tithing

Tithing, Truth or Bondage?

I begin by posing the following as the first of many questions.
Does the Word of the God say that you will be able to do as much with 9/10ths of your income as you could have with 10/10ths as I have heard proclaimed from the pulpit? What does the Word actually say about tithing?
Does it not say that the windows of heaven will be opened and you will receive blessings you cannot contain (Malachi 3:10)? In other words you will be blessed so much that your blessings will overflow. How many tithers in our dispensation, along with their children, have gone hungry or gone without proper clothing, stretching every penny because they were burdened with the requirement to tithe? I have personally witnessed this! Where is their open heaven? Do not some Christians live in subsistence while others live in the lap of luxury and thank God for their abundance? Do we need to make excuses for God for not fulfilling this promise of an open heaven? Not if Jesus has truly fulfilled the Law of tithing on the cross like every other Law and we trust in His finished work. The heavens are, in truth, open over every believer to receive as long as we are not deceived into believing we can do anything to earn or even deserve our blessings.
Isn't it true that the issue God was revealing through Malachi was the condition of the hearts of His people? If this wasn't the case, then why was it deemed necessary for the Lord to come and sit as refiner to make their offerings acceptable (Mal 3:3)? They were tithing and bringing in offerings but the tithes and offerings were stained by the condition of the hearts of the people (Mal 1:6-8, 12-14; 2:11,14,17; 3:5). In no way can we take this indictment of the Jewish nation and apply it to those under the new covenant written in His blood in order to enlist tithers. The only application today is to expose the condition of our hearts.
Is it right to list those who don't tithe with those who are trapped in strongholds of over-eating, pornography, alcoholism or other bondages (I have heard this preached also)? Isn't tithing instituted as law when you bring guilt into the equation? Can you imagine how those who are not enlightened about God's true nature and desperately want to be in "God's will" feel when they are unable to tithe and they hear that to not tithe is a horrible sin that they need deliverance from? Can you imagine it? Can you put yourself in their shoes? Can you imagine the condemnation they must feel, yes the condemnation, and not true Holy Spirit conviction? Have you not heard "There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus?" The "therefore" is there to indicate Paul's response to his realization of his inability to do in his words "what good I desire" (Romans 7:19). He could not and would not even attempt to live by the Law. Listen again. Do you hear it? No condemnation, none! Using guilt to enlist tithers is pure and simple manipulation, which is akin to witchcraft!

Is it not true that if the Israelites had a bad harvest that they where not required to tithe, that they only tithed of their increase (Deut 14:22,28)?
Some suggest that those who struggle financially while tithing must be giving with wrong motivation. God forgive those who would judge in such manner. Do you claim that your motivations are any purer?

Do you truly believe that God would curse His very own children with a curse considering the price He has paid to free them from the curse, the unfathomable price of the blood of His only begotten Son? Didn't He become a curse so that we would be freed from the curse?
Was it not the Father's heart that prevailed when in the early church the new Christians pooled their resources and saw to it that none had need?
What did the Jesus say about the widow who gave two mites? Was it not seen as a much greater gift than those who gave out of their abundance large offerings? Was it not in actuality all of her earnings, all that she had to live on (Matt 12:42-44)? Is it not your all that He is after not just 1/10th? Shouldn't we give all of our resources to Him and allow Him to direct our giving instead of being directed by what is written in the books of Hebrew Law?
Most preachers who teach tithing point to the tithing of Abraham to Melchizedek mentioned in Hebrews as evidence for their case. Study and see for yourself. You will find that the tithe that Abraham gave to Melchizedek was a one-time offering and, in truth, it was mentioned in order to indicate the greatness of the Melchizedek priesthood of which we are now members of through Jesus the Christ. This explanation is much more in keeping with the message of the writer of Hebrews than to believe it to be recommending tithing. In fact it was never implied in any way in Hebrews, or in any scripture for that matter, that tithing was a part of the new covenant. Read Hebrews 7 again with the eyes of your spirit open. Besides this, the Israelites were not required to tithe on the spoils of war as Abraham did in this case, and as far as we can tell from the Word he never again tithed to Melchizedek.
Who, in fact, makes up the Melchizedek Priesthood and if Tithing were required now wouldn't it be these Melchizedekian priests who receive it? The Melchizedek priesthood is made up of every true believer of Jesus.
I have heard preachers state that tithing pre-dates the Law so it isn't part of the Law and should be continued. Was not circumcision also a rite that predated the Law and was fulfilled by Jesus through His life, death and resurrection along with the whole Mosaic Law? What about the sacrifice of animals? What about keeping the Sabbath?
It it written in Heb 7:8 that today dying men receive tithes. Are you a dying or mortal man? I declare to you that the only dying men who receive tithes today are those who remain in the Jewish faith as it was when the writer of Hebrews wrote. Living men, those who have the life of Christ in them are also requiring tithes today and I am compelled to ask them, did Christ not finish His work on the cross that we might have life and not death? Are you living or are you dying?

