Bible Believers' Newsletter 948
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660
ISSN 1442-8660
Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; it is good to imagine you are smiling today.
This year's US presidential election was a countermand to the Establishment's program to return the world to serfdom, and a rebuff to the City of London and its Council on Foreign Relations, Wall Street, military industrial complex, Pentagon war hawks and corrupt politicians. After the sinking of Los Angeles, and peace achieved by Rome in covenant with the Jewish banksters, the refinancing of the Dollar and union of church and state will "Make America Great Again" as it morphs into "the image unto the Judaeo-Roman beast" (Revelation 13:15). The 'hidden hand' always backs both sides and finds more than one way to skin a cat.
Continual propaganda in behalf of the Establishment's incurably corrupt Killary Clinton drones on relentlessly in the media monopoly following the stratagem Paul Joseph Goebbels attributed to Jewish lies using "the principle which is quite true in itself that in the Big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily." This is often paraphrased as: "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed".
We have an excellent roundup of news items, within which are some thoughtful analyses of the circumstances that have oppressed and beleaguered American citizens in consequence of the vainglorious greed of the dual citizen 1%. In our main article this week we continue our study of the Book of Malachi.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
This year's US presidential election was a countermand to the Establishment's program to return the world to serfdom, and a rebuff to the City of London and its Council on Foreign Relations, Wall Street, military industrial complex, Pentagon war hawks and corrupt politicians. After the sinking of Los Angeles, and peace achieved by Rome in covenant with the Jewish banksters, the refinancing of the Dollar and union of church and state will "Make America Great Again" as it morphs into "the image unto the Judaeo-Roman beast" (Revelation 13:15). The 'hidden hand' always backs both sides and finds more than one way to skin a cat.
Continual propaganda in behalf of the Establishment's incurably corrupt Killary Clinton drones on relentlessly in the media monopoly following the stratagem Paul Joseph Goebbels attributed to Jewish lies using "the principle which is quite true in itself that in the Big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily." This is often paraphrased as: "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed".
We have an excellent roundup of news items, within which are some thoughtful analyses of the circumstances that have oppressed and beleaguered American citizens in consequence of the vainglorious greed of the dual citizen 1%. In our main article this week we continue our study of the Book of Malachi.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ
Anthony Grigor-Scott
Anthony Grigor-Scott
Clintons and Soros launch America's Purple Revolution
November 11, 2016 — Defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is not about to 'go quietly into that good night.' On the morning after her surprising and unanticipated defeat at the hands of Republican Party upstart Donald Trump, Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, entered the ball room of the art-deco New Yorker hotel in midtown Manhattan and were both adorned in purple attire. The press immediately noticed the colour and asked what it represented. Clinton spokespeople claimed it was to represent the coming together of Democratic 'Blue America' and Republican 'Red America' into a united purple blend. This statement was a complete ruse as is known by citizens of countries targeted in the past by the vile political operations of international hedge fund tycoon George Soros.
The Clintons, who both have received millions of dollars in campaign contributions and Clinton Foundation donations from Soros, were, in fact, helping to launch Soros's 'Purple Revolution' in America. The Purple Revolution will resist all efforts by the Trump administration to push back against the globalist policies of the Clintons and soon-to-be ex-President Barack Obama. The Purple Revolution will also seek to make the Trump administration a short one through Soros-style street protests and political disruption . . . Full story: strategic-culture.org
The Clintons, who both have received millions of dollars in campaign contributions and Clinton Foundation donations from Soros, were, in fact, helping to launch Soros's 'Purple Revolution' in America. The Purple Revolution will resist all efforts by the Trump administration to push back against the globalist policies of the Clintons and soon-to-be ex-President Barack Obama. The Purple Revolution will also seek to make the Trump administration a short one through Soros-style street protests and political disruption . . . Full story: strategic-culture.org
Big Liar going to Washington or Tribune of the People?
November 10, 2016 — The establishment worldwide is incensed with Donald Trump's electoral success, and the wicked witch still haunts the corridors of corrupt power. Particularly the fifth column tax payer-funded BBC and ABC. This excellent assessment of Donald Trump was written before his victory was declared. Full story: globalresearch.ca
The Working Class won the Election
November 9, 2016 — Trump said that he will put Hillary in prison. He should first put her on trial for treason and war crimes along with all of the neoconservatives. That would clear the decks for peace with the other two major nuclear powers over which the neoconservatives seek hegemony. Although the neoconservatives would still have contacts in the hidden deep state, it would make it difficult for the vermin to organize false flag operations or an assassination. Rogue elements in the military/security complex could still bring off an assassination, but without Neocons in the government a cover-up would be more difficult.
Trump has more understanding and insight than his opponents realize. For a man such as Trump to risk acquiring so many powerful enemies and to risk his wealth and reputation, he had to have known that the people's dissatisfaction with the ruling establishment meant he could be elected president. We won't know what to expect until we see who are the Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries. If it is the usual crowd, we will know Trump has been captured . . . Hillary is down, but not the Oligarchs. Full story: paulcraigroberts.org
Trump has more understanding and insight than his opponents realize. For a man such as Trump to risk acquiring so many powerful enemies and to risk his wealth and reputation, he had to have known that the people's dissatisfaction with the ruling establishment meant he could be elected president. We won't know what to expect until we see who are the Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries. If it is the usual crowd, we will know Trump has been captured . . . Hillary is down, but not the Oligarchs. Full story: paulcraigroberts.org
Real Differences between Clinton & Trump
November 06, 2016 — Multinational corporations . . . marked the rise of the NWO of neoliberal globalization, as well as . . . a Transnational Elite that informally runs it, with the help of the transnational economic and political-military institutions that the same elites created, such as the IMF, WB, WTO and NATO. These fundamentals may well be summarized by what is called euphemistically 'the four "freedoms"'—the free movement of goods and services, capital and labour. This is what the US elections (and the Brexit referendum before that) are all about.
Clinton is in fact a typical 'product of the system' . . . systematically promoted by it . . . to carry out faithfully the demands of the elites in the implementation of these "freedoms" and what they imply both at the domestic but also the foreign and geopolitical levels. She is well known for her criminal role in the massacre of the Libyan people . . . at the hands of barbaric terrorists . . . funded by the Transnational Elite and supported by the State Department, which she headed . . .
On the other hand, Donald Trump, although a product of the same system . . . is a self-made product of it . . . without any direct or indirect assistance by it and its institutions (mass media, economic, political, academic, and cultural institutions). No wonder he has been the target of an unprecedented attack by all of these elites and institutions . . . savagely attacked by them . . . because he is not as controllable . . . as all previous US presidents—not to mention the Clintons . . . executive assistants of the elites, par excellence. Hillary is therefore the perfect candidate to carry out their criminal plans (the first woman candidate and a perfectly controllable ambitious politician), exactly as Obama was . . . (the first black candidate—a privileged black of course—and a perfectly controllable ambitious politician).
For decades, presidents and prime ministers, policymakers and pundits have told voters there is only one direction of travel: free trade. Now comes Brexit and Donald Trump—and the horrible suspicion that the public won't buy it any more. And the elites don't know what to do; apart from keep insisting the public listen . . . globalization is a class issue . . . Large segments of the population in advanced countries have not been doing well: in the US, the bottom 90% has endured income stagnation for a third of a century. Median income for full-time male workers is actually lower in real (inflation-adjusted) terms than it was 42 years ago. At the bottom, real wages are comparable to their level 60 years ago.
