Bible Believers' Newsletter 550
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660Greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; we thank you for your fellowship around God's unchanging Word.
Without prophets, the elect remnant would be considerably diminished from even its present minuscule number, and God's chastisement with a view to correction and repentance could never realize its objective, for faith is a clear understanding of God's revealed Word, which He interprets either by bringing it to pass or by sending a prophet. In these last days God vindicated William Branham as the 'Elijah' of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7. Without his inspired ministry we would have THUS SAITH THE LETTER of God's Holy Bible without THUS SAITH THE SPIRIT to understand what it means.
I fear a great many God-fearing lovers of Jesus Messiah in the circle of this Message are twofold more confused than they were before they were called, holding THUS SAITH THE LETTER of the Prophet's Message without THUS SAITH THE SPIRIT to understand what it means. Reading between the lies of our alien-controlled mass media, corrupt banksters, politicians, businessmen, and the world's religious leaders; we see Brother Branham's end-time prophecies coming to pass very quickly. The hour is late, yet how does one reach these precious souls imprisoned in the letter of THUS SAITH THE LORD without the Spirit?
If the Spirit of the Lord is upon you as it was upon Ezekiel before the Shekinah departed from Jerusalem's temple, you will be moved to seek those who sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in Christendom, especially to souls within the circle of this Message, and pray that the Lord will somehow open their eyes and ears to develop faith that will set the mark of God upon their foreheads.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ,
Anthony Grigor-Scott
Is the Pope Catholic? Now He plans to rehabilitate 'Heretic' Martin Luther
March 6, 2008 — The Pope is planning to rehabilitate Martin Luther—whose actions instigated the Protestant Reformation by arguing that he did not intend to split Christianity but only to purge the Church of corrupt practices. . . The move, a month ahead of the third anniversary of Pope Benedict's election, is aimed at mending fences after July's blunt papal statement that the Protestant and Orthodox faiths are "not proper Churches."
"We have much to learn from Luther, beginning with the importance he attached to the Word of God," said Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. . .
Luther, born in 1483, was appalled on visiting Rome in 1510 to witness the wealth, worldliness and corruption of the papacy. He insisted that the Bible, not the Vatican, was the sole source of religious authority—and to underline his point he translated it from Latin.
In the famous 95 Theses which he nailed the door of a Wittenberg church in 1517, Luther attacked the practice of selling papal "indulgences" granting remission of sin. This act is generally regarded as the spark of the Reformation. The news of the re-evaluation of Luther comes hot on the heels of the revelation that the Vatican plans a statue of Galileo, the astronomer it once tried for heresy, for the fourth centenary next year of his invention of the telescope. Both are part of an attempt to soften Pope Benedict's image as a hardline conservative. . . Full story: dailymail.co.uk
Gold runs out in German Rush
October 10, 2008 — Risk-averse Germans are turning to gold in troubled times—but there's none left. German gold dealers say demand has skyrocketed this past week to 10 times normal so no more orders can be taken for the foreseeable future. Gold deliveries now take between four and six weeks. The US mint said on Monday it had exhausted some of its supply of bullion coins and was struggling to meet demand for gold, silver and platinum.
South Africa's Rand Refinery, producer of the world's most popular gold bullion coin, the Krugerrand, temporarily ran out of the coins in August. . . Full story: thisislondon.co.uk
Israel’s Toy Soldiers
October 1, 2008 — If you are a young Muslim American and head off to the Middle East for a spell in a fundamentalist "madrassa," or religious school, Homeland Security will probably greet you at the airport when you return. But if you are an American Jew and you join hundreds of teenagers from Europe and Mexico for an eight-week training course run by the Israel Defense Forces, you can post your picture wearing an Israeli army uniform and holding an automatic weapon on MySpace. . .
