“You are a thief! You are a thief!”

The pastor cried as he huffed and puffed into microphone while prancing up and down the isle.

The pastor leaped onto the platform energetically and once more repeated his harsh accusations.

Suddenly he stopped shouting, and the church fell silent.

The pastor placed the microphone gently on the glass podium and looked down at the sea of eyes staring at him.

Then he spun to face his audience on the platform – the church choir, and whispered,

“When you do not pay your tithes you are a thief because you have robbed God!”

Is this statement factual?

If you fall on hard times and cannot afford to pay your tithes, are you a thief?

Should a pastor accuse his congregation of stealing from God?

What does the Bible say about offering and tithe?

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed (H6906) Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation (Malachi 3:8-9 NKJV)

The above verse states that the nation of Israel robbed God in tithes and offering.

Does this verse means that when members of the church do not pay their tithes and offering they steal from God?

Before answering this question, it is best to examine some key words that are used in the above scripture.

These words are rob, tithes and offering.

Rob

Dictionary.com gives four different meaning to the word rob. These are:

1. To take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
2. To deprive (someone) of some right or something legally due: e.g. They robbed her of her inheritance.
3. To plunder or rifle (a house, shop, etc.).
4. To deprive of something unjustly or injuriously: e.g. The team was robbed of a home run hitter when the umpire called it a foul ball. The shock robbed him of his speech.

The English Language used one word with several meanings, but the Hebrew original language of the Bible used four different words to imply four different meaning.

The word rob that is used in the above scripture is from the Hebrew word “qâba” ^H6906, which means to cover (figuratively), to defraud or spoil.

Thus, number 2 and 4 of the English definition of rob was used in the context in Malachi.

This same Hebrew word was translated as spoil in the scripture below:

“For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil ^H6906 the soul of those that spoiled ^H6906 them.” (Proverbs 22:23 KJV)

Tithing

Strong’s Definitions of tithe – “maʻăsêr” (H6240) meaning a tenth part.

It means a tenth part of their substance and in biblical days it was their produce.

Lev 27:30 – And all the tithe (H4643) of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD.

Tithing began in Genesis 14:20 when Abraham gave Milchezadek a tenth of all the spoils he acquired after he defeated the kings who had taken Lot captive.

The high priest first blessed him and had communion with him.

The bread and wine that they shared symbolized the blood covenant of Jesus Christ.

This was an unbreakable covenant.

Therefore, tithing is not only giving money to the church, but it also means giving your time, your skills, your talents and your produce whether goods or service.

God requires at least a tenth of the above things, but He requires one hundred percent of you heart or life.

Offering

What is offering? Is it money?

Offering in our modern-day churches is equivalent to money.

However, in the Bible, offering either means burnt offering or gifts.

In the text in Malachi, according to Strong dictionary, offering means “minchâh” from an unused root, which means to apportion, i.e. bestow; a donation; euphemistically, tribute; specifically a sacrificial offering (usually bloodless and voluntary):—gift, oblation, (meat) offering, present, sacrifice.

This offering is a sacrificial gift that can either be money, food or any other gift.

In the old testament period it was a bloodless offering such as the grain offering, which was given directly to the temple.

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: ^H8641 of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. ^H8641(Exodus 25:2 KJV)

Thus, your offering is a gift and must be giving willingly to help build the body of Christ and further spread the teachings of the Lord.

The blessings of giving willingly

You must not be shamed or coerced into giving your tithes and offering.

If you feel forced to give you will lose your blessings.

Pastors who shamed their congregation into giving are essentially depriving their members of receiving a blessing by giving from a free and willing heart.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 

And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze;  blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. 

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.  According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. (Exodus 25:1-9 NKJV)

God gave a list of things that Moses should accept from the people to give towards the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

The Lord specifically told Moses that he should only take an offering from those who gave it with a willing heart.

This means that God did not accept the gifts that were given grudgingly or from coercion.

The people gave their gifts willing with a joyful heart because they knew that they were helping to build a tabernacle where God would live among them.

The presence of God among His people means protection, provision and peace.

This should be your ultimate goal when you give willing to God.

The best gift to God

The sacrifice that God desires is a broken spirit and a contrite heart (Psalms 51:17).

The best gift that we can give to God is our life and our time. These are more precious than money.

If you give God a quart of your life you will receive a penny’s worth of blessing because He wants the total you – The oil and the wine.

Unfortunately, we are living in a society that is money conscious, money hungry, money grabbing, money hoarding and money talk.

These money lovers have infiltrated the churches from the pulpit to the pew.

Some of these pastors and bishops are so desperate for money that they will deliberately twist the scripture and shamed their congregation to fill their pockets.

These prosperity preachers have built their empires from the pockets of the poor and needy in their congregation.

When they have gained millions of followers, they wrote many books, which they sell to their followers and then claimed that it is the source of their great wealth.

The church should be a place of deliverance and healing. A place where you will be encouraged and strengthened.

If you attend a church service feeling depress you should never leave feeling the same or even worst.

As my Jamaican mother would say, “you enter the the church like a Johnny cake and leave like a dumpling.”

Will a man robbed God?

Corrupt church leaders are robbing the people of their blessings when they used the Bible to shame their congregation.

Christians robbed God when they do not spend time with Him.

God is robbed when His people only give Him a part of their lives.

God is robbed when the Church is lukewarm.

God is robbed when Christians live a double life.

Therefore, as believers in Christ, let us focus on our relationship with God, which is far superior to financial contributions.

What other ways are we robbing God?

What is your insight on tithing and offering?

Share your thoughts with us.

Published by Beverley

Beverley has been serving the Lord since she was a child. At an early age, she recognized that God had a special plan for her life, but it was not until in her adulthood that she surrendered her total life to God and accepted the mandate that God placed on her life. The Lord called her into His Kingdom to be an encourager, intercessor, teacher, scribe, priest, and to proclaim the Word of God. Since then, Beverly has established a blog to teach us to become the oil and wine. The oil and wine are purified and mature products, which is the advanced level that the Lord expected of us. In 2017, Beverley published her first book, Harm Not The Oil And Wine. In it, she described her trials and how God helped her to overcome them, and to live more victoriously. The book also exposed the enemy of our souls with detailed information about his past defeats and future extinction. Wright spents most of her time studying the Bible to know the truth of God’s Word. She believes that only God’s truth can expose the deception of the enemy, and uproot and tear down spiritual strongholds. You can learn more about Beverley’s life and testimony on her website becomingtheoilandwine.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Google+ under the name of her blog, and on Twitter as @Theoilandwine. View all posts by Beverley