| THERE IS NOT ONE EXAMPLE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT OF ANY CHURCH BEING REBUKED BECAUSE THEY DID NOT GIVE ENOUGH |
TITHING
A
Discussion of a Heresy Taught for Gain
Proverbs 30:15 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, give, give........
INTRODUCTION
Before being delivered of the Arminian chaos of the Nazarene Church, the first writer received the offenses of that denomination and was enlightened. His flight from their error has ended in the King James Bible and on the narrow way. Now, some of you will not apply this article correctly. This is not a fault of the Arminians only. Baptist and Bible Church pastors are by far the most guilty of sheering the sheep way too close in the name of "biblical tithing."
There is NO teaching on tithing in the Apostolic writings of the New Testament.
We at this site HATE with a passion the sight of a slow bellied preacher shaking down the sheep, teaching on giving virtually every Sunday, and implying that real born again people give until they are in poverty. The object of this giving is the pastor's belly. This is because these natural brute beasts are too lazy to mend tents as Paul did. They are taught in Bible college (like Crown College) that working on the side is wicked for a pastor.
The other object of the scream, "give" is the alleged missions program. You will find that the more a local church gives to mission, the more lazy creeps come around and pick up that cash and live a high life in a far away country. I was a missionary and saw the slobs who diddled their lives away while living on the "tithes" of the saints in the home land. The monster missions program is very prone to have free loading dead beats supported by it because the preacher is too busy running the show to check up on the missionaries.
Slow bellied preachers don't collect offerings to win souls in Africa. They are trying to get recognition in the pastor's fellowship and build a great resume. They do the same with Sunday School. They destroy the peace of the assembly, and work the faithful too hard, so that they can have "the biggest fastest growing Sunday School" in Georgia, or where ever.
So unbiblical tithing is a vicious tool which Satan uses, in the weak minds of pastors, to abuse the saints.
PART ONE: THE ABUSED TITHE
One of the many problems in the Protestant Church of our days is, without a doubt, THE TITHE.
If you think that your money is being biblically used (your offering) think again!
You might be a tragic VICTIM of false teaching and, at the same time, ROBBING GOD by contributing to your church.
The difference between a genuine Christian preacher and a HIRELING (a mercenary, legionnaire, hired, greedy, avaricious, materialist, venal, professional, merciless freelancer) is, probably, the way he handles the money issue.
| "ACCORDING
TO": If tithing is not taught in the New Testament, AND IT IS NOT, what is the standard the saint can use to determine how much to give? 1
Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given
order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. They
were to give According To the blessing. If a saint was eager and faithful in this standard, then God could prosper him more and more, and God would be able to use this faithful saint to help the needs of the saints in the assemblies. God would be the one to make the decision who prospered. Paul made NO attempt to figure that out. The church leader or pastor who meddles in a saints giving, spending, car choices, leisure choices, is a man with a devil from Satan. A friend of mine got a letter from a slow bellied Cretian preacher rebuking him for buying a new pick up truck. That preacher is demon possessed, for only a devil would write that letter. If God wanted my friend to have a new truck, then that preacher was de facto rebuking God for blessing his saint. These gigolos need to be driven out of their churches and sent packing. Vote them out in a hurry, and run them off. Who gives the harvest derived from the saint's giving? Answer: God! When did you ever see a preacher who begs for money turn around and hand double money back to a men who gave sacrificially? There is NO such preacher on earth. So, obviously, God is the reward giver. Read how it works. 2
Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly;
and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. The saints gave According As they purposed, NOT according as the preacher thrashed them, budgeted, begged, and demanded "tithes and offerings." The pattern today of the leader standing before the people and leaning on them in giving sermons, and alleged challenges, is evil. It leaves no room for the saints to mature in giving, and it leaves no room for the believer to be lead of the Holy Ghost to see for himself a need of another saint, and meet it. This biblical way of giving does not call for a collection plate as the only target for throwing your money at. It can be a matter as simple as seeing another saint in need and meeting the need, possibly only one time. Also, privately purposing allows the saint to keep his giving secret. But, "systematic giving" makes a show of giving, as does "faith promise" giving. Seeking a tax receipt makes the saint's giving a matter of public record. Thus, there is NO reward in heaven later, for the record is here in this life. Look how Christ rewards the saint: Revelation
22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and
he that is holy, let him be holy still. Each saint is rewarded According As he has worked. If he worked for a tax receipt, or for the thanks of the preacher, or for the rush of being praised by the receiver of the gift, that saint will see his giving go up in smoke at the judgment of his works in the Glory. I suggest you ignore the fat faced jackboot preacher who jerks your chain to give according to the defined approved needs. Give cash, food, cars, or what ever is needed, and give to the individual under the condition that they keep their ever loving flapper tight closed. When the collection plate passes by, make sure the preacher can eat and pay his bills. But, if a load of silly circus toys are being financed by the collection plate, hand your gift to the preacher to him in an envelope. And, if he makes a lot of fuss over it, flattering you, tell him you will not be giving to him again for six months at least. Maybe the next time he will receive with joy and let God reward you. How did they disburse the giving of the saints? Acts
4:34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors
of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
The need of the saints was the only use of the giving. The giving also was not offered until this urgent need was perceived. They had NO budget. Conclusion: The gifts were given According To the blessing God added to the giver. The gifts were disbursed According To the need of saints in trouble. There is NO other standard in the New Testament. Anything adding complexity to this simple way of life in Christ's Church is damnation and heresy.
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For starters, distance yourself from a preacher who, regularly rather than not, “preaches” about money.
One clear example that we certainly know is the minister of THE NAZARENE CHURCH. We have heard MANY “sermonettes” on MONEY (when we were prisoners of the “Holiness Movement” – the modern one, not the real thing!). These cultic hirelings are experts in the tactic of extracting money from the pockets of the adherents, using unbiblical stratagem (learnt in college or copied from other practitioners).
They are the unscrupulous methods which the victims only discover long after they’ve lost much of the genuine offering (alongside with their spiritual discernment) which should have been used for the glory of God according to the Scriptures. (Well, The Nazarenes do not have The Scriptures any more, - only a plastic imitation thereof [NIV] - so they have found an excused for the malpractice of robbing their members with Malachi 3!)
Collecting money before or after the sermon is not biblical.
Do you think that it is right to pass the offering plate/bag around when there are new people/visitors in the church, even before a word of the sermon is uttered? Well, we have seen this ugly and awful practice many times. It is bad manners, to say the least.
Those entering the churches for the first time surely are being embarrassed with the presence of the offering plate under their noses before they heard a word of the gospel preached from the pulpit. However, ministers are so used to this insulting that they simply think it to be fine, appropriate and godly. Had they tried to collect the “tithes & offerings” AFTER the sermon, some intelligent guests would only give in proportion to the value of the sermon: a quarter of what originally they intended to offer!
Unfortunately, there are no heroes in the fight against this pestilence in the modern Protestant Church, sad to say. Neither church ministers nor the pew warmers are inclined to get involved in the struggle to rid the church of this offensive gangrene.
Ministers are themselves much less inclined, being used to require the guests/visitors upfront payment for what is going to be offered from the pulpit, regardless of whether it is scriptural or not (these days, poor victims, much junk is delivered from pulpits labeled “gospel”).
