A Newly Radical Old Challenge and Ecclesiasticisms

Those of you who have been reading this blog for two months and/or have at least read back a few posts may recognize the combination of two previous posts as the title of this one. Occasionally I do work on more than one post at a time, but they have always stood individually in my mind, unless they were part of a series, of course. That was the case with those two posts when they were written. While they were written only four days apart, I did not make the connection between them until just a couple days ago. There are probably a few of you reading this who wonder how that could be since you made the connection right away. Okay, so I am just a little slow sometimes. For those of you who still have not made the connection, please allow me to assist you. The remainder of this post will make more sense if you read back to those two posts.


I had not realized the concept that the tithe belongs to the local church is an ecclesiasticism. Even those who teach and believe that concept know, and will freely confess, the tithe belongs to God and not to any individual or group of individuals, including the local church. Traditionally, tithes have been brought into the local church for the support of the ministries there. Most churches then send a portion of what they receive to other ministries they deem worthy. Any other giving done to The Church, e.g., rescue missions, missionaries, evangelistic ministries, etc., is expected to be above and beyond the tithe. (This makes less and less sense as I write it.) That practice stems from the artificial division of The Church into churches and para-Church ministries.


Perhaps I should clarify what I actually said and meant the first time I waded into this subject in "A Newly Radical Old Challenge." That post was intended to be nothing more nor less than the opening of a dialogue about one area in which we, The Church, have had a traditionally-held belief and practice that we could not back up with scripture. It was supposed to be a starting point for us all to examine those things we believe, either based on tradition or without solid, scriptural backing. Unfortunately, some people ran off with what was written and assumed I was saying tithes need not be brought to the local church, and further that I was somehow setting myself up to receive tithes from someone to support something. Yes, that was actually said to me in almost so many words. (We are going to address that sort of thing in the next post. I only have the title and the main concept so far.)


A friend pointed out to me the verse I used from Nehemiah 13:13 to make my point about the storehouse being the place people came for the provision of their physical needs was really only for the Priests and Levites. He said they were the "brethren" referred to there. Let me give him that point because it does not change mine at all. My point was, and is, the storehouse was the place the tithes were brought for the support of the people who did the work of the ministry. (see Ephesians 4:12) There were not any volunteers teaching Sunday School or cleaning the building or serving in other capacities in the Old Testament economy. Those ministries were reserved for the Priests and Levites who were clearly expected to be able to obtain their support from the storehouse.

Anyone who has had a basic class in hermeneutics (defined in Theology as the science of Bible interpretation) knows there are certain rules that must be followed to ascertain the correct interpretations and understandings of the scripture. I am not aware of any numbering system for the rules of hermeneutics so let me just say one of the rules is that we cannot make doctrine out of Old Testament principles unless they have been validated in the New Testament. The reason for this is simple and should be obvious. Some things change at the cross. Everything is not the same after the death and resurrection of Jesus as it was before. The physical rules of the Old Testament become the spiritual realities of the New Testament. The Old Testament Law gives way to the New Testament love.

Jesus said we should tithe. (Matthew 23:23) The author of Hebrews also validates the principle of the tithe in Hebrews 7:5-9, but nowhere is there a storehouse in the New Testament. In order to make the local church the New Testament storehouse, one has to jump from the Old Testament, through the New Testament to sometime after local churches were established. Bye, bye solid hermeneutics.

As most of you understand, what we call the local church is something of a modern phenomenon. Prior to the official establishment of the Catholic church in the fourth century A.D., The Church existed as a combination of all the house churches in a city or geographical region. The Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) ushered in the model of the local church, replacing the Catholic church as the one and only church. Again, there is no mention of a storehouse to which the tithes were brought in scripture or in history, as nearly as we can tell.

