AFRICAN PLUME

“God’s Process for Church Discipline” By Akin Ojumu Scripture is not a mystic book containing hidden spiritual knowledge, divine secrets, esoteric wisdom, or guides to inner awakening that’s beyond natural human understanding. There are no cryptic codes buried deep within the Bible that only select gurus with special grace or powerful anointing can decode.  To understand, know, and profit from the riches of the knowledge of Scripture, you have to draw them out. The way you extract the riches of knowledge of Scripture is to apply yourself to diligent study. Through the hard and tedious process of diligently studying the Bible, the Holy Spirit gives illumination which enables the reader to interpret what they are reading accurately. It’s when Scripture is precisely interpreted that the person is then able to correctly understand and apply the illuminated meaning.  Now, I should point out that there’s nothing mystical about this process of learning the Bible. It’s exactly the sam...

“Power Devoid of Truth is Power Devoid of God” By Akin Ojumu Defective Gospel produces defective converts. False teaching leads to flawed Christians. Aberrant doctrine ends in aberrant believers. Wrong theology brings about wrong doxology. Without a proper grounding in and accurate understanding of the Word of God, there can’t be proper worship. Those who have a warped thinking about the true God would end up worshiping a false god. Nothing is more dangerous than a Christian who diminishes the Word of God by the way they mishandle it. The widespread total disregard for teaching and preaching the Word with the mandatory accuracy and precision should be a trend of particular concern to all God-fearing people. It scares me greatly whenever I hear someone who claims to be a follower of Christ dishonors God by twisting and distorting His Word. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and ever...

“Be Not Deceived: God Is Not Mocked” By Akin Ojumu By the time Apostle John penned the first and the largest of his three epistles, he was the sole remaining apostolic survivor who had intimate, eyewitness association with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. As though sensing the end was near, the elder statesman of the Christian faith made an urgent plea to the recipients of his letter to not love the world. 1 John 2:15-19 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” Nearly forty years earlier, however, Apostle Paul had also sounded a similar note of warning about not loving the world. Writing to the Christian Church at Rome, h...

“Do Not Be Conformed to This World” By Akin Ojumu My Dear Ehis, you asked to be educated. I’ll be happy to oblige you. But you’ve got to bear with me here. This commentary is going to be lengthy. Chris Oyakhilome’s atrocities are too egregious for anything less than a robust and well-thought-out response. As a “pastor” of a global religious industrial complex with untold numbers of branches/campuses and hundreds of thousands of customers and admirers, Chris Oyakhilome carries an exceptionally huge influence and clout. People, Christians and non-Christians alike, look up to him as a role model of a godly man. What he does and says carries significant weight.  There are folks who, upon seeing king-wannabe Oyakhilome’s wanton display of pomp and pageantry, would desire to do the same. By his blatant show of shame, he has established a permission structure for others to do what they would never ever have thought of doing before. For someone who calls himself a minister of the Gospel, t...

By Akin Ojumu | Originally Published on July 9, 2023 Scratching the surface is what most Christians do when it comes to the Bible. Significantly few Believers take the time to plumb the depths of the Holy Book to discover the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God in its pages. Because the average Christian knows so little of Scripture, his Christian life is marked by superficiality of worship and frivolity of devotion. The erroneous teachings that have become so commonplace in the Church today are a direct result of the mediocrity in the sophistry of Scripture. Failing to appreciate the intricacies of the language, grammatical construct, and idioms of the Bible, many interpret what they read to fit a predetermined narrative. It’s this lack of recognition of the complexity of the Bible that causes Believers to resort to wacky mysticism and errant esotericism to explain what they read. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching...

By Akin Ojumu Scripture clearly enunciates the essential qualifications a man must possess to be appointed as a pastor over God’s children. Among all of these specific and vitally important qualifications, none is more important than a mastery of Scriptures. Doctrinal astuteness, proficiency to teach sound doctrine, and competency to refute false teachers are all mandatory prerequisites to becoming a shepherd of God’s flock. Titus 1:7-9 “For an Overseer, as God’s steward…MUST hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”   1 Timothy 3:2 “Therefore an overseer MUST be…able to teach…” 2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.” A lack of even one of these requirements listed in the above passages disqualifies anyone from assuming the role of a pastor in God’s Church. A ...