The history of Christianity is replete with many charismatic leaders who dared to challenge the status quo, kicked against established norms, dogmas and wrong doings in the church in what came to be regarded as the reformation. It was a movement that took place many centuries ago which significantly led to reforms within the Catholic Church as the predominant Christian organisation then. This resulted in the emergence of Protestantism.
One of the key figures in the reformation movement was Martin Luther (1483-1546) who boldly and openly criticised what was obtainable in the Catholic Church particularly many of its teachings and practices. Perhaps, if he did not dare to attach the established order, there would not have been Protestantism.
There were others including Jesus Christ who by far was the most far-reaching reformer who also challenged age-long teachings of the old, condemned ostentatious living, preferred to work and live with the poor, promoted gender equality, moved against racial discrimination and supported personal faith rather than rituals.
It has been established without any fear of equivocation that the reformation by Jesus Christ led to the birth of Christianity as a distinct faith while his teachings and his lifestyle have continued to inspire millions around the globe, a kind of social justice movement that has attracted many followers throughout the world. His teaching on forgiveness, loving your neighbour and keeping one’s wealth where moth and rust cannot reach, have remained key pillars of the Christian faith. And what about loving your enemies?
Enter Abel Damina, a 63-year-old fiery preacher whose teachings have stirred more controversies, generated debate and appears to have brought him on collision course with other religious leaders in the Christian faith. In fact, his teachings look set to cause divisions within the Christian group as his contemporaries in the ministry have not found it funny. Some have said that his teachings were a result of his misinterpretation of the bible, particularly his recent teaching on the payment of tithes, an aspect which has continued to generate debate and has attracted divergent views. This has raised the question whether he is the modern-day reformer in Christianity.
For instance, while his contemporaries in the body are preaching the prosperity gospel and throwing their weight behind paying tithes and seeing the building of mega churches as well as the performance of miracles as part of the great signs and wonders, Damina has a different view on tithing, miracles and the gospel of prosperity and will have nothing to do with such.
Read also: Abel Damina and his ‘Heresies’
To him, the payment of tithes as demanded by his many church leaders is a faux and it is intended to enrich the proponents at the expense of their members. He has attacked church leaders who teach their members not to seek medical care when they are sick only for them to secretly consult with their doctors privately and called them liars.
“They will take injections and come back and say “I cannot be sick,’’ when you see them bouncing. know that they have taken injections to make them fit and strong and healthy. Tel \them I say so, all of them see their doctors privately,’’ he said.
Damina who is the founder of Power City International located in the heart of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state has run into trouble with his close allies like David Ibeyeomi, the founder of the Salvation Ministries and Paul Enenche, the founder of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Abuja who have disagreed with his teachings but this has not deterred him.
He has also taught his followers that the saying ‘what God cannot do does not exist’’ is not correct while also criticising a church founder, who claimed that he gave God one million dollars when he had no house.
The church founder had boasted that he gave one million dollars to God and God told him, he would never be broke, adding that “he is one of the wealthiest preachers in the world.’’ Damina responded by the saying that ‘how would someone who owns the whole world be motivated by one million dollars.’’
Damina has equally challenged the idea of going to church for material gains saying that there is no provision in the bible for materialism.
“Don’t come to church for material wealth because there is no such provisions in the scripture, anybody that uses Christ to promise you material wealth is lying to you and is harming you because even Jesus himself the owner of salvation did not make anybody rich. That is why prayer and fasting as good as they are for your spiritual development has not changed the Nigerian economy.
“We don’t need more prayers and fasting in Nigeria, we need brains that can create and develop an enabling environment with technology and manufacturing plants. Once we provide manufacturing plants, you won’t fast for jobs again, you will be fasting for souls. Some of the nations on earth that don’t believe in God are the richest on the planet. If your country is not working, it is because the brains that should be engaged to make it work has not been engaged, not because Satan is running riot. Satan should be running riot in countries where bibles are not allowed to be read.
Can a Christian preacher say that Heaven is a scam? Yes, that is what Damina has taught his followers.
Read also: Damina promises development for Bogoro, Bauchi
“Heaven is a scam, it is a manipulative weapon, the bible heaven is a reality now. So, heaven is not at last, heaven is the first, the day you receive Jesus is the day you make heaven. Any church you go to and they are promising a heaven at last, is not a gospel of the bible. Heaven is not our goal, heaven is not a mortuary where dead people gather, there is no scripture in the bible that says when you die that you will go to heaven, you will never find anywhere in the entire bible.”
Franklyn Isong, director, Centre for Human Rights Advoacy Network (CHARAN), said he had since stopped paying tithes many decades ago since churches have become business centres in many ways.
“I am glad the truth is coming out gradually, Damina may not be alone in the activism to de-commercialise Christianity and liberate the House of God from man’s ideological teachings,” he said.
Indeed, Damina has continued to excite his followers and adherents in his explosively charged teachings whose members think his time has come to bring a new message of hope, having vowed never to be part of the multitude of pastors performing “fake miracles and extorting money from the gullible.”
He is said to have abandoned his earlier plans to build schools, establish universities and acquire private jets and expensive cars as being done by Nigerian pastors following his realisation that those things would not matter in ‘heaven.’
“He actually wanted to establish a power city, like the name of his church, he has since jettisoned the idea,’’ one of his adherents said.
Damina’s teachings have shocked many in the Christian faith and he appears not to be in a haste to back down. It remains to be seen whether like the previous reformers who led the reformation movement centuries ago, whether Abel Damina’s new teachings are a prelude to another reformation or whether Christianity should continue to wait for another.
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