Jonathan Brenneman's Blog, page 9

Mothers Are Pleading For Someone To Tell Their Children The Truth!

[image error]In the last post, I shared about how it seems this is a time where the Lord is revealing people’s hearts and setting things right. We saw how the marvelous work of the Holy Spirit in Benny Hinn’s heart is bringing a separation of sorts. The reactions of others are revealing their motivations.

I recently read a dream I wrote down two years ago. Reading it again brought tears to my eyes and stirred the drive in my heart to keep praying for the churches, and especially for the young people whose mothers are pleading for someone to tell their kids the truth. I had shared this with my mom and she gave an interpretation. I don’t often remember my dreams, but this was a very vivid one that seemed to contain a lot of symbolism.

I felt like sharing the dream and interpretation. I hope it will encourage you to pray for the church and for the young people who don’t want to hear about Jesus because the people who taught them were living in idolatry. There was more, but I’m just sharing the first part here. Here’s the dream

The Old House

In the dream, I saw a show on the Discovery Channel or History channel about an old house and realized it was in Lancaster country. I was excited and wanted to visit it.

I drove to the place and introduced myself to the owner. He had another guest whom he was talking to and seemed very uncomfortable with my presence. I felt like I wasn’t wanted there. After a while, when I explained to them that I saw the show and wanted to see the house, he said it really wasn’t that house I’d seen, but another house, and it was having work done on it. I asked, but he said it wouldn’t be available for showing even after the work was done. I thanked him for his time.

I knew that this man had been impersonating a young healing minister I know named Art Thomas, but in secret, he was very opposed to Art Thomas and slandering him. As I was leaving his house, I passed through a part of it when he was distracted in another place and I saw that he had a shrine to four Hindu gods.

As I was leaving, there was a delivery to the house from Art Thomas. It was three things, like teaching CDs and books or something. The delivery man gave it to me. I offered it to the homeowner, who it was addressed to. He rejected it and said, “you might as well keep it.”

When I went to leave, my car key was on the ground behind the car. I was surprised and wondered how it got there and wasn’t on my keychain. Then I got in the car, and the wife and two (or three) kids of the man who owned the house, were in my car! The wife was fervently preaching the gospel to her children. This really surprised me because her husband, who was impersonating a minister, was so against the gospel.

The kids didn’t want to hear their mom. When I got in the driver’s seat I started telling the kids (young teens) that what their mom was saying was true, and I started to tell them about what God had done in my life. When I spoke, the kids were convinced. Then I prayed with great passion and they felt God’s presence in my car.

Mom’s Interpretation

(This is from my mom’s response, with slight edits)

Dear Jonathan,

After reading, praying and processing, this is what I see in your dream: 

The old house in Lancaster represents the church of Lancaster, which has historical roots for our whole nation. The owner of the house represents church leaders. He was uncomfortable with your presence because he was not operating in the Holy Spirit but was of a different spirit. The church has been trying to get the work done; to fix itself up. This has been for the sake of “show;” outward appearance and the glory of man. That minister was not genuine; he had an outward show of religion but denied the power of it. The leadership was, in fact, worshiping other gods; idolatry; spiritual adultery. The church of Lancaster (representing the American institutional church) has compromised with this world’s belief systems, becoming perverse, tainted and corrupt. Sound doctrine has been offered to the leadership, but they have not embraced it or put it into practice, even if they have preached it. Neither have they (over all) been able to receive you or the unadulterated gospel that you preach and live by.

However, the Lord has given you a vehicle, a ministry, by which to reach people that the institutional church has not been helping. You had temporarily lost this key, but the Lord let you find it again. It has to do with your calling, Jonathan. The sound doctrine, (orthodoxy) that you teach, married to the power of the Holy Spirit is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds; opening blind eyes and releasing people from their prisons. This is the manifest presence of the Spirit of God. This was why the children in the car were able to receive from you, when they had not been able to receive in the church settings they had known. Women are pleading with and praying for their children, but the children want a man to tell them the truth. The younger generations want to hear the gospel not just from their mothers but also from men.

My Thoughts

I know some people are really against the “institutional church.” I just want to clarify here that I’m not sharing to encourage judgment against certain Christian groups because they are “institutional.” When I go anywhere I want to have eyes to see what the Holy Spirit is doing and to recognize where there is sincere love regardless of people’s tradition or background. However, the purpose of Christian institutions must be to serve people, who are the true temple of God.

I also don’t want this to be taken as a negative thing about the church in Lancaster overall, or to cast a negative slant on the church in the US. A lot of great things are going on in Lancaster and the United States, with some churches in the United States having a strong positive impact in many other nations. (Lancaster PA is where I lived before moving to Brazil.) But the church, or old house, in Lancaster is symbolic of religion that holds to human traditions at the expense of people. It is self-serving. There is certainly a portion of ministers in the American church who are self-serving and living in idolatry.

Art Thomas represented ministers who are moving in supernatural power and motivated by sincere love. In a way, he represented a movement of the Holy Spirit today among many people like him. The owner of the old house was a religious leader who was impersonating Art because it was the trend and it got him followers and popularity if he went along with it. But his true motivation was really self-serving and he really hated Art and spoke against him, because the sincere love that rejected control and manipulation was a threat to what he had built. It was also why he was so uncomfortable with me being in his house.

Although he pretended to be on board with the move of the Holy Spirit, the healing, and the miracles, he actually rejected Art’s teaching (The things in the mail). The four Hindu gods he brought into the house revealed where his heart really was.

The apostle Paul talked about this. Some preached the gospel for wrong motives and were actually hostile to him. He has a hard time finding co-workers in Christ who would be genuinely concerned for the churches.

Philippians 1:15-18 (NIV)  It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice.

Philippians 2:19-22 (NIV)  I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.

Friends, look for sincere love. Look for people who have a heart to serve the church. Some are self-serving and even if they appear to be going along with the move of God, they feet threatened by those who truly give themselves in sincere love for the church with no control or manipulation. Don’t stay in these people’s house! Watch out for those who encourage you to attempt to relate to God like Hindus do! Hindus and other pagans bring sacrifices of money, food, and animals to their idols, but we come to God through Jesus’ torn body which is the only way into the Father’s presence.

I thought the mom was on board with her husband, who impersonated a minister but worshipped Hindu gods. But then I was shocked to find her in my car trying to convince her kids of the gospel. We may have easily misjudged some people because they were in the house of an idolater, but they love Jesus and are yearning for truth.

This is the part that brought me to tears. Women are pleading with somebody to tell their kids the truth about Christ. I’ve talked to so many young people. I’ve heard and felt their mom’s pleas for someone to convince their kids that Jesus is real. These kids have been sickened by what they’ve seen of religion, but it wasn’t Jesus. Let’s pray for these kids. They will only listen when they sense earnest, sincere love combined with a testimony and demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power.

Read the apostle Paul’s writing to the churches and what comes through is passionate love for people and sincerity such that his motives could not be questioned. Let us throw off everything that is not the gospel or truth but is the tradition of men and is creating a stumbling block for people to come to Christ. We have talked lately about how the tithe tradition has been one of the major things that has done that.  May we not fight to sustain our religious systems as they are at the cost of truth.

Let’s get the leaven out so that we don’t end up with children who don’t want to hear their moms tell them about Jesus. May there be no question that our motivation is anything but pure love and care for the well-being of God’s flock. Benny Hinn has been an example lately in getting rid of the leaven. I was just watching another interview of him speaking and there was such as sincerity in it. He wept as he talked about how precious God’s love is and he never again wants to grieve the Holy Spirit. He said “I’m done with it!” 

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NIV) Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Wheat And The Tares

[image error]So guys, I’ve just done several blog posts on how common tithe teachings undermine the gospel message and how churches break God’s commands for the sake of this human tradition.

In the first article, “Tithing And Injustice,”I shared that until now I’ve held back from taking this on really directly in my blog or books. Part of it was that I needed to guard my heart as to what I was focusing on and stay in a place of thanksgiving for the church. But I think it was more than that.

I had initially come out really strongly about the tithe on my Facebook when I realized that it was identical to the error of the Galatians. That was around 2009. But I didn’t feel peace to keep doing so. People asked me to write a book about the tithe, but for years it felt like the Holy Spirit was stopping me. Then just a few weeks ago, I felt the peace in my heart to share.

Are You Ready To Hear?

My friend Stuart Morrisson commented that the Holy Spirit spoke to him about this issue in 2006, but said, “people aren’t nearly ready to hear it.” Even Jesus said, “I have more to say to you than you are ready to bear now.” These words of Jesus may have been related to the end of the Jewish system that they knew.

Now it seems that it is time. Many people’s hearts have been prepared to hear. In fact, some of my friends who once believed strongly in tithing have changed their position on it. Even Che Ahn of the revival alliance and Harvest Rock Church has reconsidered what he believed:

“There are many sincere Christians today who faithfully give the tithe because they believe it is mandated in Scripture, and that mandate is still valid today. I know, for I used to be one of them. I was taught to tithe from the time I first became a Christian as a teenager, and it never occurred to me to question the teaching. My wife and I have always given more than the tithe every year since we’ve been married. However, more recently, I find that my position is changing, due to what I believe is a deeper understanding of God’s grace and its operation in our lives. (Dr. Che Ahn, The Grace of Giving, Location 3645, Kindle edition)
 
The Scripture most commonly used to support this view [mandatory tithing] is Malachi 3:8-10… Unfortunately, this teaching on the tithe from Malachi 3 frequently intimidates people, inducing guilt by telling them that if they don’t tithe, they are robbing God and are under a curse. The passage is also frequently quoted out of context. As we discussed at the beginning of this book, when we take a text out of context, we are opening ourselves to a “con.” (Dr. Che Ahn, The Grace of Giving, Location 3691, Kindle edition)

Wheat And Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30 (NIV) Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First, collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

This may not be the exact context of the passage, but the principle applies. Sometimes ministers who have sincere love and minister in God’s power get their roots entangled with weeds. Church history is full of revivalists and reformers who missed it big time in a certain area. Yet the Holy Sprit’s work in their lives was real. I really needed to learn to have eyes to see what God is doing and walk in constant thanksgiving for the church in order to avoid pulling up the wheat with the weeds. And sometimes, what is wheat and what is a weed becomes more evident as they mature.

Benny Hinn Speaks Up About Money

I was amazed to find that so soon after I felt peace to start writing on this topic, Benny Hinn made some strong statements about the prosperity gospel* which went viral. Now Benny Hinn didn’t say anything about the tithe and I don’t know if he’s ready to reconsider his position on that. But what he did say deals with the same underlying issues, which I wrote about in “I Have Anguish In My Heart For The Church.” 

Here’s the video that went viral, followed by two interviews. If you don’t feel like watching them now, I’ll give you the main points below:

So here are a few things Benny said:

He’s correcting his theology, and we need to know it. He doesn’t believe what he used to and he reads the Bible differently than he did twenty years ago.
It’s an offense to the Holy Spirit to say “give $1000” or put a price on the gospel
He has taken offerings like that before but he will never again do so because the Holy Spirit is “just fed up with it.” Doing so “hurts the gospel.”
“If I hear one more time ‘break the back of debt with $1000’ I think I’m going to rebuke them. I think that’s buying the gospel, that’s buying the blessing, that’s grieving the Holy Spirit.”
Benny said his statement has nothing to do with critics but with his own soul as he has been spending time with the Lord. He got distracted from his call and has grieved the Lord many times, and doesn’t want to get to heaven and be rebuked by God. He wants to be known as an evangelist, not as a prosperity teacher.
“Give to get” theology has hurt Christians, and if you’re not giving because you love Jesus, don’t give. He heard people talking about giving and prosperity and thought “Where is Jesus in all this?”

