The other is the Mount Iropfio that is described as “7 miles to heaven“. Iropfio is a homestead in Ivbiaro. A road leads from the last house of the homestead along a 7 mile stretch that ends in “heaven“. Our people translate the word erinmwin as heaven. “Heaven” here simply means the abode of the dead and not the opposite of hell. The other meaning of erinmwin is Mystery or everything that is above human understanding. Death of course is a mystery, and as such erinmwin. A person, who dies, leaves the realm where we can understand him/her to a realm that is outside human understanding or erinmwin. A synonym for erinmwin can be “MYSTERY”; however this would make its analysis for the generality of people more difficult. We hope that we can prepare people to receive directly, divine revelations about Anubode.

The supernatural beings transfigure or metamorphose as well. Human beings may change during initiation on the Mount where the person goes through the sublimation process spiritually, physically, or both. This point is emphasized by the fact that people who wish to go and view Mount Iropfio are warned not to stare at the Mount or “ete” in local language, because it undergoes changes from time to time. If one should stare and it changes, the person must keep watching until it changes to what it was when the person started to stare. Any skeptic is welcome to experiment to find out what happens to those who fail to heed the warning.

Okenanubode is enveloped by growth of shrubs that shields it as if by a curtain that protect the ordinary person from looking on what could blind them or transform them. Therefore, inhabitants of Ughoton hear vivid conversations, vehicular noises, and so on, the sources of which they cannot regard or comprehend – i.e. the source is erinmwin.

Middle Passage

Most people emphasize that each Mount is the middle passage to other universes. This in other words means that the souls of those who die pass through this Mount on their way to the adjacent universe. This is sometimes misunderstood that the dwelling in erinmwin is only for the dead. Consequently people are even reluctant to talk about Ughoton or Ivbiaro, the larger communities where the Mounts are located. Most are not comfortable with a person from those areas. Some relate to me with suspicion when they hear of my involvement in the goings on at Ughoton and Ivbiaro

We have narratives about some persons actually “stepping” into an adjacent universe in those areas (and elsewhere in Edo State). I am gathering stories on this with the aim of investigating the truth or otherwise of the legends. Just as there can be no smoke without fire, so also there can be no legends without some actual event resembling it having happened.

Orinmwin means corpse; erinmwin is not limited to the dead or orinmwin, but everything or beings that are not visible or that are above human understanding. Okenanubode is also where the spirits and souls of the living on earth dwell among erinmwin (they themselves being erinmwin).

Divine Revelation Of Mystery Of Anubode Is The Key

The proper integration of the divine revelation of the mystery of Anubode into our knowledge of the universe would go a long way to filling the metaphysical black hole in our psyche or soul that is the main goal of, or justification for all my investigations as the Oboiro. I stated the thesis thus, “We have no control over our lives individually or otherwise, because a [metaphysical] “black hole” exists in our psyche, heritage, soul, life, etc. as members of the human race. This made us incapable of organizing our lives rationally.“ TAKE OVER CONTROL: Without Physical Violence (TOC p 7)

It is on record that founders of world religions got divine revelations on Mounts; why not in Africa? Others such as Oba Ewuare the Great left traces of his exploits at Ughoton. He did not write books as he had not yet gained access to writing. He left what was current in his days, namely shrines, and ebo or mojo for which he is famous. These confirm him as a magician at par with other Prophets and miracle workers who got revelations from the Mounts in their domicile. He would have been a Prophet as well as being a magician.

Those who live near these mounts tell stories that suggest divine revelations. My writing since my experience of 13th March 2010 has changed due to the divine revelation that I had on that day at Ughoton. Failure of our ancestors to invent the alphabet has been our handicap in Africa. The Asians do not have exactly A, B, C, yet they could represent ideas in written form. This is what had been lacking. We hope that the message of Mounts Anubode and Iropfio will be disseminated in written form for the benefit of humankind as we progress.

By R. Dahra Hargaalga Snr. (The oboiro).

