Tithing

I have severally said that tithing is an Old Testament doctrine that pastors use to keep rebellious members in comfort without caring whether they are headed to heaven or not. That is the reason very few, if any pastors who preach about the tithe will consistently preach against sin because they know that such preaching might chase these spiritual fools away. But even scarier to those pastors is that those who heed the message against sin will establish a connection with God that could put these superstars to shame as it will paint them for who they are.

Spiritual ignorance is bliss to these ‘servants’ of God, as if God is excited when His people are ignorant. But it is very dangerous for the preacher and his flock as such ignorance is abominable to God and punishable by the standards of heaven.

God seeks to have His people not only reverent but especially connected to Him. He desires for His people to know and be led by Him.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)

Is it then in order for the pastor or any other imposter to be the only one who can hear from God? Does it please God when the majority of His children have to wait for Him to speak to the leader so that the same leader can pass that voice to the ignorant sheep?

Produce the verses. I know someone is shouting. I will therefore not disappoint you. We will look at giving in the New Testament and compare it with Old Testament giving. But for the most part I will want us to look at the NT type as I am sure we all are conversant with the OT type. What with all the preaching about the tithe! But we may have to look at why the OT giving was insufficient in the NT dynamic.

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. (Mark 12:44)

Do we realize that the widow’s giving was better because the others were giving the OT way?

Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. (Deuteronomy 14:22)

One aspect of the tithe was the abundance that the land produced. We are not told that these rich people who were out-given by the poor widow had given stingily, even by implication. I believe Jesus was giving a new standard of giving, a standard that went beyond the rules in the OT. I think most of those rich were giving their tithes and that is the reason the word abundance was used.

And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. (Luke 19:8)

Again we see the fruit of an encounter with Christ was not the tithe but way above the 50% mark. The fact that Jesus did not treat that act as exceptional meant that it was the norm for Him, meaning that the OT expectation had been overtaken by the new order Christ was establishing. We do not see Him commending the short guy as He had the faith of the centurion or the Canaanite woman whose daughter was possessed of demons.

Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. (Luke 18:22)

From Christ’s conversation with this man, it is apparent that he must have tithed faithfully. The fact that he was unfulfilled meant that there was a pull to a new level of obedience. Christ’s order to him demonstrated the extent of giving Christ expected from His followers.

Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. (Luke 12:33)

Here we see Christ introducing not only a new level but also a new motivation. Though giving in the OT pleased God, in the NT Christ introduced another motivation, our giving to those who do not qualify or deserve is an investment in heaven. Therefore we are not just giving to the needs of our society but in so doing are confessing our belief in the existence of heaven and investing there. Again this explains why people who only give strategically, people who are so full of themselves as they give have issues believing in the existence of heaven.

And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. (Mark 14:3)

I am sure this lady was not wealthy. From the passage it appears as if that ointment may have represented her life’s savings. Again Jesus accepts that offering, highlighting the kind of giving He was establishing.

Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. (Acts 4:34 – 37)

In Acts, we see the fullness of that kind of doctrine. Here people are selling property and bringing all the proceeds to the apostles to meet the needs of the growing church. In chapter 5 we see a couple die for giving less that the full amount craftily.

But I need to add that that giving was not ordered from any pulpit. People gave out of the leading of the Spirit. The couple died because they feigned that guidance.

Christ expects His followers to give all, even their own selves. But such giving will result in our giving as He directs. That is why the tithe is a very backward formula of teaching giving. Tithing simply means that I am giving after the flesh, leaving no place for the leading of the Spirit.

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luke 9:23 – 25)

Christ expects us to give everything to Him. He then releases the same to us to manage under His direct orders. In the parable of the talents, we are able to see the same principle applied. Servants are left with talents which they were to put to use. After some time they were asked to give an account of their stewardship. They then were given the same talents with the one who refused to utilize being punished.

Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. (Matthew 25:28)

Giving in the NT dispensation is therefore totally different from the OT one since in the OT it was your property that you took a portion from and gave it to fulfill God’s requirements whereas NT giving is actually not giving but a stewardship. In the OT only the land belonged to God and that is the reason God’s people were not allowed to sell it. In fact that was the main purpose of the jubilee. In the NT all I am and have have been bought and I am actually the property of God. He then makes me a steward of all those things that He has placed under my stewardship. And that stewardship is not autonomous. I have to be in constant contact with the owner of the property as His steward. Look at this verse.

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. (Acts 4:32)

It is very clear that the reality of this kind of giving was not being prompted by the apostles. In fact we see them avoiding getting involved in those affairs. That was the reason deacons were chosen.

Christ is the one who was running the show by taking charge of His people and their resources which they had surrendered to Him.

Why the difference? You may be asking.

Let me give you another example. When Israel left Egypt and the priesthood was established, there were duties for the Levites which came about because of the journey. Levitical families were divided to include ferrying the tabernacle and its articles.

When they reached their land nothing much changed until God gave a revelation to David to reorganize the duties of those Levites to serve in the temple that would be built. That can almost be treated as starting a new thing. But it took God changing the old order to establish another one.

The tithe was the same way. It was established for the dynamic of Israel in their own land. Spiritual responsibility was therefore limited to the maintaining of religious observance in their own land. Anybody who sought the God of Israel had to come to Israel to make the connection. Even in captivity we do not see any attempts at spreading their faith. Israel disappeared because of that. Judah was preserved because some of those who were exiled still clung to the faith of their fathers as we see in the books of Ezra to Esther and Daniel. But even then they did not spread that faith. They just kept it.

Then comes Christ. He reveals from the start that He has not come to do any housekeeping of the Jewish faith. He is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham.

… in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.(Genesis 12:3)

This was the reason the dynamic of giving had to change to take care of this new development. God’s people had to be prepared and resourced to take the Gospel to the nations.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)

The tithe was a housekeeping level of giving that maintained the Israeli society and its structures, including the spiritual ones.

In the NT one clear development was missions. The Gospel had to be taken to the nations. It was therefore essential that the resources God had entrusted to His people had to be available for this new thing. But more important is that this responsibility had to be handed down to every member of the body of Christ.

This is necessitated by God’s call to ministry. Since the time of Acts we have God calling people clearly outside the leadership structures. Philip was not sent to Samaria and the desert by the apostles. Paul’s call and ministry were a mystery to the leadership in Jerusalem and no wonder there was the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15. Most of the ministry we see in Acts was of an individual level.

How could those ministers access support if they depended on the church leadership to go as Christ had ordered? Could it have been possible for Paul to receive any support from the headquarters of the church that had enough issues not only with his calling but his methods and message?

It was therefore essential that God speaks to individual believers concerning the support of those who have been called to ministry outside the existing structures.

Even when we look at church history we know that most very effective missionaries obeyed their call against the general agreement of even their mission agencies. Many had to ‘rebel’ against their spiritual superiors to go where God had ordered them.

Could the tithe then be trusted to meet their obedience? Could the apostles in Jerusalem be trusted to use the resources they received to fund Paul whose ministry they had a problem accepting, at least initially?

God had to release another dynamic. He had to raise support for ministers like Paul through individual believers as they listened to His voice. He was then able to direct them to give to ministers and ministries that did not fit the billing of the church leadership.

And by the way it was not only believers in Acts whose call went out of line with the church leadership. Martin Luther, John Wesley, Hudson Taylor among others obeyed in rebellion to the established church structures and were therefore rebels as far as the ‘church’ was concerned. That is the reason giving had to change from the OT type. God simply raised other supporters for these ‘rebels’. And now we celebrate them! Could it have been possible if we had gone the OT way?

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. (Luke 10:2)

As the Lord of the harvest He not only sends laborers into His harvest, He provides for those He sends through the partners He raises. Remember this?

And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. (Luke 9:3)

Was He sending them to churches? Of course not. In all my missions outside the country, I have always gone at the invitation of individuals and not churches. Sometimes I am given just enough money for a one way ticket to the place I would minister yet many times I do not even know the person I am being sent to. My insurance is God’s release. Yet I never had to hassle for anything as I ministered.