Full story: globalresearch.ca
Clinton is in fact a typical 'product of the system' . . . systematically promoted by it . . . to carry out faithfully the demands of the elites in the implementation of these "freedoms" and what they imply both at the domestic but also the foreign and geopolitical levels. She is well known for her criminal role in the massacre of the Libyan people . . . at the hands of barbaric terrorists . . . funded by the Transnational Elite and supported by the State Department, which she headed . . .
On the other hand, Donald Trump, although a product of the same system . . . is a self-made product of it . . . without any direct or indirect assistance by it and its institutions (mass media, economic, political, academic, and cultural institutions). No wonder he has been the target of an unprecedented attack by all of these elites and institutions . . . savagely attacked by them . . . because he is not as controllable . . . as all previous US presidents—not to mention the Clintons . . . executive assistants of the elites, par excellence. Hillary is therefore the perfect candidate to carry out their criminal plans (the first woman candidate and a perfectly controllable ambitious politician), exactly as Obama was . . . (the first black candidate—a privileged black of course—and a perfectly controllable ambitious politician).
For decades, presidents and prime ministers, policymakers and pundits have told voters there is only one direction of travel: free trade. Now comes Brexit and Donald Trump—and the horrible suspicion that the public won't buy it any more. And the elites don't know what to do; apart from keep insisting the public listen . . . globalization is a class issue . . . Large segments of the population in advanced countries have not been doing well: in the US, the bottom 90% has endured income stagnation for a third of a century. Median income for full-time male workers is actually lower in real (inflation-adjusted) terms than it was 42 years ago. At the bottom, real wages are comparable to their level 60 years ago.
Full story: globalresearch.ca
Man of Sin: Obama says Illegal Aliens can vote because they are US Citizens
November 6, 2016 — Woman who identifies herself as a Millennial "Dreamer," i.e., she illegally came into the US when she was a minor (defined as younger than 16 years old): "The Millennial Dreamers, undocumented citizens—and I call them citizens because they contribute to this country—are fearful of voting. So if I vote, will Immigration know where I live, will they come for my family and deport us?"
Obama: "Not true, and the reason is, first of all, when you vote, you are a citizen yourself, and there is not a situation when the voting rolls somehow are transferred over and people start investigating. The sanctity of the vote is strictly confidential." Full story: fellowshipoftheminds.com
Comment: Words no longer have meaning: "Undocumented citizens" is a new Orwellian oxymoron. Recall that Obama had studied Constitutional law at Harvard Law School. His course of study must have been How to Subvert the US Constitution. Why isn't Congress impeaching this outlaw and disgrace to the presidency?
Obama: "Not true, and the reason is, first of all, when you vote, you are a citizen yourself, and there is not a situation when the voting rolls somehow are transferred over and people start investigating. The sanctity of the vote is strictly confidential." Full story: fellowshipoftheminds.com
Comment: Words no longer have meaning: "Undocumented citizens" is a new Orwellian oxymoron. Recall that Obama had studied Constitutional law at Harvard Law School. His course of study must have been How to Subvert the US Constitution. Why isn't Congress impeaching this outlaw and disgrace to the presidency?
FBI Agents: Comey 'Stood in the Way' of Clinton Email Investigation
October 17, 2016 — "This is a textbook case where a grand jury should have convened but was not. That is appalling," an FBI special agent who has worked public corruption and criminal cases said of the decision . . . the bureau did not bother to search Clinton's house during the investigation . . . "There should have been a complete search of their residence . . .
President Barack Obama appointed him to FBI director in 2013 replacing out going-director Robert Mueller. "Comey was never an investigator or special agent . . . "All the trained investigators agree that there is a lot to be prosecuted but he stood in the way" . . . more FBI agents will be talking about the problems at bureau and specifically the handling of the Clinton case by Comey when Congress comes back into session and decides to force them to testify by subpoena . . .
Full story: dailycaller.com
Comment: The FBI official in charge of the investigation was Comey's deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe. His wife Dr. Jill McCabe ran for the State senate of Virginia in 2015. Hillary's "Ally," Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, allocated $675,000 in support of Jill McCabe's candidacy. His political organization gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the FBI who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton's email use." In late January 2016, Andrew McCabe was promoted to the rank of Deputy Director of the FBI and put charge of the investigation into Hillary's Emails (globalresearch.ca).
President Barack Obama appointed him to FBI director in 2013 replacing out going-director Robert Mueller. "Comey was never an investigator or special agent . . . "All the trained investigators agree that there is a lot to be prosecuted but he stood in the way" . . . more FBI agents will be talking about the problems at bureau and specifically the handling of the Clinton case by Comey when Congress comes back into session and decides to force them to testify by subpoena . . .
Full story: dailycaller.com
Comment: The FBI official in charge of the investigation was Comey's deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe. His wife Dr. Jill McCabe ran for the State senate of Virginia in 2015. Hillary's "Ally," Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, allocated $675,000 in support of Jill McCabe's candidacy. His political organization gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the FBI who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton's email use." In late January 2016, Andrew McCabe was promoted to the rank of Deputy Director of the FBI and put charge of the investigation into Hillary's Emails (globalresearch.ca).
In-Sight Journal interviews Message Minister
November 8, 2016 — An Interview with a Minister who discusses: cultural, geographic, linguistic, and religious family background; influence on development; being a follower and minister of William Branham; characterization of William Branham in and out of the followers; the reasons for believing; the essential Message of William Branham and the Gospel; whether followers of William Branham are part of a cult or not; core doctrines of the followers of William Branham; experience in and out of the community of believers; and the reasons for non-believers to follow the Believers' theology. Full story: in-sightjournal.com
Time to defund all CSIRO Global Warming Activities & Conferences
November 9, 2016 — For years now CSIRO and their UN/IPCC puppet-masters have claimed "climate science is settled." If so, why are Australian governments still wasting some $150M annually on creating climate scares and producing propaganda for a political war on carbon energy and carbon dioxide? Australia should cease all government funding for global warming "research" and carbon-centric climate models and leave the honest, useful and difficult business of weather forecasting to the BOM . . . "The Weather Bureau".
The neurotic focus of Australian politicians and their research puppets on the UN man-made global warming agenda has starved useful research into real factors that do affect global climate. These include cycles and oscillations in solar activity, cosmic rays and clouds, crustal and magmatic movements, volcanic eruptions, and the periodic changes in planetary orbits and axial tilts within the solar system. Australia is an island surrounded by the vast oceans of the Southern Hemisphere. CSIRO is mesmerised by atmospheric greenhouse mirages and largely ignores the causes and timing of ENSO oscillations, the amount and locations of submarine volcanism, and the timing, drivers and locations of deep ocean currents and upwellings.
