MoneyWalk 177: It Is Not What It Looks Like

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Many people that earn or previously earned six figure or million dollar incomes actually live in poverty by God’s standards because they are not rich toward God in tithes and offerings, their eyes are solely and wholly focused on being rich at all costs, they disrespect and mistreat other people that are not at their supposed level, they oppress people that work for them, and/or they go into debt to live above their current income.

Many of them chase elusive get rich quick schemes sold by slick salespeople with glossy advertising. These propositions look good for a moment, but generally fizzle out shortly thereafter leaving the investors with a heap of worthless promises. Or, a slick salesperson, whose material lifestyle they covet, spends their investment money on his lifestyle thus stripping them of this money because they are not able to collect any of it even after the feds get involved (think Made-Off with your money).

Many others fall for day trading and multi-level marketing schemes that they are not able to grasp and do not have the skill to employ that rob them of valuable resources that could be used to slowly and steadily build their fortune. Many invest in businesses without godly motives and proper guidance and get caught in a web of bureaucratic red-tape, deceitful advertising, immoral employment practices, and family destroying work hours that will come back to haunt them in this life and/or the life to come.

Giving little to ministry work, people in need, and toward healthy family and friend relationships, they suffer many negative consequences that result in divorces, broken relationships with children, and lack of peace, joy, fulfillment, and eventual bankruptcy and foreclosure - thus stripping them of the material things they chased that were most important to them and of the things like relationship with the Lord, family, and friends that should have been most important to them.

All of these negative consequences can be overcome by setting the proper priority for your life by asking the Holy Spirit to reveal His purpose for your life on earth. Now set your goals to walk on that path and know (have faith) that God will provide all your need according to His riches in glory. Never let the pursuit of money, material things, power, or prestige separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. For His glory, simply employ biblical principles in the management of money and levels of influence He entrusts to you. After all, it does not profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 22:7, Malachi 3:8-12, 1Timothy 6:9-10, James 5:1-6

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

MoneyWalk 176: Principles For Prospering

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

No matter what anyone tells you, there are only three fundamental steps to financial freedom and the start with the belief in first Giving to glorify the Lord, second Saving a reasonable portion of your income second, and third establishing a Spending that is only allows you to spend no more than approximately 70% of your gross pay after taxes, tithing, offering, and saving have been accounted for.

Some say you have to earn a certain amount of income, own a business, or invest in specific things to become wealthy and bypass poverty. Such pursuits could work, however scripture doesn’t say and reality doesn’t show that income levels, entrepreneurial endeavors, and specific investments always lead to financial freedom for everyone or for most people.

Yet, the bible does say and show that in order to build treasures in Heaven and gain financial freedom on earth, you must consistently tithe and give free-will offering for ministry work, live well beneath your pay (income), and save a reasonable portion of your income in diversified investment vehicles.

When His will takes priority over your fleshly desires your faith and obedience helps you build wealth to support ministry and family responsibilities. Thus, you will no longer need or seek loans where you have to pay an ungodly middle-man (banks, financial institutions, retailers, etc.) a high amount of interest with your payments.

Instead you will be able to earn and save enough cash for purchases you want to make. When you no longer have to pay high interest bills and you are operating on a debt-free basis the money you formerly doled out to the banks, etc. can be used to further God’s kingdom. Twenty to thirty years down the road, through compound interest and growth on your accumulated surplus, you will likely have a larger annual income from your investments than you earned while working.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Genesis 14:20, Habakkuk 2:2-4, Proverbs 12:11, 13:23-25, 2Corinthians 8:9-12

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

MoneyWalk 175: Paying Off Loans Always Makes Sense

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

A lifestyle that moves you to eliminating all debt, including mortgages, always betters your long-term financial condition because it positions you to always be able to honor God with your tithes and offerings so the windows of Heaven are opened to you for the pouring down of greater future rewards.

Some financial advisors tell people it is not good to pay off a current mortgage because you can make more money by investing in the stock market or by leveraging your money to obtain more loans to get investment real estate and the monthly rental payments they believe will come from it. However, this is tricky at best because even with investment advice most people are not good enough investors to be able to get greater annual investment return than the interest charged on their mortgage(s).

