African Christian Apologetics Blog

 A Christian Review of "HOW TO MAKE A NEGRO CHRISTIAN: A Reprinting of The Religious Instruction of the Negroes by Dr. Reverend Charles Colcock Jones" with Commentary by Kamau Makesi-Tehuti This book is not for the faint-hearted. It is a painful but necessary primary document for understanding what must be decolonized in African Christianity. 1. What the Book Is The core of the book is an 1842 manual by Charles Colcock Jones, a white Presbyterian minister and slave-owner in Georgia, USA, titled The Religious Instruction of the Negroes.  Jones was known as the "Apostle to the Negro Slaves." His stated goal was to evangelize slaves. His method was to create a slave Christianity. His theology was deliberate: - Emphasize Ephesians 6:5 - "Slaves, obey your earthly masters" while suppressing Exodus, Galatians 3:28 - "there is neither slave nor free", and Luke 4:18 - "proclaim freedom for the prisoners". - Teach that obedience in this life wil...

  The Benefits and Excesses of Revival in African Christianity and the Question of Nigeria's Prophetic Destiny Introduction When Apostle Arome Osayi said in 2026 that revival and mission is the prophetic destiny of Nigeria, the internet split into two sides. On one side, some Christian believers, especially lovers of Apostle Arome Osayi, raised the old prophecy of Pa Joseph Ayo Babalola — who in a 1930s vision described an angel giving nations gifts of rulership, technology, and education, until the gifts finished, and he asked, "What of Nigeria?" and heard, "I will give you the ultimate Gift: the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of revival, an all-in-one package." On the other side, critics like VeryDarkMan raised an alarm: is this another excuse to spiritualize failure, to say Nigeria doesn't need technology because we have prayer? Both sides are reacting to real issues. If we misunderstand revival, we will either abuse it or despise it. And Africa cannot afford ei...

Why Jesus’ Atonement Is the Precondition for Heaven — Even for Those Who Lived Before Him If faith on Jesus is the precondition for heaven, how then did those who lived before Him make heaven? This question is profound because it touches the heart of how God deals with sin across all of history. The answer is this: Jesus’ atonement was not a sudden afterthought. It was God’s eternal plan, and it was always the only basis on which anyone could be made right with Him. Those before Christ were not saved by a different system. They were saved by faith in the same Christ, looking forward to the cross the way we look back to it. 1. From the Beginning, God Promised an Atoning Substitute  God never intended for man to save himself. After the fall in Genesis 3, the very first gospel promise was given: the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. Genesis 3:15. That was a promise of a coming Redeemer who would deal with sin once and for all.   To picture this, God immediate...

  Faith That Works: Understanding Paul, James, and Jesus on Salvation Question:  " Paul says you are justified by faith apart from works. James says faith without works is dead. Who is right? "  This question often comes up in debates, especially with critics who claim Jesus preached obedience while Paul preached lawlessness. But the Bible presents no contradiction. Faith gives the assurance of salvation. Works are the visible evidence that authenticate that salvation.  Paul and James are not opposing each other. They are answering two different questions: how we are made right with God, and how we prove that new life is real. Jesus, Paul, and James together show us that it is not faith versus works, but faith that works. 1. Paul Was Writing about Justification by Faith Paul’s main concern was how a sinner is made right with God. His answer was clear: by faith alone, not by works of the Law. In Romans 3:28 he wrote that a person is justified by faith apart from works...

  YOU CAN BE A CHRISTIAN AND LOVE YOUR CULTURE: FAITH WITHOUT SELF-ERASURE The Gospel  did not come to delete us. There is a wound many African Christians carry silently. It is the wound of being told that to love Jesus, you must first hate yourself. That to be saved, you must become a stranger in your father’s house. That to follow Christ, you must abandon your language, change your name, despise your elders, and treat every thread of your tradition as demonic.   The result was a deep fracture in our communities. Society was split into two camps: the church people, and the village people. As if the Kingdom of God had no room for drums, proverbs, titles, or festivals. As if salvation required cultural suicide. But that was never the message of Jesus. The Gospel did not come to Africa to erase Africans. It came to redeem them. The Incarnation itself proves this: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” John 1:14. God did not ask humanity to become angels before He c...

Guiding Principles of Proper Exegesis and Hermeneutics of Scripture Introduction Hermeneutics is the discipline of interpreting Scripture faithfully, and exegesis is the practice of drawing out the meaning God intended in the text. Because “All Scripture is God-breathed” 2 Timothy 3:16, the interpreter’s task is not to create meaning but to submit to it. Scripture claims to be unified, true, and sufficient. Therefore any interpretation that forces contradiction upon it reflects a flaw in the reader, not in the Author.   Augustine warned, “If we are perplexed by an apparent contradiction in Scripture, it is not allowable to say, ‘The author of this book is mistaken.’” False teachers repeatedly violate this by pitting Old Testament against New Testament, even claiming that OT writers made mistakes about God. The biblical answer is that the OT writers approached God from His absolute sovereignty: whatever He directly created or permitted to exist, including evil and darkness, fal...