Imagine being invited to go hear a special preacher in a denomination like The Nazarenes (used here just as an ordinary example among others of the same guild for the many “special” preachers they have).
How embarrassed have you felt, sitting right next to the friend you have asked to join you to hear that particular evangelist, and having to witness all the humiliation he is subjected to while trying to find money in the pocket to throw into the offering plate? What have you done to help the victim in distress? How embarrassed have you felt? It is an ugly scene, I tell you. A little later, the guest is forced to hear statistics and the like about how erratic the month’s budget has been for the last five years.
So tasteless and indelicate.
Well, The Nazarenes (a familiar example) couldn’t care less for the aggravation, so used are they to the practice. It is not Christian charity, if you ask. It is denominational policy, regardless whether it is offensive, indelicate or coarse. Preachers in that group, like in many others, are trained to bypass common insight and good manners if extracting money from the victims is required. Then they complain that the church grows only zero point six percent in any ten-year period. Even that is disguised and nobody really knows how much the group has grown at any given time, due to the phenomenon called “members’ migration” to and from other groups, in search of uncontaminated spiritual food. (Growth statistics in The Nazarene Church were ALWAYS manipulated to give the impression that even negative “growth” was good news! It has to do with the pyramid-like authoritarian system they have [popish-like], whereby the top brass wants ALWAYS to see good results from the base [pastors and laymen] for self-applause.)
Money collected from visitors and guests at evangelistic services, you would guess, is going to be used to increase the sin of handling the offering in opposition to what the Bible prescribes (2 Cor 8 and 9).
What is the main thrust of this SIN of the Nazarenes and others (Nazarenes are used here as an example, I say again)?
There are two horrible SINS in the way churches handle money.
One, they do regularly use it (or part thereof) to increase the group’s real estate fortune.
Two, they apply it in their involvement with the “ecumenical brotherhood” or similar schemes.
We all know that groups like The Nazarenes have sold their spiritual purity to the devil by partaking in ecumenical gatherings where the word of God is trashed.
Take their allegiance to versions of the “Bible” like the NIV, NKJV and God knows what! The money collected from innocent spectators at revival meetings, etc., is going to be channeled to support spiritual fornication as never before seen in the Protestant Church.
Nazarenes, as a run of the mill example, have their handful of revivalists who travel the world trying to enhance the group’s self-image. There is always an appeal for money at their gatherings.
ALWAYS! They use the same UNBIBLICAL propaganda lines the Charismatic charlatans do: give to get!
Follow the preacher around the world and you will see him/her eventually taking part in gatherings where the BIBLE is trashed, as sure as the sun sets in the west.
What is tragic is the fact that even freelance Nazarene evangelists are no longer interested in preaching their sermons from the word of God. Instead, they raise in the air cheap swords made of third grade plastic granules (recycled versions!).
Is this not sad?
Imagine sitting next to your guest in the church and knowing that the money the poor victim is dropping in the offering bag is going to be used to help this guy travel the world promoting evil bible versions like the NIV: the version he PREFERS and chose for its nice reading, etc.!
Worse is to know that all the new “converts” added to the group are going to be fed contaminated spiritual food, which will hinder their spiritual growth forever, turning them into perpetual feeble and deformed babies-in-Christ.
Imagine a Christian denomination led by parasitic leadership of that type, which does not care to use the money collected for a scriptural purpose. Is this not terrible? Did they not pray, “Lord, this money is for Your glory”? So, the visitor is subjected to reprehensible treatment, while you realize that the preacher is but a fraud and lives from practicing quick hand tricks. Then we have the tithe. That white elephant in the Nazarene Church has made the group a rich one in the world.
Think of the billions collected to purchase real estate!
Think of the other billions to support leaders who deny the word of God!
Think of all the college teachers who every day stand in their classes to destroy the students’ faith in the Bible! If this is not coarse apostasy, the sun doesn’t set in the west! We remember, when in Sunday school, the teacher insisting that a member is obliged to give the church TEN PERCENT of the gross income. You see, the horrific brainwashing starts early in the adherent’s life: in Sunday school - TEN PERCENT of the gross income before government taxation. If that is in any “bible”, the sun sets on Mars! The ministers know that they are preaching ERROR, but due to habitual practice, it does not hurt their consciences anymore.
The tithe was a discipline practiced in the Old Testament to support the Levites who had the task of caring for the Tabernacle and received no land to live in. God ordained it and Moses wrote down all the details. One day, everything in that ordinance came down to the ground like rubble and the Israelites were dispersed as punishment for disobeying God’s commandments. That was the end of the albatross called The Tithe.
NOWHERE in the New Testament can we detect, even with infrared light, that the rule applies to the church. NOWHERE: If it did, what about the balance?
That is, what about the NINETY PERCENT ordained by God?
I tell you this: I have never heard ONE single preacher – EVER! - mentioning that aspect of the regulation. Yet, it stands to reason that when one is obliged to bring ten percent, he certainly is to retain NINETY percent of the total.
Outside the old nation of Israel, the ninety percent also fell away.
In today’s secular taxation system, the monstrosity called “church tithing” is totally absurd and impractical. However, the Nazarenes, Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals and all the others in the directory, INSIST that the Christian is supposed to obey the dictate that should leave him with ninety percent of the total crop. If that is not insisting on a coarse ERROR and church propaganda to enrich denominations, then the sun sets in the east.
God’s justice is not to be seen in the modern, unbiblical, religious trap called “the tithe” set up by pious emporiums. God wanted the Israelite to keep ninety percent for him.
In today’s situation, the church leader is not in the least worried whether the member ends up with less then the prescribed amount. However, it stands to reason (discarding the Bible, as the church does!) that it is impossible to follow the Old Testament prescription and so, it makes sense that the NT church was wise to discard the Encumbrance!
Adding more error to the teaching of this Exasperation, the pastor goes one step further and insists that God blesses the tither. The text to support his oddness is ALWAYS Malachi three eight!
Do yourself a favor: go read the whole chapter and see if the Christian Church is even inferred in the passage. Please notice verse NINE referring to the nation of Israel. Notice verse TEN referring to FOOD in the house of the Lord. Notice that there is not even the slightest inference to purchasing real estate and property! Did you read about anything spared for the pastors’ ecumenical intercourse? Did you perhaps observe any order to save a portion of the tithe to use for investments? And so on and so forth!
Is God unjust? Did God order the Christian to give TEN percent of his [gross] income and keep NINETY? WHERE did God say that in the whole of Scripture?
NOWHERE!
Nevertheless, Nazarenes and the other riches gatherers, OVERRULING SCRIPTURE, resurrected the dead monster and, with no shame or repentance, forced the nausea on their members. Regularly this Blockage is preached from the pulpit, taught in Sunday school, written in books and made to look alive by the taxidermist’s technique that the church ministers learn in college or by correspondence courses. Then, using the other method (also extremely successful) of suffocating the auditorium with a deluge of “sermons”, the poor victims in the pews succumb to the assault and brainwashing and surrender their spiritual discernment, resulting in being openly ROBBED without a single groan.
The illustrations that go with sermons on the tithe are incredible. It is in the same lines as stories of miracles by the catholic saints! Like magic, sort of thing. All to prove that God blesses the tither and that everybody should practice it, otherwise it is a sin!
