Should We Tithe?
The Rarely-Heard Truth About
Biblical Tithing

I’m going to make a statement that, although it may surprise you, is absolutely true:

Nowhere in the Bible does God command anyone to give Him ten percent of their money.

Never in history has God asked anyone (much less all His people) to tithe ten percent of their monetary income. The only three people or groups of people in the Bible that tithed were Abraham, the Old Testament Israelites living under the law, and the Pharisees (who were also Old Testament Israelites living under the law). The Bible makes it clear that all three of these people/groups had money...but none of them tithed on it!

The simple answer to the question "Should we tithe?" is no. The modern teaching on the “tithe” (that says every Christian must give 10 percent of their income to the church) is simply not true.

Now, I know those of you who have heard teachings on the tithe are screaming in your heads, “But what about Malachi 3:10!!!????!!!”

Define Your Terms!

The key to understanding Malachi 3:10 is knowing what God meant when He (through the prophet Malachi) used the word “tithe”. I once heard a youth minister tell a group of teenagers, “Define your terms! Guys, don’t tell that cute girl you love her unless you both know what the word ‘love’ means according to the Bible! Biblically, ‘love’ means ‘to protect and provide’. Guys, are you ready and able to protect and provide for that cute girl? If not, don’t use the word ‘love’! Don’t use the word ‘love’ when what you really mean is ‘I’m infatuated with you and I want your body!’ Define your terms!”

Now let’s apply that to the most popularly preached “tithing” verse, Malachi 3:10. In this verse, God was rebuking the Israelites for neglecting to do something He had told them to do in the Old Testament law. What OT law command of God had the Israelites neglected? They had neglected to “bring the tithe”.

The key here is to understand what “bring the tithe” means according to the Bible. Who was supposed to “bring the tithe”? Was it every Israelite? (Sneak preview: The answer is no.) And for those who were supposed to bring the tithe, what were they supposed to bring? Was it money? (Sneak preview: The answer is no. And yes, the Bible makes it clear the Israelites did have money – see Deut. 14:22-27 - but God did not command them to tithe on it.)

Again, nowhere in the entire Bible will you find God asking anyone to bring ten percent of their money to Him or to the church.

With Malachi 3:10, many preachers are just making a common mistake that many people make when interpreting the Bible: taking a verse or statement completely out of context and making it mean whatever you want it to mean without defining the terms Biblically.

So what does the word “tithe” mean in Malachi 3:10 – according to the Bible?

The short answer is this: As part of the law of Moses in the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelite farmers and ranchers to bring the tenth portion of their crops and livestock to where the Levites lived. This was because in God’s Old Testament law of Moses system (detailed national instructions for the nation of Israel), the Levites were not allotted any land on which to grow their own crops or tend their own livestock.

So the word “tithe” does mean “ten percent”, but it does not mean “ten percent of every paycheck every modern Christian receives”. It means “the tenth portion of every ancient Israelite farmer or rancher’s crops and livestock”.

By the way, under God’s OT law system for the nation of Israel, if you were an Israelite rancher that only had nine sheep, you didn’t tithe. The tithe was the tenth portion of the livestock, not the first. It’s amazing how many misconceptions have come into this “tithing” doctrine that has been invented by men.

The key thing to understand here is that the tithe had nothing to do with money. God’s people back then had money, but God didn’t ask for it.

We know they had money back then because in Deuteronomy God actually put a little provision in His “crops/livestock tithe instructions” for Israel that mentioned money. The provision was this: If an Israelite farmer or rancher lived very far away from where the Levites were, instead of dragging the tenth part of his crops or livestock all that distance, he was allowed to sell his crops or livestock for money, and then take the money to where the Levites were. So because of this simple Biblical passage, we know they had money. But they didn’t tithe money.

Another thing that surprises people when they actually study the agricultural/livestock “tithe” under the law of Moses, is that if a farmer sold his crops for money and brought it to where the Levites lived, the law said the farmer could spend it on whatever he wanted, as long as he spent some of it on the Levites too! Quite different than the picture painted by some of our imaginative preachers today, who declare, “Don’t you dare do anything with that 10 percent but give it to the church!!! That’s GOOOOOOD’S MONEY!!!” Really, Reverend Hype? Let’s start with the basics, Reverend; can you show me one place in the Bible where God commanded His people to give ten percent of their money? If you can produce one single such verse, then maybe I won’t flip the channel as soon as I hear your yelling on TV about “GOOOOOOD’S MONEY!”. No offense – I love excited preaching as long as it’s accurate!

