Tithe: 10% is for beginners, says Adeboye

Payment of 10 per cent as tithe is for beginners, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye has said.

Adeboye who said he had moved from giving 10 per cent as tithe while addressing a youth congregation Thursday night at the ongoing Youth Convention of the RCCG at the Redemption City, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State, told them “it’s wrong for me to say you should be paying only 10 per cent.”

He apologised for saying that Christians who don’t pay tithe might not make it to heaven, but emphasised those who seek to be “the one in top” and “control finances” must “go far-far beyond 10 per cent.”

He emphasised that the bible says peaceful and holy living are the prerequisites for making 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 proof 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 illustrated the story of a man who pledged to give N3.5 million, equal to the sum of donations of whole congregants during a fundraising at a conference of late American preacher, Kenneth Hagin.

He said he had since been challenged to pay beyond 10 per cent as tithe when upon inquiry the man disclosed 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.