The story of spiritual power has never been a tale of human effort but of divine choice. In the courts of heaven, no man negotiates his way into the high priestly order; it is purely by election of grace. The Apostle Paul declared, “No one takes this honour upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was” (Hebrews 5:4). And therein lies the burden of our generation: we live in a world of arrogant believers who assume every oil is transferable, every mantle is imitable, every grace is repeatable. But election is not democracy; it is monarchy. God elects, man receives.
From Psalm 133 we see the mystery illustrated: the oil poured upon Aaron’s head did not stay on his crown, it flowed down his beard, his garment, and to the skirts. This is no principle that can be copied; it is manifestation of divine gravity. Rivers do not flow uphill. They flow downward. Likewise, virtue descends from the carriers chosen by election. Kenneth E. Hagin often warned, “You can’t teach unction, you catch it” —for the Spirit flows only in the direction God ordains.
Yet in this age, many prefer equality slogans to spiritual order. We chant, “We are all brethren,” forgetting that Scripture clearly states, “God set in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers” (1 Corinthians 12:28). Bishop David Oyedepo once thundered, “Grace does not answer to grammar; it answers to election.” Those who trivialize hierarchy soon discover that grace cannot be manipulated by rhetoric. Spiritual rivers are not stirred by arrogance.
The problem is not merely theological but societal. Nigeria today is flooded with self-appointed prophets, self-declared apostles, and self-anointed reformers who confuse activism with authority. Their loudness deceives the gullible, yet they lack proofs. Apostle Ayo Babalola, the torchbearer of Nigerian revival, carried such oil that even his prayers over water became medicinal streams. He never campaigned for recognition. Grace advertised itself. “Only fools doubt proofs,” Bishop Oyedepo often re-echoes. And in this, history sides with him: true mantles replicate effects, not noise.
Consider the Shunammite woman who discerned Elisha, saying, “I perceive this is a holy man of God” (2 Kings 4:9). By receiving his ministry, she obtained the impossible—life in a barren womb, restoration of a dead child. She honoured, she believed, and she partook. Contrast this with those in Nazareth who despised Jesus, murmuring, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” and thereby shut themselves out from wonders (Mark 6:3–5). Attitude determines altitude. A heart that dishonours cannot receive.
But beyond the church walls, this principle spills into politics, leadership, and national life. Our culture of dishonour is Nigeria’s Achilles heel. We drag elders in mud, we mock prophets in headlines, we dismiss fathers as outdated relics. Yet the Igala proverb reminds us: “The tree that shelters you should not be cut with your own axe.” When a nation despises its mantles, it forfeits its miracles. That is why nations with honour for moral fathers thrive, while those who exalt rebellion reap confusion.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome (PhD) once warned, “There are things you don’t enter until you recognize spiritual authority.” In today’s church, however, sheep wish to shepherd themselves. The result? Scattered flocks, counterfeit mantles, shallow Christianity. Spiritual gravity is ignored, so virtue is withheld. The handkerchiefs of some ministers deliver power like Paul’s in Acts 19, while others remain ordinary cloth. Why? Because grace is not a show of maturity or eloquence, but the overflow of divine election.
It is time for this generation to repent of pride. The oil that built Faith Tabernacle in Ota was not local ingenuity but global impartation, flowing from Hagin to Copeland to Idahosa to Oyedepo. The rhythm of the Spirit is never isolation but connection. No one outgrows fathers; we only tap deeper into their streams. Dr. Paul Enenche once said, “Submission is the ladder to elevation.” If our altars must still heal the sick and break yokes, then believers must honour mantles and crave grace, not contest them.
For election is not an achievement. It is mercy dressed in oil. It is heaven’s vote in a world that mistakes noise for anointing. And until the church re-learns this order, until believers recognize that no sheep leads itself successfully, the flow of virtue will remain blocked. Today’s arrogance must give way to hunger, honour, and humility.
In the end, grace will always mock human effort. As Zechariah declared, “Not by power, nor by might, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). And to a world intoxicated with self-promotion, this remains heaven’s verdict: the mantle is not a thing to copy, it is a calling to enter. Not by merit, not by might—but by the unseen gravity of election.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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