You see, because so many preachers take Malachi 3:10 completely out of context, most Christians don’t realize that even in the OT law of Moses God never asked His people for their money. If you were a basket-weaver in those days, you had money, but you didn’t tithe. If you were a blacksmith, you had money, but you didn’t tithe. If you were a carpenter, you had money, but you didn’t tithe. Thousands upon thousands of Israelites had and earned money, but they never gave any of it to God or the Levites or the church.

Why? Because even though God’s people (starting with Abraham) have always had money, the word "tithe" and the concept of "tithing" has never had anything to do with money.

So the astounding fact is, the ancient Israelites had money, but they never gave ten percent of their money to God. Therefore, it is ridiculous to claim that Malachi 3:10 (which was part of a message to these OT Israelites reminding them of their duties for living under their national system, the law of Moses) means we modern Christians (for whom the requirement to obey the law of Moses does not apply, see the book of Galatians, etc.) must give ten percent of our money to God.

Should we tithe ten percent of our money to the church? Well, why should we be put under a burden to do something not even the ancient Israelites did?

How can Malachi 3:10, which was addressed to the ancient Israelites living under the law of Moses system, be commanding modern Christians to tithe ten percent of their money, when not even the Israelites did it?

You can look all through the Bible and find every place where the word “tithe” is used, and not once will you find God asking for or commanding anyone to give Him ten percent of their money. All this “You must give ten percent of every paycheck, before taxes!” stuff has simply been invented by men. It’s just a remnant of Catholic paganism. (See a book called Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola.)

Jesus Never Tithed Or Asked For Tithes

Let’s look at the life and teachings of Jesus Himself.

Jesus never tithed. Not once. You know why? Because although He was an Israelite, He wasn’t a farmer or rancher, He was a carpenter. In Bible days, carpenters had money, but they didn’t bring ten percent of it to church. God had never asked them to do that.

What’s more, Jesus never asked for or commanded His disciples, His followers, or anyone else, to bring Him ten percent of their money. Why? Because Jesus did not invent doctrines out of thin air. Unlike some of today’s modern preachers, He actually understood what the word “tithe” meant. If you would’ve walked up to a God-fearing Israelite (like Jesus) in Jesus’ day and said, “Don’t you know that you’re supposed to give ten percent of your money to the church?”, they would look at you like you were from Mars. Because they knew the Old Testament like the back of their hand, and they never read anywhere in that precious collection of books where God commanded His people to give ten percent of their money. Godly people in Jesus’ day (including Jesus) understood that tithing wasn’t about money. They understood it was about Israelite farmers and ranchers and their crops and livestock, under the law of Moses system of rules for national life that God had given to Israel.

Today’s preachers like to preach out of Malachi 3:10 and make words mean things they don’t actually mean. They take the phrase “tithe” and they try to make it mean “giving ten percent of your money to the church”. They take the phrase “into the storehouse, so there may be food in My house”, and try to make it mean “into the church offering plate, so that there will be spiritual ‘food’ for Christians to eat – spiritually”. But the original phrases found in Malachi are literal. There was an actual storehouse where the food that was brought to the Levites was kept.

Modern preachers make an analogy out of those phrases and try to turn God’s reference to literal food into “spiritual food”, etc. That seems a natural thing to do – especially to us today who have repeatedly heard erroneous preaching on the subject. But the problem is, God did not speak through the prophet Malachi as an analogy. There is absolutely no indication anywhere in Scripture that when God used the word “tithe” in Malachi 3:10, that He suddenly and magically changed the definition of the word “tithe” from “Israelite farmers bringing ten percent of their crops to the Levites under the Old Testament law of Moses national Israelite system” to “every Israelite and every Christian bringing ten percent of their money to the church”.

God did not suddenly change the definition of the word "tithe" in Malachi 3:10. When God used the word “tithe” in Malachi 3:10 in talking to the Israelites, He meant the exact same thing He had meant every other time He used it in the Bible when talking to them – “farmers and ranchers living under the Mosaic law national Israelite system, bringing the 10th part of their crops and livestock to where the Levites lived”.

