[Recording] The Toyin Falola Interviews: A Conversation with Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah
Adebayo Ajadi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZP9yn1Pps
cornelius...@gmail.com
One always learns a lot from these Toyin Falola Interviews
I’m looking forward to when Bishop David Oyedepo will grace a future Toyin Falola event. Can Ojogbon swing this? I love Bishop David Oyedepo’s avuncular personality and charisma.
Objectively speaking, that was a thrilling session, thrilling in the sense of one (me) sitting at the edge of my seat and wondering - with some excitement what the less-than-omniscient answer to the next interesting question was going to be. I’m saying this because I’m coming from this immediate background, i.e. recently, I took some flak on Facebook from one of the Besserwisser types from Shierra Leone ( the Sh - sibilant sound there, language interference of course) and Themne being my second Sierra Leone language - so to speak, I was and am right of course - if you ask any of the bonafide linguists of that language or my mother who spoke Themne fluently. But when I asked the Besserwisser wannabe, “And what do ignorant people call themselves ?”, as we say in Krio, ee noh fraid God, the Besserwisser wannabe told me, “they call themselves Cornelius!” That’s what the lempeh mu thinks, but in that instance, I daresay Cornelius Ignoramus knows better. My last four months in Sierra Leone were spent in Makeni and Magburaka.
It’s good to clear the air with this world record in religiosity, that “Ghana is the most religious country in the world!” - something that I wasn't aware of during my eighteen months in Ghana (1970 -1971) for the simple reason that I never attended any religious service, don’t remember ever seeing a church or mosque in Ghana - not in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Twifo Hemang, Tema, Koforidua, but I knew where the don’t- mind-your-wife-cho- bars, drinking parlours, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs were to be found,
My overall impression of Pentecostalism in Africa, all the media reports about witchcraft and exorcisms, is that the Pentecostal pastor fancies himself as some kind of grand medicine man, witchdoctor, sangoma , spiritual healer, a veritable little Jesus, armed with some divine spiritual powers to cast out demons etc and usually enjoys playing that theatrical role.
I was nervous from the very beginning when in his introductory remarks Ojogbon (Falola) mentioned Nigeria’s most controversial Pentecostal pastor, TB Joshua, - so it was all going to be about him, albeit posthumously, when although he was at the centre stage of much of the ensuing discussion - most unfortunately - TB could not be present in person to defend his good name, could not be present in person but presumably he could have been present in the spirit, so to speak, in which case he must have been shaking his head sadly, at least occasionally, about the opinions he was hearing being expressed about his dearly departed self - departed from this vale of tears.
Professor Nimi Wariboko quoted Matthew 17: 20 - 21 - just when - concerning TB I was thinking of Jesus asking his interlocutors (the Pharisees),“For which of my good works do you want to stone me?” which also tallies nicely with TB’s situation whilst he was alive, and now that he's gone, poor soul, in the court of public opinion, in the kingdom of mankind, it’s all about the purported evil - if any - that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” And here too this scriptural reference should come in handy regarding the panel of interlocutors, Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, Ojogbon Falola, Professor of Ethics Wariboko & Co: Tehillim / Psalm 1 - the standard King James version translation with which missionary post-colonial Africa is mostly acquainted :
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
As to TB’s accusers, as Jesus said to the accusers of the woman caught in the very act of sin, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
In these public live and direct discussions and debates one has always got to be very careful because you’re being recorded for all eternity and when it comes to lashon hara, that sin is so easily committed, because, just like words, the bird flies out of your mouth and doesn't return. Fortunately, Lashon Hara was not committed this evening…
I’d like to ask the members of that panel why it is that when a Pentecostal pastor or a Pentecostal so-called prophet makes a false prophecy - a prophecy which turns out to be false, Deuteronomy 18: 20 should not apply to him or her…
Cornelius Ignoramus would also like to know from Professor Wariboko - and this is concerning what he says about the Diaspora Jews (Christian / Christianized or Hellenized Brethren with Greek sounding names - a distinct minority in Jerusalem at the time, being given the upper hand which he seems to see as the hand of God at work there, and not the result of some social dynamics of the times in that tiny Christian cult which was a fringe, outlaw cult and out of the pale…
Knowledge - ILM - is very highly valued in Islam, and there's the famous saying of the Prophet of Islam,sallallahu alaihi wa salaam, “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is the gate.”
In my limited exposure to Pentecostalism, circa 200 hours of listening to some Godly words from Professor Samuel Oloruntoba, some bros I knew in Nigeria, such as Bishop Titus Akanabu and Bro Akonte Braide, and of course all the marvellous folk at Umuahia, and all the Pentecostals that I have ever met here in Sweden, such as Christer Roshamn and the laity everywhere, have always been very educated - at least in the New Testament which they give the impression of knowing forwards and backwards. However, when it comes to the so-called “Old Testament - the Tanakh and the Torah, well let me just quote this critical little excerpt from Chapter 3 of Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years By Professor Israel Shahak :
“Contrary to the Mishnah, the rest of the Talmud and Talmudic literature is written in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic, the latter language predominating in the Babylonian Talmud. Also, it is not limited to legal matters. Without any apparent order or reason, the legal discussion can suddenly be interrupted by what is referred to as 'Narrative' (Aggadah) a medley of tales and anecdotes about rabbis or ordinary folk, biblical figures, angels, demons, witchcraft and miracles.15 These narrative passages, although of great popular influence in Judaism through the ages, were always considered (even by the Talmud itself) as having secondary value. Of greatest importance for classical Judaism are the legal parts of the text, particularly the discussion of cases which are regarded as problematic. The Talmud itself defines the various categories of Jews, in ascending order, as follows, The lowest are the totally ignorant, then come those who only know the Bible, then those who are familiar with the Mishnah or Aggadah, and the superior class are those who have studied, and are able to discuss the legal part of the Gemara. It is only the latter who are fit to lead their fellow Jews in all things.”
Note 15: “ The Mishnah is remarkably free of all this, and in particular, the belief in demons and witchcraft is relatively rare in it , The Babylonian Talmud, on the other hand, is full of gross superstitions.