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CONFORMED TO CHRIST IN GLORIFIED HUMANITY (PART IV)

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“From the Image of Christ to the Final Christian Confession” By Akin Ojumu Christian glorification is not the destruction of humanity. It is not humanity transcending creaturehood. It is not man ascending into deity. It is perfected humanity. GLORY IS PERFECTED HUMANITY Sin is not essential to humanity. Death is not essential to humanity. Corruption is not essential to humanity. Disease is not essential to humanity. Aging is not essential to humanity. Decay is not essential to humanity. These are consequences of the Fall. The risen Christ reveals humanity beyond the Fall. He reveals humanity beyond death. He reveals humanity fully alive before God. He is the pattern of redeemed human existence. THE GREAT MOVEMENT OF SCRIPTURE The biblical story can therefore be summarized as: Creation → Fall → Incarnation → Redemption → Resurrection → Glorification → New Creation. Creation begins good. The Fall introduces sin and death. The Son enters creation. He assumes our humanity. He bears sin and...
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UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENTS: UNITED STATES vs. NIGERIA

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By Akin Ojumu On Monday, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, launched what has been described as the largest initial public offering (IPO) in African history on the Nigerian Exchange for Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals. The refinery is reportedly seeking as much as $2.1 billion from the investing public to finance expansion. Two-point-one billion dollars. While I was still digesting that number, another story appeared on my social-media feed. An American billionaire had given billions of dollars to an American university. And immediately, the contrast slapped me in the face. One billionaire was asking the public to invest billions into the expansion of a private commercial empire. Another billionaire was transferring billions of his own private fortune into an institution of learning so that students he will never meet, professors yet unborn, and researchers working decades after his death may benefit from it. That contrast sent me down a rabbit hole. I began asking a si...
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CONFORMED TO CHRIST IN GLORIFIED HUMANITY (PART III)

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“United to the Risen Christ in the New Creation” By Akin Ojumu The Christian hope of glorification does not rest merely on imitation. Christ is not simply an external example whom believers will one day resemble. The doctrine of glorification depends upon something far deeper: Union with Christ. Believers are not merely spectators of Christ’s resurrection. They are united to the risen Christ. Paul writes: Romans 6:5 “If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.” Our resurrection is certain because His resurrection has already occurred. The life of the age to come already exists in our Head, who is Christ. He has gone before His people. And because the Head lives, the body must live also. Paul says: Colossians 3:4 “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Christ is not merely the Giver of eternal life. He is our life. Our destiny is bound to His. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND RESUR...
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APOSTOLIC AVIATION: PAVING THE RUNWAY FOR THE MAN OF GOD

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By Akin Ojumu There you have it. The theological runway is being paved. The aircraft may not yet be in the hangar, but the sermon has already begun clearing the airspace. This is how the private-jet gospel is manufactured. You do not begin by saying: “Beloved, I want an aircraft worth several million dollars. Kindly empty your pockets.” That would be far too honest.  No.  First, you create the theology. You explain that ordinary commercial aviation is somehow incompatible with the dimensions of the “apostolic assignment.” You remind the congregation that the nations are waiting. Souls are perishing. Destiny is calling. The harvest is ripe. And apparently, Air Peace is delaying the Second Coming. Then comes the vocabulary. It is never called luxury. Luxury is for unbelievers. For the Man of God, it becomes mobility. It becomes Kingdom infrastructure. It becomes apostolic logistics. It becomes ministry efficiency. It becomes a tool for global impact. A Gulfstream with Bible vers...
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CONFORMED TO CHRIST IN GLORIFIED HUMANITY (PART II)

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“From the Empty Tomb to the Glorious Body” By Akin Ojumu Last time, we concluded that glorified humanity already exists. It exists in Jesus Christ. The Christian future is therefore not speculation about what redeemed humanity might someday look like. God has already shown us. Look at the risen Christ. If glorified humanity already exists in Jesus Christ, then the resurrection of Christ becomes the key to understanding our own future. Jesus did not merely survive death spiritually. He rose bodily. The tomb was empty. The same body that was crucified was raised. Jesus told His disciples: Luke 24:39 “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” The resurrection preserves both continuity and transformation. It is the same Jesus. The same body. The same wounds. The same human identity. Yet His human existence has entered an entirely new mode of life. He will never die again. Paul writes: Romans 6:9 “Ch...
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CONFORMED TO CHRIST IN GLORIFIED HUMANITY (PART I)

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“Christ Is Even Now Still Fully God and Fully Man” By Akin Ojumu To say that believers will be “conformed to Christ in glorified humanity” is to confess something much richer than merely saying Christians will receive better bodies after death. It is a statement about the Incarnation, the Person of Christ, the resurrection of the body, the union of believers with Christ, and the final renewal of creation itself. The Christian hope of glorification is rooted in the identity of Jesus Christ. We cannot understand what believers will become until we first understand who Christ is.  And this is precisely where the great Christological confessions of the ancient Church become important. THE NICENE FOUNDATION: THE SON IS TRUE GOD The Christian faith begins by confessing that Jesus Christ is not a creature who later attained divine status. He is the eternal Son of God. The Nicene faith confesses Him as: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one sub...
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