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By Patricia Backora
Law is the stick approach. Law says you MUST tithe or God will
put a hex on you. Principle is the carrot approach. Principle
says you OUGHT to tithe, because tithing is (allegedly) one of Gods
foundational operating procedures, and a vital key for unlocking His
blessings. But that polished preacherese is really a thinly veiled
threat that youll be reduced to rags if you dont fork over ten
percent of your milk money to the bully in the pulpit.
Preachers post non-tithers names to bulletin boards. Preachers call
out their names from a high-and-mighty pulpit. Preachers appeal to
alleged visits to hell to scare tithes out of people. Jesus allegedly
locks non-tithers up in pits to be tortured, with big placards on their
chest announcing theyre roasting in hell for not coughing up the
cash. Why would the REAL Jesus wait till after Christians have
croaked and gone to hell to notify them Hes punishing them for
failure to keep a monetary tithing law that isnt EXACTLY written in
the Bible, but He changed His mind when the Catholics started
doing it and thought it was a great idea? HORSEFEATHERS! Jesus
never even hinted that heaven is for sale. Throughout His life, Jesus
denounced vain manmade traditions and stuck with It is written
(Matt.15:3; 16:6; Mark 7:13). He told the Pharisees that they made
the true Word of God ineffectual because of their vain traditions.
Preachers even punish the dead. I read about one elderly lady
whod faithfully tithed to her church for most of her life. In her later
years she was unable to do this and still meet her basic living
expenses. Filled with very un-Christlike resentment, the preacher
took malicious revenge on her by refusing to preach her funeral!
Who would want that mean old devils sendoff anyhow?
Maybe Jesus did nail the Law of Moses to His Cross, preachers
grudgingly admit, but heres how they wiggle out of that: Nowhere
does it say He nailed Gods principles to the Cross. Oh, preachers
spin lies into cotton candy like a polished politician. Even if New
Testament tithing isnt a binding law, per se, its still a principle
God made part and parcel of nature, like the law of sowing and
reaping, and youd better respect tithing like the law of gravity.
After all, preachers say, the law of gravity will still kill you even if
you dont believe in it and jump off a cliff. Notice, a violated
principle will exact its penalty.
What a crock! My dictionary defines principle as: scientific LAW
shown or used in the working of something. A law by any other
name is still a law, whatever the preacher calls it. Call the tithe a
principle, but if something looks like a law, sounds like a law,
smells like a law, barks orders at you like a law, and punishes you
for failure to observe it, its a law!
Oily-tongued tithe teachers claim that even if God isnt (exactly)
mad at you for non-tithing, He is BOUND by universal law NOT to
bless you unless you fork over a fixed percentage of your pay to the
preacher. Even if youre too smart to get the Law of Moses put back
on you, who can argue with the dark side of the force?
That preachers would say these things about that same Almighty
God Who is Lord over all and isnt bound by ANYTHING! Our
merciful Heavenly Father Who makes rain to fall on lost sinners!
That kind, faithful Creator Who blesses the birds with food every
single day!
Can you imagine God threatening to nuke little
songbirds if they dont sell a bait shop some of the worms they
catch and pay some preacher ten per cent of the proceeds?
Jesus plainly declared that the same God Who feeds the birds who
dont sow or reap, or lay up in storehouses, will also take care of us
because He loves us even more than the birds (Matt.6:26).
All this rhetoric from preachers about the need for us to sow seed
into THEIR sinis.I mean, MINISTRY! If we keep sowing to THEM,
on THEIR land, were sure to rake in big bucks on OUR land!
What Jesus said about the birds NOT gathering crops into barns
contradicts everything preachers holler about hauling tons of loot to
the church house.
If God doesnt curse birds that dont fill up a
storehouse with grain, then God doesnt curse Christians who dont
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Thats how you keep the Fat Cats in the pulpit fat.
Birds dont earn favors from God that way, and neither should we.
