Abel Damina, the founder and president of Abel DaminaMinistries International (ADMI), has made a claim that church offerings and tithes are not given to God, a view that challenges the teachings of many Nigerian pastors.
The clergyman made this bold statement in a viral video during a sermon in a Sunday service, a platform where such controversial views are rarely expressed.
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He said, “No offering goes to heaven; men spend it every time we gather offerings in this church. All the offerings we give to God go to men.”
Mr. Damina is well known for challenging the teachings of other preachers, which he believes are often used to influence people’s minds. In January 2025, his teaching that smoking and drinking are not sins in Christianity sparked controversies on social media.
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In April, the ADMI president countered the presiding pastor of Salvation Ministries, David Ibiyeomi, ’s claim that ‘Jesus hated poverty.’
Mr Damina clarified that Jesus never hated the poor but dined with them. Since then, Mr Damina has criticised Mr Ibiyeomi’s prosperity-themed preaching.
The sermon
In the viral video from Sunday’s Sermon, Mr Damina further stated that preachers only teach that God spends offerings and tithes to work on people’s minds.
He said: “Even those tithe mongers that say when you pay tithe, the doors of heaven will open, the doors have been opened since Jesus rose from the dead, the doors have never been closed. They are just working on people’s minds.
“I heard some of them saying I am evil because I said you should not pay tithe, and someone said ‘he and his children would pay tithe’. He has to talk like that to keep collecting from people. The preacher claimed that people won’t keep giving him if he doesn’t talk like that.
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Mr Damina claimed that most preachers who demand their congregation’s tithes don’t pay them themselves.
The ADMI pastor said, “And I won’t be surprised if he is not paying tithes to anybody. Most are greedy; they collect from everybody but don’t pay anybody. I was there. There is nothing you will tell me that I don’t know because there is nothing new under the sun,” Mr Damina added.
In the past, notably in October 2024, Pastor Damina was criticised by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Ecclesiastical Affairs, which claimed the preacher allegedly taught gospel messages with an ’alarming rate of theological errors and heresies.‘
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