Eddie Long’s church members have suffered thanks to a love of money.
Embattled Prosperity Gospel Preacher Eddie Long, of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, is coming under scrutiny for his involvement with self-proclaimed “Social Capitalist” Ephren Taylor, who is being sued by the SEC in federal court for running a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme that targeted churchgoers. Long’s New Birth Church, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church and other Church of Christ churches were targeted in what the SEC estimates to be an $11 Million dollar ponzi scheme:
Taylor, 29, a charismatic entrepreneur, speaker and former CEO of City Capital Corporation, and the company’s chief operating officer, Wendy Connor, were charged with soliciting the money from at least 350 people, SEC said. A great majority of these people had one thing in common – they were practicing Christians.
Taylor was targeting primarily church congregations, preying on their beliefs and emphasizing their common Christian heritage, appealing to their faith and convincing them that a portion of invested money would be spent on charitable causes and useful community projects, SEC believes. In fact, the money went into a grand pyramid scheme, as well as Taylor’s personal usage, the agency alleges.
The SEC believes the scheme to be a typical affinity fraud – a kind of investment fraud that preys upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities.
“This kind of schemes prey upon inherent trust,” David L. Peavler, Associate Regional Director at the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, told CP. They are also particularly dangerous for potential victims because “if you’re an investor and someone comes to you and they profess to believe the same things you do, or have the same background that you do, you may be more trusting that they are telling you the truth; that they have your interest in mind. And you might be less willing to ask questions,” he said. (source)
Ephren Taylor, the “Social Capitalist”, targeted Eddie Long’s church with his alleged schemes.
Long’s congregants were exposed to the charismatic Taylor when he was invited by Long to speak at worship service. Taylor advertised his services specifically to churches with ads that read: “Will you continue to stand by and let your church drown financially?” the advertisement reads. “It’s time to take action now by hosting a financial empowerment seminar at YOUR CONGREGATION with Minister Ephren W. Taylor, II.” Once there Taylor, who received a full endorsement from Long at the pulpit, promised huge returns on investments for the church members, all the while using their money to promote his books and finance his lavish lifestyle. In the meantime, Long’s congregants suffered:
Lillian Wells told CNN that she decided to invest with Taylor because she was looking for extra income after she had been laid off her job and had gone into real estate, and Taylor had her convinced the investment was a “sure thing.” However, Wells lost at least $122,000 in retirement savings and two years later she has had to foreclose her house. “I’ve been hurt,” Wells told CNN. “I’m looking for resolution and restitution at this point, and I haven’t gotten that.” The lawsuit claims that that not only was Taylor not licensed to sell investments, but City Capital Corp. was bankrupt, information that both defendants should have known. (source)
Prosperity Gospel — Promoting The Love of Money
Our true riches are in Heaven, not here on Earth.
At this point is should be asked: why would a “financial guru” be invited to “preach” at a church service? There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that instructs a pastor to coach Christians on attaining financial success or “get rich quick” schemes. But for the heresy of the Prosperity Gospel, also known as Word of Faith or “name it and claim it” doctrine, which says that as a Christian, your faith entitles you to all sorts of worldly wealth and material gain, sermons on maximizing wealth are commonplace. This is not from the Bible and is nothing but a tool of Satan that is infiltrating the church. Jesus Christ preached against focusing on material wealth:
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and [money].” – Matthew 6:19-24
The point Jesus was making is that Christians should not be focused on present-day, material wealth. Our focus and goals should be set on eternal life, which comes through faith in Jesus Christ, and Heavenly riches, which God bestows on all believers. If someone’s eye is focused on making money then it reveals where their heart’s desire is. The Prosperity Gospel encourages its followers to put all their focus on making money today. Wealth, good health, good looks and successful relationships are all available when you just call out for it in faith, plant a “seed” by sending money to the Pastor and wait for God to deliver the blessing (called the “name it and claim it” method). Eddie Long, TD Jakes, Joel Osteen, Paula White, Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn are just a few of the big name, big money false prophets teaching this heretical doctrine.
