TITHING AMONG NEW-AGE PREACHERS

The hottest potato among those who claim to be on fire with the word of God in our time is strangely not the Gospel itself. It is not Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. It is not the wondrous miracle of our Lord’s resurrection, which remains as fascinating today as it was on that first Easter morning. It is not the more than two billion people all over the world who are yet to receive and accept the greatest message of all times even after more than two thousand years of great try by many genuine preachers of the word of God. The hottest issue of today is also not about the fate of the more than a billion people whose parents received the Gospel message with great joy and had brought them up in it, who are now lukewarm, unconcerned or in total denial or rejection of the faith. No. The hottest issue among many preachers of our time is about something much more mundane. It is about tithe and tithing, a material gift said to be made mandatorily to God and received on His behalf by people who claim to speak for Him, namely the Gospel preachers.

TITHE and tithing are the in-thing in modern Christianity! They are the buzz words in the type of Christianity being ferociously propagated by the new-age preachers. In fact, sometimes it appears as if the new-age preachers have nothing more at stake in their so-called “fire and miracle evangelism" other than to preach and collect what they describe as mandatory tithes from the members of their congregation. And the way some of them compel their followers to pay their tithes makes it appear like a matter of life and death.

The near-hopeless situation of tithe-collection among the new-age preachers was beautifully articulated recently by one Engineer Ini Imah on a Facebook post:

The typical Nigerian Pastor won't talk about Usain Bolt or Serena Williams. He won't talk about late Dora Akunyili or Tony Elumelu. The typical Nigerian pastor won't talk about Steve Jobs or the young people in Silicon Valley reshaping our world. He won't talk about young American scientists spending endless hours in search of a cure to a disease that's predominantly in the Tropical African region. The typical Nigerian pastor won't talk about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Ben Okri… The typical Nigerian pastor won't talk about them......neither will he ask his members to emulate the spirit of these individuals. He would rather talk about Sister Agatha who got a job she WAS NOT THE MOST QUALIFIED [for] because she prayed and fasted in line with their church program; Or Brother John, who became a millionaire because he used all his salary … [to plant] a seed in the church; Or Papa Miracle who[m] he laid his hands on and 3 of his children got admission[s] in the university; Or [how] Mama Esther paid her tithe and her business started growing everywhere across the nation….[for] the typical Nigerian Pastor, the only way to prosper is by paying your tithe and sowing seeds in the church….the Nigerian God only blesses the first 30 people that rush to the altar to drop 100,000NGN as seed.

Tithe-payment has become about the only known spiritual exercises of modern-day preachers. Once one pays his or her so-called tithe it is well with his or her soul. It is no longer strange to hear new-age pastors declare that anybody who fails to pay his or her tithe gets an automatic ticket to hell. Pentecostal brand of Christianity is now reducible to if-you-pay-your-tithe-you-go-to-heaven-but-if-you-refuse-to-pay-your-tithe-you-go-to-hell. Is this the new sale of the indulgence, one may ask? In fact, what we have on our hands in present-day TITHE Christianity appears far worse than the Indulgence Crisis of the 16th century that resulted in the fragmentation of Christianity. Little wonder Pentecostal Christianity is splitting and multiplying on a daily basis!

But how did we get here, one may ask? How did it come to this? Perhaps the scariest part of the current crisis in the tithe-ministry is that this craze to make more money through tithing is being aggressively pursued on the basis of some passages of the Bible. In other words, new-age preachers claim that their authority to embark on aggressive tithe collection derives from the Bible. But is this really the case? Is there anywhere in the Bible that Jesus and Moses commanded their followers to demand tithing in the way it is being done today among some new-age preachers?

Our challenge as both private and professional Bible readers is to determine whether the claim of the new-age preachers in this regard is fair, or, is it yet another strategy they have invented to rip people off in their already scam-riddled ministries? We have long maintained in our essays in this series that the best way to read issues that originate from the Old Testament is to apply the sense of history to them, that is to say, to understand them in their historical contexts. Such issues from the remotest period of the bible times cannot be read correctly without taking into consideration the histories and the milieus in which they evolved. History plays a key role in a true understanding of ancient biblical texts. If one removes history from a bible text or word, it almost automatically turns into a magical wand. The issue of tithe and tithing seems to prove this case more than any other thing else. Seeing what is happening today among new-age preachers, it is safe to assume that tithe and tithing have practically been turned into magical words.

The ancient Semitic world in which Judaism and its offspring, Christianity, were born conceived the ultimate divinity, God, as a person. Because of the personality of God, there existed from time immemorial the desire to give back to God who is the supreme giver of both human beings and things, and to show Him gratitude as an act of worship. From the first book of the Jewish Bible, Genesis, we see the sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, attempting to worship God by giving something back to Him from their labors. From this simple gesture of the first humans on earth gift-giving to God was gradually elevated into an act of worship of God. And since then the issue became what quantity of gift would constitute enough gratitude and true worship of God the almighty giver of gifts. While Cain got it all wrong by giving very little from what he had, Abel, his brother, got it right by giving much to God from his labors.

