Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

Here is a 3 part series on tithing that was posted on YouTube of a series by the radio show “Let’s Talk About Jesus”. Wayne Monbleau is host and he shares a good message about tithing. The radio show’s website is. http://www.letstalkaboutjesus.com/. I tried searching for a direct link to his radio broadcast from his website, but i can only find these three youtube audio sound bytes. All three videos total time is about 24 minutes.

Part 1

Part2

Part 3

I like to promote others who have a unique, public voice about the false teaching of tithing, so if anyone is aware of others who do teach against tithing (besides authors-they are easy to find), please feel free to promote them in the comments box. Also it might give me a heads up to write a post about their ministry.

Here is a list of all the bible verses from the Old and New Testament that are about tithing.

• Genesis 14:20 – Melchizedek comes out to meet Abraham, as Abraham gives him a tithe of the spoils of his victory.
• Genesis 28:20-22 – After the vision of God’s renewed covenant, Jacob initiates a covenant with God vowing to give him a tithe of what he gets.
• Leviticus 27:30-32 – The specifications of the tithe is introduced into the law of Moses.
• Numbers 18:21 – The tithe is dedicated the Levites for the work in the tabernacle.
• Deuteronomy 12:5-11 – God gives instructions for what to do with the tithe once they cross over the Jordan.
• Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – God gives instructions on how to disperse and exchange the tithe.
• Deuteronomy 26:12-15 – God gives instructions on how they should have kept the tithes sanctified before they can ask for a blessing.
• 2 Chronicles 31:5-12 – The children of Israel do what’s right under the reign of Hezekiah, and bring the tithes to the designated places.
• Nehemiah 10:37-38 – Israel obeys God and brings the tithes to the storehouse.
• Nehemiah 12:44 – Officers were appointed to watch over the tithes in the storehouse.
• Nehemiah 13:5-12 – Nehemiah cleanses the storehouse and kicks Tobiah out of the room that was designated to store the tithe. He then restores order.
• Amos 4:4 – God commands Israel to bring back the tithe and reiterates the curse that is upon them if they don’t.
• Malachi 3:8-10 – God reprimands Israel for not delivering the tithe, and reiterates the blessings and curse that would be in result of whatever decision they chose.
• Matthew 23:23 – Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for not obeying the weightier matters of the law along with tithing.
• Luke 11:42 – A gospel parallel passage of Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for not obeying the weightier matters of the law along with tithing.
• Luke 18:12 – A Pharisee brags about his obedience to the law and tithing.
• Hebrews 7:5-9 – A change is announced concerning the priesthood and the tithe.

Lots of scandals going on in the Church lately but here’s the latest news written by Justing Juozapavicius in the Associated Press - “Embattled Oral Roberts President Resigns”. The link to the news article is here. There were allegations brought up a few months ago that Richard Roberts, the president, had used some of the University’s funds to support his lavish lifestyle. Some of the allegations brought forward are, “a $39,000 shopping tab at one store for Richard Roberts’ wife, Lindsay, a $29,411 Bahamas senior trip on the university jet for one of Roberts’ daughters, and a stable of horses for the Roberts children.” I’m one of those people that think our leaders deserve a bountiful reward and compensation, but i gotta tell you, 29,000 for a Bahamas senior trip, and a 39,000 shopping tab at only one store? I hope they were just shopping for a car.

It’s bad enough that Britney Spears is in the news for her shopping habits let alone a Christian evangelist. I’m glad that the faculty and chair members had enough guts to stand up for what’s right. This extortion of charitable funds in order to support lavish lifestyles needs to end inside the Christian community. I have nothing wrong with Christians having money, just don’t hoard it all. There’s just something wrong with a Christian group calling themselves a charitable organization, when the presidents and directors are living a life of luxury in the top 1% of the world. It’s practically an oxymoron to say that they are a charitable organization but yet, their biggest charity is to themselves.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that this news article was coming out in the Wall Street Journal, and have been long awaiting it. Finally here it is. You can visit the link here. This news article titled, “The Backlash Against Tithing” was written in the Wall Street Journal by Suzanne Sataline.

As i was reading the news article i have a mixed emotion. I am really glad that the awareness is getting spread about the truth of tithing, but at the same time, i felt like it didn’t speak a clear and concise message about why tithing is not right. It spoke about people’s feelings and personal situations that they have gone through because of the misuse of the tithe. People’s feelings and mistreatment are not great biblical support for truth. I’m not saying that they don’t speak the truth, they just aren’t stating solid, biblical fact about it.

The main benefit of that article is that it increased awareness. It’s still up to the those of us who know the details of the truth to share it. A majority of this website is dedicated to sharing the detailed truth of tithing. Probably the greatest tool that i can share on this website is a long list of top arguments used for tithing and my rebuttal to them. The link is here: Tithing arguments
It is in a bullet list, so i list the main argument first and then state the rebuttal with supporting verses.