At various church conferences I attended many years ago, Brother
Stan, the keynote speaker who hosted the convention, emphasized
over and over that we are to live our lives according to the Gospel
of Paul, who repeatedly said were free from the Law. Galatians 5:1
was one of Stans favorite Scriptures: Stand fast therefore in the
liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. My, but we loved that, and it is so
true. And: Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death.
Such Scriptures as these were the foundation of Stans teaching on
grace in the New Testament. The paradox is this: Stan spent most
of his time expounding on Old Testament Tabernacle ordinances. I
took copious notes. I struggled to remember every ritual, every
priestly office, every stick of furniture and every court in the
Tabernacle as if my spiritual life depended on it. Thank God it is so
simple to get saved, all it takes is repentance toward God and
childlike faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Thats the
Gospel in a nutshell, and its far more wonderful than any of us can
fully comprehend.
Stan spoke of Gods divine order for Old Testament worship and
practice being a pattern for todays church. His examples made
sense, such as the brass laver in Exodus 30:18-19 in which the
priests washed their hands and feet before going into the Presence
of God to offer up sacrifices. Brass speaks of our sin nature, and
the laver speaks of the washing of water by the Word (Eph. 5:26).
When applied to our hearts through repentance and faith in Christ,
the Word of God does indeed cleanse our outward walk, typified by
the feet, and our hands, which perform Gods service. Another
picture of redemption was the sprinkling of blood upon the doors of
the Israelites homes at Passover. That ordinance speaks of the
sprinkling of the Blood of Christ upon our consciences to make us
blameless before God, so we can be spared His judgment (Hebrews
9:12-14).
Teaching on the Old Testament Mosaic Tabernacle is very beneficial
when it is presented as a picture of Gods beautiful plan for our
salvation, which, like a photographic negative being developed to a
positive, was fully developed when Christ came to earth to make
final atonement for us on the Cross. That is how Brother Stan
presented the principles of Gods salvation to us. He had a sweet,
childlike nature, and I enjoyed his teaching. Even if Stan did teach
a Mid-Trib position on the Rapture, which I now disagree with,
because you cant split the true Body of Christ in two, otherwise
that would be a RUPTURE, not a rapture. And after all that teaching
about how salvation is not by works but grace, how do you
determine whether youve done enough good works (or lived a
saintly enough life) to earn the Rapture? This notion has something
in common with my main topic: tithing.
Hows that? Preachers make exceptions to the rule whenever it
suits their purpose. Preachers agree with the ancient apostles that
you ARE free from the Lawwell, except for tithing, because even if
Jesus paid your sin bill, you still need to leave a tip to avoid looking
like a bum, and theres something in it for preachers too. Similarly,
preachers teach that salvation is by grace through faith alone, and
works have nothing to do with earning or keeping it. Sinners come
just as they are and get saved.
God freely forgives them,
throughout their Christian life, without demanding that they flog
themselves to earn this forgiveness. But once you reach the FINAL
stage of salvation, the salvation and perfection of our body at the
Rapture (Rom. 8:23; 13:11; I Cor.15:52-57), that has to be earned
by good works or you get punished by going through the
Tribulation, where god will use the Antichrist to give you a good
whipping for failure to be good enough to go up in the first load. As
if suffering through famine, disease plagues, and nuclear warfare
would teach a left-behinded believer to love Jesus better! I suspect
the reason the Rapture has to be earned by good works and the
other phases of our salvation are a free gift, is this: the final part of
our salvation, our glorification, is the only period in our Christian life
that doesnt involve any suffering, and control freak preachers cant
stand to see their people happy and free of troubles and trials!
In Stans meetings a box was kept near the door of the
Tabernacle, where you could discreetly contribute any amount,
according to how the Lord led you. I dont remember Stan
mentioning tithing much, but his father did actively teach tithing,
which Paul, whose Gospel they exhorted us to follow, never taught.
After much study, I found tithing to be a carryover from the Law of
Moses, transformed into a lucrative income tax to be enforced upon
New Covenant saints redeemed from the Law.
