MAD MONEY: Examining the Troubling Adventist Teaching On Tithe

Well hey there thank you for being here and an especially warm welcome if this is your first time with us Adventist or otherwise so tonight we’re going to be discussing something that has been requested a lot up to this point we’re going to finally break the ice on it and that’s the subject of tithe more specifically examining the SDA Church’s teaching on such like with most of the Bible it has been twisted and abused to build an entire framework of what they have historically referred to as systematic benevolence but is presently codified in their fundamental belief

Number 21 titled stewardship but I want to preface by making sure the focus is clear the belief that tithing is a New Testament Practice is not in and of itself something that puts one outside of Christian Orthodoxy it’s also not a belief that is unique to the SDA Church however in my many years of engaging with Adventists both when I was one and after leaving this is a subject that I have seen wreak havoc and bondage upon Adventists both mentally and spiritually leaving many of them in fear so we are going to explore the historical development of this practice within the

SDA Church how the Bible is abused to try and support it and the downstream guilt it produces in many Adventists and former Adventists all in the name of being faithful to God in the lngg white research documents which are put out by the white estate we find an article titled LG wh’s Council and practice on tithe within that article we read quote the Old Testament gives clear instruction for the return and use of the tithe the New Testament does not elaborate further except to endorse the necessity of tithe paying thus the 7th Adventist Church’s position on tithe has

Been based upon the principles laid down in the Old Testament and their application to a Christian church with ministers not priests specifically Adventists have endeavored to follow the counsels of Ellen G white as she has applied the biblical teachings to our own day thus it is only fitting that questions be asked regarding Mrs White’s understanding of the tithe close quote this is to say that what Ellen White claimed about the Bible and tithe is what the SDA Church yields to on what the biblical practice actually is and how it’s practically applied this after

They tell us that the New Testament doesn’t elaborate on tithing however they do state that while it doesn’t elaborate on the practice it does allegedly endorse the necessity of tithe paying but the point being they based their practice of tithing upon Old Testament principles and how Ellen White applied those but it actually goes a lot deeper than this prior to 1858 the movement viewed giving as the New Testament lays out in places like 2 Corinthians n something we’re going to talk about later but due to the small size of the movement at the time there

Wasn’t enough money coming in to sustain the movement namely the ministers who were spreading it James White and Jay and Andrews then put together a committee to figure out how to solve that problem as can be seen in the sth Adventist encyclopedia under the topic of systematic benevolence they write quote in April 1858 Jay and Andrews conducted a Bible class in Battle Creek Michigan to learn from scripture how the gospel Ministry should be supported a little later a committee presided over by Andrews met in Battle Creek it presented its report to the church on

January 29 1859 at this time the practice of systematic benevolence was recommended and adopted unanimously by the Battle Creek Church the two key passages that supported the title and the content of the plan were 1 Corinthians 16:2 emphasizing systematic planned giving and 2 Corinthians 812 through 14 and 9 5-7 stressing cheerful giving and an attitude of benevolence this 1859 plan however was not yet based on the Bible teaching of tithing close quote so we see a similar pattern here with other doctrinal developments in adventism like the investigative

Judgment an event occurs and is accepted to then be brought to the biblical text to play the doctrine in search of a text game which is precisely what happened here as the SDA encyclopedia later notes where they state that it was after the adoption of this plan that was proposed at the committee that they sought to find a Biblical basis for such well this plan didn’t necessarily go over very well with the movement’s Ley while the leaders like James White and Jay and Andrews sought as a way to fund the fledgling movement that same fervor did not trickle down to the members but

Don’t worry that’s not something an alleged vision from God to the prophetes couldn’t fix this supposed Vision came in 1858 not long before this committee gave its conclusions in January of 1859 the first of these Visions on this subject is documented in spiritual gifts Volume 2 where she writes quote the plan of systematic benevolence is pleasing to God I was pointed back to the days of the Apostles and saw that God laid the plan by The Descent of His Holy Spirit and by the gift of Prophecy counsel his people in regard to a system of benevolence all were to share in this

Work of imparting of their carnal things to those who ministered unto them in spiritual things there is order in heaven and God is well pleased with the efforts of his people in trying to move with the system and order in his work I saw that there should be order in the Church of God an arrangement in regard to carrying forward success y the last great message of Mercy To The World God is leading his people in the plan of systematic benevolence and this is one of the very points which will cut the closest with some to which God is bringing up his people to them this

