AFRICAN PLUME

By Akin Ojumu Christianity is all about Christ.  Stop making it about yourself. Scriptures are about Christ.  Quit hijacking it to make it about yourself. Faith anchored on signs and wonders Isn’t faith at all.  Belief in God predicated on expectations of sensations Isn’t belief whatsoever Faith tethered on spectacles and miracles  Is doubt and unbelief looking for proof If you can’t trust God with an empty belly You won’t really trust Him with a full belly. Christianity premised on having all your temporal needs met Is a pagan idolatrous religion camouflaged in Christian slogans. Christianity focused on self is Christless Christianity. Christless Christianity is no Christianity at all. A Church that feeds your fleshly desires Is nothing but a shrine where self is worshiped.

“Mosaic of the King of kings” By Akin Ojumu Fire drills at schools and in the workplaces are pivotal for safety and preparation. These exercises help students and employees understand and practice established emergency evacuation procedures. The objective is to reduce panic and ensure swift evacuation in the event of a real fire. One of the main features of a fire drill exercise is the fire alarm. It’s the loud, high-pitched, and continuous ringing of the fire alarm that alerts students and employees to commence on the evacuation protocol. What fire alarm is to people in modern times is what the trumpet was to the ancient people of biblical times. The trumpet was a powerful instrument used in the Old Testament as a means of warning and summoning the people. It was used to alert people to danger, call them to gather for assembly, or to announce a solemn occasion.  Joel 2:1-2 “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for...

“Come! All Who Labor and are Heavy Laden” By Akin Ojumu This commentary series is a reminder to anyone who cares to pay attention that paramount to any accurate interpretation of Scriptures is the realization that all Scriptures are about Christ. The Law and the Prophets prophesied of His Coming. In the Gospel we read about His life, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The Epistles are roadmaps on how to follow Christ. Today’s installment of the series will examine the connection between Joseph and Jesus as givers of bread to the hungry. Connection 34: The whole world came to buy grain When the seven years of famine hit, it was pretty severe. The extreme food scarcity not only affected Egypt, but it was also felt across the entire known world of that time. The whole world was seized with a paroxysm of excruciating starvation. Barrenness and drought filled the whole earth. Severe emptiness blighted barns and storehouses everywhere. No nation was spared of the food shorta...

“When Self Becomes an Idol” By Akin Ojumu Idolatry is the worship of someone or something other than God as if they were God. In the typical polytheistic fashion, there are as many gods of men as there are men of gods, and there are varieties of something or someone that people worship. Some worship deities, nature, and ancestors. Others worship tangible and intangible things such as success, fame, fortune, food, and freedom. Of all the objects of man’s devotion, the worship of self tops them all. Self-worship, aka autolatry or self-idolatry, is the excessive admiration or devotion to oneself, often to the point of making oneself the object of worship. Autolatry manifests in different forms. One of its most insidious forms is narcissistic eisegesis, aka narcigesis.  Coined from Narcissism (i.e., self-absorption and an overinflated sense of self-importance) and Eisegesis (i.e., to read one’s opinion into a Bible passage), narcigesis is reading oneself into a Bible passage and making...

“On the Road to Emmaus” By Akin Ojumu For those of you who read my commentaries, if there’s anything at all that you could point to as a key takeaway, I wish above all things that it would be the fact that Christ is the focus of all Scriptures. It ’ s my hope that I ’ ve not failed to make it crystal clear to you that Christ is not only the Key that opens the door to understanding the content and context of Scriptures, but also that Christ is the central theme and the subject of the entire Bible. From Genesis to Revelations, all of Scriptures are about Christ. While the Old Testament prophesied about His coming, the New Testament testified about Him living among us and His eventual return at the end of the age when He comes back in glory and power to establish His everlasting Kingdom. In the Law, we see types and shadows of Christ as the Lamb of God who gave Himself as an offering for sin. Meanwhile, the Prophets tell us of His birth, rejection, suffering, and crucifixion. We read in t...