African Plume

By Akin Ojumu It has become commonplace to find Christian assemblies filled with unregenerate souls who have been promised they could come to Christ all on their own terms. These lost sinners are told they don’t need to change a thing in their lives to be considered born-again.  “Just come as you are and be yourself, and everything will be alright,” is the welcome message printed in large fonts and bold letters, and posted prominently at the church entrance. And sure enough, they come in droves, totally unchanged, and they forever remain unchanged. There’s no greater dereliction of Christian responsibility than to fill up membership roster by luring perishing souls with the promise they could come to Christ on the conditions they themselves have set and on terms that suit their unregenerate flesh. Engaging in such seeker-friendly gimmicks in order to attract to the Church sinners whose hearts are unbroken and untouched by the Gospel of Christ is a great disservice to the sinners wh...

The Gospel is scandalous and agonizing. It is offensive and shameful. It is bad news for those who are perishing, and hard to believe for the unregenerate. To believe the Gospel goes against the grain of the reprobate mind. It rubs the natural man the wrong way. Yet, there is only one gate to God’s kingdom. And that is through the Gospel. Access to the narrow door to the narrow way that leads to eternal life goes directly through the Gospel. For anyone desiring a place in  God’s kingdom , there is no circumventing the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who water down the Gospel do it not to make it easy for people to believe. They dilute the Gospel because they are ashamed of it and are only looking to avoid the heat the world will give them if they present the truth of the Gospel just the way it is. Adulterating the Gospel to suit the world is their of way of evading the rejection that results from teaching the truth of the Gospel “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is...

Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Nigeria does not know, My people do not understand.” Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One who rules all nations, They have turned away from Him. Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil. Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields – strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers. The daughter of Nigeria is like a tumbledown shack on a dead-end street, Like a tarpape...

By Akin Ojumu There are about 50 main versions of the English Bible today. If you add the revisions, we are well into hundreds of Bibles. As of 2022 all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and smaller portions of the Bible have been translated into 1,248 other languages according to Wycliffe Global Alliance. At no other time in human history has the Bible been more available to the general public than it is today. There are far more Bible versions in circulation now than ever before. For just a token, anyone living in the Christian world can obtain a copy of a print version of the Bible. In an era of information technology explosion, Bible apps in hand-held mobile devices are available for free download. Widespread availability of mobile devices is, in some ways, God taking away any excuse that the Bible is not available, accessible, or affordable. God is using handheld mobile devices as a way to...

By Akin Ojumu “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15). What exactly is the world? The world we are told not to love is not the created world or our fellow human beings.  The world we are called to hate refers to the spiritual system of evil that operates in the physical realm that is opposed to God. It’s the function and thought processes adversarial to God. It’s the complex ideologies, philosophies, and psychology that are antagonistic to God ’ s commands. It’s the viewpoints and behaviors that are hostile to God ’ s laws. The world is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. What does it mean to love the world? To love the world is to let the world govern your soul It ’ s to let it determine the pursuits of your life. It’s when the world drives your faith, dictates your worship, and directs your prayers. To love the world is to give it an affection it is not wor...

By Akin Ojumu These are the last days, and that’s incontrovertible. This is the last chapter of human history, and it’s the last leg of the race for eternity. The very last sands in the hourglass of the human clock are about to drop and, soon, the curtain will be drawn on this phase of human existence. Rapidly, events are unfolding in our world that point to the fact that man is running out of time. All over the world, human societies are, as an example, being driven into paroxysms of evil unlike anything we’ve seen before. Cultural norms are being shattered and traditional boundaries of morality are getting erased. Everywhere you turn, there’s confusion about who we are, and heated debates abound about what we are. Of all the signs of the end of the age, though, none is more pernicious than the pervasive deception spreading across the globe. The world is said to be in a post-truth era, and there is an obvious systematic and coordinated effort to mislead. The world is besieged by a del...

“You Can’t Serve Two Masters” By Akin Ojumu Back in the 1960s and 1970s, a massive tidal wave of Pentecostal expansion swept across Nigeria. All over the country, the fire of revival raged on the college campuses. As the heat of spiritual awakening melted away stony hearts in the ivory towers of academia, the light of righteousness descended on a nation hitherto covered in pitch darkness. Propelled by the vibrancy of young college students, evangelical Christianity in Nigeria took off like a runaway rocket, with the engine roaring, smoke billowing, and lights glaring. Traditional denominations, such as the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, etc., witnessed a mass exodus of spiritually hungry youths who left their parents’ Churches in droves to join the emerging unaffiliated evangelical groups where God was moving in mighty ways. Under the spiritual tutelage of pioneers like Pa Sydney Elton, Benson Idahosa, W.F. Kumuyi and a few others, young Nigerian students in University Campuses across th...

When Satan gets a foothold in your life, he’ll never want to let go and he’ll fight like hell to hold on to it.  The longer you remain in unrighteousness, you develop a taste for it that soon turns into addiction. Once you get hooked on iniquitous living, it’s hard to shake it off and let go.  If you continue further in this dark path you are on, it becomes exponentially more difficult for you to turn back to the light. As the callus of dissipation on your heart thickens, the more insular you are to the tugging of the Holy Spirit. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Don’t take the grace of God for granted. You never know when death will come. Don’t tempt fate, it’s not too late to turn back. You’ve gone far enough, don’t you take another step further. It’s time for you to stop. You must make a U-turn now and get reconciled with your Maker.  

“Campus Fellowship Was a Boot Camp” By Akin Ojumu The military boot camp is an extremely intense military training that helps new recruits develop into mature, highly disciplined, and fully capable service members. The training prepares recruits for all elements of military service: physical, mental and emotional. It gives them the basic tools necessary to perform the roles that will be assigned to them for the duration of their tour. The purpose of this training isn’t to “break” recruits. In fact, the combination of physical training, field exercises and classroom time makes individuals strong and capable. It’s a tough process, but a rewarding one that many service members value for life (Credit: Today’s Military and Military.Com). College campus fellowship was a spiritual boot camp for many of those fortunate enough to have passed through it. The college campus was where you’d find some of the most devoted Christians you’d ever meet. Perhaps, it was their youthful exuberance or the r...

“The Travail of the Twelve O’clock Christians” By Akin Ojumu For far too long, the twelve o’clock Christians have gotten a bad rap. Derided & disparaged by fellow believers, these heavenly-focused believers have been at the receiving end of cruel jokes and undeserved ridicule.  If you are reading this and you haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about, it’s obvious you are a new kid in the block and not an old-school like me. My fellow old-timers know exactly what I mean. But, for the sake of the newbies, I’m going to explain myself. Back in the day, there were four categories of Christians in the Christian assembly on the university campuses. They were named after four different positions of the hands of the analog clock. For Gen-Xs not familiar with analog clocks, you’d find the accompanying photo to this commentary helpful.  The following are the four positions of the clock herewith described: Six (6:00) O’clock – the time is 6 o’clock when the long arm of the clock is ...