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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART VIII)

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“The Origin of the Pharisees” By Akin Ojumu In modern parlance, the word “Pharisee” is an epithet that carries a leprous stigma. It’s a potent pejorative people often deploy to dismiss criticism, denigrate rebuke, or deflect confrontation. Playing the Pharisee Card is a common practice in contemporary Christianity. Charlatans, false apostles, false prophets, false teachers and their followers all love to throw the Pharisee label at anyone who calls them out for their doctrinal errors. It’s not uncommon today to be labeled a “Pharisee” simply for believing in the sufficiency of Scripture and for standing for the supremacy of the Word of God as written in the Bible. The moment you dare to critically compare what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God, it’s almost certain that you’d be called a Pharisee. To accuse someone who is deemed to be hypercritical as having a pharisaical spirit has become routine. Modern definition of a Pharisee has been reduced to any Christian w...
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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART VII)

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“And the Blind Man Stood His Ground” By Akin Ojumu Self-preservation, often referred to as the survival instinct, is the inherent tendency of living organisms to take actions that enhance their chances of survival while minimizing potential harm. This instinct manifests in various ways, such as seeking food to satisfy hunger, escaping from dangers, or avoiding threats. The survival instinct is foundational to many behavioral traits observed across species, including humans, where it historically influenced responses to hazards through mechanisms like the fight-or-flight reaction (Source: EBSCO). Driven by the instinct to survive, we read in John 9:22 that the parents of the blind man who was made to see for the first time in his lifetime chose to play it safe. Fearful of the possibility of getting expelled from the synagogue if they confessed Jesus as the Christ, the poor parents did what any of us would do, they opted for self-preservation. They would not acknowledge the Lord Jesus as...
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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART VI)

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“Spiritual Blindness Begets Spiritual Deadness” By Akin Ojumu If this installment is your first foray into this commentary series on John 10:10, I say, welcome to the odyssey. We are happy you are able to join us as we take this exciting voyage into the Bible. To get the full experience of this adventure, though, you’d have to go back to review Parts I-V of the series. That way, you’d be able to catch up on what has been discussed up to this point. John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 is one of those popular Bible passages that has been a victim of serial abuse and misuse by church folks. Egregiously, the text is an eisegetical casualty of wrong interpretation, wrong implication, and wrong application. Many preachers have made a complete mess of this important passage of Scripture. For any Bible text to have true meaning, it must be interpreted accurately and with precision. The efficacy and t...
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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART V)

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“Self-Serving Narcissistic Shepherds” By Akin Ojumu In the Book of Ezekiel chapter 34, we read about the prophecy proclaimed against the shepherds of Israel. First part of the prophecy listed the various malfeasances of the shepherds. They were indicted not only for dereliction of their responsibilities, but also for their utter abuse and total neglect of the sheep that God put in their care. Ezekiel 34:1-6 “Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock? You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and ...
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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART IV)

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“When Shepherds Become Wolves” By Akin Ojumu As a reminder to those who are just now joining the conversation in the current installment of this commentary series, this is a deep dive into John 10:10. We are employing the fundamental principles of hermeneutics and exegesis to plumb the depth of this popular Bible verse to draw out its true meaning with the hope of correcting its widespread misinterpretation. John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” In the Part II of this series, we did say that in order to correctly understand the meaning of John 10:10, we’d have to go back to the previous chapters. The statement about the thief who steals, kills, and destroys is actually a continuation of a larger discourse which began in John chapter 8 where the Lord Jesus had a contentious dialogue with the Pharisees which ended up in a violent attempt to cease the Lord Jesus and stone Him to death.  Following that ev...
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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART III)

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“Unbearable Burden of Rites, Rituals, and Traditions” By Akin Ojumu It is circa 1, and we are in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus Christ has just been labeled a blaspheming demon-possessed Samaritan by the Jewish religious leaders with whom He is engaged in a heated debate about His deity and equality with God. Boiling with rage for daring to say He is greater than their beloved Father, Abraham, the Jews decide He deserves to be stoned to death. John 8:59 “So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” Upon escaping the lynch mob, the Lord Jesus and His disciples are now by the Pool of Siloam. There they come across a motley crew of invalids; cripples, blind deaf, dumb, and all sorts begging for arms. Pointing the Lord’s attention to one of the beggars, a man born blind, the disciples are curious to know the etiology of the man’s blindness. So, they inquire of the Lord.   John 9:2 “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that...
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HEAR MY CRY, O GOD!

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Psalm 61:1-4 “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.” May the God of all comfort strengthen and comfort the hearts of my beloved friends who have just lost their sibling and mother within the space of a few months. It is well you Chris, Bernice, Austin, and Roland.
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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART II)

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“When Best Neighbors Become Worst Adversaries” By Akin Ojumu All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. Anything less than an accurate interpretation of the original meaning of a Bible text usurps the authority of God. Whatever a passage of Scripture meant to the original author is what it means now. 2 Peter 1:19-21 “And we have the prophetic Word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Cognition leads to conviction. What you know becomes what you believe, and what you believe becomes a conviction. Life imitates theology. People live within the framework of their convictions. We go from cognition to conviction and then to affection. The...
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THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL & DESTROY (PART I)

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“The Meaning of a Bible Text is not a Matter of Opinion” By Akin Ojumu I know I sound like a broken record, but I’ll say it again, anyway. No one is entitled to their own interpretation of the Bible. The meaning of a Bible text is not up for grabs or infinitely malleable. What a particular Bible passage means is not ultimately a matter of individual’s opinion. There are established principles and rules that must be followed in order to accurately interpret Bible texts. What happens when we fail to follow these rules is that we end up misinterpreting, misappropriating, and misapplying Bible texts. The end result is false theologies and false doctrines.  In a 1975 article titled “Wine Drinking in New Testament Times,” Robert H. Stein described a method of Biblical interpretation that is most effective in limiting erroneous doctrine: “The Bible was not written to evangelicals living in the twentieth century. The science – or better, the art – of interpreting the biblical text so ...
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