Those who go through the Marva summer program are indoctrinated as thoroughly as Muslims who go overseas and are told they are part of a greater jihad for Islam. The results, given Israel’s close alliance with the United States, may not be negative for those in power in the United States, but it may be very negative for those Americans defined as the enemy, especially Muslims, should we suffer another 9/11. The program inculcates hatred and a belief in the efficacy of violence to solve the problems in the Middle East. It identifies Israel with militarism. It feeds the idea that a Jew born in Brooklyn has a birthright to settle in Israel that is denied to an American of Palestinian descent. . . Full story: truthdig.com slide.com
Bush to Assad: Sever Ties with Iran and take the Golan Heights
October 18, 2008 — A Palestinian Authority source quoted in the report said Bush reportedly proposed "a quick and satisfactory solution" to Syria's dispute with Israel over the Golan Heights. The "solution" was to be finalized "within several weeks, before the US presidential elections, in order to push the Middle East peace process, an achievement the president will be able to proudly present before leaving the White House in January," according to Cairo-based journalist Abdel-Wahab Al-Nasser.
The offer allegedly came in a letter sent via PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas who arrived in Damascus for meetings with Assad and other Syrian officials beginning last Saturday. . . Full story: israelnationalnews.com
Biblical versus Postmodern Thinking
The word "postmodern" may sound unfamiliar, but it's an important concept. Today's "postmodern" leaders and social engineers are using it to explain and justify changes that are transforming churches around the world. If we don't know its meaning, we can't really understand the impact of today's social revolution on faith and evangelization.
This chart lists the main postmodern obstacles to victorious faith. It shows the new meanings given to Biblical terms, and it lists Scriptures that clarify the confusion caused by postmodern thinking. Knowing these truths will strengthen your child's conscience and help anchor his or her mind in truth. These postmodern views are compared to Christianity
Full story: crossroad.to
Freely You have Received, Freely Give
Psalm 19:7-14, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and altogether righteous. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the comb."
"Moreover by them is Your servant warned: and in keeping them there is great reward. Who is aware of his errors? Cleanse me from my secret faults. Also keep Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me: then I shall be upright and innocent of gross transgression."
"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer".
God has a plan that expresses the way, the Truth and the Life in such an unambiguous and simple form, even fools will not err from the path of true righteousness (Isaiah 35:8), and you are not a fool. Because God's plan is perfect it will not change from the commencement of man's pilgrimage in time to the new heaven and new earth in eternity (Genesis 14:20; Revelation 21:24-27). By adding to and taking from God's plan, man wants to have his own plans, and as a consequence the whole of creation is doing time, waiting in earnest expectation for the manifestation of the Sons of God.
Paul admonishes us to "Be followers of God, as dear children . . . for no covetous man (who is an idolater) has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. . . Prove what is acceptable to the Lord. And do not participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but rather expose them, for while it is a disgrace even to mention the things they do in secret, yet everything that is exposed by the Light is made visible, and where everything is made visible there is Light. Therefore it is said, Awake from your slumber, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you Light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as foolish, but as wise virgins, who make the best possible use of their time, because these are evil days".
Since Christ's mediation for ignorance of the fullness of the Word ended forty-five years ago with the revelation of the Seven Seals, God no longer "winks" at men's ignorance of His revealed Word. The years of plenty have passed and there is a paucity of the Spirit because the righteous seed in which He dwells is just about sown and harvested. In the days of Lot, Abraham interceded for Sodom, and the Lord agreed to preserve the city if he could find ten righteous. Isaiah called Israel "a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, [saying to those in Judah and Jerusalem]: Hear the Word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom: give ear to the Law of our God, you people of Gomorrah" (Isaiah 1:4, 10). How much more evil is today after two thousand years of God's grace in Christ have been largely ignored? Following the translation of His end-time Bride only 144,002 elect will remain on the face of this earth: every one of them in Israel, which Jesus called a spiritual Sodom and Egypt (Revelation 11:8). Once this last of the righteous seed has been martyred God will lift his restraining hand and destroy those who have been destroying the earth (Revelation 11:18).
The days are evil. Soon grace will end and Satan will be cast down to earth, so redeem the time that "the words of your mouth, and the meditation of your heart, might be acceptable in the sight of God, your Rock, and your Redeemer." Otherwise you will be speechless, because God sent and vindicated Brother Branham to restore us to the apostolic faith and unveil the revelation of Jesus Christ that we might flee the disobedience of human reasoning to the unity of the faith for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation.
