Issues of Tyranny in Organized Religion specifically within Institutional Christianity

The Tithe, Spiritual Covering, Mandated Assembly, And Obey Them That Have The Rule Over You

        The purpose of this web site is to stimulate and increase your spiritual growth. To do this it will have to destroy some preconceived thoughts and feelings you may have from having been taught by the scripturally ignorant.

        There are four main areas that continue to keep the saints of God in bondage to human tradition:

        (1) You are taught that you must pay a tithe to your local church 

        If you don’t tithe, you are told, God will curse you 

        (2) You are taught that you need the spiritual covering of the organization you are a member of or wherever you attend on a regular basis 

        If you leave their church/group/meetings and cease to attend regularly then in some mysterious way God will obliquely punish you for voluntarily rejecting their spiritual covering and the devil and his crowd are then free to wreak havoc in your life  

        (3) You are taught that you must assemble together—when and where they say to assemble—as a scriptural commandment 

        If you don’t attend their organization’s meetings every time their door is open then you are in disobedience to God’s commandments. 

        (4) You are told that you are required to obey those that have the rule over you 

        If you don’t agree with and obey their every word then you are in rebellion against God’s appointed and anointed authority. 

        Do you dare to take a close scriptural look at these sacred cows that are used to intimidate, manipulate and control you? I’m not going to give you my opinion of what I think the Bible says—I’m simply pointing out to you what the Bible says. I was bound up by all these man-made rules and regulations for more years than I care to admit to. But God has shown me His truth because I wanted to know the truth about what His heart is in all these matters.

        Because I love truth and sought His heart and mind and council, He took me, dragging and screaming out of the institutional church system and taught me. Praise God, He continues to teach me! I had wanted so very badly to be a big time preacher with a huge following and I had learned all the man-made rules very well. How could God refuse me such success? After all, I played the game very well. But He wasn’t impressed one bit.

        I’m probably the worst student God ever had, questioning the truth He continually revealed to me over the past more than several years. It was a very difficult time for me because God stripped me of all my theological persuasions and I was left bare and naked and without any religious convictions about anything that I had previously held so near and dear.

        Reluctantly and belligerently I wanted to defend all those alleged “precious truths” it had taken me all those years to collect in my little brain. But slowly, ever so slowly, I came to see what the scripture really said about so many things. Gradually, ever so gradually, I came to a point where I could see the truth of God and sense the heart of the Father.

        I wish I could say that one day I suddenly saw the true scriptural light. But it was a process, more than a grandiose revelation. A process of mini-revelations which slowly and gradually illuminated my traditional way of thinking. I hope you are more receptive to God’s scriptural truth that I was and can cut the many years down to a few.

        First, please notice that all this evil in your life from not paying your tithe, not having a covering, not assembling when and where they say, and not mindlessly obeying their self-appointed leaders comes from God Himself! According to them, that is.

        What they are saying is that the same God Who sent His Only Begotten Son into this world to die in your place for the sin in your life is not satisfied that His justice has been completely and eternally met by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, you must do things to help complete what Jesus only made a down payment on! The Bible is clear, however, that you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, learning of Him, following Him, supporting and imitating Him. From that you will learn to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Just do that and you are a true disciple of Jesus Christ. But apparently, that’s too difficult so somebody had to invent some other things to do. And invent they did!

        For years, possibly, you have been taught these doctrines, hearing verses taken out of context, or not researched to see what they really say in the original language, and have simply accepted them. To which I must also raise my hand and say, “Guilty!” But praise God, I finally started to think for myself!

        If someone represents themselves as a doctor or surgeon and says that you need to have some medical treatment or an operation on your body, which you know deep down inside of you that you don’t need, do you roll over and play dead and let them put you on medication that you don’t need, or let them cut your body open to do unnecessary surgery? And then spend multiplied years attempting to pay unnecessary bills?

        Or, if you feel the necessity of continuing to maintain your car in good condition, do you let a mechanic or technician sell you unneeded service and/or parts when you take your car in for routine maintenance? Especially when you know that some, or all, of what they are trying to sell you, has already been taken care of by someone else, or even possibly yourself? And then spend multiplied months attempting to pay unnecessary bills?