Financial advisors have their place and reputable ones should be consulted to help educate you to be a responsible manager of the money entrusted to you and to help you maintain emotional composure and reasonable investment allocation / diversification when the economic environment looks good, bad, or indifferent over short and long periods of time. But, you should not use them because you believe they have the ability to pick the greatest investments and guarantee gains on investments. For good reason the SEC requires investment firms to put the following type of statement on their investment literature, “Past investment returns are no guarantee of future investment results.”

In addition, most people are simply not good landlords and managers of rental property business or good at fixing up and flipping properties and so they lose money on these investment choices and find that over the years they are not in a better financial position than if they had simply paid off their mortgage and saved and reasonably invested over the course of the years of their lives. The problem is exacerbated when the properties are not within close proximity to where they live.

Another thing that people are often told by financial advisors, accountants, and tax preparers is that they should keep their mortgages because of the tax reduction that the interest payments afford them each year. However, they usually make a flawed analysis of this situation in that the amount of interest you pay needs to be greater than the standard deduction on your federal tax return in order for you to itemize deductions to be able to get a tax reduction.

For this and other reasons, many people with mortgages do not itemize their federal tax returns. In addition, even if you could get a tax reduction, you should consider whether it is smart to pay out $1,000 when you do not need to in order to get 15 to 25% of it back through a tax reduction ($150 to $250), especially when you cannot get a guaranteed return on the investment that you would supposedly engage. Let’s be honest, most people will never make or maintain an investment when they don’t employ rapid mortgage debt reduction plans. They usually spend the extra money on frivolous stuff that they cannot remember a few years down the road. Yet, rapidly paying off your mortgage will build the right kind of discipline and always be remembered and cherished.

I understand that part of the benefit you may get from a mortgage is the ability to get a house that you want right now with the price locked in because you do not currently have the assets to immediately pay the full asking price. However, that does not make it smart to continue paying mortgage interest when you could in fact pay off the mortgage.

You will lift a great debt burden off your shoulders and will feel extreme freedom and will have removed the possibility that you could one day be in a situation where a financial institution is foreclosing on the home(s) that you have made monthly payments on for so long. You can at the point of mortgage payoff begin saving what was your monthly mortgage payment and then not have to worry about whether or not you can actually earn more than the mortgage interest amount.

You are also free to take extra investment risk with a portion of the money if you choose to do so without running into the possibility that you may one day owe financial institutions money that you cannot pay them. This type of financial freedom relieves stress and pressure and puts you in a position where God can entrust you with far more money and resources because you have proven to be a good steward whose eyes and actions are on Him and His way rather than the way of the world.

If this situation is best for mortgages, it is even better for other type of loans (car notes, revolving charge cards, student loans, etc.) because they generally offer none of the tax reduction options that home mortgages provide and have much higher finance charges.

That is why I implore you to save a one month emergency fund, then pay off all non-home mortgage debt (car loans, credit cards, etc.), then save at least six months of emergency funds or at least twelve months if you are self employed or have uneven / uncertain monthly income, and finally to pay off your mortgage as fast as you can by making extra principle payments on it.

Eliminating debt and being debt-free for ten, twenty, or more years will usually afford you with hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars more of assets that you get the gains from and use of in order to properly care for your family, fund the gospel, pursue your God-given purpose, and enjoy good things without being stressed out and pressed out. Therefore, paying off loans always makes sense, so that you are not ensnared by the awful consequences of debt that can so quickly overtake you when you least expect it.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Deuteronomy 28:12, Proverbs 22:7, Romans 13:8, 1Peter 5:8

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

MoneyWalk 174: Let The Truth Be Told

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Home ownership is usually touted as the foundation for and means for all Americans to build wealth. However, irresponsible people, those misinformed about the costs of home ownership above the monthly payment, and those who move to higher cost homes every 5 to 10 years generally have not become wealthier than the average renter. Many are as debt laden as many renters having purchased more home than they can truly afford for many years to come. Not to mention, many of their mortgages are severely under water owing far more to the financial institutions that hold them than the homes are worth.

It is not automatically true that owning a home makes you wealthier or will do so in the future. Believing this lie and acting upon it without first counting the true cost of home ownership and debt freedom will cost you dearly as it has many millions of people in the past. Believing the lie will move you to do anything to get a house like accepting predatory lending terms with high interest rates and costs. It will also lead you to believe you can afford what the banks say you can afford rather than you making an honest assessment of your finances to know what you can truly afford while building and maintaining a large emergency fund cushion to handle unforeseen home ownership costs and other emergency life situations requiring large outlays of cash.

