Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has issued an apology regarding his earlier statement that suggested Christians who do not pay tithes may not enter heaven.
Previously, Adeboye had asserted that paying tithes was among the requirements for attaining heaven. However, during a speech to a youth congregation at the ongoing RCCG Youth Convention held at Redemption City along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State, he referred to his earlier comment as a “mistake.”
He clarified that the Bible emphasizes that living a peaceful and holy life is what truly constitutes the prerequisites for making it to heaven.
“I apologise for saying ‘If you don’t pay tithe, you might not make it to heaven.’ I’m sorry, that’s wrong, and it’s not in the Bible. What the Bible says is ‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God’,” he said.
Adeboye explained “It is possible to be right and wrong at the same time. I will prove it to you. I’m a scientist so I know that for years we thought that light travels in straight lines
Later on we discovered light travels in waves. It is wrong to limit you to 10 per cent when someone is talking of 20, 30, 40 per cent. 10 per cent should be for beginners I believe God will give me an opportunity very soon to give you the details.”
Adeboye shared an anecdote about a man who committed to donate N3.5 million, which matched the total contributions of all congregants during a fundraising event at a conference led by the late American preacher, Kenneth Hagin.
He recounted how this experience prompted him to consider giving more than the standard 10 percent as tithe, especially after the man revealed to him that “five years ago I started a company with 500 dollars and I said to God your are mine senior partner…, prosper the business and I will not insult you with 10 per cent, I will give you 90 per cent. He said five years later my turnover is $50 million.”
“From that day onward I have been increasing my own steadily. I’ve not reached 90 per cent yet, but I’m far from 10 per cent. It’s wrong for me to say you should be paying only 10 per cent,” Adeboye said.
