Eliteinchrist's Blog

Demanding a tithe could well be illegal!

05 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

Came across this post today and it gave me something to think about though.  Enjoy!

Citizens of any given country are bound by the laws of that country and each country has got a system of taxation in place which all its citizens have to abide by. When Israel left Egypt, they left as a nation. And God proceeded to give them the constitution for this new nation in the form of the law. Since there was no separation between church and state, religion played a very important part in their everyday life and it governed how they lived.

Their constitution forbade them from intermarrying with certain tribes, prohibited them from working on the Sabbath day and also governed the way slaves and fellow citizens were treated. Since Israel was a theocracy, God was their king and it is the right of every ruler to establish the constitution of the country he governs.

http://fullyliberated.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/demanding-tithe-could-well-be-illegal.html

Why do you tithe?

29 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

It’s funny how believers today have become divided on extremely trivial issues. We do not seem to learn from history and keep repeating the same mistakes of the past.

Doctrinal differences led to the reformation which unfortunately has not solved any of these issues as those who belong to these reformed churches are still as divided as ever. Some believe this and others believe that with both parties not being able to see eye to eye.

I have always been forthright on my views on the tithe and believe strongly that nowhere in the bible is the New Testament church given the command to tithe. But my views are completely irrelevant as it is God’s views that are all important.

Salvation is a personal thing and at the end of the day, we all are going to stand as individuals before God’s throne and be judged. It wouldn’t matter then if you were led astray by some preacher or deceived by your church leader because the Lord expects you to have a personal relationship with Him and be able to discern and know His voice.

If as a believer you are constantly being deceived and never realising until it is quite late, I believe you should check your relationship with God. Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice and the voice of a stranger, they will not hear. Not being able to discern God’s voice and being easily taken in by “cunningly devised fables” are definitely signs of extreme immaturity. And the heir who is still a child is no different from a servant and the problem with being a servant is you cannot partake of the inheritance of the sons, as a servant cannot abide continuously in the house of his master.

You are responsible for your own salvation and the bible enjoins us to work it out with fear and trembling. If your decision to tithe or not as the case may be is as a result of external influence,   you are yet to grow into maturity and would definitely be swayed by every wind of doctrine.

Check yourself; is your decision to tithe based on the message of fear from your pastor? Or is it based on the promise of unimaginable wealth? If given the chance to stop tithing, would you consider it a huge relief? Do you feel burdened by the practise but keep trying to justify it to yourself?

On the other hand are you overjoyed at being told you do not have to tithe anymore? Are you basing your decision to stop tithing on a rather convincing argument? If so, you will definitely find yourself tithing again when someone else presents a seemingly stronger argument in support of the doctrine. And that hardly shows maturity.

The onus is not on any preacher or any one for that matter to convince you to tithe or not rather it is on you to search scriptures to know God’s mind on the matter.

Generosity is not relative to 10%!

29 Feb 2012 3 Comments

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

There was an old system in chemistry that was used to determine the weight of atoms. The weights of atoms were basically calculated relative to hydrogen, the lightest atom with a weight of 1.00. Thus nitrogen which was six times the weight of hydrogen had the weight of 6.00. This system has since been replaced though.

Generosity on the other hand cannot be determined through relativity to a standard measurement of 10% as no such standard exists anywhere even in the bible! Generosity is an individual thing!

Some misguided overzealous individuals propagate the so-called 10% as a standard for generosity and claim that this has been set by God. So as far as they are concerned, anyone who fails to give up to 10% of what they earn is not being generous. These people fail to consider the dynamic nature of human beings and the world we live in.

The Old Testament tithes cannot be used to measure generosity as this was a system of taxation which was compulsory. And as with every system of taxation, there were guidelines. I will use the system of taxation in the UK as an example.

In the UK, there is a certain percentage of one’s earnings that is tax free, anything beyond this is taxed. This same system was evident in the tithe-tax system of the Old Testament – agricultural produce had to be up to ten before one could tithe. So 9 sheep, no tithe but 10 sheep, the tenth was the tithe. This was not 10% neither was it held up as some sort of generosity standard for both the Old and New Testament.

Generosity is determined in relation to what one has and not what one does not have. In effect, giving just 10% of what I earn when I can give much more does not show generosity on my part. And on the other hand if all I can afford comes to less than 10% of what I earn but is a huge sacrifice on my part, I can be called generous. I don’t have to give to the extent of being destitute in order to please God and be called generous!