Home ownership can be great when you truly can afford the home you are going to purchase. It can bring peace from apartment neighbors making noise bouncing off the walls and it could provide more space to entertain friends. Yet, for many millions of people it is not as financially fantastic as the pundits make it seem.

The 10-35% federal income tax deduction that one may be able to use with regard to mortgage interest / property tax payments is only useful to the extent that your itemized deductions are greater than the standard deduction for your filing status. Also, you must remember that every year throughout your ownership of the house you will pay thousands of dollars in property taxes to your local governments for which you may only get a fraction of a discount via federal taxes or homestead credits. In addition, all the maintenance, repairs, and renovations will not bring greater return for most people given the amount of principle and interest they will pay on the loans they acquire to do these things.

You would say “NO” if I offered you the great deal of giving me $10,000, so I can hold onto it and then give you only $1,000 to $3,500 back next year? You should think of home ownership in the same way, so that you are totally sober and realistic regarding your financial situation being currently able to handle homeownership. It is always best to have absolutely no debt and the cash needed to purchase a home outright. This alone would help people be much more reasonable about the home they would seek to purchase.

However, if you believe home ownership is worth obtaining a loan to make it a reality then you should follow a few simple rules:

1. Pay off all other debt, build at least six months of income as an emergency reserve and also put away enough money in savings to make a 20% down payment at closing.

2. Inventory your work / business picture to ensure that you are not subject to bouts of unemployment or wild swings to lower monthly income within the few years leading up to and after a house purchase. Remember, approximately 100% of foreclosures are a result of the purchasers’ inability to continue paying the mortgages or property taxes.

3. Look to buy a house in an area where the history of home ownership shows steady price appreciation over the last 10 to 20 years, unless the Holy Spirit has spoken that you should move to a particular area He has selected for you for ministry purposes, etc.

4. Only obtain a low interest 15-year fixed rate mortgage and seek to have enough in extra disposable income that you can pay it off much sooner than 15 years.

5. Do not purchase any house where the monthly payment of principle, interest, property tax, and insurance would require more than 28% of your monthly gross income.

If you will act prudently to do these things you will likely find that home ownership will be very kind and good for you and eventually lead to paying lower housing costs than being a long-term renter and it will not stand in the way of the wealth building that the Lord wants you to engage in.

Remember, home ownership is not the key and being a renter is not a disadvantage. Wealth building is accomplished by honoring God, by continually keeping your monthly expenses well under your monthly net income, by becoming debt-free, and by saving / investing your excess cash over long periods of time (5, 10, 20 years, etc.).

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Matthew 25:26-29, Luke 14:28-30, 16:8-14, Romans 13:8, Hebrew 7:8

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

MoneyWalk 173: Avoid Predatory Lending

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

You should search the bible to find out the tactics of the enemy. Also, you should ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand all the ways in which these tactics will come against you or be presented to you as though they are good.

Be aware that upon Jesus beginning His earthly ministry, satan presented instructions to Jesus taken from Old Testament scriptural descriptions:

• Turn these stones to bread to relieve you hunger

• Throw yourself down from the pinnacle to show you are great by angels catching you

• Fall down and worship me and I’ll make you king and give you earthly riches (you’ll gain the world)

To many people, these instructions would have appeared acceptable to the human mind (the flesh, the eyes, and human intellectual capacity), especially given the natural situation that Christ was experiencing (hunger, thirst, weakness, desire for safety, etc.) and the desires that rage in humans (wanting pleasure, notoriety, power, etc.). However, they were off the mark for Christ because the attempted to lead His heart away from trusting the Father to complete the work of the gospel.

Following such instruction was not the heart of the Father, especially when spoken by the evil one (the father of lies). It would have turned Jesus to toward satisfying selfish desires instead of trusting the Father and hearing His voice to know how to move forward. Worse yet, there would have been no way for us to be redeemed from the eternal death brought about by sin.

Like Jesus, we should also refuse to follow satan’s instructions, no matter what way it is given (through worldly counselors, the Joneses lifestyle, or our ungodly thoughts). When you are not ignorant of satan’s tactics, you have the information you need to stay away from being satan’s prey. You can avoid the hurt he would otherwise bring into your life.

One tactic to be aware of is predatory lending. Lenders who employ such techniques generally get you hooked into closing loans that charge very high interest rates and closing costs. They ethically defraud you by offering loans that are too much for your income to handle in the future.

