TITHE DEFAULTERS WILL NOT ENTER HEAVEN
Malachi 3:8-9
“8 Will a man
rob or defraud God? Yet
you rob and defraud Me.
But you say, In what way do we rob or
defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with the curse, for you are
robbing Me, even this whole nation.
Dear people of God, I know today’s heading will
shock people and many will react that I do not know what I am saying.
Mind you, I am only repeating what the Holy
Bible, God’s infallible Word, has stated in today’s lead Scripture verses.
I have written several posts on the topic of
tithes and I will continue to write about it because a preacher of the Gospel
is to speak the truth always for the spiritual and eternal benefit of ignorant
believers and unbelievers alike who would come to believe, accept and implement
it.
The reason I decided to write about tithes today
again is because there is a new issue on the internet concerning tithes. Pastor
Enoch Adejare Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in a video
currently circulating the social media stated categorically to Pastors of the
RCCG congregation to repent and restitute their ways in the issue of tithes.
According to Pastor Adeboye, the Spirit of God
revealed to him that some of the pastors don’t pay tithes, some pay but incomplete
(less than 10% of their income) while some pay but do not teach it to their
congregation.
Additionally, Pastor Adeboye told the pastors to
tell their various congregations that tithes defaulters will not go to heaven.
Expectedly, amongst Christians, this comment has
generated controversy and I will list a few of the comments I can remember
seeing from people who posted and I will place my response below each comment
for easy tracking:
(1) "The thief on the Cross was not a tithe payer but he entered heaven
from the comments of the Lord Jesus Christ"
MY RESPONSE
The abusive thief on the cross did not believe in Jesus
Christ and definitely missed heaven and entered eternity in HELL. The penitent
thief on the other hand must have heard the conversation between Jesus and
Pilate, the accusations of the Pharisees and he came to believe in Christ and
His message as Messiah.
That qualified him to enter heaven, which you can see from
his comments on repentance of his sin. Moreover, because he was to die for robbery
the issue of him paying tithes does not arise because he was a new convert who
never had the opportunity to be taught about tithes.
(2) "Paying tithes is never a pre-condition to your blessings or
making heaven"
MY RESPONSE
God’s Word makes it clear in Malachi 3:10 that paying tithes
is a pre-condition to one’s blessings as a Christian. To make heaven, you must
also be a Christian so even if God blesses a non-Christian (Malachi 3:13-15),
that person cannot enter heaven unless he or she repents, believes and accepts
what God did through the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary and Jesus
became our Messiah.
(3) " I am a Pentecostal Christian, paying of tithe is not
fundamental to my faith. I have never paid tithe and I don’t believe I have to
pay tithe. I believe in gracious giving. I give according to my conscience. It
is wrong doctrine for anyone to preach tithing. Paying of tithe does not have
any connection to heaven."
MY RESPONSE
One’s personal beliefs can never change what God has decreed
and brings one into God’s judgement when you disobey or reject it. Korah, Dathan,
Abiram and 250 other men had a taste of this when they rebelled against Moses
and Aaron whom God had chosen as the spiritual leaders of Israel – Numbers 16.
Unfortunately, their innocent families perished along with
them for their own foolish rebellion against God’s order of things.
When you pay tithes, your guardian angel (given to everyone
by God)- Matthew 18:10 - goes to announce the payment to the angels that keep
record in heaven that you have paid.
Then the angels working on your heavenly home (John 14:2)
would continue the work of building. When you do not pay tithes, the angels
working on your heavenly home have no work to do for you.
Gracious giving is good for the work of the Gospel but tithes
payment is a compulsory decree from God and no amount of sentiments can change
it. Gracious giving is from the 90% of your income but tithe is compulsory at
10%.
(4) " That wasn’t Pastor Adeboye’s voice. Also look at his lips.
It’s super imposed. Let’s be careful what we post on social media."
MY RESPONSE
This sounds to me like a person who does not pay tithes and
is trying to justify it by claiming Daddy G.O. did not make the statement. My
response above suffices.
(5) " Daddy G.O. is human too. He’s susceptible to errors."