A legalistic approach Christianity is to blame for this mess. Man-made standards for determining those who are good Christians have been set up. Some introduce dress codes, others use commitment to the local church and yet others have added a 10% rule which is completely absent in the bible as a standard of generosity, setting the tone for legalism. Those who genuine cannot afford to give up to 10% are left feeling guilty while those who give 10% feel superior and self-righteous, a bit like the Pharisee in the book of Luke.

Generosity is not relative to 10% as there will always be people who can give way more than that and people who can give way less. At the end of the day though man is not the judge, God is and He alone knows the hearts of people and rewards everyone accordingly.

Update
I only just realised I missed out the most important part of generosity – its definition.

I quickly did a search on Google and came up with this definition on Wikipedia – “Generosity is the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return. It can involve offering time, assets or talents to aid someone in need. Often equated with charity as a virtue, generosity is widely accepted in society as a desirable trait.”

In the light of this definition, it will appear that many Christians who give including those who tithe religiously are not at all generous! This is because of their give to receive mindset.

That hardly qualifies as generosity!

Does God truly require the New Testament church to give beyond the Old Testament tithe?

22 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

There is the general belief in some Christian quarters that Jesus raised the bar or increased the standard for the New Testament believer. This belief is fuelled by Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5

This is quite commonly used as proof that God instituted the “tithe” as the starting point of giving because Jesus’ above statement seems to raise the game a little bit. But the problem is, this statement was made before the church came into existence. His audience was always the Jews. Anytime He spoke to the gentiles, He always reminded them that their time had not yet come even though He did some miracles in their midst. This was simply because the law still existed and it alienated the gentiles from the commonwealth of God as Jesus had not yet gone to the cross.

The shedding of His blood promptly made way for the gentiles to be partakers of salvation and thus the church was born. All of this was in line with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Therefore the standard of the New Testament believer is not the Old Testament law. Whatever was required from those of the Old Testament is of no relevance to the New Testament because Jesus fulfilled every requirement of the Old Testament on behalf of the New Testament church. We are no longer required to observe all 613 laws of the Old Testament because they were all fulfilled on our behalf by Jesus Christ.

The standard of the New Testament church is the Holy Spirit and scripture makes it crystal clear that those who are sons of God are led by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us live right, He helps us know and obey God’s will. When it comes to giving, God has not instituted the Old Testament tithe as the guide or “training wheels” for the New Testament church; He gave us the Holy Spirit in its stead.

Those who proclaim that God requires the New Testament church to give beyond the Old Testament tithe are definitely not speaking for God. As this is not taught anywhere in scripture.

Shifting the goal post

26 Oct 2011 18 Comments

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

It is not uncommon to see preachers particularly those of the WoF movement pick and choose scriptures in a way that suits them. They keep inventing new ways of bending scriptures to suit their beliefs; deceiving the gullible as they go along.

I still cannot understand why the concept of the tithe being the tenth seems too difficult to grasp. Instead there is still the huge mistake of equating the tenth with 10%; they are not the same thing! I will buttress my point with the popular doctrine of the firstfruit.

It is common knowledge that the firstfruit denotes the first of something, even the bible says so. And even though the concept is limited to agricultural produce and livestock alone, these preachers try to extend it to money. Some call it the first salary or wage you earn in a year while other call it the first 10% of what you earn monthly (As if one can tell the difference between the first 10% and last 10% of £1000). Although none of these schools of thought enjoy scriptural support, they all share one common truth; calling the firstfruit the first. If they understand the first to mean the first of something and not 1% of that thing, then why don’t they extend that same knowledge to the tenth? Why will you say it is the same thing as 10%?

If I had ten balls of different colours lined up and wanted to know their colours, the logically way of doing so will be by listing the position of each ball and name its colour. For example

First –red

Second-blue

Third-green

Fourth-purple

Fifth-indigo

Sixth-maroon

Seventh-violet

Eighth-yellow

Ninth-peach

Tenth-fuchsia

If this was a classroom exercise for some kids and I asked them which ball is peach, will an answer of 9% be correct? Definitely not! Why then is the belief that tenth also means the same thing as 10%? It is even more annoying when we all agree that first means first and not 1%.

How will it look if I decide to extend our concept of the tenth meaning the same thing as 10% to all of the balls?

First (means same thing as 1%)–red

Second (means same thing as 2%)-blue

Third (means same thing as 3%)-green

Fourth (means same thing as 4%)-purple

Fifth (means same thing as 5%)-indigo

Sixth (means same thing as 6%)-maroon

Seventh (means same thing as 7%)-violet

Eighth (means same thing as 8%)-yellow

Ninth (means same thing as 9%)-peach

Tenth (means same thing as 10%)-fuchsia

Even the unschooled can tell that these definitions are off.