It is not sin to refrain from giving your money away into the hands of liars and assailers. Keep it! Denominations ROB their assemblies, through the FALSE practice of preaching sermons about the Tithe.
The apostate church of our days has done all that! Money is collected and then wasted in its millions. However, REMEMBER the curse in verse NINE, if you want to apply Malachi 3 to the church.
As a Christian, you are instructed to be charitable towards the needs of your brothers: that also, of course, includes your pastor, provided he is not a mercenary or a charlatan. Give 10, twenty or one percent, but give with a cheerful heart (2 Cor 9:7). The principle is well established in two Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 (9:6).
Avoid groups that spend much money adding property to their status. It is a sinful
activity.
Avoid pastors who ride expensive cars and live in mansions.
Avoid churches that run a budget.
Avoid ministers who THREATEN the members
with Malachi 3:8! THEY ARE LIARS and THIEVES!
PART TWO: A LIE CALLED THE TITHE
Editor: Steve Van Nattan: Again, the author deals with a wicked trick many Fundamental pastors use. Do not simply throw this into the Arminian camp as if they are the only offenders. Baptist and Bible church preachers are famous for blaming every problem in a saint's life on the fact that they don't give a faithful tithe. This breeds spiritual gamblers who, like the poor slaves of the Roman Catholic Whore Church, start buying their way to heaven and buying Hindu Dharma to balance the Kharma in their life. If they give enough, life will go well. If they drop in giving, life will go bad. The standard of holiness is not the Person of Jesus Christ, it is the offering plate. If you, a pastor, teach or imply this, you are a damned fool and you are not born again, for you teach another gospel which Jesus and Paul did not teach. Nowhere in the New Testament is the reward, security, or peace of the saints equated with tithing or any form of giving.
Kharma and Dharma
and Tithing:
"You are sick because you are not tithing."
My wife had one day the misfortune of, naively, trusting a pastor’s wife concerning a family problem we had.
She was then furtively asked: “Isn’t it perhaps the result of not tithing to the church?”
That observation meant simply that the pastor’s wife was always equating family and other problems in the member’s life with the possibility that they resulted from giving less than the worn out TEN PERCENT. That woman was, with sophism, checking whether the members were “obeying the biblical commandment". In that particular denomination, a member was distributed an envelope where it has to be stated what the offering is for. There were TEN different “ministries”: Including the TITHE!
I have checked “hundreds” of writings about this albatross in the established Protestant Church.
First of all, MONEY is WASTED by the millions, at the hands of most pastors. (I haven’t yet been proved wrong on this!) In other words, money is cynically diverted and fuzzed away from its BIBLICAL meaning into “ministries” engendered and feigned by those who handle it.
Second of all, not one of those many articles and booklets I’ve read has EVER established without any controversy that THE TITHE is New Testament doctrine.
You know how the thesis goes. Every bit of a verse that speaks of money is “interpreted” to mean THE TITHE! I’m not going to give you any “lesson” on the details of this technicality. My wife’s problem was that she, innocently, whispered to a pastor’s wife about a “little” cloud in her life, without ever, by any stretching of the imagination, realizing that THE TITHE had anything to do with it. Incredible, isn't i
t?! The many problems that pestered that particular church, it seemed, were not related to the fact that the pastor was complying with the tithe’s regulations! (Tongue in cheek).
It is a difficult equation – a quadratic – to understand the pastor’s wife’s logic! But after you resolve the three constants (a, b and c), the result is zero. That particular church had ZERO growth for years!
| STORY
TO SHOW HOW IT WORKS AMONG FUNDAMENTALISTS: When I pastored a church in central Michigan, there was a church nearby where the pastor practiced these same tactics of fleecing the sheep down to the skin. The author mentions the effect on the family. His observations in South Africa are precisely the same in the USA and other nations. One family in this church was home schooling. They were also very poor, and the wife was staying home while the husband who biblically tried to support his family without his wife working. The pastor hit this man for cash and offerings and tithes as hard as possible. The pastor taught these heresies about solving life's problems by giving. It was a Baptist version of the name-it-and-claim-it Charismatic notion on giving-- what some heretics call "seed faith." The poor man gave until he was flat broke, could not pay his bills, and could not buy home schooling curriculum. Did the preacher take anything from the treasury to help the man, as the Levites would have done back under the legitimate days of tithing? No. The slob asked the church to pray for the man that he would find the money. The jerk preacher did not even encourage anyone in the assembly to help the people. Why? Because the preacher wanted the cash for himself. Indeed, I have heard it said that taking cash from the church treasury to help the saints survive is "robbing God." Wrong, it is robbing the Reverend Dr. Fat Boy of his ecclesiastical belly busting hamburgers and Little Debbie cakes. It is "Corban"-- dedicated to McDonald's. I must say, the size of the average preacher's belly screams "HERESY" at the tithing practices and sadomasochistic giving in Fundamental churches. |
To a new convert, or to a new migrant (come from other churches and groups, in search of spiritual food!), this horrendous tactic – equating family problems with the amount of money given to the church – produces bitter results.
It might take years to understand the trickery, but one day, the pastor (or his wife) will harvest the crop of bad consequences. It is when it is finally perceived and understood that they are in the presence of a legionnaire, a hireling and a mercenary, called pastor so-and-so.
There are hundreds of those opportunists in any given medium sized city.
How dishonest to claim, or even infer, that our day-by-day living problems are the result of retaining our offering from the hands of profligates, wastrels and spendthrifts. How diabolic to threaten and scare innocent spectators with unbiblical and manmade gimmicks to extract money!
The Tithe is a weapon.
The Tithe is money not blessed by God.
Pastors’ wives use it to induce a guilt complex in innocent victims.
These wives, instead of shutting up their mouths in the church, are instructed by the husbands to surreptitiously sneak in the private affairs of the innocent victims in their assemblies.
On the contrary, The “Church Tithe” is cursed, because it is based on a lie.
The real Tithe WAS Old Testament dispensation. That’s why, the modern church is plagued with many “professional” bunglers living at the expense of naïve simpletons who feed them.
If spiritual performance was the criterion to bless a church minister with financial support, many in this town would not qualify. Many would have a better future turning into bakers.
Not that I’m against church ministers. I have had a long time in life to observe this special breed in action.
A pastor is only a pastor when God calls him for service and he executes the tasks with genuineness. Go see your local church pastor and observe how he takes time to “preach” about money, and “threatens” the assembly with religious garb and “dirty tricks” like THE TITHE. There you have a mercenary! There you have a “clever” legionnaire living on happenstance and guile.
That’s him!
His wife also knows a trick or two. It is tragic that many deposit trust in these “artists”. On the other hand, if you encounter a preacher whose motivation is to address the eternal destiny of the sinner without Christ, the man who weeps for the salvation of the lost, there you have a man of God.
And what about money, if you ask him? His answer will be in the lines of “God is my provider, if I’m faithful to His calling.” Unfortunately, in this town, like in any other these days, pastors are, for the majority, trained in handling a nasty and most effective weapon to injure God’s people’s simple faith: the lie called THE TITHE.
With this poisonous dart, pastors endeavor to attack, wound and paralyze those who, after all, are their best friends who support them financially, without reclaiming anything.
Pathetic, if not cruel, isn’t it? Every little suburban Protestant group is a rendezvous of pilferers when it comes to unbiblically extracting money from their devotees, all in the name of God.
