When village people block marriage processes because of Osu Caste System)
A member of PNUR Family and Partners WhatsApp Platform sent the following to me. -
Good morning sir. I need counseling for an Igbo brother whose marriage proposal is being rejected not by the sister but by the eldest son of the family on the ground that he is an osu.
I have his permission to use it for public discourse.
For the sake of clarity on the side for those who may not understand the subject, let me do some explanation first.
Osu Caste system – Before the coming of Western Civilization to Africa, there was an ancient practice in Igbo land and I believe also in other parts of Africa when people dedicated themselves to a particular deity. That means that this person is marked as the property of a particular deity. These deity in most cases is the god of the community. There are a number of reasons that could lead to this.
By general consent. Just like the Lord Jesus Christ said, the community unanimously agree to dedicate this person to the community god for him or her to serve as a priest or priestess before their shrine. This is the same a father will dedicate his child to serve as a pastor. We see this when Hanna dedicated Samuel to serve as a priest under Eli. 1Sam1&2
The person is offered as a living sacrifice on the altar of the said god to appease the god or to seek his favor. In the olden days some of these people could be killed like every other animal as a sacrifice and others are left alive to serve the priest of the altar as bond-slaves for life. This is the background of the word, Outcast. Unfortunately as time progressed, all of them were rated as Outcasts.
A person may willing dedicate himself as a property of the said deity on the altar in the presence of the priest. This often happens when the person has too many enemies and he is afraid that they may kill him and take his land. When he dedicates himself to the shrine, everything he has will belong to the god of that altar and whoever attacked him, should prepare to contend with the deity.
A person who is born from the family of one who was an Osu, automatically becomes one. So this status could be inherited
These people don’t get married outside their circle because they are considered sacred people. If a woman from outside this circle sleeps with or gets married to one of them, she immediately belonged to them. The practice was that her family will not accept dowry or they too will become the property of the deity.
If they lay hands on you or you have any close contact with them, you are automatically one of them unless you carry out a specified sacrifice to redeem yourself. They have their animals and farmlands which people avoided for the sake of incurring the anger of the gods. They served as law enforcement officers to those deities and would cease the properties of defaulters.
In fact, people that are not Osu, took titles like, Osu-Agwu and Nwaosu indicating that they were untouchable or consecrated people. In those days it was considered a special honor to belong to the deity and people avoided them.
When civilization came, what was considered a special privilege is now vilified and condemned by religious people. Allegiance shifted from those gods to the God of Christians. Those gods were backward but the God of the Christians is progressive. What was considered a special protection is now seen as limitation. There was a shift.
There was another class that is known as “Ohu” which means bond slave. These are people captured during wars and they serve as slaves and they are cursed never to have equal rights with freeborn children. We see something similar to this in Joshua Chapter 9.
You are now under a curse: You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God." They answered Joshua, "Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you." So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the Lord at the place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this day Josh 9:23-27NIV
They were never to aspire for leadership in all their generations but were sentenced to be servants. There were often stories of heartbreak when a young man fell in love with a girl, only to discover that they were not permitted to marry just because they were separated by this situation. This at times led to suicide and others fled their home land to places where they would be accepted as normal human beings as others.
In most Anambra State and Delta Igbo communities, some of these Osu people were the first to embrace Christianity and even grew up to become priests and pastors in Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church and early Evangelical Churches like ECWA. They were taken abroad by the white men and they returned as educated and important persons. This created a problem because the society still looked at them from the view point of their heathen background. Administrative bottle necks forced people to submit to them.
When people gave their life to Christ, there was still the struggle on how to relate with them. In one church a family refused to receive the Holy Communion because the priest was an Osu. Pastor began to have problems when two Christian converts were refused marriage rite because the community they came from saw one of them as Osu, or outcast as they have turned out to be called in general.
What should our Christian response be in this matter?
An Osu is dedicated to an idol. A Christian is dedicated to God. We had this situation in the bible.
For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 1 Thess 1:9NIV
The Thessalonians who turned to believe the gospel were firstly serving idols and that made their repentance outstanding
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor 6:9-11NIV
The bible is clear that among those we now know as the believers to whom Apostle Paul wrote those letters were once idol worshipers. The difference now is that they have embraced Christ as savior.
There was a time the believers faced such questions and this is what the bible has to say,
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Cor 5:16-17NIV
Unfortunately, in some Christian circles these people who have turned to Christ are stigmatized and denied marriage rites. Anyone who understands that once someone gives his life to Christ, he is no longer a slave or property of any other God, but of Christ Jesus will not stigmatize these people.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Cor 6:19-20NIV
Our redemption is not only from sin but from any other kind of legal transaction that dedicated us to satan or any other idols. So when an Osu, Umeh, Diala or whatever name it is called in your community, comes to Christ, you must no longer regard him as devil’s property, but a property of Jesus Christ.