PS
Send me reports on Holy Mounts in your area to oboiro@hargaagla.com

Abstract

ARUOKUN refers to the UNIFYING presence of Osa (God) on Okenanubode (mount Anubode), whence flows the power for miracles. The rivers at the Mounts in Edo state underscore this. Anubode refers to the Mount according to its nature. The full name is Okenanubode n’ erinmwin na gbokele, meaning Mount Anubode where erinmwin as supernatural and transcendental beings create, accelerate, reverse or change destinies of individuals, nations, and the world. OKENANUBODE is a compound word formed from Oke (mount) and Anubode. Our people translate the word erinmwin as heaven. Most people emphasize that each Mount is the middle passage to other universes. Okenanubode is also where the spirits and souls of the living on earth dwell among erinmwin (they themselves being erinmwin). Divine Revelation Of Mystery Of Anubode Is The Key

DETAILS

I have as the Oboiro , identified a spiritual fountain or hallowed grounds from which Civilization flows. They are the holy Mounts in Edo State of Nigeria. Aruokun, Okenanubode, (these are defined below), and ẹzẹ n’emimikpọ (river Emimikp&#7885 among others in Ekaladerhan/Izoduwa Town or Ughoton (Gwato to European explorers) are part of that fountain. Another of the configuration is at Ivbiaro (Iropfio) with its Almi (river). These are the equivalents of Mounts Sinai, Arafat, Hermon, etc.

ARUOKUN refers to the UNIFYING presence of Osa (God) on Okenanubode (mount Anubode), whence flows the power for miracles. ARU’OKUN means performing theater of the Waters or Oceans that we call OKUN. Okun is one among Ihẹn, namely divine primordial, or transcendental ancestors who existed before the advent of human beings on earth.. Okun is the incubator of all living things. All earthly ancestors of humankind incubated therein before they populated the earth. Okun therefore is the mother of all humanity. Every mortal with a divine mission must obtain permission from Okun by way of baptism. The rivers at the Mounts in Edo state underscore this. Mount Iropfio is on a solid rock; yet a mystery stream flows from within it due to the activities of the erinmwin that dwell on the Mount.

Mystery Of Mount

ANUBODE is a state of the universe where events are in flux, such that events are emanating, reversing, changing, and becoming something else – the engine room of creation as it were. Anubode refers to the Mount according to its nature. The full name is Okenanubode n’ erinmwin na gbokele, meaning Mount Anubode where erinmwin as supernatural and transcendental beings create, accelerate, reverse or change destinies of individuals, nations, and the world. They are also creating the destinies of those who are to incarnate or reincarnate on earth. Every human being on earth is represented in Okenanubode. These representatives are our souls and ehi (destiny or guardian spirit).

Anubode is universe-wide, such that the mounts are thresholds where it has been accessed at different regions on earth. There is the physical Mount as a location or Okenanubode; there is the spiritual or metaphysically sense which extends throughout the universe. Anubode is coextensive with the universe; it can be accessed more easily from certain regions than others such as on Holy Mounts. Hence, Mount Sinai was home to God, an erinmwin that lives in Anubode; while Okenanubode is home to other erinmwin (supernatural and transcendental beings explained below).

OKENANUBODE is a compound word formed from Oke and Anubode. Oke means “hill” or mount in Benin Language spoken by my ethnic group of Great Benin. There are many stations in Anubode; some are Sinai and Arafat mentioned already. Another is ogua (hall) of Oghenosa – “Oghenosa” is the glory as the emanation in which Osa (God) dwells. Ancestors of humankind who departed this world without physical death dwell there as well. These are those who did not falter, stumble, or fall on Okenanubode. They attained salvation as reward for not judged as having done evil on balance over many reincarnations in flesh and blood.

Continued in PART II

Mount Anubode is called Okenanubode (or Oke n’ Anubode in Benin Language spoken in Nigeria; Oke means Mount). There is a visible physical Mount Anubode located at Ughoton (Gwato, Nigeria), and an invisible metaphysical universal Mount Anubode that the physical represents – both are two manifestations of the one.
The metaphysical is the mount where the initiations of souls or human spirits go through a process of initiation from the lower into higher transcendent world. Anubode therefore is a state of existence in a separate universe. The universe is not of this world, though accessible spiritually from this world. One has to have been to Mount Anubode spiritually before starting to comprehend its mystery.
Mount Anubode is where they dwell, supernatural, invisible, transcendental Beings, primordial ancestors, aliens – extraterrestrial beings, etc. Okenanubode is also where the spirits and souls called ehi of the living on earth dwell. The invisible spirits and ancestors guide the souls, spirits, and destiny of the living. They guide human destiny because the souls have corresponding physical bodies that they belong to. The soul or spirit and the person to be born are linked at conception.
In spite of this inherent link, information does not flow between them after birth, until the appropriate relationship has been reestablished. The process of reestablishing the relationship is the initiation process. The link between the soul and the physical body breaks at the death of the physical body.

