Questions for the Faithful Tither

Questions for the Faithful Tithe
by Ronald W Robey
(written February 26, 2018)

Malachi 3:10 (KJV) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].

Questions to Ponder:

1. If the Church is the ‘storehouse’ as many Pastors claim, why are the tithes they collect not stored in the Church?

2. If the Bank is the ‘storehouse’ why are the Pastors telling their congregations to bring their tithes to the Church?

3. If the ‘storehouse’ is the Bank and not the Church, why are Pastors not telling their congregations to take their tithes to the Bank?

4. Considering the promise by God that He will pour out a blessing so huge there will not be room enough to contain it, are those who have tithed faithfully for years more faithful in tithing than God is to His promise?

This leads us to the last question…

5. What faithful tither can honestly say he/she has received a blessing so huge it could not be contained?

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He Won

He Won (an Italian Sonnet)
by Ronald W. Robey

When i considered the price He paid
For man the creature’s sin
i had to thank Him yet again
As on my knees i prayed
For there upon that cruel cross
He died that i might live
But when He cried, Father forgive
My shame i could not gloss
There upon Calvary’s hill
The sky turned dark as night
Three hours without the sun
Standing there i felt a chill
They crucified the light
Then three days later, He won

 

The Foolish Widow

The Foolish Widow
by Ronald W Robey
(written December 16, 2015)

Luke 20:45 (KJV) 45 Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,

In the audience of all the people, i.e.; in the hearing of all the people, Jesus spoke. All who were there could hear His words, both the rich who cast in their gifts, and the widow who cast her entire living into the treasury receptacle were within range of His voice.

Luke 20:46 (KJV) 46 Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;

Luke 20:47 (KJV) 47 Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.

The people in attendance heard the warning Jesus had just delivered to the disciples. They were made aware that the scribes were thieves, preying on widows. They were made aware that the scribes were a condemned lot.

The word “devour” means “forcibly appropriate.” The scribes, who were interpreters of the Law, (today’s equivalent would be our Supreme Court Justices) were forcibly putting widows on the street… taking their homes away from them.

Luke 21:1 (KJV) 1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

There is no great time frame indicated between the delivery of His warning and His looking up and seeing the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. He spoke, He sat down, (Mark 12:41) He looked up.

Luke 21:2 (KJV) 2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.

Here was a poor widow who had just heard Jesus’ warning that scribes were robbing widows houses. (and no doubt, may have been made poor by the scribes that Jesus was warning of)

And yet, she chose to ignore Jesus’ warning. She rejected the words of the One who would soon put an end to all sacrifice for sin. She instead gave her last two coins into the very treasury of the men that Jesus was warning of just moments earlier.

Sounds cultic, to some degree. Cult followers will ignore any warnings from outsiders who are trying to rescue them from danger. This widow chose to continue to give to the corrupt system despite the fact that she would be losing her home to the leaders of that system.

Luke 21:3 (KJV) 3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:

Luke 21:4 (KJV) 4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

According to Mark 12:43, Jesus spoke this to His disciples. Did the rest of those in the Temple hear these words as they had the warning? We are not told. The text in Mark states that Jesus called the disciples unto Himself, so it is possible that these words were spoken privately, i.e.; only the disciples hearing.

Many sermons have been built upon the event of Luke 21:1-4 over the years. Sermons constructed to boost Church funds by convincing people that it is good to give much to the Church. Sermons which paint the widow’s actions that day as bein good and commendable.

However, there is no commendation of the widow in the text at all. It cannot be possible that Jesus Christ would first expose the corrupt religious system and its thieving Staff, and then turn around and praise a widow who chose to ignore His warning and instead foolishly put all her living into the coffers of that corrupt system.

Seeing the seeming cultic behavior of the widow, (ignoring the warnings from outsiders) I am once again reminded of a woe levied upon the scribes and Pharisees by Jesus that day,…

Matthew 23:15 (KJV) 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

The widow had been made a proselyte of the religious leaders. She chose to ignore Jesus’ warning. The corrupt religious system had her fully brainwashed into believing she was giving into the offerings of God, when in reality, they were robbing her of all her living.