They’re not interested in truly serving you for your good by helping you get out of debt and stay out of debt. They intend to place you and many other people in a position that keeps you locked into a continual series of loans or payments with very high interest payments. When you can no longer sustain the payments, they will repossess the material things you’ve become so accustomed to and attempt to gain further profit from them.

Many people feel trapped by these lenders because they do not apply godly wisdom to their stewardship of resources the Father entrusts to them. They fail to:

• Refuse high interest loan offers

• Budget to know exactly what amount of payment they can afford

• Crucify their lusts by refusing to love their homes, cars, etc. so much that they won’t part with them even when they can no longer afford them.

Don’t be a victim of these schemes and those who perpetrate them, be more than a conqueror that uses godly wisdom to walk in victory by refusing such predatory loans and the poor money management and lifestyle practices that precede and follow obtaining them. Remember, the borrower is slave to the lender: no son or daughter becomes entangled in pursuits conflicting with the Father's instruction when his / her aim is to satisfy the one that enlisted him / her.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Deuteronomy 28:12, Proverbs 22:7, 2Corinthians 11:13-15, 1Peter 5:8-9

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

MoneyWalk 172: The Lord Makes A Way Out Of No Way

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

It is the nature of God the Father to open seas and tear down mountains for those who love Him when their enemies and the toils and snares of life seem to entrap them with no way out. Many times He helps them be victorious when they don't have nearly the men of war and resources that the enemy has. This is God's way of showing that He truly loves those who put their trust in Him.

Worldly wisdom pronounces that people cannot live on less than a certain amount of yearly income. Yet, people are not dropping dead all around us when they live on much less income than other segments of society. Meager income does not negate the power of God. He provides so richly through bargains, sales, gifts, and transference of resources from those who have much to those who have little.

He moves mightily to care for the needs of those considered income poor in this world that have honored Him with their lives and meager resources. They live better and with more peace and joy than many others who have substantially higher incomes and who dishonor the Lord. In addition, He does not limit future prosperity to those with the highest incomes, best jobs, and greater education.

His plan is open to everyone at every income level and when employed it is guaranteed to produce everything you need to accomplish your purpose on earth. No matter your current income level He will help you prosper even more when you buckle down and consistently employ biblical money management principles. He truly makes a way out of no way for you. What is barren becomes fruitful and healthy and what is already fruitful will bring forth greater fruit!

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Luke 21:34-36, Romans 2:2-8, 1Corinthians 10:11-13, 1Thessalonians 5:1-6

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

MoneyWalk 171: God Is A Rewarder Of Those Who Diligently Seek Him

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

With regard to managing the money the Lord entrusts to you, there are two options. One is to use worldly financial principles. This option will not work toward the eternal purpose that God desires your life to pursue and may lead you to deceive, cheat, and abuse people to make your life better and achieve your selfish goals.

The wages of sin is death, so you can expect that you will lack peace and joy in life and suffer negative eternal consequences when you don’t repent and change your actions to follow God’s plan using His principles. Your income and financial situation could get better on earth; this occurs for less than 1% of those that use worldly methods. However, the other 99% of those that employ the world’s financial principles never make it anywhere near the level they envision for themselves and along the way they lose their souls (by refusing relationship with Jesus and eternal life) and cause many other people to stumble.

The second option is guaranteed to have an eternal purpose and earthly rewards; it is using biblical money management principles. You will be helping support the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the whole earth. Also, you will be bettering your financial situation at the same time.

You will mature so that you are not moved by the economic ups and downs our nation and some individuals experience. In your heart you will know without a doubt that God will make a way even when your natural eyes see uncertainty. As you put your complete trust in the Lord and diligently seek Him through prayer and the action of utilizing His principles, the supernatural power of God will greatly prosper you and relieve worries and anxieties that would otherwise engulf your life.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Deuteronomy 1:32-33, John 3:16-21, Philippians 3:7-9, Hebrews 11:6

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com

MoneyWalk 170: Learn From Others But Walk Your Path

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The Lord made you with unique gifts and talents, gave you the capacity to enhance them and learn other skills, and designed you to use all of them in service to other people in the arenas of business, music, arts, entertainment, preaching, government service, politics, etc.

Some people will try to convince you that there is a higher calling or another area for you. They will present the fruit from what they've seeded and pressure you to follow their lead in network marketing, medical, legal, real estate, or another field that you may not be gifted and skilled for or meant to operate in.

