Over the past ten years, as an activity of Biblical research and study, I have made almost 100 phone calls to popular and well known ministries (most of which are considered to be "word of faith" or "prosperity gospel" in doctrine).
In the course of these phone calls to organizations run by Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland (and his Eagle Mountain Church), Marilyn Hickey, Joyce Meyer, Robert Morris, TBN, Jerry Sevelle, Morris Cerullo, Charles Capps, Jesse Duplantis, Steve Furtick, John Hagee, Kenneth Hagin (Rheme Bible School), Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Mike Murdock, Roberts Liardon, Bishop Eddie Long, Larry Lea, Rod Parsley, Fredrick K.C. Price, Leroy Thompson, Paula White, and so on, I have talked to Ministry Managers, Heads of Departments, Associate Pastors, Prayer Coordinators and others, amounting to about two hundred plus conversations.
In every conversation, I have asked ONE SIMPLE QUESTION, and it was this;
"Can you please show me even one scripture stating that a New Testament Christian is required, advised, asked, or directed by God to be a tither or tithe?"
The results of that question has been, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE TIME, "NO, I can't." They huff and puff, talk and argue, rant and rage, but can't find a single verse to solidly stand on.
Not a single person I have spoken to, NOT ONE, has ever come up with even ONE SINGLE VERSE OF SCRIPTURE substantiating any claim AT ALL that a Christian is required by God to tithe, or that Jesus, or any Apostle, ever taught New Testament Believers to tithe. NOT EVEN ONE.
In the course of the conversations, while being polite but firm, I have been yelled at, called a liar, hung up on, laughed at, transferred to voice mails, put on hold for up to an hour, and much worse, BUT NOT ONE PERSON could come up with a single scripture establishing tithing for Christians.
One individual, Pastor Corey Walker of Creflo Dollar's "World Changers Church" (spoke to him on 12:06 PM 8/25/2011), admitted to me that he could not refute what I was saying to him (i.e., Christians are NOT required to tithe), and stated that he also COULD NOT come up with a single scripture proving a requirement for Christians to tithe. Plenty of scriptures ABOUT tithing, NONE teaching a Christian TO TITHE.
Pastor Walker, until his passing away last year (2013) was a close friend of Creflo Dollar's, having worked with Dollar for 25 years.
Also, Pastor Walker was a very mature gracious man, and my conversation with him was very unusual for "faith ministries" in that he was enjoyable to talk to and in no way rude and angry at my question.
When confronted with scripture disproving tithing for Christians he would often say something like "yes, you are right, it does say that, I can't disprove what you are saying." That was common during our conversation.
Concerning other "word of faith" ministers; often they will grasp at straws trying to protect their organizations by taking scriptures completely out of context such as Matt. 23:23 or Malachi 3:6-10 in an attempt to "prove" that a Christian should tithe. Give, yes, tithe, no. The two are not the same in any way shape or form.
In Matt. 23:23, Jesus was talking to Jews who were, at that time, still under the law which required some of them them to tithe.
Remember; text taken out of context can be used to prove anything, including false teachings on tithing. Which, by the way, was never money. It was fruits, vegetables and clean animals grown on the Promise Land.
Regarding Malachi 3:6-10, Malachi was clearly talking to the priests of his day and rebuking THE PRIEST for not tithing, NOT the common people; Malachi 2:1 "This commandment IS TO YOU, OH PRIEST..." See also Nehemiah 10:38; the Priests, NOT the common people, were to bring the "tithe of the tithe" into the storehouse. The common people of Israel NEVER TITHED into the Storehouse, neither is ANY CHURCH today, the Storehouse to be tithed to.
"And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with THE LEVITES, when THE LEVITES take tithes: and THE LEVITES shall bring up the TITHES OF THE TITHES unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house." - Nehemiah 10:38
>>> And here is my point; even though NOT ONE of them can come up with a single scripture proving that a Christian should be tithing, that false doctrine is used all over the "prosperity gospel" "word of faith" milieu ad nauseam by tithing teachers to steal literally millions and millions of dollars from Christians, place them in legalistic UnBiblical bondage and funnel that money into million dollar mansions, lavish life styles, obscene incomes, all while their tithing followers are promised "supernatural prosperity."
And, of course; IN ALL CASES, their followers are just as broke as they have ever been, living no better than ANYONE.
Sadly, the deception goes on and on and on and on and on blinding Christians all over the world! They're tithing and still broke, but told that by tithing, they'll be rich!
