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<p>The founder of Salvation Ministries, <strong>Pastor David Ibiyeomie</strong>, has come under fire from several Christian leaders over his recent sermon suggesting that Jesus Christ despised poverty and deliberately avoided associating with poor people during His earthly ministry.</p>
<p>In a viral video circulating on social media, Ibiyeomie told his congregation that Christ never visited the home of any poor person, which he interpreted as a sign that Jesus disapproved of <strong>poverty</strong>.</p>
<p>He further argued that Jesus’ death and resurrection were not just for salvation but also to break believers free from financial hardship.</p>
<p><strong><em>“Jesus never visited any poor person in his house, that means He hates poverty. Check your Bible, He visited Lazarus, they were not poor, they were giving him food. He visited a sinner called Zacchaeus who was rich, tell me one poor man that Jesus entered his house, He hates poverty, that is the meaning,” </em></strong>Ibiyeomie said.</p>
<p>He added, “<em>You can become poor, but you are not permitted to remain poor. Nothing is wrong with coming to Christ as a poor man, but it is wrong to remain poor.”<br /></em></p>
<p>The remarks triggered a wave of reactions from notable clerics, including the founder of Power City International Ministry, Pastor Abel Damina, who described Ibiyeomie’s interpretation as a distortion of biblical truth.</p>
<p>Damina, known for his fiery teachings, accused Ibiyeomie of twisting scripture to support a materialistic gospel.</p>
<p><em>“How can Jesus hate poor people? The Bible says though He was rich, for your sake He became poor so that through His poverty you might be rich—and that richness is not material but spiritual</em>,” Damina said.</p>
<p>He also pointed out that Christ was born into a humble home, referencing Joseph the carpenter and Mary.</p>
<p><em>“Jesus identified with the poor even in his birth. He was born in a manger, in a family of poor parents – Joseph, the carpenter and Mary. If He hates poor people, he should have come through the house of Bill Gates or through the house of Elon Musk, but He came through an old poor carpenter family,”</em> Damina argued.</p>
<p>Supporting Damina’s stance, the Lagos State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Stephen Adegbite, also dismissed Ibiyeomie’s message, describing it as misleading and out of line with true Christian teaching.</p>
<p><em>“He (Ibiyeomie) should not be misleading people and he should tell people the truth and nothing but the truth. For us, Jesus is a lover of the poor and he identified with them and that is one of the reasons why He came into the world,”</em> Adegbite stated in a telephone interview.</p>
<p>He warned Christians to be cautious and not fall prey to what he described as “fake pastors” who equate financial prosperity with divine approval.</p>
<p><em>“By their fruits we shall know them. They (pastors) can make anything, they can make billions, that is not Christianity, that is not the faith that we know. The message Jesus wants us to preach is about salvation because that is whole essence of Christ coming,</em>” he added.</p>
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