If CSIRO and the government Universities cannot do such basic research in our region their funds should be diverted to the deficit, or applied to weather-proofing our infrastructure. While CSIRO remains Mesmerised by Greenhouse Models, here is a possible climate future they appear to be ignoring: "GLOBAL FREEZING: 15-year ICE AGE to hit in just 4 years as the sun prepares to hibernate." Full story: carbon-sense.com
The neurotic focus of Australian politicians and their research puppets on the UN man-made global warming agenda has starved useful research into real factors that do affect global climate. These include cycles and oscillations in solar activity, cosmic rays and clouds, crustal and magmatic movements, volcanic eruptions, and the periodic changes in planetary orbits and axial tilts within the solar system. Australia is an island surrounded by the vast oceans of the Southern Hemisphere. CSIRO is mesmerised by atmospheric greenhouse mirages and largely ignores the causes and timing of ENSO oscillations, the amount and locations of submarine volcanism, and the timing, drivers and locations of deep ocean currents and upwellings.
If CSIRO and the government Universities cannot do such basic research in our region their funds should be diverted to the deficit, or applied to weather-proofing our infrastructure. While CSIRO remains Mesmerised by Greenhouse Models, here is a possible climate future they appear to be ignoring: "GLOBAL FREEZING: 15-year ICE AGE to hit in just 4 years as the sun prepares to hibernate." Full story: carbon-sense.com
9/11 100% Inside Job!
October 24, 2016 — With Assange and Snowden, the truth has now moved to the east. The old Gladio have been replaced with Gladio B. Full story: youtube.com youtube.com
Comment: I understand the United States has recognized someone as 'President' of Xinjiang, an Autonomous Region of China that borders Russia and Pakistan, populated by mainly Islamic Uyghur people. Is the US treating Xinjiang as if it were a sovereign nation rather than the largest Chinese administrative division, the eighth largest country subdivision in the world? Apparently the CIA is interfering in Xinjiang as it planned and executed the coup in Ukraine.
Comment: I understand the United States has recognized someone as 'President' of Xinjiang, an Autonomous Region of China that borders Russia and Pakistan, populated by mainly Islamic Uyghur people. Is the US treating Xinjiang as if it were a sovereign nation rather than the largest Chinese administrative division, the eighth largest country subdivision in the world? Apparently the CIA is interfering in Xinjiang as it planned and executed the coup in Ukraine.
How to Kill Goyim and influence People: Leading Israeli Rabbis defend Manual for killing Non-Jews
When I went into the Jewish religious book emporium, Pomeranz, in central Jerusalem to inquire about the availability of a book called Torat Ha'Melech, or The King's Torah, a commotion immediately ensued. "Are you sure you want it?" the owner, M. Pomeranz, asked me half-jokingly. "The Shabak [Israel's internal security service] is going to want a word with you if you do." As customers stopped browsing and began to stare in my direction, he's pointed to a security camera affixed to a wall. "See that?" he told me. "It goes straight to the Shabak!"
As soon as it was published in 2010, Torat Ha'Melech sparked a national uproar. The controversy began when an Israeli tabloid panned the book's contents as "230 pages on the laws concerning the killing of non-Jews, a kind of guidebook for anyone who ponders the question of if and when it is permissible to take the life of a non-Jew." According to the book's author, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, "Non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and should be killed in order to "curb their evil inclinations." "If we kill a gentile who has violated one of the seven [fraudulent Noahide] commandments… there is nothing wrong with the murder," Shapira insisted. Citing Jewish law as his source (or at least a very selective interpretation of it) he declared: "There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults" . . . Full story: maxblumenthal.com youtube.com
Comment: The top posts in Israel's police force are now in the hands of hardline religious settlers who seek to replace civilian law with halakha, which is rabbinical law based on the Talmud. Rahamim Brachyahu was appointed as the chief rabbi for the police force and he supports the King's Torah. [It is apparent that this is similar to Sharia Law in hardline Muslim countries jonathan-cook.net]. See Newsletters 608, 649, 673, and 811
As soon as it was published in 2010, Torat Ha'Melech sparked a national uproar. The controversy began when an Israeli tabloid panned the book's contents as "230 pages on the laws concerning the killing of non-Jews, a kind of guidebook for anyone who ponders the question of if and when it is permissible to take the life of a non-Jew." According to the book's author, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, "Non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and should be killed in order to "curb their evil inclinations." "If we kill a gentile who has violated one of the seven [fraudulent Noahide] commandments… there is nothing wrong with the murder," Shapira insisted. Citing Jewish law as his source (or at least a very selective interpretation of it) he declared: "There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults" . . . Full story: maxblumenthal.com youtube.com
Comment: The top posts in Israel's police force are now in the hands of hardline religious settlers who seek to replace civilian law with halakha, which is rabbinical law based on the Talmud. Rahamim Brachyahu was appointed as the chief rabbi for the police force and he supports the King's Torah. [It is apparent that this is similar to Sharia Law in hardline Muslim countries jonathan-cook.net]. See Newsletters 608, 649, 673, and 811
Malachi 3:7 – 12
Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not, and because My gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29) you sons of Jacob are not consumed." In contrast Israel has been a stubborn and rebellious, extremely perverse generation from the inauguration of the nation; children in whom is no faith: within a month you broke God's Covenant and turned to idolatry (Exodus 32).
In studying Malachi 2:17 – 3:6 we discovered Israel would reject God's grace and murder Jesus Messiah when He came as "the Prince of Peace," and in the great tribulation of Daniel's Seventieth Week after 2,000 years of chastisement under Seven Trumpet judgments an election of 144,000 will repent when "the God of judgment" offers grace.
Israel's prophets announced beforehand the judgments that would befall the nation and its impostors for continuing their sins throughout the Gentile dispensation, and added the Lord's gracious promise (Zechariah 1:3). Then "He will finish the transgression, make an end of sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity . . ." (Daniel 9:24).
Malachi 3:7, "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me and I will return to you." But in self-righteous delusion under the spirit of Laodicea—"supposing you are rich and in need of nothing—not even repentance, "you say, How shall we return?" You persist in justifying your sins, and fain ignorance of your guilt by inquiring "What it is you need to repent of?" As God sent a prophet before the end of the Gentile dispensation to restore the faith once delivered to our apostolic fathers 2,000 years ago, He will send Israel two prophets: one will show whence they fell, and the other will unfold shadows and types through the past 2,000 years of apostasy to introduce them to the Son of Man as King of kings and Judge. Do you see the similitude to Laodicea?
Four centuries after Malachi, John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1, "baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4). In Malachi 3:8 the Prophet shows the people their sin and lays it on their conscience: "Will a man rob [defraud, cheat] God? Yet you have robbed Me [since you have defrauded Me]. But you say, How have we robbed You? In tithes and [heave] offerings. You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed Me, the whole nation of you".
In order to properly understand God's requirement for tithing we must review Numbers 16 – 18. Korah, a descendant of Levi conspired with Dathan, Abiram and On from the Tribe of Reuben, inciting a rebellion against Moses, supported by two hundred and fifty well-known leaders of the community. They charged Moses with an ambitious and unwarrantable usurpation of authority by arbitrarily withdrawing the right of primogeniture which had vested the hereditary dignity of the priesthood in the first-born of every tribe and transferring the hereditary exercise of sacred duties to a branch of his house of Levi; and this gross instance of partiality, to the permanent detriment of others, was a sufficient ground for refusing allegiance to his government. Another cause of jealousy and dissatisfaction to the Reubenites, Jacob's first-born, was the advancement of Judah to the leadership among the tribes (Jude 1:11).
