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.
 |
Femi Aribisala, Fellowship
Coordinator of Healing Wings, a Pentecostal Christian fellowship.
|
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).
- The author of this article, Femi Aribisala, is the Fellowship Coordinator of Healing Wings, a Pentecostal Christian fellowship. I may not agree with all his premises, but his general conclusion is interesting. I do not support the idea of “tithes” according to the contemporary redefinition of the concept by Private Church Entrepreneurs.
