The following are the views expressed by Olufemi Oguntokun in the October 16, 2026 episode of the On the Lord’s Side Podcast — Christian perspectives on news and current events.
Good morning to you once again. It’s Friday, the 16th of October 2026, and this is On the Lord’s Side, Christian perspectives on news and current events. My name is Olufemi Oguntokun. You can follow me on X at @OlufemiOG, and you can follow GospelBells Radio on X at @GospelBelsRadio.
Cultists reportedly renovated a police station — and someone insisted we shouldn’t confuse “fraternities” with cults. The one feature they share tells you all you need to know.
One of the stories trending on X in Nigeria this morning is a report that cultists allegedly renovated a police station in Rivers State. A popular commentator posted photos of the station before and after, and a video of men said to belong to a cult posing with policemen to celebrate the renovation, and asked, “What kind of country is this?” If it were told anywhere else in the world, people would ask the same. At first I thought to proceed cautiously — these days you must check that a viral clip is not a staged skit — but it has now been confirmed, in a manner of speaking: the Rivers State Police Command has ordered a full-scale probe and removed the Divisional Police Officer overseeing the area. And let’s find something to celebrate even here: disheartening as this is — a parable of how fallen our institutions are — the fact that the police feel obliged to investigate and suspend the DPO is at least heartening, proof that this is not something that should happen. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king; unfortunately that is where we are.
But the part I want to engage with came from a comment under the story. Someone wrote: “I will soon do a write-up on the difference between a cult and a fraternity… so we stop confusing the menace of gangsterism we call cult with fraternities.” That stopped me in my tracks, because it is an occasion to teach something deeper. Someone may come to you and say, “I’m inviting you to a fraternity, not a cult” — and people are persuaded, because fraternities have existed a long time, and many who hold top positions in politics, business, even the church, proudly belong to one.
Now “cult” can mean several things. In the theological sense, a body that claims a Christian name while denying a central doctrine, or binds its members to submit to a particular man, is a cult. In the sociological sense, a high-control group defined by its mechanisms rather than its beliefs — a controlled environment, loaded language, demanded purity. In Nigerian street usage, a cult is an armed gang bound by an oath — the sense most Nigerians know from the universities and, sadly, the neighbourhoods. And in the spiritual sense, those who have sworn allegiance to the devil. The commenter was using the street sense, and asking us to see the group that renovated that station as a “fraternity,” not a cult.
So let’s look harder at that distinction. It is historically true that the confraternity tradition did not begin as gangsterism. The Pyrates Confraternity was founded in 1952 at University College Ibadan by Wole Soyinka and six others — anti-elitist, anti-tribalist, satirical, and unarmed. But the splintering came: the Buccaneers in 1972, the Neo-Black Movement (later Black Axe) at the University of Benin around 1977, the Vikings, and others — and by the 1990s they were all armed, and for hire. And if you recall the campus cult massacre of 1999, that puts it beyond argument: the so-called fraternities became armed gangs, cults in the street sense. Why did it happen? That is my point today.
So I ask you, as a Christian: would you join a fraternity if you were assured it was “not a cult”? A fraternity is a secret group whose members take an oath to promote something — which may even be laudable — and to help one another. And there is the heart of it: secrecy, oaths, and a bond to protect one another’s interests. The only difference street usage draws is that the “cult” is armed. But under the Nigerian Constitution’s own definition of a secret society, a fraternity is covered: a society, registered or not, that uses secret signs, oaths, rites, or symbols; formed to promote a cause part of whose purpose is to foster its members’ interests and to aid one another “under any circumstances, without due regard to merit, fair play, or justice, to the detriment of the legitimate interests of those who are not members”; whose membership is incompatible with the dignity of public office; whose activities are not known to the public, whose members’ names are kept secret, and whose meetings are held in secret. Those are the classic features of a fraternity. Call it a fraternity, call it a cult — both are correct; and if it is armed and kills, it is a gang besides. There is, in truth, no difference between a cult and a fraternity, and those of us on the Lord’s side should be wise enough to see it. Let no one deceive a young person with, “It’s a fraternity, not a cult.”
