The one thing that Armstrongism was good at was bilking its members out of their money. Whether it was the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tithe demands, which are not commands of the New Covenant, its pathetic member appeal letters begging for money, to its building funds for elaborate auditoriums and dance studios for the elite's children, to jet aircraft purchases, the money-making activities of the church receive more effort and mention than any gospel message they attempt to preach.
As we are in Feast of Tabernacles season in COGland, the appeals are already going out for people to tithe on their tithes.
LCG has this up:
For many decades, the Church of God has practiced what is called the “tithe of the Festival tithe.” What this means is that brethren who can afford it are asked to send a tenth of their Festival tithe to the Church before the Feast, to help pay for meeting halls and other Feast expenses as well as to help brethren around the world who have limited resources to attend the Feast (Deuteronomy 14:27; 16:14). If you are able and you have not already done so, please send in your tithe of the Festival tithe for this year. This contribution is greatly appreciated.
Then, to really take advantage of members, they will ask for members to send in their excess 2nd tithe.
Gotta keep those coffers full!
15 comments:
To the harmstwrong cults: tithe all you want. Just don't say God commands it.
They also make money from inflated hotel prices.
It takes money to make money.
When the old WCG made its reforms in the 1990s, one refreshing change was that it went to a set Feast "registration fee" for everyone. Some of us were delighted to see it was much lower than Tithe of 2T was!
I've never done it because way back when, it was presented as a biblical command complete with chapter and verse. So, I looked it up. It was a misapplication (maybe it was an honest mistake on the part of leadership). It was about the Levites tithing on their income (the tithe). Had it been presented as a request from the Church I would have gladly chipped in. Misrepresenting scripture is another matter. At some point it must have been pointed out to the leadership because it hasn't been presented as a biblical command in a long long time. I still don't do it, however, because it has never been presented as a request.
Same goes for 3rd tithe. I did it for a couple of cycles. Once I was able to dig into the bible and understand it for myself I realized that there is no command for an extra tithe every 3rd year. It's tied to the 7yr cycle and everyone is on the same schedule. I continued to give a extra to help those in need, but not on a 3yr cycle, and not a tithe.
Once upon a time , the "tithe of the tithe" concept was sold as "paying for the facilities where the FOT was being held". Turns out that local chamber of commerces were usually picking up that tab, as well as rooms for FREE being negotiated for the ministry because of our collective "buying power" by bringing in thousands of people into relatively rural areas. I was very disappointed and disillusioned upon learning these facts.
Only 10% of a nation's produce every third year was stored up and enough for 3.3% of the population. The Levites were about 2% - Num 31:30.
Money by some is considered a 'flowing river'. To flow the money out bringing more in, as a flowing current in a river. Perhaps an unique view and only viable in specific circumstances.
Paul taught extensively that the law of Moses was nailed to the cross and New Testament Christians were not required to keep the Levitical law of Moses which consisted of Feast days and tithing to the Levitical priests. The Feast Day festivals were part of the added law given by Moses whereas the Ten Commandments were instituted in the beginning, not at Mt. Sinai. There were no feast day celebrations until many years after the creation. The laws of Moses were added because the Israelites disobeyed God’s laws (10 commandments).
The law, (Levitical laws of Moses), was a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:23-26) to teach the way of God and how He wanted them to live, it was carnal commandments, (Hebrews 7:16), was a yoke of bondage, (Galatians 5:1), was against us, (Colossians 2:15), shadow of good things to come, (Hebrews 10:1). The law spoken to by Moses, (Deuteronomy 1:3), written by Moses (Deuteronomy 31:24-26), was not good, (Ezekiel 20:25), made nothing perfect, (Hebrews 7:17-19), nailed to the cross, (Colossians 2:14), was added, (Galatians 3:19), CURSED are the ones that continue in the Law, (Galatians 3:9-12), why tempt ye God to put a yoke on the neck, (Acts 15:8-11), except ye be circumcised, (Acts 15:1), debtor to the whole law, (Galatians 5:2-3), justified by the law, ye have fallen from grace, (Galatians 5:4), was added because of transgressions, (Galatians 3:19).
