New Testament Giving And Modern-day Teaching On Giving: As Prominent Preachers Make U-Turn

Some days ago, I was browsing through the internet when I came across an interesting news headline, “Bishop Mike Okonkwo Totally Rubbishes Tithing In New Video.” Upon sighting this, at first, I thought the story was another cheap work of contemptible bloggers seeking to gain traffic to their sites. But the video clip convinced me. I sought, found, and viewed the video clip myself. The respectable ‘firebrand’ preacher who has plied the trade for many years now openly accepted that regarding message on tithing he had once sold the wrong stuff to his numerous audiences. His words: “The first mention of tithe, there was no curse in it. Abraham gave the tithe of all to Melchizedek which was before the law. There was no curse and he did it willingly. “I have frightened the church with curses for not paying tithes and that was because I didn’t know any better. “You know we conjure all kinds of semantics like, ‘If you don’t pay your tithe, your life will be tight,’ and the people pay out of fear without God’s blessing. “God wants you to pay tithe out of love, it shouldn’t be about the money but about Jesus.” I must confess I’ve come to love this man very dearly. Not many would accept to swallow their pride and come out publicly to own up for their mistake, just the way he has done.

Yet, he is not the only Nigerian ‘celebrity’ preacher in recent times to have openly own up selling, in the past, erroneous teachings to worshipers. In as much as I commend them for taking the Bull by the horn in their bid to rewrite wrongs committed in the past, yet this development since it started has really got me thinking. If this message on tithing, which they once preached with deep fervency, has turned out now to be wrong doctrine, how sure, then, are we that those other messages they sold the public were not wrong after all? Could it be that all the while, they were merely doing their own thing, just mere mouth business, and in the way they thought was very pleasing to their numerous ignorant worshipers? Could it be that they were never following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ all these years? Jesus couldn’t have said YES today and NO tomorrow. His words on every issue remain YEA AND AMEN. Could it be that they never cared to listen to and learn from the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, whom they had always claimed lived in and spoke to them? Could it be that they had all along busied themselves copying each other’s errors and exporting same to ignorant sheeples? I had always feared that this whole thing might be just what another Pentecostal bishop termed it, MOUTH BUSINESS. Nonetheless, I reiterate my hearty commendation of the bishop and others like him who have publicly accepted their mistakes. I salute their courage and admire their public show of repentance on such a sensitive issue as this. No doubt, the Good Lord will look on them with mercy. I pray that these other jet-flying brethren and Daddy G.Os would borrow a leaf from them and make a U-turn as well, especially the Warri-based cleric, who, recently, was captured in a video threatening his own members with death should they decline tithe payment to him. I didn’t blame him when I first heard that from him. After all, another general election is by the corner and some people might be in need to service their airplanes for lease, should there be need for importation of sensitive election materials.

In another video gone viral on the internet, the same highly celebrated preacher, former President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and founder of TREM also publicly denounced and termed as misleading the typical message of doom for believers who do not observe FIRST FRUITS seed sowing. What is FIRST FRUIT seed sowing? This is the act of surrendering to your pastor or priests all your profits and or salary for the month of January of each year, in a bid to obtain blessings from God for the New Year. Lol… sounds ridiculous, isn’t it? Funny enough, this Machiavellian practice has dominated the pulpit in almost all Churches and prayer ministries today. Again, the courageous bishop hit the nail right on the head. He didn’t mince words in his condemnation of this heinous crime against love and conscience. Uncurbed spiritual charlatanry in the Body of Christ gave rise to all these monstrosities being practiced by today’s greedy ‘Men of gold’(they are not men of God, for gold is their god) who indulge in, promote, and sell to their members all manner of satanic stuffs under the guise of gospel message. How in the world did we get here?! Who bewitched us? The fact is that these rubbishes thrive simply because people patronize these criminals robbing people with microphone and Bible. Stupidity can make people do unprintable things all in the name of obeying Jesus-- the same Jesus who never tricked anyone into surrendering their monies and property to him; the same Jesus who didn’t allow his apostles carry extra bags on their first try in the evangelical work; the same Jesus who urged them to give freely as they had received freely; the same Jesus who instructed them to accept only what was presented them freely and nothing more. Yet, his apostles who handed to us this gospel, they never preached claiming testimonies with money. They rather preached willful and cheerful giving; and even when one Simon wanted to ‘claim his own testimony’ with his money, the Rock seriously rebuked him on the grounds that one cannot buy God’s gift with money.

