Book: Holiness: A Holistic Approach
Author: WF Kumuyi
Pagination: 303
Publishers: Life Press Limited, Lagos, Nigeria
Reviewer: Banji Ojewale
This is an audacious book blisteringly bulldozing its way into the reader’s mind, its author Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, unafraid his raw holiness message is a bitter pill that can’t be appeased with a sweet coating.
But like Apostle John several centuries before him, who even in his advanced age (90+), could still gather strength and courage to roar against the unholy lifestyle of the age, the octogenarian founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, also stoutly insists his non-negotiable purity teaching is a must 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, why God is looking for 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 areflectionnd rebellion.
Now, He wants to recover His property (man He formed in His own flawless ) and make them live with Him eternally in Heaven. That can’t happen while they are mired in unbridled passions resulting from the uncircumcised heart. They must be cleansed here on earth before the transition to Heaven.
Faith in Christ’s death and resurrection paves the way for the removal of the sin-stain and burden of ungodly living. A personal confession, not corporate or communal effort, precedes this sanctification encounter. The sincere believer must be sanctified, in order to be fit to stay with the Holy God in His saintly abode.
Secondly, a Loving God says His quest for entire cleansing for man is for their benefit. They can experience salutary material success, multi-dimensional prosperity, true joy, and a hope for Heaven if they heed His invitation into His orbit of holiness.
The present sinful system men and women are hugging won’t allow access to these delights. But not in the case of godly and sanctified children of the Lord, Kumuyi says. He argues that holy men and women share the power of God to defeat temptations, trials and tests that attempt to deny them victory and fulsome relationship with their Creator.
All around them may be corruption; but they, ‘’the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation and the peculiar people,’’ will unstoppably always soar above the deadly influences of the system of the world to be alive in Christ and feast on His sumptuous celestial bestowals, right here on earth.
Pastor Kumuyi’s extensive treatment of purity of the 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 of professors in the academia is hugely ignorant outside their field 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. 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 a preconceived standard or weakness 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 the red flag over the possibility of such a spiritual condition for a soul housed by a body endlessly battered by materialistic sophistication and cravings. Can man deflect these assaults? Would they not rather yield to ready convenience? Why would they not go for the lusts they are familiar with instead of the unknown world of holiness?
However, in Holiness: A Holistic Approach, Pastor Kumuyi exhorts all believers (and indeed all mankind) desirous of Heaven to strive for this higher level of alignment with God. It is the only pathway to see the Lord and be with Him forever in unspeakable bliss. He calls it ‘’Visa for final flight.’’
The pastor says it is possible to possess the holiness testimony because 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 Bible figures, who despite the moral decay of their day got the Grace to live righteously in the sight of God:
Abraham, Enoch, Noah, Job, Joseph the son of Jacob, Daniel and his three friends, Nathaniel, Stephen, Ruth, Esther, Mary the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth, Christ’s apostles etc.
Long known as a militant and implacable holiness preacher and practitioner, Kumuyi says he got the gift of sanctification on the evening of November 17, 1965, over 18 months after he had been born again. This purity of heart has made this servant of Heaven profitable to himself, family, the society and God above all. Without it, man would be selfish, malignant and finally recede into the animal space.
Indeed,
Kumuyi says when one is holy, he ‘’will follow after charity and brotherly kindness. He will endeavour to do as he would others do to him and speak as he would 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, pulverized and pauperized.
So, how’s a purged person revealed? Kumuyi has what he describes as ‘’self-probing questions’’ to unveil truly sanctified souls: ‘’Tell yourself the truth no one knows about your and sincerely 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 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 interest of others before yours? 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?
In its 18 chapters that come under five parts with a host of sub-divisions, the book is delivered in Pastor Kumuyi’s legendary craftsmanship. There’s a weighty Divine burden he needs to discharge to the world through the written word. This, the man of God does with flourish and finesse, the same way he handles his sermons that have earned global acclaim. , He presents an assembly of pictorial prose laden with alliteration that makes you wonder 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 doesn’t recover till the end of the chapter.
.Ojewale is an author at Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.