The American Church has a Deadly Plague

The American Church has a deadly plague. The plague is that, when we read a passage of scripture in the Bible, we so often interpret it based on our prior experience or what we've already been taught.

In the process of writing Clever Lies and Assumptions , I pointed out that tithing guarantees a certain amount of revenue and security. New Testament giving, does not. This is why the American Church reintroduced tithing in 1872 and 1873. With NT giving, church leaders have to rely on faith and, believe it or not, most pastors do not have this sort of faith. Most of all, the reason why pastors continue to teach and preach on tithing, in the vast majority of cases, is because preachers are naive about tithing. So, they just preach what they've heard others preach. Unfortunately, many would rather follow tradition than discover what God's Word truly says.

The following, is a list of assumptions and myths that Christians have or have been taught about tithing, put together by, Russell Earl Kelly Ph. D. and author of "SHOULD THE CHURCH TEACH TITHING?" I have also listed the facts/truth so that you can be set free.

Assumption: Abraham practices tithe 400 years before the Law was given - "Melchizedek, king of Salem ... to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all..." Hebrews 7:1-4

The truth is: Nothing Abraham did concerning tithes is followed by any church today.
(1) Only pagan spoils of war from defiled pagan dust was given to Melchizedek.
(2)Abraham never gave holy tithes from God's holy land which had been miraculously increased by God's hand.

(3) Other than spoils, nothing of his own personal property was given as a tithe.
(4) Abraham only tithed once in recorded history.
(5) He kept nothing for himself.
(6) He gave the 90% to the king of Sodom.

Just because something is very old, traditional or very common, does not mean it is eternal, moral, right, or scripture.

Assumption: Jacob also tithed. "... of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You." Genesis 28:22 The Law ratified the wisdom of tithing. "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; so it is holy to the Lord." Leviticus 27:30

The truth is: Jacob set the conditions and told God what to do. His tithe was a freewill vow and was not given to support a Levitical priesthood. Neither Abraham nor Jacob's tithe are used in the Law as examples for Israel. Leviticus 27:30 and 15 other texts, all describe the tithe as only food from inside Israel. Although money was common, even in Genesis and essential for sanctuary worship, God never included money in the definition of biblical tithes.

Jesus, Peter and Paul did not qualify as tithe-payers and neither did the poor nor anybody who lived outside Israel.

Assumption: Jesus confirmed the principle of the tithe. "... you pay tithe of the mint and anise and cummin ... these you ought to have done..." Matthew 23:23

The truth is: The actual quote from Mt 23:23 includes "matters of the law." Jesus was rebuking hypocritical scribes and Pharisees for abusing the law. Jesus did not command the Gentiles whom he healed, to obey the law, and could not have commanded them to tithe.

Myth: The early Church fathers practiced tithing. Justin Martyr, Renaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Irenaius, Ambrose, Augustine, and many more."Our ancestors used to abound in wealth of every kind, for this reason, they used to give tithes and pay the tax to Caesar... we have been unwilling to share the tithe with God, now the whole is taken away." - Augustine

The truth is: It is not true that any early church father of the first 200 years after Calvary, taught tithing. It is wrong to include Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian. Cyprian's middle of the third century concept included equally sharing the tithe, with all in the church, and even it was rejected. Then, came the state-supported Roman Catholic Church. Augustine's concept was not adopted by the Church. Attempts in 567 and 585 failed to spread beyond local churches. Tithing did not become church law until AD 777.

Myth & Assumption: The tithe is a payment already designated by God, to go into the storehouse for the ministry of the local church. "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house." - Malachi 3:10

The truth is: The OT Temple and priesthood have been replaced, with the priesthood of every believer, (1 Peter 2:9) who do not tithe to themselves. The covenant, Levitical cities, Levites, priests and temple all ended. There is no such thing as the storehouse of the church. You are the Church. Early church buildings did not exist for over 200 years after Calvary.

Myth: "But the firstborn among animals, which should be the Lord's firstborn, no man shall dedicate... it is the Lord's". - Leviticus 26:27

The truth is: The firstborn and firstfruits were never the same as tithes in the Bible. Firstfruits were very small token offerings per Deut 26:1-4 and Neh 10:35-38. It is wrong to teach that the first tenth of income must go to the local church. According to 1st Timothy 5:8, the first should go to buy medicine and essential food and shelter.

