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history to which it is specifically
directed. Verses 1 and 2 of chap–
ter 3 give the time setting as just
befo re the re tu rn of J esus
Christ- "the day of his com–
ing"- to intervene in human
affairs to prevent world suicide.
All of chapter 4 (remember that
human beings divided the Bible
up into chapters) is centered
around end-time events and the
"coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord" (verse 5).
This is talking about the time
we are living in now-the last
days of God-rejecting human
society. God warns people, labor–
ing under the burdeos of taxes
and their own personal sins, to
repent of their wrong ways. · As
the prophecy shows, people would
ask "Which wrong ways?" (chap–
ter 3, verse 7).
The problem is that people
today have not generally been told
what God ' s laws are. In most
cases they don ' t know- they've
never heard-that they are living
in ways that are breaking eterna! ,
spiritual laws. In so doing they are
bringing penalties and suffering
down upon their own heads.
Those who sbould be "experts"
about God's laws either them–
selves don' t know the facts; or if
they do, they aren' t saying.
God answers this way: "Will a
man rob God? Yet ye have robbed
me. But ye say, Wherein have we
robbed thee? " (verse 8) . The
people being addressed still don't
quite get what God is speaking
about. How could they rob God?
So God replies bluntly: "In tithes
and offerings. Ye are cursed with a
curse: for ye have robbed me, even
this whole nation."
There is not a nation on earth to
which this does not apply in princi–
pie. And there is not a nation on
earth that is not suffering financia!
and economic curses as a result.
Here is the quickest way to reduce
the burdeos of taxes and generate
new personal income and still have
all the essentials of human govern–
ment.
God says we have robbed Him
"in tithes
and offerings."
In for–
, mulating the law of tithing the way
He did, He put an automatic lim-
January
1982
it-10 percent-on what would be
owed to Him. It's not a question of
we humans being generous to God
when we give God His tenth.
It
doesn' t belong to us in the first
place!
lt
is
God who gives us
the
otber nine-tenths. We only begin to
be generous to God when we give
Him offerings over and above His
tithe.
Listen to the description in
Haggai 1:6 (RSV) of what hap–
pens when people do not put God
.first
financially. This description
pictures rampant inflation eating
away at earning power.
It
pictures
agricultura! problems that cause
food pr'ices to escalate. "Now
~~
'Ye are cursed
with a curse: for ye
have robbed
me, even
this whole nation.'
There is not
a nation on earth
to which this
does not apply in
principie.
' '
therefore thus says the Lord of
hosts: Consider how you have
fared. You have sown much, and
harvested
Ji
ttle; you eát but you
never have enough; you drink, but
you never have your fill; you
clothe yourselves, but no one is
warm; and he who earns wages
earns wages to put them into a
bag with boles."
Why these problems? Does this
sound familiar where you live?
But there is more. "You have
looked for much, and, lo, it carne to
little; and when you brought it
home, I blew it away. Why? says
the Lord of hosts. Because of my
house that líes in ruins, while you
busy yourselves each with his oyvn
house" (verse 9, RSV).
In other words, money that
should go to God, goes instead to
personal interests. Here is what
God is finally going to do:
"Therefore the heavens above you
have withheld the dew, and the
earth has withheld its produce.
And I have called for a drought
upon the land and the hills, upon
the grain, the new wine, the oil,
upon what the ground brings
forth, upon men and cattle, and
upon all their labors" (verses 10-
11, RSV).
Sobering. But it doesn' t have
to happen that way. Back in Mal–
achi 3, God tells how to receive
blessings instead of curses.
"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, [yes, here's a sure way
to prove God exists!] if 1 will not
open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that
there shall not be room enough to
receive it.
"And 1 will rebuke the devour–
er for your sakes [the way to
permanently rid ourselves of the
Med-fly, the Gypsy moth larvae,
the corn borer and other such
plagues is not through costly aer–
ial spraying of pesticides or fumi–
gation, but by giving God His
tithe!], and he shall not destroy
the fruits of your ground; neither
shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field, saith
the Lord of hosts" (verses 10-
11 ).
To any nation that would pay
God His tithes and give Him offer–
ings in gratitude and that would
pay Caesar his dues (see Matthew
22: 15-22), the Almighty promises:
"And all nations shall call you
blessed: for ye shall be a delight–
some land, saith the Lord of hosts"
(Malachi 3: 12).
No matter what whole nations
do, however, you as an individual
can benefit from God's blessings,
financia! and otherwise. To learn
exactly how, why don't you write
for our two free booklets
Ending
Your Financia/ Worries
and
Managing Your Personal Fi–
nances.
Your whole financia! pic–
ture will light up with hope
again!
o
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