The tithe and the firstfruits were positions, positions which were Old Testament shadows of New Testament realities. The firstfruit, the first, was a shadow of Jesus the firstborn of all creation and the tithe, the tenth, was a shadow of the church as ten represents grace. We were saved by grace remember?

Seeing that the bible never defined the tithe in terms of percentages neither calling it 10% of currency for that matter, where then did this definition come from? Well your guess is as good as mine.

Giving according to what you have and not what you earn

23 Sep 2011 10 Comments

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

I promised myself not to write on tithing anymore but have had to break this promise yet again due to some rather strange tithe teachings making their rounds on the internet.

Scripture says one thing but people either ignorantly or deliberately twist it to say something else to suit their purpose. And this is quite disheartening.

I stumbled upon the blog of some preacher who had started a “tithing challenge” in his church. He defended his actions with a lot of scripture twisting and personal opinions. The one that really got to me was his interpretation of 2 Corinthians 8. As far as he was concerned, Paul’s charge to the church in Corinth to give whatever they could afford according to what they had meant that they were supposed to give beyond 10%.

12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. 2 Corinthians 8

How can one read the above scripture and come away saying Paul meant they should give beyond 10%? Quite mind-boggling!

There is a whole world of difference between what you have and what you earn. Paul’s charge was that everyone should give according to what they had and not what they earned; a common mistake we make in today’s church. Many insist and believe that proportionate giving means giving a portion of what you earn when in fact scriptures calls it giving according to what you have.

I will explain with this illustration. We have 2 men, Bill and Luke, who both earn £1200 every month. Bill is unmarried and lives alone in a one bedroom flat.  While Luke on the other hand is married with 2 children, his wife is a full-time housewife and they live in a 2 bedroom house. Even though both men earn the same will they have the same leftover after they have met all necessary financial obligations?

Below is a breakdown of the income and expenditure for both men

Assuming they keep to their budgets, both men can never spend the same amount on monthly necessities and both will never have the same amount of money leftover either. It will be a huge burden on Luke to insist that he gives 10% of what he earns, even more wicked to insist that he gives 10% of what he earns before tax. This will leave a lot of his bills unpaid and remember he has 2 young children.

Some will insist that he gets another job or that his wife should work. That is a decision he has to make by himself and it is not a decision a pastor or a well-meaning brother should make on his behalf. And besides, Luke and his wife worked out that should his wife work; all she earns will go towards childcare costs. Others will say his tithing is proof of his love for God and God will reward him according. I say that is a very bad and silly advice.

The charge in scripture is “give according to what you have” and if that is up to 10%, it is all good. God will never punish anyone unable to give up to 10% as He never instituted it as the absolute minimum one must give.

God, the “Program”

21 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

The word program has various meanings but only one of these definitions is pertinent to this discussion. The fredictionary.com defines “program” as a set of coded instructions that enables a machine, especially a computer, to perform a desired sequence of operations. (Emphasis mine).

Amongst Pentecostals, particular those who hold fast to the Word of Faith doctrine, God is truly treated like a machine that has been programmed to do all of their biddings. Tele-evangelists and preachers alike make a killing from the sale of books and cds that “teach” believers how best to use this “God” program.

Fully utilising this “God” program is sure to bring you results beyond your wildest dreams. This Program if used correctly can make you very wealthy, can help you secure promotions, can dispose of all your enemies and make you the envy of your neighbours.

The God program only responds to certain coded instructions. If these instructions are not strictly followed, you will not see desired results.

The “Fasting” coded instruction is guaranteed to make this Program bring speedy answers to your prayer requests. Adding the “seed sowing” instruction is bound to make this Program grant you the desires of your heart. It even has a fast track route to becoming a millionaire; the coded instruction of “tithing”. Some preachers even give a money back guarantee on this one.

Of course am being cynical but our ideology about God seems to be that He is only here to do things we desire and nothing more. And preachers use this faulty ideology to take advantage of us. No message is ever complete without us having to sow a “seed” to claim these promises. If we desire a prophets’ reward, we need to “sow” a good seed into the live of the prophet. This makes God obligated to do your biddings. To enjoy the anointing of the man of god, we need to sow a seed and so on. This is simply ridiculous!

We will continue to be suckered by these preachers till we realise that God is not a program but a Father who desires to have a RELATIONSHIP with His children. And as any good father, He is concerned about you and does not need you to earn this concern. While we were yet sinners He loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. We did not deserve it neither did we have to earn it.

Ignore all these so called self help and fast track routes to receiving from God and cultivate a relationship with Him instead. That is bound to be more rewarding as you will be able to know God’s mind for you by yourself.