There is another reason giving had to change. In the OT God appeared to a few persons who had very particular assignments. We therefore see the presence of the Holy Spirit in select persons as the rest simply depended on the revelation of those few to hear from God.

 But again Christ came to fulfill another OT prophecy.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh… (Joel 2:28)

And this is what we see in Acts. The Holy Spirit is not constrained to a few super spiritual characters but to all who join themselves to Him as John 1:12 says.

He therefore takes His Lordship not to a few but to all who accept His salvation. He then takes charge of their lives to minute details. You see He is the Lord of all flesh and therefore available to lead all who are ready for that Lordship.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)

Why should the Spirit lead us from sin and not do the same concerning resources? How is He able to convict us concerning sin, righteousness and judgment yet leave the responsibility of giving to pastors?

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:13)

What is the extent of the truth the Spirit will guide us to? Is that truth only limited to ‘spiritual’ things? Can it then be called all truth if there are areas He does not touch? How can it be all if finances are excluded?

Simply speaking Christ not only is in charge of our finances, He wants to guide us in the way we use them. The truth is that as our redeemer He legally owns us. Reminds me of Abraham and those kings he rescued.

And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. (Genesis 14:21)

This is the principle at play here, only that with Christ He agrees to take us and ours and gives it back to us to manage. He will then direct us in the use of those resources.

And that is what many pastors are scared of. A church that has a membership that has released their resources to the control of the Holy Spirit is a church that will not necessarily give to fill the church coffers. They will be giving to the ministries God is involved in whether the pastors agree with them or not. They will be funding missions to places the church structure thinks are not worth the effort. They will be meeting the needs of people the church leadership may think are a waste of resources. Above all they will be giving way above the meager tithe the pastor preaches about. In fact some will sell their all to pursue or fund calls church leadership may have issues with. But they will give not in rebellion to their pastors but in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I doubt such giving will be used to build monuments in the name of mega churches. Yet I believe the same would eradicate poverty faster than any government could. I doubt such giving will be used to pamper pastors. But I am sure it would result in salvation reaching the nations we think unreachable. This because the people God has called to reach those nations will be able to connect with the people God has called to support that effort.

Why are there sections of society that are barely reached with the Gospel? Who will reach the drunkards and prostitutes, especially those in the down and out sections of society? Which church will support such outreach without smearing the messengers with disrepute? What about persecution? Which church will support people who lose their jobs or livelihoods because of their faith? What about those who have to live in hiding because they have been condemned to death for coming to Christ?

As I write this I remember one time God sent me to a church that had serious sin issues. The young people had open sins they did not care to address. I doubt they even thought of them as sin. As an example after they sung several would run outside to smoke before they came to hear the preacher. Fornication was rife.

But I was not sent to them as a prophet. They had called me to train their choir. I remember also struggling with God concerning that commission. But God dealt with my resistance, as I was really struggling with what my association with that church would do to my reputation.

As I got involved, I remember a very respectable and mature lady who was as much my mother as my own came to see me with a lot of concern. She asked why I had backslidden. When I answered her in the negative, she then started to tell me some of the rumors doing the rounds in the church I had been attending and where I had been the leader of the youth before God gave me that assignment. I had become a fornicator, I had even been given a girl from that church to marry, and so on. It was difficult to explain to her that I was still as committed to God as I was when I was serving in the former church. I don’t know whether she was convinced about my lack of contamination.

Anyway, I was there for several months and then left to join college. That was when the transformation occurred. There was such a revival in that church that their leaders were unable to contain. You see the church had been very traditional and ritualistic. Probably that was the reason they were not able to deal with sin as they may not have noticed it. Many of those young people I was teaching to sing are now notable ministers.

Now do you think my former church could have supported my ministry to this church that God had sent me to? Absolutely not. In fact they came for the guitar I used to play, a guitar that nobody else could play as nobody was interested in learning the many times I offered to teach. They therefore took the guitar and stored it for fear that I would use it in this new ministry. To them it was better for it to rot than be involved in the ministry God had sent me.

That, as I have explained, is the reason all believers are supposed, even expected to listen to Christ before they give. Then they will give in line with God’s agenda as opposed to the church leadership’s agenda.

