Very well said. I had known about this subject for some time. It is sad that most believers don’t read for themselves and depend on misinterpretation of scriptures. Hopefully, more believers will realize the information in your article and practice the facts instead of the traditions of men.

Reply

Denise Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 4:39 pm

I’ve learned to pratice the Bible based facts, so I started reading the Bible. Proverbs 4:4-7. Wisdom is the principal thing.

Reply

I sent this article to my small e-mail list before I even read it, because after reading “the 72 rule” and other of your oeuvre, I have confidence that what you’ll say will be informative as well as high in quality & integrity. It isn’t necessary for me to agree totally with a man to be able to just enjoy the privilege of his thoughts and how he arrived at them.I have been a student of Scripture for 41 years & 39 under the teaching of our late prophet, William Marrion Branham of Jeffersonville,IN & Tucson,AZ.(Just google his name and see how many violently disagree with him)!Worse even is giving to the likes of those mentioned by Paul:IICor11:20 and reproaching himself,too, later,chap12:13-18.GOD is in His Word!Heb13:8 Maranatha

Reply

Free Your Mind Reply:
October 28th, 2009 at 11:43 pm

Thank you Robert. I really appreciate you doing that, and I hope you enjoyed the tithe article. I will have to check out William Branham and see what he and his violent opposition are talking about. Thanks for the added scriptures also! Now THAT…. is just truth!

Reply

Ok Luke 6:38 tells us to give and it will be given unto you; good measured, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. That sounds like not having enough room to recieve. (running over)So I guess you are going to say Jesus was talking about something else.

For those of you all that beleive that the Old Testament does not apply to us today really need to pray that God gives you wisdom and revelation. How can we allow a child of Satan (those who has not confessed Christ as there Lord and saviour) to give us financial advice concerning the church.

You have to understand that those people were an agraiain society they needed rain and also needed to their plants to grow. So that is where you get the analogy of farming.

You say that there are a lot of people giving donations to churches, and that may be true, but why should or why would unsaved people who cannot perceive or receive the things of God finance the Kingdom of God?

The writer of this article is like a theology teacher, all he know is history. He is not empowered by the Holy Spirit who reveals the mysteries and deep things of God. I am going to keep on tithing!!

Reply

Free Your Mind Reply:
October 28th, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Larry,

Let me address your post point by point.

First, Luke 6:38 doesn’t have anything to do with telling people that they are “cursed” if they don’t tithe. If a preacher believes in this verse, then he should preach it. But telling a congregation that the Bible requires it’s members to give 10% of their money, or anything else (which it does not) is coercion.

Second. No one said that the Old Testament does not apply to us today. My commentary was on the Mosaic Law. But since you believe in the Old Testament so strongly, then let us look at what it says.

The Old Testament CLEARLY states (as I gave reference) that the nation consumed their own tithes! They SHARED their tithes with the priests. They only GAVE tithes in the THIRD year. This point stands, whether or not the society was agrarian (WHICH IS NOT EVEN TRUE) or not. So if you were going by the Old Testament (that you say applies to us), then you would share your tithe with the pastor/priest/preacher and would only GIVE your tithes in the third year.

If YOU want to give it every year, that is YOUR choice, but the Bible didn’t REQUIRE it (show me where I’m wrong). It is not a preachers place to pick and choose “certain” scriptures in the Bible to teach. So once again, to tell someone they are cursed for not doing so is dishonest. A Child of Satan is dishonest. A Child of God exposes dishonesty.

Third, I never said that unsaved people have to finance the church. Saved people can donate to a church, just as well as unsaved can. Also, if we look in the New Testament as I referenced in Acts… No one in the land lacked. Why? Because the people sold their possessions and divided the money up evenly amongst everyone. So therefore the people who were poor “received” money from those that had abundance. Is this the picture of the church today?

It seems as if you went through my entire article, and picked out 2 or 3 points you wanted to rebuttal and left the rest.

