Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

Listen to this wolf in sheep’s clothing tell everyone to get on the phone and pledge $88 of first fruits offering. Oh how i wish the old prophets and judges were on earth to bring the walls down on these people, bring bears to attack them, strike them with leprosy, slay them with the sword of the Lord, cut them into pieces, strike them blind, and bring them plagues. How long will God let the thieves in his house go without judgment?

I just went through and wrote on a bunch of other blogs, so i figured i’d write a blog on some of the good tidbits that i had come up with when i wrote comments.

-there’s something that just bugs me from aiming for 10%. I mean really? it’s like this. God wants me to be totally surrendered to him like a complete sacrifice. What if i said, Well, i’ll give you 10% of me God. I understand what you are trying to say, and i know you agree that ultimately it’s 100% that belongs to God. But what i wanna know is why 10%? Is it 10% because that’s what Abraham and Israel did? Or is it 10% because that’s what the Holy Spirit is asking us to give?

-If God gave us his Spirit and its gifts to run the church, feed the church, teach the church, grow the church, then Spirit-led giving is good enough to support the church.

-Why should the spirit led church be supported by anything other than Spirit led giving? isn’t that why God gave us the spiritual gifts for? or was it just pseudo power that just gave us more boldness but actually did nothing for us?

A short, funny video about how tithing can actually hurt rather than help.

Well, it looks like the senate committee in the national government is getting more involved in the matters of the church. CBS news talks about this story here.

I have been saying for some time that this was going to happen. If the church doesn’t put itself above reproach then the government will find any reason they can to mettle in the matters and control the Church. Ministries and lifestyles of Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn, just give the government an excuse to investigate.

I am so frustrated at the opportunity that these ministries have given the government to mettle in the matters of God’s children. What do you expect the governmental world system to do? Sit around and let these obese ministries be swept under the rug? I don’t care if you have the Christian liberty to be rich. I don’t care that God has given you the freedom to prosper. I don’t care that your ministry is following the laws of the IRS. I don’t care! I don’t care! I don’t Care! Do you think God looks at these ministries and smiles just because they are staying within the bounds of the tax code?

The only people that can destroy the freedom of religion is religion itself. I’m sick of it! The investigation of these ministries are just the tip of the iceberg in the near future. The government will be more involved, and regulate the church more and more with laws in years to come. These ministries make me sick! Maybe not the ministries as much as the personal lifestyles of these evangelists. These ministries have no right to point a finger at the government and complain about their invasion privacy, because its actually the devil at work here destroying the governmental safety net that these ministries have. Also, part of the investigations is a warning from God, saying, “watch out, straighten up, because the government is only going to make it harder and harder for the church to practice their liberty”.

How can any non-profit ministry have the audacity to squeeze a few tax dollars out of the federal government, and then call themselves a charitable organization while sitting their fat butt on their obese estate. Wasn’t it Jesus who said in Luke 3:11, ““He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” But here are these evangelists not only do they have 5 or 6 luxury cars sitting in their enormous garage, but they are flying around in jets.

These ministries have given the government every reason to go in there and investigate. How dare these ministries just sit there with the nose up and lifting their clean hands, without being humiliated.

Children of God, why aren’t you humiliating these people? Why do you support them? You are destroying our liberty! If you gave your child an inch and you saw them stretch it out to a mile wouldn’t you enforce newer laws to limit their liberty? This is exactly what the government will do with the church.

Am I alone in my thoughts here?

I just watched this video sermon on tithing from Life Church. It was titled “Tithing the Tithe”. One of the statements that the preacher made on the video was, “Why do so many people give and not see results, not see return, not see the covenant promises of God? It’s either the wrong motive or the wrong method. It’s not because the word of God is not true.”

If you are the one tithing, and not seeing the blessings, how many times have you heard a pastor say that you do not have the blessings because your heart must not be right? it’s so frustrating to hear that, as someone who is trying as best as he can to give with a good heart. I know. I’ve been there. What if i told you that you are not receiving a blessing from giving, because you are under the curse? Let me read this verse for you in Galatians 3:

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

Tithing is part of the Old law, right? So, if you are trying to obey tithing, by giving 10% of your increase, then i would suggest that you either obey the whole law, or do not follow the law of tithing. Woah, before i go any further, i did not say “do not give sacrificially”. I said, do not follow the law of tithing.

Obeying the law of tithing puts a curse on your life. Could that be the reason why you are not receiving the blessing? I’m not into the whole prosperity gospel thing at all, but i do believe God does bless his people for obedience. Some of that blessing can external in financial rewards, and some of that blessing can be internal peace and satisfaction. I like to say that people reap what they sow. If you reap generosity you’ll sow generosity. It doesn’t always mean that if you reap $100 bucks, you’ll sow $200.

It’s up to you to decide in your heart the truth about tithing. God did not intend for his church to be under the giving requirements of the law. He gave us his Spirit to tutor us and help us down the road of sacrificial giving. Don’t be fooled by those that say “tithing is under the grace age so now we should give it by grace instead of the compulsion of the law”. Run far away as you can from that line of thinking. As you can see, the early church is still not the only ones that have struggled with mingling the old law with the new. We are still trying to do it today and they are putting others and themselves under the curse.

A humorous video on youtube that talks about pastors spending the tithe on whatever they want.

I read an article by Monday Morning Insight titled, “Church Tithes Continue to Decrease”. The evidence of this statement is based on the research done in the publication, “The State of Church Giving through 2004″, by Empty Tomb inc.

I know what you’re thinking. Probably something like this, “Why are people giving less and less to the Church?” That is a valid question, and i’m sure there are many answers to that. Can we actually narrow the behavioral habits of the saints down to one cause? I doubt it. But i want to twist that question for you and prove that you’ve been brainwashed. Why did you first come to the conclusion that Congregation is giving less and less to the church? Ahh! That first thought ran through my head as well. But what if you read it this way. Your church continues to give less and less to others outside of its own walls. Hmmm, that’s an interesting way to say it. Yeah, Yeah, i know the church are the people and the people are the Church, but let’s not put the congregation on the stand today. Let’s put the organization itself on the stand.

Our churches are giving less and less to the poor, the needy, and the hungry than ever before. Let’s face it, your church organization is decreasing their tithe more and more by percentage each year. Yeah it might be up this year from the past, but let’s look at the grand scale of decline. A chart will show that your church is spending more on its own wants than it is spending on the needs of others.

I did write a comment on the comment section of the monday morning website, and i said this, “It’s no surprise that the congregation is withholding more and more for our own wants, when our pastoral leaders teach them to do the same by withholding more and more for our church wants.” Let me explain that in relative terms. A church does need programs and buildings to operate. but when we compile these expensive programs and buildings together, most of the time it turns out to be a hefty price. A majority of the church staff’s creative ideas, called “programs”, will be annointed and considered as Spirit led. But when i want to spend money on family vacations, a safe, nice secure home, a nice safe vehicle, good education for my children, all of a sudden it’s like the Spirit’s annointing on these important things are gone.

Why should the congregation give more from themselves when the church organization is keeping it for themselves. This is not what God intended for his Church.

You can read the article from Monday Morning Insight here
You can read the publication from Empty Tomb here

Here is a small excerpt from the video, “Rich” by Nooma. I was able to watch the whole thing. It is a really good video, and an eye opener. I’m impressed with the quality that nooma video has produced these short films.