Under a tithing system, a false teacher’s financial security is not dependent upon freewill givers guided by spiritual discernment. For this fact alone, tithing in the Spirit-led Church incubates heretical teaching.
The law has no authority to command support for a ministry that the law did not commission. If the Spirit is calling a ministry, then let the Holy Spirit validate His work by also calling others to give. Otherwise, you will get those who say they are led by the Spirit, but truly are misled, and yet still feel the need to obligate others into supporting him.
So now we have the problem that a man claims the Spirit is calling his fellowship in one direction, and then on the other hand God’s people are obligated to pay for a humanistic decision. It’s a catch-22. You disagree with a pastor and yet, you are obligated to fund his operation. What do you do? On top of that, throw in the often misinterpreted phrase, “touch not God’s anointed”, and there you have it, no accountability, no questioning, lots of money, and all-consuming power all rested at the fingertips of one man with a vision(whatever that may be).
So what’s going to stop this train wreck? We know one thing for sure, lack of money isn’t stopping it as long as God’s people know they are obligated to tithe.
Tithing has nothing to do with obligation to a man’s individual purpose. We can not speak on the Church without talk about heavenly things. After all… the church (gathered body of believers) are the heavenly bride of Jesus. And anything involving the spirit requires faith… that the why the Word of God says without faith it is impossible to please Him…. You must understand and believe that the vision and that plan comes from God not the selfish desires of a man.
The above statement is SPOT-ON. We attended a church that was in an older building. Our pastor said that on holiday Sundays, people were turning away and going elsewhere because our little (paid-for) church could not accommodate the influx of holiday church-goers. So the “Long Range Planning Committee” hatched up the idea to build a much bigger church. Our church ministered to the active-duty military community and when they deploy, there is plenty of room. The plans were put to a vote. Many tithing church members voted against the new building as it would incur a $1 million mortgage. There was a lot of red tape surrounding this venture. The pastor kept preaching that we were led by the Holy Spirit, yadda yadda yadda. So it went through anyway. The building was built and the same people who came to the old church came to the new church. New members joined, some old members left. Our church was always in a constant state of transformation and transition. THEN came the endless sermons about tithing and how we are commanded to pay for the new church and Scripture about letting God’s house fall to ruin while we live in paneled houses, etc. Many of the church members were low income, fixed income. But that didn’t stop the quotes about the old lady who gave her only 3 coins, “If you are financially strapped, tithe anyway.” “You are unhappy; going through a divorce; struggling with addiction; suffering job loss, etc, because you are not tithing…”