But with that being said, I am always open to learning. So if you are “empowered by the Holy Spirit” please shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I asked the question “Are You Cursed If You Don’t Tithe?”

It doesn’t say so in the scripture (that I can find). Can you or someone else, reveal this “mystery” and “deep thing” of God to us?

Reply

Hi. My church is an independent church and does not receive any support from other groups or organisations or outside individuals. It stands by faith believing that as long as the Word of God is preached, it will stand by God’s grace. Tithes and offerings has sustained our church simply because it was taught to its members. Taught, not coerced.

When tithing was preached, I was convicted to obey. Not only because of the curse or the blessing but more so because I love God. You can give without loving but you can not love without giving. How do then do we give? When we feel like giving only? God does not need our tithes and offerings because everything is His anyway. What He wants is our obedience to His words.

Old testament or New, they are God’s words. I don’t come with scriptures and history, but my words come from the heart. And so far, my obedience has kept me to Him. I’ve finally returned! God bless you!

Reply

Del Reply:
November 5th, 2010 at 8:18 am

Wow, Amen to that Ellen. God bless you.

Reply

I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW SOME TEACHERS AND PASTORS, CAN CALL THEM SELVES THAT.IF THEY DONT STUDY THE TRUTH. THEY JUST KEEP TEACHING WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT.

THANKS MIKE ELLIOTT,

COULD YOU PLEASE RESPOND ?

Reply

Free Your Mind Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 5:31 pm

Well… they SHOULDN’T be calling themselves teachers, but unfortunately they do.

Some of them don’t study the truth… they just go along with what has been told (just like most of the congregation does).

But I’m sure a lot of them DO know the truth about tithing. But they don’t want to lose their money. A lot of Churches would go under if they didn’t have people giving them money for fear of being cursed.

So… they just keep it a secret and move on.

But….

What else could they be hiding? hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Reply

You seem very smart. Got questions. If the priest are the robers as you suggest …. how? the priest didn’t work or farm..or did they? if they did not earn how could they rob?

Reply

Free Your Mind Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 5:26 pm

You are correct. The priests didn’t work or farm.

The farmers would bring their tithes (1/10th of the food set aside) to the priests. The priests would then take the tithe into the storehouse to be stored.

So the way the priests can rob God is to

#1. Not bring the FULL tithe into the storehouse… or

#2. Take tithes out of the storehouse… or allow other people to get the tithes that should have been reserved for just the Levites (as described in Neh. 10: 37-39)

When God made the statement “Yet ye have robbed me” He was talking to the priests, not the nation. That’s why he said, “bring ye ALL the tithes into the storehouse.” As opposed to just bringing some of them.

The priests are the only ones who could have been “robbing” God. Remember… Rob means to take something that is already there… it doesn’t mean not to pay back what is owed.

Reply

Matt,
Thank you for posting the truth, Thank you Thank you!

Reply

A couple of points to be noted:
1. Tithing did not begin with the mosaic law, but with Abram & Melchizedek 400 before the law.
2. Food was brought as the tithe because it was an agrarian society, live stock was of greater value and was actually a true measure of wealth.
3. The tithe was brought annually and on every third year because crops don’t grow weekly.
4. Malachi was not written solely to the priests, Malachi 1 begins with “The burden of the word of the Lord TO ISRAEL by Malachi”
• And if it were the priests who robbed God why would rain, care for their crops, and fruit be of any significance to the Levites, did they make their living through agriculture or was their inheritance the tithe?
5. What’s your interpretation of this scripture?
• 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 “13Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
6. Lastly why is it fine for those who work in every other field to make money commensurate to the work they do to support their families and to live comfortably, but not for Pastors?
• Pastors work beyond 40hrs, 5 days a week
• They are always at the beck & call of congregants
• They spend countless hours with countless people
7. Those spoken of as “robbing God” are those who benefit from God and the work of the priests yet don’t bring anything into the temple – comparable to a congregant who wants to come to church and be lead in worship with music, sit in chairs, feel the a/c or heat, be able to see because of lights, call the pastor when they want their house blessed, kids prayed for, visited while in the hospital, marriage officiated, funeral officiated, marriage counseled, spiritual teaching, spiritual advice, baptized, baby dedicated, and biblical classes taught to them, yet don’t give anything because of bad interpretations and taking scriptures out of context to suit their own continued selfishness. There are a lot of Pastors who abuse finances and have made many look bad and have hurt people. But you can’t twist scripture to mean what you want it to mean and lead people astray.