"Everyone in Israel has been chosen of the Lord, and He is with all of us. What right have you to claim we must obey you?" Moses fell on his face, indicating his humble and earnest desire that God would intervene, and then told Korah and his company "God will show you who is holy and whom He has chosen as His priest. Tomorrow all of you light your censers and put incense upon them before the Lord".
In the morning they all presented themselves and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "Separate yourselves from this congregation that I may consume them in a moment." Moses and Aaron interceded for On and the two hundred and fifty who repented, and the ground opened up and swallowed Korah, Dathan and Abiram, their families and all of their possessions (Numbers 16:17-35).
I Chronicles 16:22 says, "Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm." God goes before His people and He is not mocked.
A minister came into the healing line and the Holy Spirit spoke through His Prophet, "There's nothing wrong with you, you have no disease at all".
He said, "Oh, yes I do." He said, "Look on my card down there that they got".
"I don't care what you got on your card; you haven't got nothing wrong with you".
He said, "I've got it. I got it stated on my card".
"I don't know anything about your card; I never see that. You just get a card. Anything you want to put on it, you put on it. But I don't see that, the ministers get them. You might have had it and maybe you had a faith and was healed".
"Oh," he said, "That's what it is, is it," turned around.
And just then I looked and there was a vision. I said, "Why has the Devil put in your heart to do that?" I said, "You're a Church of Christ minister." Last night you set with a man with a gray suit and a red tie. And you set at a table had a little green cloth hanging over it; there was a blond headed woman setting next to you, and you said it was telepathy. And you come to this meeting today and wrote that on there, thinking you could pass it through and make a telepathy out of it to up trip God's Spirit." I said, "You're the one exposed".
And just then the man setting up there; he said, "Mr. Branham, I'm the guy that was with him." Said, "That's my wife setting right here, was with him".
And I said, "The things that you put on your card, you have. Both cancer and TB." And he fell down on the platform. But the last time I heard him, I never heard no more, just a letter from some of the people that he was in a serious condition. So we're not playing church" (Thirsting for Life, #57-0630).
Brother Branham said, "And you don't know what time that this city one day is going to be laying out here in the bottom of this ocean (Revelation 18:21-24).
"O, Capernaum," said Jesus, "thou who exalted into heaven will be brought down into hell, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, it'd have been standing till this day." And Sodom and Gomorrah lays at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and Capernaum's in the bottom of the sea.
Thou city, who claims to be the city of the Angels, who's exalted yourself into heaven and sent all the dirty filthy things of fashions and things, till even the foreign countries come here to pick up our filth and send it away, with your fine churches and steeples, and so forth the way you do; remember, one day you'll be laying in the bottom of this sea. Your great honeycomb under you right now. The wrath of God is belching right beneath you. How much longer He'll hold this sandbar hanging over that, when that ocean out yonder a mile deep will slide in there plumb back to the Salton Sea. It'll be worse than the last day of Pompeii. Repent, Los Angeles. Repent the rest of you and turn to God. The hour of His wrath is upon the earth. Flee while there's time to flee and come into Christ" (Choosing a Bride, p. 35:3-5).
"The very next morning a sullen mob confronted Moses and Aaron, saying, You have killed the Lord's people. Aaron made an atonement for the people but a plague had already begun and 14,700 more died before the plague was stopped" (Numbers 16:41-50). This draws us back to Malachi 3:7: "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them." This controversy with Moses and Aaron concerning the priesthood was of such a nature and magnitude as required this decisive and authoritative settlement. The remarkable character and permanent effect of this plague in which all of the people were made direct participants removed all doubts and silenced all future murmuring regarding the holder of the office.
"The Lord told Aaron, "You, your sons and your family are to bear the iniquity for offenses connected with the sanctuary [such as you have just experienced]; you and your sons alone shall bear the iniquity of the priesthood" (Numbers 18:1). Henceforth the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: no one other than a Levite may perform or assist in any way the sacred duties in the Tabernacle. The Levites must not touch any of the sacred articles or the altar which are committed to the priests whose servants they were; obedience to these instructions will ensure that God's wrath will never again fall upon the people of Israel.
Hereditary ministers and 'apostolic succession' have no place in Christ's Body the Church, for the veil was rent from top to bottom; the way into the Holy of Holies is known and every born-again Christian is a priest or intercessor to the Lord (II Corinthians 5:15-21). Although "the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable" being ordained by His foreknowledge (Romans 11:29) "not all are apostles, or prophets, or teachers, or workers of miracles [but all must display the Token]" (I Corinthians 12:4 – 13:13). Like the Levites, God's New Testament ministers are anointed for their office. He ordained five distinct offices of ministry to edify and bring His elect to maturity in the faith so they would always have a ready answer for sinners who inquired of the hope within their heart. These offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher will be in the Body "'til we all come in the unity of the faith, fulfilling Christ's prayer that we all may be one; as the Father is in Jesus, and He in the Father, that we also may be one in them" (Ephesians 4:8-16).
It is a mistake to conduct regular house meetings in the absence of the pastor, a minister or born-again brother who is an elder by virtue of his experience in the common faith to keep the doctrine true to God's unchanging Word. His absence is likely to lead to errors or teachings not sanctioned by the pastor, causing confusion that can separate the Brethren.
This is established by Paul's instruction to his elder: "Titus, my true child in the common faith: Grace, mercy and peace . . . I left you in Crete so that you might correct the defects and appoint elders in every town as I directed you, men who are blameless, the husband of one wife, with believing children not accused of being profligate or unruly. For a bishop must, as God's steward, be irreproachable, not self-willed or quick-tempered, or a drunkard, or pugnacious, or greedy for dishonest gain, but hospitable, a lover of all that is good, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled; he must hold firm to the faithful Word as he has been taught, that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to refute those who contradict it" (Titus 1:4-9).
In addition to the God-ordained five-fold ministry the local Church or its pastor may elect laymen elders to office for a time as deacons to maintain conduct and order, to whom the pastor may delegate other responsibilities. Bishops are lay elders with an ability to teach the doctrine of the pastor (I Timothy 1:3). Their authority is restricted to the local assembly and they are subject to their own pastor.
From Numbers 18:20-32 we learn that the Levites were allotted no inheritance of broad acres among the children of Israel. In place of an inheritance—the tithes, said to be offered to the Lord—were given to the Levites who were to depend entirely upon Him who liberally provided for them out of His own portion, the tithe of the twelve tribes, so that exempt from the cares and labours of worldly business they might devote themselves exclusively to His service.
Numbers 18:24, "The tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance".
According to Leviticus 27:30 and Deuteronomy 14:22, the Israelites were to tithe of their corn, wine and oil, and of the firstlings of their flock and herd for the maintenance of the Levites. In turn the Levites were to give up to the Lord a heave offering of the best of all of their tithes to Aaron the priest.
Following their return from Babylon we learn, "The portions of the Levites had not been given to them: for the Levites and the singers, who were supposed to conduct the worship services, had returned to their little plots in order to sustain themselves. Then Nehemiah contended with the rulers, and demanded, Why is the house of God forsaken? And he called the Levites back, and set them in their stations. Then all the people of Judah brought their tithes of grain, the new wine and the oil into the storehouses" (Nehemiah 13:10-12).