I thank God that Truth is finally finding its way back to the Body of Christ. Silence in the face of evil is the most wicked thing to do, and those who do that, no matter what their reasons are, are the true perpetrators of evil. The point is that people like the bishop who has come out to acknowledge that he was in error, and retraced his steps, may not have known that they were dwelling in error and teaching same, had it not been for the public outcry, which began about two years ago against greedy men of gold on tithing and seed sowing. Since the last two years, when the social media campaign against wrong doctrines on tithe/seed sowing collection in today’s Church began to gain steam, some renowned pastors, both within and outside the country have taken a bold step to publicly denounce their previous misleading messages on the subjects while also accepting the fact that believers are not cursed in anyway simply because they couldn’t pay up their tithes and or sow endless seeds of faith to their pastors or priests. I remember someone once confided in me that she had to stop going to church because at some point in her life, her finances took a sharp decline and in consequence, she couldn’t pay up her tithes anymore.

Somehow, many years ago, the big lies about tithing vis-a-vis its incontestable power to cause open doors resulting to wealth inflow for the complying believer as well as its ability to effect the opposite for the non complying believer, managed to steal their way into many Church pulpits. Many Pastors and Priests apply various semantics and threatening talks to instill fear in their listeners so as to move them to give their hard earned money without applying reason. Semantics and threatening words like, “if you don’t tithe your pocket will get tight and dry” if you don’t tithe God will curse your finances and shut heaven’s windows against you,” the latter obviously extracted from Malachi 3:10, “if you don’t tithe your ways will remain tight” etc became the message in many churches and prayer ministries. This is even as, lack, sickness and other understandable challenges of life still visit both tithe paying believers and non-tithe paying ones. There have been cases where hardship has forced even tithe paying believers to question God about his promise to open up windows of heaven for them. Once I listened with nostalgia as a fellow, he actually wallows in culpable ignorance and operates on such nauseating impressionist basis, barraged his listeners with curses purportedly from God because they weren’t forthcoming with their tithes and offerings. At some point in the meeting, I literally slipped through the back door to a lonely place where I engaged in prayer to be canceling his bombardment of curses as he rained them on the audience. I couldn’t believe that such a person who claims to be hearing from Holy Spirit and is being led by him could be so ignorant of the fact that the New Testament(covenant) worship of God has a greater and more deeper approach cum realistic implication to it, centering majorly on FREEDOM of will, true and personal relationship with the true God, than the Old Testament (covenant) worship, laced with dos and don’ts, compelling as it was, which were mere types and shadows meant to hold the forth until the time of the Messiah, who would fulfill all things and set in a new covenant for God’s people. The NT approach to giving is non-compelling and does not attract any curse to it. Rather believers are urged to give freely out of love, according to their earnings and in cheerfulness, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made(1 Cor.16:2), “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor.9:7). The fellow in question, and others like him, perhaps has not read these Scriptures before. Yet in as much as the NT giving does not compel us to give, we receive in the same way as we give, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Cor.9:6), “ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38). So out of ignorance he took out time touring through the OT and citing quotations suggesting curses for those who don’t pay up their tithes regularly. Yet I waited for him to tell the people the injunction by God in the same OT, that the people should bring their tithes and eat it in his presence. Perhaps he and other tithe advocates may also have to explain to the people the meaning of the scripture, "You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always” (Deu. 14:23-29). God bless you.
By Rev. Br. Ken Alamezie, BSS