Bless you bro.

Reply

Free Your Mind Reply:
May 18th, 2010 at 7:42 pm

I will address your comment point by point

1. I am aware of this. But the first time tithing was made a LAW was the mosaic LAW. So that is what I addressed in my article. Abram giving a tithe to Melchizedek does not require people today to do so under penalty of being cursed. Keep in mind Ron, that what Abram gave Melchizedek was Not Even From His Own Goods! They were the goods recovered from Sodom. So that doesn’t even apply to a person giving from their own income.

2. A. No it wasn’t. Check the link that I provided earlier in my response to Larry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm6PG-K_l7Q
B. Even it it was, the tithe (food or money) was shared with the priests. (as outlined in my article) So when you tithe… do you share your tithe with the preacher as clearly outlined in the Bible?

3. If the tithe was brought annually, don’t you think it would be a little redundant to also say that it was brought every third year? Please allow me.

The tithe was “set aside” every year annually by the people in the nation and was eaten (and shared with the priests) in a place chosen by God. In the THIRD year (the year of tithing) the tithe (food set aside) was given to the priests. This is clearly outlined in Deut. 14:22-29. and Deuteronomy 26:11-13. You can’t escape that fact. If tithe was given every year, why would the scripture explicitly state that the tithe is to be given in the 3rd year?

4. The scripture says the BURDEN OF THE WORD OF THE LORD to Israel. The scripture does not say THE WORD OF THE LORD TO ISRAEL. Those 2 don’t mean the same. And if you read the rest of Malachi, you will see that because of the Priests actions of disobeying the Lord’s Words, those very words became a burden to the Nation.

Once again, you can’t escape this. You can’t take Malachi 1:1 and try to juxtapose it over the whole book and “cancel out” the other chapters and verses. Malachi 1:6-7 and Malachi 2:1, which came AFTER Malachi 1:1 CLEARLY show that God was talking to the priests. Can you show me where in the book that it indicates that God stopped talking to the priests and started talking to the nation?

You asked the question about the Levites, “did they make their living through agriculture or was their inheritance the tithe?” The tithe WAS agriculture so I’m not sure how to answer that.

Now rain, care for their crops, and fruit should have be a concern for everybody. Because without crops everyone starves (whether the society is agrarian or not).

5. My interpretation is that a anyone (including a preacher) should make a living in the field that they work in. This is why I don’t have a problem with wealthy preachers who make an abundant living selling tapes, CD’s, DVD and whatever else. However… I do have a problem with preachers “bearing false witness” to their congregation by telling them to give 10 percent of their money to a church to keep from being cursed and getting rich from it.

6. This question should be addressed to someone who claims that it is wrong for preachers to make money commensurate to the work they do to support their families and to live comfortably.

7. Ron… what Biblical documentation do you have that, “Those spoken of as “robbing God” are those who benefit from God and the work of the priests yet don’t bring anything into the temple”???

As for all of the rest of the stuff that you are talking about, it is pretty bad. But I don’t see how it applies to my article, nor do I see how it applies to a person who actually reads the scriptures and “Studies to shew themselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, Rightly Dividing The Word of Truth” as opposed to just going along with what they are being told out of ignorance and fear.

I hope that I have answered all of your points. Please let me know if I have missed anything and I look forward to your answer to my questions.

Reply

First, we are not under the curse of Malachi. Galatians 3:13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…”

There were actually 3 tithes.

