Pt. 1 The Truth About Tithing, And It's About Time By Minister Speed

I recently saw a video of two women discussing the power of tithing, and how God began to open up doors and prosper their business after they started doing it. I decided to post a blog on this site about this subject, and it goes something like this:

 First let me say this: If you are able to give 10-15% of your income on a regular basis, and your other needs (savings, debt elimination, retirement, etc.) are also being taken care of, then I’m all for it. It’s good to give money to God out of abundance.  God has blessed you, and it’s good to give back.

BUT, if you are ‘tithing’, and your home’s basic needs are not met, and your finances are in disarray, the Bible says that you are worse than an infidel. I know this is a strong word, but I HATE the way churches try to ‘sell’ God to people, like if you tithe, He will bless you, and if you don’t, He’s going to make your life miserable. God is not a mob extortionist looking for His ‘cut’. Could it be that what these young ladies were testifying about was God’s plan all along, whether they ‘tithed’ or not? 

Churches need to stop tying so much of what God wants to do in their lives to the amount of money they give. It’s destroying lives and families through false hope and inadequate planning (Imagine thinking God is going to do all the work if we just tithe).

Now before you get all hot, I understand the problem. Churches need money to operate, just like every other organization. But for far too long, churches have failed to teach the kind of giving God wants us as Christians, to do. And they may be somewhat justified, because many Christians are so immature, greedy and hungry for prosperity and material wealth, that if you tell them God wants them to give freely, maturely and responsibly, they will take that opportunity to shortchange the work of God by giving $20 a month to the church, and consuming the rest. That is the nature of sin: Me, me, me, and mine.

My message has always been  a strong one, and I have lost a few friends and even a customer or two over it, and I probably will lose a few over this message,  but I believe that today’s man-made, financial tithe is a perverted, illegal version of what God established out in the Old Testament (or Old Covenant). When applied to finances, it becomes a completely unfair system of trying to please God (poor people suffer even more/rich people may be relatively unaffected), and that’s why Jesus nailed it and the rest of the laws to the cross.

There is so much that is NOT taught correctly about tithing that it makes my stomach turn. For instance, In Malachi, it was the corrupt priests of the day that were being addressed, NOT us. They were offering God the blind, lame, crippled offerings and keeping the good stuff for themselves. People couldn't just walk up and tithe; they had to give it to the priests, which mean he wasn't talking to the people, who by the way weren't Christians because Christ hadn't come in the flesh yet. And churches are not ‘storehouses’; there were actual tithe barns spread about the cities where tithes were to be kept and distributed when needed. There are many other things that contradict what we’re taught today, but to list them would make the post too long.

Even if tithing were still applicable, we’d STILL be doing it wrong:

Deuteronomy 14:22 -26 Make an offering of ten percent, a tithe, of all the produce which grows in your fields year after year. Bring this into the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates for worship and there EAT THE TITHE from your grain, wine, and oil and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. In this way you will learn to live in deep reverence before God, your God, as long as you live. But if the place God, your God, designates for worship is too far away and you can’t carry your tithe that far, God, your God, will still bless you: EXCHANGE YOUR TITHE FOR MONEY and TAKE THE MONEY to the place God, your God, has chosen to be worshiped. Use the money (don’t tithe the money, it was not a tithe- able resource even back then) to buy anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, or beer—anything that looks good to you. You and your family can then feast in the Presence of God, your God, and have a good time. (Not give it to the priest/pastors so they can live in big fancy homes and drive the best cars and wear the best clothes and be treated like royalty.)

(I understand this is only one of several types of tithes, but you have to ask, why THIS ONE isn't taught too.  Have you ever heard a sermon taught from this passage?

THE REASON SO MANY CHRISTIANS’ FINANCES ARE JACKED UP

Galatians 3:10-14 says “those who depend on the law are under God’s curse, because the scripture says ‘those who do not observe and obey ALL of the commandments are cursed.’” Galatians 3:24: “the law was our guardian until Christ came, and it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that Christ has come, and is risen, we no longer need the law as our guardian.”

As Christians, this tells us that tithing is neither an act of obedience, an act of love, nor is it an act of faith, as it is frequently mistaught. And by trying to hang on to that ONE law, you are sabotaging yourselves.

Galatians 3: 21: “I refuse to reject the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”

By tithing, Christians are ignoring the grace that is granted to them and the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross to deliver us from the law.

There is a difference in believing something because you believe it, and believing something because that’s all you've ever heard. Some people will read this and their blood pressure may rise because it challenges what they've heard all their lives. They don’t WANT it to be wrong; they've invested too much. But, we are all entitled to speak the truth and this is what I believe God wants me to speak to His church. The Bible needs no defense. I've just shown it to you in black & white.

I even heard a pastor state that tithing was before the Law and therefore our spiritual obligation, and he gave reference to Genesis 14:18-24 for his reasoning.  First, you must take time to read the entire context of Genesis 14:8-24, plus also read Hebrews 7:1-10.  After reading these passages, you should take time to go through them, and determine who paid tithes, where did the tithes come from, to whom were they given and why.

