Tithes and The Prosperity Gospel – Christianity’s Deception

Joseph Ho, February 18th, 2009.

The world has never seen such great commercial profiteering in the body of Christ until the turn of this century. What is going on? Jesus has already said a long time ago that his Father’s house shall be a house of prayer, in the book of Matthew,

Matthew 21:13, "And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

The people in God’s temple of old were selling sacrifices of animals for a price and that has turned a Holy Site into a market place. Does this resemble what is happening to the Church today? Now people are selling the Material Prosperity blessings for a price, they say, give and it shall be given onto you. So if you give money you get money. Strangely enough, in Asia, we call it the 4D, Toto and the Big Sweep. That’s what one gets when you buy a $3 dollar ticket and then you may get the big price on the date of draw.

Jesus mentioned many times in his sermons, as in Luke, Luke 12:15, "15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

And again the bible says, in1 Timothy 6:5, "5and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain."

And the effect of greed and love of money is mentioned in1 Timothy 6:10, "10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

The bible however does not mention that money is evil; it’s the love of money to be exact. When the love of money is greater than the love of people it becomes evil. Here, I would also like to counter against the other extreme, money is important, if you have no money you can not buy food, so don’t despise money. Never say money is not important, or else you become a legalistic hypocrite.

Money serves as a media of exchange in this world and is a very effective tool compared to barter trading of the past. Money is obtained through industrial trading of products and services or through an inheritance or when someone gave unto you, else you either work or you trade in things. Other than that it’s called stealing, and the easier way is to make up a story and let people give it unto you for nothing, we can sell a dream, an idea, or a hope or even superstitious scams and people are always gullible to give once their emotions are aroused.

So how did these people take your money?

They can not outright take your money for nothing, so the highest form of taking your money is to make you feel guilty of violating a law especially a Spiritual Law. I am still wandering how many true Christians give tithes, only God knows. But is the Tithe not an Old testament thing? This is a perfect game of Sleeping in the East and Eating in the West? When it comes to giving Pastors will quote, the book of Malachi, suddenly the Old Testament becomes important for this one verse and the law is good except the Ten Commandments,

Malachi 3:9 -10, "9You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

But when it comes to Sin, they will only quote the New Testament. So isn’t this the perfect game of Eating in the East and Sleeping in the West, best of both worlds. Jesus taught us to give so that we will be given, he taught us to be merciful and charitable to the poor. He taught us to love one another to give unto them that need and God shall give unto us for our needs. He did not teach us to give unto the church so that he can bless us with more. God does not run a Global Lottery System of rewards.

So What Is The Truth About The Tithes?

When there is change in government there is also a change in the law. Israel was lead by God’s Priest for ages until the time of Samuel. When Israel was led by God’s high Priests all the people are to give Tithes to them. But when Israel wanted God to give them a king, God had to change a Law and what was that Law when Saul as appointed as king, it’s found, in 1 Samuel 8:4-21,

"4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead [a] us, such as all the other nations have."

6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."

10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.

15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle [b] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."

21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king.""

The ten percent Tithe which was given to the High Priests is now given unto the king. Now who are the kings of the world today, they are now called Governments and Monarchs. And where is the Tithe now being paid? It’s to the Government of each country that every citizen has to pay this Tithe.

So what is this Government Tithe?

It’s called the INCOME TAX guys. Simple as that, we do not need to burden ourselves by paying another tax to the church. Now the Pastors of the modern church calls this "PROTECTION MONEY", since if you pay this Tithe, you will never get your money stolen nor loose your Job which gives you income nor will you loose your possession to scams and conmen. When you paid this Tithe as preached, it’s an INSURANCE against the devourer, and God will ensure this devourer will not steal from you ever again. It’s a promise as preached.

Isn’t this Pay Back Time?

