Dr Tunde Bakare: His Heroic Audacity and 20 Years after.
Dr Tunde Bakare: His Heroic Audacity and 20 Years after.
In the 90's Dr Tunde Bakare stood up to publicly condemn a very strange practice that became popularised by a very influential preacher - the use of the "anointing oil".
While the action appeared like the critical efforts of an activist back then, we benefit from that today. I will tell you why shortly. The so called anointing oil found its way into the mainstream Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria and helped to blur distinction between Christianity and idolatry.
When error takes root, the path is usually the same. "So far it works for me", "God said to me", "I heard it loud and clear", "it is the mandate given to this commission" etc are the familiar lines. Ritualism hates thorough Bible explanation and distances itself from Apostolic doctrines and practices. Such ritual practices easily sell in Africa because we are not completely purged of myths, traditional idolatry, black magic and spiritism.
In hindsight, we should all be grateful to Pastor Tunde Bakare. If he didn't stand up to the false and ritualistic use of oil back then, other practices from the same preacher (feet washing, blood of sprinkling etc) would have become mainstream in Nigerian (and African churches). Sounding an alarm made the church cautious.
Someone would ask "What harm do these do?" The more symbols, shadows and rituals are mixed with Christianity, the more the true meaning of the faith and who Christ is is veiled from us.
Practices are doctrines in themselves. Because religion has such a powerful hold on the mind, long term errorneous practices are often defended with all vigour by the adherents of such systems . Doctrines don't go away easily especially when structures and systems have been built to sustain and promote them. Just look at Jehovah's witnesses, Mormons etc. They tick all the boxes of what we call ministry success in our day and have been there for ages. If we cannot accept them just based on doctrine, why should we not apply the same rule of judgment to ourselves - Pentecostals? Why are we so emotional about protecting important personalities and consider scrutinizing what they say as sacrilege? Doctrinal tussle is not a tea party. Errors survive centuries.
On that note, we cannot use "touch not mine annointed" to protect error. Statements like "what would unbelievers say?", "let's not criticise", fail to appreciate the generational effects of doctrinal positions. Doctrines birth denominations and even new religions. We should neither be evasive about it not treat it with kids gloves.
We cannot protect what Jesus did not. There were false teachers in his day (Pharisees and teachers of the law) and he didn't mince words in his rebuke. Don't forget that those were the respected religious leaders of his day. He used all kinds of words to register his dissociation from them. He called them "hypocrates", "generation of vipers", "foxes", "dogs" etc. Note that those words didn't have to do with their moral failure but because of their doctrines (their teachings).
I am not saying that we are to become doctrinal sniffer dogs. However exposing error, regardless of whose horse is gored, is very key to professing the Christian faith and nobody should be bullied into silence.
If anything, events of the recent time have proven that the church in Nigeria only raised crowds without laying thorough doctrinal understanding and persuasion. Many Nigerian preachers are very evasive about the meaning of the Christian faith and only use sensationalism, situational ethics, modernism and miracles as cover-ups. The issue of tithes exposed this ugly reality. Respected and influential preachers responded to just one of the few doctrinal questions they were asked in ages and a bitter truth emerged - the preachers had near zero understanding of a common Bible subject. We saw very major preachers cursing, boasting and one of them even used ill-informed astronomy to prove his points.
What caused this? The answer is straightforward - it is the needs and greed Christianity we have come to know as pentecostalism in Nigeria. It caused a downplay on true Bible Study. Programs have been about what we want God to do. Power, prosperity, marriage, miracles etc, all with the needs and problems of man as the common denominator. With that, God is veiled and "Christianity" becomes ephemeral, toxic and distasteful. Remember the Israelites, they saw jaw-dropping miracles and still didn't know God. Even if you died and are raised from the dead everyday, you won't still know God without being exposed to sound teachings.
So, we must not see the quest for doctrinal precision and restoration of the Nigerian church to the Bible way as mere arguments- that would be too spiritually unintelligent. You don't need to be a prophet to know what is going on; eyes are opening.
There is no solution to enlightened understanding. The game has changed. More eyes will open. Strange, dubious, unscriptural, but long-held practices and doctrines will be exposed as people are flooded with light. It could look like rebellion to those who are infatuated with the status quo but we know what it is - a restoration, a rebuilding.