Jesus Christ healed many people. Jesus Chris forgave sins. Jesus even raised people from the dead and never once charged anyone money nor asked for it. Money had absolutely nothing to do with His ministry nor did He ever teach His disciples to ask for money from people or to give money to receive a blessing. Yet so many pastors are doing this today. And they are quoting scripture to try to support their focus on material gain. Here is Long preaching the Prosperity Gospel:
Long bases his entire exhortation that “if you don’t tithe, you won’t get fed!” based on this verse:
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. – Malachi 3:810
This verse has been ripped from context to guilt many well-meaning Christians into turning over their money to pastors. The Prosperity Gospel teaches that giving money to the church/TV ministry is a demonstration of one’s faith, which God then rewards by giving you back even more money. Long not only turns this into some type of financial transaction with God (using terms like “10% of the gross”), he even compares it to going to a Las Vegas casino with The Lord, who is asking the believer to “take a risk with me.” This is blasphemous and a mishandling of the text. From the beginning of human civilization, God has wanted our love and obedience. Not our money. Faith, like love, is in the heart, not in what can be seen and given in the material world. The first thing to note about the above passage from Malachi is that the tithe in question was not money, it was food. Under God’s command, the tribe of Levi were chosen to work as priests in the Holy Temple and owned no land. Thus it was the responsibility of the other 11 tribes of Israel to support them.
The tithe in this passage was specifically a part of the law of Moses in the Old Testament for the ancient nation of Israel (as opposed to New Testament giving which is to be cheerful and done as the Spirit leads the individual to give). The money involved was used to purchase items for the operation of the temple for ritual sacrifices and worship. It had nothing to do with paying money to a priest. And there were certain priests responsible for taking part of the tithes and putting that in the “storehouse” for The Lord:
And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house. — Nehemiah 10:38.
The Hebrew word for “treasure house”, owtsar, is the same word translated as “storehouse” in the verse Eddie Long uses. So the priests themselves were required to tithe, giving portion of what they received in a special storehouse for God. And instead of putting their proper contributions into the storehouse, they were stealing it and thus “robbing God.” The passage in question is God scolding the priests for not acting Godly. But the Lord promises that if the sinful priests repented of their bad acts and started worshiping The Lord, He would then bless them. And 2,400 years later pastors are now misusing the verse to once again promote corruption in the Lord’s House.
The Prosperity Gospel Heresy – Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
President George W. Bush greeting Long at a Sunday service.
When once questioned about his multi-million dollar earnings, Long responded:
“We’re not just a church, we’re an international corporation…We’re not just a bumbling bunch of preachers who can’t talk and all we’re doing is baptizing babies. I deal with the White House. I deal with Tony Blair. I deal with presidents around this world. I pastor a multimillion-dollar congregation.
“You’ve got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that’s supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering.” (source)
It is sad to see such arrogance, boasting and financial focus from someone who is supposed to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But the Bible prophesied that as the End Times approached, false teachers would infiltrate the church, perverting the simple Gospel and bringing in sinful lusts into Christianity: “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” (Philippians 3:18-19)
The Apostle wrote about the false preachers who did not truly worship God but instead worshiped “their belly”, meaning they were focused on their desires and personal gain. Notice also the verse that their “glory is in their shame.” Prosperity preachers repeatedly brag about their outlandish wealth,powerful connections, luxury cars and designer clothes to their followers. And with a constant focus on money and wealth being tied to God’s blessing, they are stirring up the lusts in their congregations and making them vulnerable to financial scams and ponzi schemes like the one Ephren Taylor was running.
Eddie Long has already come under fire allegations of molesting four young men who were a part of his youth ministry (he reached an out of court settlement with them) and most recently for holding a bizarre ritual in which the Prosperity Gospel preacher was proclaimed “King” and hoisted up in the air in a throne by a Rabbi during church service (we covered the event here). Pray for Eddie Long, Taylor and all the promoters of the Prosperity Gospel heresy to repent of this false doctrine and realize that true prosperity comes in eternal life from faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear that trying to use faith in God to gain wealth is not a part of God’s plan:
[The false teacher] is proud, knowing nothing… supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. – 1 Timothy 6:4-11.
Excellent article!
Amen. I was ostracized from the ministry i went to for saying the same thing. It is quite ironic that when you read Malachi you notice that this address starts with the Levites. T ot understand Malachi 3 you have to understand that it starts from Chapter two and chapter three is nothing but a follow on of chapter two.
Mal 2:1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
At this point God through the prophet is addressing the Levites, how ironic as they are the ones that are defiling the tithe.
