1st Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
There is a fine line between faith and foolishness. Nothing upsets me more as a preacher than money-hungry pastors. I am so disgusted by the love of money that permeates so many pulpits today. I heard Pastor Clarence Sexton in 2016 begging his congregation to raise $1,000,000 to renovate Crown College. Pastor Steven Anderson is so right about the Bible College Scam in the United States! While local New Testament churches are shrinking, the Bible colleges are growing bigger, parasiting off and funneling much needed resources away from the churches.
Most preachers don't like me, because I preach against a 10% tithe. You cannot show me one verse in the inspired King James Bible that commands saints to give 10% of their money to God. When I was a baby Christian as a teenager, I was lied to by preachers, who told me that I was robbing God if I didn't tithe 10% of everything I own. I was wrongly taught that even if I tithes 10%, I still hadn't given God a cent, and that I was supposed to give an additional 5% to make God happy. I was also errantly bullied, told by lying pastors that if I failed to tithe and give more than my tithe, that God would do bad things to me. Those horrible pastors said that your spouse or children might die, thieves might break into your home to steal, you might lose your job, or your home burn to the ground, as God's punishment upon you if you didn't tithe and give above the tithe. They based all of this junk theology on one single passage of Scripture from the Old Testament...
Malachi 3:8-11, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein 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 storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.”
To understand this passage you need to know that God ordained12 tribes in Israel in the Old Testament. These twelve tribes formed the nation of Israel. They were God's chosen people. God ordained that the tribe of Levi would perform all of the priestly work. They set up the Tabernacle, and dismantled it as they traveled. The Levites performed all the work of the priests, killing of the animals for sacrifice, and purging of the sins of the people with blood (which symbolized the precious blood of Jesus Christ which would one day be shed for our sins). So God commanded the other remaining 11 tribes to tithe 10% of everything that they owned to support the tribe of Levi. It was a closed system ordained by God, only for the Jews, only for Jews who lived in the Old Testament, and only for Jews living in the land of Palestine.
Therefore, that 10% tithing system which was instituted only for Old Testament Israel, does NOT apply to believers today, we who are at liberty through faith in Christ alone. This doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to support the work of the ministry. However, you and are are not required to tithe 10% to the tribe of Levi, nor to any specific church, or any church. I have declared war on these lying pastors and others in the clergy, who prey upon people with the lie that God will hurt them if they don't tithe 10%.
Case in point is a woman that I know. She sinfully divorced her husband decades ago. She is very religious, but not a very good Christian. Most people fail to understand that reading your Bible, praying, tithing and going to church weekly does NOT make you a good Christian, it simply means that you are devout in your religious faith. How good of a Christian you are is determined by how you treat people and God.
This foolish woman that I am speaking of makes poverty wages. She has no job training. She divorced her husband and put herself in this situation. She tithes 10% of her meager wages because she thinks that is part of being a good Christian. She has been deceived by lying pastors. So while her pastor is living large—driving a nice car, dining out, going on vacations and living in a beautiful home—this woman barely survives on what she receives. So she begs her family for money to pay her bills. That is so unethical and wrong dear reader.
Listen to me, if you are so poor that you need to go borrow money from others, then you SHOULND'T tithe! Do you really think God wants you to tithe while needing to beg for money from others? No way! She is effectively tithing with other people's money. This is what religion does to people, it screws up their common sense, inflicting religious scrupulosity (fear and worry caused by religion) upon them if they don't tithe 10%(to a God who will punish them if they don't). SHAME on those lying pastors!!!
Sadly, money is the main thing that preachers try to get from people. I have seen it all my life. I loved Dr. Jack Hyles, but he browbeat and relentlessly pressured his church congregation for their money. Pastor Hyles also gave away nearly everything that he earned and received. SO I am not saying that he was greedy, God forbid. Brother Hyles was always wanting to build and grow his ministry, which required millions of dollars.