Point cuts off the right arm and plucks out the right eye while the others it is a great relief to Noble generous Souls the demands upon them seem very small and they cannot be content to do so little close quote ah so what James and the leaders came up with was actually Apostolic in origin God showed Ellen White despite the encyclopedia also telling us that they arrived at the system before having biblical support and brought the preconceived idea to the Bible to hunt for verses to support it nevertheless to get the L on board God allegedly gave Ellen a vision letting

Her know that Just Like Heaven has order so to his last day Church also needed to be working in harmony with that order so that their movement could accomplish their special task of taking their novel gospel to the rest of the world in other words they were guilty Ed into going along with this plan through an alleged vision from God that this was the right and proper thing to do but they still hadn’t merged the idea with tithing now folks there’s nothing inherently wrong with a general system or outline of giving and even the title of systematic

Benevolence but stick with me now like I said they hadn’t merged it with tithing yet as the SDA encyclopedia also notes systematic benevolence simply set up the giving plan and structure while tithe was looked at as the Baseline for how much each person should be giving but fast forward to 1861 and we see that Ellen White applied Malachi 38 linking the Old Testament concept of tithe to the systematic benevolence model that her husband and the leaders adopted in their committee meeting again the SDA encyclopedia States quote already in 1861 Ellen White stated Rob not God by

Withholding from him your tithes and offerings she was evidently alluding to Malachi 38 thus Ellen White was the first Adventist to make the link in print between systematic benevolence and Malachi 38-11 a few pages later she quoted in full this Old Testament passage on the subject without giving further explications but her concluding words after the long quotation were meaningful I saw that this scripture has been misapplied to speaking and praying in meeting the prophecy has a special application to the last days and teaches God’s people their duty to bring a

Proportion of their substance as a free will offering to the Lord close quote which really brings us full circle to the first quote that we looked at from Ellen White’s estate that Adventists ultimately endeavored to follow Ellen’s counsil on tithe will she claim to be shown by God that the prophecy of Malachi 3 and Free Will offerings has special application to the last days Remnant people of God and their duty to tithe to the remnant church and this is where things take a turn for the worst we go beyond just cheerful giving this opened the floodgates of warning and

Lambasting of Adventist by God through his alleged prophetess she would then go on to claim and warn that those who didn’t give their 10% tithe were guilty of defrauding robbing and embezzling from God and that by doing so they were robbing themselves of the Eternal Riches of Heaven not keeping this law would eventually lead to one being cursed by God and be lost for eternity such as in testimonies to ministers and gospel workers where she writes quote I understand that you are also proclaiming that we should not pay tithe my brother take off thy shoes from off thy feet for

The place where on you are standing is Holy Ground the Lord has spoken in regard to paying tithes he has said bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith sayeth 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 but while he pronounces a blessing upon those who bring in their tithes he pronounces a curse upon those who withhold them very recently I have had direct light from the Lord upon this question that many many seventh day

Adventists were robbing God in tithes and offerings and it was plainly revealed to me that Malachi has stated the case as it really is then how dare any man even think in his heart that a suggestion to withhold tithes and offerings is from the Lord where my brother have you stepped out of the path oh get your feet back in the straight path again close quote so we now have an alleged divinely inspired application of Malachi 3:9 another paropy that we’re going to look at later with First Corinthians but she originally wrote this scathing rebuke of an Adventist in

1893 many decades after the events of 1858 which shows us just how much present truth was utilized to Snowball the teaching but we’re supposed to believe that Malachi 3 can rightly be applied to the modern reader of the Bible as those who aren’t financially storing up money in the SDA Church Storehouse and these people will be cursed by God she even went so far to say that before praying for the sick amongst the movement they should first find out if the sick person has been withholding tithes or has made trouble in the church because if you’re sick it

Could be because you aren’t giving the SDA Church their due portion she also claimed that those who weren’t giving according to their ability the Lord May reduce their income to the amount they’re willing to give implying that if you make a lot of money and want to maintain that level of income you better make sure you give to the SDA church and this is only a scratching of the surface of the types of warnings that she gave on this subject so in a nutshell this is a flyover of how the SDA Church’s Doctrine around tithe developed the movement was financially struggling in

The early years so a committee was held by the leadership to determine a system for the members to fund the work and spread of the little flocks final message of Mercy that God had supposedly given them to take to the rest of the world the propheus supported this with the ever so convenient vision from God showing her that it was the remnant’s duty to submit to this system and be in harmony with Heaven this culminating in her Divine application of Malachi 3 fre to support this which gave the movement its systematic benevolence connection back to the Old Testament tithing system