Over and over again, I heard it preached that you shouldnt eat the
tithe. But during all the years I heard Stan and his dad cite endless
passages on Old Testament Law and Mosaic rituals, why did I NOT
ONCE hear them quote this passage on tithing:
Deuteronomy 14: 22-27 deals with the Festival Tithe, one of three
tithes paid by the Israelite worshipper.
VERSE 22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase (harvest) of thy
seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.****Not which thy
boss payeth thee week by week.
VERSE 23 And thou ( the tithe-payer!) shalt EAT before the LORD
thy God, in the place which He shall chose to place His name there,
the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy olive oil, and of the
firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to
fear the LORD thy God always.*****Funny how its the other way
around with modern preachers, who insist that God will teach you to
fear Him by zapping you like a fly if you dont tithe.
VERSE 24 introduces the ONLY context in all of Holy Scripture where
money is mentioned in conjunction with tithing! Lets read. And if
the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or
if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall
choose to set His Name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed
thee;
VERSE 25 Then thou shalt turn it into money, and bind up the
money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy
God shalt choose:
VERSE 26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy
soul lusteth after; for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong
drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and THOU SHALT EAT
there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thy
household,
VERSE 27 And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not
forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee (in the
Promised Land).
Take special note of verse 26. God Himself suggests that the
worshipper purchase wine and strong drink with money from the
sale of farm produce! Scandalous! Even if most preachers did
quote this scripture, theyd suggest that God meant spiritual wine
while still keeping the tithe literal and changing it to money!
The church system I was affiliated with taught that while it may not
exactly be a sin to drink per se, wed better be teetotallers, even
though Old Testament saints drank wine and so did Jesus, Who was
accused of being a winebibber and a glutton (Luke 7:34). One
church brother was spotted in a restaurant with his wife, celebrating
their wedding anniversary over a glass of wine. The spy told the
pastor, who disqualified this brother from being a candidate for
church elder, just for one wicked glass of wine! That pastor taught
both liberation from the Old Law and compulsory tithing at the same
time. He thought that it was a sin to drink even the mildest
alcoholic beverages, because that was being a bad example before
weaker brethren. But Jesus drank wine. His very first miracle was
to turn water into wine (John 2:1-11). He even promised to drink
the fruit of the vine with His people in the world to come (Mark
14:25). Deut.14:26 encourages worshippers to purchase choice
foods and strong drink with tithes the tither converted to money,
which he would do only when his tithed farm produce could not be
transported over a long distance. The only way legalists could cook
up todays tithing law was to appeal to religious sentiment and
mysticism, not early apostolic authority. If youre going to lay down
the tithing law on New Testament saints, show some fidelity to
Scripture, for goodness sake. If one tithing ordinance is binding
upon the saints, they ALL are! So let the tithers go out and buy a
six-pack with their tithe money and hold a big party of thanksgiving
to God in the church fellowship hall.
If these verses are mentioned at all, theyre given a spiritual
application. Yes, we can bring forth both the Old Wine and the New
Wine to convey truth (Matt. 13:52; Luke 5:37-39). The danger lies
in pouring old wine (typified by the Old Covenant) into new bottles
(Christians are containers of the New Wine of the Spirit). While the
Old Tabernacle System is a beautiful illustration of the spiritual
reality of the New Covenant fulfilled in Christ, the danger of
focusing too much on the Old Law lies in immersing your mind in
mysticism and weaving new doctrines and ordinances from Old
Covenant laws you like or find profitable.
