{"id":13673,"date":"2023-02-15T14:15:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T14:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=13673"},"modified":"2023-02-15T14:15:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T14:15:17","slug":"rendering-tithes-in-peace-jenny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/13673\/rendering-tithes-in-peace-jenny\/","title":{"rendered":"Rendering Tithes in Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

Jenny’s testimony about tithes and offerings reminded me about my experience in Christianity.\u00a0 The church that I was going to always begged for tithes and offerings.\u00a0 Every service had a tithe and offering opportunity for them to practically beg for more money.\u00a0 I remember when I was single, on many occasions, giving my whole paychecks to the church.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure the reason for me doing that was because I was not living right.\u00a0 And I was just figuring my offering and tithes would cover my ungodly living somehow.\u00a0 How ignorant I was at that time! Now that I know the truth, it was so wrong for the pastor to even accept that much money!\u00a0 In the military, whenever you re-enlist, there’s usually a monetary bonus of several thousands of dollars.\u00a0 I remember actually signing over my entire bonus check and they never blinked an eye!<\/span><\/p>\n

Christianity definitely made merchandise of me and constantly took something from me. Whether\u00a0it was my time, labor, or my finances. I was all used up and pretty much for their benefit.\u00a0 This reminds me of Allison’s testimony, of how she describes Christianity as takers.\u00a0 Take, take, take is all they do and nothing is given in return. No substance of any value that benefits the soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

I agree wholeheartedly with Jenny’s sentiment towards you as my pastor!\u00a0 It is so comforting to know that when I render my tithes and offerings, it is given with full confidence, because of the fellowship; connection and communion with you.\u00a0 It’s a relationship where it’s a mutual understanding of rendering and receiving.\u00a0 I’m being fed the pure bread,\u00a0as a partaker, by you as my pastor, and that’s priceless! I love the\u00a0perfect government of God! It comes with authority and submission.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You’re quite the opposite of those Christian ministers, in that you don’t receive just anything.\u00a0 In fact, you graciously released a portion of my tithe and offering, so I can be free from my debt to my mother.\u00a0 I’m so grateful that you are NOT an oppressor and you have set me free!\u00a0 That burden has been lifted and hopefully my mother will accept money from me this time.\u00a0 Thank you for feeding me the truth and taking care of me spiritually as my pastor!<\/span><\/p>\n

Love, In Christ,<\/span><\/p>\n

David<\/span><\/p>\n

===========<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

I know I texted you about this, but I wanted to write more about tithes. I am so thankful to have a godly pastor to whom I may render my tithes and offerings* without hesitation; no worry about whether my pastor is living up to his anointing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I think back to my years in Christianity early on somehow, I felt like there should be a standard of rendering tithes and offerings, but it was not customary to give the full 10% tithes, or offerings.\u00a0 Instead, I would give a little bit when they passed around the plate. I\u2019m not sure how I ought to feel, but I\u2019m actually glad I didn\u2019t render my full tithe over all those years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearing the end of being in Christianity, just before I learned the truth I began to go to a Pentecostal church, and I was feeling more serious about Jesus.\u00a0 I was always serious, but somehow, I felt MORE serious.\u00a0 I began to increase my tithes.\u00a0 By this time, I knew the standard was 10% of your increase.\u00a0 I still wasn\u2019t giving that because I still had doubts about it.\u00a0 But I was giving a lot more.\u00a0 And of course, they were asking for more and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not long after going to this church, I learned the truth, and thus knowing Christianity was a lie, I felt indignant about the tithes I had given; I almost asked for my tithes back, but I decided it was water under the bridge and I didn\u2019t ask for it back.<\/span><\/p>\n

About a year after I left Christianity, I found out that the pastor had an affair and messed up the whole church there.\u00a0 That made me so angry.\u00a0 And I was so glad I was no longer in that church, and not rendering my tithes to a man living in disgrace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remembering these things makes me so glad for an anointed man of God living a godly life.\u00a0 I am thankful for the privilege of rendering my tithes and offerings with peace of mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Love, Jenny<\/span><\/p>\n

* Going to Jesus.com – Tithes and Offerings: The Right Relationship Between a Pastor and His Congregation<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Pastor John, Jenny’s testimony about tithes and offerings reminded me about my experience in Christianity.\u00a0 The church that I was going to always begged for tithes and offerings.\u00a0 Every service had a tithe and offering opportunity for them to practically beg for more money.\u00a0 I remember when I was single, on many occasions, giving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}