Eliteinchrist's Blog

Man has always been intrigued by mysteries. Conspiracy theories have been the bread and butter of many. There are numerous interests in UFOs and alien life forces that have even given birth to a lot of religions and cult followings.

Christianity too also has its fair share of mystery hunters. They are those who like to occupy a position of relevance in christiandom and one of the ways they do this is to promote gibberish in the name of mysteries of God. One of such funny so-called mysteries has been the coming of Christ and the revelation of the son of perdition. They try very hard to bend certain scriptures to suit their preconceived ideas about current global events. Even though we can see from scripture that the end of days lies in the hand of God, these false alarmists still carry on deceiving many.

Melchizedek too has also been the subject of a lot of ‘bible mysteries’. A lot has been said and is still being said about his person. Most of these theories are the fabrications of pro-tithers just to make their doctrine of tithing seem valid.

For once why don’t we just accept what scriptures say without trying to second guess and fill in the blank spaces with our little minds. Has it ever occurred to us these blanks were the deliberate hand work of our invincible God? Scriptures say that the hidden things belong to God but what has been revealed belongs to men.

The most common defense in support of this abhorrent practice of tithing is that it precedes the law through Abraham’s encounter with the mysterious Melchizedek. And in a bid to give it some out of this world holier than thou status, a lot of divine properties are apportioned to Melchizedek. Mortal man! How can you know more than what has been written in scripture? Why promote your own ideas and try to colour it with bits of scripture in order to make it seem like it was the good Lord speaking?

Now before we continue looking at Melchizedek, let us first of all look at the commonly held belief behind this doctrine of tithing. We are told that in order to invoke God’s blessing, every believer has to faithfully set aside a tenth of their monthly income because it belongs to God. Failure to do so will make God release the devourer on our lives and our finances and Malachi 3: 10 is used to buttress this point. But if we try to raise the objection that tithing is a Jewish old testament practice, we are told that we are wrong because Abraham did it before the law. This argument sounds like the argument of a bunch of confused people who are desperately trying to force new wine into old wineskins and what happens when we do that? The wineskins spilt and all the new wine is lost.

I will use an example to make my point. I will assume that we all at some point in our lives have gone to the shops to buy something which when we took home found that it was defective. Let me use a dvd player as an example. If we went to the shops to buy a dvd player which costs £50.00 and we took it home and discovered it was faulty, when we take it back to the shop we purchased it from, we are either given a full refund or a like for like exchange. We cannot be given a £60.00 refund when we only paid £50.00 neither would we be given a £100.00 dvd in exchange when we only brought back a £50.00 dvd. You may be wondering where I am going to with this, the answer is simple – the defense of the tithing doctrine is nothing more than trying to claim a £100.00 refund for the £50.00 you spent! All the scriptural references are simply not like for like thus violating the golden rule of the bible – out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established. Let me explain.

In order to escape the fact that tithing is an old testament principle, we bring Abraham and Melchizedek into the mix. But the way we practice tithing bears no semblance to the way Abraham did his. How can we then say we are following his example? Abraham never tithed to rebuke the devourer neither did he tithe to receive God’s blessings. He was already blessed!

Genesis 13: 1 & 2 tells us that much
1AndAbram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

2And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

This knocks out the theory that tithing invokes God’s blessings. It certainly did not do the same for Abraham. Though pro-tithers still try to say that it must have been practiced habitually by Abraham. If it was, the bible would have mentioned it but it didn’t and this is not an error but a deliberate act of the Almighty God.

And this brings me to the raging question, who is this mysterious man called Melchizedek? The answer is very very simply – WE DO NOT KNOW! The only thing we know about him is that he was the king of Salem and was also a high priest and his name meant king of righteousness. Nothing more is said about him. Why? I haven’t the foggiest! People say he was Christ, well scripture never tells us that much. And rather than try to fashion out plausible explanations which lack biblical support, why don’t we just stay within the boundaries of what has been written and accept that the story surrounding him was written that way deliberately by God? But then even if we are to go along with the assumption that he (Melchizedek) was Christ then our practice of tithing has to be like for like i.e. we would have to give our tithes physically to Jesus and not through any intermediaries. That would be following Abraham’s example.

Abraham’s tithe versus tithes in the book of Malachi

I still do not understand why pro-tither lump Abraham’s tithe and the tithes in the book of Malachi together. They should not even be mentioned in the same sentence! You cannot have it both ways you either pick Abraham’s tithe and stick with it or you pick Malachi’s and stick with it. You cannot use Malachi’s tithe to support Abraham’s tithes, they are different and most certainly not like for like!

Abraham’s tithe was not done to rebuke the devourer, it was not done to sustain the priesthood neither was it done to provide food for the storehouse. It was done freely and voluntarily and this shows that there would have been no penalty for not doing it and there certainly was no reward for doing it either.

The tithe in Malachi on the other hand refers to the tithes of the law. It is linked to the priesthood and the storehouse. It was instituted as a means of supporting the Levitical priesthood as well as the poor and less privileged. It was not practiced by everybody in Israel only by farmers and it was not from spoils of war. Hence the mention of the priests and the storehouse something completely absent in Abraham’s. Like for like remember?

Don’t kid yourself that you are following Abraham’s example, you are completely wide of the mark. Don’t use Melchizedek as a reason to support it, there is simply not enough information about him for us to make wonderful conclusions. And don’t use Malachi 3: 10 to buttress your point, it refers to the Mosaic tithes which you all admit we are not under.

