Tithing Is Not For Today...

[The Glory Land]

But is for tomorrow, I believe a person that tithe is supporting the Lord work, if you don't tithe you're losing a blessing. Must we tithe? No, God does not need our money, right Bro. tight pockets. :)

[JerryNumbers]

You best be careful, the person that does not believe in tithing may be giving more than you.

[Standing Firm In Christ]

from my personal blog, written July 30,2012...

Extortion: The obtaining of property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right.

Spanning from 1959 to 1963, Robert Stack starred as Federal Agent Eliot Ness in the TV series “The Untouchables”.

Eliot Ness worked hard at cleaning up the streets of Chicago, ILL after the city was infiltrated by many crime bosses who would extort money from store owners using strongarm tactics, threats, and often gunplay and murder.

Extortion was a serious offense and carried a stiff sentence in the Federal Penitentiary if one was convicted of it. Eliot Ness did not go easy on those who tried to extort money from the citizens of Chicago using scare tactics.

Today, we can glean from the many episodes of “The Untouchables” an important spiritual truth. That truth is, just as crime bosses answered to Eliot Ness for their misdeeds, those who offend God’s children will also one day answer to God.

Many a pastor today stood behind a pulpit and preached a message that was meant to extort money from their congregation through a sermon that was “under color of official right”

That message is taken from Malachi 3:8-10…. “Will A Man Rob God?”

Many a pastor had his congregation open their Bibles to Malachi 3:8-10 and read the passage that chapter 1 reveals was to the children of Israel. They then try to bring the letter to Israel out of Israel and into their city or town in their own country.

They preach to their congregation that they are “robbing God” because they are not bringing the tithe of their income to the house of God.
The pastor continues to inform his congregation that if they do not begin to tithe their money, God will attack their finances, their home, their families, their health, their jobs, their vehicles; the list could go on and on.

Friends, that message they are presenting fits the legal system’s definition of extortion. They are trying to instill fear into your mind, fear of disaster, if you don’t get protection.

They then tell you how to get protection… pay 10% of your income to God! Friends, that is extortion through and through.

They preach the message of a 10% tithe “under color of official right,” but if one studies out the specifics of God’s Holy tithe, one will discover that they have no “official right” to collect a tithe from their congregation.

The tithe was limited to within the boundaries of national Israel and was to be given to the Levites who were living in 48 cities. It was never authorized to the New Testament Church.
God’s tithe was also never money according to Leviticus 27 and Numbers 18.

Shame on those pastors who are guilty of extorting money from their flock! They one day will answer to God for handling His Word deceitfully and oppressing His people with fear tactics under the guise of “official right.”

Friends, God’s Holy Word tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that we are to give as we purpose in our own hearts to give. A tithe does not allow one to purpose what they will give. A tithe is a set amount…10%. How is one purposing in one’s own heart what to give if he is giving 10% because his pastor told him that is what he is supposed to give? The fact is, giving what your pastor determines is nothing more than giving of compulsion… giving because you have to.

Notice 2 Corinthians 9:7…

2 Corinthians 9:7 (KJV) 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 word “purposeth” is translated from the Greek word “proaireomai”, and it means “to choose for oneself”. A pastor has no “official right” to tell his congregation to give 10% of their money to the Church. God’s Word tells the congregation to “choose for oneself” what one wants to give. God did not tell that pastor to preach to his congregation that they must tithe their money. Nor did he tell that pastor that the congregation would be cursed if they didn’t tithe their money.

Friends, give to the Church. The Church does need money to pay for electricity, sanitation, etc.. But give what you choose for yourself to give, not what someone else tells you you must give. If you are giving a set amount because you have been told by your pastor to give that amount, then you are not giving according to God’s instructions.

[Standing Firm In Christ]

John Gratton, in 1703, rebuked the Roman Catholic Church for teaching the monetary tithe, writing in a letter that he had challenged them to produce Scripture to show God gave rights to the Church to receive tithes. They never met that challenge.

"In my first letter I told thee, No Law of God can be produced for such work under the Gospel Dispensation (viz. for taking of Tithes) This thou never disprovedst yet, nor producedst any Law of God for it." -- John Gratton; The Clergy-Man's Pretense of Divine Right to Tithes Examined and Refuted, ©1703

Neither can any Baptist Church today meet that same challenge.

