African Plume

“Elijah Fleeing from Jezebel Proves That Power Belongs to God—Not to Man” By Akin Ojumu Isaac Omolehin’s horrifying ordeal at the hands of bandits was the subject of one of my recent commentaries. I concluded that piece with these words: “Isaac Omolehin deserves compassion in his suffering. His family deserves safety. The children in that orphanage deserve protection… But none of that requires us to pretend that the contradiction is not there. A man who tells the world that his prayers once sent chairs airborne with people still sitting on them should expect someone, eventually, to ask the obvious question when armed men send him running from his own home: Sir, whatever happened to all that power?” In response to the write-up, a commenter lamented what he apparently considers the unfortunate modern tendency to scrutinize and fact-check the supernatural claims of so-called “men of God.” He wrote: “The same question we would ask Elijah that called down fire from heaven to consume a water...

“Stop Equating Modern-Day Charlatans With Elijah” By Akin Ojumu Modern believers love to play the “Elijah also ran from Jezebel” card whenever one of their revered “Daddies,” “Mummies,” “Generals,” or “Papa Apostles” is exposed. The moment the claims of another supposedly invincible spiritual heavyweight begin to collapse under the weight of reality, the defenders rush to social media: “But Elijah also ran for his life.” “Peter was persecuted.” “Paul was beaten and imprisoned.” “John was exiled to Patmos.” “And even Jesus Christ was crucified.” Yes.  They will actually place their favorite preacher in the same apologetic sentence as the Lord Jesus Christ—the eternal Son of God, the Creator of heaven and earth—in order to rescue their celebrity minister from embarrassment. That alone tells you something about how distorted the entire system has become. But let us deal specifically with Elijah. It is a serious error to equate modern-day self-styled “anointed men of God” with Elijah. ...