Book Reviews
An icon is a finished product. But looking at an icon, doesn’t show you how to get there unless you have one come alongside you and begin to tell you, “These were my experiences; this is what I went through; this is what I did; this is what I didn’t do”. He, thus, becomes a mentor. And we need that in the body of Christ. We do not just need to know where we are going to, it is important to see somebody model the possibilities to us. It is more important to have someone explain how to make that happen in your own life. This is why the magnificent illustrations the author has used in the book The Spirit Transplant really resonate with me.
There is a scripture that has become so important to me. It’s in Galatians 5:16. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” It didn’t say, “Walk in the Spirit and you might not fulfil the lust of the flesh!” It didn’t say, “Walk in the Spirit and it is likely you won’t fulfil the lust of the flesh.” It says, “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” It is a categorical statement. It means the cure to walking in the flesh, the cure to sin, the cure to a sinful life is walking in the Spirit.
You see what we have done: we have preached holiness, we have taught holiness, we have literally instituted holiness as a law, we have not just made it an objective, we have made it a must. And, yet, we have not showed anyone the how. The how is walking in the Spirit. And it seems to me that if you preach holiness that you will never attain it; but if you preach how to walk in the spirit, then you are most likely going to attain the holiness that you seek.
So, I think the church needs more mentors than icons, more people that can teach us how to walk in the spirit than telling us about people who have done it. And that is why this book [The Spirit Transplant] is so important because It takes a difficult topic and delineates it.
I remember when I took a seminar on walking in the spirit and delineating spirit, soul and body. It is only in Christianity that the differentiation between soul and spirit is done. The author has so eloquently presented that in the human architecture illustrated in the book. The Bible says it is not an easy thing to divide the spirit and the soul. I am particularly blessed and inspired by the illustrations, gifted illustrations that the author has employed in the book.
My mind was racing as the author described what it means to be spiritually dead from the perspective of The Spirit Transplant. Most people do not understand what it means to be spiritually dead. They think it means your spirit does not exist anymore. It exists but just like your phone can be dead, it means no power in it. It is absolutely useless, when there is no power in it, it becomes like a decoration. The spirit being dead does not mean it has ceased to exist. When it is recharged, it comes back to life. In like manner, the Spirit Transplant brings a dead spirit back to life after which a person can download the apps. Brilliant, wonderful expressions!
The illustration by the author helps to explain things like fasting; it explains things like prayers. Fasting is not a way to arm-wrestle God. Fasting is not a way to try to make God change His mind. Fasting is not what you use to leverage God to do your will. Nothing is going to make that happen. Jesus says, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
From the author’s illustration, what fasting does is that it helps to charge your battery faster by disconnecting the load on it. So, if you want your phone to charge faster switch it off, plug it in and it double-speed charging. That’s really what fasting is in its fundamental form: cut away the flesh, cut away the load and you get charged and come to that place of functionality, operationality and ability to hear God. Sensitivity to the spirit, that is what it is.
Initially I had reservations about the word “transplant” based on my understanding of the word of God and the technicalities of spirit, soul and body until I read the book and understood what the author meant. Often, when you see Jesus make a statement like “The kingdom of God is like a man sowing a seed”, if we get too agricultural and start talking about chlorophyll and saying, “Does it mean that human beings have chlorophyll?” that will be taking it too far. But in the context of what Jesus was trying to say – it is a specific attribute of the seed, that explains something. So, it is not all encompassing to that degree. When I understood what the author had in mind about transplant, he painted the illustrations so magnificently, I knew where to draw the limits between transplant and implants in order not to push types and shadows beyond the actual technical truths.
There is the paradox of learning, the dilemma of a learner, that is to say, the same people who pass across truth and knowledge also pass across biases and presuppositions that are not necessarily accurate. Does it mean that we should shut it down and not learn? I think the guiding principle is in John Chapter 1:1-3
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.”
All things were made by who? Literally, what John is telling us is that whatever that is made, the word should be its foundation. That means everything God made, the word must be at the beginning. It is important to check our sources. It is not that we should shut ourselves down; it is not that we do not engage in conversations. But we have to see what the source is. We have to find out, what this fellow is saying: is it taking it roots from the word of God or is it taking it roots from a culture? Is it taking it roots from the word of God or erroneous sciences? I say “erroneous science” with a little bit of levity because there are certain things that were previously said in the name of science which has been revised.