Because the Judeans had refused to give God His due by withholding their tithes and offerings, the whole nation was "cursed with a curse" as God withheld the blessings of agricultural bounty from them.
Verse 10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, whether I will not open the windows of heaven for you, and pour out a superabundant blessing for you? And I will rebuke the devourer [or ravaging locust] for your sakes, and he will not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither will your vine cast her fruit in the field before it ripens, says the Lord of hosts. [In consequence of which] all nations will call you blessed: for you will be a delightsome land, says the Lord of hosts".
Some people believe tithing was only Old Testament Law? Christians are duty bound to tithe ten percent of their net increase, income or profit after deducting the costs of production. The tithe is paid to your pastor who feeds you Spiritual food in due season. This is not your money but God's money and is not to be given to a widow woman or some charitable or political cause. Our first obligation is to pay our tithes, then meet family responsibilities, settle any lingering debts, and what remains is ours to spend.
The tithe is not church property, it is the income your pastor has to live on and spend as he pleases, if is insufficient for his needs he will have to work. In turn he will tithe of his increase to ministers who feed his soul. In Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7 Abram paid tithes under God's Covenant of grace, then God commanded Moses and the Israelites to pay tithes under the Law. We who are the beneficiaries of God's promise to Abraham are also bound to pay tithes.
In I Corinthians 9:1-14, Paul tells how he has been practicing self-denial out of love to the Lord and his brethren, and how in a far higher manner than he demanded of them he had renounced his own rights and prerogatives for the sake of winning souls and the Gospel. Though he was born free and is "free from all men, yet he has made himself servant to all, that he might gain the more." As an apostle he held the highest office and was an eye-witness to Jesus Who spoke to him from the Shekinah on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:22-26).
"If we have sown spiritual things in you, is it too much to expect that we should reap material benefits? Since others enjoy this rightful claim on you, shouldn't we more so? Nevertheless we have not made use of this right; but endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the Gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who minister in the temple make their living from the temple, and those who tend the altar share in the altar gifts? Likewise the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the Gospel should live from the Good News".
If you read to verse 19 you will see Paul employed natural types to illustrate spiritual antitypes and explained how the five-fold New Testament ministers live by the tithes of the saints precisely as the Levites and priests under the Old Testament lived from the tithes of the faithful.
Paul provides a second witness on tithing in I Timothy 5:17-21. These elders are all five-fold ministers and among the eminent men were associated those of moderate ability.
"Let the elders who govern well be recognized as worthy of double honour, [not a two-fold tithe but higher esteem], especially they who labour in instructing and teaching the (Gk.) 'logos' rather than the (Gk.) 'rhema'." [See The Logos and the Rhema]. The emphasis here is upon "labour" because this is no easy post of honour that is entrusted to these seeking revelation by the Spirit. "For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox when it is threshing the grain. And, The labourer deserves his reward".
Next Paul instructs Timothy "Under no circumstances are you to admit a charge against an elder [in the faith] except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear".
By way of illustration Brother Branham said, "If there's any complaint against any member, if a member has a complaint against one another, or something wrong, you're supposed to go to that brother yourself and talk to him, you and him alone. Then if they won't receive it, then the next thing takes place; you take one of the deacons or somebody, and go with you to that brother. Then if he won't receive you, then you come, tell it to the church. Then if the church . . . Then if he won't receive the church, then the Bible said, "Let them be as a heathen and a Publican." That's right.
And any persons that knows a guilty person, and you don't go to them and talk, then you're the part of the Church of God that's going to answer for that sin. That's right (Matthew 18:15-22).
And if any persons then has a complaint against a deacon, or against the deacon, or somebody in the church, it takes three people. Three people would come and say—witness at the mouth of two or three witnesses. Come tell the pastor that there's a grievance against a deacon . . .
But the full and complete authority of the church is the pastor. Read that in the Bible; see if that's not Bible order. That's exactly right. There's no one above the elder . . .
"If you want to move the pastor, tell me why. Has he done anything?"
"Yes, we caught him drunk, or we caught him doing this, or doing something that wasn't right."
"Have you got three witness of it?"
"Yes, we have".
Them witness must first be tried, "Don't receive an accusation against an elder 'less it be by two or three witness, and let them first be proved: against an elder." Then you have to swear to it, that you saw it, and prove it, that you saw it.
And then, if you did, then that sin's rebuked openly, that it's wrong. Then I'd say, "Congregation, do you want to change your pastor?"
And if the congregation votes, "Forgive him, and let him go on yet," that's the way it has to stand. See? Isn't that fair? Ain't that the way to run a church? That's what the Bible said. We have no bishops and overseers, and boards and so forth, moves this one in and got a lot of authority. There's nobody got authority here but the Holy Ghost. And that's right. He does the moving. And we take Him as the majority of the people, the way the people go.
And then if one side wants to do this, and the other side wants to do that, and the side wins . . . The losing side, what do they do about it? Join right in with the rest of them, said, "We were wrong then. We'll go right on, 'cause the Holy Ghost has made that choice." See, that's exactly right.
Just like Democrats and Republicans, as long as we stand as a democracy, as Americans: if the Democrats is in, the Republicans should push right on with them; Republicans in, the Democrat push on. See, that's just exactly what makes us a nation. Whenever we break that, we break our democracy. That's right. Democrats say, "I ain't going to do nothing, the Republicans is in." Then we fall. I'm a Kentuckian; together we stand, and divided we fall.
Now, if there's anything wrong in the church that you ever know of, some individual or some person or anything, you are duty bound and will answer before God if you don't clear that thing out, you, the church. Now, you remember, it's not on my shoulders; it's on yours. And anything wrong in the church, God will make you answer for it. That's right. That's the way He runs His church. That's the way it is in the Bible. That's the order of the Bible. That's the sovereignty of the local church; the pastor is the head. That's right. Amen" (Hebrews, p. 337:278-290).
"I solemnly adjure you in the Presence of God, and Christ Jesus and the elect angels [chosen ministers such as those worthy of double honour], that you observe these injunctions without favouritism, doing nothing by partiality".
Let's see what Brother Branham said on this subject of tithes:
Question: Can a Christian go to heaven if he or she does not pay tithe?
Answer: I could not say yes or no to that. But I do believe that every Christian is obligated to pay tithings because it is a commandment of the Lord. "And blessed are they that do all His commandments, that they might have a right to enter into the Life, the Tree of Life" (Revelation 22:14). Now, I do believe that tithe-paying is essential to a Christian experience. For I'll get to that in another question in a few moments; I know there's another one in here pertaining to that" (COD. p. 604:45; p. 617:Q146).
Question: Would it be wrong to use tithes on church building funds?
Answer: Well now, here's a touchy little thing for the church now. No, correctly, tithes is to go to the minister. That's right. In the Bible they had a box they'd set at the door in the Old Testament . . . This box was a fund where the people put in there for the repairing . . . You've read it many times in the Old Testament. They kept up the buildings and things like that . . . All the repairs on the buildings was taken care out of that fund (II Chronicles 24:8). But . . . all the tithings went to their priests, their pastors. Yes, tithings are to go for nothing else."
"I know people take their tithes and give them to a widow woman. That's wrong. If you've got anything to give the widow woman, give her, but don't give her God's money. That's not yours in the first place. That's God's . . ." (COD, p. 680:161).
