ALADDIN & THE GENIE CHRISTIANITY

By Akin Ojumu

Woven into the tapestry of my commentaries on the Christianity faith is a strident emphasis on historical biblical Christianity. Those who have followed me for any appreciable period of time know that this particular subject is a recurring feature in my musings. 

But what exactly does it even mean? Well, let me define it for you.

In a nutshell, historical biblical Christianity is the Gospel that was taught by the Lord Jesus Christ to His chosen Apostles. In His final instructions to the Apostles, the Lord Jesus commanded them to teach the exact same thing to their own disciples with the help of the Holy Spirit who will bring to their remembrance everything He had taught them in the preceding three years that they had been with Him.

John 14:26

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Matthew 28:19-20

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Guess what? The Apostles obeyed their Master’s instructions fully. They went out to all the nations and proclaimed the teachings of the Gospel they heard their Master preached, and they taught their own disciples, i.e., the Apostolic Fathers, what the Lord Jesus taught them. In turn, it was the same message that the Apostolic Fathers and those who followed after them preached throughout Church history.

And this message they preached is historical biblical Christianity. It is the true Gospel. Apostle Paul sums up this message succinctly in his letters to the Church at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the Word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”

Historical Biblical Christianity is the belief system originating with Jesus and the Apostles, as documented in the New Testament and understood through foundational orthodox theology throughout history. It focuses on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, emphasizing essential doctrines like the Trinity, salvation by grace, and biblical authority (Google AI).

The true Gospel preached by the Apostles and passed on to the Church was Christ and Him crucified. Their message was always about Christ and what He accomplished for us. In fact, if you want to assess whether a sermon aligns with the historical biblical Gospel that the Lord Jesus taught His disciples, all you’ve got to do is see who the sermon points to. A reliable test of the fidelity of a sermon to the Gospel is to ascertain the primary object of the message.

Christ is front and center of the historical biblical Gospel. When God’s Word is preached soundly, it directs our gaze off of ourselves and our needs and focuses solely on Him. The Lord Jesus always takes preeminence when the Word of God is exegeted according to the historical biblical tradition that was passed down to us by the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Sound doctrine reminds us that the Bible is all about Christ and not at all about us. Sound preaching reinforces the fact that Scripture is a biographical account of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and not a memoir of your life or mine. Sound teaching shows us that the Bible is a chronicle of the Messiah written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Sound sermon instructs us that every single book of the Bible is by divine design. Together, they tell an amazing story of the same person, Jesus Christ, the Anointed One.

Luke 24:27

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

John 5:39

“You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very Words that testify about Me.”

Christ is not the main attraction in Scriptures. He is the sole attraction. All that’s written in the Bible is meant to point us to Christ. The stories, history, poetry, signs, wonders, and miracles are all written to help us believe that Jesus is the Messiah. This is the story of redemption.

Yet, what obtains today in the religious houses of horror called churches is an Aladdinized form of Christianity. This is a man-centered and self-absorbed understanding of Scriptures that excites the flesh and it’s exactly what the itching ears want to hear. It’s a rather cartoonish approach to and use of the Bible that’s grossly lacking in power to transform the sinful soul. 

In this distorted version of the Gospel, the Christian faith is reduced to the Church version of the quest of Aladdin and the Genie who embarked on a dangerous mission to stop the evil sorcerer Jafar from overthrowing young Jasmine’s kingdom.

The Almighty God, in Aladdinized Christianity, is nothing more than a cosmic therapist or celestial life coach who listens to, empathizes with, and helps clients confront problems and challenges of their lives. Those who subscribe to this aberrant theological system, which is pretty much the vast majority of church folks today, see God as a source to be tapped into by using the right words or what’s now known as positive confession. To them, faith is a force secreted by the faith gland and released to create miracles. 

Consumers of this Disneyfied Gospel may get an instantaneous emotional high from the self-affirming and self-aggrandizing platitudes, but in no time the ecstatic feeling and pleasurable sensation soon dissipate. And like the typical drug addict, the craving returns in full force. Very soon, they build tolerance and need more and more of the addictive substance to generate the level of high they crave.

Churchgoers of our day are addicted to the man-centered gospel of the pseudo-Christian moralistic therapeutic deism. Just like the cravings of the drug addict for the next high, they flock to the spiritual drug houses every Sunday to get their fix. Waiting to keep them hooked are the dope dealers behind the pulpits who pump the veins of their customers with the addictive spiritual cocaine of therapeutic moralistic deism that prioritizes feeling good, achieving greatness, and living your best life now.

This Christianized pagan religion focuses primarily on temporal human needs. The priests of the cults of therapeutic moralistic deism constantly dispense happy lies of self-fulfillment and self-actualization. Just say the right words, and the genie will grant your wishes.

It is a belief system where human glory supplants God’s glory. Here, the pursuit of human desire takes pre-eminence over what the Lord truly desires. Salvation, in these settings, is often framed solely as a means to personal prosperity, comfort, or emotional healing. God, in this religious system, is a servant to human agendas. Christ’s death on Calvary’s Cross is primarily that they would enjoy health, wealth, and success.

What drives churchgoers en masse to the religious crack houses where false teachers, like drug dealers, peddle their illicit drugs (false teachings) of self-glory and self-affirmation is because the addicts (church folks) are hooked on the dope. To satisfy their cravings, the addicts have to keep going back for more.

Be honest with yourself. Isn’t this the type of Christianity practiced in your own denomination?