Beware, lest you look upon their fruit and forsake the path that God intends for you to walk and serve along. When someone is rich or appears to be, the arena that person operates in and the method used to pursue riches has great appeal. Yet, you must remember that some fruit looks good to eat on the outside but inwardly it is full of worms and poison that will lead you down a path of destruction and death.

Even when their arena, methods, and fruit are good you must recognize that they are not necessarily the pathway you should take to fulfill your God-given service to others. You may be able to learn something from them, their books, tapes, and life but you should continually seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance to ensure that you stay on the path intended for your life. He will let you know how to use the good lessons and discard the bad examples from their lives and methods in order for you to prosper on the road ahead and possibly even enhance the path upon which they walked.

Never, ever look at anyone’s earthly riches and possessions as the measure of godliness, righteousness, or integrity. For a person can be rich, extremely rich, and be unrighteous and unsaved. The Lord wants you to choose to be both saved and a good steward of money He entrusts to you, so you can be a prime example to other people of how to live, serve, and prosper.

Remember, Lot chose the land containing the glittering cities of Sodom and Gomorrah whose fields looked better than those left to Abraham. However, Lot’s choice resulted in great future loss after appearing so promising in the beginning; he though he had chosen a lot, yet in reality it amounted to nothing at all. At the end of his time in Sodom, he lost everything and Abraham had to rescue him from the enemy. As the old saying goes, everything that glitters ain’t gold!

You are not your neighbor and God didn't create you to be, so cease comparing yourself with them or trying to mimic their every move. Instead, seek to fulfill God's particular plan for your life and encourage other believers to fulfill God’s particular plans for their lives. Then, you make up a perfectly designed body with Christ as the brain and leader of the organism. With Christ as the head, you cannot lose. You are automatically a winner and eternally successful because all things work together for your good because you love God and are called according to His purpose.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Genesis 25:23-26, Romans 12:4-8, 1Corinthians 12:4-13, Ephesians 4:15-16

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.

MoneyWalk 169: Your Place of Prosperity

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

Prosperity is the will of God! He desires that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. Our souls need to be led and taught by the Holy Spirit to our spirit the will of God and the way He wants us to live and take action. The Lord does not want you to be broke, busted, and disgusted. That is the plan of the enemy. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But, relationship with the Lord is available so that you may have life and have it more abundantly.

Except for each person utilizing biblical principles for living and managing money, it is a misconception that every person will be prosperous using the same industry, vehicle, or technique. Biblical principles are the only avenue that allows every possible legitimate means to work to prosper people, yet each individual will be guided by the Holy Spirit to the industry, vehicle, or technique that fits the purposes for which he is made and that God wants him to operate in based upon the part of the body of Christ they are meant to represent.

Not everyone will become prosperous creating computer apps or developing oil refineries or owning a restaurant or engaging in multi-level marketing, etc. In fact, it has been historically true that the vast majority of prosperous people never become prosperous via the same industry, vehicle, or technique though most every legitimate industry is directly or indirectly connected in some way in the economic systems used by the world; just as those in the body of Christ are different and unusual, yet interconnected and used by Jesus, the head, to fulfill his purpose in the earth.

Many people who are identified as successful leaders and examples for others to follow have pursued earthly riches and material things at all costs using the excuse that it's alright to do so because being prosperous is the will of God. They believe the desire to succeed and expectations of future profit gives them the moral high ground to divorce spouses, neglect their families, and deceive other people when necessary in order to have what they want to have.

People that don't pursue the same level of profit or high-living are called un-ambitious, even lazy, and declared to be operating outside of the will of God and of nature. Many of the so called "elite" cannot stand to be around people for very long when they don't consider them high achievers, high income, or in pursuit of such. Given this respecter of persons' attitude, they wind of following worldly advice instead of biblical principles and separate themselves from fellowship with men of low estate that they were intended to have relationship with. Common people serve only as stepping stones to use / abuse to get more of the earthly riches they seek.

Don't let the motivations, attitudes, and endeavors of the elite influence you, when they are operating via principles outside of biblical instruction. You were created to be successful using skills and abilities that God gives you. He does not intend that you mimic the lives of those who have gone astray, even when they are rich, famous, and considered to be wise by the world. Every person that men call successful is not successful in God's eyes.

