If you are a Christian, then you realise and accept that God created and OWNS the universe.
From that starting point, let’s be VERY, VERY clear. God doesn’t NEED our money, it’s already His!
Every\n breath we take. Every crumb we eat. Every drop of water we drink. Every\n ray of sunshine our body absorbs. It ALL belongs to God. We are merely \ngranted to be custodians of all we see around us.
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Malachi 3:8-10
\u201cShould\n people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!\n\n\u201cBut you ask, \u2018What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?\u2019\n\n\u201cYou have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are \nunder a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the\n tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. \nIf you do,\u201d says the Lord of Heaven\u2019s Armies, \u201cI will open the windows \nof heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won\u2019t have \nenough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!
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So, assuming we wish to OBEY God, what is the minimum He expects of us?
There are three tithes and seven offerings required each year.
Let\n me stress again, everything is already God’s. He is generous enough to \nallow us to keep the major part of our income for ourselves. Also, He \npromises us that He will shower us with blessings if we OBEY Him.
The\n first tithe is a very simple 10% of everything we receive in our bank \naccounts from our work. Whatever amount the government instructs our \nemployers to deduct each month, that doesn’t count as tithable income. \nJust the amount we actually have access to spend.
Once we have paid this 10% to our Church, the other 90% is OURS.
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The\n second tithe is another 10%, as before. However, this DOESN’T get paid \nto our Church. This tithe, God tells us to save each month to provide \nthe funds needed to attend the Feast of Tabernacles each year. By \ntradition and not by command most True Christians also send into the \nChurch a further 1% (10% of the 10% second tithe). This allows the \nChurch to help needy members who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend. \nAlso, at the end of the Feast, those with excess second tithe, send this\n into the Church. This covers any shortfall in funds given out to poorer\n members.
The third tithe is another 10%. This is paid in to the \nChurch. However, we are commanded to only pay this twice in a seven-year\n period. We pay this on our income from the third and sixth year.
The\n only remaining command is for us to give a FREEWILL offering on each of\n the seven Holy Days. God leaves this up to us to decide the amount \naccording to how we have been blessed. If we give generously, God \npromises to give back to us more blessings than if we just give a bare \nminimum.
Remember the end of the passage above:
<\/span>TRY IT! PUT ME TO THE TEST!<\/span><\/span>
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