It was the synagogue of Satan (Revelation 3:9) that captured the church of God at the advent of the Philadelphian era to introduce the damnable heresy (2 Peter 2:1) of keeping the law of Moses (Feast days), effectively denying the sacrifice of Christ who nailed this law to the cross. Peter correctly predicted that many would follow this pernicious way (2 Peter 2:2) as WCG had more than 100,000 baptized members at its zenith. All the splinters that came off WCG have continued to keep the law of Moses which Peter described as a covetous act supported by clever lies to make mechandise of God's flock (2 Peter 2:3).
Learn or perish!
"Paul taught extensively that the law of Moses was nailed to the cross and New Testament Christians were not required to keep the Levitical law of Moses which consisted of Feast days and tithing to the Levitical priests."
That is absolutely untrue.
"Paul taught extensively that the law of Moses was nailed to the cross and New Testament Christians were not required to keep the Levitical law of Moses which consisted of Feast days and tithing to the Levitical priests."
I see what you did there. You throw in the part about tithing to the Levitical priests to make your statement dispute proof.
Paul did not teach that the law was "nailed to the cross" which is popular amongst the protestants. Paul taught the law was to be obeyed.
G.D: Uh, no. Paul observed the days of unleavened bread - Acts 20:6 and Pentecost - Acts 20:16; 1Cor 16:8.
Anon @ 6:35:25 AM
Yes, Paul taught the law was to be obeyed but which law? The Epistles of Paul are only easy to understand if you can separate the context of the law. Paul clearly taught that the law of Moses (keeping of the Feast Days) was nailed to the cross but the law of God (ten commandments) was holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12). In Paul's time, they fully understood the law of Moses was a shadow pointing to Christ and was fulfilled by Christ but the ten commandments were still to be kept. The key is to understand what exactly the law of Moses is, and scripture does not fall short of answering this fundamental question (watch the video with the link at the bottom of this comment for a full explanation).
The Jews were constantly attacking the new teachings of the New Covenant to encourage the Gentiles to keep the law of Moses (Feasts of Leviticus 23), even to be circumcised, i.e. advocating to keep the Old Covenant. Paul was teaching the Gentiles to understand that we have been set free from this burden of keeping the law of Moses which consisted of keeping the cardinal Feasts since Christ nailed these ordinances at the cross. It was no longer a requirement for Christians to keep the Feasts. That is why there are no instructions in the New Testament on how to keep the Feasts. The church of God only introduced keeping of Feast Days during HWA time and Peter warns about such teachings in 2 Peter 2:1-3.
Keeping the Feasts is denying Christ who nailed the ordinances on the cross and bought our salvation through His blood. It’s an act of greed (covetousness) by the leaders of the church of God, actually, the synagogue of Satan that captured the COG during the Philadelphian era (Rev 3:9)! The apostle John was inspired by God to write the true attributes of a Philadelphian:-
Revelation 3:8 – “ I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”
The warning about denying Christ’s name was given to the Philadelphian era because it was during this era that the keeping of Feast Days was introduced. God knew beforehand about this great deception that would be introduced in this era and each individual who is called by God should prove this point because much is at stake.
The below video explains in detail the law of Moses.
https://youtu.be/UhD_mN0xAkQ?si=PbGj6ROwBWpbnCqj
Anon @ 8:16:17AM
I used to think like that in the past but that is not true. Best you watch the below video which fully explains why New Testament Christians should not keep the Feast Days of Leviticus 23.
https://youtu.be/UhD_mN0xAkQ?si=PbGj6ROwBWpbnCqj
When it comes to tithing, I never did find a verse that mentions "second tithe" nor "third tithe", just references to using the tithe (which was 10% of agricultural produce/livestock) for the Feast. It looks like some of the tithe was given to the Levites, but some of it was used for the Feast of Tabernacles -- not a second tithe.
As for third tithe, the Bible mentions "tithe of the third year", but by clever manipulation of words, ministers made people think it was a third tithe, thus there was also a second tithe.
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