Eventually resulting in warnings that you’ll be cursed by God for not following the system because God showed Ellen White that Malachi 3 has special application to Adventist but before we can proceed with looking at the present-day fundamental beliefs book as well as some various passages of the Bible there’s a certain detail from the 1850s that took place during all of this and I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it in the late 1850s there were two gentlemen by the names of HS case and CP Russell If one us to read the SD encyclopedia on them you’ll of course

Read that they were these rebellious apostates who came against God’s work what was their alleged heinous sin and crime you might ask they began to doubt the validity of Ellen White’s prophetic gifting more specifically regarding the various contradictions that she had claimed about the shut door during the 7-year period of 1844 to 1852 but it didn’t end there there happened to be a woman at case and Russell’s local congregation that needed church discipline Ellen White was asked to review this case where she claimed to have a vision showing her that the two

Men were correct but within the span of 24 hours this shifted and Ellen claimed to have another Vision where she claimed to be shown that they had mishandled the case this clear flip-flopping was attributed to God ultimately which was the straw that broke the camels back leading to them being disfellowshipped so why is this important to the subject of tithe though well these two gentlemen went on to start what is now known historically as the messenger party this was the first offshoot of the sth Adventist movement the party had two primary objections with James and Ellen

White the first was that Ellen White’s Visions were not trustworthy and could not be made a standard for testing truth and two James White was guilty of embezzling Church funds this is to say that while the development of the system of benevolence to fund the movement was being formulated the charge that James White was embezzling funds was swirling around well case and Russell’s charges would be proven true years later when the $5,000 debacle occurred with John Harvey Kellogg and his falling out with Ellen White in the 1907 interview with John Harvey Kellogg which was conducted

By leaders of the SDA Church there is a section titled the $5,000 wherein Kellogg shares something interesting he says quote the Elder had a dealing with the sanitarium by which he got possession of $5,000 that did not belong to him at all he made a contract contract with the sanitarium to publish the health reformer for half the profits at the end of 3 years he had a profit of $5,000 and they asked him to let them have $4,000 of it to put up the new building with they asked him to take $1,000 and let them have four and he said he would take the whole thing or

None he said if they would not let him keep the whole thing he would throw up the sponge withdraw his influence from the sanitarium and I helped the Elder work it through close quote so it’s important to remember that 5,00 at this time was an astronomical amount of money for the average person the equivalent of today $200,000 if one continues reading the interview which is kind of lengthy you’ll see how according to Kellogg the whites were not financially responsible people they obtained this money illegitimately now one might say this doesn’t prove that case and Russell’s

Charge from many decades prior is valid since this report took place in 1907 but here’s the catch James needed this money because of a $5,000 debt that he owed elsewhere specifically to the SDA Church’s publishing arm the review in Herald another $5,000 that he fraudulently obtained which is why the LG white Estates defense that Kellogg was misleading people and lying doesn’t really hold much water speaking about this Kellogg says quote the Elder took the money paid it into the review and Herald to settle up the old scores down there when he had had more of the

Profits than he ought to have had on his books then he got up a special supplement of the review and in that he told how he had paid the $5,000 into the review and Herald office isn’t that so you know that it’s so don’t you so I know perfectly where the money went I turn that money over to help him then there was a little note in the supplement to the review in which he had admitted he had more of the profits than he had ought to have had out of the review and Herald office and he had made it right by paying in $5,000 and that $5,000 he had stolen from us to pay off

A $5,000 debt to pay back $5,000 he had stolen from the review in Herald to make the things Square close quote so the future would go on to vindicate the charges being made by case and Russell let’s run back the timeline now the little flock was struggling to keep their movement alive and spread their message a committee was then held to figure out a solution a system of systematic benevolence was set up but they didn’t have a Biblical basis for such so they started digging finding a handful of verses to use that talk about giving God then conveniently gives Ellen

White A Vision on such stating that it’s in accordance with the plan and system of heaven and that God was ultimately behind the plan this eventually leads to another Vision where she was allegedly given inspired application of Malachi 3 letting her know that it has special application to the last days people of God and their final message of Mercy that they’re taking to the world to not go along with this plan was to risk one’s Eternal salvation and receive a curse from God this then got the ball rolling on connecting James White’s system to the Old Testament practice of