Note chapter 3 :1-6 1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. 6 For I am the LORD, I change not;
Note verse 3 and he shall purify the sons of Levi. Even at this point God was still addressing the Levites only.
It is only in verse 9 of chapter 3 that God includes the nation of Israel.
But this is something that should always stand out notice how God mentions the things that really make him angry with levites
Mal 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
Notice God’s concern for the; hireling; the widow, and the fatherless; and the fatherless.
Now take this scripture into account :Matthew 25:31-46
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Next time you think of tithing make sure you are giving it to God and not man He says if you give to least you have given to HIM!!! I didn’t say God did!! AMEN!
Amen! Excellent use and understanding of our Holy Scripture. Thanks so much for your comments. It is sad and shameful the way this passage from Malachi 3 has been misused, mishandled and abused to deceive and frighten so many well-meaning believers into giving their money to pastors. An article on the whole tithing issue is forthcoming, I promise!
Keep spreading the truth of the Bible. God bless.
At this point, if there is anyone left who is still an active member of Pastor Long’s “chuch”, then …
It’s unfortunate this happened because so many believers lose faith because of people like him. I think a lot of the time what happens is instead of them aligning their lives with Christ and trying to be like Christ, a lot of people end up trying to be like the preachers because unlike the disciples from back then, the preachers today teach with such arrogance and they don’t ask Jesus to humble them. It’s very sad because one little thought of impure intentions can lead to a life of immoral actions that’s why it’s very important we keep in constant communication with our Father, so he can teach us how to deal with all the attention were going to get (because we do get attention good or bad) we have to stop thinking, ok God gave me wisdom, now I can take it from here, or God gave me people, now I can take it from here. There was not one time when the diciples did things in their own name but always in Jesus name. We have to remember that and apply it to our lives. Jesus has to be our go to for everything and until we accept that, we’re gonna see pators like this all the time not aligning their life with Christ. Not giving their everything to God and not seeking God for the true direction and guidance. It’s a shame.
Amen. And that is a great point that churchgoers trying to be like the pastors instead of Jesus. Unfortunately in this age of the “Superstar Pastor” that happens more and more.
wow, i’m hurt, who’s next. that’s why i don’t go to church, dam crooks.
“God is Love”…….the only seed mentioned in the Gospels is the Word of God BUT that has been
twisted and preached as money. It is DEFINITELY preached WITHOUT LOVE.
Preaching the Gospel of Jesus? Does not sound like it.
I just can’t understand all the greed in the world today, why? Why can’t people understand how temporary and short everything in this life is, we are here today and gone tomorrow, we can be gone any minute now and there is nothing we can do about it, and we can’t take anything with us. IF people could just accept God’s love for us….Christ died on the cross for all of us!
Exactly Nelly. Unfortunately, without the Spirit of God, the lusts and affairs of this world can blind the minds and hearts of people. Which is why we need to pray for the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to shine in their hearts. God bless.
B&E, Thanks for your good work. Well done for the Glory of God.
Hi, Begining and End, I follow your blog and i enjoy the wonderful works you are doing for the Lord. On this issue of tithe I will like to let you know that tithing is a must even for the new testament believers. I gave my life to Jesus about 19 years ago coming from an islamic background. Since then the Holy Spirit has been very faithul in guiding me in my christian journey because I tend to have a passion for obeying the Lord. In the area of marriage I prayed to God to reveal who He wants me to marry and on the third day of praying in the morning I fell into a trance and I saw a lady which God showed me and we have been married or ten years now and she is the best in the world.
Similarly, one day , many years after my conversion,on the campus, i met an old friend with whom i have lost contact or many years who had also become a christian. We were discussing spiritual matters and he also hold the same view with yours that really tithing is not a new testament teaching and that giving in the new testament does not have to be strictly based on 10% of your income and so on. Well, I was almost convinced and i started to ruminate it in mind that he might be correct, moreso, at the time I was actually struggling with paying tithe.
But, the night of that very day. I slept and I had a dream and God told me in the dream that “I ordained tithe and I have not changed”, that was all. Because of that I believe tithing is for all believers in Christ. What do you think?
