Friday – April 15, 2016
I suspect that all reading this teaching are aware that today is Income Tax day, the last day we have to pay the taxes owed and file a return and or file an extension. Today I am going to write about three topics which all fit together, tithes (God’s tax), taxes, and wealth transfer. I will first deal with the tithe. The word tithe means a tenth or ten percent. God commanded a tithe when the curse entered the earth which was later codified in the Law of Moses.
Leviticus 27:30-32 (KJV)
30 And all the tithe 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.
31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
The tithe was the source of income for those who ministered in the House of the Lord. This idea of volunteers and unpaid or underpaid workers in the House of God (various ministries) is new and not of God, it is demonic and due to the negligence, the sin of the people in not tithing or giving.
Numbers 18:24 (KJV)
24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. (bold added)
The first mention of the word tithe occurs with regard to Abraham when he paid a tithe to Melchizedek king of Salem (later Jerusalem).
Genesis 14:18-20 (KJV)
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
It seems quite clear to me that there is a blessing that is associated with paying the tithe on all gain or income. It belongs to the Lord and keeping it is theft. It is not like God doesn’t know a person is stealing from Him. The tithe is the equivalent of a flat tax. It was 10% for a person that had ten new calves or a hundred new calves, they both paid 10%, one calf in the first case and ten calves in the second. You will notice it was on the gross earnings. So today if the first number on the paycheck is for example $1000.00 your tithe is $100.00 not 10% of the net which might be say $700.00 with 10% being $70.00.
When the children of Israel left Egypt and the Tabernacle was made the tribe of Levi were those who served in the Tabernacle and they were all paid from the tithe of the other tribes. This was true in the time of the Temple as well. Everyone was expected to pay the tithe and those who did not were cut off from their people. The following is a very familiar Scripture concerning the tithe and the benefits of the tithe.
Malachi 3:8-12 (KJV)
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
God does not change, pay your tithe’s with joy!
Malachi 3:6 (MSG)
6 “I am GOD—yes, I AM. I haven’t changed. And because I haven’t changed, you, the descendants of Jacob, haven’t been destroyed.
The Law of God involves a flat tax, the 10% tithe. Don’t you suppose that if God thought a progressive (increasing percent with increasing income) income tax was just (right or righteous) He would have done that? Much of the following information concerning taxes is taken from The Founders Bible which I highly recommend for the serious student of the Bible. The Constitution of the United States provided that taxes “shall be uniform throughout the United States;” (Article 1, Section 8). However in 1913 the non-Biblical sixteenth amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
Amendment XVI.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
You will notice that the reference to being “uniform” is absent and so the door was wide open for the progressive income tax where those who earn more pay a greater percentage than those who earn less. The seeds of this evil were in play well before the passing of the 16th Amendment and they bore evil fruit in 1913. America entered a slippery slope to where we are today with intensifying class warfare. Once the moral fabric is torn all sorts of moral failure are given license like abortion, dishonoring Israel, infringement of religious liberty, infringement of the right of self-defense, and homosexuality. The devil is tightening a noose around the neck of all God given freedoms which were enshrined in our Constitution. One by one they are being corrupted and stripped away because an increasing percent of the populace is walking in a world of gross darkness and moral equivalency. An increasing percentage of people who claim Jesus as Lord are by willful ignorance and the doctrines of devils are becoming a part of that gross darkness. The idea of stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor has become entrenched in our culture of entitlement and is even espoused by many in the Church as a Bible teaching even from the mouth of Jesus. That is hogwash.
There are many mechanisms in our governments for un-Biblical wealth transfer from those who choose success to those who do not. The premium subsidies in Obama C
are is but one example. These is a growing consensus that healthcare is a right and not a commodity to be purchased. Where is the Biblical example for this? There is no Biblical model or example of government delivered healthcare or welfare in Scripture. These are examples of man, earthly government trying to take the place of God. The children of God are entitled by faith in love to wealth and health in the Kingdom of God. Wealth and health in the earth is the right of God’s children and He has provided the mechanisms for that in the here and now.
For a better understanding of this idea of taking from those who have and giving to those who have not because they would not work is very clear in the accounts of the pounds (Luke 19) and talents (Matthew 25). The man who was given one pound or one talent and hid it for he was afraid had it taken from him and given to the one with ten pounds or talents. Any system that takes from the person with more to give to someone with less when they would not work is socialism or communism and a satanic perversion. Read the Bible, God is a capitalist.
In short, the tithe is the Bible example of a fair tax and is the model by which a noble and righteous government ought to operate. The tithe is applicable to the Church today and not paying the tithe is rebellion and an invitation for the curse coming into a person and families life. The progressive income tax which is in place today is of the devil, of darkness and both Secretary Hilary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders want to increase the evil of this already evil system. Any effort to transfer wealth, which is theft, is a device of the devil to not only bring individuals down and into bondage but to bring a nation down.
By Pastor David R. Wood