Pastor Kolawole Aderinwale
In the 90's Dr Tunde Bakare stood up to publicly condemn a very strange practice that became popularised by a very influential preacher - the use of the "anointing oil".
While the action appeared like the critical efforts of an activist back then, we benefit from that today. I will tell you why shortly. The so called anointing oil found its way into the mainstream Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria and helped to blur distinction between Christianity and idolatry.
When error takes root, the path is usually the same. "So far it works for me", "God said to me", "I heard it loud and clear", "it is the mandate given to this commission" etc are the familiar lines. Ritualism hates thorough Bible explanation and distances itself from Apostolic doctrines and practices. Such ritual practices easily sell in Africa because we are not completely purged of myths, traditional idolatry, black magic and spiritism.
In hindsight, we should all be grateful to Pastor Tunde Bakare. If he didn't stand up to the false and ritualistic use of oil back then, other practices from the same preacher (feet washing, blood of sprinkling etc) would have become mainstream in Nigerian (and African churches). Sounding an alarm made the church cautious.
Someone would ask "What harm do these do?" The more symbols, shadows and rituals are mixed with Christianity, the more the true meaning of the faith and who Christ is is veiled from us.
Practices are doctrines in themselves. Because religion has such a powerful hold on the mind, long term errorneous practices are often defended with all vigour by the adherents of such systems . Doctrines don't go away easily especially when structures and systems have been built to sustain and promote them. Just look at Jehovah's witnesses, Mormons etc. They tick all the boxes of what we call ministry success in our day and have been there for ages. If we cannot accept them just based on doctrine, why should we not apply the same rule of judgment to ourselves - Pentecostals? Why are we so emotional about protecting important personalities and consider scrutinizing what they say as sacrilege? Doctrinal tussle is not a tea party. Errors survive centuries.
On that note, we cannot use "touch not mine annointed" to protect error. Statements like "what would unbelievers say?", "let's not criticise", fail to appreciate the generational effects of doctrinal positions. Doctrines birth denominations and even new religions. We should neither be evasive about it not treat it with kids gloves.
We cannot protect what Jesus did not. There were false teachers in his day (Pharisees and teachers of the law) and he didn't mince words in his rebuke. Don't forget that those were the respected religious leaders of his day. He used all kinds of words to register his dissociation from them. He called them "hypocrates", "generation of vipers", "foxes", "dogs" etc. Note that those words didn't have to do with their moral failure but because of their doctrines (their teachings).
I am not saying that we are to become doctrinal sniffer dogs. However exposing error, regardless of whose horse is gored, is very key to professing the Christian faith and nobody should be bullied into silence.
If anything, events of the recent time have proven that the church in Nigeria only raised crowds without laying thorough doctrinal understanding and persuasion. Many Nigerian preachers are very evasive about the meaning of the Christian faith and only use sensationalism, situational ethics, modernism and miracles as cover-ups. The issue of tithes exposed this ugly reality. Respected and influential preachers responded to just one of the few doctrinal questions they were asked in ages and a bitter truth emerged - the preachers had near zero understanding of a common Bible subject. We saw very major preachers cursing, boasting and one of them even used ill-informed astronomy to prove his points.
What caused this? The answer is straightforward - it is the needs and greed Christianity we have come to know as pentecostalism in Nigeria. It caused a downplay on true Bible Study. Programs have been about what we want God to do. Power, prosperity, marriage, miracles etc, all with the needs and problems of man as the common denominator. With that, God is veiled and "Christianity" becomes ephemeral, toxic and distasteful. Remember the Israelites, they saw jaw-dropping miracles and still didn't know God. Even if you died and are raised from the dead everyday, you won't still know God without being exposed to sound teachings.
So, we must not see the quest for doctrinal precision and restoration of the Nigerian church to the Bible way as mere arguments- that would be too spiritually unintelligent. You don't need to be a prophet to know what is going on; eyes are opening.
There is no solution to enlightened understanding. The game has changed. More eyes will open. Strange, dubious, unscriptural, but long-held practices and doctrines will be exposed as people are flooded with light. It could look like rebellion to those who are infatuated with the status quo but we know what it is - a restoration, a rebuilding.
Pastor Kolawole Aderinwale
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