And here is the more Christian point. Any society — fraternity or cult — that binds men by oaths to one another’s interests in secret, without submitting that bond to the lordship and law of God, will eventually drift towards evil; and even if it has not yet drifted, a Christian has no business joining it. People will point to groups that take oaths and meet in secret but “do nothing ungodly” — they even renovated a police station. Give it time. Institutions are never better than the people who make them up, and the tendency of every human person and organisation is to drift towards evil; so no matter how lofty or godly the founders’ ideals, if the ultimate law in a group is not the fear and law of God — or at least a law that lets people appeal to God — it will drift. Many institutions begun by godly people with noble ideas have drifted away; so did the confraternity of 1952, founded for a lofty purpose, yet not founded under God. Why is the drift so certain? Because, in our Lord’s own words, John 3: “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light… But he that doeth truth cometh to the light.” Once secrecy is built into a group as the condition of joining or the manner of operating, only evil thrives there, for only those whose deeds are evil want to operate in the dark.
That is why the Christian church is as open as can be. In a truly Christian church there is no physical room you cannot enter, no service held in secret, no meeting the public is barred from observing; even where an altar is restricted to certain persons, everyone can see what happens there. In my own tradition it is repeated at every synod that no service may be held in secret. The same is true of the law courts: every sitting must be in public; you have the right to walk in and observe. When the intention is truly noble and godly, there is no need for secrecy — come and see what we do, come and hear what we say, come and pray with us. Jesus Himself, under interrogation, said, “I spake openly to the world… and in secret have I said nothing” — His defence was His entire public record. Ephesians 5: “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness… for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” 1 Thessalonians 5: “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”
So, as we await that gentleman’s write-up on the difference between a fraternity and a cult: as long as secrecy is embedded in it, a fraternity is a cult a Christian should not join. And as long as a group does not recognise the binding law of God — so that you cannot halt a slide into wrong by saying, “Have we considered what the Bible says?” — take your shoes and run, because it will drift. Finally, to the one still unpersuaded, who says his group does noble things in secret and harms no one: your time in this world is limited, and your resources are limited. Where would you rather spend them? Jesus said the children of this world know how to use the unrighteous mammon to buy themselves advantage — but you, use it to build treasure in heaven. Would you not rather spend your life and your means on causes that glorify God and expand His kingdom, where His lordship is recognised, than on secret societies, however fancy? And we should also ask why our police stations are in such a state that private groups renovate them at all — but I’m sure you know the answer to that.
Young women at a Christian meeting cheered “Men dey!” — and the pastor took off his shoes and ended the service. Was that enough? The first word he owed them was a harder one.
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I want to return to a story we began yesterday — the popular Nigerian preacher Pastor Bolaji, at what appears to be a singles’ meeting of his congregation. A young woman was handed the microphone and said, in essence, that she expects the man she dates to be generous and to provide for her: she had once dated a man who gave her whatever she asked, that relationship ended, she then dated a man who loved her but was meticulous and calculating with money, she broke up with him — and now regrets it. Pastor Bolaji warned the young ladies: be careful not to date older, married men who can give you anything you ask — the most expensive iPhone, millions of naira — because your appetite becomes distorted, and you begin to treat the extravagant as ordinary; where then will you find a regular man your own age who loves you but cannot provide all that? And someone in the audience called out, “Men dey!” — there are such men. He was taken aback, asked again, and the audience chorused it, laughing, many of the ladies corroborating: men dey. At which the pastor shook his head, removed his shoes, and — citing that when you preach the truth and people reject it you dust your sandals, having done your part — ended the service.
