jesus were armed soldiers and temple guards that I find believable. How would the Chief Priests, Pharisees and Elders have sent a large crowd with swords and clubs to arrest him? They would have sent such an unruly group if they had wanted him assassinated on the spot.

It is like in modern times saying a government sent a large crowd to arrest someone. Is it not the police or soldiers they use to carry out arrest? If it was a large crowd of undisciplined people that went to arrest Jesus, would they have not attacked him and his disciples when one of those at the scene cut off the ear of the slave of the High Priest? In fact, would they not have killed the person who did it instantly?

Next week: What the Heavenly Father told me on His position on polygamy and what he meant in Genesis 2:24 when He said: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they shall become one.” I wrote about it in 2003 and 2009 and I am repeating now because of necessity.

 

Phenomenal matriarch of the Adedipes, Falaes, Ade-Ojos and others (2)

The lessons to learn from our Ilara – Mokin – born great grandmother, Madam Atoosin (Atooshin), from what I gathered from one of my dad’s elder sisters, Madam Ogunsola, popularly known as Eye ‘Jesa, who went to glory in 1994 at over one hundred years, are two – fold. She was called Eye Ijesa or ‘Jesa, Akure dialect words which mean Iya or Mama Ijesa or Ilesa in standard Yoruba, because she was married to an Ijesa man and lived in Ilesa for many years before retiring home to Akure in her old age years after her husband’s demise.

The first lesson to learn from our great matriarch is that one must be absolutely faithful to the Heavenly Father throughout one’s life. And that the blessings of the Lord one enjoys depend on the degree of one’s devotion to Him. In other words, it is as one behaves to the Most High that He too behaves or rewards one.

The second lesson is that a family can remain the Lord’s favoured one from generation to generation and even unto eternity if nobody in such a clan derails down the ages. This is the secret behind the success of the descendants of our matriarch in both Akure and Ilara – Mokin where they have been for about 168 years the first among equals in the two cities.

Conversely, if a man or woman acts contrary to God’s laws and commands in the Holy Bible and Qur’an, and is evil personified, such a person will not only suffer for it here on earth, but also in the hereafter. This is why those who became wealthy through animal and human sacrifice; stealing, corruption, armed robbery, kidnapping and other vices usually end up badly. It is also why unpleasant repercussions are the lot of the descendants of such people with their families in the limelight only in one generation. They don’t have a second generation of prominent citizens or wonderful achievers.

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As Eye Ijesa told me, God loved our matriarch because although Christianity came to Akure in 1897 through the Anglican Church, and after her death, she did not partake in idol worshipping nor engaged in rituals or in witchcraft to hurt or undo other people, as was common in her time.

On the contrary, she was good and generous to all and sundry. Beautiful and from a respectable and comfortable family, she was loved by her husband who was very wealthy. Given his relationship with her, she was envied by the other wives who were all from Akure. They often ridiculed and called her “bush woman” for coming from Ilara – Mokin, a village.

So miserable was life for her that she decided to return home. Her marriage lasted under two years and she had only one child, a son named Adedipe for her husband. Since Ade means crown in Yoruba some may mistakenly translate this to mean the crown consoles me. But the meaning of Adedipe is actually: “he has arrived to console me. This indicates that his father underwent an unpleasant situation before he was born.

Continues next week

 

Ebenezer Babatope, the great (4)

When he was unjustifiably and wickedly clamped into detention by General Muhammadu Buhari’s junta regime for eighteen months, three weeks and one day, from Thursday, February 9, 1984 – Sunday, August 31, 1985 Ebino sent three letters to me through his wife, Mrs. Abiola Olubunmi Babatope. I was then the Editor of the Sunday Concord and a columnist in the newspaper.

Ebino’s first letter was early in April 1984, two months into his incarceration, when the health of his 75 year – old dad, Reverend Daniel Oke Babatope, who was admitted into the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan on Friday, March 9 for chronic bronchitis became life threatening. The old man went to glory a month later, on Wednesday, April 11.

Given this, I had in my column of Sunday, April 15 pleaded that General Buhari’s government release Ebino so that he could bury his dad. Or do so temporarily by allowing him to be at the church service and interment of his old man, even if in handcuffs and under military or police guard and returned to prison after the ceremony.

For continuation next week Wednesday