Pastor ADEBOYE & Others Take On Pastor ABEL DAMINA
There is an intense battle going on in the Christian community right now. The war is loud and palpable. It is the war between prominent pastors in Christendom and the different positions they hold on the issue of tithing. The debate about paying of tithe has been on for a long while, but it appears to have gotten even more heated now, with pastors calling out each other on social media every now and then. Some of them are firmly in support of Christians paying tithe while some others insist it is not scriptural. They say it is wrong for any man of God to demand that their members must pay tithe and that they would be deemed to have sinned against God and may not make heaven when they die. But some pastors who do not approve of Christians paying tithe vehemently disagree with this notion that the non-tithing Christians have sinned against God and will not make heaven. And they have taken the matter really personal, with some of them publicly questioning the integrity and scriptural knowledge.of the opposing voice. And the man at the center of it all is Pastor Abel Damina, the founder of Abel Damina Ministries International (ADMI) and the CEO of Kingdom Life Network (KLN) a Christian Satelite TV channel. He is also the Senior Pastor of Power City Internatioal, headquartered in Uyo, Nigeria, with extension of campuses across the globe.
For several weeks running, the man of God has been calling out several clerics, questioning their beliefs and doctrines that he insists are either totally wrong or fraught with inconsistencies. To say the man has drawn the anger of many prominent men of God is saying the obvious. He has embarrased quite a handful of them and they, in turn, have drawn the battle line with him. Apart from his personal issue with Pastor David Enenche, over claims that he ordained him (David Enenche) Abel Damina is embroiled in several other battles with other top men of God. This is on account of the fact that he has made several controversial statements that displeased respected clerics asuch as Bishop Oyedepo, Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Ibiyieomi, Pastor David Enenche, Pastor Jerry Eze, Apostle Joshua Selman and several others.
He was not originally a man on the war path with his colleagues in the vineyard. He also preached prosperity and embraced every other belief that the others propagated. He encouraged paying of tithes and inisted his members had to pay their tithes regularly. But, suddenly, after what he called a divine encounter, his perspective changed and he became a completely different man of God. He no longer embraced prosperity preaching and contested several other beliefs held by men of God such as tithing and others. On the issue of tithe, according to Damina, he said that the first thing to settle is, what is the word tithe?
According to the cleric, never at any time has it ever been that God protected anybody because the person paid tithe, God blesses people because God is generous. "God blesses people because God is a loving father. God blesses people, He makes his sun shine on the good and the bad, and He makes his rain fall on the good and on the bad, that's God."
The man of God explained further. "The issue of tithing has been over-flogged and this is because of the way some men of God interpret the scriptures when it comes to tithe. Tithe was first mentioned in the Bible in the book of Genesis 14:19-20. In this passage, Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils of war to Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of God. This act is considered the first recorded instance of tithing in the Bible.
Nobody asked Abraham to give tithe and nobody gave him a law on tithing. It was just his way of showing appreciation to God. He didn't give the tithe for blessings; he only gave it as a show of appreciation for the victory he got at the war front and the blessings pronounced over him. In the Book of Numbers, God wanted Israel to be a kingdom of kings and priests. The Israelites said they wanted God to talk to Moses and then, Moses would speak to them.
Because of this, they appointed Moses as their mediator and God honoured it because He is not a tyrant.
Moses then set up the Leviticus priesthood, which was the tribe in Israel, set apart to serve in the temple. So, because they are to serve in the temple, they are not allowed to go to war or do business. So, Moses made a law that every Israelite should pay tithe, which would be used to sustain the Levites, and also take care of the poor, widows and strangers.
In the book of Malachi 3:10 the bible says that because you do not pay tithe, you are cursed with a curse, but if you pay tithe, God will rebuke the devourers for your sake. We must understand that in Bible teaching, there is the rule of Bible interpretation. Every time you read a context, you must look at the pretext, and understand protext to understand the context. When Malachi was talking about those not paying tithe going to be cursed, he wasn't talking to the Israelites, he was talking to the priests, who were collecting tithes from Israel but were not paying tithes to their higher priests.
Remember the Bible consists of the Old and New Testament. The New Testament is a relationship that is predicated on what Christ has done that qualifies a man. So tithe was in the Old Testament, which is a relationship with God predicated on human performance. That's why in Matthew 23, Jesus called the Pharisees and Sadducees hypocrites for paying tithe but failed in the issues of love and compassion. In Galatians 4:4-5, the Bible says, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship." Christ saved us from the curse of the Law. So every curse that tithe should bring to us, Christ has redeemed us from it. Christianity is apostolic and historic. During the time of the Apostles, nobody paid and received tithes. The only thing you saw then was generosity. So, people sold land and brought the money, and provisions were made for people to cater for the needs of others in the church. That is what we see in the New Testament."
Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Bishop David Oyedepo and several other top pastors do not agree wit this position. And this is what Pastor Adeboye once said on the issue of tithe. "To experience exploits in your life, you must have a personal relationship with God. You must believe that He lives and love Him with all your heart. You must also learn to trust in Him. That command to pay tithes on your earnings simply places a demand on you to trust in God. Your response to this command shows the level of trust you have in Him. If you can pay your tithe correctly, it shows that you trust God for your livelihood, but if you find it difficult to be faithful in doing this, it simply shows that you trust more in your earnings than in God to sustain you. After I became newly born again and we were taught to pay tithes, I laughed and said in my mind, "These people do not know that I am a mathematician. If 100% is not enough for me, how can 90% be enough after I have paid 10% as tithes? Thank you very much! Even though these people are not educated, they still want to use their smartness to take 10% of my income from me. Let them try and take it". However, down the line, God convinced me by Himself and I observed remarkable changes in my life.
