DON’T PAY YOUR PASTORS SALARIES; SHARE THE TITHES AMONG THEM.

DON’T PAY YOUR PASTORS SALARIES; SHARE THE TITHES AMONG THEM.

  The issue of tithing, to some Christians, has been over-hyped by present day pastors. For that reason, many have simply boycotted the payment of their tithes. Though I may agree with these set of people in the area that tithing was never an issue in the early church, yet I also disagree with those of them who feel tithe should not be paid at all. No, Jesus, though, had problem with how much the Pharisees laid emphasis on it to the detriment of ‘weightier matters of the law’, yet He clearly states, ‘’…these you ought to have done without leaving the other (tithing) undone.’’ (Emphasis mine, Matt. 23:23b). So, leaving tithing undone is a violation of Jesus’ injunction.

   However, this write up is an attempt in exposing a vital issue about tithing that our pastors have neglected. And that is the issue of how to use tithe. A closer look at Malachi 3:10, shows clearly why God requested the Israelite to pay their tithes urgently. It says, ‘’that there may be meat in my house.’’ Very unfortunately, our pastors quote Malachi 3:10 to cause worshipers to bring in their tithes, but refuse to use the tithe for the purpose for which it is meant.

   Note that no leader of a church is expected to pay salaries to its pastors. Salaries are paid in a business organization. The church is not the General Overseer’s business enterprise, so no GS should pay salary to its pastors. The provision of God for the pastors is the tithes. Like it was done in Nehemiah’s time, tithes are supposed to be gathered and shared among the pastors. (Read Neh. 13:10-12). Tithes are not used for church buildings or the GS’ ministerial trips. Jesus says tithes should be paid so there would be food in the house of God.

    In case of church buildings, ministerial trips, etc, there are other provisions like free will offerings, seeds, etc made for that.

 OHIMAI DANIEL

'PROPHETS’ AND FAILED PROPHESIES: DOES THAT MAKE THEM FALSE PROPHETS?

‘PROPHETS’ AND FAILED PROPHESIES: DOES THAT MAKE THEM FALSE PROPHETS?

  Recently, pastors, so called, have found a cheap way of popularity. What they do now is to make predictions on issues like politics, so that when their prediction comes to pass, they would suddenly become ‘renowned prophets’. This has almost recently put Prophet T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue Church of all Nations into serious credibility crises when he wrongly predicted that Hilary Clinton was to win the American Presidential Election of November 9, 2016.

  The first problem with our today’s prophets is that they seem to be hungry for recognition. They want to be known and praised at all cost. That in itself is wrong because we are supposed to focus on God’s recognition, and not men. Another problem is that many prophets, because of their desire to be known, either tell false prophesy which they got through putting one and two together or from genuine dream but which are personal to them, and which are wrongly interpreted.

    Dream, according to scriptures, are not all the time, message from God. Most of the times, they are simply a result of our mind’s activities or purely inspired by Satan ( Ecc. 5:3). The fact that you are a prophet does not mean that whatever you dream is a message from God. In Jeremiah 23:21, the Bible says ‘I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran…’ Note here that God did not say they are not prophets. But the only problem is that they have not been sent. There is a difference between having a dream, and God asking you to go and deliver a dream. The second set of prophets, according to that same verse, are those who have not seen any dream or message, yet they formulate one just to be recognized as prophets. Most of the Nigerian prophets fall into this category.

  In verse 28 0f the same Jeremiah 23, God says ‘’the prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who had my word, let him speak my word faithfully.’’ What God is simply saying here is that a dream is different from a message. When a prophet has a dream, he should be humble to say, this is the dream I had. He should not turn it into a message. Secondly, when a prophet gets a message, he should say it the way it is.

  Now, concerning Prophet T. B. Joshua’s prediction about the American Presidency, he was not prophesying, rather, he only made a prediction as a man. A prediction is a situation where one put one and two together, and then says the likely result or outcome. Prediction is purely a human process, nothing divine about it. In fact, most of his supposed prophesies on football matches and the like over the years are purely predictions. But the Prophet has, over these period refuse to explain to his followers that he was simply making a guess work. Rather, he allowed them to go on with the notion that being a man of God is determined by ability to predict events and see them come to pass.

   Second, the fact that the Prophet found the back of the net in his recent prophecy does not mean he is a lesser or no prophet. When a prophet says a thing that did not happen, it is either the prophet misinterpreted the message or dream, or that the prophet was only overtaken with his rush to be known and therefore did not take time to understand what his mind or God was saying. 

OHIMAI DANIEL