Pastor Abel Damina, founder of Abel Damina Ministries and Power City International, has sparked debate by declaring that smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol are not sins.
Speaking during his New Year’s Eve sermon on Tuesday, Damina argued that these acts are often misrepresented as sinful when they are not inherently so.
“I’ve told you alcohol is not a sin. I’ve told you cigar is not a sin. If you like, put it on newspaper headline, I said it,” Damina stated.
However, he made it clear that he was not encouraging such behaviors, cautioning his audience to exercise wisdom.
“Am I saying you should smoke? You should have sense from your father’s house to know that cigar will cut short your life. Am I saying you should drink alcohol? You should know that if you drink alcohol, you will lie down inside a gutter. Your shirt and trousers will disappear. You should have the sense to know that.”
Damina’s sermon also addressed the theological basis for his views, challenging traditional interpretations of sin and morality.
Referencing the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he questioned the belief that their sin resulted from eating fruit from the forbidden tree.
“Adam and Eve ate nothing,” he said. “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? Jesus was there. Was Jesus there in the Garden of Eden? Yes. Can Jesus explain to us what happened? Yes.”
Citing Mark 7:18-21, he argued that sin is not caused by what one consumes but by the condition of the heart. “If they (Adam and Eve) ate, it’ll go to their stomach. It’ll digest and go to toilet. They’ll be free,”
Damina said. “There’s nothing a man eats that enters his heart. It’ll go to the digestive system, and it’ll go out somehow. It is what comes out of a man that defiles a man, not what goes in. What makes you a sinner is what you’re thinking, not what you’re eating.”