In time of wealth and prosperous economy this Principle of Tithe works. But when the entire world is under severe economy recession and crisis, I would love to see how these pastors and preachers of prosperity are going to ensure this devourer never affect the Tither’s piggy bank. Now its time to test this principle as preached. For God will bring every works to the Test of FIRE. The "HOLY INSURANCE" sales guy must now prove that their product is going to work for all Christians. They did not say if you Tithe and Sin God will not bless. No, they say if you Tithe God have to bless. If you don’t mean what you say don’t say it, for we all have to give an account of all our words before the Lord God on the day of Judgment, as mentioned in Matthew,

Matthew 12:36, "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."

As far as I know, everyone will be affected by this Economy Crisis in 2009; even the Christian who Tithes. Because the pagan are also bosses of the Christian so if God will not bless them since they do not Tithe, their business will suffer and then it will affect their Christian employees. Jesus says do not remove the weed from the wheat until the time of Judgment, so I don’t think this will work as well. Pagans and Christians coexist and prosper materially in this world because money is not a Spiritual Fruit.

Imagine if you tithe constantly and monthly yet you bear false witness against your brother, yet you steal, yet you rape, yet you beat your wives, will God still bless you when you Tithe? If not, the Tithe can not be a blanket guarantee of you not loosing your materials possessions and even your money during times of crisis. What is you best hope then? The Lord is our Shepherd and Provider, Psalms 23:1-3.

So should you Tithe or not Tithe that is the question?

Dear people, we have to know that God’s priests do not do any industrial activity but they teach and preach, so they have to eat. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 9:9-12,

"9For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. "Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?"

So Paul expects the people in the church who were fed Spiritual Food to share with them material needs. That is to say, we are to give unto the Priests and Pastors a Free-Will Love Offerings to sustain them in their work, while the Tithe is already paid to the Government of each country in the terms of PERSONAL INCOME TAX.

Surely a good God will not burden his people again by requiring them to pay double taxation. When God does not even require of us to be circumcised, why then would God require us to pay such heavy duty tax to both the Government and to his Church. The bible says, God loves a cheerful giver and we are to give according to our means and be happy about it. So how to be a cheerful giver when we are required a fixed amount, we must give from our hearts.

So why are the Prosperity Churches growing when they deceive the world?

Even I was mistaken, when I asked this question and Jesus showed me that all trees bear fruit. They bear good and bad fruit. Thus, when a tree bears fruits it does not mean he has blessed them. If we define blessings and growth by the size of our church, then the pagan world is more blessed by God than us since they are the majority; so they must have the real god then. God does not judge in worldly terms, he judges us according to our righteousness and obedience to his Word.

Matthew 7:17-20, "17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

And he cautions me again when he reminded me that, not all who calls him Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven, and there they even dare to say "Once Saved is always Saved". And these people were doing things in the name of God, they must be so called a kind of Christian since they prophesied, healed, and preached in his name. They could be a kind of illegitimate sons of Sheba, mainly religious imposters. Those who have the Word but not the Holy Spirit of God.

Matthew 7:21, "21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

Do you think God does not mind what kind of money you gave to him in the Tithes or Love offerings?

I once met a Prosperity Evangelist who told me that all money is good money and there is no such thing as money which God will not accept for his offerings. I felt no peace and went in search of the Truth, whereby, God revealed to the most interesting thing about him,

Deuteronomy 23:18, "18 You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute [a] into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both."

I am sure this has to be true because our God is a Holy God. If you give just so you can get rich then I believe God will also not bless your offering since it is given with a covetous heart. Remember the old lady who gave her all, 2 mites in obedience.

Acts 20:30, "30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them."

Finally, dear people of God; don’t go around to listen to such teachings which defiles our spirituality, the priests and pastors are also men who will make mistakes, we are to be responsible each for what we hear and believe. Your pastors will not be standing with you on the day of judgment when God calls you to your error, and surely each man must die for his own Sin. So a last word of caution, beware of what spiritual food you eat, you may get diarrhea. God bless you all, and if you want to know the deeper truth about God, check out my website at www.kingscepter.com or email to me your questions at prophet3333@yahoo.com.