Hi Abiodun,
Thanks so much for your comments and I give God all the glory that the site has been a blessing to you. I think that we have to base our doctrine – meaning what we believe Christianity requires and commands – on the Bible. I believe God can speak to people through dreams. However any message from God would be 100% in line with a proper interpretation of Scripture. There is no Biblical basis for requiring Christians to tithe. There are many things God ordained in the Mosaic law that Christians are not required to do. Let’s examine The Lord’s commands on circumcision:
Now just reading this alone one would have to conclude that if a person was going to be a part of the Abrahamic covenant through which all nations would be blessed that they would have to be circumcised. However we know that is not the case. The circumcision of the flesh was a foreshadow of the true circumcision – the circumcision of the heart. It is the heart that God truly wants from a person. We are to be willing to cut out the parts of our hearts that puts us on the throne and surrender our will, desires and lives to The Lord through faith in Christ. Even in the days of Moses, God told the Israelites in advance that this was the ultimate plan:
God revealed that true reconcilation with Him is by faith, that is when the heart can be circumcised. The Old Testament foreskin circumcision was merely a type and shadow of the real one. This is again confirmed in the book of Romans and ties right into your point about tithing:
This is a very important passage. It is explaining, quite clearly, that our salvation is “imputed” or given to us from God. It is not something we earn through any action or work. Our forgiveness is 100% free thanks to the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
And here we see that Abraham was saved before he was circumcised. It was his faith that brought salvation, not the covenant works. And Abraham is the father of all of those who believe – whether they are circumcised or not. So now we can see that the covenant God established with Abraham had spiritual implications forever – not literal, earthly ones. A person today can be uncircumcised and still saved. And now we get to a greater point about the Old Testament law.
Tithing is a command of the Mosaic covenant. It was used to support the Levitical priesthood who were not permitted to work on anything outside of the temple. It was also a source of revenue for temple upkeep. If you give a tithe you are required to give it only to a Levite. None of these things are requirements for a Christian today. There is no temple in Israel today. There are no Levitical priests collecting tithes from churches. Christians today are the temple of God:
This is the ultimate effect of the tithe – to foreshadow the glory we give God through keeping our bodies from sin. From living a pure life. God now dwells within us – if we are indeed born-again Christians. We are made a royal priesthood and Christ is our High Priest:
”
There is absolutely no command to tithe in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ only mentioned tithing once and that was to show the hollow, fake religious behavior of the Pharisees. Anyone can give 10% of their income, but is their heart circumcised? Do they truly believe? Do they honor the temple of their bodies? This is what matters for Christians today. Scripture clearly tells Christians to give without compulsion: “7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:7.” . The tithe is not only compulsion – it has been used as a club to batter so many well-meaning churchgoers into submission. Guilting them into giving much-needed money to greedy, apostate pastors who are teaching heretical doctrines. This is not Biblical.
God ordained many actions in the Old Testament “for ever.” And yet, we don’t do them today. Passover can only be observed in Jerusalem. The Mosaic covenant requires a minimum of 3 trips to Jerusalem each year. Yet I do not see any pastors commanding their congregations to follow this particular command. Because Christ is the fulfillment of all Old Testament Law. He is the High Priest. He is The Passover Lamb. He is the Bread from Heaven. He is The Day of Atonement. He is The One we gather to at the Last Trump. He is The One we will tabernacle with in the Millennium. He is the fulfillment of every Old Testament physical requirement. And we gain the blessing of being in Him trough faith. And thus no work is required.
I hope that clarifies things. If you have any other questions or points to make, I’d be glad to hear them. God bless you abundantly as we continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. -B&E
Thank you for the prompt reply. God speaks to me through dreams and visions, not once nor twice, and I believe it is a gift from the Holy Spirit to guide me in my spiritual journey so as not to be deceived easily by the devil and false pastors that are everywhere.
The Holy Spirit is to guide us into all truth. It is true that the Bible is the final authority in the life of a christian. However, many of these truth are written in the Bible but we miss them sometimes because they are not in plain sight or because they are not written the way we expect.
For one reason or the other, some born again christians cannot read the Bible at all but you see
them doing things that are written in the scripture so Who taught them?
When i just got converted, I used to wear a particular hair style called “punk” in my local parlance. At that time I did not know how to open my Bible to the book of Hebrews or Corinthians. But one day the Holy Spirit convicted me and said “this hair style does not befit a child of God.” Immediately i entered a barbing salon and scrapped it off. I did not wait unitl I could find where it was written in the Bible. If the Holy Spirit speaks to you you will know unless you dont want to obey Him. As a matter of fact, this particular hair style looks so harmless that even many pastors and church presidents in my country wear it. The letter killeth but the Spirit gives life. The Holy Spirit and the word of God are connected.