Respectfully, Dr. Hyles truly was just like Solomon, which Bill Rice called him. I heard in one of his sermons, that Pastor Hyles was scolding his church members for reneging on $100,000 in promised donations a year earlier. They had filled out financial vow cards in church, because Dr. Hyles pressured them to. That is what happens when you constantly pressure people to give, give, give. Something has to break at some point! When Solomon's son, Rehoboam, told the people that he was going to go even harder on them financially, 10 of the 12 tribes revolted and journey north with Jeroboam to start their own kingdom. They said: “Screw you Rehoboam!” I can't say that I blame them! Would you?
There is something wrong with a pastor who scolds, browbeats and belittles his church members for not giving sacrificially until it hurts. I saw that garbage at the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam in 2014. They invited a guest missionary's from the Philippines to speak at church. A super typhoon had just devastated the Philippine islands. He said at the time that 1,900 churches were about to close their doors forever in the Philippines, if they did not receive financial help. He said: “I know this churches gives, but we need you to give sacrificially until it hurts!” Just as he said that, I glanced down to my right side and saw a church bulletin laying on the pew. The church was taking a lucrative vacation to the Holy Land in Israel, which was going to cost well over $100,000. Twenty affluent church members were going on the trip. I felt numb and sick to my stomach at the utter hypocrisy of the leaders of Harvest Baptist Church on Guam.
It is clear from this to see, that they just want to suck every last drop of blood money out of every person they can, ultimately for their own benefit!!! The shameful pastor's of Harvest Baptist Church's exuberant salaries always come first, and their lucrative vacations, and needy churches ready to close their doors come last. What hypocrites!!! It is blood money when church leaders and members are taking expensive trips to the Holy Land, at the expensive of churches closing their doors. As I speak, Marty Herron (the former incompetent infidel pastor of Harvest) is now getting paid well over $100,000 a year as the ungodly vice president of Faith Baptist Bible College And Theological Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa. Marty belongs in prison, but religious crime spays well in America! Marty is guilty of preaching the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation, and perverting what it means to "repent" to be saved, and for promoting Martin Luther (1483-1546) as a Christian. Luther taught the heresy of Sacramental Salvation all his life. Herron also has much blood on his hands for using, selling and promoting the Devil's fake Bible revisions. Woe unto Marty Herron and the ungodly Bob Jones University cult who trained him. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!
Dear friend, you ought not tithe just to tithe. You worked hard for that money. If you are saved (i.e., a born again child of God), then the day you got saved everything you own became God's (1st Corinthians 6:20). When you give money away, you are simply letting go of what is already God's. But dear friend, please don't be an idiot with God's money! You shouldn't donate any money to the Salvation Army, who pay their top official over $300,000 a year!!! If they can afford to pay those kind of outrageous salaries (which is nearly 8 times what the average U.S. worker earns in a year), then they don't need God's money!!! And that $300,000 doesn't even include his paid housing, business trips (vacations), business meals and other fringe compensations!!! The Salvation Army's leaders are spoiled rotten to the core!!! Then at Christmas, they'll deceitfully portray to the public the image of a Santa Claus collecting coins.
Money is the last thing I will give a church, unless I see that it is a King James Bible only, free grace Gospel only, soulwinning church. Please don't give God's money to help further the Devil's lordship Salvation cult! That means don't give any money to Pensacola Christian College (PCC), who wickedly bid Godspeed to the Calvinist Bob Jones University (BJU) cult. PCC and BJU are cults that work together to make filthy lucre. That's all they care about, making a lot more money. Cha-ching goes the sound of the cash register! PCC sinfully bids Godspeed to Lordship Salvation infidel Ken Ham, who teaches that faith is not enough to be saved, he errantly says you must also turn away from your evil ways. That is WORKS!!! (Romans 4:4).
I wrote this blog to encourage you to start thinking objectively when it comes to giving. So many believers foolishly only give money to avoid feeling guilty, or legitimately because they do genuinely love the Lord, or errantly because they think giving is the way to get things from God—but ask yourself, “Where is that money going?” Are you paying for someone's giant paycheck? Are people coming to Jesus Christ as their personal Savior? Does the church even have a time scheduled to go soulwinning?
