LET…. MY…. PEOPLE…. GO !!

Chapter fifteen

Insanity is collecting large amounts of money every sunday while assuming zero resemblance to the pharisees who were lovers of money. (“The Pharisees. were lovers of money.”)

Love-of-money, like a creepy morning mist hanging over a dismal swamp obscuring morning sunlight, obscures God’s grace and truth and every good thing. Love-of-money cripples the lover of money, corrodes contentment, degrades love for Jesus. Love-of-money costs eternal rewards.

Unlike the morning mist that eventually lifts, love-of-money has taken up (under your leadership and by your example) permanent residence in the heart of Typical Evangelical. His speech gives him away. What he has bought, intends to buy, hopes to buy, saves to buy monopolizes his conversations. And money concerns, not spiritual matters, are the main topic of church board meetings, affecting decision-making and direction.

Question: How can a ‘Bible believing’ church collect money every sunday when there is no Bible precedent? Answer: It can’t. To again quote myself, “Evangelicalism only makes sense to the person who understands that there is no conformity between evangelicalism and the Bible.”

The New Testament speaks of one collection only. This single collection was for hurting saints elsewhere, not for themselves. (Paul: “I will send your gift to Jerusalem.”) Adversely evangelical assemblies have been coerced to donate frequently, not to others but almost entirely to themselves, covering the cost of your salaries, accommodations and other church expenditures. This, you assure them, is investing in God’s work.

The real crime is not how often you collect, but what you collect. Yes I am referencing the awful, devastating, larcenous, non-biblical, evangelical tithe you collect every sunday morning without fail (immediately following praise and worship onto Jesus!).

I know there is an ongoing debate as to the validity of demanding ten percent of the evangelical’s income. I have studied and written about the evangelical tithe more than most of you. I have heard and considered both sides of the argument, and have concluded there are not two sides, only one. It was the love-of-money that seriously twisted Scripture in an attempt to make it say what it doesn’t say. Perhaps, just perhaps, it would be wisdom to give serious consideration to my perspective before you “appear before the judgment seat of Christ”.

You have a duty – both to the One you call “Lord, Lord” and to your people – to consider a number of questions….

***** If Jesus wanted new covenant christians to tithe their income why didn’t He say, “I want My new covenant people to tithe their income”?

***** When Jesus complimented “the church of Ephesus” (Revelation chapter 2) for certain good works (“I know your works, your labor, your patience”, etcetera) why didn’t He commend them for faithfully tithing their income? or reprimand them for not tithing?

***** Also, why didn’t Jesus praise the commendable “church in Smyrna” for tithing their income?. or reprimand them for not tithing?

***** When Jesus told “the church in Pergamos” “I have a few things against you” (including embracing “the doctrine of Balaam”, sexual immorality, etcetera) why didn’t He also scold them for not tithing their income? (Does anyone believe this church tithed?)

***** Why didn’t Jesus either commend the other four churches – Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodecia – for tithing their income? or rebuke them for not doing so?

***** Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done (past tense), without leaving the others undone.” Why the past tense? Why didn’t Jesus say, “These you ought to do” (present tense)? Is it because in just a few days after speaking these words Jesus terminated the old covenant (including the requirement of tithing) by the sacrifice of Himself?

***** If the Corinthians were “cursed with a curse” for not tithing their income – as many of you have likewise taught your people – why didn’t Paul strictly admonish them to tithe?

***** Also, why didn’t Paul instruct the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians to tithe their income?

***** Why didn’t John and Peter and James instruct their people to tithe ten percent of their income?

***** Why wasn’t tithing one’s income one of Paul’s requisites for eldership (1 Timothy chapter 3)?

***** Paul to the Corinthians, “Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.” (NASB). You have convinced your people they are required by God to tithe their income; is this not putting them “under compulsion”?

**** Paul to the Corinthians: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Don’t these words sufficiently cover the matter of giving? Why a need to teach from the Old Testament? Is it because the New Testament doesn’t say what you want it to say?

***** Acts 15:28: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” You know that tithing of one’s income was not on this short list of “necessary things” that “seemed good to the Holy Spirit”.

***** Hebrews 8:10: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.” Why did the Lord never put tithing of income in our minds and hearts?

***** Why is the one statute evangelical leadership has dragged from the mosaic law to the new covenant just happen to be tithing? Could the motive have been love-of-money?

***** Why is there so much agreement among yourselves regarding tithing of income but division over many other doctrines? Coincidental?

***** Paul said to Peter, “You being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles, and not as the Jews.” Can we safely conclude from these words of reprimand that Peter, who “live[d] in the manner of Gentiles”, did not tithe?

