The Trojan Horse of Tithing

The Trojan Horse of Tithing

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Propiv Press

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA

The Trojan Horse Of Tithing

How Tithe Traditions Have Undermined A Pure Gospel Message

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By Jonathan Brenneman

www.gotoheavennow.com

The Trojan Horse Of Tithing

How Tithe Traditions Have Undermined A Pure Gospel Message

© Copyright 2020 by Jonathan Brenneman. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. Permission is granted to freely share the ebook or PDF in its entirety.

General Editor: Arnolda Brenneman

Propiv Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.  Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (YLT) are taken from Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible by J. N. Young, 1862, 1898. Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the 1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible, Public Domain.

Table Of Contents

1. Let’s Get Ready to Take on an Intense Topic!

2. My Tithe Story

3. Who’s Teaching Salvation by Tithing?

4. Subtle Deception Paves the Way for Blatant Error

5. Is the Tithe Law?

6. The Many Layers of Problems with Teaching a Christian Tithe from Malachi

7. The History of Tithing

8. You Break God’s Commandments for the Sake of Your Tithing Tradition

9. But Tithing Works!

10. Tithing Undermines Spirit-Led Giving

11. Spirit-Led Giving

12. Corrupted Wisdom and Jesus’s Temptation

13. What about Ministerial Support?

14. Good News for the Poor

15. When Not to Accept an Offering

16. Mothers Are Pleading for Someone to Tell their Children the Truth

Recommended Reading

About The Author

Contact

1.  Let’s Get Ready to Take on an Intense Topic!

What Could Have Changed Derek Prince’s Mind?

Derek Prince wrote over 80 books. They have been translated and published into over a hundred languages, and I’ve seen them in bookstores around the world. Years after his death, some of his books continue to be top sellers in the Charismatic/Pentecostal category. His influence also continues through hundreds of recorded sermons and radio broadcasts, with more than 45 Derek Prince Ministries offices around the world.[1]

Derek influenced me when I was a teenager, and his writings reinforced everything I’d heard about the importance of tithing. Recently, I learned that he changed his position on the matter in 1989. I had known that he eventually admitted We fell into the Galatian error concerning the Shepherding Movement,[2] but until now, I’d never heard of him changing his position on tithing.

A Bible teacher from New Zealand, Graeme Carlé, wrote a book called Eating Sacred Cows. It taught that the requirement of a tithe only applied to those under the Mosaic Covenant, yet the Mosaic tithe was a great example of how important vacations are. Graeme mentioned that he began to study the matter after hearing a Bible teacher whom he highly respected, Derek Prince, talk about it.

Warren Smith of Derek Prince Ministries, New Zealand, confirmed that this book got into Derek’s hands and he ended up ordering 20 copies for his international council to help them avoid burn-out. A quote from one of Derek’s books confirms that he changed his position on tithing:

In the New Testament, God never establishes a specific law, like that of the Old Testament, requiring Christians to set aside for him a tenth of their total income. The covenant of grace does not operate through laws enforced from without, but through laws written by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 Paul instructs Christians, 'So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity.'[3]

What could have changed Derek’s mind?

Why Talk About Tithing?

Before getting into the meat of the matter, I’d first like to address why we need to talk about this and what a healthy attitude looks like in addressing it.

Some people ask Why do you need to talk about this? In fact, a friend who agrees that scripture doesn't teach tithing for Christians responded Why talk about this? It won't bring you favor to minister in churches. After all, scripture doesn't prohibit tithing, and it's a model of giving that works well in our culture.

I’m a missionary. I minister as a guest speaker at churches from time to time, and giving helps me financially. Sharing my position on tithing doesn’t help me to get more opportunities to speak! I also had the joy of serving as a pastor in Rio de Janeiro for a little over a year. Some people assume anyone who questions tithing must not want to give. If money were my motivation, I would have plenty of reason to teach tithing, not question it!

I have very little reason to write a book like this other than love for the truth, care for the church, and concern for the purity of the gospel message we preach. I will make the case that:

A foundational gospel issue is at stake, and even tithe teachings that are supposedly from a grace perspective have fundamentally changed the way many people are attempting to relate to God.

Tithing is a Trojan horse, a doctrine that is cloaked in good intentions but gives Satan a foothold in the church.

The church has been regularly breaking many commands of scripture for the sake of its tithe tradition.

A major justice issue is at hand.

The modern tithe is not even a helpful principle, is based on the Babylonian tithe, and contradicts the basic principles of the ancient Jewish tithe.

The tithe is an unnecessary stumbling block that has hindered people from coming to Christ as well as causing many people to turn away from Christ.

Our integrity is at stake. Will we handle God’s word with sincerity and truth?

The tithe undermines Holy Spirit-lead giving, generosity, and stewardship.