Again we see another aspect in Acts. God will speak to His people concerning needs in far off places.

And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11:28 – 30)

The tithe, localized as it was had no capacity to meet the needs of that nature. It therefore required a different dynamic of giving, a giving that put the responsibility of giving to individual believers as they were led by the Spirit. The leaders’ responsibility would be to consolidate that effort.

Pardon my verbiage, but I think it is my responsibility to give the message God gives me to those He wants to reach. If it involves many words, so be it, provided the message is clear to all who read it.

How do you give? Who determines what you give? Is it your spiritual leader or does the Holy Spirit give the directions? Who is better at directing your giving? Is it a person or the one who bought the church with His own blood? Can the pastor know the needs of the world better than its creator? Does a pastor feel the pinch of sin more than the one who died for that sin? Can a pastor be more missionary minded than the Lord of the harvest?

I am no trashing pastors and teachers. I am one of them. But if my teaching does not help believers establish an active and living connection with Christ, I might be serving another master instead of Christ. If those I teach must get my take on anything they do instead of getting counsel from the Great Counselor Himself, then I am not serving God. If I must really convince people to support me instead of challenging them to ask for God’s order concerning the same, I am simply looking for a livelihood from toddlers in the spiritual realm. This portrays me as a person who does not get any security from serving God but must hassle as if I am running my own business.

Tell the tithe goodbye and ask God to tell you how you ought to give. In fact it starts with the way you spend those resources He has released your way. You see the advocates of the tithe teach that what you do with the 90% is up to you. Yet the Bible teaches that 100% belongs to Christ. He should tell you whether you should eat that chocolate or buy that sweet (candy) or buy that house. He is the owner and expects your stewardship to reflect who He is.

The tithe might be the reason obesity is a big issue. This is because we are taught that we can do whatever we want with the 90% as God does not care provided we gave Him His cut (tithe). We can therefore die from too much even as our neighbors are dying from hunger. We then blame them for lack of spiritual connection yet we are the ones too lazy to think and especially listen to the Lord we claim to be submitted to. We will then get into sin and abominations because as we know unfettered excess naturally leads to sin as we see concerning Sodom.

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. (Ezekiel 16:49, 50)

Yet one is able to be comfortable in that sin because the pastor who was supposed to guide him from that lifestyle continually tells them that they are fine as long as they brought the tithe to the storehouse, meaning the church they are leaders of (sometimes only the pastors). In fact they really fight the notion that someone can tithe anywhere other than where they are even though they are doing nothing close to what the tithe was meant to do even under the Old Testament dynamic. You see the tithe was meant for three main kinds of people; the Levites and priests (who incidentally were denied lands so that they could focus on ministry), the disadvantaged and needy (orphans, widows, aliens, poor), and celebration for the givers every third year.

For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1Corinthians 4:7)

May we value hearing God’s orders concerning what He has entrusted to us.

Of Aerials and Ears

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21 - 23)

I was recently really shaken as I considered this passage. I am still feeling very strongly the impact of that message.

In my blog and books I have mentioned this passage many times, with two messages ‘Castaways’ and ‘Useful Rejects’ on my blog focusing solely on these verses.

But it came out differently this time, though not as a different message. God just introduced a scary aspect to the passage.

I do not have a problem with understanding why demon chasers and miracle workers can be disqualified from heaven. In fact God had to clearly speak to me to understand how He can use some people for His ministry. We therefore know that it really does not need character to be mightily used of God in such a way. It is therefore no surprise when we hear Christ saying He does not know people who were mightily used of Him.

But prophecy is a different matter. A prophet must of necessity hear from God to be so. One can never prophesy correctly if he does not hear from heaven. Simply saying one essential of prophecy is hearing from heaven.

How does someone who hears from God become unknown by Christ? How possible is it that I am operating in the prophetic yet the source of that prophecy does not know me?

It is a scary prospect. That is why I am still shivering. Not because I am scared of not making it to heaven but especially because I believe that prophecy might hasten my disqualification. This is because I can easily be misled by the fact that I can hear from heaven to assume that God approves my ministry whether or not I keep His commandments. Hearing accurately from heaven is no guarantee that I am on God’s side or that I represent Him.