        I don’t think so. If you are practical and wise in practical matters, why do you fail to be practical and wise in spiritual matters?

        The doctor, surgeon, mechanic, technician and etc. are all very likeable and personable persons. They represent themselves as professionals in their chosen profession and look nice, talk nice, and act and dress the part that they represent themselves to be, don’t they? Is that what impresses you more than the fact that their services and products are unneeded and in fact, prohibitively expensive and off-the-scale impractical? Just because they present themselves to you as professionals and endear themselves to you and make you feel good about yourself and them, don’t you see they are attempting to create a need for you, where in fact, there is no need. Do you know how to say “No!” and mean it?

        Is there any difference between them and someone who presents themselves as a professional minister or other religious title?

        Only in your mind is there a difference! Somehow you think that they are more special in God, in Christ, over you! Somehow Jesus died “harder” for them than for you, didn’t He? Somehow, Jesus loves them more than you, doesn’t He? Somehow, they are much more special to Jesus than you are, aren’t they? Somehow, they are much more filled with the Holy Spirit of God, than you are, aren’t they? Somehow, they have become the “anointed ones,” while you are only a “disappointed one.” Don’t you see what’s going on? They are attempting to establish a “clergy/laity” division in the body of Christ, them being the “clergy” and you being only simple “laity.”

        Guess who bought into that lie?

        Why do these authoritarian and hierarchical types always revert back to the Old Testament for their examples? Beloved, they are trying to get you to have a “law” mindset so they can manipulate and control you. Instead of teaching and preaching the New Testament and Jesus Christ and grace, they want you back under the law. The types and shadows of the Old Testament are exactly that. The New Testament is the antitypes and substance. You don’t need to meet in a tabernacle or a temple because they are shadows of which you, the individual believer, are the substance of. You are the temple of God! God blesses you because you are His temple, not because you are in a building somewhere that someone calls a tabernacle, or a temple of God, or the house of God, or a sanctuary, with an altar and various other Old Testament terminology. God doesn’t bless you because you are assembled together in the First Church of the Scripturally Ignorant, He blesses the people there who are His temple and who love Him! And He blesses them in spite of them being in a Babylonian institutional church! God loves you, not the building and He’ll bless you wherever you are and wherever there are those there who are assembled in the name of His Son, Jesus.

        There are many in the institutional Babylon churches of today. And these many are there for a reason. And these many love God with all that is within them. But they are constricted by the man-made traditions and customs and teachings that have evolved over the centuries. God loves those within the institutional church system as much as He loves those who have spent their time there and have eventually exited because they have learned by the negative example that they see all around them. A negative example that conflicts strongly, very strongly, with what they read in their Bibles and know in their spirits to be biblical truth.

        It takes time to come to recognize that those that you love and trusted are there really to fulfill their ego and financial and power needs. It takes time to get over the hurt and rejection you will encounter when you leave there. It’s as though you dropped dead, and/or are a backslider and sinner of the worst degree. It takes time to learn to continue to love those still held prisoner in the institutional churches. It takes time to get deprogrammed from all that has been programmed within you as being the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for your life as a slave to their scriptural ignorance and hypocrisy. It takes time to learn and experience the true love of the Father, the true abundant life in Jesus, and the true liberty of the Holy Spirit.

        I try as best I can on this website to bring you scriptural truth so you can grow in Christ. In this article I’m only mentioning the tithe, covering, assembling together and obeying your rulers. For a start. These subjects are covered in various articles on this website. The scriptural support is overwhelming. Check it out for yourself by reading the articles and you will learn the truth about the God Who loves you so very, very much. The God Who wants you to have the enjoyment of His love, the abundant life you can have in Jesus, and the true liberty of His Holy Spirit.

The Tithe

        You will discover in articles here that scripture is clear that the purpose of the Old Testament tithe was to provide social justice in Israel for the fatherless, widows, strangers in the land, the Levites and the poor. As such it was only a part of the totality of the offerings, firstfruits, first born, sacrifices, rituals, practices, feasts, and observances instituted by God relating to the clean, the unclean and the holy under the Mosaic law.

        These various offerings, sacrifices and tithes were all a part of the same system of worship by which the Israelites could become, and continue to be, communally clean before God and maintain their purity before Him. These were times of rejoicing and acknowledging the goodness of God as reflected in his holiness and justice.

