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him to give it to the Church.] Why
hast thou conceived this thing in
thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto
men. but unto God" (Acts
5: 1-4).
And th en follows the account of
the sudden deaths of Ananias and
his wife Sapphira (verses 5-10).
Many othe rs were selling their
property and giving the proceeds to
the apos tles openly and aboveboard
(Acts
4:34-37).
But Ananias and
Sapphira were caught up in this
posture of pretense. They were pos–
ing in front of the congregation as
great givers - whi le privately hold–
ing back a portion of the selling
price. Tbeir carefully concealed
(they thought) covetousness lite rally
killed them!
Th ere is a very importan! and vi–
tal lesson in this account - even
over and above a sober warning
agai nsl lying and lust for materia l
possessions. Once you decide pri–
vately and deliberately in your own
mind - just between you and God
- to give something (usua lly money
in today's socie ty) to Him. it is no
longer yours!
The Other Side of the Coin
One reason God te ll s us to tithe is so
" th at the Eterna!
may bless thee
in
a ll lhe work of thine hand which
lho u doest" (Deut.
14:29).
1
wa nt
you
10
read a few of lhe letters ou t
of lhe great slack o f thousa nds we
receive as the yea rs go by from
people who have found how won–
derfully God blesses lhose who a re
wi lling to give so th a t many othe rs
might h.ear this end-time warning
they so desperale ly need.
Worry-Free Living.
"Enclosed is
my tithe.
lt
is rea lly amazing the
change lha t has resulted from the
time
1
have resumed giving my tithe
and the time before.
I
make no
more money, bul it seems what
1
have las ts longer. Wha t was once
financia! chaos is now worry-free
living" (Michael
N ..
Da lias, Texas).
lncome More Than Doub/ed.
"En–
closed a re our tithe and otferings for
lhis pay period plus a special otfer–
ing. as
r
have jusi received my sixth
ra ise in th e last three years. In five
years our income has more than
doubled. and it is certainly true that
a person cannot outgive God. We
·are very thankful and grateful for
all of the blessings we have re-
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1977
ceived" (Mr.
&
Mrs. M.. Seattle.
Washington).
Business Tripled.
" l wanted to
mentio n th e blessings we've re–
ceived since we sta rted tithing. Our
business is selling used cars. When
we started going to church. we could
hardly pay our bilis. Since then.
business has tripled and we could
even atford to give the church a
1970 model bus free and clear"
(Mrs. R. W.. Terre Haute. Indiana).
Tripled lncome.
"Enclosed are my
tithe and otferings.
1
want yoll to
kn ow tha t prayers a re being a n–
swered daily.
1
have been praying
for a new job. and
1
just sta rted it
las t month. My income tripled for
the month of July" (Joe B. , Ash ley.
Pennsylvania).
R et irem en c lncome Do ubled.
" Since beginning to tithe, my retire–
men t income has more than dou–
bled. without change on my pa rt"
(Harry
P. ,
Seattle. Washington) .
Unexpected Gi(l.
"Enclosed is a
check for ra ther more than usual.
This is due to two reasons. First.
1
received an unexpected gift of
$2000 from a family member. and.
second, my boss gave mean eq ually
unexpected raise in sa la ry after only
four months on the j ob. It looks like
tilhing does work after all!" (Geof–
frey R. , Wingate. North Carolina.)
The Tithing System Works.
"Afte r
three months of tithing, my income
has tripled.
Tt
is certai nly a blessing
to be able to tithe this $ 150 for the
first two weeks of Decembe r"
(Wya tt G. , Bake rsfi e ld.
Cal~fornia).
God always blesses those who
tithe! Not that they always suddenly
inherit a huge sum of money. bllt
over the long haul their
90
percent
spreads out to accomplish
much
more
than the 100 percent would
ha ve!
No one can outgive God! We be–
lieve in . and serve. a living God -
the great Creator who gives us every
breath we breathe. who blesses us
with life itself, and every emotion,
every joy. !ove. excitement and al!
the wonderful moments of life. By
promising
liS
an abunda n! Jife now,
and His great protection in the hor–
rible times to come (Rev. 3: 10) ; by
promising
liS
eterna! life for serving.
obeying and fu lfilling the very pur–
pose of our ca lling. Ollr Creator
proves
He is on !he giving side!
And God's Word pla inly com–
mands us to be on the giving side.
too!
Should We Not Ask?
This grea t Work of God does not
operate out of some seclllded . pro–
tected glass cage with an invisible
shield freeing it from a l! of the llpS
and downs of this society. God just
does not condllct His Work in such a
fashion. (He never has !) He is using a
body of fallible human instrllments
(subject to the monetary pllshes and
pulls of this world) to do His vitally
importan! work of preaching and
pllblishing the gospel.
God's Work is atfected by th e
economic problems of this sinn ing
society. Continua lly we have to mllll
ove r a nd determine more in–
expensive ways to get the job done.
But God wants His people to give
- even to sacrifice - in order to get
this grea t Work
done!
So l'm not
afraid to ask God's people to give in
order tha t
we might give this world a
so/id warning and wirness
before its
sins come crashing in on il - and it
is forever too late !
O
Questions
about
tithing?
lf you've read '·'A People Who
'Can 't Afford ' to Tithe," you've
seen sorne examples of the
bountiful blessings that accrue
to the faithful tithepayer. lf you
have any questions, or would
simply like to know more, write
for our free booklet
Tithing.
1t
shows how tithing was prac–
ticed in antiquity, and how this
vital principie is successful ly
applied today. (To request your
free copy of
Tithing,
please use
the coupon on the back cover
of this magazine.)
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