Deconstructing the Root of Effete Christianity in Nigeria
By Moses Oludele Idowu
An antichrist is worse than a satanist and even more dangerous in many ways. A satanist outrightly rejects and opposes Christ and His ways; an antichrist on the other hand does not directly oppose or reject Him. Rather he shows himself and presents himself as the best alternative to Christ and sometimes joins or collaborates with Christ and His agents to get the blessings and the trappings which Christianity confers without submitting to the Christ Spirit.
An antichrist acts for his own purpose using the Name of Christ; he wants the power and glory of Christ but not His ways, life and or manners. He has no need of these, only what benefits him personally and what advances him in his cause.
Every other thing can be sacrificed. Power without responsibility, glory of Christ but without submission to Christ and His teachings, blessings of Christ without following or abiding in his Truth, conduct and manners – these are the stuffs of the antichrist spirit.
This spirit can be seen today in varying degrees in modern Christianity and in various tribes. I see it among Yorubas, Igbos, Edos, etc., which is why although they have had contact with Christianity for donkey years and play host to numerous churches it is also among them you have terrible acts – cultism, perversions, prostitution, etc. They know Christ by Name but they do not know His Life or partaker of His Spirit. They know the God of Christianity by Name but they serve their own gods – mammon, self, soccer, entertainment, pleasure etc.
However, in no other place and among no other people have I found this antichrist spirit so dominant, prominent and widespread as among the Egba ( and also to some degree the Ijebu) of Yorubaland.
It is my purpose in this essay to show:-
- that much of what is called Christianity in Nigeria today is defective, weak and largely effete and unsound.
- that this is due to the antichrist spirit which bred into the religion from the very foundation or beginning.
- that the Egba were responsible for bringing this spirit into Christianity and Egba sons responsible largely for sustaining it.
- that this spirit must be exorcised from Christianity and Egbas must be warned and saved from the consequences of the actions of their forbears. A Clarification
I have one weakness which those who have followed my writings over the years would have noticed: it is those I love that I tell the bitterest truth. It is one reason I have very few friends today if at all. That is why I have said some of the worst things to the Yoruba themselves because I love them. Same to Igbos too although many of them badly received them. And to Nigerians at large. Truth makes free so we have nothing to fear.
I do not hate the Egba in anyway. What I make public here is not to ridicule or disparage anyone. The names I will mention is not also to cast aspersions on the people involved.
We have a problem on our hands and we must find solution. Nigeria is stranded and drifting on the high seas of misdirected and focus-less leadership and the forces of Christianity that should save this giant is also wounded and needs help and healing. The Egba and Christianity: Colonization or Modernization?
Why the article?
What prompted this article? What prompted me on this intellectual voyage was first an exchange between an Egba lady and myself. She believes that Christianity was an instrument of enslavement and colonization of her Egba people. I pointed to her that she was wrong that rather Christianity was a tool of modernization ( rather than colonization) in Egbaland and that, but for Christianity and the developments arising from the white man’s dispensation largely facilitated by forces of Christianity- the fate of the Egba would have been worse, surrounded as they were by enemies. At least this is true of Egba of pre-1830- upwards. [ The reader can consult Prof. Saburi Biobaku’s PhD thesis, The Egbas and Their Neighbours or K.A. Ajisafe, History of Abeokuta…]
She believes I was brainwashed. If a man of my learning and standing is brainwashed what, then, is the fate of an average man or woman or even your people in Abeokuta? God, save me from Egba women!
Not long ago Seun Kuti came to town with his own version of distortion of history about Christianity in Egbaland and telling his hearers to abandon Christianity and return to the traditional religion and the charms of the forefathers. That his ancestors founded Christianity – which is false – and that there is nothing in it. This is the antichrist spirit in action which also existed in his father, Fela Kuti and in his music and actions and in many Egba people. I shall come to this later in the narrative, pay attention.
Thus in the opinion of these Egba son and daughter, and many others in the same opinion, Christianity was a disservice to the Egba, an instrument of white colonization and British imperialism. I have read and heard the same asinine comments from several pseudo – cultural nationalists, third-rate scholars, pedestrian academics and mediocre intellectuals. But I am not going in this direction today. Some day I will be provoked enough to tell the story. When a child is insulting the benefactor of his late father then it is time for him to hear the history of his father.