In order to avoid any confusion as to what this writer believes, let me conclude by stating plainly that every Christian should tithe. Incidentally, the word tithe means one-tenth. Tithing is the doorway to God's financial blessings. He promises that when we tithe, the windows of heaven will be open above us (Malachi 3:10) and He will rebuke the devourer so we can keep what He pours through those windows. (Malachi 3:11) As to where one should tithe, that is above my pay-grade, as it were. The tithe belongs to God. He will tell you where it should go. Were The Church fully-functional as the storehouse, were all the ministries God has called forth to be equally and adequately funded from the storehouse, then a case could possibly be made that the local church is the New Testament storehouse. The problem is, there is no storehouse in the New Testament. The principle Jesus taught is that God will provide our daily needs from His abundance, not from something we have stored, but space does not allow us to go into any elaboration on that subject. God bless you as you tithe.

The Parable of the Pine Tree

Several, if not many, of you who read this blog have much better insight into the spiritual realm than I do. I would appreciate any comments you might have on the content of this post. I understand part of it, but surely not all of it. Having said that, I do not question that it is from the Holy Spirit. I saw the picture described here twice in the same night. It often takes a couple repetitions to get things through to me. It was shown to me to encourage me and others who know we are fighting a religious spirit in the Santa Maria valley. Let me explain what I saw and as much as I know of what it means.

I was playing around by myself, throwing small balls at a huge pine tree. The tree easily stood sixty feet high and the branches probably spread out the same distance from tip to tip. I did notice the tree was out of proportion as the top of the tree was almost the same size as the bottom. The balls I was throwing were the size of golf balls. Most of the time the balls would get caught in the branches of the huge tree and not fall to the ground. This went on for some period of time. I do not know how long.

At one point I walked under the lowest branches of the tree to retrieve a ball that had fallen through the branches to the ground. I backed away from the tree to throw the ball up higher into the branches and noticed a very large limb near the top of the tree that had been severed and was hanging over sideways. It was resting on the branches below it. I began to look more closely and saw that the main trunk of the tree was in the same condition maybe ten or twelve feet from the top. A portion of the trunk was hanging in the opposite direction from the first limb I had seen, but this one did not appear to have any support. The really odd thing about the scene was that each of those limbs appeared to be about three feet in diameter and had obviously been cut as with a chainsaw.

My first thought upon seeing the main trunk hanging over was that it could fall and someone could get hurt. It looked almost as though the bark was the only thing holding it up. I felt as though it was my responsibility to make sure no one got hurt when it fell. I knew I could not climb the tree and take care of the situation so I began to count the cost of hiring someone else to do it. No sooner had that thought occurred to me than I felt peace that it was not my responsibility to make sure the fall of that piece of the trunk did not hurt anyone. All I am responsible for is to warn people. The only ones who will be hurt by the fall of the religious spirit are those who are in league with it. Deception, denial, or ignorance will not be valid excuses. I did feel some assurance in my spirit the top of the trunk was not going to fall immediately. Of course there are elements of good and not so good in the trunk not falling at this time. It means there is more time for confession and repentance, but also more work to be done.

My understanding of what I saw is that those who understand the spiritual battle in this valley have been sending prayers up to God against the religious spirit. The spirit has been around for a long time, so long in fact that most of the people in the valley, including most of The Church, believes the way things are is normal. In fact it has become the normal condition in this valley to not expect God to do too much. Some people, however, understand the battle we are engaged in against this spirit. They have been praying for years and not seeing a lot of results. I do not think I told you about the woman I met at the bank a few weeks ago. I am not sure how it came up, but I mentioned the blog and the religious spirit. I commented that many people do not even believe there is a religious spirit over this valley. She surprised me by responding, with a very serious look on her face, that there is unquestionably a religious spirit here. She did promise to read some of the blog. There are more people than we know reading this blog and praying for the removal of the religious spirit.

