Tithing in Nigeria- The Truths and The Lies

Okay this is going to be my last post about this tithing ish and you have to read from beginning to the end because it is very explosive and educative. 

WHO AM I: My name is Iyke, I am a Nigerian Christian born in a Catholic family though not confined to any particular church. I travel alot so I attend any church close to wherever I am staying, it doesn't matter whether it is Catholic or Pentecostal. In my village I attend the Catholic church, in Port Harcourt I attend Salvation Ministirs, in England I attend Family Church Portmouth, in Asia, Ghana etc I attend any nearby Nigerian church. God is one and I worship God, not church or pastor. I love everyone from all denominations and cultures, and I dont believe that I am better than anybody. 

I believe in God, not because my parents told me to, NOT because my pastor told me to, but because I have experienced how AWESOME GOD is. I am a living proof that God is real and NO I am not against paying tithe, helping the church or pastor that is why I said read the entire article so you can understand me more better. I just do not like the way Nigerian pastors are lying up and down just to steal our money. To me they should forget about money / flamboyant lifestyle and concentrate on winning souls for God bc that is their main job.

THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT TITHING: 

1. Tithing is not by force, it's a personal choice so don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

2. Any pastor that is more concerned about tithes, offerings, first fruit, seed etc than salvation is FAKE.

3. The primary job of a pastor is to win souls for God, material things and flamboyant lifestyle is for worldly people..  God does not need tithing anyays.  It is no longer with the covenant Jesus made with Christians (Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20). Tithing is with the Mosaic law and not for Christians. Besides, we are no longer under the law of Moses. For example the Mosaic law says an eye for an eye but Jesus says to forgive 77 times, Mosaic law says to go to the temple with a lamb for cleansing but Christ says pray through me to the father for forgiveness.. 

4. You cannot bribe God with money like the way our pastors want us to believe that once you are a tither life will be so easy, no devourer, no sickness, no calamity bla bla bla. Its all lies to deceive the gullible. God will bless whomever HE chooses to bless whether you pay tithe or not. Check list of the top 20 richest people in the world and show me which one of them is a chistian or tither???? God doesn't need your money in the first place and Jesus has paid the ultimate price. I know lots of Catholic families that do not pay tithe and they are extremely wealthy, healthy and successful and I also know tithers IN Pentecostal churches that are facing one problem or another. Once again, paying tithe or not will not stop good or bad things from happening to you. The only time we wont face any life challenges is when we die, as long as we are alive there will be challenges.

5. If you pay tithe or put hundreds of thousands or even millions in the offering box but you are NOT helping the poor and needy people in your family or community, then my brother you are just deceiving yourself.

6. Nigerian churches will raise millions to build church, universities and pastors birthdays but when their church member need money for food, house rent, job or kidney transplant they will raise prayers instead of money????? How come the pastor needs money but the poor church members need only prayers? Why the double standard???

7. The same way these pastors invest so much energy convincing people to give them money for building projects, tithe, seeds, offerings, new cars, birthday gifts etc. If they use same energy and method to raise money for charity work or even to help their poor church members nobody will complain. The masses are complaining bc fake pastors have turned the CHURCH into FAMILY business. They now turn God's word upside down to SCAM the people they are supposed to help.

8. Just recently a Nigerian widow sold her only house and donated the money to church because that was what the pastor commanded them to do so that God will bless them. I thought the church and pastor should be the ones helping poor widows?

9. Most Nigerian tithers think that they are bribing God. They pay millions in tithe and donate millions to their pastor's cars and birthdays but they will never help their poor friends and family members. 

10. A great number of Nigerian pastors are corrupt, greedy, stingy, selfish and judgemental. They love money more than yahoo boys. I am close to many of them so I know what I am talking about. If you remove money Nigeria will not have up to 10 pastors. Most of them are there just because of the money.

11. Paying tithe in my church in the UK is never a problem because we have record books where all expenses are recorded, one man does not decide how church money is used like in Nigeria where church is one mans business center.  Pastors in developed nations are humble and loyal while many of our pastors in Nigeria are arrogant and self centred. At Family Church Portsmouth our most senior pastor is Pastor Mark, each time he comes to church his entire clothing is not up to £300, but in most Nigerian churches our pastors wear multi million naira designer clothing's, drive the most expensive cars and live in multi million dollar mansions. Whatever happens to living a modest lifestyle. 

12. I am not judging anyone, I am saying it as it is without mincing words so please spare me with your touch not my anointed bs. And if its okay to talk about our corrupt leaders then it is not bad idea if we call our pastors attention when they go wrong bc for one they are not God.

