ON TITHES

QUESTION-
"Someone just asked me "Please did Paul and Peter receive tithe?"

I believe the concern of the questionnaire is not only as to whether they received tithe but also as New Testament believers, is it doctrinally binding to pay tithe? I think we've taught about this previously, however not exhaustively and I believe we cannot do so here as well. Now, the first thing is that the New Testament believer is not under the old covenant; please here note I am not referring to the Abrahamic covenant but the mosaic; being ceremonial, moral, et al, He nailed them to the cross (Col. 2:14) and gave us; note not more, additional or another; but new commandment, (John 13:34, 1Jn 2:7-11, 2 Jn 1:5). Tithing to the Christian is not a law but a spiritual worship (Jn 4:23-24), and a serious Christian who wants to walk with God must and will pay tithe. In fact there are spiritual consequences (Mal 3:11), ''check if I will not...'', thus if will do not He will not. We shouldn't think of paying tithe because God says it, that will still put us in bondage of the law, even though Jesus taught about tithe, (Lk 11:42, Matt 23:23). He said they should not leave the others undone, apart from that he talked about justice, mercy and faith as weightier matters meaning the former (tithe) is relatively a weighty matter. The belief and practice of tithe paying is clearly spelt and practiced in the scriptures. The bishops of the church did not only accept tithes but also first fruits, free will offerings, (Acts 4:30-37, 1 Cor. 16:1-4). If anyone studies the book of Acts especially chapters 4 and 5 diligently, one thing will become obvious, the early church was paying not only tithe but giving away their fortune, all they had. In fact Hebrews makes it more interesting, "Here mortal men receive tithes, but there He receives them" (7:8). Thus, it is God who receives our tithes not even our local churches. We all should not be deceived, if we can give our lives to God what about our tithes or offerings?  Elsewhere others are bombarding themselves in furtherance of their faith and we are here unshamefacedly debating over whether or not our acts of giving are necessary for this Kingdom. If you think your offerings are not put to proper use in your local church let me give you a Godly advice; I will not tell you to stop paying but I will tell you to stop that church, the church is not a social organization, political party or natural family ties to say I was born into it or for us this is where we belong, No! Please help yourself, the time is short.

WHO IS GOD?

ON GOD.
The answer to your question is in the response I have already given. Many have asked who is God but I suggest we start asking what is God? That God is invisible is scattered throughout the scriptures (Rom 1.20, Col 1.15, 1Tim 1.17, to mention but a few). What does it mean to say that He is invisible? It means He's invisible...(hahaha! funny) but it means He CANNOT be seen, who then saw Him to describe His hand? That person could say He/She has seen the form of God, which is a lie; who then formed Him? Let’s even reason together; all creation is the work of His hand, you know what that implies? Like we did art and craft in school, creating is His handy work or craft. That means, His palm itself is bigger than any of the stars. Hmm! it is said that some of the stars are over 100 sextillion times the earth (that is more than trillion, quadrillion or septillion). I wonder who then can cast a cursory gaze at a strand of His hair, if He has one, the most powerful scope machine cannot even figure out His finger nails. Simply put, God is not limited anyway; He has no shape or form yet is a Person. God is Spirit (ruwach-Heb, pneuma-Greek, means wind, breathe) and of that we know has no shape or form. Because of space, we cannot fully touch on Moses' encounter on Sinai, we can do so later. To end, we will say, God can’t be seen; Jesus then is the visibility (image, form, body, etc) of the invisible

A QUESTION ON ANGELS

"Hi ..., can you help me with this? Angel and human being: which are superior creatures? Is it because we were created in the image of God? What about this scripture (Heb 2:7)?  