Again, you can look through every single passage in the Bible where the tithe is mentioned, and not once will you find God asking anyone for ten percent of their money!

This includes Jesus, who never tithed, asked for tithes, or commanded that anyone bring Him ten percent of their money. If Jesus didn’t do it, why are so many modern preachers doing it?

The Pharisees Tithed Spices, Not Money

The only time Jesus referred to the tithe was when He was rebuking the Pharisees because they tithed on all their little garden spices but didn’t really help anybody out in life.

Notice, what were they tithing on? Agricultural products. “Mint and cumin”. Not money. We know the Pharisees had money, because the Bible says they were lovers of money! But yet they didn’t tithe on their money! They tithed on their garden spices! Why? Because the tithe was never about money. The Pharisees were Old Testament Israelites living under the Law of Moses, and as such they were obeying the Law of Moses to the letter by bringing even their little backyard/windowsill spices to the Levites in the synagogues.

See, the Pharisees tried to appear religious outwardly by keeping small details of the law of Moses, to the point where they brought the tenth part of the spices they grew in their backyard to obey God’s tithing law for farmers and ranchers. Jesus told them, “This you should do” (because they were supposed to be spiritual leaders and examples to the Israelite people in obeying the Old Testament law), but then rebuked them for neglecting the weightier matters of the law (like actually loving and helping people).

Now, I’ve heard preachers say that Jesus’ statement “This you should do” (in reference to the Pharisees tithing from their little spice gardens), proves that Jesus wants all modern Christians to give 10 percent of our every paycheck in the offering plate. The problem is, the Pharisees didn’t give 10 percent of their money in the offering plate. They brought 10 percent of their spices. Their money was sitting in their house under the bed.

Jesus never commanded the Pharisees to bring their money. Jesus didn’t say, “You should bring ten percent of your money instead of these spices!” No, Jesus never mentioned money. He just said (my paraphrase), “It’s fine that you keep little details of the law of Moses like tithing agricultural products, because you’re supposed to be the leaders and the examples for the Israelites who are trying to live under the law. I’m not rebuking you for that. I’m rebuking you because you’re hypocrites who tithe your little spices but you don’t care about people.” Jesus exposed their hypocrisy by pointing out that they would go to such extremes to follow the “agricultural tithe” law, but yet neglected to love others.

This passage proves that in the eyes of Jesus, the tithe has never been about money.

Nobody in the Bible ever tithed money. The Pharisees never tithed money, though they had plenty of it and even loved it. They just tithed agricultural products according to the letter of the Old Testament law of Moses directed at Israelite farmers and ranchers. Jesus had plenty of opportunities to rebuke them and tell them to give ten percent of their money instead of ten percent of their spices, but He never did.

Why not? Because God never asked anybody for ten percent of their money.

The New Testament Doesn’t Command Tithing

So nobody in the Old Testament ever tithed money.

Jesus never tithed, or asked for tithes (of money or anything else).

The Pharisees never tithed money.

But what about the rest of the New Testament? Are there any commands for God’s people to tithe?

Nope. Not a single one.

The Apostle Paul never mentions a command for believers to tithe. He does mention tithing in one passage of Hebrews, in reference to Abraham’s one-time tithe (which we’ll talk about in a moment). Some people try to use that passage to prove “every Christian should give ten percent of their every paycheck to the church”. But a careful reading of that passage shows that

a) as we’ll see in a moment, Abraham only tithed once in his life, on the spoils of war, not on his (great amount of) personal income of silver and gold, and

b) Paul’s point in that passage is not about tithing, it’s about the priesthood. He’s just using Abraham’s one-time (voluntary, not commanded) tithe on the spoils of war in the long past to make a point about Jesus’ priesthood.

I encourage you to read that passage carefully and test what I’m saying. I believe you’ll see that Paul’s point in Hebrews is not even about tithing, and it’s definitely not remotely anything like “all believers must give ten percent of every paycheck”. How could that be his point when not even Abraham did that?

Elsewhere in his writings, Paul does talk about giving and money several times, but in all those verses there is not a single mention of any “Ten Percent Rule”. Why? Because the “Ten Percent Rule” does not exist! It was made up by men long after the Bible was already written.

