Thievery In The House Of God

THIEVERY IN THE HOUSE OF GOD By Patricia Backora

Every Sunday in churches across America you'll hear fund-raising appeals similar to these: The young people are hosting a bake sale next Saturday. And, hopefully, this year, nobody will break a tooth on any nutshells in the brownies. Bring all your friends and family. In addition, the young people are holding a rubbish, I mean RUMMAGE! sale the following Saturday. Please see Sue if you'd like to donate any household items or GENTLY used clothing. All proceeds will go toward our world peace project. No army jackets or shotguns, please. Bring all your friends and family. We're holding a raffle. Tickets are ten dollars each. Our young people will meet you after the service with tickets for sale. An inflatable camping tent is the prize. All proceeds go to the building fund. Bring all your friends and family. Our young people will be holding a bike-a-thon next Saturday. Their goal is to cycle from L.A. to San Francisco in three days. First to cross the finish line will win a free set of dumb bells. All proceeds are earmarked for "Pastor Appreciation Week", when we will surprise Pastor Bill with a brand new Ferrari. Please ask your friends and family to sponsor one of our fine young athletes, so that they may run the race and win the prize.

The young people will be putting on a big spaghetti supper next Saturday. They’ll do all the cooking themselves. Tickets are five dollars per person. Proceeds will go toward the mission fund, which is currently operating on a shoestring budget. Please bring your friends and family. Come hungry, and eat fast so you don’t have time to taste it! This month your faith needs to be s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d-! We're two months behind in the mortgage. Prove God by going the extra mile. So you say you haven't been rewarded yet for last month's act of faith? All we need is a little more "stick-toitiveness" around here. When the trial gets tough the tough get going! Onward Christian soldiers! We're building God's House and it must not be neglected. So whip old satan by whipping out those checkbooks and debit cards right now. Keep up the good fight of faith. A dollar a day scares the devil away! Happy Valentine's Day to all our sweethearts out in the congregation! What a perfect opportunity to give Jesus a special love gift! Instead of wasting money on roses that are gonna wilt anyway, help us with a one-time offering to buy new rose bushes for our landscaping. To commemorate Lincon’s Birthday the young people are hosting their annual SLAVE AUCTION this coming Saturday. We cordially invite each able-bodied young person to sell themselves to the highest bidder for JUST ONE DAY. During that time you’ll get to do fun stuff like ironing, floor scrubbing, baby sitting, yard work, ditch digging. Proceeds will go toward the pastor’s holiday in Hawaii. Pastor will award a whole packet of postcards to the hardest worker! “ And now let us commence today’s message: ‘Stand Fast in the Liberty’.” Next Saturday our youth will go door-to-door selling Church's Chocolate Bars to help raise money for the Ladies’ Diet Club’s Nutrition Awareness campaign.” Saints, I appreciate last week's effort, but our church property tax is due. Next Saturday our young people will be holding a big car wash at Jerry's Truck Stop to help wash away some of the red ink in our books. Bring all your friends and family. Before we close the service, I have a special announcement to make. Next Saturday night we’ll be showing the award-winning documentary: “Keep Our Kids in Church.” Suggested donation will be five dollars. Our young people will be serving homemade refreshments in the church fellowship hall. Bring all your friends and family…if they’re still speaking to you. Saints, next Sunday we've set aside as a special day to thank God for all the grandpas out there. We'll be holding a special banquet at Suzy's Chicken Shack to honor everyone who's a grandpa. It's all you can eat, too. Tickets are ten dollars per person. And…cough! We will be holding a special prayer ceremony for all our grand ol' grandpas. It will be an opportunity for Gramps to lay a gift on the altar of the Lord in honor of the occasion. Suggested donation is one hundred dollars. So you still haven't gotten the miracle blessing harvest from your last "Put God to the Test Offering?" Well, take heart, saints. God's workload is piling up every day just like everybody else's. But He's good at multi-tasking! He hasn't forgotten any of you! He's probably signing your paychecks right now. Keep looking up, saints, and expect a miracle! It's Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection hope. Spring time is