Physical Mount Of Initiation

One may go through a physical initiation or “initiation of the HEAD” so that the initiation of the spirit or ehi can commence. Such an initiation ritual would be the engagement of the visible that leads to an invisible initiation of the invisible spirit.

Accessing Anubode is analogous to leaving the world of the living for the world of spirits and ancestors to return with messages from yonder dwellers. Some of the spirits and ancestors belong to living human bodies, while others now exist without belonging to any physical bodies.

A parlance in Benin Language (spoken by the Benins of Nigeria), is that Oboiro “dies” and goes into the “world of the dead” from where he returns to life with messages. This is the oboiro method of divination. There is a mix-up here in the minds of the unschooled or neophyte who misunderstands as dwelling in erinmwin to be limited to the dead. The correct think is that everything and beings that are not visible or that are above human understanding are erinmwin.

Anubode is a higher or transcendental world that is different from the astral, witchcraft, and voodoo.

The Oboiro as medium is not the same as being a priest of vodoun religion where the priest is called a houngan; houngan as medium is personification of a zombie, or corpse without a spirit. Oboiro is never devoid of own soul or spirit. The initiation of the houngan includes being literarily buried in a grave for days in a state of suspended animation. He then rises as zombie or corpse without a spirit. (Microsoft Encarta) The Oboiro goes through lives experiences while being guided by the invisible ancestors who dwell on the Mount.

By R. Dahra Hargaalga Snr. (The Oboiro)

Africa is both literarily and figuratively the sick baby of the world in spite of being the origin of human kind. This is basically true also for all territories administered by Africans in the Diaspora.

The source of the deficiency is not in our stars or genes, but in the initiation rituals and potions that we ingest from childhood. “The rituals, potions, and hallucinogens, coupled with voodoo, witchcraft, magic, hypnotism, etc. would make any member of any race (not just Africans or Blacks) incapable of certain mental or intellectual capabilities. Fools or stupid people are not more among black people than others subjected to the same spells are.” (TAKE OVER CONTROL [TOC] p 12) The effect of this combination would not have been so lasting, but for the fact that we are shut out of the AVATAR.

We read little or nothing about our Avatar or logos (divine wisdom present in either our African language or ancestry). We read only of deified persons, heroes, or heroines and mythological images of Africa. “ANCESTOR” is the omnibus for all beings that existed in ancient past or dead parents. No one focuses on the Avatars or logos that distinguished themselves among ancestors. Their lives prove that one’s head is the true bastion in life. These are the roots of our religion.

We have Avatar in IZODUWA as for example. He is one whose personality is Divine Wisdom, whose immanence is explained in oral theology. He also could replicate himself.

Ughoton (GWATO in Edo State of Nigeria) is the village where he transfigured. The territory described is recognized today by both UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) and the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a historical monument. People still live there. The land is however not famous as a hallowed ground; this is in spite of it being recognized by most people that have been to the place as either the intersection of universes or the gate or threshold to ERINMWIN (the supernatural, incomprehensible, invisible and transcendental realms, Beings, forms, language, etc.) Such land in a sense is one of our ancestors.

Basis Of Our Religion
The population of our Ancestors is not homogeneous. There are avatars and logos among them. We were being shut out of thinking about these and relating to them in a progressive way. Not relating to them as vexatious spirits that must be appease or placated continuously.

We have been taught as colonized people to think that God is the synonym for Osa (abbreviation of Osanobua). Osanobua is a compound word formed from Osa n’Obua, meaning Osa the founder. One Osa founded the world. This is the one who strew or broadcast the primordial seeds of everything that grows all over land, oceans, and air. Another came to establish prosperity after the world had become uninhabitable by our primordial ancestors. This is the one that begot Olokun for example whom He appointed to administer prosperity on earth.

