BY SAMUEL ADJEI SARFO

1. These are the words of the sage of the times, as revealed to him by the lamb of God, he in whose name many sins are committed, to be made known to the world, for the instruction of all humankind.
2. On the twenty-first day of the third month after the jubilee of my people, the spirit of the Lord carried me to my homeland where I lay on my bed in the city of the homegrown trees, on the eastern front of the coast once called gold.
3. My spirit was sore afflicted on account of the events of the times, all pointing to the hypocrisy, greed and wickedness of the high priests, the teachers of the law and the rulers of the land.
4. As the blanket of sleep was about to descend on my brow, a vision appeared before my very eyes:
5. I looked, and lo and behold, four winds approached from the cardinal points of the earth, bearing the great waste of the land.
6. They met in a whirlpool of a vast wilderness, on which was found neither beast nor man, nor any living thing known to live. Then lifted by its own strength, the whirlpool rose, and disappeared high into the evening skies, carrying with it the great waste of the land.
7.Then a rainbow appeared from the crest of the skies, bearing a mat of pure gold on which sat a starving lamb. On the head of that lamb was a magnificent crown made of seven talents of pure gold. In the mouth of the lamb was a scroll made of papyrus reed, on which was inscribed the message of the prophets, and the words of all the martyrs of truth. This scroll bore the emblem of the most high God.
8. Tied to the tail of the lamb was another scroll, on which was found the falsehoods of the Pharisees, their rituals and misinterpretations of the books of Moses, and of the holy prophets. This scroll bore the emblem of the deceptive one.
9. And as I looked, lo and behold, three high priests, clothed in the priestly order of Baal, emerged from the deepest pit of the earth, and prostrated before the lamb on the golden mat. After thus worshiping the lamb, they approached the golden mat, all the while mouthing platitudes to the name of the lamb, as if to lure him to sleep.
10. As I looked, lo and behold, these high priests knelt before the lamb with great ceremony and false humility.
11. Then with intense sorrow and fear, the lamb cast his eyes on the High Priests, as if to sway them from their intended mischief, but these remained set on their purpose, and had no mercy for the lamb. One of the priests held the lamb on the forelegs, below the magnificent crown. The other priest grabbed the lamb on the hind quarters where the scroll of the false prophets was tied. Then the third priest knelt beside the lamb and grabbed with roughness the udder of the starving beast.
12. The priest squeezed the udder of the lamb until thick blood poured into the big pitcher which the priests had set below the udder to collect the thick blood of the starving lamb.
13. The cries of pain of the poor lamb went unheeded, and when the pitcher was full to the brim, the priests let go of the lamb, and nodding and winking at each other, they drank the blood from the udder of the lamb, until they became drunk with his blood.
14. Then the priests picked up three clarinets, one after the other, and blew into them a celestial song, proclaiming the lamb to be the high God worthy of worship by all the clans on earth.
15. Then they took the message of the gospel from the mouth of the lamb, the one that bore the emblem of the most high God, and burnt it as incense on the altar of Baal.
16. As for the message of the false prophets, they untied it and shoved it into their breasts, from whence they proclaimed falsehoods to the world for three thousand seasons.
17. As I looked, lo and behold, three hairy pairs of hands emerged from the belly of hell, and pulled the three high priests back into the deepest pit of the earth. And by the message of the priests, many in the world were deceived, and many followed the priests into the belly of the ground.
18. Then to my great astonishment, the wounded lamb drew near me and spake in the language of my people, in a voice full of strength.
19. I fell on my face and cried to myself: Woe is me, for my reasoning has fled away from me; I can hear a lamb spake in the language of my forebears.
20. Then the lamb on the golden mat said unto me: Fear not, he born of a woman, for I have a message for thee, which thou must of needs proclaim to the world. Consider all that have been revealed to you today, for the day cometh when lies will change into the truth and the truth to lies. Then once again the truth will change into lies, and the lies back again into the truth.
21. I was once a man that came to speak the truth. I spake of love, of compassion, of forgiveness, of mercy, of honesty, and of peace and friendship among all peoples.
22. I spake against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and of the Saduccees, the scribes and the teachers of the law.