        The tithe also consisted of produce and livestock so if you didn’t have land you couldn’t raise crops and livestock, therefore you could not tithe if you wanted to. Fishermen, government officials, garment makers, shoemakers, etc. could not and did not tithe. Since the tithe was for Israel, you would also have to own land in Israel, be a natural Israelite, have a Levitical priesthood who could collect the tithe and store the excess in the storehouse, i.e., the tabernacle or Temple, neither of which exist today. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. along with the records of the Levites, so nobody could successfully tithe today anyway.

        By way of contrast, our giving under New Testament grace is to be 100%—unlimited! The fatherless, widows, strangers in the land and today’s “spiritual Levites,” are to be taken care of in the same understanding of social justice as it was under the Law.

        Much is made of Abraham’s giving tithes to Melchizedek and of Jacob vowing to tithe to God. The statements are made that tithing predated the Law. Again, let’s take a close look:

        Ten Per Cent Of War Booty Paid by Abraham To Melchizedek

        In Genesis, chapter 14, Abraham gave to Melchizedek ten per cent of the spoils, or war booty that had originally been taken in a pillaging raid by several kings. This was in accordance with the customs of his time. Abraham recovered this war booty, and the persons taken in the raid. This is verified in Hebrews 7:4 “… Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.” As spoils of war they are not identified as “the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree” or as “the tithe of the herd, or of the flock.” He then refused to keep the rest of the booty but returned it to those from which it had been stolen. Note that Abraham did not give anything out of his personal possessions to Melchizedek, nor was he accountable to anyone for his use of the ten per cent, i.e., tithes. None of this was in accordance with the law of Moses, as it didn’t exist at the time. God did not command Abraham to give a tenth to Melchizedek. His tithe was a free-will gift in accordance with established customs.

        A Conditional Promise By Jacob To Give God Ten Per Cent

        In Genesis 28:20-22 Jacob made a vow that if God would be with him and watch over the journey he was taking, give him food and clothes and a safe return to his fathers house, that he would make the Lord his God and give God a tenth of all God gave him. A tenth of “all God gave him” does not qualify as a tithe under the Mosaic law of tithing, which consisted of food. There are several conditions stated by Jacob concerning his giving to God, and we also have no biblical record of who Jacob paid tithes to or of him instituting tithing as a regular practice, much less in accordance with the law of Moses, which didn’t exist at the time. Jacob also was not accountable to anyone for his use of the ten per cent and God did not command him to give it.

“Covering”

        You’ll also discover that the “covering” myth is a huge lie and is nowhere to be found in the Bible. This myth has its roots in Watchman Nee’s teachings, but it was started as a widespread false teaching by the “Fort Lauderdale Five” back in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s and as time passed each of the five persons involved publicly repented of having started the “Discipleship/Shepherding Movement.”

Forsake not the assembling …

        You will also find out that the purpose of “forsake not the assembling of yourselves” as urged by Paul the apostle is for the purpose of provoking one another to love and good works and to exhort one another as we see the day approaching as written in Hebrews 10:24-25:

        Hebrews 10:24-25:

        24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

        25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

        In 1 Corinthians 14:26 Paul prefaces what he says by saying (in the original language) that if and when you all come together as an assembly, then each one has a spiritual gift to contribute. There is no idea anywhere that there is a “commandment” to meet together with stunning regularity, although the very early church did so for awhile.

Obey them which have the rule over you

        And the very popular and misused “Obey them which have the rule over you,” is a deliberate mistranslation by the King James translators in order to preserve the then established religious hierarchy put in place by authoritarian control freaks. (Publishers won’t change it to read correctly for fear of being boycotted because “it’s always been translated that way”). The whole idea of Hebrews 13 is to “allow yourselves to be persuaded by the lifestyle of those who have been in the faith longer than you,” which is what it really says and means in the original language. The author of Hebrews is speaking of elders/shepherds/pastors/overseers/bishops, all of which are one and the same and recognized as such by the majority of those who assemble themselves together. That is to say that those who perform those functions are not self-appointed. They are recognized as elders and shepherds of the flock, et al, because of their maturity in Christ, not because they say they are elders and shepherds and pastors and overseers and bishops. That is nothing more than pure ego attempting to aggressively assert itself as an authoritarian leader where the Bible clearly says the opposite. Obviously, if their lifestyle is not the salt and light spoken of by Jesus, then use your common sense and don’t follow them!