Myth & Assumption: The purpose of the tithe is to provide for the priests. They are the ones in ministry that work to equip the saints for service."For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance..." - Numbers 18:24

The truth is: Numbers 18 is the tithing statute-ordinance of the Law. (Please read it.) Nothing in it is followed by any church today.
(1) Tithes are only food from inside Israel.
(2) Only ministers can enter the sanctuary.

(3) The first Levitical tithe goes to the servants of the ministers.
(4) The ministers only get one per cent of the total tithe.
(5) Ministers are to kill anybody who dares to worship God directly.
(6) Levites and ministers who receive the tithe cannot own or inherit property.

If we were still under the O. T. law, this would make sense. Since we are now under grace, the above does not apply to any Christian, Jew or Gentile.

Myth & Assumption: You can withhold tithe, but you never get to keep it. It belongs to the devourer."He gave them all into his hand ... to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths... to fulfill seventy years." - 2 Chronicles 36:17-22

The Truth is: According to Galatians 3:10-13 the curse of the law (including tithing) ended at Calvary. And verse 10 says that the only way to be blessed by law-keeping is to keep all 600+ commands of the law. The Law (and tithing) was never given to Gentiles and/or the Church after Calvary in the New Covenant.

Assumption: "Withholding the tithe is idolatry."... all Israel... broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the high places and the alters... As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought the abundance the first fruits of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all." - 2 Chronicles 31:1-5

The Truth is: According to 1st Chronicles, chapters 23 to 26, the tithe was used by the king to pay Levites who also worked for him in secular areas. Why is this ignored? It was a tax. It was also stealing for the Levites to accept the tithe and own property. The Lord did not allow the Levites or the priest to inherit or own land. (Leviticus 25:23-24)

Truth & Assumption: Tithing will not remove all financial difficulties. (This has always been true.) The Assumption is that it is the beginning place of those wanting God's blessing. Some problems are related to other areas needing obedience.

The truth is: The ghettos are full of honest believers who have been faithfully "tithing" for generations and remain in poverty, while many of their pastors are much better off.

Myth & Assumption: The tithe should be based on the gross income.

The truth is: Tithes are only food from inside Israel. The definition never changed for over 1500 years from Leviticus to Luke. And it is absurd to expect modern farmers and self-employed businessmen to tithe gross when they must first spend exorbitant sums to produce any profit.

Out and out lie: Another way to look at it would be, which measure would you like for God to use to bless you with? A tithe of the gross, or a tithe of the net?

The truth is: This is a con job.

Assumptions: What should a wife do if her unbelieving husband does not want to tithe? Answer: …. Testing God in this way is a practical way for people to see God's faithfulness.

The truth is: The whole law was a test --not merely tithing. Obey all to be blessed; break one to be cursed. God never gave the law to Gentiles or the Church. Deu 28-30. Secondly, the Bible says to be in subjection to your own husbands. 1 Peter 3:1

Myth & Assumption: What is the difference between a tithe and an offering? The tithe is a payment, while the offering is a gift. Both are required that we do not rob God."... but you say, ‘In what way have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings." - Malachi 3:8

The truth is: Tithes were always only food from inside Israel. Offerings were either above the tithe for food producers inside Israel --or-- from non-food items which could be cleansed in the fire from outside Israel. See Numbers 31. There are no post-Calvary NT tithes.

For more, read my new book Clever Lies and Assumptions from the Pulpit to the Pews.

Shouldn't This Bother You?

Ponder this thought.

There is nothing righteous about a building. Most people agree that the building where people meet is not the church. Yet, when you point to a religious building with a steeple on top, and ask, "What is that?" They all say, "It's a church."

Last month, there was a news report about the sale of Lakewood Church, which is pastored by Joel Osteen and his wife. Like many of you, I was under the impression that the 100 million dollars they borrowed a few years ago was to purchase the former basketball stadium. Turns out, they are actually leasing the building.

Hungry for cash, the city of Houston has hired appraisal firms to figure out how much the building that houses Lakewood Church could sell for. Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church leases the former Compaq Center from the City of Houston, and paid the $10 million 30-year lease up front, in 2003. That left a loan of 90 million to renovate the stadium for Church purposes.

The purpose of this article is not to bash the Osteens. Their concept of operating and running a large church is simply a traditional business model that most churches in American have been using, since the early 80's.

