> I read some of your website today and have a couple
> questions for you. If there is no hell, what is Jesus
> talking about in Matthew 13:49-50? If the New
> Testament Church is not required to tithe, then why
> does Jesus say we should at the end of Matthew 23:23?
> Thank you. Have a blessed day. Randy
>
Dear Randy:
In Matt. 13:49-50 Jesus is talking about JUDGMENT. It is
in Judgment that God will "SAVE THE WORLD." "When
Thy JUDGMENTS are in the earth the inhabitants of the
WORLD WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Isa. 26:9).
Matt. 23:23--NO, Jesus assuredly did NOT say "WE" (New
Covenant followers of Jesus) should tithe. Where do you get
that? Notice carefully to whom Jesus is speaking:
JESUS UPBRAIDS THE CHURCH LEADERS FOR THEIR GROSS SINS
[selections from Matthew 23]
"But WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES… FOR YOU SHUT UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AGAINST MEN…
…THEY BIND HEAVY BURDENS and GRIEVOUS to be born, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but will not move them with ONE OF THEIR FINGERS
WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES… you DEVOUR WIDOW’S HOUSES… you shall receive the greater damnation.
WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES…
WOE unto you, ye BLIND GUIDES…
You FOOLS AND BLIND…
You FOOLS AND BLIND…
WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! You… have omitted… JUDGMENT, MERCY, and FAITH…
You BLIND GUIDES, which strain out a gnat, and SWALLOW A CAMEL.
WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES… within they are full of EXTORTION AND EXCESS.
You BLIND PHARISEES…
WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! You are FULL OF DEAD MEN’S BONES, and ALL UNCLEANESS… and HYPOCRISY and INIQUITY…
WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES!… you are the children of them which KILLED the prophets. FILL YOU UP then the measure of your fathers.
You SERPENTS, you GENERATION OF SNAKES… you KILL AND CRUCIFY… you SCOURGE in your synagogues… Behold your house is left unto you DESOLATE"!!
WOW! Every one of these comments from Matt. 23 were spoken directly to the "Religious Scholars and Theologians" in the Church of God centered at the Temple in Jerusalem. Would Jesus speak in the same manner to the Religious Scholars and Theologians in God’s Church today? Does Jesus "change"? NO. Has the Church changed in the past 2000 years? YES. It has gotten WORSE. "
Now then, does that sound like "WE" New Testament followers of Jesus? He told those lying, two-faced, hypocritical, murdering, generation of snakes that THEY needed to tithe seeing that they were still under the Old Covenant Law of Moses. Jesus NEVER EVER taught His followers to tithe, neither did His apostles teach tithing to the church, neither did Paul teach the gentiles to tithe to the church. TITHING IS UNSCRIPTURAL UNDER THE NEW COVENANT, and it is a SIN to enforce the tithing law of Moses for Israel on farm products only for the Levitical priesthood ONLY, on New Covenant believers.
God be with you,
Ray
