Pastor Abel Damina, founder of Abel Damina Ministries and Power City International, has sparked controversy with his remarks during a New Year’s Eve sermon, where he questioned the popular interpretation of the biblical story of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden.
Damina rejected the conventional belief that Adam and Eve’s disobedience was triggered by eating the forbidden fruit.
He stated, “Adam and Eve ate nothing. Adam and Eve didn’t eat anything. Were you there? You were not there. So how do we know whether they ate something or not?”
Referencing Mark 7:18-21, the pastor argued that eating or drinking does not make someone a sinner.
“It is not what people eat that makes them sinners,” he insisted. “You cannot be a sinner by eating or drinking something.”
Damina also addressed the issue of smoking and drinking, saying, “I’ve told you alcohol is not a sin. I’ve told you cigar is not a sin. If you like, put it on the newspaper headline, I said it.”
However, he clarified that while he did not consider smoking or drinking sinful, he advised against them.
“If you drink alcohol, you’ll lie down in a gutter, your shirt and trousers will disappear. You should have the sense to know that,” he added.
The pastor emphasized that it’s not the act of eating or drinking that corrupts a person, but rather what resides within their heart.
“What makes you a sinner is what you’re thinking, not what you’re eating,” Damina said.
He further explained that whatever a person consumes only affects their digestive system, not their soul. “It’s what comes out of a man that defiles him, not what goes in.”
