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https://www.828ministries.com/articles/John-Hagee--Where-s-My-Mo-by-Anthony-Wade-Faith_Tithing-190805-813.html

August 5, 2019

John Hagee --Where's My Money! Don't Make me Send God After You! -- A Tithing Tale

By Anthony Wade

John Hagee says God is coming to get ya if you don't fork over His money!

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"And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. -- Malachi 2:1-4 (ESV)

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. -- Malachi 3:8-10 (ESV)

I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. So I confronted the officials and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. -- Nehemiah 13:10-12 (ESV)

John Hagee is a renowned false teacher. He idolizes Israel to an unbiblical extent and is completely sold out to the politics of this country. He once preached that if people did not like hearing Merry Christmas, they should get on the next plane and get out of his country. Heck of an evangelism plan there Johnny. To add insult to this injury, Hagee is also a tithing whore. Now bear with me beloved. Preachers can believe wrongly in tithing and not be abusive with it. We are ultimately still bound by the eternal principle of sowing and reaping, and God loves a cheerful giver. If you find a church that is truly preaching the uncompromised Gospel you will never find a better source for your giving. A line gets crossed though when you are someone like Robert Morris or John Hagee who wield tithing like a cudgel against the sheep of the Lord while claiming it is really God who is beating them senseless. Consider the following quote from Hagee I saw on Facebook this weekend:

"If you choose not to tithe, God says you live under a financial curse. He shuts prosperity off as an option for you. I did not say that the Bible says that. If you choose to tithe God says I will rebuke the devourer that is Satan for your sake. That means He will put the devil on a leash and hold Him from touching what belongs to you. He will not allow him to touch your children. He will not allow him to touch your business. He will not allow him to control your health. He will not allow him to torment your mind. He will not allow him to rule you with depression. You are a child of God!" - Pastor John Hagee

The bible says no such thing. I have studied this subject extensively and actually written a book on it and I can say unequivocally that Hagee is a vile person for teaching this to unsuspecting sheep. Let's break it all down. Hagee is relying on the Old Testament book of Malachi, as do all tithing whores. Three sets of key verses are posted so we have a deeper and better understanding of what is going on. Let us start with basic hermeneutics. The entire bible is God-breathed and beneficial for us. God says He wrote everything down so that we might not make the same mistakes. Some of the bible is direct instruction as doctrine, for example when Jesus teaches. Other parts are historical narrative, so we understand what happened in the history of Israel. There is a reason why the first and last rule of biblical interpretation is context. We always hear preachers citing Malachi 3 but never hear about Malachi 2, which is the first set of key verses today. In these scriptures we see that the Book of Malachi was not even written to the people! It was written to the priests! Who is threatened with a curse? The priests! God sounds pretty upset with the priests here no? I will spread the dung of your offspring on your face? Why? So, you will know that my covenant with Levi may stand. Hmm, that's interesting so let's put in pin it and move onto the most abused chapter in the bible today, Malachi Chapter 3.

Looking at the second set of scriptures God says you are robbing me. Who is he speaking to? The priests! Yes, the whole nation followed suit but God holds the priests responsible. So God says to bring the tithe back into the storehouse. Tithing teachers like to pretend this means church, but it does not. It was the literal place where the grains were stored to distribute to the Levi tribe. This was the tithing system. The other 11 tribes gave a tenth of their crops which were then distributed by the priests to the Levites for their work in the temple. We are getting closer to the story of what was really going on and for the conclusion we need to turn to Nehemiah and the third set of key scriptures above. The story occurring in Nehemiah was occurring during the time of Malachi the Prophet. Scripture always confirms scripture. We find when we read the Book of Nehemiah that he had to return to the King of Babylon in the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes. Remember, Nehemiah had a good relationship with the king. So, what happened back in Jerusalem while Nehemiah as gone?

