*** “Some people say tithing is Old Testament law. No, it's not. It's an Old Testament principle.”? ~ Via a Pastor on giving!
Believers are responsible to measure 'the church*' teachings in the light of the truth of the Bible. It is our duty to recognize error.
The Levitical tithe was to meet a need, that of the Levitical priesthood and to help the poor. The Levitical priesthood and all laws and ceremonies pertaining to it ceased when the temple was destroyed in 70 CE. the Books of the Christian New Testament do not teach tithing. "The New Testament" offices or callings of a pastor, etc., are not the same as the Levitical priesthood, which was based on lineage and the Mosaic ceremonial laws, and that the "church*" building is not the same as the Temple.
Detriments of the Tithe Teaching
1. The "churchs" tithe teaching can cause tithers to have an erroneous feeling of self-satisfaction, a feeling that they have "paid the bill" and placated God. This can become akin to a superstitious practice of "pleasing of the gods" we see in pagan cultures. Are tithers in some cases even attempting to buy their way into heaven? Wouldn’t this be the same as buying spiritual favor by purchasing indulgences? This practice was soundly condemned in Martin Luther's "Ninety-Five Theses."
2. Mal. 3:8 says, "’ Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.’ But you ask, "How do we rob you?" ‘In tithes and offerings….’" This verse is used prior to the passing of the offering plate in many "church" services to coax the congregation to get out their wallets. But, contrary to the meaning of the verse under the Mosaic Law to which it refers, today people ARE robbing God, not of tithes, but of proper giving to the work of God and to the poor. When people "pay their bill" to the "church", they aren’t as apt to give that cup of water or $20 to a needy person around them. Therefore, they have robbed God by neglecting opportunities to perform a mitzvah in the form of helping the poor. People write out tithe checks in a dogged, joyless manner as if in bondage. They, too, are robbed. They are robbed of the joy of giving to real needs they can see with their own eyes.
3. Tithing can cause an undue financial burden on givers. Young families with children often are living hand to mouth anyway. So are many single parents, college students, and the elderly. They themselves are actually the poor who need help occasionally, yet by sitting in "the church", they are told that they must give up ten percent to a "church" that often is wealthy.
4. This brings us to the next point. It is not uncommon today for the incomes of "church"es (some of whom teach tithing and some of whom don’t), especially large ones in America, to have such enormous incomes that they have investment portfolios. They hire experts to help them manage their funds to make it grow. Why? So they can give to missions or the poor? So they can build more buildings, gyms, bowling alleys, climbing walls? So they can have huge paid staffs? Daycare centers? The kingdom of God has nothing to do with buildings. The early "church" grew by great leaps without buildings.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion
Trillion Dollar Church!
The American church system through its thousands of schemes to gather money has amassed over a trillion dollars worth of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, insurance programs, real estate, etc. The interest they pay on the mortgages of their buildings could literally feed all the poor in the world!
The deceptive means 10’s of thousands of ministers use to raise money, of which the modern tithe is one of them, has drained our country of resources that could tremendously bless the world. But the church is sitting on the money. Now they are beginning to be fleeced themselves.
Recently, hundreds of the leading Christian organizations lost millions of dollars investing in a fund named "New Era." It was a scam called a "Ponze scheme." An evangelical, named Bennett, dropping the right names such as Billy Graham and Rockerfeller, convinced most of the leading Protestant ministries to invest as much as over 500 million dollars into a fund that promised them a doubling of their money over a 6 month period of time. Now anyone with a little sense should smell something amiss here, especially since conservative Christians should be looking at conservative investments that usually give a low return on investment. But top Christian ministries invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a fund started by another Christian, whose sole purpose in setting up the fund was to defraud them of their, or should I say "your" money. The federal authorities finally shut it down, but not before millions of dollars were lost. (See Dew from Mount Hermon, issue number 7 for more details.)
A person who teaches tithing robs God’s people from hearing from God Himself about what and whom to give to each and every day. Someone who pays their taxes, and gives 10 per cent of their income to their pastor, plus offerings for missions, building fund, bake and rummage sales, etc., because the law or tradition of their organization pressures them to do so, is likely to develop an attitude that their giving is finished at the offering plate. They are so drained of finances that when Jesus arrives at their door for a piece of bread, their response might be, "Oh, I gave already at the church!" Laws such as the modern tithing law, instituted by either ignorant or deceiving ministers keep God’s children from hearing what they should be doing on a day to day basis! Yes, Mr. or Mrs. or Reverend Tithing Teacher, you are robbing people, God, and the world from the blessings He wants to pour out on them and through us! Now repent and stop it! His mercy endures forever! Go to the fountain of grace, HaShem, and discover how to enter into His rest yourself! Then and only then can you lead God’s sheep into that rest themselves. Until then all you will do is fleece them and eat them yourself!
"Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them." (Ezekiel 34:2-4)
"My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place. All who found them have devoured them." (Jeremiah 50:6-7)
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that those who twist the Mosaic Law to say what it doesn’t say, are robbing God even though they may not be aware of it. They are also robbing themselves of much-needed rest, and they are robbing the world around them of the true blessings they are to bestow upon their neighbors.
* Church
* Church
the words "church" and "circus" both come from a similar pagan origin
circ-
+ (is a Latin root word meaning: circle [a ring; wheel],
round).
Circe
Latinized form of Greek Κιρκη (Kirke, Kirkh ), which possibly meant "bird". In Greek mythology Circe was a sorceress who hypnotized men, and changed men into animals, and made them her slaves.
circle
c.1305, from O.Fr. cercle, from L. circulus "small ring," dim. of circus (q.v.). Replaced O.E. trendel and hring. Meaning "group of persons surrounding a center of interest" is from 1714.
circus
c.1380, from L. circus "ring," applied by Romans to circular arenas for performances and contests (esp. the Circus Maximus), from or akin to Gk. kirkos "a circle," from PIE *kirk- from base *(s)ker- "to turn, bend." First attested use for "traveling show" is 1791.
Church
O.E. cirice "church," from W.Gmc. *kirika, from Gk. kyriake (oikia) "Lord's (house)," from kyrios "ruler, lord."
Circe
Latinized form of Greek Κιρκη (Kirke, Kirkh ), which possibly meant "bird". In Greek mythology Circe was a sorceress who hypnotized men, and changed men into animals, and made them her slaves.
circle
c.1305, from O.Fr. cercle, from L. circulus "small ring," dim. of circus (q.v.). Replaced O.E. trendel and hring. Meaning "group of persons surrounding a center of interest" is from 1714.
circus
c.1380, from L. circus "ring," applied by Romans to circular arenas for performances and contests (esp. the Circus Maximus), from or akin to Gk. kirkos "a circle," from PIE *kirk- from base *(s)ker- "to turn, bend." First attested use for "traveling show" is 1791.
Church
O.E. cirice "church," from W.Gmc. *kirika, from Gk. kyriake (oikia) "Lord's (house)," from kyrios "ruler, lord."
Among Pope Francis' challenges will be oversight of the sprawling, lucrative -- but embattled -- American organization.
A Jewish response to a Pastor
