In my book, Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway, I explain in detail how God’s tithe was commuted from agricultural products to cold hard cash as means to support the institutional church. The only way to conclude if tithing is in fact money, requires an in-depth study of the Hebrew language as it relates to the original meaning of the word. Here is a short excerpt detailing the colossal deception that took place centuries ago.
“The Catholic Encyclopedia is very explicit in admitting they changed the tithe to money by stating, “―As the Church expanded and various institutions arose, it became necessary to make laws which would insure the proper and permanent support of the clergy. The payment of tithes was adopted from the Old Law…The earliest positive legislation on the subject seems to be contained in the letter of the bishops assembled at Tours in 567 and the [canons] of the Council of Macon in 585.” So we begin to see how this unscriptural law of Christian tithing crept into the church after being absent for nearly five centuries. Eventually the church “extended” their base of tithe collecting to include all forms of income. It took over 700 years after the death and resurrection of the Messiah for money tithing to become a stronghold and an accepted erroneous doctrine in the church. So the question becomes, how many years will it take to reverse this false teaching that you must tithe or be cursed by God. If you want to know the truth about the food tithe to money change, follow the money train of the Catholic Church.” Excerpt From: Dr. Frank Chase, Jr., Th.D. “Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Away/” iBooks.
What will it take to help people understand tithing scripture and its proper interpretation? First there must be a willingness to throw off doctrine that does not hold up to the scrutiny of scripture, hermeneutics and balanced exegesis. Most tithing interpretation is based on “eisegesis which is the process of misinterpreting a text or portion of text in such a way that it introduces one’s own presuppositions, agendas, and/or biases into and onto the text. The act is often used to ‘prove’ a pre-held point of concern to the reader or listener and to provide him or her with confirmation bias in accordance with his or her pre-held agenda.” Excerpt From: Dr. Frank Chase, Jr., Th.D. “Kleptomaniac.” iBooks. I call this type of biblical interpretation parrot theology. As the masses get repetitively indoctrinated about monetary tithing down through the centuries, they become theological disarmed and natural investigative inquiry becomes dull making them susceptible to erroneous biblical teaching no matter what the subject matter is. This is what happened to me for decades, and even though I suspected something was quite not right with paying ten percent of my income to the church in perpetuity, I emotionally and theologically suspended my suspicions about monetary tithing. I became captured by the pulpit promises of great wealth and heath prosperity that God would flood my life with abundance by pay ten percent of my income. In fact the opposite happen, and my financial life went into a tail spin waiting on God to open the windows of heaven to pour out blessings that I would not have room enough to receive. Can you imagine the emotional aftermath when you discover that all monetary tithing misinformation from the Bible is not true. The experience affected me so much that I started dealing with religious trauma syndrome. I suffered financial ruin for decades but recovered but I’m still trying to recover emotionally to this day.
Most pastors use what is called iconography to paint mental pictures or persuade people in church that the biblical storehouse for tithes is somehow actually the modern mega church building. They do this by associating everything in current culture related to the church building with God’s house. So the imagery in the mind of church people is that people in Israel brought wads of money to the temple at a tithe. The concept of a church building where tithes are brought has no connection to the biblical storehouse because the storehouse in the scripture is totally different than what the church calls storehouse. Using mental imagery is powerful because it sets up a strong delusion and mental and emotional connection to a doctrine that ultimately becomes a tradition of men that replaces actual biblical tradition. Just saying tithes are a tenth of a persons income over and over again down through the centuries from generation to generation without push back makes the belief quasi-biblical because its alway been done that way without anyone ever questioning its authenticity.
The meaning of words can have a powerful impact on someone’s belief system, actions and the decisions they make. The word tithe for me was scary because I spent my entire life in church trying to avoid being cursed by God by paying tithes even when I knew deep down something was not right about this biblical teaching.
“The storehouse imprint on the psyche of people as the church building with a steeple is the image many money-tithing believers cling to. The storehouse in the Bible does not refer to a church building. What is the storehouse in the Bible? The meaning depends on the context of Scripture. The Hebrew word for storehouse is “owstar” or “o-tsawr.” It means a depository, a treasure from Strong’s #214. It is also from Strong’s #686, which is “osar,” a root that implies to store up, to lay up in store. Storehouse has several meanings in the Hebrew language; the word appears 79 times in 70 verses in the KJV of the Bible. However, this book will not explore each verse, but that is something worth perusing in personal study. Based on the Hebrew language, the only meaning for storehouse referenced in Malachi refers to a place, which stores food and drink rather than money. The storehouse in Jerusalem adjoined the temple and it is where the Jews and perhaps the Levites brought the tithe of corn, oil, barley, wine, cattle and flock if they lived close. When the temple was destroyed in AD 70, tithing effectively ended. The purpose of the storehouse was for the sustenance of the priests and the Levites not for the upkeep and funding of church ministries.” Excerpt From: Dr. Frank Chase, Jr., Th.D. “Kleptomaniac.” iBooks.
Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway Award Winning Book
The Tithe, Storehouse and Church
The tithe and the storehouse
So why is monetary tithing so important to church leaders? The simple answer is mortgages. Churches are slaves to the banks because the borrowed money to build a building and the congregation is the collateral because they pay for the building with their tithe coming form the paycheck. A church member is collateral to the back. The pastor put your paycheck up as a means to pay back the bank. But there are other biblical reasons why money is so important to the church when its existence is solely based on cash. Here are some biblical reason why money is important.
The Book of Micah Reveals That Money Became Important For Snake Oil Prophets, Judges and Priests
The book of Micah reveals a startling condition that existed among Israel and the patterns are much like today’s Christian leadership in the body of Christ. Money becomes the all important priority and getting it by any means necessary is paramount. The scriptures reveal the method employed to get money from the congregation. This should be a warning to all pastors, preachers and elders and all who call themselves leaders. Don’t become a snake oil ministry.
Micah 3:11 says, “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? None evil can come upon us.
- For certain money became important in three ways, for reward, for hire and for prophecy. In other words paying for prophecies. Isn’t that much like today? People are still paying for prophecies today through Christian television and tithes because you expect the windows of heaven to open and drop manifold cash on you.
- The Jewish Bible says this, “Her [Jerusalem] leaders sell verdicts for a bribes, her cohanim teach for a price, her prophets divine for money— yet they claim to rely on Adonai! Isn’t Adonai here with us? They say. No evil can come upon us.”
- The Learning Bible says, “You leaders accept bribes for dishonest decisions. You priests and prophets teach and preach but only for money.
- The Leaders “Judge for reward” Reward in the Hebrew is Shachad. Strong’s 7810. TWOT 2359a says reward are acts of the judges/leaders accepting bribes, presents, gifts. In essence selling verdicts like the Jewish bible states.
- The “Priest teach for Hire” This act of Priest [today pastors] teaching for hire is rampant today. Hire in the Hebrew is Strong’s 4242, “mechiyr.” This idea here is the priest would name his price to give a word or teach God people. In other word selling his messages to the highest bidder. This is still happening today. The TWOT is 1185c. The idea is the congregation had to buy for a price, the priest sold or put a worth on his teaching of the TORAH for gain. Imagine, OT Levite Priests preaching for gain just like many do today. The priest became hirelings.
- “Divine for money” The Hebrew word here is still Keceph, Silver, Strong’s 3701. The context here is clear. Prophets were selling prophecies for money.
- This context proves, Pastors, Leaders in Religious circles can be swayed by the lure of money.
- In essence, the Judges, Priests, and Prophets of the OT were making Merchandise of God’s people and the New Testament confirms this behavior continued in NT in 2 Peter 2:3 “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
- The Learning Bible (CEV) says it this way to drive home the point, “They will be greedy and cheat you with smooth talk. …” In essence these false people come from within and without wherever money can be made by selfish gain and commercialization of Christianity.
- The Jewish Bible says, “In their greed they will exploit you with fabricated stories….”
- The exploitation of God’s people continues with the modern day Tithe system wherestories are told of how millions are being blessed financially with overrunning wealth, health and what is not mentioned are the hundreds of millions who tithe money and are still broke and don’t know why.
The everlasting argument Bible theologians, scribes, pastors, Christians and those who investigate biblical history and archeology is whether we can say with certainty that biblical people tithed money or crops or both. What was money in the Bible used for? Was there ever an instance where money was paid as a tithe? Or did Yahweh ever commute the crop, cattle, grain, herd and flock tithe to money? We know in the OT that the words money and tithe are mentioned but not as interchangeable entities. They are not the same? The are 140 scripture references to money and what know is God never commanded money as a tithe, but did say who the tithe would go as an inheritance, and they were the Levites and priests, and the poor and the tither could eat their tithes.
Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway is available in signed paperback or ebook from the Author. Click HERE
There is a wealth of information that will educate the masses if they simply took the time to study God’s tithing laws in the scripture. I finally realized that I was not cursed with a curse by God for not paying tithes. The guilt that captured me is now long gone but not before is caused a lot of damage in my life and in some ways the lives and futures of my children. I felt so dumb at how i fell into a spiritual manipulation trap pertaining to money, blessings and abundance. The financial loss i suffered can never be recouped so I must learn recover and start a new way of living. To this day, I am grateful that I decided to turn my initial power point point tithing study into the well researched biblical analysis that expounds on the concept of tithing the way God defined it in the scriptures.
The process of letting go of the monetary doctrine of tithing was not easy and it came at a cost. A loss of fellowship, friendship and a lot of hurt. Every intention I made during this tithing saga was from my heart. I studied hard and long on tithing and wanted be wrong as two left shoes but the more I studied tithing the truth became clearer and clearer. I could no longer betray myself by continuing a practice that was not on the pages of the Bible, so I officially resigned from tithing in an official letter to my church. It has been ten years since I left the institutional church but it still feels like I left yesterday. I feel it necessary to share my original tithe resignation letter for readers to know where I was coming from in my theological shift. Here is the letter: Official Tithe Resignation Letter
Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway is also available on other platforms in ebook and paperback, scan the QR code below:
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