If you would have asked Paul, “Should we tithe? Don’t you realize that every good Christian is supposed to give ten percent of their money to the church?” he would have looked at you funny and said, “Where did you get that idea?” If you said, “Malachi 3:10” he would have replied, “That’s funny. Are you an Israelite farmer or rancher living under the law of Moses? No? Then that verse has nothing to do with you. And besides, the tithe, even for Israelites living under the law, had nothing to do with money. It was about crops and livestock. Where did you get this funny idea about a ten percent rule when it comes to giving money to the church?”

“Well,” you reply, “a lot of the big-name preachers today are preaching that every believer has to give ten percent of their money to the church. Even my pastor says that.”

The apostle Paul sighs. “What’s new,” he groans with a resigned smile. “I’ve been fighting all these man-invented doctrines ever since I planted my first church. I guess I’ll just have to add another one to my list.”

I used a fictional conversation with the apostle Paul to prove a point. There is a very good reason that the New Testament does not mention the “tithe” or the “10-Percent Rule”: God never commanded such a thing.

Tithing as it’s taught and practiced today, actually had pagan origins. If you’re interested in the pagan origins of modern “tithing” in the church, you can read an excellent book by Frank Viola called Pagan Christianity.

Since Paul’s days the tithe doctrine has come so far as to even be artificially injected by modern pastors into the qualifications for being a deacon or servant in church ministry. My wife and I used to work at a church where the pastor preached about tithing a lot. In those days, I was an ignorant “tither”. I know for a fact that my pastor never would have let me and my wife minister in any capacity at that church if I had not been a tither. I know this because he said so. He checked the financial records to see if we tithed.

But if you look at the extensive list of qualifications for being a deacon that the apostle Paul lays out in the New Testament, you see that tithing or “giving ten percent of your every paycheck to the church” is not mentioned at all. That’s because God has never, ever commanded anyone to give ten percent of their money to the church. The apostle Paul knew the Old Testament scriptures backward and forward, and He knew the heart and plan of God for this age as well, and therefore it would never have even crossed his mind to include tithing in a list of things deacons must do.

Jesus’ Disciples Didn’t Tithe Or Ask For Tithes

If giving ten percent of one’s income to the ministry was standard practice in those days, wouldn’t the disciples have done it? Wouldn’t they have taught that it should be done? And yet there is no record anywhere in the Bible of any of the original apostles or any of Jesus’ disciples tithing or asking for tithes. That’s because it never would’ve crossed their mind to do such a thing. The “give ten percent of your paycheck” rule has been invented by men since the days of the Bible. It’s not in the Bible.

Should we tithe? Well... No one in the Old Testament tithed on their monetary income.

Jesus didn’t tithe on His income, or ask others to tithe on their incomes.

His disciples didn’t tithe on their incomes, or ask others to do so.

The apostle Paul didn’t tithe on His income, or command anyone else to do so.

The New Testament only contains the word “tithe” in two instances: Jesus mentioning the Pharisees tithing their spices, and Paul’s discourse on priesthood which mention’s Abraham’s tithe.

So, what about Abraham’s tithe?

Abraham Tithed Only Once In His Whole Life, Not From His Income or Personal Wealth, and Not Because God Told Him To Do It

I’ve heard many a passion-filled preacher declare, “Abraham tithed, and that proves that the tithe is not just under the law of Moses, but it’s for us today too, because Abraham lived before the law of Moses!”

OK then, Mister Preacher, let’s all tithe the way Abraham did! Abraham tithed once in his whole life. One time. (And he lived a long time!)

And that one time, he didn’t give ten percent of his income or personal wealth. Remember, the Bible tells us Abraham was “very rich in silver and gold” money. And yet never did he give 10 percent of this silver or gold. Not once did he give 10 percent of his earned and accumulated money or possessions to God. The only time he tithed was when he had just won a battle, and he gave 10 percent of the spoils of war to Melchizidek.

So I guess we Americans can tithe like Abraham did if we decide to take over Canada someday.

