Authorpreneur Dashboard – Frank Chase Jr
Kleptomaniac
Christian Books & Bibles
KLEPTOMANIAC is a journey into the annuals of biblical history concerning what the Bible teaches about tithing and giving. This book will take you on the proverbial archeological quest to uncover the true meaning of biblical words that deal with money. When confusion exists about what certain words mean in the Bible, such as tithe, tithing, tenth or ten percent, this book will examine the Hebrew and Greek language to bring to life what these words actually mean in context. This book will upend the common beliefs held by believers concerning giving and tithing based on the history of the original people of the Bible and how they related to money. From the very beginning to the end of the book, everything is supported by Scripture and research. You will know from the onset why the author, Dr. Frank Chase Jr., wrote the book and learn about his personal story of what happened as a result of embracing New Covenant giving principles from the New Testament. No book asks questions like this book. And some of those questions are: does the Bible talk about tithing? Did God change the tithe at some point in biblical history? Are first fruits money? Is the tithe food or money? Is the church the storehouse? Did Jesus, Paul and the Disciples tithe? Did the early church honor a money tithe system? Are Christians really cursed for not tithing ten percent of their income?
Book Bubbles from Kleptomaniac
What Does God Want?
It is true that God's requires tithes and offerings according to Malachi. But when you investigate what the word tithe actually means according to the land, language and literature of the Hebrew people's culture and scripture, it is not what churches teach. The tithe God counts on in the scripture is the tenth part of agricultural products and livestock. The tithe the institutional Church counts on is the tenth part of the paycheck in perpetuity. The edible tithe items are holy unto the Lord, the cash, which the Bible calls mammon is not holy unto the Lord. Money is deemed holy by traditions of men outside of scripture. When the original meaning of a word is changed in transliteration to support an idea to increase financial support for religious leaders and pastors it is because they could not find any scripture to prove that money is God's tithe. Of the forty-four references to tithe found in the Bible, only thirty-six speak of God’s commanded tithe. Only fourteen of the thirty-six verses where God’s commanded tithe is seen mentions the elements of God’s commanded tithe. Those fourteen verses reveal God’s commanded tithe to be agricultural…not monetary.
Did Abram Practice Monetary Tithing?
Using Abram’s example to substantiate monetary tithing is always the argument pastors use to mandate green back tithing. This part of the book, I had to really unpack the history of Abram’s life in an effort to understand why arguments that Abram paid monetary tithes before the law was viewed as indisputable and unquestionable evidence. Examining scripture and history, I could not find one place where Abram paid a tithe from his personal wealth before he met Melchizedek. I also noticed that Abram was 80 years old when he paid the tithe only once from the spoils of war. And then, I looked for examples of where Abram’s children paid a tithe in money to prove the claim that tithes were always money. Needless to say, the more I searched for monetary tithe evidence in the scripture, the trail went cold. So I traced back Abrams history in scripture with his father only to discover that his family’s amassed wealth through the principles of commerce and had nothing to do with tithing. The evidence is clear, if you follow the money, Abram’s history in Ur Canaan, and his encounter with Pharaoh and Egypt, it is clear how Abram got rich. So it’s official, the monetary tithe is a permanently solved case no longer cold.
The Tithe is Corban
While researching the tithing doctrine, I discovered a scripture where the Pharisees practiced Corbin. Religious leaders who wanted to avoid using funds to help parents or family members often invoked Corban whereby they could say the available money they possessed is inaccessible because it is gift to God or the temple. Although this is a slick way for Pharisees to avoid helping family members, many churchgoers employ a type of Corban when they say that ten percent of their income belongs to God or church and can’t be used for other purposes. Jesus rebuked Corban, a tradition that makes the Word of God of no effect. Paying monetary tithe makes the Word of God of no effect because tithing is a tradition of man that God never instituted. In effect, the Pharisees used one scripture to invalidate another scripture. The same goes with pastors who interpret tithing scriptures out of context to invalidate God’s tithing law that define tithes as livestock and crops. It’s amazing that even in the first century, the Torah was being manipulated. Nothing hasn’t changed centuries later since monetary tithing was introduce outside of scripture. I realize now that paying tithes for 30 years, I practiced Corban, and neglected my family’s financial needs to fulfill a non-binding institutional law of the church.
