For more than 3,000 years, Godly people paid tithes WITHOUT receiving a tax-deduction. You may lose your deductions someday. Don't stop giving.
The Tithe
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Abraham was the first on record to offer a tithe (tenth) of his income - to the priest of Salem, Melchizedek. Jacob vowed to give his tithe to the LORD. God prescribed that all of Israel should tithe into the Tabernacle for the support of the priesthood. Without the tithe, the ministry would have been starved out of business. God curses those who refuse to tithe.
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Malachi 3:8 - “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me.”
Tithing Activates A Prophesied Blessing
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Paying tithes sets into motion the promises of God. God wants His people to support the ministry. When you underwrite the work of God, God will underwrite you. Besides, He says the first ten percent is His (verse 8). NEVER spend God's money on yourself.
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Malachi 3:10 - “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Tithers Are Very Important People
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Who can you turn to for this kind of security? Nobody but your Creator can make this offer. The tithers - God's people who faithfully return to Him the first-fruits of their labors - become the VIP's in this world. God's Very Important People. “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field.”
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Malachi 3:12 - “And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.”
Abraham Was A Tither
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Tithing is controversial to some people. Some people go to the greatest lengths to prove that they do not have to pay tithes. Abraham did not pay tithes because there was a law. Jacob voluntarily promised God that he would give Him a tenth of all his substance (Genesis 28:22). The patriarchs established a precedent of giving to God. In reality, we owe God everything. Why would anyone argue that they owe God nothing? Something must be wrong.
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Hebrews 7:1 - “For this Melchisedec, ...priest of the most high God, ...To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all...”
Tithes For Ministers
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Abraham paid a tenth of his earnings to Mechizedek the Priest. Jacob vowed to pay tithe continually. Moses called the tithe “holy unto the Lord,” Leviticus 27:30. Israel paid tithes to the Levites, and Levites tithed to the High Priest. God appointed tithes to support the ministry.
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Numbers 18:26 - “Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.”
Treasures In The House Of God
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In addition to the ministry of the priests, the house of the LORD in Jerusalem housed tithes and offerings from the people, priceless Temple treasures, and vast spoils of war brought home by Israel's armies. David organized “strong” and “mighty” men called “porters,” grouped by family clans, to guard the doors and gates of this veritable “treasure house.” About 1700 men in all managed and protected the treasures around-the-clock. Their salaries were derived from the spoils.
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1 Chronicles 26:27 - “Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the LORD.”
Prescription For Revival
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Hezekiah successfully turned Judah and many in Israel back to God in one of the greatest reformations in the Bible. He destroyed all the images, high places and pagan altars, then carefully re-instituted the priesthood by genealogy. He totally cleansed the Temple and instructed the people to bring their firstfruits (tithes). Revival demands casting out the wrong and magnifying the right.
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2 Chronicles 31:21 - “In every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.”
A Curse And An Oath To Walk In God's Laws
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The long, hard work of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah at last culminated in a real revival of the fear of God. The people wrote and sealed a covenant to serve the LORD according to His laws. They promised to separate themselves from the ways of their heathen relatives. They promised not to allow their children to marry the heathen. And they promised to pay tithes and give offerings to support the Temple and the work of God.
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Nehemiah 10:29 - “They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law.”
If you spent your tithe money - firstfruit -on a house note, car note, or other items, be warned. Robbing God is worse than robbing a bank.
Some people say that tithing is not taught in the New Testament. Yes it is. Jesus said of tithing, "This ought ye to have done," Mt 23:23.
Pharisees tithed, but neglected judgment and love of God. JESUS: "THESE [TITHING] OUGHT YE TO HAVE DONE, and not to leave the other undone."
Jesus Christ Himself taught tithing. "These ought ye to have done," Luke 11:42. Paul instructed the Church to donate weekly (1 Cor. 16:2).
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed..," Malachi3:8-9
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...[I will] pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" Mal.3:10
"When you tithe, you aren't giving God 10% of your stuff; you're keeping 90% of His stuff," Nathaniel Urshan II.
From the days of Melchizedek, the tithe went to the priest/preacher. There is not ONE VERSE in the New Testament that overturns the Old Testament teachings of tithing. We must presume that the New Testament ministry was supported just like the Old Testament ministry had been supported: by the TITHES of the saints. That premise cannot be disproven. Paul obviously believed that when he told Timothy, "The husbandman that laboureth must be FIRST PARTAKER OF THE FRUITS," 2 Timothy 2:6.
Forbidding to pay the tithe is like muzzling the ox that treads the corn. "Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?" ! Corinthians 9:7-9. The firstfruits of the field belong to the man/minister who is working the field.
If you are paying tithes to a Church that preaches false doctrine, you are complicit with their sins. Get out, and support a TRUTH preacher.
"For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds," 2 John 1:11. Don't send your tithes/offerings to false preachers.
BOTTOM LINE: Almighty God intends that the ministry of the Gospel Truth be paid for by tithe-payers. That is the divine financial plan for the Gospel.
Furthermore, I submit to you that those who fight against the doctrine of tithing NOT ONLY do not have a scriptural foundation for their argument, but that they are driven by selfish GREED. That is an evil spirit that has no place in the Church of the living God. "God loves a CHEERFUL giver," not a stingy, excuse-making, God-robber.