TITHE OR HELL YOUR CHOICE, Mike Peralta [reading list txt] 📗

point that the church has to close down. Also even if the church remains open they have little ability to help members and the lost in much needed counseling, preaching, outreaches, etc. (And definitely, not enough to help any widows or orphans - which is part of what the early church did and what the modern church is also supposed to be doing as well.)

And notice the pastor is not the only one ministering. A good functioning church will have street evangelists, and sunday school teachers, and youth leaders, and music leaders, and counselors - all which need adequate funding to buy music equipment, sunday school supplies, gospel tracts, bibles to give to those who do not have them, etc. etc.

Only a fool would believe that a church can function properly (and I'm not talking just about the building) without the people giving tithes to support it.

 

Christ, Melchizedek, Abraham, And The Tithe

Before getting into Hebrews chapter 7 let us first look at how up to 500 witnessed (and testified) that Jesus is alive (after Christ’s resurrection):

1 Corinthians 15:3-8, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Notice that Jesus appeared to more than 500 at one time. This is a great deal of witnesses that testified that Jesus was and is living. This will be of significant importance in the final mention of the tithe in the New Testament.

Now let us take a look at Hebrews 7:1-10,

Hebrews 7:1-10, 1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually. 4 Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. 5 And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham. 6 But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7 But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8 In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. 9 And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

In general, Hebrews chapter 7 talks about Jesus being our High Priest in the order of Melchisedek. I underlined verse 8 because that is the key verse we will concentrate on here. Verse 8 in four (4) translations reads are follows:

Hebrews 7:8, and here, indeed, men who die do receive tithes, and there He, who is testified to that He was living, (YLT)

Hebrews 7:8, And here men that die receive tithes; but there He receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that He liveth. (KJV)

Hebrews 7:8, In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case One receives them, of whom it is witnessed that He lives on. (NASB)

Hebrews 7:8, In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by Him who is declared to be living. (NIV)

A word-for-word Greek-to-English translation is as shown in the table below. This is based on Strong’s Greek-to-English reference.

Word-for-Word Greek-to-English Translation of Heb 7:8,

 

 

So starting with the Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) of Hebrews 7:8 and considering that over 500 testified that Jesus lives (1 Cor 15:3-8 then Heb 7:8 reads as follows:

Hebrews 7:8, And here, indeed, men who die do receive tithes, and there He [Jesus], who is testified to that He was living, (YLT)

Hebrews 7:8, And here men that die receive tithes; but there He [Jesus] receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that He liveth. (KJV)

So we see from this scripture alone that Jesus, because He is our High Priest, is the One that now receives our Tithes! Jesus is the only one that can fit this verse as there were over 500 witnesses of His resurrection and that He is currently living. There is no one else in human history to which this verse can apply. No one else in human history is resurrected and lives on. NO ONE ELSE! What a privilege and honor it is that we can tithe to our High Priest – Jesus Christ – Who lives forever!

Notice also that verse 7 clearly shows that Jesus (the greater) blesses us (the lesser) just like Melchizedek (the greater) blessed Abraham (the lesser).

The fact that Jesus now receives our Tithe in the New Testament dispensation is extremely clear in this passage of Scripture. With this scripture alone there is no excuse for robbing God of His rightful Tithe.

The first part of Heb 7:8 is also revealing: “And here, indeed, men who die do receive tithes.” Already in the New Testament dispensation, mortal men were receiving tithes to carry on the work of Christ’s ministry. And notice that Paul did not rebuke anybody for the giving of tithes during this time.

People of the Jewish tradition were so accustomed to the giving of tithes that it was seen as a common and proper practice to give tithe to God for the work of God’s ministry. This giving of the tithe was so good and proper that Paul used it as an example of Christ’ status as High Priest by likening it to when Abraham gave the tithe to Melchisedek – a high priest and a type of symbol of Christ. And in the second part of Heb 7:8 - as an illustration of Jesus as our High Priest – Jesus is now receiving our tithe in the New Testament dispensation! This is such an awesome illustration of Jesus’ status of High Priest on our behalf.

The fact that our giving of our tithe shows how Jesus is now our High Priest, shows very vividly the validity of us now giving the tithe in the New Testament dispensation. Since Jesus is our High Priest we now give our tithe to Him – our loving Lord and Savior! This act of course is an act of worship and honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This is such a beautiful illustration of Proverbs 3:9-10, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”

I know that Jesus is very pleased when we honor Him with the tithe and offerings. Jesus sees it as a sincere act of worship on our part to submit our tithe and offerings to Him. And notice in Prov 3:10 that Jesus promises to provide abundantly with provisions even bursting at the seams.

 

 

No Where In The Bible Is The Tithe Abolished

There is no where in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament that the practice of the tithe is abolished. In fact, we have already seen where we are commanded to tithe in three passages in the New Testament. How anybody can say (essentially lie) that the tithe “has been done away” is a clear case of deception and falsehood.

It is also very significant to note that no where in the New Testament did the Apostle Paul , nor any other Apostle, tell believers to not pay tithes. NO WHERE! If God wanted us to stop the practice of tithing He would have clearly told us in the New Testament. But God did not command us to stop paying tithes. And in fact He commands us to tithe as we already discussed in Mat 23:23, Luke 11:42, and Heb 7:8. Also Paul was very clear about the change of practice about circumcision, and food and drink laws, and special festival days. But Paul nor any other Apostle never ever told us to stop paying the tithe. So the idea that “the tithe has been done away with” is a deception straight from the pit of Hell. Satan wants to weaken the church – including it’s finances and so he and his demons concocted the false deception to get rid of the tithe. It takes an evil rebellious heart to accept the deception that financially weakens God’s New Testament churches. Financially weakening the church only helps the devil drag more people into Hell. How anybody is fooled into thinking that doing away with the tithe helps the church is the epitome of utter foolishness.

It’s like thinking that voluntary governmental taxes would enhance government. And we all know that is utter foolishness. I know no one likes to pay taxes, but just think if we only had to pay government taxes on a voluntary basis. In such a case we all know that the government would quickly weaken and not have funds to operate, and we would quickly have enemies cross our borders and invade us and criminals would quickly assault citizens due to lack of military and police. How could anyone be so foolish as to not know the repercussions of telling people that “taxes have been done away with, and we don’t have to pay taxes anymore.” Absolute foolishness!

In similar manner, telling people that “the tithe has been done away with” only serves to weaken God’s church and results in more and more people being dragged to Hell - due to the gospel not being supported as much, and also due to the disobedience to God’s tithe commandment.

As mentioned before don’t let satan nor false teachers deceive you and fool you into thinking that “the tithe has been done away with.” Not only is the church hurt but you yourself are also hurt and you even lose the salvation that Jesus worked so hard to give to you when you were first born-again. This will be illustrated most vividly in the Hell Testimonies in the next several chapters. (Only those who endure to the end will be saved, Mat 24:13. As previously mentioned, I go into a good amount of detail about this in my book: Backsliding to Hell by Mike Peralta.) Don’t let satan, nor false teachers, steal your crown of eternal life. Support the gospel and obey Jesus wholeheartedly and pay the tithe and offerings from a willing and obedient heart (Isaiah 1:19). Jesus will be elated with you and bless you, as He promises, and we can bring many more people to the saving grace of Christ on this earth. What a privilege and honor that we can support the gospel and give our High Priest, Jesus, the tithe.