Thursday, November 15, 2018

WHO IS THIS JEWESUN, “THE LAMB,” AND“ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD,” IN IFA RELIGION?


Unknown to many, the Ifa religion acknowledges a mysterious figure called Jewesun.  Inexplicably referred to as Odo Agutan (Lamb), and pointedly declared to be the “only begotten son of God,” Jewesun reportedly came to earth to show “truth and heavenly kingdom… and destroy the work of the devil.”  This Jewesun refused the counsel that he should sacrifice to the devil so as to have a soft-landing and smooth ministry on earth, choosing rather to forcefully confront the devil and destroy his work.  (Here, and only here in Ifa religion is Esu pointedly declared to be evil).  Jewesun’s ministry was eventually cut short after three years at the instigation of the devil. Being killed, he however rose up on the third day!  All these literally the pure Gospel truth contained in Ifa religion?
The problem, as previously mentioned, is that the obviously corrupted Ifa religion in the same breath, still eulogizes Esu and encourages he be given his due honour and sacrifices!
It is obvious that it is the precious name of the Lord Jesus that was corrupted to be Jewesun (which is the literary interpretation obtained when the name Jesus is stretched in the Yoruba language – “Je-’e-su”).  However, as is usual in African Traditional Religions  (ATR), some mythological story was concocted to explain the name.  But that is not of interest here at this time.
The big question is: how can ATR adherents hold to two contradictory worldviews at the same time?  It is clear that they at some time had access to the pure detailed gospel, which is now corrupted. While we certainly don’t want to promote a book riddled with confusion to our readership, we present some extracts on the personality of Jewesun, as described in Mr Osamaro’s book on Ifism:

“The Coming of Jewesun to Earth

It was also Oyeku meji who revealed how Jewesun came to this world.  The awo who made divination for him before he left heaven was called:
“Bi a ba kpe oku ni kponkpo
Alayiye, looma Daun
Odifa fun Odo agutan
Tinshe okonbi omo olodumare
Obe laa arinrin igbatema omo araye”
Here, Jewesun was pronounced the “Lamb” and “only begotten Son of the Almighty.”

The narrative continues:

“The son of God who was called Jewesun in heaven was told to make sacrifice with a sheep and red cloth in order to survive the plot that was going to be hatched by human beings against him on earth.  He was told also to give a he-goat to Esu which he bluntly refused to do because he had vowed to come to the world to destroy the forces of evil represented by Esu.

“He however agreed to make sacrifice with the sheep and red cloth.  The awo told him that if he did not make the sacrifice to Esu, it was the agents of Esu that would kill him and shorten the span of his life and missionary works on earth.  Since he had however made sacrifice with the sheep, he would wake up after three days and his fame would outlive him, after returning to heaven.

“When he got to the world, as he was about to begin his work of preaching the objectivity of truth, the way people live in heaven and the love of God for his creatures, Esu appeared to him in a dream and warned him that not even God himself had succeeded in eliminating his (Esu’s) influence from the entire planetary system.  Esu told him in the dream that if he did not give him a he-goat he would have himself to blame because he would infiltrate his followership to destroy him.  Jewesun once again refused to serve Esu on the ground that goodness could never surrender to evil. Jewesun was actually killed three years after he began his work on earth.”

IFISM, The complete work of Orunmila.  C. Osamaro Ibie.Pg 101-102

If all this is actually what Ifa teaches, then the adherents need to do a thorough soul-searching!  On their internet chat groups, several adherents of the Ifa religion express frustration at the concept of Jewusun as espoused by Ibie; but they  could not fault neither his citation or credentials. They will have to either fault this narrative and expunge it from the cited Oyeku meji, or follow it all the way to its original pure source: The Holy Bible!

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