Yesterday we lamented how this exposes the materialistic bent of many young people, and its dangers. Since then, many have taken a second look at the pastor’s own reaction, asking whether he should have rebuked them more sternly rather than simply dusting his shoes and leaving. And before that, I must say plainly that even his example troubled me: he warned against dating married men because it “distorts your appetite.” But is that the issue — or at least the first point? To tell a young Christian woman not to date a married man because the lavish gifts will spoil her expectations of suitable Christian suitors cannot be the first thing. The first point is that she cannot date a married man at all — that is classic fornication on her part and adultery on his. Are you not a child of God, subject to His laws, sinning by this? I hope the pastor made that point clearly; if he did, all well and good — and if he did not, it was a grave omission. (Grant that he meant richer, older unmarried men; the “distorted appetite” warning is then perfectly valid — but it still is not the first point.)
As for the sterner question, let me read some comments. One said: “The audacity that fuels ‘men dey’ is the Yahoo-boy lifestyle. Nobody who earns his money legitimately will hand it over without questions. They told this pastor they wanted to date Yahoo boys” — internet fraudsters — “and instead of being stern, he ended the service.” Another: “The church should be a place where people are corrected, not just entertained and applauded.” And one named Victoria wrote: “Pastor Bolaji had the perfect opportunity to correct this mentality and address the materialistic mindset behind their dating choices. Instead he seemingly missed the chance to teach them something meaningful by ending the service prematurely — perhaps because he didn’t want to offend his congregants. The women were openly talking about relationships driven by financial benefit, yet the congregation responded with cheers of ‘Men dey.'” Read that again: at a Christian conference, people openly spoke of relationships driven by money — and he warned them not from a biblical point of view, but from a wisdom point of view. That is worth noting.
And that is the limit of human wisdom. When you confront people on the wrong path with mere prudence, there are limits — and the limit they threw back was, “Men dey,” there are men who will indulge us, so your “it’s not wise” argument fails, because we will find them. (And they will — there are Yahoo boys in the church, and young men enriched by corruption.) They would have had no such retort to a biblical rebuke: “What is wrong with you? You are dating married men; do you not know this is ungodly, that you are aiding sin, that you yourself are sinning?” So the first takeaway: wisdom and common sense have their limits in admonishing people from wrong; the Christian preacher must start from the God-place and show how what God detests leads to ruin. But a caution of my own: do not impute a motive we cannot prove. Many say he was soft “because he didn’t want to offend his congregation” — if that were the reason, it would indeed be wrong, for we are to “be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort.” But I do not know that for a fact, and we should not run to judgment. Watching the clip, I actually came away thinking the man was shocked — stunned that people at a Christian conference would say such a thing — and showed it by saying, “I have told you the truth,” and dusting his shoes. And let us not minimise the gravity of that act: Jesus said it would be worse, for the place where preachers must dust their feet, than for Sodom and Gomorrah. To say, “I have told you the truth; now I leave you to the judgment of God,” is a grievous thing — and no one in that room could ever stand before God and say they were not warned.
Here is what we do know. First, it is a wake-up call to the Christian church and to Christian families that many of our young people are driven by materialistic instincts, and feel justified enough to talk back to the preacher. Second, that for the Christian preacher, wisdom and common sense alone will not hold — you must also point to the biblical, spiritual consequences of sin. Third, that a preacher must never, to please his congregation, withhold what he should say. As a pastor I’ve commended before, Judah, wrote — and another added — “A bulk of modern preaching has to involve patient rebuking, especially when your audience turns its ears from truth to fables… Unfortunately the average preacher wants to be an Instagram celebrity; we prefer the applause of carnal men to the honour of being hated for being a man of God.” It is honourable to be hated for righteousness’ sake — Peter said so: if you suffer for standing for what is right, that is honourable. But recognise how hard it is to look hostile people in the eye and deliver the message anyway; the flesh profits nothing, and nothing is done for God except in the power of the Holy Spirit. So we pray the Lord strengthens every preacher — you and me included — to confront even those we love, and those above us, with the truth they do not want to hear: in wisdom, in love, but to say it nonetheless. And our hearts should bleed for the young people who have been misled into life-mantras that are plainly ungodly and destructive.