The next biggest resource and link is available here: Top Questions to Ask Tithers . It is just a list of 12 questions that are excellent to stump those who believe in tithing. After presenting these questions the tither will more than likely tell you that you’re robbing God, a heretic, or a devil helper. They will think of anything to say back to you except solid biblical truths that can answer these questions.

P.S. I give credit to Dr. Russell Earl Kelly for pouring his time and energy into providing information that made it possible for the Wall Street Journal to publish this news article. You can see his work on his website, www.shouldthechurchteachtithing.com/

I was just going through some things in my notes wondering what i should write about when i found this book that i forgot i read. “The Great Investment” is written by T.D. Jakes. It covers faith, family, and finances. I read through the book pretty quick, but slowed down in the chapters alluding to tithing. I have to admit i am skeptical of T.D. Jakes because of his flaunting financial situation, and expected to hear mostly a false teaching about health, wealth, and prosperity. There was some of that in this book, but not as much as i expected. He does recognize that you cannot give to get and that getting is not exactly a direct result of your giving, or of your spiritual condition. Here is a statement that i did like what was said in his book.

“God is a businessman. He is not going to do business with someone who shows no sign of potential return. He invests in people who demonstrate an ability to handle what He has given them.”

Now, does he mean that God owns a business? No, but he’s saying that God makes the right investments that a good business man would make. God is looking for those who have been good stewards. He will not leave precious talents to those who do not have the responsibility to handle them.

I am really trying to focus this whole blog about the responsibilities of stewardship. I’m not completely focused about tithing, or other charitable donations going in and out of the Church. Yes, i do spend a considerable amount of time and energy writing about it, only because i do believe tithing is the largest sore in the Church today.

If i were to sum up the word steward in one other word, i would say investor. I like the title of T.D. Jakes book, “The Great Investment”. If we look at our time, talent, treasure, as an investment option for when the King returns, America’s debt and financial problems would start disappearing. We wouldn’t be so concerned about the here and now. I’m not talking about investing in church buildings or anything like that, i’m talking about investing in people’s needs. The people have needs in America. But, take heed Church leaders, the biggest need is not another colossal worship center. Here’s a challenge for pastors: ask your congregation to write down the biggest financial need of their family, and i guarantee you won’t get one vote for a church building. It’s not even on their mind, until the pastor mentions it.

If the people, who are the Church, do not have a Church building on the top 10 list of needs, why is it always on the top list of the needs for the Church? You might think that is an impractical way of looking at it, but really is it that impractical?

In the stock market, you know what the most risky, volatile, but rewarding sectors is: Small Business. Most brokers feel safe putting their money in the large sectors like google’s, microsofts’, and apple’s, but when it comes to investing in small business it becomes risky. This is the way that our churches are thinking today. We want to invest in the big building, the big programs, and the big activities, because they are safe. In the end there is no small business investing going on so our individuals get overlooked. Investing in individual people is very risky if you ask me, but let’s face it, they have the most to grow.

Anyways, i didn’t really mean to go on a tagent there, it just happened. T.D. Jakes book had some good things, but of course there were some things i could pick out that i didn’t like. I don’t care if you think God’s called you to be prosperous. I don’t care if you think God’s called you to be a pauper, just remember that the richest king in the universe invested everything he had in the small business sector for you. So how should you invest and return it back to him?

I Just read a news article written by Meg Hibbert on OurValley.org that wrote about a couple who developed a board game to help teach Christians prosperity. We’re Americans. Aren’t we prosperous enough?

They said the game is much like monopoly, and that players do some things to work their way into the winners circle, including tithing. I can hear the windows of heaven opening right up.

You know what the most ironic thing about this game is that it costs $125.00! That is ridiculous! If you can afford a $125 game, i can tell you right now that you do not need to learn any more prosperity. I do not know the actual cost of the game for the couple to manufacture it, but it seems that they understand that prosperity always comes at the expense of others. I mean for them to charge $125. Either they need to figure out how to cut the cost by 70% or they need to cut their greed down a little bit. I wonder if overcharging is one of the goals to prosperity in this game? This is almost funny. Yeah let me teach my kids prosperity by blowing $125 on a game, i think there’s much more efficient ways of learning prosperity.

The title of the board game is called, “Living Life Abundantly”. You know why the name is given a lucrative “Abundant” title is because the word “stewardship” isn’t fun for people. I can’t stand this whole greedy mentality anymore. We’re so consumed with (our) life and (our) abundance. It’s sad that we don’t want to live the life of a steward because we love God and want to do what’s best. Through this board game you can see that most people force themselves to be stewards in hopes of reaching the abundance. Yeah, yeah, they included tithing in that board game, which is pretty selfless, but that doesn’t mean our prosperity multiplies just because we gave some money.

All i can do is speak for myself, but i wouldn’t touch that game. Do you think the game is worth it?