Coming to the issue of tithe in the Bible. Tithing is a principle that existed before the mosaic law. Abraham did it , Jacob did it and we did not read anywhere that God commanded them to give it . In Gen 12 Abraham gave tithe to Melchisedek. Jacob also said in Gen 28:20
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wearh 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.
God only made use of the principle of tithing in the mosaic law it does not belong there. So it will not be right to TIE tithing to the law alone. In the new testament
Gen 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
“WITHOUT NEGLECTING THE FORMER (i.e tithing)”. Jesus supported it. Moreover, the priesthood has changed from the levites to Jesus
The dream I had about tithing was not useless. From the accounts of Abraham and Jacob, it appears that WHENEVER a man of God wanted to give to God, TITHE WAS THE MINIMUM THEY COULD THINK OF. So i believe that the MINIMUM we can give to God out of our income is 10%
Hi Abiodun – I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit indwells us and can guide us to conform to the image of The Lord Jesus Christ. However, the Holy Spirit being one with Christ will only speak that which is confirmed in the Bible.
1. Abraham and Jacob tithing – I am glad you brought up these examples because they highlight an important distinction to make when reading Scripture. There are descriptive passages in the Bible which describes historical events and from which we can learn Biblical principles and gain a better understanding of God’s plan of salvation for humanity. A perfect example of this is Genesis chapter 7 where God provides Noah instructions on how to build the ark. These types of passages are different from prescriptive passages – which are commands specifically directed to believers. So let’s look at these two passages of tithing and see which category they fall into:
There is a great deal going on in this passage theologically but we will focus on the tithing for discussion sake. Abram was victorious in defeating the 5-King confederacy that had captured Lot. He then returned with all the plunder that was stolen. He tithed from those goods and then returned the 90% to the King of Sodom. Somehow when discussing this passage, the second part of Abram’s actions are left out. So as a reader we have to ask the question: how does this apply to my life today as a Christian? Is this passage descriptive or prescriptive? Are we to discern from this chapter that God wants all Christians to tithe because Abram did? If so, then the logical conclusion would be that after tithing, we return the other 90% to our benefactor. There is no other reasonable conclusion to arrive at.
However if we look at the plain meaning of the passage, there is no general directive to all believers in this passage to tithe. It is merely describing an historical event. In my previous post, I mentioned circumcision. Remember, circumcision was done by Abraham before the giving of the Mosaic law as well. And yet and still, if we rightly divide Scripture we would never say a person is required to be circumcised in order to be saved. So we can conclude that Genesis 14 is in fact descriptive. Nowhere does God give any universal principle or directive for all believers to tithe in that chapter.
Now let’s look at Jacob:
This is a very interesting passage as it details Jacob after he just had a direct conversation with The Lord. In his affirmation of faith he vows to tithe to God. But notice that was not all that he did. He erected a pillar which he poured oil on. It was a memorial to the appearance and open manifestation of God in Bethel. Now again, if we are following your reasoning that this passage is actually establishing a universal principle for all believers, then all of us should be erecting pillars to The Lord. Yet I have never heard or read anyone interpreting this passage in this fashion. Instead, the pillar is skipped over and we focus on the tithing.
But just as the passage with Abraham – this is not a universal command for all believers for all time. This passage is describing the vow Jacob made as had literally seen God. It was a memorial of the Holy Ground he was standing on. And so Holy that Jacob would use his possessions to maintain it and worship from it. To conclude from this passage that God is commanding all believers to tithe does not follow logically from the plain meaning of the text. What we should conclude, among many things, is to trust God wholly for our lives. And that Jesus Christ is God – because that is who Jacob saw. He is professing his understanding that the same God who appeared to Abraham and Isaac was now before him. And this was the Messiah. Jacob was pledging to live his life for God (“then shall the Lord be
my
God”). These are all powerful lessons that we should apply to our lives. Not by tithing but by believing and living out our faith in conversation and lifestyle.