Teaching the modern tithe tradition undermines the effectiveness of our witness for Christ.

Vitor Azevedo, a Brazilian pastor whose church went from zero to 3,000 members in just a few years, preached a series called Jesus without anything else.[4] He then said to a friend of mine, a missionary, I’ve taught my church that they need just Jesus, not Jesus and tithing. Should I put this on the internet with all my other messages?

My friend Reinhard advised him, If you put this on the internet, I believe you will be terribly persecuted here for it in Brazil. If you’re willing to be persecuted for the sake of the truth, put it up. If not, don’t. If you put it up, you’ll be persecuted, but it will set people free.

The pastor said in tears, I would rather close down my church for lack of money than keep the people in this bondage. He went ahead and posted the message.

All hell broke loose. People started taking snippets of his messages totally out of context and posting them on the internet, warning about him, and calling him a heretic. He was canceled from every single conference and speaking engagement.

Can you imagine a pastor of a large church, with so many speaking engagements, having any reason to question tithing other than caring for the truth and the purity of the gospel message? He saw that tithing teachings were hurting people!

On the other hand, this pastor’s integrity and courage to share his conviction revealed the hearts of many other leaders. Their persecution revealed the heart issues that were underlying the doctrine they preached. When they accused him of heresy for rejecting tithing, they revealed that their gospel was tithing. It was not, as Paul said, ..,nothing...except Jesus Christ and him crucified.[5]

I love the churches and have several pastor friends I love dearly and pray for. I believe in supporting ministers, and I myself support ministries I believe in. I care so much about this issue because I passionately love the church. I don’t write to tear down the church, but to partner with what the Holy Spirit is doing in it.

Some people say It’s useless to try to convince pastors to change their minds about tithing. I disagree. Godly leaders such as Derek Prince have already changed their positions on tithing. I believe some leaders who are currently teaching tithing do sincerely love God’s people and have the integrity to consider what I have to say and put truth before convenience.

As I share, some readers may initially feel like I’m setting up the most extreme and radical teachings about tithing as a straw man to attack. I ask that you bear with me and keep reading. You may be shocked at the extent to which teaching tithing has caused destruction in the body of Christ, but I will make a strong case that it has.

My Anguish for the Church

Romans 9:1-5  I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Why did Paul have such anguish over Israel? He saw God's work and blessing on his people. But they stumbled by pursuing the law as the way of righteousness, not by faith but by works.[6]

I can relate to what Paul says here, although not quite to the point of wishing I myself were cursed and cut off. As Paul loved his people, I love God's people and I have a burning passion for the work of the Holy Spirit in the churches. I pray fervently for churches and pastor friends, with much gratitude for what the Holy Spirit is doing among God's people. It seems I can barely visit a new church without soon being in tears. I frequently weep half of the time when I'm in a Christian meeting because I recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing. I see how the Holy Spirit is moving in people's lives, and I put all my heart and soul into agreeing with his work.

Yes, I've often been alone and felt God's glory on me like a weight, but the greatest manifestations of God's glory have usually been in gatherings with other Christians. I don't want to live if not for Jesus and for his purposes with the church. My life's passion is to see people know and experience God's glory, and to see God's glory manifest in and through Christ's body, the church.

Yet a serious issue today has hindered the church from manifesting God's glory more fully. The church today has often sent a mixed message. The declaration of truth brings a manifestation of God's glory, but it only goes so far if the church then contradicts itself and teaches people to pursue by works that which is only available by God's grace.

Many people say We aren’t doing that. We teach tithing under grace. It’s not possible to teach tithing under grace any more than it is to teach circumcision under grace. The same problems remain. God’s glory is manifest in the nature and character of Christ. No matter how much we try to dress up tithing as grace, it still misrepresents who Christ is and how he relates to people.

I've shed so many tears in prayer over the tithe issue. God's given me a commission to strengthen the church and to encourage pastors. Yet questioning or disagreeing with the tithe will often close doors to ministry opportunities. So, I have put much prayer into asking God for wisdom about how to discuss this. I recently shared my position with two Brazilian pastor friends who I've been talking with and praying for. Thank God they understood where I'm coming from!

I have plenty to lose by talking about the problems with today's tithe tradition. If it were just about being successful in ministry, disagreeing with the tithing doctrine is one of the worst things I could do. But God measures success in a different way than men do. The fear of the Lord and love for the truth will not let me around this issue. Love for the church and a passion to see a greater manifestation of God's glory through the church compel me.

I believe the gospel is worth giving not only our money but also our lives to promote. I want to build up the church, I want people to give generously, and I want to see provision for ministries, but it must be by God's grace and not according to the law.

What’s a Healthy Attitude Look Like as We Take on this Subject?