Paul had the right idea and expressed this in Philippians 3

9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Our goal should be to know Him and everything else will follow.

Learning from the 5 wise virgins

04 Sep 2011 1 Comment

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, 4 but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. 5 When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ 7 “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ 9 “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’ Matthew 25

I was mulling over the parable of the ten virgins when something about the 5 wise virgins struck me. We tend to think that they were considered wise because they took with them extra oil, as a matter of fact it was way more than that. They knew when to give and when not to!

If this scenario were to play itself in today’s church, how will people react towards the 5 wise virgins who refused to share their oil? My guess is they will be considered selfish as much of today’s church seem to believe that taking care of your needs first is selfish.

How many times have we heard preachers tout the horn of giving in the church? Believers that barely have enough for themselves are made to feel guilty that they are not giving enough. These preachers never even consider the personal needs of the people.

The 5 wise virgins considered the quantity of oil they had left and could see that they will not have enough to share with the others. Have you ever been that way about your finances? Do you consider how much you will require to take care of your family and how much you can give away? It is wisdom to know when to give and when not to.

Having no plan on how you spend your money is simply not wise, not having any realistic priorities in the way we spend money does not show good judgement either. There is a time to give and there is a time not to.

Does the Bible really define the tithe as 10%?

25 Aug 2011 7 Comments

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

I was engaged in a series of discussions with a pastor over this issue of the tithe. And according to him, tithes and offerings are freewill offerings with the tithe of 10% a bible commanded guide to giving. He is one of the millions who define the tithe as 10%.

I visited another sister’s blog where she has written a post extolling the effectiveness of the tithe. I and Several others left comments and she wrote a rebuttal to counter some of the comments she did not think were “scriptural”.

I proceeded to comment on her rebuttal and while writing out my comment, I was suddenly aware that nearly everybody defines the tithes in percentages and that is not at all scriptural!

I pointed this out to the pastor and he told me I was wrong but still ended up proving my point. He pulled out every reference to tithing in the bible including their Hebrew names and all called the tithe A TENTH and not 10%. How do both differ?

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, the TENTH is a position and not a percentage. And the tithe is the TENTH part of agricultural produce alone. And the tithe of crops was determined by grouping them into 10 equal parts and separating the TENTH part as the tithe. No portion of scripture ever commands us to tithe money; it is practically impossible. While the tithe of livestock was determined by separating every TENTH animal. No tenth, no tithe!

30 “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. 31 If you want to buy back the Lord’s tenth of the grain or fruit, you must pay its value, plus 20 percent. 32 Count off every tenth animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the Lord as holy. 33 You may not pick and choose between good and bad animals, and you may not substitute one for another. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy and cannot be bought back.” 34 These are the commands that the Lord gave through Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites. Lev 27

The only time percentages were ever used in relation to the tithe was in terms of its MONETARY VALUE. Further proof money could not be tithed even though it was present at the time.

In the portion of scripture above, we see one of the references to the monetary value of the tithe. God instructed that if anyone wanted to buy back his tithe, he should pay the MONETARY VALUE of the tithe plus 20% of this value. And this poses this question, if money could be tithed, how would it be possible to buy back money with money thus redeeming your tithe?

The other reference to the MONETARY value of the tithe was with regards to the tithing banquet. Here God commanded that if the venue was too far, the tithe could be converted into its monetary value and every cent spent on anything the tither liked.

24 “Now when the Lord your God blesses you with a good harvest, the place of worship he chooses for his name to be honored might be too far for you to bring the tithe. 25 If so, you may sell the tithe portion of your crops and herds, put the money in a pouch, and go to the place the Lord your God has chosen. 26 When you arrive, you may use the money to buy any kind of food you want—cattle, sheep, goats, wine, or other alcoholic drink. Then feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and celebrate with your household. 27 And do not neglect the Levites in your town, for they will receive no allotment of land among you. Deu 14

This 10% lie has been preached far too long and many people believe it to be true.

God made Aaron and his descendants priests and gave them the entire tribe of Levi as helpers. As such the tribe of Levi were not given any allotment within the promise land. God commanded that the tithe of agricultural produce the remaining 11 tribes brought was to be received by the Levites who in turn gave a tithe of the best portions to the priests.