If you dare to question the method, you’ll incur the pastor’s aggravation. Skillfully, you’ll be led to believe that not bringing your tithe to the church is nothing short of a punishable sin. Like with my wife’s problem.
You see, it is not a small sin to attempt to retain your Sunday offering from the legionnaire’s hands.
The greatest fraud!
Go count in your town those churches that offer the gospel for free. Is there one?
You’ll notice the pastor instructing the group – from the pulpit! – that tithing to the church is biblical. He picks up his own version of the bible and throws at the pew warmers anything that resembles a verse mentioning money, with threats.
The poor victims!
Then he collects “the tithes”.
Pastor, you have sinned!
Firstly, you lied to them, for “tithing to the church” is not “biblical”, though you don’t even have “The Bible”, only one of “its” many contradictory versions.
Then you’re trading with your congregation’s emotions. Skillfully you convince them that “the church” needs so many “thousands” in order to “survive”.
I once went to a church in an upmarket suburb, where, in its bulletin, was clearly pointed out the budget for the month.
In the southern suburb, where I live, that budget would support FOUR churches with 100 members each. Being where it was, that church had an enormous temple, garnished with the best in everything.
In the south, the money spent on the PA system alone would support the pastor’s salary for TWO years!
The cost of the organ would pay a missionary’s salary for 40 months.
The carpets, chandeliers, ceiling art and platform curtains would support a street preacher for 10 YEARS!
How many NEW CONVERTS were won for the Lord in that church? I didn’t see any such vital statistics in the bulletin. That wasn’t important enough to be mentioned.
The meeting I went to was poorly attended. However, it was vital to remind the church adherent that it was already the third week of the month and the budget was still half way up the graph. I imagined the pastor, come Sunday, launching a tearful appeal to the congregation to support the budget. Every month was like that.
Cry the beloved church!
I’ve seen it all, dear reader. It is fraud and fraudulence all over (1 Timothy 6:10!).
However, you may ask me once more: How does the church go on evangelizing the world without MONEY?
Well it does! In this way: While genuine offering is diverted to wasting in luxury and the mercenary’s perks, the gospel is constantly preached by the simple Christian who understands that salvation is offered to the sinner by God’s grace. I mean, my wife has led more people to the Lord than any pastor’s wife complaining about the budget shortages.
The value of real estate accumulated by the Protestant Church is staggering. It is offering money buried, disposed of and WASTED in property and pastors’ perks. It is a great mockery of “The simplicity that is in Christ” 2 Cor 11:3. That sin is as serious as murder.
A Christian should be well informed that the disciples never applied The Tithe to the church.
Not one apostle ever mentioned tithing as a form of supporting the infant church.
Neither Paul nor Peter, nor anybody else in the NT pages claims the right of the church to the Israelite tithe.
I’ve checked writers a-plenty trying ad nauseam to justify that the tithe also applies to the Christian church.
Go lie to the trees in the desert!
Read 1 Corinthians 7 and 8 to find out how the church should plead for money. The nauseating effort of many a pastor to extricate money from the adherents is gross sin! And it is time that somebody should tell them straight. For one, those raiders need to be exposed.
Shouted at!
Of course, not every pastor in town is a villain. Some fear the Lord and His wrath and terror to come. Nevertheless, pastors are territorial creatures and will defend the tithe with their teeth, no matter who gets hurt in the fight. Money and lying about the tithe is more important than sparing a few sheep of God’s flock.
You remember the verse “the grievous wolves shall enter in among you…” Well, they have come and settled in your suburb.
“Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things”. It is interesting to note that Paul, three verses down, equates the wolves and perverse men that shall “enter in among you” with covetousness, when he made sure that the audience looked at him as an honest Christian.
He says (Acts 20:33) “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.” Remarkable! He doubles his bet by insisting: “These hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me… ye ought to support the weak…”.
Pastors today reject Paul’s instruction, and go further in their apostate march: claim unscrupulously, and unbiblically, the right to obtain and consume the church member’s (the innocent victim) 10 percent of the gross income!
Horrendous!!
No wonder, when these mercenaries finally depart or abandon their flock of sheep, nobody weeps and kisses them (v. 37).
Therefore, watch, and remember… Acts 20:31.
PART THREE: IS FAITH PROMISE GIVING BIBLICAL?
Editor: Steve Van Nattan
Answer to the above question-- NO!
We are not to gamble on God's blessing in the future. We are told to give according to the blessing of the immediate past. I could write a lot on this, but the emotion of the moment, the budget for missions which seems so glorifying to God, and the fact that it works, do not justify the heresy.
Here is the way to give. I know what you sheep sheerers will say-- This was a special offering for just one event. Well, the principles here are the ONLY nuts and bolts method given in the New Testament for giving by the Apostle Paul:
1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Give for the need.
Give on the first day of the week.
Give according to the blessing of the past week.
| I think someone should write an article on public prayer also, for Jesus talked about the show time prayer right after the show off giving. I hear some of these Fundamentalist bishops braying like jack asses in church gatherings, and I know in my soul that they are just showing off. They are the same jerkois de jour who make a big show of the giving time. Matthew
6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they
may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. |
So, promising to give, in the future, what I think I can give, is not
taught here. Faith Promise giving is gambling on the future and coercing God into
the liability for my failure to keep the vow. This is wicked, for it lays the
foundation for blaming God because I played the fool
Also, Faith Promise giving is done before men-- it is a show:
Matthew 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Faith Promise Giving is not giving, it is gambling, and the preachers who promote it are not showing any faith in the Lord and his saints. They are coercing the saints by shame or some misplaced hubris, to make arrangements for tomorrow.
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
James 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
There is a lot of boasting in a Faith Promise session. The preacher tells the people how great they are for giving $________ last year, and he then says that it is the will of God to have a bigger missions budget for next year. He could not prove what is the will of God in the pocket books of those saints in front of him if his life depended on it. It is just giving hype-- bluster, bombast, and bull.
James warns us against planning on what we will do with our "gain." I also hear some preachers say that they are careful to subject the Faith Promise to the rhetoric of trusting God, so that, if someone fails in their promise they are able to believe it was God's will for them to fail in keeping the vow. BAH! You fool. So, you too are trying to put God on the spot to make the thing work. You are teaching the saint that the Bible demands their faith in a promissory note on the future, while God, in reality, may not like them to live by faith that far in advance. YOU go live by faith, you wimp preacher. YOU trust God to provide week by week. Or, are you not able to believe 1 Corinthians 16 works? YOU are the one lacking faith, and you should repent or get out of the ministry and go sell insurance.
So, no matter how noble the cause, Faith Promise giving is a violation of the New Testament. It is about time we trust the Holy Ghost to bless the saints between Sundays enough to meet the needs of the local church treasury. By the way, NO missionary need is so urgent that we have to violate the Word of God to meet the need. Read that again and again until you either barf or believe.
I must repent a bit-- There is Faith Promise giving found in the Bible. Here it is:
Mark 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, (Faith Promise) by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; (missions, building fund, preacher's belly) he shall be free.
12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
So, you take that which is God's, which is your kid's food and home school curriculum, which is your needy brother's, which is your food fund, which is what you should give to the poor saint sitting in the pew in front of you, and you give it to the preacher and church leaders to send far away or to fatten the slow bellied preacher.