seed-planting time. Now let’s see how many hundred-dollar bills our ushers can resurrect from wallets.” Saints, It's already Mother's Day, isn't it? Whether your mom is still living or gone to be with the Lord, this is the day we remember the precious example of faith she set for you as you grew up. Show your appreciation for the godly upbringing she gave you. Your mom doesn't need any of that sentimental junk you buy her every year. So instead of giving her something she'll put out at her next yard sale, just take your mom out for a burger and show your thanks to the Lord for this wonderful woman by making a sacrificial gift in her honor. Brother Simon here, he just lost his mom five months ago. Brother Simon, you're a real credit to your mother up in Glory. I just know you'll do her proud when the offering plate comes around. She's got her eye on you, boy, and you'd better cough up the cash or she'll get the fly swatter after you when she meets you at the Pearly Gates someday! Praise the Lord, saints, it's Father's Day! I know y'all never forget to give good old dad a new pair of sox or a tie on his special day. So how about making an extraspecial offering to your Heavenly Father? Your Father in Heaven needs to have that new kitchenette finished in time for the big fasting seminar next month. Next Saturday the young people will be mowing grass to raise money for the big hay ride we're having in the Fall. Please tell your friends and your family. My, grass grows fast in the summer, doesn't it? And I bet the miracle harvest from the money seed you planted is growing like a weed too! It's official, folks! Next Saturday our young people are hosting our annual hay ride to raise money for the church drama club. We'll be taking an exciting horse-drawn tour of the city reservoir. Tickets are five dollars apiece. Bring all your friends and family! Again, we need to give God thanks for setting us free from Jewish Law, and to show your gratitude you should faithfully pay your tithe. Well, we don’t EXACTLY call tithing a ‘law’, but it’s an eternal PRINCIPLE which must be obeyed. Just don’t read your dictionary to find out if there’s any difference between ‘law’ and ‘principle’. It’s MY job to do all the studying and interpreting around here! Sure, it HAS been pointed out to us that the Jews were not commanded to tithe anything but agricultural commodities. But they didn’t have money back in those days, because they hadn’t invented paper and printing presses yet. And nobody had ever heard of the Federal Reserve. By the way, whenever you read Deuteronomy chapter 26, skip over verses 24 to 26, because the translators must have made an error! The tithe always WAS money, so how could an ancient Jew unable to transport the tithe a long way turn it from being cattle, wheat, olives and grapes into money, which didn’t even exist back then? I’d sure love to get my hands on whoever mistranslated verse 26 and allowed worshippers to buy whatever THEY desired with tithe money to eat or drink! Even alcoholic beverages! They’re the same ones who think Jesus really DID turn water into wine instead of Welch’s Grape Juice. And we’ve always told you not to eat the tithe, so who are you gonna believe anyhow, cemetery…I mean, SEMINARY! educated men like myself, or some musty old translator who didn’t know how to pass on decent church traditions? So what if Paul never mentioned tithing in his epistles as a Christian duty? So what if Jesus never even passed the offering plate around at His services, much less ask for tithes? This is the 21st century, folks. God is doing a NEW THING in the earth.

