333 Words

333 WORDS….

Tithing…. let’s look at it.

It is difficult to climb a mountain, more challenging to master the hacky sack, harder yet to be first in the class, and more formidable still to overstate the damage of the tithe doctrine.

The tithe practice not only damages the individual evangelical (another 333 Words topic), but the harm spreads everywhere. Though God’s ways work, man, with eager assistance from the dark world, creates alternatives.

God’s way is the evangelical being directed, individually…. repeat, individually…. by the Holy Spirit in all decisions. He is the Spirit of truth, sent by “the head of the church”, who leads into all truth. He makes much out of little. The one submitting his/her givings to the Spirit’s governorship bears much fruit and begets a multitude of spiritual offspring.

Adversely, the evangelical alternative is to bunch evangelicals together and operate in unison. This perverse unity is accomplished through the very potent pulpit. The preacher convinces the evangelical that the Holy Spirit directs his life indirectly. Direction filters through hierarchy, not personally. Lordship of the tither’s funds is surrendered to human agency. Trust is in the redeemed, their ability to discern and spend wisely, not the Redeemer.

Tithing, the only Old Covenant requirement adopted by evangelicalism, finances a building that should never have been built, salaries that should not be paid, and numerous accompanying expenses.

Most damning, the bulk of funds that the Lord Jesus intended for the salvation of multitudes is intercepted at the local church and spent on local concerns. It is this atrocity that makes it difficult to exaggerate the damage of tithing. [See note.]

The account of Lazarus and the rich man is not a mere parable. Lazarus was, and the rich man was; we know so because Jesus said so. The torment of the rich man is nothing compared to the dreadful Lake of Fire, his future residence.

The abundant fruit of the Lord’s way minus the meager fruit of man’s way equals eternal perdition for millions, perhaps billions.