I heard a famous Christian pastor who said this: “I like tithes because I am a pastor.” There was a double-meaning of that word which seems to suggest that that pastor is not a giver, not a supporter, not a tither himself. Hindi yan totoo sa akin at sa amin mga kapatid. Kami mga pastors including my mom Rev Pastora Lita and Bishop Magsino and my siblings and my wife May are faithful tithers and givers of the church. Naniniwala kami sa power of tithing. We cannot preach something that ourselves cannot do.

I say this with respect to other churches’ doctrines but I am just here to explain my side against what they said:

1. wala daw sa New Testament ang tithing; and

2. Bakit marami daw tithers ang hanggang ngayon mahihirap pa din.

Sasagutin ko po ito from my own understanding of the God’s Word. My answers to the above questions:

1) Sa Matthew 23:23 (NIV), maliwanag na Jesus told the teachers of the law and the Pharisees to keep doing the tithes but do not forget justice, mercy and faithfulness. Sa daming ginawa ni Hesus sa mundo noon, the Bible is not enough to write everything He did. Jesus DID NOT ABOLISH tithing, in fact He endorsed it. He impliedly said to keep giving tithes and Jesus did not preach that tithing is no longer to be done. Wala itinuro si Hesus na laban sa pag-iikapu. Jesus could have easily said not to pay our tithes but He did not. This means to me that the same God who spoke the word about tithing in book of Malachi is the same God who wants us to practice tithing, for us to give the 10% from our income.

When Jesus was asked in Mark 12:17 whether to pay taxes to Caesar and Jesus asked this: “But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” So they brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at Him.”

The head of the Roman Emperor Tiberius was depicted on the denarius that they displayed to Jesus. He had the acronym for “Tiberius Caesar, the Divine Augustus” printed all around him. The term “Pontifex Maximus,” designating Caesar as the Roman Empire’s head priest, was written on the back.

Jesus knew that He would shortly be crucified and His hand pierced by the Caesarean authorities while He clutched the currency. “Pay your taxes to the Roman government,” Jesus said. He even added, “pay your taxes what belongs to the government and give God what belongs for God.”

What is it that Jesus was referring to: “give God what belongs to God…” The Bible is silent about this exegesis and there could be many interpretations on this matter but for me, it can be read in conjunction with what God Himself said in the book of Malachi 3:8-9 “you are robbing Me…” This means people back then ay nagnanakaw sa Diyos. That means that people were taking what “belongs to God…” That’s the literal meaning of the word stealing or thievery, in criminal law. Theft is the action or offence of taking another person’s property without permission or legal right and without intending to return it. Kaya ang hindi pagbibigay ng tithes ay isang uri ng theft or pagnanakaw. God said, that because of theft, people are cursed.

We pay our taxes, which is 20% – 45% in the UK and 20 % – 30% in the Philippines. We never complain to the government why we pay so much taxes? Why do we complain about giving tithes to the Lord, who has been the protagonist of our blessings in the first place? Sa gobyerno wala tayo magawa at mai-reklamo pero sa Diyos marami tayong angal. Our government does not make any promise when we pay our taxes but God does give His Word and His attributes to test Him. “Bring your tithes and I will open the windows of heaven…will stop the works of Satan…” Sa government natin walang ganyan, sa Diyos lang.

Our giving tithes indicate we have overcome greed. It helps the church to operate properly, Bible printed, bills paid and ministers able to do their works. As we cannot travel, our money is able to do that when we are faithful to the kingdom of God.

2) Bakit daw maraming mahirap na mga tithers? Talaga? Sino-sino yan? Sabi ng Pastor na yon, bakit daw may mga tithers na hanggang ngayon mahihirap pa din? My answer is this: Hindi trabaho ng pastor na mag-tanong ng ganyan sa member? Hindi pastor ang nangako sa Malachi 3:10 na kapag naging tapat tayo sa Diyos ay bubuksan Niya ang bintana ng langit upang ibuhos sa atin ang isang pagpapala walang sapat na silid na kalalagyan. Idinagdag din ng Lord na sasawayin Niya ang mga maninira at mananakmal. Itataas Niya tayo upang makita ng lahat na tayo ay bayang pinagpala ng Panginoon. Hindi ikaw pastor ang nagbigay ng promise na yan sa mga tithers. Bakit kelangan ikaw ang magtanong sa member mo na bakit sila ay nanatiling mahirap? Anong alam natin sa buhay ng iba? At ang blessings ba ay pera lang ang sukatan? Maraming “blessings” ang Lord na hindi lang pera. Our life, our family, health and welfare, jobs, sanity are some forms of blessings din.

At bakit si pastor ang magtatanong sa member na tither, “bakit mahirap ka pa din eh tither ka?” Aba eh teka muna pastor, sino ba ang nag promise na ibubuhos ang pagpapala, sasawayin ang mananakmal at magtataas sa maraming bansa? Ikaw ba pastor? Hindi. It is God who made that promise, and it should be God who should answer that question, not the member.