EVERY scripture in the Bible can be applied to our lives, if not in a literal sense then in a modified form to serve the needs of modern church life. Circumcision? So far as I know, that’s spiritual now. Animal sacrifices? No longer necessary, we offer spiritual sacrifices only now. Ritual washings? We’re washed with the Water of the Word, so that’s spiritual too. Dietary laws? We keep them only spiritually now, in abstaining from those things which come out of a man’s mouth and defile him on the inside. Tithing? Don’t you DARE spiritualize that away! You don’t get off THAT easy! Spiritual tithes don’t pay my salary! Now, back to our announcements: Next Saturday we're having a special treat. Dr. Bones from Bigwig Seminary will be giving a lecture on "Treasures of the Promised Land." Genuine archaeological artifacts will be on display, including Samson's Jawbone of an Ass, David's slingshot and Delilah's barbering kit. Suggested donation is five dollars per head. Bring all your friends and family! Our annual pie eating contest will be held this coming Saturday at two p.m. All healthy Christians are eligible to participate. Registration fee is five dollars. All proceeds will go towards construction of our new church gym. Whoever eats the most pies wins a free copy of Fasting For Fun. Time for announcements. Next Saturday is HELL-oween Day, tee hee hee! But we can turn it into Heaven-ween, can't we? At seven-thirty on Halloween night we’ll be showing our film ‘The Horrors of Hell.’ Tickets are $3.50 apiece. Proceeds will go toward smoke detectors for the sanctuary. Ice cream will be served afterward. The ladies of the church will be holding a big Thanksgiving Feast in the fellowship hall. Tickets are fifteen dollars per plate. Proceeds will go toward providing refreshments for the ladies' diet club seminar. We are SO blessed to have such an abundance of enrichment programs at our church. So show your thanks to God by sacrificing to this ministry the money you would have wasted on cooking a sumptuous meal at home. Just drop by and enjoy some turkey noodle casserole with us in the fellowship hall at six o'clock on Thanksgiving evening! Invite all your friends and family. That reminds me, the devil sure has been hindering our outreach to the community. My, how did the year whiz by so fast? The wife and I sure did get a nice sun tan on our Caribbean cruise, but it's great to be back to enjoy the snow with everyone. Why, it's almost Christmas already! Remember Whose birthday it is. When your own birthday rolls around isn't it YOU who gets the gifts? So if it's Jesus' birthday, He should be doing the receiving, not you. You don't really need that new electric knife you were going to waste money on this year. You can make your old baseball cap do an extra year, can't you? So take the money you would have been selfish with and instead give sacrificially to help build the House of the Lord. Jesus was born in a stable, but it's up to us to see to it that He doesn't have to stay in one! It's already January, folks. Time to make a new beginning in your faith pact with God. Time to be firm in keeping old resolutions and time to covenant with Him to make new ones. We're still behind the eight-ball in our mortgage payments, saints. Not only that, the parsonage needs new wallpaper, and a tree surgeon needs to be called in to treat Dutch elm disease in their back yard. Also, a new nursery needs to be built onto the house to accommodate pastor's growing family. To curb the cost of

these renovations, it would be a blessing if any of you brothers skilled in this type of work could donate your time and labor. Tools and materials will be needed for these projects and a special offering will be taken for incidental expenses. I know y'all just got over Christmas and pockets tend to be empty in January, but we see by faith and not by sight. We CONSIDER NOT the emptiness of our pockets, but focus instead on God's ability to provide. Still, God needs YOU! Without your contribution His hands are tied. So even if you're broke today, make a vow of faith. Fill out one of the pledge cards our ushers are passing out. You could take an even bigger leap of faith and borrow against your credit card. Don’t let satan fill you with doubt and fear. Brave spiritual warriors don’t retreat from the enemy, they say ‘CHARGE!’ ***** Seriously, though! Anybody with spiritual eyeballs to see will have to admit that today's institutional churchianity is a big money-making racket. Wealthy pastors impose on poor craftsmen in the congregation for free labor (see Jeremiah 22:13); Bake sales, rummage sales, "faith" pledges, sponsorships, raffles, "prove God offerings" to pay the church mortgage. All on top of enforced tithing on money and regular offerings expected by church leadership. Car washes, white washes of unscriptural ways to get gain in the name of Jesus. Special days to "honor" granmmas or grampas of the congregation by expecting "special" offerings out of those supposedly being honored. Well, you can keep that kind of honor. I for one, can't afford it! I can worship God perfectly well beside a mountain stream or even in the privacy of my own home. The institutional church is way too rich for my blood. It costs way too much to belong to, both financially and spiritually. Even unpaid homemakers and people on welfare are exhorted to "sow a seed to meet your need." The most shocking thing I read is that the poorest of the poor will get so desperate for a miracle they'll even mail in food stamps to slick religious showmen on TV! How can people be so blind? I get the feeling that the very worst prosperity pimps now have a dead conscience (I Tim.4:2). How can God get through to them if these greedy wolves don't even care that they're living a lie and putting Christ to an open shame in order to get a quick buck! There are many Judas Iscariots running around today selling their Lord for a bag of silver! The miracle is God has been so patient with spiritual con men who push just the right buttons of guilt, greed or softsoap sentiment to railroad suckers into swallowing the religious rot which passes for Christianity today. What makes me especially mad is that the holiness of the Lord and the holiness of Old Testament ceremonial laws are being forged into spiritual chains to bind God's own dear children whom Christ said ought to be free of tribute (Matt.17:24-26). In that context Christ spoke of the half shekel Temple Tax, required of all Jewish males aged twenty and above for the maintenance of the Temple (Ex.30:11-16). This small tax was a fixed rate, and was not to be increased, even if the individual happened to be wealthy. It was paid ONLY when the census was taken to number the males of the Children of Israel. The Levites (priestly tribe) were not to be numbered among the children of Israel when the count of all males twenty and upward was made (Num.1:47; 2:33). It is important to pay the secular government what you owe. But under the New Covenant God does not tax His own born-again children! Why, then, were devout Jews required to pay this tax? Jesus sanctioned the observance of Mosaic ordinances BY THOSE OF THE JEWISH NATION before His death on the Cross rendered them obsolete (Eph.2:15; Col.2:14; Heb.8:13). Old Testament saints lived before the Cross. They were not spiritually regenerated with Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith, as we are. Nor were they seated with Christ

