November 2016

Monthly Archive

November 29, 2016

Different Times, Different People

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Different Times, Different People.
by Ronald W Robey
 
Proverbs 3:9-10 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
 
When teaching on the topic of tithing, many pastors in many denominations will use the above instruction spoken by the wise king Solomon as a “proof-text” that Christians today are required to tithe to their local church.
 
But, is this verse really “proof” that Christians are required to tithe today?
 
Absolutely not!
 
The obvious reason that it cannot be speaking to Christians is the fact that Leviticus 27:30-34 tells us that the tithe command was given to the children of Israel. Further, Psalm 147:19-20 reveals that the commands given to Israel were not given to any other nations.
 
Those two passages from the Books of Leviticus and Psalms alone should convince any scholar of the word of God that king Solomon was not speaking to Christians in Proverbs 3:9-10.
 
But we also have proof in the New Testament that emphatically proves that Proverbs 3:9-10 is not speaking to Christians today. Notice:
 
2 Timothy 2:6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
 
Now, if 2 Timothy 2:6 is for the church, then how can Proverbs 3:9-10 be for the Christian? They totally contradict each other! One says to Honour the Lord with the firstfruits, while the other says the husbandman is to first partake of the fruits.
 
If both apply to the Christian, then there is a major problem. They leave the Christian in confusion.
 
The fact is, the passage in Proverbs 3 applies to someone under the Mosaic Law. The passage in 2 Timothy 2 applies to the Christian,… who is not under the Mosaic Law. (Rom. 6:14; Gal. 3:24-25)
 
The Law of tithing is not a Christian Doctrine. Nor is the Law of firstfruit offerings.
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November 28, 2016

Robbery in Progress!

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Robbery in Progress
by Ronald W Robey
 
Often, when discussing the topic of the widow’s mite, many state that Jesus was commending the widow for her “generosity” as compared to the rich who only cast in little.
 
I do not believe “generosity” was a part of the picture that day. Let’s examine the account, shall we?
 
Just the day before, Jesus had visited the Temple and had delivered a scathing rebuke to the scribes. Among the many charges He levied against them, He said they had made the Temple a “den of thieves”. (Mark 11:17)
 
He leaves the Temple, and returns the following day, exposing more wrongs the scribes and Pharisees are guilty of. This day, Jesus says the scribes are “robbing widow’s houses”. (Mark 12:40)
 
Then, he sits against a wall facing the treasury box.
 
It is no coincidence that a poor widow came into the Temple after Jesus had stated that widow’s houses were being robbed.
 
What did this poor widow do?
 
She threw the last bit of money she had to live on into the treasury box… a box governed by people who “rob widow’s houses”. A box in a building that had become “a den of thieves”.
 
If you look up the Greek behind the word “threw” in Mark 12:42, you wills see that the word denotes an action of disgust, and of a degree of violence. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance compares the action to casting away dung, saying it is done with some degree of force. It doesn’t sound to me like the widow was “happily” giving that money into the Treasury.
 
Jesus knew that widow would be there that day. He finished His message of warning just in time for the widow to arrive.
 
The widow’s arrival was a demonstration to the crowd just how widows were being forced out of their homes… they were being forced to give all they had to the thieves that Jesus was warning the crowd of that day
 
This widow entered the den of thieves poor, and left even poorer… she was now destitute. For this reason, I believe Jesus subsequent statement to His Disciples, “this poor widow has given more than they all…” was not a statement commending the widow. I believe it was a statement of disgust and pity..
 
Jesus’ statement that the widow gave more was not praise for what she gave. Rather, it was a statement of pity for a widow who had just been robbed; a woman who had just given everything to thieves. It was also a statement of disgust brought on by the obvious neglect of care for widows.
She came into the Temple poor, and left the Temple destitute
 
The context of the story reveals that the crowd was not witnessing a widow giving with a cheerful heart,… they were watching a robbery in progress!
 

