These times are tough on so many of us. The neat part about that is, it gives us even more of an opportunity to trust in God and be a better testimony to the world who watches us from the outside.

Thanks for all you do JD. You’re a very inspiring man of God.

I hear that cliche a lot – and quite frankly it has become an excuse. Where do we read anywhere that God wants our “ALL” – and what does that exactly mean? How many people opposing tithing for Christians actually give their “ALL” to God? HOW MANY?

What I find particularly worrisome in this issue is that we all ‘talk’ more than we ‘do’. If a mere tenth is theologically difficult for those who are opposed to tithing, then is it “ALL” that is easier to give?

I’m just thinking aloud: where is the FAITH of the anti-tither if you can’t afford to put God FIRST?

I am a man over 50 and a Christian for many of those years. I grew up in a church and am still in a church that teaches tithing for the NT believer. Up until a couple of years ago after my father died, I decided to study the subject, especially since my father so struggled with it (only in his ability to pay at the same time put food on the table for 7 kids).

What I found as a result of my study was something more in line with Gary Arnold than with Pastor J.D. For so longed I believed in this practice and even criticized my poor father for his lack of faith in giving the tithe faithfully. And now, I hang my head in shame for pushing this horrible and heavy yoke upon my fellow Christians, as well as my family, who I knew were not able to bear it.

I struggled with this because I was finding that what the Bible taught about tithing so contradicted the teachings of so many pastors across this great land. I struggled with it because if the tithe was not God’s plan for the church then what was? What I found has been so enlightening to me and reinvigorating to my soul that I chosen to study it further from God’s Word with great zeal and passion.

My friends, what God has replaced it with is “Stewardship”. No, not the stewardship that you have been taught all of your Christian life, because pastors who talk the talk of “Stewardship” teach it adulterated with the teaching of the tithe. The tithe and stewardship are in essence contrary to each other the same as “Works” and “Faith”.

You see God does not want your measly 10%, God wants your all. He wants your all because it all belongs to Him. Your money, your house, your children, your cars, your very lives. Do we not sing the song, “All to Jesus I surrender”? Have you truly surrendered all to Him? Or are you stuck on your petty 10%?

Your money is not yours because it belongs to God. You are just a mere steward over it. A blessed responsibility that God has granted you. If God wants this money back, does He not have the power to take it? And does He not have the right? Your house is not your own, it also belongs to God as well as everything else.

If everything belongs to God and we are mere stewards over it, then how does God want us to be a good steward over it? Does not God required that we do all to the Glory of God and to always bring glory to His name? Is your body own? Are you not to bring glory to God through the proper stewardship of that body? When we dishonor our bodies do we not bring destruction to the “Temple of God”? When we sin against God in our bodies, are we not being a bad steward over what He has so graciously given us?

You teach and boast about how you have faith in God through the sacrificial giving it “sometimes” takes to pay your tithe but yet you are have no faith in God in other matters. How many of you practice birth control? Those of you who do, do you not have faith in God in His blessings and instead fear the financial burden that several children will bring? Do you not believe the Word of God, that children are blessing and a heritage of the Lord? (Psalm 127:3)

Are you not a bad steward over your body if you deny our God what belongs to Him, which is the fruit of your womb? Do you deny Him because you fear the financial distress it may bring?

Those of you who have committed adultery or even fornication, were you not bad stewards over your body? Did you deny the gift of your virginity given to you by God for the Spouse that He had for you? Those of you who did, were bad stewards over what God gave you to be a good steward over. Those of you who were previously married and now divorced, did you not squander a stewardship that was entrusted to you?

I mention these simple little things that so many of us struggle with because we fail to see what our Lord has given us as Christians. Everything about are lives now as a Christian is to be viewed from the eyes of a faithful steward over the things of God.

God’s plan for the Christian is not 10%, God’s plan is for you to bring honor to His name with the things that belong to Him, and that is everything. This is why we do not see tithing taught in the NT by the apostles because they themselves never practiced it. They practiced “Stewardship”. They gave all because they knew that nothing belonged to them but God.

Be careful little children and do not hang onto the temporal but onto the everlasting. Remember that the church is not a building made of brick and mortar but the very people who gather together as one to bring praise and honor and glory to the God we serve. All that is in this world will soon be brought down by the very God who has created all and we are not to cling to it. We are not to love the things of this world but the things of God.

May the Lord Bless and bring His light to your hearts on this most crucial topic.

