EDITORIALS

YET Yet for the life of me, I just can't reconcile the ineptness of the ministers of the gospel in their blindness to the fact that the Mosaic law is no longer the guiding force in the life of the Earthly Body of Christ. They recognize that Salvation comes by grace through faith, not of works, yet, when it comes to the tithe they remain completely blinded to the truth, holding on to legalism with a tight fist. They spend themselves on achieving doctorates and degrees, giving themselves the label of "being in the Know," yet, they seem not to know the truth of setting their congregations free to be led by the Spirit of God. They teach that the Christian must walk the walk of faith, yet, they themselves rely on legalistic coercement for obtaining their funding, turning their backs on faith. They teach Romans 8:1 "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," Yet, they preach "if you don't tithe you are robbing God." Does that drip with condemnation or what? They teach from Galatians "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." Yet, they proclaim from Malachi "you are robbing God, you are under a curse." They preach, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Yet, they want to make their congregations slaves to the law of the tithe. From Colossians they proclaim, "having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us, he took it away, nailing it to the cross." Yet, out of the Old Testament legislation, they call for the "whole tithe to be brought into the storehouse," meaning the church treasury. They claim for themselves as Ministers of the gospel a special anointing from God. Yet, I John tells us that everyone who knows the truth has the same anointing from the Holy One; the only anointing mentioned in the New Testament. They claim the Church is the equivalent of the Temple. Yet, the Scriptures tell us that God's temple is sacred and we are that temple. They claim that it is our duty to support their priesthood, yet the Scriptures call all Believers as a Royal priesthood. From Hebrews they teach, "Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people," in effort to solidify their position on tithing. Yet, a few verses latter it tells us "The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless for the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God." They teach that even though there is silence in the New Testament on the subject of tithing, we are to assume the early church made up of Jews, familiar with the law, were aware and practiced the tithe. Yet, Paul writes, "as you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit." Yet ~~It makes one wonder!!!???~~ Larry Vanyi