Malachi was the last prophet of the Old Testament announcing the advent of the Great Messenger of the New Testament. His ministry supported Nehemiah in the work of rebuilding the holy city during the initial "seven weeks" of Daniel's prophecy (Daniel 9:25). He finished his prophesies three hundred and ninety-seven years before Christ, and left the world without open vision for nearly four hundred years—the "sixty-two weeks" (Daniel 9:25-26) preceding the final week of Messiah's second or 'parousia' Coming to Israel (Daniel 9:27). His first two chapters portray apostate Israel who's profane and mercenary priests offered polluted bread, blind, lame and sick sacrifices, allowed Hebrews to assimilate the Serpent's seed, and whose wealthy felt no sympathy toward the poor. His third chapter foretells Messiah's first Coming to Israel in grace heralded by John the Baptist, and His second or 'parousia' Coming in judgment to sift the nation. "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness." So universal is Israel's depravity—thanks to the Babylonian Talmud—the ministers of God need sanctifying.
After the Lord had announced the coming judgment for transgressions that will continue for 2,500 years and into the day of the Lord, He adds a gracious promise in Malachi 3:7, "Although you have scorned My statutes from the days of your fathers [who brought the Babylonian captivity upon themselves], and you too have not kept them. Return [in penitence] to Me, and I will return [with blessings] to you" (Malachi 3:1; Zechariah 1:3). In self-righteous delusion, considering themselves "rich and in need of nothing"—not even repentance—Israel demands, "How shall we return? We have never gone away." Thereupon God exposes their sin. They have done what no man should attempt: the whole nation has tried to defraud God of tithes and (heave) offerings, and He promises that if they will bring His tithes into the storehouse He will bless them until they cannot contain the blessing, opening the windows of Heaven and pouring it out upon them.
Brethren, our Lord God is trying to do that right now. I know certain of the revelation He wants to show to the whole body of believers, both wise and foolish, but your withholding His tenth is preventing the blessing. The same lukewarm spirit that overcame the Israelites when the Lord was trying to restore their natural and religious life and prosperity toward the end of the Old Testament dispensation has overcome the world at the end of our dispensation and the spirit of Laodicea is smothering the revelation and Token Life from those in the circle of this Message. Only our unchanging God's long-suffering patience for the last elect to recognize their day and its Message has prevented Earth from being "consumed" long ago as it will be soon after the 144,000 elect "sons of Jacob" are re-born as a nation in one day (Malachi 3:6; 4:6; Isaiah 66:8).
Writing to the saints in Corinth, Paul said: "It is superfluous for me to write to you about the offering for the saints, for I know of your willingness, and I boast of you to the Macedonians, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up a large number of them. I am sending these brothers so that our pride in you may not prove vain in this case, so that you may be ready: lest some Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say you—should be humiliated because of our confidence. So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren to go on to you before me, and arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as something extorted from you, but as a willing gift."
"I say this, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, while he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one give as he has planned in his heart, neither grudgingly, nor by compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every possible grace, so that you will always and under all circumstances have plenty for your own need and an abundance for every good work, as it is written: He has scattered abroad, He has given to the poor: His righteousness never fails."
"He who provides seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every respect for all kinds of generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God; for the rendering of this service not only supplies the wants of the saints, but also abounds in many thanksgivings to God. Under the test of this service they are praising God for your loyal obedience in acknowledging the gospel of Christ, and by the liberality of your contribution for them, and for all others. And they feel a yearning for you in their prayer because of the unusual measure of divine grace that has come upon you. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift [of redemption]" (II Corinthians 9:1-15).
In the Christian Church, those who serve the altar should live by the altar, and provision for the sacred ministers is a tithe of ten percent of the increase or net profit after taxes and the cost of production (such as seed, bricks, office rent, etc.,) are deducted. How else is a minister to live, provide for his family and serve God's people?
I Corinthians 9:1-14, "Am I not free [and at liberty to act as I choose, without being accountable to any man]? Am I not an apostle? . . . are you not my work in the Lord? . . . I am certainly an apostle to you; for in the Lord you are the certificate of my apostleship. My reply to those who criticize me is this: Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife on our travels as the other apostles, and the Lord's brothers, and Peter? Or is it only Barnabas and I who must keep working for a living, while you supply these other ministers?"
"Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without enjoying its milk? Am I merely expressing human reasoning? Or am I telling you what the Law also says? For it is written in the Law of Moses, You shall not muzzle an ox to prevent it from eating when it is treading out grain. Do you suppose God was thinking only of oxen when He said this? This was written for our sakes, because the ploughman should plough in hope and the thresher should thresh in expectation of a share in the crop."