2. “Neglecting the former” – The Mosaic law was in effect in Israel until the crucifixion of The Lord. Jesus established the New Covenant with His shed blood on the cross. So when Christ was addressing the Pharisees before the crucifixion the admonishment to not neglect tithing was entirely appropriate. Again, tithing was a command in the Mosaic covenant specifically for the upkeep of the temple and to support the Levitical priesthood. Born again Christians are not under the Mosaic covenant and the temple was destroyed almost 2,000 years ago. So again, there is no Biblical basis to require a tithe for Christians today.
The Bible does not establish a “minimum” for Christian giving:
This woman gave 100%. Couldn’t one argue that should be the minimum for our giving? Of course. But again, this was not a universal command. The point being made is that her heart was so moved for God that she gave all, even if in the eyes of the world it was not much of anything. God wants our hearts. Our faith. That is what we MUST give. That is what we cannot hold back with.
If the Spirit so moves you to give 10%, by all means do so. But trying to make this a law and yoke for all believers does not have support of Scripture. Thanks again for your comments and God bless. -B&E
Thanks for the reply. I said in my earlier post that tithe is the minimum to be given to God. You can give 20% or 30% or 40% or 100% if you like as the Lord has blessed you. But 10% is the minimum.
From the account you gave
And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. – Mark 12:41-44.
This passage exposed the fact that PROPORTION is important to God in our giving. Jesus compared the giving of the “many that were rich” to the giving of the “poor widow” and praised the poor widow because her proportion was quite high, her sacrifice was unparalleled. “Many that were rich” also gave something but the proportion was small probably less than even 10%.
My friend in Christ, the fact that many so called greedy prosperity preachers have been abusing the principle of tithing does not mean that it is not relevant to new testament believer. Many well meaning christians today behave as if AFTER the Bible was written, our spirituality has been FIXED and nothing more.
Take for example the issue of jewellery. Many christians will argue that the use of jewellery by women is not forbidden in the scriptures. When you point out to them 1 tim 2:9 and 2 pet 3:3 yet they are not convinced. They are looking for a passage in scripture that says “THOU SHALL NOT — USE JEWELLERY” and as long as that one is not there then it is not a law. But from the testimony of many women that became born again, many of them testified that the Holy Spirit spoke to them to remove their jewellery. The wife of the pastor of the third largest single congregation in the world does not wear any. One day she was sharing her conversion experience with a group of women in her church. She told them how the Lord convicted her of the jewellery. She obeyed and threw all her earings,chains etc into the lagoon. Some of the women present said she should have given those things to them if she did not need them. My wife told me she was convicted too. I saw the testimony of an american prostitute on youtube who shared her dramatic salvation experience. She said the same thing Jesus told her to remove her jewellery. These are not just individual beliefs. I can continue to give you more instances.
Many christians today do not want to obey God and they will start hiding behind what the Bible says or does not say, using THEOLOGY and trying to explain the Hebrew meaning or the Greek origin of the words used in the scripture instead of them to just OBEY.
WHAT i expect heaven bound christians to do in such a case as this issue of tithing or the case of jewellery is to go on their kneels and ask directly from The Lord Jesus Christ , the ONLY POTENTATE who was, is and is to come, the AUTHOR of the Bible, what is His will concerning them. Paul did the same thing about all contentious issues of his time. He asked the Lord specifically.
SO DONT REJECT TITHING UNTIL YOU HAVE PERSONALLY ASKED GOD TO KNOW IF HE HAS ABOLISHED IT OR NOT
Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.
Hi Abiodun,
Thanks again for your comments. I think I see why we are still at a variance. You said:
I actually disagree with your reasoning here. You are making statements without any Scripture to support them. The Bible says:
We have all the answers on our doctrine, directly from God, in the Bible. A man is “perfect” and “thoroughly furnished unto ALL good works” based on the written pages of the Bible. So while there is nothing wrong with praying for guidance on a particular issue or for better help to understand God’s Will, we can know, with confidence, what is required from the Bible alone.
You said tithe is the minimum a Christian should give. Where is this in the Bible? That contradicts 2 Corinthians 9:7 which says: “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” You are trying to make 10% a “necessity” for all believers. You are putting the yoke of the Mosaic law on Christians – something the Bible very clearly forbids.
I also wonder if you feel tithing is the only Mosaic law that Christians must obey. Or do you think all of them still apply to us?
I would suggest reading our article on the Mosaic law and why it does not apply to Christians:
https://beginningandend.com/are-christians-under-the-law-understanding-the-law-and-the-gospel/
God bless. -B&E