The purpose of this article however, is to shine a light on Church issues. The issue here is the fact that the Church operates on a secular business model, and has for years. That is to say that a smart business normally, if ever, uses its own money to fund a project.

The modern day organized church is kept in motion and built largely by money. It is impressive buildings, big fancy signs, strategic locations, television ads, yellow page ads, radio spots, salaried professionals, fancy suits, fancy cars, fancy homes, expensive audio systems, automatic retractable video screens, and million dollar family recreation centers. To manage it all, it takes massive amounts of cash and a lot of uninformed church members.

Like a business, to fund these projects, Churches in America borrow the money from the bank sometimes incurring high interest and debt. This debt, along with the interest, is passed to the consumer. I want you to read the following very carefully. In the case of most churches, these sometimes multi-million dollar loans, or the cost of building these idols and golden calfs, is passed to the members or attendees of the "church". In other words, you are paying the loan with interest. Just a couple of centuries ago this would have been called, a Church tax. However, church leaders for decades have been successful with mixing (Law and Grace). The New Testament Church today calls it tithe and offering. Now, you know why so many "church leaders" are constantly bribing, begging and pimping its members and fans for more money. Somebody has to pay off the loan. (deacons and church administrators know what I say is true)

The early New Testament church operated differently. It ran on power. It ran on passion. They survived because they understood and taught as Jesus taught them, that they were the Church, not a building.

How is this possible, and why does the Church as a whole participate in such deception? Every CEO knows that large, impressive buildings attract people. They also give the illusion that the Spirit of the Lord lives there. If we were honest, many of us attend or, at one time, attended these golden calfs for this very reason.

These idols we call churches, with their polished granite countertops, expensive lobbies, and marble floors are fancy for a reason. They provide the atmosphere of wealth, so that there is the feeling of security. Let's be honest. How many of you would still come if you didn't have all of the extras. No paid professional to bring the music. No nurseries, date night, pizza parties and youth groups. Without all the trappings, without the pomp and show, who would attend?

Shouldn't this bother you?

What the church has done and, what the church continues to do, is follow and hire CEO's rather than pastors. The church has elected to "have church" rather than be the church. Like the people of Israel, the American church would rather have its golden calf (the building) as its god, rather than Jesus. Its marketing campaigns, committees, budget analysis, secretaries, building administrative duties... Oh My! What a business it has become.

2010, Barack Obama and the Antichrist Agenda

by G. Craige Lewis

When we first heard that a black man may become president of the United States for the first time, many were sold at that moment. His voting record didn't matter. His agenda wasn't even considered. "Does he go to church?" That would answer the only question that most black Americans would pose. If he goes to church and is black, then he should win because it's about time we had some representation on that level, right? It did not matter what he voted for or against in the Senate. As long as he is dark-skinned rather than white, he was the only choice, for many.

If you are engaged to be married, and your spouse-to-be hits you every time they are angry, do you expect wedding vows to change them? Or, if they are in debt because they make bad financial decisions, will a wedding ceremony change that? In spite of these signs, people marry everyday expecting change once the ceremony is over. Even though their future spouses have shown them a pattern of behavior over time, people still want what they want, so they will take a chance on a marriage that they know had little chance of working to begin with. Their philosophy is to marry and then pray to God for change, rather than seeing God in the signs, and avoiding marriage altogether. I guess to them, God is only needed after they have what they want.

This is very selfish, and yet, this is what the American people have done with the office of the President. We have voted in a president because we wanted a black man, or a different man, and we felt that once he is in, our prayers will change him. But the bottom line here is that he is the same as he was before the election, and will not change because of your prayers. His purpose is to do what he is doing. He is in office because the powers that be needed someone to look different, as a poster boy for "change". Who better to strip America of it's morality, than a representative of the most immoral group of people in the nation? Don't get mad at me, the numbers show that Blacks are the most immoral group in America and that we could care less about morality, when it comes to looking good. The statistics on this matter show that we have the highest HIV rate, incarceration rate, drop-out rate, STD rate, abortion rate, murder rate, teen pregnancy rate, single parent rate, homosexual and lesbian rate, etc. This is why, as Christians, black people still ignore his immoral agenda for what they wanted. I know pastors that lost members for warning them about this man. We at EX Ministries lost a bunch of engagements and DVD sales because we took a moral position during the election. Not to vote for McCain, because I didn't vote for him either, but just to stand for morality and truth. We as a people are in trouble because Barack Obama was able to bring our inconsistent spiritual behavior to the forefront, and show the world what a Carnal Christian that doesn't honor his God looks like.

