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 heaven.
Adeboye tendered the apology on Thursday during the RCCG youth convention ministration.
The general overseer, who tried to inspire the youth to aspire to do more for the Lord, paused during the course of the message, changed his countenance, and said he was sorry for saying those who don’t pay tithe will not make heaven.
He said, “I am sorry for saying that if you don’t pay tithe, you won’t go to heaven. That’s not in the Bible. The Bible says, “Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man will make heaven.”
Alluding to his message a couple of years ago that non-tithers will 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.”
However, he informed the youth that it was incorrect to limit people to “10 percent, when some of you should be giving 20 percent, 30 percent, etc.” 10 percent should be for beginners. Giving should be done violently. If you aspire to gain control over your finances, you should contribute more than 10 percent.
Adeboye recalled his experience at one of Kenneth E. Hagin’s ministry conventions in Tulsa, US, where a man promised to give more than all that the 17,000 participants at the convention gave.
He stated that all participants had contributed about 3.5 million dollars to the construction of Rhema Bible College. But the man promised he was going to give more than what everybody gave for the project.
When Adeboye asked the man about his sacrificial giving lifestyle, he revealed that he had started a business with 500 dollars and promised God that if He blessed him, he would not insult Him with 10 percent.
Five years after the man started the business, he was making a turnover of 50 million dollars, according to what he told Pastor Adeboye. That was what inspired him to “violently” contribute to God’s work.
Adeboye then apologised again, saying, “I am sorry for saying you should pay 10 percent. If we are going to dominate, we have to give violently,” he said.
He added that if they want to dominate, they must also engage in violent soul-winning.
He made reference to his early years in the faith, saying he took young men to Badagry for evangelism on the first Easter holiday following his conversion.
He also recalled how he used to make it compulsory for all the non-teaching staff at the Faculty of Science of the University of Lagos to attend Bible study during break time in his office. “When my office could not contain people again, we had to look for a classroom to do our Bible study during break time,” Adeboye said.
He added, “My oga then, the well-known Prof. Chike Obi, said it would be a waste of time trying to tell me not to preach Jesus but that I should wait till the school closes before holding such Bible study. I preached violently because I knew how close I was to hell before Jesus saved me.”