Question: Should a person pay tithes to an individual, or should a Christian work?
Answer: "Sure he should. He's the one man that will work, is a Christian.
"Pay tithes to an individual?" It depends on who the individual is. See? That's right . . ."
"In Hebrews the 7th chapter, when Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings met Melchisedec, he paid Him a tithe. That was Melchisedec, the King of Salem, which is King of Peace, and King of Righteousness, which was nobody but God Himself. See?"
". . . Really, where you owe tithings is where you get your food. "Bring ye all your tithings into My storehouse, saith the Lord. (That right?) And prove Me wherein saith God, that if I'll not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you would not have room enough to receive it." I challenge any man or woman that's not a tithe payer to accept that."
"I could stand here till in the morning, telling you just what happened when I seen that, and what condition I was in. But just as loyal as I ever could, I paid tithes. And when I took my own money from the church here or from my campaigns . . . I'd give a tenth. Then I'd give it out to the ministers, and give the rest of it to ministers. Then when I couldn't do that, then the thing I did, I kept ten percent and give God ninety. And then, when the law told me I couldn't do that . . . And if I did, it was going to be charged to it, then I had to take and bypass it into foreign missions and so forth, and then just take a wage out of that of a hundred dollars a week; and I pay my tithes from that.
Yes, sir. I believe in paying tithes. It's one of God's blessings that's proven to be a blessing. You say, "That's of the Old Testament." It is of the New Testament too. Yes, sir" (COD, p. 1034:Q307).
". . . a member of a church, their first obligation is with their tithe and offerings, is to support their church. If you're members of these fine churches that's represented here, you support your church. That's your first duty to God. "Bring your tithe and offerings into the storehouse." And the storehouse, you surely know what that is; it's where you get your food. So there's where you get your spiritual food, and your obligation is to your church and not to an evangelist like me" (Let us See God, p. 5:28).
Church expenses are met from the free-will offerings of the saints, not out of the Pastor's pocket. It is your assembly and he is your servant, not your benefactor. He should be reimbursed by the church for his telephone, travelling, postage and other expenses incurred in the "business" of the assembly. Malachi 3:8-12 is not speaking of Old Testament times but of Daniel's Seventieth Week which will commence after the close of the Gentile dispensation. If we fail to pay tithes and offerings we are robbing God, robbing ourselves of blessing, and are not in the rapture. nl948.htm
In studying Malachi 2:17 – 3:6 we discovered Israel would reject God's grace and murder Jesus Messiah when He came as "the Prince of Peace," and in the great tribulation of Daniel's Seventieth Week after 2,000 years of chastisement under Seven Trumpet judgments an election of 144,000 will repent when "the God of judgment" offers grace.
Israel's prophets announced beforehand the judgments that would befall the nation and its impostors for continuing their sins throughout the Gentile dispensation, and added the Lord's gracious promise (Zechariah 1:3). Then "He will finish the transgression, make an end of sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity . . ." (Daniel 9:24).
Malachi 3:7, "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me and I will return to you." But in self-righteous delusion under the spirit of Laodicea—"supposing you are rich and in need of nothing—not even repentance, "you say, How shall we return?" You persist in justifying your sins, and fain ignorance of your guilt by inquiring "What it is you need to repent of?" As God sent a prophet before the end of the Gentile dispensation to restore the faith once delivered to our apostolic fathers 2,000 years ago, He will send Israel two prophets: one will show whence they fell, and the other will unfold shadows and types through the past 2,000 years of apostasy to introduce them to the Son of Man as King of kings and Judge. Do you see the similitude to Laodicea?
Four centuries after Malachi, John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1, "baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4). In Malachi 3:8 the Prophet shows the people their sin and lays it on their conscience: "Will a man rob [defraud, cheat] God? Yet you have robbed Me [since you have defrauded Me]. But you say, How have we robbed You? In tithes and [heave] offerings. You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed Me, the whole nation of you". In order to properly understand God's requirement for tithing we must review Numbers 16 – 18. Korah, a descendant of Levi conspired with Dathan, Abiram and On from the Tribe of Reuben, inciting a rebellion against Moses, supported by two hundred and fifty well-known leaders of the community. They charged Moses with an ambitious and unwarrantable usurpation of authority by arbitrarily withdrawing the right of primogeniture which had vested the hereditary dignity of the priesthood in the first-born of every tribe and transferring the hereditary exercise of sacred duties to a branch of his house of Levi; and this gross instance of partiality, to the permanent detriment of others, was a sufficient ground for refusing allegiance to his government. Another cause of jealousy and dissatisfaction to the Reubenites, Jacob's first-born, was the advancement of Judah to the leadership among the tribes (Jude 1:11).
"Everyone in Israel has been chosen of the Lord, and He is with all of us. What right have you to claim we must obey you?" Moses fell on his face, indicating his humble and earnest desire that God would intervene, and then told Korah and his company "God will show you who is holy and whom He has chosen as His priest. Tomorrow all of you light your censers and put incense upon them before the Lord".
In the morning they all presented themselves and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "Separate yourselves from this congregation that I may consume them in a moment." Moses and Aaron interceded for On and the two hundred and fifty who repented, and the ground opened up and swallowed Korah, Dathan and Abiram, their families and all of their possessions (Numbers 16:17-35).
I Chronicles 16:22 says, "Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm." God goes before His people and He is not mocked.
A minister came into the healing line and the Holy Spirit spoke through His Prophet, "There's nothing wrong with you, you have no disease at all".
He said, "Oh, yes I do." He said, "Look on my card down there that they got".
"I don't care what you got on your card; you haven't got nothing wrong with you".
He said, "I've got it. I got it stated on my card".
"I don't know anything about your card; I never see that. You just get a card. Anything you want to put on it, you put on it. But I don't see that, the ministers get them. You might have had it and maybe you had a faith and was healed".
"Oh," he said, "That's what it is, is it," turned around.
And just then I looked and there was a vision. I said, "Why has the Devil put in your heart to do that?" I said, "You're a Church of Christ minister." Last night you set with a man with a gray suit and a red tie. And you set at a table had a little green cloth hanging over it; there was a blond headed woman setting next to you, and you said it was telepathy. And you come to this meeting today and wrote that on there, thinking you could pass it through and make a telepathy out of it to up trip God's Spirit." I said, "You're the one exposed".
And just then the man setting up there; he said, "Mr. Branham, I'm the guy that was with him." Said, "That's my wife setting right here, was with him".
And I said, "The things that you put on your card, you have. Both cancer and TB." And he fell down on the platform. But the last time I heard him, I never heard no more, just a letter from some of the people that he was in a serious condition. So we're not playing church" (Thirsting for Life, #57-0630).
Brother Branham said, "And you don't know what time that this city one day is going to be laying out here in the bottom of this ocean (Revelation 18:21-24).
"O, Capernaum," said Jesus, "thou who exalted into heaven will be brought down into hell, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, it'd have been standing till this day." And Sodom and Gomorrah lays at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and Capernaum's in the bottom of the sea.
