Welcome to the Tithe Deception.


This blog is meant to help Christians that believe they don't have to pay for Salvation but are confused by the cash-tithe deception. It's ludicrous to assume that a man will ask his fiancée for 10% of her income. In the same way Jesus (The Bridegroom) has NEVER asked His Church (The Bride) for a cash-tithe. There is nothing we can do to merit God's love and yet He still loves us. Such a love is incomprehensible. The thought of it is humbling and all we can do is surrender without any plea.

Para Español por favor visite: http://diezmodecepcion.blogspot.com/



Monday, February 26, 2007

Conclusion


This study is not about paying a minister his or her salary. As the pastor of the Church of Honesty, Respect & Love, I personally know the hard work involved with being a pastor. I do it as a labor of love. However, those that earn a living from the altar are biblically justified. This study is about keeping God’s Word pure.

Through this study we have learned the truth, which is that the tithe is not cash. It is best for us to blindingly accept God’s Word in faith instead of leaning on our own understanding. Only “then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32.
Many of today’s church members are being told to tithe their money and to have faith in a future economic victory. For the majority of these Christians, the years go by without the promised financial windfall, and if they question the promise of opened monetary floodgates, they are told that they simply don’t have enough faith.

My dear friend, God did not establish a cash tithe. The idea of putting a cash tithe burden on His children never crossed our Lord’s mind. Instead, He said in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Do not be afraid, for you have a counselor. Concerning the requirements of the Law, He left you this written message. Acts 15:28-29 reads, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.”

This study can go on and on, because the Bible has a multitude of evidence, along with many examples of an edible tithe and the use of available currency. I have written these few chapters because I know that the truths contained here can set free the lives of those that so desire freedom. However, if you require more information or a deeper explanation, please contact me.

May God bless you.

Pastor Amós

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Misuse of Parables


A biblical parable is a short story used to illustrate a spiritual truth. Ministers use biblical references concerning stewardship to claim that the interpretation of the Bible means that Christians should give money to the church or they will become bad stewards instead. Ministers quote these scriptures while affirming a cash tithe, using them as further evidence of their argument. The Bible speaks of stewardship in multiple places; however, most ministers get the idea of stewardship from two of Jesus’ parables. These are the Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1-14) and the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager is for managers. In other words, Jesus was talking to the spiritual leaders of His time. This parable has nothing to do with the lay members of the church. However, if this parable would be applied to lay members’ lives, then no one should ask them for money, because giving money is not the same as managing money. This parable does not say “give;” it says “manage,” and it ends by telling the spiritual managers of that time that “you cannot serve both God and money” in Luke 16:13b. We learn in Luke 16:14 that the spiritual managers in question did not like it. “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.”
The Parable of the Talents is mainly meant for those in charge of the church, whom are represented as those who have multiple talents. However, this parable is also for lay members, whom are represented as those who have one talent. Matthew 25:14 reads, “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.” Jesus is the man that traveled to a far country, which is Heaven, and He called His servants, which are us Christians, and gave us all spiritual gifts that we must put to work.
During the Bible era, a denarius was equal to a day’s wage and a talent was equal to a lifetime’s wages. Jesus did not give us a monetary talent, but He did give us all at least one spiritual talent, although most of us have many spiritual talents. When Jesus returns, He will ask us to give an account of what we did with our spiritual talent(s) that He gave us, and this has absolutely nothing to do with money.
Another one of Jesus’ Parables that is being used to obtain money is the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-9. The appalling aspect of this practice is that this passage of scripture does not mention money, not even metaphorically. In fact, the word “money” in any shape or form (talents, gold, etc.) does not appear in this Parable!
The idea about sowing a seed of money is unbiblical! Later, Jesus makes it clear in Mathew 13:19 that the seeds which He refers to are the heard message of His Kingdom. These parables are not about how much money we give to the church. Rather, they are saying that as God’s stewards, we manage a spiritual property known as the Kingdom of Heaven and use our spiritual talents to sow the seeds, or message, of the Gospel in anticipation of the harvest.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Abraham’s non-edible Tithe


