This is not an attack on Africa. It is not an attack on the Church. I worship and serve in a Bible-believing, Bible-practising church, where I have remained since Tuesday, February 18, 1997, come rain, come shine; come victory, come defeat; come up, come down. If today I live and write with any measure of spiritual stability and scriptural clarity, I owe that foundation to God and to the sound leadership of the Church, past and present.

This is a confrontation with fear-driven, manipulative practices that have hijacked the name of Christianity in many parts of Africa, particularly Nigeria.

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There is no “African Jesus” and “Western Jesus.” But there are distortions of Christianity everywhere, Africa included. This reflection is about those distortions.

WHO BEWITCHED US?
Nigeria, and much of Africa, must confront a troubling question: who bewitched us?

How did we arrive at a point where:
• the mood, tongue, or pronouncements of another human being are believed to determine our fortune or misfortune?
• offending a “man of God” is treated as more dangerous than offending God Himself?
• appeasing religious personalities is believed to guarantee success, while “offending” them guarantees disaster?
• we wrap these beliefs in church language and call it faith?

Many who profess Christ now live in bondage powered by fear. Yet Scripture speaks of truth that makes free (John 8:32), a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), and the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). If these are true, why do so many believers live as though God outsourced their lives to fellow mortals?

ANECDOTE 1: A SUCCESSFUL MAN ENSLAVED BY “PROPHETS”
I watched a respected, successful man enter a season of deep challenge. Instead of sound counsel, he fell into the hands of so-called prophets. They told him his problem was everyone around him wife, children, siblings, friends. They isolated him, controlled him, and “reassigned” his relationships, even “assigning” him a new “wife.” A man who once lived in a mansion died alone in a single room, enslaved to those who claimed to speak for God. This is not faith; it is captivity (Galatians 5:1).

ANECDOTE 2: THE TAILOR WHO RAN TO THE MOUNTAIN
Days before my brother Akin Akinlami’s wedding, my wife’s tailor vanished. When she resurfaced, she said she went to a “mountain” with her tape rule and scissors because a prophet commanded it for “breakthrough prayers.” Work abandoned. Clients disappointed. Business collapsing. Yet Scripture ties growth to faithfulness (Luke 16:10). Breakthrough is not magic; it is often obedience in the ordinary.

ANECDOTE 3: THE PROFESSOR WHO BLAMED “THE VILLAGE”
A friend’s wife underwent surgery under a professor of medicine. The first operation failed. The second failed. The third failed. Then the professor said: “My people in the village are intercepting the operation.” A trained scientist explaining complications with village mythology. My friend removed his wife immediately. We have not rejected the spiritual world; we have replaced thinking with superstition.

ANECDOTE 4: WOMEN WHO LEFT THE WEST TO MARRY “PROPHETS”
I know women who left the U.S., U.K., and Europe because prophets told them: “Your destiny is tied to me. You must come and marry me.” They relocated to Africa, only to be controlled, isolated, and manipulated as “wives of the prophet.” This is captivity masquerading as spirituality. If Christ is the only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), who are these people positioning themselves as irreplaceable intermediaries?

THE CENTRAL ARGUMENT: THE GOSPEL IS NOT A GONG OF FEAR
Somewhere along the way, we replaced the Gospel of liberty with a religion of fear. We now run from mountain to mountain, prophet to prophet, altar to altar, seeking miracles as though Christ Himself is not enough. Many use Christian vocabulary, but their actual logic is fetishism wrapped in church clothes. Romans 6:16 warns that whoever you yield yourself to, you become their servant. This is how prophets become masters and adults become slaves.

THE ROOT PROBLEM: WE DO NOT KNOW WHO WE ARE
Until believers understand the sound mind God gives (2 Timothy 1:7), the freedom Christ secured (Galatians 5:1), and the access we have to God (Hebrews 4:16), they will keep running from pillar to post. We chase miracles because we forget that Christ in us is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). We chase intermediaries because we doubt what it means to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). We surrender our minds because we ignore that we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

THE TRUE ROLE OF A SPIRITUAL LEADER
A spiritual leader is not called to replace your mind, intercept your walk with God, or become the permanent mediator of your decisions. There is only one Mediator, and He has fulfilled that office: Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5).

Ephesians 4:11–13 teaches that ministry gifts exist to equip the saints, build up the Body, and lead believers toward maturity in Christ, not toward dependency on a personality.

A true spiritual leader:
• equips the saints; they do not enslave them.
• points believers to Christ; they do not become the centre.
• builds unity and maturity; they do not build personal empires.
• helps you recognise God’s voice; they do not replace it.
• teaches you how to stand; they do not train you to lean on them for every breath.

Anything else is manipulation masquerading as ministry.

THE CALL TO FREEDOM
It is time to wake up:
• stop outsourcing your life to spiritual middlemen.
• stop glorifying fear and baptising it as “reverence.”
• stop calling bondage “Christianity.”

If your spiritual leader cancels your mind, you are not walking in truth. If you fear your prophet more than your God, you are in bondage. If your faith produces confusion and terror instead of clarity and hope, something is wrong. The Gospel announces liberty (John 8:32).

FINAL WORD
No human being holds the key to your life. No human being is the custodian of your miracles. No human being stands between you and God. Christ finished that work already. Reclaim the sound mind you were given. Reclaim the freedom Christ secured. Rise from superstition into truth, because in the end, it is not fear, not ritual, not personalities, but truth, and Truth Himself, that sets free.