THE COMPONENT OF OWNERSHIP

THE COMPONENT OF OWNERSHIP

Every Sunday in churches all over Christendom, from untold thousands of Christians worldwide the offering plate passes by and a "tithe" is dropped in. Sadly, no one ever seems to ask; "who owns this tithe?" What right do you have to take it or have it? 

Why ask such a question? Answer; because unless your church, your pastor or you and your ministry owns the tithe, and can prove you or they own it, you have NO RIGHT TO TAKE IT. It's not yours, not theirs to take. 

Within the scriptures concerning tithing, there is the concept, a component of ownership of the tithe. Someone owns it. Tithing teachers typically refer to scriptures such as Malachi 3:10 when calling for tithes to be paid to them. Yet the tithe was and remains the property of the Levites; it was given to them by God, it was not given to you, your church or your ministry...

God owned the tithe and gave it to the Levites;

Leviticus 27:30 - "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD."

Given to...

Numbers 18:20-24 - "And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance."

TAKE THE TITHE

Notice in the following scriptures that the Levites were commanded by God to "take the tithe." Why an emphasis on "taking the tithe?" Because the tithe was not a "love gift," not given under grace, not a free will offering, not voluntarily given, it was the property of the Levites and theirs to take by command of God...

Hebrews 7:5 - "And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to TAKE tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:"

Nehemiah 10:38 - "And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites TAKE tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house."

Numbers 18:26 - "Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye TAKE of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe."

If a church, pastor or any ministry has no command from God to take tithes, of which they in fact do not have, they're taking what is not theirs and that is called THIEVERY. They are THIEVES ROBBING THE PEOPLE. There exists no Biblical record of God taking the tithe from the Levites and giving the tithe to anyone else.

AN ANSWER TO THOSE SEEKING YOUR "TITHE"

Next time your pastor or church asks for a tithe, or tells you that you must tithe; ask them to show you in scripture where they own the tithe. They won't be able to because it's not their property, NEVER GIVEN TO THEM BY GOD, and they have no right to take any tithe from anyone. So, feel free to send them this...

God gave the tithe to the Levites, it was their personal property to take (Hebrews 7:5), THEY OWN IT; God said it was and remains THEIRS to take (Nehemiah 10:38, Numbers 18:21-24).

Please show me IN SCRIPTURE where God has taken the tithe from the Levites and given it to any organization, or church or any ministry; Chapter and verse, requested...

ref.:

Numbers 18:21 - "And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation."

Numbers 18:24 - "But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance."

CAN YOU PRODUCE SCRIPTURE?

Where does the Bible give you, pastor, the right to receive a tithe? God gave the tithe to the Levites. Where did God take the tithe from the Levites and give it to you or your church?

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Copyright 2023, Anthony Todd, All rights reserved. Permission to copy and distribute this article must be obtained in writing from Tithing Study Online.

Permission can be requested at: tithingstudyonline@gmail.com. Upon permission to do so, it is granted under the strict condition that no content of any article be removed or altered, and that all articles are to remain intact as is when used. You must include a notation that any article distributed originated from Tithing Study Online, and include our blog URL as: https://ExaminingTithingDeceptions.blogspot.com

The Establishment of Tithing; not of Jacob or Abraham

The Establishment of Tithing; not of Jacob or Abraham.

NO WHERE in the Bible does God cite Jacob or Abraham as a reason to tithe, or an example of tithing...

Tithing teachers often try to convince their followers that they are to tithe citing the tithing mentioned by Jacob (a promise he made to God of which we have no evidence that he kept), and the one time tithe Abraham gave to Melchizedek consisting of the spoils of war he made no claim of ownership of.

The fallacy of these two examples, Jacob and Abraham, is that God neither used Jacob's promise to tithe, nor Abraham's tithe, to establish and require anyone else to tithe, neither by commandment or by example. 

Nowhere does the Bible command anyone to tithe because of Abraham or Jacob. The Bible simply makes NO direct reference to either stating that ANYONE should tithe because of them.

I have often asked tithing supporters this question when they claim that Abraham tithed before the Law; "How does Abraham's tithing before the Law IN FACT prove that we should be tithing after the Law?" I am yet to get an answer based on scripture. Actually, I am yet to get any answer at all except "I don't know." They are correct; they don't know, but that is what they were taught, that "we should tithe because Abraham did." 

It is interesting to observe that if God, as an example, had established tithing with Abraham, and expected others to begin tithing based on Abraham's example...

1. We have no record of Abraham tithing after his ONE TIME tithe to Melchizedek. He did not tithe before or after tithing to Melchizedek, there is no record of any such tithing done by Abraham. And, it is a safe assumption that if Abraham did tithe before or after tithing to Melchizedek, given how important to Christians tithing teachers claim that Abraham's tithing was,  the Word of God would have made at least some mention of "Abraham's faithful tithing." Not to mention, some record of God instructing Abraham to teach his children to tithe. There is simply NO record of any such activity by Abraham. 

