•On The Issue Of TITHE
•Controversial OAP, DADDY FREEZE
In contemporary broadcasting today, Ifedayo Olarinde, better known as Daddy Freeze, has certainly established himself as one of the juggernauts of the industry here in Naija. The controversial broadcaster who cut his broadcasting teeth at BCOS, Ibadan, is an indigene of Osun state but not a full blooded Nigerian.
He was born in Cluj Napoca, in Romania. His mother, Smaranda Olarinde, is Romanian. But he soon returned to Nigeria where he attended the International School, Ibadan and proceeded to the University of Ibadan where he earned a degree in Sociology.
An outstanding broadcaster who has numerous local and international recognition under his belt, his profile grew massively in the last few years when he did the unthinkable by calling out pastors, particularly highly revered names like The Redeemed Christian Church of God G.O. Pastor Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners and others over the issue of tithing. Armed with an incredible knowledge of the Bible, Daddy Freeze insists it is ‘unscriptural’ for pastors to collect tithes from their members.
He has, over the years, continued to come down hard on pastors who collect tithes and has in turn come under intense condemnation himself, including constantly receiving death threats to his life. But he remains unperturbed.
He believes his crusade against bad doctrines as propagated by some churches is a calling from God and he does not intend to give up the fight just yet. Today, he is the convener of the rapidly growing Free The Sheeple movement and leader of the Free Nation in Christ virtual church.
Two weeks ago, City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL and City People Instagram Manager, ODION
You do not seem to agree with a lot of pastors on the issue of tithing…..
(Cuts in) Of course, I don’t. How can somebody, a G.O., tell you that if you don’t pay your tithe you won’t make heaven? Let’s remember the thief on the cross with Christ, Christ said to him, “today, you will be with me in paradise.” He didn’t say, “German soldiers, unlock him, I want him to be with me in paradise but he has not paid his tithe. Let him quickly go and pay his tithe.” Remember the parable of Lazarus the poor man, he was so poor dogs used to lick his sores. He used to eat from the table of the rich man. He made heaven.
Nowhere was it said that he paid tithe. No disciple ever collected tithe. Christ in Mathew Chapter 23, verse 23, New Living Translation (NLT) he said, “Woe unto you teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are careful to tithe even the tiniest income of your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the Law – justice, mercy
This is what a G.O. used to defend tithing and my question to him
Levites were the descendants of Levi, son of Jacob and Leah. Nobody becomes a Levite by revelation. It’s just the same way, you, Wale, cannot become the Ooni of Ife, neither can your son become Ooni because you’re not from the royal lineage in Osun state. You have to be born into the family of Levites. Even Christ, if you go to the book of Hebrews, it spoke about the origin of Christ as a priest.
We know where priests come from. They come from Aaron, they come from Levi, which one is this son of Judah calling himself a priest? So, he had to explain his priesthood according to Melchizedek, a priest that lives forever, so his priesthood lives forever. So, Christ is our new priest. The Law of Israel was for the Israelites, it wasn’t for the Palestinians, it was for nobody except the Israelites.
But Christ priesthood is for the world. You can’t put yourself under the Law for Israel because you’re a Christian and that Law itself is dead. Let’s look at this same scripture again. It says, “You’re careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens.” Let’s go to King James, it says, “You tithe your mint and
What are those? Herbs. There was money at that time. The Israelites were in Egypt for four hundred years. Before those four hundred years there was Jacob who gave birth to Joseph who went into Egypt. Jacob had a father, Isaac. Isaac had a father, Abraham. When Abraham wanted to bury his wife, he bought a field with money.
So, there was money from the time of Abraham. But tithe was never money. Tithing was not about giving money to the Levites, it was the annual feast of the tithe. First year and second year were feasts of the tithe, but the third year, the money is given to, in equal measure, the Levites, the orphans and the widows.
Let’s read the scripture further, it says, “at the end of every year, at the end of third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. Give it to Levites who receive no allotment of land among you.” Okay, so Levites are not allowed to have land, but all your pastors have land so they are not even qualified.
Let’s go on, “As well as to the foreigners living among you, orphans and the widows in your town, so they can eat and be satisfied, then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.”So, in the third year, you’re supposed to give everything that year to be shared equally by these people. Now, one very intelligent G.O. said, in those days, they used to work every year, but these days we work every month.
