Tithe literally means "a tenth". The concept of tithe had existed among the ancient Semitic people even before the time of Abraham. Tithe were given to gods, kings and lords. The idea behind tithe is that the servant declares to the lord that, "all that I have is yours" by offering a tenth of what he has to the lord. It is a way of honouring the lord and expressing loyalty. When a person gives as tithe a tenth of his harvest he is saying, "all my harvest belongs to you". If it is a tenth of his cloth he is saying, all my cloth belongs to you". Or if is a tenth his livestock he is saying, "all my livestock belongs to you". This is because the tenth is a representation of the whole. By giving a tenth of a thing you are offering all of that thing.

Tithe is offered to God as a sacrifice. Sacrifice is offering a representative portion to God in order to secure His right over the whole. Tithe is giving a tenth of that which God has given you in order to proclaim that all that He had given you is His. Everything that God does is relative to the covenant God has with you. God act base on covenant and we respond to Him base on that covenant. Covenant is an agreement between two people. The two parties agree to perform certain things onto each other.

In the covenant between God and Abraham, God is to bless Abraham while give himself faithfully onto God so that God might have a nation through him. As part of the prerequisite of His eternal plan, God needed to have a nation consecrated to Him. And He would get this through Abraham while in exchange He would give Abraham great blessings (that was the agreement). Abraham was to give himself completely to God while God blesses him. Therefore Abraham offered a representative tenth of what God had blessed him with as tithe onto God. By this Abraham declared that, "all you've given me is your, oh Lord".

The Children of Israel were commanded to offer tithe to God. The Israelites gave back to God all that He had given them by offering a tenth. Tithe is a practice carried out if every culture, although it may be called something different in another culture. Tithe may appear in various form but it exist in every culture. It is a divine principle that have found its way into the nature and culture of man. Remember, man was created in God's image and likeness. Therefore in the culture and practice of man you would find certain principles that are inherent in the nature of God. For example there is some form of sacrifice and the shedding of blood in most ancient culture. This is because, "without shedding of blood there is no remission." (Heb 9:22).

Another example is marriage, it is found in every culture and the Bible says concerning this, " “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one." (Eph 5:31-32). The concept of marriage is a divine principle found in Christ before the foundation of the world. Just as these concepts are divine principles that are inherent in the culture and nature of man tithe is also a divine principle inherent in the culture and nature of man. Therefore one cannot dismiss tithe claiming it is just a law in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant people don't need it.

In Christ we find the reality of things practice not just in the Old Testament but in all culture of man. This is why the Bible says, "the spiritual man is able to try [examine, investigate, inquire into, question, and discern all things]," (1Cor 2:15). Those who are spiritual, who knows what constitute God are able to understand all things. This is because in God you would find the reality of all things. When you've seen the reality you would have greater understanding of the types. The practices and culture of man are types or figures of the things that constitute God.

Tithe as practice by man is a type or a figure of a reality in God. It is made to look like something that already exist in God. The original or the reality is part of God, it is what constitute God. Christ is God, therefore tithe is inherent in Christ. Tithe is a reality that constitute Christ, therefore you cannot be in Christ and not experience the reality of tithe. The tithe found in Christ is not the type but the reality. The type is that which is practice by man, it is the offering of a tenth to the lord. We know the type, it is found all over the Old Testament and the history of ancient culture. But what is the reality?

In the God head you would find a divine dance of the Father offering Himself to the Son by the Spirit and the Son offering back himself to the Father by the Spirit. The Father give Himself to the Son and the Son give himself back to the Father, this intercourse is carried out by the Spirit. It is the divine dance of the Trinity. We would find this dance playing out even while Jesus was on earth. Jesus life was that of the Father, it was given to him by the Father. The Bible affirm this by saying, "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; (John 5:26). Jesus live his life by pursuing the Father's will. Jesus lived for the Father, everything he did was for the Father. He offered the life that the Father had given him back to the Father. The Father gave the Son life and the Son gives back the life to the Father. This is the reality of tithe playing out in the God head even while Jesus was on earth.