The tragic story of Cain would compel that there be put in place in the Semitic world a measure that could prevent people from giving to God very little of their largess and incurring His wrath rather than His praise as in the case of Abel. But for centuries, gift-giving to God would remain discretionary among the Semitic people. Gifts made to God whether for sacrifice or for any other thing would depend for centuries on freewill and discretion. Nobody was forced to do anything along the line of gift-giving to God and no quantity was seen as too big or too little. There was hardly any established order of priests that made such demands on people. The nature of priesthood at that point in time was more or less freelancing as seen in the case of Melchizedek. It was left to God to judge who was giving enough back and who was not.

However, with the emergence of professional priesthood in the Semitic world, there was a push to stipulate how much would constitute a true worship of God in gift-giving. In Genesis 14, we see the appearance for the first time of a stipulated amount of gift due to God to be given to Him through a professional priest who served as His human representative. Abram [ham] returning from his war victory over Chedorlaomer and other kings was met by Melchizedek, a priest of the most high who brought to him bread and wine. He blessed Abram who in turn gave him a “tenth of everything” Gen 14:20]. By the time of this encounter between Abraham and Melchizedek, which would be around 2000 B.C, it had become established in the Semitic world that the stipulated amount of gift that was worthy to be given back to God as an act of worship was a tithe or ten percent. This would become the first introduction of TITHE in biblical history and tradition. Tithe is the Hebrew word for TEN.

The gift of this stipulated quantity to God would remain largely discretionary among the patriarchs of ancient Israel. It was in fact commended to people to give as they wished. The strict Law of Moses was still centuries away from coming into effect. Tithing did not come with any obligation whatsoever at the beginning. This seems the case in Gen 28:20-22 when Jacob made a personal vow to God that he would return a tithe of what he owned to God if He led him safely back to his home land. Jacob was under no obligation to pay tithe but he vowed to do so anyway because he was making a personal covenant with God in which he made a stipulation of tithe as his own part of the deal if God fulfilled His own part which was to bring him safely to his father land. It appears that all through the period of the [Exodus c. 1500 B.C.], tithing was more or less a non-issue. Giving freely to God as an act of worship was encouraged [cf. Ex 35: 5, 21, 22, 29]. As Moses led the community that was returning from Egypt to Palestine, there is hardly any evidence that he mandated them to pay tithe to Aaron and members of his family who had acquired the priesthood. Gift-giving would remain to a large extent a matter for personal discretion.

However, all that would change with the emergence of full-blown professional priests in ancient Israel. The Book of Leviticus, a priestly document par excellence, would codify tithing in the Law book of ancient Israel. Tithing on everything from grains, fruits to trees and everything was declared as holy duty to the Lord [Lev 27: 30, 32]. The Book of Numbers also authored by the professional priests would push the envelope on the teaching on tithing a little further. For Numbers all tithes are to be given to the Levites as a reward for their services to the Lord [Num 18:21]. But tithing did not exempt the receivers of the general tithe, namely the priests and the Levites. The Book of Numbers commanded that the priests and the Levites were to pay their own tithes to the Lord from all they received from the tithes of the people. This was called “tithe of the tithe” [Num 18:26].

The Book of Deuteronomy gave a permanent form to how tithes were to be presented to the Lord. The one who was tithing would bring his tithe alongside his offerings and sacrifices to the place of worship. There he would feast with the members of his family after paying his tithe, presenting his offerings and offering his sacrifices to the Lord [Deut 12: 5-7; 14: 22-23].

Deuteronomy [14: 28-29] also specifies who benefited from the general tithes gathered from the people each year. It commanded every individual to bring out the tithe of his produce at the end of every third year and deposit it for that year in the community stores for the Levite who has no share in the heritage of Israel, the stranger, the orphan and the widow of the community may come and eat to their fill for God to bless the “tithers”.

From the time of the monarchy, [around 1000 B.C.] tithe ceased to feature prominently in the discourses and cultic practices of ancient Israel. What may have accounted for this was the arrival of the monarchy with its heavy taxation on the people. With concentration on bringing more revenue to maintain the monarchy it appeared that tithing became of less importance.

However, the language of tithing would return in the 8 century B.C. in the ministries of prophets like Amos. The prophet Amos [4: 4-5] mentions tithing in the context of his criticism of the apostasy in the Bethel and Gilgal the cultic headquarters of the breakaway Northern Kingdom. The veiled criticism of tithing by prophets like Amos appeared to have pushed tithing to the backburner in the cultic practices of ancient Israel. For nearly two hundred years, one would not hear much about tithe and tithing again.