That denies the
foundational doctrine of the New Covenant: Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the Law (which results from imperfect lawkeeping):(Gal. 3:13). As many as are under the works of the Law
are under this curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
continueth not in ALL things whch are written in the book of the Law
to do them (verse 10). James 2:10 states that if you try to keep the
Law and offend in JUST ONE POINT of it, youve broken it all. Just
like when the teacher would say, If part of that test question is
answered incorrectly, its ALL wrong! NOBODY ON EARTH tithes
the Bible way today, because most of the old ordinances which
comprise this law are violated! Theres no Biblical Levites to take
the tithe (Num.18:24), no Temple storehouse to take it to
(Mal.3:10; no,the church treasury wont do), the poor arent given
the whole tithe every third year (Deut.14:28-29), tithes arent
taken from crops and cattle (Lev.27:30-34), and the worshipper is
forbidden to eat his tithe (Deut.14:26). Although a fifty-dollar bill
FESTIVAL TITHE
POOR TITHE
PRIESTS TITHE
Paid
Yearly, by farmers and
herdsmen, except for
Sabbatical years
(Num.18:21)
Yearly, By farmers and
herdsmen (some scholars
believe it wasnt paid
during years of Poor Tithe)
Every third and sixth year
of seven-year tithing cycle
by farmers and herdsmen
(Deut.14:28-29)
Yearly, by the Levites, to
the Aaronic priesthood.
The choicest ten per cent
heaved out of the tithes
they received from the
people (Num.18:25-32)
How used
Stored in Levitical Cities
(Lev.25:32) to feed Levites
and their families
(Neh.10:37)
Hauled to place of worship
and immediately EATEN BY
WORSHIPPER and others
(Deut.14:22-27)
Laid up within Israels city
gates as emergency supply
of food for Levites and
poor people
ONLY kind brought to
Temple storehouses! Fed
priests who worked rotating
shifts (Mal.3:10; I Chron.
Chap.24; Luke 1:8)
Stan and his father went into minute detail about all the Old
Testament ceremonial rituals, quoting countless chapters and
verses, and deriving the deepest spiritual analogies from them.
EXCEPT THE TITHING PASSAGES! Why would they preach about
Christ fulfilling the Firstfruits ritual of Israel, the Scapegoat ritual,
the Passover Lamb offering, and the Firstfruits offering (1
Cor.15;20), then turn around and tell believers to tithe?
After hours spent roaming through old Temple ordinances and
picking apart verses on every other Mosaic Temple rite under a
microscope, why would Stan skip over those TITHING PASSAGES
which show what the tithe was ON, WHO paid it, WHO benefited
from it, and how OFTEN tithing was to be conducted? After making
circumcision spiritual ONLY, the incense of the Temple spiritual
ONLY, and seeing the sacrificial Lamb fulfilled in Christ, why was
tithing the exception to the rule, to be literally kept by Gentile
believers who didnt farm for a living? After making an exhaustive
effort to give a spiritual application to every other Mosaic Temple
ritual, WHY WERE THE TITHES OF THE TEMPLE STOREHOUSE
TRANSFORMED INTO LITERAL CASH MONEY? Why is tithing the
ONLY Mosaic law carried over into the Dispensation of Grace? Talk
about pick-and-choose theology!
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If the preacher is fully aware the Bible does NOT sanction monetary
tithing, perhaps his reasoning goes like this: John Q. Pew-warmer
is parking his caboose in OUR padded pews, in OUR high-tech sheep
shed, financed by OUR church organization. Hes enjoying OUR air
conditioning, OUR plush carpeting, OUR free entertainment, OUR
scenic landscaping, OUR angelic choir directed by OUR $75,000 per
year choir director, and last, but not least, he enjoys MY tender
teaching FREE of charge. Id say that suckers getting a bargain,
paying only ten per cent rent on his salvation. Because if it werent
for ME watching over his ignorant, second-class soul, hed have
drifted off to the Moonies a long time ago and LOST his salvation.
For all their hollering and screaming about bringing tithes into the
lords (the church boards) house, preachers never mention this
minor point: only the LEVITES, not the people, were commanded to
bring tithes into the Temple storehouses!
Anyone who
impersonated a Levite and did his job for him would have been put
to death (Num.1:51; 3:10; 3:38).
Neh.10:38: And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the
Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the LEVITES shall bring
up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the
chambers, into the treasure house.
