Abel Damina, founder and president of Abel Damina Ministries International (ADMI), has stirred fresh controversy with his assertion that church offerings and tithes are not given to God.
The outspoken preacher made the statement in a viral video clip from a Sunday service sermon, a platform where such bold and provocative remarks are rarely aired.
He declared, “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.”
Damina has built a reputation for challenging mainstream Christian doctrines, especially those he believes manipulate believers’ perceptions.
In January 2025, he caused a stir online when he taught that smoking and drinking are not sins in Christianity.
Meanwhile, during Sunday’s viral sermon, Damina went further to suggest that some pastors distort the purpose of tithes and offerings to influence the thinking of their congregants.
“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,” he said.
He also addressed backlash over his views on tithing.
“I heard some of them saying I am evil because I said you should not pay tithe, that ‘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.”
Damina further alleged that many pastors who demand tithes from their followers do not practice what they preach.
“And I won’t be surprised if he is not paying tithes to anybody. Most of them are greedy; they collect from everybody but they 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,” he said.
