Nuggets of Truth from Leviticus 27:30-34

Nuggets of Truth from Leviticus 27:30-34
by Ronald W Robey

a)  The tithe  was the LORD’s (God’s)

b)  The tithe was holy (set apart) for God.

c)  God’s commanded tithe was holy (set apart) due to a vow made by the Patriarch of the children of Israel 350 years before them entering the land of Canaan. (see Genesis 28:20-22)

d)  God’s commanded tithe was to come from agricultural crops, flocks and herds.

e)  The children of Israel were required to tithe whether they wanted to or not.

f)  The children of Israel were able to redeem (buy back) a portion of their crops tithe if they wished.

g)  The children of Israel paid twenty percent over the estimated value of the portion of their crops tithe if they chose to buy the portion back.

h)  The tithe of the crops was a tenth part of the crops harvested.

i)  The tithe of the flocks and herds was the tenth animal to pass under the rod.

j)  If only nine lambs were born in one year, the herder was not required to tithe of his lambs.

k)  The animal tithe could not be redeemed (bought back)

l)  If a herder tried to exchange the tenth animal to pass under the rod for another, he forfeited both animals.

m)  God did not command anyone to tithe other than the children of Israel.

n)  God’s tithe was not money.

 

Examining Matthew 23:23

Examining Matthew 23:23

by Ronald W Robey

Read the following verse…

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Now, go back and read Matthew 23:23 again. As you read, ask yourself these questions,…

a) Who was Jesus addressing in this verse? (Hint: the answer can be found in the verse itself)

b) Why were they tithing? (again, the answer is in the verse)

c) What were they tithing? (again, the answer is in the verse)

d) Why were they tithing what they were tithing? (again, the answer is in the verse)

e) Why did Jesus say that tithing these things ought to be done? (again, the answer is in the verse)

f) Why did Jesus tell them to continue tithing what they were tithing? (again, the answer is in the verse)

g) Jesus mentioned the Law in this verse; what did the Law require as tithe? (see Leviticus 27:30-33)

i) Who did the Law say was required to tithe? (see Leviticus 27:34)

j) Where did the Law say tithing is to be observed? (see Deut. 12:1,10,11)

k) Who did the Law say the tithe is to be given to? (see Numbers 18:21-26; Deuteronomy 14:22-29)

l)  Are Believers in Christ Jesus as Messiah mentioned in Matthew 23:23?

m) Is the New Covenant Church mentioned anywhere in the text of Matthew 23:23?

n) Is money mentioned in the text of Matthew 23:23?

Many questions can be spring-boarded off of Matthew 23:23. Be as the Berean’s of the first century. Search the answers in God’s word.

 

Briderism Contradicts the Bible

Baptist “Brider’s” teach that one can be saved and still not be a member of “the Lord’s Church”. They teach that, in order to be a member of “the Lord’s Church”, one must be baptized in a “proper Baptist Church”.

 

By “proper Baptist Church”, they mean; neither non Baptist’s, nor infants are a part of the Lord’s Church.

 

Yet, their doctrine totally contradicts Acts 2:47

 

Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

 

Scripture does not say one must be baptized in water in order to be a part of the Lord’s Church. It gives as a prerequisite, “such as should be saved.”

 

Lending to the Lord

Lending to the Lord
by Ronald W Robey

Many today are sitting at their tables and desks and filling out their check for tomorrow’s tithe to their local assembly. Many may be doing so from their easy chair.

Many of these same people have heard a knock on their door this past week, or will hear one within the next several hours as the day progresses. Upon answering the door, they find it is a neighbor in need; maybe of a couple eggs, or a cup of sugar, a stick of butter, or some other food item… which you may gladly give if you have it.

But pause and think for a moment? Is the item asked for the only need my neighbor may have? Two eggs will not go very far, especially if there is more than one person in the household of that neighbor. A cup of flour will be spent fairly easy as well.

Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Matthew 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Matthew 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Matthew 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Matthew 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

1 John 3:17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

If there is a need for butter, for milk, for eggs, then chances are there is a much greater need for groceries. Consider taking your neighbor to the store, or going to the store by yourself, and purchasing groceries with your neighbor… using that check you were going to give to the local assembly tomorrow.

Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Matthew 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Matthew 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Matthew 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Matthew 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Matthew 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

The Church today has lost its focus. They have become self-centered and self-serving, neglecting the poor and needy of the community that they are supposed to be a light of truth and compassion in.

“Give God’s tithe to a person that doesn’t even attend my Church? How preposterous!” Suppose God had the same attitude toward us when we were lost and without God? “Give my Son for a people that don’t even know me? How preposterous!”

