Teyin, Teyin: I love you!
In West Africa, it is not customary to tell people that you love them, and in marriage seminars, many confess that their spouse never tells them that they are loved. Therefore it is a shock to them when I come telling that I love them, deeply, sincerely, fervently, greatly, and from my heart. I tell them this, because I do love them, and because Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Heavenly Father, Papa Yahweh also loves them through me. Jesus asked Peter, "Peter, do you love Me." Three times, Jesus asked Peter this question. God want us to tell Him that we love Him. God tells us that He loves us. "For God so loved the World!" I have been in Nigeria enough, and am somewhat familiar with the Yoruba language, as well as a few words in some of the other languages. So, one night when I was teaching on the King's Greatest Secret!, I came to that part where God wants us to reckon ourselves to be dead INDEED, to sin, self and satan. Now, the word for indeed, normally is translated as "patapata", but this time, when I said, "Dead indeed", the interpreter said, "O ku teyin, teyin!" So, I stopped teaching long enough to ask the man why the new translation, just to check and see if he was accurately conveying my intended thought. He explained to me, that in the Yoruba language and culture, they have an idiom "dead to the teeth", similar to our expression, "dead as a door nail". When a person is so dead that their teeth have also died, they are completely dead. So, in addition to the other ways that I tell people that I love them, I have also included, "O ku teyin teyin,", or, "I love you to the teeth! They always laugh!!!