The truth your pastor would not tell you....

The truth your pastor would not tell you about tithe“And my people shall know the truth and the truth shall set them free” John 8:32
“ will a man rob God? Yet ye have rob
bed me. But ye
say where in have we robbed thee? In tithes and
offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have
robbed me even this whole nation. Bring ye all the
tithes into the store house and prove me now here with
saith the lord of hosts if I will not open the windows of
heaven and pour out a blessing, that there would not
be room enough to receive it” Malachi 3 : 8 – 10
The above quoted scripture is probably one of the
most quoted scripture in the bible. Unfortunately it is
being quoted out of context and used as a weapon of
mass intimidation, manipulation, extortion, oppression,
cajolery and outright lies and deceit by some church
leaders to collect ten percent of the gross income of
their church members who have been hoodwinked into
believing that they are doing God’s will.
Before I go into the details of this discourse, I want to
state categorically that I am a God loving, bible
believing Christian who as the fear of God in his heart.
I am also not writing this article to undermine any
church or pastor but to let people realize the truth
about tithes and remove the yoke of tithes being
placed by some pastors upon them. I also want to
state categorically that I strongly believe in giving to
the church for the sole purpose of propagating God’s
work and the Christian ministry. I would also continue
to encourage all Christians to give their all to God as
exemplified by the widow’s mite which Jesus Christ
himself referred to in the bible.
Now back to Malachi 3 : 8 – 10, the first question one
should ask is that who was this message directed at?
The answer lies in the book of numbers 18 : 25 -28
which states that “the lord commanded Moses to say
to the Levites when you receive from the Israelites the
tithe that the lord gives you as your possession, you
must present a tenth of it as a special contribution to
the lord. This special contribution will be considered as
the equivalent of the offering which the farmer makes
of new grain and wine. In this way you would also
present the special contribution which belongs to the
lord from all the tithes which you receive from the
Israelites. You are to give this special contribution for
the lord to Aaron the priest” from the above it is clear
that it was the Levites that were directed to pay a
tithe of the tithe they collected from the Israelites to
the priest who represents God and not the people of
Israel. It was this Levites that were being referred to in
the book of Malachi as those who rob God. A thorough
study of the book of Malachi would reveal that in those
days the Levites were collecting the tithe from the
people of Israel and not remitting a tithe of it to the
house of God, hence Malachi’s statement which is now
being quoted out of context. To understand what tithes
really means one would have to understand the social
reasons and cultural / religious setting within which it
was situated this concept of tithes was properly
explained in the bible as stated in the laws of the tithe
which can be found in the books of Leviticus 27 : 30 –
34, Numbers 18 : 25 – 31 and Deuteronomy 14 : 22 –
29. Upon reading this passages one would understand
what tithes really means, but unfortunately most
pastors prefer to neglect these passages that tell us
the true meaning of tithes and emphasize on Malachi
3 : 8 - 10 which was directed to the Levites of that
time to remit the priest’s share of the tithes they
collected to him. It is worthy of note that Malachi does
not even define what tithes is and how it should be
paid. The definition of tithes as practiced today was
manufactured by modern day pastors to suit their
purpose as it is completely in contrast with what is in
the bible and it only seeks to manipulate Christians to
believe that God requests 10 per cent of their gross
income from them.
So what is tithes and why did God request it be paid to
the Levites? The answer can be found in the following
passages : Leviticus 27 : 30 – 32 which states that
“one tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or
fruit belongs to the lord. If a man wishes to buy back
any of it he must pay the standard price plus an
additional 20 per cent. One in every ten domestic
animal belongs to the lord when the animals are
counted, every tenth one belongs to the lord.” And
Deuteronomy 26 : 12 which states that “ every third
year give the tithe a tenth of your crops to the Levites,
the foreigners, the orphans and the widows, so that in
every community they will have all they need to eat”
The above quoted passages clearly tells us what tithes
is and the reason why God directed the people of
Israel to pay tithes. It is very evident that it was a
social arrangement for the less privileged in the Jewish
society of that time, it was also meant to take care of
the Levites because they have no land or property of
their own. (today pastors are amongst the wealthiest
property owners in Nigeria). This social arrangement is
obviously not relevant to us today. It also states that
every third year is the year of tithing not the weekly/
monthly tithes being extorted from church members
today. Another passage that illustrates the true
meaning of tithes properly and also states clearly that
tithe is not money is Deuteronomy 14 : 22 -29 which
states that “ set aside a tithe a tenth of all that your
fields produce each year then go to the one place
where the lord your God as chosen to be worshiped
and there in his presence eat the tithes of your grain,
wine and olive oil and first born of your cattle and
sheep. Do this so that you may learn to have reverence
for the lord your God always. If the place of worship is
too far from your home for you to carry there the tithe
of the produce that the lord has blessed you with, then
sell your produce and take the money with you to the
one place of worship spend it on whatever you want
beef, lamb, wine, beer and there in the presence of the
lord you and your family are to eat and enjoy
yourselves. Do not neglect the Levites who live in your
towns for they have no property of their own. At the
end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops
and store it in your towns. This is food for the Levites
since they own no property and for the orphans,
foreigners and widows who live in your towns. Do this
and the lord your God would bless you in everything
you do” from the above passage, it is very clear that
tithe is not money and it is not the exclusive preserve
of the Levites (church). It was a religious practice in
those days to give reverence to God and to celebrate
God in his place of worship. The Levites were only
included for the main reason that they have no land of
their own and that reason is not relevant in today’s
society. Yet some pastors would tell you that you are
cursed and would not go to heaven if you don’t give
them 10% of your gross income. All this hypocrisy
would not have bothered me if all the money being
collected was being used to propagate God’s work, but
the truth as we all know today is that this money is
being used to finance lavish, flamboyant and exotic life
styles that is unbecoming of a man who truly claims to
serve God as a pastor who is expected to be meek and
humble like our lord Jesus Christ was.
