Let us Pause a Little

Let us Pause a Little

By Bayo Ogunmupe

LET’S Paulse a Little is the title of a book by Tosin Akande, a lawyer, pastor, printer and motivational speaker. While Pastor Benny Hinn explained the Holy Spirit in his book, Good Morning, Holy Spirit, Akande appropriated the triune God in his Let’s Paulse a Little. Thus, this book is about giving God His incontestable and unassailable place in the life of a Christian. It cannot be over emphasized that we must give Him top priority, making Him the only reason, to the exclusion of any other reason for any action on the body of Christ. Like the Christ deferred to God, we also began to defer to Him, with fiery worship power as in Bible times.

  Let us Paulse, clearly inspired by the Holy Spirit, and with the aid of the Principle called 35 of 32, Tosin Akande, the author drives home the point of the power and supremacy of Jehovah over everything. This goes against Nigeria’s emerging belief in a triune God where God shares power with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

  Another higher point of the book, which inspired its Pauline title is the assessment of the life and times of Apostle Paul as the builder of Christianity. The author rejoices with Paul in boldly establishing, without reservations, the fact of the sovereignty of Jehovah over all including the Lord Jesus.

  Perhaps it is necessary to explain the current role of Jesus the Christ. While he was on earth, Jesus cured the sick, raised the dead and rescued people in peril. He thereby demonstrated what he will do in the future for all obedient mankind, Mat. 15: 30, John 5:28. After Jesus died, God restored him to life as a spirit being, 1 Peter 3: 8. Jesus then waited at God’s right hand until Jehovah gave him power to rule as King in heaven, Daniel 7:13, 14; Mathew 24:14. The Pauline connection calls for the title of this book: Let’s Paulse A Little, meaning, let us pause a little to straighten some of Paul’s errors during his evangelism. In these days of grand deception, it is necessary to clarify the Word of God lest the people are deceived. Akande hereby clarifies the spoken words of Jehovah as a necessary ingredient of navigating a successful and daily Christian living.

  Published in 2013 by Pass Mark Associates, Mafoluku, Lagos; Lets Paulse A Little has 10 chapters, an introduction, a dedication, endorsements and 194 pages. Since the author is a publisher, it is boldly printed. In the introduction, the author avers that Benny Hinn the Jewish American pastor said in his book, Good Morning Holy Spirit, that the holy Spirit is individually given. Thus, this arrests the dogma that the Holy Spirit is one, which most if not all Christians religious denominations in Nigeria preach. However, he went out to repudiate this allusion to Unitarianism which stresses reason in religion. Unitarians believe God exists in one person. They deny the divinity of Jesus and the doctrine of Trinity.

  To me, Akande’s allusion to Benny Hinn was unnecessary since he later embraced the triune God, and going in great length to explain the hierarchical relationship among the persons of the Trinity. He put God at the apex thereby bringing readers to remembrance that all flows from God alone. Like most Nigerians I have met, except the Jehovah witnesses, he lacked the courage to denounce the trinity.

  A strange feature of God’s sovereignty is the bargaining tendencies of Jehovah. Unlike despots, who never negotiate with their subjects, the Most High God negotiated in the scriptures with such persons as Abraham, Cain, Ezekiel and even Satan.

  However, another Biblical proof of God’s supremacy is 3 John 14:28: ‘‘ You have heard me say,” I am going away and coming back to you’ if you love me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to my Father,’ for my father is greater than I.” A statement from Jesus like this is likened to what you cannot ignore. It was revealed by God himself in chapter eight of the book of Ezekiel, Acts 17:11, which gives an insight into the Berean Christians. This chapter defines the Christian heritage. In the chapter, Luke commended Bereans for their passion for the reading of the scriptures, their belief in their pastors including Apostle Paul, Luke himself and the early church.

  ‘‘These were more fair minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the scriptures, daily to find out whether these things were so,” Acts 17:11. It is this Berean way of life that the author wishes to promote. That way of life seeks to give Jehovah greater priority over the church. Thus, if the bible praised a people for doing exactly what this book seeks to do, then it is a welcome development in heaven and here on earth.

  Therefore, the aim of Let’s Paulse A Little is to give greater priority to God’s direct words. We need to understand clearly that both the Spoken and Written words of God are our guides but more important is the spoken word. Emanating from this is the principle which emphasizes the need for Christians to put into perspective that every doctrine must be measured with the settled, direct and personal words of Jehovah.

  My grouse with the author lies in the title. Paulse does not exist as an English word and therefore should not have been used as a book title. What he needed to do was to explain what he meant as the need for Christians to redefine Pauline Liturgy. It means we should situate Paul’s interpretation of scripture in the context of the Written and Spoken Words of Jehovah. Perhaps it will be necessary to retranslate or revisit the original Greek and Hebrew scripts of the Bible to get to roots of the confusion.

  However, Tosin Akande has done a good job by writing the book. Born in Ebute Metta, Lagos, Toyin now coordinates the Forum for Senior Citizens of Nigeria (FSCN), on online forum that seeks respect for senior citizens aged 65 and above. Though not a subsistent  pastor, Mr. Akande has taught the scriptures in Lagos, Abuja, Ghana and the United Kingdom. He studied Mass Communication at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta and took a law degree from the University of Lagos. As a publisher, he is the spokesman for Christian Writers Association of Nigeria (CWAN), an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), and the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM). He works at the National Assembly in Abuja as a Parliamentary Counsel. He is married to Titilope and they had a son and daughter.