African Plume

By Akin Ojumu In Hosea 1:2 we read: “When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her...’” Hosea obeyed. He married Gomer, and his painful marriage became a living prophetic drama of Israel’s spiritual adultery against God. Now, imagine that a preacher strolls into Church next Sunday, adjusts his designer jacket, takes the microphone, lowers his voice into the familiar “Thus saith the Lord” register, and announces: “Brethren, God spoke to me last night. He told me to go and marry a prostitute.” Would you shout, “Glory!” Would you rush to the altar? Would you buy the conference registration? Would you invite him to teach a three-day seminar titled: “Prophetic Marriage Dimensions: Unlocking the Hosea Anointing?” I hope not. You would probably ask whether the man needed prayer, counseling, or a long vacation from the microphone. And yet, this exposes one of the great absurdities of contemporary encounter Christiani...

“Religious Pyramid Scheme of Over-Leveraged Expectations” By Akin Ojumu As we said last time, the miracle-industrial complex has discovered an ingenious theological loophole. When the promised return on spiritual investments fails to materialize, the Word of Faith investment broker is never responsible. The poor investor is.  The system wins regardless of the outcome. If the miracle comes, the preacher’s theology worked. If the miracle does not come, your faith failed. Heads, the prophet wins. Tails, you lose. This is why some versions of the Word of Faith system resemble what may be called Pentecostal Ponzi theology. The theological mechanism that runs the system functions like a religious pyramid of over-leveraged expectations. The people at the bottom continually pour money, trust, admiration, and hope upward. Those at the top display their opulence as evidence that the system works. The preacher’s mansion becomes proof of “kingdom abundance.” His luxury automobile becomes evide...

“Distinguishing Biblical Christianity, Spiritual Grandiosity, and Mental Illness” My Dear Bamidupe Soyege, Anxiety, sadness, feelings of emptiness, fatigue, low energy, difficulty sleeping, excessive sleeping, loss of appetite, difficulty concentrating, memory problems, and difficulty making decisions can all occur as symptoms of clinical depression. At one point or another in our lives, however, most of us have experienced one or more of these symptoms. Experiencing a symptom does not, by itself, mean that a person has clinical depression. A diagnosis of major depressive disorder is generally based on the presence of at least five specified symptoms during the same two-week period, with clinically significant distress or impairment, while also considering and ruling out other possible causes. The point is simple: possessing a particular trait or experiencing an isolated symptom is not the same thing as having a psychiatric disorder. In other words, a symptom is not a diagnosis, and a ...

“How Word of Faith Theology Turned Christianity into a Prophetic Stock Exchange” By Akin Ojumu The Word of Faith movement is Christianity reengineered for the age of celebrity, consumerism, self-help, and religious entrepreneurship. At its theological core is a doctrine of self-glory masquerading as faith. It promises power without weakness, prosperity without suffering, healing without affliction, victory without endurance, promotion without providence, resurrection without death, crowns without crosses, and glory without Golgotha. It has taken the rugged, blood-stained Gospel of Jesus Christ and remodeled it into a supernatural success seminar. The result is what might appropriately be called the miracle-industrial complex—a sprawling religious marketplace in which desperation is monetized, Bible verses become marketing slogans, preachers become spiritual entrepreneurs, “prophetic words” become investment tips, and suffering people are repeatedly encouraged to deposit their money int...

By Akin Ojumu Arome Osayi is the supposedly powerfully anointed, self-appointed apostle who claims to have received advanced spiritual training from Abraham and John Knox during a 90-day excursion to heaven. He is the “super-elite Christian” who, by his own extraordinary accounts, is repeatedly summoned to heaven for exclusive strategy sessions with Jesus. This is the man-god to whom Satan came, crawling on his knees, begging for his help to complete a project in England. Yet when this spiritual ninja is confronted with the very real dangers posed by Fulani bandits, ISWAP terrorists, kidnappers, and violent criminals in Nigeria, the alleged spiritual commando did not remain behind to deploy his celebrated supernatural arsenal against the forces of darkness. He fled to the safety and security of the United States. For a man whose testimony portrays him as practically having executive access to heaven, his response to earthly danger appears remarkably ordinary: run. Instead of demonstrat...