I am glad that the author has made that effort to stay within the Word and I think that gives a guide of safety. While his illustrations are drawn from science, law, engineering and architecture, and so on and so forth, great illustrations that help us paint a picture, he has tried to keep his root in the word of God; it is the beginning and the foundation of it. I think that was so important. That was my check and balance when I first had contact with The Spirit Transplant. When I listened to the explanation, it was dead on, perfectly accurate. I said yes, in terms of having the word of God as its foundation, it is accurate and fantastic.
The word of God is our only reliable guide in the realm of the spirit. No one should ever come to compete with the word of God concerning the realm of the spirit. The realm of the Spirit is like delving into darkness and the only light that guides is the word of God.
As you read the book, the Bible says you have the Spirit of God in you that teaches you all things. It is the extent that we are rooted in the word of God that gives us that accuracy.
It is wonderful that we are finding people who are actually delving into this dimension of teaching - what it means to walk in the spirit which is what the Spirit Transplant is all about [“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25] I believe the more we teach it, the more the earth will be filled with the image of God, the more our society will be transformed, the more our culture will be impacted, the more the character of God will be expressed, not only in our lives but in our output to the world. The more we teach it, the better we will represent the Kingdom here on earth, the greater the advancement of the Kingdom of God will be, and the more the holiness we dearly seek will be manifested at every level.
Congratulations Iniobong, you have done an accurate and a brilliant job!
Bishop Bob Alonge (Bishop of the Covenant Mission & Overseer of the Capital Assembly, Coventry, UK)
When I was attending the recent preparation meeting for the Franklin Graham tour of England, I was given a book by Iniobong which he told me he had just published.
When I saw the title, I was curious because we all have heard of the Holy Spirit impartation, but to describe it as a transplant for me was an original thought and interpretation.
The book holds on to this metaphor and remains faithful to both medical research and, more importantly, the Scriptures and this thought is developed with these parameters.
The major premise is that we are all born with a defective organ, which is spiritual and this is replaced by the Spirit Transplant, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and our donor is the Holy Spirit.
Iniobong states clearly the benefits of the transplant, including 14 testimonies and explains why some reject the transplant and what the consequences are.
These days, it is very rare to find a book that juxtaposes Scripture and modern science and yet still remains sound in teaching. I believe that this book achieves this and offers a fresh perspective on life and points to what every individual desperately needs – The Spirit Transplant.
Michael Reynolds, Evangelist, Leicester UK
Experiential and theoretical knowledge about a subject matter are critical components of a good book. When I first read the book, it was clear that the author had personal experience with the power of the Holy Spirit. It was the same power that enabled the Apostles to pen the Bible. In 1 John 1 vs 1, Apostle John wrote:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”
I did my PhD in Chemistry. Science and spirituality often appear to diverge. It takes a lot of creativity, theoretical knowhow and wisdom to bring them together. For instance in chapter 6 the author points out that there are not only biological agents which causes sicknesses but spiritual agents as well. In the author’s Demon theory of diseases, the illustration that if an ailment is caused by a spiritual agent and a biological attempt is used in trying to solve the problem will be futile, was a light bulb moment to me. I had witnessed this scenario on numerous occasions but there was no supporting theory to back up my observations.
The Spirit Transplant brings a lot of things into combination, science, spirituality, engineering, medicine, criminal justice system etc. I am not saying the book is an assistant Bible but it is the kind of book you must keep by your side always because it is very inspiring.
The author has raised the standard and like the Bible says raising the standard is one strategic way of defeating the enemy, this we can find in Isaiah 59:19b. “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” Great deal of light, emanating from the power of the Holy Spirit, has come from the author which will bring illumination to our world.
I have a strong impression that some of the ideas contained in the book should be sent to government agencies. For instance, when you look at the criminal justice system, someone has committed a crime and is sent to prison for correction. From the author’s Demon theory of crime, if the root cause of the crime was spiritual, sending the culprit to criminal justice system alone for correction is not enough. The author has demonstrated that something is lacking in the criminal justice system and it is the reason why we have so many repeat offenders. We can recall that the last stabbing at the London bridge, was carried out by a repeat offender who came out of prison not long ago. The criminal justice system tried to correct him but because the primary cause of the crime was spiritual, the objective was not met. The author has put forward an extraordinarily strong case for spiritual correction within the criminal justice system where at present it is conspicuously absent.
The book, The Spirit Transplant is a great input not just to the Christian and scientific community, but a great contribution to literature for humanity. The author has left a legacy for the future generation, someone can read this book and be impacted. Not only for the future, we need a book like this in this generation where the propagation of the gospel is difficult. The book The Spirit Transplant is a great contribution to knowledge and the spiritual wellbeing for all generations.
Dr Udeme John Dickson, Nottingham Trent University, UK
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