  ANSWER:

The word "superior" in your question is subject to several implications; is it superior in power, authority, strength, abilities... et al? Now, the reality is that if angels are greater in any way than the regenerated man, then angels are also greater than Christ. The born-again in Christ is the extension of Him, he that is born in Him is Him, with Him and in Him; Christ and His body are one (1Jn 4:17, 1Cor 6:17, Eph. 5:30-32, Rom 12:4-5). If that is the case what about the scripture you just quoted, (Heb 2:7)? I guess you asked that, alright? It’s simple. I will explain that but let me first add to your question, the Bible even says in heaven we shall be like the angels (Matt 22:30). Will that be a reduction if we are greater? Firstly, we shall be like the angels in strength and in expressive ability. Now because of our emotions and other earthly cares very few can be celibates for God but Paul comments on that: (1Cor 7:7). So then, because of the resurrected body, we shall vitally exercise certain celestial abilities. But on the subject of who is greater in authority and even in power (legally) the scriptures are clear on that.(Heb 7:7), say it is the greater that blessed the lesser, now the served and the servant who is greater? The Bible says angels are sent as ministers (servants) to the heirs if salvation, (Heb 1:14). The bible also says we shall judge angels, (1Cor 6:3). You can’t judge someone greater than you. The president cannot be judged by the Supreme Court unless he is impeached, why? He is greater; he even appoints the attorney general or the chief justice. Now on the scripture in (Heb 2:7), that we are made a little lower than the angels, it is one of the challenges the translation poses to us. The text in (Heb. 2:7) (if you use a good bible), it's either in italics or quotation marks. It was actually quoted from (Psalm 8:5), and there, from the original Hebrew text, it says elohiym, the plural name for elowwa which is the name of God (YAHWEH). It is not mal'ak (Heb for angel) or aggelos as the Greek Septuagint puts it. The Heb (LXX) says "you have reduced (not even made) him a little lower than God" (Elohiym). You can check for yourself. Note the angels are not jealous or offended in this, in fact they rejoice at our maturity and increased depth of knowledge: by that we show them more (Eph 3:10).

LBC QnA of the Week.

QUESTION:
There was this assertion a friend made …, and I  quote, “the mind of God is more important than the hand work of God.......therefore we should long to know His mind” Could you please explain the veracity or falsity of this?  

 ANSWER:

Well from the scriptures, it’s obvious; the Mind of God is different from the Hand of God. But let me deviate from answering to help us fully understand the implication of the case in point. To begin with, to think of God as having hand, feet, finger, et al as men do is quite misleading and doctrinally erroneous. God has no body or form (except the body of Christ which was not revealed until after the incarnation). Wouldn’t it be a contradiction to say an invisible, indefinite and infinite God has a definite and a finite form? If God is such a composition or form then there is someone greater than Him, because, the composed will obviously have a composer and the former is less of the latter. The reference to any of the above of God (as in hand, mind, etc) is merely connotative and not otherwise. We can later discuss what Israel and Moses saw on Mount Sinai but now let’s look at your friend’s point. I cannot tell the reason your friend cited but I wonder why anyone will focus on the Mind of God more than the Hand of the same or vice versa, I will particularly not advice that. Now the mind of God speaks of His intent, purpose, and plans, in sum, His counsel and will. This is clear from the scriptures: (Rom 8:27, 11:34, 1 Cor 2:16, Lev 24:12), among others. On the other hand, His Hand bespeaks of His might, authority, power, but primarily of His works. E.g. the Hand of God was on Judah, Egypt was judged by His finger (the finger is part of the hand), Christ is sitting at the right Hand of the Father (the right Hand talks of authority and power not a place or location), and all of creation, the Bible says, are the works of His hand. (1 Sam 5:11, Eccl. 2:24, 9:1, Ps. 28:5, 111:7). Etc. To submit an opinion, thus if I have one, I will say that as much as possible, we should focus equally on both. Of course the Mind of God precedes His Hand but I do not believe the former is more important than the latter; thoughts like this have done the Body a lot of harm, though they may sound and seem logical. The Mind is a cause and the Hand is the effect, cause is nothing if there is no effect and there is no effect if there is no cause. God’s Mind is the cause of His Hand which is the effect. The neglect of His ways has led many ministries to several spiritual wilderness. Strange things are done and approved in churches today because it is either those who fall to this error are not aware of any of the two or both or better still are aware of one but not both. God’s Mind is not more important than His Hand; they are mutually in-exclusive and thus complement each other.