By Miracle Ogunde
An Abuja-based furniture maker, Chukwudiaso Onyema, who went viral after demanding a refund of the tithe paid to a church, has revealed the reason behind such action.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Punch newspaper, the man whose name is Mazi Chukwudiaso Onyema, from the Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State, also narrated how he transitioned from Christianity to traditional religion.
In his words, the 39 year old said he moved from one church to the other to confirm if the miracles done in the churches were real or faked.
“The reason I moved from the Catholic Church to the Living Faith Church was because I frequently saw the miracles being performed in Living Faith. I pulled out of the Catholic Church to go and confirm if those miracles were real,” he said.
Responding to how he confirmed if those miracles were faked, Onyema said, “I wanted to be in their midst so that I would be seeing things live and direct, and not on the television. I later found out that they were not real. They were all packaged.
“I was in Living Faith for about four to five years before leaving for Dunamis. then I moved to Dunamis because I used to see some drastic miracles on Dunamis Television. So I decided to move to Dunamis.
“I was not so concerned about the miracles. If I were so concerned about the miracle, I wouldn’t go into Bible training to know more about God. I was not moving around because of the miracles per se. I wanted to confirm if there was power in the name of Jesus. That’s what they show on TV; miracles about Jesus, and what Jesus did. So I wanted to know if it was true. That was why I switched churches.”
Speaking on what led him to making the viral video, the man said, “It was when I sowed a seed and in the end, I didn’t see the result. They kept on pushing me to continue sowing and I just realised that it was a scam. They preached that when I give to God, he would open the windows of heaven for me. I tried this from 2008 till my eyes opened. I realised that the owner of the whole universe didn’t need anything. He has everything so I don’t know the reason why they are giving to God to succeed and it’s not working. When I realised this, I wasn’t concerned about getting my money back. I wanted to open the eyes of many who still believed that they were giving to God. That was why I made the video.
“I decided not to follow any religion. I embraced humanity. When religion and spirituality are destroyed, we have humanity. So I embraced humanity to love my neighbour as myself so that the world would be better. For me, I believe in traditional religion because it was practised by my forefathers. Instead of me following foreign religions, I should follow traditional religions. If there is anything that is not good in traditional religion, we make it good rather than follow foreign religions. Foreign religions are not adding anything to Nigeria and that is why I quit. I’m not practicing traditional religion fully but I would rather claim it because it is better,” he added.
Responding to how the church reacted to the video that went viral, Onyema stated that, “The secretary of the church called me from the headquarters. He said I should gather all my evidence because I had my tithe booklet, which they called the kingdom investment booklet. Whenever I paid my tithe, I used to write the amount and date. I told him that I was not coming to honour their invitation. I snapped the tithe booklets and forwarded them to him, with the total amount, which I don’t want to disclose as it’s between me and the church. Till now, he hasn’t responded to it.
Furthermore, he explained the impact the video had on him, saying, “What I was fighting for was not money, because I’m blessed today. I have a car, company, house, and everything a man is supposed to have. I only made the video to open the eyes of many who are giving their hard-earned money to their fellow men, thinking that they are giving it to God. When I made the video, many people called me and said they wanted to help me or give me money but I refused.
Regarding the criticism, he said, “When I first made that video, my Facebook followers were dropping me as a friend and speaking against me. But today, 90 per cent of those who spoke against me are now speaking in my favour. That’s why I didn’t retaliate. I just laughed off all the criticism. The video gave me more popularity.”
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