Brethren, let us stop this foolishness of thinking we please God in our actions when we can’t even bring ourselves to show compassion and concern for those around us.

Proverbs 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Proverbs 29:7 The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

Yes, give your check that you wrote out as tithe to that person in need. For in doing so, you are giving it unto God.

 

Stop Believing the Lies

Stop Believing the Lies
by Ronald W Robey

If Church members truly love their Apostle/Prophet/Pastor as they say they do, they will tell their Apostle/Prophet/Pastor to stop preaching to them that God requires tithes of monetary wages/income.

 

The Pastor that teaches monetary tithing becomes a liar. Do you know what the Bible says about liars? God sees their lies as “abominable” (Prov. 6:16-19) and will ultimately send the liar to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. (Rev. 21:8)

 

If you love your Pastor as you say you do, you will not permit him to lie to you. You will not allow him to walk a road of lies. You will not want him to end up in the lake of fire and brimstone.

 

Be warned… it is not only the one who makes lies that end up in the lake of fire… it is also those who love lies. If you condone the monetary tithe requirement lie, because it appears to be “working” for you, you could be going to that same place that your monetary tithe requirement Pastor is heading… a christ-less eternity in that place of unending torment.

 

You say you love Jesus Christ. But do you truly love Him? Will you forsake loving a lie for embracing the Truth?

 

If you love Christ, you will reject the lies. Don’t allow deceit to be your guide. It will only lead to misery. Study God’s word and walk according to the will of God for your life if you want to hear Christ one day say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joys of the Lord.”.

 

Do you love your family members? Your mother? Your father? Your children? Your grandparents?… Uncles and Aunts?… Cousins? In-laws?

 

If so, don’t continue the monetary tithe lie that you learned from your Pastors. Teach them the truth about what God’s holy tithe was, why it was commanded, who was commanded to observe it, to whom the tithe was to be given to, why the tithe was given to specific people, where and when the tithe was to be given.

 

If you study your Bible with a heart to learn and a hunger for truth, you will discover that what your religious institution has been telling you about God’s holy tithe is not what God’s word says about God’s holy tithe.

 

It’s time to get off of that dark road of deception and to begin walking the illuminated path that God has provided for them.

 

Psalm 119:105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

 

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

 

The Best Teacher

The Best Teacher
by Ronald W Robey

I have often heard the phrase, “Experience is the best teacher”.

And for many years, I believed it.  After all, who is best qualified to instruct a person in job skills than one who is skilled at that job?  If you want to learn all about firefighting, you would not go to an English Teacher who’d never fought a fire in his life.  You would go to a fireman.  And since you want to learn all about firefighting, you would probably seek out the most experienced of firefighters you could find.

However, even professionals tend to make mistakes in their own fields  Many who make mistakes, learn from those mistakes and move on.  Many, are greatly injured or even killed because of mistakes they have made.

Many mistakes by one can greatly affect others   For instance, a great mistake in the early 19^th Century caused the deaths of more than 1500 people.  I am speaking of the tragedy that occurred with the Titanic

Many who identify as “Christian” today believe that, “Experience is the best teacher”.  They base this assumption on the fact that they have been “tithing” their monetary income for years, and they’ve always been able to pay off any and all financial obligations on time, every time.

“It has always worked for me.  I tithe; God opens the windows of Heaven,” seems to be their unified cry.  Experience, to them, is their teachers.

However, their “experience” is not the best teacher.  Nor is at a reliable teacher.

Why not? Because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. There is a way that seems right to us, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.  We cannot trust our own hearts.

Many base experience of having a money supply as being proof that tithing money is right.  They say Malachi 3 is proven by their experience of always having money when they need it, or God sending unexpected money when they need it.  However, Malachi 3 was not speaking of a tithe of money. He was speaking of the tithe according to the Law.

Had Malachi called for monetary tithes, he would have been calling for transgression of the Law. No, my friend, Malachi was speaking of agricultural tithes in chapter three, not money.

And the blessing attached was speaking of rain from heaven to water the gardens so that food would grow. The rain would bring a harvest of fruit and vegetables so large that the barns would not be big enough to contain them all.

Malachi’s promise was not for enough money to pay bills. It was for more agricultural crops than the barns could hold. Your experience contradicts what the word of God clearly states, and that is why experience is not “the best teacher”.

One thing to consider… the enemy of our souls will often reward people for listening to and yielding to his lies.

