The founder of the David Christian Centre and renowned relationship coach, Kingsley Okonkwo, has broken his silence over the criticism he faced after revealing a tattoo.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Mr Okonkwo unveiled the tattoo in a video posted on his Instagram page on Saturday.
The body art, which bears the Bible verse John 3:16 in Roman numerals, “III: XVI”, was revealed to mark his 50th birthday.
The tattoo triggered mixed reactions online, particularly among Christians, many of whom questioned the appropriateness of a pastor having a tattoo.
While some critics described the action as unbiblical and contrary to Christian doctrine, others defended the cleric, arguing that personal choices should not define one’s faith.
Addressing the backlash during an Instagram Live session on Monday night, he stated that he’ll get another tattoo, maintaining that body art does not determine a person’s standing as a child of God.
He said: “How is tattoo wrong? That is what you have not told me. What makes a tattoo wrong? Some people paint their hands. Women do microblading and makeup—you don’t even know those are tattoos. What is the name of what the Hausa use to paint their hands during marriage ceremonies?
Is that not a tattoo? With all the national issues going on, you made false claims about my tattoo. Elections are just a few days away, and the people holding this country are already meeting and planning, yet youths are bothered about my tattoo.
“I will do more tattoos. If it pains you, go and take juice, buy drugs, take Panadol, and I might even do dreadlocks. So you don’t know there is a pastor in Lagos who has dreadlocks and tattoos? Do you think the younger generation is as boring as you? The day I entered my young adult church, nobody had a ‘normal’ hairstyle. Everybody had different hairstyles. They are creative people, not boring people.”
Mr Okonkwo added that those bothered about his tattoo were from missionary backgrounds shaped by old apostles.
“Don’t mix that up. It is not Christianity; it is personal preference. There is nothing wrong with your bishops, papas, or GOs, but don’t impose that on these young people—they will not listen to you. I am the one helping you. The young people don’t care. All these young people have tattoos and dreadlocks, and those are the people I am sent to.”
No scripture bans tattoo
Also, during an interview on News Central, which was posted on the TV station’s YouTube page on Monday, Mr Okonkwo dismissed claims that tattoos undermine Christian values.
He said, “There’s no scripture that says a child of God cannot have tattoos. So people are doing what they prefer, what the Holy Spirit told them, or what their church policy is. They want to impose it on other people. And that’s not how this works. So everybody needs to know Christ.
Walk the word of God. Somebody needs to sit me down and spell out, oh, tattoos are bad because if somebody draws ink on their body, their brain goes bad. If somebody draws ink on their body, their character suddenly goes bad.
“And they must give me either scriptural proof, or scientific proof, or something to back this thought up. But nobody, everybody’s shouting tattoos. Nobody can tell me why tattoos are bad. It’s just bad for no reason. I can link anything to a wayward life.
So again, this kind of thinking is saddening for me because this is Africa? How and when are we going to catch up on development? If we’re still thinking, oh, somebody wore jeans and went to rob, then jeans are now bad.”
Perception
Mr Okonkwo added that public perception alone does not determine whether something is bad.
He noted that many people wrongly equate tattoos with negative behaviour, stressing that he could name at least ten respectable individuals, including pastors, who have tattoos.
“A pastor cannot wear jeans because last week somebody wore jeans and went to rob a bank. What are we talking about? So again, I don’t see the basis. I can give you 10 good people who have tattoos. You can give me 10 people with tattoos who are bad. So what are we going to do now? We’re going to be in bondage to the bad people. It’s the same reason why some people don’t want to go into politics.
“They say, oh, politics is a dirty game. So we have left it for the people we think are dirty. So who is going to go there? And that has been the church’s mindset. We avoid everything that looks bad. And then we complain,” he added.
Decisions
Additionally, Mr Okonkwo, while defending his decision during an Instagram Live session on Monday night, said there are four ways decisions are made within the body of Christ.
He explained that these include personal preference, personal consecration, church policy and biblical doctrine.
According to him, personal preference applies when individuals object to certain practices, such as tattoos or women wearing trousers.
“Some people, their personal preference is that I don’t like men having haircuts or dreads or even haircuts. He must have a Godly Bible haircut, which is just a straight haircut or fade. That’s personal preference. You can’t impose that on other believers.
That is witchcraft. It is witchcraft to try to impose that on other believers. The second way you make a decision is by personal consecration. So, the first one, personal preference. So what is personal consecration? That means the Holy Ghost has told me or told somebody, Don’t ever do tattoos.
“Or the Holy Ghost has told somebody, don’t ever drive an SUV. Some of you don’t know, people have those personal consecrations. I was chatting with somebody earlier, and I said, “One of the first times I saw Pastor Adeboye here, you know, I saw the car he brought.” He was, of course, one of the fathers. He was very massive, you know, but he came in a very small car. I was like, ah, this guy is so humble. This is personal consecration”, he said.
Personal consecration
Furthermore, Mr Okonkwo said he had encountered some men of God who claimed that God instructed them never to display their images on billboards or posters.
However, he stressed that such instructions should not be generalised across churches, as they reflected personal acts of consecration rather than established doctrine.
The cleric noted, “You can’t enforce it in every church in Christendom. No, this is your personal consecration. Bishop Oyedepo said for so many years that God has told him not to leave Nigeria. He has a private jet, he has a helicopter, but God has told him not to leave Nigeria. That’s personal consecration. He can’t now say, all pastors don’t leave Nigeria. No, this is personal consecration.
“The third one is church policy, number three. So there is a church policy. Church policy is that we have come to the realisation in our own church that we’re having certain crises or certain issues with this particular thing. And we have made a church policy governing it.
Church policy
Giving reasons for the church’s decision, he said: “So of course, young people, once they start being together in the church, people start dating each other and things like that. So we had to come up with a policy that, hey, if you want to start a relationship, please inform leadership so that, number one, we can make sure people are doing the right thing.
“Number two, we can also be able to explain to others when they’re seeing a boy and a girl together every day courting each other at home. We can say, oh, we are aware they’re in a relationship, you know. So that was a church policy.”
He further stated that the church’s policy could not be imposed on other churches worldwide.
“Then the fourth one is Bible doctrine. So this is what Nigerians have been confused about. What my apostle said. What my deacon said. What my GO said. What my study in the Lord said. You need to ask him. You need to find out if it’s not your personal preference. Is it your personal consecration?
“Is it your church doctrine or policy? There are some churches today that allow workers not to wear earrings. They don’t allow workers, ladies must wear hats or scarves. That is church policy. You cannot doctrinally push things. So you must know all four.”
Unbothered
Mr Okonkwo said he did not care about people’s opinions on the tattoo or the backlash it had attracted online.
He added that the criticism did not bother him, noting that he rarely reads comments on social media.
“I’m not doing this to justify or defend anything. I don’t have to. You see, you’re not my Lord or saviour. You did not call me. Neither will you mark my script. So I have no interest in justifying it. I’m doing this because there are genuinely young people who might not even know enough of scripture to know that, to know what we’re discussing. So that’s why not dragging, not justifying weird things that people say. Well, I can understand. Some people don’t know me.
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“You might think I’m one of those young people. I don’t have an interest in what you think. You did not call me. The person who called me is the one who can bother about what he thinks. What do you think? I didn’t know. I don’t know you.
You were not even here when I started doing what I was doing. I don’t know you. I don’t care what you think. You know, I love you with all my heart, but I really don’t care what your personal opinion or preferences are. You don’t like me or whatever that’s normal”, he said.
The cleric added that he understood he might not be liked by everyone, stressing that he was not temperamental, emotionally fragile, or driven by fear.
