Last week, we published the first part of the interview with Daddy Freeze. As anyone would expect, it was vintage Daddy Freeze. He talked extensively about his convictions as a Christian and why he no longer comes down hard on Redeemed Christian Church of God General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
It was a no-holds-barred session. And this second part of the interview is no different. Again, the brilliant but controversial OAP was at his theological best.
He brought his incredible knowledge of the scriptures to bear in his responses to the many questions thrown at him. But beyond all of these, he showed, yet again, why many men of God are wary of taking him up on a debate.
As a Christian, chances are that you may not exactly be a fan of Daddy Freeze because of his seemingly radical interpretation of the scriptures. But I dare you to spend just half an hour listening to this eloquent Pastor who is unconventional in his ways. Not only are you more than likely to become a big fan of his, you could also find yourself gleefully spreading the gospel “according to Daddy Freeze”.
In this second part of the interview, City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) he talked about his issue with Pastor David Ibiyeomie, his empathy Genesis Pastor, Isreal Oladele Ogundipe and the ill-fated Endsars protest. Enjoy excerpts of the interview.
Many have been wondering why you didn’t react the way they expected you to after Pastor David Ibiyeomie made all sorts of threats and cast aspersions on your person when that old video of Pastor Oyedepo and you went out. Why didn’t people get to see the normal reaction a Daddy Freeze would’ve given under that circumstance?
If I had given my normal reaction, what would I have profited? I needed to let people know that, look, it’s not about threats, it’s not about insults. Let’s sit down and discuss. If you feel that Daddy Freeze is wrong, please challenge Daddy Freeze to a debate. I try to make that as clear in my response as possible. If you feel that I am wrong, please challenge me to a debate. Maybe you might be able to convince me of your own theology. Maybe I will convince you. But threatening each other and insulting each other is definitely not Christ like and we are very well aware of it.
I’m still curious to know why no one has taken you up on this. You’ve always made it clear that you were willing to come up to a debate to any man of God, I am surprised that, as we speak, no one has openly challenged you to a debate, or has there been one that the general public is not aware of….
(Cuts in) None. None, Instead of challenging us, what they normally resort to are threats and curses and insults. And you see, if I make a statement and say tithe is not a Christian thing and that it’s wrong for Christians to pay tithes, and then you come out and curse me, and threaten me, at the end of the day, you have not answered the question. Even if you want to threaten, if you first came out and said, no, according to this gospel, here is an example of Christ collecting tithe, here is an example of Peter paying tithe to Christ, here is an example of Timothy paying tithe to Paul, if you had come with that and then cursed me and insulted me, it’s different. But you see, at the end of the day, people are beginning to wake up. Now, a big man of God will not challenge me to a debate because he doesn’t stand to gain anything unless he wins. And to win is going to be a lot of hard work. And if he loses, he might lose his congregation. So, that’s one of the issues, nobody wants to gamble their congregation.
That’s where the big issue for them is. Because if you take on a Daddy Freeze and you lose, that could very well spell doom for the church…
(Cuts in) You will lose your congregation, you understand? Yes, there are still some people that will still follow you eventually and all, but then, at the end of the day, the ones who are willing to study the bible will definitely have issues with that kind of theology.
Many seem to believe that Daddy Freeze appears to have slowed down on taking on men of God, why is this so?
You cannot keep using the same methods and expect to get different results. To tell you the truth, I’ve noticed a slight change in the approaches of many pastors and churches. You can tell now that within the last one year, no pastor has come out publicly and say come and sow your dollars. I don’t even need to say anything. If you come out now and say to people come and sow your dollars, people will bash you for it. Daddy Freeze doesn’t even need to say a thing. So, our work in that regard has been done. Some pastors even ask for normal things like support, because whether you like it or not, supporting the church is scriptural, and I’m not talking about tithes and offering here. I’m talking about support and support is scriptural. Luke chapter 8 teaches us about how Christ’s ministry was supported, so there’s nothing wrong in asking for support. There was a pastor who, during the pandemic, came out and asked for support after he finished his sermon. People just posted the last part of that sermon and everybody just came down hard on him, criticizing him for asking for support in a time like this. But the man hasn’t done anything that’s out of order, this is what churches normally do. So, our intention is not create hostility. And you must agree with me that for a very long time, people refused to see any form of wrong in the dealings of their pastor. So, we also had to show that these people are human beings. Paul and Barnabas brought the gospel to the Gentiles and by the way, we are Gentiles. They had to tell them that, look, we are human beings like you, we are not Gods. There was a time in the book of Acts when people wanted to start sacrificing to Paul and to Barnabas, and Paul and Barnabas had to come out and say, look, we are just people like you, no need for all these things.