I can’t say how much it filled my heart with joy to hear Benny speak. I see the Holy Spirit’s work in his heart and in the church, and it just motivates me all the more to keep praying for the church. Some people are cynical as to his motives for speaking, but I didn’t sense anything but sincerity as Benny spoke about this. Benny still believes God wants to prosper us and prosperity is a blessing, as do I. But his roots had become entangled with weeds, and he now recognizes it.

How The Wheat And Weeds Are Being Separated Right Now

Some preachers were pretty upset with Benny for speaking. I feel like I’m writing prophetically now. It seems that God is using Benny’s statements to reveal the motives of people’s hearts, and it is beginning a time of separating the wheat from the weeds.

I watched one preacher in particular who was really upset and rebuked Benny, going on and on about how Satan would attack the church’s finances through this. As I saw him speak, it seemed that he was demonized. He claims to have seen Jesus personally. If you have seen Jesus, your countenance reflects it. My grandmother’s face was glowing and she looked ten years younger after one encounter with Jesus. Heidi Baker’s countenance is radiant because she is beholding the Lord. Yet this man’s eyes and countenance look like those of a murderer in a mug shot after being captured, not somebody who had seen Jesus. And his response revealed what is in his heart.

How The Pentecostal Revival Started

Do you know how the modern Pentecostal movement started? It spread worldwide through William Seymour and the Azusa Street revival, but it started a few years earlier. A preacher named Charles Parham preached on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

William Seymour sat outside the door in the hall and listened. He wasn’t able to participate in the “altar times” of seeking God with everybody else. But he received from God through a preacher who had him sit outside the door because of his skin color and segregation.

Is that hard to understand?

God was working with a preacher who practiced segregation, a human tradition for which many churches of that day broke God’s commandments. The Holy Spirit working through Parham’s life certainly doesn’t justify segregation. Imagine the humility it took for William Seymour to learn and receive from God through this imperfect minister! And the great thing is that the Pentecostal revival which spread as a result of that made great strides towards breaking down racial barriers.

I’ve certainly felt a bit of confusion at times. I’ve seen the Holy Spirit move in places where some things were really not right. This tithe thing really isn’t right. It has so undermined the way people relate to God and has hurt the cause of the gospel. Yet the people who fanned the flames in my heart for missions teach it, as well as those who got me started ministering healing. In some places where I’ve been blessed, I’ve heard someone stand up and imply that giving money could help a person to receive their healing. That’s an abhorrent practice. Some people, seeing that, think healing must be fake too, and they reject everything that’s happening. I know far too well that it isn’t, but it grieves me to how this becomes a stumbling block to hinder people from receiving what God has for them.

Peter was an apostle who had walked personally with Jesus and preached the gospel boldly, with miracles following. Yet he got carried away and entangled with the circumcision faction so that the apostle Paul gave him a strong rebuke. Like the tithe, the circumcision issued boiled down to gospel essentials and how people relate to God.

So powerful ministries can have miracles happening and a mighty work of the Holy Spirit, but miss it big time in an area. Yes, God is working mightily in the church today, but we have missed it big time when it comes to this tithe tradition. Critics have sometimes wanted to pull up the wheat with the weeds. They don’t have the humility to see what God is doing in spite of what’s wrong. Others have mistaken the Holy Spirit’s move as an endorsement on doctrine or ministries.

Paul rejoiced that the gospel was being preached, even if sometimes it wasn’t even for the right motives. Some people had malicious motives in preaching, but they were still sharing the gospel and it bore fruit! The message that Jesus saves and heals will always bear fruit, and it often has in spite of the messenger!

Philippians 1:15-18 (NIV) It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Some people are preaching the gospel but with bad motives. Some have good motives but have been drawn into hypocrisy, or double-mindedness concerning their message, like the apostle Peter was. Some now are realizing that their roots got entangled with weeds. I pray that we have the humility to receive from God through people and movements that don’t have everything right, and when we see weeds, respond with humility and prayer so as not to rip up the wheat with the weeds.

I am remaining in an attitude of prayer with thanksgiving for the church, and I am making a plea to those who have measured spirituality and obedience to God by a tithe: reconsider this tradition and hold it up to scripture. Consider the implications and the fruit of it, because it is causing great harm to the cause of Christ.

PS. Nothing is wrong with prosperity. Where things go awry is when people begin to equate gain with godliness, show favoritism, teach that your tithe and giving are your covenant with God, and put the gospel up for sale.

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You Negate The Word Of God For The Sake Of Your Tithing Tradition Part 2

[image error]In the last post, we made the case that the tithe of today is a human religious tradition, supported by fabricated doctrines and differing even in principle from the tithe God commanded Israel. Today we will examine several commands of scripture that many churches regularly break for the sake of their tithe tradition. I have heard so many people claim they teach tithing as a “grace principle” of faith, not as legalism, yet in most cases, many of these issues remain.

Guys, again, this whole issue of the tithe tears me up. I write with love for the church. I just have to be real about it…honest with myself and honest with others. This is what I see when I read scripture and apply it to issues in the church today.

Matthew 7:5-13 (NIV) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

Open Your Hands To The Poor And Do Not Oppress Them

If you ever just open your Bible and read it cover to cover, one of the main themes you will find is justice for the oppressed and the command to help the poor. Check out Compassion International’s compilation of scriptures concerning the poor for a few of them. When scripture talks about giving, it talks about this more than anything else. The New Testament also has extremely harsh words for those who oppress the poor and defraud workers of their wages. God’s heart is huge on this matter.

Many churches teach that giving to poor and giving to missions only come after the tithe. However, the poor under the Old Covenant received from the tithe and did not pay it. Even if we were 100% under the law of the Old Covenant, following today’s modern tithe tradition would still be breaking the commandments of God. 

Instead of helping the poor as the ancient tithe did, today’s modern tithe tradition tells them that they are cursed and they are God-robbers if they do not pay their tithe. (Often before anything else including food or rent.) Even many grace preachers like Joseph Prince who preach tithing but say the curse does not apply have still taught things like “the original sin was not tithing” and “non-tithers are God-robbers.”

Some in financial straits have stopped going to church because they couldn’t afford it. This is not rare. My aging mother-in-law, whose income covers half her expenses, was one who said, “I can’t go to church tonight because I don’t have my tithe.” 

Her pastor is a very loving guy, sincere, and I think he’s just teaching what he’s been taught and what he thinks is right. His tradition, like many, seems to treat tithing as a fundamental of the Christian faith. I doubt he would tell her she couldn’t go to church without her tithe, although there are pastors who do. Even so, my mother-in-law is simple, like a child, and “you’re not welcome if you don’t come with a tithe” is what she understood from simply teaching the denomination’s position on the matter.

I have already shared a few stories of injustice, such as a widow caring for orphans and tithing faithfully, but getting kicked out for not paying rent. When I share these, similar stories start coming out of the woodwork. I’ve received various messages from others sharing their own experiences since I started this series. These are pervasive issues, common within churches that claim to teach tithing by grace, but people usually only share their stories when they feel safe and don’t believe they will be judged.

Consider this: Even if you believe Christians are under the law (which is a great error in itself), to know scripture commanded that the needy receive the tithe, yet tell a person in need that scripture teaches they must pay the tithe before even their rent or grocery bill, is fraud. To tell them that God will curse them if they do not is extorsion. It’s a crime in God’s eyes, and it’s oppressing the poor. Even if we were fully under the tithe law of Israel, those in need received help from the tithe and it was landowners who gave it. 

I realize that many preachers have taught this error as it was passed down to them, believing it sincerely. But someone who is faced with these facts from the Old Testament and continues to do so has no excuse. The rebuke of Jesus to the Pharisees, which he gave after seeing a poor widow put all she had to live on in the offering, applies here. (Read here for further explanation of this often misinterpreted story.)

This reminds me of our experience with being sold a business by fraud. When shown facts like differing financial statements for the same time periods, the franchise owner and representatives refused to respond to anything, but when confronted about the matter and about the lies of their salespeople, they became angry. If even seemed like one representative of the franchise whom I corresponded with was honestly convinced that the franchise was in the right. Many people, unfortunately, deceive themselves in the same way over the tithe. When confronted with the fact of how the poor received, rather than gave, the ancient tithe, they become angry in the same way. They have deceived themselves and believe what they want to, in spite of many facts to the contrary.

People, even those who agree with me that tithing is not the New Covenant model, ask “Why is this such a big deal?” The first reason is that these teachings are untrue, and we participate in a spirit of fraud when we continue to hold to them and ignore the facts. Nobody can argue with the fact that the tithe of the Old Covenant helped the poor rather than demanding from them.

Declaring What Would Have Helped Your Father Or Mother Is Dedicated To God

This is the specific example that Jesus gave to the Pharisees of how the nullified God’s word for the sake of their tradition. Instead of caring for aging parents, they made a “gift dedicated to God.” 

The teaching that wrongly equates a tithe with the separate Old Testament “firstfruits” offering, and then teaches people to tithe before anything else, has often equated to the same thing. There are many cases in which people who took this erroneous“firstfruits tithe” teaching seriously have not adequately cared for their families. As a missionary who’s seen some of the global church and who corresponds with Christians from various nations, I can say these situations are even more common in third-world countries. There have been reports of African women prostituting themselves to pay tithes, and I’ve personally heard similar stories from African Christians.

1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV) Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Romans 13:8 (NRSV) Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Paying a tithe before caring for your family or paying bills is nullifying God’s word for the sake of human tradition. There are many, many situations in which this is happening and tithe teachers do not want to come face-to-face with these situations. Many preachers will say “Oh, those people are just victims of preachers who abuse the truth of tithing. It doesn’t invalidate the principle.” Yet the same situations often exist in their own churches. It’s not that someone is “abusing the teaching.” The teaching itself is abusive.

Some people who pay tithes first and are behind on bills or not paying what is due are living in guilt and condemnation. Others are full of self-righteous pride. I heard one man speaking boastfully of his tithe, saying “the tithe is grace, and really, it’s only a starting point for generous giving” and then upbraiding other people for the supposed “stinginess.”

What many people didn’t know is that this guy owed one of his workers 7 months of unpaid wages. He eventually paid, but not before his tithe! The irony is that this man qualified as an elder in the local church for paying his tithes, yet the one who would pay the worker first would be disqualified for leadership!

“Don’t Test The Lord Your God”

In Acts, the early church determined that trying to compel Gentile Christians to be bound by Jewish law was testing God. 

Acts 15:10 (NRSV) Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

Matthew 4:7 (NRSV) Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

This reminds us of Jesus rebuke to the Pharisees in Matthew 23, in which he upbraided them for their self-righteous boasting in their money and for laying heavy burdens on people and locking them out of the kingdom of heaven. It also reminds us of Matthew 18.

Matthew 18:6  (NRSV) If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. 

I’ve talked to many unchurched people about Christ. So many of them avoid church precisely because they believe the church cares about what they have, not about them. This does great harm to the cause of the gospel. On the contrary, the apostle Paul said  “We want not what is yours, but you.”  That’s enough about this. We already examined earlier how the tithe tradition undermines the way people relate to God. From the correspondence I’ve received, many of my readers can relate. The whole book of Galatians applies to this point.

Give In Secret

Matthew 6:3-4 (NRSV) But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Churches who check their member’s tithe records and ministries that ask if people are tithers are not allowing them to give in secret to be seen only by God. Jesus also rebuked the Pharisees who gained honor by doing their deeds to be seen by men.

I have often heard tithe teachers speaking quite a lot in public about their giving, and have often heard defendants of tithing in going on in self-righteous boasting of their giving, but talking down on people they consider stingy. Consider Jesus’ words, which are no less applicable today then they have ever been:

Luke 18: 9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Let Giving Be As Each Decides In His Heart, Not Under Compulsion

2 Corinthians 9:7 (NRSV) Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Teaching tithing to Christians clearly violates Paul’s New Testament instructions here for giving in the churches. The church is not to tell anybody how much they must give, but giving must flow from communion with the Holy Spirit. Consider Tertullian’s description of early church giving, similar to what Justin Martyr described of Christian worship. Note how closely they match Paul’s command in 2 Corinthians 9:7, but are totally incompatible with anything less than free-will giving. The money went to help many of the same people whom churches compel to tithe today.

“Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are, as it were, piety’s deposit fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God’s Church, they become the nurslings of their confession.”-Tertullian

“And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.” -Justin Martyr

The free will giving of the early church helped the same people who the tithe law of the Old Covenant helped. We could do a whole article in detail on this one subject, but by controlling giving instead of letting it flow out of a heart in communion with the Holy Spirit, the tithe supplants giving to missions and helping the needy. Leaders of some of the fastest-growing church planting movements in the world see teaching a tithe as a hindrance to church multiplication since it supplants being lead by the Holy Spirit and individuals taking responsibility as stewards of their giving.

Do you remember Edgar’s story? Our giving to a church didn’t amount to 10% when we cared for him, and the Baptist church that helped us with a bed for him has never taught tithing or used any form of compulsion in giving, yet we’ve seen them do far more to help the needy than many churches 10 times their size will do.

A friend shared her story in the comments of our blog post “Tithing and Injustice.” She wasn’t supposed to be on the worship team if she wasn’t tithing. She was struggling to make ends meet, but on joining the worship team, she had signed her name that she would agree to tithe to the church. Then one day she felt the Holy Spirit guiding her to give $50, more than her tithe would have been, to a lady in the church. She argued with God but he said firmly “She is my church!”  So she obeyed. The lady cried because that $50 was grocery money for her and her two kids that week.

She disobeyed the tithe tradition of men, but she obeyed God.

Welcome One Another As Christ Has Welcomed You

Romans 15:7 (NRSV) Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Many churches have made it clear that people who don’t tithe are not welcome as functional members of the body of Christ, or even as church members at all. Dooming anyone who is giving less than 10% of their finances to spectator status in the church, which even many “grace churches” do, is not accepting them as Christ has. On what basis did Christ welcome us? On that of a tithe?

Many may say “We don’t teach you are accepted by tithing. You are already accepted in Christ.” Yet often, their practice is not so! And if they teach that non-tithers are “God-robbers” like so many do (even some “grace preachers” who claim to teach tithing by grace), it brings cognitive dissonance. It’s hard to keep this scripture out of people’s minds:

1 Corinthians 5:12 (NIV) “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Do Not Show Favoritism

James 2:1-6 (NRSV) My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you?…

This is one of the most relevant and applicable scriptures to what we are talking about. In many churches, being in leadership is out of the question if one is not a tither, although it is not one of the qualifications for leaders set forth in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 or Titus 1:6-9. How many times have we seen extreme leniency as to the scriptural qualifications for elders, yet a person who holds the scriptural qualifications and has the integrity to pay bills before giving, would never be considered if giving less than a tenth at the moment? Some leaders even say upfront that how much money people contribute to the church is one of the main factors when they choose elders.

The next point really illustrates the problem with this:

Don’t Judge By Mere Appearances, But Judge With Righteous Judgement

John 7:2 (NIV) Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.

1 Samual 16:7 (NIV) But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

When mammon becomes the measure by which we determine the sincerity of other’s faith, their devotion to Christ, or their favor with God, we are deceived. Looking at just the outward appearance destroys discernment.  Nobody’s heart before God can be measured by a percentage or a dollar amount.

I agree with John Wesley’s teaching that as we live for Christ 100% of our money is holy, and what we spend to care for our own needs and those of our families is just as holy as the rest. Wesley taught to first care for your own needs, then the needs of your family, then the world. There is no guilt in this view of giving.

Sometimes there are people who are bursting with God’s life but don’t have a lot of money at the moment. When I was in that crisis situation and decided it would not honor God to tithe but not pay my electric bill, I was seeing people healed all the time. I was trying sincerely to be a good steward of my money before God.

Weekly I saw people in tears as God touched them. I sometimes saw more people healed in a day than I had seen previously in years of church attendance. I sometimes started weeping as I walked down the street because I was imagining God touching somebody. It really wasn’t about wanting a position in church or wanting to be seen. I just wanted to see people meet Jesus. I had homeless people living in my house. I think I often spent about 20 hours a week praying for people everywhere I went and talking to them about Jesus. When I met somebody who needed to be healed, if felt like time stopped and the person in front of me was the most important thing in the world. Yet I was in financial distress.

I shared that story with you guys earlier. Some friends regarded me as backslidden. Many thought I was being stingy if I wasn’t tithing. The pastor said they could no longer endorse my ministry, and I didn’t know a church that would. I didn’t know who would stand behind me as a missionary. I was more welcome to minister in the houses of many unbelievers and idol-worshippers than in church. 

What if 20 or more hours pouring out my heart in love for people that week and ministering healing was more of a sacrifice for me than the 4 hours it took another person to earn their week’s tithe money? Not to mention the trips to minister in small churches where often the small offering, if there was one, didn’t cover my travel expenses. (I’m not saying this begrudgingly at all…it was my privilege to see what God did there and I was thankful for what they did give.) And the mission trip to Russia cost as much as a year of tithes would anyways. What if there was more risk and sacrifice in taking a homeless couple and their baby into my house than there was for another person who gave the full 10% of their income to the church that week?

As I write this last paragraph I feel uncomfortable, like “why should I even need to talk like this?”

2 Corinthians 10:7,12, 17-18 (NIV) You are judging by appearances…We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise…But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Paul went on to say in the next chapter that he was boasting like a fool, but he did so to cut the ground out from under those who boasted and compared themselves to others based on outward things. And so I speak to cut the ground out from under those who see a percentage or dollar amount as the measure of a person’s heart.

When we fail to judge with right judgement, we’ll reject Jesus himself coming to us, as Jesus did not come with anything in his outward appearance that people should desire him, and he continues to come humble and riding on a donkey. When leaders judge by outward appearance whom to entrust God’s flock to, they end up appointing those who will divide and devour rather than build up and care for God’s people. There are many poor who are rich in faith, as scripture says. We should not discount their faith if they make their first priority caring for mother or father rather than dedicating “A gift offered to God.”

A few weeks ago I shared my story in “Tithing and Injustice.” After that, we talked about how some of the most common tithe teachings undermine the gospel message, open people up to deception, and change how they relate to God and others. In the last post, we examined the weight of evidence from scripture and history against teaching a tithe model for Christian churches. And today we examined several commands of God, from scripture, which are often broken for the sake of today’s tithe tradition. If anybody asks you why this issue is such a big deal, feel free to refer them to these articles!

I pray that you who read be free to give abundantly in every way, not of obligation or guilt, but from participation in Christ’s nature as flowing from communion with the Holy Spirit by grace!

 

 

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You Negate The Word Of God For The Sake Of Your Tithing Tradition Part 1

[image error]In our last post, we examined how some of the most common teachings concerning tithing today cut away at the very foundation of the Christian faith. Yet some people will say “We teach tithing by grace. We teach only the blessing, but we don’t teach that you’re cursed if you don’t tithe.” 

Today we’ll consider why, even in this case, tithing as the model for Christian giving remains a human tradition. In the next post, we’ll look at how the church breaks many of God’s commands for the sake of this tradition.

Matthew 7:5-13 (NIV) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

Tithing Is A Human Religious Tradition

There is a huge weight of evidence against the tithe teaching from both church history and scripture. There are also many varied arguments for the tithing model, and all of them have many fallacies. I can only point out a few things very quickly in this, but I encourage you to do a detailed study and look up all the passages in scripture with the word “tithe.” Also, check out the detailed study that Russel Early Kelly did for his doctoral thesis on the matter. (Although I disagree with him on some other matters, I agree with his conclusions on this.)

There are many theological matters for which there are detailed arguments and counter-arguments or rebuttals on both sides. This is not one of them. Many objections to the mandatory tithing position are so strong that nobody even tries to respond to them. Proponents of mandatory tithes have nothing to say in response to these objections to their position, so there is nothing left but to ignore the facts.

Churches That Did Not/Do Not Use Tithes As The Model For Financial Support

Let’s start with a little history…

Hasting’s Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, “tithe; tithing”

“It is admitted universally that the payment of tithes or the tenths of possessions, for sacred purposes did not find a place within the Christian Church during the age covered by the apostles and their immediate successors”

A large body of evidence, including historical and scriptural commentary, agrees with this. For example, Justin Martyr’s description of worship and giving in the early church, from around 150 AD, makes it clear that they did not follow a tithe model of giving. I’m not aware of a single scholarly article that even attempts to make the case that the early church practiced tithing. Yet many people believe it is a necessity today for supporting the church, and claim that scripture commands it.

Contrary to the supposition that those who disagree with the tithing model are lukewarm Christians, the list of believers throughout history who disagreed with tithing includes various Christian heroes, martyrs, early church fathers, reformers, revivalists, and theologians. Here’s a compilation of quotes from various commentaries and just a few of these famous Christians.

Add to this the consideration of some of the church movements today that are on the cutting edge of evangelization and believe that a tithe has no relevance for the church today. Brian Hogan is a YWAM church planting coach. He was part of a team that established a church multiplication movement in Mongolia when there were almost no Mongolian Christians. The movement soon was sending more missionaries per Christian than any other Christian movement in the world. Some of them went to places where they risked severe persecution for sharing the gospel. Brian told us that they refused to teach tithing, but rather taught the New Testament model of generous giving.

Many others who are on the front lines of the gospel oppose tithing and refuse to teach it. Dr. Victor Choudrie leads a church planting movement that has started tens of thousands of churches in 40 nations, with a million people baptized in a single year. Many of these Christians are poor and face severe persecution. Check out the fourth of his 21 steps on “How to go from a barren church to become a millionaire of souls”:

4. Replace Mosaic tithing with Christian sharing, thereby harnessing the enormous, financial resources, hospitality and goodwill available in Christian homes. Believe that God is going to work a work among the nations through you which will leave you utterly amazed, and also provide resources for it. Deut. 8:17-18; Acts 5:32-34; Hab. 1:5

Consider the irony of this fact: Many Christians believe that the church would fall apart without teaching tithing. Yet some of the most successful church planters in the world see the tithe tradition as one of the very factors which hinder the church from multiplying, since it supplants Holy-Spirit lead giving by bringing in control.

Check out this description of a church meeting from a missionary in Ecuador, who does not teach tithing. The whole offering totaled about $5 (I can see the looks of horror on pastor’s faces!), but few American churches equal the evangelistic zeal of the members. Check out his testimonies of God multiplying Holy-Spirit lead giving.

Of course, many such churches that are multiplying rapidly meet in homes and have low overhead. I know some people are totally against any church meeting in a big building. Honestly, scripture doesn’t say you need big facilities, and neither does it prohibit it. Many of the most effective Christian movements in the world have very low overhead. But many of us like the big meetings, conferences, and worship music.

I get that if we want those things, it makes sense to try to do our part to pitch in. However, wanting these things is not a valid reason for making up a teaching to support them. Are there also churches that have a big Sunday meeting in their own facility and pay for everything by only free-will giving? Yes! Check out Bertie Brits and Dynamic Love Ministries for example! Bertie has the best messages I have heard on money, and they get down to the heart of the matter.

The Vast Difference Between Modern Tithes And Biblical Tithes

Now let’s briefly respond to some of the deeply flawed theological arguments that are used to support the notion that all Christians are required by God to give a tenth of their income.

One of the major themes in the New Testament is that we are free from the law written on stone. Some of the strongest rebukes in the epistles are directed to those who would put the church in bondage to the Jewish law. This is the subject of the book of Galatians. The early church had a dispute over the matter of if they should require gentile Christians to observe Jewish laws, and it’s recorded in Acts 15. What was their conclusion?