When Seun asked his hearers to abandon Christianity and return to the way of rituals, to the gods of their forefathers, the gods of stone and iron that could not save his own forefathers and Egba from their powerful assailants and more militarily- fortified neighbours, he reveals the same antichrist spirit that his own father severally displayed in his lifetime. If this spirit is so widespread among the Egba especially, what and where is the root of it? That is what we now want to examine.
Pay attention.
The Occult Roots of Egba Christianity
The Yoruba Civil War and Anarchy beginning with Ife-Owu war of 1821 triggered serious dislocations and widespread sufferings across the Yoruba nation. The Fulani Jihad exerted tremendous centrifugal pressures against the Yoruba also contributed to this dispersion. The sack of the old Oyo capital of the Oyo Empire occasioned an inward shift and inward migration leading to further disruptions. The Egba people were a major victim of these disruptions leading to their vacating their old site for their present site in 1830. Under their leader Sodeke they moved, like refugees to their new settlement “under- the- rock” to hide from the enemies. Surrounded by their enemies on all sides they needed help to survive. K.A. Ajisafe noted: ” ..In the Abeokuta of those days there were fears within and fights without.” (p.106)
It was here that something dramatic happened which would have grave consequences and repercussions not only on the history of Egbas but also on Christianity in Nigeria.
Enters Ifa, the Oracular Deity
Ifa is the geomantic form of divination developed by the Cult of Orunmila, one of the ancestor divinities of the Yoruba, so prominent in the cultural and spiritual experience of the Yoruba. Rarely was a major decision made by early Yoruba without consultation of this demonic oracular deity. At the founding of a town, beginning of a journey, choice and crowning of a king, christening of a baby,- just name it, and Ifa must be consulted.
Thus when the Egba found themselves in a fix at the Egba Forest with many of them sold to slavery by their more fortified neighbours they did the natural thing by consulting Ifa oracle. It was Ifa that directed them to proceed to a site under the Rock which turned out to what is named Abeokuta.
Ifa also added that the journey would be prosperous and there they would find the assistance of a “power from across the Sea” that would help them become a great nation. They proceeded on the journey encouraged by the oracular directives. On getting to the site in 1830 now named Abeokuta, another consultation was done and the same deity assured them that the powers from across the Sea would come to help them and they “should hasten their coming through sacrifice.” This point is important because it shows that the Egba not only were waiting for the missionaries they actually hasted their coming through heathenish sacrifices to their gods or demons.
Thus when Birch Freeman the first missionary, a mullato made a brief appearance in 1842 in Abeokuta he was received with so much courtesy, eagerness and rousing welcome by all. This encouragement led to the coming of Henry Townsend and his assistants in 1843 to the enthusiastic response and joy of the Egbas. Again the Egbas consulted their oracle for the third time and it assured them to support and welcome the missionaries because in that support their nation will find greatness and victory over their enemies.*
Thus missionaries were welcomed and supported and given all they needed by the Egba not so much because they love or seek Jesus or even interested or even understood the Gospel which the missionaries brought but primarily for their own survival and the prosperity of the Egba nation in the white man’s dispensation.
This point is clear and must be grasped because it is the root of seeking God for gain and religion for personal prosperity that is at the root of effete religion that has castrated our churches and even this nation today. Just like most Christians today who are seeking and serving God not because they love Him or want Him but because of what they can get from Him and what He can do for them.
Sure the Egba got what they desired as the oracle promised them because the missionaries apart from bringing a gospel – a water- down gospel anyway – they also were vectors of social and economic developments and provided through access to the Colonial Government modern means of resistance and survival and progress for the Egba to ward-off the nuisance of their neighbours.
When you hear some Egba sons and daughters talk today they give the impression that Christianity colonised their parents and was a scheme concocted by Europeans to enslave them. If others could say that it should not be the Egba of all people because Christianity actually saved your ancestors and forebears from total extinction. Let me quote another scholar, Dr. S.A. Adewale:
“When the missionaries came the Egba were in great danger of being annihilated by their ferocious enemies, chief among whom were the Dahomians whom they dreaded very much. It was always the intention of the Dahomian King to raze Abeokuta.