There’s another important thing we must remember about Abraham’s one-time tithe. Even in the single instance when Abraham gave 10 percent of the spoils of battle, there is no record of God commanding him to do it. Abraham didn’t do it because God told him to. He just did it. It seems he felt it was an appropriate thing to do as a sign of respect to Melchizidek, because he sensed Melchizidek was a great man. But many of today’s preachers like to make Abraham’s one-time tithe into a big deal and stretch it’s importance drastically, as if Abraham giving 10 percent of the spoils of war one time in his whole life somehow means “All Christians must give 10 percent of their paycheck every month!” I just don’t see it. It’s a ridiculous leap of logic.

So, if you want to tithe like Abraham did, make sure you do it only once in your whole life. (And make sure it’s not on your own money or personal income, but rather on whatever you take from someone else in war.)

Yes, Abraham tithed “before the law”, but he did it only once in his entire life, on the spoils of war (not on his personal wealth or regular income), and of his own accord, not because God commanded him to do it.

So if your preacher complains that you don’t tithe ten percent of your every paycheck, simply ask him, “Do you want me to tithe the way Abraham tithed?” If he says yes, then say, “OK, next time I have some spoils of war I need to do something with, I will. And even then, I’ll make sure I only do it once in my whole life.” (Please understand, I’m not actually recommending you be sassy like this with your pastor, I’m just making a point.)

Again (I know I sound like a broken record) but there is not a single place in all of Scripture where God has commanded anyone to give ten percent of their money.

Should we give ten of all the money we earn to the church? Well, God didn’t command Abraham to do it. So he didn’t.

God didn’t command the Israelites to do it. So they didn’t.

Jesus didn’t command his disciples – or us – to do it. So they didn’t, and we shouldn’t feel obligated to either.

The early apostles didn’t command their followers to do it. So they didn’t.

The apostle Paul didn’t command the churches he planted to do it. So they didn’t.

The New Testament contains no such command. Christians didn’t start doing it until Christianity was combined with paganism in the Middle Ages.

So if none of these authoritative sources command tithing of your personal monetary income, why are today’s preachers commanding it? Why are they telling every Christian that it is their duty to give ten percent of every single paycheck (before taxes, of course) to the church, when the Bible does not command it? Why are they placing this big guilt trip on everybody who doesn’t pay them “God’s Ten Percent Tax”?

Of course, the ministry has to be financed somehow…

How Jesus, His Disciples, and Paul Financed Their Ministries – Not With the Tithe

Sometimes when I teach on what I call “The Tithe Lie”, people say to me, “Then how are churches supposed to pay the bills? How is the ministry supposed to be supported if no one tithes?”

The simple answer is to do it the way Jesus, His disciples, and the apostle Paul did it – with good old-fashioned offerings and giving (without any percentage-of-income requirement). Jesus, the early apostles, and the apostle Paul are pretty good examples to follow, don’t you think? Better than making up doctrines out of thin air!

The apostle Paul, in the passages he wrote about money and giving, made it clear that it’s right and good to give money to your church and to help financially support the people that minister to you. But he never mentioned a “10-Percent Rule”.

Jesus’ ministry was financed by people who gave money to the ministry – not because Jesus preached a fictional “10-Percent God Tax” to them, but because they wanted to give out of the goodness of their hearts. God put it on their hearts, and they gave. It’s not that complicated.

One Reason Why the Tithe Lie Is Popular With Preachers

One reason the fictional “Ten Percent Tithe Rule” is so popular with ministers nowadays is because money is tighter than ever before. In the 1950s, it only took one average salary to support a family, own a home, and have a nice life. Today it takes two average salaries to get the same result. Why?

Because the money system of the world is run by evil satanic people (Luciferian international bankers) who set it up so that money is constantly transferred from hard-working people (that’s us) to them, the elite class (bankers and their government money-servants and cooperative big business big-shot buddies) in the form of interest and tax payments. And the average person has been propagandized through the media to believe that all these “taxes” and “the Fed” (which is a private corporation owned by the Rockefellers, Rothschilds and others), etc., are necessary and good for us, and that inflation (your buying power disappearing) is normal. You can read my book End Times Explained for more information on Satan's economy, explained in language a 6th-grader could understand.

When you understand a little bit about how the world’s money system works, and why money gets tighter and tighter every day for the average person (and will continue to get worse), you can understand why preachers are so easily tempted to fall for and preach the “Ten Percent Tithe Rule”. If the congregation has to give ten percent because “God says so”, then it’s a lot easier to stay on top of the church’s bills!

