African Plume

“Questions About Doing Greater Works” By Akin Ojumu Just before the Lord Jesus Christ was to be arrested by the Jews, He was in the Upper Room with His disciples having the Last Supper. Earlier in the evening, He had laid aside his outer garments, taken a towel, and washed the disciples’ feet.  John 13:1-5 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” By this time, Judas, who had ...

By Akin Ojumu Pastors are God’s undershepherds. Their job is to feed and protect the sheep of God whom God has sovereignly placed under their care. As undershepherds, Pastors nourish the sheep by leading them to the green pastures of the Word of God.  Being keenly attuned to the wellbeing and welfare of the sheep, the undershepherd nurtures any wounded sheep back to health by tending to their wounds and hurts. The Pastor-shepherd protects the sheep by fending off dangers and perils of false teachings and erroneous doctrines.  Nowhere in Scripture is this role of the Pastor as God’s undershepherds more vividly painted than in Psalm 23, a passage which is contextually and primarily a Psalm about our great and ultimate Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalms 23:1-6 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I wa...

By Akin Ojumu Why do the vast majority of church folks have such a nonchalant attitude towards false teachers? How is it that supposed followers of Christ exhibit unrestrained umbrage for the critics of false teachers while adamantly defending the integrity and reputation of the perpetrators of false teachings? Well, when you really think about it, you’ll find that the answer to these questions is not all that far-fetched. Church folks get peeved with people who call out false teachers because they are of the view that the peddling of false teachings is a victimless crime. In the minds of these people, erroneous teachings harm no one. Their nonchalance about false teachings and the righteous indignation poured out on the critics of the twisters and distorters of the Gospel stem from their no harm, no foul sentiment about erroneous doctrines. This tolerance for error is deeply rooted in ignorance. To think that the perpetration of false teachings is innocuous is a lie straight from the ...

By Akin Ojumu Let’s talk about professional pulpiteers, duly represented by Jegede Sokoya, a character from the New Masquerade, a Nigerian sitcom that aired on the Nigerian Television Authority network during the mid-1970s until the mid-1990s. Full of arrogance and incessantly in pursuit of physical health, material wealth, and earthly success, Jegede Sokoya is the epitome of modern-day preachers.  In Jegede Sokoya is all the ugliness and hideousness of charlatanry dwell bodily. Endowed with an unusual gift of garb, he is a smooth-talking wily fellow who uses charm, persuasive speech, insincere flattery, and spiritual hokey-pokey to deceive and manipulate his victims for personal gain and enrichment. 2 Peter 2:3 “And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” Romans 16:18 “For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive...

By Akin Ojumu By way of the Instagram algorithm, this short video popped up on my feed this morning. The video depicts a pastor, clad in white suits and red tie, hawking a spiritual implement inside what ’ s supposed to be a Church to an overtly ecstatic congregation. This time around, the spiritual implement being marketed is the original sling that David used to kill Goliath. According to the man of God, the divine catapult carries the same supernatural powers to knock your enemies out cold. Now, you don’t ask me how the man of God obtained the original catapult that David used to kill Goliath. He probably got it on one of his many travels to heaven. What ’ s important is that you can use the divine catapult to kill all those pesky Goliaths in your life who have been messing things up for you and making your life a living nightmare. With the David ’s  catapult in your hand, you ’ll be able to  smite all the nasty Goliaths and chop off their head. For those of you reading thi...

By Akin Ojumu Never confuse an obsessive-compulsive quest for miraculous phenomena as a sign of genuine faith in God. On the contrary, a craving for supernatural occurrences is nothing more than a deep-seated doubt and unbelief looking for proof. Those who run from pillar to post chasing after signs, wonders, and miracles mistake the razzmatazz of sorcery and the razzle-dazzle of witchcraft for the purity of the childlike Christian faith. If you belong in a religious establishment which presents itself as a Christian Church but where the overriding theme of worship is the supernatural and the predominant motif of their meetings is the extraordinary, you must understand that you are a victim of a religious con. What you are is an initiate of a pagan metaphysical mystic cult and not a member of a true Christian Church. You are biblically uninformed and spiritually naive if your faith is anchored to the perpetual performance of the miraculous. If your knowledge about the power of God is l...

By Akin Ojumu Adherents of the Pentecostal Movement like to throw a fit whenever they are told that their so-called God’s Generals are conmen, Gospel hucksters, false teachers, and metaphysical occult mystics. Even when confronted with irrefutable proof that their heroes are agents of Satan who have corrupted Biblical Christian and replaced it with New Age/New Thought mysticism, they get enraged, exploding into unrighteous indignation. Well, once again, I’m here to present to you another proof that your so-called God’s Generals never belong to God. To the extent that they are anyone’s generals, they are of the devil’s military. This commentary is about Michael Orokpo. It is a review of a video where the self-appointed apostle can be seen bragging about how he could use his mind to conjure up things. The guy believes his mind is a channel of power. Performing in front of an excited audience, Michael Orokpo demonstrates the power of his mind. Just so his enchanted crowd grasp the extent ...

By Akin Ojumu My dear Romanus, ordinarily, I would have ignored your diatribe like others, but I'm making an exception in your case to correct a few false assumptions in your comments for the benefit of those who are reading this so that they too won’t fall into the same error.  Before I say what I’m about to say, though, I need you to understand that this whole thing isn’t personal for me. I’m not seeking fame and fortune. Affection and admiration of people are not what I’m after. If those were my intentions, putting out these critical commentaries is a rather dumb way to go about it. Calling into question long-held beliefs and calling out men and women held in high regard, and even worshiped, by people is not how to gain a following on social media. Doing that will only make one a pariah. Now, let me address a couple of things you get wrong in your comments. THESE MEN MADE MUCH MORE POSITIVE IMPACT THAN YOU In a way, I’m not surprised that you would say that. Like the vast majori...

By Akin Ojumu In this 1-min video clip of an old sermon, Dr. William Folorunso Kumuyi talks about his spiritual mentors. These are the preachers whose books he read that shaped his theology. They are the sermons he listened to that molded his doctrines.  Such was the respect and regard Dr Kumuyi had for these preachers that he spent hours, days, months, and years consuming their materials. Till today, he claims to still read the books and listen to the messages of these people.  The resultant effect on Dr Kumuyi of feeding on the books and listening to the messages of these his heroes of the faith was that he was able to attain depth and height of spiritual exploits. Dr Kumuyi claims he obtained his spiritual power by consuming the materials of these people all of whom he considered to be spiritual giants. You may be wondering who these “great and powerful” preachers are/were who had such a powerful influence in shaping Dr William Kumuyi’s understanding of Christianity and fro...

By Akin Ojumu Witchcraft, wizardry, and sorcery are part and parcel of the African experience. You can’t be an African and not be familiar with witches and wizards. In the dark continent, the mere mention of warlocks and wizards brings a foreboding sense of fear and reverence. But what exactly is witchcraft? What does wizardry mean? Who is a warlock? How do you identify sorcery? What does the Bible say about these things? I decided to pose these questions to AI. Immediately, the modern-day technology wizard spat out the following response. "In the Bible, witchcraft is portrayed as a form of sorcery and divination that is forbidden and considered an abomination to God. It encompasses practices like casting spells, communicating with spirits (both living and dead), and attempting to manipulate events through supernatural means. The Bible consistently condemns these practices, emphasizing that God alone is the source of true power and guidance.” Witchcraft, wizardry, warlockery, and ...