Question: DOES THE DEVIL WANT YOU TO TITHE?
A while ago I wrote a NO COMMENT? article: DOES JESUS WANT YOU TO TITHE? My answer to this question was a definite NO. So one could easily conclude that if Jesus doesn’t want you to tithe, the devil DOES want you to tithe. Make sense?
The most important cause of Christ is the spreading of the good news that the price of man’s reconciliation to God has been paid in full. That payment was none other than Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb. (John the baptizer: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”) Jesus commissioned His saints, including you and me, to take this truth to the perishing. Mark 16:15: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” This is Christ’s GREAT COMMISSION.
(So what has this to do with tithing? Everything! Stay with me, okay?)
It is so obvious the devil does not want the gospel preached; wherever this message is proclaimed his kingdom is seriously plundered. And the devil knows about Gehenna, the lake of fire, his eternal home. Rev.20:10: “The devil…. was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
The devil wants to take as many with him as possible. Why? Because he hates Jesus! He knows Lord Jesus dearly loves humanity and wants everyone saved from the hell that awaits him. And the devil knows he can get revenge by bringing multitudes of people with him to Gehenna. How does this evil tactician bring (not thousands, not millions, but) billions of people with him?
“The father of lies” knows that Jesus commissioned His church with the responsibility of taking His precious gospel to the nations. Before departing, Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” The devil is also quite aware that Jesus has no secondary plan to rescue humanity. So the devil infiltrates and weakens the church of Christ with false teachings.
(Are you following this? Are you still with me?)
Christ’s GREAT COMMISSION costs money. This should be no problem because christians, especially those in developed countries, have plenty. I would suppose that in my city of Kelowna (population: 135,000) christians have enough surplus money to finance Christ’s GREAT COMMISSION in many gospel-starved countries. What is true of Kelowna is true of every city in North America and beyond. However, most collected donations of evangelicals are spent on themselves.
The congregation is constantly prodded to give ten percent of their income to the local church. I call this tithe THE AWFUL EVANGELICAL TITHE, and the devil loves it. Little Moses (the local pastor) would be quick to say that most people in his church do not tithe. Nonetheless, most of the money he does collect is tithe money (from the people who do tithe). How much of the millions (billions?) of dollars collected every sunday throughout the world goes to financing the GREAT COMMISSION? So little that it undoubtedly causes the devil to rejoice.
Some christians do not believe there is a literal hell. “God is love” the Bible tells us, and a loving God simply would not, could not, send anyone to eternal anguish. But there is a hell; Jesus Himself confirms it in his account of Lazarus and the rich man. Both went to “hades” which was sectioned off between “Paradise” and a place of torment. Separating Paradise from the place of torment was “a great gulf fixed, so that those who wanted to pass from” torment to happiness could not.
Some say this was ‘just a parable’. However a parable does not give a name to its characters. Jesus said, “There was a certain beggar named Lazarus” so I conclude there was a beggar named Lazarus. Do you? Jesus spoke of “a certain rich man who was clothed in purple”, so I believe there was a certain rich man clothed in purple. Do you? Jesus quoted the rich man, “Send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame”, so I believe there is a place of torment. Do you?
Many people have had visions of hell. One such person was my friend Richard, now with Jesus in heaven. Richard was most trustworthy, and Jesus was his “first love”. He never seen hell, but he experienced the hopelessness of hell. Years ago, I asked Richard to write about his experience….
“I’ve got something very important to say and I ask you to hear me. I was suddenly taken into the spiritual realm, into the place of the departed souls, those who had died without having received Christ as their Savior. God let me feel what they felt. I experienced the agony of eternal separation from God, and it is this sense of eternal hopelessness that I am trying to convey. The feelings, the emotions of hopelessness I cannot fully relate. But I felt them, tasted of them. No, I didn’t feel the torment of flames – Jesus spared me that – but the total separation from the One who can save and deliver…. There is no Redeemer in hell. That life, the life in hell, has no Savior, no Redeemer…. In hell there are no choices. The time of decisions is past…. Cry as I might, no one would rescue me…. The souls here had no hope…. Eternal, ceaseless hopelessness. Oh what grief! Oh what sorrow!”
I believe the awful evangelical tithe is one of many evangelical “doctrines of demons”. (1Tim.4:1) I call it “awful” because it redirects funds from Christ’s GREAT COMMISSION to the local church, to be wasted on non-Biblical expenses. And it is awful because it snatches affection and loyalty from Lord Jesus to be set upon Little Moses.
Yes, the devil LOVES the awful evangelical tithe. And the devil LOVES evangelical edifices. And the devil LOVES the pastor’s salary. And the devil DELIGHTS in the indescribable agony and utter hopelessness of billions of people.
Question: DOES THE DEVIL WANT YOU TO TITHE?
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NOTE: I invite you to visit my library of books, articles and videos at www.larryjones.ca