Corban! There is your Faith Promise. "I have pledged it during the missions conference, I cannot help you brother, mother, father, kid, saint.... Go and be filled off of welfare from Caesar."
Preacher, you love to run to the Old Testament looking for Tithe Law. Well, according to the above text you should have, once a year, a giving pledge Sunday for the saints to sign a card as to how much they will give to their father and mother. Law is law buster, and Jesus makes it very clear that those law keepers who neglect their parents are wicked.
By now, I have the average preacher spitting nails. That is great-- these slow bellies need to get out of the Lord's sheep fold and sell insurance.
Added July 5, 2003:
The following text came up during our family Bible reading, and it is very powerful in regard to giving:
2 Corinthians 8:1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
6 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.
7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.
9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.
11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
Thus, the exposition of this text shows:
1. Verse 1-6 show us that the giving of Macedonia was in spite of their poverty, was eager, was NOT anticipated by Paul, was not asked for or even hinted at by Paul, was not preached on by Paul every fourth Sunday morning, and was handed over to Titus by Paul, to oversee in Corinth. The modern jackboot preacher would never hand over his cut in the offering plate to another pastor if he could figure out a way to keep it. If Paul had been using the plan of modern missions, he would have sent Titus to Corinth only if he promised to put Paul on the missions support budget, right?
2. Verse 7 shows us that mature giving comes out of a fully mature Christian life. Pastors today will not teach the Word, they will not study, and they will not stop preaching giving every other Sunday. So, their people have to be cajoled and cussed into giving. Spiritual babies never learn to give, they learn to sit in the pew and look dumb as snot. They also give ONLY when the preacher is watching. When is the last time YOU gave $100 to a pastor across town who was struggling-- I mean, you handed it to him, not put it in your pastor's offering plate with a designation to the other pastor. What if your pastor does not appreciate that starving pastor across town? Would you still give if the Holy Ghost moved you? Who rules your heart, your pastor, or Jesus Christ?
3. Verse 8 shows that Paul did NOT imply or even hint that tithing was the standard. Giving in an Apostolic New Testament local church is based on love, NOT obligation. This is violently opposed to the pattern of obligation and tithe law based message in most churches today. Others were used as the example only in that the Macedonians were the example of giving out of love. This is why many saints never mature in giving-- they don't love the ones they are giving to. This in turn is due to the fact that ALL giving has to be deposited into the round offering plate passed on Sunday morning. There is NO concept of teaching saints to give directly to the person in need, which may be another saint rather than the slow bellied pastor. The saints in the Greek churches gave a gift to the saints in Jerusalem, and Paul did not get a farthing of a cut for his own belly. Check it out.
4. Verse 9 shows us that the ministry of a saint, if it is in the model of Jesus Christ, is NOT money based. Jesus lived in total poverty and was dependent on those who would feed him and lodge him. He did not talk about what he needed, he did not hold the bag himself, he did not own anything, he did not build anything, and he did not carry a balance. Peter had to go fishing to find enough to pay Jesus' tax. If the average jackboot preacher would live this way, and fully give of himself rather than build his own finances up, the saints would take very good care of him. And, if they didn't, like Jesus, you would never hear about it.
5. Verse 10-11 show that LAST YEAR's giving is the standard for this year's giving. "Faith Promise" giving tells us to forget last year, ignore the cold hard facts of our jobs, the economy, and how last year's giving affected our lives, AND promise to give an amount you have no idea if you can raise. This is absolutely in violence against what Paul is teaching here. The willing spirit and joy of giving last year is the model for this year. That is all! The amount is never discussed, and percentages are not discussed. This is not Moses' law.
6. Verse 12 means that you look at what you have in the spirit of love of Jesus Christ and his Church. Who you give it to is up to you, not the man made budget which is in arrears. "It is accepted" means that the leaders of the local church and the pastor better shut their ever flapping lower jaw and rejoice if the saints love the Lord, the Church, and give in that spirit. If the leaders are smart, they will not make a budget until AFTER the giving is done. They will NOT ask for "Faith Promises." They will just shut up and see what the Spirit does as the saints give. If the giving seems to fall short, then the leaders will shorten their grand schemes and stick to what can be done with what came forth out of this Apostolic model of giving.
7. Verse 13-15: What is this equality? It simply means that every saint gives out of his poverty or out of his wealth. It is up to each saint to figure out what that means for him. The mongrel tradition in many Bible believing churches is to talk about "tithe" and certain percentages. Pastors exalt those who give the most, when some of them gave only pennies on the dollar of what they are really worth. Stupid pastors, dumb hirelings. Jesus exalted the woman who cast two mites into the temple treasury, while the big giver was judged harshly. Equality means the pastor better take a long look as his "increase." Many of these sheep sheerers don't even give two mites. Their offering envelope is not based on love giving. It is Oral Roberts' "seed faith" heresy. They only give so the saints will see them as an example. They rarely lift their wallet out of their hip pocket to pay for the lunch of a widow. They instead are quick to make friends of the high income people in the local church so that they can lift a free lunch off of them. I KNOW this is true in most Fundamental pastors, for that is what I have seen personally. Most Fundamental missionaries live this way also. Missionaries are among the worst tithers you ever met.
Let's talk about missions. Missions giving should simply be an extension of the pattern above. But, too often missions giving is a bragging point. Pastors and local church people brag around town to other saints about how much they give to missions. Does anyone brag about the food they took around to someone who fell into poverty when they lost their job? No! Why? First, most of these jackboot preachers are never caught taking food to anyone. Second, if they ever do take food to someone, it is paid for with a church check. What ever happened with a saint using some of his intended giving to help another saint and tell no one about it? I will tell you why this is rare. It is because the pastor demands an accounting of all giving. Also, the giver wants a tax receipt to use on his Schedule C as a deduction.
Also, did you ever hear of a missionary giving to the local church? I am not talking about a token ten spot he drops in the plate just before he preaches on giving in your church. I am talking about a missionary seeing a widow in need and quietly meeting her need without anyone noticing. I am talking about a missionary seeing a fellow missionary so poorly supported that his kids don't eat right. The B___________s were in Mexico doing translation of the Spanish Bible into a TR based new translation. They were doing door to door soul winning. They were also eating beans and tortillas at almost every meal. They were dirt poor. Their co-worker across town was rolling in cash from their abundant support. Did they help the B___________s? No. They mocked them. Same mission and same doctrines. The B___________s finally had to leave Mexico and return to the USA, and the husband had to get a job. The translation languishes to this day. I have seen this myself as a missionary in Africa. Missionaries are the most heartless toward one another in this fault.
So, "Faith Promise" giving is a creation of the lusting beggars who parade before the saints with all their budgets and debts. They convince the saints that God can be coerced into coughing up the cash if they make the rash promise to give. Paul taught otherwise, and it is high time godly men confront these hirelings and run them off if they will not start preaching Jesus Christ instead of giving.
May I suggest a cleansing process start with you?
Lay aside some cash, whatever you feel you can give. Keep it in the form of cash, not a check. Tell the whole family to watch for a saint in trouble. Pray for guidance. DO NOT TELL YOUR PASTOR OR OTHER CHRISTIANS (Matt. 6:1).