Acts 15:10 (NIV) Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

Matthew 4:7 (NIV) Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

However, let’s just imagine for a moment that the Jewish Law, or some parts of it, are applicable today. If the tithe is applicable for us as gentile Christians today, then we must consider how scripture tells us to tithe and use the tithe.

Again, I suggest you read the scriptures on this yourself, such as Deuteronomy 14. Different theologians, reading the different scriptures about tithes and trying to put them together, have come up with different interpretations. Some believe the scriptures point to a single tithe, others believe there were two tithes, and others believe there were three. The most common interpretation among scholars is that there were three tithes, but for example, here is an explanation of the view that all the tithe passages were talking about a single tithe.

No matter which view you hold to, none of them even closely resemble the modern tithe. If you hold to the most common view, that there were three tithes, you have to explain why you believe one is binding on Christians today and the other two are not. Here are just a few other points on which the tithe that God commanded Israel is vastly different than the tithe of today, regardless of which view you hold.

The tithe was on agricultural produce and animals, which means it was not received from everyone. This means that in general, it applied to people who were better off. The poor didn’t own land. Tradesmen (like Jesus, a carpenter) didn’t owe tithes, and the poor hired worker who helped on the farm did not pay a tithe on his wages paid with money.
The tithe was not money, although the Old Testament refers to money many times. In fact, if the tither exchanged his tithe of crops and animals for money so as to travel, the law required him to change it back to food when he arrived at his destination.
The tithers ate a large portion of their tithe in celebration.
The tithe was shared with the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner. This is different even in the most basic principle from the tithe taught today, as today those who are in financial straights are taught to tithe before anything else, and under the law, they would be receiving the tithe rather than giving it.
None of the tithe ever funded temple building or maintenance, and using it for that would have been disobedience to God’s instructions for the tithe.
We have often heard today that the pastor is equivalent to the priest of the Old Testament. Yet the priests only received a tithe of the tithe at the most. Depending on whether you interpret the scriptures as teaching three tithes or one, the priests received from 1/3 of a percent to one percent, never 10%. Nine-tenths of the tithe went to Levites, who served in roles such as worship leaders, gatekeepers, manul laborers, and political officers. The Levites comprised about 1/13th of the people. Add this to the poor who received from the tithe and it makes for a large percentage of the people who received from the tithe. Scripture records in Nehemiah an instance in which the priests stole the Levite’s portion of the tithe. Some scholars believe this was the context of Malachi’s comments about robbing God. If the tithe command of the Jewish law applies to Christians today, then worship leaders, ushers, and other helps ministers must receive 9/10ths of the tithe. If they do not, we are stealing their portion, as the priests of the Old Testament stole the Levites’ portion of the tithe.
Just as it’s often taught that the pastor of today corresponds to the priest of old, it is often taught that the local church corresponds to the storehouse of old. Yet most of the Jewish tithe was commanded to be brought to the Levitical cities, and not to a storehouse.
Those who received the tithe were forbidden from owning land or having an inheritance.

These are just a few of many points on which the tithe of today differs vastly from any tithe that God commanded in Israel. You can find many more with a little study. The modern tithe doesn’t even come close to finding its basis in the tithe God commanded in the Old Covenant. What is it’s basis? Mere human tradition.

“But Tithing is an eternal moral principle and Abraham tithed before the law.”

Let’s consider this often-repeated argument.

If Abraham tithing before the law makes tithing an eternal moral principle binding on Christians, than Abraham being circumcised and offering animal sacrifices before the law makes circumcision and animal sacrifices “eternal moral principles” binding on Christians. We can’t say this logic is valid when applied to tithing, but flawed when applied to circumcision, animal sacrifices, or many other things.

The book of Galatians has something to say about that. It still calls circumcision the law, which is not of faith. The reality is that the tithe is today’s circumcision issue. Everything Galatians says about the circumcision debate of that die applies precisely to the tithing debate in today’s church. The very heart of the matter is the same in the circumcision debate of old and the tithing debate of today. Circumcision or uncircumcision, tithing or not, mean nothing. The only thing that has any value is faith expressing itself through love.

But let’s just go along with that argument anyway and assume that we need to imitate whatever Abraham did before the law. Was Abraham a regular tither? Did he tithe on his own income? Read the text and see for yourself.

Part of the historical context that is often left out is the fact that Abraham was following the custom of all the Canaanite nations around him by giving a tenth of the spoils of war to a king. There was no command from God to do so. It was the law of the land at the time. Scripture uses this story as a figure of us acknowledging Jesus as our king. Yet Abraham’s observance of this custom was a one-time tithe on spoils of war. It was not a regular tithe, nor was it a tithe from his personal income! The other nine-tenths he gave back to the king of Sodom.

In fact, this tithe was vastly different from the later tithe commands under Jewish law. God spoke negatively of the king’s tithe later in scripture, warning the people that a king would oppress them with a tithe and they would cry out for relief. Yet the king’s tithe is the biblical tithe that has the most in common with the tithe of today! And it’s one of those tithing scriptures you may never hear preached!

1 Samuel 8:15-18 (NIV) He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

Didn’t Jesus’ Teach Tithing?

Some argue that when Jesus said it had been right for the Pharisees to tithe, he was teaching tithing for gentile Christians.

There is absolutely no logic to this. Jesus was a Jew under the law. He was speaking to Pharisees under the law. Of course, it was right for the Pharisees to obey the Jewish law. And even of the law, Jesus said it was one of the lesser matters, not an “eternal moral principle.” 

Jesus’ parents offered an animal sacrifice when he was born. Jesus commanded a man who was healed to show himself to the priests and offer an animal sacrifice, in accordance with the law. This does not mean Jesus was teaching that gentile Christians must offer animal sacrifices! Neither can Jesus’ comment to the Pharisees be interpreted as a command to future gentile Christians!

But let’s just say that Jesus was teaching gentile Christians to tithe and offer animal sacrifices. Can we then forget what the tithe was that the Pharisees gave? It was a tenth of their mint, dill, and herbs, and not money, in accordance with the Jewish tithing law! I’m not aware of any Christian who claims that Jesus’ comments to the Pharisees were a command for Christians, who then follows that command by tithing their garden herbs!

Other Fabrications About The Tithe

There are multiple points on which today’s tithe teachers have treated total fabrications as doctrines. For example, listening to Kenneth Copeland on YouTube, I heard the teaching that Cain killed Abel over the tithe and that Adam and Eve’s original sin in the garden was stealing the tithe.

What? There is no mention of tithing in either of these passages. Joseph Prince, a grace preacher, also has taught that the one tree Adam and Eve were not to touch in the garden was the tithe, and the original sin was eating God’s portion. Where is this in the text? Were there only 10 trees in the garden, and the 10th was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

Friends, these teachings are total fabrications with no basis in scripture. Do you see why this issue tears me up? If I even talk about these things people will say “Oh, you’re bashing Joseph Prince.” Well, I like a lot of his teaching on other subjects, I love the testimonies of healing and freedom, but may I never become a cult-follower of any human teacher and swallow all they say hook, line, and sinker. I’m not bashing anybody, I’m just testing what people are saying.

Another thing we hear all the time is equating firstfruits with the tithe. This also has no basis in scripture. Friends, I read the books of the law for the first time when I was seven years old, I read about the various sacrifices and rituals, and I’ve read them through many times since. Even as a kid, I knew that the tithe and the firstfruits offering were separate things. It’s easy to see this if you get out a concordance, or just read through the Torah. The firstfruits offering was a token offering, much smaller than the tithe. And along with other offerings, including animal sacrifices, it was a type and shadow of better things to come.

Conclusion

Many of us have tithed and taught tithing because it’s what was passed down to us, and we sincerely believed it was right. I did too. I only began to seriously examine what I was taught when the gospel issue and the injustice issues came to my attention.

I once heard the pastor say “We rob the church if we don’t teach about tithing.” I wanted to stand up and say “Then the Apostle Paul robbed all the churches!” The Apostle Paul said that he taught the whole counsel of God and didn’t withhold anything that would be helpful from the churches. Yet he never told them to tithe, but rather argued with those who wanted to impose Jewish law on the Gentile churches and taught that giving must not be of compulsion but as the individual decides in his heart.

I’ve made a clear case that the tithe as taught today is a human tradition which is based on many points that have been simply fabricated rather than taken from scripture. The tithe of today is vastly different from the Biblical tithes, and even contrasts in principle to the tithe God commanded Israel. It oppresses the poor rather than helping them. Many who teach tithing regularly avoid certain cross-references and historical context. For example, Deuteronomy 14 is one of the primary tithe passages in scripture and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pro-tithing preacher teach from it!

When we have a serious conversation with someone who believes tithing is God’s command for today’s Church, nobody is able to respond to all of these problems with the teaching. So the issue repeatedly comes down to them asking “OK, but if we don’t teach tithing, how will the church pay the bills?”

Finding a way to pay the bills is not a valid reason to teach a doctrine if scripture doesn’t teach it. In the last post we say how the modern tithe teaching has undermined and caused confusion concerning the gospel message. What good is it to have churches if we don’t have the gospel? Bertie Brits hits the nail on the head as he explains how our wisdom becomes corrupted. His message is a must-listen for any pastor or minister struggling with the issue of how to support the ministry, and he explains how he has navigated it.

In the next post, we’ll conclude by pointing to how many churches today have nullified several commands of God for the sake of the tithing tradition.

 

The post You Negate The Word Of God For The Sake Of Your Tithing Tradition Part 1 appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

I Have Anguish In My Heart For The Church

[image error]In the last post, I suddenly came out and shared my position on tithing openly, which I had mostly only hinted at in my blog until now. I had a burning in my heart to write, and I felt like it was time to do so. Rather than starting with many arguments about the doctrine, I shared a few stories that point out why a 10th is worthless as a measure of what’s in a person’s heart. I also pointed out how the modern tithe often goes against even the spirit of the ancient tithe by collecting from those who would have received the ancient tithe.

Some people ask “Why do you need to talk about this?” In fact, a friend who agrees that scripture doesn’t teach tithing for Christians responded “Why talk about this? It won’t bring you favor to minister in churches. After all, scripture doesn’t prohibit tithing, and it’s a model of giving that works well in our culture.”

I think if you read to the end of today’s post, you should see that there is a major, pervasive gospel issue that can’t be ignored. In the next post, we’ll briefly point to the overwhelming weight of evidence against the tithing position from church history and scripture, then go on to point out how the church breaks several clear commands of scripture for the sake of today’s religious tithing tradition.

My Anguish For The Church

Before going on to share why this is such a crucial and fundamental issue, I’m going to get totally real about my heart in sharing this.

Romans 9:1-5 (NIV) I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—  I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.  Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Why did Paul have such anguish over Israel? He saw God’s work and blessing on his people. But they stumbled by persuing the law as the way of righteousness, not by faith but by works. (Romans 9:31-3

I can relate to what Paul says here, although not quite to the point of wishing I myself were cursed and cut off. As Paul loved his people, I love God’s people and I have a burning passion for the work of the Holy Spirit in the churches. I pray often for the churches and for friends who are pastors with many tears of passion and love, with great thankfulness for what the Holy Spirit is doing among God’s people. It seems that I can barely visit a new church without soon being in tears…I frequently weep half of the time when I’m in a Christian meeting, and it’s because I recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing, I see how he’s moving in people’s lives, and I put all my heart and soul into agreeing with the work of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, I’ve often been alone and felt God’s glory on me like a weight, but the greatest manifestations of God’s glory have usually been in gatherings with other Christians. I don’t want to live if not for Jesus and for his purposes with the church. The passion of my life is to see people know and experience God’s glory, and to see God’s glory manifest in and through Christ’s body the church.

