Religion of Sunday, 3 November 2013

Source: Prophet Owusu Ansa

Tithe, you are cursed if you don’t pay

*"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me." (Malachi 3:8, 9)*

If you don’t pay tithe, the Bible says you are robbing God and you are under a curse. This curse cannot be removed by your good works or the fact that you are born again. You can only reverse this curse if you start paying tithe. Tithe is the only key to prosperity and God’s blessing. The Bible is very clear about this and there is no way around it. You have to choose between being under God’s curse and God’s blessings, so abundant and uncountable. Those who don’t pay tithe are robbing God because all income is from God. All God asks is 10%, not 50%, not 90%. God the giver of all just wants a little portion to take care of the men of God and help spread the gospel.

The curse of the lord can be poverty, financial instability, disease, failed marriages, childlessness or things just going very bad in life for you. If your life is going nowhere, and failure has become your middle name, paying tithe can reverse all that. The curse of God means you blockGod’s blessing from reaching you. How you worship truthfully does not matter, God says if you withhold tithes from him you are cursed. When your business fails, the promotion does not come, disease and misfortunate ravages your family, it is the curse of the Lord. Paying tithe can put an end to that. Stealing from God has serious consequences.

Tithe is received by Levites in the Old Testament because they dedicated themselves to God’s work. So for the Levites to be comfortable and live well God gave them the tithe as their portion. All working Israelites paid tithes to the temple which was used to care for the Levites and their families. Farmers, traders, soldiers, shepherds, fishermen, metal workers paid 10% of their income so the Levites don’t have to worry about making a living. Pastors, as the Levites of today, do not work and dedicate themselves to God’s work, so tithe is paid to them so that the gospel can be spread far and wide. Pastors also use some of the tithe for charity work.

All men of God in the Bible- prophets, apostles, priests and disciples benefited from the tithe. So there is no doubt Jesus benefitted from tithes too. The prophets in the Bible could not have survived without tithes. Paul and the disciples of Jesus all were blessed by the tithes that the church paid. How could they spread the gospel of Jesus to the rest of the world? It is the tithe that made this possible. If Jesus and his apostles received tithe from the people, the same applies to pastors and teachers of the gospel today.

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Poverty is the portion of those who have no favor with the Lord. It is those who rob God by not paying tithes who suffer lack and want. Prosperity is for those whose give to God what belongs to God. If you take from God, God would take from you. If you plant a seed, He would multiply it. As a result of tithe, not only the tithers were blessed but the whole nation of Israel was also touched by the hand of God. God can touch our nation Ghana if we become a tithe-paying people. Prosperity can become our portion. Just look at the nation of Israel today, it is the miracle of what tithe can do.

When things go bad financially, this is the time to be steadfast in your tithes. Give the tithe to your church and see the financial miracle that God manifests in your life. Tough times are times of trial and tribulation. Do not hold back on your tithes. Don’t backslide in your faith in God’s goodness. You hold back on your tithes you hold back on your blessings. Being poor or having financial problems is no excuse for not paying tithe. It might not make sense to the carnal mind, but it is the wisdom of God. Paying tithes is not only on your salary. Everything that comes into your hands must be tithed. Salary, wages, bonuses, business profits, unemployment benefits, pensions, allowances, bank account interest, inheritance, prizes, commission, gifts and presents.

Paying tithes is the only way to financial prosperity and God’s divine favor. In whatever business you are in, God pours his blessing on you. You give to God so that god gives back to you tenfold, a thousand fold. When you hold back from God, God holds back from you. You are planting a seed when you pay tithes. The harvest is greater than the seed. The seed is small but the harvest is big. That is the divine miracle of tithes some like Brother Amartey fail to understand. Your breakthrough comes when you pay tithe.

When Pastors misuse your tithe, do not lose faith in God. Continue to pay your tithe because you are not the judge. Judgment is the Lord’s. You faithfully obey the law of God and leave the rest to God. Do not let any pastor’s misbehavior separate you from God and your blessing. Pay faithfully and let God handle the rest.

Giving free-will offering to your church is not enough. Giving is physical, tithing is spiritual. Only in tithe did God say we should test Him. Tithe is the gateway to God’s blessings. It is a covenant between God and the Christian. The miracle in tithe is that you are banking in God’s promise. A promise that he would open the windows of heaven and pour torrents of blessings on you.

Tithes did not start with us today. Abraham was a faithful tithe payer and God mightily blessed him. All his life Abraham paid his tithes faithfully to God, just as Jacob did. If God blessed Abraham for paying tithes, surely he would bless those who pay tithes today. All his life Jacob was faithful in his tithes and Yahweh never left his side. Is there a curse on those who don’t pay tithe? The answer to this question is not from me, it is from God. Yes, you are cursed if you don’t pay tithe.