TITHING & THE FN!        DFO928   26/7/80
--Or, Weaning the Baby!--100%ers, 10%ers, 110%ers--or Nothings?

         1. I WAS THINKING HOW PEOPLE CAN GET THINGS SO CONFUSED & how the Devil really tries to complicate things. I was reading a report about the different levels of giving for the Magazine, & I had a sneaking feeling that the Enemy was bringing up these questions & problems deliberately to show how complicated it could all get! !
         2. And so I thought, "Well, only God knows & only God has the answers!" When the Lord was using a system similar to ours in the Bible, He just made a flat requirement of 10% regardless of who it was, widows or orphans or anybody. This was fair for everybody, because no matter how much or how little they earned, they all had to tithe 10%!
         3. So the only solution, as I prayed about it, was simply to go back to God's original tithing plan: Just a straight 10% tithe for everybody, no matter how small or how great!--Tithe is a great leveler! So from now on we'll send the DO Magazines to whoever truly tithes, regardless of the abundance or the smallness of your tithe. And we'll send it to you despite the fact that maybe our enemies will get it too!
         4. IRFing was a good program while it lasted, to try to reclaim some of our backsliders, old friends, etc. But once they've been given the opportunity to repent & come back & the door's been opened--they've been given a chance for a year or more now--we expect to get some results, not just IRFers who are merely half-hearted, curious tasters.
         5. I AM FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT IF YOU TITHE FAITHFULLY in obedience because of faith in God's Word, He will take care of you no matter what, & more than reward you for it! Malachi 3:10 says, as plain as anything: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, & prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, & pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it!" ("Meat" = Magazines!)
         6. Jesus even promised a hundredfold if you give all! (Mt.19:29) Think of it!--One hundredfold! It may not be in dollars & cents; it may be in protection or in saving you from accidents or sicknesses that would have cost you a hundred times more! God can save you money in more ways than one & take care of you in many ways that you cannot take care of yourselves!
         7. We were just getting too complicated, & the Lord is not the author of confusion. He likes things very simple. Even a little child can understand 10%, or one out of ten fingers or apples or whatever! This was His Own simple plan in a government situation such as we have in the Family, which is in some ways similar to the Old Testament organization of His Early Kingdom.
         8. THE NEW TESTAMENT PLAN, OF COURSE, WAS 100%! Under His Law of Love, you are to give your all: Yourself & everything you've got!--Bring it all with you but forsake it all to the Family--houses & lands & family & brothers & sisters, husband or wife, mother & father, everything for the Lord, & He would more than repay! We started on that basis & it still works, & I still believe in it! (Mt.19:29)
         9. The tithe is God's second best, it's reverting back to the Old Testament system. It's an easy way out for those who are not willing to give all. So the tither is already getting by with a lot less than God expects of him as a real New Testament disciple! All we can do is lay down God's Law & say, "Here it is, here's the Scriptural minimum!--If you are not willing to give your all, the New Testament minimum, then for God's sake at least give the Old Testament minimum of 10%, which is the absolute minimum to help support God's work!"
         10. The tithe is not a gift, it is a minimum tax that God requires of His children. The 100% is your free gift, gladly forsaking all for Him & His Kingdom. It's like His Love & His Salvation & His Grace are free, & He gives you 100% of all that! You are expected to freely give all: "Freely ye have received, freely give." (Mt.10:8)
         11. Total love gives all! Many of our people are giving their all in fulltime service, plus giving 10% of their income as well! I'd call them 110%ers! They're giving their whole lives & their time & their strength & serving the Lord completely fulltime--plus tithing 10%! GB'm!
         12. NEVERTHELESS, THE THING THAT CAME TO ME WAS THAT WE NEED TO GO BACK TO GOD'S SIMPLE SYSTEM OF A FLAT 10% TITHE for all those who will not give 100%. God may let you get by with giving only the absolute required minimum of 10%, but that 10% definitely has to come to the Temple! He said in Malachi 3:10: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse", which was the Temple warehouse.--All the tithe, all of the 10% definitely goes to the Temple ministry, which in this case is World Services.
         13. We are the Temple ministry of the New Testament Church of the Family. We are the Temple leadership, the priests & the Levites, & the tithe is the least required by God & must go to the Temple first. A part of the ministry of the Temple was charity & to help the poor, & this is also a part of our ministry--not only supplying the Word & worship of God, but also channeling some of what is given to needy missionaries, fields & projects of the Lord.
         14. You may give gifts & offerings above the tithe elsewhere if you prefer. If you receive an inheritance for example, you're required as Members of this Family to give to your Temple, World Services, 10% of that inheritance, & He expects gifts above that if you're able, & 100% if you can! You can give the other 90% to all His various ministers, needy fields, missionaries & other Godly projects.