Did Jacob tell the Lord he would give Him 1/10th if he was blessed by Him or was it actually the other way around. Today the preacher says give so the Lord can bless you, Jacob said bless me Lord and I will give back to you. The TV preacher says sow here or sow there so the Lord can make you rich. Why don't we preach the type of tithing Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel, initiated with the Lord? And of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you (Gen 28:22). I say give from your abundance not from the basic supply you need for your family. I believe Jesus would say, don't give to God (call korban; Matt 7:11-14) that which you need to feed and clothe your family. When you learn to trust in His finished work and He blesses you then give with all your heart.
Is it not true that when Jesus commended the Pharisees for giving their tithes of dill and cumin they were still under the Law (Matt 23:23,24) and that He Himself must have given tithes from His earnings as a carpenter or He would have come under judgment (Gal 4:4)? When Jesus said, "you should not neglect these things" didn't He go further to call their tithing "straining out the gnat, but swallowing the camel! " (Matt 23:22,23)? I wonder if the same is true about the majority of tithers today that they mistakenly believe that tithing is one of the major tenants of Christianity, disregarding the condition of their own hearts thinking, "as long as I tithe I am in good standing with God". Isn't it true that when Jesus died and rose again that the dispensation of the Law ended including tithing? You can't have it both ways... can you? As long as we think there is something we can do to earn favour with God we will never be in a place of complete trust in His finished work.
Is there any indication whatsoever in the Word of God that the Apostles required their converts to tithe? They do encourage giving but there is no requirement of tithing written anywhere! In fact the Roman Catholic Church was first to command the tithe in 787 AD after it was mentioned in 567 AD at the council in Tours and in 585 at Macon. I have found no earlier indication in any literature, including the Scripture that any Christian was encouraged to, or commanded to tithe. Why don't we leave tithing where it belongs, in the Law, and/or in the rulebook of an apostate religious organization.
I pose this question; how can God continue to bless any congregation who places such a burden on its members, a burden that I am convinced is not truly from Him? I believe that God will bless us when we release the church to give liberally from a place of freedom in Christ. Did He not come to set us free from the Law of sin and death? How is it freedom that one should be, if not commanded, then coerced, or threatened by curses, or loaded with guilt of which we were freed from by the cross, to bring in the tithe? The minute we stop trusting God and instead trust our ability to live by rules our progress as Christians dies. Paul writes, but the commandment came, and sin came alive, and I died (Romans 7:9,10).
The time has come for us to stop trusting in the god of tithe for the finances of the church and to start trusting in the God of Truth who has promised to supply our needs in abundance. Ask yourself this question; have you truly ever seen any tither who was truly under an open heaven? If not, then why not? When God says "an open heaven" and "blessings that cannot be contained" does He not mean exactly what He says? Show me a tithers open heaven, a true open heaven, we should be readily able to recognize it, and I will retract all that I have written on this subject. Shall we put limits on God?
I thank God for all of those whom He has blessed and have financed the church but I believe that the time has come for us to step out of the time of just enough and step into the promised land. We will walk in His true abundance only when we walk in true freedom. He whom Christ has set free is free indeed!
Please do not misunderstand me; I believe very strongly that the laborer is worthy of his keep and that we should continue to finance the church. This is biblical. I am only saying that we should reconsider, in the light of the Good News, this so-called "Law-free" tithing. Please continue to bring in your ten percent or whatever the Lord God lays on your heart, but let's take the burden off of the husband-less and those who live in increasing poverty as they scrape out a meager existence while some of us live in the lap of luxury.
What's this I hear? "He must not be a tither?"
Judge not lest ye be judged.
For precisely two years I tithed of every single penny that came, wages and even gifts, and in the end was at the verge of bankruptcy. I "tested Him in this" as directed in Malachi. I even double tithed a few times believing I was hearing God's instructions. In retrospect I do believe it was His voice. He knew what it would take to prove to me without a shadow of a doubt that He will not bless the keeping of the Law. If not for my unbelieving wife I would have chosen bankruptcy rather than "not believing God's word". I had missed mortgage payments all the while telling her the Lord would provide, that the windows of heaven were about to open. I believe this is at least partly responsible for her refusal to take Christianity seriously. I tithed of every cent I received before taxes and if the Lord was going to honor a tither in this dispensation it would have been me. I pleaded with Him on my knees with more than a few tears as the bills piled up. Tell me it wasn't from my heart and I will tell you how I reminded Him daily, month after month of His promise of an open heaven. All I asked for was enough to feed and clothe my family. Don't you see? He couldn't bless me in this. He would have been contravening His new covenant and setting aside the blood of His Son. Today I sacrifice in an area that doesn't affect our overall finances in order to give and the Lord is blessing me in this.
I tested the Lord as He directed and if you would care to hear the result, He cannot and will not bless the practice of the Law that He has declared to be fulfilled. You can tell me how He has blessed you in tithing, I will point out to you those apparently less blessed individuals who have given 10% even though it left them poor and destitute, and they remain so. The rich remain rich and count their blessings and the poor remain poor.
Will you sow a piece of old cloth onto your new garment? The word of God says that if we attempt to live by one facet of the Law we are bound to live by the whole Law (Gal 3:10; 5:3,4). Do you think the old wine skin of the Law, which we don when we live by Law, can hope to contain the new wine of the Holy Spirit? Matt 9:17...the wineskins burst, and the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish.

I ask one more question, a Kingdom question. Are you ready to throw away every safety net, every contingency plan and believe Him even if it appears as if it will kill you? This is what He asks His church today; unless you are willing to throw out and destroy all that emanates from Ishmael you are not worthy of His Kingdom. Nothing you can perform in the flesh will draw you one inch closer to His Kingdom. In fact it will send you reeling in the other direction.

"If My people who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray, believing for that which they ask, then will I hear from heaven and heal their land. I call My church, My Bride to cease from your works for if they are part of My plan they will go before you and you will not need to strive. Take My yoke upon you, it is exceedingly easy, take My burden, it is so light you will hardly notice it there. I will perform all that I have decreed. I do not require your works; I require your willingness to allow Me to use you. Hear now My exhortations. It is finished! Come buy milk and honey at no cost to yourselves. Only receive that you may have something to give."