The bulk of Israels tithes were either eaten by the worshipper,
Levites and the poor at the feasts of Israel, or stored in the towns
for feeding Levites, foreigners and poor widows. Only ten per cent
of that tithed produce (or one per cent of Israels agricultural
output) was ever taken into the Temple storehouses, and that went
to feed the priests on duty. This best ten per cent of the ten per
cent was called the Terumah, or heave offering, because it was
heaved (carefully selected) out of the rest of the tithe, which was
eaten by lower-ranking Levites and their families.
Num.18:25: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
26 Thus speak unto the Levites (not the common worshippers),
and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes
which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye
shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part
of the tithe.
27 And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as
though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of
the winepress.
28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD
of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel;
and ye shall give thereof the LORD'S heave offering to Aaron the
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his brick and mortar palace. I Pet.2:5 and 1 Cor.3:16 tells you what
(who) the REAL house of the Lord is!
Because Gods people have been pounded over the head with
Malachi 3:10 billions of times, this liberating truth cant be
emphasized enough:, the ONLY type of tithe which was EVER
brought into the Temple storehouses was the Terumah, or heave
offering, the choicest one-tenth of the tithe, PAID NOT BY THE
PEOPLE, BUT THE LEVITES THEMSELVES!
God gave the Law to the Children of Israel, not other nations
(Lev.27:34; Psalms 147:20). JEWS IN GENTILE LANDS DONT
COLLECT MONEY TITHES, or any other type of tithe. According to
Pastor Craig Lyons of Bet Emet Ministries, Rabbinic law still requires
the tithing of produce OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL. Some observant
Jews will tithe on produce they have bought from other Jews. Theyll
say a ritual Jewish blessing over it, and then destroy the terumah
(theres no high priest in Israel today to feed it to). Rabbi Avraham
Yeshayahu Karelitz devised a formula whereby all the different
tithes are merged, and one per cent of the produce is set aside,
with its sanctity transferred to a specially minted coin. Since tithes
are no longer distributed to priests and Levites (there arent any
officiating today since the Temple hasnt been rebuilt), theyre sent
to various zoos in Israel.
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probably THE most hurtful heresy satan has snuck into the Body of
Christ to scuttle its unity in the love of Jesus. Tithing exacerbates
the rich/poor divide in the church and causes fear, spiritual bullying,
hard feelings, poverty, resentment and loss of poorer members who
need to eat and pay their rent.
Church tithing hinders the spread of the Gospel of Christ because
some sinners figure theyve got enough bills to pay and dont need
anymore.
They dont have enough cash to follow the poor
Carpenter of Nazareth Who had nowhere to lay His head. Its
cheaper to sit home and meditate.
Preachers yell and scream about how negligent parents are to train
up their children properly, and how Americas family life is all shot
to hell because nobody likes to drag their dead carcass out of bed
on their ONLY day off to go to church to take a whipping from their
spiritual dad. And while theyre hollering for families to pray
together and spend quality time together, preachers urge people to
work themselves to death to earn tithing money for the church
nobody can afford. Evidently, preachers flunked math. Theres only
24 hours in a day, and if parents have to work 2 jobs apiece to be
able to tithe and still pay the bills, their kids must do their own child
training. Not everybody can afford to ride horses or go to Jesus
theme parks with their kids.
Speaking of training, preachers justify tithing on the grounds its
the training wheels of giving. Their logic is, that just like training
wheels protect you from falling off, you cant help but give the
minimum amount acceptable to the preachers god, ten per cent.
Why? Because youre afraid NOT to give at least that much. Its in
your own self-interest to fork it over. Malachi 3:9 sees to that! Who
wants to be cursed by God Almighty for paying their bills with their
disability check instead of tithing? Which opens up another can of
worms: Government welfare, disability checks, or food stamps are
meant specifically as emergency support for jobless people or those
too sick to work. When the preacher demands a cut of someones
welfare, hes not only endangering the health of the giver, hes
defrauding the taxpayer who may not even believe in his religion,
and may not even want his tax dollars to save his ministry! Guiltmongering preacher, put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!