First Tithe: Leviticus 27:30-33, Numbers 18. This was a yearly tithe. A tenth of crops and animals in herds and flocks, to be taken to the Levites.

Second Tithe: Deuteronomy 14:22-27 – The Festival Tithe. This was a tenth of the crops. Add to this tenth was the firstborn animals (but not a tenth).

Third Tithe: Deuteronomy 14:28-29 – The Three-Year Tithe aka The Poor Tithe. Every three years a tenth of the crops was to remain at their home (or within the gates of the city). No mention of animals in this tithe.

Three different tithes, each with different requirements.

Those who use Malachi 3 always want to start with verse 8. But verse 7 is extremely important. That is where God is referring to His ordinances. Those ordinances were nailed to the cross; therefore, the part of Malachi referring to robbing God of tithes and offerings has no bearing to Christians.

Many say that in Biblical times they didn’t have money and that the economy was based on bartering of goods and services. That is not so. The Bible shows they not only had money, but that money was used as a common way of doing business.

According to the International Bible Encyclopedia, the days of mere bartering ended before the days of Abraham.

Here are just a few examples from The Word to show they did, in fact, use money in Biblical times.

The tithing law itself proves they had both money and a marketing system for buying and selling their crops and animals (Deuteronomy 14:24-26).

THE PURCHASE OF LAND BY ABRAHAM – Genesis 23:15-16

THE PURCHASE OF LAND BY JACOB – Genesis 33:19

JOSEPH WAS SOLD TO THE ISHMEELITES – Genesis 37:28

A MONEY OFFERING TO BE USED FOR THE SERVICE OF THE TABERNACLE – Exodus 30:14-16,

USING SHEKEL OF SILVER TO VALUE A RAM – Leviticus 5:15

THE FOLLOWING VERSES REFER TO WAGES: Genesis 29:15, Genesis 30:28, Genesis 31:7-8, Genesis 31:41, Exodus 2:9, Leviticus 19:13, Malachi 3:5, etc.

THEY HAD A MONEY STANDARD

There are several places in Scripture indicating that scales were used to weigh metals and other items. The Law of Moses, for example, commands Jews not to use dishonest standards, but instead, to use honest scales and honest weights. (See also Deut. 25:13-15; Job 6:2-3; 31:6; Psa. 62:9; Prov. 11:1; 16:11; 20:10, 23; Isa. 40:12; 46:6; and Jer. 32:10).

Tithing ended when the Levitical priesthood ended, at Calvary, per Hebrews 7:5,12,18.

Reply

Very good article, this is what TBN evangelist need to start preaching, so that they can turn their ears away from fables. I would love to read your article about seed faith believers, I honestly don’t believe if I give to a ministry a 100 dollars God will give me back a hundredfold. My Heavenly Father has taught me, that He knows the things I have need of before I even ask Him, thus I trust in Him, for He will provide all my needs.

Reply

Keep up the superb work, I read few posts on this web site and I believe that your site is real interesting and has lots of good info.

Reply

Hi I just read your article and I must say it was well done, very informative and understandable, keep up the good work and God bless

Reply

You cannot be cursed for not paying tithe as a truly born again christian but you will not get blessed. Also I strongly advise that you don’t mislead people with a mystery just like tax which your forefathers have been paying all the way. Please do more research especially in the new testament and you will find out tithe is more than what you see in the Law of Moses. Please don’t mislead people and also try to get revelation from the Word of God, not just the letter. Tithe in the kingdom is like elementary maths as stated by Jesus in the New Testament and this is not to be contested. Please my prayer for you is that the veil will be taken off our eyes; I once didn’t agree that we should still be tithing now, but thank God, the Almighty God opened my spiritual understanding and today am a free man. By the way your company and government take their share of taxes first before giving you the remainder, hahaha. So please let’s do more research in God’s Word. Thank you.