Genesis 14:18-20 reads, “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.’ Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”
Hebrews 7:1-4 reads, “This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means ‘king of righteousness’; then also, ‘king of Salem’ means ‘king of peace.’ Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!”
As we learned in Malachi 3 and Deuteronomy 14, the tithe that God had established was, among other things, a requirement of the Law of Moses, completely edible, from the increase of the Promised Land, and required land ownership. It was also for the atoning of sins and was conducive of peace. Abraham’s tithe, on the other hand, had none of these qualities. Therefore, Abraham’s tithe cannot be used as an example for demanding a cash-tithe.
As a matter of fact, Abraham was a wealthy man even before his encounter with Melchizedek. Genesis 13:2 reads, “Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.” So then why didn’t Melchizedek tell him, “dear Abraham, the tithe from the spoils of war is good, but what about tithing from your wealth?” The reason is because Abraham’s tithe was of his own accord. It was not demanded as is being done in today’s churches. Abraham had not robbed God by not tithing from his wealth.
Abraham’s example tells us that we need not tithe our wealth or our increase. However, if we go to war, which I do not recommend because we are called to peace, and win, then we can tithe the spoils of war like Abraham did. But again, we’re not about to send members out to war just to get spoils to tithe, for Colossians 3:15a says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” 1st Corinthians 7:15b also says, “God has called us to live in peace.”
Some people might argue that Abraham was a man of faith and we are his children by faith, for Romans 4:16 says, “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.”
Therefore, shouldn’t we tithe by faith? The answer is no, because Abraham didn’t use faith to tithe. He had already won the war. Therefore, it wasn’t a matter of faith. Rather, it was a matter of free will and gratitude. Hebrews 11:1 reads, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Tithing was never done by faith because the Israelites got the increase first, and then tithed afterwards.
If you are holding cash in your hand, then it is not a matter of faith because you can see it. You don’t need to hand it over to the church to have faith. What you really need to do is use the money to take care of your family. In fact, if you don’t use your money to take care of your family first, you are more than lacking in faith, for 1st Timothy 5:8 reads, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Monday, February 5, 2007

The penalty for not tithing Leviticus 27:31

The video for this post is available at: https://youtu.be/OhepydOtKhc


Although we have learned that God’s established tithe is edible, there were people that did bring Cash, plus a fifth part penalty, in place of their tithe to God’s Temple. Leviticus 27:31 reads, “If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it.”


The key word of the above verse is “redeem,” which means to buy back, or to pay the price. For example, we are redeemed by the Blood of Jesus. Galatians 3:13a reads, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…” The Jewish farmers in the Promised Land could redeem, or buy back, the tithes of their crops and cattle with cash, plus the added penalty of one fifth of the value.


In other words, if a farmer wishes to keep his tithe of grain worth $1,000, he can pay the cash amount of $1,200. A fifth is equal to 20%; therefore, 20% of 1,000 is 200. God and Moses did not want cash, currency, or money in any of its forms, but for those that insisted on keeping the tithe, they could do so at a cost to them of a fifth part added onto the monetary value of the tithe.


Therefore, it is highly unlikely that any Israelite would want to bring cash to the Temple, no matter how rich he or she was because it would cost a lot more for them to use cash as a tithe. Nevertheless, because we see it in God’s Word, chances are that there were people that preferred to pay the penalty and did so because cash was available to them.


This penalty for keeping the tithe also prevented many of the Israelites from substituting money for the tithe, which was food! Leviticus 27:31 would make no sense if the tithe had been cash or a form of currency. This Scripture also proves yet again that cash was available enough to have a cash tithe if God wanted it that way.


But then why would Moses allow this cash penalty if God didn’t want the tithe to be cash? This is because the Israelites’ hearts were hardened. This same situation happened in the case of divorce. Moses allowed the divorce that God never wanted. Matthew 19:8 reads, “Jesus replied, ‘Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.’”


In the same way, many modern hearts have become hardened due to a lack of faith in God’s Word.