The "Storehouse Tithing" heresy is nothing more than bondage, Jesus came to set you free
"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7 (KJV)
In his May 17th, 2015 morning church service, Rick Warren put the shackles of bondage firmly around his congregation and proceeded to assault them with a devilish mixture of intimidation, scripture twisting and begging for them to "tithe" 10 percent of their weekly incomes to him for the next three years. Yeah, just let that sink in for just a moment. Mad yet? If you're not, then you don't know your Bible.
Rick Warren's main verse for this heresy is found in Malachi 3:8-10 where we read the following:
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me,even this whole nation. 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." Malachi 3:8-10 (KJV)
Now that all sounds well and good, and certainly there is a spiritual application for the Christian Church, but as doctrine this is not a command to Christians living in the age of Grace. Paul, our apostle, never once gave this command to any Christian. Paul's command is found at the top of this article. The verses in Malachi were written to Jews under the Law of Moses, and as such do not apply to us.
Leaving Malachi, Warren then proceeds to the New Testament where Jesus is giving commands to the Jews in the Sermon on the Mount. Again, these are not doctrinal verses for the Christian Church. The people in Matthew 6 were waiting on a Kingdom on earth, and a King. The Christian is waiting for neither of those. We are a Bride awaiting the call of our Husband to bring us to Heaven for the Marriage Supper. Huge difference. God wrote the Bible dispensationally, and rightly dividing your Bible quickly clears all these things up. Rightly dividing also a command to the Christian from Paul found in 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV).
Yes, all churches and ministries need money to operate. NTEB is no different. It costs us over $20,000 a year to bring the ministry to you, and if people didn't give and if we didn't run ads we couldn't keep doing it. But when you get to the end of Warren's video and he is telling his congregation that "people won't be in Heaven because you didn't tithe 10% of your income" for 36 months, well that's not only nonsense, and unbiblical, it's a blatant attempt to extort his people into giving. God doesn't need any of us to get anything done. Yes, He is pleased to use us but we are not required. And no one will "miss Heaven" because someone didn't put money in the offering plate. That's a lie, but sadly in the bible-deficient age we live in people keep falling for it over and over and over again.
If you attend a good, Bible believing church, then give them whatever is in your heart to give. Be generous with the money God has given you. But don't ever give to any person, church or ministry that threatens you with spiritual blackmail if you don't give. No church that God wanted open has ever closed because of a lack of giving, and never will.
If you really want to give something of value, give your time. Go to the streets on a beautiful Saturday when you could be at the beach and
hand out gospel tracts. Volunteer at a homeless shelter, go sing in a nursing home for the old and the sick, offer to clean the bathrooms at your church. Give something that costs you something. Anyone can give money. Jesus never had any money, He gave Himself.
Go thou and do likewise....
No comments:
Post a Comment