African Plume

By Charles H. Spurgeon Hebrews 12:2 (BSB) “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It is always the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan’s work is just the opposite. He’s constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates: “Your sins are too great for pardon. You have no faith. You do not repent enough. You will never be able to continue to the end. You do not have the joy of His children. You have such a wavering hold on Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we will never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self. He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is everything. Remember therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you. It is Christ. It is not your joy in Christ that saves you. It ...

By Akin Ojumu There are preachers today who claim they possess the spiritual gifts of “word of knowledge” and “word of wisdom.” Ever the inveterate show artists, these scoundrels like to put up an elaborate show and choreographed display of these purported gifts at their meetings and gatherings just for the dramatic effects. Like magicians laying on their tricks, they call out random people in the audience about whom they claim to have just received a word of knowledge or word wisdom about some issues the individuals are dealing with in their lives. And the script usually goes like this. “There’s somebody here,” he’d say, “You have chronic pain in your lower back that makes it difficult for you to sit, stand, or walk. You’ve consulted with and spent a fortune on doctors, to no avail. Now, I want you to stand on your feet wherever you are in the audience. Let me pray for you.” Knowing that all eyes are on him, the showman on the pulpit performs his magical routine; he corks his head to ...

“Living Large on an Oasis of Paradise Amidst a Desert of Squalor” By Akin Ojumu The first installment of the “Songs that Give My Soul Wings” commentary series was published seven years ago, on May 28, 2019. In that write-up, I spoke about how, as an unbeliever, I resisted the effectual call of God to salvation. You see, as an unbeliever, I did not consider myself a bad person. In fact, as far as I was concerned, I was a model citizen compared to people around me. I was a highly self-disciplined teenager and young adult with very firm moral principles. Even as an unbeliever, I had an uncharacteristically unyielding self-control. The typical vices that plagued and ensnared youths my age were a no-no for me. I refused to be peer pressured into indulging in alcohol consumption. Likewise, cigarette smoking was a habit that didn’t quite catch my fancy. Back in those days, which still is today, to imbibe in alcohol and to engage in chain smoking were to look cool. But to me, even then, they l...

By Akin Ojumu May 2026: Oyo State Gunmen raided the Baptist Nursery and Primary School and Community Grammar School in Oriire Local Government Area of Ogbomoso and abducted roughly 40 students and teachers.  Many of the victims are young children and toddlers. Tragically, a mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, was killed by the abductors, which has sparked nationwide protests and demands for government intervention.  May 2026:  Borno State Armed militants stormed Government Day Secondary School, Mussa Central Primary School, and SUBEB Secondary School, kidnapping at least 42 students. The attackers reportedly used the young children as human shields while fleeing on motorcycles. November 2025: Niger State In one of the largest mass seizures, over 300 students and teachers were abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri. All over the country, school children are getting abducted and slaughtered, while the cruel and crass political class plays the harp and sings a...

By Akin Ojumu Back in 2022, David Ibiyeomie rained down multiple volleys of prophetic ballistic missiles on the camp of Nigeria kidnappers and their sponsors. With all the pompous arrogance he could muster, he declared that kidnapping had gone into extinction in the country.  Well, it is four years later.  In what can only be logically described as a miraculous resurrection,   the very same kidnappers Ibiyeomie told his gullible followers that he totally annihilated a few years ago are alive and well, going about perpetrating their carnage with careless abandon, and the Nigeria ’ s impotent government seemingly lacking the will and ability to effectively stop them. In this video clip,  the self-deluded bloviator is once again calling down the wrath of God on kidnappers and their patrons . Y ou could hear Ibiyeomie raging and ranting against banditry that he was supposed to have eliminated in 2022 by his decrees and declaration. One would have thought that the p...

“Trepidation & Intimidation: False Teachers’ Instruments of Control” By Akin Ojumu As we circle back to this commentary series, here’s a recap of the reasons church folks are so accommodating of purveyors of erroneous doctrines. So far in this commentary series, we’ve enumerated a number of the reasons why the vast majority of church folks of our day celebrate, and don’t seem to recognize, false teachers who bring destructive heresies. 1) People Don’t Denounce a Teaching that Scratches their Itching Ears False teachers and their followers feed off of each other. Like the typical obligate mutualism found among animals, false teachers and their followers are entirely dependent on each other. In the false teacher, the followers get a leader, somebody to take them where they want to go, variously described as purpose and destiny. The false teachers teach them what they want to hear, justify their lust and greed, vindicate their selfishness and pride, and legitimize their sin and rebell...

By Akin Ojumu Why pray if God is sovereign and has already predetermined what is going to happen?  That’s a question my kids posed to me recently. It’s a simple question wrapped in layers of paradox. How do I best convey to a young adult that events in their lives have all been predetermined by God and still impress upon them the need for prayer and supplication? I’m struggling to string together the right words to explain to a Gen Z that there’s nothing in their lives that God has not already foreordained and at the same time make them realize that they still have to bring their requests to God in prayers? As I ponder on the difficult question about God’s sovereign providence and the necessity for prayers, I came across the commentary below. The writer provides a simple, yet unique, insight into what may otherwise seem like a paradox. Succinctly, he explains that just as God has ordained every outcome, He has also ordained the means to achieving those outcomes. God may have predet...

By Akin Ojumu Everything that humans touch, we defile. It’s the reason the whole of creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth since the Great Fall. There’s nothing that escapes the corruptive influence of the Adamic nature. Not even the spiritual gifts. Today, the Church is bedeviled with the very same confusion and ignorance about the spiritual gifts that Paul tried to correct in his letter to the Corinthian Church. What’s supposed to be pure and holy has been defiled by abuse and misuse. A spiritual gift is a graciously given, supernaturally designed ability granted to every believer by which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ. The Greek word (charisma) emphasizes that this is a gift…freely given. A spiritual gift cannot be earned, pursued, or worked up. It can only be “received” through the grace of God. God gives the gifts according to His will. 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 11, 18 “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit...To each is given ...