"The Bible teaches that we will reap what we sow financially. This makes non tithing Christians spiritual wimps when it comes to the financial harvest God wants to bestow upon them!" -- Joseph Mattera
A non-tithing Christian is not a spiritual wimp Mr. Mattera. They are a biblically accurate believer. That is because tithing was nailed to the cross by Jesus Christ Himself. Have you read Galatians 5? If we attempt to abide by any part of the law, including tithing, then we sever Christ from ourselves and He is useless to us. I did not say this. God did. In fact the New Testament redefines giving for us as Christians:
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. -- 2Corinthians 9: 7 (ESV)
Yet tithing by definition is a compulsory system, meaning it violates these New Testament verses. More disturbing here though is the implied quid pro quo Mattera is selling. It is what we often see from the most vile money grubbers like Mike Murdock and Kenneth Copeland. That God has this great big financial harvest He is just waiting to bestow upon you if you would only give your first ten percent of all wages to Joseph Mattera's ministry, or your local church. Hey, you gotta give to get right? This makes God either Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. Does anyone honestly believe that everyone who "tithes" has received a great financial harvest? There was an expose last year of a woman in Copeland's church recently who refused treatment for her cancer and just kept upping her tithes and offerings to his ministry trusting what she had been taught by the charlatan about money and healing. She believed right up until she died. Yet we must recognize that she believed falsely because she was taught falsely. The scriptural evidence against tithing as a New Testament believer is overwhelming, yet most pastors still insist on teaching this lie. Because they are faithless to turn over giving to the Holy Spirit. Because the harsh reality is it is easier to beat the sheep into submission and live off of the ten percent who actually give the ten percent than trust everyone to give joyfully and not under compulsion.
I chose the key verse from Hebrews today because Pastor Mattera used it up front to justify this thrashing. The problem is that he equated the shrinking away as a shrinking away from serving in the security ministry when it actually has to do with shrinking away from one's personal faith. This is unfortunately how pastors are taught today. That nothing is more important than advancing the vision of expanding the church building. The Bible is not as important so it can be marginalized, proof texted, and watered down to fill the pews. Sound doctrine is not as important and is labeled as legalism or religiosity. The sheep? If they step out of line just break out the whip and get them back in line. Those wimps deserve no better.
So we conclude the sheep beating for today. As I said earlier, the second half of Mattera's article is largely accurate when examining some of the shortcomings in the church. It is certainly not exhaustive, but not a bad place to start. The problem however is in not being able to recognize the relationship between the church and its abuses and the sheep and their behaviors. The conclusion of spiritual "wimpery" is equally short sighted. How sad that three of the five reasons he gives for potential wimpiness is based on money, politics, and weather. How sad that the rod of the shepherd, which is meant to beat wolves away has been used in these last days to instead beat the sheep.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- March 1, 2016