Weeks ago, everyone was surprised at the comments you made when Genesis pastor was jailed. People were shocked to see you make positive comments about the man, you showed empathy about the plight of the gentleman. Is he a friend of yours? Have you guys met a couple of times, how much of him do you know?
I’ve never met him in my life. I didn’t even know what his real name was. I just recognized him because his messages would sometimes go viral. I liked his message. His message was different. I remember some of his messages like when he said, ‘don’t come and give me money when you have not given your mother money. Your mother is hungry and you want to dash me 20 million! I’ve also watched one of his services where at the end of the service he took all of the offerings and gave to about 15 widows if I remember clearly. And I was impressed. He came more so from a place of ‘wow!’ This guy that has such a nice message. Of course you might not agree doctrinally a hundred percent, it is impossible even for husband and wife to agree hundred percent doctrinally. But it’s always welcome when you appreciate someone’s work. So, I appreciated his work, though I got bashed for it a lot. You see, I’ve noticed that in Nigeria, if they don’t like a person, they don’t like him. And if they like you, they like you, no matter what, nothing can convince them otherwise. But I still stuck to it. I do hope that when he comes out from prison, hopefully if he can move his bail conditions, we’ll sit down and have an interview and he’ll explain his own side of the story.
What are your expectations from the government in terms of how they respond to the agitations of the youths? We are starting to see again cases of police offices shooting keke marwa driver over N100 bribe. What are your thoughts about this, particularly as one who was also very involved in the EndSars protest?
The government should listen to the people. The government should involve these youths. You see, what happened the last time was an eye-opener. It was like a warning. We are all treading on dangerous grounds, the youth, the government, everybody. These are dangerous times and grounds. And if we truly are operating a democracy, there’s no way we can have a democracy that does not include the youths. The youths need to be part of governance, a decisive part of governance for that matter. And this government needs to focus on how to uplift the youths because that’s our future. So, in my opinion, the government needs to act and act fast.
What’s your advice to the youths now that 2023 is almost upon us? People are saying they should get more involved in politics…
Absolutely. I see no reason why we shouldn’t have a strong youth candidate. By youth candidate I mean a virgin youth candidate, not somebody that’s young but has his hands soiled in dirty politics, someone virgin, someone like Falz for instance. I don’t see why we can’t have a Falz running against whoever is running in 2023. I don’t see why we can’t have strong Falz running in a position like that. Someone…
(Cuts in) Or a Daddy Freeze for instance? How come you’re not looking in that direction yourself?
(Pauses) Ah! I don’t want anything that will affect my gospel, unless God categorically tells me to. I think I will rather just preach the word of God, enlighten the people and offer support to whoever is young and believes in leading the people.
But you must agree with me that there’s still a whole lot of work to be done on the youths in terms of preparing them for the task ahead. I say this because most of the leaders we are trying to push out today got into politics when they were youths themselves. The Tinubus, the Fayemis, the Fasholas, they all started when they were in their thirties, forties, and today, we are calling for their heads. And this is why I think people like you should also get more involved so you can mentor these youths because it’s not just about getting into politics, it’s about instilling into them things that will make them quality leaders of tomorrow. Truth is, you could get into governance as a youth today and ten, fifteen years down the line we’re also calling for your head because you have stolen public funds and let us down. So, how do you talk to these young people?
First of all, they need to understand that violence will not solve anything. That’s the first thing that they need to know. And anything can be done, anything can be achieved with a mindset reorientation and a change in direction, especially in the direction of the way we’re thinking. But I believe that we have a bright future of Nigerian youth. We can and we will succeed. And I believe 2023 is a possibility, and not just a possibility, a probability, if we handle things well.
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