"If we have sown Spiritual Seed among you, is it too much for us to expect to reap your material benefits? Since others who preach to you enjoy the right to share material benefits from you, should we not have an even greater right to them? Nevertheless we have not made use of this right, but endure everything so that we furnish no obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ."
"Are you not aware that those who conduct the temple service make their living from the temple? And those who tend the altar of sacrifice share in the sacrificial offerings? In a similar way the Lord has directed that those who preach the Gospel should get their living by the Gospel".
As tithing is obligatory, the motive prompting you to liberality in the service of God ought to be greater now than under the Old Testament so that Christians go beyond the ancient Hebrews in consecrating both ourselves and our substance to God. Brethren, we must meet the requirements of God's unchanging Word, coming into the unity of the faith with the Token on display NOW. Don't wait for the tribulation to get right with God, it will be too late then, for like Esau you will have come to that place of no more repentance. Now is the time to find and fix any short comings, and to prove whether God's Word is working in your life as the Bible promises in Malachi 3:10. If God is not opening the windows of heaven for you, you must discover the cause of the drought now, before the close of the dispensation.
The dedication of a tenth to God was recognized as a duty before the time of Moses. Abram paid tithes to Melchisedec (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:6); and Jacob vowed to the Lord, "I will without fail to give you a tithe of all You give me" (Genesis 28:22). In the new heavens and new earth the "saved" will bring the tithe of their increase to Christ and His Bride in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24-27).
The first Mosaic Law on this subject is recorded in Leviticus 27:30-32. Subsequent legislation regulated the destination of the tithes (Numbers 18:21-28; Deuteronomy 12:5-17; 14:22-29). In the days of Hezekiah one of the first results of the reformation of Yahweh Torah was the eagerness with which the people brought in their tithes (II Chronicles 31:5-6). The neglect of this duty was sternly rebuked by the prophets:
Malachi 3:8-10, "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, How have we robbed You?"
"In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed Me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and thereby put Me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you, and pour out for you an overflowing blessing".
Israel was insensible to their guilt of defrauding God of His tithe and spoke in the tone of injured innocence, as if God was maliciously slandering them. Like many in the circle of this Message who feed on the fruit of the ministry yet withhold the tithes God ordained to continue and expand His work. The spirit of Laodicea is within the camp of the saints: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I wish you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent".
The unchanging long-suffering God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is correcting those of you who have robbed him of the tithe of your time and the tithe of your increase. The tithe is His money for His Work; it is not intended for the widow woman down the lane or for the Red Cross. Your first duty to God is to bring your tithe and offerings into the storehouse where you get your spiritual food, and your obligation is to the pastor of your church, or if you do not have a pastor, to the minister who feeds your soul.
The fivefold ministry is also obligated to tithe. Even in the Old Testament there was a "tithe of the tithes" (Nehemiah 10:38). The Levites, having received a tenth of all the produce of the land, were required to give a tenth of this to the priests. The Levites were charged with the additional obligation to carry the tithes when received, and deposit them in the temple stores, for the use of the priests. So the Christian ministry is to tithe to their brother ministers from whom they receive their Spiritual food or revelation.
As you curse or despoil God of His tithes, He will curse or despoil you of His blessings so that in trying to defraud God we only defraud ourselves. If we would have God open His treasury, we must open ours. One cause of the barrenness of the Church is the parsimony of its members. So men who retain God's money in their treasuries will find it a losing possession. No man has ever lost by serving God with a whole heart, nor gained by serving Him with half a heart. We may compromise with conscience for half the price, but God will not endorse the compromise, and like Ananias and Sapphira, we shall lose not only what we thought we had purchased so cheaply, but also the price we paid for it.
The Lord says prove Me by paying your tithes. Test Me, whether I will keep My promise of blessing you, conditional upon you doing your part, and pour out for you a superabundance of blessing such that nothing is withheld and there is not room enough to receive it (II Chronicles 31:10).
