MAN-CENTERED GOSPEL RUINS THE SOUL

By Akin Ojumu

At sundry times and in diverse manners, the Bible warns us to be mindful of what we allow to enter into our soul. We are admonished never to swallow just about any junk that is thrown our way, even if it sounds pious and reeks of piety. God exhorts us to examine, scrutinize, analyze, and judge all things to determine whether or not they are true. 

The reason this is important is to avoid corrupting our soul by what we consume. We are told to guard our heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. To keep the soul healthy, we must abstain from unhealthy diets and must avoid all sources of food that kill the soul.

These warnings take on a heightened significance especially in these last days when the religious air we breathe is thick with toxic fumes of soul-killing teachings. Everywhere you turn, pious impostors and sanctimonious phonies are wreaking havoc on the eternal destiny of many by the erroneous messages they preach. Shunning a God-centered gospel that glories God and edifies man, they instead infect with a man-centered gospel that extols the preacher, misleads the hearer, and damns the soul.

Sadly, not too many Christians pay heed to these warnings. We are at a time, it seems, where anything that sounds “Christianly” is considered Biblical and, therefore, good for consumption. Long gone are the days of Berean Diligence, when serious-minded Believers went back to Scripture to authenticate, corroborate, and validate what they heard preached. These days, a vast number of Christians no longer even bother reading the Bible anymore. That tasking, mind-numbing, endeavor has been outsourced to the Daddies and Mummies in the Lord. And like mindless automatons, they simply accept and regurgitate whatever it is they are told by the man of God, garbage in, garbage out.

This video clip is an example of the many man-centered messages proliferating in the Body of Christ today. It’s another one of the many erroneous teachings by this particular gentleman, who reckons himself an apostle.

In the clip, you will hear Osayi Arome tell his starstruck audience that Moses increased the sufferings of Jesus when he angrily struck the rock at the water of Meribah, instead of speaking to it as commanded by God. And the reason Arome knows this is because Moses walked in the Messianic spirit.

Instead of backing up his assertions with Scripture, Arome did what most erroneous teachers of the Bible often do; he pulled the “time-will-not-permit-me” card. “I have Scriptures to show you, but it will take us too far,” he told the enthralled crowd, comprised of mostly young impressionable Christians.

That’s right! Why waste time going through Scripture to prove his point, when they can simply take his word for it? Never mind that he had all the time in the world to boast that he is one of the very few people in Nigeria with the “apostolic” anointing and had ample time to brag about his own importance to God and His work on earth compared to other not-so important people.

And if you are scratching your head, wondering whether what Osayi Arome said is Scriptural, you are not alone. You wouldn’t find it anywhere in the Bible, because it isn’t there. It is a made-up man-centered false teaching that makes the apostle look exceptional and phenomenal.

In his second letter to Timothy, Apostle Paul – the real Apostle – listed particular types of people the young leader of the Church at Ephesus must avoid. He warned Timothy not to touch such individuals with a long pole; he must keep them at a distance and not have anything to do with them. Included in the list are egocentric narcissists, money grubbers, boasters, arrogant windbags, blasphemers, etc. 

Paul warned Timothy, “From such people turn away!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

The type of gospel people like Osayi Arome preach is a man-centered gospel that takes the attention and glory away from God and puts it on men. It’s a bizarre, egotistical, man-centered view of the gospel that makes the preacher the center of attraction and glorifies man. 

From such people, stay away. Their man-centered theology will bring your soul to ruin.