Although this is not only a Charismatic issue, I’m addressing it from a pro-charismatic, full gospel position.[7] Some critics of tithing have addressed the issue from a very critical, anti-Charismatic slant.

It’s no secret that I highly esteem several people and ministries that teach tithing. I’m so thankful, for example, for the blessing that has come through Bethel Church and Hillsong Church, even though I couldn’t disagree more strongly about the tithe. Bill Johnson’s teaching helped me get started in a life of miracles, and the worship music from Hillsong has been a huge blessing! As hard-hitting as I will get here in my disagreement about the tithe, please don’t take this book as a condemnation of certain people or ministries.

I’m bringing up huge issues and making some hard-hitting points. Yet I share not with an accusatory intent but as a humble plea, directed especially to Charismatic leaders whom I love and respect. I’m hoping to reach several leaders for whom I have the utmost appreciation and affection, leaders who have added so much to my life. I myself have been prone to error, as Peter was. I’m humbly entreating today’s leaders to re-consider this issue. Consider the implications and the fruit of teaching tithing, because it is causing great harm to the cause of Christ. As I will document, the most common teachings about tithing are a Trojan Horse for error that is leading millions of people away from Biblical Christianity based on faith in Christ. If we have strayed, let’s return to unadulterated gospel truth. Let’s get rid of the old yeast!

Galatians 6:1 (NRSV) My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8: (NRSV) Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

If you are starting this book in disagreement with me, I hope that you will listen to my plea with humility, consider my arguments, hear my experience, and hear my heart for the church. We’re certainly dealing with issues that can’t be ignored. Will you approach this matter with sincerity and love for the truth?

If you are starting off reading this book as someone who is already basically in agreement with my position, I encourage you to maintain an attitude of thankfulness for the church, with a focus not on what is wrong but on what the Holy Spirit is doing to edify the body of Christ. Even as I share strong criticisms of the tithe doctrine, I write with excitement because I believe the Holy Spirit is dealing with this issue in order to bring forth an increased manifestation of God’s glory through the church.

Not Yet Time to Focus on This

When I first became convinced that the tithe doctrine was such a serious problem, I talked about it quite a bit. It cost me! Many trials came one on top of another. I’d dedicated my life to missions and I wouldn’t ever for a moment consider going back on that, but now it felt like my hope of even having a church pray for me as a missionary was nearly crushed. I moved to Brazil after falling from a scaffold and being laid up for several weeks, in a year that I made about $15,000, and I spent thousands on getting through the bureaucracy of immigrating to Brazil.

Even though I continued to see Jesus heal people in daily life, at times I fell into the trap of self-pity and a negative focus. When I saw Jesus heal unbelievers, I was reluctant to refer them to a church because I didn’t know who I could trust and wasn’t sure if it would do more harm than good.

Then as I wrote the Heaven Now trilogy, I returned to a continual focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing and a healthy attitude of thanksgiving for the church. In fact, the truths I was writing about often brought a tangible manifestation of God’s glory that I could physically feel as a weight on my body as I wrote.

For a few years, I was not at peace to address the tithe issue frequently or directly. Over the years several people had asked me to write a book about it, but I didn’t have confirmation in my heart to do so. I still held the same firm conviction about it, and hinted at my position in my blog. I shed many tears over the issue in private as I prayed for the churches.

Why didn’t I feel the peace yet to write a book on the tithe, even when people had asked me to? It may have partly been because of the need to guard my heart and not get distracted, staying focused on partnering with the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. However, I think it was also because so many people were not ready to hear it!

John 16:12 I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.

What was Jesus talking about when he said this? I’m not totally sure, but I think it was partly a reference to the soon-coming end of the whole Jewish system as they knew it, revelation later given through Paul. It was too weighty for them at the moment. Even later, they could barely accept the idea that the gentiles weren’t obligated to join the Jewish system to be saved. Imagine the idea that the whole system they know would end, even for them as Jews! Think of how weighty Paul’s revelation would have been to them, that circumcision was unnecessary!

As I primarily focused on other things, the Holy Spirit was still working on people’s hearts over the tithe issue. During this time period some teachers who had never taught tithing, such as Dan Mohler, grew tremendously in influence. A few friends and Charismatic leaders who had once taught tithing began reconsidering the issue and even changing their positions. Che Ahn of the Revival Alliance, for example, wrote:

There are many sincere Christians today who faithfully give the tithe because they believe it is mandated in Scripture, and that mandate is still valid today. I know, for I used to be one of them. I was taught to tithe from the time I first became a Christian as a teenager, and it never occurred to me to question the teaching. My wife and I have always given more than the tithe every year since we’ve been married. However, more recently, I find that my position is changing, due to what I believe is a deeper understanding of God’s grace and its operation in our lives.[8]

The Scripture most commonly used to support this view is:

Malachi 3:8-10 ’Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.’

