Pastor Ibiyeomie, Daddy Freeze & the Effect of a Culturalized Christianity -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

In life, there is probably no greater standard against which the thoughts in a man’s heart can be known than by his words. This fully agrees with the teachings of Jesus when he said “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Again, words (especially when spoken in anger or without thinking) portray a man’s character to such a degree of accuracy that is rarely questioned.

When Jesus once said that “You shall know them by their fruits”; it certainly did not occur to you and me that it will take time (sometimes more time than we had the patience to wait) for the true character of a person to be fully known. In view of this, last Monday fellow Nigerians were to be greeted with the surprise viral video where the senior pastor of the Port Harcourt based-Salvation Ministries Inc. showed his true self.

In the said video Pastor Ibiyeomie was heard ranting, laying curses, and making deadly threat at the person of OAP – Daddy Freeze. Ibiyeomie – who was visibly in a rage – questioned the parentage of Daddy Freeze concluding that Freeze was a bastard that is born of a Somalian. Not done with ranting, Ibiyeomie went further to ridicule Freeze’s marital status and occupation concluding also that broadcasting was not a good career.

To be candid, the only impression that video made on my mind was to alert me to the warnings of Jesus when he said “Watch out, and be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Mathew 16:6) If you read further from this quote Jesus clarified himself later and, his disciples eventually understood that his warning was about the seductive doctrine (emphasis mine) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

In contemporary existence, even though there seemed to not be a notable trace of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, yet they are very present and are doing the very same things they always did – culturalizing religion. Question is; who are the Pharisees and Sadducees? These are men who have adulterated religion to such an extent that it is now conditioned after the traditions and the beliefs of secular society.

In today’s lexicon, these are men who rather than teach the life and the cross of Jesus and the epistles of Paul and the others; they instead take Christians back to the old testament bible and compel their members to practice tithing, first fruit offerings and the practice of Elijah and Elisha (who were connected to one another in a spiritual father-son relationship) while they forbade their members from taking up the sword in defense of their faith like Moses did or practice polygamy like Kings David and Solomon.

You will surely marvel therefore when you knew that Jesus had described them in these words: “For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own traditions.” (Mark 7: 8, 13). Check also Mathew 23: 4. Having said all these, the central point of this write-up is that the statements of Pastor David Ibiyeomie – senior pastor of the Salvation Ministries Inc. – portrayed him as a Pharisee/Sadducee.  

The world is at its final stage but even more precarious is the stage in which the church finds itself. For ever since the incursion of the teachings of success and the so-called kingdom prosperity, the Christian faith as handed down to us by the apostles of Jesus has undergone a steady conditioning after the world’s culture of making undue allowances for the excesses of the rich and the privileged of secular society.

As we know, it is in the secular society that leaders are served and tolerated by their subjects instead of being the servants. It is in the secular context that people make uncanny statements against the personalities of others because of the differential reality of social status. It is in the secular arrangement that persons with no financial power are victimized and deplored in favor of the rich in disregard for true justice.

If not for the stupendous wealth that men like Ibiyeomie now controlled and which makes them feel more important than Jesus himself; who would imagine that Ibiyeomie forgot Jesus’ command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? Or Jesus’ other command that whoever cursed someone was in danger of the fires of hell? But then the odds are high that he probably forgot! Why wouldn’t he forget, by the way?

Did the scriptures not warn against seductive doctrines and that even those who propagate them were vulnerable to being deceived themselves? It therefore made sense to say that if the man whom members called ‘Daddy’, ‘My spiritual father’, ‘Man of god’, ‘the anointed servant’, and ‘papa’ was himself as banal and as petulant as that man who never heard of Jesus before; congregants of Salvation Ministries Inc. are by far the most ignorant and unsure of heaven of all people.

It doesn’t matter whether the rage was just brief or for the first or second time, it is wrong to gather people in the name of worship only to talk before them like a tyrant or an emperor. Christians must know that anyone who desired eternity in heaven must go beyond just wishing to work it out because eternity is not about worldly success but about fulfilling God’s purpose for sending you to this planet.

And what’s the overall purpose of worship, by the way? Worship is designed by God to be a one-on-one meeting between you and God for the purpose of receiving further instructions on how to finish well the race of faith that you’ve started. Jesus never held any worship meetings with his disciples. He only gathered them to teach them but would go to a secluded place to worship by himself. So for the fact that the true essence of worship has been culturalized by these Pharisees is in itself an offense before God.

Today, we have men and women who should be problem-solvers loiter about the church premises and, others who should be ministers of the gospel sitting before their “Daddies” and watch him preach. Why is this so? It is because Christians have lost it a long time ago; nobody wants to take up their cross anymore. Everyone is chasing the easy path and this why Pharisees like Iibiyeomie would greedily take from their subjects, oppress them and still talk down on them (Mathew 23:4).  

If Jesus had cursed the Pharisees for failing to obey the Law of Moses, how would his disciples have responded when the man Saul persecuted them? But this thing – which many has since shelved aside or even treated with levity – had happened in order to WARN EVERYONE TO BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEE! I am sure the video in question that showed Ibiyeomie in the act of raining curses was probably cut out of context for the purposes of creating undue negative publicities about the church.

For I wondered that if the video was circulated from the church’s official file, those who sent it cared less about the little in faith who looked up to Ibiyeomie as model. And if a congregant had done that then it goes to show how attentive some members could be. The church is always a target for attacks and this is why it shouldn’t have had any business with preaching human philosophies like gain is a sign of godliness or what they called kingdom prosperity in the first place.

The culturalization of Christianity has not only turned the faith into another man-made religion but has also made it an appendage of secularism as persons who bore the names that are affiliated with Christianity frequently do not always act like the lord Jesus or his apostles. Instead, they are Christians in names only but secular in their characters.   

Daddy Freeze on the other hand who had started the whole drama after he criticized the teachings of Living Faith’s Bishop Oyedepo on fruitfulness in marriage and the significant role played by a wife’s total submission, stumbled into his current role of critique by accident. While he may sometimes be misquoting or misunderstanding scriptural stories as he tried to pick holes in a pastor’s sermon; I see in him a certain courage that many congregants have since lost.

The courage to test all spirits – which Daddy Freeze possessed – as commanded by scriptures has since been toppled in many Christians and buried by the argument that the anointed must not be touched. The reality of prominent pastors making uncanny comments either about the state of the nation or at certain persons perceived as anti-church is a phenomenon that reminds us of the need to test all spirits.

This is because while these clergies put up the ambience of infallibility; the scriptures tell us that none is good except God. For this reason, Daddy Freeze is a man who should stir in us the courage to ask questions in our efforts at trying to make sense of certain teachings. As for pastor Ibiyeomie; I have this to say: so the one who thinks he is standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Cor 10:12). After all, what qualifies one for heaven is the character of Christ that is in us and not the clout you have.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh; writes from Abuja and can be reached via this Whatsapp number +2348062577718.