Planting Seed in Church
For years, I often heard the words plant your seed into this or that ministry not knowing what the real context of the word seed applied to in the scripture. I sensed that seed pertained to planting something in the ground to get a harvest. But planting money into a pastor or ministry to get a harvest seemed fantastical and suspect. Most churchgoers who are under the spell of defining money as a seed to plant in a church or pastor are unaware of the actual context of word because its buried in a maze of scriptural misinterpretation. How does a simple word as seed become money in scripture when the very nature of the word connects it agriculturally to land? Doing word study revealed that seed had nothing to do with money or tithing. Conflating words and ideas through eisegesis as it relates to associating money with seed is the process of interpreting the word seed by introducing your personal interpretation, biases and presuppositions to support a doctrine not supported by scripture. Writing about the process of planting seed uncovered the real problem of biblical interpretation. It was amazing to discover that my money and so-called mandatory monetary tithing is foreign to God and scripture. Seed is not money and that is a fact.
Tithing From Apostle Paul's Perspective
When it comes to tithing, the Old Testament is always consulted, especially Abram’s tithe to establish a New Testament tithe command. But it is strange the no one ever consults Apostle Paul’s views on giving and tithing, and why he never mentioned tithing in any of his letters to the congregational assemblies he ministered to. If monetary tithing was so important, why is New Testament scripture silent on tithing in every reference Paul makes about giving? No one can pull a verse from Paul’s writings and empirically prove he taught all first century believers to tithe money to the synagogue. In fact, many Pastors go out of their way using improper exegesis to prove a tithe requirement by stating that the reason why Paul is silent on tithing is because tithing was understood by first century believers to be obligatory and it was a prevalent practice that it was not necessary for Paul to mention it. However, this assertion is bogus because if tithing was so important to the health of the congregation, Paul would have mentioned it and for him not to say anything to the people about God’s tithing command would have been a sin. It is a fact that Paul taught freewill giving from Deut. 16: 16-17. The conclusion is, Paul never taught tithing.
The Tithe in Israel was Crops and Cattle
Many pastors like to argue that the Old Testament tithe was for the Levitical ministry, so that’s why believers are to pay tithes today. That argument sounds good but it is off by a million miles. One of the main reasons a tithe was given is because God made a promise to the children of Israel that they would receive an inheritance. In that promise, the Levites were left out of the land inheritance promise. So God created a substitute inheritance for the Levites, which was the tithe from the land given to the other Israelite tribes. The Levites never received the tithe as wages for working they performed in the tent of meeting. The Levites were compensated with tithes and offerings because they received no land inheritance, but that is not all they received, they also got forty-eight cities, and two-thousands cubit of land, which was a tri-part inherence that was very different from what the average Israelite received. So that means the church has no legal right to collect monetary tithes using Levitical law and that means the only way to give should be based on freewill offerings. And the law does not authorize pastors to collect tithes.
What is Old Testament Tithing?
Chapter 16 of my book, lays out the difference between giving and tithing. In this excerpt, it is clear that unless you explain tithing in the context of the land, language and literature of the time, people always assume tithing is money. The excerpt makes clear that meanings of words matter when it comes biblical interpretation. Error is often produced because people refuse to do word study, and in the case of tithing, many believers fall short of studying tithing to show themselves approved of God. Rightly dividing the word of truth involves taking a biblical term and breaking it down to its core meaning based on cultural practices. The excerpt gives eight explanations as to what the tithe contents is and juxtaposing it to how money is defined in scripture. Explaining how tithing was practiced and how money was used in the Old Testament breaks open a stark difference between tithing, which is food for Levites and giving, which involves shekels given to the temple but was never used for tithing. By doing this, the excerpt shows that giving ten percent of your income and calling it a tithe is clearly a practice not endorsed by the Bible and represents an incorrect interpretation based on the wrong hermeneutic and isesgetical application to explain a tithe doctrine.
Reasons Monetary Tithing is Not Required
Many tithe teachers will go to the ends of the earth to prove church members are required to tithe. So in this book excerpt, I share some reasons why tithing money is not mentioned or required in the New Testament. The evidence is overwhelming that none of the Apostles taught or required tithing. But no matter how many reasons are put forth to disprove tithing money, it seems some believers can’t shake their cognitive dissonance and remain trapped in a sunken place about tithing. It’s totally preposterous to try to prove that Israel didn’t have money. And to say that Israel’s crop and livestock tithe was their form of money to justify monetary tithing means a person is scripturally uninformed or deceptive. In fact, money existed throughout the Old Testament but was never tithed in the temple. The tithing system in Israel is counterintuitive to most people who think they know their Bibles and that’s because they have no understanding or real life connection to the land, language and literature of the Hebrew people’s culture and history. Tithing scriptures in the Bible are reinterpreted with western cultural and religious influences, which produces incorrect definitions of tithing. That’ why most people look shocked when they are told tithing is not money but food for the Levites.