This is a man on a mission. What's his mission? To free the homosexuals and lesbians in America, and make their lifestyles accepted by all, with no moral code of conduct from God interfering with it. He wants to silence the church and make them accept an antichrist agenda. In spite of this always being in his plan, pastors and preachers marched for him and voted him in. They led their congregations into the voting booths, and even the ones that had reservations about him and God-given visions of his sinful agenda, were too afraid to stand against a man that could cause their offerings to dwindle down if they didn't support him.

This is a serious matter because if you haven't heard already, our president has named the month of June "Gay, Lesbian, Bi Sexual, and Transgender month" in America. For the first time in history, a president has deemed sexually deviant behavior as normal, and given them a month to celebrate. No president in history would have ever done this because this is something that is detrimental to the very fabric of our society. Bill Clinton, or even Hilary Clinton, who are both very liberal, would have never done anything like this because who wants to go down in the history books as the one who condoned transsexuals and gave sexual deviants a month to celebrate? This was the greatest setup of all time and of course, the black man was the pawn. No matter how evil you may feel Bush and others were, they would have NEVER been responsible for something this wild. This is an outrage and yet, no one is talking about it.

What does an open sexuality month do for our country? Well, expect in the coming month of June 2010, to see public displays of kissing, hugging, and all kinds of sexual celebrations. Expect your children to be taught in their schools about accepting the LGBT agenda because their president said to. Expect every park, amusement center, you name it, to be crowded as they offer special discounts to LGBT couples. Gay men parading around proudly, lesbian women, bi- sexual couples consisting of 3 or 4 partners and transgender people that have created an ambiguous image which cannot be put in a male or female category. I don't know if Jesus will crack the sky before June 2010, but I know that if He doesn't it will be soon after because, this is the worst thing to happen in American history, and it happened at the hands of a man that has voted in-favor of this agenda since he was in the senate. This was not a secret, yet it was overlooked and ignored by those that wanted him in office no matter what!

Also, expect to see a lot of pastors, business owners, etc. arrested for trying to stop these celebrations from entering their places of business or worship. Expect lawsuits and public outcries from those that want this agenda in places where they are not wanted. You see, when the office of the president gives the approval, you must comply! We won't be able to stop it now because it's a done deal. And during this month, any teacher or educator can proudly teach the LGBT agenda without parental consent, just like they can teach black history in February. Expect pictures on the walls of the schools, television shows and talk shows being flooded with this celebration. Just like black history month, immorality now has a month and they will demand to be allowed any and everywhere to celebrate this great accomplishment. WOW. What have you done, people? (Those of you that voted for him! I didn't.)

His wife said she would do this and, she also said Obama would do it before he was ever elected. I posted the video for many to see and yet, many that saw the video, still voted for him. Michelle Obama said the church will be silenced by her husband and yet, Bishops, pastors, and black leaders that are supposed to be saved ignored it, and now our children must endure it. How selfish are our preachers today that they would back a man with a homosexual agenda? What must God think of these bishops and pastors that call themselves our leaders? This is a shame before God, and yet our world is ignoring it and paying more attention to the death of a transgender performer than they are the greatest tragedy on paper to strike the American people.

All I have to say at this point is, when you see the gay couples and when you see the public acceptance of these behaviors right in your face, just remember that YOU voted for this change and you got what you voted for. May God have mercy on America. This is truly the beginning of the end for us.

Come Quickly Lord,

G. Craige Lewis has been ministering to youth for over 15 years. He has been gifted with a ministry for youth as well as informing parents about the plans that the enemy has for their children. He has a very unique ministry and ministers to hundreds of thousands of young people each year. He travels around the world, teaching the Kingdom of God and exposing the plans that the enemy has devised for the church of God.

He has devoted his life to reaching young people as well as all people that are in need of strategies to take the enemy head on. His straight-forward type of ministry is very captivating to the secular as well as the Christian audiences. God has given him great insight on young people and the plan of the enemy to rob our youth of their parentalguidance. He is directed by the Holy Spirit to reach out to those that have been lead astray by our cultures embracing of evil and perversions and also to attack the enemy's invasion of the media and music.