Tithe yet while all this is taking place James White is embezzling funds to the modern tune of $200,000 both from the movement’s publishing arm as well as the Battle Creek sanitarium later on the Battle Creek sanitarium but this was the Commandment keeping church that God was raising up in the last days to restore his church The Remnant that keep the Ten Commandments and have the faith of Jesus but it doesn’t end there during this time we also have another alleged Vision wherein Mrs White told the lady that they were to sell their possessions and

Give the proceeds to the movement to sustain the special mission that they were on this Vision supposedly took place in 1849 so it’s before this meeting on systematic benevolence but notice a mere few years prior to Case and Russell’s allegations of the whites gross mismanagement quote about one week since the Lord showed me Envision that houses and lands will be of no use in the time of trouble and that in that time they could not be disposed of I saw that it was the will of God that the Saints should cut loose from every encumbrance dispose of their houses and

Lands before the time of trouble comes and thus make a covenant with God by sacrifice I saw that they would sell if they laid their property on the Altar and earnestly inquired for Duty God will teach them when to dispose of these things then they will be free in the time of trouble and have no clogs to weigh them down close quote now if you’ve been riding with us for a while you’re going to make the connection between 1849 and Ellen White’s mention of the time of trouble because in present truth magazine volume 1 which was an early sabari and Adventist

Publication that James White founded he wrote quote in Peter’s time there was present truth or truth applicable to that present time the church has ever had present truth the present truth now is that which shows present Duty and the right position for us who are about to witness the time of trouble such as never was present truth must be of repeated even to those who were established in it this was needful in the apostles day and it certainly is no less important for us who were living just before the close of time close quote ah so on top of all the guilt that

Was foed upon the followers regarding being cursed by God for not financially giving to the movement they were already being told that they were going to go through the great time of trouble and their possessions would be of no need for them not just that but they could potentially cause them to stumble during the time of trouble and clog them up everyone was to sell their possessions and give the proceeds to the movement to further the message except James and Ellen White of course it was only the duty of everyone else and anyone that didn’t go along with this was said to be

Rebelling against God because he had revealed this to Ellen in Vision supposedly which means that by the time the systematic benevolence and tithe trap was set the followers had already been baited and this doesn’t even get into into the profiteering that would later come about due to book royalties and the income from Ellen White’s writings James White even noticed this in a letter he wrote to Ellen on February 18 1881 quote we must get out certain books these we shall not complete in California or in Battle Creek unless we keep away from the office and its business our

Financial matters stand well and there is wealth yet in our pens if we will keep away from bustle and care and work and use our pens in this way we can leave something that will tell when we may be gone close quote this was written mere months before James death in August of 1881 showcasing the lifelong capitalization of James and Ellen to gain status power and control leading to a worldwide sect that has and is deceiving millions of people because without all of this they would have never survived as a movement to think that this has zero impact on Adventist

Ley today would be naive it helps explain why so many sdas experience fear in this area it also explains why Adventists are one of the highest consistently tithing groups out there the seat of this practice within the movement is not ultimately rooted in the Bible it is rooted in keeping the organizational structure alive and just like the pioneers of the movement had no issue guilting the followers into keeping that system alive at the risk of their Eternal Destiny being at stake neither does the organization to this day which is why we’re now going to

Transition into how the fundamental beliefs book specifically the chapter on fundamental belief number 21 stewardship smuggles in this Bedrock that was laid by Ellen White without actually mentioning her so Under The Heading stewardship of material possessions the organization States quote after the fall God could no longer test through the tree of knowledge but Humanity still needed a constant reminder that God is the source of every good and perfect gift and that it is he who provides us with the power to get wealth to remind us that he is the source of Every

Blessing God instituted a system of tithes and offerings this system eventually provided the financial means for supporting the priesthood of the Israelite Temple 7th Day Adventists have adopted the levitical model as a sound biblical method for financing a worldwide Outreach of the gospel God has ordained that sharing the good news is to be dependent on the efforts and offerings of his people he caused them to become unselfish co-laborers with him by giving tithes and offerings to him close quote all right so we already saw and looked at the Historical development

Of this and how Visions tied the initial system of benevolence with the old Covenant tithing system but notice the attempt to connect tithing with the tree of knowledge and like the tree was a test so tithe was set up as one also yet that’s not what scripture States about the tithe and offering system of the Old Testament this is a claim that is made with Ellen White’s vision and usage of Malachi in the driver’s seat nevertheless just like we saw earlier they admit that they are seeking to apply the levitical priesthood model to the present day