I then got to think of communication. A king may issue an edict that is broadcast by the media. Anyone listening to the broadcast will have heard from him. But he heard not because he was anywhere near where the king was. His receiver was just tuned to his broadcast. Proclaiming that edict will therefore be in the interests of that kingdom though the king might not even be aware of the existence those ardent proclaimers of his edicts.

That is different from someone who has been called by the king into his court to have a meeting with him. This time he knows you. Though you will proclaim the same message as the rest, this one has the mandate of the king to proclaim it.

People hearing may never know the difference between the one proclaiming a message they heard from a newscast from the one who was given the message by the king himself because the content of the message is the same since it comes from the same source. One can therefore not use the message as a gauge to know who has a relationship with the king.

Doing the will of God is what distinguishes a proclaimer of a press release from a messenger sent from the palace. You see a person proclaiming a press release does not understand the requirements of the king. He can therefore be proclaiming that press release yet living a life contrary to the expectation of the king. This is because he has no relationship with the king whose message he faithfully proclaims.

But the king does not blame him for proclaiming the right message yet living life contrary to the king’s expectation because he has never had a relationship with him. He only has a receiver that can pick the press releases very well. A good subject will seek to know more than the press releases. He ought to know and understand the kingdom. A subject who thinks he is of worth to the kingdom whose ethos he does not live by is a subject of a different kingdom than the one whose message he is proclaiming.

Balaam is a perfect example. This prophet could really hear from God even without dramatics. But he died the death of the unbelievers because his hearing was unrelated to his obedience.

It is not our performance that will take us to heaven. It is not our gifting or the application of the same that will take us to heaven. It is our obedience that will take us there.

I might be mightily used of God but if I can’t keep my trouser zipped when I see a beautiful girl or woman I might be unknown in heaven. If I can clearly hear from God yet am not riled by the sin of those around me (assuming I have dealt with mine), then I am not different. I might be moving mountains with my faith but if I excitedly minister to the rich even as I avoid the poor my case will be very bad in heaven. In fact I might be part of these who were wondering how they were left out when the list for heaven was being made.

Will we go back to the basics of our faith? Will we retrace our steps to the time we were first called? Will we find delight in our obedience?

Hearing God’s voice is good. But hearing God’s voice for our consumption and obedience is the thing that will determine whether Christ knows me or not. Knowing His will for others is very good. But knowing His will as it concerns me is essential to my eternal destination.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27, 28)

You see God’s voice not only hear His voice. He knows them and even more important is that they follow Him. He knows them when He relates with them as they hear and obey. And they don’t follow Him to do their own thing but His will.

This is therefore a challenge to me and all my ministry friends and supporters to reconsider our salvation, walk of faith and calling to avoid falling into the trap of being very effective aerials of the heavenly instead of being sensitive ears of Christ’s sheep.

God bless you

Poor, Poorer, Poorest II

In the last post we looked at poverty using giving as the yardstick. According to the scriptures it is only the generous who qualify to be called rich. However, we need to clearly set the boundaries of that giving.

One who gives generously to a friend is disqualified. One who gives to a person with evident potential is also disqualified. One who needs to be convinced by the recipient especially about the benefit of that giving stands disqualified. One who gives to be seen is out of the picture.

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:3, 4)

Simply speaking, the giving of the scripturary rich is the giving that gets its fulfillment from the giving and nothing else.

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. (Ecclesiastes 11:1)

This giving gives not for the immediate or even foreseeable return. It is simply the overflow of their rich being. They can cast their bread on the waters, which looks foolish because not only does it make the same bread inedible to men, it scatters it in such a way that you simply have no capacity of knowing where any piece will end or who and what it will profit and how.

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor. (Proverbs 22:9)

These give to those who have no capacity to hit back like Jesus said. They then open themselves to the reward of heaven. This brings us to their motivation.

They are secure. Simply speaking their relationship with their wealth can be called detached. Giving does not threaten their sense of security. This means they get their security from something other than their wealth. The fact that they own little or much does not affect their relationships with the world or God.