Once you find this person, ask the Lord to help you give in love and sincerely. Do not give the cash if you can buy the things needed. Many saints in financial trouble don't have the gas money to drive around hunting bargains like you do. Buy things you know they like, even if this is not what you like. Buy a couple treats for their kids. Let your kids help. There is this ugly notion created by welfare socialism that beggars don't deserve to have any fun. WICKED! Buy the folks some ice cream and candy. I know it is bad for them according to your health notions. Buy it anyway.
How about the poor pastor over in the next county who is flat broke and trying to keep a store front church open-- pennies in the offering and driving a school bus for income? You know he never takes his wife out to dinner. Call, and ask him where is a good restaurant in his area because you want to take your wife to dinner while you are over there. He will tell you, and you next tell him he and his wife are coming along. Tell him that this is an act of giving for your family this month. Tell him he should accept your gesture in love.
What about the old widow two doors down? She is not saved, right? So what? Did Jesus die only for those who would be saved? Only you Dutch Reformed dead beats would say, "Yes" to that one. Take her a food basket. Be sure servings are small, and try to find out about diabetes and other diet limitations. A fruit basket is always in order-- make it up yourself. Fruit is often left out of the diet of the poor because it is cheaper to load up on carbohydrates.
My home church showed mercy to a family of poor and troubled people. A number of things were done to help them survive. The father was a looser of sorts, though he had some zeal to work. The family started coming to church, and the boys got saved. The father didn't get right until his sons were entering college. The boys all paid their own way by hard work. Mom had problems until she died which she never got victory over. I graduated from college with their oldest son. Today, he is all over the USA setting up computer networking by radio. He and his wife are both PhDs. Was it worth it to show mercy to that family of losers long ago? Rewards don't come in next Tuesday, it may never show up in your resume, but God is working when the saints give. And, the offering plate is not the only way God wants you to give.
To you pastors and missionaries: If you are not doing these things OUTSIDE OF THE OFFERING PLATE, you are a dead beat. You do NOT look like the Jesus Christ you profess to live for. You ought to get out of town. Now, if you are hearing the Holy Ghost talking to you about now, great! Set aside some cash, and YOU do just what I suggested above. God will refresh you zeal and love for Christ and his people.
PART FOUR: BIBLE STUDY INTO THE TITHE ISSUE
By Dave Combs
CLICK
HERE to read an in depth Bible study on the topic
PART FIVE: The Tax Deduction
By Steve Van Nattan
Issuing a tax deduction so that the giver can reduce his tax payment to Caesar does two things:
1. It causes the saints to give for the advantage they get out of it.
2. It makes Caesar a member of the church board, for Caesar is helping finance the Lord's Church.
Jesus settled this for the Church Age, but most of you will refuse to obey him:
Mark 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
A tax deduction is rendering what is Caesar's to God so that we can get a break in tax from Caesar. Cheap religion, but it sure helps bring in the "tithes and offerings" which the saints might not have given so eagerly. Thus, we admit that we are not dedicated enough to give to God out of Christian maturity and need the nurse maid of the state to motivate us to give.
BABIES!
______________________________________________
LETTER FROM A READER:
I have a dear friend who, in spite of the objections of her husband, would never DREAM of missing a tithe payment to her dumb church, but yet is late to the point of default on all her bills, has her power turned off routinely, is being sued by several creditors, and teeters on the brink of bankruptcy on a regular basis. When I point out to her that being woefully behind on your bills is no kind of Christian witness, she just gets angry and tells me she is going to pay her tithes no matter what ANYBODY says. (I've never really known many charismatic husbands who weren't henpecked, nor many charismatic wives who were anywhere near in scriptural submission to anybody or anything!)
J
______________________________________________
HOCUS POKUS GIVING-- LETTER FROM A READER
I hope it is ok for a woman to write and ask a question that her and her husband have wondered about. That would be me and my husband. Let me just state that there have been times that I have not attended church with my children because of not having any money to give. ( I have been reading your pages on tithing and faith promise)
We were attending a church and were really excited about how it was going but a few months into it we started noticing alot of attention was focused on money. There was a board with lights on it and amounts. Everytime we reached an amount for missions then we screwed in the bulb and of course things were said about it if the bulb didn't come on when it should have.
Editor: This implies that God is being held hostage by our lack of giving. This is a form of slavery-- slavery to a preacher and our own fear of failure. This is blasphemous.
They collect money to pay for the brick on the building because the children in the church wanted to help so they go around to the people there and hold out their hands for loose change.
Editor: Suffer the little children.... Use them to shake down the faithful, then later, the little children will believe that life is a hand out. Bah!
It started to get to where we resented attending church. But the main thing we have been curious about is we hear people say that as long as they were giving to the church the 10 percent then they never faced money problems but when they quit giving then things became bad. We have seen people who work with my husband and the wife doesn't work, buy things that we do not have money to buy and we wondered if it is because they tithe. We are not necessarily wanting more. We are happy that our finances now allow us to pay our bills on time and some even before we get the bill. We use to be late all the time so we are thankful for being able to do this now but I see how hard my husband works and that he's been working since he was 8 years old and helping out his family at that time too! ( alcoholic father ) There are things I would love for him to be able to do or buy and he wonders if we aren't able to because we don't tithe. We do look at the fact that there are plenty of people in the Morman church that are proserous, and we know that is not God blessing them, but do you have anything else to help us understand this?
Editor: Dear reader, if you do not know how this feels, thank God. There are people in this world who live under terror of devils attacking them, as in Africa, for not doing just the right series of works. There are very civilized people who believe God is an ogre in the sky who demands his cut before he will hand back a blessing. The most evil thing about this is to see these people measuring their blessings by other Christians. In fact, their poverty may well be more precious to our Father in heaven. Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Being poor is not a curse, it is a blessing. Then there is the Apostle Paul-- Philippians 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Maybe abundance will come soon, but for now, rest, thank God for enough.
I told him what I read on your site but he sees coworkers whom he feels are saved and " being blessed". Again, not complaining about what we have but we are wondering if we are not budgeting correctly. We need a newer car and it will be years before that happens where as others are doing it no problem. I told him that maybe they have alot of debt which we have only a little.
Editor: RIGHT! Half of being well off is being out of dept. Being in debt is to be enslaved.
What a great feeling. ( We absolutely want it to stay that way) We also want to give money as God wants us too. Is giving to needy people doing that?
Editor: Lord have mercy! Do you see the result of teaching tithing at the church house. Someone in the neighborhood of these people may be in poverty and struggling, and these folks cannot give them a cent. This is not because they are not sensitive, you can tell they are from the letter-- it is because they are enslaved to a top down system where a man, not Jesus Christ, rules in their heart. What is needed here is anonymous giving. They need to start giving cash only at the church house, and they need to ask the Lord to show them a needy Christian or neighbor whom they can touch for Christ. Their kids are not learning the joy of giving because all the cash goes into a round wooden plates on Sunday, not into hungry hands.
We don't have a problem giving money but also feel it's better for the poor than for the brick. Thank you for your time and sorry this has been such long e-mail. ( More than you know since my wrist is broke)
Editor: One more thought-- When you make giving into a brick, that is, when cash giving is given a practical application, that brick tells the giver that the Church of Jesus Christ is real estate. There are many subtle heresies about giving today, as taught by these hireling Balaams called preachers.
Thank you and God Bless you for your site.
George and D.