Remember the story of Jesus and the Temptations He faced in the wilderness?  Satan told Jesus he could give Him the wealth and prosperity of the world.   Had Jesus believed satan; had He bowed to satan; there is no doubt in my mind that satan could give Him great riches and prosperity.

But Jesus knew who satan was.  He used the word of God to defeat satan.  Jesus said, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him alone shalt thou serve.”

Today, many pastor’s flash pictures of wealth and prosperity before the eyes of their flocks.  They handle the word of God deceitfully; telling the flocks, “If you tithe, God is going to bless your finances, your home, your health, and the work of your hands.  If you fail to tithe, God will allow the devourer to ruin your finances, your home, your health and the work of your hands.”

Pastors may be experienced in teaching from the Bible.  However, when they teach the monetary tithe requirement, as experienced as they may be, they err greatly.   They are going outside of their field of training; whether knowingly or unknowingly.

And their error affects others.

They have many in their congregations believing their “twist” on Malachi 3:8-12 so much that they don’t see that God’s promise was not money here and money there… it was for an abundance of agricultural crops so big that the barn could not contain it all.

Because they fail to study their Bibles, they foolishly believe the lie that they are told.  Their “experience” of a little money here and there blinds their hearts and eyes to what is actually going on.  They are not walking in truth, but in a lie.

Experience is not the best teacher… the word of God is.

 

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots
by Ronald W Robey

As a child, I used to love to play the game, “Connect the Dots”.  The rules were really quite simple;  you bagan at the dot that was numbered “1”, and drew a line to the next numerical value, and then the next, and the next, and so on.  When you reach the last dot in the numerical sequence, you completed a wonderful picture that you, as a child, could then color.

However, if you did not connect the dots in their numerical order, the end results were, well… devastating.  What was supposed to be a beautiful picture would turn out to be a horrible mutation of what it was supposed to be.

As adults, we should endeavor to study the Bible with a “Connect the Dots” mentality.  If we properly interpret the word of Truth, the Bible gives us a wonderful picture of God’s love and His will for our lives.  If we fail to properly interpret the word of Truth, we end up with theories and opinions that are a horrible mutation that looks nothing like what the word actually says.

One such “mutation” that is prevalent in many religious institutions today, is the doctrine that God requires the saved in Christ to give ten percent of their monetary wages to the religious institution they attend.  That doctrine is a result of not properly connecting the “dots”.

God’s word lays out perfectly…

a)  what His holy tithe is,
b)  who God required to tithe,
c)  why they were required to tithe,
d)  where they were to take the tithe,
e)  to whom they were to give the tithe, and
f)  when they were to give the tithe

If the “dots” (verses about God’s holy tithe) are taught exactly as God laid them out in His word, one will see that God’s holy tithe was

a)  strictly agricultural (Leviticus 27:30-33)
b)  required only of the children of Israel (Leviticus 27:34; Psalms 147:19-20; Acts 15:24)
c)  for those who had no inheritance, and/or were poor (Numbers 18:21-23)
d)  to be taken to specific locations in the land of Canaan (Nehemiah 10:37-38)
e)  To be given to the bloodline descendants of Levi, to widows, to orphans and  to foreigners.
f)  to be observed at the end of the yearly harvest.  (Deuteronomy 14:22-29)

Yet, so many Pastors today handle the word of God deceitfully. They will take you through the word of God.  They will even read the tithing verses from the word of God.  However, they take your focus off of the actual wording of the verses.  When they do this, the “dots” become insignificant.

They have you begin a the first dot, “The tithe is the LORDS.”  They take you to the second dot, “It is holy unto the LORD.”

But then, they skip over the next dot.  This dot is the one that says God’s tithe is agricultural.

Skipping that dot, they then take you to dot number 4.  This is the dot that says that Ministers of the House of God, (the Levites) are to be given the tithe.

They then skip dot number 5.  This one must be skipped, because it states that The Levites are to receive the tithe because they have no inheritance.”  (Pastors do like their lands, their homes, their cars, their fancy clothes, et.al.)

The skip the dot that says that the congregation is not to tithe to the House of God.  (This is so they can convince you to take their what they want to be tithed, i.e.; your money, to the religious institution you are a member of)

To accomplish this, they take you to the next dot syas, “Bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine House.”

Their last dot is often in Malachi 3.  However, on occasion they will go to Matthew 23:23 or Luke 11:42 as their final dot in the picture.

By the end of the “tithe” sermon, the Pastor has managed to totally destroy the picture God wants man to see concerning what He said concerning His holy tithe.

Does your Pastor properly connect the dots?  Or is he presenting to you an horribly mutated picture that doesn’t even resemble God’s holy tithe?