Yet some serious issues today have hindered the church from manifesting Christ’s glory more fully. The church today has often sent a mixed message…the declaration of truth brings a manifestation of God’s glory, but it only goes so far if the church then contradicts itself and teaches people to pursue by works that which is only available by God’s grace. For example, so I have been deeply grieved to hear a preacher from the front connecting people’s monetary offering to receiving their healing. People were receiving from God by grace, God’s glory was manifesting among the people, but then confusion was brought in.

God is my witness of the many tears I’ve shed in prayer over this issue. God’s given me a commission to strengthen the church and to encourage pastors. Yet talking about the tithe will often close doors to ministry if you don’t agree with it. So I have put much prayer into asking God for wisdom about how to discuss these serious issues. I recently shared my position with two Brazilian pastor friends who I’ve been talking to and praying for. Thank God they understood where I’m coming from!

I have plenty to lose by talking about the problems with today’s tithe tradition. If it were just about being “successful in ministry,” disagreeing with the tithing doctrine is one of the worst things I could do. But it is the fear of the Lord and love for the truth that will not let me around this issue. It’s love for the church and a passion to see a greater manifestation of God’s glory through the church that compels me. This is certainly not about wanting to tear down. I agree that if Christians want big buildings and other high-overhead things, it makes sense to pitch in. I believe the gospel is worth giving not only our money for our lives to promote. I want to build up the church, I want people to give generously, and I want to see provision for ministries, but it must be by God’s grace and not according to the law.

Deception Starts Subtlely

In my early twenties, I realized that the tithe as I was taught in church cut away at the very foundations of the gospel message.

That may seem unbelievable, and of course, almost everybody who teaches tithing would deny that they are teaching salvation by the tithe.

But especially for full-gospel preachers, they use an inconsistent definition of salvation. Full-gospel preachers rightly define salvation as healing, deliverance, provision, access to God’s presence, and wholeness in every aspect. But then when it comes to tithing, they switch to a limited definition of salvation making it into heaven and escaping hell in the end. And they say “You aren’t saved by tithing but…”

Two of the most common teachings concerning the tithe undeniably teach salvation by tithing, at least for anybody who recognizes the Biblical implications of what we are saying.

The first is the idea that your blessing or curse hinges on your tithe. This teaching comes from a gross misuse of Malachi that ignores context and audience. I talked about this previously in the article “Righteousness, Blessing, Salvation.” Basically, if you are blessed or cursed based on your tithe, justification is by tithing. If you are blessed or cursed based on your tithe, tithing is what puts you right with God, and salvation is by works. Period. There’s no getting around it. You can not be righteous (right with God) and not be blessed. You can not be righteous and cursed.

The second is the teaching that tithing opens the heavens and that the heavens are closed over you if you don’t tithe.

The implications of this become absolutely clear if we understand biblically what open heavens are. Hebrews chapter nine and ten lay it out clearly. An open heaven is access to the Father, access to God’s presence, and the heavens were torn open when Jesus’ body was torn.

To say that tithing opens the heavens is to put the tithe in the place of Jesus’ sacrifice and what it accomplished. Jesus’ torn body is our open heaven, and it is the only way into the Father’s presence. In fact, Pastor Bertie Brits has a really interesting video called “Jesus is the tithe,” explaining how the tithe pointed prophetically to Jesus.

Salvation is about so much more than only getting into heaven and escaping hell when you die. It is about being brought into communion with God now through grace. Whether or not you say you teach salvation by tithing, if your teaching leads people to relate to God on the basis of their tithe, you are teaching salvation by tithing and contradicting the message that leads to the manifestation of God’s glory in and through the church.

As I shared in the last post, I thought I went to one of the least legalistic and most grace-based churches I knew, but when I got into a pressing situation I realized that I didn’t feel like I could approach God the in same way since I wasn’t paying my tithe. I knew many other Christians would feel the same. That was when I started to question what I was basing my relationship with God on.

I’ve talked to others from a “grace-based” church that were in pressing situations and feeling a tremendous amount of confusion, guilt, and condemnation over this issue. One person from a “grace-preaching” church who had disagreed with me so strongly about the tithe just two years earlier broke down crying because she was in a pressing financial situation and felt so much guilt and condemnation about struggling to pay her tithe. Even though she was tithing, it was such a burden every time that she couldn’t do it with joy and then felt condemned because she was trying to hard to give it joyfully and felt she couldn’t so she was a bad Christian.

I could relate to her. When I was tithing, I had been taught that giving only started beyond my tithe. So I always felt like I wasn’t giving enough. After all, Malachi said “You’ve robbed me in tithes and offerings.” (I hadn’t considered that the tithes Malachi about were food and the “offerings” Malachi referred to were animal sacrifices) I was already wondering at what point my offerings were enough. Have you ever been there? You always try harder and it’s never enough. This is not the gospel I first received!

In his video “Tithing will kill you,” Pastor Bertie also shares his testimony of how tithing totally changed the way he related to God and to other people. I can testify that he’s right on. What he describes is exactly how I realized the tithe teaching changed how I related to God, and I’ve seen it in the lives of many other people. I can relate to Bertie as to how zealous I was for the things of God. It is often the most zealous people who take the teaching more seriously who get burnt out on it. As Bertie describes, even if you are tithing, the teaching puts you in a place where whatever you do is never enough. The teaching says you are not even giving until it goes beyond the tithe, so unless you give significantly beyond the tithe you are “sowing sparingly.” So if you are “reaping sparingly” you must also be robbing God in offerings.

There are two sides of this coin. I was a young man who was spending a lot of money on mission trips and was in the position of being the main provider for my family for a short time after I just started working. For many people who are in a tough position like that, the tithe teaching bears the fruit of guilt and condemnation. For many others, the fruit is religious pride and self-righteousness. 

I was recently listening to Reverand Mike Kola Ewuosho sharing his view on the tithe. Although he insisted that the tithe isn’t what makes us accepted by God, he said “The tithe is gospel.” He also teaches that the tithe is the fruit of faith, and we are justified by faith. Now if the tithe is gospel, the logical implication is that those who don’t tithe haven’t accepted the gospel. If the tithe is of faith, the implication is that those who don’t tithe don’t have faith. (Although Jesus referred to the tithe not only as law but as one of the lesser matters of the law, and scripture says “The law is not of faith.”) According to scripture, faith is what makes us acceptable to God.

A church may say they do not teach salvation by tithing, but if their acceptance or non-acceptance of people into fellowship hinges on a tithe, consider what this implies. We are ambassadors of Christ and the body of Christ on the earth. If the church’s acceptance of someone into fellowship depends on the tithe, the church is essentially telling people that being accepted by Christ depends on the tithe. And thus in all practicality, this teaches people to attempt to approach God based on their works rather than on Christ’s work. Who are we to reject someone whom Christ has received?

Do you think I’m blowing this thing way out of proportion? Let’s consider the extent to which this slippery, subtle deception has lead to the acceptance of blatant and explicit teachings of salvation by tithing. What I’m about to share shocked me, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg, and it causes me great concern for the state of the church.

Subtle Deception Paves The Way For Blatant Error

I realize many people don’t like the word “heresy” since it’s been so misused to bash people who have different beliefs. But when any teaching says that there is a way to the Father except through Christ, or another way to be saved, “heresy” is an appropriate word. The apostle Paul treated such teaching very seriously, as you can see in the book of Galatians.

Consider the following quotes which explicitly teach salvation by works and tithing.:

“Nobody who does not tithe faithfully will ever see Jesus’s face or be permitted into heaven.” 

“Anybody who wants to be with the Lord Jesus forever must work hard for his salvation every day for the rest of his life.”

What shocked me was not that somebody said some stupid things. There have always been people who say stupid things.

What shocked me is how quickly and easily the book* that includes these statements gained widespread acceptance in mainstream Christianity.

It was published by the biggest Christian publisher in the world. It was endorsed by the pastor of the biggest church in the world. (As of the time it was published.) It became an international bestseller, selling over a million copies, with Charismatic Christians raving over it, including people I know. In fact, I don’t know how I read it the first time as a young teenager and did not see the blatant error.

Consider a few quotes from Creflo Dollar. If I’m not mistaken, he was at the time the TV preacher with the largest audience in the world. Friends, this isn’t about picking on Creflo Dollar. In fact, I’ve heard that he’s totally changed his tone and publicly apologized for some of his earlier teaching that lead people into bondage. My point is the extent to which a false gospel of salvation by tithing has made its way into mainstream Christian culture.

“The tithe is the covenant.” 

“If you take the time to tithe and tithe correctly, it’s impossible to go to hell, because if you’re doing all that, the tithe will keep you in heaven. The tithe will keep you in the presence of God.” 

“It’s impossible to get healing or deliverance or any other promise in the word of God except through the tithe.” 

In fact, Creflo joked about handing guns out, then lining up all the non-tithers and shooting them down at the count of three “Jesus”s, then throwing them into a mass grave out back so that God could come to church. He said, essentially “I’m serious. That’s what they deserve if not for God’s grace.”

What shocked me is not just that somebody said some really stupid things. What shocked me is how many Christians I have found to defend such statements, and even laugh at the comment about shooting down all the non-tithers and throwing them in a mass graves. What shocked me was the level of mainstream acceptance in Christianity of a preacher teaching such things.

Yet the hatred and anger evident in the joke about shooting down non-tithers is perfectly consistent with the self-righteous and furious responses of so many Christians today if anybody so much as questions if tithing is the Biblical model for Christians’ giving today. I’ve experienced this again and again, and it shows something is wrong.

One friend, a very godly man, became so angry that he later came back and apologized. He didn’t know why he acted so irrationally and out-of-character. It was like something came over him. Others who initially became very angry heard the Holy Spirit respond “The reason you are so angry is because what he’s saying is true.” 

Bertie Brits tells of a man who wrote a book on tithing. It was endorsed by well-known leaders and about to be published. Then he heard Bertie preaching that the tithe has no value for Christians today. He became furious. And the Holy Spirit said, “You are furious because everything Bertie is saying is true.” 

He repented.

Irrational rage is sometimes a manifestation of a demonic stronghold. Speaking the truth confronts the lie the demon is holding on to and stirs up resistance. There are godly men and women who have a demonic stronghold that was built up by today’s tithe teachings. If you want to consider the matter from the perspective of scripture or history, they suddenly change and act way out of character.

Friends, you may think I am being dramatic, but I can tell you very truly that today’s teaching about tithing has opened up many people to demons of self-righteousness and false religion. This is true to the extent that some people who are even defrauding others think their wealth is a sign of God’s blessing because of the tithe. The few stories I shared in the last post are just the tip of the iceberg. These issues are pervasive in the church today and it is major deception!

Friends, if any of you give a 10th of your income because it’s truly what you have decided in your heart and that’s what you want to give, not of any compulsion, and you do not measure yourself against others by your tithe, then of course nothing is wrong with that! We are dealing with the teachings that a 10th is what you owe, measures where your heart is, shows where you stand with God and is essentially not even giving but is paying your dues.

What Do I Hope To Accomplish With This Post?

I know a wide variety of people will be reading this. Some will be pastors and leaders who have taught tithing. Some will be tithers who are caught in either cycles of guilt and shame, or who have fallen into religious pride and self-righteousness. Some will be people who have been questioning what they believe.

Some people may be furious. If you are angry, ask yourself why. Don’t the issues I’ve brought up today and in our last post make it clear that we have a serious problem? If you are teaching tithing, shouldn’t you be willing to consider and respond to scriptural objections to the teaching?

Others might agree with me but wonder, why is this such a big deal? Why talk about it at the risk of churches losing funding because people don’t have to tithe anymore, or of closing doors to ministry opportunities? Why is this something to lose blog subscribers over?