And as for that training wheels analogy, theyve got it wrong. Not
only is Tithing is the training wheels of giving found nowhere in
scripture, a better way to put it would be: Tithing is the training
wheels of law-keeping. Malachi, as misused by the preachers,
instills FEAR, the ONLY cattle prod that will drive a Christian to try
to keep any laws the preacher feels like burdening him with.
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If anybodys a lazy bum mooching off the saints, its those firebreathing dragons in the pulpit who curse Gods people for tithes so
THEY dont have to bust their buns at some crummy factory. If they
had to blister their soft hands making burlap tents like Paul (Acts
18:1-3), or clean up after cranky customers all day long at some
greasy burger joint, theyd sit up and beg even louder for tithes!
Preachers could care less whether some poor widow can afford
winter fuel or prescription medicine. Let them eat cat food so long
as the tithes keep rolling in!
Just like the Pharisees fiddled with Gods laws to make them more
burdensome to keep, preachers think its a good idea to improve on
Gods old tithing law, no matter how many Christians fall from grace
because of law-keeping (Gal.5:4).
The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 has been a gold mine
for tithe teachers who threaten Christians that satan will leap out of
their closets at night and haunt them if they dont pay up.
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Preachers just love Ananias and Sapphira. But they tend to ignore
the full context which starts at the end of Acts 4, that all believers
shared what they had with one another and no one lacked for the
necessities of life. Conservative preachers hate that part, it sounds
too much like socialism. Theyll read Acts 5, verses 1, 2, 3, and 5,
but skip over verse 4 where Peter plainly says that the money
belonged to Ananias, not the church, before he gave it. That verse
demolishes the preachers argument that Ananias ALREADY owed
money to the church. Tithing appears NOWHERE in this context!
This story has a far better application. Just as Ananias held back
part of the price of the land after pledging it all, preachers hold back
part of the truth which could set Gods people free. Preachers KNOW
tithing is no longer in force because the law which commanded
tithing has passed away (Heb.8:13). Although preachers damn nontithers to hell, and threaten them with ALLEGED posthumous visions
of special tortures reserved for them there, Jesus Himself said
other MATTERS OF THE LAW were weightier, or more important than
tithing, which was included in that body of Mosaic law (Matt.23:23).
Despite lack of SCRIPTURAL evidence that preachers have been
divinely invested with any authority to resurrect that defunct law
and CHANGE it into an additional tax burden, preachers make a
dogs dinner out of scripture to justify religious theft from hungry,
poverty-stricken people.
God probably gets more irked by
withholding truth than withholding money that never was owed in
the first place!
Jesus mentions tithing only three (3) times in the New Testament,
and all three appear in a negative context: Jesus lambastes selfrighteous Pharisees who think their good works make them appear
holier than others before God. One passage is Luke 18:9-14 where
A haughty Pharisee stands before God and brags that he is better
than the sinner standing next to him. In verse 12 he boasts: I fast
twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Fasting and
tithing. Two tortures which feed self-righteousness. By the time of
Christ, the Pharisees had added an innumerable multitude of new
ordinances to the Scroll of the Law given to Moses by God.
As Jesus parable showed, Pharisees tithed on everything from A to
Z, not just on agricultural products, as decreed by the Law. While
in Babylonian Captivity, the doctors of the Law doctored up the Law.
They added extra days of obligatory fasting to Gods calendar. My,
how holy such self-denial made them appear to people! No apostle
commands, or even suggests, that Gentile believers need to fast to
butter God up so Hell answer their prayers. Like the Pharisees New
and Improved
tithing law, compulsory religious fasting is an
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Until that poor widow weighs as much as the fat preacher, hes got
no business hitting her up for tithes.
If you depend on tithing to help you stay righteous before a holy
God, or practice
tithing in observance of the Mosaic tithing
ordinance, you are taking down an ordinance which Christ nailed to
His Cross (Col. 2:14). In doing so you deny that Jesus blood is
insufficient to maintain you in sanctification after salvation. Actions
speak louder than words where it concerns faith in Gods Word.