The first task of the missionaries, therefore, was to assist the Egba to crush the Dahomians and provide them (the Egba) safety from the impending calamity.” [ S.A. Adewale, “The Role of Ifa in the Work of the 19th Century Missionaries” ORITA- Journal of Religious Studies , Ibadan,1982, p.29]
Thus we see that the Egba, at least for most of them largely did not receive Christianity as Christianity, they did not receive Christianity on its own terms but on their own terms and not because of the Gospel itself but because of their own demonic oracular consultation and directives and their need for national survival.
The real aim was to see what is in this scheme for us – for our progress, prosperity and development. It is not about God or Christ or Bible. This is the occult root and faulty foundation on which mission Christianity was built in the Egba cosmos.
In one of their sacrifices on arrival of the missionaries they sent 7 live white fowls into the atmosphere to roam based on Ifa directives so that wherever the fowls perch there the glory of Egba nation will extend. It is clear here that the reception of Egba to missionaries and to Christianity was a dubious one and designed only to use the good wishes and the graces of the white man and even Christianity for the glory of Egba people and land.
This is a serious thing. This is the antichrist spirit in action – using God and Christ and His Sacrifices for your own gain and personal desires and national purposes. Sadly many Egba sons and daughters still display this kind of spirit today as they combine traditional system with what they call Christianity.
This is how another spirit entered Christianity and till today this has not been fully exorcised or purged. The fruits of this is what we see today in modern contemporary Nigerian Christianity whose adherents are not superior in any moral claims than others, a religion of so watery a quality that – in the words of a Ghanian scholar – is “24, 000 kilometers wide but half- inch deep.”
As.soon as the Egba got what they desired and became fortified against their enemies and strengthened they largely dispensed with Christianity especially when they got to know the real terms that true Christianity entailed and demanded. Christianity was to suffer a great setback even in that region during the Ifole when they turned against missionaries and Christians.
For reasons that I cannot go into fully here Christianity would not be the favoured religion of the Egba but Islam; among the elites it was grudgingly accepted and with much compromise with their traditional religion. Only few and very few Egba accepted Christianity on its terms and without any conditions.
For the most even today they accepted Christianity with their traditional religion, culture and rituals. They claim to be Christians and also traditionalists. A very good example in modern times is Segun Osoba, the self-confessed member of Ogboni Fraternity who also claim to be Christian or even Olusegun Obasanjo, pastor and theologian who is also, according to BBC of London, a member of the Ogboni Fraternity.
This is the style in which most Egba elites accepted Christianity and this error is from the foundation.
You can’t be a Christian and be consulting Ifa or be member of Ogboni Fraternity or Pyrate Confraternity or any fraternity for that matter. Christ makes His demand on the totality of the person and you can’t serve Christ and serve Mammon.
It is either all or nothing, either Christ or Mammon. If you’re an Egba man and you are a Christian without any attachments or traditional accretions I salute you. Truth must be told and it is the truth that is known that can set free. This spirit is in most Egba who claim to be Christians because it is rooted in the foundation of their town. In the Name of God I challenge every Egba son and daughter reading this to rid yourself of this spirit and enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Outworking of this Spirit in the Egba Cosmos
In this section I want to examine few or select Egba and examine their works, actions, beliefs and see the manifestation of this spirit at work.
One of the signs that a seed has been planted and prospered is that a fruit emerges at the end that is of the same quality as the seed. One of the signs that True Christianity has incarnated in the cultural milieu of a particular ethnic nationality, community or collectivity is the emergence of prophets, apostles or saints of Bible standard and quality within or from the sons of that region. In this regard it is curious that Egba has not produced a single prophet or apostle of Bible class or degree despite having encountered Christianity since 1842.
This is curious but not surprising in the light of extensive explanation already given. Ijebus have produced prophet of even Bible standard such as Daniel Orekoya, S.B. Odusona, Sophie Odunlami. Ekitis have produced apostles, Babalola was a good example. You could compare him with the 12 or even Paul and he would not be inferior. Ijeshas has produced authentic prophets of the highest quality: Timothy Obadare is a good example. Akoko has produced prophets, Orimolade was a good example. Oyo/ Ibadan has produced genuine prophets, Peter Olatunji, Debo Akande are good examples. Ede that is even dominantly Muslim has produced a true prophet, Samson Oladeji Akande ( Baba Abiye). But Egba who first met the missionaries and Christianity has not produced a single prophet of Bible grade known to history, I mean prophet of the highest grade and quality that could measure to those of the Bible.