The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. (Proverbs 18:11)

The contrast here is plain. Those who find their security in their wealth will value that wealth beyond anything else. They will therefore devote their best efforts in getting and protecting that wealth since it is their security. Unsuspectingly they divert their worship from their initial object of worship (the source of their security before accessing wealth) to their wealth and eventually to mammon, the god of this world.

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16:13)

Mammon is not really wealth. Wealth is the front that he uses to imprison people by directing their worship to objects that appear innocent, in our case worldly wealth. I need to say that he uses art in the same way, converting objects which may even have initially been used for the worship of God and simply redirected people to them as ends in themselves.

Remember Israel taking the ark to war? Or Nehushtan, the bronze serpent that Moses had made? Neither of them was at fault. It is the devil who used those objects that were meant to point to God and diverted man to make them objects of worship, something he tries to do with anything if we gave him half a chance. Look at the adoration of artistes and performers to get what I mean. A person starts by offering a very useful service that elevates his position in society. People then start treating them as more than humans, making them to slowly imagine that they are at the least supermen. In fact some go all the way to declare themselves gods. In the recent past we have had a talk show host and singer starting their own religions as deities due to their popularity in their fields.

I was doing some study on the new world order and especially the one world religion when I came through a topic on the deification of man, which is the agenda of the devil to raise the rebellion of man to the point at which the antichrist will easily run over the whole world as the Bible clearly says.

But what was shocking was not the doctrine but the fact that most of the very prominent international preachers have bought into that doctrine and are comfortably mixing it with the gospel they are preaching, in effect teaching that man is as much God as the creator is.

That is Lucifer’s game plan in these end times, creating so much confusion so that he will then bring some ‘order’ out of all that chaos, an order that is worse than the chaos because it is aimed at overturning the rule of God.

To get back to our topic, I want us to appreciate that money is the easiest tool used by the enemy to divert our attention from God to the devil. This is because it is the one thing whose power is most invasive. Ever heard of the popularity of this verse?

… money answereth all things. (Ecclesiastes 10:19)

Ever realized that most proponents of that speak as if money has the capacity to dwarf God? That they speak of God as if He is also subject to money? They use it as if it nullifies all the other verses in the Bible.

Has it occurred to you that that verse may have been a statement by a person who had run afoul of the divinely ordered life and was simply expressing the opinion that had led him from a person who had a rich relationship with God to one who had sunk to the depths of sin and debauchery as a result of living his life guided by that philosophy?

Does money really answer all things? Does it answer anything at all? Can money deal with self worth? Does is answer the sin question?

Money is not an answer to much, if anything at all. Money creates an illusion of a reality that does not exist. Money does not answer any life issues because it cannot deal with anything that goes beyond expenditure. The fact that money can buy this or the other does not make it have an answer to all things. Again Jesus could not have spoken this if money answers all things.

And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:25, 26)

If money answers all things, it is inconceivable that going to heaven will be this difficult for the worldly rich. Again remember Lazarus and the rich man. Who ended in heaven and who ended in hell?

Mammon seeks to divert scriptures for his own end, for our purposes the elevation of the usefulness of money a tool to mammon an object of worship. And this comes so slowly as to be almost imperceptible.

The second reason we find the divine assessment of rich and poor is different from the worldly is the worship aspect. Money directs its owners to the elevation of its value. Then it becomes, instead of a tool, into an object of great value. Then we will very easily change the focus of our lives to our new idol.

Reminds me of a news item I saw or read some time ago in a country dogs are a delicacy. Theft of dogs became so rampant that instead of becoming the watch dog it became the object needing defense. It is interesting that the bark of a dog would call the owners outside fastest so that the dog is not stolen. The guard became the guarded. With such a reversal of roles, insecurity will simply take another dimension. Sometimes even definitions can change.

I think this is what the devil succeeds in doing, changing the purpose from being a tool to something to be protected. We then fear more for the loss of money than even the loss of our own lives. That is why people are dying of deceases that can be connected to the pursuit and protection of money. There are three very wealthy people who died of hunger, people whose descendants I know. Simply speaking their stomachs were empty. Yet they were worth so much money that their descendants have not been able to finish it generations later.