No, Christ, in the book of John chapter four said its four months between planting and harvest, but tithe was still paid annually. What it meant was you gather what you need to gather and you bring it to the Lord at the end of the year. It was an instruction, it wasn’t monthly. If you want to pay tithe according to Melchizedek, because that’s the latest one that they’re trying to do, because Melchizedek in the book of Genesis 14 collected tithe from Abraham, then read Genesis 14 very well.
First of all, Abraham paid tithe from the spoils of war. It happened only once. Now, how did he pay this tithe? He took ten percent and gave to Melchizedek and guess what he did with the 90 percent? He returned it back to the king of Sodom where he collected it from. So, if you want to pay tithe according to Abraham and Melchizedek, first of all, no Nigerian pastor qualifies to be a Melchizedek.
From where? How? The scripture says Melchizedek has no beginning and has no end. Don’t your pastors have beginning and end? Okay, let us agree your pastor is Melchizedek, when you give him the 10 percent, you must return the 90 percent to your employer. It is an honour system, that’s what those fine boy pastors always say. So, they take portions of the scripture that favour them and they make doctrines out of them.
Does this mean you also do not believe in seed sowing?
Seed sowing is ridiculous. There is nowhere in the scriptures where seed was money. Seed was what it was –seed! Grains. Christ was the one who sowed seeds. Seed was the word of God. Some seeds fell on the bush path, some seeds fell among thorns. Some fell in good ground. He explained it himself, he said the seed is the word. Sometimes, it gets choked by money and the worries of life. He even said that was a dangerous thing for the word of God because it chokes it. But, no, we’ve thrown the word of God away, the seed is now money, bring it and let me multiply it for you. This is absolutely ridiculous.
How have you dealt with all of the backlashes that have come to you from this crusade against tithing, especially as you were also taking on some of the biggest G.O.s in the land?
Listen, I never wanted to set up a church. I just felt that God revealed this to me and I should reveal it to everybody. And I felt that people would take it wholeheartedly, and welcome it. I felt there would be some disparities here and there, but I did not expect the condemnation that came with it.
Like the way they just faced me and said, “Shut up! You’re a devil! He’s a demon! He’s an anti-Christ!” I’m like, hey, what’s going on here? To begin with, I’m a radio presenter, I never wanted to open a church. But I saw that this was a serious situation.
First of all, we started Free The Sheeple. Now, where do you take them from and where do you take them to? People said they have stopped going to church. If you listen to me teach for one month, if you go to church you will never enjoy it because nobody is going to climb the pulpit and say, see, this year, somebody’s going to make money.
That’s not how the Chinese became billionaires. China has 819 billionaires, Nigeria has only five. I’m talking about billionaires in dollars. Of course, we probably have more than five, but they became billionaires by looting public funds. Nobody in a civilized country can become a billionaire looting public funds. Here in Nigeria, you will find a regular local government chairmen flaunting unbelievable wealth.
Apart from these ones, there is extreme poverty in the land. China used to be one of the poorest countries in the world, but not anymore. Extreme poverty has been eradicated in China. Nigeria has 91 million people in extreme poverty, we have more people in extreme poverty than China and India combined. It’s there, let’s go to the World Poverty Report and you’ll see it. So, where are the people that are blessed by tithe and offering?
But some have people have insisted that, ‘if it works for me why should I listen to you?’
Because whatever works for you and it’s not in the scriptures, it’s Satanism. And it might seem like it’s working for you now, but on the long run it’s not working for you. You’re creating a poverty that you’re going to suffer from. Let’s imagine that you’re a Christian, you’ve been paying your tithe and you’re not among the extreme poverty class, but each day, more armed robbers are born.
Yahoo boys are born, more prostitutes are born, there’s no work. The more these people fall into poverty, the more they become the problem of the society. And the more the chance you have of being robbed. Every day in Nigeria there is robbery.