         15. The tithe does not have to be in cash if you don't have the cash. The usual tithe in the Old Testament was actually in cattle, sheep, crops & material things. The Lord still expects it to be tithed, even if it is a material gift, therefore such material gifts or income should be reported on your monthly TRF report.
         16. If World Services could use it, or if we know of a missionary field that needs it, you could ship it to them & consider that the shipping cost would be a part of the tithe, together with the value of the material. The same is true of the sales of property, stocks, bonds, etc. But if all you got was just free food, free rent, medical services & no cash at all, I'm sure in such cases God will supply some kind of material income which you can share & which you could find possible to tithe, even if you could not send the 10% cash tithe.
         17. GOD IS NOT GOING TO JUDGE YOU ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU GIVE, but according to how much you have left! In the day that Jesus stood in the Temple & judged the large donations of the Scribes & the Pharisees & the rich in comparison with the tiny bit the poor widow gave, He was judging not according to the amount of the gifts. (Mk.12:41-44) He said they had cast in of their abundance, but they had much, much more left! The poor widow had cast in all she had & had nothing left! She'd given her all!--100%! And that was, as far as God was concerned, the greatest gift of the day!
         18. If you give your all, God will reward you accordingly & give you everything in return, even a hundredfold!--He's promised it! (Mt.19:29) He said if you give all, He will give you back one hundredfold in this life!--And in the World to come Life Eternal!--All this & Heaven too! You can't beat that!
         19. If you give 100%, you are going to get back 100 times that 100%!--That's 10,000%! There's no other investment in this whole World that pays that much! God's financial & material rewards are tops in every field, whether it be in finances, material things, protection, spiritual gifts, souls, sex or what have you!--100-fold!
         20. And even to the people who give just 10%, God has promised to open up the windows of Heaven & pour out such a blessing they won't have room to hold it all! Now you only 10%-ers may get back a hundredfold more than your 10%, but even that's 1000%! So you guys who are giving less than 100% are really losin' money, but still in there!
         21. BUT DON'T CLAIM TO BE A 100%ER OR EVEN A 10%ER IF IT'S NOT THE TRUTH! The Lord, through the mouth of His prophet Peter, told Ananias & Sapphira (Acts 5:4) that while it was yet in their hand it was theirs to do with as they pleased. Their sin was that they were lying to the Holy Spirit & to the Church, pretending to be 100%ers when they were only part-percenters, reporting only part of their income instead of all of it.
         22. You're in front of God's court of judgment every time you make out a TRF report as to whether it's the truth or lies, especially if you're lying & cheating & robbing God of His tithe by reporting a false amount of income when you're actually receiving more!--You'll have to face God & your own guilty conscience on that!
         23. And I'll tell you, if you don't pay what you're supposed to, He is going to reward you inversely accordingly, in the opposite direction, according to your little work or lack of works!--He'll reward you with all kinds of trouble & expenses & cursings instead of blessings! I've known all kinds of troubles to befall people that cost them many times as much as their unpaid tithe when they tried to take away even His little 10%!
         24. He says in Malachi 3:8: "Will a man rob God?--Yes, ye have robbed Me in tithes & offerings!" Even if you faithfully pay your required 10% just because you have to to get the Magazine, if you don't also give him an offering when you can, He will take a collection that will far outweigh what you could have given. If you can give more than the tithe, God will expect that you freely give it.
         25. God promised in His Word that you will reap whatever you sow, & certainly if you don't even sow at all, you're not going to reap anything except troubles & penalties & curses instead of blessings! (2Cor.9:6 & Gal.6:7-9)
         26. SO THIS IS THE SOLUTION: TITHERS ONLY GET THE WHOLE WORKS, NO MATTER HOW MUCH OR HOW LITTLE THEIR TITHE MAY BE, & whether you're truly tithing or not is on your conscience between you & God. He's your official auditor, & He not only audits the figures, but He audits the thoughts & intents of your heart as well as your motives. God will judge you not just according to what you give or tithe, but according to what you have left & your motive in giving, & He will reward you accordingly!
         27. He'll only give you credit for what you really wanted to give, & not what you merely were required to give. You probably won't even get credit for the full 10% if you don't give it willingly, cheerfully, gladly & faithfully by faith & in obedience to His Word because you love Him & are trying to obey Him & help His work, "for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver." (2Co.9:7)
         28. But let me warn you, if you try to cheat Him or lie to Him or rob Him or us of His minimum 10% or lie about your income & don't give the full amount of your full tithe, He will repay you for that also many times over!
         29. If you only have to return it, that's no penalty!--You oughtta have to pay an extra penalty above what you stole, & God's law says it's 400%! (2Sam.12:6; Lk.19:8)--Four times as much!--Four-fold! You know, all of a sudden that 10% doesn't look so big after all, does it?--Ha! God bless & keep you tithing & giving your all for Jesus!--I love you!--Dear Tired Ol' Dad!


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