The Devourer in Malachi is Not the Devil
It is shocking to me that many people who claim to know their Bibles don’t do word studies to make sure they understand what a word means in scripture as it relates to context. I am amazed that even when you explain that the word “devourer” in the book of Malachi has nothing to do with the devil but everything to do with insects, believers still choose to reject truth because they are conditioned to believe if they don’t pay monetary tithes, which Malachi does not require, somehow God will let the devil get them because he is the devourer in Malachi. I had no choice but to refute that nonsense in Chapter 10 of my book. Once the word devourer is broken down to its Hebrew roots, there should be no question what the intent of the context of Malachi 3:10 addresses. The relief I felt what I discovered that devourer had no relationship with the devil, the church had no more power to scare me into paying an unauthorized biblical monetary tithe created by leaders of the early Holy Roman Empire, which morphed into the early catholic church. Devourer based on scriptural context always means something associated with insects or animals, but never the devil. For example, the word fire is associated with devourer in scripture.
Five Reasons Why Tithing is Not Required
I don’t know why it is difficult to understand that ten percent of a person's paycheck cannot be a tithe. To help people understand why there is no New Testament tithe, I have given a short excerpt from my book to help clear up the confusion. Discovering that tithing was never monetary in the Bible was shocking. And when you tell church folk otherwise, the first response they give is how will the institutional church survive without tithes as if tithes are commanded from God. The only tithe God commanded is livestock and crops. People have always incorrectly defined tithing because religious powers changed the context of tithing’s origin and history so much so that believers think paying ten percent is obligatory. That is simply not the Bible facts but the traditions religious institutions wanting money. Sunday morning tithing is not in the Bible. Tithing to the local church is not in the Bible. If you don’t pay a monetary tithe, you are not robbing God. You are not cursed for not tithing because that is not in the Bible. The tithe is every tenth animal and a tenth part of crops. The Bible is clear about tithing in Duet 14:22: Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
God's Tithe is Crops and Cattle Not Money
Writing this book excerpt was revealing because Jewish history on tithing dispels all myths about monetary tithing. I find that deception is very strong in the church about tithing, but to break the strongholds, biblical hermeneutics and exegesis are the hammers that will shatter all monetary tithe teachings. In this excerpt, the text explains how farmers and herders handled God’s tithe. When the Bible clearly teaches an edible tithe, why are so many churches bent on changing the scripture to maintain falsehood. Many scriptures prove God does not require a tenth of your income. That’s why this book excerpt is so important. Reading and researching about how farmers and herders paid the tithe set me free from years of deception by the monetary. God gave specific instructions on how he wanted the tithe to be paid and for pastors and churches to corrupt God’s word by commuting God’s authorized tithe is a travesty. That is why I put so much into explaining terms like increase as it relates to the tithe. I also explained how the word tenth was corrupted by tithe teaches. And it was astounding to discover that if a farmer raised pecans and sold some for money, he was not required to tithe from the sale. Money is not a tithe.
Did the Church Pay Paul Tithe Money for Preaching?
Paying attention to detail is important when listening to pastors preach. In this excerpt, I was shocked to discover the phrase “I robbed other churches by taking wages,” spoken by Apostle Paul to the Corinthians had been interpreted that he received a salary or tithes, and that those words were uttered to encourage Corinthian congregants to pay him, since other churches were poorer and Corinth was rich. Digging into the context and studying the history of the text in Greek, it’s clear Paul didn't preach for a salary or receive tithes. His words were a figure of speech and we know this to be true because to literally rob churches would've been a crime. As a Hebrew, Paul would never take a salary because his background and culture did not permit him to preach for a salary. He had to work and preach as an example to other elders who he encouraged to follow in his footsteps as he did following Jesus Christ. So if the goal is to be like the Messiah, then every man and preacher who believes in the Savior must work like Yeshua did as a carpenter or some gainful profession. So to answer the question, Paul did not receive a salary or tithes for preaching.
Jacob's Tithe Bargain--The Smoking Gun
In teaching that tithing is required for believers, tithe teachers avoid teaching about Jacob’s tithe proposal because the text blows up modern tithe teachings in church today. The problem is, if Jacob is used as proof text to support monetary tithing, then pastors have to prove whether Jacob offered a tithe to God as a burnt offering, gave it to a Melchizedek priest, gave it in the name to of the Lord to someone, the poor or disposed of it in some way. The smoking gun is that Jacob never tithed but bargained with God to tithe conditionally only after God would fulfill his requests. So if you tithe because you feel conscience-stricken if you don’t, you need not to be convinced that you don’t have to before you stop in faith. Otherwise, you will sin against your conscience and walk in condemnation. Jacob promise to give a tenth was based on 4 conditions in Genesis 28:20-22. Jacob’s conditional tenth was based on what he told God in the “if” statements as he negotiated with God about giving a tenth. His whole motive for offering the tenth is based on fear and he said he would never pay the tenth unless God met his conditions.
