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paying of taxes, and certain punish–
ments come ifwe don't.
In truth, 1 believe God exists just
the same as
1
beiieve government
exists. 1 pay my tithes. I pay my
taxes. 1 am happiiy at peace with
God and government.
1
follow
Jesus' advice: "Render therefore
unto Caesar tbe things which are
Caesar's; and unto God the things
that are God's" (Matt. 22:21).
You and
1
can only "own" things
in a partía! way for a short time,
wíth many restrictions. Even gov–
ernments rise and fall, and the gov–
ernmental stamp of ownership on
earth is a passing thing. 1 tithe for
the same reason as did Abraham,
the father of the faithful. He gave
his tithe to Melchizedek, who was
the earthly representative and the
high priest of the Most High God
whom Abraham recognized as the
Possessor of Heaven and Earth. I
tithe because God is the true and
ultimate owner of everything. Read
about it in Genesis 14, beginning in
verse 18. Also read Psaims 24:1 -
"The earth is the Lord's, and the
fulness thereof; the world, and they
that dwell therein."
That's why God has prior claim
on everyone's possessions and in–
come. Any rules He wishes to apply
or taxes He wishes to assess come
first!
God explained this principie
to the ancient lsraelites to whom He
gave the possession of the Holy
Land: "The Jand shall not be sold
into perpetua! ownership, for the
iand is Mine; you are (only] strang–
ers and temporary residents with
Me" (Lev. 25:23,
The Amplified
Bible).
God is the One who owns
everything forever!
lt
is wise to keep
on the good side of such a powerful
Landlord! But
1
must also say that
after practicing tithing for many
years, 1 have Jearned lo do it joy–
fully!
The Bibte Teaches Tithing
The Bible is very plain on the prin–
cipie of tithing. Tithing is men–
tioned in Genesis 14, which was
long before the Jaw was codified and
given from Sinai's top. Long before
there
was
an Israel, our father Abra–
ham (by faith , Romans 4: 16 and
Galatians 3:29) practiced tithing. So
30
God blesses those who
faithfully pay His
tithes so that the 90%
that they keep for
themselves will spread
out to accomplish what
the 100% would have.
did Jacob (see Genesis 28:22) .
Surely there is no question about il
being a
law
in Israel. "And, behold,
I have given the children of Levi all
the tenth in Israel for an inher–
itance, for their service ... even the
service of the tabernacle of the .con–
gregation" (Num. )8:21). This law it–
self changed the manner of tithing
in the sense of
to whom
it was paid
at that time. Abraham paid his tithe
to Melchizedek, God's representa–
tive on earth in his time. It is not
stated to whom Jacob paid his
tithes, but he did pay them. The
tithe belongs to God. God governs
to whom it is to be paid. In Abra–
ham's day it was Melchizedek.
At the establishment of ancient
Israel as a nation, Melchizedek did
not make himself available to have
tithes ' paid directly to him. God
made a change in the law regarding
tithing. He· didn't alter the amount.
He just changed the recipient, the
one(s) to whom it should be paid .
That's why He says, " I. have given
lhe children of Levi all lhe tenth in
Israel." The tenth (tithe) belongs to
God, and God at this time chose to
give it to Levi.
The Levites were at that time per–
forming the religious duties for the
church of that day. Stephen called
Israel the "church in the wilderness"
(Acts 7:38). From the time God
gave the tenth (tithe) to the Levites
untii the time of the establishment
of the New Testament Church of
God, the law of tithing remained in
effect with no further change re–
garding to whom the tithes should
be paid.
But Christ established a ministry
called by the Spirit and not chosen
only through the lineage of Levi. He
did away with the need for sacrifices
by His own sacrifice; thus temple
services were no longer required. He
commanded His own Spirit-filled
ministry: "Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every crea–
ture" (Mark 16: 15). In the New Tes–
tament period the services God
commanded to be performed for all
people changed, and wi th that
change the tithes were to be paid to
His servants doing His service lO
mankind. For the reader who would
like a more detailed and technical
exposition of the tithing system,
request our free. booklet entitled
Your Best /nvestment.
1Like God's Btessings
" 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, if 1
will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a bless–
ing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive it" (Mal. 3: 10).
Or, as it expresses it at the end of
Deuteronomy 14 where tithing is
discussed, one of the main bibiical
reasons given is "that the Lord thy
God may bless thee in all the work
of thine hand which thou doest"
(verse 29).
lt
is not wrong to want to be
biessed by God. And often the
biessing does not come in the forro
of immediate monetary increase. In
fact, I'm sure from sorne sour exam–
ples I'm personally familiar with
that if someone tithes with a bellig–
erent attitude, just to "prove" tith–
ing doesn't work, sure enough it
doesn't for him-untii his attitude
changes! Paul explains the principie
of the attitude toward giving, and it
most certainly pertains to giving to
God "not grudgingly, or of neces–
sity: for God loveth a cheerful
giver"! (II Cor. 9:7.) God, the giver
of all good gifts, hopes we will all
Jearn to give Jovingly, generously,
even eagerly as He gives.
1 will not apoiogize for God's
biessing. No one can outgive God.
There are thousa nds of others
among our inner family of co-work–
ers who help supporl this worldwide
Work ofGod and who share experi–
ence with me in this. Let me quote
just a few excerpts from ietters they
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1978