In the course of these phone calls to organizations run by Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland (and his Eagle Mountain Church), Marilyn Hickey, Joyce Meyer, Robert Morris, TBN, Jerry Sevelle, Morris Cerullo, Charles Capps, Jesse Duplantis, Steve Furtick, John Hagee, Kenneth Hagin (Rheme Bible School), Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Mike Murdock, Roberts Liardon, Bishop Eddie Long, Larry Lea, Rod Parsley, Fredrick K.C. Price, Leroy Thompson, Paula White, and so on, I have talked to Ministry Managers, Heads of Departments, Associate Pastors, Prayer Coordinators and others, amounting to about two hundred plus conversations.
In every conversation, I have asked ONE SIMPLE QUESTION, and it was this;
"Can you please show me even one scripture stating that a New Testament Christian is required, advised, asked, or directed by God to be a tither or tithe?"
The results of that question has been, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE TIME, "NO, I can't." They huff and puff, talk and argue, rant and rage, but can't find a single verse to solidly stand on.
Not a single person I have spoken to, NOT ONE, has ever come up with even ONE SINGLE VERSE OF SCRIPTURE substantiating any claim AT ALL that a Christian is required by God to tithe, or that Jesus, or any Apostle, ever taught New Testament Believers to tithe. NOT EVEN ONE.
In the course of the conversations, while being polite but firm, I have been yelled at, called a liar, hung up on, laughed at, transferred to voice mails, put on hold for up to an hour, and much worse, BUT NOT ONE PERSON could come up with a single scripture establishing tithing for Christians.
One individual, Pastor Corey Walker of Creflo Dollar's "World Changers Church" (spoke to him on 12:06 PM 8/25/2011), admitted to me that he could not refute what I was saying to him (i.e., Christians are NOT required to tithe), and stated that he also COULD NOT come up with a single scripture proving a requirement for Christians to tithe. Plenty of scriptures ABOUT tithing, NONE teaching a Christian TO TITHE.
Pastor Walker, until his passing away last year (2013) was a close friend of Creflo Dollar's, having worked with Dollar for 25 years.
Also, Pastor Walker was a very mature gracious man, and my conversation with him was very unusual for "faith ministries" in that he was enjoyable to talk to and in no way rude and angry at my question.
When confronted with scripture disproving tithing for Christians he would often say something like "yes, you are right, it does say that, I can't disprove what you are saying." That was common during our conversation.
Concerning other "word of faith" ministers; often they will grasp at straws trying to protect their organizations by taking scriptures completely out of context such as Matt. 23:23 or Malachi 3:6-10 in an attempt to "prove" that a Christian should tithe. Give, yes, tithe, no. The two are not the same in any way shape or form.
In Matt. 23:23, Jesus was talking to Jews who were, at that time, still under the law which required some of them them to tithe.
Remember; text taken out of context can be used to prove anything, including false teachings on tithing. Which, by the way, was never money. It was fruits, vegetables and clean animals grown on the Promise Land.
Regarding Malachi 3:6-10, Malachi was clearly talking to the priests of his day and rebuking THE PRIEST for not tithing, NOT the common people; Malachi 2:1 "This commandment IS TO YOU, OH PRIEST..." See also Nehemiah 10:38; the Priests, NOT the common people, were to bring the "tithe of the tithe" into the storehouse. The common people of Israel NEVER TITHED into the Storehouse, neither is ANY CHURCH today, the Storehouse to be tithed to.
"And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with THE LEVITES, when THE LEVITES take tithes: and THE LEVITES shall bring up the TITHES OF THE TITHES unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house." - Nehemiah 10:38
>>> And here is my point; even though NOT ONE of them can come up with a single scripture proving that a Christian should be tithing, that false doctrine is used all over the "prosperity gospel" "word of faith" milieu ad nauseam by tithing teachers to steal literally millions and millions of dollars from Christians, place them in legalistic UnBiblical bondage and funnel that money into million dollar mansions, lavish life styles, obscene incomes, all while their tithing followers are promised "supernatural prosperity."
And, of course; IN ALL CASES, their followers are just as broke as they have ever been, living no better than ANYONE.
Sadly, the deception goes on and on and on and on and on blinding Christians all over the world! They're tithing and still broke, but told that by tithing, they'll be rich!
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Copyright 2019, Anthony Todd, All rights reserved. Permission to copy and distribute this article must be obtained in writing from Tithing Study Online.
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Copyright 2019, 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.