On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them--yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent. Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. -- Nehemiah 13:1-9 (ESV)

When Nehemiah leaves for Babylon, Eliashib the Priest, who was in charge of all of the chambers of the house of the Lord, turned over the room previously used to hold the grain for Levites to Tobiah. Who was Tobiah? He was an Ammonite who had staunchly opposed the rebuilding efforts of Nehemiah, and thus God. The fact that he was an Ammonite alone violated the law. When Nehemiah returned he cast Tobiah out, cleansed the temple and restored the courts to order. Then we come to the third set of key verses where Nehemiah discovers that the portions that belonged to the Levites were not given to them and they had fled the temple back to their fields. Nehemiah brings them back to their stations and all of Judah brought the tithe of grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses once again. So now that we have a better understanding of the entire context, let us return to the threats from John Hagee.

Did God say that you live under a financial curse today if you do not tithe? Absolutely not. He did however say that the people in the day of Nehemiah and Malachi were already under a curse because of the actions of the priests, namely Eliashib. This cursed money threat is the same despicable teaching from Robert Morris and Brian Houston, as well as many other prosperity and tithing pimps. It turns God into some eternal gangster who demands His tribute before you even pay your electric bill. Before you think I am exaggerating what they teach, here is a direct quote from Morris:

"Don't give the first portion [of your income] to the mortgage company because the mortgage company does not have the power to bless your finances. Only God does. Don't give the first portion to the electric company, the electric company cannot bless your finances, only God can. Would you rather live with 100% of your income and all of it cursed, or 90% of your income and all of it blessed. That's what the Bible says." -- Robert Morris

Except that is not what the bible says at all. If you choose to tithe will God rebuke the devourer for your sake? Maybe but even if He does it is not because of an ancient agricultural system that Jesus nailed to the cross. Read Galatians 5 and replace the word circumcision with tithing and you will see how serious this is. Whenever we seek to go back to the law we sever Christ from us. Watch how demented Hagee gets here. Rebuking the devourer now means God will put Satan on a leash when it comes to you. God will prevent the enemy from touching what belongs to you. He will not allow him to touch your children. He will not allow him to touch your business. He will not allow him to control your health. He will not allow him to torment your mind or rule you with depression. All this and you get to keep 90% of your money? That sounds like a sweet deal! Except it is not. It is asinine. First of all the notion that God will curse all of your money if you do not tithe is patently silly when you look at all of the billionaires and millionaires in this world, nearly all of which have never given a penny to God.

What is Hagee saying about God in the rest of these promises? I know plenty of people who tithe and get sick. Plenty of people who tithe and their children go astray. Plenty of people who tithe and still get depressed. Plenty of people who tithe and still have to go through life like everyone else. The difference is that everything positive in the life of a tither is attributed to the tithe and the negative is considered an attack. It is only when things are the bleakest do people realize there was no inherent quid-pro-quo from God regarding tithing. What Hagee is teaching here about God is disgusting. That if He doesn't get His money He is going to spiritually kneecap you. This also destroys their insistence that you "can't buy God." Oh yes we can according to John Hagee. This is not obedience based on faith. Instead it is a transactional Christianity. John Hagee is selling protection just like the mafia would. Who is he protecting you from? God.

We should give with a grateful heart for all He has already done for us. If God never gives me one more tangible blessing in this life, He has already given me everything through His Son's sacrifice on Calvary. Please beloved, do not get me wrong. I am not anti-giving. I am anti-beating the sheep into submission using a millennia old system that Jesus has rendered obsolete. As for those who "swear by tithing":

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. - Proverbs 11:24 (ESV)

This is the principle of sowing and reaping and it is reinforced later in the New Testament. Scripture always interprets scripture. The object is not to be cheap but to be cheerful in all we have and all we give. We do not give reluctantly. We do not give expecting something in return. More importantly, we do not assign blame to God if something is negative in our lives. I read about a woman diagnosed with cancer in Kenneth Copeland's church and she refused to seek medical treatment because she was taught it would be showing a lack of faith in God to heal her. Instead, she just kept raising her tithes and offerings until cancer killed her a year later. It is time to stop calling evil good, or even lukewarm. What John Hagee and Robert Morris preach is evil, period, full stop. People need to break off those shackles the charlatans of God have imprisoned them with. Give because of all God has done for you beloved. For that He is already worthy.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- August 5, 2019



Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

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