in heavenly places, as we are (Eph.2:6). Old Testament saints had to offer up temporary animal sacrifices until Christ could come and offer Himself up as the final Atonement for sin. Most Israelite males did have to pay the temple tax. It was even expected of Jesus, Who lived under the Law as a member of the Tribe of Judah (Luke 2:27; Gal.4:4; Heb.7:14), which was not the priestly Tribe of the Levitical system. Christ's New Covenant Priesthood after the order of Melchisedek has taken the place of the Levitical Priesthood (Heb.7:17). Even tithe-taking prosperity preachers will admit that where Christ's church is concerned, the new Testament believer offers up spiritual sacrifices in a priestly function before God (I Pet.2:5). But they still demand literal tithes out of Christ's own priesthood! Even under the dispensation of Law the Levites were not to be charged custom, toll or tribute (Ezra 7:24). Yet today, under a far better covenant, males and females of all ages are being exorbitantly taxed each and every Sunday "in the name of the Lord" by religious profiteers who hang religious guilt trips on them so as to squeeze more blood out of already dry turnips. Funny how Prosperity churches teach choruses about all Christians being a Royal Priesthood and a holy nation in Christ. Yet those privileged characters in the pulpits have the gall to still fleece the flock for tribute and unscriptural money tithes under the New Covenant. Even under the Old Covenant this sort of exploitation was never inflicted on God's priesthood. All members of the Tribe of Levi (Levites) received tithes, but only of the fruit of the land (Lev.27:30; Deut.14:23; Num.18:21-24). Any Levites who weren't born into Aaron's priestly line paid ten per cent of the tithes they themselves received from farmers and herdsmen (not from fishermen or sandalmakers) TO THE HIGH PRIEST (Num.18:25-28). Those who belonged to the actual priesthood (and their families) did not pay any tithes. Whenever some minister pulls out the heavy religious artillery to make saints of God feel guilty for non-tithing, that is a grave offense in the sight of God. That's being like the Pharisees who taught as doctrines the commandments of men (Matt.15:9; Mark 7:7). Scripture plainly teaches that ALL believers in Christ, not just professional pulpiteers, are part of Christ's Royal Priesthood. We been made members of God's Household of faith (Gal.6:10). Not only are we part of God's family, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ our High Priest (Rom.8:16-17). We are actually IN CHRIST, and we are one spirit with Christ through faith (Rom.8:9; I Cor.6:17; II Cor.5:17). If we are made one spirit with our Great High Priest, then how can anybody dare presume to extort tithe money from us with threats of divine retribution! I Peter 2:5: Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. VERSE 9: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar (special) people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: VERSE 10: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Today's Gentile tithe collectors live high on the hog with the unscriptural tithes they take from "the laity" whom they have stripped of the dignity of their God-given priesthood. Money-hungry preachers squander money on brick and mortar buildings,