As a concluding part to this article, I would want to
refer us to the book of Hebrews which was written to
the early Christians, this provides irrefutable proof that
Christians are not meant to pay tithes as the
priesthood of our lord Jesus Christ does not require it.
Hebrews 7 : 5,which states that “ and those
descendants of Levi who are priests are commanded
by the law to collect one tenth from the people of
Israel that is from there own country men even though
their country men are also descendants of Abraham”
from this verse we can jump to verse 11 - 13 which
states that “it was on the basis of the Levitical
priesthood that the law was given to the people of
Israel. Now if the work of the Levitical priests had
been perfect there would be no need for a different
kind of priest to appear, one who is in the priestly
order of Melchizedek not of Aaron. For when the
priesthood is changed, there also has to be a change
in the law. And our lord of whom these things are said
belonged to a different tribe and no member of his
tribe ever served as a priest. It is well known that he
was born a member of the tribe of Judah and Moses
did not mention his tribe when he spoke of priests”
The above passage is self explanatory and it’s states
clearly that the practice of tithing has no place under
the priestly order of our lord Jesus Christ in fact the
passage suggests that the collection of tithes is
belittling of the priestly order of our lord Jesus Christ.
It states that it is wrong for us as Christians to receive
or pay tithes and is not relevant to us as Christians
because we belong to a superior priestly order.
Once again I would like to state that this article is not
meant for us as Christians to revolt against the church
or our pastors, it is just meant to establish the biblical
truth about tithes and remove the yoke from people
who labour to pay tithes ( not required of them by
God) while their pastors are living luxuriously. Today
many pastors see the church as their personal
business and even fraudulent people are opening up
churches so that they can have access to people’s
tithes and use it for their personal aggrandizement. I
encourage all of us as Christians to remain vigilant and
continue to serve God in truth and in faith to the glory
of his holy name. Amen.
PS:
Another point of note is: how come out of the 613
biblical laws of Moses which were handed out to the
people of Israel, it is only an adulterated version of the
law of tithe that is still being practised today, apart
from the Ten Commandments? How come we are no
longer required to offer burnt sacrifices? How come we
no longer stone people to death for sinning? The truth
is that only tithing was dug out of the laws of Moses
because it presents material benefits to the collectors
of tithes. Given that most Christians do not study their
bibles and depend on their priests to guide them
through, it was easy for pastors to pick a passage in
the bible (Malachi 3 : 8-10), quote it out of context and
use it to manipulate the flock into parting with 10 per
cent of their income. Furthermore, it is worthy of note
that neither Jesus Christ nor any of the apostles ever
preached about or collected tithe. In fact, in the bible,
Jesus Christ only spoke about tithes in Luke 11:42
which states that: “But woe unto you Pharisees! For ye
tithe mint and rue all manner of herbs, and pass over
judgement and the love of God: these ought ye to have
done, and not to leave the other undone.” Here we can
see that Jesus Christ is rebuking the Pharisees for
laying emphasis on tithes instead of the more
important things of the spirit, like our pastors are doing
today.
In Acts 15, we find outlined what the apostles all
agreed was necessary for the newly converted Gentiles
to practise, and by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God,
tithing is conspicuously missing. Yet, what is one of
the very first legislated duties taught to Gentile
converts by the Church today? It is that they must
tithe their annual salaries to the Church. Where did this
unscriptural law of Christian tithing come from?
Notice this telling bit of history from the Encyclopaedia
Britannica (1963, volume 22, page 253, ‘TITHES’).
“Tithes in Christendom—The earliest authentic example
of anything like a law of the State enforcing payment
appears to occur in the capitularies [Ecclesiasticals] of
Charlemagne at the end of the 8th or beginning of the
9th century. Tithes were, by that enactment, to be
applied to the maintenance of the bishop, clergy, the
poor, and the fabric of the church. In the course of
time the principle of payment of tithes was extended
far beyond its original intention. Thus, they became
transferable to laymen and saleable like ordinary
property, despite the injunctions of the third Lateran
Council; and they became payable out of sources of
income [not just farming and herding, but other trades
and occupations and salaries paid in the form of
money] not originally tithable.”
The Catholic Church knows its own history. Here is
how tithing got back into the Church after being absent
for nearly five centuries:
“As the Church expanded and various institutions
arose, it became necessary to make laws which would
insure the proper and permanent support of the clergy.
The payment of tithes was adopted from the Old Law…
The earliest positive legislation on the subject seems
to be contained in the letter of the bishops assembled
at Tours in 567 and the [canons] of the Council of
Macon in 585.”—The Catholic Encyclopaedia.
They “extended” their base of tithe collecting to
eventually include all forms of income. All Christian
scholars know that although money was in wide use in
ancient Israel, it was never a titheable commodity. But
modern pastors don’t want tithes of goats or oil or
corn, they want money–cold, hard cash! God has a
word to the “shepherds of the sheep”, and it is the
very same message that He had for the Levites in the
book of Malachi. And it is this:
“My people have been lost sheep, their shepherds have
caused them to go astray” (Jer. 50:6).
Were Israelites aware that they were being led astray
by their spiritual leaders? Not most, and neither are
Christians today aware that they are being led astrastray
by their spiritual leaders.

 
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