THOSE CAUSING DIVISIONS & CREATING OBSTACLES (PART I)

“The Upsides of Being a Castoff”

By Akin Ojumu

If I had a quarter for every time I have been accused, to my face and behind my back, that I’m nothing but a hyper-critical, rabble-rousing, saber-rattling, bomb thrower who loves to cause divisions and thrives on creating obstacles, I’ll be a multi-millionaire by now.

Under the guise of showing concern for my soul and physical well-being, family members often counsel me to tamp down on my criticism of pastors. They tell me that I should not let my concern for the explosive spread of destructive heresies and doctrines of demons that have overtaken the Church be too consuming for me. 

Perhaps failing to see the self-centeredness of their admonition, they sometime throw in a Yoruba proverb which says, “Fálànà gbọ́ tìrẹ, tara ẹni là ńgbọ́,” which means “why don’t you mind your own freaking business.”

Unlike my family members who, at least, seek to get me to focus my attention on my own affairs and ignore the damage wolves in sheep’s clothing are doing to the Church, the same cannot be said of my friends. To many of my buddies, Akin is pretty radioactive. Fearing for their dear lives, they make sure they stay well outside the blast radius of my radioactivity. 

To avoid sharing in the wrath they believe God is going to pour on my head for speaking against people they consider God’s Generals, a sizable number of my friends put a healthy distance between themselves and myself. These days, they look at me from afar, in horror and pity, expecting the anger of God to fall on my head for daring to call out the Gospel hucksters who are fleecing the flock of God. 

As much as they would like to be as far away from me as possible, though, these my homies are like voyeurs. From time to time, they can’t help but peep into my social media page to see if the curse pronounced by their general overseers or apostles has finally caught up with me.

Furthermore, there are some of these people in my orbit who are strongly convinced that I departed from the faith a long time ago when I started denouncing the practice of tithing as being unbiblical in the New Testament. In fact, one of them actually told me, to my face, that I’m no longer a Christian, but a bloody apostate. 

It is inconceivable to my Christian pals how a true Christian can make a habit of challenging the teachings of powerful MOGs, i.e., men of God. As far as they are concerned, anyone who would attack – by which they mean refute the false teachings of – Enoch Adeboye, William Kumuyi, David Oyedepo, Chris Oyakhilome, Joshua Selman, Jerry Eze, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Kathryn Kuhlman, Smith Wigglesworth, William Branham, etc., is most definitely a demon-possessed unbeliever.

Even though many of these friends and family members can’t biblically repudiate my criticisms of these religious leaders, some even agree that the objections I raise to the erroneous teachings of these so-called fathers in the faith are legitimate, they’d rather that I didn’t criticize them publicly and on secular platforms. 

Castigating the erroneous teachings of the fathers in the faith on social media, they claim, is like handing a weapon of mass destruction to the enemy that they can then turn against the Church. Moreover, they believe that these critical commentaries against the giants of the faith could potentially cause divisions and may permanently destroy the faith of people who have imbibed the teachings of these powerful figures.

To buttress their argument, they cite passages such as the one in the Book of Romans where Paul, in his final instructions and greetings, admonished the Christians in Rome to watch out for and avoid those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine they’ve been taught.

Now, whenever any of these my family members, friends, and acquaintances engage on the basis of Scripture, which is rare in occurrence, I always welcome the opportunity. For me, it is a chance to dialogue on what I consider a common ground, i.e., the Word of God. As gently as I can, I try to expound to them why their interpretation, understanding, and application of the Bible passage they’ve cited is faulty. I try to tell them that these people they see as giants in the faith are not really what they pretend to be.

Take as an example the passage about causing divisions and creating obstacles in the Book of Romans.

Romans 16:17

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.”

If we exegetically examine this text, it becomes immediately apparent that it actually contradicts the “leave-them-to-God” or “see no evil, hear no evil” attitudes these my friends and family members comfortably adopt towards false teachers and their false teachings. The passage is, in fact, a warning signal to all Christians to be on their guard for those who teach doctrines that deviate from Scripture. It is an admonition to the Church to have nothing to do with peddlers of aberrant doctrines.

Paul considered it necessary to insert into his greetings of love this caution against harmful teachings and practices that undermine the truth of Christianity and are its greatest threat. Genuine love will be ready to forgive evil, but it will not condone or ignore it. Those, such as Paul, who truly love other believers who are dear to them, will warn them about sin and harm (Source: The MacArthur Bible Commentary).

Let’s dive deeper into the passage, shall we…courtesy of Bible Hub.

I Appeal to You, Brothers

Paul addresses the Roman believers with a sense of urgency and familial affection, emphasizing the importance of his message. The term “brothers” indicates a close-knit community of faith, reflecting the early Christian understanding of the church as a family. This familial language is consistent with Paul’s other letters, where he often uses “brothers” to foster unity and mutual care among believers, e.g.:

1 Corinthians 1:10

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”

Watch Out for Those Who Cause Divisions and Create Obstacles

Paul warns against individuals who disrupt the unity of the church. Divisions and obstacles refer to false teachings that lead believers away from the core message of the Gospel. In the early church, such issues often arose from two categories of false teachers, namely the Judaizers and the Gnostics.

Judaizers

A group of Jewish Christians who insisted that gentile Christians must follow the Mosaic Law and must first be circumcised – i.e., become Jewish through the ritual of a proselyte – before they could receive and maintain salvation.

Gnostics

Gnostics were heretics who sought to impose additional requirements or esoteric knowledge beyond the Gospel on Christians. The Gnostics believed that metaphysical experiences and attainment of esoteric knowledge were the true measure of spirituality. Gnosticism is based on a mystical, intuitive, subjective, inward, emotional approach to truth.

The warning of Paul about watching out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine of Christ echoes Jesus’ warnings about false prophets.

Matthew 7:15 

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

It is also a warning that comes from Paul’s own experiences with pseudo-Christians and pretend believers.

Galatians 2:4

“Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in – who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery.”

We’ll take it from here next time.