although the apostle Peter was only interested in building God's spiritual house, comprised of all the members of the Body of Christ, which is His true Church. Even under the Old Covenant God wasn't all that enthusiastic about fancy buildings. I Chron.17:3 And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, VERSE 4 Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in: VERSE 5 For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. VERSE 6 Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, why have ye not built me an house of cedars? Acts 7:47 But Solomon built him (God) an house. VERSE 48 Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, VERSE 49 Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is my place of rest? VERSE 50 Hath not mine hand made all these things? We, brothers and sisters, are God's true resting place. God inhabits praise (Psalms 22:3). If you really want to bring God on the scene to deal with your situation, just start your own private praise and worship session just like Paul and Silas did when satan had them bound in a bad situation (Acts 16:25-26). The mighty power of God came to break not only their own chains but those of other prisoners around them! Many churches spend vast sums of money on their choir and pay a professional musician to cultivate fine singing voices. But it is all done for the praise of men, not God, and He is nowhere to be found in such a pricey place. A well-orchestrated production might be staged in that fancy sheep shed, but people leave the meeting just as bound by satan as when they came in. We, the living stones of the Body of Christ, ARE God's true Temple (I Cor.3:16; II Cor.6:16). We are built together as a habitation (dwelling place) of God through the Spirit (Eph.2:22). Modern ministers of Christendom are actually taxing the true Temple of the Lord to construct monuments to their own greed! What Babylonish confusion reigns in organized christendom! Do you think a Holy God can bless such a mess? Any Israelite in the Old Testament who did not farm or raise livestock was exempt from paying tithes. Hired field hands did not have to tithe on their cash wages! Preachers boast of being “spiritual Levites” entitled to take your tithe. They could aim higher than that! Not all Levites were priests, only those descended from Aaron (Num.3:3). By the time of Ezekiel, the priesthood was further restricted to the sons of Zadok within the clan of Aaron. These restrictions on the priesthood happened because of repeated sin in the nation of Israel. God’s original intention was for ALL of Israel to be a priestly nation unto Him (Ex.19:6). That was BEFORE Israel danced around the Golden Calf in the Sinai Desert and lost the privilege of national priesthood.

Ezek.44:10: And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. 12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity. 13 And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. 15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: 16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. Preachers could set their sights higher if they want to be the New Covenant counterpart of an Old Covenant blessing club. If being exempt from tithes and other “laymen” obligations is their goal, they’d be better off masquerading as an Old Testament sandal maker! Craftsmen and tradesmen didn’t have to tithe. But surprisingly, the ONLY Levites in the Bible exempt from paying tithes were those descended from Aaron the High Priest. Instead, the High Priest received one tenth of the tithes subordinate Levites received from the people (Num.18:26-28; Neh.10:38). ONLY the tithes paid by the Levites (not that paid to them by the people) were ever taken to the Temple in Jerusalem for consumption by the spiritual leadership of Israel. The other 90% of the tithe paid by Israelite farmers and herdsmen was either consumed BY the worshipper himself and others at Israel’s feasts or was stored within the gates of cities for consumption by the poor and the Levites (Deut.12:1718; 14:22-29). So much for the “sweet-smelling (stinky?)sacrifice” preachers demand of you when they say: “No matter how hard it gets, even if the children are hungry: ‘DON’T EAT THE TITHE’!” Preachers holler about taking the Word of God literally and applying it to your lives. But funny how I’ve NEVER heard any preacher advocate what the Bible REALLY teaches about how to use tithes, including spending “tithe money” on alcoholic beverages, as taught in Deut.14:26. The Law of Moses is an INDIVISIBLE package deal. It’s not a restaurant menu that money-hungry preachers can pick their favorite money-making ordinances from and reject the rest as “no longer for today.” Professional ministers claim that they themselves are the counterpart of the Old Testament Levitical priesthood, with all its perks and privileges, while the rest of us are just "pray, pay and obey" lay Christians who ought to submit cheerfully to their demands for more and more tithes and offerings. But the only High Priest of our covenant is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose priesthood is unchangeable and eternal (Heb. 7:21-25). How dare any professional pulpiteer try to supplant the position of our great High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ and demand endless offerings and unscriptural money tithes in His name! The Bible specifically

