Thank you for this article. I am a Christian and I always give 10% to my church based on my NET INCOME. My pastor always says, if you give your tithes based on your net income, NOT ON THE GROSS, then your blessings will also be net. He says this, over and over again! One day, something bad happened to my small business, then he mentioned in his sermon the Malachi verse, saying that God has already sent the pests into my grains! I feel, instead of giving us blessings and consoling us with bad circumstances in our lives, he is cursing us! He sees all our tithes because, he is the one depositing them, most members left already. Until last month, i decided to cut my tithes in half. I ordered pens online and used the money i am supposed to give to church. I have them special order, to put some words about Jesus. Then, My son and i started to give away pens on the streets with wordings saying Jesus loves you, salvation is free from Jesus. He is able and just to forgive us from our sins. Accept him now as your Lord and Savior and you and your household will be saved. I love what i am doing now. I am reaching out to other people to share His Love, rather than giving it to my pastor, who loves to shop rather than reaching out to other people. There were people who asked me to pray for them. There were people who asked me which church i belong. I told them, i do not promote my church nor myself, but only Jesus. Those pens do not have any wordings to identify me nor my church, but only to exalt Jesus' name. I believe this is what God wants us to do. Don't give away your money for something that does not go to his Will, but you could do it yourself. Help the poor, feed those homeless you see on the street. Buy them coffee. Jesus wants us to look after the widows, the orphans, the poor, not to build an expensive building for the church. He will then reward you, though good works will not save you, but only Him can save us! May God bless you all!