Thou city, who claims to be the city of the Angels, who's exalted yourself into heaven and sent all the dirty filthy things of fashions and things, till even the foreign countries come here to pick up our filth and send it away, with your fine churches and steeples, and so forth the way you do; remember, one day you'll be laying in the bottom of this sea. Your great honeycomb under you right now. The wrath of God is belching right beneath you. How much longer He'll hold this sandbar hanging over that, when that ocean out yonder a mile deep will slide in there plumb back to the Salton Sea. It'll be worse than the last day of Pompeii. Repent, Los Angeles. Repent the rest of you and turn to God. The hour of His wrath is upon the earth. Flee while there's time to flee and come into Christ" (Choosing a Bride, p. 35:3-5).
"The very next morning a sullen mob confronted Moses and Aaron, saying, You have killed the Lord's people. Aaron made an atonement for the people but a plague had already begun and 14,700 more died before the plague was stopped" (Numbers 16:41-50). This draws us back to Malachi 3:7: "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them." This controversy with Moses and Aaron concerning the priesthood was of such a nature and magnitude as required this decisive and authoritative settlement. The remarkable character and permanent effect of this plague in which all of the people were made direct participants removed all doubts and silenced all future murmuring regarding the holder of the office.
"The Lord told Aaron, "You, your sons and your family are to bear the iniquity for offenses connected with the sanctuary [such as you have just experienced]; you and your sons alone shall bear the iniquity of the priesthood" (Numbers 18:1). Henceforth the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: no one other than a Levite may perform or assist in any way the sacred duties in the Tabernacle. The Levites must not touch any of the sacred articles or the altar which are committed to the priests whose servants they were; obedience to these instructions will ensure that God's wrath will never again fall upon the people of Israel.
Hereditary ministers and 'apostolic succession' have no place in Christ's Body the Church, for the veil was rent from top to bottom; the way into the Holy of Holies is known and every born-again Christian is a priest or intercessor to the Lord (II Corinthians 5:15-21). Although "the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable" being ordained by His foreknowledge (Romans 11:29) "not all are apostles, or prophets, or teachers, or workers of miracles [but all must display the Token]" (I Corinthians 12:4 – 13:13). Like the Levites, God's New Testament ministers are anointed for their office. He ordained five distinct offices of ministry to edify and bring His elect to maturity in the faith so they would always have a ready answer for sinners who inquired of the hope within their heart. These offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher will be in the Body "'til we all come in the unity of the faith, fulfilling Christ's prayer that we all may be one; as the Father is in Jesus, and He in the Father, that we also may be one in them" (Ephesians 4:8-16).
It is a mistake to conduct regular house meetings in the absence of the pastor, a minister or born-again brother who is an elder by virtue of his experience in the common faith to keep the doctrine true to God's unchanging Word. His absence is likely to lead to errors or teachings not sanctioned by the pastor, causing confusion that can separate the Brethren.
This is established by Paul's instruction to his elder: "Titus, my true child in the common faith: Grace, mercy and peace . . . I left you in Crete so that you might correct the defects and appoint elders in every town as I directed you, men who are blameless, the husband of one wife, with believing children not accused of being profligate or unruly. For a bishop must, as God's steward, be irreproachable, not self-willed or quick-tempered, or a drunkard, or pugnacious, or greedy for dishonest gain, but hospitable, a lover of all that is good, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled; he must hold firm to the faithful Word as he has been taught, that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to refute those who contradict it" (Titus 1:4-9).
In addition to the God-ordained five-fold ministry the local Church or its pastor may elect laymen elders to office for a time as deacons to maintain conduct and order, to whom the pastor may delegate other responsibilities. Bishops are lay elders with an ability to teach the doctrine of the pastor (I Timothy 1:3). Their authority is restricted to the local assembly and they are subject to their own pastor.
From Numbers 18:20-32 we learn that the Levites were allotted no inheritance of broad acres among the children of Israel. In place of an inheritance—the tithes, said to be offered to the Lord—were given to the Levites who were to depend entirely upon Him who liberally provided for them out of His own portion, the tithe of the twelve tribes, so that exempt from the cares and labours of worldly business they might devote themselves exclusively to His service.
Numbers 18:24, "The tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance".
According to Leviticus 27:30 and Deuteronomy 14:22, the Israelites were to tithe of their corn, wine and oil, and of the firstlings of their flock and herd for the maintenance of the Levites. In turn the Levites were to give up to the Lord a heave offering of the best of all of their tithes to Aaron the priest.
Following their return from Babylon we learn, "The portions of the Levites had not been given to them: for the Levites and the singers, who were supposed to conduct the worship services, had returned to their little plots in order to sustain themselves. Then Nehemiah contended with the rulers, and demanded, Why is the house of God forsaken? And he called the Levites back, and set them in their stations. Then all the people of Judah brought their tithes of grain, the new wine and the oil into the storehouses" (Nehemiah 13:10-12).
Because the Judeans had refused to give God His due by withholding their tithes and offerings, the whole nation was "cursed with a curse" as God withheld the blessings of agricultural bounty from them.
Verse 10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, whether I will not open the windows of heaven for you, and pour out a superabundant blessing for you? And I will rebuke the devourer [or ravaging locust] for your sakes, and he will not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither will your vine cast her fruit in the field before it ripens, says the Lord of hosts. [In consequence of which] all nations will call you blessed: for you will be a delightsome land, says the Lord of hosts".
Some people believe tithing was only Old Testament Law? Christians are duty bound to tithe ten percent of their net increase, income or profit after deducting the costs of production. The tithe is paid to your pastor who feeds you Spiritual food in due season. This is not your money but God's money and is not to be given to a widow woman or some charitable or political cause. Our first obligation is to pay our tithes, then meet family responsibilities, settle any lingering debts, and what remains is ours to spend.
The tithe is not church property, it is the income your pastor has to live on and spend as he pleases, if is insufficient for his needs he will have to work. In turn he will tithe of his increase to ministers who feed his soul. In Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7 Abram paid tithes under God's Covenant of grace, then God commanded Moses and the Israelites to pay tithes under the Law. We who are the beneficiaries of God's promise to Abraham are also bound to pay tithes.
In I Corinthians 9:1-14, Paul tells how he has been practicing self-denial out of love to the Lord and his brethren, and how in a far higher manner than he demanded of them he had renounced his own rights and prerogatives for the sake of winning souls and the Gospel. Though he was born free and is "free from all men, yet he has made himself servant to all, that he might gain the more." As an apostle he held the highest office and was an eye-witness to Jesus Who spoke to him from the Shekinah on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:22-26).
"If we have sown spiritual things in you, is it too much to expect that we should reap material benefits? Since others enjoy this rightful claim on you, shouldn't we more so? Nevertheless we have not made use of this right; but endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the Gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who minister in the temple make their living from the temple, and those who tend the altar share in the altar gifts? Likewise the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the Gospel should live from the Good News".
If you read to verse 19 you will see Paul employed natural types to illustrate spiritual antitypes and explained how the five-fold New Testament ministers live by the tithes of the saints precisely as the Levites and priests under the Old Testament lived from the tithes of the faithful.
Paul provides a second witness on tithing in I Timothy 5:17-21. These elders are all five-fold ministers and among the eminent men were associated those of moderate ability.