Modern preachers, who for the most part are just as ignorant of how the world’s money system works as the average citizen, face the same economic hardship everyone else faces, and therefore it’s very easy for them to simply parrot and never question the “tithe doctrine” they hear other preachers preaching. Commanding every member of the congregation to tithe 10 percent of their income is a great way to keep the bills paid and your salary rolling in (and increasing, if you’re a good communicator – because many people don’t test what they hear preachers say, and just fall for the constant “hope of prosperity” carrot on a stick).

But God is not putting a 10% tax on top of the outrageous taxes and ever-increasing debt-burden the international bankers are already putting on the world. Of course, God is allowing them to do this to happen so that the world gets completely fed up with any form of leadership besides Godly leadership – in other words, Jesus Himself.

So the state of the modern world and the constantly increasing financial pressure on mankind makes it tempting for ministers to preach a fictional, made-up “Ten Percent Rule”. But God intends that modern ministries be financed the way Jesus’ ministry and the apostle Paul’s ministry were financed – with free-will offerings. I can understand how it’s easier for pastors to preach a “Ten Percent Tithe Rule” than to trust God to provide for their ministry in today’s worsening financial times. But just because something is convenient, doesn’t mean it’s right.

Should we tithe? Must we tithe? No. There is no “10 Percent Tithe Rule” in the Bible what we should do with our money. So preachers shouldn’t preach it. Period.

Tithing Doesn’t Work – Faith Does

Another thing people sometimes say to me when I explain “The Tithe Lie” is, “But it works! My preacher said if I gave 10 percent of my money to the church, God would bless me financially! And He has!”

Well, giving ten percent of your money to the church cannot possibly be the reason that you are blessed financially, because giving ten percent of your money is something God never commanded you to do – and therefore He never attached a promise or a blessing to it.

The reason you are blessed financially is very simple: it’s not the tithe working; it’s your faith working.

God loves us even when we’re confused and don’t understand all of His truth perfectly and completely. He blesses us as much as He can even if we’re messed up in some of our doctrines sometimes. When you started hearing about the “10 percent rule”, you may have had a surge of faith in your heart, thinking, “God is going to bless me!” So even though your faith was based on a false invented doctrine, your faith was still aimed in the right direction, so to speak, because God does want to bless you. So He blessed you, not because you obeyed a “command” He never gave, but because you extended your faith to be blessed.

It’s similar to the time a Christian friend of mine who used to be into Scientology asked me, “I know that Scientology is false, but I’m confused about one thing. I saw real miracles – healings – take place among the Scientologists!” I told her, “The answer is simple. Jesus said, ‘All things are possible for him who believes.’ He didn’t say ‘All things are possible for him who gets saved and goes to a Christian church that preaches the Bible.’ Your Scientologist friends believe some wrong things, but among those wrong things they believe, there is one thing they got right, and that is the fact that the human body is not supposed to be sick and broken down. So even though they aren’t saved, they are extending their faith to be healthy, and sometimes they are actually using principles found in the Bible for extending faith, like using the power of our words to declare that we’re healed and mentally agreeing that we’re healed. God wants people healthy and He created those principles of faith to be used by human beings.” (God requires faith/belief to trigger power to flow from Him to make things better in specific situations on earth because if He rewarded people without faith, He’d be training people to disbelieve and mistrust Him.)

So I told my friend, “Even though your Scientologist friends are confused about a lot of things, when it comes to physical health and healing, they are actually in line with God’s Word in some ways. They are actually extending faith for healing, and so they get healed because God honors His Word and the principles He put into place. He wants to bless them as much as He can, even if they’re deceived in other areas.”

To use another example, there are a lot of unsaved people who become successful in one area or another because they get it in their head that they can do it. They “believe”. Whether they know it or not they are tapping into the principle of faith/belief that God set in place when He created the world and placed us in it. They are (many times without fully understanding it) saying, “This is possible for me”, which is another way of saying “God is a good God and therefore it is possible for me to be a success.” God, in His mercy, honors that. If He waited for all of mankind to understand all truth before He began to bless anyone or help anyone out, we’d all be toast.