But remember what Ellen White said regarding Malachi 3 and its special application to the end times people and that Adventist risk being cursed by God and their Eternal Destiny is at risk if they don’t give to the organization under the heading unfaithfulness in tithes and offerings they right quote generally speaking people are ignorant of and neglect the Divine principles of stewardship even amongst Christians few acknowledge their role as stewards God’s response to Israel’s unfaithfulness gives a clear insight into how he regards this matter when they used the

Tithes and offerings for their own benefit he warned that it amounted to theft Malachi 3:8 and attributed their lack of prosperity to their fiscal unfaithfulness you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me even this whole nation Malachi 3:9 the Lord revealed his patience love and mercy by prefacing his warning with an offer of Grace return to me and I will return to you Malachi 3:7 he offered them abundant blessing and challenge them to test his faithfulness bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house test me in this says the Lord

Almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it I will prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your Fields will not cast their fruit says the Lord Almighty then all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land says the Lord Almighty Malachi 31-2 close quote so ironically that first paragraph could rightly describe James White and his embezzling schemes but nevertheless they simply reiterate what Ellen White claimed God showed her

About Malachi 3 but instead of stating this was shown to her in Vision they simply cite Malachi which is supposed to prove that they’re applying the text appropriately no explanations needed in their eyes because God supposedly showed Ellen White that this is the divinely inspired special application of the text to the remnant church and they very clearly state that you run the risk of being cursed by God if you don’t cough up your tithe to the SDA church because if you don’t you’ll be responsible for stunting the growth of God’s last day church and its Mission but is this a

Valid application of Malachi 3 and the tithing system of the Old Testament now tithing didn’t start with national Israel as even the SDA Church recognizes Abraham for example gave a tenth of his Spoils of War to malchis DEC but this was a one-time event the author of Hebrews actually points us to this account to show the superiority of melchisedec’s priesthood over Levis in Hebrews 74-10 when God met Jacob at bethl as well and promised him Covenant blessings he promised God a tenth of everything given to him in Genesis 28:22 but tithe was a commandment of the

Law when it became a repeated act when we fast forward to the establishment of national Israel we actually learn that there was eventually three types of tithe the first was the festival tithe which can be found in Deuteronomy 14 22-23 for example where Israel had to give a tenth of their seed fruit and flocks to the Lord not just money the same thing is reiterated in Leviticus 27 2 Chronicles 31 and Nehemiah 13 when the Israelites settled in the promised land they all had enough space to farm whatever they desired they had other trades but they only tithed on the farm

Produce from the land this tithe was a yearly one that was not in connection with the levitical religious work instead this was a yearly celebration in which the people of Israel feasted together remembering what God had done for them the New Testament Church is not under the Mosaic system and we keep these feasts by being in Christ who is the true fulfillment of all of them we aren’t farming the promised land under a Theocratic system hence why this tithe does not apply to us like it did National Israel the second is the poor tithe which can be found a few verses

Later in Deuteronomy 14:28 this is what Malachi 3 is actually hearkening back to each City within the nation had a storehouse that stored up the tithes for the Levites as well as a Sojourner in their land for the fatherless and for the widowed this tithe was calculated every 3 years based solely upon one of those three years like with the previous tithe this is not the current economy Christians live within nor are we under the Mosaic Covenant and thirdly the levitical priesthood tithe is found in Leviticus 27 as well as numbers 18 and Nehemiah

Chap 10 much like the festival tithe this one included giving from the land anything from the seed of the land the fruit of the tree and the herds of animals in numbers 18 though we get more clarity the Levites did not have any land for themselves which meant they couldn’t do any farming their focus and job was to perform the work in the sanctuary however not all Levites were priests only 10% of the tithe went to the priests so 10% of the 10% which would be 1% verse 28 also tells us that only Aaron and his sons could be priests and they got 1% of all the farmer

Produce of the land of Israel which would mean that 9% of all the farm produce went to the Levites while 1% went to the priests like with the other tithes applying this to the New Testament Church is faulty when the blessings and cursings are specifically tied to the Mosaic Covenant that the New Testament Church is not under the New Testament plainly states that we are no longer under the old Covenant it is Obsolete and has been replaced with a better Covenant as Hebrews 8:13 verbatim says when speaking about the Lesser to the greater and according to the SDA

Church’s own interpretation of Colossians 21:14 they claim Paul there is talking about the ceremonial and judicial laws of Israel being nailed to the cross well the tithe was a part of the ceremonial and judicial law of the Mosaic order which means their own interpretation of this passage which comes from Ellen White ends up shooting themselves in the foot regarding their doctrine of tithe and trying to apply the levitical model to the present day now we saw earlier from the SDA encyclopedia how the early SDA pioneers originally understood giving in

