Taking gifts from church members doesn’t make me a hypocrite –OAP Daddy Freeze explains why he collects gifts

Popular and controversial Nigerian OAP, Daddy Freeze, who has become quite popular for his fight against collecting of tithes in churches, has said that there is nothing wrong with taking gifts from church members. According to the OAP who was recently called out on social media for receiving a phone gift from his church member, an act he preaches against when done by other pastors, there is nothing wrong in receiving gifts as there was no place in the Bible where gifts where turned down. Explaining why he collected the phone, Freeze told Sunday Scoop: “I’ve never been against collecting gifts and I tell my congregation that, especially if the gifts aren’t as ridiculous as private jets. We don’t take tithes or offerings; we don’t sow seeds and any of the monetary compensations the regular churches have, such as pastor’s appreciation fund and the likes.

There is nowhere in the Bible that gifts were turned down; so, we can’t turn gifts down. What’s important is that a preacher must tell his congregation that the blessing of giving is in giving to the poor, not to the church or the preacher. I tell my congregation that whatever gifts they give me are gifts of love. I have needs too. That doesn’t make me a hypocrite.” Recounting why he started the church, Freeze said: “When I started preaching, people started following what I preached and started believing in it just because I could back up what I was saying. By this time, people had stopped going to church. If you listen to four of my teachings, you’ll stop going to church. So, one of my egbons (big brother) asked me what I had planned for the people who had pulled out of church and had started following me since somehow, they had to have their spiritual lives catered for. Since they had left the church to come with me, I had to cater to their spiritual needs. That’s when it was ministered to me that I had to open a centre, and because of the issues the church and I had, not wanting to seem defiant or combatant, it was again ministered to me to start an online church. All you need to be a part of our church is data on your phone.”