i have read so many posts on this forum about tithing, first-fruit and giving to the poor. i cannot but notice the fierce arguments that has taken place as a result of this topic.

i can identify with some people that are enraged at the flamboyant lifestyles of some of our MOGs while some members of their churches languish in poverty. as a result of this, some people think giving to the church in form of tithes, firstfruits and others should be diverted to the less privileged and the poor in the society.

in the old testament, God ordained the act of alms giving so that the poor can be catered for in the society:

Lev 19:10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

similarly, God ordained the act of giving to the temple and the priests for the upkeep of the temple and its workers:

Deu 18:1 The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.
Deu 18:2 Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.
Deu 18:3 And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.
Deu 18:4 The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.

from these two simple verses you would notice that it was the duty of the people (israelites) to take care of the poor as well as the priests and the temple.

but whenever these people deviate from God's instructions, He always reminded:

Mal 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Mal 3:11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

when Jesus came, taking care of the poor was paramount on his mind:
Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

similarly, God expects us in our today church to take care of the poor as well as the church and its workers.
Act 4:36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Act 4:37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

above all these, God's divine plan concerning His kids is:
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

what Jesus showed us was that the poor can come out of his poverty simply by receiving the Word of God. what God desires is to deposit His word inside you cos with His word you can produce anything. Jesus demonstrated this as he fed the crowd with two fishes and five loaves of bread by simply speaking to the food (matt. 14:14-21).

the primary duty of the church to the world today is to preach the gospel, spread the good news that Jesus died and is risen so the poor can receive the gospel and never remain poor again:
Act 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Act 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Act 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
Act 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

Jesus did not only die to make us heavenly citizens but to make us masters over life circumstances and situations as well. the church is not a gathering of victims but victors. we cannot neglect our primary focus of propagating the good news and serve tables cos in the gospel is the poor provisions.
2Co 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

giving to the poor is encouraged but more importantly is giving to the gospel that has been given to us to eradicate all forms of poverty.

bros your post long but i love the way you finished it.

you cannot take the law into your hands by giving what is expected to the church to the poor.

the gospel today is simple, get out of your poverty cos Jesus paid for everything your poverty inclusive!

even the so called poor can be fictitious just to rip others off.

thanks bro for the message. God bless you

[/quote]n the old testament, God ordained the act of alms giving so that the poor can be catered for in the society:

Lev 19:10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
[quote]

I know the point you are trying to make here.By this quotation you are implying in the OT the poor only benefited from alms.This is very far from the truth because the poor also partook of tithes alongside levites,strangers and widows.You can read up deut 14:28-29 and deut 26:12 for clarifications.

From what I have been reading in this forum no one is saying we should stop assisting churches rather the emphasis is on freewill giving not compulsory tithing since we are no longer under the now obsolete mosaic law.when people keep mentioning malachi what they fail to realise was that malachi was not preaching a new law but was only preaching compliance with the now obsolete mosaic law of tithing which no longer applies to us

Another of your claim I want to disclaim is that all born again christians are meant to be rich.This is a distortion of the scriptures.Even st Paul in spite of all his hard work was not a rich man

Everything has its place. We give to the poor and we give to the gospel. These are just few among the numerous givings ordained In the bible, different givings have their different blessings . One should not take place of the other.

Giving to the poor is an integral part of the gospel.

Pastor Kun: Giving to the poor is an integral part of the gospel.

It's a good thing but not an integral part of the gospel, except 'integral' has gotten a new meaning.

According to the Gospel of God,the poor are those who have not recieved the Good news.so when we give to the Gospel,simultaneously the poor have been taken care off.

James 1:27
Pure, unstained religion, according to God our Father, is to take care of orphans
and widows

The biblical quote aboves makes it care that taking care of the poor is the kernel of the christian gospel.

Wow, I wonder why you all by force tithers who ignore the poor always ignore Mattew 25 vs 31 where Jesus made it clear that giving to the poor was a prerequisite for going to heaven, GIVING TO THE POOR and NOT TITHE PAYING
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

You, your Bible and your God. . .are ALL on your own.
You ain't smelling a red cent from my purse.
Same goes for your poor too!

GO AND WORK FOR YOUR OWN MONEY!!!!

Preaching the gospel should be a part time job or a hobby at best.

Your God is not so powerless and can do for himeself without your 'social gathering' on Earth.

For me I strongly believe in giving to the gospel AND to the poor and needy.
It is not a matter of 'OR'. We are to do both.

There are so many needs on every front and I always pray the Lord Jesus make me a channel of blessing to meet His need in every area by His grace.

Also Deutronomy 14 vs 27 is also convienently excluded: 27And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.


29And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

This is the sharing formular for tithes, you can give either the a Levite ( Priest), Widows, orphans and Stranger. Why do the pastors want to guzzle it all alone?

^^^
Cos of greed

Image123:
It's a good thing but not an integral part of the gospel, except 'integral' has gotten a new meaning.

Olodo, I was going to refer you to James 1:27 but I see chukwudi as already done that. I hope you opened your thick skull and learnt something from that verse.

Pastor Kun:

Olodo, I was going to refer you to James 1:27 but I see chukwudi as already done that. I hope you opened your thick skull and learnt something from that verse.

Religion is good especially pure religion. But religion is not the gospel. i don't need to remind you of your blindness kunle, do i?

chukwudi44: James 1:27
Pure, unstained religion, according to God our Father, is to take care of orphans
and widows

The biblical quote aboves makes it care that taking care of the poor is the kernel of the christian gospel.

Adulterated quote i should add. Here's the real thing.
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27).

@ Image123 and Pastor Kun,

Una don start dey fight abi? Make una stop NOW b4 i give two of una knock for head, lol

Simply kweshion, simple answer. Support that gospel and also give to the poor. Very simple as John 3:16 or Gen 1:1. Am sure all of una can quote that as easy as anything.

Shalom!

goshen360: @ Image123 and Pastor Kun,

Una don start dey fight abi? Make una stop NOW b4 i give two of una knock for head, lol

Simply kweshion, simple answer. Support that gospel and also give to the poor. Very simple as John 3:16 or Gen 1:1. Am sure all of una can quote that as easy as anything.

Shalom!

Knocki ke? i don gentle o! Don't mind that kunle of a boy. Infact, don't mind us. The two should be supported, gosh.

@ chukwudi44

Another of your claim I want to disclaim is that all born again christians are meant to be rich.This is a distortion of the scriptures.Even st Paul in spite of all his hard work was not a rich man

your comment here is a clear indication that you have not caught the true meaning of riches as described in the Word.

a rich man according to the Word is someone who is able to produce anything he needs by using the Word cos what God wants is His Word rooted in your spirit. when the Word is deeply rooted in your spirit, you do not lack anything in life.

you can amass all you want but will remain miserable but you cannot receive the Word into you and remain miserable or discouraged. money in the hands of a child of God is a tool to attain so many other things for the kingdom.

the church has not neglected its function today but some churches have totally relegated taking care of the poor and widows to the background.

but on the other hand, some people disguise themselves as poor or widow just to rip the church off.

well my question is who is the poor? how do you describe the poor? who qualifies as the poor?