God is not a Christian, says popular Nigerian pastor

Popular pastor, Abel Damina, has explained why God is not a Christian while charging his congregations to stop believing that only the people who believe in Jesus Christ will go to heaven.

Damina, the senior pastor of Abel Damina Ministries International, made this known during one of his sermons on Monday.

He chided Christian believers who thought Christianity was the only religion that could take one to paradise to discard their position, as he further hinted that Jesus was not even a Christian.

According to him, biblical characters like Abraham, David, and Jesus Christ did not use the term “Christianity,” but instead unbelievers, adding that these holy people were merely disciples or believers, not “Christians” in the traditional sense.

He said, “Many of you think God is a Christian. God is not a Christian. Many of you think if you are not a Christian, you won’t go to heaven, lie. People went to heaven before Christianity started. Christianity started in Antioch in the Book of Acts. That should humble you a bit, and you should start adjusting your theology.

“And it is unbelievers that gave the name Christianity that you are carrying as a condition to go to heaven— unbelievers who watch the people who were adherents of Brother Paul’s teachings. After teaching for some time, they saw the transformation that had happened to these people. Before then, they were called believers and almajiris. They were disciples of Paul.

“Then the people said instead of calling disciples, the transformation we see in them is that they look like Christ, so let’s call them Christians. But before then, many people went to heaven, including the thief on the cross. So, you don’t have to be a Christian to make heaven.”

He alluded to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Abel, Isiah, and David, including Jesus, not being Christians during their lifetime.

Damina is known for his controversial views on salient issues in his sermons, most of which require other pastors to speak up.

Recently, The PUNCH reported that he was knocked for his comment on the remedy to porn addiction.

He advised porn addicts not to struggle to stop pornography but should keep watching while listening to the word of God at the same time.

“Don’t struggle to stop watching the porn. Don’t struggle at all. Just keep watching the porn. As you are watching the porn, spend more time hearing the ‘word’. If you watch porn for one hour, spend three to four hours hearing the word of God.

“Take note. Go get all my teachings on Christ. Just keep learning and learning. After a while, you will find out that your appetite for porn is dying, and the appetite for the word of God is growing. Before you know it, when you see porn, you will be irritated.

“Word of God will kill that appetite completely and give you a healthy appetite. That’s what to do. Don’t try to stop. In fact, keep watching, but spend more time studying God’s word, and you will find out that before you know it, your desire for porn would be gone,” the pastor stated.

This, however, was greeted by dissension, especially from enraged conservative Christians on social media who believed that the pastor was encouraging people, mostly addicts, to sin.

A prominent pastor, Gideon Odoma of the Fortress Ministry, countered Damina’s submission while labelling pornography as a perversion.

“Christains have trivialise sexcapades. The things God call iniquities, we must never call it flexing,” he said.