The Scam Of Tithing 10%

1st Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

I really hate a lot of preachers! It is pastors who are destroying the churches. God said it Himself. There is nothing knew under the sun:

Jeremiah 10:21, “For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.”

Jeremiah 12:10, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.” 

Jeremiah 23:1-2, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!  saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.”

Pastor Jack Hyles used to say that the church is not the vineyard, but a pastor is supposed to make it a vineyard for winning souls to Jesus Christ (John 15:1-5). I am so sick and tired of this heresy of tithing 10%. I've heard Baptist preachers tell this massive lie all my life. They get up behind the pulpit every Sunday and browbeat their congregation, lying to the people, telling them that they OWE God 10%. Those false preachers say that if you only tithe 10% you haven't given God anything, you just handed over what you already OWED Him. They teach that only that which you give above and beyond 10% is truly something that you GAVE to God. At least 95% of pastors will tell you that 15% is a good figure! THEY ARE LIARS!!!

I am mad about this, because I know an elderly Christian lady who earns about $12,000 a year. Yet her pastor has brainwashed her with the lie of tithing 10% and giving another 5% to be right with God. So she tithes $1,800 a year. After paying her taxes on $12,000 she has mere peanuts left to survive on. Obviously she cannot live on this little amount of money. Even with her subsidized low-income housing she is still in the dog house financially. She cannot afford glasses. She cannot afford any luxuries. She cannot even order a pizza most of the time. So she begs and borrow all the time from her family. That is unethical and wrong for her to be tithing 15% of her poverty wages, to her church.

And what really burns me up is that her highfaluting pastor is living large with his wife. That pastor is GUILTY because he pressures, browbeats and threatens his congregation with the wrath of God if they cheat God out of His due 15% tithes and offerings. That pastor never once has to do without ordering a pizza, or buying the food that his family desires, because his salary is about $80,000 a year!!!

I fully agree with George Barna, who is against Christian tithing. The word “tithing” itself actually means “one tenth.” Tithing was a Jewish custom, never intended to become a Christian principle! The Jews practiced tithing in the Old Testament, but there is no command in the New Testament for believers to tithe. God has given all men the freedom to give to the local church, or parachurch ministry, at their own wisdom and discretion. You'll hear 99% of pastors today blatantly lie to people, insisting that they either tithe of face God's wrath.

Folks, please tell everybody you know about the scam of tithing today. In the Bible a widow gave her last two mites to the Lord. we don't know the whole story. Obviously she needed food to survive. She needed a place to live. She needed personal care items to survive. Where did she get the money? We simply don't know. But my guess is that she used what money she had, and then with the only two mites she had left, she gave it to God. I am 100% against this insane Baptist doctrine, which says that even if you live in utter poverty, you are expected to still PAY GOD FIRST. That is not Biblical at all. What saith the Scripture? 1st Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

The Apostle Paul needed money (don't they all). Paul didn't want them taking up a love offering when he got there. He wanted them to lay up what they could, only as God had prospered them already. Don't miss that! Paul didn't expect them to dig deep and sacrificially give to support his ministry!!! How has God prospered you friend? Here are my personal rules for tithing (many will disagree, but you can be stupid with God's money if you want):

1. I will never give money to any church where the pastor is living a higher standard of living than I am. The average pastor's salary is $101,196 today, which is sickening! Don't you dare give a penny to any church that pays that kind of insane salary to a pastor!!!
2. I will never give money to any church where the pastor can afford trips to Israel, but I cannot. I know umpteen pastors who have taken umpteen trips to the Unholy Land, mooching off their people.
3. I will never give money to any church where the pastor is getting paid more than the common man gets paid. Pastor Jeff Redlin of Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College gets paid a 6-digit salary. Hell will freeze over before I give a dime to their cult.
4. I will never give money to a dead church that has no soulwinning outreach.
5. I will never give money to a church that is wrong on a free grace Gospel.
6. I will never give money to a church where the pastor browbeats, pressures and threatens people with divine retribution if they don't give more money.
7. I will never give any money to a church with a woman pastor or assistant pastor.

Dear reader, when you give God any amount of money, you are just letting go of what is already His. Your body, soul, home and all your possessions belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are a born-again child of God. You were bought with a price. That price is the precious blood of Jesus. 1st Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” Be wise with God's money! Don't just go give it away like a fool to some fool, because you only have a certain amount of money and then it's gone! So we must give wisely. Do your homework into an organization before donating a single penny. And if they are not completely forthright, don't give them a dime!!!

Everything you own belongs to God dear friend. And you can tithe with your time too. Perhaps you have more time than money, like my situation. I sometimes spend 70 or more hours a week working day and night on my website ministry, never taking a single penny for my labours for the past 20 years! To God alone be ALL the credit, praise and glory. Any businessman will tell you that time is money and money is time. When you go to work, your employer is paying you for your time. That is why companies will often pay you cash to buy back your vacation time, so you can work more for them. They need your time! Likewise, God promises in 1st Corinthians 3:8 to reward every individual believer according to our OWN LABOURS. If you are part of a ministry group, God is only going to reward you according to the time, money and resources that you invested into that group effort.

So for many low-income people, you may give to God of your time, skills and talents, but not give any money. That is perfectly acceptable to God. The true account of Ananias and Saphira in Acts chapter 5 has nothing to do with tithing. They broke a promise to the Holy Spirit about the sale of their home and where the proceeds would go, and they died for it. Never lie to God. Don't make promises you won't keep. I blame pastors for that.

I love Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001). He is my hero of the faith. But I have some issue with Dr. Hyles. In the 1970's he pressured his people to give the church money. He pressured them into making signed commitments over the next year to donate large sums of money, to fund his numerous ministry projects (just like Solomon pressured the people and they hated him for it). I heard Brother Hyles preaching a sermon a year later, angry and scolding many of his people who reneged on their financial commitment to give money to the church. Pastor Hyles said that $100,000 in funds were never donated which had been promised. He was upset about people breaking their word. Now, I cannot argue with the wrongdoing of anybody who reneges on a promise to give money. However, this is what happens when you lay heavy financial burdens upon your congregation. I don't think Dr. Hyles should have done that.

I heard Pastor Clarence Sexton in 2016, pressuring his church congregation to give $1,000,000 to renovate Crown College. Where does it stop? Where does the browbeating, hounding and pressuring people to give all that they have to a ministry? I love Pastor Steven Anderson's philosophy on money. The church rents their building, carries no balance of money into the next year, and if someone ever sues the church, there won't be any accumulated assets to take. Brother Anderson is wise!

Today's Bible colleges are getting bigger and buying more real estate, growing exponentially. Pensacola Christian College literally own city blocks of real estate. But the churches are shrinking and dying, barely keeping their doors open. Sadly, Christianity in America has deteriorated into a stinking lucrative, cold-hearted, business!!! I speak to the shame of phonies like Pastor Jeff Redlin at Campus Church at PCC. I've never met such a cold-hearted, uncaring, pathetic, coward. When he saw my website ministry (which one of my enemies sent to him to slander me), Redlin criticized my work, accusing me of finding weaknesses in preachers. No, I am REBUKING THEM SHARPLY that they might be sound in the faith (Titus 1:10-14). Pastor Redlin is just a fool who isn't right with God, equating gain with godliness at PCC. The Bible says from such turn away (1st Timothy 6:5).