I am writing this to tell you that your prayers are working, or to warn you the prayers of others are working. As those prayers have gone up, God has sent angels with chainsaws to cut away at the top of that tree. The limbs will begin to fall. It is only a matter of time, and more prayer. God is doing the work. It may seem as though those golf ball sized prayers are having no affect, but be assured they are. Keep praying, keep contending and keep believing.

Position and Title

This is the post I was never supposed to have to publish, at least that was my idea. Were I to allow it to be posted with the start date and time on it, the post would show something like 2/11/11 5:00 AM. It would actually be more like 5:30 AM because I whined to the Holy Spirit about not letting me stay in bed and procrastinate. Then it took the computer forever to download an Adobe update and sync my phone before I could start typing. (I have a new computer on order that should be able to do all those things at the same time.)


For context, you might want to follow the link below and read "The Troubler of Israel." http://thechurchinsantamariaca.blogspot.com/2010/08/troubler-of-israel.html Although that post was written fairly recently, the events it chronicles happened over two decades ago. The reason I bring it up now is that I am in almost the exact, same situation 23 years later.


Let me detail for you what you did not read in the linked post. First, you probably need to know that what really set off the chain-of-events leading to me being told to leave, was that I had sent a written, prophetic word to that pastor telling him there was something evil lurking in the church that would ultimately cause many people harm. Some would even leave the church over it. That was the sense of the whole thing. I did not know, and so did not say, what that evil might have been. To this day, I do not know what the cause was.


After we left that church, by the pastor's count, some 250 other people left within the span of the next few months. (Another estimate I heard was the number was closer to 500.) He later told me, I was the cause of all those people leaving. I have often wished for that kind of influence, but there simply is no way any of those people left because of anything I had said or done.

To sum up the last couple paragraphs, the pastor (assigned his position by a man) gathered elders and counselors around him (people of his choosing) to stand against what God wanted to do in that church and what the Holy Spirit was trying to warn them about. They all had titles and positions. Perhaps it is the natural course of events, but to my understanding, of the seven men gathered around the table the night of our "hearing" perhaps two of them are still in that church. One left before he died. Two others moved on to other places and at least one of them does not attend church at all as of this writing. They did not heed what the Holy Spirit was trying to tell them through that prophetic word. They decided to shoot the messenger instead. To be sure they thought they had good, even scriptural, reasons for that.


When this post is published, it will be because the same thing happened, fostered by the same spirit, in a different church, with different principals. At the initial meeting with an elder and his wife, the elder called into question much of the content of this blog and asked if I would take a hiatus and re-read some of it to see if I would change anything. I promised to think about the hiatus. I knew it would not do any good for me to re-read it so I asked a small circle of trusted, spiritual friends to do that. I also posted a plea on my facebook page for anyone who wanted to read a couple of the posts and comment on them to do so.

Although the meeting was congenial and went well, aspects of my theology were called into question because that particular church teaches the questionable doctrine that the local church is God's New Testament storehouse. I had posted an article entitled, "A Newly Radical Old Challenge" which sought to begin to correct that teaching. (At the time, I had no idea I was writing against a sacredly held doctrine of that church. I was simply presenting my position.) At this writing, I have not completed that teaching although I doubt it will matter because the subject of money in the church is an emotionally charged and tenaciously-held concept regardless of which side one is on.

I was told some of the content of this blog was "disturbing" and obliquely called a "scoffer" because I did not agree with everything that church does. I guess I may have been guilty of the second one if a scoffer is one who scoffs at the manifestations of a religious spirit. I think it is good when we as Christians are "disturbed" and use that disturbance as a springboard for growth. I have never overtly or covertly, intentionally done anything to undermine that pastor or the church. In fact, several people are in that church because of my personal recommendations.

My writing style was also called into question. Let me say this about that. If you do not understand something in this blog, consider that it might be either, tongue-in-cheek, or written the way it is for rhetorical affect. (i.e., to get you to think differently than you might have otherwise.) God knew what he was doing when He called me to write this blog.