My personal belief is that if a church pastor is living higher on the hog than I am, I refuse to donate one penny to that church. These spoiled Baptist pastors today need to humble themselves to the order of Franciscan Catholic priests, who are sworn to live in poverty for Christ. We can use some of that type of humility in our independent fundamental Baptist churches. Please don't give your hard earned money to any church or ministry, unless you KNOW where the money is going and what it's being used for.
I triple-dog dare you to search the internet with the words: “______ ministry,” and see what you get. For example: Here is a bicycles ministry. There's no Gospel message on their website, nor could I find anything about their ministry where it says they share the Gospel with anyone. They just share God's love through giving asway bikes! Folks, that is a scam! It is a racket, not a legitimate ministry, because nobody is getting a chance to be saved.
Here is another scam, a scuba diving ministry. Their so-called “ministry” is going scuba diving with other believers, but that is a club for diving enthusiast, not a ministry. Since they are not preaching the Gospel to try to win people to Christ, it cannot be a ministry. Many people have a perverted idea of what a “ministry” is. Search the Scriptures and you will find that any biblical ministry involved trying to get people saved with the power of the Gospel.
And here is some nut on Facebook who has even started his own marijuana ministry for Jesus! Oh brother! Again, where is the Gospel being preached? No, they just want to justify getting high in the name of Jesus. What wickedness!
Anyway, back to the main topic of this blog. If you are broke dear reader, God does not expect you to tithe. I think if God has blessed you through hard work or an inheritance to become filthy rich, you should return that kindness to God by being generous. However, do your homework because everybody wants money these days, but less than 1% of today's churches, charities and ministries are worthy of receiving a single penny. Beware of these fat cat charities that pay ridiculous 6-digit salaries to their overpaid executives, while you survive from paycheck to paycheck. Charity starts at home!!! Pensacola Christian College has dozens of employees getting paid 6-digit salaries. They won't get a penny from me!
I contend that you should give what money you have to spare directly to the poor, homeless and needy. That is what I do. So 100% of the money that I give goes directly to the poor. I have eliminated the spoiled rotten overpaid middleman who is getting paid $694,000 a year! That is the annual salary for the CEO of Red Cross! You are a fool if you donate money to them. If I had my way, no charity would legally be allowed to pay anyone more than what the average U.S. worker gets paid. These so-called “charities” pay ZERO taxes, while paying sickening ridiculously high salaries to their executives. It is unethical and just plain wrong!
You are not robbing God by nothing tithing 10%. You are only robbing God if you made a financial vow to the Lord, and then you went back on that vow. Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.” That was the horrible sin of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5. They had promised to sell a home and give all the proceeds to the local church, but then after they sold their home, they held back some of the money. They had broken a vow to the church, which the Apostle Peter said was a broken vow to God. Be careful not to make a vow to man or God unless you intend to keep it, no matter what. Personally, I never make vows for that reason, because vows can be easily broken if circumstances change.
Also, I believe that God will reward us in Heaven for giving, even if the people to whom we gave the money were reckless, dishonest or greedy. God will punish them for their sins. However, if we give money to shady institutions or ministers, the effectiveness of what could have been done with that money was wasted.
Having said that, there is nothing wrong with giving money to secular charities; such as, March of Dimes, Disabled veterans of America, Shriners Hospitals For Children, or The American Cancer Society to fight disease and help disabled people. I am not recommending supporting these institutions, I am simply mentioning them as an example. Albeit, I believe that as saints we should focus on giving our money for eternal causes. There are tens of millions of people who donate money to secular organizations, but only God's redeemed children are going to donate money to churches, rescue missions, missionaries, soulwinning events, et cetera.
I am simply saying to be careful who you give money to. If aimlessly throwing money away at shady charities and bogus churches makes you feel better about yourself, then you are so vain. Don't you support some rich pastor who is living large, while he is browbeating you to give to him until it hurts. Please don't be duped!!! Again, there is nothing in the New Testament which commands any saint to tithe 10%. God wants you to give as your are able, as He has prospered you. 1st Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” If you are on welfare, disability or unemployed, then you cannot give much. God understands. The Lord wants your heart, and then He will get your money, home, family and all that goes along with it. Proverbs 23:26, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
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