The village where mystery Bible fell!
Olusanjo Amoo
Posted to the Web: Sunday, May 15, 2005
"Men of Ephesus, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?"
Unfortunately for Araya, while the "whole world" knows of the open Bible and letter that fell from heaven, Araya is not the custodian of that mysterious treasure today!
Although Christianity was first introduced to Onitsha on the Niger in 1857, the missionary activities were confined mainly to the Eastern part of the River Niger. Consequently, the first recorded missionary visit to Isoko did not take place until 1911, although a parsonage had been established at Patani on the Niger, very close to Isoko, many years before then. In that year, Reverend H. Proctor and Reverend J. D. Aitken, both of whom were based in Patani, visited Isoko.
This was followed by subsequent missionary visits, particularly by Rev. Aitken. There was much enthusiasm about the Christian religion among the Isoko people. From these visits, two things happened. First, Reverend Proctor and Reverend Aitken urged the Church Missionary Society (C M S) to take steps to open up the Isoko area through missionary work. Consequently, Reverend Aitken was commissioned by the Niger Mission to undertake a survey of the Isoko area with a view to constituting it into a separate district.
Following a meeting held in July 1914 on Aitken’s report by the Executive Committee of the Niger Mission, Isoko was constituted into a district with Reverend J. D. Aitken as the Pastor in charge and Oleh as headquarters.
Second, a large number of lsoko became converted and were visiting Patani in large numbers. Although these converts were illiterate, they bought Bibles in English, which they put under their pillows "as a witness to God that they have left heathenism and have joined God’s company", as Reverend Aitken put it.
Mr. Isara Ewhoboh of Araya was one of those who bought these Bibles. Indeed, whenever Reverend Aitken visited Araya, he stayed in Isara’s house. He was allocated a room in the house and its windows had to be blocked to shut out mosquitoes. That was not the only evidence of lsara’s commitment to his new faith. He was able, through prayers, to heal the sick and perform other miracles.
Mystery Bible Found
In Araya, during the rainy season when the River Niger overflows its banks, a greater part of the farmlands are flooded as Lake Aya is linked to the River Niger by a creek and the Ase River. The flood comes about late August every year, after the usual lull in the rainy season, always referred to as "August Break". Prior to the flood of the year 1914, Mr. lsara and his followers had been advised through dreams to expect a wonderful blessing/miracle from God to Araya. What was not known, however, was the form the blessing or miracle would take.
However, as was usual annually, the community was hastily harvesting all crops. Every late August, people who had farms in the farmland called "Igbedi" would move their harvests by head from the farms to the creek which links Aya to the Ekregbesi creek, which in turn leads to the Ase River and the River Niger.
The creek had lavish banks of shining gritty yielding white sand. People stacked their yams in serrated order right on the sands or on top of heaped yam stakes. After staging on the creek, it was less laborious to take it home by boat. To beat the floods, one Mrs. Ofuonwaikie Esievo and other women went to Igbçdi, a farmland situated on the bank of the creek and is about three kilometers from Araya. They were to ferry home their yams because the flood was swiftly catching up on the yams stacked up on the sands. They hurried up on that fateful morning all soaked to the skin to take off another load. But a surprise laid in wait for Mrs. Esievo and her mates. What did they find?
On the yams, wide open was a large Bible and a written sheet, supposed to be a letter! But the wonder of wonders, the book was quite dry though everything was dripping wet. They surmised that whoever placed the book there did so only a moment earlier. So, they called, shouted, hollered for the owner but nobody was anywhere! Now Ofuonwaikie and the other women were pagans. However, knowing what miracles the Bible was doing in the hands of Isara, the first Christian, they apprehensively protected the book as best as they could, and carried it home along with the yams. There could have been no sense in leaving the book to the mercy of the rain and the flood. Back home, Ofuonwaikie still dripping wet, took the mysterious book to Isara. Isara brought out his own! Who then in a totally illiterate society, and almost pagan society, could abandon a Bible in the bush, in the rain? The mystery deepened.
Unfortunately, Rev. J. D. Aitken, the newly-appointed pastor at OLEH, had gone on leave and it was natural, therefore, for Isara to insist that the Bible be kept until Reverend Aitken came back from his vacation. After all, they were close. But these pleas were ignored by others, who were motivated by the possibility of reward rather than acting in furtherance of the Christian faith.