In those days, I was a lecturer in the university. I had a car but was afraid to drive in Lagos, so I got a driver. At the end of the month, I would pay my driver his salary, but by the middle of the next month, I would have to borrow money from him to buy petrol (gasoline). This happened month after month. I continued to struggle with my finances and even had to spend all my earnings. However, when I started paying my tithes, I suddenly realised I did not need a driver anymore, because boldness came from nowhere and I could now drive myself. Also, I did not have to visit hospitals again because I now had the Great Physician as my doctor. My children did not fall sick again, and that leakage in my finances was blocked off. All of a sudden, doors of opportunities began to open to me because I trusted the Lord. Are you still struggling with tithing? If you are, it only shows that you do not trust God to take care of you. The truth is, whatever you are paid may never be sufficient to meet all your needs because you are limited to that source, whereas you are open to various devourers. In contrast, when you tithe, you will have access to resources beyond your income because God's storehouse will be opened to you, and He will also block every source of losses in your life. It is a matter of choice. Why don't you start trusting God from today by paying your tithes faithfully...."
Beyond this statement, Pastor Adeboye has also been captured on video telling his congregation "that if you don't pay your tithe, you won't go to heaven", and another video emerged showing Pastor Damina responding to Pastor Adeboye, saying, no, sir, that is not true because tithing is not the prerequisite to make, Jesus is the only way through which you can make heaven!"
Bishop David Oyedepo, on his part, said"Tithing is an inescapable covenant obligation. Prosperity not just wealth is impossible without tithing because when you are not paying tithe, you're under a financial curse." In another subsequent tweet, Bishop Oyedepo, said many problems men face could be traced to their financial dealings.
"The way you handle your financial dealings determines greatly what happens to you financially. Many things that afflict men are traceable to their monetary dealings. False financial dealings can open doors to inexplicable afflictions," he said. He also sain in a video that has since gone viral, that God afflicted Job because he was not paying his tithe, an assertion that Abel Damina publicly disproved. Other Pastors such as Pastor David Ibiyieomi, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome have disagreed with Damina and insist every good Christian must pay tithe.
But there are a few popular men of God who agree with Pastor Abel Damina on the issue of tithe. One of them is Pastor Sam Adeyemi, founder and president of Daystar Christian Center. His position is that God did not tell anybody to pay tithe. "If you are paying it, it is because you chose to do it, it is not compulsory," he said. On Sunday, 25 February 2022, he told his congregation: "People should not give out of fear." As reported by Church Times, Adeyemi said he personally took interest in the tithe debate, did a lot of studies and concluded that God is not angry with anybody that does not pay tithe nor is the person under any form of curse." "I have been following the tithe debate. I discovered that it has been an age-long debate and it will be on for a long time.
"My first observation is that church people are behaving as if we own the word tithe. We don't own the word. It is an English word. I want to say clearly that tithe, as practised under the law of Moses, has expired. The death and resurrection of Jesus have put paid to it. It has expired."
"All the requirements of the law were satisfied under Christ" adding however that "It is a gamble to say Jesus never paid tithe. The fact that it was not written that Jesus paid tithe does not mean he did not do it. I can also claim that Jesus did not go to the toilet because it is not written. Eighteen years of his life were not recorded in the Bible. When he was born his parents satisfied the requirements of the law. John 21v25 says there are many things he did that were not recorded. Jesus did not say it was wrong to pay tithe in his day."
Adeyemi noted further: "The law of the spirit of life in Christ has made us free. Romans 8 tells us that we are free. No Christian should feel guilty for not paying tithe. There is nothing you can add to what Jesus did to be qualified before God. When Jesus said it is finished it was finished. Gal 3v13 says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. A Christian is not cursed because he or she did not pay tithe. A Christian should not give out of fear. A Christian should give out of love. We are free from guilt, from fear. We are in a dispensation of grace."
Another preacher who is in the same boat with Damina is Nigerian born Pastor Sunday Adelaja, founder and president of The Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of for all Nations with his headquarters in Ukraine. He said he does not collect Tithe from his members because it is not Biblical. He argued, "Matthew 23v23 is not addressed to the followers of Jesus. He was talking to the Pharisee. And he was not asking them to pay money tithe. He was saying they pay tithe of mint, dill and cumin, not money tithe.
"There is no place in the scripture where money is paid as tithe. The only place where money is allowed is in Deut. 14v22-28 where the Lord says the people can exchange their tithe for money in case the products they are carrying are too heavy for them and that they should eventually use the money to buy what they like and eat. That is the only place where tithe is mentioned in connection to money."
Adelaja explained, "I don't believe tithing is commanded in the New Testament. We are under no obligation to pay tithe. Nobody should force you to pay tithe. But on your own, you pay out of love."
There is also Pastor Femi Aribisala, the fellowship coordinator of Healing Wings, a Pentecostal Christian fellowship. An article published in Local media, entitled "Every Pastor who collects tithes is a thief, argued:
"As far as many pastors are concerned, the most important scripture of all is not to be found in the word of Jesus. Neither is it even in the New Testament. That scripture says: "'Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this,' says the LORD of hosts, 'If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.'" (Malachi 3:10).
This scripture is drummed repeatedly into Christians on Sundays. However, the only time Jesus mentioned tithing in scripture, he pointed out that it was not a weighty matter of the law. (Matthew 23:23). Hebrews says people only receive tithes "according to the law." (Hebrews 7:5). It then insists tithing (and everything else under the law) has been annulled: "The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless." (Hebrews 7:18-19). "Nevertheless, mercenary pastors continue to insist on the payment of tithes."
The debate over tithe will definitely continue to rage on amongst prominent of God and there is no telling when it will end or which side will concede defeat to the other. And from the look of things, it is a debate that will go on to outlive all the present particpants and move on from one generation to another...
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