Did Abram Pay a Tithe From His Personal Wealth?
The cries from the pulpit that believers should follow Abram’s example and pay tithes like Abram did almost rings true until you study what he actually paid as a tithe. This book excerpt shows that Abram never paid money as a tithe to Melchizedek. The context surrounding Abram’s saga was a rescue mission for his nephew Lot, which lead him into a warring conflict with city state kings. Now I don’t know how pastors and teachers can surmise that what Abram gave to Melchizedek amounted to a monetary tithe. The Bible is clear in Hebrews that Abram’s tithe was the spoils of war he captured in defeating enemy kings. The scripture never says Abram gave money to Melchizedek. And the pre-law tithe argument does not hold water because this was a tithe based on a war custom of the culture. The contents of Abram’s tithe came from what he took from the battlefield and not his personal income or wealth. And if you study the text closely, Abram only paid a tithe as a one-time act when he was in his eighties. The word study presented in this excerpt shows that Abram’s tithe consisted of goods, victuals, food supplies and other edible items and not money. Financial manipulation of the scripture can ruin your life.
Paying Tithes in the Bible
Matthew 23:23 has been the bread and butter of the pro-mandatory monetary tithe proponents for centuries. But if you read the verse closely and in context, Jesus only identifies mint, dill, and cumin as the tithe the Pharisees paid. It is amazing how preachers try to disassociate the tithe from the law and try to remake it into a monetary requirement. This excerpt proves the only tithe the Messiah referred to in Matthew 23:23 was crops and cattle from the land of Israel. As a Bible student, the question that should be asked of every pastor who teaches monetary tithing is who authorized him or her to change God’s land and livestock tithe law to include money as a tithe requirement? The answer in this excerpt is clear. Paying tithes in the Bible never included any form of money. And anyone who pays money as a tithe does so in opposition to scripture and the teachings of Paul and the entire first century Ekklesia. The tithe law was annulled based on Romans 10:4, Heb. 8:13, Eph. 2:13-18 and Col. 2: 14-17. When Jesus said Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, he was speaking of temple taxes and not tithes. We know this because God said the tithe belonged to the Levites.
Did Paul Work Full Time In Ministry?
This excerpt from the book explores Apostle Paul’s life as a man who worked and ministered God’s word in the synagogues. In my studies of his life and Hebrew background, I was shocked to discover that Paul would have never asked anyone in the congregations where he ministered for any full-time support. It is clear from his culture and background that seeking a salary for preaching was something Hebrews did not practice. Although Paul had a right of support, which he makes clear in the scripture, he never asks believers to pay him a salary or to tithe. In fact, the scripture says he often refused support and choose work instead. It is unclear to me why so many so-called pastors and preachers are unwilling to follow Paul’s ministry example and work. Paul was what you might call a bi-vocational preacher. Since the temple stood during Paul’s time, there is no way he could have accepted tithes because that would constitute robbery of the Levites. Paul was never a full-time pastor or preacher, as it were, because he worked in the tent-making business and from historical analysis of his work ethic, Paul worked as an entrepreneur for more than fifty years. That means, full-time ministry is a man made invention.
Will a Man Rob God of Tithes and Offerings?
To answer the question, the answer is yes. But the only people who actually robbed God in Malachi were farmers and herders who did not pay tithes and offerings from every tenth animal, crops, herds and flocks to the Levites. Even the Priests whom God directly implicates are considered the ones who robbed God of the tithes and offerings. In today’s language, it would be the pastor who robs God because he says the tithe is ten percent of a person’s income when that is not commanded in the Bible. This excerpt gives detail about who God really speaks to in the book Malachi. I dug deeper into the Malachi text because it has been taken out of context for many years by pastors who use the text erroneously to teach monetary tithing. Malachi is not about money, but about food in the storehouse. The scripture is clear when it says, “that their may be food in my house.” That verse is about literal food not literal money. When dealing with false scriptural interpretations, you have go head on against arguments for tithing money and show how the Malachi text is misinterpreted by presenting evidence to the contrary. In the excerpt, you will see exactly what God says and who He spoke to.
How Did God's Tithe Become Money?