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LETTER FROM A READER
Thanks for the great article on "tithing"
We will look at the other links as well. We are on David Cloud's Newsletter, even though we don't agree with everything he says, such as the tithing issue. A recent article he sent out was about the SBC recanting their idea to take their children out of public schools. We wrote to suggest another reason why the SBC pastors don't want their sheep educating their children privately. This is what he said. (His article is below)
> FROM THE MARTIN'S TO DAVID CLOUD: How true your observations are.
> Another reason the preachers of the SBC don't want their people to
> homeschool or send them to Christian school is because it will hurt them
> big-time in the bank account! Not many people can afford to "tithe" and also
> pay for their children's education-- so the precious children will just have
> to suffer. That is why we do NOT believe in "tithing"-- it forces burdens on
> the sheep "grievous to be borne" (Matt 23:4) that prevents them from
> providing for their own needs, esp. their own children. Giving the NT way
> removes this heavy burden. 2 Cor. 9:7: "Every man according as he purposeth
> in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God
> loveth a cheerful giver."
> The Martin's______________________________________________
FROM DAVID CLOUD:
Hello.
Thanks for taking the time to write. I understand what you are saying, but I can't agree with your observations about tithing. The vast majority of people that I know personally who have tithed faithfully to the Lord's work in sound Bible-believing churches have been blessed of God and have been able to educate their children on top of that. Lk. 6:38.
Editor: David Cloud is a heretic. This man, who knows the Word of God extremely well, has NO excuse for teaching tithing when he knows it is not in the New Testament teaching to the Church. David Cloud is a slave to Baptist traditions, NOT Jesus Christ!
_______________________________
The M_________s respond to Cloud's comments:
I don't know who he "knows", but it has been our experience that the "vast majority" canNOT afford to do both, or even if they could they were living next to poverty level, doing without a lot of things including medical/dental care, especially for the wife--she is always the one that goes without her needs being met. We "tithed" faithfully and homeschooled until we found out the truth about it several years ago. We were doing without a LOT of things and worse, we were not able to help members of our own family or Christian neighbors/friends as much as we wanted to. We could sure use the money now as our son has special needs that we were not fully aware of back then.
But will that church help us with our "burden" after we were faithful to it? No. Will any of those working so hard for the church System help us with baby-sitting so we can have a reasonably normal marriage? Again, NO. (So where does the "blessing" come in???) We have no family in the area, and it has been our experience that no matter how "faithful" you are to tithing to the system, no one will help you unless of course, you are one of their special picks. And in order to get to be considered as one of the special picks, you have to be completely active in the choir, Sunday school teacher, etc. If you are disabled with disabled children and cannot perform all of the "required works" then too bad--you are basically ignored--the System just keeps going, with or without you.
Even if you are totally active for 30 years or more, that is no guarantee that you will get visited in the retirement home after your husband becomes stricken with Alzheimer's-- as what happened to one friend's parents. She was very upset that her pArents had done all of the "required works" only to be ignored when they could no longer attend due to her dad's condition (her mom had problems too). That is when she was more receptive to having a few things explained about the "system" to her, including tithing. It really is a GREAT EVIL.
In Christ,
The M__________
Fundamentalists love to twist and emend the Word of God in order to stuff tithing into Church life.
As to the letter of the people writing us, the following observations:
1. When a middle to lower middle income family tithes, home schools, and does not use birth control, as some pastors teach, they will be beggars and never have decent health care. I am sick of right wing Fundamental blabber mouths bellyaching about socialized medicine and Social Security while they sheer the sheep so close they are naked financially. These preachers sure take care of their fat belly when they hear a growl down yonder. The have health benefits from the church budget. Then the scum bags call for "Faith Promise Giving," which violates Apostolic teaching. The standard Fundamental preacher answer is to cite families who are blessed who did the whole program. That proves nothing. What does the Bible teach in the New Testament.
2. The issue of the old folks being neglected is very real. Also, who takes care of those missionaries after they are old and cannot go back to Bangladesh? Let them rot. That is the practical reality of what 95% of all Fundamental preachers do. I have seen this. It is ONLY the Bible Church movement that takes care of its old folks. These preachers can rant and rave about the Bible Churches, but the practical lesson I learn from watching them and judging them by their works, tells me that they are animals. They lust for the cash flow. They have dreams all right, and they are self-serving.
3. The other issue these slow bellies don't want to deal with is that tithing in the Old Testament was from the "increase." That means that if we are to grab tithing law, and wrest it around the cross into the Church Age, we should only ask for a tithe of the net, NOT the gross. For a farmer, that means the increase of added cattle and sheep, and the increase after the cost of seed and other farming expenses. Fundamental preachers could not possibly satisfy their bellies and grand schemes to build a great looking resume on a mere tithe of the net. So, shame and guilt is used to force that issue in sermons.
David Cloud is only remembering the upper middle class saints he has known. Or, David Cloud and his church family make sure the beggars and losers of their city don't get invited to come to Christ and the church house. I have seen this all too often. Build your church from the upper middle class, and tithing will work, well, sort of. I attend a church where there are people who, rather than tithe, need help from the rest of us from time to time. If we lived right, I gather we would run those people off by thrashing them soundly so they either left or tithed their food stamps, right. We take WIC, right?
Cloud quotes the following verse above:
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
This has nothing to do with tithing. Cloud is playing tricks like all Baptist offering collectors. He cannot find tithing in the New Testament, so he implies that if the giver tithes legally, under Moses law protocols, good things will happen to that giver. This is Mother Goose exegesis. Read that again please.
I personally have heard many stories of families who tried to tithe, home school, and have unrestrained babies, and these are stories of sorrow and guilt. Often the father sits down one day and considers what has happened to him. He quickly becomes bitter, and the family is gone. The preacher knows in his soul what happened, and mark it down, that preacher will NEVER be seen near that family's home trying to bring them back to the fellowship. May I suggest that if you are in this situation, get out. Go find a church where the preacher works on the side, like you, in the real world. Ask the man right up front if he teaches legal tithing. If he does, keep moving. It is time to walk away from this brutal Nazi jack boot mob who rend and maim sheep. When is the last time you had a vacation? When did you last take your WHOLE FAMILY (not just your wife) out for dinner? You, sir, better start making room to show your kids that God is NOT the belly of that jack boot Baptist, Fundamental, or Pentecostal preacher with an offering plate in his hand.
Let me show you, FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT, something you NEVER heard of from a Fundamental preacher, not the sweetest one you know.
Exodus
36:1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the
LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the
service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.
2
And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart
the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto
the work to do it:
3 And they received of Moses all the offering, which the
children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to
make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.
4 And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every
man from his work which they made;
5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The
people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD
commanded to make.
6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be
proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more
work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
You never knew a Fundamental, Holiness, Pentecostal, or any other brand of preacher, who did not have another need just waiting to be met. NEVER. Did you ever hear of a preacher telling the people there would be no offering this Sunday because we don't need it? NEVER! Collecting money is a major, if not THE major, event in a preacher's life. Ask any sinner at any bar in town what preachers do to justify their existence. They will tell you, "They ask for money." That is the indictment of the lost against the Lord Jesus Christ-- we are accused of being shylocks for God. AND, we ARE!
You preachers justify yourselves by saying that your good is evil spoken of because of the hardness of the heart of the sinners who accuse you. Well, preacher, how about finding something better to get yourself accused of?