🔹 A gospel singer died at 41, and a believer called our faith “powerless” for not raising him. There’s a Luke 4 answer that reframes grief, miracles, and the real Christian hope.
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Finally, the sudden, sad passing of a well-known Nigerian gospel singer — Toluwani Sings — who died on the 14th of October 2026 at the age of 41, after suddenly slumping and being rushed between hospitals; the family has not disclosed a cause. He was known for his gospel songs, is survived by his wife and children, and had only celebrated his fifth wedding anniversary in September. Our thoughts are with his wife, his children, and the whole Christian community in Nigeria that his ministry blessed. There are many singers, but some are given so unique a gift that the moment you hear the music you know whose it is — and this young man had such a talent, and to God’s glory he deployed it in God’s praise. Which reminds all of us: we will each die someday, and the question is whether it will be said that we spent our talents, time, and resources serving the Lord — which ties back to our first story, about which causes are worthy of a Christian’s devotion.
But I want to engage a tweet about his passing. A man wrote, as a Christian: “This our powerless Christianity is not it, sha. Yes, we can’t question God, blah, blah — but people said the same when people died in the Bible; we’d know nothing about resurrection. Imagine we prayed him back to life — the credence it would give to our faith.” His point: that Nigerian Christianity is now powerless because no anointed man can pray a dead believer back to life, as happened in Scripture. Another Christian replied that the fault lies in our being too focused on the prosperity gospelers, and in the pulpit exaggerations of what men of a previous generation did.
How do we engage a believer who says our faith is powerless because no one raised this singer? I would commend to him what Jesus said in Luke 4: “There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months… but unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto… a woman that was a widow” of Zarephath; “and many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” Be reminded that not everyone who died in Jesus’ time was raised. Yes, He stopped a funeral procession and gave the widow’s son back to her; yes, He raised Lazarus. But do you think those were the only two who died in Israel while He walked the earth? When Dorcas was raised, she was not the only woman who died; when the lame man at the Beautiful Gate was healed, he was likely not the only cripple at the temple — but it was to him the Spirit directed Peter. God does not raise or heal everyone; the mighty acts were done as He gave power, to whom He chose.
So this should moderate an expectation that needs moderating: in a fallen world, death happens, sickness happens, hunger and poverty happen. Christ did not come to make this present earth into heaven; He came to make the sacrifice that makes us fit for heaven after this fallen world. The prosperity gospel is wrong — and so is the no-tribulation, no-trouble gospel. Our Lord said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” It is in heaven, not here, that there will be no more sin, sorrow, sickness, tears, or death — Revelation tells us so. Anyone on the Lord’s side who thinks the whole point of being in Christ is to escape all grief and sickness in this world has been taught another gospel. Yet we also hold the assurance of Isaiah 43:2: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee… when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.” That is my prayer for the widow and children of Toluwani Sings, and for everyone grieving today — that the mighty waves of grief will not sweep over you, and that, as the Spirit admonishes, we will not grieve as those without hope.
And to the man who called it powerless Christianity because no one raised the singer: no such promise was ever made to those on the Lord’s side — not that we would be spared sin, sorrow, grief, sickness, or death in this world; anyone preaching such a promise does great damage to the body of Christ. Yet we know the God who has power over all things — who raised the widow’s son and Lazarus, who healed the sick and multiplied the bread — did those things to show that He has that power, and that there is a place where He fully reigns, with no more tears, sickness, sorrow, lack, or death. That is the beginning and end of the Christian hope: the hope of heaven, where I trust Toluwani Sings now is, for we can number him among those who confessed Christ here. And here is the real power: not that Christians never pass through adversity, but that when they do, they rise above it and still glorify the Lord. The many Christians praising God today even as they mourn his passing are proof that, even in the darkest hour, the Lord gives His people a song — until the day we sing an endless hallelujah before the throne. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with his family, and with all God’s people awaiting the life to come. In Jesus’ name.
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