Banji Ojewale
This is an audacious book, blisteringly bulldozing its way into the reader’s mind. Its author, Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, is unafraid that his unalloyed holiness message is a bitter pill that cannot be appeased with a sweet coating. But like Apostle John several centuries before him, who even in his advanced age (90+) could still gather the strength and courage to roar against the unholy lifestyle of his age, the octogenarian founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) also stoutly insists that his non-negotiable purity teaching is a mandate from God, not a personal or divisive denominational enterprise. Kumuyi is only Heaven’s repeater station here on earth.
There are two broad extrapolatory reasons we glean from Holiness: A Holistic Approach as to why God seeks righteous living among men and women in this evil world.
First, this planet is His creation. It was a perfect setting until it slid into the grip of the devil through the sin of man’s disobedience and rebellion. Now, He wants to recover His property — man, whom He formed in His own flawless reflection — and make humanity live with Him eternally in Heaven. That cannot happen while people remain mired in unbridled passions arising from the uncircumcised heart. They must be cleansed here on earth before their transition to Heaven. Faith in Christ’s death and resurrection paves the way for the removal of the stain of sin and the burden of ungodly living. A personal confession, rather than a corporate or communal effort, precedes this sanctification encounter. The sincere believer must be sanctified in order to be fit to dwell with the Holy God in His saintly abode.
Secondly, a loving God says His quest for man’s entire cleansing is for humanity’s benefit. People can experience salutary material success, multidimensional prosperity, true joy, and hope for Heaven if they heed His invitation into His orbit of holiness. The present sinful system that men and women embrace will not allow access to these delights. But this is not the case for godly and sanctified children of the Lord, Kumuyi says. He argues that holy men and women share in the power of God to defeat temptations, trials, and tests that seek to deny them victory and a fulsome relationship with their Creator. Corruption may surround them, but they — “the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, and the peculiar people” — will continually soar above the deadly influences of the world system, remaining alive in Christ and feasting on His sumptuous celestial bestowals right here on earth.
Pastor Kumuyi’s extensive treatment of purity of heart leads him to the question of perfection. He cautions: “We are not referring to being perfect in knowledge, understanding or activity, as the best professors in academia are hugely ignorant outside their fields of study. God alone is omniscient, and no one else. Neither should we lay claim to angelic perfection, which God does not require from any human being. Christian perfection relates to character and behaviour… God’s word provides the yardstick for behavioural perfection. Those who hate holiness, purity, or perfection are quick to point out the believer’s imperfections based on preconceived standards or weaknesses in their own character. Christ is the Model of perfection and holiness for those who obtain the experience of sanctification or circumcision of heart.”
Cynics have raised red flags over the possibility of such a spiritual condition for a soul housed in a body endlessly battered by materialistic sophistication and cravings. Can man deflect these assaults? Would people not rather yield to ready convenience? Why would they not pursue the lusts they already know instead of the unfamiliar world of holiness?
However, in Holiness: A Holistic Approach, Pastor Kumuyi exhorts all believers — and indeed all mankind — who desire Heaven to strive for this higher level of alignment with God. It is the only pathway to see the Lord and dwell with Him forever in unspeakable bliss. He calls it “Visa for Final Flight.”
The pastor says it is possible to possess the testimony of holiness because the guiltless Christ endured a humiliating and harrowing death and resurrected for that purpose. He also prayed for the sanctification of His followers. Would He spill His Precious Blood for an unattainable illusion? The holiness preacher then presents a list of biblical figures who, despite the moral decay of their day, received the grace to live righteously before God: Abraham, Enoch, Noah, Job, Joseph the son of Jacob, Daniel and his three friends, Nathanael, Stephen, Ruth, Esther, Mary the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth, Christ’s apostles, and others.
Long known as a militant and implacable preacher and practitioner of holiness, Kumuyi says he received the gift of sanctification on the evening of November 17, 1965, more than 18 months after he had been born again. This purity of heart, he says, has made him profitable to himself, his family, society, and above all, to God. Without it, man would become selfish, malignant, and eventually recede into the animal realm.
Indeed, Kumuyi says when one is holy, he “will follow after charity and brotherly kindness. He will endeavour to do as he would have others do to him and speak as he would have others speak to him. He will be full of affection towards his brethren…and will abhor lying, slander, backbiting, cheating, dishonesty and unfair dealings.”
Their absence has left mankind morally prostrate, pulverised, and pauperised.
So, how is a purged person revealed? Kumuyi poses what he describes as “self-probing questions” to unveil truly sanctified souls: “Tell yourself the truth no one knows about you and sincerely answer these questions: …How long does confession of sins take in your prayer? …Is your heart a constant boiling point of all sorts of passions, worldly lusts, and tempers? Is your conversation, dress, or adornment inclined to worldly taste or godly taste? …As you pray, for whom and for what do you pray? Is it for self or for others; for vengeance on your enemies or mercy and blessing on them; for spiritual fullness or for temporal fulfilment? Do you have a conscience void of offence toward God and man? Do you have the love that makes you put the interests of others before your own? Are you critical of others who do not agree with you? Are you truly free from — or bound by — the fear of man, worldly cares, worry and anxiety, worldly pleasure, and enjoyment?”
Across its 18 chapters, grouped into five parts with numerous subdivisions, the book is delivered with Pastor Kumuyi’s legendary craftsmanship. There is a weighty divine burden he seeks to discharge to the world through the written word. This the man of God does with flourish and finesse, much the same way he handles the sermons that have earned him global acclaim.
He presents an array of pictorial prose laden with alliteration that makes one marvel at the mastery of a mathematician-turned-wordsmith.
Although, to a large extent, the book — the latest by the leader of Deeper Life Bible Church — escapes the scourge of the Printer’s Devil, it suffers pagination lapses from page 110 in Chapter 4 and does not recover until the end of the chapter.
• Ojewale is an author at Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Leave a comment