MY RESPONSE
Another comment from someone who most likely does not pay
tithes and is subtly justifying it.
Dear friend, I am not a member of the RCCG but
Pastor Adeboye is a genuine man of God I respect so much and this comment from
him is of the Spirit of God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
My local church just concluded a 4-day Evangelism
Crusade in Michael Okpara Square, Enugu State, South East Nigeria (Thursday
April 12 – Sunday April 16, 2018) and it involved the under listed activities:
(1) Logistics of moving people from different parts of Nigeria to
Enugu State and moving people FREE from different parts of Enugu State to the
venue for the 4 days.
(2) FREE accommodation
(3) Printing of materials for publicity – handbills
(4) Pre-event advertising on television and radio.
(5) Procurement of state of the art public address systems
(6) Rental of chairs for the venue.
(7) Setting up the stage where the choristers sang and the
preacher stayed to preach the Gospel.
(8) Setting up the entire venue of the event.
(9) Live coverage of the event on Dove Television (owned by RCCG)
between 3p.m. and 7p.m. daily for the 4 days. Please go and find out how much
it cost to air a television programme for just ONE MINUTE.
Etc
Dear friend, this event cost the church over NGN300
million naira (over USD800,000) and the church did not collect any offering throughout the
programme duration.
Now, let me ask, if the church members were not
paying tithes, where would the church raise such money from? Another question I
will ask is, does the Lord Jesus Christ not command Christians to preach the
Gospel to all creatures everywhere as stated in Mark 16:15?
If Christians were not paying tithes, how would
the Gospel have come from Jerusalem to the different parts of the world as we
have it today? How would the Christian Missionaries have moved to Africa to
share the Gospel?
How would these Missionaries have built Churches,
Schools and Hospitals when they came if tithes were not paid?
How can a Christian who has known the truth about
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, about repentance, about salvation, about going to
heaven and about evangelism to tell others about Christ not be interested in
contributing money so others in distant lands can be told the same message for
them to also believe and accept so that God can save their souls?
How can you claim to love God and yet you have
benefitted from Christianity but are now unwilling to allow others to benefit?
Do you not know that the work of the Gospel suffers when you do not pay tithes?
God has even made it a covenant by promising a
blessing to tithe payers. Someone would argue that tithes is only for
Israelites, Abraham’s seed.
See what is written in Galatians 3:29 AMPC), “And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is
Abraham's Seed], then you are Abraham's offspring and [spiritual] heirs
according to promise.”
So as a Christian, you are a seed
of Abraham and a heir of God’s irrevocable promise (confirmed by God with an
oath – Hebrews 6:13-17) to multiply and bless Abraham and his seed forever.
Abraham paid tithes (Genesis 14:20) and Jacob paid tithe (Genesis 28:20-22) so
why not you, their seed?
Another person may argue that Jesus Christ never
spoke about tithes. See what is written in Matthew 23:23 (NLT), “What
sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For
you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb
gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice,
mercy, and faith. YOU SHOULD TITHE, YES, but do not neglect the more important
things.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is saying here that you should not
neglect paying tithes so why do ignorant Christians tell lies that the Lord did
not talk about tithes?
Any sound lawyer would tell you the word “SHALL” denotes
something compulsory.
The word “SHOULD” is the past tense of SHALL so when the Lord
Jesus says you SHOULD TITHE, it means it is not optional and it can also be
said you MUST TITHE because MUST is the synonym of SHOULD.
Now, God tells us in Malachi 3:9 there is a curse on people
who do not pay tithes. It is God who has made that decree. Now, God can reverse
a man’s decree or curse on another man as we see in the case of Jacob who
cursed his son Levi but God reversed it through Moses.
But do you know anyone that can reverse a decree or curse God
has made? If no, then can a person cursed by God for not paying tithes and who
dies in that curse enter heaven?
If the answer is no, then what is wrong with Pastor Adeboye’s
statement? Dear friend, tithe defaulters will not enter heaven.
Repent today and now if you are a tithe defaulter and save
yourself from eternal damnation before it is too late.
Do not say nobody warned you.
May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act
on it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Merciful Name, Amen.
Gabriel Ama.
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