Jacob defined tithe when he said, "I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.” (Gen 28:22). Tithe is giving back what the lord has given. The tenth is a representative of the whole but all these are just the type or figure. In the reality there is no need for representative. The Son gives to the Father all that the Father has given him - this is the reality of tithe as it is in the God head. Christ is God and you would not find the type in God, what you would find is the reality. The Bible reveals to us that we are in Christ. If we are in Christ then we would be in the reality of tithe and not the type. You cannot be in the reality and yet practicing the type. No one having his dream car would abandon it to play with a toy that was made to look like the car. It would be pure foolishness.

Yet Christians who are meant to be a people in Christ abandoned the reality only to practice the types. Watching Christians paying money as tithe is like watching grownups playing with the toys of there dream car when they have the car abandoned in their garage. It is as foolish as that. We are in Christ, it is foolish to abandon the reality and focus on practicing the type. We are suppose to focus on experiencing the reality. We experience the reality by pouring back to the Father the life which the Father has given us through Christ. Paul stated that:

"But I will rejoice even as my life is being poured out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God." (Phi 2:17).
"My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." (Gal 2:20).

Paul experienced the reality of tithe when he poured out his life as an offering onto God. Yet the life that Paul offered was not his, it is Christ's life and Christ's life is the life given by the Father. Hence, the Father gave Paul life through Christ and Paul offers it back to the Father - this is tithing in the New Covenant. Paul paid his tithe to God by living a life that is utterly consecrated to God. Paul spent his whole life trying to live that life (the one that came from the Father through Christ) as an offering to God. Therefore tithing in the New Covenant is expressing or living the life of Christ in you. It is being crucified in order to live by the life of Christ. We tithe when we spend our lives try to express the life of Christ in us, for God's sake.

In conclusion: Tithe is not giving money. Tithe in reality is giving all to God, it is an utter submission of your life to God.

hiswordxray..com

Tithe is a form of tax developed by peoples and cultures to build up resources to raise and maintain armies and wars.

If there's a god he doesn't need anyone's money nor does he need to pay pastors salaries to preach about him.

On this route again?!

Happy Sunday

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TITHING IN THE NEW COVENANT

From what we've discuss about tithe some may ask, "how then would be practically tithe?" We've only talked about tithe in its general and now we are moving to the specific. Tithing in the reality in Christ is the offering of the Life. But in this Life there are specific aspect that we can tithe. In Canaan the children of Israel were to offer the tithe of the land, this means they were to tithe the fruit of the land.
"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  to the LORD." (Lev 27:30).
They were to tithe the fruit; that which grows out of the land. Similarly, in the reality of tithe we are to tithe the fruit of the Life. Just as the Israelites plowed and explored in order to harvest the fruit from which they would tithe. We in the New Covenant (the reality) need to explore this Life and offer the fruit as tithe onto God.
"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Gal 5:22-23).


