A nice piece. Quite instructive. Thanks.

stillwater:

According to Hebrews 7, Jesus is now our high priest according to Melchizedek's priesthood.

So how can you give to Jesus? Do you know why the very elect will not make heaven? This is why.

All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right side. But the goats he will put on his left. “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’ “Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me, you who will receive terrible things. Go into the unending fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels. I was hungry and you didn’t give me food to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me anything to drink. I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothes to wear. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ "Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t do anything to help you?’ Then he will answer, ‘I assure you that when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you haven’t done it for me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous ones will go into eternal life." (Matthew 25:32-46 CEB)

Give to Jesus your high priest by attending to the needy around you.
This is the way Jesus told us to give.
Churches today prioritize on the rich, rather on the poor.
All Jesus' teachings is fixated on the poor among you.
These days pastors take from the poor.

Even if you want to follow the old covenant of tithing, churches are doing it wrongly according to Deuteronomy 14:22-29. You are to take your ten percent and feast in the place The Lord your God has given unto you with your household. Don't forget the Levites though because they have no inheritance (pastors have inheritance today and are even richer than their congregation). They should join in the feasting. And you do this yearly, not monthly, or weekly.
After 3 years, that year's tithe should be shared among the Levites, the poor, the widows etc.
Churches do not preach this.
So if at all you want to tithe, it's best you do it well.

You said it all. Thank you. You have really discovered the heart of God (Jesus) concerning giving.

stillwater: In addition to what I wrote, pastors today refer to themselves as Levites and explain it as them taking the place of priesthood today. (That is even a false doctrine on it's own because Jesus only has taken up the mantle of priesthood according to Hebrews 7, but I digress. Pastors are synonymous to Bishops in the bible not priests 1 Timothy 3 ) Remember The Levites were a tribe in Israel. Not everyone was a priest. According to wiki- these are the duties of a Levites, some are priests, some maintained the temple, some sang.

Kohath's son Amram was the father of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The descendants of Aaron: the Kohanim ("Priests", had the special role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also in the Temple in Jerusalem. The remaining Levites (Levi'yim in Hebrew), divided into three groups (the descendants of Gershon, or Gershonites, the descendants of Kohath, or Kohathites, and the descendants of Merari, or Merarites) each filled different roles in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple services.

Levites' principal roles in the Temple included singing Psalms during Temple services, performing construction and maintenance for the Temple, serving as guards, and performing other services. Levites also served as teachers and judges, maintaining cities of refuge in Biblical times. The Book of Ezra reports that the Levites were responsible for the construction of the Second Temple and also translated and explained the Torah when it was publicly read.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levite

A biblical reference - Remember the Good Samaritan story, a priest passed the dying man, a Levite passed too, Luke 10:25-37. Why was there need to separate the priest from the levite? My point is Levites are not only priests. They are also people who maintain the temple, sing psalms. Just as we have today those who maintain the church, the socalled workers in the church etc.

Now if we are to apply this to today, Pastors who have assumed the position of so called priesthood, have hoarded tithes to themselves or rather the 'church' forgetting those who maintain the church, the choir, the security guard at the church gates. A lot of these people do not get paid. It shouldn't even be about getting paid. It's their right as today's Levites as our pastors preach. How many Christians have blessed that woman that comes to clean the bathrooms.

If you still insist on tithing even if I believe we are no more obliged to but to give to the poor and needy, then do it right.

Let the pastor share the tithes among the workers in the church.

I am so happy many people are knowing the truth eventually. We must continue to blow the trumpet until everybody is aware. Jesus himself emphasized giving to the poor. We must give regularly but it must not be out of compulsion or a threat of being cursed. God loves a cheerful giver. All pastors who emphasize tithing are but LOVERS OF MONEY.

defemz: What many proponent of tithing fail to realize is that Jesus Christ lived in the old testament time when the new covenant had not taken effect. This is because he needed to shed his blood and resurrect before the new covenant could take effect. That is what he told peter saying

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. "
please note here the church of Jesus was not built or established until his death and resurection. That was why he was speaking to pharisees that they may pay tithes because the new testament had not yet come into effect. Please everybody should note that the new covenant only came into effect after the crufixion and resurection of Jesus Christ. You will note that after Christ death and resurection was when his church was established. That was when the mode of giving changed. New testament Christians are to give willingly and not out of compulsion but cheerfully for God love a cheerful giver.

Absolutely true bro. Thanks for this post. God bless you.

@Goshen I greatly enjoyed ur systematic argument. U ar absolutely correct. I have been carefully studying d difference d Old n New covenants n I discovered exactly what u've discovered. It's amazing n shocking d high level of ignorance on d part of christians about these truths, simply becoz we don't carefully study our Bibles. Giving is d only thing emphasized under d New covenant, which was enacted by Jesus' death n announced on d day of pentecost. Tell me from d scriptures just one Apostle of Jesus dt collected tithes or taught dt taught dt tithe should be paid. Check ur Bibles, frm d day of Pentecost in Acts to Revelation, there's no verse that say tithe should a paid. Paul collected offerings 4 d less privileged n 4 himself, bt he never collected tithes. How many preachers 2day emphasize giving 2 d less privileged as strong as they do about tithing.Pls @Goshen, continue d good work. U can send me more materials on ds topic via lugaternen@yahoo.com. U can also listen 2 Bro Zac Poonen on this topic on Youtube by typing his name n d topic or visiting his website www.cfcindia.com. As 4 those doubting n arguing against this, I always say those who have no time 2 study d Bible carefully 4 themselves n ar not humble 2 b taught by those who have d revelation d truth DESERVE 2 b DECEIVED. Stay blessed.

Moxilla firefox is d fastest on my PC. O boy, that guy does wonders 4me.

Why not employ first and later make the employees register n take d ASCON Exam, instead of making applicants pay and sit 4 an exam when they aren't sure of being employed?

This is a great reminder @op. God bless you sir.

German sand, SP i.e Students' power, n Cassaflakes were d names we called garri during my undergraduate days.

Jesus Christ. Without His love 4me life would have been so boring despite my riches n people around. None of these can give me hope of eternal life.

omicron: many things can explain this and most of them are beyond the scope of this thread

No. If u read my first post well, you will see I made a difference between those that speak English as a first language and those that speak it as a second language. The former group acquired the ability to speak it as part of a normal development of the child, in the same any child will speak their language of rearing fluently. The latter group are the group we should be concerned with, those that had to 'learn' English through a conscious effort. Members of this group who speak and understand it better are more ingelligent than the others, if all other variables remain constant. Eg, if we were taught that 'was' should be used in the past tense, and I remember and use this knowledge better than you, is this not a function of more intelligence...again, if other variables are the same?

I love your arguments. They make a lof of sense. I consider you intelligent too.

GOOOOAAAAAL!!!! Nigeria has equalized. Nigeria 1 - 1 kenya

The battle is gonna b really tough but I think MUFC will win bcoz of home advantage. D goals difference will b 1, i.e 1-0 or 2-1 in favor of MUFC.

I got exactly the same e-mail. It's just an acknowledgment of their receiving our applications. But I also strongly believe that those who got the mail would be shortlisted for the test. so, if u have an idea of how the test would look like, pls share it to keep all of us updated. Thanks and wish all of us the very best.

Me n my wife lead as prompted by d Holy Spirit on a daily basis.

I got the message too. please let's share what to expect in their aptitude test here. Pray all of us will be shortlisted for the test. Wish all of us good luck.