The ones they have produced are junior to those mentioned above. Except you want to call Tunde Bakare, Bilewu Oshoffa, Fela Kuti prophets but not of the quality of those mentioned above or even less of the Bible.
Why? Because of the way and spirit and manner in which the Egba received Christianity at the beginning and even more the corruption introduced and quality of the seed planted. I cannot explore this further because of space and still more to be said.
Although Egba did not produce many prophets and great evangelists they produced some notable antichrists who boldly and subtly undermined Christianity.
Moses Orimolade Tunolase was a prophet and even more than a prophet of the Most High God. The early C&S was a glorious thing and a genuine experiment in African initiative in Christian religion. Until they got entangled in crisis from which they still labour till today. One woman was the arrowhead of this first major crisis by her insurbordination and hee total lack of submission to authority and elders notwithstanding her efforts. She is Christiana Abiodun Emmanuel ( nee Akinsowon).
This woman triggered the first split of that original glorious body that made possible subsequent splits. That woman is a native of Abeokuta by parentage. She is of Egba extraction and ancestry.
The second major disruptions and split was also occasioned largely by Egba and Ijebu elites of the Movement who felt they should not be under an illiterate Akoko man like Moses Orimolade. They were largely Egba too.
In 1947 another son of Egba ( or Egbado) parents went into the bush in Dahomey and saw monkey, serpent and old tattered Bible and heard voices. The result was the birth of what is now known as “Celestial Church of Christ.” It wasn’t long after its founding before the Dahomian authorities saw through the lie for wherever this “church” was founded they observed that sexual immoralities prevailed and perversions of all kind.
Thus the authority sent him packing and banned his church in Benin Republic forcing him to relocate to Nigeria “the land of anything goes.” If you thoroughly examine this church carefully and their operations you will see a mixture and amalgam of traditional accretions, ancestral worship and a veneer of Christianity. The planting of this monstrous occult entity on the religious landscape of Nigeria was also by an Egba man who was such a biblical illiterate that he could not distinguish the ancestral spirits of his father’s house from the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Then Egba were prominent in the formation of the Ogboni Fraternity and in its developments, spread to different sector in various disguises, mutations and manifestations especially the judiciary, law and the professions. It is not an accident that the headquarters of this sinister occult entity is on Abeokuta Street in Ebutte meta, Lagos. I have written previously and extensively on this fraternity in a two- part serial and the reader can go back and consult. [ Moses Oludele Idowu, “The Tragedy of 1914: The Ogboni Fraternity and the Occultic Manipulation of Nigeria” ] It is not accidental either that an Egba son too played a major role in the formation of first – ever campus fraternity at the then premier university at Ibadan.
Antichrist Spirit in Some Select Egba Sons
Olufela Ransome- Kuti popularly known as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is one man who should be called an antichrist. Obviously, if he had read much philosophy and postmodern thought he should have known or heard of Friedrich Nietzsche – another son of a pastor like Fela- who calls himself “an antichrist” and might possibly have called himself by the same designation. Fela is the son of Reverend I.O. Ransome-Kuti, who himself is the son of Rev. J.J.Kuti. That is why I am extremely careful about how I speak of this illustrious family and must do so with reverence and great respect because of their past genuine contributions to Christianity.
Here is the problem. Fela hated Christianity with passion. He said so himself and I will soon quote him in his own words. His reason was that his great grand father who was a warrior hated the white man and even Christianity because they converted his own son and turned him against the religion of his father. Here is Fela on his great- grandfather quoting what his grand father wrote about him:
“”He was not a Christian. He did not like white men… He would have liked to exterminate Christianity and the white men, but he had no power. He died of guinea-worm sore in 1863.”
Did you hear him in his own words.
Now concerning his grand father Rev. J. Kuti he has this to say:
“The white man lured him into the mission house where he was brainwashed. They turned his mind against his own father’s religion and he came out of the mission house fighting for the religion of the white man.
