Pastor Enoch Adeboye
By Victory Oghene
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has apologised for saying anybody who does not pay tithe will not make it to heaven.
Adeboye tendered the apology on Thursday while ministering at the ongoing youth convention of the church.
While inspiring the youth to aspire to do more for the Lord, he paused in the course of the message before dropping the shocking and unexpected apology for his comments on tithe payment.
“I am sorry for saying that if you don’t pay tithe, you won’t go to heaven. That is not in the Bible. What the Bible says is: follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man will make heaven,” Pastor Adeboye said.
Alluding to his message some years ago that non-tithers would not make heaven, he said: “It is possible to be right and wrong at the same time. I will prove it to you. For years, we taught that light travels in a straight line. Later, we say it travels in waves.”
He, however, told the youth that it was wrong to have limited people to “10 per cent when some of you should be giving 20 per cent, and 30 per cent, etc.
“10 per cent should be for beginners. Giving should be done violently. If you want to be on top to control finances, you will give beyond 10 per cent,” Adeboye said in what would appear to reduce tithe payment to the discretion of the congregants.
He recalled his experience at one of the conventions of the ministry of Kenneth E Hagin in Tulsa, United States, where a man promised to give more than what the 17,000 participants at the convention gave.
He said all participants had contributed about $3.5 million for the building of the Rhema Bible College, but the man promised he would give more than what everybody contributed to the project.
Pastor Adeboye disclosed that when he asked the man the secret of his sacrificial giving lifestyle, the latter told him how he had started a business with $500 and had told God if he blessed him, he would not insult Him with 10 per cent.
According to him, five years after the man started the business, he was making a turnover of $50 million, adding that was what inspired him to give towards God’s work enormously.
“I am sorry for saying you should pay 10 per cent. If we are going to dominate, we have to give violently,” Church Times quoted Adeboye to have said.