Unfortunately, this teaching on the tithe from Malachi 3 frequently intimidates people, inducing guilt by telling them that if they don’t tithe, they are robbing God and are under a curse. The passage is also frequently quoted out of context. As we discussed at the beginning of this book, when we take a text out of context, we are opening ourselves to a con.[9]

Don’t Pull up the Wheat with the Tares!

Soon after moving to Goiania, Brazil, I suddenly had the peace to write directly about the tithe. I came out with a few blog posts on it, and I started this book. I not only felt peace, I felt the same fire in my heart motivating me to write as with my other books. I was amazed that almost all the feedback from the blog posts was highly positive. Years ago, when I had first talked about this, people often reacted with great anger and accusation.

As those first few blog posts were coming out, a good friend from South Africa commented. He wrote: Abba showed me this in 2006 but said it was not the time yet. People were not close to being ready to hear this truth. He said people will ask privately and share. Over the years we have had many productive times in sharing around this but I have felt for a while that this will be the next big one.

It was interesting that my friend had likewise not felt the peace to focus on this topic in public for several years, yet only to share when people asked privately. But he felt that the time was coming. Another friend, a missionary, likewise told me that he hadn’t felt the peace to focus publicly on refuting tithing. Then, at about the same time as I did, he felt I can’t hide this from God’s people anymore. Besides people not yet being ready to hear the message, I feel that there was another reason it wasn’t yet time to write a book on this:

Matthew 13:24-30  "Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

The owner’s servants came to him and said, Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?

An enemy did this, he replied.

The servants asked him, Do you want us to go and pull them up?

No, he answered, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First, collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’"

This may not be the exact context of the passage, but the principle applies. Sometimes ministers who have sincere love and minister in God's power get their roots entangled with weeds. It happened to Derek Prince, who later admitted to falling into the Galatian error. I think it’s happened to all of us to some extent. Church history is full of revivalists and reformers who missed it big time in a certain area. Yet the Holy Sprit's work in their lives was real.

I really needed to learn to have eyes to see what God is doing and walk in constant thanksgiving for the church in order to avoid pulling up the wheat with the weeds. And sometimes, what is wheat and what is a weed becomes more evident as they mature. The fruit of certain teachings has become more evident with time.

I recently heard a lady who disagrees with tithing saying that everybody who is teaching it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Although I fully agree with her position on tithing, I felt like she was pulling up the wheat with the weeds. Scripture says to not rebuke an elder harshly, but to exhort him as if he were your father.[10]

Peter was a true apostle who walked with Jesus, preached the gospel, and healed the sick. He wasn’t a wolf or a charlatan. Yet sometimes he majorly missed it! Not long after his grand revelation from the Father that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus said to him Get behind me Satan![11]

Furthermore, Peter got his roots entangled in the circumcision faction so that Paul confronted him in front of everybody.[12] At its root, the tithe issue is the same as the circumcision issue.

Many leaders in the Charismatic movement today hardly realize the extent of the trouble the tithe teaching is causing. Many have taught it because people they respect taught it to them and they’ve sincerely believed it and lived it. Many of these leaders have born much more fruit for God’s kingdom than I have. Do you see why addressing this issue feels like a conundrum for me and I am only addressing it with much prayer? I don’t want to tear down godly people who I consider fathers in the faith, or lump them together with charlatans, yet the major problems the tithe teaching is causing can’t be ignored.

Benny Hinn’s Statements

Very soon after I felt peace to start writing this book, Benny Hinn caused a stir by making some strong statements about the prosperity gospel.[13] Now Benny Hinn didn't say anything about the tithe. I don't know if he's open to reconsidering his position on it, but what he did say deals with the same underlying issues that I’m addressing.

Here are the main points which Benny said in the video[14] which went viral, as well as in two later interviews:[15]

He's correcting his theology, and we need to know it. He doesn't believe what he used to and he reads the Bible differently than he did twenty years ago.

It's an offense to the Holy Spirit to say give $1000 or put a price on the gospel

He has taken offerings like that before but he will never again do so because the Holy Spirit is just fed up with it. Doing so hurts the gospel.

"If I hear one more time 'break the back of debt with $1000' I think I'm going to rebuke them. I think that's buying the gospel, that's buying the blessing, that's grieving the Holy Spirit."

His statement has nothing to do with critics but with his own soul as he has been spending time with the Lord. He got distracted from his call and has grieved the Lord many times, and doesn't want to get to heaven and be rebuked by God. He wants to be known as an evangelist, not as a prosperity teacher.

Give to get theology has hurt Christians, and if you're not giving because you love Jesus, don't give. He heard people talking about giving and prosperity and thought Where is Jesus in all this?

I can't say how much it filled