“That is one of the crimes committed by the white establishment on this continent which I am against…” [ For details of this see, ” Black Anger – You can’t gag me says Fela”, Drum magazine , May, 1972 p.258.
He spoke of his own father in the same derogatory term as another brainwashed person just like his grand father. All because they embraced Christianity. How is that brainwashing? Can Fela stand near his own father in terms of scholarship, knowledge and erudition? Rev. Kuti was one of the best educated men of his day widely respected by all for his erudition; Fela was not in his own day. I even consider him ignorant in some respects.
Fela is not even fit to remove the lace of the shoes of his father intellectually speaking. This is the person calling his own father and grand father brainwashed because they converted to Christianity. If Rev Kuti was brainwashed who brainwashed Fela himself?
Fela saw himself as the reincarnation of the great-grand father who hated Christianity and the white men and wanted to exterminate Christianity. And he continued the battle against Christianity. His son Seun seems to be of this similar frame of mind and he too has continued the battle. We shall see whether he succeeds where his own father failed.
Some of the terrible things that have been said against Christ from the mouth of an African were uttered by Fela. He made mockery of Him and His death. They are even too blasphemous and gory for me to repeat them even here. I would not pollute the minds of my readers.
Why would a musician claiming to be fighting for liberation of the poor be so openly against Christ who Himself was poor and served the poor people of His days? Why would a man claiming to be fighting oppression be against Christ who was Himself a victim and died in the hands of the same hegemonic institutional power structures that Fela claimed he was fighting ? There is only one answer: Fela was motivated by another spirit different from Christ – the antichrist spirit.
By this he reveals that he was a prototypical antichrist. He complains that the white men lured his father and grand father into Christianity but he was not bothered that he has lured more people, youths into lawlessness, rascality, disobedience to legitimate authority, rebellion against constituted authority and away from God by his own life, music, hemp- smoking and sexual permissiveness.
His hatred of Christianity and white men probably was the reason why he hated all lawful authority and symbols of governmental power and why he revel in breaking the law and in sexual permissiveness and license.
Vain Glory and the Ancestry
I asked the wife of a friend where she came from during a conversation and she retorted: “Where civilization started.”
At a dinner in Sheraton Hotel years ago I asked the accountant handling our professional body’s accounts who was sitting by me where she came from and his response: – “the land of the firsts – first church, first lawyer, first accountant…where civilization started.” I didn’t bother to ask any further because I knew the kind of people who usually talk that way and the town whence they come.
The two engagements above shows one major flaw, trait and weakness in most Egba Christians today even the best ones: glorying in the flesh or in natural ancestry.
Do not misunderstand me. It is not wrong to glory in man or in your natural acquisition and origins but for a Christian it is not right to dwell exclusively on this. No race or ancestry is good enough to save man from damnation without the intervention of the Cross.
Martin Luther was proud of his German ancestry, John Calvin was a Renaissance French humanist and he was conscious of that. John Wesley was a cultured English man from a long and illustrious cultured and notable ancestry and he did not forget this noble ancestry. No one should be ashamed of his ancestry. This is not what I am saying.
However, it is wrong when at the slightest moment you throw up your ancestry and origin like a medal to brag or show superiority over others. This is glorying in the flesh and it is wrong for a Christian to do so.
A Christian should glory only in Christ and in His Cross. Paul, who more than anyone in his day had reason to glory and be proud renounced all for the sake of Christ. “Far be it that I should glory save in the Cross by which the world is crucified to me and I to the world.” That is the Christian position.
Egba Christians need to learn this if they haven’t. I was a bit disappointed when I saw Pastor Tunde Bakare in a traditional dress dancing and rejoicing as an Egba son to traditional music provided by native drummers like any natural Egba man in his church as part of his birthday.
It shows that the knowledge of true Christianity is really shallow among even some of the leaders in Nigeria. Christ has put an end to all glorying in anything except the Cross. Christ has erased all tribes, races, and made of one blood all nations of men. There is only one nation – the nation of the redeemed in Christ Blood. Christians must learn this. And Egbas more than anyone must learn it more.