The debate attracted Araya Community elders and after a prolonged meeting, it was agreed that the book should be taken to Patani to Rev. Henry Proctor. The delegation which was led by Isara consisted of Ofuonwaikie’s husband, Esievo, and her cousin, Emeriovo on the one hand, and Messrs. Akanabia and Ekeriama who were members of Isara’s church on the other hand.
Pastor Shaken
From Isara’s account, when Rev. Proctor saw the Bible and read the letter, he was greatly shaken. He advised Isara to go home and come back in a fortnight’s time, when he, Isara, would be told the contents of the letter and what blessings to expect. One can imagine Isara’s bewilderment and dilemma. After all the rancour at Araya over the book, their tedious journey on water by canoe had achieved no immediate results. They were sent by the entire Araya Community, Christians and pagans alike, and the question of spending two weeks in Patani did not therefore arise. But there was a problem! They could not leave the Bible and letter with Rev. Proctor in the circumstances.
As the leader of the delegation,Isara approached Rev. Proctor demanded that if they must come back in fourteen days’ time, he should give the letter and the Bible back to them to take to Araya and return with them later. Rev. Proctor could not stand this effrontery. While still shaken by the sight of the Bible and letter, he ordered Isara to get out of his house, or, he would order his servants to push him down. Knowing fully well that a fall from such a height could only mean instant death, Isara was amazed that a whiteman professing Christianity and preaching love could ever dream of such a wicked thing. Since there were no options left, Isara together with his delegation returned to Araya downcast. They returned two weeks later as arranged only to be told that Rev. Proctor had left for England on vacation.
Isara did not lose hope as Rev. Aitken his friend was yet to return from leave. On his return, Isara contacted him and related the whole matter, only for Rev. Aitken to confirm that there was nothing he could do. Rev. Proctor was his boss.
Isara became completely disillusioned, and lost faith in the Church which he brought to Araya. Accordingly, he formed his own religious society known as Oghene Ovo (Only God). He never came back to the Church until his death on November 26, 1956. However, whatever may have prompted Proctor’s action could not in any way disturb God’s pre-ordained miracles and blessings for Araya. After Isara, Araya has produced Evangelist Cornelius Adam lgbudu, and many sons and daughters who God is using in "mysterious ways.
What nobody knows is whether Rev. Proctor took the Bible with him on that journey in 1914 or whether it formed part of his personal effects which were later sent back to England after his death. One may never know what actually happened. But what is significant is the fact that a Holy Bible, from "nowhere", landed on the yams of a pagan woman in Araya, in those early days of Christianity in Isoko. It was later said that while Rev. Proctor was on his way to England by boat, he fell sick and died. He did not reach home.
Monument
"In spite of constant references to the ARAYA HOLY BIBLE, its import was virtually forgotten until 1986 when Mr. Lawson Eghagha wrote the community about his dream on the Bible and the need for Araya people to identify the spot and do something there", Chief Jesse Owodo Osima, who built a multi-denominational chapel at the Araya Holy Bible site, told Sunday Vanguard.
Osima went on: "I was particularly touched by the contents of the letter which to me were spiritually inspired, As the chairman of the community, I set up the machinery to identify the spot and acquire the entire land surrounding it for the community. It was not an easy task determining the spot because only a few of those who were involved are still alive today. However, those concerned were all taken to the area individually to identify the exact spot on which the BIBLE fell. Whereas all pointers were to the land, different spots which were a few feet apart, the greater number of elders pointed to a particular spot.
"This spot was cleared by the community only to find six aged plants of Glyphaea Brevis
(Aleze), so placed that if you joined them, they gave a picture of a book wide open. They were
the only plants found there amidst the elephant grass. It was then we became convinced that
God was still performing His wonders. "It was at this point that I became convinced that the fallen BIBLE from heaven at ARAYA is a living thing. It cannot therefore be a myth or legend!
"This conviction led me to building the monument on the site. The sculpture portrays a Bible, wide open, on top of yams stacked on sand. "The monument was completed in January, 1988, and was unveiled and sanctified on Saturday April 2, 1988".
Boy circumcised in womb
As if to confirm that Araya is truly a town of miracles, four years ago (2001), another mystery happened with the birth of a strange boy. He was circumcised from the womb besides having other spectacular features which include his face which was like that of an old man and two toes on each of both feet joined together.