Why do people of faith send money to their church? Where does this concept come from? Well-studied theologists are the first to jump up and say that the religious act of “tithing” comes from the Bible. OK. But what does the Bible actually say about it?
In the new book, Lie of the Tithe, R. Johnston makes it crystal clear what the Bible says about tithing. Johnston backs up every word when he proclaims that the words “tithe, tithes or tithing” only appear in 35 scriptures-seven of which are in the New Testament. Lie of the Tithe quotes long biblical entries without breaks; the book makes its first big statement by citing Deut 12:11-27 in its entirety. In essence, this passage says that ‘you must slaughter from your herd or flock, take the meat to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide (church), and eat the meat in God’s presence!’ You’re supposed to eat your own tithing!
Lie of the Tithe goes on to show that in all cases of tithing, the tithe is meant to be consumed by the tither in the presence of God, and that the Bible never mentions tithings in reference to money.
Johnston’s writing makes it clear that the Bible is written in laymen’s terms. How many times have you been to a church service where the pastor read something, and then went on to explain what it meant. All one has to do is read it! The text in the Bible doesn’t need an explanation. If it says something, it doesn’t imply that the message has infinite metaphorical value. “Take the meat there and eat it” doesn’t mean a lot of crap that some spin-doctor tags on the end. It means “take the meat there and eat it.”
In the beginning of the book, Johnston makes his offer:
“Are you the one that can take the tithing challenge? All you have to do is publicly prove in our presence from scripture, using proper biblical hermeneutics, that tithing 10% is a New Covenant command to be practiced by the church today. We will take it one step further; IF you can find anywhere in the Old Testament Law where tithes (as it applied to everyone) were paid in the form of money.
Or, perhaps, you can find One New Testament believer that paid a 10% tithe after the cross of Calvary. Name just one New Testament Saint in scripture from the resurrection for Jesus Christ who paid a 10% tithe? If you can, then put it in the mail and we will send you One Hundred times the price of this book without a public forum.”
The book is $14.95, so if you have the answer, there’s almost $1500 waiting for you. And if you’re a church leader, Johnston and SimpleTruth, Inc. will sweeten the deal. “If any church leader can beat me in a public debate about this issue, you can put me down for a million dollars.” And he means it, because no one has been able to, and no one ever will.
Lie of the Tithe is available at gotosimpletruth.com, and all of the online bookstores. The advantage of ordering it directly from SimpleTruth is that they will send you a video of the famous healer Benny Hinn. After you check out what this scumbag’s been doing with people’s tithes, you’ll think about whether you’re going to eat your own.