22 “From now on, no Israelites except priests or Levites may approach the Tabernacle. If they come too near, they will be judged guilty and will die. 23 Only the Levites may serve at the Tabernacle, and they will be held responsible for any offenses against it. This is a permanent law for you, to be observed from generation to generation. The Levites will receive no allotment of land among the Israelites, 24 because I have given them the Israelites’ tithes, which have been presented as sacred offerings to the Lord. This will be the Levites’ share. That is why I said they would receive no allotment of land among the Israelites.” 25 The Lord also told Moses, 26 “Give these instructions to the Levites: When you receive from the people of Israel the tithes I have assigned as your allotment, give a tenth of the tithes you receive—a tithe of the tithe—to the Lord as a sacred offering. 27 The Lord will consider this offering to be your harvest offering, as though it were the first grain from your own threshing floor or wine from your own winepress. 28 You must present one-tenth of the tithe received from the Israelites as a sacred offering to the Lord. This is the Lord’s sacred portion, and you must present it to Aaron the priest. 29 Be sure to give to the Lord the best portions of the gifts given to you. 30 “Also, give these instructions to the Levites: When you present the best part as your offering, it will be considered as though it came from your own threshing floor or winepress. 31 You Levites and your families may eat this food anywhere you wish, for it is your compensation for serving in the Tabernacle. 32 You will not be considered guilty for accepting the Lord’s tithes if you give the best portion to the priests. But be careful not to treat the holy gifts of the people of Israel as though they were common. If you do, you will die.” Num 18

Now does the tithe being practised in today’s church resemble this in anyway? And since the New Testament calls every single believer a priest, who then are the Levites that give a tithe of the tithe to us the priests? Also who are those that are representative of the remaining 11 tribes that will bring their tithes to the Levites?

All those who teach that the Lord’s tithe is 10% of money and compel other believers to part with it are guilty of theft by deceit. Those who give 10% of their gross or net earnings as God’s tithe and believe it to be scriptural lack knowledge.

The belief that God commands a 10% minimum to be given cannot be found anywhere in the bible. And the New Testament teaches us plainly that anything we give, as far as we give willingly and cheerfully is acceptable to God. No minimums or 10% guide is commanded.

Update
I found this link describing the Biblical tithes in a bit more detail. A very good read!

Found another link that gives the history of tithing!

Some things never change!

09 Aug 2011 4 Comments

by eliteinchrist in Doctrine Tags: bible, christian, christian doctrine, Christianity, Doctrine, faith, financial breakthrough, Firstfruit, firstfruits, malachi, money, pulpit pimps, seed faith, tenth, tithe, tithes, tithing, WOF, Word of faith

41Jesus was sitting in the temple near the offering box and watching people put in their gifts. He noticed that many rich people were giving a lot of money. 42Finally, a poor widow came up and put in two coins that were worth only a few pennies. 43Jesus told his disciples to gather around him. Then he said: I tell you that this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 44Everyone else gave what they didn’t need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had. Now she doesn’t have a cent to live on. Mark 12

The common trend amongst today’s Christians particularly amongst popular tele-evangelists is to conform scriptures to suit their beliefs. And as far as they are concerned, everything has to point to money in one way or the other. Money is most definitely their God.

Nearly everyone who has attended church has heard this story of the widow preached just before offering time. It is usually employed to tug on the heart strings of the faithful to ensure they part with large sums of money under the guise of funding God’s work.

Did Jesus use this scenario to teach tithing, firstfruits or sacrificial giving? I would say no to all three. Obviously, this had no bearing on tithing and firstfruits as money could never be given as tithes or firstfruits. And nowhere in scripture are we encouraged in scripture to give our entire livelihood to fund ‘God’s’ work.

On careful study of scripture, we see that a lot of things are off with this widow’s offering as there is no portion of scripture that commands widows to give their livelihood to the treasury.  Instead, Jesus used the plight of this widow to highlight the false teachings of the teachers of the law.  The poor widow had been cheated out of her home!

38As Jesus was teaching, he said: Guard against the teachers of the Law of Moses! They love to walk around in long robes and be greeted in the market. 39They like the front seats in the meeting places and the best seats at banquets. 40But they cheat widows out of their homes and pray long prayers just to show off. They will be punished most of all. Mark 12

In the Old Testament, God did command that all males over 20 years of age should pay ransom money for the upkeep of the tabernacle. The same amount was levied on both the rich and poor but there was no mention of widows ever paying such dues. The manipulation of the Pharisees and Sadducees was definitely at work.

14 All who have reached their twentieth birthday must give this sacred offering to the Lord. 15 When this offering is given to the Lord to purify your lives, making you right with him, the rich must not give more than the specified amount, and the poor must not give less. 16 Receive this ransom money from the Israelites, and use it for the care of the Tabernacle. It will bring the Israelites to the Lord’s attention, and it will purify your lives.” Exodus 30

This same manipulation is still very much evident in much of today’s church. Unscrupulous preachers twist scriptures to ensure they continue to receive a steady revenue stream.