I cannot as Oboiro, unify in my mind and spirit, Osa and God as synonyms in the light of differences of Osa vis-à-vis God. (E.g. God having one child and Osa having many, God being jealous and Osa being non-jealous, God sacrificed his only begotten son and Osa cannot make sacrifices, etc.) These contradictions are reflected in our people being confounded and confused about our spiritual identity. The absence of a unified reference point in our psyche is the metaphysical black hole. There could be no foundation for a religious or uplifting spiritual experience. There being no unified reference point in the psyche, our people are spiritual wrecks who can neither lead nor be led! Result is that Africa and Africans at home or in the Diaspora remain the sick babies of the world. That the blacks, who make up about twenty percent (20%) of US population, make up about eighty percent (80%) of the prison population attests to this. More startling information are in my Book TOC.

The confusion arises from the contradictory roles of God or Osa in our lives. Believers in God has only one goal, namely to worship and love God. They leave everything in the hands of God who demands unconditional surrender. “Thou shall have no other God.” Compare that position to the African concept of the purpose of any relationships with the ancestors including the divine or supernatural. The overriding purpose is for one to maintain CONTROL over one’s DESTINY.

Theology of the African might be summed up as follows, “We are here to fulfill a personal agenda that one edited as one’s destiny before conception. The agenda requires that one develops appropriate skills and capabilities to achieve or rewrite one’s destiny. The ultimate result is that one realizes the potentiality to overcome death, and move to the next level of being, life, or existence. We will eventually leave this world at the last incarnation for the next without physical death. There is absolutely no role for Osa in the sense of God of Adam being in control of one’s life.
I was a confused person in my youth and before my divine initiation and wallowing in ignorance; I was one of those trying to manipulate Osa as if it were God thereby depriving myself of accessing the powers that sustain us. I was shut out of the religion that sustains me and the theology after which I could have ordered my life. The threshold to the roots of religion is at the unified reference point in our psyche as explained above.
By R. D. Hargaalga Snr. (The Oboiro)

I was brought up in the religion of our colonial masters in Nigeria. That is Christianity. However, I was initiated into a masquerade cult before age ten. I had experiences decades later in W. Berlin. They were nightmarish encounters with images of African masquerades. I embraced Nordic Runic mysteries in an attempt to solve the problem. This was the third alternative to Christianity and African masquerade. I liberated myself. My newly acquired divination capabilities opened the world of all mysteries to me. These were beyond world of spirits of African Tradition Religion. The insight into the supernatural world resulted in my engaging in activities in Nigeria when I returned. These led to my being ordained OBOIRO at about age fifty. This was in 1990. Oboiro is a medium, transcendental diviner, metaphysician, creator of EBO.

MAIN OBSTACLE

I divined that identifying with Adam and the curse on his descendants was the most powerful obstacle to the realization of the religion of my roots. I divined further the source of some of the inspirations that would turn out to be IZODUWA of a legend in Benin kingdom (Nigeria). I realized who he is recently as I am working at present on a UNIFIED METAPHYSICS OF FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS AND BASIC ATTITUDES OF THE AFRICAN. I moved consequently to Ughoton (GWATO in UNESCO records), the village where his transfiguration took place over a thousand years ago.

Izoduwa of ancient Benin Kingdom was born Ekaladerhan. He was the only son of Owodo his father, who was the ogiso (divine ruler or priest king of the kingdom then called Igodomigodo). His father who had many wives had him alone as child. He needed more. He sought solution from a diviner. Tradition tells us that the diviner was an oboiro. He was a fake because he relied on a device called OGUEGA for divination outside his person. This misled him into recommending that a human being be sacrificed. I would never advice that anything be sacrificed because my line of divination does not include the questions, “What should I sacrifice, and to whom?”

The fake oboiro advised that the first wife of ogiso be sacrificed. She manipulated the others in the delegation to the oracle to change the message, namely that Ekaladerhan rather than she should be sacrificed.