***** A yes or no question: Can we depend on “All Scripture” that is “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” to guide us how much to give and where to direct our giving?

***** Paul to the Galatians: “I testify to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.” Is it equally true that “every man who [tithes]. is a debtor to keep the whole law”?

It must be said that there is no harmony between the mosaic tithe God assigned to the Israelites and the evangelical tithe you assign to your congregations. None. The mosaic tithe did not include the tithing of income. (Jesus the carpenter and Peter the fisherman could not tithe their income to the Levite priesthood.) Also, the mosaic tithe was directed to the Israelites only, and was limited to produce from agriculture.

It seems most of you no longer point to Malachi to enforce the tithing of one’s income; finally you have come to realize that refusing to bow to the awful evangelical tithe is not robbing God and will not bring a curse. Billions of dollars had been collected by intimidating congregations with a rebuke given by God to old covenant jews: “You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me.” Lately, it seems, your favorite justification for burdening your people with the evangelical tithe is taken from the book of Hebrews….

The writer of Hebrews attempts to magnify our High Priest, the Lord Jesus. Jesus was not like all other priests who were descendants of Levi. Jesus was a priest, the only priest, of “the order of Melchizedek”. To tell of the greatness of our High Priest Jesus, the writer of Hebrews tell of the greatness of Melchizedek. (“Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God.”) To strengthen our comprehension of Melchizedek’s eminence the writer informs us….

Melchizedek was so great (and thus Jesus was so great) that Abraham gave to him a tenth of the captured plunder from a defeated foe. It’s a beautiful story about the magnificence of our High Priest Jesus, not a teaching on tithing! Repeat: Hebrews chapter 7 is NOT a teaching on tithing!

You do not speak of this beautiful story to exalt our High Priest, but rather to squeeze from your people a large portion of their livelihood. Your twisted logic to your congregation is this: “Since Abraham on one occasion gave ten percent of his plunder to Melchizedek, you therefore are obligated to regularly give ten percent of your income to your (Bible-plus) home church.” How could any rational person not immediately detect the shallowness and deception and utter criminality of this scam?

Throughout this book I remind the vast array of evangelical pastors (etcetera) that you all are, at this very moment, walking toward the judgment seat of Christ. Soon you will be there…. the two of you face to face you and Judge Jesus. Perhaps you should start preparing your defense for all the illicit collections that have zero Bible precedent. An imaginary story….

Years ago a brother-in-Christ received a very large sum of money from a deceased uncle. Immediately he quit his job, moved his family to a more respectable neighborhood and treated himself to all the delights the wealthy enjoy. All was bliss until he was informed his uncle was a pimp, a narcotic smuggler and a swindler of aged pensioners. Suddenly this brother is confronted with the reality that the wealth he inherited was dirty money. If he had been self-afflicted with “unbelief and hardness of heart” the bad report wouldn’t bother him. But if his heart was tender and upright everything he had purchased with that dirty money would now feel so. contaminated.

Do you think the Lord Jesus (“the Holy One of God”) considers all things purchased by the tithes you collect every sunday – not millions but billions of dollars – as equally contaminated?

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My second book is a rather small volume, Financing the Great Commission. At the time of writing we attended Kelowna Christian Center. In the book I challenged (what I now call) the awful evangelical tithe. The tithing of income was heavily promoted at KCC by the senior pastor who had ambitious plans for his church. Somehow a copy of my book got into the Bible college that occupied space within KCC. My book caused serious turbulence….

Soon the assistant pastor from KCC was warning the aged couple – who were helping me put together my book – of the errancy and peril of my writing. Fortunately their scholarly son had read Financing the Great Commission and scoffed at his effort to castigate it. A few days later the assistant pastor was exiting a grocery store as I was entering. Seeing me, he was livid, and excitedly defended his calling into the ministry.

Financing the Great Commission is a biblically sound exegeses regarding the christian’s responsibility to prioritize the financing of Christ’s Great Commission. (The legitimacy of the book can be sustained or refuted by anyone reading the book posted on my website, www.larryjones.ca) I was particularly naive and couldn’t understand the backlash from respected church leadership that offered no correction or opinion (and certainly no compliment). I became a marked man.

It was the love-of-money and the threat of weakening the flow of money that blinded these brothers to the truths my writings contained. I have since learned that truth, more than error, generates outrage…. “commandments of men” more than “commandments of God” determine the mood and direction of every evangelical assembly. those challenging the ‘wisdom’ of salaried pastors immediately garner suspicion anyone daring to put their insights in print will immediately be confronted with serious indignation. (Jesus: “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”)