31/07/2024
HOW A SCHOOL DROPOUT TURNED HERETIC
-Pius Adebayo
The fund-raiser-in-chief (Damina) is now peddling a new doctrine that forbids the payment of tithe and other forms of giving in church. The reason for this newly minted doctrine is not far-fetched – since the fundraising and all the tithes he has been fraudulently taking from the people didn’t make him rich, no other church should take tithes from people. But what he failed to realize is that whereas he diverted all tithes and funds raised by him on the church’s altar to his personal coffers, these other men of God, following scriptural injunctions, never had anything to do with tithes or other forms of giving in church.
Abel Damina is not a strange name in the ears of many Nigerians as far as the peddling of Christian heresies is concerned. He has carved for himself an unenviable niche in the world of heretic and controversial doctrines.
Whether such doctrines are being triggered by his sheer lack of understanding of the Scripture or inspired by some strange demonic influences remains a worrisome and intriguing subject. But more worrisome is the fate of young, immature and gullible Christians who are being swayed into the abyss of sinful and damnable compromise by his heretical and evil doctrines.
For a so-called man of God to have and maintain a doctrinal stance that promotes unrestrained sin, immoral conducts, disorderliness, falsehood, duplicity and social anarchy speaks volumes of the extremely permissive and corrupt nature of his personal life.
But before we delve further, let us take a brief look at the history of this religious pariah. Abel Damina finished Secondary School in 1988 from Prince College, Mista-Ali, Jos, Plateau State Nigeria. He attempted to further his education by enrolling into the College of Advanced Studies, Zaria, but soon dropped out shortly after, claiming to have received a call to Ministry.
This was soon followed by the commencement of his Ministry in the city of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, just two years after secondary school.
From the foregoing, it is clear to see that the process of his making is already compromised. He could not endure the mental and physical discipline to run a basic post-secondary educational programme. His entry into ministry cost him nothing as he did not sacrifice anything valuable to answer the call – no degree certificate, no professional qualification, no occupation or career, etc.
Today, this same drop-out has the effrontery to challenge highly revered and renowned men of God and fathers of faith who are academic giants or scholars in their own rights aside their spiritual prowess. His unbridled and visceral tongue did not spare God’s servants like Pastor E.A. Adeboye, a renowned mathematician with PhD in Mathematics, Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, also a mathematical scholar, Bishop David Oyedepo, a qualified architect, and Dr. Paul Enenche and his wife, Dr (Mrs) Becky Enenche, both qualified medical doctors. These are men and women who paid the price for the call of God into ministry.
Ministry, to these men, is highly valued as they left behind enviable qualifications and gainful professions to do the work of God. But that is not the same for Abel Damina. He left nothing behind, and it is obvious, he has nothing in front of him to pursue. And since he has nothing to gain or lose, he is desperately on the loose, seeking to denigrate those who are genuinely doing the work of God with unquestionable conducts and proven track records.
His Ministerial practices have from the very beginning, been characterized by dubious fund-raising, the proceeds of which were taken by him almost immediately for personal use, and not for the church. That is, he would immediately walk away with the raised funds after the service. He could use the extremes of means, even hypnotics, if possible, to extract money from the congregants. He once proudly told an associate that all his messages were strategically scripted to elicit giving or fundraising – that he wouldn’t preach any message that would not provoke people to give. In fact, he once told another associate that all the tithes of the church belonged to him.
But what do we have today? The same fund-raiser-in-chief is now peddling a new doctrine that forbids the payment of tithe and other forms of giving in church. The reason for this newly minted doctrine is not far-fetched – since the fundraising and all the tithes he has been fraudulently taking from the people didn’t make him rich, no other church should take tithes from people. But what he failed to realize is that whereas he diverted all tithes and funds raised by him on the church’s altar to his personal coffers, these other men of God, following scriptural injunctions, never had anything to do with tithes or other forms of giving in church. The standard practice is the total separation of the church from the man of God as two separate legal entities. That makes the resources of the church not to be the same as the resources of the pastor. What is given to the church, be it tithes, offerings, sacrifices and other forms of giving, belong to the church, and not the pastor. This is the standard scriptural practice, but Damina devoured all hook-line-and-sinker, and expected God, being a God of principle to prosper him, all the same.
Since he is bankrupt of basic discipline and financial integrity to manage church’s resources, he assumes every other pastor is doing the same. This is his mind-set because to the corrupt, everything is corrupt. He is acting like the harlot who killed her son in the Book of First Kings and wanted the surviving son of her roommate destroyed so both of them would become equal and childless. But King Solomon, being filled with the wisdom of God discerned the evil intent of the devious harlot, preserved the living child, and handed him to the rightful mother. And God is wiser than King Solomon: in the end, the heretic will always end as the ultimate loser.
Thus, Damina stepped into ministry with zero ethical foundation, zero sense of purpose, zero discipline, and zero sacrifice, just to go after people’s resources. His ministry and personal lifestyle have always been characterized with extreme level of permissiveness, disorderliness and error, hence his leaning on the absolutist grace doctrine to accommodate his moral depravity, indiscipline, avarice and recklessness.
To the gullible, unsuspecting generation of young, immature Christians, he is a hero, but deep down his hypocritical mind, he knows that he is up to nothing good but sheer falsehood, deception and double standard, with the ultimate intention to steal, to kill and to destroy lives, homes and thriving churches.
But the foundation of God stands sure, and the Lord knows those who are His – 2 Timothy 2:19. God will always stand to defend His works, and pull down all foundations and installations of falsehood, deception and evil.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mathew 3:10
Like all heretics before him, the wind of truth will eventually blow all forms of heresies into the abyss of history, and the Church of Christ will continue to march forward in triumph, and the gates of hell can never prevail against it.
Pius Adebayo is a public and social analyst