So, you say your tithe works for you, the armed robbers missed you, is that really how it works? Now, your G.O.s are conniving with politicians, we see the pictures, or do I need to mention names before we know who we’re talking about? You say Nigeria’s problems are really politicians, not pastors, can you really draw a line that clearly separates politicians from pastors in this country? Didn’t you see how they were praying for our former president Jonathan so that he could win the elections?
How about those who feel that as an African, we were brought up not to look at the elders in the eye and disrespect them and that with the way you have taken on these G.O.s who are way older than you, you have shown absolute disrespect to them. What do you say to that?
I say the scriptures. How old was Christ when He died? He was 33. How old was he when he started His biblical ministry? 30. So, everything Christ did was between 30 and 33. So, let’s look at this scripture, Matthew 23 vs 13: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious Law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.
You won’t go yourselves and you won’t let others enter either. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious Law and you Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cross land and seas to make one convert and then turn that person into twice the child of hell that you yourselves are.”
He’s calling them children of hell. The scribes and the Pharisees were the elders in their 70s and 80s. Christ was between 30 and 33, I am 43 this year, I am 10 years older than Christ. Let me show you further how he spoke to them. Let’s read 17: “Blind fools!” Oh, my God, He called the elders blind fools.
“Which is more important, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?” Let’s go even further down. He says, “What sorrow awaits you
Outwardly you look like righteous people but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Should I continue? He said, “Snakes, sons of vipers, how will you escape the
But still, some people will argue that this is Africa and…
(Cuts in) Oh, good, so why then have we imported this religion? Why can’t we go and worship Sango? What happened to our Oya, Orunmila, Amadioha, Sanpanna? Let’s go and worship them and do it the African way. You cannot do Christianity the African way, you will miss it because Christianity is mean to confront the ill in the church, not support it.
Let me show you Paul: Galatians 3 & 1, lets read this together, this is Paul talking to a whole nation of Galatians: “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?”
He was saying this to an entire nation. Do you think if I stand and say, you foolish Nigerians, somebody will not react? Paul said it. Not only did he get away with it, it was recorded as scripture, inspired by God. Now, let us go to 1 Corinthians vs 5 (NLT) lets even go further down.
He said, “When I wrote you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin, but I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy or cheat people or worship idols, you would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.
I meant you’re not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin or is greedy or worships idols or is abusive or is a drunk or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.” Now, listen, this is the most important part, 1 Corinthians 5 vs 12: “It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.”
And what are the sins he was talking about? They are here. Sexual sins, greed, such as a pastor who has two private jets, there’s a word for that, greed, or worship idols. You are praying to your pastor’s chair, is that not idolatry? Or is abusive or a drunkard or cheats people.
I believe, in my own firm opinion, that anyone who collects tithes from Christians is cheating them. And the scripture is clear, it says don’t even eat with such people. And it’s here, it says, “God will judge those on the outside, but those Christians that are doing these, you must judge them. It’s your responsibility to judge them. So, when you’re actually not judging these people who are defrauding you with the word, you’re actually sinning because you’re ignoring a laid down scriptural premise.
People feel you have a particular problem with Pastor Adeboye…
No, I don’t. I actually like him as a man. I have no problem with him. What I have a problem with is bad doctrines. I just feel, in my opinion, he’s not getting it right, more like he’s getting it quite wrong. I have called him for a debate. Maybe if we sit down and show each other the scriptures, maybe….I don’t know. But really, I don’t hate anyone.
God does not allow me to hate o. People that have really offended me like, what’s that timid boy’s name? No, I won’t mention his name, I’m sure people will figure it out. But, really, I can’t. I’ve been given clear instructions, I can’t be angry. The scripture tells us that when someone offends you and that person is remorseful, you forgive the person. And that’s exactly what I do in such situations.
How serious was this when you first started this crusade, we hear there were death threats at the time?
Till today. Till today I still get death threats.
You don’t feel unsafe sometimes when you step outside your home?
We’re in Nigeria, na something go kuku kill person one day.
And aren’t you afraid of death?
I know God got me to do job, when He feels it’s time for me to go home, He would call me.
How about family, do they share this vision with you?
It’s very hard not to see this English language written scriptures inside the bible. There’s no spiritual interpretation to this thing, it’s English. It is clear, when somebody is sinning, throw him out. You don’t need to evoke the Holy Spirit to translate that to you.
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