November 25, 2016

Deceitful Pastors, Deceived Congregations

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Deceitful Pastors, Deceived Congregations
by Ronald W Robey
(written November 25, 2016)
 
Those who are saved would do well to read these two verses and then reflect upon what they say.
 
Nehemiah 10:37-38 And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.
 
Notice these truths disclosed in the two verses.
 
1. The congregation did not tithe to the House of God.
2. The Levites went to the farming communities in Canaan to take tithe from the children of Israel as per the requirement of the Mosaic Law in Numbers 18:24-28.
3. The Levites took a tithe of the tithe to the House of God.
 
The above truths reveal something that preachers do not want their congregations to know.
 
a) The congregation was not required to tithe to the House of God.
b) The Levites, who were the Ministerial Staff of the House of God, were the only ones required by God to tithe to the House of God.
 
Did you catch that? The only tithe that went to the House of God was the “tithe of the tithe”. It was not 10% of Israel’s total agricultural produce that was tithed to the House of God. Rather, it was 10% of 10%…just 1% that went to the House of God… and that was required of the Ministerial Staff, not the congregation who had no places of employment in the House of God.
 
Churches today are not following the Biblical pattern of the tithe at all. For over 1500 years, only 1% of Israel’s agricultural produce was the only tithe God required to go to the House of God, and that 1% was to be taken to the House of God by the Ministerial Staff of the Temple…not by the congregation.
 
Yet, the deceitful Pastors will teach us that it is not agricultural produce that is God’s tithe; that it is not the Ministerial Staff who were the ONLY ones responsible for tithing to the House of God.
 
They instead teach that the congregation is responsible for tithing to the House of God; that it is money God requires and not agricultural crops and livestock.
 
Further, the Scriptural text from Nehemiah states that a Levitic/Aaronic Priest must be present when tithes are taken from the congregation. Not just any Priest…a Priest who is a bloodline descendant of Aaron
 
Pastors do not teach God’s word in the matter of tithing,… they teach a doctrine that contradicts God’s word..
 

November 25, 2016

Eight Valid Reasons Not to Tithe

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Eight Valid Reasons Not to Tithe
by Ronald W Robey

1. You are not a physical descendant of Jacob. (Lev. 27:30-34)

2. You do not live in the Promised Land. (Deut. 12:1,10-11)
3. You are not a farmer. (Lev. 27:30-31)
4. You are not a herder. (Lev. 27:32-33)
5. You do not know any Levites . (Num. 18:24-26; Neh 10:37-38)
6. You are not under the Law. (Rom. 6:14)
7. God never commanded you to tithe. (Psa. 147:19-20)
8. You do not want to be unfaithful to Jesus Christ. (Rom. 7:3-4)
 

November 24, 2016

God’s Word Matters

Posted by boldproclaimer under Tithes, Tithing
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God’s Word Matters
by Ronald W Robey
 
Ever hear anyone say that “One can tithe whatever one wants to tithe”? or, “It doesn’t matter what one tithes”?
 
The truth is, that statement is not true.
 
If it were true that people could tithe whatever they wanted to tithe, God’s word would never have said that the tithe was to be from agricultural increase. (Lev. 27:30-33; Hebrews 7:5-9) Nor would God have said that once the children of Israel crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land Canaan, they could not do what seemed right in their own eyes. (Deut. 12:8)
 
The fact is, God said His tithe is agricultural. Therefore, one’s own opinion that God’s tithe can be time or talent, or “whatever one wants to tithe” is a lie.
 
God’s word matters. Man’s opinion does not. Man’s opinion is not more authoritative than God’s word.
 

November 23, 2016

It Never Changed

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It Never Changed
by Ronald W Robey
 
Leviticus 27:30-33, written in 1450 BC states that God’s commanded tithe is agricultural.
 
Hebrews 7:5-9, written in AD 66 stated that God’s commanded tithe is still “according to the Law, i.e.; agricultural.
 