In the information age, there is no reason for anyone to remain ignorant. If the truth is what one seeks, all they have to do is research. The first questions I asked is how did the edible tithe from the seed of the land; the fruit of the tree along with the herds and flocks suddenly become a tithe from cash. When I started my research, it didn’t take long to discover that I had been fooled about tithing. It is nonsense to believe in a doctrine when the truth smacks you in the face. The further I dug into the past on tithing, I discovered the perpetrators who began the push the convert God’s tithe into man’s tithe to amass cash. Constantine and Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire in an effort to build cathedrals for God needed money, so they instituted decrees to force their subjects to pay tithes as money knowing they did not have the scriptural authority to do so. The process started out as accepting livestock and crops and later became cash. If early church leaders admitted they reinterpreted the Malachi text to justify the commutation of the God’s tithe to cash, then it stands to reason that what we call tithing today is nothing but a temple tax.
Did Paul Convert the Tithe to Money?
I'm amazed how preachers love to use Paul's references to giving as if somehow believers must pay ten percent of their income to the institutional organization. The fact is, none of Paul's writings address tithing. The tithe was holy to God throughout the entire Old and New Testament, but it was not money that was holy, it was livestock and crops Yahweh deemed holy in Israel. To continue to confuse income with the Lord's tithe is not scripturally sustainable. Paul never suggested that anyone in the first century pay him or the temple in Jerusalem a tithe from income. This is a fact because Malachi 3:8-10, says that the tithe was the required food in His house for the Levites to eat. However, Paul always encouraged believers to give from the heart by saying in II Cor. 9:7, “Each should give according to what he decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” As profound as Paul was, he made sure no one would misunderstand giving, so he used specific words in II Cor. 8 and 9, like ministration, collections, and gifts and never uttered the word tithe. The reason he never mentions tithing is because first century believers understood the tithe was edible and still belonged to the Levites.
Is the Church the Storehouse for Tithing?
The short answer is no. For 30 years I was inundated with the idea that it was my duty to bring 10 percent of my income to the church because it was God’s storehouse. When I studied the word and discovered it had no relationship to what we call church today, that left me in shock because I thought the denomination I was a part of was doctrinally accurate. I asked myself, how could I not know that the storehouse in the Bible was not a church? So I spilled a lot of ink trying to explain the nature of the biblical storehouse and what items God’s people placed it. Effectively, the storehouse is a barn for livestock and crops, ladies and gentlemen. The edifices people congregate in, and call church has history that dates back to Constantine and Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire. The church building is for people. The storehouse is for animals and crops. This book excerpt gives enlightening insight into what God defined as the storehouse. That’s why biblical word study is important in catching error in teaching that is propagated from the pulpit to the congregation. Believing that the church is the storehouse for tithes is driven by the force of custom, tradition and habit and is never based on scripture.
Did Jesus Collect Tithes?
Most pastors love to claim that they deserve support for preaching the Gospel. To some degree they do based on Paul’s writings. I cover his arguments for support in my book. But a puzzling question always arises in my mind about tithing. In my scriptural research, I never found one single verse where Jesus paid tithes to anyone at the temple in Jerusalem. Everywhere Jesus preached, why is there no evidence of him asking congregations for money? Pastors love to collect tithes and offerings from members but they can’t provide you an example of where Jesus either paid or collected a monetary tithe in the Bible. That should be a clue that something is rotten in Denmark. My book excerpt clearly indicates freewill giving reigned supreme in the first century. What I discovered is that rich people supported Christ’s ministry and those who heard his message were not required to pay a tithe to support the ministry. Freewill offerings and personal donations sustained the ministry. If you understand the tithing law during the time the temple stood, Jesus could not have paid or collected tithes. The reason being is that the tithe by God’s Law belonged to the Levites as their inheritance. If Jesus tried to collect tithes, he would have been in violation of his father’s law.
Will a Man Rob God?
To answer this quintessential question and to put the suspense to rest, no believer today robs God of tithes and offerings unless they are farmers and ranchers in Israel under the covenant of the law. The words, “Will a Man Rob God?” has an immense psychological impact in churches because many believe Malachi 3:10 requires ten percent of their paycheck to be paid to God through the vehicle of the institutional church. Could you imagine my shock when I discovered that monetary tithing is not the subject of Malachi chapter 3. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your paycheck is not a titheable commodity. In chapter 10 of my book, you will also discover that the storehouse the tithe was brought to is not a church but a barn for storing crops and cattle. The words robbing God can have a lasting impact on how you handle your money. Many sermons address Malachi 3:10, and pastors will make it their primary goal to ensure you cough up ten percent. To make sure you do not hold back, you’ll be called a God robber and the fear of that label drives many congregants to pay up. But know this, your money is not a biblical authentic tithe. Paying ten percent to the church resembles a temple tax or tax return giving.
