AFRICAN PLUME

By Akin Ojumu In most civilized nations, where sanity reigns and things work, the job of the president and head of government is a mentally tasking and physically challenging undertaking that causes the office holder to experience an accelerated aging process. Due to its agonizing and bruising demands, it’s a job that saps the life out of the office holder. Take for instance Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. At the end of their 2-term presidencies, they both looked thirty years older than when they first took office eight years earlier. These two men looked quite youthful, and both had full jet-black hair when they were first sworn into office as presidents.  After eight years of the grinder of the Oval Office, though, both men’s hair had turned grey. Their smooth youthful skins had aged to a leathery texture, and their faces had become taken over by deep lines of wrinkles and forehead creases. In contrast, the situation is a whole lot different with the Nigerian presidency.

“Critical Question with Cynical Intent” By Akin Ojumu Underlying the misinterpretations of the parables in the Bible is the presumption that they are factual stories of events that actually happened. Many take parables at face value because they believe, albeit erroneously, that they are narratives of actual historical accounts.  In reality, however, parables are fables. The events told in the narratives never happened in real life. Parables are fictional stories that are “cast alongside” a truth in order to illuminate that truth. Jesus employed parables as teaching aids, and he used them as extended analogies or inspired comparisons. They were earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.  And that’s what the Parable of the Good Samaritan is. The telling of it was prompted by an encounter Jesus had with a self-righteous religious man who was an expert in Mosaic Law. The scene for this exchange was the debriefing of the seventy-two disciples whom Jesus had sent out, two by two, as advance e

By Akin Ojumu There are men, so-called God’s generals, who would never let the opportunity pass by without boasting about the tremendous power they possess to make spectacular things happen. I’m referring to mere men who arrogate to themselves the sovereignty that belongs to the Almighty God alone. Conceitedly, they vaunt in highfalutin hyperboles of innumerable mighty feats wrought through them in ages past. Consumed by narcissism, such men brag about powers to create anything they wish out of nothing. They huff and puff about faith that produces power to create a future they desire. Bloated with pride and ballooned with hot air, they tell tall tales of brand-new pairs of eyes growing in empty eye sockets, lost limbs regenerated to full size and function, and dead bodies restored back to life. All these, in their own telling, were accomplished by the mighty power bubbling inside of them. Highly proficient in spinning yawns, these men regale enchanted audiences with concocted fables of

“What Shall I do to Inherit Eternal Life?” By Akin Ojumu Throughout His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus drew on witty parables to elucidate His salvation messages. These insightful fables were often poignant, and the compelling tales usually packed a punch. The parables were cryptic with its meaning hidden from those with hardened hearts. The stories were encrypted; only those who desired the truth of God were given the keys needed to break the encryption code. Of the more than forty parables that Jesus told, none is more popular than the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable has inspired painting, sculpture, satire, poetry, photography, and film. The phrase “Good Samaritan”, meaning someone who helps a stranger, derives from this parable, and many hospitals and charitable organizations are named after the Good Samaritan (Wikipedia). So widely known is this parable in pop culture that it’s prominently featured in secular books such as “Good Samaritans” by Will Carver and “The Las

“Earthly Story with Heavenly Meaning” By Akin Ojumu The word parable comes from the root word “paraballo” (Latin) or in the Greek “parabole.” It’s a compound word from “para” which means “to come alongside or compare” and “ballo” which literally means “to throw” or “see” with. Literally, paraballo (or parabole) means “a placing beside” (i.e., “to throw” or “lay beside, to compare”). It signifies “a placing of one thing beside another” with a view to comparison. It means something that’s “cast alongside” something else for comparison.  Variations of the word find meaning in many fields of human endeavor. For instance, in geometry, “parabola” refers to a comparison between a fixed point on a curve to a straight line, resulting in a parabolic curve. Parables in the Bible are stories that are “cast alongside” a truth in order to illuminate that truth. Jesus employed parables as teaching aids, and he used them as extended analogies or inspired comparisons. They were earthly stories with

By Akin Ojumu Identity is like a fingerprint; it reveals the person. It’s the distinctive quality or trait that makes an individual unique. Peter Burke describes identity as that which “tells us who we are and announces to others who we are.” Our identity is the silent witness of all our deeds. Outside of philosophy, personal identity usually refers to properties to which we feel a special sense of attachment or ownership. Someone’s personal identity in this sense consists of those properties she takes to “define him as a person” or “make him the person he is”, and which distinguish him from others. Collective identity is that in which an individual’s identity is strongly associated with role-behavior or the collection of group memberships that define them. Race, tribe, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and profession are some of the affiliations and associations that collectively, and to varying degrees, define a person’s identity. How an individual sees himself is primarily determine

By Akin Ojumu In Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring trilogy, we are introduced to a violent, and savagely race of monsters known as the Orcs. Once upon a time, these hideous creatures belonged to the race of beautiful, noble, princely and benevolent Elves. It came about that certain of the Elves were corrupted by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord and primordial source of evil. The souls of these Elves became darkened with evil, and they turned into ugly, brutish, aggressive, and malevolent beasts. The Orcs became the armed forces of Morgoth of Mordor. They were the foot soldiers in the war against the other races for the control of Middle-earth. Then, a fierce battle took place in the garrison at Osgiliath, the old capital of Gondor, between the race of men and the Orcs. Gondor was the most prominent kingdom of men in Middle-earth. In the Osgiliath’s battle, the Orcs prevailed. Upon their victory, Gothmog, the captain of the Orcs, bashfully declared: “The age of Men is over. The time of the Orc has

