LORD’S SUPPER & WATER BAPTISM (PART II)

“Abel Damina Believes the Lord’s Supper is Not Important”

By Akin Ojumu

While it’s true that there are many things wrong with social media, there’s at least one good thing this modern technology for social interaction has done for the Body of Christ. Because of social media, the dark underbelly of the Church Industrial Complex, i.e., the Empires of Grifts and Grafts, have been exposed to reveal the rotten carcasses inside.

Social media has ripped apart, from top to bottom, the malevolent curtain of obfuscation that charlatans of all shapes and sizes have, for decades, use to hide their mendacious manipulation tactics from their gullible victims. Because of social media, vileness and hideousness of false teachers have been laid bare and revealed for what they truly are, a dung heap of vain things.

Credit social media for my getting to know about Abel Damina and the clear and present danger he poses to the faith of many. It was during one of my forays into the jungle of social media that I came upon the dunghill of his heretic teachings. Boy! What a garbage dump of mangled theology and twisted doctrines. From this landfill of spiritually toxic waste comes the topic of today’s commentary. 

Professing to be “teaching good,” Abel Damina told his audience, in no uncertain terms, that observing the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament that has no value in the life of the believer. To prove his point, he asked the following rhetorical questions, which, of course, are meant to diminish the importance of the Holy Communion.

“If the Communion was that important, why didn’t Brother Paul talk about it to the Church in Ephesus where he was the real pastor of that Church? Why didn’t he teach it in Colossae? Why didn’t he teach it in Thessalonica? Since it was such an important thing, why is it only to the Church where he couldn't speak to them as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ? Why is it that Church only that he took time to teach the Communion or what we call the Holy Communion today?”

That Abel Damina is even asking these questions should shock any God-fearing Christian. And it’s with befuddlement that I now refute the man’s heedless assertions.

Most, if not all, the letters Apostle Paul wrote to Churches or individuals in the Bible were written either to provide answers to specific questions the recipients of the letters had asked him or to address serious problems at those Churches or with those individuals to whom he wrote.

For instance, many of the problems and issues Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians were things brought to his attention by members of the congregation who had either visited Paul at Ephesus where he was at time, or who reported the problems to Paul in letters to seek his counsel and guidance.

How do I know this? Well, it’s right there in the Bible. In several places in 1 Corinthians, you’ll find Paul making references to reports and letters he received from concerned Church members seeking his opinion and advice on a catalog of issues.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:11

“For it has been REPORTED to me by CHLOE’S PEOPLE that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.”

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1

“It is actually REPORTED that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.”

1 CORINTHIANS 7:1

“Now regarding the QUESTIONS YOU ASKED IN YOUR LETTER. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations.”

As to the question of the Lord’s Supper, specifically. That too was one of the many problems that besieged the Corinthian congregation. The Lord’s Supper was being debased by Church members. This abuse got so bad, that someone in the congregation was compelled to report the situation to Paul so that he could help them put things in order. 

1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-22

“But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a Church, I HEAR that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.”

The fact that Paul did not address the Lord’s Supper in his letter to the Christian congregations in Thessalonica or those in Colossae had nothing to do with the importance, or lack thereof, of this sacred sacrament. It was simply because, unlike the Corinthians, neither the Thessalonian nor the Colossian Churches had similar problems with the Lord's Supper.

Now, you would expect Abel Damina to know this. The fact that he doesn’t is yet another proof the man is not qualified to be a Pastor. 

Part of the qualifications of a Pastor is being grounded in sound doctrine, being able to teach sound doctrine, and being able to refute false teachers. It’s apparent Abel Damina is grossly lacking in all of these, making him manifestly unfit to pastor or teach anyone.

Next time, we’ll examine Abel Damina’s opinion on Water Baptism.