By Henry Oduah
Founder of Salvation Ministries, Pastor David Ibiyeomie, has stirred conversations online after asserting that Jesus Christ detested poverty and deliberately avoided close association with the poor during His earthly ministry.
In a sermon video that began trending on Sunday, Ibiyeomie told his congregation that the Bible provides no record of Jesus entering the home of a poor person — a detail he interprets as a clear sign that Christ disapproved of poverty.
“Jesus never visited any poor person in his house, check your Bible,” the pastor said. “That means he hates poverty. He visited Lazarus, they were not poor, they were giving him food.
“He visited a sinner, Zacchaeus, who was rich. Tell me one poor man Jesus entered his house. He hates poverty, that’s the meaning. He hates people who are poor. He died for you not to be poor. How can you now come to church with some kind of mentality?”
Ibiyeomie further argued that Christ’s death and resurrection were not solely for salvation but also to free believers from the grip of poverty. According to him, remaining poor after accepting Christ reflects a lack of spiritual growth and understanding.
“You can come poor but you’re not permitted to remain poor,” he continued. “There’s nothing wrong with you coming to Christ as a poor man, but it’s wrong for you to remain poor. It is wrong.”
The post ‘Jesus never visited the poor,’ Pastor Ibiyeomie claims Christ hates poverty appeared first on Vanguard News.
