In christiandom today, there's been a lot of debates as to weather or not should a christian {born-again that is} pay tithe. Many have even gone as far as outlawing tithe in their churches saying it's for the Jews and not Christians.

Tithing is no doubt one of the most misunderstood doctrines in christianity today, a misunderstanding that unknown to many has been capitalised on by the Devil to limit a christian's relationship with God.

Now, we all understand tithing as giving the tenth of our increase unto The Lord's House. That being said, tithing actually goes beyond "giving a tenth" , it is an act of commitment.

Before I go ahead with my expository on tithe being an act of commitment let me call your attension to these punch lines;

*Tithe pre-existed The Law;

*Tithe cannot be paid without the existence of a priesthood;

*Every Born-Again Christian ought to pay tithe, and;

*So long as Jesus Christ is priest forever, there's no end to tithing.

{For those who might want more clarification on the punch-lines above, you might wanna let me deal with tithe being an act of commitment first}.

Due to the fact that, "every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses"-2 Corinth. 13:1, I'm gonna prove my point by the act of our patriachs.

1. Papa Abraham

In Abraham's walk with God, tithe was not mentioned until Genesis 14:20. Before then, he offered burnth offerings unto Jehovah on many occations. In Genesis 14, Abraham after his quest to resque his cousin Lot, had raided Chedorlaomer's camp by night with three hundred and eighteen, men was riding home victorious {Chedorlaomer with three other kings had fought with the kings of Sodom, Gommorah, Admah,Zeboim and Bela and had defeated them before his encounter with Abraham's trained servants Gem. 14:1~10}.
As Abraham returns from this miraculous conquest, he was met by the king of Soddom and Co. to congratulate him of his uncommon victory against a formidable force of their time.
At this time the Bible talked about a certain Melchizedek , here's what the bible said about him;
" And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, blessed be Abram of the most hight God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the most high God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand." -Gen. 14:18~20.

Nothing more was written of Melchzedek except that:
1. He was a king and a priest;
2. He came unto Abraham with bread and wine {which indicates communion}, and;
3. Abraham gave him tithe of all.

The most suprising of the whole event was; never again was it recorded that Abraham gave tithe after that which he gave to king-priest Melchzedek, many of asked and are still asking questions as to why that is.
Here are some of them with answers:

»Question: Did Abraham paid tithe just once?
»Answer: Yes! The bible record shows that he only encountered priesthood once and that was the only time he gave tithe, every other form of giving were in form of sacrifises and charity unto strangers (and angels too).
»Question: Did God commanded him to pay the tithe?
»Answer: No! He tithed after Melchizedek minisered blessings unto him.
»Question: Of all that Abraham had why must he tithe from the spoils of war?
»Answer: The spoils of that war appears to be the increase to his riches at that moment because, Abraham is entitled to everything by right. But for the reason of not having people say that he got rich because of the spoils of a war; he pay a tithe of everything, settle his men and gave the rest to the king of Sodom and Co. Though blessed by God, Abraham knows even the kind of income he should retain, he wouldn't have a man glory in being instrumental to his prosperity, that's the kind of man he was.

Tithe was Abraham's response to the ministration of Melchizedek {the king-priest of the most high God} who came to him with bread and wine {being an image of the pre-incarnate Christ} blessing him in the name of the most hight God.
To be continued...

Daft thread

Another false teacher on the loose. Are you using the Holy Bible or Seven Books of Moses?