Biblical Tithe

Dear Paul,

My husband Gary and I are both Christian’s and while I was trying to research the question I am about to petition you concerning, I came across your site and realized you are a man of GOD and that this must not be a chance encounter.

My husband had worked for his former employer for over twenty years when another company took interest in him several states away. Long story short, my husband accepted this position and with him took his 401k account.

With the 401k we purchased our new home for our family. The company had taken a hefty amount out which we had expected, as we had heard this would happen.

Well, when it came time for tax season we learned that they had only taken half for some reason, and that we still owed the other half. So we ended up taking out a home equity line of credit against our home to pay for this.

Over the last three years we have also ran up other debt and had to use our credit cards to help with property taxes.

It has been a cycle of trying to get out of the toilet with the credit cards, and never having enough to get out from under, yet my husband works for a major company and is a Senior Industrial Engineer.

We are faithful to tithe our first ten percent and seed beyond that even. Sure, some of your readers might say that this is where we are messing up, but we know that is not true. We have seen GOD show up when we are faithful and trust HIM like this, not when we trust the dollar.

There is another answer to how to figure another way through this and I am praying you can help us with some solution. My poor husband has called banks and credit card companies.

If we take out the loans some are offering, we would be paying more than we are now for several years to come. We just want to find a way to consolidate our debt into one payment.

The debt we have is the current loan mentioned which is at 50,000 currently, and the debt to add which is 35,000. The tax office estimates our home valued at 191,000. Also we live in a city that has not be affected much by the fall of the housing market. Ours is holding steady. in fact, our city is listed by Forbes to be one of the leading in the top economic cities to live in.

Is there any way we might obtain a home owners loan that does not come due in five years, but maybe gives us a longer homeowners option? It seems banks would be looking for borrowers like us who are not looking to borrow a substantial amount of money towards their home.

Can we get a homeowners loan towards a home we already own? We are prepared to consolidate all the debt and pay one payment a month. We really would like to begin saving again and banking the money we are throwing away every month.

We never seen this coming. Never before did we have this problem and enough is enough. Please help us with any suggestions you might have.

GOD bless you!
 
Sherry
 
————-
 
Hi Sherry,

Look into refinancing your home with an FHA first mortgage loan around 5% on a 30 year fixed.  Before you do that, make sure your husband obtains his free credit report through annualcreditreport.com to check for errors.  And of course, listen to our free credit repair seminar.  Now, onto the issue of tithing…

In the Old Testament the tithe was one tenth (Lev 27:32) and that carried forward with a tradition in the New Testament church.  Some pastors or televangelists make that the focus of their teachings as if the bible message is that God wants people to be financially rich in this world.  If only you give to the church, you will prosper!  Is that the message of the bible?

All one has to do is look at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luk 16:19-31) to know that on the surface it appeared that the ‘rich man’ had everything and Lazarus had nothing.  The reality is that when the veil is taken away and eternity is in view, Lazarus had everything and the rich man had nothing.  The bible message is not about financial prosperity in this world, it’s about real inheritance, which is to be with God for all eternity.  As a side note, in that parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the Greek word translated as ‘tormented’ in Luk 16:24 is actually the word ‘sorrowing’.  It’s the exact same Greek word that is used in Luk 2:48 when Mary had lost Jesus as a child and found Him in the temple teaching.  It’s also the exact same Greek word that is used in Act 20:38 when Paul was leaving his friends and they would ‘see his face no more’.

Getting a little sidetracked, back to the point of tithing – in the New Testament, God commands that we give more than 10%, He commands that we present our bodies a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), so God wants everything.  So, what is the tithe all about?

It’s spiritually teaching that a tenth belongs to the Lord.  The bible teaches that only a remnant is saved (Rom 9:27).  There are many people that identify with Christianity outwardly, but when God returns to take His people (1Th 4:17), I believe He will be taking one tenth of the total that identify with Him outwardly. 

It’s interesting that in our day there are six billion people in the world and roughly a third identify with Christianity.  You’ve heard the bible refer to ‘the third part’.  So, about 2 billion identify outwardly with Christ Jesus as His people.  A tenth would be 200 million.  And that is the number that is listed in Rev 9:16.  It sounds like those people are the bad guys in that chapter but could it be that they are caught up and the testimony that they were giving is what causes others trouble?  Jasper (Rev 21:18) is one of the stones in the wall of the eternal city of which the true believers are a part (1Pe 2:5).

Anyways, as far as me being a ‘man of God’, I hope so, but the truth is that I’m a sinner and “[It is] good that [a man] should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” (Lam 3:26) and that’s what I’m doing.  I hope everyone else is too, because where we should be ‘watching’ (1Th 5:6, Rev 3:3) is in the bible.  There are so many seals that are being lifted (Dan 12:9, Rev 5:2, Rev 6:9) which gives us an understanding of the Word of God in our day - it’s time to rethink everything with regards to beliefs that we’ve long held, doctrines, etc. and test it against the bible (1Th 5:21).

Thanks for the questions and as you can tell I like questions about the bible.  Regardless of whatever I believe or anyone else believes, we’re all brothers and sisters trying to make it to eternity.  Hopefully God will be merciful to people who read this blog and to me.

Paul