"Let the elders who govern well be recognized as worthy of double honour, [not a two-fold tithe but higher esteem], especially they who labour in instructing and teaching the (Gk.) 'logos' rather than the (Gk.) 'rhema'." [See The Logos and the Rhema]. The emphasis here is upon "labour" because this is no easy post of honour that is entrusted to these seeking revelation by the Spirit. "For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox when it is threshing the grain. And, The labourer deserves his reward".
Next Paul instructs Timothy "Under no circumstances are you to admit a charge against an elder [in the faith] except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear".
By way of illustration Brother Branham said, "If there's any complaint against any member, if a member has a complaint against one another, or something wrong, you're supposed to go to that brother yourself and talk to him, you and him alone. Then if they won't receive it, then the next thing takes place; you take one of the deacons or somebody, and go with you to that brother. Then if he won't receive you, then you come, tell it to the church. Then if the church . . . Then if he won't receive the church, then the Bible said, "Let them be as a heathen and a Publican." That's right.
And any persons that knows a guilty person, and you don't go to them and talk, then you're the part of the Church of God that's going to answer for that sin. That's right (Matthew 18:15-22).
And if any persons then has a complaint against a deacon, or against the deacon, or somebody in the church, it takes three people. Three people would come and say—witness at the mouth of two or three witnesses. Come tell the pastor that there's a grievance against a deacon . . .
But the full and complete authority of the church is the pastor. Read that in the Bible; see if that's not Bible order. That's exactly right. There's no one above the elder . . .
"If you want to move the pastor, tell me why. Has he done anything?"
"Yes, we caught him drunk, or we caught him doing this, or doing something that wasn't right."
"Have you got three witness of it?"
"Yes, we have".
Them witness must first be tried, "Don't receive an accusation against an elder 'less it be by two or three witness, and let them first be proved: against an elder." Then you have to swear to it, that you saw it, and prove it, that you saw it.
And then, if you did, then that sin's rebuked openly, that it's wrong. Then I'd say, "Congregation, do you want to change your pastor?"
And if the congregation votes, "Forgive him, and let him go on yet," that's the way it has to stand. See? Isn't that fair? Ain't that the way to run a church? That's what the Bible said. We have no bishops and overseers, and boards and so forth, moves this one in and got a lot of authority. There's nobody got authority here but the Holy Ghost. And that's right. He does the moving. And we take Him as the majority of the people, the way the people go.
And then if one side wants to do this, and the other side wants to do that, and the side wins . . . The losing side, what do they do about it? Join right in with the rest of them, said, "We were wrong then. We'll go right on, 'cause the Holy Ghost has made that choice." See, that's exactly right.
Just like Democrats and Republicans, as long as we stand as a democracy, as Americans: if the Democrats is in, the Republicans should push right on with them; Republicans in, the Democrat push on. See, that's just exactly what makes us a nation. Whenever we break that, we break our democracy. That's right. Democrats say, "I ain't going to do nothing, the Republicans is in." Then we fall. I'm a Kentuckian; together we stand, and divided we fall.
Now, if there's anything wrong in the church that you ever know of, some individual or some person or anything, you are duty bound and will answer before God if you don't clear that thing out, you, the church. Now, you remember, it's not on my shoulders; it's on yours. And anything wrong in the church, God will make you answer for it. That's right. That's the way He runs His church. That's the way it is in the Bible. That's the order of the Bible. That's the sovereignty of the local church; the pastor is the head. That's right. Amen" (Hebrews, p. 337:278-290).
"I solemnly adjure you in the Presence of God, and Christ Jesus and the elect angels [chosen ministers such as those worthy of double honour], that you observe these injunctions without favouritism, doing nothing by partiality".
Let's see what Brother Branham said on this subject of tithes:
Question: Can a Christian go to heaven if he or she does not pay tithe?
Answer: I could not say yes or no to that. But I do believe that every Christian is obligated to pay tithings because it is a commandment of the Lord. "And blessed are they that do all His commandments, that they might have a right to enter into the Life, the Tree of Life" (Revelation 22:14). Now, I do believe that tithe-paying is essential to a Christian experience. For I'll get to that in another question in a few moments; I know there's another one in here pertaining to that" (COD. p. 604:45; p. 617:Q146).
Question: Would it be wrong to use tithes on church building funds?
Answer: Well now, here's a touchy little thing for the church now. No, correctly, tithes is to go to the minister. That's right. In the Bible they had a box they'd set at the door in the Old Testament . . . This box was a fund where the people put in there for the repairing . . . You've read it many times in the Old Testament. They kept up the buildings and things like that . . . All the repairs on the buildings was taken care out of that fund (II Chronicles 24:8). But . . . all the tithings went to their priests, their pastors. Yes, tithings are to go for nothing else."
"I know people take their tithes and give them to a widow woman. That's wrong. If you've got anything to give the widow woman, give her, but don't give her God's money. That's not yours in the first place. That's God's . . ." (COD, p. 680:161).
Question: Should a person pay tithes to an individual, or should a Christian work?
Answer: "Sure he should. He's the one man that will work, is a Christian.
"Pay tithes to an individual?" It depends on who the individual is. See? That's right . . ."
"In Hebrews the 7th chapter, when Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings met Melchisedec, he paid Him a tithe. That was Melchisedec, the King of Salem, which is King of Peace, and King of Righteousness, which was nobody but God Himself. See?"
". . . Really, where you owe tithings is where you get your food. "Bring ye all your tithings into My storehouse, saith the Lord. (That right?) And prove Me wherein saith God, that if I'll not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you would not have room enough to receive it." I challenge any man or woman that's not a tithe payer to accept that."
"I could stand here till in the morning, telling you just what happened when I seen that, and what condition I was in. But just as loyal as I ever could, I paid tithes. And when I took my own money from the church here or from my campaigns . . . I'd give a tenth. Then I'd give it out to the ministers, and give the rest of it to ministers. Then when I couldn't do that, then the thing I did, I kept ten percent and give God ninety. And then, when the law told me I couldn't do that . . . And if I did, it was going to be charged to it, then I had to take and bypass it into foreign missions and so forth, and then just take a wage out of that of a hundred dollars a week; and I pay my tithes from that. Yes, sir. I believe in paying tithes. It's one of God's blessings that's proven to be a blessing. You say, "That's of the Old Testament." It is of the New Testament too. Yes, sir" (COD, p. 1034:Q307).
". . . a member of a church, their first obligation is with their tithe and offerings, is to support their church. If you're members of these fine churches that's represented here, you support your church. That's your first duty to God. "Bring your tithe and offerings into the storehouse." And the storehouse, you surely know what that is; it's where you get your food. So there's where you get your spiritual food, and your obligation is to your church and not to an evangelist like me" (Let us See God, p. 5:28).
Church expenses are met from the free-will offerings of the saints, not out of the Pastor's pocket. It is your assembly and he is your servant, not your benefactor. He should be reimbursed by the church for his telephone, travelling, postage and other expenses incurred in the "business" of the assembly. Malachi 3:8-12 is not speaking of Old Testament times but of Daniel's Seventieth Week which will commence after the close of the Gentile dispensation. If we fail to pay tithes and offerings we are robbing God, robbing ourselves of blessing, and are not in the rapture. nl948.htm
Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you knowBrother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
|
e-mail Bible Believers URL Bible Believers' Website
|
No comments:
Post a Comment