An Ondo State-based pastor, Olabanjo Felix, who renounced Christianity and embraced Isese, an indigenous Yoruba spiritual tradition, has explained that the “deceit in Christianity” prompted him to abandon the faith to become an Ifa priest.
Felix, who spoke with Sunday PUNCH on Saturday, alleged that there was “no true pastor of the Bible in Nigeria”, adding that many pastors in the country had turned Christianity into personal and family businesses.
He said he became fed up with Christianity and what he described as the brainwashing of Christians by some pastors.
Felix, who previously founded the Image of God Evangelical and Prophetic Ministries in Ibaka, Oka Akoko area of the state, renounced Christianity and declared his allegiance to Isese in a video which went viral on Thursday.
Announcing his transition from Christian ministry to Ifá practice, the former cleric also revealed his new spiritual identity.
“I’m now Ifawamiri Aworanolodumare, Babalawo of Ifá,” he declared in the video.
Felix expressed gratitude to his new spiritual mentor, the Araba of Isara-Remo, Olusegun Aifuwape, and his spiritual sons for guiding him.
He maintained that he publicly announced his decision to stop people from continuing to address him as a pastor even after he had stopped practising Christianity.
“I did that video to announce to the world that I’m no longer a pastor because people kept addressing me as pastor, but I cannot continue to accept that. I don’t support deceit, so people have to know that I’m now an Ifa adherent,” he said.
Felix, who said he was a pastor for more than three years, noted that his decision followed a two-year “soul-searching journey” during which he became increasingly disturbed by what he described as contradictions in the Bible and deception among some Christian leaders.
According to him, his decision was not sudden, noting that he consulted several pastors in an attempt to examine his convictions before eventually leaving Christianity.
He said, “I became fed up of Christianity because there is no true pastor of the Bible in Nigeria aside from Pastor Gbile Akanni. I’m a Bible student and I understand the Bible very well, but I was arrested by Ifa. I did not just change my religion overnight.