The Holy Spirit is the spirit of life and if we fellowship with the Spirit in exploring the Life there would be fruit. We would produce all kinds of fruit, even more than that listed in the verses above. The riches of the Life is innumerable and we can not list the whole of them. The point is that there is fruit produce from this Life and this fruit involves: joy, peace, revelation, wisdom, love, righteousness, grace etc. We must understand what Life is then we would understand the fruit of Life. Life is absence of death and most of what we see in this world is death. When happiness dies it becomes sadness, when good health dies it becomes sickness, when wealth dies it is poverty, when love dies it is hate, when wisdom dies it is foolishness, when good dies it becomes bad and so on. Life is the opposite of death and this Life should be offered to God as a tithe.
Our health must be offered to God (we use our health to serve God's purpose; our wealth must be offer to God; our happiness and peace offered to God (we use them to serve God's purpose) and so on. All of our life but be used for God's purpose, we must live for God. In the reality we do not offer a portion or a representative, we offer the whole, for there is no need of representative in the reality. Hence, we do not offer a portion of our wealth not a representative tenth, that would be going back to the type. We are people of the New Covenant and here we experience the reality. Therefore in offering our wealth we offer all that we have. Yes, we give all our money and properties to God - this is true tithing in the New Covenant. Well, one may ask how can we give God all our money and property? It is good question but there is no time to answer it, we would discuss it later.   
Now remember, there is a difference between our life and Christ life in us. God doesn't what any other sacrifice but Christ, they are all unholy to Him. Yes, God doesn't need your life, He doesn't want it. Do not offer your life to Him He would not accept such a tithe, for it is unclean. You must die - yes, you must be crucified. It is the life after crucifixion that God accept, for that is the life of Christ. We cannot offer carnal love to God or self-righteousness. Any effort of our flesh to please God would not be accepted. The flesh is destined for the cross and that is where it should be. If we truly want to obey God and give Him the tithe then we must desire the cross, for only then can we offer acceptable sacrifice to God. We must explore the life of Christ in us, we must fellowship with the Spirit of life and produce fruit that can be offered onto God.


Under the New Covenant tithe and first fruit are not physical things. Yes they can be expressed in a physical way but they are not physical or natural in themselves. Tithe is not fruits or animals, all those are types that was made to look like the original. The original is found in Christ and we are in Christ. If you belong to the New Covenant then you must tithe the New Covenant way. Which is simply expressing the life of Christ in you. Having your root grow deep in Christ so that you can bear fruits of righteousness and offer it to God as a sacrifice of tithe, first fruit and a burnt offering

Oga stop this long story. God never said you should give tithe to anybody jor. Isn't it stupiid giving money to organisations that already have billions sitting untouched in bank accounts? For your mind you came here to advice us, well let me advice you too. Go to the market, all this boys or girls wey de carry load de sweat everyday, share your tithe into ten n give it to ten of them, u go see d kind blessing wey go pursue that week..

superstarDikk:
Oga stop this long story. God never said you should give tithe to anybody jor. Isn't it stupiid giving money to organisations that already have billions sitting untouched in bank accounts? For your mind you came here to advice us, well let me advice you too. Go to the market, all this boys or girls wey de carry load de sweat everyday, share your tithe into ten n give it to ten of them, u go see d kind blessing wey go pursue that week..

Did you even read the post before you start typing this. If you know you can't read the post why come here typing what is out of line.

[url]hiswordxray..com[/url] Click and ready more on this topic and much more.

TITHE AND FINANCIAL PROSPERITY

I have been writing on tithe and this is a continuation of the subject. In order to better understand this article you need to read the others. So go read the others if you haven't read it yet. We speak of how to tithe in the News Covenant and we mentioned that your wealth or money is one out of the many ways you can tithe. And tithing through wealth is not giving God a tenth of your wealth but giving Him all. This article is meant to answer the question, how can we give all our wealth to God as tithe? Tithing through wealth in the New Covenant is living a life where all your wealth is given to God; it is living a life of utter poverty.

Tithe in the New Covenant is offering the fruit of Life onto God. We've put forward that Christ the Life and the fruit of this Life is righteousness, meekness, love, wisdom, health, power, wealth or riches, blessing etc. "saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12). Christ is the Lamb and the New Covenant people are the body of the Lamb that have received this Life. Tithe is therefore offering this life to God. Wealth is one of the fruit of the Life. But we've gone beyond shadows and types and we don't do representative anymore, we can't offer a tenth, for this is not how God deals with the New Covenant people. We must offer all our wealth and riches to God - we must own nothing.

"Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God." (Luk 6:20).
We are the people of the kingdom, the kingdom is ours and we are the poor. We are the blessed that are poor, for all We own belongs to God. We have given our lives to Him and He owns us and everything belonging to us. Tithing is giving God that which is rightfully His. We give God all that we own, all our money and live in utter dependence on Him; we rely on Him for everything. I am not saying we should give all our money to a pastor or a Christian organization even if it is called a church. We must give God Himself, our pastor is not God and no Christian organization is God. God lives in us, give God all you have.

What does this mean? It means that your money and property is no longer yours, you can't do with it whatever you please. It is not you that decides our to spend it or how to get it. You are reduce to a mere steward of your money, God decides on what to do with your money and you have no right to resist Him. If He ask you to give a ridiculous large amount of your wealth to certain 'so-and-so', you have no choice but to do it. And if you want to give out money but God refuse you must yield to Him. It is not your money, the owner of the money can do with it how ever He likes and you just have to obey. Yes you may have large amount of money stored up in the bank but you are poor and you must depend on God for everything. Let God take care of you, let Him decide on how you should spend your money on yourself and on others. Let Christ be Lord over your money.

Financial prosperity comes in when the multiplying effect of tithe is implemented in our tithing by wealth. God always multiplies the tithe if offered, it is a divine rule. When we offer the fruit of the Life (as it expresses itself in wealth) then we would have multiplus of that fruit which is an increasing wealth, hence leading to prosperity. The idea that only ten percent of our income belongs to God is not Christ, it is unchristian to think that way. That mentality that all you have to do is give a tenth to God and you can do whatever you like with the rest is unholy. No God is your Lord, He owns you an all that you have. How dear you reduce God to just a tenth... a tenth! This is not honoring God, it is a disrespect to His Lord. God must have all and Christ must reign over all; he must be Lord over all your money, your expenses and your revenue. The Christian life is a life utterly onto God, not partial and not a tenth. For all belongs to God.

[url]hiswordxray..com[/url]

You shouldn't try to forcefully explain the concept of the new birth through the doctrine of tithing. That's like trying to force a camel through the eye of a needle- you'll create more problems than you set out to solve.

Tithing is a concept that was practiced in a context. It's different from the new birth or the spiritual relationship between God and His Children.

Rainmaker69:
You shouldn't try to forcefully explain the concept of the new birth through the doctrine of tithing. That's like trying to force a camel through the eye of a needle- you'll create more problems than you set out to solve.

Tithing is a concept that was practiced in a context. It's different from the new birth or the spiritual relationship between God and His Children.

God's law is everlasting, it doesn't become extinct. Jesus didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. Christ is the fulfillment of tithe - yes, Christ is tithe.

THE GROWING TITHE

We've established that tithing is expressing the life of Christ in us. Here we apply the principles of the increase of tithing on our understanding in order to see how our tithe grows in Christ. Tithing in Christ does not involve a representative tenth, for we have pass the shadows and we are at the reality. We do not express a tenth of the Christ in us but we express as mush Christ as we can. The more we grow the more of Christ we are able to express. At each stage of our growth we pour out as much Christ as we can. And as we offer up the Christ in us God gives us more grace to express more of Christ, this is how we grow in our tithing.

"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies." (Mal 3:10-12).

If only we understand these verses in the light of the New Covenant. It is such a blessed Scripture, it is the way out of a sinful life, it is the way to glory. Oh! Such glory that would make the world gather around us in wonder and awe of the beauty of God in the midst of His people. It is the way of increasing glory through romance. Our goal is to be like the Son in every way. To live like Jesus lived, to be able to do the things he did and even more. The process of getting to this goal is tithing.

We must not denial God His tithe. He had put Christ in us and we must offer the tithe. The reason why Christians are so poor (spiritually poor of the riches of Christ) is because we don't know how to tithe. We've refuse to express Christ in us yet we cry that darkness is overtaking us. We hid that beautiful Christ in us and we wonder why our life is such a mess. We hold back God's hands and invite the devourer. Our Christian life becomes so shallow and ugly making the world see no beauty in Christianity. We struggle with our lives as Christians and it is because we've refuse to tithe. Our focus have been on other things. We've been to busy with our many theologies and doctrines, our criticism and schism, our rituals and ceremony and all the church routine. As such we couldn't focus on practically expressing Christ.