But tithing would make some kind of a cameo return towards the end of the 8 century B.C. during the renewals carried out by King Hezekiah [2Chr 31: 4-5]. Hezekiah promulgated a decree enforcing the payments of tithe by the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah. According to him, this was to support the priests and the Levites so that they devote themselves entirely to the law of the Lord. Hezekiah’s decree would receive a very favorable response from the people. And the payment of tithes flourished among the people.

After the reign of Hezekiah, there was not much heard again about the payment of tithes during the reigns of his evil son, Manasseh and his equally evil grandson, Amon. Not even the revolutionary great grandson of Hezekiah, the holy Josiah, who rediscovered and renewed the Law, could do much to reintroduce tithing into the cultic worship of the Jews of late 7th century B.C. This would remain the situation of tithing until the Jews were taken into exile to Babylon.

However after the exile to Babylon in the late 6th century and early 5th century B.C., and with the monarchy gone, the priesthood assumed a central place in the religious and political life of the Jews. Priests like Ezra began to dictate the rhythm of life among the post-exilic Jews. And with the priests firmly in control tithe made a very dramatic return. The books of the bible that were published in this period testify to this fact [cf. Neh 10:37; 12:43-44; 47; 13: 11-12; 2Chr 31:35-37]. 2Chronicle would retell the story of King Hezekiah and his decree mandating the payment of tithes by all, an event that took place some two hundred years earlier.

But the spokesperson for tithe in this period has to be the prophet called Malachi. Malachi 3:7-12 contains perhaps the highest elevation and expose on the doctrine of tithe throughout the whole Bible. According to Malachi, to fail to pay tithe is to rob God. And those who rob God by not paying their tithe are cursed. But it is important also to note why Malachi would be that strong against those who were not paying their tithes. It was according to him through tithing that enough food was brought into the house of God so that the priests, the Levites, the orphans and the widows might have something to eat and not die of hunger. So, Malachi’s high teaching on tithe payment was completely altruistic and not self-serving as is perhaps the case in our time. Some two to three hundred years before the birth of Jesus, talking about tithe became a whole lot subdued once again. It is said that at this point in time in the history of the people of Israel tithe morphed into national taxes. And it was no longer the payment of ten percent of earnings. But tithe amounted up to the payment of twenty two-twenty three percent of gross income of every individual as taxes to the government of the day. As a result, tithe gradually lost its religious meaning.

However, what was often preached in religious circles in this period was freewill giving and generosity. The Book of Proverbs represents this period quite well [cf. Proverbs 3: 9-10; 11: 24-25; 22: 9; 28:27]. Proverbs emphasized so much the value of generosity and giving alms to the poor. What was perhaps responsible for this new tone on gift-giving was the invasion of the Greeks and their Hellenistic culture. In the books of this era, tithe and its payment do not feature prominently, which can only suggest that it was no longer at the front burner of religious activities of the Jews at that time. This indifference to tithe and tithing would reach its highest point at the time of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus showed somewhat a hostile attitude towards tithing. He associated tithing with the hypocritical attitude of the scribes and Pharisees. He even went as far as to impose a curse [woe] on those who made a show of paying their tithes religiously while neglecting the weightier things [Matt 23:23; Lk 11:42].

The Pharisee at the temple with a tax collector behind him praised himself for paying his tithe religiously among the other things he did to demonstrate his righteousness before God. But Jesus did not look kindly on him and did not see any righteousness or justification in what he did [Lk 18: 9-14]. Rather Jesus praised the poor widow who contributed to the temple treasure two coins which represented all that she had left. But Jesus had no such praises for the rich who had made big donations to the treasury from their surplus [Mk 12:41-44].

This shows that at the time of Jesus what was central to the Jewish religious life was perhaps not so much the payment of tithes which was more or less taken for granted but the freewill donations to the temple treasury in which people donated what they could afford. And that was what Jesus had favored and encouraged in his ministry. Another place where tithing had featured in the New Testament was in the letter to the Hebrews [7:1-2]. But this is more or less an illustration and not a new teaching on tithe. If this is the true story of tithe and tithing in the biblical tradition, where are the new-age preachers getting their facts to embark on their strange tithing campaign? If Jesus Christ had such a very negative attitude towards tithing, how can the new-age preachers claim that tithing is necessary for salvation in Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is the leader and perfecter of the Christian faith [Heb 12:2]. What he did and approved of is what a true Christian must copy and try to reproduce in his or her life. How can new-age preachers claim to preach Jesus Christ when they bandy about a concept he vehemently criticized and rejected during his ministry on earth?