Genesis 14:8-12 The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah (Plus their allies)  fought a battle against king Chedorlaomer king of Elam (plus his allies).  Chedorlaomer king of Elam and his allies won the battle and took all the food supply and other goods from Sodom.  They also took Lot, Abram's nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he (Lot) was living in Sodom.

Genesis 14:9-17 The incident was reported to Abram and he took 318 of his trained servants and defeated Chedorlaomer king of Elam.  Then Abram brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

Genesis 14:18-20 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer, Abram was met by Melchizedek king of Salem and a Canaanite priest of God Most High, refreshing them with bread and wine and he blessed Abram.  The blessing was given to Abram, a very important fact to remember.  In response, Abram gave ONE-TENTH (10%) of all the goods of Sodom that were stolen by Chedorlaomer to Melchizedek. Abram did NOT tithe from his own possessions, an essential fact to refute tithing practices in the new covenant.

Genesis 14:21-24 The king of Sodom offered to give Abram all the goods of Sodom that were recovered for himself, but Abram refused, taking not one single item, to give honor to Yahweh, lest people say this pagan king of Sodom made him rich.  This is a very important point, because Abram took NO INCOME and the tithe he gave to Melchizedek did not come from his goods, but those of the Sodomites and 1/10 of Lot’s recovered goods.

CONCLUSION: If Abram’s aforementioned encounter is used by your pastor to justify the practice of tithing from one’s gross income, then he is justifying Christians paying 10% of goods and money they do not own!  Even worse, paying tithes this way means they have to find someone who has been robbed and recover the stolen goods.  For example, if jewelry was stolen in a burglary, the tithing Christian must first return the stolen goods to the rightful owner, who must not be a Christian, (in keeping true to the symbolism of Abram and Melchizedek) and then use 10% of the recovered goods as a tithe to the church.  This is an outlandishly absurd example and it ought to be ample proof for rejecting this false doctrine of church tithing.  There are a few other reasons why Abram’s tithe to Melchizedek cannot be used to justify church tithing as a practice.

LISTEN: The modern practice of church tithing is not supported by the teachings of scripture.  Church tithing began in the late nineteenth century when a Wesleyan Church in Cincinnati hosted multiple fund-raising events to erase its enormous debt.  Fledgling on the brink of bankruptcy and devoid of options, a layman came up with the idea of, “storehouse tithing.”  It was an instant success and soon the news spread like wildfire throughout Christendom and the practice of storehouse tithing caught on.  At the time, it seemed the answer to the debts and financial woes of churches whose church members gave indiscriminately.  Look it up for yourself!!!! 

I'm taking the liberty of posting a video from Pastor Craig Lewis of Ex Ministries who teachings are lined up to biblical Christianity and of whom I approve: 

Today storehouse tithing is a deep-rooted tradition that is promoted on a regular basis by pastors that misuse the context of Malachi 3:8-11.  Pastors insist that every church member is obliged to pay 10% of his or her gross income.  For example, if someone’s job or career earns them a gross (before taxes) $2500 per-month (as wages or salary), he or she is obligated in scripture (Malachi 3:8) to tithe the minimum 10%, which amounts to $250.  In addition to the tithe that church members give, most churches teach that a, “freewill offering,” over and above the 10% tithe should be given to any charitable cause, with the stipulation that his or her “local church house” is always to receive the “tithe.”

It is time for Gods people to wake up and study the word of God themselves.  Jesus has paid it all.  Stop trying to buy yourself a relationship with the Father of creation.

Be sure to read Part 2 of  "The Truth about Tithing" 

The Decline of Christianity In America. By Minister Speed

Are we witnessing the decline of Christianity in America? When you examine all of the most recent poll numbers, the answer is inescapable. Christian churches in America are losing members rapidly, and this trend is especially dramatic among young Americans. According to a stunning new survey by America's Research Group, 95 percent of 20 to 29 year old evangelicals attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years. However, only 55 percent of them attended church regularly during high school, and only 11 percent of them were still regularly attending church when in college.


Those numbers have got to be incredibly sobering to the evangelical Christian leadership in the United States. The reality is that young Americans are deserting the Church in America in droves. The other day we came across an article in Advertising Age that blew us away.

The article was discussing marketing and religion, but what impacted us so profoundly were some figures from the American Religious Identification Survey by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College. According to that survey, 15% of Americans now say they have "no religion" which is up from 8% in 1990.

That would be bad enough news for evangelical Christianity. But there is some more news from that survey that is much worse. In that same survey, 46% of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 indicated that they had no religion. Forty. Six. Percent.


It is important to realize that not all of those 46 percent are unbelievers. According to a survey by Bohan Advertising/Marketing, the Barna Group and the United Methodist Church, 62 percent of Americans in that age group consider themselves to be "spiritual" (see my note entitled "what is spirituality), and 43 percent of them have prayed to some higher power in the last 2 months. But what it does mean is that almost half of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 do not identify themselves with any particular religion.