Eating Tithes vs Paying Tithes
You would think most people want to know what the Bible describes as tithing. And yet, if the choice is whether a person should eat tithes or pay tithes, many would rather pay monetary tithes even against what the scriptures actually teach. That is mindboggling to say the least. In all of my studies of the scriptures, tithing always had to do with something being planted in the ground and with livestock. Goats, sheep, bulls, rams, grain and other crops are the items God commanded as a tithe. So why do preachers violate the scriptures to maintain an unauthorized financial system as a means of supporting the institutional church when it is not in the Bible? Even when the Bible makes it clear that tithes come from livestock and crops, people still want to believe that paying ten percent from a paycheck is commanded in the Bible against all logic, reason and empirical biblical evidence. This book excerpt is clear what tithing is and yet some will close a blind eye to the truth of the Word. That’s why I spent so much time including much details about money in the Bible to show readers that Old Testament people had money including Abraham and he never paid tithes from his own wealth but from spoils of war.
What are First Fruits in the Bible?
This part of the book that deals with first fruits was fascinating to write about. This is important because little did I know, first fruits in the Bible had nothing to do with paying money to the church. This is important because at a time in my previous church, the doctrine of paying first fruits become another money collection tactic. The dogma stated that, if you pay a tenth of the first paycheck of the year God would reign down blessings on you. Imagine my shock, when I started researching the meaning of first fruits and found it that these were nothing but, grapes/wine, barley wheat, figs, olives/oil, honey, and pomegranates. Deuteronomy 8:8, 18:4, and 26:1-11 reveals all the details about first fruits. So the book excerpt about this important subject in analyzing tithing. First fruits being paid as money is total manipulation of the scriptures. So how do churches get away with inventing fundraising schemes by taking scripture out of context? Anybody with a simple concordance can look up the meaning of first fruits and discover they were eatible items and money money. Remember, if someone asks you for first fruits, give them some grain, barley, figs. It’s fruit people and nothing else.
Official Orthodox Biblical Tithing Has Passed Away
Biblical authenticity is important. Without it, lives can be ruined by religious dogmatism. I still experience shock about how deceived I was about God's authentic approved tithe. So if the tithe God approved passed away on August 10th in the year 70 A.D., when the Romans destroyed the temple, why have people been blinded of this fact for centuries? Thirty years of believing monetary tithing was biblical when it was actually agricultural, herds and flocks is a momentous revelation. Allowing the scriptures to speak authentically is not easy, especially if someone has an ingrained indoctrination on a biblical subject. When new information comes along that disputes long held beliefs, it can have a bull in a china shop impact on the thought process, producing cognitive dissonance. When you are wedded to an idea or theology that has no provable empirical evidence, it will not be easy to get people to consider other valid viewpoints. Change comes through research, study, questioning data and alleged facts. I pursued this method of study on tithing and found many scriptural truths and in particular that all tithes were edible and the people who ate the tithes were Levites, poor, widows, orphans, strangers, and temple choirs and workers. Nowhere in the Bible does God command a monetary tithe of ten percent. Fascinating isn't it?
Jesus and His Ministry Never Received Tithes
It's amazing when you talk to people about tithing and ask them if Jesus paid tithes or accepted tithes from those he preached to, you get that deer in the headlight look. Immediately, cognitive dissonance rattles their tithe theology when they can't produce one singe scripture where Jesus tithed money or asked for tithes from followers. For one, the Messiah was a carpenter not a farmer. Farmers and cattle ranchers from the eleven tribes in Israel were the only one who paid the tithe to the authorized levitical priesthood. The excerpt from my book about how the ministry of Christ received support blow up every argument that you need monetary tithes to sustain a ministry. It was shocking to learn that it was women of notoriety who financially supported Yeshua. People of means provided the needs of the Messiah and the disciples on the preaching circuit. There are several distinct ways the ministry of Christ received support and this should be our example today. Illegally instituting a mandatory, monetary tithe requirement for God's people insults Yahweh and His Word. Search the scriptures to see how the moneybag got replenished when Jesus and the disciples traveled and preached. Remember, because Jesus was not a Levite, he could not accept tithe nor pay them either as he was not a farmer.
Paul Never Taught Believers to Tithe Money
In studying tithing, one thing I know for sure is that definitions of biblical words matter a great deal in understanding the meaning of a scriptural text. In the New Testament, it is a common practice to insinuate that Paul taught tithing or to say he did not need to directly address the subject because it was a standard practice in the first century. The argument is, that’s why the New Testament is mostly silent, but does that pass the smell test of scriptural hermeneutics and exegesis? I blew this argument to smithereens by simply apply principles of context and looking up definitions to words Paul used in his giving instructions. There is no faithful monetary tithing happening in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. Imagine my shock when I discovered that Paul never taught tithing by simply looking up some words in Greek and Hebrew. Now I’m learning that people are now falling for this new doctrine called grace tithing. Anytime a mandatory percentage is involved in your giving it is still the law. Let’s make this clear, at the time of Paul, the temple still stood and the law required tithes of crops and cattle to be brought to the temple and Paul never tithed because he was not a cattle rancher or farmer. Get the facts.