When is the last time you visited a Fundamental Bible believing church where they collected the offering with an offering box at the door? Do you know why this Old Testament method is not used? Answer: You cannot intimidate people with an offering box. They can walk right by it and not be noticed. They have to WANT to give with an offering box. I dare you, preacher, to use the offering box. We did in Michigan, and we had all that time lost to passing plates when we could sing more and give testimonies. And, the visiting sinners could not accuse us of making a big thing of giving. Do you know what happened? Answer: Giving increased. You don't believe that of course. You want to sit on the platform and keep an eye on those givers, right? You blasted Pope.
Now, Dad, go do the right thing. Start taking care of your family better, and tithe cash to those in need, and the folks mentioned above in the nursing home. Drop cash in the offering plate from time to time, but never again let some sorry beggar in a double breasted suit take your babies' blessing away. When you give at the church house, give cash, never a check, and fold it so the nosy deacon watching you does not know what you gave. If you ever hear that the preacher is playing tricks with the cash flow, change churches at once. You are financing a thief. If the deacons ever agree to make a load to ANYONE in the assembly for someone you know is a crook or lazy, stop giving at that church. Give food and gas-- avoid giving cash to people in need who have gotten there by arrogance, covetousness, or laziness. If you have a greedy preacher, give only food and tangibles to that church.
There is a time to deal directly with a slow bellied preacher, especially the ones who will not work on the side and have a big belly. If you can think of something direct and legal to threaten the bums, do it. If they come to your house looking for money, get your shot gun out, put it in their back, and make the creep pull weeds in your flower bed for an hour. Then, feed him, pulse only, and send him packing.
It is the end of the Times of the Gentiles, and some Gentiles are in dire need of rehabilitation, especially at the church house.
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MODEST PROPOSAL:
May I suggest something for some preacher to do. This will take nerve, faith, and some grace to receive back some nasty stuff. One of you preachers take a wad of about 20 ten dollar bills to a big bar in town. Walk in, start handing out the ten dollar bills, and in a big voice tell them something like this;
"I know we preachers have a bad reputation of begging for money. I cannot make the other preachers in town do the right thing, but I just wanted to do something tonight to convince you I don't need your money. I don't need your money so bad that I am proving it right now. If you think you might like to know what other crazy sort of things I might do, come see us this Sunday night at 7:00, and you will find out. I am sorry I didn't have enough to give every one of you something, but please be our guest Sunday evening. We are not the same old sort of church you are used to."
Be sure to tell them what church you are from, and walk out. Don't give them a tract-- just do it and walk off. If it does not work well the first time, do it again in another bar in the area. Take a deacon to witness that you did not compromise yourself in a bar.
Another variation would be to walk into a bar with a deacon, NOT looking preachy. Sit down, order coffee, and strike up a conversation. Try to get to someone sober, and work the conversation around to churches and preachers. Ask the man what he thinks of preachers. When one of the men tells you they all want money, STRIKE. Take $40 out of your pocket, and say, "That is what I wanted to hear. I cannot change everyone's mind about that, but I intend to change yours. Here is $40 for you to spend any way you like. Come see us some time at ____________________ Church."
Do these tricks as near to your church location as possible so the impact is in your neighborhood. Pick the bar that is manly, not topless, and not queer, or pick a supper club type. Perhaps you cannot see doing this in a place that sells alcohol. On the other hand, there have been a lot of street preachers who preached in bars. So, do this at the barber shop or where ever the sinners are likely to be accusing pastors of being money lovers.
Make sure the word gets out to the local newspaper and radio station. On Sunday night, have a buffet ready for all visitors, and DO NOT take an offering.
Terrifying, is it not?
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JAY CROSBY STRIKES AGAIN-- Some interesting observations
Hi, Steve!
I've been re-reading the TITHING article, and another thought popped into my head when I was going over your listing of "tricks" these preachers use to fleece the flock.
The one I remember Falwell being especially guilty of was his line, "We've taken a step of faith..." as he touted some proposed new building, TV station, whatever.
Now, what that TRANSLATES to is, "We've gone out with nobody's permission but our own, and obligated ourselves to the teeth, and we expect YOU idiots to pay for it!"
When I ask for a verse in the NT that teaches tithing, I get the same look when I ask them to show me a single verse where anyone is called "Reverend" so-and-so, or for that matter "Brother" so-and-so. (The only one I am aware of ever to be called "Brother" so-and-so by name in the Bible is the single reference to Saul [Acts 9:17], while he was yet unconverted.)
Uh-oh! Here I go! I'm old enough to where every story reminds me of another story!
Years ago I was watching JIMMY SWAGGART. (I must have been pretty desperate for entertainment!) Anyway, the entire half-hour program was him standing in front of this chart graph with his pointer, showing how various areas of giving had fallen off. You know the drill: "This is a work of God, but if we don't hear from you this week we'll be gone by month's end!"
Oh, Boo hoo HOO!
Anyway, as I said, the show was head-to-foot nothing but Swaggart grinding on the suckers to send in their money.
Then, as if to add insult to injury, at the end of the thing, Swaggart says, "Well, neighbor (and I ain't his neighbor; no way could I afford to live in the neighborhood he resides in!), I hope the progrum has blessed you tudday."
HOW?!
What a joke.
Then there was the time that other crybaby REX HUMBARD came on and announced tearfully (of course) that he wanted everyone just this one time to send him their tithe!
I fired off a letter asking him if he realized how many small fellowships across the land he would wipe out that month just so he could buy his no-talent old bag wife a new face lift?
Mercy!
Now, a tale I may have already related:
I'm known as a man who is somewhat hard to take. (I'm sure you can relate.) But years ago I heard an old preacher say something that has really stuck. He was explaining some verses from 1 Thess concerning the Blessed Hope of the church, and he stopped right in the middle of what he was doing, peered over his glasses and said, "You know, bless your heart, Beloved, I'm not much interested in your OPINION. In fact, I say TO PERDITION WITH YOUR OPINION--WHAT does the Word of GOD say?"
Amen.
The other thing that really jumped out and grabbed me when I was just a brand new believer was something I read in the 119th Pslam, verse 128:
Psalms 119:128 "Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way. "
Double Amen!!
J
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Parting shot:
You preachers who run back to the "beggarly elements" of Moses' law to enforce the tithing laws, may I suggest that you keep ALL the law?
Where is your feces paddle? That too is required by Moses' Old Testament law. That too, like tithing, is not in the New Testament. I can send you a first class feces paddle for the low low price of $45.95, and you can carry that paddle around with pride, knowing that you are a good old fashioned law keeper. You should also add a special Sunday, as you do to promote Faith Promise giving, to have a feces paddle revival. Get those people carrying that thing to work without shame. Hang one in the old Ford so that people will start to talk around town about your zeal for the Lord. How about hanging a feces paddle on one side of the church house and a shofar on the other? Best Hebrew Roots show in town!
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LINKS:
Here is a great book on tithing, the Old Covenant and the New
See another Article at this Journal on Tithing
Good book on Tighing you can read on the Web
Pilgrim's Brazen Regress to Olt Testament Law
Faith Promise is a Program you can Buy
How E.L. Bynum Slammed his Church with Faith Promise
Here you see the logic of "it works, so it must be of God."