What initiated that meeting was the pastor felt betrayed by me because I posted comments to the blog, written by other people, that he considered derogatory to him and to the church. If you read that post and those comments, you are aware that neither he nor the church were identified in the post or in the comments. Once again, I post all comments, unedited, regardless of content so you can be the judge.

Perhaps the only thing left to say is that since you are reading this post, the people with position and title in that church decided they wanted to do things their own way, even when confronted with the possibility they might be wrong. They did not want me around, reminding them by my very presence, of what they were doing. For my part, I continue to live in the blessings of God and each day is a new adventure. I suppose it is about time, at age 60, that I figured that out and really gave control of my life over to the Lordship of Jesus. Can I get an "Amen" on that one?

Reflections on Turning 60

It happens to most everyone who is blessed enough to be alive at a certain time of year. Sixty times to this point, people have acknowledged the passing of another year of my life. At first it was just the family and since I was the first child, there was not that much family around. I was also the first grandchild and although I do not remember it at all, I am certain my maternal grandparents and probably an aunt and uncle were there to help with the celebration that first year. This year, I was asked what would make my birthday special. I said any celebration should include my children and beef on the barbecue. I was still surprised when I saw my youngest daughter and her husband walk up to the house after flying from New York to honor my desire. They were joined by a couple dozen friends and family throughout the day. My son demonstrated his mastery of the Santa Maria style barbecue with top sirloin, linguica, and chicken. It was odd to have my barbecue being used and not be the one tending it. My apologies if you would have come and did not receive an invitation.

Of all those birthdays, this one seems to somehow be a definite turning point. I did not even get all the pizazz of turning 21. The age of majority had been lowered to 18 two days before my birthday. That might have had something to do with Barry McGuire's line, "You're old enough to kill, but not for voting." from his Viet Nam era ballad, "Eve of Destruction." Since I never drank alcohol that really was not a big deal anyway.

Although there have been major changes around here, (end of a job, beginning of a ministry, new horizons) perhaps much of what I am feeling is simply introspection at the passing of another decade. As a young, associate pastor in the 1970s, I remarked during a sermon that I liked to reflect on my life at the passing of each year. It is amazing the power of simple words sometimes. I had a mother mention to me sometime later that my statement had made a profound impact on her teenage son. He had begun to do the same thing and take steps to modify his life based on his reflection.

During the last year, I came to understand a new facet of the Kingdom of God. I recall pondering God's rest from Hebrews chapter 4 as far back as the 1970s. I could never really grasp the concept. I have now come to believe one enters into God's rest a piece at a time. I have no idea how many pieces there are, but I have entered into two of them.

For years I had a fear of man. I thought a man, any man, could keep God's will from being done in my life. The Bible says that brings a snare. (Proverbs 29:25) I can tell you it did. I cannot tell you how I entered into rest from it, but I have. I no longer fear what man can do to me. God has all that under control. Of course, I have known that for a long time, but I did not know it. I am sure you know what I mean. I also used to be afraid that I would have no money and my wife and children would not be adequately cared for. I even remember the day it dawned on me that we had never missed a meal or a house payment or car payment and in fact we had never even gotten a past due notice on a bill. I remember thinking there was no reason to fear a shortage in the financial area. In spite of all that, God worked a sovereign grace in me and now I really, truly do not have a fear of lack. I know that I know that I know God is going to meet all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19) Being at rest in just those two areas has given me a peace that is evident to me and to those around me who are perceptive enough to recognize it. As I said, I do not know how many areas of God's rest there are, but I will take all He gives. This is great!

I read a story sometime ago about a man who had been working on a radio tower and had fallen many feet, landing on his back. When he arrived at the hospital he could see the concern on the faces of the emergency room staff. One of them asked him how he was feeling. He said, "If I were any better, I would have to be twins." They knew anyone with that kind of attitude was going to be fine. If you hear me use that phrase from time to time, I am acknowledging God's grace going forward from six decades of walking this earth.