The Church and Its Money Grab Tactics
In the 30 plus years in the institutional church, I've witnessed many giving gimmicks to extract money from congregants. I distinctly remember one church service where the people's emotions were stoked to a point that when the pulpit elders prompted certain actions, many took off diamond rings, earrings, expansive shoes, jewelry, wrote checks and pulled out cash, handing out these items indiscriminately across the congregation. Some even gave away their cars too. At that time, I thought it was the leading of the Spirit of God. The title of this so-called move of God was called jubilee. I know view events like these as elaborate hoaxes. So when I studied giving in the Gospels and in the letters of the Apostle Paul, I found no giving events on the scale that I had witnessed. So I spent a lot of ink writing about New Testament giving patterns from the Gospels to Paul's giving views. The NT does not give a specific prescription for how first century believers regularly gave. The scriptures are also silent about how church buildings are supported. So before you fall prey to giving gimmicks from televangelists or in church, it would behoove you to study the Bible about giving and refer to chapters 12, 13, and 14 of my book.
Monetary Tithing is Not a Foregone Conclusion
Before I had an inkling to launch into studying tithing, I always believed that tithing ten percent of my income was an undisputable biblical fact, even though suspicions swirled in my mind. As I started digging into the early history of tithing concerning the birth of the United States of America breaking away from England, I discovered that things weren’t so cut and dry in the colonies relating to churches and financial support. In the colonies, there was no tithing to support ministry or churches. The average person who pays ten percent would be flabbergasted to discovery that as far back as the 1400s, theologians, religious scholars, and leaders spoke against tithing money in many of their writings. It is amazing how history is soon forgotten when today’s pastors and churches want to maintain a monetary tithe invented by man to support clergy. Many of the people in early history spoke volumes about the New Testament not supporting a monetary tithe and yet when history proves monetary tithing was frowned upon, many back then and those now still persist in perpetuating the tithe lie. It is a shame for so-called church leaders to distort scriptures for financial gain. History is a powerful truth teller, if you want to know truth on a subject. The truth will set you free.
Monetary Tithing or Eatible Tithing, Which One?
The great Jewish historian, Josephus wrote that the Hebrew word for tithe is ma’aser. In his writings centuries ago, he stated the tithe was everything eatable. When I began my study of all 140 Bible references to money, it was clear that from the context of every verse that money was not a titheable commodity. So it puzzles me why the modern institutional church continues to peddle the monetary tithe doctrine even when the scriptures do not support their claims that Christians must pay tithes of ten percent. Against this backdrop, the truth about tithing must be told even at the risk of excommunication from the church. At first, when studied all 140 references to money, I was certain that I would find one verse where money was tithed to the Levites or to the temple, but to my surprise not one verse mentioned anyone tithing money to the temple or the Levites. I am convinced that the only way for people to discover the truth about this centuries-old monetary tithing deception, is to sit down and study the subject unencumbered by outside doctrinal teachings to allow the scriptures, correct hermeneutics and exegesis speak loud and clear about what tithing is in the Bible. You must study to show yourself approved to find the truth.
Arguments Against Tithing Has a Long History
As I researched tithing, I was shocked when I discovered that people have rejected monetary tithing for centuries. And yet the practice continues as if it was always an accepted practice. Although monetary tithing was birth in the time of Charlemagne and Constantine, it never became fully monetary until the Holy Roman Catholic Church wrote laws demanding money as the only legal tithe. And when a person really studies the scriptures, it is evident that their were many occupations in the Bible who were not required to tithe. Here is a short list of occupations that are on the Do Not Pay Tithe List: Artists, carpenters, doctors, merchants, field laborers, foremen, priests, tent maker, hair cutters, construction workers, engravers, bakers, inn keepers, chefs, and boat builders. And let me this clear that when the legal tithers (livestock herdsman and crop growers) paid their tithe food tithe, they were not allowed to pay any form of money as a tithe if they sold or bartered any of their livestock or agricultural produce, because it would have been a sin under the law. Money was never tithed during the 1, 400 years of the Mosaic Law.
What Does True Giving Look Like?
I have always been amazed at the psychological approaches implemented in Church on Sundays when it comes to money. Getting people to cough up tent percent of their income requires real ingunuity. In this excerpt, the evidence is clear that giving is totally free-will. Anything other than that is financial manipulation. True giving is certainly not pressure tactics to raise money. Ten percent of your income being confiscated on Sunday morning through changing scripture does not make it so. Every gift a person gives must come from an open, generous heart. No matter what anyone tells you, tithing is a matter of the law, and don't fall for the new doctrine being peddled today and that is the invented doctrine of grace tithing.