Ogiso ordered that the members of the delegation to the oracle should carry out in the jungle, the will of the oracle. The executors who knew the truth revealed it to him on the way and set him free. He was left to his destiny or fate in the jungle just as Moses was left to wander and die in the Sahara desert. He was thus cut off from the stream of living according to the dictates of the oracle.

He was left to his DESTINY. He had no adviser except his EHI (transcendental spiritual self, destiny, or controller of destiny accessible through one’s HEAD; guardian spirit). No one is really alone for any moment in life, because EHI was always present like one’s shadow.

He knew no peace until he realized the link between his head and his EHI. Revelation came to his consciousness immediately. He realized instantly that his destiny was in his own hands alone.

He decreed a new name for him which was IZODUWA, meaning “I choose the path of fortune”. He took over the control of his fate and changed it from that of one without direction, hope, or focus. His spiritual path transformed from the one determined by the oracle and mundane initiation and became the path of divine initiation that would result in fulfillment of the akhasẹ (logos) of that word Izoduwa. He started on the path of divine initiation that will conclude with him becoming an avatar as Izoduwa.

He found Eziza, the “old man” of the bush who initiated all would-be creators of entities, especially out of plants and reeds. The agents will nurture what the owner wills to fruition.

Izoduwa developed and attained the powers to communicate with the spirit or “destiny” of everything. This is the power that goes with becoming Oboiro. He hence learned the names of animals from them. Izoduwa could communicate with animals in their languages.

Izoduwa attained complete knowledge through transcendental or oboiro-divination. He could discern their destiny directly from source. He applied his powers to replicate him.

Izoduwa later metamorphosed to join avbe-osa by living this world for the next without physical death. People of the neighboring ethnic group observed one of his images with a staff descend from the sky amidst over four hundred deities. They asked the being what his name was and he answered, “Oduduwa”. They acclaimed the being their primordial ancestor.

Unlike Wodan, Moses, and Avatar of other lands, Izoduwa did not return in flesh and blood. His time has come as the deliverer now. He will guide through a different method of divination. This method is necessarily different from the one that led to his exile.

Meaning Of Divine Initiation Of Izoduwa

The real divine purpose of his being offered was to become an avatar that is to transform world history. We His descendants will follow his path of fortune and prosperity. Africa north and south of the Sahara desert produced the magic for those that rule the visible and invisible worlds. Recognizing Him and forming a team with Him now opened the threshold that shut us out from the religion of our roots.

By R. D. Hargaalga Snr. (The Oboiro)

I mentioned this concept in TAKE OVER CONTROL (TOC) as follows, “There is an annual festival in Benin Kingdom called IGUE FESTIVAL. The natives of Benin Kingdom anoint their heads and “pay homage” to it. Our people thank their collective heads annually during the festival for leading them through the preceding year successfully and without harm. Individual persons may perform a lesser ceremony any time of the year when an occasion warrants it, such as escaping uninjured or with minor injuries in an accident that claimed many lives. . . Thanksgiving proves Uhunmwun-agho (that “My Head is my ultimate focus deserving of my veneration”). .” (TOC p 65)

The reaction of the woman to avoiding being killed by a secretly placed bomb illustrates what I said. The issue now is the concept of self and the role of providence in the woman’s statement. I call it divine-HEAD what the woman called “our head”. The uncelebrated but true religion of the African is the UHUNMWUN-AGHO, meaning “Divine-HEAD alone is bastion of mastery of DESTINY on earth; it alone deserves veneration and thanksgiving.”

Many people including Africans do a lot to fortify the divine-head often without realizing it or acknowledging in. Any action taken by anyone to fortify one to meet one’s destiny is an act directed at the divine-head. The Benins (I am a Benin) attempt to affect the control of destiny by acting directly on the head. Baptism in every religion and other rituals performed elsewhere on the human head also serve the same purpose. It is clear from the above, that one should not allow every priest or spiritualist to fool around one’s head. It could make or mare your destiny.

This raises interesting questions such as about reincarnation. The head is born only once; so that one must necessarily begin with a new head in every incarnation.

Our people sometimes invoke their own heads to attack an identified human enemy. Is that a case of wanting one’s head to annihilate another’s head?

