Popular American Televangelist of the World Changers International Ministries Creflo Dollar has made a U-turn on his popular prosperity gospel teachings, long after making a fortune out of tithes and contributions by his church members.
In his usual teachings, Dollar preached that God only rewards people who offer tithe and entrust him with money and success.
Dollar encourages his congregation to pay their tithes for God to reward them with wealth in return.
However, Dollar told his congregation that he has not been preaching truths in terms of tithing.
“I want to start off by saying to you that I'm still growing. And that the teachings that I've shared in times past on the subject of tithing were not correct,” Dollar said.
“And today I stand in, and humility, to correct some things that I've taught for years and believed for years, but could never understand it clearly because I had not yet been confronted with the gospel of grace, which has made the difference.”
The preacher also said he would not apologise for the misinformation he had disseminated over the years and claimed he would not be where he was with his newfound ideology if he didn't first go that route.
He urged his followers to throw away books and videos he did on tithing unless they aligned with the new line of thought.
“I won't apologize because if it wasn't for me going down that route I would have never ended up where I am right now…but I will say that I have no shame at all at saying to you throw away every book every tape and every video I ever did on the subject of tithing unless it lines up with this,” Dollar said.
He noted that the church has used fear and guilt for a long time to encourage Christians to tithe and he said that has to change.
Dollar acknowledged correction of the perception and radical change might alienate him from his friends, but it seems that does not matter to him many more.
“So why is this important because religion is sustained by two factors fear and guilt and if it's one subject that the church has used for a long time to keep people in fear and guilt it is in that subject of tithing and it has to be corrected and it's got to be corrected now I may lose some friends preachers may not ever invite me no more but I think I already been through that so it doesn't matter,” he added.
Dollar has made a fortune throughout his ministry and has been criticised before for a lavish lifestyle.
He owns two Rolls-Royce, a private jet, and high-end real estate such as a million-dollar home in Atlanta, a Sh294,900,000 million home in Demarest, New Jersey, and a home in Manhattan that he bought for Sh294,900,000 million in 2006 (equivalent to Sh401,064,000 million now) and sold for Sh442,350,000 million in 2012 (equivalent to Sh522562800 million now).
He has written books and made videos on the tithing subject saying Christians are obligated to pay tithe in church.
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