Your prosperous place is unique and you can only please God in your pursuits when your attitude, action, and motivation lines up with biblical principles. The Word promises that you will come into your prosperous place when you pursue godliness, use biblical principles to guide your life and money management, treat all people well no matter their station in life, and seek to use your gifts and abilities in service to others.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Psalm 1:1-6, 139:13-18, Matthew 6:31-33, 25:14-15, Revelations 5:9-10

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.

MoneyWalk 168: Tithing By Grace Through Faith

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

There are lots of forums in which people rail vehemently against tithing; believing it to be under the Old Testament law and done away by the New Testament. They do not believe tithing is a priority in a Christian’s life nor that is part of pleasing God and helping to expand His will in the lives of people in our communities and around the world.

I have seen vitriol that judge preachers to be non-Christian, heretics, money-grubbers, and Hell-bound when they teach tithing as a current practice. However, there are charlatan preachers that do not teach tithing. In fact, there are scam artists in every microcosm of life. We need to learn to avoid them all, yet teaching tithing is not a measurement. However, with all the vitriol it's no surprise that 80% of regular church attendees do not tithe, 37% do not give any more than a few dollars per year to the church they attend, and the average giving for all proclaimed Christians is at an all-time low of approximately 2.4% of annual income.

Even with giving at such an anemic level, most people expect an awful lot from the local church they attend and from the universal body of Christ (the Church) when they and others in the community have problems. They believe the church should be all things to all people in need and thus should be able to meet the needs of the members and communities when their personal or local economies are in turmoil.

The problem with this thinking is that they expect the church to do too much when they are unwilling to give a proportionate share of their income to the Church but are more than willing to consume upon their own lusts, spending the lion’s share of the money God entrusts to them on their desires. Wanting the church to be all things to all people, they should be more than willing to give the share instructed by faith toward spreading the gospel throughout the earth and toward disciplining believers to sharpen one another for the work of ministry.

Certainly, the Lord can move supernaturally to accomplish His will, yet He chose believers as His body that would bring forth His will in the earth by doing those things like tithing and giving and being involved in the church and in the marketplace in a way that accomplishes His purpose. In many instances, scripture points out that His super power is ushered in by our natural obedience to His principles for living and giving.

When a church has an overwhelming number of members who won’t tithe and give offerings then that local body will be limited in the endeavors and services that it can provide members and outsiders. And, it will generally be limited in ushering in God’s super-natural power to help accomplish the purpose He desires for it to pursue. The lack of His super-natural power in their endeavors is not a result of the amount of money that one gives or a Church collects, but rather their obedience to His principles in proper proportion to the income He entrusts to them.

By faith Abraham tithed and Jacob also. Do we really believe that the grace, faith, and spiritual freedom provided in New Testament time leads us to support the spread of the gospel with less than a faithful amount as shown by Abraham the father of our faith that he obviously imparted to His children’s children.

I understand that believers are not under the Old Testament law of tithing and thus are not responsible for giving the three types of tithes required by that law. And, I do believe that in the present age we have the ability to not prioritize the tithe into our lives and money management and we will not be instantly struck down by God or stoned by other believers for not doing so. Yet, these beliefs should not lead anyone to think that God desires that we do less in the New Testament time to spread His Word, knowing that the end of this present age is near and that our ministry will help determine whether men hear the gospel, come to Him, inherit eternal life, and bypass Hell.

That is why I believe that the scripture shares, in both Old and New Testament, the example of the father of our faith, Abraham, and his giving of the tithe to Melchizedek the high priest (a signification of Christ). In the New Testament it is specifically communicated that people give tithes to men on earth, yet “the One of whom it is witnessed that He lives” receives the tithe that we give. The concept that “He lives” is one for New Testament believers and indeed the Church to understand and gravitate toward in terms of honoring Christ by presenting back to Him a meaningful portion of what He entrusts to us. After all, Jesus Chris is the One of whom it is witnessed that He lives.

Tithing does not make you spiritual, nor does it necessarily show you are saved, nor can it or anything else you do ever earn you eternal life – that is a gift from Christ received by acceptance of Him as Savior. However, I believe that scripture is clear that there are commands given to us that live in the Age of Grace by faith (see Matthew 28:19-20 and Romans 8:2). Tithing is one of the commands that the Lord knows will help you eliminate the love of money and material things from our hearts and become disciplined to put a greater focus upon using your life and money in a way that glorifies Him and spreads His gospel throughout the earth.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Genesis 14:20, Genesis 28:22, Matthew 23:23, Hebrews 7:8

Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!

You can find books authored by Randy and Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.