The following are the views expressed by Olufemi Oguntokun in the July 7, 2026 episode of the On the Lord’s Side Podcast — Christian perspectives on news and current events.
ON BLAMING THE HOLY SPIRIT
Good morning to you once again. It is Tuesday, the 7th of July 2026.
I want to begin with a story that takes us to a town in southwest Nigeria — Ilesa, in Osun State — and into a church there, the Owoluwa Wonder Parish. “Owoluwa” is Yoruba for “the hand of God.” It is one of the churches affiliated with the Celestial Church of Christ, a denomination popular in Nigeria and in many parts of the world.
I do not know if you saw the video that made its rounds on social media last week. In it, we saw what appeared to be a deliverance session. The shepherd-in-charge — a prophet we now know as Prophet Olatunji — wore a flowing purple robe with a yellow sash, and as people approached for prayer he went from person to person. He was standing; the congregants who queued to receive prayers were kneeling. And as he reached each one, he would dramatically lift and spread his robe and pull the kneeling supplicant to himself. Picture it: a standing man pulling a kneeling person to himself means the kneeling person’s face would be directly at the level of the standing man’s hip — and then he would cover that person with the purple gown, so that all you could see on the video was that a kneeling person was covered by the prophet’s robe, their head at his hip level, while he held a microphone, singing and praying with intensity.
You can understand why many Christians felt offended, why many found it suggestive and lacking in decorum — especially given the physical closeness and the covering of people, including female congregants. When he got to a particular woman — and when I first saw the video I found myself saying, “I hope he will not do that” — while she remained on her knees, he pulled her to himself, her face directly touching his body at hip level, and covered her with his robe, so that nobody could see what was going on behind it, and he kept praying and moving from one congregant to the next. Rightly so, the video went viral, and people, particularly Christians, expressed how inappropriate, how suggestive, how lacking in decorum the action appeared.
The prophet has now responded — and I am glad I waited before engaging with this story, because his response gives us the real basis to engage. He issued a public apology, but even in it I find the important point. According to him, the Holy Spirit directed him to pray that way. In his words: “It was the Spirit of God that directed me to pray like that. My son, too, was among those I prayed for. I had no sexual intention whatsoever, and I didn’t mean to tarnish the image of the Celestial Church. I wore some clothes under the garment. I hereby tender my apology.” Reading it again, it seems to me an apology given to placate people in the hierarchy of the Celestial Church who were scandalised — because what is clearest in it is his concern that he did not intend to tarnish the image of the Celestial Church. I would think he should be far more concerned about something else. But I do not want us to lose sight of how he opened it: “It was the Spirit of God that led me to pray this way.”
In Christian communities, for a long time, people have gotten away with so many things by saying, “It was the Spirit of God that asked me to do that.” You find people doing outrageous, indecorous, suggestive, even downright wicked things, and when you engage them, they say the Spirit asked them to. And often they do so under the guise that you do not know how the Spirit works — Jesus Himself, in the discourse with Nicodemus, said the wind blows where it wishes, and you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; that is how the Spirit works. So people say, “The Spirit asked me to do it,” and it becomes a defence that shuts down every other statement. Once someone says the Holy Spirit asked him to do it — essentially, “God directed me” — those trying to bring him to repentance are silenced.
Somebody wrote: “All sorts of bizarre, questionable, and at times downright unseemly actions are being boldly attributed to the Holy Spirit — the gentle third person of the Trinity, whom many rightly call the most lied-against.” And that is so true. I have been reading a book in which the writer, treating the third person of the Trinity, said the same thing: the Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity most lied against. People ascribe to Him all sorts of things He never asked them to do, because believers have found they can get away with so much once they say, “It was the Holy Spirit.” Did you refuse what someone asked for? “The Holy Spirit said I should not give it.” Did you do a thing you should not have? “The Holy Spirit said I should.” From dramatic theatrics to practices that raise serious eyebrows — like what we just described — some leaders claim divine direction for things that leave the body of Christ embarrassed and the watching world scoffing. We have seen pastors slap people back and forth; we have engaged, even on this programme, with the story of a pastor who married a second wife from his church and lived with her alongside his first, saying, “The Holy Spirit asked me to.” I do hope nobody would dispute that many who claim to be in the body of Christ have attributed to the Holy Spirit things that can only be described as questionable, bizarre, even wicked.