Be as the Berean’s, searching out the truths preached, in order to make certain they are true. JD is a special gift of Christ to the Church. And, in as much as he imitates the Lord, do like wise. But always place your faith in Christ, and Christ alone. It is apparent that many who have commented on this blog have issues with money, and with the authority of scripture.

For the Christian, it is unequivocally true, that His heart is to give, and to give generously. Some of us have more of an opportunity to give because we haven’t over committed ourselves to the world. When we make purchases, we look at what we have left (after tithing)in order to determine whether or not we should make the purchase. Others of us make the purchase and then give what’s left over (if any) to God. At that point, we can rationalize not giving altogether [We have a mortgage, a car payment, credit card bills, unsecure loans, etc. that prevent us from tithing, regardless of the percentage].

I would encourage you in this. You can believe God! You can trust God! He is faithful and rewards those who trust in Him. Earlier I commented on this blog regarding my conviction to honor God with my first fruits and trust Him to provide for our needs. This was an act of faith, which I believe He gave me, because giving any amount would have meant that some bills would definitely not be paid this month. As a matter of conscience, I gave 10% of my gross income for the month to God. And as a faithful God, I received word today that I was receiving an unexpected sum of money in the mail this week. A sum that was equal to approximately 100% of my monthly income.

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, Says the LORD of hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Mal. 3:8ff

Worship Him!
Praise Him!
Trust in Him!
Believe on Him!

He is our only hope in this world!

God Bless.

Being a Money & Finance Minister, I run across cases every week where God loving Christians are struggling to put food on the table for their family while given a tenth of their income to the church because the pastor told them they would be robbing God if they didn’t.

I didn’t become a born-again believer until my late forties. I accepted everything I was told by the pastor as being truth. It wasn’t until 63 that my pastor asked me if I would teach a Sunday School Class in Finances. I agreed.

When I started preparing for my class, I found that EVERY SINGLE THING I had been taught about tithing was contrary to the scriptures. This bothered me greatly. I prayed and begged that the Spirit would show me the truth. I went back to my pastor and told him what I had found in my studies. He told me he believed his teaching was correct, but agreed to do his own research. A few weeks later, my pastor STOPPED teaching tithing, robbing God, etc.

God has called me to teach this topic and that is what I am doing. No one here is arguing the Word of God. We are debating the interpretation of God’s Word. When you feel as strong as I do about a topic, you want others to know the truth. If I were silent, I would not be God’s servant.

I have spent thousands (not dozens or hundreds) of hours studying this topic. God didn’t reveal this truth to me to keep to myself. I have given the rest of my life to spread God’s truth, free of charge, to as many as I can.

The very first parable that Jesus teaches is the parable of the sower. He says that seeds sown on rocky ground may sprout, but will quickly wither because they have nothing in which they can take root.

I’m a new Christian–I surrendered to Christ just two weeks ago–and as such, I am that seed, subject to doubt and confusion and weakness in my faith.

Reading the quarrelsome comments in this post has caused me to have doubts–not only about what I’m expected to do as a Christian, but also about the teachings of my pastor who shares the word of God with our congregation.

Does Paul not teach, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions” (Romans 14:1)?

And…

“…Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

In this context, Paul is referring to two specific OT traditions: the cleanliness of food (all of which Jesus declared clean in Mark 7:19) and observance of the Sabbath.

Paul continues, “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother” (Romans 14:13).

Now, I’m no theologian, but can this not be applied to other matters of opinion? If it is your opinion that you should give generously, but tithing is not explicitly required, live by it. Give generously, and let others give as they will out of their love for Christ.

For God’s desire for us as believers is clear:

“For I desire steadfast love, not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6), and,

“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment’” (Matthew 22:37-38).

But to quarrel over a matter of opinion is to create a stumbling block for your brothers who may be reading these comments. JD usually wears his big boy pants–he can take it–but as “one who is weak in faith,” I am still forming my Christian identity and I can be easily influenced.

In JD’s sermon this morning, he shared that doubt is one of the tools in Satan’s essential toolkit for leading us to stray from God.

Your words and analysis of scripture here have led me away from the love of God and the Holy Spirit and have caused me to doubt myself and whether I’m “doing Christianity right.”

In my doubt, I am condemned to “do it wrong,” for as Paul says, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

So I implore you, consider the gravity of your words before you share them in a public forum. Consider who could read them, and the effect that they may have.

Teach and lead with humility, for “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).

Lift up your brothers in the Holy Spirit rather than tearing them down, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbringing” (Romans 14:17-19).