The topic about tithes and tithing has generated so much controversies of late, I am inspired to state my own side of the story.
For the sake of records, the church of Christ of which Jesus is the Head, is not under attack, what has come under attack is the Church of Men, which is what men have calved out of the church of Christ. Here are highlights of the reasons for the renewed onslaught.
I. You taught them that they should tithe, as long as they tithe, their jobs and businesses are covered.
A recession came, and they were believing that, “tithes” could save them, but it never did.
Some of them lost their jobs, and can’t even run to the “altar” where they “cast their seed” for a bag of rice.
II. You taught them to buy your “anointing oil”, water, stickers, ribbons, that no illness can near their dwelling place.
But they lose loved ones with your stickers on their car, your anointing oil in the house.
III. You taught them if they submit to you, the auction to perform all wonders would flow to them, they submit to you more than they submit to the Holy Spirit and you were happy.
But their marriage still crashed, recession came and affected them, they lost elections and you want them to be happy?
If I should name them, they are many. These are part of the reasons for what appear as “onslaught” on the Church.
3. MY VIEWS ON TITHING.
No material thing, can take the place or be compared with the precious Blood of Jesus, including tithes. You would go to heaven even without your tithes.
The Church of Men are the ones panicking, the Church of Christ is marching on.
We have not preached the love of Christ enough, “prosperity” has taken over the place of Jesus – the focal point of Christianity. Prosperity is a byproduct of what Christ has done for us. What is happening today is the failure of doctrine of prosperity extremism.
Doctrines would come and go, but the Word and Church of Christ would stand till He returns.
If we recognize Jesus and His Love, we won’t be giving and grumbling. The tithe thing has been bastardized and what we are seeing as “onslaughts” today are products of men’s doctrinal failures.
Tithing is a function of Honour, and not a perquisite for being saved as tithes merchants would want you to believe.
No man should force you to pay tithes, no man if whatever title should manipulate you to pay tithes on his altar. It is ideal to Honour God on the same altar you are constantly nourished spiritually.
In the new testament (2 Corinthians 2:9) “who sow sparingly would reap sparingly, he who sow generously would reap generously”.
This is a new testament teaching, God can never give you what you are not scripturally qualified for. You give, you get higher measures, it is in the scripture. You don’t give, you are still saved, but may not access that higher measure.
Although, some school of thoughts believe that tithe is an old testament law, of which Jesus has come to abolish, of which I subscribe in, giving to the work of Jesus is a necessity for every Christian.
If you love Jesus, you would give to his work, a true test of love is giving. Just give it as you are led.
If tithes makes one rich, how come we have multi billionaires today who don’t believe in it?
The Church of Christ is never attacked, She has survived attacks for 2000 years and still marching on. It is the Church of men that is under attack, and some men are “trying to protect the church”.
4. THE MANDATE.
If the way the men of the Church of Men are taking this tithe thing seriously, they had taken the Great Commission Jesus mandated the Church, the Church would have evangelized the north and breaking into Niger Republic by now.
The church in Nigeria has lost touch with the Great Commission, Jesus didn’t say go ye into the world and COLLECT TITHES, but ‘go ye into the world (unreached people) and preach the gospel”.
The Church of Christ is not a remittance centre where taxes are collected on heaven’s behalf.
The souls of men in the world should be our hunger as Christians, how do we get men to confess the Lordship of Christ, how do we spread the love of Christ to humanity? These should be our core mandate.
Jesus would not reward you on how big and beautiful your church buildings are. He would reward you on how sincere you were with the GREAT COMMISSION with regards to the resources he brought at your disposal.
Don’t fight for the Church of Christ, you can’t fight for the One that keeps you alive. But the Church of Men would need men to fight for them. They need men to defend them.
THE CHURCH OF MEN IS WHAT IS UNDER ATTACK AND NOT THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.
By Enenche Enenche
Abuja, Nigeria.
Well thought out and written. God bless you Enenche.
ReplyDeleteThis is so apt.
ReplyDeleteThe church of men will always fight back.
God bless you eneche.
The way this tithe issue is driving the church of men nuts is annoying.
Just passing. God morning people.
ReplyDeleteAnd may be there are some of you that can say
ReplyDelete“Daddy,I wish I can give 1 BILLION Naira,But all I can afford is 100 MILLION Naira....
Mehn! Billions and Millions!
Lol
#30billiongang. I just shook my head when I watched that video, God is really merciful. It's just too sad to the way things have turned out for Christians here in Nigeria.🚶🏽♀️
DeleteThis is a Long post and i didnt finish it. Anyway, i dont totally believe in tithing and i certainly dont pay tithe. There's is no condition for Gods blessings. Even Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is love; LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF. Be it as it may, This is very difficult to achieve cos if we all sincerely care and love each other genuinely, No one will go to bed hungry, no one will trek cos of tfare, no one will go down and remain there. We will all support each other!.
ReplyDeleteI was born and married in the catholic church, i attend Pentecostal most times and i can say heaven is a thing of conscience. Do what keeps you at peace with God. No one should cajole u.
Finally, Christianity is a way of life and all revolves around LOVE!. Christ died for us. Goodmorning.
gbam. is this Article written by Dr paul Enenche?
ReplyDeletethe writer really dug deep into this article. i hope the 419ners pastors will understand this?
*hangs leg on the wall*
Nope! Not pastor Enenche. It was written by Enenche the comedian
Delete.....the only giving acceptable and recorded in the new testament is the free will donation, anyother is form of giving is manmade and brainwashed thinking!
ReplyDelete& how come all other laws that sound despicable in the old testament hv been abolished, leaving just this one? ok o... person or sheep wey wan open eye, make e open...
Very apt. Thank you sir.
ReplyDeleteNice one! I like this!
ReplyDeleteConfused
ReplyDeleteShut up
ReplyDeleteYori yori wetin?
DeleteGod bless you for speaking the truth.
ReplyDeleteTrue talk. It could not have been better laid out. Message should be on heaven not physical edifice, reach out to the lost souls not peoples pocket. Love your neighbour not manipulate them as we see with some MOG.
ReplyDeleteThe scriptures are clear about who should receive the tithes; the church of Christ practice it but the church of men embezzle the monies:
ReplyDeleteDEUT. 14:28“At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. 29Give it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all your work.
DEUT. 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
IT WAS PRACTICED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT; THE WIDOWS RECEIVED A DAILY DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD;
Acts 6:1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
1 Timothy 5:9A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband.c 10She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly?d Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always been ready to do good?
DOES YOUR PASTOR/CHURCH HAVE A LIST OF WIDOWS THAT THEY SUPPORT OR IS HE EMBEZZLING THE TITHES?
James 1:27(NIV)
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
You either belong to the church of Christ or the Church of men.
I am proud to be a member of the church of Christ. The ground and pillar of truth. ROM 16:16
ReplyDeleteWhile still working in d bank; about 2years ago. I was handling d account of a wellknown 'political' pastor based in warri. What happens every sunday is dt d ENTIRE offerings & tithes of d congregation, which doesn't fall short of 4million afta every sunday service, is deposited into a Microfinance bank SOLELY owned by d pastor & his wife. Offerings & tithes were never deposited in2 d church act. Now members were always advise to seek for financial loans frm the Microfinance bank, thereafter they return d loans with interest. Like wat someone said early, most of d 'pastors' are manipulators. They instill fear into there members to pay tithes or else dey are doomed. The richest man in Africa & d World is a Muslim & Atheist respectively. In believe in Tithe & sacrificial giving but I give more to the needy & motherless babies homes.
ReplyDelete