23. Then the rulers of the land were sore displeased with my message of truth. and firmly set in the lies of their ways, they bore false testimony against me and nailed me on a tree.
24. Then followed great miracles wrought by my disciples, and in my name many were healed and baptized. These sincerely sought after the truth which I taught.
25. Then did the rulers of the land persecute my disciples, and in my name thousands were killed, and thousands more were tortured. Thou, son born of a woman, thou art a reader of the law and lore, and hast read about the acts of Nero, and how hard pressed my disciples were in the hands of that mad King.
26. Yet the more the rulers slew my disciples, the more my followers multiplied in great numbers, until the Kingdom’s wise men met, and decided that in order that all the people be not destroyed, they would adopt my name and wrap my emblems around their ancient gods, destroy my message forever, in order to retain their old deceptive ways.
27. And so they made me this heavy crown, and turned me into their most high God, while the priests, the prophets and the preachers, act in the same ways like the Pharisees, the Saduccees, and the teachers of the law, milking profits from this weak body of mine, and making a mockery of the worship of the most high God, all through the false adoption of my name.
28. Like graves, they shine on the outside, full of the glory of earthly riches. Yet these are rotten on the inside, having spurned my message, and substituted it with the edicts of their ancient gods.
29. They put on the people burdens they cannot carry. They bind them with laws, ceremonies, dogmas, rituals and traditions, and draw their hearts away from the message of charity, mercy, forgiveness, honesty and humility.
30. Therefore, thou son born of a woman, go thou into the world and revive my message of truth, for the time is short, and the most high God’s patience is wearing thin.
31. Then said I to the wounded lamb: Behold, I am from a humble race, from a coast which though once called gold, has become a beggar among the nations. The people will mock at me and call me mad, or much worse, kill me.”
32. Then the lamb said unto me: Speak the message without fear of death. Thou art no minion of thy race. Thou knowest that for the truth, he that dieth shalt forever liveth. And be thou not concerned about whether the people listeneth to thee or not. Thou art a teacher of thy race, a reader of the law and lore. Thy work is to teach and hope for the best. If the people refuseth to listen to thee, it is a matter between them and the most high God.
33. Then I besought the mercies of the lamb further, and remonstrated that I should be given an army of the righteous comprising three hundred men and women, since the work of salvation was beyond my strength.
34. Then the lamb smiled and said unto me, “Fear not, Sarfo the Black, son born of a woman, for there are one thousand prophets of mine who have not squeezed the breasts of the lamb, and three thousand others who have not drunk of his bloody milk, and seven thousand others who have not mangled his message nor danced to the tune of the clarinet in mockery of his pains.
35. Gather all together and preach the truth of God, for the days are short and God’s anger will not abate.
36. He that has ears, let him hear what the lamb sayeth to the son born of a woman and interpret the abomination of the high priests of Baal, for they have scrambled the breasts of a starving lamb, drunk his blood in wanton revelry, and mangled his message with haunting glee.
37. As for you, Sarfo the Black, my spirit will be with thee till the end of thy days.
38. After these words, I looked and lo and behold, the rainbow descended back to earth, unfolded before the lamb, and took him up high into the clouds, until my eyes could see him no longer.
39. This is what I, Sarfo the Black, the son of Akua Sarpomah, the daughter of Yaa Mansa and Kwaku Dua Panin, of the Aduana clan of Akwamufie and Adudwama; and I who also am the son of my father Kwasi Agyei, the son of Kuragu and Yaa Abayewa, descended of Owiredu Panin, of the Biretuo clan of Asante Mampong, Kwaaman and Abetifi..…This is what I saw in a vision while reposed in the spirit in the land of my forebears, in the coast once called gold.
40. And I rose and committed all these mysteries to my heart, and wrote these down on two scrolls of papyrus reed, that by happenstance people might read, and commit themselves to the message of the Lamb.
41. May the Lord Almighty forever show us the path to the eternal truth.
Amen and Amen.


Samuel Adjei Sarfo is a Juris Doctor candidate in Houston, Texas. You can email him at sarfoadjei@yahoo.com