Accordance with the New Testament teaching even the white State admitting in the beginning that the New Testament does not elaborate upon tithe which is why the organization heeds the Council of LG white in this area and her usage and application of the Old Testament but the New Testament model is very different and it’s rooted in the good news of the Gospel 1 Corinthians 16 and 2 Corinthians 8 were two primary texts that James White tried appealing to as the basis for their initial system of systematic benevolence in 2 Corinthians 8 and N specifically God explains for us

A key difference between the New Testament model of giving over and against the old we read I say this not as a command but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich and in this matter I give my judgment this benefits you who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it so now finish doing it as well so that your Readiness in Desiring it may be matched by your

Completing it out of what you have for if the Readiness is there it is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should Supply their need so that their abundance May Supply your need that there may be fairness as it is written whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little Had No Lack thus the reading of God’s holy word so here we read my favorite text in all

Of scripture 2 Corinthians 8:9 within the context of the church body being generous in their giving he begins by stating that what he is saying is not as a command but as something to remember as someone who has been redeemed the Lord Jesus though he was rich he became poor so that we through his poverty might become rich now Prosperity Gospel Heretics like Kenneth Copeland have abused this text to make it about money that Jesus died to make you monetarily rich but this is a disgusting perversion Jesus was rich in his loftiness of Heaven his Abode with the father and the

Spirit but he temporally sacrificed this richness to become poor by incarnating as a man so that we his people through his poverty might become rich in spirit it’s with the god gospel in mind that Paul then says Believers should be generous in giving to the church not out of compulsion or command but out of a thankful heart that has been transformed by the goodness of the gospel and everyone should give in accordance with what they can that may be over 10% for others it might be less but Paul does not attach any idea of potential cursings to this which is what we

Clearly see if we continue reading into chapter 9 where he also States the point is this whoever SWS sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever SWS bountifully will also reap bountifully each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work and thus the reading of God’s holy word so Christians should Simply Be cheerful givers not from compulsion or

Threatenings like that you’ll be cursed and lost for eternity if you don’t give to the SDA Church everyone must give as he has prayerfully decided in his heart and not under compulsion and this is simply because God loves a cheerful Giver so is it any wonder that many Adventists experience fear in this area and that the SDA movement might be one of the strongest tithe emphasizing tithe receiving organizations out there what the SDA Church teaches in this area is absolutely compulsory and it is an abuse of the Bible that is ultimately rooted in visions that God supposedly gave to

Ellen White tithe was the equivalent of an Israelite national income tax this is why Malachi 3 speaks of those who did not pay their tithes as robbing God and they risked being cursed they were essentially stealing from the economic system furthermore National Israel under the Mosaic Covenant was bound by Theocratic Rule and it was a part of that theonomic economic order that tithe served various functions which is why tithe is not a new testament concept and pure generosity in light of the Gospel is but what we learn from all of this is a number of things first is that the

Adventist Church does not understand the New Covenant and what makes it distinct and different from the old the second is that their system of biblical interpretation often confuses descriptive passages with prescriptive ones and this is a big one a descriptive passage is usually found in historical narratives like much of the Old Testament where we find lots of descriptions about history like when we read about God commanding his people to go in and kill all of the amalekites yes a command is found in the description but that isn’t a command for Christians

Universally speaking to go and do likewise it is describing something from history pre- Israel figures such as Abraham and Jacob are not prescriptive regarding tithe some Adventists will say that because both Abraham and Jacob gave a tenth and they both live before the mosaic Covenant that proves that tithing transcends to all time periods however closer examination says otherwise like I mentioned earlier Abraham’s gift to mchis DEC was a one-time event we don’t have any evidence that he concurrently gave God a tithe the SDA church has taken descriptive texts about tithe and

Turned them into prescriptive ones for the New Testament Church Christians in the New Covenant are liberated from any threats of cursings by virtue of being hidden in Christ the one who took our curse by becoming a curse for us on the tree Christ took the curse upon himself that we deserve freeing us from the curse of the law which would subsume the cursings found in Malachi 3 at the end of the day this organization is a money-making Ruckus with its roots in this area soaked in the blood of deception fraud and lies that they can’t ultimately cut themselves off from

Because history is fixed anyways May Christ richly bless you in the grace and peace won by him in his vicarious death on the cross for Sinners until next time God bless holy to apostate did he say that come on man