Reply

Free Your Mind Reply:
September 11th, 2012 at 3:28 pm

Tonye,

My article is full of research. The scriptures are documented all through the article. You haven’t refuted any of them. As a matter of fact, based on your first statement which started off, “You cannot be cursed for not paying tithe as a truly born again christian” you actually agree with me!

Also, when you say, “Also I strongly advise that you don’t mislead people with a mystery just like tax which your forefathers have been paying all the way.” YOU are in fact misleading people. The forefathers where not paying tax all the way. Federal income tax was not paid until 1862. That is a fact. Unless you have other info to bring to the table.

Your opinion seems to be right along with that of Larry Gary (earlier commenter), which is:

“Well… sure, the Bible’s words support your point… but… if you had the Holy Spirit, then you would realize the “MYSTERY” behind the scripture. Sure, the Bible says one thing… but once we get spiritual understanding, we will realize that we should do another.”

Well hey… if you all are so spiritual, that it overrides the scriptures that you all claim to believe in, then more power to you. The only purpose of my article was to point out that the scriptures don’t support what is being told to the masses. I can’t argue against your “spiritual understanding.”

Reply

I went to church this morning and the pastor said if you don’t tithe you are stiff necked, walking in rebellion, and under a curse. This upset me so much and I believe God had me read this article. I believe these are heresies pushed by greedy pastors.

Reply

You have done some good research but it is all broken up (or in pieces). Some would suggest you maybe trying to twist the word. But you good insight into detail of the bible.

Anyway I would like to present a few comments to your article right off the top of my head.

1. If one had to tithe I believe it is harder to tithe every three years than tithing every one year. The proportion after three years is much, much, more greater than one years worth.
2. Even if Malachi was refering the Levites or priests; the priests has to have tithes in order to robbed god and the nation. Thus is the responsibility of the nation to provide the tithes; regardless let god have his vengence not take it to your own hands I believe god is better at it.
3. The government take alot more taxes than tithes but since we are labeled citizens we bear them; even though most of us complain. But there are paid whether we like it or not.
4. I am with you I am not of the old but of the new (Jesus). The new did not replace the old but was built off of the old. Ex: The two greatest commandments incorporates the ten commandaments. In other words if you follow the two; you implicitly end up following the ten commandments.
5. I am no isrealite since I am not born in Isreal but am ok with being the gentile that I am. We all have been granted salvation in Jesus Christ and that all that matters.
6. Now come back on ways the church can support it self through non profit and government aids. But this also increases the taxes along with welfare which is constantly hurting the middleclass since the government got to have funding for this too.
7. You do not believe you are cursed for not tithing (unless you vowed to do so and reneged) but it is always a blessing to blessed others. Although food helps but money goes alot further with the church and in this world and does not have an expiration date.

Regards,

Reply

Free Your Mind Reply:
September 29th, 2012 at 11:57 pm

Hello Joel,

Thanks for your comment.

To address your points. It isn’t harder to tithe every three years than one, unless you are tithing for all three years. Remember, the tithe was food. Now, I seriously doubt that people were preserving their food 3 years at the time to give to a the priests.

Also, I demonstrated that Malachi was in fact referring to the priests. So the point is, if a preacher tells you that the nation was cursed because THEY didn’t tithe, and therefore YOU must tithe, it is not Biblical.

Also, are you suggesting that we allow the church to have our tithe even if it’s not biblically required because the Church is our government? The church (while it’s an extension of government control nowadays) is not going to throw you in jail if you don’t pay what they claim is a tithe. So these are two seperate issues.

As I explained in my articles, many churches bring in millions of dollars every year (even outside of tithes). A Christian can’t tell me on one hand that they believe that Jesus fed 5000 people with five barley loaves, and two small fishes, yet on the other hand say that they don’t believe a church full of people can survive unless their congregation is tricked into giving away 10% of their money in direct contradiction to what the Bible says. The bottom line is… either you believe in the Bible or you don’t.

And according to the scriptures contained within, you are not cursed if you don’t tithe.

Reply