The caption of this article is taken from Malachi 3:11 which is a direct promise of God to his people. Here, God categorically promised to rebuke the devourer for our sakes.
However, I wish to point out that no promise of God is without an attached condition. That is to say, there are conditions we must fulfill before God will fulfill his promise to us.
Here, the promise God made was with regard to paying tithe. That statement started with “And” showing that the promise was a follow-up to what was said earlier or before.
What was said before was in Malachi 3:10 which read thus, “Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house.
And prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. AMP
The statement was followed by “and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:11 AMP
That is to say, “and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes is an additional promise of God to his opening the windows of heaven for us and pour to us out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
You see, the promises above are all tied to our bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, so that there may be food in God’s house. We must necessarily fulfill this condition before the promises will be a reality in our lives.
Talking about tithing, it is highly unfortunate that this is one of the most controversial topics in this kingdom as many people, especially pastors who are teaching about tithe are ignorant about tithing themselves.
Most of these pastors are coarsening their members to pay their tithe while themselves are not paying their tithe. Such pastors are using tithing to raise money for their church and ministry.
Some other pastors are teaching that it is wrong to pay tithing in the first place, like pastor Abel Damina. What happened some time ago made me never argue with anybody about the issue of the tithe.
What happened was with respect to my 7 years old son in his primary school. That day, I wanted to teach him a topic ahead of what they are yet to learn in their class about positive and negative numbers.
I used two and seven, asking him to take away seven from two(2-7). I used every available means to convince him that 2-7 is -5, but he vehemently refused to accept, saying that it was not possible to take away 7 from 2.
Not only that, he went and told his mother that Daddy don’t know Math, saying that I said that it is possible to take away 7 from 2. Her mother equally tried to teach him, but he equally refused to accept.
I told my wife to leave him alone, that his level of understanding cannot accommodate what we are trying to teach him. In the same way, the level of understanding of many Christians, including some pastors, is such that their level of understanding cannot accommodate the mystery of the tithe.
For that reason, they are vehemently making an unnecessary and blind argument about the tithe. Like pastor Abel Damina, I never regard them as fake pastors for teaching against tithing, but rather I pity their ignorance about the tithe.
On the other hand, some other pastors that understand the mystery of tithe like Bishop Oyedepo, teach the people of how to provoke God’s open heaven and as well as His rebuking the devourer for their sakes.
They are thought to prove God by bringing their teeth if they actually trust God. The only way an individual or pastor can talk correctly about tithing is when the individual had really proved God.
For that reason, people who have no proper knowledge about the issue of tithing are struggling to pay a tithe of saying tens of thousands as tithe, while those with correct and adequate knowledge about tithe are paying millions as tithe.
Take, for instance, Bishop David Oyedepo, the presiding bishop of Winners Chapel international. The said Oyedepo pay tithe himself as an individual, but equally make the Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel pay cooperate tithe as a church.
The said Bishop Oyedepo was quoted as saying the church which was worth less than a million in a year some years ago will soon be paying trillions as tithes. He equally said:
‘As a church, we started paying tithes when we were worth less than 1 million naira a year; we are now in the billions; very soon, we shall be hitting the trillions’ Dr. David Oyedepo
The General Overseer of the Living Faith Church International, also known as Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, according to Churchgist.org, has mentioned that the church will soon begin payment of tithes in trillion of Naira.
Listening to and following the teachings of a person that lacks the understanding of any issue is equivalent to engaging the services of a young man that failed mathematics in school to be the mathematics teacher of your child.
The book of Isaiah 1:19 said, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land”. Will you be obedient and ignore those that lack the understanding of the issue of the tithe?
At the same time, will you allow God to rebuke the devourer for your sake by obeying God to pay your tithe? Please don’t focus your attention on what you are releasing, but on what you stand to gain. Shalom!
