According to the scriptures,
money is not acceptable as
tithe; it has to be food-
crops or livestock. As far as many pastors are
concerned, the most
important scripture of all is
not to be found in the word
of Jesus. Neither is it even
in the New Testament. That scripture says: “‘Bring
all the tithes into the
storehouse, that there may
be food in my house, and
try me now in this,’ says the
LORD of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows
of heaven and pour out for
you such blessing that
there will not be room
enough to receive
it.’” (Malachi 3:10). This scripture is drummed
repeatedly into Christians
on Sundays. However, the
only time Jesus mentioned
tithing in scripture, he
pointed out that it was not a weighty matter of the
law. (Matthew 23:23).
Hebrews says people only
receive tithes “according to
the law.” (Hebrews 7:5). It
then insists tithing (and everything else under the
law) has been annulled:
“The former regulation is
set aside because it was
weak and
useless.” (Hebrews 7:18-19). Nevertheless,
mercenary pastors continue
to insist on the payment of
tithes. Latter-day Pharisees Jesus rebuked the
Pharisees for keeping part
instead of the whole law.
(Matthew 23:23). That is
what tithe-collecting
pastors do today. If we insist our congregants must
pay tithes, we must also
insist that they keep the
rest of the law. James says:
“Whoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of
all.” (James 2:10).
Therefore, if we insist on
tithing, we should also
refrain from eating pork.
We should stone adulterers, execute
homosexuals, kill Sabbath
violators and restore blood-
sacrifices. Tithe-collecting pastors
counter this by maintaining
the payment of tithes pre-
dated the law. Here
Abraham is cited as the
cardinal example of someone who paid tithes
before the promulgation of
the Law of Moses, as did
Jacob, his grandson.
However, such arguments
are disingenuous. Before the law, tithing was
at best an example but not
a commandment.
Moreover, pastors fail to
mention that Abraham only
tithed once in his lifetime. When he did, he did not
even tithe his own money:
he tithed the spoils of war.
He gave ten percent of the
plunder he took when he
rescued Lot to Melchisedec, king of Salem. But then he
did not even keep the rest
but returned it (all ninety
percent) to the king of
Sodom. For his part, Jacob also
tithed only once. He did
this in a “let’s make a deal”
arrangement he offered to
God: “Jacob made a vow,
saying, ‘If God will be with me, and keep me in this
way that I am going, and
give me bread to eat and
clothing to put on, so that I
come back to my father’s
house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. And
this stone which I have set
as a pillar shall be God’s
house, and of all that you
give me I will surely give a
tenth to you.’” (Genesis 28:20-22). This kind of
deal about accepting God
only under certain self-
serving conditions should
certainly not be a term of
reference for any serious believer. Lies upon lies The first lie pastors tell
Christians is what some
have referred to as “the
eleventh commandment:”
“Thou shalt pay thy tithes
to thy local church.” But the bible says no such thing.
The storehouse of Malachi
was not a church. It was a
place where food was kept. Pastors hide from church-
members the fact that
money was not acceptable
as tithe. The tithe was a
tenth of the seed and fruit
of the land and of the animals which ate of the
land. (Leviticus 27:30-32).
That is why God says: “Bring
all the tithes into the
storehouse, that there may
be FOOD in my house.” (Malachi 3:10). He
does not say “that there
may be MONEY in my
house.” The food was used
to feed the Levites, the
poor, widows, orphans and strangers. Pastors also conveniently
fail to teach the biblical
tithe. The principles of
tithing were not laid down
by Malachi. They were laid
down by Moses. The study of Moses’ guidelines quickly
reveals that the biblical
tithe has no application
whatsoever to Christians
and is mischievously
violated by tithe-collecting pastors today. According to the Law of
Moses, the tithe was
divided into three
allocations. The first year,
it was given to the Levite.
The second year, it was given to widows, orphans
and the poor. The third
year, it was eaten in the
company of the faithful
before the Lord as
thanksgiving for his faithfulness. (Deuteronomy
14:22-28). In the seventh
year, there was no planting
and no reaping and
therefore no tithing. So the next time your
pastor asks you to pay
tithe, ask him about the
seventh-year reprieve. Also
ask him if you can give your
tithe to the orphanage, or bring it as food items to be
eaten in church. Believe
me; he will not agree with
you because it is your
money he is after. Inapplicability of tithes Tithing was only applicable
to Jews and to the land of
Israel. When large
populations of Jews lived in
Babylon, Ammon, Moab,
Egypt, and Syria, these lands became tithe-able
lands. However, tithes
were not acceptable from
strictly Gentile lands. So
you need to ask your pastor
how come he is collecting tithes in Nigeria. Servants or slaves who
worked on the land did not
tithe because the land did
not belong to them. Since
only agricultural and
animal resources were included, a fisherman gave
no tithe of his fisheries.
Neither did a miner or a
carpenter pay tithes, nor
anyone from the various
professional occupations. So if you are not a farmer
or a keeper of livestock, tell
your 419 pastor tithing is
biblically inapplicable to
you. Moreover, the only people
authorised to receive tithes
were the Levites. (Hebrews
7:5). So if your Pastor is a
“tithe-collector,” ask him if
he happens to be a Jew. Remind him that, even
though a Jew, Jesus could
not receive the tithe
because he was not from
the tribe of Levi but from
that of Judah. The trick, of course, is for
pastors today to claim we
are “Levites.” If your
pastor is one such
dissembler, ask him if he
lives as a Levite. Remind him that Levites had no
land and did not have
private property. Ask him
also how he knows he is
from the tribe of Levi,
which happens to be one of the lost tribes of Israel.
Point out to him that even
Jewish rabbis don’t claim
to be Levites today because
all Jewish genealogical
records were lost with the destruction of the Temple
in AD 70, ensuring that it is
no longer possible to
ascertain the true identity
of Levites. Therefore, if Jews no
longer tithe because the
Levites are a lost tribe, how
can Christian pastors collect
tithes when we are not
even Jewish, how much more Levites? If Jewish
rabbis, whose terms of
reference remain the Old
Testament no longer collect
tithes, then pastors who
insist Christians are under a New Testament have no
business doing so. The conclusion then is
inescapable. Every pastor
who collects tithes is
nothing but “a thief and a
robber.” (John 10:1)
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/tithing-bananas/

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