COUNTERFEIT GOD OF THE MYSTERY RELIGION

By Akin Ojumu

In his letter to the Church in Rome, Apostle Paul grieved over the spiritual condition of his fellow Jews. While he acknowledged the fervency of their zeal for God, sadly, it was a zeal not rooted in knowledge. The Jews were pious in their religious rituals, but they were oblivious of true righteousness. Heartbroken by their ignorant zeal and misplaced piety, Paul prayed that they would come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:1-4

“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Like Paul, the levee of my heart breaks for the young kids I see in this video clip who are being whipped into a frenzy by Edu Udechukwu, all in the name of “prayer charge.” Just look at them. The tortured faces, contorted postures, and guttural utterances. What sort of spirit could possess a human being to make them engage in this type of self-immolation if not a demonic spirit? 

Edu Udechukwu and his followers are definitely zealous. But like the Jews, their zeal is devoid of knowledge. They have taken the true Gospel, which is salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, and to the glory of God alone, and replaced it with salvation by works and human efforts.

Likewise, I see a lot of parallels between what Edu Udechukwu and his followers are doing in this video clip and the actions of the 450 prophets of Baal on the Mount Carmel when Elijah, the Prophet of YAHWEH, challenged them to call on their god to rain down fire to consume the sacrifice on the altar. 

1 Kings 18:26

“So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made. About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.”

To get Baal to answer their prayers, the prophets of Baal danced and hobbled around, i.e., they were walking around with a limp as though they were injured. They kicked off a frenzy just to get Baal to respond.

The leaping or dancing around the altar was a form of ecstatic worship intended to provoke a divine response. This behavior is reminiscent of other ancient religious practices where physical exertion was believed to attract the attention of the gods. The scene is reminiscent of the Israelites' idolatrous worship of the golden calf, drawing a parallel between Israel's past unfaithfulness and the current apostasy of the people under Ahab’s reign (Source: Bible Hub).

When the dancing and the limping did not produce the intended result, and with Elijah pouring salt into injury with his biting mockery, the prophets of Baal took the frenzy up a notch by resorting to self-mutilation. Their yelling grew more strident and they slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until blood gushed out.

The vivid imagery of blood gushing underscores the extreme measures taken by the prophets of Baal. Bloodletting was believed to be a powerful means of gaining divine favor, yet it also symbolizes the life force being drained away, pointing to the ultimate powerlessness of their gods. This scene foreshadows the sacrificial system in Israel, where blood was central but was offered in a controlled, God-ordained manner, ultimately pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed once for all (Hebrews 9:12-14). The futility of the prophet’ actions contrasts with the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice, which brings true atonement and reconciliation with God (Source: Bible Hub).

When you think of it, the antics of Edu Udechukwu and his gullible followers aren’t all that different from that of the prophets of Baal. Because Edu’s god was musing, or relieving himself, or on a journey, or perhaps asleep and must be awakened, he and his followers had to cry out louder and go into epileptic convulsions in order to get their god to respond. Knowing that the god they serve is a psychopath who is hard of hearing, Edu and his followers must self-immolate and yell at the top of their lungs just to get his attention.

A god that would demand his adherents to inflict pain on themselves in the place of prayers in order to provoke a response is proof that it is not the God of the Bible. Such a god is an idol carved by human hand. Sadly, this is the god that Edu Udechukwu and his bewitched followers serve.