AROME OSAYI: THE PECULIAR TREASURE WHO MUST NOT BE INSULTED (PART IV)

“God Has Not Appointed Arome Osayi as the Custodian of His Undiluted Ways”

By Akin Ojumu

In Parts I, II, and III of this commentary, we examined the extraordinary testimony of Arome Osayi concerning a young woman who allegedly became unable to speak after allegedly insulting him during a church meeting.

We also considered Arome’s astonishing declaration that Jesus is extraordinarily jealous over him because he is different from ordinary Christians, a “peculiar treasure” supposedly raised by God so that entire nations might learn His undiluted ways.

According to Arome Osayi, the authority for this remarkable self-description is simple.

“That’s what God said.”

How convenient!

The preacher declares himself exceptionally important. He claims God personally revealed his exceptional importance. And everyone else is apparently expected to accept his extraordinary self-assessment without questioning it.

But Christianity is not built upon the extravagant claims of religious personalities.

The Church is not mandated to accept every pronouncement that begins with the words:

“God told me.”

And a preacher does not acquire divine authority merely by announcing that God has personally conferred extraordinary status upon him.

This is where the Scriptures must be allowed to speak.

THE BIBLICAL PROFILE OF THE BOASTFUL FALSE TEACHER

The Apostle Peter had much to say about the arrogance and presumptuousness of false teachers.

2 Peter 2:10

“Bold and willful...”

Peter was describing individuals characterized by audacity, self-will, and contempt for proper authority.

These were not humble servants trembling before the Word of God. They were arrogant and bombastic individuals whose conduct reflected a reckless disregard for divine truth.

Later in the same chapter, Peter gives an equally revealing description.

2 Peter 2:18

“For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.”

Loud boasts of folly.

What a striking expression!

The false teachers Peter confronted were characterized by boastful speech, spiritual deception, and the exploitation of others.

Apostle Peter’s original warning addressed particular false teachers, and the full context must govern how that warning is applied today.

Nevertheless, the passage supplies a sobering standard against which the conduct and teaching of contemporary ministers must be examined.

When a preacher speaks of himself in extravagantly exalted terms, claims privileged access to divine revelation, and tells stories implying that criticism of him attracts supernatural punishment, those claims deserve the most rigorous biblical scrutiny.

No preacher should be allowed to escape that scrutiny by invoking his anointing. No preacher’s personal testimony should be permitted to override Scripture. And no preacher’s declaration that “God said” should be treated as self-authenticating divine revelation.

The Apostle Paul provides the proper model of Christian ministry.

2 Corinthians 4:5

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.”

Did you notice that?

WE DO NOT PROCLAIM OURSELVES.

That is the apostolic pattern.

The true minister does not make himself the centerpiece of divine revelation. A genuine preacher of the Gospel does not turn his personal importance into the subject of Christian proclamation.

He does not threaten critics with stories of supernatural punishment. He does not present his relationship with Jesus as a privileged arrangement that places him beyond question.

He proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord. And himself as a bondservant.

GOD HAS NOT APPOINTED AROME OSAYI AS THE CUSTODIAN OF HIS UNDILUTED WAYS

Let us return to one of Arome Osayi’s most astonishing declarations.

“I have been raised so that nations will learn the ways of God undiluted.”

What exactly is this supposed to mean?

Are we to understand that God has specially commissioned Arome Osayi to preserve the purity of divine revelation for the nations?

Are we to conclude that the Church requires his personal revelations to understand God’s ways without dilution?

Are we supposed to believe that the faithful exposition of Scripture is insufficient without the extraordinary intervention of this peculiar treasure?

On what biblical authority? Where is the apostolic warrant for such a claim?

And why should Christians accept a preacher’s private assertion about his own extraordinary status when Scripture has already established the means by which the Church is to be instructed in the truth?

The Apostle Paul declared:

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.”

Notice the significance of Paul’s words.

All Scripture is God-breathed. All Scripture is profitable. And through Scripture, the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The sufficiency of Scripture does not depend on the existence of a contemporary preacher who claims to possess an extraordinary spiritual designation.

The Church does not need Arome Osayi to complete what God has already provided in His written Word.

Christians do not need to consult a self-proclaimed peculiar treasure before they can understand the ways of God.

The Scriptures themselves provide the authoritative revelation by which the Church is instructed, corrected, and equipped.

Indeed, the Apostle Jude speaks of:

Jude 3

“The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Once for all.

Not a faith continually supplemented by the private revelations of self-appointed spiritual celebrities.

Not a faith whose preservation depends upon the extraordinary personality of a contemporary preacher.

Not a faith requiring some specially protected religious personality to disclose what God has somehow failed to reveal.

The apostolic faith was delivered to the saints. And the Church is called to contend for that faith.

Not for the reputation of Arome Osayi. Not for the prestige of a peculiar treasure. Not for the supposed indispensability of a religious celebrity.

But for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

AROME OSAYI IS NOT INDISPENSABLE TO GOD

There is another theological error underlying the extravagant and preposterous claims of contemporary religious personalities and Church celebrities.

It is the assumption that God has become dependent upon certain exceptionally anointed human beings to accomplish His purposes.

These preachers speak as though the divine plan would suffer irreparable damage without their extraordinary contribution.

They present themselves as indispensable instruments of heaven.

They are the custodians of revival. The carriers of divine fire. The repositories of supernatural power. The distributors of spiritual grace. The guardians of God’s undiluted mysteries. 

And, apparently, the peculiar treasures of Jesus Christ.

But the God of the Bible is not dependent upon any human being.

Not Arome Osayi! 

Not any self-appointed apostle!

Not any contemporary prophet. Not any celebrity pastor!

Not any religious personality who imagines himself to occupy an exclusive position in the heavenly hierarchy!

Psalm 115:3

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

Daniel 4:35

“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’”

That is the God of Scripture.

The sovereign Creator of heaven and earth. The One whose purposes cannot be frustrated. The One who accomplishes all that He pleases. The One who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

He does not require the cooperation of an indispensable human instrument before His purposes can be fulfilled.

He does not depend upon the continued existence of a peculiar treasure to preserve His Gospel. He does not need Arome Osayi to protect the integrity of His revelation.

The Gospel was being proclaimed long before Arome Osayi was born. The Gospel will continue to be proclaimed long after he is gone.

And the sovereign purposes of God will be accomplished regardless of whether Arome Osayi considers himself extraordinarily important.

God sovereignly raises servants to accomplish His purposes. But none of those servants becomes indispensable to Him. 

And none acquires the right to demand unquestioning allegiance from the people of God.

God alone is indispensable.

In Part V, the concluding installment, we’ll examine the difference between faithful Christian ministry and religious celebrity culture.

We’ll also consider the Apostle Paul’s warning against empty talkers and why a preacher’s spectacular claims do not become divine truth merely because they are delivered from behind a pulpit.

To be continued.