Remember in my new book entitled "A Declaration to the Spiritual Soldier" I wrote: "Many do not understand that millions under the age of thirty have no God consciousness. They have not accepted the tenants of Christianity and live a pagan lifestyle reflecting an if it feels good, then it must be good mindset. They are technologically advanced, politically astute, educationally empowered, but lack the necessary moral compass derived from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

In a way, they are a reflection of our brothers and sisters within the church who gives them credence to remain ignorant in God because they see no value or difference between Christianity and this world. To them the average Christian is hypocritical, ignorant, and a microorganism of the world itself".


When you look at more recent poll numbers for Christianity in particular, the numbers become even more staggering. Another new survey by the Barna group reveals that less than "1" percent of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 23 hold a Biblical worldview. This new poll data clearly demonstrates that the youngest adults in America are clearly rejecting traditional evangelical Christian teaching.


The Barna survey defined "a Biblical worldview" as holding all of the following six key beliefs: 1) Believing that absolute moral truth exists. 2) Believing that the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches. 3) Believing that Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic. 4) Believing that a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or by doing good works. 5) Believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth. 6) Believing that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.


So what do all of these poll numbers mean? They mean that evangelical Christianity has totally lost almost an entire generation of American young people. Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor recently published an article about the "coming evangelical collapse" that they believe is coming. They openly predict that "within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants." Ouch!

The reality is that nearly all Christian denominations are rapidly losing members at this point. The most recent American Religious Identification Survey demonstrates this fact very clearly. According to that survey, the percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped more than 11% since 1990.

The survey also reports that Catholics, Baptists and other mainline Protestant churches have seen very large drops in numbers. However, Islam, Wicca and eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism showed large gains in the survey. The long-term trends look even more frightening for the churches in America. According to LifeWay Research, membership in Southern Baptist churches will fall nearly 50 percent to around 8.7 million Americans by the year 2050 if current trends continue.

But even more bad news for evangelical Christianity in America is that those who still call themselves Christians do not necessarily hold to traditional Christian beliefs any longer. Two other recent surveys reveal that the majority of American Christians believe that accepting Jesus Christ as savior is NOT the only way to eternal life. USAToday recently reported on an almost unbelievable new survey that found that 52 percent of American Christians believe that eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Jesus Christ as their savior.


A different survey that was taken last year by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 57 percent of evangelical Christians in America believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life". That shocking study revealed what many evangelical leaders have known for a long time - large number of "Christians" in the United States are throwing traditional Christian doctrines into the dumpster. Evangelical Christians have traditionally been those who follow the teachings of the Bible most literally.

But these new surveys indicate that even a majority of them do not believe in the most fundamental precepts of the Christians faith any longer. For example, in John 14:6 Jesus says the following: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." If there was another way for our sins to be forgiven, then why did Jesus need to die on the cross? If there were other ways to salvation, then Jesus could have come down to earth, pointed out a bunch of other ways to get to heaven, and then could have gone back up to heaven without having to deal with the cross.

But the reality is that there was no other way for our sins to be paid for. And yet these new surveys reveal that a majority of American Christians now believe that there are plenty of other ways to get to heaven.


The Pew survey referenced above also revealed that 45% of Americans say that they seldom or never read their religion's holy books. Perhaps if more American Christians were actually reading the Bible they would know what is truth and what is error. Instead, American Christians have surrounded themselves with preachers and self-help coaches and "feel-good" ministers who tell them what they want to hear, who always make them feel comfortable and who never, ever tell them about sin, holiness or the judgment of God.

The current situation in the churches of America reminds us of 2 Timothy 4:3..... For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.


The reality is that past generations of America faithfully filled up churches across the nation that were preaching the Word of God, but today the vast majority of Americans stay home from church each week, and many of the churches that are still drawing crowds are watering down their messages as much as they can in a desperate attempt to hold on to the people who are still there. Dave Olson, the director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church, has done some really interesting research into the church attendance patterns of Americans.

Olson's research found that the percentage of Americans that regularly attend church is only 18.7%. In addition, his research shows that if current trends continue, the percentage of the U.S. population that attends church each week in 2050 will be about half of what it is today. All of these polls and surveys tell us the same thing: Christianity in America is in a serious state of decline - especially among young people.


Many Christian leaders who read this article will try to deny it or will try to make excuses. But all of these polls are not lying. The truth is that we need to examine ourselves. Is God moving where you worship? Do our churches look like the authentic Christian movement that we read about in the book of Acts? Are our lives significantly different from what we see in the world? Are our services lifeless, joyless exercises in futility? Do we truly have great love for one another and a passion to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ? 

If we want any chance to win back the next generation, then we are going to have to get back to the real thing. If you do not have "the real thing" in your church, then it is time to start asking yourself some really hard questions.