Just before he made his unsuccessful voyage into politics he told his audience that he had always known that he would one day play a role in politics and that he had it planned from the beginning. That his founding the church was even part of the arrangement or plan. Something to that effect. If that were so, in essence the church or ministry that he founded was not really because of Christ or by leading of Christ (?) to lead men to Christ or prepare them for Heaven but as a launching pad for his political ambition and aspirations.
Really?
You can see that we are in trouble in the Church in Nigeria.
How many of these churches are actually founded to promote Christ or to further the ambition of a man? Chris Okotie too tried to use his church as a launching pad for political ambition. He too failed. David Oyedepo too is using the church and the ministry of Winners to further his material and economic aspirations the desire that he was “born to reign.” Christ is only marginal and mere symbol like a flag, the real pursuit is the wish or ambition of one man and his purposes and plans. It is using God and Christ for your own personal purposes and pursuit of personal ambitions and economic gain. The church has been hijacked.
This is the antichrist spirit that has entered the Nigerian Church and largely taken it over.
It is the same story now everywhere.
The Egba by their actions in 1840’s brought this spirit into Christianity. It must now be exorcised.
Conclusion
Let no one misunderstand me. I say this because most Nigerians don’t know how to read. I am not saying that Egba are not true Christians. I am not also saying that there are no true Christians in Egbaland. The very people who prompted the missionaries to come to Nigeria were largely of Egba extraction in Sierra Leone. True, many of the elites of Egbaland did not receive Christianity based on its own terms but quite a large number also understood the claims of Christianity and received it on its terms not on their own terms.
The nature, circumstances and occasion of Egba and their interaction with Christianity was largely responsible for the patterns of religious acceptance. It is my contention that based on the heathenish sacrifices offered and the involvement of occult medium of Ifa the nature of religion was muddled especially in the Egba cosmos where this happened. In other areas this was not the case and this was responsible for the reason why the outcome also differed. It is also my contention that the effete nature of mission Christianity which occasioned the subsequent secessions was due to this foundational deficiencies.
I do not blame the Egba ancestors for consulting Ifa and following its directives. They acted based on what they knew and based on the amount of knowledge they had. God relates with people based on the amount of light they have and they acted based on the light they had.
However, it is something else when Egba sons and daughters today knowing the truth and having read the Bible to still continue in that way and in that manner. That is the path of error and deception.
In addition, true Christians of Egba and even Ijebu ancestry must come together in deliverance prayers and intercession to revisit the covenant and occult transactions of their foundation vis-a- vis Christianity 1830-40’s as regard their origin to avert consequences. Every covenant has two sides but usually the positive comes first. We see this clearly illustrated in the story of great African king, Chaka of the Zulus who was made powerful and great by a medicine man with a sword but after shedding so much blood the medicine man still came to collect his reward as part their agreement.
Sincerely, Ogun State needs prayers to avert consequences. The signs and omens are there but people who claim to be educated cannot read the signs and omens. Rarely, a week passes without something terrible happening in Abeokuta or surrounding or Ogun State. Few days ago a man took his own child barely 8-month old and cut it to pieces for the herbalist. A teacher disvirgining two of his students; a 14- year old impregnating two of her classmates….Not to talk of regular shootouts between rival cultic and predatory gangs and bloodshed.
Strange and unnatural crimes are a sign and a portent that extra forces and higher powers are moving closer to you. Some crimes are not natural for a human to commit. Ogun State needs prayers, serious prayers and repentance. A section of Lagos- Ijebu is lying on the Flood plain which could slip or erupt any moment.
Ogun State needs help and prayer. This is what has been shown to me. Act bravely and without delay and do what needs to be done.
A word for the wise is enough.
Thank you patient reader, thank you for your patience.
Notes
- S.A.Adewale, Role of Ifa in the Work of the 19th Century Missionaries” ORITA-: Journal of Religious Studies, Ibadan, 1982.
- K. Ajisafe, The History of Abeokuta.
- Saburi Biobaku, The Egba and Their Neighbours, PhD thesis.
- Moses Oludele Idowu, The Tragedy of 1914: The Ogboni Fraternity and the Occultic Manipulation of Nigeria ( 1&2)
———, More Than a Prophet: The Story of Moses Orimolade Tunolase and Cherubim and Seraphim
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