Some take oath in an attempt at proving innocence when accused, of lying for example. The person may in effect invoke the “head of all present” by saying worlds to the effect that the head of all those here present shall shut him/her from further progress in life if he/she was lying.

One may also pray that, “May your head bless me as my head shall bless you”.

In the light of the forgoing, what is it that shall be saved or go to hell fire? This illustrates the incompatibility of alien religions and ours.

I once was misled into writing about African Traditional Religion or Ancient African Religion and the like. (Some of my blog entries contain this.) I am now working on a UNIFIED METAPHYSICS OF FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS OF AFRICANS. I have discovered new grounds in the process by discovering a true religion – NOT Traditional Religion (African or otherwise). I am working at the most hallowed ground in West Africa in Benin Kingdom. The area in GWATO (southern Nigeria) is recognized by UNESCO as a world historic site.

We have allowed ourselves to be manacled by surrendering to those who want to compel us to thinking only about the African in Religion, philosophy, metaphysics, etc. rather than religion or metaphysics in African thoughts and ideas (the former is on “attitudes, traditional or primitive, good enough only for the African”, the latter is universal). The concept of being and the universe as advanced in the West may not be the correct one after all. The future will tell as world metaphysics unfolds.

(R. D. Hargaalga Snr. [The Oboiro], author of TAKE OVER CONTROL; Without Physical Violence - TOC)

“We have no control over our lives individually or otherwise, because a “black hole” exists in our psyche, heritage, soul, life, etc. as members of the human race. This made us incapable of organizing our lives rationally. …”

I suffer also from this metaphysical “black hole” in my heart and soul. I have been seeking a home grown, natural TRUTH that could fill the hole. Why “home grow?” People have been trying for over a thousand years to transfer religion and TRUTH to Africans. They applied physical violence as jihad. Others carried out “punitive expeditions” on us. Deceit and SPRA (Spiritual, Psychological, and Ritual Abuse) has persisted. Yet Africans remain the sick babies of the world, they suffer from haemorrhaging and malnutrition spiritually, economically, and otherwise. We have been shut out of TRUTH as has evolved over thousands of years of our natural history.

The world pointed to the logical type according to which the ideas in African were organized and named it “pre-logical attitudes” as, “ . . . a kind of thought in consequence of which objects, beings, phenomena can be, in a fashion, un-intelligible to us (i.e. Europeans and their descendants), both themselves and at the same time something other than themselves”. [Words in parenthesis supplied] (Lucien Lévi-Bruhl) My next attempt at filling the metaphysical black hole is to explicate the metaphysics of thoughts, ideas, attitudes, etc. inherent in the dynamics that Lévi-Bruhl pointed at as pre-logical. I found out the TRUTH of the religion of my roots.

We are now concerned about the nature of being and beings, existence, time and space, and causality as inheres in ideas and attitudes in Africa; i.e. seeing the metaphysics through the African mind. We should try as much as possible to maintain the ultimate underlying principles or theories that form the basis of Africans’ worldview about knowledge; that is the only way to rediscover the TRUTH of the religion of our roots.

Eminent scholars tried very hard in the past not to “confuse” readers in the international community by forcing the thoughts about “objects, beings, phenomena not to be both themselves and at the same time something other than themselves”. They ended up shutting readers and researchers out of the world that they tried to elucidate. Hence, I would be breaking from tradition in favour of truth and liberation of people from ignorance and bigotry. The product should be consistent internally while it might be inconsistent with that of the “civilized” logic in the world in which we Africans find ourselves in Africa and the world at large. The world should brace her therefore that she will be confronted with the stack reality of the mysteries in what an author once called the heart of darkness.

For the African, his/her spiritual emancipation depends on the truth that will be revealed. Our goal is to point out the way to eternal life in an adjacent world by metamorphosing from this one. The prospect of achieving that goal is already bothersome to the “scholar”; I know. However, if that scholar is an African whose roots are in Africa south of the Sahara, his/her sanity depends on it.

We should really be relying on divining TRUTH for ourselves to begin with as the metaphysics will recommend. The ultimate communication is through divination, which is by one’s soul, intellect, extra-sensory faculty, etc. contacting the supernatural to find out about the mysteries in the past, present, and future.