instructs church leadership not to act as lords over God's heritage (I Pet.5:3). We have ONE Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph.4:5). Many appeal to false guilt through resorting to religious mysticism woven from select Old Testament passages. Just misuse a few sacred words to push the old guilt buttons, like "holy", "sacrifice", "devotion", "firstfruits", "consecration", "hallowed things", “deep things of God”, etc. Nobody can resist such soft soap sentiment, that would be as mean as glaring at a sweetly smiling baby. Keep the words weighty and the music morbid and most Christians will be shaking in their boots. They’ll be too petrified even to question the validity of monetary tithing, much less refuse to cough up the cash by the count of three! Preachers will appeal to your sense of duty with statements like this: "The tithe is holy. The tithe is the Lord's (but who bought a new car with it!). Does Jesus wear a Rolex? Does God wear thousand-dollar suits and diamond jewelry? Where, oh, where in all of Holy Scripture are the tithes ever used to build buildings or temporal rewards for "ministers of the Word"? You are accused of"robbing God" when you don't fork over to the preacher ten per cent of your paycheck. Really? Show me the scripture which authorizes any religious official to garnish tithes from any poor laborer's wages, or extort them with threats of divine retribution! NOT ONCE did Paul the Apostle EVER remind any Christian to "pay his tithe" or reprove anybody for failure to do so. Paul never taught housewives or unpaid slaves how to tithe. He didn't even bring up that subject to Lydia, a merchant who sold fine purple fabrics only the ruling class was allowed to wear in those days (Acts 16:14-15). If ever there was a perfect opportunity for Paul to teach tithing, that was it. True, Paul didn't like the fact that some Christians were stingy with freewill offerings for his mission work, but money freely given to the true works of God is not the same as the Biblical tithe, which was required only before the Cross, and only required of Israelites engaged in agriculture or animal husbandry. The last verses of Leviticus, the Book of the Mosaic Law, stipulate that tithing is one of the Laws given BY MOSES TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FROM MT. SINAI (Lev.27:30-34). Our Covenant is one of grace through faith in Christ, and springs from Mt. Calvary. No Christian in his right mind would swallow medication prescribed for someone else. The Law of Moses was prescribed for Old Testament Israelites and their converts, not for New Testament Gentile Christians. Tithing was holy unto the Lord, but ONLY in THE TIME AND IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS REQUIRED. So was circumcision. So were animal sacrifices. So was the wearing of phylacteries. Contrary to the New Covenant of grace, material tithes of an unscriptural type (money) are demanded of Gentile believers in Christ today. But do ministers of Christendom insist on physical circumcision today? I guarantee, if that ancient law were reinstated in churches across the land, part of the congregation would stampede out the nearest exit and the women really would take over the churches! Modern pulpiteers count on the fact that few of the "laity" really do have the time (or energy) to study their Bible in depth. The average churchgoing couple often have to work 2 or 3 jobs apiece just to make ends meet. People are rushed off their feet these days and barely have the time to make it to church, much less consult the Scriptures to test whether the rhetoric being preached from the pulpit is really sanctioned by New Testament teachings delivered by Paul and other apostles to the early church. Don't forget, we are NOT under the Mosaic Law, we are under grace

(Rom.6:14; Gal.5:18). If we want to keep part of the Law, we must keep ALL of it (Gal.3:10-13). And if we fail to obey perfectly even just one point of that 613ordinance Law, our failure ministers death, not life, and we come under the curse of the Law. It makes me shudder just to think about it! II Cor.3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but the spirit: for THE LETTER KILLETH, but the spirit giveth life. VERSE 7 But if THE MINISTRATION OF DEATH, WRITTEN AND ENGRAVEN IN STONES, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away; VERSE 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? VERSE 9 For if THE MINISTRATION OF CONDEMNATION be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. There, you have it on scriptural authority that far from being a life-giving blessing, the Old Law was the Ministration of Death and the Ministration of Condemnation. When preachers try to bring you back under the Law or any part of it, they bring you back under its condemnation too. Preachers teach that it is an act of faith to tithe. Hardly. Tithe-paying brings you back under bondage TO MEN. Tithing strips you of the glorious freedom of your priesthood in Christ, hard won for you through Jesus' death on the Cross. You are instead brought back under a spirit of fearful slavery, exemplified in the contrasting status of Abraham's two sons, cited in Galatians 4:2131. Isaac was the son of Sarah, the free woman. Ishmael was the son of Hagar, the slave woman. Sarah enjoyed dignity as Abraham's lawful wife. Hagar was a concubine who could be punished or even banished if she failed to please her owners. Are you a free child of God with assurance of salvation, or do men of the cloth act like they own you, your time and your pocketbook? Do you allow them to put you in slavish fear of God's displeasure whenever you fail to do everything or give everything they expect of you? Despite the flowery religious rhetoric being spouted by preachers today, when you tithe under the New Covenant, you deny your own priesthood in Christ and bring yourself back under the condemnation of the Law. Despite enjoying a vastly more glorious position in Christ than Old Covenant saints had, Christians, like ancient Israel, crave a flesh and blood security blanket in the form of some imperfect man (or woman). Satan convinces them that Jesus is overwhelmed by the millions of other people needing his services as High Priest before the Throne of God. “So Christians look for somebody else to fight their spiritual battles for them. Catholics even pray to dead saints and Mary, the mother of Jesus, which is idolatry. Some act like Jesus needs a little help in his role of Shepherd of the Sheep and Intermediary before God the Father. But what did the Prophet Samuel promise would be the inevitable outcome of demoting God and elevating man? I Sam.8:9: Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.

