To The Pastor Next Door : immuned against the Abel Damina Syndrome ?

The recent intervention of the venerable Apostle Joshua Selman on the soul-enriching hymnal, " Amazing grace " is the immediate cause this piece is birthed.

I had written a piece geared towards addressing the unpardonable, unconscionable errors, damming heresies of the person of Dr. Abel Damina. That piece was titled, " Dr. Abel Damina: When the Shepherd poisons his Sheep "_ but, I couldn't find the will to put it online. Why develop cold feet after going through the mental exercise and exertions of writing a piece only to withhold it from the target audience?

Couple of reasons made that happened; one, as a person, I have pivoted to the non-apologetics track of our faith _ while I have modest innate abilities and giftings to find my place in this murky domain _ I have intentionally skirted away from its engagements. While I enjoy and relish with joy the interventions and inputs of Apt Gideon Odoma and others who have continued to enrich our lives, debunk and refute with grace the assaults on sound biblical teachings and tenets of faith, which the Holy writ termed, " errors of the Wicked"( 2 Peter 3: 16-17), I have personally avoided the confrontations and conflicts that trails its actors and objects of focus. Secondly, I find it hard to critique publicly , especially dragging online men of God owing to certain inhibitions: in one sense, the cane ( koboko) for the back of the pastor is not in the hands of the public nor his sheep_ but the chief shepherd ( Jesus). Also, in bid not to join the incorrigible coterie of today's Christians that are ever quick to throw a minister of the gospel under the bus over issues they have little or no moral and/or spiritual authority over has served as a belt of restrain for my personal engagements, example being the notorious Daddy Freeze and his ilk and their outings to smear highly regarded fathers of faith such as Pst. E.A Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo etc . Lastly, I hold the biased view that no Omoluabi ( proper child ) should slap his father in the public owing to the perceived and/or real infractions of the latter (the case of Dr. Paul Enenche and the member with LLB issue serves this point). My biased position, shouldn't serve as the touchstone others should borrow a leaf of wisdom from and practice. Provided, they adhere to rules of civil discourse and proprietary especially when dealing with ministers of the Gospel.

But I digress, from the crux of this piece. What's the Abel Damina Syndrome (ADS) ? ;

The Abel Damina Syndrome is the doctrinal disease (DD), the Bible-is-wrong-I-am-right illness that inflicts the mindset, teachings, attitudes and pulpit engagements of preachers and believers alike that spurs them to set out to CORRECT scriptural truths, church history, apostolic traditions,faith tenets carrying biblical inerrancy and congruency that are not WRONG. ( 2024)

Only a tenderfoot in the faith, a neophyte in the school of the word will not be taken aback and disappointed as to why one of the early proponents of the Word of faith movement in Nigeria, a gifted minister of the Gospel will slide into the abyss of doctrinal mess and unpardonable heresies, Dr. Abel Damina has sunken into. How did a minister of light lose his source of light only to give simultaneously sparks and darkness? one can even put on the poetic garb only to chime;

As his name is, Damina,
so are his heresies damning.

As the first Abel, lost his head to Cain,
may this Abel not lose his head to gain,
And his labours wound up in vain...

The catalogue of his unconscionable heresies makes the newly initiated into the faith to shudder in disbelief and utter disappointment. Its on record, Dr. Abel Damina armed with the gift of gab sputted this nonsense; some of these Bible writers are mentally agitated ( mentally unsound). At other times, the once venerated minister was saying the Elder in Revelation (5:5) who called Christ _ The Lion of the Tribe of Judah _ doesn't know what he's saying and the list is endless.

But the discerning would have wondered quietly, what's the correlation of this piece with the highly-respected Apostle Joshua Selman ? In a newly surfaced video, one can see and hear the Apt Joshua Selman singing the hymnal classic, " Amazing grace"_ only to pause, and say to the audience, " this is the part I DON'T LIKE"_ that part been this line;

"That saved a WRETCH LIKE ME".

The seasoned teacher of the word now said, I choose to stick to Jesus description _ he called me , HARVEST. In other words, I am not a wretch.

But on closer examination of this issue, one can see clearly its just a subtle manifestation of the aforementioned; the Abel Damina Syndrome (ADS) . The attempt by the minister of the word to set out to CORRECT that which is not WRONG.

This very hymnal was born out of deep meditation and sense of immeasurable gratitude. The opening lines carried a word, "SAVED". The author reckons with biblical truth that ALL men outside Christ are nothing but wretched _ it further undergirded his once hopeless state, by stating further;

I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT NOW I'M FOUND/
WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE...

Taken together, " wretch", "lost" and "blind" are truthful descriptions of a life outside the person of Christ. The author of this hymn didn't set out to affirm his newly found sonship in Christ _ but awed by the profundity of God's grace. The hymn, wasn't an intellectual exertion to validate a sense of worthiness and secure the points of positive affirmation that characterizes much of today's sermons. For the highly revered minister to tow this line is a bad precedent _ the minister next door must avoid!

The graced Apt Joshua Selman, at other times, armed with influence, affluence and confidence said ; do you know NOT EVERY THING Paul wrote are CONSISTENT with the character of God ( Christ)( parentheses mine). When a minister that commands great following and influence especially among the younger demographics of the Christian faith makes such myopic, unfounded and untruthful claims _ they cause UNFATHOMABLE DAMAGE. As many young folks will run with such " revelations" only to their ruin! One is tempted to ask; what did the acclaimed Apostle Paul wrote that are not consistent with the character of God? The Apostle Paul is one minister whose personal bias, leanings and positions on matters are PUBLICLY ADVERTISED to the reading audience, so one can deduce divine lights from man's commandments _ the great Apostle often advertised such positions with this; " But I ( not the Lord ) suffer not a woman to teach..."( 1 Tim 2:12)( parentheses mine). In another instance, he wrote" Now concerning virgins I have no commandments of the Lord; yet I give my Judgement..."( 1 cor 7;25). So, one is left to hero-worship Vs integrity of God's word_ there's no nothing the great Apostle Paul wrote or said that are not consistent with the character of God.

One can write a tome on the symptoms, causes and avoidable damages the Abel Damina Syndrome is capable of inflicting _ but in bid to serve as a watcher's cry; be immuned from this syndrome.

That mindset illness of "fathercracy" that spurs supposedly fathers to feed their children ( Christ sheep) with poison rather than the living bread get immunity against, the stature-attainment syndrome that spurs God's servant to be be RIGHT, but Christ WRONG jettison, that sense of papacy that makes Papa "more correct than the Bible" run away from, the spirit of "after all, its men like me that wrote the Bible " throw into the dustbin.

Above all, dear minister of Christ, dear believer, dear beloved; don't CORRECT truths nor faith tenets that are are not WRONG.

Yours in His grip,
Adeyeye Seyi.

__________________________________
*Pic credit; internet