WHEN MYSTICAL ALTARS REPLACE THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST (PART IV)

“Christ Is Enough: The Gospel Does Not Need Mystical Machinery”

By Akin Ojumu

In the preceding installments of this commentary, we have examined Joshua Selman’s extraordinary claims about priesthood, kingship, invisible crowns, mystical altars, and supernatural authorization systems.

We established that the biblical doctrine of the royal priesthood of believers provides no foundation for the claim that priesthood generates spiritual power for kingship.

We also demonstrated that prayer, Bible study, consecration, and holiness, though commanded by God, are nowhere presented in Scripture as activities that generate supernatural energy to power invisible altars.

In Part III, we examined the more fundamental danger beneath these teachings: the possibility of obscuring the sufficiency of Jesus Christ by introducing invented spiritual mechanisms upon which believers are encouraged to depend.

And now we arrive at the central issue.

IS THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS CHRIST SUFFICIENT, OR MUST IT BE SUPPLEMENTED BY MYSTICAL RELIGIOUS MACHINERY?

The answer is not complicated.

It does not require a journey into the spirit realm. It does not require an encounter with some ancient spiritual personality. It does not require the activation of an invisible crown, the maintenance of a supernatural altar, or the approval of an imaginary heavenly authorization department.

The answer is revealed in Scripture.

CHRIST IS ENOUGH

Let us return to the foundation of the Christian faith.

The Gospel is not Christ plus your altar. It is not Christ plus your invisible crown. It is not Christ plus your priesthood-powered kingship. It is not Christ plus your ability to maintain an imaginary system of supernatural authorization.

CHRIST IS ENOUGH.

Hebrews 12:2 describes Jesus as the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Hebrews 12:2

“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

He does not merely initiate salvation and then hand over its completion to our religious ingenuity. He is its Author and Perfecter.

On the Cross, Jesus declared:

John 19:30

“It is finished.”

Those words were not a provisional announcement. They were not a declaration that the first installment of redemption had been completed while the remaining work awaited activation through the believer’s personal altar.

They announced the completion of His sacrificial mission.

His atoning work is finished. The debt of sin has been fully paid through His perfect sacrifice. The demands of divine justice have been satisfied in His redemptive work.

And everyone who belongs to Christ stands before God on the basis of His righteousness, not the supposed spiritual energy generated by human religious performance.

Hebrews 10:14

“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Notice the extraordinary declaration.

BY ONE OFFERING, CHRIST HAS PERFECTED FOR ALL TIME THOSE WHO ARE BEING SANCTIFIED.

The believer’s continuing growth in holiness does not imply that Christ’s atoning work remains incomplete. His finished sacrifice is the foundation upon which sanctification proceeds.

And Peter declares:

2 Peter 1:3

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

What more must an invisible altar supply? What additional authority must a mystical crown manufacture? What spiritual privilege essential to our salvation must be secured through some unauthorized religious machinery?

The Christian is called to grow in the knowledge of Christ, meditate upon His Word, pray without ceasing, pursue holiness, and obey His commands.

But these activities are not attempts to complete a defective redemption. They are the grateful responses of people who have been redeemed and are being transformed by God’s grace.

The distinction is fundamental.

WE DO NOT OBEY GOD TO COMPLETE WHAT CHRIST FAILED TO ACCOMPLISH. WE OBEY GOD BECAUSE CHRIST HAS REDEEMED US AND HIS GRACE IS AT WORK WITHIN US.

Prayer is not a spiritual generator. Bible study is not an altar-charging exercise. Consecration is not a supernatural electricity supply. Holiness is not a mechanism for activating an invisible crown.

These are ordinary means and expressions of the Christian life, grounded in God’s grace and governed by His revealed Word. 

And any theology that transforms them into components of an imaginary supernatural power station has departed from the teaching of Scripture.

THE CHURCH NEEDS SCRIPTURE, NOT MYSTICAL INVENTIONS

The real Apostles preached Christ crucified, risen, exalted, and sufficient. They proclaimed repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. They taught believers to persevere in the Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. They instructed the Church in sound doctrine, holiness, love, godliness, and obedience.

They did not establish a curriculum on maintaining mystical altars. They did not distribute instructions for activating invisible crowns. They did not teach that priesthood generates spiritual electricity for kingship. 

And they certainly did not introduce some supernatural authorization system that must be powered by human religious performance.

The Church does not need another revelation about invisible altars. It does not need another self-appointed apostle claiming privileged access to spiritual mysteries. It does not need another religious personality transforming the vocabulary of Scripture into an elaborate system of mystical superstition.

WHAT THE CHURCH NEEDS IS A RETURN TO THE WORD OF GOD.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

2 Timothy 3:16–17

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Scripture is sufficient to equip the people of God. The redemptive work of Jesus Christ is sufficient to save them. And the grace of God is sufficient to sustain them.