Tithing legalists quote that slogan all the time to get people to part
with their money. But tithing under the Old Covenant is an act of
faith that works of the Law can keep one righteous, which it cannot
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do. Tithing is included among the works of the Law which cannot
justify a believer in the sight of God.
Salvation is ALLEGEDLY free of charge, a GIFT you dont need to
pay for, according to most theologians. Paul himself calls salvation
a FREE GIFT (Rom. 5:15-18). I might not be the brightest bulb in
the lamp, but my understanding of gift means I dont have to dig
deep in my pocket to pay for it. And yet youll hear polished
professional preachers screaming about their god threatening to
take your salvation away if you dont pay for it in weekly
installments of ten per cent of your GROSS paycheck.
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processes. One guy posted something like this: Since Christians are
being persecuted all over the world, the least we can do is tithe.
Yeah, right!
Simon Peter forgot to mention in Acts 15 that
Christians who suffer less persecution should make up for it by
coming under the tithing law and its related curses, and being
persecuted by the preacher when they dont cough up enough cash!
Preachers usurp the Holy Spirits job as the VOICE OF THE
CHRISTIANS CONSCIENCE! Theyll bring out their fiddle and sing
sob songs about being willing to sacrifice your grocery money for
Jesus. Their psychological manipulation can and often does result
in deep feelings of conviction and inner grief the Holy Spirit didnt
put there! Thats WICKED! Jim Jones never controlled peoples
souls as easily as your average health-and-wealth tithe teacher!
IF YOU LOVE JESUS youll do this or that, even if the Bible doesnt
teach it! Because other people are being persecuted, we have to
come under the Law and suffer its curses for failure to keep ALL the
points of the Law perfectly, to Gods specifications (Gal.3:10,13)!
Simon Peter, a Jew, admitted that neither he nor his ancestors had
been able to bear the heavy demands of living under law.
Acts 15: 10: Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon
the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
we shall be saved, even as they.***No mention of needing to tithe.
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Preachers who put the Law or any part of it on the backs of Gods
people are provoking God!
So long as preachers get THEIR pie in the sky in the here and now,
they dont care if you live in poverty and lose out with God because
of falling away from faith in Christ.
Preachers preach a different Christ (2 Cor.11:4), the post mortem
law-changer who takes tour groups to hell to watch Christians burn
for failure to fork over ten per cent of their loot to the preacher. I
present a detailed analysis of all the reasons why it was a FALSE
Jesus who allegedly took the group on this sight-seeing tour.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/8734638/Hell-Vision-s-Collision-WithScripture
This cruel hoax could be bounced back into that pugnacious pastors
court. You know, that draconian Dracula who calls out your name
for not tithing. Next time he makes you feel like putrified pond
scum for not making a sacrificial gift of your childrens milk
money, stick a love gift in a church envelope to build bridges.
Present him with a gift voucher from INFERNAL FUN CRUISES for a
rump-roasting raft ride down the River Styx, so he can go to the
devils zoo and feed peanuts to the Pharisees Jesus threatened the
Pharisees with greater damnation for robbing widows (Matt.23:14).
If the REAL Jesus had expected a higher class of Christians to levy a
lifetime income tax on other believers, youd think He would have
given some indication of that minor point in Matt.23, where He
denounces those who expect preferential treatment. Instead, Christ
forbade His disciples to lord it over one another, and told them to
relate to one another simply as brethren (verse 8). Jesus said
nothing about some Christians owing ten per cent of their
paychecks and pensions to lords over Gods heritage, see 2
Pet.5:3). Jesus never taught the unscriptural clergy/laity system
dividing churches today, where poorer saints work hard so spiritual
leaders can kick back and relax.
The ONLY Biblical context in which people pay ten per cent of their
possessions to authority figures is connected with rebellion against
God. In I Sam.chap.8, the prophet Samuel pronounces judgment on
the Israelites for rejecting Gods rule over them and demanding a
human king.
I Sam.8:11: And he said, This will be the manner of the king that
shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for
himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall
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******
http://banpreachergreed.tripod.com
http://boogerbucks.tripod.com
http://kingdomage.tripod.com
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