Mammon takes a person who has money to the point at which money becomes the object of his life. Simply saying the man starts living for the purposes of getting and hoarding that money.

That is why giving becomes so difficult. That is the reason such giving must come with a price tag.

‘Get rich or die trying’ is one such worship anthem. This is many times the rallying call for those sold out to the worship of mammon. And they will be able to attract disciples because they have the means to demonstrate the success of that worship.

But it does not stop there. Just like a drug addict will not be addicted by a single intake of the drug, bowing to that introduction will slowly lead to other aspects of mammon worship.

The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends. (Proverbs 14:20)

Money has its own way of creating classes out of people. Friends have a way of creating classes when money comes into play. I am sure most of you have at least one friend who distanced himself from you when they climbed up the money ladder. Some who had been soul mates simply became unreachable when they started handling vaster amounts of money. You then became a pest who had to be avoided at all cost yet initially it was an abomination if a week passed if you had not spent at least two hours together.

Of course mammon will bring around other friends, especially friends who understand that worship better. That is what happened to many of God’s people. We will sample just a few.

Solomon the king was introduced to the king of Egypt and given his daughter for a wife. Of course she could not be enjoined into Israel like Ruth and Rahab because their union was a compromise as she had not switched allegiance to the God of Israel. That is why we see her being moved out of the city of David because she had not changed the objects of her worship. He did the same with all the other princesses that he also married in the process of those connections.

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. (1Kings 11:3)

His was a gentle guidance into idol worship. And that is how the devil uses friends to lead someone to gradually start worshipping money which the leads to the worship of Satan.

Ahab was a tender king but was introduced into idolatry simply by being offered a very highly spiritual wife in the other direction. Due to his naivety he was very easily swallowed into Baal worship.

Another one was Jehoshaphat who formed an alliance with Ahab and we see that decision almost breaking the covenant David had with God through the woman who was the instrument of that alliance. By the way you realize that as the reason David was offered Michal.

What I am pointing out is that money and position attracts company that will initiate you into the worship of mammon. This will gradually lead you down, eventually leading you to the worship of the devil himself though you may never know.

But like I always say the devil really does not mind whether you are aware that you worship him. He is more interested in the aspects of that worship. Doing his will is for him more important than worshipping him as you will be worshipping him anyway, yet thinking otherwise. And that is why there is no religion that confesses to worship the devil yet everything they say or do clearly demonstrates that they are led by him.

That classification once someone connects to money is the route mammon many times uses to lead people down that path.

Ever realized how people who were outspoken concerning flimsy dressing become neutered once they access more wealth and join friends in that class. People who like me have trashed their TVs for uselessness all of a sudden become ardent defenders of even some of the filth TV spews. Or people who took their Bibles most seriously suddenly becoming very liberal in their interpretation of the same.

Worship has changed and the object of that worship is surely though slowly shifting. But the end is living life contrary to God’s revelation, in other words living a life just as the devil would have it.

I will jump to the conclusion of this by asking a few questions for our consideration.

·         Have you ever seen or heard of poor homosexuals?

·         How many poor pornography addicts have you ever heard of?

·         Have you ever heard of poor people involved in sex orgies?

·         Ever seen or heard of the poor swapping spouses as a hobby?

·         Have you heard of the poor visiting strip clubs?

·         How many poor pastors steal their neighbors’ wives?

·         How many poor churches do not mind a self-proclaimed Casanova or harlot in leadership?

·         How many poor churches will employ someone with serious sin issues?

Of course many will use their money to initiate the poor with potential into that lifestyle by offering the same money as bait. This is the same way religions look for Christians with greatest promise and potential using anything from marriage linkages (strategized compromise) to money to have them defect from true worship to their form of Luciferian worship. But potential is the key thing here.

Before you give up let me give you a few verses on riches so that you realize that inasmuch as it is extremely difficult for the worldly rich to get to the kingdom of God, it is not impossible. It is only very hard.

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22)

The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? (Proverbs 21:27)

He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. (Proverbs 28:22)

He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not. (Proverbs 21:26)