AFRICAN PLUME

By Akin Ojumu Man, regardless of how powerful, wealthy, or wise he may be, is nothing but dust. It doesn’t matter how highly exalted a man is, he remains an ordinary flesh in the sight of God. A man may cloth himself in majesty and splendor, and he may be wrapped in magnificence and grandeur, at the end of the day, he’s nothing but man. “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field…” (Isaiah 40:6). At his very best, and in all his glory, wisdom, power, and might, man will always be man and nothing more than a mere man. No matter how hard he tries, man will never be equal with God or achieve the perfection and glory of the Almighty God. Man cannot match the excellence of the matchless God.  “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:7-8). When everything is said and done and his numbered days on earth come

“Shine the Light of Love” By Akin Ojumu As we bring this commentary to conclusion, I ’ d like to discuss another important way of testing the spirit. And that ’ s the test of love. Test 3: True work of the Holy Spirit manifests in perfect love for God and perfect love for neighbor. “...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39). You know that the Holy Spirit is absent in a gathering whenever you find the “I, me, mine, and myself” spirit in control. What they practice in such places is false Christianity propelled by the “everything is all about me” spirit and not the Holy Spirit. The gifts are for me to edify me. The prayers are for me, to get me what I want. It’s a false religion focused on me and me getting whatever it is I desire.  In congregations where the Holy Spirit isn ’ t in control, these are the type of prayers you find: “Father, please divinely repositio

“Ponzi Scheme Gospel” By Akin Ojumu We’ve been discussing, in the last couple of commentaries, one of the ways to test the spirit. Contrary to the self-glorifying razzmatazz, mythical fantasies, and esoteric performances of the unholy spirit of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, the true work of the Holy Spirit of the Bible always exalts and points the way to Jesus. In today’s commentary, we’ll continue the discussion by examining another important test of the spirit. This time, we’ll be dealing with the widespread mishandling of the Word of Truth. Test 2: Whomsoever devalues the Gospel truth is not working under the influence of the Holy Spirit. “Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15). Ever since the founding of Christianity, the Gospel has been under assault. Demon controlled reprobate minds have continued to lay siege to the Word of Truth. Hellbent on ruining the faith of many, h

By Akin Ojumu In response to my recent commentary titled, “Never Trust a Faith Healer With a Pacemaker,” a beloved brother of mine asserted that Isaiah 53:5 is, and I quote,  “a divine promise that believers down the ages have exercised faith in and gotten healed and stayed healed.” If that were the case, how come Christians have been falling sick and dying for the past 2000 years, including the Apostles of Jesus who laid the foundation of the faith? Shouldn’t “divine health” have shielded them from sickness and death? I don’t suppose my brother is suggesting that all these Christians who have fallen ill and died from their illnesses lacked faith. Or is he? Even the great Apostle Paul was not immune from torment. We read in 2 Corinthians 12:7 about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”: “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.” The same P

People who have no idea what it means to go to bed at night hungry now lecturing penurious and famished Nigerians on the need to endure their hardship.  This is exactly what you expect from narcissistic, self-absorbed, spoilt brats. These corpulent rats who feed fat on the nation’s wealth ooze of contempt for suffering Nigerians. The conceit this arrogant, out-of-touch moochers have for Nigerians is jarring. And Nigerians, especially the “Awalokan” boosters and defenders, deserve to be so ridiculed.

By Akin Ojumu In a commentary titled “When I was Sick,” published today on his blog Textandpublishing.com, Deji Yesufu spoke glowingly about two of his close friends who recently transitioned to glory after a bout with a terminal illness. In the essay, he recalled how one of them handled his impending demise with such confidence and grace.  Deji then went on to lament the deception of the false doctrine of health and wealth. He spoke passionately about the unavoidable realities of living in the flesh in a fallen world.  “Here is one fact of life we cannot avoid or wish away: as much as we love health, this body we live in is dying. If we are not sick today, one day we will be sick. Most people who do not die of accidents or are not murdered will almost certainly die of one illness or the other. The stupidest theology, mindset, or worldview is a thinking that one can never be sick; or, that one could have divine health; or, that one could pray away illness. Illness is a reality of life.

“Offering of Strange Fire” By Akin Ojumu What does the Azusa Street Revival (1906-1915), Toronto Blessing Revival (1994), and Brownsville Revival aka Pensacola Outpouring (1995-2000) all have in common? These religious incidents were all characterized by rapturous singing, ecstatic dancing, gibberish speaking (aka “speaking in tongues ” ), and hundreds of people shaking, jerking, and writhing or lying dead-still on the floor all in the name of Christ, supposedly. Yet, many of these phenomena are commonly found in the pagan religion. The ecstatic babblings, uncontrollable shaking, jerking, and writhing on the floor are all part of the rites of Hindu kundalini yoga tradition known as “shaktipat” and “kundalini awakening.” These are the ecstasy and enthusiasm of the Mystery Babylon religion.  But you wouldn’t know any of these talking to the folks who believe that these three events are authentic Christian spiritual revivals. In their eyes, what happened in Azusa Street, Toronto, and Brow

“Test Every Spirit” By Akin Ojumu If there’s one thing that sets the folks in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements apart from the rest of Protestant Christianity, it is the all-consuming fixation and totally unbiblical fascination with the Holy Spirit. Those who belong to these movements have an unholy obsession with the third Person of the Trinity. More than their erroneous belief that all Christians must get baptized with the Holy Spirit after salvation as evidenced by “speaking in tongues,” is the way they fetishize the Holy Spirit turning Him into a celestial genie trapped in a temporal bottle. Many in the Charismatic movement see the Holy Spirit as some mystical force that can be summoned to slay their enemies. To others, the Holy Spirit is a magical power possessed only by specially “anointed” select few. And whenever these anointed Elites wield this power, people get slain in the spirit; they fall down and writhe like a snake or descend into hysterical spectacle. “For thoug

