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WHEN TRADITION BECOMES A PRISON (PART III)

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“When Experience Replaces Scripture” By Akin Ojumu There is a scourge afflicting the contemporary Church that is every bit as dangerous as biblical illiteracy. It is the unholy fascination with power, manifestations, encounters, revelations, and supernatural experiences. For many Church folks, subjective mystical experiences now carry greater practical authority than the written Word of God. Dreams. Visions. Trances. Angelic visitations. Trips to heaven. Conversations with Jesus. Tea with God. Out-of-body experiences. Secret revelations. Mystical encounters. All these have been elevated above Scripture. These stories are recounted with breathtaking confidence and received with astonishing credulity. And whenever the experience collides with Scripture, Scripture is too often forced to yield. In the battle between experience and Scripture. Experience wins, all the time. That is the peril. Christianity is quietly being transformed from a faith grounded in objective divine revelation into ...
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WHEN TRADITION BECOMES A PRISON (PART II)

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“When Biblical Illiteracy Becomes Spirituality” By Akin Ojumu From the Garden of Eden onward, Satan’s method has remained remarkably consistent: deceive, distort, obscure, and counterfeit. With cunning and sleight of hand, the serpent persuaded Adam and Eve to distrust what God had plainly spoken. And the same ancient strategy continues today. Satan still traffics in deception. He still muddles truth with error. He still disguises lies beneath the appearance of spirituality. One of his most effective weapons is counterfeit religion. Throughout the world, elaborate systems of false belief have been dressed in Christian vocabulary, decorated with Christian symbols, sprinkled with Bible verses, and presented as authentic expressions of the Christian faith. Yet beneath the religious veneer are often nothing more than what Paul describes as:  “speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.” 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war ...
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WHEN TRADITION BECOMES A PRISON (PART I)

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“ When Error Becomes Tradition ” By Akin Ojumu Ralph Waldo Emerson probably did not have Church folks in mind when, in his famous essay, Self-Reliance, he wrote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…” Emerson’s larger point concerned the folly of becoming enslaved to one’s previous opinions merely for the sake of appearing consistent. There is no virtue in stubbornly defending yesterday’s error after today’s evidence has exposed it. Yet few descriptions better capture the disposition of many contemporary church folks. When confronted with evidence that demolishes a long-held belief, rather than reconsider the belief, they double down on it. When sound biblical exegesis blows a cherished doctrine into smithereens, rather than abandon the doctrine, they barricade themselves behind tradition. They dig in their heels. They close their ears. They refuse to reconsider. And their final defense is often nothing more profound than: “That’s what we’ve always believed.” Or: “Th...
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A DISSECTION OF POJU OYEMADE’S TEACHING ON MEDITATION (PART III)

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“When Meditation Becomes Mental Programming” By Akin Ojumu In Part II, we examined several striking parallels between Poju Oyemade’s doctrine of meditation and the techniques associated with New Thought, Science of Mind, and related Mind Science systems. The similarities do not end with visualization and repeated confession. They extend to the treatment of sensory evidence, mental rehearsal, conditioning of consciousness, silence and relaxation, and even meditation as a means of accessing knowledge. And it is here that the contrast with biblical meditation becomes especially revealing. 6. Present Sensory Evidence Is Subordinated To Inner Consciousness Oyemade repeatedly teaches believers not to allow present circumstances to determine the mental picture they entertain. Instead, the believer is to replace the apparent condition with an inward image representing what he considers the spiritual truth of the situation. Once again, that has a close analogue in New Thought. Science of Mind r...
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A DISSECTION OF POJU OYEMADE’S TEACHING ON MEDITATION (PART II)

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“When “Biblical Meditation” Begins to Look Like Mind Science” By Akin Ojumu Meditation appears to be something of an obsession for Poju Oyemade. That fixation is best understood in light of his formative years under the influence of Olubi Johnson of Scripture Pasture—a preacher whose spirituality often bears more resemblance to transcendental metaphysics and Christianized mysticism than to historic biblical Christianity.  If Oyemade’s theology of meditation seems unusually mystical, the roots may well lie in the spiritual environment in which he was discipled. When Poju Oyemade’s teaching on meditation is placed side by side with New Thought, Science of Mind, and related Mind Science systems, some striking parallels begin to emerge—not merely in vocabulary, but in the actual mental mechanism being described. This does not mean that Oyemade uses precisely the same theological language as New Thought teachers. He does not. He speaks of God, Scripture, faith, prayer, revelation, and t...
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