Whether you agree with me or not right now, I hope I’ve gotten your attention as to why we need to talk about this issue in the church. I hope I’ve gotten you to consider what foundation you are building your life on. If you are a leader, I hope I’ve encouraged you to consider how you are teaching people to relate to God. And I hope I have encouraged you who are givers to take responsibility for stewarding your money and truly give according to the desire in your heart which springs from communion with the Holy Spirit, but never as you are pressured to by others.

In the next post, we’ll make the case that the tithe of today is a human tradition that has little to do with scripture, and then consider several ways in which the church today breaks the commandments of God for the sake of the tithing tradition.

*Where are these quotes in the book? A funny story…I had read the book “Heaven Is For Real” years before and someone gave it to me again with their fervent endorsement. I underlined these quotes and a few others, marking the page numbers because I wanted to cite it. But after I told my parents the extent of the error it taught, they burned it as they would a witchcraft item. They figured I wouldn’t mind at all, not realizing that I wanted to keep it so I could cite the page numbers of these quotes. So sorry I don’t have the page numbers at the moment. Lol. But they are in there!

 

The post I Have Anguish In My Heart For The Church appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

Tithing and Injustice-A Raw Update On Our Story For The Last Several Years Leading Up To Now

[image error]Did you ever hear that the pastor of today is equivalent to the priest of the Old Testament who received the tithe? Let’s consider the implications of that. Please, this isn’t about being against the church or pastors, I love the churches and have several pastor friends I love dearly and pray for. I believe in supporting ministers who give their lives to ministry. I have supported some ministries I believe in, and I want to do so so much more.

This is just about truth. And it’s a very brief overview of this aspect of my story since my early 20’s. I know even bringing up this subject will offend many people, but what I have to say can’t be ignored or brushed aside. Many of you guys are familiar with parts of our story but have not heard this part. I haven’t talked about it much for certain reasons, including the need to focus on encouraging people and highlighting what the Holy Spirit is doing in the church. I had to guard my heart as to what I was focusing on, because this was a very painful subject. But now I think I’m ready to share it, not with bitterness, but with sincerity and love.

Just Two Of Thirty-Two Questions About The Modern Tithe

Let’s start with a Biblical context of what the tithe was…in the Old Testament, a priest received 1/10th of the tithe and 9/10ths went to the Levites, who had roles such as worship leaders, gatekeepers, and public officials. The tithe was also shared with the poor, the orphan, the foreigner, and the widow. It’s reasonable to estimate that about a 10th of the people received from the tithe. None of it went to building or maintenance expenses. Seriously. Read the Bible through carefully, cover to cover, and you’ll find that temple building and maintenance was always funded in other ways.

 


There is an instance in Nehemiah where the priests stole the Levites’ portion of the tithe and removed it from the storeroom. Some scholars believe Malachi was referring to exactly that incident.


 


So here are just two questions:


 


1) If tithing is the pattern for today and the pastor is the priest, why don’t the worship leader, doorkeepers (ushers), and other helps ministries receive 9/10ths of the tithe, as the Levites who fulfilled those roles did? In fact, aren’t we robbing them if we do anything else with their portion of the tithe?


 


2) If orphans, widows, and foreigners received from the tithe then, why are they obligated to give a tithe or be cursed in so many churches today? Why are the same people who received the ancient tithe told to give the modern tithe? I could tell so many stories, but here are a few:


 



My aging mother in law, who relies on us to pay the expenses her meager income can’t support, saying “I can’t go to church tonight because I don’t have my tithe.”



 



 A man who took in 5 orphans with special needs, paying for their medicines and food at his own expense, disfellowshipped from the church for not paying his tithe.



 



 A widow who cared for dozens of special needs children and adopted over 20 orphans, a faithful tither, expelled from her house for being behind on rent. Why wasn’t she receiving from the tithe, rather than giving it?



Am I Honoring God If I Pay My Tithe But Not My Electric Bill?



When I was 20-something years old, I was in a situation where I figured it wouldn’t honor God to not pay my electric bill but pay my tithe. I had already supported my family as a teenager and faced financial struggles. I had a crisis situation and I felt like I just couldn’t do it anymore. I stopped tithing. My Christian accountant had just told me in the last year, shortly before the crisis, how blessed I would be because of my tithing and how much I gave to missions over my tithe.



Some of my closest friends reacted as if I was backsliding, although they knew my situation. I had honestly thought, knowing many congregations, that I was in the church most free from legalism and religiosity in my region. My friends thought I was backsliding, but I knew I loved God and wanted to serve him with all my life. All I’d wanted since I was 13 was to be a missionary. I’d felt a love that filled my whole soul and body and compelled me to give my whole life so that other people would know the same love. 

My friends’ reaction, added to the shame, guilt, and condemnation I felt when I stopped tithing, made me start to question what the foundation of my faith was. Was it really based on what Jesus did? I realized that if the blessing or the curse hinges on the tithe, then justification is by tithing.

This crisis came soon after a time of great glory, in which I had tangibly felt currents of God’s love flowing through my hands and mouth nearly every day. Was I now cut off from that joy and glory because I didn’t feel like it was right to tithe and not pay the electric bill, after having tithed “by faith” before and ending up with an overdrawn bank account?

I came up with a list of 32 questions about the tithe. Nobody could answer them, but a few people got really upset. My parents, who had taught me tithing, said “Wow, you’re right. We can’t support the idea that the tithe is for today, or that the Bible teaches anything for Christians but generous giving as we are able and willing.”

I was planning to start tithing again, not because I believed it was the Biblical standard anymore, but because I felt like I wasn’t doing my part. I’d been planning to go to Russia. But then I didn’t have money and everything was against me. I sought the Lord in the crisis, wondering if I’d really heard right to go to Russia, and was answered with a current of love for Russia and for the Russian people that I physically felt like electricity flowing through my whole body continuously from head to foot. Instead of paying my tithe, I went to Russia. It felt like an army of angels was with me there, and I experienced great joy in the middle of grief.

A Painful Loss of Fellowship

After I returned I started to realize how the tithe as I was taught was really at odds with justification by faith, so I took the list of 32 questions to my pastor. I was bringing up some real, serious issues. He didn’t even attempt to answer most of my questions, but he said how much he disagreed and “we can no longer support your ministry.” It was so painful, as this was the church that lit and fueled the fire for missions in my heart, that prayed for me when I went somewhere. I was totally ruined for anything but being a missionary and seeing people healed by Jesus. I’d invested everything into this.


If it was just about getting my church to back me, I could have easily said “OK, I believe in tithing.” But I couldn’t lie to myself. And so much more than being an issue of how much we have to give, I had seen that this issue really boiled down to justification. Everybody would deny that, but in all practicality, it was the main issue. Did I receive the blessing and get included in God’s family by giving a tenth of my income, or by hanging my life on Christ?



I moved to Brazil with great difficulty, after a scaffold collapsed under me and I was in bed for several weeks. I couldn’t legally work in Brazil when I first came here. I understand why the Israelites shared their tithe with the foreigners in their land.

I had maintained a connection with believers when I was in the US, but I had very little trust for churches in Brazil and didn’t believe they would accept me because of my beliefs. (Which were and continue to be quite orthodox, but do not include tithing.) I continued to minister healing to neighbors and people I met, but I sometimes worried that they might end up worse if I sent them to a church.

After a few years, I started attending a small Baptist church that was marked strongly by sincere love with no manipulation. I felt like I could start giving there because the pastor was not teaching tithing, and I didn’t feel like I was only welcome if I paid my dues.

The Holy Spirit Lifting And Strengthening Me In The Middle Of Hardship

In 2015 and 2016, I started writing the books that God had put on my heart years before. As I wrote, I felt God’s glory coming on my body tangibly again. I wrote with many tears, and God softened my heart, bringing me back to a place of joy, restoring me to the commission he’d given me to encourage pastors. God brought me back to a place of thanksgiving for the church and focusing first on the work of the Holy Spirit in the congregations, rather than focusing on things that need to change. My focus turned from self-pity to living in love, and I saw an increase in miracles again, even over Facebook messenger.

I also started teaching weekly in a small group of people from different churches, and for about a year I got a word of knowledge for healing for about every new person that visited, and they were healed. I made friends with some pastors in Brasil, and I’ve prayed for them and wept and rejoiced at seeing what God was doing in their congregations. In the few times I’ve gotten to speak to groups of Christians here, more than once I was not aware of anybody who asked for healing ministry and left without being healed.

We took in Edgar, an old man who was being robbed, cared for him until he died, and faced death and kidnapping threats for helping him. Some of my Facebook friends rallied to help us care for Edgar’s needs during that time. I had to lift him by the armpits and help my father in law to bathe him, clean his poop, and to change his diaper. I vomited more than once because of the smell, but I had great joy in helping the old man. At times during the last few years, I didn’t know if I would live or die.

Wanting Prayer And Fellowship

When I was visiting the US in 2017, I met with the pastor of the church that had been my home congregation in the US. I had never stopped attending there until I moved to Brazil. I shared our difficulties and asked him to agree to disagree about the tithe, but to put us on the prayer list with the other missionaries. He said they couldn’t join with me in that way if I didn’t believe in tithing. I was working hard, risking my life and using my resources to help an old man, facing a kidnapping threat against my daughter, seeing Jesus heal people on the street, at the snack bar, in their homes, and in church, but often at the end of my rope. Yet he still seemed to think I was stingy, and I couldn’t persuade him to put us on the prayer list!

I know many of the people in the congregation would have loved to pray for us, and I’m so thankful for all the Facebook friends who prayed for us and helped us to care for Edgar. I even think that the assistant pastor would have had no problem praying for us as missionaries if I’d talked to him first.

How We Bought A Business And Fell Into Fraud

I just wanted to preach and strengthen the churches, but my job is mostly at night and on weekends. I barely even got to the Baptist church on Sundays, and many times I didn’t. I wanted my wife to no longer have to leave early, face highway robberies, and come home late at night. I wanted my daughter to have time with her mom. I wanted to prosper and have more to give to ministries I believe in. So we borrowed money, promising to pay it back with the sale of my house in the US, and opened a franchise here in Brazil. It was a kiosk in the mall.

As we were opening the franchise in late 2017, I was visiting the US and several people gave strong prophesies about financial justice. I thought it meant that God was restoring us with the business we were opening. Now I think it was because God saw that we were in the process of being robbed.

We had a great struggle to keep the business open and got more and more in debt to pay the bills. I hadn’t imagined this could lose money so fast! We took out loans to convert the kiosk to a store so as to offer more services. After over a year, some friends in the US prayed for us. My eyes opened, and I realized the kiosk was not viable when we bought it. The salesperson had lied to us.

I went to the shopping center and asked for the figures the business had reported to them before we bought it. Their figures were almost 10,000 reais per month lower than the financial statements the salesperson had shown me before we bought the business. The financial statements the franchise had given us showed a small monthly profit. When I saw this, I thought I had a solid case for criminal fraud, but apparently, Brazil’s legal system doesn’t work that way.

I started emailing the franchise with questions, and they soon sent me financial figures for the months before we bought the business–including months the salesperson had told us they didn’t have figures for, due to a robbery. Thus the franchise itself proved to me that their salesperson had lied.

Confronting Injustice

I had heard the franchise founder was a Christian and a God-fearing woman, so I sent her a very respectful message on Facebook showing the evidence of wrong, such as differing financial statements, and asked her to meet with us in at their headquarters, a four-hour drive from our house. The franchise had also forced us to use an out-of-state architecture firm which did not send anybody personally to see the place in the mall they were doing a blueprint for. The blueprint was full of errors which had cost us many thousands of reais, putting us deep in debt and increasing the cost of the job about 50,000 reais over what was estimated.

I asked her to help us in view of the situation since the franchise itself caused us great financial damage. I thought it could very well be possible that she really was a God-fearing person. If so, she would certainly see that her salesperson acted dishonestly with us, and thus help us. We were already way behind on what we owed the franchise, with their people calling my wife all the time to collect on past-due franchise fees.