The religion that we will be discovering is based on miracles, sighting natural phenomena, and hearing injunctions publicly from the supernatural or Osa.

By R. D. Hargaalga Snr. (The Oboiro)

It is being canvassed by some that our religion is called Godianism. They define it as the religion based on direct communication with Osa or God. They include the indigenous religion of the Benins of Nigeria in Godianism. The Benins are descended from Idu Race of Africa. The Benins call themselves Edo. I am an Edo or Benin by birth and live by the MISNAMED religion. I am also an Oboiro; i.e. a diviner and medium among adherents. I write from personal experience and as an authority.

The Benins supposedly pray directly to Osa (which missionaries translated as God) without going through intermediaries (e.g. saints or prophets). I am challenging the claim that we worship and pray to God directly (or indirectly for that matter) without intermediaries; that claim is misleading, because GOD is no synonym for OSA. The Benins do not for example try to manipulate Osa to do those things which those created by God do. They instead rely on other agents (ancestors, spirits, Ebo, and deities) when they seek to INFLUENCE their destiny or fortune. Besides, the aboriginal adherents neither understood nor spoke any version of the English (or European) language; hence, they could not have anticipated the implications of agreeing that God is an English word for Osa.

The claim arising from confusing Osa for God has shut out people (including us) from the world of our religion as I shall show. Shutting outsiders out is bad enough; shutting our real selves out of understanding the religion natural to us has been devastating. We are now confounded! More importantly, our so-called educated people, leaders of thought, and priests are confused and are confusing everyone about what one believes, ought to believe, and what one worships and how.

The confusion arises from the contradictory purposes of having BOTH God or Osa in the same consciousness. Believers in God has only one goal, namely to worship and love God. They leave everything in the hands of God who demands unconditional surrender. “Thou shall have no other God.”Compare that position to the African concept of the purpose of any relationships with the divine or supernatural. The overriding purpose is for one to maintain CONTROL over one’s DESTINY. The elders emphasize that “ese ere Edo zo.” This statement means that the cardinal defining purpose of every religious service is offering sacrifices to appease the ancestors and other spirits.

One is overwhelmed by the observation that African ancestors and spirits were vexatious spirit exclusively, because appeasing them is the preoccupation of everyone. (Part of the goal of writing the book on the new covenant is to liberate the populace from this sort of bondage. The Book will come out soon.) The word often used to describe any interaction or worship was always to APPEASE the ancestors or spirits. The purpose otherwise of interacting with ancestors, gods, and goddesses would be to seek vengeance or to attack. Target could be a deity or an innocent person. The point should be made that it often depends on the agent or medium of attack.

Theology of Believers in Osa (or WAFOSA) did not include any duties or obligations to Osa. It centers on, “We are here to fulfill a personal agenda that one edited as one’s destiny. The agenda requires that one develops appropriate skills and capabilities to achieve or rewrite one’s destiny. The ultimate result is that one realizes the potentiality to overcome death, and move to the next level of being, life, or existence. We will eventually leave this world at the last incarnation for the next without physical death. There is absolutely no role for Osa in the sense of God of Adam in one’s life.

The overriding purpose is to seek protection through alliances if necessary. The need for alliances arises from the hostility of the world. The elders emphasize for example that “ese ere Edo zo.” This statement means that the cardinal defining purpose of every religious service is to influence destiny by offering sacrifices to appease the ancestors and other spirits.

Osa is coextensive with the universe; hence, humanbeings and Osa are never separate. The relationship is not between creator on one hand and those that He created on the other hand. Therefore, if there is no group of the created that is distinct from their creator, the created worshiping the creator does not arise. It follows that we are misunderstood, referring to us as WORSHIPING OUR CREATOR directly. We are not created as far as our cosmology goes; rather we are the extension of our supernatural origin from which we derive the coming into existence of our essence or soul. In other words, we are BEGOTTEN not created. A corollary of this is that we could neither have offended our source of existence nor fallen from its favor.

I had been wallowing in ignorance trying to manipulate Osa as if it were God thereby depriving myself of accessing the powers that sustain us. I was shut out of the religion that sustains me and the theology after which I could have ordered my life. I had what I called a metaphysical black-hole in my soul. (“TAKE OVER CONTROL: p 7)