In Malachi 3:13-18 the Lord notices Israelite murmurers complaining that it is of no profit to serve Jehovah, for the wicked prosper (Matthew 5:45), the proud rejoice and are happy, and they who "tempt God are even delivered from judgment." He also notices an election who revere Him and fellowship in His Word, and declares, Do not judge before the time My work is complete. This present mixed state is allowed to test your disposition to trust in God in spite of perplexing appearances, and in order to make your service less mercenary.
God has "sent Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." He died forty-three years ago so we cannot be more than months from the day when it will be shown that God has placed an everlasting distinction between the godly and the ungodly, and between the wise and the foolish virgin (Malachi 4; Psalm 58:11). This is what our Elijah, William Branham, had to say on the matter of tithing:
"Hebrews 7:7-9, "And without any contradiction the less is blessed of the better. (Certainly. Watch Who He is). And here men that die receive tithes;. . . (That's the priesthood of the order of priests and preachers and so forth, men that receive tithe, die. See?). . . but here He receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that He liveth."
"What would a man take tithings for, if he never was borned, and never will die, and was from beginning to end, and never had no father or mother or descent, and owned the whole heavens and earth and all in it, why would He take tithe? Why would he ask Abraham to pay tithes? You see what a strict thing it is to pay tithes? Tithing's right. Every Christian's duty bound to pay tithe. That's right. Never has been changed" (Hebrews Chapter 7 Part I, p. 310:122-123).
"Thank you, my little sister, for this tithing. As a minister, I'm supposed to receive tithing" (From that Time #60-07160).
Brother Branham, don't you feel that everyone who claims to be a Christian should pay tithes, pay their tithes into the storehouse of the Lord? Please give Scripture to this question.
All right, if you will. . . That is right, that the Bible said in Malachi the 3rd chapter, "Will a man rob God? And you say, 'Where have we robbed Thee?' In tithe and offerings. Bring all your tithe and offerings into My storehouse and prove Me," saith the Lord, "if I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there'll not be room enough to receive."
That's a challenge to any individual. And if I only had the time, and would not get to this little Scripture that I wish to get to in about the next ten minutes, I would like to give you a personal testimony of how that I was even hungry, and my mother and them hungry, and my daddy sick, but I took my tithes out first and give it to God, and you ought to see what happened. I have never seen in my life, that any man or a woman, that if you only make one dollar a week, will bring the ten cents of that money and put it into your storehouse, your church where you come, if God don't bless that, call me a hypocrite. Yes, sir. That's a challenge to anybody. And every Christian. . . That goes to this other question. Every Christian should pay tithes. That's right. It should be done" (COD, p. 617:Q436).
Does a Christian not get to heaven because they do not pay tithe?
"I could not say yes or no to that. But I do believe that every Christian is obligated to pay tithings because it is a commandment of the Lord. "And blessed are they that do all His commandments that they might have a right to enter into the Life, the Tree of Life." Now, I do believe that tithe-paying is essential to a Christian experience" (COD, p. 604:Q136; Revelation 22:14).
Would it be wrong to use tithes on church building funds?
"Well now, here's a touchy little thing for the church now. No, correctly, tithes is to go to the minister. That's right. In the Bible they had a box they'd set at the door in the Old Testament. This box was a fund where the people put in there for the repairing. . . You've read it many times in the Old Testament. They kept up the buildings and things like that. . . All the repairs on the buildings was taken care out of that fund. But all the tithings went to their priests, their pastors. Yes, tithings are to go for nothing else."
"I know people take their tithes and give them to a widow woman. That's wrong. If you've got anything to give the widow woman, give her, but don't give her God's money. That's not yours in the first place. That's God's.
"If you sent me downtown to get a loaf of bread, and you give me twenty-five cents to get the loaf of bread, and I met somebody on the street wanted something else, and I'd give him the twenty-five cents (See?), I give them your money. If they asked me for something, let them get it over here in this pocket and give them my money; but this is your money. And a tenth of it is the Lord's. And Levi the priest could live by the tenth."
"The tenth is to be a tithing that's to be brought into the storehouse with a promise of God to bless it and a proof. He said, "If you don't believe it, come and prove Me and see if I won't do it." See? That's right."
"The tithings goes into the church for the pastor and so forth like that to live on. And then the building funds and things like that is a separate fund altogether. Now, that is Scriptural. One time when we get started, I want to take a night. . . I've went here some time ago before I left the tabernacle and taken about two or three weeks and just on subjects like that and went plumb through it and showed what tithings was in the church " (COD, p. 680:Q161).