2. We have no record of Abraham teaching either Isaac, or for that matter, Ishmael to tithe.

3. We have no record of Isaac teaching his sons, Esau and Jacob, to tithe.

4. We have no record of Ishmeal teaching his children, Nebaioth, Basemath, Hadad, Adbeel, Jetur, Dumah, Tema, Kedar, Naphish, Mishma, Massa, Mibsam, Kedemah (Genesis 25, and is later repeated in I Chronicles 1:29-33.), to tithe.

5. We have no record of Esau teaching his children, Eliphaz, Jeush, Jaalam, Korah, Reuel (Genesis 36:4–5), to tithe.

6. We have no record of Jacob teaching his children, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin, to tithe.

>>> After the Children of Israel were freed from bondage in Egypt, God began the task of establishing a nation, The Nation of Israel, thus fulfilling His promise to Abraham; "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:" And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. - Genesis 12:2

In the process of establishing The Nation of Israel, God handed down through Moses, the Laws that would govern the new nation. In those Laws, 613 of them, God established a system of tithing; three tithes, paid by farmers and herdsmen, consisting of agricultural items of fruits, vegetables and clean animals grown on the Promise Land, paid to the Tribe of the Levites, and in the case of the third tithe, used to help the needy, the poor and strangers in The Land...

1. The Levitical, or sacred tithe (Num. 18: 21, 24). Paid all year, every year.

2. The tithe of the feasts (Deut. 14:22-27). Paid all year, every year.

3. The tithe for the poor (Deut. 14:28, 29). Paid every third year.

>>> The point is simple; God's system and requirements for tithing are found in the Law, and any requirement for anyone to tithe would be in reference to the Law. A reference to tithing, based on the Law, can also be found in scriptures such as Malachi 3:6-11 or Nehamiah 10:38. Both of those passages of scriptures refer to the Law in regards to tithing, NOT to Jacob or Abraham. Jesus affirmed that God's system of tithing was of the Law when talking to the Pharisees, NOT a matter of Jacob or Abraham...

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier MATTERS OF THE LAW, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." - Matthew 23:23;

"and not to leave the other undone" is a clear reference to the rest of the Law, including "judgment, mercy, and faith..." It amazes me that tithing teachers will insist, many using scriptures out of the Law, that Christians must tithe, but NEVER insist that all MATTERS OF THE LAW must be obeyed. James had something to say about that...

James 2:10 - "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend on one point, he is guilty of all."

Jesus did not cite Jacob or Abraham in his comments on tithing to the Pharisees as an issue of tithing, or a reason to tithe. Neither did any of the Apostles. No Apostle ever taught tithing, asked for a tithe, rebuked any person or church for not tithing, or received a tithe. Not one of them. The early church (i.e. Book of Acts) NEVER tithed. We have NO record of them doing so. And, God NEVER authorized a monetary tithe (tithing money).

>>> God's system of tithing is found in The Law (it is NOT found in Jacob or Abraham), and we are not under The Law...

Act 15:24 - "Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave NO SUCH COMMANDMENT:"

Galatians 2:16 - "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are NOT under the law, but under grace."

Romans 7:6 - "But now we are DELIVERED FROM THE LAW, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."

Galatians 5:18 "and if by the Spirit ye are led, ye are NOT under law."

2 Corinthians 3:6 - "Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."

>> THIS is the Law we are now under...

Galatians 6:2 - "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

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Copyright 2023, Anthony Todd, All rights reserved. Permission to copy and distribute this article must be obtained in writing from Tithing Study Online.

Permission can be requested at: tithingstudyonline@gmail.com. Upon permission to do so, it is granted under the strict condition that no content of any article be removed or altered, and that all articles are to remain intact as is when used. You must include a notation that any article distributed originated from Tithing Study Online, and include our blog URL as: https://ExaminingTithingDeceptions.blogspot.com.

IT'S INTERESTING TO OBSERVE

IT'S INTERESTING TO OBSERVE...

...That not one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ was ever recorded as tithing themselves, teaching tithing, receiving a tithe, reprimanding churches or individual Christians for not tithing or wrote any guidelines for New Testament tithing.

These Apostles taught no one to tithe anything to anyone at anytime;

Peter; James; John; Andrew; Philip; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alpheus; Bartholomew; Judas Thaddeus; Simon Zelotes or Paul.

Tithing teachers seem to believe that they know more than the Apostles.

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Copyright 2023, Anthony Todd, All rights reserved. Permission to copy and distribute this article must be obtained in writing from Tithing Study Online.

Permission can be requested at: tithingstudyonline@gmail.com. Upon permission to do so, it is granted under the strict condition that no content of any article be removed or altered, and that all articles are to remain intact as is when used. You must include a notation that any article distributed originated from Tithing Study Online, and include our blog URL as: https://ExaminingTithingDeceptions.blogspot.com