Unlearn human traditions

        Hear what human tradition says through the lives of these self-appointed, egotistical and very badly deceived, pompous religionists:

        I am chosen by God by direct private divine revelation to me, and I am especially equipped, enabled and empowered by Him to be a person whom you must fear, respect and obey.

        Therefore you must become part of a select group of people and provide income for me and maintenance expenses for my organization and helpers I hire to assist me.

        You failure to join this group and pay me ten per cent of your income each and every week will result in your being cursed by God. I have revived and reworked the defunct Old Testament “tithe” concept to apply to me. Remember, I have a direct communication line to God that no one else has and what I say and teach is to be obeyed without question.

        In addition, you must formally join my group and come to each and every meeting. You must also obey without question, myself and my helpers. Failure to do so will cause you to lose your group “covering.” Since I’m especially qualified by God Himself, you must accept this concept.

        In my Godly wisdom I have revised the biblical reasonings for “assembling” as stated by Paul, the apostle and have provided my own. Instead of provoking one another to love and good works and exhorting one another, you must listen to me expound on my divinely communicated teachings every time you “assemble.” You will sit in reverent silence.

        Although the Bible verse in Hebrews 13:17, is badly mistranslated by all translators I insist that the mistranslation be devoutly observed and that you obey me and my assistants in everything.

        To make it short, I am your new mediator and intercessor between God and man and you will pay me a tithe of your income so I’ll have one too. And so I can pay my divinely appointed assistants (they need an income too) and for the building and equipment. If you don’t God will curse you.

        You will covenant with my organization so you’ll have its covering (regardless of what Jesus taught about covenanting). If you don’t, God will punish you and the devil will get you.

        You will attend, by assembling in my building or my designated place of assembling every time I open the doors or designate another place of assembling. If you fail to do so, you are being disobedient to God’s commandments. While you are in attendance, you will listen to my interpretations of what I, or my assistants, think the Bible says.

        You will, without questioning, obey me, your leader (and my assistants) in whatever I (or them) say or do. Failure to do so makes you in rebellion against God’s appointed and anointed authority.

        How can anybody with an IQ of at least one hear this hypocritical religious dung and go along with it?

        There are some of you who do not want to understand the impact of such statements because your income depends upon your not understanding them.

        You who do understand the essence of what is said above are simply too fearful and/or too lazy to attempt to find out what God really, really wants for His human creation.

        Why do you continue to pretend?

        When you unlearn the things of human tradition you’ve been taught and learn what scripture says about these subjects you’ll come to realize that this thing called “church” is really unnecessary.

        Yes, I’m saying that you don’t need what is laughingly called “church” today! The truth is, however, that the institutional churches today need you! Without you, they cannot continue to self-perpetuate! Without you, they will have no money! Without you, they have no one to manipulate and intimidate in order to control them! Without you, they have no one to teach their fantasy “revelations” to! Without you, they will have to get real and get a job! Without you, they will come to realize that nobody, but nobody, buys what they are attempting to peddle!

        Guess what, folks! It’s up to you! As long as they have a following of scripturally ignorant and God-fearing and God-loving folks like you, they will continue to spring up like summer weeds!

        The only thing truly necessary is your relationship to Jesus Christ and being His disciple, a learner, follower, supporter and imitator of Him. And loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself …

        The more you read and understand the Bible, and the more you dedicate yourself to becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ—by learning of Him, supporting Him, following Him, and imitating Him—the more you will understand what I’ve said.

        And you will put a great distance between you and the institutional church system of today and spend your time with true biblical fellowship with other like-minded believing disciples of Jesus Christ. You will know them by their 24-hour a day, seven day a week lifestyle.

        You can hang around here and come to understand some of these things and you will be free, really, really free in Christ! Or you can remain scripturally ignorant and click off to some web site where they will reinforce the lies you’ve already been taught.

        What are you gonna do now?

http://www.angelfire.com/in/HisName/important.html

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Best Regards,

Jacques B. Farnsworth