Where does that live us and the tithe? No where! It is simply not relevant to today’s church.

5And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

6And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

7Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

9And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Num 21: 5 – 9)

I am sure you may be wondering what relationship exists between the brazen serpent and tithes, well we will soon find out.

In the above portion of scripture, the children of Israel murmured against God and Moses prompting God to send serpents into their midst. When they repented God asked Moses to make the brazen serpent and lift it up onto a pole so anyone who looks at it shall live and it was so.

The children of Israel must have found it truly amazing and may have begun to think to themselves that the brazen serpent might hold a lot of power. So much so that their descendants began to worship it and burn incense to it.

He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. 2 Kings 18: 4 .

They may have tried to justify their actions, twisting bits of scriptures to support this abhorrent practice. To the uninformed, they may have produced a good argument –”looking at the serpent saved our ancestors! The serpent definitely possesses divine powers!” That may have been their thinking.

Anytime scriptures are taken completely out of context we would always have occurrences like this. Rather than look to understanding God’s mind for today, we tend build shrines out of past moves of God. Before long, we slip into idolatry holding these past moves above God Himself.

Tithing has become a modern day brazen serpent! No doubt that at the time God commanded it tremendous blessings came to those who obeyed. But today something bigger than that is present – The sacrifice of Jesus! This sacrifice has replaced the need to perform different ceremonial acts to gain God’s favour. You are protected because of the blood, your needs are met because of the blood, you are part of God’s family because of the blood, you receive favour because of the blood and it is something you obtain by grace and not by observing a so called “eternal principle”.

This so called principle has completely taken the place of God in the hearts of many. Those that demand it as a requirement for church membership are in grave error, others that claim that God only prospers you, heal you or meet your needs only when you tithe are guilty of distorting scriptures.

If God made no such assertions in scripture, then am afraid we are burning incense to the brazen serpent if we promote this so called doctrine.

There seem to be a bit of confusion as to what firstfruits are. Quite a number of people actually believe it means tithes. This error has given rise to a lot of false teachings surrounding tithes.

What are firstfruits? Some say it is the best and choicest part of what you earn. Others, say it is any increase you have experienced e.g. if you were unemployed and you suddenly got a job that pays you £2000, then the £2000 is said to be your firstfruits.

Can all be the above definitions of firstfruits be found in the bible? The Smith’s bible dictionary gives us the following references:

1. The law ordered in general that the first of all ripe fruits and of liquors, or, as it is twice expressed, the first of first-fruits, should be offered in God’s house. (Exodus 22:29; 23:19; 34:27) It was an act of allegiance to God as the giver of all. No exact quantity was commanded, but it was left to the spiritual and moral sense of each individual.
2. On the morrow after the passover sabbath, i.e. on the 16th of Nisan, a sheaf of new corn was to be brought to the priest and waved before the altar, in acknowledgment of the gift of fruitfulness. (Leviticus 2:12; 23:5,6,10,12)
3. At the expiration of seven weeks from this time, i.e. at the feast of pentecost, an oblation was to be made from the new flour, which were to be waved in like manner with the passover sheaf. (Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15,17; Numbers 28:26)
4. The feast of ingathering, i.e. the feast of tabernacles, in the seventh month, was itself an acknowledgment of the fruits of the harvest. (Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Leviticus 23:39) These four sorts of offerings were national. Besides them, the two following were of an individual kind.
5. A cake of the first dough that was baked was to be offered as a heave-offering. (Numbers 15:19,21)
6. The first-fruits of the land were to be brought in a basket to the holy place of God’s choice, and there presented to the priest, who was to set the basket down before the altar. (26:2-11) The offerings were the perquisite of the priests. (Numbers 18:11; 18:4) Nehemiah, at the return from captivity, took pains to reorganize the offerings of first-fruits of both kinds, and to appoint places to receive them. (Nehemiah 10:35,37; 12:44) An offering of first-fruits is mentioned as an acceptable one to the prophet Elisha. (2 Kings 4:42)

Does any of the above six descriptions of firstfruits marry up with the general belief of many? Definitely not! The firstfruit was not 10%. Firstfruits, like tithe referred only to food items and agricultural produce and never to money. Can any of the six points raised above be applied to money? Hardly! Can we conveniently apply the commonly held belief of it being the choicest and best to money? How can you determine the choicest part of £2000? Are you going to break it down into all the denominations of the British pound and offer the highest? Where would you even begin?

The misconception occurs from the misapplication of Proverbs 3: 9 and we would look at it from the New Living Translation

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.

10 Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.

There is no reference to money and tithe was not even hinted (some use this scripture to justify the doctrine of tithing). It referred to agricultural produce.

For today’s believer, firstfruits mean something different – Christ!

But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1 Cr 15:20

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 1 Cr 15: 23

He represents, as the firstfruits, the rest of the believers who shall share in the blessed hope of resurrection. The harvest is ripe, Christ as the firstfruit has been offered up to God and in the fullness of time the rest of the harvest, us as believers, shall be offered up onto God.

Misconceptions in scripture usually arise when people try to bend it to suit their personal beliefs. The truth is revealed in scripture but the personal opinions of man have greatly distorted this, giving rise to a different Gospel.

Because a thing sounds good, doesn’t mean that it is God ordained. Search scriptures properly and let it speak for itself.