 

A Localized Command

A Localized Command
by Ronald W Robey

When the Bible speaks of the entire planet, it uses the word “Earth” or “world”. When the Bible speaks of land, it speaks of a geographical location.

In Leviticus 27:30 God said, “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.”

God’s commanded tithe was not to be a global tithe…it was to be a localized tithe in a specific land. There is a reason for this…a tenth of the land was promised to God more than three hundred years prior to the Law being given to Moses at Mount Sinai.

In Genesis 28, God told Jacob in a dream that He would give to Jacob and his bloodline land. (Ge. 28:12-15) Upon awakening from the dream, Jacob vowed that he would give a tenth of what God gave him back to God. (Ge. 28:20-22) In Deuteronomy 12, we find the children of Israel (Jacob) being told that once they entered Canaan and found rest from their enemies, they would be required to tithe. (De. 12:1,10-11)

In the Bible, God never commanded tithes to be given outside of the land of Canaan.

Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

 

Food, Drink, and Lodging…Not Monetary Payment

Food, Drink, and Lodging…Not Monetary Payment
by Ronald W Robey

1 Corinthians 9:13-14 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? 14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

 

Many have used the above verses to teach that Paul was telling local church members that their church leaders are to be supported financially through tithing of their monetary wages and household income. They claim that Pastors should not work secular jobs, but should attend to the matters of the church alone and be provided for by tithes brought into the church.

 

However, is that really what the apostle is saying in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14? I contend that it is not. Paul is not speaking of local church leadership at all…he is speaking of the right of apostles to food, drink, and lodging in the houses of those they minister to.

 

At the beginning of the chapter, Paul establishes the fact that he is an apostle of Christ. He then establishes the fact that as an apostle, he has the right, as do others who do the work of the apostles, to food, drink, and lodging. He goes on to say that he has not exercised that right but chose to work to support himself.

 

He basically preached the same message to church leaders in Acts 20. There, we read:

 

Acts 20:33-35 I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. 34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

 

Interestingly, historians place the meeting with the church leaders in Ephesus (Acts 20) a year AFTER the first epistle to the church at Corinth was written. Since the apostle stated that church leaders should work to support themselves and the weak a year after saying “they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel,” he could not have been speaking of church leaders being supported by the congregation through tithes.

 

Paul was not a double-minded man.

 

Read the first twelve verses of 1 Corinthians 9. Compare them with the first twelve verses of Luke 10. The language in the two chapters is almost identical. Apostles are sent out to preach the Gospel have a right to food and drink. The seventy that were sent out to preach the Gospel in Luke 10 had a right to food and drink.

 

But notice also in the text of Luke 10:4…those sent were to take neither purse nor wallet with them. This indicates that they were not to accept any money for their preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Taking money for preaching the Gospel was forbidden by Jesus Christ. And the apostle Paul would not take money for preaching the Gospel either.

 

He had no right to require money for his preaching. But, he did have a right to food, drink, and lodging. However, he did not exercise that right. He worked with his hands to provide for himself as an example for others to follow.

 

Disabled Widow Won’t Survive Winter – Help Needed

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The Deceptive Drink

The Deceptive Drink
by Ronald W Robey

I wonder how many people in this world got “drunk” to a certain degree when they drank their first can of beer/glass of wine/shot of bourbon?

The fact is, probably 100% did.

Many who drank the next day, and then the next, and the next, and so on, began to show less and less signs of the alcohol affecting them as the days went on.

Why? Because brain cells that had immediately been affected by the first drink of beverage alcohol, had died. They no longer functioned as they had before. And so, the one drinking the beverage alcohol was deceived into believing that it was not affecting him; that he could handle his alcohol..

The sad truth is, the alcohol had already affected him… and the alcohol was controlling him, not the other way around.

The wise king Solomon wrote, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Alcohol deceives the one imbibing it…from the very first drink. And it continues to deceive the one that drinks it on a regular basis.

The only preventative to drunkenness is abstinence.