So, many Christians may think it was “following the ten percent rule” that helped them out financially, but it was actually just the fact that they “believed”. They said in their heart, “God is a good God and therefore it is possible for me to be a financial success.” God just kindly overlooks the “ ten percent” nonsense that’s thrown in with all the other truth (that God is a good God and wants us to be blessed financially and in every other way).

Another thing that happens when people start going to church, is that they hear a lot of good things (with the invented doctrine of the “ten percent rule” thrown in), and they start living smarter. So sometimes they think their improved results in life have to do with the “tithe”, when really it just has to do with the fact that they’re praying more, believing more, changing the way they speak (which changes what they are creating with their words and faith), doing less stupid things than they used to do, and using more wisdom.

Tithing money does not “work” because it is not a command of God. It’s all the other commands and principles people obey that “work”.

One of these principles is “give and you shall receive”. But please keep in mind that the word “give” is not limited to just giving money in the offering plate. When you go to work, you give your time and effort, and receive money in return. Simple. But this is not to say that even when a person ignorantly gives ten percent of their money to the church, that God doesn’t honor their heart to do what is right and the fact that they are generously giving.

But again I must stress, tithing money does not “work” because it is not a command of God. It’s all the other commands and principles of God people follow, that “work”.

Do You Follow Christ Or People?

My wife shared the truth about “the tithe lie” with a Christian girlfriend of hers. Her friend’s response was, “I’ll go with what my pastor says.” I couldn’t help but think, “God bless her, silly sheep! She’s following her pastor and her church instead of following Christ.”

Dear Christian, don’t just blindly swallow everything your pastor says. Don’t just blindly swallow everything a famous TV preacher says. Don’t just blindly follow what I say. Don’t just blindly follow what anybody says. The Bible commands us to “Test everything and hold on to what is good.”

See, the only reason I found out the truth about tithing (and several other things) is because I tested the things that my pastors and other preachers said. I studied the Bible for myself. (Eventually I learned to study an accurately translated Bible, not the badly-translated pagan-influenced twisted English translations in the Christian bookstore). I trusted the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me into all the truth like the Bible promises He will. And I learned a couple of things that contradicted what my pastors said and what some famous preachers say. Oh well. Ultimately, I’m not following them. I’m following Christ – the Truth. I’ve been willing to give up comfortable ministry positions for the Truth. I’ve been willing to give up friends for the Truth.

Are you willing to follow the Truth wherever He may lead?

The apostle Paul wrote that one of the things that will mark the last days is that many people will not love the truth. Do you love the truth enough to go against what a lot of other people are saying?

Jesus made it very clear about life in this age that “the way is narrow that leads to life, and few find it.” So if you’re doing what the majority are doing in this age, you’re going to be wrong much of the time.

Don’t fall for the “Ten Percent Tithe Rule”. It’s a lie. I think a lot of pastors preach it simply because it’s what they’ve heard others preach, and it’s an easy way to bring money in to the ministry. But that doesn’t make it the truth.

The Bible Exhorts Us To Give, But Does Not Command Us to Tithe

So let’s recap. Should we tithe? is it a Scriptural requirement that every modern believer give 10% of our every paycheck in the offering plate? Well...

God’s people in the Old Testament had money, but no one in the Old Testament ever gave ten percent of their money to God, because God never asked or commanded them to do so.

Abraham tithed once in his whole life, on the spoils of war, not on his personal income. And he did it on his own initiative – God did not tell him to do it.

The Pharisees had money, but they never gave 10 percent of it to God.

Jesus never tithed or asked for tithes.

Jesus’ disciples and the early apostles never tithed or asked for tithes.

The apostle Paul never tithed or asked for tithes.

Can you see that God has never asked anyone for ten percent of their money? Should we tithe? You can if you want to, but you don't have to. It is not a Scriptural requirement by any stretch of the imagination.

My dad, a lifetime missionary and minister of the Gospel, said it well: “The Bible teaches generosity. For some people generosity might be more than ten percent. For some it might be less.”

So by all means, give generously to ministries that God puts on your heart, but don’t feel you must always give 10% of your income to the church as a rule.

And pass this article’s link on to someone else, so they can be set free from the “God’s ten Percent Tax” lie too.

Thanks for reading.

- Marc Speed

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Copyright 2010 Marc Speed

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