Yet we on the Lord’s side must be reminded that Scripture paints a clear picture — and it is right there in His name. The Holy Spirit is holy, by name and by nature; that is why He is not just “the Spirit of God” but “the Holy Spirit.” You have to understand what holiness means — go to Isaiah 6, one of those passages that remind us of the pristine, ineffable holiness of God, so overwhelming that when Isaiah beheld it he cried, “Woe is me.” The Holy Spirit does not lead us into anything with even a whiff of impropriety, or scandal, or that which would cause a brother or sister to stumble. Anybody who attributes to Him something with any whiff of scandal should take heed. The charge the Lord brought against the friends of Job is one we should always reflect on. What was it? Not primarily that they were callous or unsympathetic — though they were, and would not be commended for it — but that they did not represent God accurately, did not present a true picture of Him to His suffering servant Job. That is close to the heart of God: He does not want His people to misrepresent Him to the world, to tell the world He is what He is not. Attributing to the Holy Spirit what is not in His nature to do is not only wrong and detestable before God and men — it is a grave sin.
You cannot point to any whiff of impropriety attributed to the Holy Spirit in Scripture. In Romans 1 the apostle writes of “the Spirit of holiness.” Galatians 5 gives us the fruit of the Spirit: self-control, gentleness, kindness, goodness, peace, joy, patience. Nothing on that list involves actions that could be misconstrued as sensual. So once you see anything sensual, suggestive, manipulative, or boundary-crossing, go back to Galatians 5 and see whether it fits the description of the Holy Spirit — and be very clear that it is not Him. Another thing we see regularly in the body of Christ is people doing all manner of things in the name of the Holy Spirit — someone stands up mid-service and starts speaking in tongues while prayer is going on, or interrupts a sermon with “I have a revelation from the Lord” — and when questioned, “The Holy Spirit asked me to do it at that time.” This is not new; it afflicted the early church too, which is why Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 14 to address how people must not attribute disorderly things to the Holy Spirit. In the NKJV, the passage from verse 26 is titled “Order in Church Meetings,” and it is appropriate for that prophet, and for any of us who would attribute unseemly, disorderly, sensual, suggestive or scandalous things to the Holy Spirit.
Paul wrote, from 1 Corinthians 14:26: “How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret.” When I read this, I think: what must have been happening in the Corinthian church — everybody wanting to speak at the same time, everybody saying, “I too have the Holy Spirit, and He has told me to say something.” Verse 28: “But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church.” Verse 29: “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.” Not everybody must speak — no disorder. “But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent, for you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.” And then the verse I saw underlined in my dad’s Bible as a little boy, which I have returned to ever since — 1 Corinthians 14:32: “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” So let nobody come to us and say, of some scandalous thing done out of lack of self-control, “I could not help it.” “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
If you are asked to pray, pray in a way that glorifies the Lord and reflects the fruit of the Spirit — loving, gentle, with no semblance to the works of the flesh. For just as we have a list of what the Holy Spirit looks like, so we have a list of what the flesh looks like: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, wrath, strife, envy, murders, drunkenness, revellings. If you claim to manifest the Holy Spirit but do it in a way that typifies the works of the flesh, you are wrong — the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. It betrays a lack of reverence for God when we so easily attribute to the Holy Spirit the things we did of our own free will. Jesus said, over and over, “Do not be deceived; many will come in My name.” So when we see something that does not look like the Holy Spirit, we must know it is not from Him. A man in a standing position pulling a kneeling woman to his groin area, then covering her so no one can see — perhaps nothing sensual was happening, perhaps nothing improper, but the posture itself was improper; it has a weave of impropriety, and that is not who the Holy Spirit is.