At bakit sasabihin ni pastor na ito na wag ng mag tithes when it is exactly contrary to what the Lord God said in the Bible. Offering was a practice by Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel in Genesis. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been practicing giving tithes hundred of years BEFORE Moses. Tithing is not from the Mosaic law, because it has been practiced even BEFORE the law. Tithing is not under the law because it was only incorporated in the law. By all means, anyone cannot preach against tithing because it will amount to a foul as written in Revelation 22: “if any man shall take away from the words of the book…God shall take away his part out of the book of life…If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.”

Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel are major prophets in the Bible. The minor prophets are Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi. They are not prophets of the Old covenant. So the book of Malachi cannot be said part of the old covenant because it is not.

Do not be deceived by doctrines and pastors who preached the tithes and giving are no longer based in the New Testament. Matthew 23 is very clear that Jesus did not abolish tithing. If some pastors believe that Jesus did not preach in full details about tithing in the New Testament, therefore the same command in Malachi 3:10 still stands, unless unilaterally revoked by the very same God.

Maaaring itinuro ito ng Panginoong Hesus pero kulang ang Bible to write those intricate details. The historical account of the Bible were written approximately 70 to 100 AD, and were the end-products of a long process of development. Halos isang daan taon bago nai-published and Bible, so wala tayong idea kung nagturo ba ang Lord about tithing in the Bible to explain whether His Word in Malachi remains. Pero hangga’t hindi binabago ng Lord ang batas ng pag-iikapu, dapat manatili yan.

Sa New Testament it is written in this way in 2 Corinthians 9:7 KJV “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Even Apostle Paul did not say do not tithes, did he? For me, this teaching in the New Testament should be read in line with Malachi 3:10 and not against it.

This New Testament teaching is about the reward of giving and the right heart in giving. I agree to this dogma. Materially, we can trust that God will provide for the giving heart. The promise of Philippians 4:19 (my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus) is made in the context of the generous hearts of the Philippians (Philippians 4:15-18). If we give to God, He will give to us materially.

Every Christian should be a giver. Because of small resources some cannot give much but it is still important that they give, and that they give with the right kind of heart.

God does not want our giving to be grudging (reluctantly, regretfully given with plenty of complaining) or of necessity (given because someone has made us or manipulated us into giving). This is more the spirit behind taxation, not Biblical giving.

Ang ikapu ay hindi “naku po!”.

For God loves a cheerful giver: Instead of giving in a grudging way or out of necessity, God wants us to give cheerfully. The ancient Greek word for cheerful (hilaros, used only here in the New Testament) is the root for our English word hilarious. God wants us to give happily because that is how God Himself gives.

God is the most joyful gift of all. He is happy to give us. It’s not difficult to think of a reason why God loves a happy giver. Giving is something He does Himself, and He wants those who were made in His image to have this same traits again from us. Pero walang itinuro sa New Testamanet na huwag mag tithes. Bakit kelangan magdagdag ng ibang doctines na hindi naman nakasulat sa Bible?

Pastors should preach the truth so the people of God are fed with the truth. We cannot underplay God’s Word and allow people to live in poverty and curse, as written in Malachi.

This is my own belief. Satan wants the people of God to be deceived not to give tithes. Why there are no churches attacking Prayers and Fasting, Healing of the Sick, Circumcision and Laying of Hands and even Offering? Bakit walang bumabatikos sa mga ito when these are all practiced in the Old Testament sa panahon ni Moses? Bakit malaking isyu ang tithes pero wala tayong isyu sa offerings?

Why only tithes are being attacked and the biggest issue?

Why it is ONLY the TITHES that are being severely attacked by Satan? Because the demons know that it is ONLY in tithes that we give Lord Almighty God the authority to unlock the treasury of heavens to pour us His blessings, and stop the devourer for our sake. Alam ni Satanas na when we give our tithes, iyon lamang ang magpapakilos sa kamay ng Diyos upang sawaying ang gawa ng kadiliman at pagpalain tayo ng sobra. These promises of great blessings in Malachi 3:10 are NOT MADE and NOT GIVEN for prayer and fasting and offering. There was no promise like this given sa pananalagin at pagbibigay ng handog. Walang ganyang pangako sa ibang practices ng Christianity that are practiced before in the Old Testament and until now. Sa tithes lamang ipinangako ng Panginoon ang magagandang bagay na yan.

Basta ako, mananatili akong nagtatapat sa Diyos. Kung ito man ay maging dahilan para maging mahirap ako, dahil alam ko namang hindi, pero hindi ako magbabago sa aking pagta-tithes dahil ito ang alam kong pinakamabisang sandata ko laban sa gawa ni Satanas sa aking buhay. I remember what kind David said in: Psalm 37:25 “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous one forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.” Naniniwala ako na pupunan ng Diyos ang aking mga pangangailangan dahil Siya ay mayaman at hindi ako magiging alipin ng katakawan sa pera para takbuhan ko ang Panginoon sa kabila ng Kanyang kabutihan sa akin.

Keep being faithful to the Lord mga kapatid. The devil knows the power of giving. He knows that when we understand and practice this principle of giving and tithing, he cannot curse you and me because the hands of God is upon us. For me, I will choose to live under the open heaven and not under a closed heaven. I declare that I will experience God’s faithfulness. I will not worry. I will not doubt. I will keep my trust in Him, knowing that He will not fail me. I will give birth to every promise God put in my heart and I will become everything God created me to be. And as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.