She responded nicely and said she would certainly be there, but she was not there when we arrived. We reminded them that we drove four hours to be there because the franchise founder had promised to be at the meeting, so they contacted her and said she was coming later.

We had the meeting, showing the evidence of fraud, showing the blueprint for the store which was all wrong, and playing an audio clip of the manager who was there before we purchased the business, saying the problem was always movement and sometimes the place only attended to one or two people a day. Her people’s eyes were wide when they heard the audio clip, but nobody responded anything.

Then the founder of the franchise entered. She refused to hear any of our complaints, although I had sent her the evidence earlier. She put all the blame on us and on our manager for the business’ failing, then promised very nicely to help us.

“Your Tithe Must Not Be Right”

At the end, she sent everyone else out to have a personal meeting with us, saying she was speaking no longer as a businessperson but as a fellow believer. The first thing she said was that she had been in the same position, and God showed her that her tithe wasn’t right and her relationship with her husband wasn’t right, and she would never prosper until she got those things right. And so she told us that we would never prosper until we got our marriage and our tithe right.

How did she know if we were tithing, or anything about our marriage? Do you see the depth of deception and self-righteousness? I believe there’s something to generous giving, and sowing and reaping that includes financial prosperity. (I loved Michael Van Vlyman’s books on this.) But one of the greatest deceptions in the church is that people’s standing with God can be measured by their financial position. This lady’s franchise defrauded us in the sale of the business and then caused greater financial damage to us than anything else with the blueprint, yet she assumed her financial standing was evidently blessing because of her tithe, and our struggle obviously must mean we were not tithing.

Her response, unfortunately, is all too similar to the response of many staunch tithers when I tell them that I believe the Biblical pattern is generosity that is not under compulsion or of necessity. It is immediate judgement, as if the only reasons one could not believe in tithing are lack of faith, lack of commitment to God, being a freeloader, or stinginess.

There is no serious engagement on what scripture actually says about the subject, or awareness that there are (and have been in history) many Christians who do not believe that tithing is the standard for Christians, yet who have given generously and risked their lives for the gospel. John Bunyan, who was imprisoned for his faith and wrote the best-selling Christian book of all time besides the Bible, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” did not believe in tithing. John Wesley, who led revival in English, said the tithe was for Jews and not for Christians. Yet he gave away 99% of his income.

Tightening The Noose

I recently confronted the franchise owner and someone else in her business more directly, calling out lies and injustices. We have been trying to sell the business for a low price to someone who doesn’t have debt, so we can pay our employees. But instead of helping us because our situation was unjust, the franchise just kept trying to make more money off the deal. One lady came to my wife, asking her if it was true that she was selling the business because she was moving to the US to get married! What a preposterous fabrication the salesperson told her! We had told the franchise we didn’t want them lying to sell our business and we had increased the clients enough that it could be profitable for someone without debt. But the franchise’s salespeople continue to lie and defraud others, and the owner still thinks she’s blessed because of her tithe and we must not be right with God because we are in financial straights..

How did she respond to my message which called out the lies and fraud directly and pleaded with her for justice? The franchise threatened a fine of 800 reais a day if we didn’t pay the monthly fees for the system where we launch sales. We had been making it a priority to pay employees first, since our employees have not received all their salary. Then, it seems that she told her cousin, who works with that system, to not answer any of my wife’s phone calls so as to force us to pay the fine.

I don’t know what to do. I’m in a new city and don’t know Christians here, I still work nights and weekends, but want to be involved in the church. I miss my friend Pastor Jorge and other people in Rio. We have employees that haven’t received their full salary, and it costs even more to fire them. I thought I should have a solid case of fraud with the franchise, but my wife has consulted with lawyers and they say that I could actually go to jail and they could charge me with fraud. When I declared my assets as we bought the business, I apparently must not have understood that I was only supposed to declare a house as an asset if it didn’t have a mortgage.

How Do You Judge Generosity?

I still can barely think about Jesus healing people, or see a video on Youtube of someone ministering healing, without crying. I can never forget the love that gripped my heart, which I began to feel as currents going through my body, and which I wanted everybody to know. I’m still ruined for anything else than being a missionary. But it has been so hard lately to continue living outward and ministering to other people in the middle of what’s going on, even though that is how I find strength. It has been such a struggle just to deal with the anger I feel. Whenever things get to be just about me, I’m in a bad place and there’s no joy there.

Judge for yourselves. Am I in this position because of when I didn’t pay my tithe? Am I stingy? Do I just not know how to trust God? Or could it be that people’s hearts, love, and giving, can’t be measured by a percentage? Could it be that some people are rich because of fraud, and some people are poor because of injustice? Could it be that God judges by so much more than a percentage of your money, he sees our hearts, and giving could be risking your life to rescue an old man, then cleaning his poop and caring for him, not just money? It could be going to minister healing to people when you don’t have money for the trip but love compels you. It could be buying diapers and milk for a homeless mother. And it could just be going into a very difficult situation because love is driving you and you believe God sent you.

I just wonder why, at our wedding, every single person I knew to believe that giving is about so much more than tithing and cannot be measured with a percentage, gave twice the average wedding gift that the others gave? (Which, in a way, was also a missions gift before I moved to Brazil.) Maybe the assumption is people who don’t believe in tithing are stingy, is a big error. Of course, I was so happy to have every person there who attended our wedding, even if they had no wedding gift to bring! But how have we forgotten that man looks at the outward appearance, but God sees the heart? And how have we forgotten that scripture gives us no right to judge other people’s giving, which is why Jesus taught his disciples to give in secret.

 

 

The post Tithing and Injustice-A Raw Update On Our Story For The Last Several Years Leading Up To Now appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

Lynne Marie’s Story

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Does anybody recognize the lady in this picture? She’s Lynn Marie. I had seen her a while ago in footage from one of the Power and Love conferences. She was ministering to other people while she was wearing oxygen tubes. Her joy and boldness in ministering to other people was inspiring. She didn’t let her own health challenges keep her from ministering healing to others in Jesus’ name!

Somehow I came across Lynn on Facebook a few years after I’d first seen her face, and she didn’t have the breathing tubes in anymore! I think there are some really beautiful lessons we can learn from Lynn’s story.

Born With Cystic Fibrosis, Lungs And Immune System Destroyed, Expected to Die

Lynn was born with cystic fibrosis, and she soon needed new lungs. In the middle of frequent hospital visits, extreme exhaustion, and three-hour sessions of taking medicines, she continued rejoicing in the Lord, speaking truth, and ministering healing to other people. She rejected the voices of fear and hopelessness.

Lynn’s double lung transplant went perfectly. She ministered healing to her nurses in the hospital and walked eight kilometers two weeks after the transplant.  She was suddenly healed of a chronic blood condition called neutropenia, which made her vulnerable to life-threatening infections.  Now she has a testimony of healing! Her story is of perseverance and remarkable recovery.

Let Lynn’s Story Encourage You!

I’m embedding a few videos and sharing Lynn’s Youtube channel and Facebook for those of you who’d like to hear her story in more detail or follow her testimonies.

So many people feel like they can’t minister to the sick or like they don’t have faith because they are wrestling with issues. Satan twists truth and accuses, saying “Well, you just must not have enough faith, and that’s why you’re not healed!” If you’ve wrestled with some health issues, let Lynn’s testimony encourage you. Getting introspective about your faith in that way is never helpful. What is helpful is turning your focus outward.

What I really love is the demonstration of the joy that comes in spite of personal circumstances when we get our focus off of our own issues and turn it to showing God’s love to other people. The joy on Lynn’s face as she ministered to others while walking around with oxygen tubes is a great testimony to the reality of the gospel. And I’m so happy to hear her testimony of healing a few years later! God is the God of hope, even when natural things seem to say you’re as good as dead.

Lynn During The Power and Love Event

Guys, this video has some beautiful testimonies. A lady confessed that she was planning to take her own life before Lynn came and prayed for her. It’s so easy to turn inward and focus on our own circumstances when things are tough, but what an impact we can have when we turn outward instead to show God’s love to people!

Double Lung Transplant Testimony

This video is a bit longer. Lynn shares some words of knowledge and Jesus heals more people at the end.

Healing From A Chronic Blood Disease

She persevered and rejected hopelessness….and suddenly the disease disappeared!

If you want to keep updated with more testimonies, you can check out Lynn’s Youtube channel, A Lifestyle of Evangelism, or follow her public updates on Facebook.

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Bless What God Is Doing And Do What God Is Blessing!

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Goiânia Brazil-Where we just moved

So, I’m publishing this post a little bit late today. We just moved over 800 miles away (by car), from Rio de Janeiro to Goiania, in Brazil. Actually, we still have to hire a truck to bring the beds and other things here, and then I have to go back to get my elderly mother-in-law and father-in-law. So we haven’t moved completely yet.

We probably wouldn’t have gone through with this if not for a prophetic word we received shortly before we got the opportunity to move. It is a big change and it felt like a big risk. But about three months ago, a friend prayed for us on Skype and said she saw us moving northwest to the interior of Brazil. I felt like God confirmed the word to my heart. Just a few weeks later, we got the opportunity to go.

Anyways, this is the subject that I felt God put on my heart recently…

Bless What God Is Doing!

When I minister to people, I usually declare “I bless what God is doing in your life!” Likewise, when I pray for the churches, I regularly proclaim “I bless the work of the Holy Spirit in the assembly where Pastor Marcio (for example) preaches!”

I was thinking about this recently. I realized that the idea of blessing what God is doing must seem strange to some people. In fact, I’m sure that many Christians might find it offensive. After all, he is God! Why would my blessing even be relevant if God is doing something?

I thought about how I started praying this way. I think it goes back to Randy Clark and his organization, Global Awakening. I started ministering healing to people after a Global Awakening conference. Randy taught us to minister with our eyes open and interview the person receiving prayer so as to recognize what the Holy Spirit was doing. When a person receiving ministry has begun to feel heat or some other manifestation of power as God was healing them, I’ve often heard Randy say something like “Thank you God. We bless the heat….” In some way, Randy would bless the manifestation of God’s power.

I picked up on that and began to do the same. I learned that as we recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing, thank God for it, and bless the Holy Spirit’s work, the manifestation of power and God’s glory usually increases. Why?

God has called us into communion and co-laboring with him. This is why prayer and faith accomplish things. I’ve heard some people say that prayer isn’t about changing God or changing circumstances, but it’s about changing us. People who talk like that know very little about how God’s power works. Yes, prayer can change us, but it also changes situations! And of course, prayer doesn’t change who God is, I agree, but it is coming into agreement with God’s purposes. If we understand that God’s will and nature is revealed through Christ and not through circumstances, then we won’t imagine for a moment that wanting to change circumstances would equate to trying to change God.

It’s never about trying to manipulate God, nor is it about trying to set up man as God. Those who don’t understand the incarnation often accuse us of that. Incarnation is about God dwelling in man and man in God; it’s man called into communion, partnership, and union with God. God gives us a part in his work not because he lacks power, but because he desires communion with us.

Recognize What The Holy Spirit Is Doing And Say Yes To It!

I’ve learned that the Holy Spirit is always working, and he is looking for his people to step into agreement and partnership with him. Sometimes we get focused on what’s wrong, but we need to have eyes to see and focus on what God is doing in every circumstance, in every place, and in every person’s life.

Nowadays when I visit a church, much of the time as we sing I’m just weeping and saying “Holy Spirit, thank you for what you’re doing here. I bless your work in this place. I bless your work in these people. I agree with everything you’re doing here, God!” This is often how I pray. And I’m weeping because the work of the Holy Spirit is so precious, and I always want his intervention in every situation.

Do What God Is Blessing!

Another phrase I’ve heard before is “Instead of asking God to bless what you’re doing, why don’t you do what God is blessing?”