The way new-age preachers talk about tithe and tithing shows that there is more to what they are doing than the preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They apparently latched onto a biblical concept and turned into a criminal scheme for bilking innocent people. This is the saddest aspect of what they are doing today. Their activity in this regard is far worse than what the scribes and Pharisees did and Jesus imposed a curse on them. New-age preachers have turned tithing into a sophisticated criminal scheme that is yielding billions of Naira today which they stashed away in their private coffers. They have absolutely zero bases in the Bible for what they are doing in the name of tithing.

Most unfortunately, tithing among new-age preachers has become more or less the clearing house for all sorts of crimes happening in our modern society. It has become a code name for the crime of money laundering. It is now a convenient cesspool of all manners of corruption in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. New-age preachers today are committing all sorts of crimes and covering them up with the name tithe or tithing. Looters of public funds would come to the new-age preachers to pay them tithe from their loots of public funds. And the new age-preachers would welcome and bless them with thanksgiving songs of praise.

Ritualists, murderers, armed robbers and embezzlers of all colors are finding new-age preachers of today as their confessors, counselors, spiritual directors and patrons all in the name of paying tithes. New-age churches have become a veritable shelter for all sorts of crimes afflicting societies and countries in the third world. Where can one find this kind of practice in the Holy Bible? Where in the Bible does a looter or a robber pay tithe with what he stole from others? Yet this is what is happening today in the name of Christianity in our land.

You must have heard of a new-age Nigerian preacher who recently asked for a tithe of One Billion Naira from the members of his congregation. By a simple arithmetic, one Billion Naira would constitute ten percent of the individual’s gross or net earnings. And that would mean that that particular individual earned about ten Billion Naira in that particular year he or she is required to pay one Billion Naira as tithe. If so, his or her total earning for that year would be far much more than the true budgets of more than many states in Nigeria.

Also, you must have heard about a civil servant in Nigeria whose take-home pay is about a Million Naira in a year who was recently accused of paying a tithe of about Sixty Million Naira to the pastor of her church. Of course, she stole the money with which she paid that kind of tithe. She is a first class rogue who has gone to pay what she thought would relieve her conscience. But that is impossible. If she wants relief she must first of all make a restitution of what she stole.

And the so-called pastor who received such tithe from the criminal woman is a first class robber himself or herself and not a preacher of the word of God. Anybody who knowingly receives either as offering or as tithe whatever is stolen from another or from an institution is a robber and is most likely a cursed person before God. He or she is worse than a cursed Pharisee. And this is what new-age preachers are doing to Christianity in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Their brand of Christianity harbors, patronizes and nurtures criminals, money launderers, looters, murderers, ritualits, armed robbers.

For Christians throughout Nigeria and Africa as a whole, beware of the new-age preachers who demand tithe from their congregations. They are not serving God but the devil that inspires them to deceive innocent people and steal from them. Tithing in the Old Testament was meant to help feed the priests and the Levites who had no inheritance whatsoever in the land of Israel. The poor, the orphan and the widow in Israel were also the target for tithing but not the rich people of Israel. Anybody not tithing to feed the poor is tithing for the devil in him or her. Greedy people have gone out into the world masquerading as tithe-demanding pastors and preachers. Do not give a place to them in your life. They will drain you dry and leave you crying all your entire life.

The new-age preachers who have acquired earthly inheritance throughout Nigeria and around the world have completely disqualified themselves from any form of help by way of a religious contribution whether through tithing or freewill donations. They have already had their rewards on this earth. They are not looking for any other reward in the hereafter. The truth is the new-age preachers have more than enough to take care of themselves and their offspring. If they understood their religion and their Bible very well, especially the Book of Deuteronomy, they would be paying tithe from their abundance to their congregations so that the poor in their midst will be taken adequate care of. But this is not happening. The whole interest of new-age preachers is to grow ever richer through their spurious ministries. The whole craze is to own estates in many countries of the world, live in mansions, drive flashy and expensive cars and own jet planes, all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a sacrilege if not an outright blasphemy. Jesus Christ cannot approve of this type of lifestyles being adopted by the so-called new-age preachers.

The fact that new-age preachers demand tithe after amassing more than enough wealth to last for them a life time shows that they are into full scale business and not religious worship. Child of God; beware of people who want to steal the little you have in the name of tithing. Jesus Christ did not ask you to pay tithe to anybody. Make freewill and fat donations to your Church as often as you can and are willing. Do it not as a compulsion but as a personal sacrifice in thanksgiving to God for what He is doing in your life.

Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing who go about stealing from the little you have to expand their earthly wealth. Refuse to be their victim again. Fix your eyes permanently on our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He is son of God he emptied himself and took the form of a slave [Phil 2:7]. This is the lifestyle Jesus commends to all of his genuine followers in the world. Be like Jesus and not like your modern-day pastor and preacher. You have been warned!

NB: The end of essays in this series! Thank you MBAISE BLOG for challenging me! You asked for one and you got four. Now let me rush back to my summer projects as summer races to a finish. Thank you for reading!