Should a person pay tithes to an individual, or should a Christian work?
"Sure he should. He's the one man that will work, is a Christian. "Pay tithes to an individual?" It depends on who the individual is. See? That's right. In Hebrews the 7th chapter, when Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings met Melchisedec, he paid Him a tithe. That was Melchisedec, the King of Salem, which is King of Peace, and King of Righteousness, which was nobody but God Himself. See?"
"But when you pay tithings. . . Really, where you owe tithings is where you get your food. "Bring ye all your tithings into My storehouse, saith the Lord. (That right?) And prove Me herewith saith God, that if I'll not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you would not have room enough to receive it." I challenge any man or woman that's not a tithe payer to accept that."
"I could stand here till in the morning, telling you just what happened when I seen that, and what condition I was in. But just as loyal as I ever could, I paid tithes. And when I took my own money from the church here or from my campaigns, I'd take more. . . I'd give a tenth. Then I'd give it out to the ministers, and give the rest of it to ministers. Then when I couldn't do that, then the thing I did, I kept ten percent and give God ninety. And then, when the law told me I couldn't do that, I'd have to take. . . And if I did, it was going to be charged to it, then I had to take and bypass it into foreign missions and so forth, and then just take a wage out of that of a hundred dollars a week; and I pay my tithes from that."
"Yes, sir. I believe in paying tithes. It's one of God's blessings that's proven to be a blessing. You say, "That's of the Old Testament." It is of the New Testament too. Yes, sir" (COD, p. 1034: Q307).
When Brother Branham was in court over the income tax matter his attorney asked: "How do you get your money?"
I said, "What people send me." I'm looking in the face of people right now that sends me tithing continually. I never ask them, they just do it. That's the Holy Spirit. He's able to take care of His own" (The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, p. 17:74).
Bazaars, church fetes, and suppers are not God's way of supporting the Church. God said, "Bring the full tithes into the storehouse." The man who loves God will take pleasure in supporting God's work. You like to help those you dearly love, and when you help the Church, you are helping God. As Jesus said, "inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my Brethren, you have done it unto Me," and the minister being your servant is the least (Matthew 25:40; 23:11).
Finally: if you wish to be blessed, then do your duty—your full duty, put your shoulder to the wheel, gird on the Gospel armour and come up to the work. Then the Church will move on though all hell oppose it. But if Brethren leave all the labour to the minister, sit still, look on while he works, and do nothing to help, they will find themselves in Laodicea for their disobedience and unprofitableness in the service of Christ.
When Christians refuse to render to the Lord according to the benefits they have received they fall short of the mark of His high calling. God has opened the windows of heaven to the Church and poured them out a blessing, and He reasonably expects them to bring their tithes into His storehouse, and devise and execute liberal things for the Kingdom; but if they have refused and have not planned accordingly to promote the cause of Christ, the Spirit is grieved, and the blessing withdrawn because they would not be liberal when God had been so bountiful.
When Christians are not conscious of dependence on the Spirit but rely on their own resources, God curses their blessings. In many instances, they sin against their own mercies, because they get lifted up with their success, take the credit to themselves and do not give all the glory to God. Malachi 2:2, "If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to My Name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will even send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: indeed I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart".
Your liberty in Christ means you are no longer constrained to keep the letter of the Law as a mere covenant of works, for your eternal destiny is the gift of grace. Your love to Jesus Christ will constrain you the more freely to render your all to Him (Romans 8:2-4; I Corinthians 6:20; Galatians 5:13; I Peter 2:16). And after having paid what justice and His will require should be paid to others (I Corinthians 7:29-31; 9:14) you will not keep the balance for yourself, though so freely given to you, but give it for His use and glory (Luke 19:13; Romans 6:15; 14:7-9; I Corinthians 12:7), surrendering all to Him as Jesus Christ pays back His all for our all as the reward of grace for our surrender of all to Him (I Corinthians 3:21-23; Galatians 6:7-10; Hebrews 6:10).
Freely you have received, freely give. nl550.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380e-mail Bible Believers URL Bible Believers' Website
PowerPoint presentation The Second Coming of Christ
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