Christianity does not become more profound when preachers introduce concepts that cannot be established from Scripture.

SUCH ABERRANT CONCEPTS CORRUPT CHRISTIANITY.

The real test of a doctrine is not how mysterious it sounds, how emotionally stirring its presentation may be, or how many thousands of people applaud the preacher who announces it.

The test is whether it faithfully represents the teaching of God’s revealed Word.

And anything that fails that test must be rejected, regardless of the preacher’s popularity, impressive titles, stirring eloquence, elaborate theological vocabulary, or extravagant claims of supernatural authority.

It is not the duty of Christians to believe every extraordinary claim made by a preacher who describes himself as an apostle. It is their responsibility to examine every teaching against the authoritative revelation of Holy Scripture.

The Bereans were commended because they examined the Scriptures daily to determine whether the things they were being taught were true.

Acts 17:11

“Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.”

They were not rebuked for demanding biblical evidence. They were described as noble.

Yet, in the theological universe of some contemporary preachers, asking for biblical proof is treated as evidence that a person lacks spiritual understanding.

Apparently, examining Scripture is now a disadvantage when the preacher’s imagination has traveled beyond its boundaries.

What an extraordinary reversal!

The Apostles commended the examination of doctrine by Scripture.

The modern purveyors of mystical spirituality expect their pronouncements to be accepted on the strength of their supposed encounters, anointings, mantles, and supernatural experiences.

But Christianity is not founded upon the private spiritual adventures of charismatic personalities.

IT IS FOUNDED UPON THE REVELATION OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST, FAITHFULLY PROCLAIMED BY HIS APOSTLES AND PRESERVED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE.

THE FINAL VERDICT: THE GOSPEL DOES NOT NEED MYSTICAL MACHINERY

And so, after examining Joshua Selman’s claims about priesthood, kingship, crowns, altars, and supernatural authorization systems, we arrive at the unavoidable conclusion.

What has been presented as profound spiritual revelation is a collection of biblical terms rearranged into a theological construction that cannot be established from the teaching of Jesus Christ or His Apostles.

There is no priesthood-powered kingship in the sense Selman describes. There is no biblical instruction requiring Christians to activate invisible crowns through pious activities performed upon imaginary spiritual altars.

There is no apostolic doctrine of altars functioning as supernatural authorization systems powered by prayer, Bible study, and consecration.

And there is no deficiency in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ that requires such inventions.

What Scripture teaches is infinitely more glorious than this entire imaginary supernatural infrastructure.

The eternal Son of God became man. He lived in perfect obedience to the Father. He offered Himself as the spotless sacrifice for sinners.

He died. He rose again. He ascended into heaven.

He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He reigns as the sovereign King. He intercedes as the eternal High Priest.

And through His finished redemptive work, He has made His redeemed people a kingdom and priests unto God.

THAT IS THE GOSPEL.

Not invisible crowns. Not mystical altars. Not supernatural authorization protocols. Not religious power stations. Not the accumulated spiritual voltage of human religious activities.

JESUS CHRIST.

The final verdict is not complicated.

SALVATION IS BY GRACE. SANCTIFICATION IS BY GRACE. PRESERVATION IS BY GRACE. GLORIFICATION IS BY GRACE.

The Christian life begins, continues, and culminates in the gracious saving work of God through Jesus Christ.

No imaginary altar can improve upon that. No mystical crown can supplement it. No supernatural authorization system can complete it.

And no preacher has been commissioned by God to invent what Scripture has not revealed.

The Church has no obligation to embrace an elaborate spiritual system simply because someone has decorated it with biblical terminology, dressed it in apostolic language, and advertised it as a revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom.

The question remains the same today as it was in the days of the Apostles.

WHAT DOES THE SCRIPTURE SAY?

Not what did the preacher see in a vision. Not what did an angel supposedly whisper during an encounter. Not what mantle was allegedly received from some departed religious celebrity. Not what supernatural technology has supposedly been discovered in the spirit realm.

WHAT DOES THE SCRIPTURE SAY?

And where Scripture is silent, no preacher possesses the authority to manufacture divine revelation out of his own imagination.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not an unfinished project waiting for Joshua Selman, Arome Osayi, Jerry Eze, Enoch Adeboye, David Oyedepo, or anyone else to supply the missing spiritual machinery.

The Savior has completed His sacrificial work. 

The King reigns. The High Priest intercedes. His people have been redeemed. 

And the Word of God is sufficient to instruct them in faith and godliness.

CHRIST IS SUFFICIENT. HIS WORD IS SUFFICIENT. HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT.

The Gospel does not need mystical machinery.

IT NEEDS TO BE BELIEVED.