“Fig Leaves of Counterfeit Faith” By Akin Ojumu At the heart of the concept of repressed memory is the idea that human beings, when confronted with a traumatic experience, have the tendency to bury it deep in their subconscious mind. Because the experience is too excruciating for the individual’s conscious mind to retain, it is tucked away, buried deep in some subconscious, dark, and forgotten recesses of the memory. While painful memories may be buried deep in our subconscious mind, they are not lost all together. Modern psychiatry understands that no matter how much we suppress the traumatic experience, the memory is not annihilated. Very often, situations or circumstances would arise that may trigger the buried memory to come roaring back to the surface. Because the repressed memories are painful and traumatic, what happens when they resurface is that they are never in their original form. As the memories reemerge, they are camouflaged in a form that’s a lot less traumatic to the in

By Oluwadunni Ojumu, et al | Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Published Online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2024 A recent Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that TikTok floods child and adolescent users with videos of rapid weight loss methods, including tips on how to consume less than 300 calories a day and promoting a “corpse bride diet,” showing emaciated girls with protruding bones.  The investigation involved the creation of a dozen automated accounts registered as 13-year-olds and revealed that TikTok algorithms fed adolescents tens of thousands of weight-loss videos within just a few weeks of joining the platform. Emerging research indicates that these practices extend well beyond TikTok to other social media platforms that engage millions of U.S. youth on a daily basis. Social media algorithms that push extreme content to vulnerable youth are linked to an increase in mental health problems for adolescents, including poor body image, eating d

By Akin Ojumu Thank goodness, the African Cup of Nations is over and done with. Finally! Congratulations to the Ivorian Elephants who came out on top after being one goal down going into the second half. Considering how the team wobbled through the group stages and barely made it to the knockout rounds, it is a well-deserved victory. I sincerely commiserate with my fellow Nigerians who are feeling emotionally shattered by the loss. Regardless of my indifference and ambivalence about this AFCON, believe me when I say, I feel your pain. Everything was riding on this match for you; you invested a lot of emotional capital in this one game. You feverishly prayed and anxiously hoped that Nigeria would prevail in the finals. Seeing the Super Eagles hoist the AFCON Cup as green and white confetti rains down would have been a rare moment of pure joy and unbridled celebration for Nigerians; something that hasn’t happened in the country since time immemorial. A victory for Nigeria would have been

“Effectiveness of Satan’s Deception” By Akin Ojumu Satan is a liar and the father of lies. This diabolic being is forever at war with the people of God. From the creation of man until now, the Devil is all out striving to destroy God’s creation.  Just like he did in the Garden of Eden, when he used deceit and sleight of hand to get Adam and Even to transgress God’s command not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, Satan continues to perpetuate his true and tested tactics of chicanery and dissimulation even today. With great cunning and dexterity, Satan creates myriads of false belief systems with the sole purpose of muddling the water of faith and belief. As a means of blurring the lines between truth and lies, the Devil has established an elaborate system of counterfeit religions all adorned with Christian slogans and symbols.  But they are nothing but fortresses of speculations and strongholds of lofty ideas raised up against the knowledge of God. “For though we walk in

By Akin Ojumu As usual, the knuckleheads ruling Nigeria have found something with which to distract angry and hungry Nigerians. The devious ruling cabal has given the people an intoxicating opium to lure them to somnolence and forgetfulness. Capitalizing on the citizens’ embarrassingly short-term memory, the contemptuous ruiners of Nigeria are using the ongoing AFCON competition as a ruse to divert the attention of Nigerians away from the real issues facing Nigeria. AFCON is a red herring to take the minds of Nigerians off their multidimensional poverty, extreme hunger and widespread insecurity inflicted upon them by the inept rulership of Tinubu and his crew of half-wits. Potbellied politicians with varying sizes of protruded tummies, and donning the national jersey, embarked on profligate junkets to  Côte d’ Ivoire with hundreds of their lackeys in tow to watch the matches on tax payers money.  It ’ s as though their gratuitous presence in the stadium is in any way, shape, of form he

“Satan is Gunning for Your Mind” By Akin Ojumu For the vast majority of Church folks, spiritual warfare is all about repelling demons sapping their health, stealing their wealth, sabotaging their success, stopping their progress, and stymieing their good fortune.  They believe, erroneously, that every ill-health is the work of demons and the reason their finances are in shambles is because of spiritual attack. Their misfortune, failure, and lack of progress they attribute to one demon or the other.    Consequently, they spend an inordinate amount of time binding and casting out demons. Having been fed with the fallacious idea that they have the power to command demons, they engage in all kinds of pseudo-profound melodrama and pseudo-spiritual histrionics while pretending to tell demons what to do or where to go. Seeing that they don’t know better, they become easy targets for charlatans who pounce to exploit their ignorance with boasts of having demon slaying powers. Showing no mercy a

“Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” (2 John 1:9-11). You are warned to run from anyone, no matter how highly placed, who preaches an aberrant gospel. Do not promote a false Christianity not founded on sound doctrine, less you are found guilty of the same evil. Any gospel that’s not the true Gospel comes from Satan and it’s not the work of the Holy Spirit.

I’ll be joining the good folks at the Reformed Naija TV this coming Saturday for a chit-chat about what the Bible teaches us about prophets and prophecies. Date: Saturday, February 3, 2024 Time: 5 pm (Nigeria)/ 11 am (New York) It’s my hope you’ll be able to join the dialogue. YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAtqws9uJag Facebook - https://fb.me/e/3HJeE8kg7