Tithing on Increase
At first glance, tithing on increase is often associated with money. People think they really tithe on their increase from their paycheck. But, that one single word is loaded with misinterpretation. You may be shocked to know that farmers and shepherds/ranchers of the 11 tribes of Israel were the only ones who God required to tithe. It was the owners of the herds, flocks and cattle that paid the tithe. Many people in the Bible did not tithe. For example, just to name a few, bakers, carpenters, foremen, potters, tanners, tent makers, Priests, doorkeepers, doctors, physicians, tax collectors and Soldiers were not tithe payers. It is also shocking because I discovered that anyone who worked in the agricultural food chain as field laborers collecting the tithe as a means to earn a wage did not tithe from their monetary earnings. For example, if you had a flock of 100 sheep, and that flock increased by 10 in a given year, you only tithed one animal that year's increase which was ten flock. God did not require a tithe of the entire flock as that would mean 11 would be tithed out of the 110. The flock, after tithe, would stand at 99 – smaller than when the year started. God does not require a money, tithe, church institutions do.
The Law Does Not Teach Money Tithing
Breaking down Matthew 23:23 is not hard. What amazes me is that most Christians who believe in tithing ten percent of their income do not realize they suffer from cognitive dissonance as the truth about the tithe challenges their belief system. That is something most believers are not use to. Some people have familiarity with tithe scriptures but have no real knowledge of the word. It’s ludicrous to think that Jesus endorsed money as a tithe when the context is specifically about crops in Matthew 23:23. If you believe that tithing is money, you are suspending your common sense and embracing ignorance. Many people practice self-imposed censorship by not reading things that challenge tradition because they feel that if they embrace what the Bible defines as the orthodox tithe, they would somehow loose out on blessings. However in reality, when you pay a tenth of your paycheck and call it a tithe, you are distorting God's word by adding to it something the Bible, God, the apostles and the early church never endorsed. Matthew 23:23 deals with land based tithing. The ten percent you pay to your church is nothing but a temple tax to support a religious institution.
Research Brings Truth
In the face of documented scholarship that proves tithing is not money and never was, some people will still deny the truth about tithing because of a condition called cognitive dissonance. Holding on to a core valve that is historically unproven is hard to let go even when evidence disproves that core belief. For some people, the truth can be too much to handle and because it is vital to protect that core untruth, many will do whatever it takes to protect that core value or belief. When I first studied tithing, cognitive dissonance hit me like a ton of bricks and then I was faced with what I would do about the truth. Truly, I think understanding tithing is not that difficult. And if you are willing to research, study and not reject what history, the land, language and literature says about the culture and habits of the Hebrew people of the Bible, you will save yourself from financial ruin from false tithing dogmas that have no bearing over you except what you allow. So if the first century believers never practiced tithing because they knew it was illegal, who are we to change biblical history.
Understanding Tithing Starts With a Definition
When I started writing this book, my first step was to figure out what the word tithe meant from an orthodox Hebraic perspective. People get confused about tithing because they have a limited understanding of how the practice of tithing worked in the Bible. A lack of understanding leads many people to never embark on a word study exercise to empirically define the word tithe because they rely on others in the pulpit to define what scripture means without personal study. You can't present a theological position or argument without defining the word with an empirical definition. I cringe when I hear tithing statements such as, tithing is not just money; it's your time or talent. I have to constantly say that these definitions have no association with the form, fit and function of the tithe. Donating your money, time and talent to your church is a function of charity. Not only did I examine biblical definitions, I also consulted with Jewish experts on the matter. Many of them know the tithe is not money, but seemed puzzled why Christians conclude out of context that a tithe is money. Because Christianity has its beginnings in Judaism and Hebraic traditions, you must seek wisdom from expert Jewish scholars to help in defining the term tithe.
The Fight Continues
Did you know that tithing ten percent of your income has been a hotly contested debate for centuries. And yet there has been no theological consensus on the practice. Tithing views are as numerous as there are church denominations. When I started investigating this subject, I was quite amazed at the amount of historical information that was available for those who wanted to know the facts. Christians have never settled this argument about whether the Bible actually requires a tithe of money or food. And although many put their financial lives on the line to defend the practice, other believers simply will not swallow the spiritual rhetoric. So I think this book helps answer some questions. If you want to solve a theological problem, then research and study the matter and conclude for yourself what tithing means. So I studied and researched and this book is my answer.