Oh, that Christians may know the importance of living the life of Christ. How mush emphasis have God put on this one thing yet we prove to be so blind. This is all that matters, this is the essence of the body. A body that can't express the person is dead yet the Church refuses to express Christ, no wonder there is so much deadness among us. We refuse to give life a chance and we are so focus insisting that we must pay a tenth of our income as tithe. So distracted are we that we lose focus on what really matters. All our theological argument and all our doctrinal correctness where has it taken us to?

That we may see that we must pay our tithe but not in the way we use to but in the way it ought to. Christ must reign, he must be the focal of the Church. The Church must be structure in a way that provokes and ensures consistence and growth in our expression of Christ. Let the world see Christ in every believer, let Jesus walk on earth once more but through a larger body. Then we would see the glory of God coming upon us in such mighty waves.

Happy Sunday

Money that you pay to work out your problems.

FIRST FRUIT AND BURNT OFFERING

The principle of first fruit reveals that God must be first in all things concerning us. In the Old Testament the first harvest and the first born of the livestock is offered to God. First fruit is considered very important as most culture of the world put so must emphasis on the first. The first born is the prince and the heir, these carries much significant in the culture and tradition of man. Giving God that which is most dearest to you - that which is first - is a way of honoring Him and acknowledging His Lordship.

Christ is the first born and he is offered onto God. This Christ now lives in us through his Spirit. Therefore we must offer the fruit of the Spirit as First fruit onto God. By doing this we honour Him and acknowledge His Lordship. As a Church we are the first fruit because we are the body of the first born. "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (Jam 1:18). As first fruit we are offered onto God, we are a people that is utterly onto God. When the Church offer themselves complete to God then God is honoured among men and His Lordship would be manifested in this wicked world. If we want to see Christ taking his place as Lord over man and over the world, then we must offer ourselves by submitting complete to God as His people.

"And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD... And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD." (Exo 29:18, 41).

Offerings in the Old Covenant are given very frequently. There are a lot of offerings, especially Burnt offerings. The essence of burnt offerings is so they would be a sweet-smelling aroma onto God. A continual ascendency of a sweet-smelling aroma of offerings is the intercourse and romance of the covenant. As God pours out His blessing upon the people, they continue to allow offerings ascend onto Him in sweet-smelling aroma. Remember these offerings are the representative of the land and it riches. Therefore God blesses the people with the land and it riches and they bless Him back with the sweet-smelling aroma of their offerings. It is a romance, a viscous circle of reckless giving, a continuous intercourse that brings the covenant to it's glory. And the beauty of this intercourse lies in the principle of the tithe.

As the people give the first fruit and a tenth of the little they have, God blesses them making there next tenth larger than the former. And when they give this larger tenth to God, God give them even more blessings. And now they have a greater and larger tenth which they give to God. This cause God to bless them in even greater abundance. The circle continue until the people become so overwhelmed with God's blessing that it becomes so embarrassing that the nations of the world cannot help but notice the glory of the Lord upon them. The Church becomes incurably attractive being filled with the glory of God, for this is the normal state of the Church.

That we might understand this principle as the New Covenant people. That this intercourse and romance might be our life style. Let us continue to explore Christ until we are lost in him, let us carry out our priestly ministry, let us offer the first fruit and let our lives be a burnt offering, a sweet-smelling aroma onto God. Our lives becomes a sweet-smelling aroma ascending continuously onto God when we live a life that continuously expresses Christ.

[url]hiswordxray..com[/url]

Nice write up

RoyWealth:
Nice write up

Thanks.
You can read more Christ centered teaching here :
[url]hiswordxray..com[/url]

Modern day extortion

Tithe is a system that encourages the pastors to exploit their members legally and in the name of God

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