And although this man apologised, he appears to have apologised chiefly to the Celestial Church, opening with “It was the Holy Spirit.” That is where we also learn how not to confess. When David was confronted with his sin, he did not say, “It was my flesh, it was lack of this or that.” In Psalm 51 he said, “I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned.” It would have been more appropriate for that prophet to admit he did wrong without dragging in the Holy Spirit. We must take responsibility for our errors, and be most careful about attributing to the Holy Spirit the things that are not of good report — because that is not who He is. May the charge that God laid against Job’s friends never be laid against you or me: “You have misrepresented Me.” Our devotional this morning, from Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, was “Brethren, pray for us” — a reminder that those who lead us, the preachers and evangelists out there, need our prayers, so that we may all be faithful witnesses of God in this world. In Jesus’ name, amen.
ON THE HORRORS OF WAR AND A NIGERIAN LIFE LOST
Next, a sad story. On June 29, 2026, a Russian guided aerial bomb struck a district in Ukraine. You know there has been a war going on there for years — the full-scale invasion was launched on February 24, 2022, though some trace it to 2014, when Russia first annexed Crimea. That February 2022 invasion has grown into a full-blown war with countless casualties. The June 29 strike damaged civilian infrastructure — a tram, vehicles, power lines, businesses and homes — killed at least one person instantly, and injured others.
Among the critically injured was a 23-year-old Nigerian final-year medical graduate of Kharkiv National Medical University — there have long been many Nigerians in Ukraine studying medicine. Her name was Nnenna Adaobi Marian. She was with her friend, Fatima Usinova, and the two were reportedly heading to a graduation photo shoot when the bomb struck. Fatima was killed at the scene; Adaobi suffered severe burns, reportedly to as much as 90 per cent of her body, lost an eye, and sustained other traumatic injuries that required amputation. She received initial treatment in Ukraine, was evacuated to Germany for advanced care, but eventually succumbed to her injuries and died on July 5, 2026. She was described as a promising, bright and kind-hearted student who had interned at places like Cambridge and in Turkey. Her death has drawn attention in Nigerian media, highlighting the risks faced by many who have chosen to remain in Ukraine despite the conflict — and many have asked why she stayed so long, and called for better support and evacuation for citizens in conflict zones.
This is one tragic civilian casualty among many. It is not that we have been unaware of the casualties in this war. I did a quick search on the estimates as of mid-2026 — and this war, which began in earnest on February 24, 2022, has now lasted longer than the First World War, which ran from 1914 to November 1918, over four years. As of February 24, 2026 it had been exactly four years, and it continues. To paint the horror: Russian military casualties are estimated at around 1.4 million in total, including about 450,000 killed. And 450,000 is not just a number — those are human beings, sons, fathers, uncles, friends. On the Ukrainian side, about 150,000 killed, with total casualties around 625,000. And we are quick to gloss over the injured — “only injured” — but some have suffered life-altering wounds; though not dead, their lives are irreparably damaged. Those are military casualties, people who signed up to fight and knew the risk. But as for civilians, the United Nations Human Rights Office has verified around 16,000 killed and 46,000 injured — people who did not sign up, who were simply caught in the mayhem — and some suggest the true figure is significantly higher, given the difficulty of accessing occupied territories.
I go through these figures to underscore the horror of war. And in that number of 16,000 civilians killed we must now include our Nigerian sister, 23-year-old Nnenna Adaobi Marian, who, with her friend Fatima, was on the way to a graduation photo shoot and was caught in the destruction a Russian bomb unleashed on that district. From a Christian viewpoint, stories like this underscore the profound horrors of war and its toll on the innocent. War is not an abstract strategy or a mere geopolitical manoeuvre. World leaders and state actors who decide to go to war must be reminded — and we must remember, so that we pray for them — that war kills, war destroys. It snuffs out young lives full of promise, leaves families grieving, and does incalculable damage to human beings and to society.
The Bible repeatedly portrays violence and bloodshed as contrary to God’s original design for the world. Some ask, “Did God not order Israel many times in the Old Testament to take up arms and fight?” Yes — but that was not part