11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.* * *A well-oiled PR organization to promote his success seminars! 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots* * *For every need there’s a committee! 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.* * *Did any preacher ever meet a spaghetti supper or bake sale he didn’t like? 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. * * *Send in your BEST seed today, but it better be green! 15 And he will take the TENTH (sound familiar?) of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants (his “inner circle” cronies). 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.* * *Free typing, web site design, plumbing, painting and re-decorating, with a bit of baby-sitting thrown in! 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.* * *Busted all the way down from a priest to a preacher’s peon! 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. * * *Could THIS shed light on why God doesn’t listen to some people’s prayers? Could “submission” to some substitute “god-figure” in the pulpit constitute a form of idolatry in the Church of Jesus Christ? I lost count of the zillions of form letters I used to get from preachers begging me to Plant a seed to meet my need. Or, sleep on this red hankie for JUST ONE NIGHT , sign it and wrap it around your BEST offering! Just don’t blow your nose on it! Then mail it in to yours truly in Preacherland, California, and I’ll be sure to pray for you PERSONALLY, although millions of other suckers are planting seeds too!

All that religious junk mail left me with this impression: Satan’s SCARED of what you might do YOU’VE got that dude quakin’ in his boots Send in ten, you’ll get under his skin Send in your rent, you’ll blast him to bits Send in twenty, he’ll get real sweaty Send in thirty, he’ll get real worried Send in a hundred so you’ll get blessed Empty your wallet if you want satan dead Send your last cent to slaughter him Give till it hurts or you won’t win Dollar bills obliterate hell Credit cards can cast out devils Open your purse or life will get worse Give till it hurts or you’ll lose your shirt Act on your faith to show “god” trust Send us your bucks to beat satan’s butt! I wonder how anybody could swallow such rotten religion. But when you’re at your lowest ebb and your back’s against the wall, it’s much harder to think rationally. Preachers count on people being way too worried about paying bills and getting food to have sufficient time to study the Bible for themselves to “see if these things be so” (Acts 17:11). But devious preachers also take advantage of people being knocked off their feet by the devil. Wounded people feel too hurt and scared and desperate to know what they’re doing when they “write out that generous check”! They’re worried that they’re not good enough or IMPORTANT enough for God to give them their miracle. They FEAR that unless the “ANOINTED MAN OF GOD” makes special intercession for them (in Christ’s place) their prayers will just bounce back off the ceiling. Even worse, preachers subtly teach people to treat God like a slot machine, whereby they stick in their “biggest bill they’ve slept over” and expect Him to shower out a hundred times as much! Such teachings, however perfumed they are in religious jargon, are blasphemous. Blasphemy, as well as idolatry, is pushed by today’s parasite preachers, be it ever so subtle. There’s a fine line between “brethren, pray for us” (I Thes.5:25) and the pitfall of Jeremiah 17:7 which warns of a curse upon those who trust in man rather than God. Preacher prey, all right, just like a sneaky coyote charming his way into the hen house. All I know is the more I paid those preachers to pray a blessing over me and the more I put my trust in them the worse things got for us. Our little home got burgled. For a long time nothing seemed to go right. Until I started listening to God and stopped listening to them. Preachers stress the importance of “partners in ministry” but it’s a very UNEQUAL partnership , contrary to 2 Cor. 8:14 which teaches EQUALITY of well-being in the church. Every time preachers want something they’ll beg, lie and deceive, even resort to false prophecy to try to pull it out of your wallet. But next time you’re in a jam just try asking THEM for help. Anything more “sacrificial” than prayer, forget it. And chances are, you wouldn’t be able to contact those privileged characters personally. Your prayer request would probably just be thrown away in a dumpster somewhere.

Christians begin their walk with God on the basis of GRACE THROUGH FAITH (Eph.2:8). Jesus said God is our Heavenly Father Who delights in GIVING, not selling us good things (Matt.7:11). Why should we all of a sudden stop relating to God on the basis of FREE grace and turn our relationship with Him into a tit for tat deal where we pay Him so He can give us something in return? Preachers REPEATEDLY tell you that when you give “your best offering” to them you’re giving it to the Lord. So guess whose job those preachers are after?