By Akin Ojumu In 1967, Martin Seligman and his partner, Steven Maier, were researching animal behavior when they accidentally discovered the learned helplessness theory. They found that the dogs who had been exposed to a series of inescapable shocks stopped trying to get away from the electric shocks altogether.  When Seligman and Maier tried this experiment with human beings (replacing the shocks with loud noises), they found that people had a similar reaction. The ones that couldn’t control the noise in the first experiment didn’t even bother trying to control it in subsequent trials – even though the aversive stimulus was now escapable.  This research led to a new understanding of trauma. People that experience repeated abuse and other aversive situations eventually learn to become helpless if nothing they do changes it. It’s as if they internalize that since nothing worked in that situation, nothing will work in similar situations, either. The trauma begins to erode two other criti

By Akin Ojumu This age is full of shams. Pretense never stood in such an eminent position as it does at the present hour. There are few, I fear, who love the naked truth. Counterfeit has at length attained to such an eminence that it is with the utmost difficulty that you can detect it. The counterfeit so near resembles the genuine, that the eye of wisdom itself needs to be enlightened before she can discern the difference. Hypocrisy is defined as the practice of claiming to have moral standards or views to which one’s own behavior (or the behavior of people in our family or tribe) does not meet. It is a pretense of morality that cloaks our inability to meet some predetermined moral code. It is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it’s the failure to follow one’s own expressed moral rules and principles.

“Simplicity of the Gospel” By Akin Ojumu Drama has come to characterize the preaching of the message of the Cross. In order to keep them coming, ministers of the Gospel treat their audience to Hollywood performances worthy of the Oscars.  Wild props are deployed, and weird costumes employed, for the purpose of creating blockbuster shows. Structure, setting, theme, voice, and tone all play crucial roles in keeping the attention-deficit audiences interested. If any of these elements happen to slip, the moviegoers’ – oops, I mean churchgoers’ – attention will falter.  And since the audiences tend to be seated far away from the stage, the actors – I mean the pastors – exaggerate their facial expressions and gestures so that every member of the audience can follow the show. Remarkably, Christianity wasn’t always like this. The Lord Jesus was not a hysterical exhibitionist. When the twelve Apostles went about the harrowing task of spreading the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judea, they didn’t put

“Proclaiming the Gospel with Lofty Words of Eloquence” By Akin Ojumu “In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical, or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your conversational communications demonstrate a clarified conciseness, a compact comprehensibleness, no coalescent conglomerations of precious garrulity, jejune bafflement, and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous verbal evaporations and expatriations have lucidity, intelligibility, and veracious vivacity without rodomontade or Thespian bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous propensity, psittaceous vacuity, ventriloquial verbosity and vaniloquent vapidity. Shun double-entendres, obnoxious jocosity, and pestiferous profanity, observable or apparent.” (Mark Twain). I love words. Creatively crafted words get me all juiced up all the time. I tend to go gaga every time I hear eloquently articulated

By Akin Ojumu Hate is a virulent pathogen to which all humans are susceptible to varying degrees. The virus is thought to spread from person to person through droplets of indoctrination and inculcation of propaganda released when an infected person talks, writes, or acts. The hate virus is known to infect individuals raised in the same household and have been under the influence of a chronically infected person. When parents are infected, they are most likely to pass it on to their children. As a familial infection, it is hereditary and passed on from one generation to the next. Several psychological and behavioral conditions are known to be caused by the virus of hate. These include the following debilitating diseases: 1. Bigotry, defined as extreme prejudice of any kind towards other people. 2. Xenophobia which is the fear and loathing of strangers. 3. Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on race and it’s informed by the erroneous belief that one’s race is inherently superior

“There’s No Good Without God” By Akin Ojumu All kingdoms have decrees and ordinances that guide the conduct of the citizens. This body of fundamental statutes, governing principles, and established precedents is often called a constitution. In addition, there are customs and values which, while they may be unwritten, also dictate acceptable social norms and guide appropriate cultural etiquettes. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus laid down the code of conduct by which those under His sovereign rule shall live joyously and victoriously even through the trials and tribulations that the enemy of their faith brings their way. These rules of engagement are totally antithetical to the modus operandi of this world. The manifesto of God’s kingdom contrasts sharply from the systems of the kingdom of the world. “So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12). The Golden Rule, as the above Bible passage has come t

By Akin Ojumu It has become common practice in modern-day American politics to find political campaigns resort to political brinkmanship in order to gain advantage. Very often, politicians and their supporters fall back on crass shenanigans just so they can win. This is particularly true for a political campaign about to lose. One of the weapons you find such campaigns deploy is the “Kitchen-Sink Strategy.” Very often, you find a campaign on the brink of defeat unleashing a ‘kitchen sink’ fusillade against the opponent in order to regain any leverage they can. They throw everything at the opponent until there’s nothing else but the kitchen sink. Originally deployed by the Hillary Clinton campaign against Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, the “kitchen-sink” strategy was subsequently adopted by the Republican Party against Obama in subsequent elections. This kitchen-sink strategy involved attacking Barack Obama with everything and on everything imaginable.