I have mixed feelings about this phrase. On the one hand, there are definitely some things that God is blessing, and it’s a good idea to do them. In general, some of those things are sharing the gospel, ministering healing and deliverance, and helping the poor or oppressed. We see in scripture that helping the poor can bring a financial blessing, because God is always helping the poor, it’s his nature, and we are joining our will to his.

There are also times when we have a specific word from God, or God has sent us specifically. If we obey, his blessing is often evident. I remember when I faced a lot of adversity before my third trip to Russia, but God made it absolutely clear that he was sending me. When I arrived it was an indescribable feeling, like an army of angels was with me and all of heaven was backing me.

This is why we are in Goiania now. I think God is blessing this, so we are here!

God May Also Bless What You’re Doing!

I mentioned that I have mixed feelings about the phrase “Instead of asking God to bless what you’re doing, why don’t you do what God is blessing?” I agree with doing what God is blessing. But I believe that when we are walking in communion with God, God also may bless what we’re doing. (And if not he can redirect us!) If works both ways. The main thing is walking in communion with God, sharing his heart, and being united in purpose with him.

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Jesus Is My Only Option

[image error]I was praying recently and the thought “Jesus is my only option” kept playing through my mind. I felt God’s power come on me tangibly as a prayed “Jesus, you’re my only option!”, so I’m writing about this thought today.

Be Angry And Don’t Sin!

My family has been hard-pressed in Brazil. Over the last year and a half, it’s crazy how much injustice and corruption we’ve confronted, especially being victims of fraud. Sometimes angry, vengeful thoughts come to tempt me. The feeling of anger and indignation seems overwhelming at times.

It’s right to be angry over injustice. As I’m reading scripture, I notice repeatedly how much God hates greed, oppression, and injustice. I think a lot of people miss the many passages like this:

James 5:1-6 (NRSV) Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

However, God’s anger is born of love for people. It’s not self-centered. And so when scripture tells us to “be angry and do not sin,” it’s speaking of an anger that is born of love, that burns to see redemption, and not an anger that comes from a self-centered position or from self-pity, as only “look what they’ve done to me!”

As I’ve faced all wild circumstances and often felt the temptation to respond with vengeance, the phrase keeps coming to me “My only option is Jesus!” It’s not that I don’t have free will or different choices. But my only option that is going to lead to any place good is yielding to the Spirit of Christ. My only option is to participate in God’s love. This doesn’t mean not being angry, but it means totally rejecting the self-centered position. It means whatever I feel, yielding to God’s perspective and letting him teach me. It’s the only option that will ever lead to any place good! It also means trusting God’s nature, in that He is a just judge.

James 1:20 (NIV) “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

Guilt and Condemnation Are Not An Option!

Sometimes if we mess up we are tempted to stay in a place of guilt and condemnation. Have you ever been there? “I just blew it again!” Thank God that it bothers you when you haven’t accurately represented Christ’s nature! It shows that God has made you righteous and given you a new heart!

Staying in guilt and condemnation is never an option. Not that we can’t choose to do so, but it will never lead to any place good. My only option is to approach God’s throne of grace boldly through Christ! Drawing back is not an option. My only option is to go to heaven now!

My only option is to open my heart up to God’s love, let the Father love me, and give myself completely over to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of love! My only option is to yield everything to the Holy Spirit.

Well, it’s not my only option. But it’s the only option worth choosing.

Self-Pity Is Not An Option

Life comes from partaking of the nature of Jesus, and Jesus is not self-centered. When he was being crucified, he was thinking of the joy set before him, you and I. In the midst of great pain and suffering, Jesus never stopped loving.

And this is why Jesus was anointed with joy above all others. Living a life of love is the only option that leads to true joy.

When we truly understand God’s favor which rests on us when we are in Christ, it leaves no place for self-pity.

Who Else Should We Go To?

John 6:67-69 (NIV) You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Things are tough, and I don’t always feel like I know how to handle the circumstances, but I have no other place to go than Jesus, because nobody else has the words of life.

 “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”  This is the only option that will ever end well.

I pray we would all come to the place where we take this attitude, becoming fully convinced and making the resolute decision that “I have only one option.”

Many times we’ve been deceived to think we have other options…to think that reacting outside of the Spirit of Christ will help to resolve things.

This is often because an antichrist spirit has presented us with a twisted vision of who God is. Then we think we have other options that will get us somewhere.

I don’t understand everything, but I do not that God is good, he is a just judge, and only Jesus has the words of life.

 

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Increase Your Faith!

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The following post is a condensed version of a chapter in my friend Steve Bremner’s book, “Increase Your Faith,” which you can get on Amazon in print, ebook and audiobook versions. The kindle version is free on Amazon today and tomorrow. (6/25 and 6/26) Steve is a missionary living in Peru. He shares Biblical principles as well as his own experience with growing in faith. Enjoy!

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24 English Standard Version, emphasis mine)

Every so often, I am told by individuals that they perceive me to be a “faith teacher” in a derogatory way as if studying about, living this out, and writing about faith is a bad thing. Sometimes people rightly perceive this to be my favorite topic or think that I’m not capable of writing or preaching about any other subject. I assume this is because of the frequency with which I constantly try reminding people to “believe they have already received it,” which is Biblical.

I’m hardly ever offended by such notions since the Word of God says “the just shall live by faith” (Hab 2:4, Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11, Heb 10:38) and Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (King James Version) Therefore, I don’t understand how one could allegedly spend “too much” time finding out HOW to live like a righteous person in God’s eyes, and how to please Him in the Christian walk!

That being said, this article is born out of reflecting on things as a result of reading Watchman Nee’s “The Normal Christian“, especially the chapter early in the book called “The Path To Progress: Reckoning.”

Believe That You Have Already Received It: The Promise Already Stated In The Word!

The key thing about faith to remember is that it is always based on the promise already stated. This is what distinguishes it from hope. Hope doesn’t know for certain what will or what could happen, but longs for the desired result.

Faith, however, stands on some kind of prior knowledge, what has already been established — the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1). One needs to stick to the Word of God and have confidence based on what is written in it, and like the context of this particular verse states, then you will know what to speak to the mountainous problem you may be facing.

Therefore, another key to increasing your faith is changing your focus.

Instead of focusing on the problem, don’t just speak to it, but find out what exactly the Word of God already says about that situation or circumstance, and how a believer is to face it and focus on that, only speaking of the victory Christ promised, and not give any voice to any discouragement tempting you.

Faith looks at something as if it is already done because it knows that it is, and nothing can shake that. However, hope has no such specific assurance but flows out of faith. It can only hope for the desired outcome because it relies on what has been promised.

Faith is the acceptance of God’s fact. It has already happened, God already spoke it and promised and gave it through His Son. As a result, you now believe that you have already received it and you will see it.

Hope trusts in something still future because of what it already knows and accepts as fact. For example, in the referred to chapter, Nee goes on to teach that just because the Christian might still struggle with sin or be living in a lifestyle of sin doesn’t contradict that he has (past tense) been purchased with the blood of Christ and is made a new creation. The way faith would be applied to this significant fact is to look at the word “reckon”, or as other translations like the ESV tell us, “consider”, as used in in the following context:

10For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].
11Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
12Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions.

“For the death he died (past tense) he died to sin, once (past tense) for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead (past tense) to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” (Romans 6:10-12 ESV, emphasis and parenthesis mine)

You cannot reckon or consider anything without first having had the concept or idea introduced to you to be able to ponder it or think of it or act on the knowledge you’ve been given. ‘Reckon’ or ‘consider’ are words that only relate to the past in this regard, and give context to the word ‘therefore‘ which leads into what is to take place now in the present for the believer: not letting sin reign in your mortal body, based on the act that has happened: You have died to sin, because of what Christ has done!

The way to overcome sin is to consider or reckon what the Word of God has already stated, concerning what has already been accomplished at the Cross of Calvary. In this case, that Christ died and overcame sin, and that you, if you’ve given your life to Christ, you were hidden in Him, and by that, died with him when He hung on the cross. Therefore, you substantiate that into existence in your own life as a Christian.

But how you ask?

To give a concise answer, I will say focus on the promise from His Word and do not let the circumstances distract you:

All temptation is primarily to look within; to take our eyes off the Lord and to take account of appearances. Faith is always meeting a mountain, a mountain of evidence that seems to contradict God’s Word, a mountain of apparent contradiction in the realm of tangible fact–of failures in deed, as well as in the realm of feelings and suggestion–and either faith or the mountain has to go. They cannot both stand. But the trouble is that many a time the mountain stays and faith goes. That must not be. If we resort to our senses to discover the truth, we shall find Satan’s lies are often enough true to our experience; but if we refuse to accept as binding anything that contracts God’s Word and maintain an attitude of faith in him alone, we shall find instead that Satan’s lies begin to dissolve and that our experience is coming progressively to tally with that Word.” Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, p 72.

In other words, God gave you the gift of holiness. You believe that you have already received it, and you will be holy. Amen for that!

Hang on To The Promise of God & Believe That You Have Already Received It

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called (past tense promise) to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going…For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Heb 11:8, 10, emphasis & parenthesis mine)

Despite the decades that passed before Abraham and Sarah would see the promise fulfilled and give birth to their son Isaac, they had the promise of the word of the Lord when He told him

“Look up at the heavens and count the stars –if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be” (Gen 15:5)

They hung on to this promise given them in order to have the hope that it would be fulfilled.

“No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised” (Rom 4:20-21)

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered (or reckoned) him faithful who had promised. (Heb 11:11, parenthesis mine).

There’s much more we could learn from the life of Abraham, but for brevity’s sake, we’ll leave out of this post.

Despite the dreams given to him years earlier in his youth about future leadership, Joseph did not look like he’d be ruling anybody or anything while he was locked away in a dungeon. I have always imagined these dreams and the promises they meant would go through Joseph’s mind many a night as he lay shackled in a dark dungeon forgotten by the very people he’d once helped. He reckoned that God would do what He said He would with his life.

Or what of the promise the Lord made Moses concerning leading the people out of Egypt? It didn’t look like it was about to come to pass when immediately after speaking to the Pharaoh, who increased their work quota, and it took ten plagues before he finally had enough and released the Israelites to go on their way. I’m sure Moses reckoned that God would do what He said, and could cling to that promise despite the natural circumstances looking like they were getting more and more difficult.

Despite the prophecies, Jesus Christ, our example and savior, it didn’t appear in the eyes of the Pharisees standing watch and mocking Him that He was going to save or rule anybody, let alone live when He hung bloody, naked, and twisted on a wooden cross.

But yet what was spoken would come to pass.

Oftentimes, the promise is the most difficult to believe in right before its eventual fulfillment. We could go on with many more examples from Scripture of people receiving that which they were promised, and if you read through Hebrews 11, you’ll notice the same pattern written of a promise made followed by an expectation of fulfillment by most of the people mentioned there.

Also consider how Isaiah 55:11 says

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

God’s written and spoken Word will be accomplished, since God is not a man that He can lie (Num 23:19), and if He has spoken in it in the Bible, you can rely on it and put your confidence in the Lord about the matter. What He has already spoken, will come to pass. If He has spoken to you in the prayer closet, you can rest assured He will perform what He said He would, for the very word He gave you often times was to give you an anchor to hang on to when the circumstances immediately following it test your confidence in the matter, so believe that you have received it. It is done.

If you need healing in your body, then learn from these figures in the Bible who were put there as our example and take courage. Be like Abraham who did not consider (or reckon) in his old age that producing a child with his wife was impossible.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)

If you’d like more, you can check out Steve’s book, “Increase Your Faith”, available in Print, Kindle, and Audiobook. Get the kindle version for free on Amazon today and tomorrow! (June 25th and June 26th) Steve also writes at SteveBremner.com.

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