[Standing Firm In Christ]

Something to think about…
 

Pastors who use Malachi 3:8-10 want to make you feel like a “God robber” because you fail to tithe your money to the Church you attend.
 

When they preach on Abram, do they tell you he was a “God robber” too? If not, maybe they should.
 

After all, Abram tithed the spoils of war to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20) but did not tithe his own money (Genesis 13:2)  If not tithing one’s money means one is a “God-robber”, then surely Abram was also a “God-robber” by that definition. 
 

Why is it wrong for us today to not tithe our money, but perfectly acceptable that Abram did not tithe his money? or for the Israelites to not tithe their money? 

Why do our pastors preach that God is going to curse us if we don't tithe our money when there is no indication that He cursed Moses, nor the Israelites who for not tithing their monies?

Why do our pastors tell us God requires a tithe of money without producing Scripture to prove that God requires it?

Why are not the Church members who sit in the pews week after week, month after month, year after year, not Searching the Scriptures to see if what the pastors are preaching concerning the tithe are so? 

These are all questions that deserve answers... honest and Scriptural answers.


 

[Standing Firm In Christ]

A page from one of the books in my collection.  Here, one can read that in 1648, it was taught that tithes were not to be taught under this dispensation of the Gospel.

 

[irishman]

There have always been heretics!

 

You make a big noise about tithing the spoils of war, well, after the foe is conquered, the spoils were taken and became someone else's property.  They tithed of their "increase".

 

We have been through this all before and gotten nowhere, but I would like to pay my respects (or disrespects) to your idea of the "storehouse" where crops were stored.  You are so hung up on the "what" but ignore the "why" of tithing.  We do not all tithe because of fear of losing something we could have had, that is pure greed, we tithe to show the Lord that we are

 

1. thankful for His provision;

2. That we know where our blessings have come from;

3. And that we can trust Him to meet the need even without the little "extra" (10%).

 

I wonder how many of us would fit in these boundaries?

 

You have the wrong attitude toward tithing, and toward the Lord, which prompts you to seek out people like John Gratton, or whatever his name was. If we look hard enough we can find supporters for almost any false doctrine.  BTW, he is only a man too! You seem to put a lot of stock in man on this issue, which is what people have been haranguing about all along on these tithing threads.

 

 

The man that posted it is also trying to stir things up, since he gets these discussions going, and then leaves them to others to battle it out.  Shame on you Glory Land.

[The Glory Land]

There have always been heretics!

You make a big noise about tithing the spoils of war, well, after the foe is conquered, the spoils were taken and became someone else's property. They tithed of their "increase".

We have been through this all before and gotten nowhere, but I would like to pay my respects (or disrespects) to your idea of the "storehouse" where crops were stored. You are so hung up on the "what" but ignore the "why" of tithing. We do not all tithe because of fear of losing something we could have had, that is pure greed, we tithe to show the Lord that we are

1. thankful for His provision;
2. That we know where our blessings have come from;
3. And that we can trust Him to meet the need even without the little "extra" (10%).

I wonder how many of us would fit in these boundaries?

You have the wrong attitude toward tithing, and toward the Lord, which prompts you to seek out people like John Gratton, or whatever his name was. If we look hard enough we can find supporters for almost any false doctrine. BTW, he is only a man too! You seem to put a lot of stock in man on this issue, which is what people have been haranguing about all along on these tithing threads.


The man that posted it is also trying to stir things up, since he gets these discussions going, and then leaves them to others to battle it out. Shame on you Glory Land.

When I don't agree with something, I just say,I don't agree. That way you're not judging someone Sir.

[John81]

There is nothing to judge but what the Word of God says on the matter. Scripture is VERY clear on this matter. Any true study of Scripture clearly shows the tithe was a matter of Jewish law and NT giving is just that, giving, which is not to be done by compulsion, which a tithe requirement is, but rather a cheerful giving in accord with the Lord's leading.

 

As another pointed out, in many cases those who give in accord with NT teaching for Christians give far and above a tithe.

[candlelight]

You best be careful, the person that does not believe in tithing may be giving more than you.

 

I agree with Brother Jerry on this one.  My husband and I do tithe 10% of our income and we give offerings, as well.  However, the NT fully explains this.  II Corinthians 9:7... "Every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity:  for God loveth a cheerful giver."

[Pastor Matt]

Why delay the inevitable? I really think more time should pass before we bring this topic back up.