Dearest Primate Ayodele,
May God Almighty continue to bless you and refresh your anointing.
I write with profound respect for your calling and your person. Though I am not a Christian in anybody’s imagination, I have always believed that men of God deserve honour. You are one of the very few whom I cherish and hold in high regard.
Over the years, I have been privileged to know and interact with respected spiritual leaders — Pastor Ashimolowo, Pastor Oyedepo, the late Pastor Iloputaife Pastor F.E Bamidele, the late Pastor T.B. Joshua, Guru Maharaji, my teacher at Daystar, and I once had the rare privilege of interpreting for the late Baba Obadare. With this background, I do not dabble in ecclesiastical rivalries or matters of episcopal authority. I stay in my lane.
However, Sir, your recent public disposition compelled this intervention.
When you reportedly said: “What is the name of that one crying on social media? Tell her to come to my church on Sunday, I have one million for her… If she doesn’t come on Sunday, that’s the end.”
Sir, with utmost humility — you are wrong.
Not because giving is wrong.
Not because helping is wrong.
But because charity must never humiliate.
The tone , ” “that one” diminishes the dignity of a human soul. Every individual, distressed or not, carries divine imprint. Scripture teaches in Genesis 1:27 that man is made in the image of God. No one in pain should be reduced to a vague, dismissive reference.
Our Lord Jesus Christ never weaponized benevolence
When He fed the five thousand (Matthew 14), He did not first summon them with condescension.
When He healed blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), He asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?” — a question that restored dignity before healing the condition.
When He encountered the woman caught in adultery (John 8), He did not parade her shame; He restored her humanity.
The Bible is clear in Matthew 6:1-4 that giving must not be theatrical. Charity is not a performance. It is an act of grace.
Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 13:4 reminds us:
“Love is patient, love is kind… it is not proud, it does not dishonour others.”
The moment assistance becomes conditional — “If she doesn’t come on Sunday, that’s the end” — it begins to resemble control rather than compassion. Grace does not operate by ultimatum.
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33-35) did not ask the wounded man to report to a synagogue before receiving help. He met him where he was, bound his wounds, paid his accommodation quietly, and moved on. No trumpet. No stage. No deadline.
Sir, one million naira is significant. It can change circumstances. But money must never sit on a throne above dignity. The church must remain a sanctuary, not a stage where vulnerability becomes spectacle.
This is not an attack. It is an appeal.
You are influential. Your words carry weight. And because they carry weight, they must carry gentleness.
The spirit of Christ, according to Matthew 11:29, is “gentle and humble in heart.” That gentleness must be the fragrance of every prophetic gesture.
Sir, we live in a time where the Church is under intense scrutiny. The world is watching. The broken are watching. The sceptical are watching. Compassion must, therefore, not only be practised — it must be expressed in language that heals, not language that diminishes.
Let charity be quiet.
Let help be honourable.
Let grace be graceful.
Primate Ayodele, you are bigger than one careless sentence. And because I respect you, I believe you can reflect and recalibrate.
Charity must never humiliate.
God bless you.