The angle of covenants
There is another angle to this; even though this person has denied the devil and his kingdom, satan does not just walk away but will put forth a fight. The evil spirits from these altars attack people as masquerades in the dream. They make appearances to people in faraway countries and can strike their victims with madness, cause failure at every point of endeavor, loss of memory, accidents and many other kinds of infirmities just to regain their loyalty. They are among what some people regard as spirit spouses. I discussed this in one of my books on this subject. The reason people call them spirit spouse is because they block marriages of their targets. The fact is that by the terms of the covenants of some of them, these humans were supposed to live single without marriages all their life and to serve on their altars.
Unfortunately these covenantal terms are not written down and so the people don’t even know where their problem is coming from.
When some these people come to church for the first time, they are accepted like every other person. This is principally because many pastors don’t understand the principles of covenants, curses and deliverance. The processes the pastors and priests know is just to add people to church membership and very little about spiritual terms of covenants.
That is why we at Door of Hope Christian Center and School for Deliverance and Spiritual advocate proper deliverance and liberation processes for believers in Christ Jesus. One of such is Baptism by immersion.
Baptism is actually an initiation process into Christ, hence,
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ Gal 3:27NIV
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Rom 6:3-4NIV
That is also why we encourage people to follow due process to destroy family altars and terminate the ancient covenants that bound them and those demons from their generations. Many Christians in the city still have unresolved issues with the heathen altars from their home towns. The bible instructs that we should do our best to destroy those altars and erect a proper one to the Lord.
Unfortunately most churches don’t know about this and the result is that most of these people are involved in endless battle with those demons. The worse side of it is that they don’t know where the battle is coming from because they were not part of those that established those idolatrous covenants and there is no written documents to address them. If due process is followed, every hidden covenants can be addressed and cancelled.
Some people out of frustration have decided to take actions contrary to these issues outside due process and the result is what we read in 2Samuel 21:1-16. Three years of famine and unexplained hardship.
What should be our attitude when traditional people persecute or try to stand on our way in marriage matters because of our belief as Christians?
The funny thing I noticed is that these communities don’t complain when people get involved in premarital sex with whomever. They only stand up when they want to settle down in a legal marriage. Some of these people that will oppose this marriage do every day businesses with the supposedly Osu people. They even attend the same village meeting, church and market with them. It is only ignorance that makes them to believe that it is only in legal marriage that they are in danger. In fact, some are currently suffering from the consequences of broken hidden covenants and they don’t know it.
With regard to the matter before us currently, I have these to say -
I will suggest that the Church should first follow the path of dialogue and try to explain to the family the truth. Once this has been done and they are still proving difficult, then do the following.
The Church must stand on the ground of truth and support these people and do everything within legal power that these people are not frustrated beyond their strength. Some ladies have grown old without marriage because of this wickedness.
Don’t rule out legal action. The Osu Caste system is officially banned in most parts of the world and Nigeria is included. It is a punishable offense by the law to discriminate against someone because you believe he is an outcast. In an extreme case, sue the person constituting the threat and claim damages. This is can open their eyes to the implication of their actions
Go ahead and contract the marriage. The law permits any person 18 years and above to take decisions about his/her life without consulting parents, if need be. That means that the man and the woman can proceed with their marriage if the family of either side raises Osu Caste as ground why they will not endorse the marriage
Secure court marriage. They can proceed to court marriage and the court marriage is legal marriage any time or any day.
Pronounce matrimonial blessings on the couple. The Pastor of any church have the legal right to pronounce matrimonial blessings on the couple because they are backed by the law to do so.
In the case which our brother brought before us, it is even less serious. The person that is not comfortable with the marriage should be ignored and another person should pay his part.
Let me sound a note of warning here.
The pastor should be sure that these people wanting to get married are born again according to bible standards. Place them in prayer as they go through the process. Some people have employed diabolic means to harm them just to create the impression that their gods is punishing them.
These matters are discussed in details in my books,
COVENANTS: How THEY AFFECT PEOPLE
CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED TO THE FAMILY TREE
HOW TO OVERCOME SPIRIT HUSBAND AND WIFE PROBLEMS
There are all available as soft copy PDF on our bookshop
www.bookshop.pnurnigeria.org pnurnigeria@gmail.com, +2349092862555
Let me have your reactions
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Pastor Emma N J Nwosu is the international President of Prayer Network for Universal Revival PNUR. He is also the founding Rector of School for Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare. He has authored more than thirty books on the subject of Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare
He is international acclaimed speaker in conferences. He is the chief host of PNUR International Prayer and Revival Conference and has traveled to marry countries spreading revival fire.
He and his wife Joy Emmanuel pasture Door of Hope Christian Center Port Harcourt Nigeria. They are blessed with four God loving children.
Peace Emmanuel and Kassey Emmanuel are currently in active ministrry
Contact him on WhatsApp +2348035724526 pnurnigeria@gmail.com
Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com
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