That was a period of over 1500 years, and the tithe remained agricultural all that time.
 
I open my Bible today in 2016, and amazingly,… it still says that God’s commanded tithe is agricultural. That’s more than 3400 since the tithe was originally commanded, and it has not changed.
 
The commanded tithe remains agricultural.
 
Should God grant me another 25 years on this Earth, the Bible will still say that God’s commanded tithe is agricultural.
 
His word is forever settled in Heaven.
 
Preachers of the monetary tithe requirement doctrine handle the word of God deceitfully, teaching a tithe command that is totally foreign to the word of God; a tithe command invented by man. .
 
What does Jesus say about those who teach man-made commands as if they are God-ordained directives?
 
Matthew 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
 
Those who teach that God requires monetary tithing teach a man-made command as if it is God’s directive. For this reason, they worship God in vain.
 

November 22, 2016

Cancelled!

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Cancelled
by Ronald W Robey.
 
In many of my discussions with people of the pro-tithe persuasion, the following argument has been given…
 
“If you cannot provide a Scripture verse where Jesus cancelled the monetary tithe, then it was never cancelled by Jesus!”
 
One could just as easily counter with the statement…
 
“If you cannot produce a Scripture verse where Jesus said money is to be tithed, then money is not to be tithed.”
 
However, that answer will not convince the die-hard tither who has been sitting under the doctrine of a monetary tithe requirement for many years.
 
It is much wiser to approach the former claim from a different angle.
 
We know in Genesis 14 that Abram tithed war spoils. The fact that it was war spoils that were tithed is irrefutable. Genesis 14:16 says that Abraham recovered the goods that the wicked kings had taken fro Lot and from the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Hebrews 7:4 also affirms that the tithes that the tithes Abraham gave to Melchizedek were indeed, of the spoils of war. Those war spoils may, or may not have contained things used as money in the time of Abram, i.e.; silver, gold, brass, etc., etc.
 
The Bible is silent as to whether the spoils contained money, or not. However, for the sake of an argument, let’s speculate that gold and silver were recovered at the slaughter of the wicked kings in Hobar.
 
Then, we return to the question, “Can you provide Scripture where Jesus cancelled a monetary tithe?”
 
No, I cannot.
 
However, using the word of God, I can prove that Jehovah God did cancel the tithe of war spoils (which may, or many not, have contained money)…and even forbade a monetary tithe.
 
Notice:
 
Leviticus 27:30-33 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: it is holy unto the LORD. And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
 
Leviticus 27 is the first time we see God giving any inkling of what His holy tithe is to consist of. There is no mention of money being a titheable commodity. Only agricultural products, i.e.; crops, flocks, and herds.
 
If that isn’t proof enough that money is no longer accepted by God as titheable, we can produce further proof,…
 
Numbers 31:28 And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:
 
The soldiers who had taken the spoils were to give one beeve out of five hundred; one ass out of five hundred; one sheep out of five hundred…was what God required from spoils taken in war. That is far, far less than a tenth.
 
And of the half given to the children of Israel, only one beeve out of fifty; one ass out of fifty; and one sheep out of fifty was required to go to the House of the Lord. One out of fifty is far less than a tenth.
 
And for those still not convinced…
 
Deuteronomy 12:8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
 
Deuteronomy 12:8 states that man could not do what seemed right in his own eyes. God said His holy tithe was to come from agricultural crops, flocks, and herds. (see Lev. 27:30-33). Therefore, even if it seemed right to tithe money, God said money was not to be tithed.
 
His holy tithe was to come from agricultural crops and livestock. He cancelled any authority for His holy tithe to come from any other source than “the seed of the land, the fruit of the trees, and every tenth animal to pass under the rod.”
 
God Himself cancelled any monetary tithe that people might have given more than thirty-four hundred years ago.
 
And neither He, nor Jesus Christ, ever reinstated a monetary tithe in the Bible.
 

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