13. I have countribued money, cement etc to build churches in Nigeria and Ghana and I dont regret it. I used to pay tithe to one of Nigerians biggest /richest church till I saw the convoy of the GO. He has over 25 mobile policemen armed to the teeth but in church he sells oil and stickers for us to defeat our enemies and witches. I was wondering why he couldnt defeat enemies or armed robbers with the same stickers. So I woke up from slumber and since then I have been using my tithe to help poor people, orphans, widows etc. Till date I still help many pastors in Nigeria eventhough I dont attend their church. Pastor Joe lives in Port Harcourt and since the last few years I have been paying his house rent etc. I am not supposed to say it openly but I am saying it for those that will attack me without understanding why I made this post. Its okay to help REAL men of God, its okay to help spread the gospel but I wont give money to a billionaire pastor that has private jets, billions in his accounts while his members die in poverty. Such rich pastor should be the one giving me money, this is common sense.

14. Don't let fake pastors deceive you. Paying tithe won't stop good or bad things from happening to anyone, You CANT bribe God. Umar Ukpai is one of the most respected evangelists we have in Nigeria, he is a preacher, he pays tithe but few years ago he lost his wife and children in a car accident. What this implies is, temptations will always come to us whether we pay tithe or not, so dont let anyone deceive you into believing that you can bribe God with your tithe. 

15. God doesn’t need your money. Grace is not for sale. You can’t buy grace, blessings, happiness or heaven. Grace is free, salvation is free. They go about telling people to pay tithe and that if you don't pay you are cursed, regardless of how you make your money.

16. Most Nigerian pastors say we should pay tithe to become rich and successful, and if you dont pay tithe you are cursed. This is a BIG fat lie. God doesn't need your paper money, God needs your heart and soul. The 10 richest people in the world can buy the entire African continent, yet they are neither Christians nor tithers. Dangote is the richest black man, he doesn't pay tithe yet he is more successful than any tither. Catholic church does not force its members to pay tithe, yet many of Nigeria's billionaires are Catholics. 

a. Bill Gates is an Atheist, he doesn't pay tithe but yet he is the richest man in the world. He can buy Nigeria. Eventhought he is not a Christian, he is doing more charity work than our billionaire pastors. Bill Gates donated most of his wealth to charity. Through his Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, he is fighting Polio and HIV/AIDS with Billions of Naira in Nigeria alone. Most of his work/donations is freely available on Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation

b. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook owner is also an Atheist,  he has donated  $45 billion Dollars to charity. And recently he is offering free Facebook browsing etc. Can someone tell me what our billionaire pastors are doing with all the billions in their possession? Many people will be shocked on the last day. 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN PAYING TITHES: Yes I believe it is okay to pay tithe IF the pastor will channel most of the money to charity/ humanitarian works especially to help the poor members of the congregation. A church should be a place we all can get one help or another.  I dont mind paying tithe at OPM church in Port Harcourt because the guy is doing wonders with church money. He has free restaurant for EVERYONE, that is, whether you are their church member or not, no matter your race or religion you are welcomed to eat free food. OPM also has free primary and secondary school, the guy is planning to build Nigerians first 100% FREE Private University. Did I mention that OPM has a welding workshop for people to learn welding and fabrication for free? There is FREE fashion school for the ladies. OPM has given scholarship to hundreds of people. He celebrated his birthday few months ago and someone bought him a very expensive porsh car which he sold off and donated the money to widows. 

Prophet TB Joshua is another great man of God that I will not forget. He helps people worldwide for free. Emmanual TV and Its partners are helping thousands of people worldwide in many different ways and they dont care whether you are christian or Muslim, black or white. This is commendable. 

But in some Nigerian churches it is mandatory for people to pay their tithe before they can be joined in marriage or they can be buried by the church.
Yes most of the top churches in Nigeria have big register for tithers, the pastor must see the tithe card of anyone who wants to do anything in the church or he will forbid members of the church from attending. In these churches if you are not a church member they will not help you. And even if you are a member, if you are not up to date with your tithe payments nothing for you. 

SO WHAT ARE YOU AGAINST: I am against giving money to billionaire pastors that live flamboyant lifestyles. In the bible Jesus feed 500 poor hungry people but these days Nigerian pastors are being feed by 500 hungry people. The church is supposed to be a place where poor people should get help. You should use your money to help poor people in your family, community or wherever you are based. 

WHAT IS GODS POSITION IN ALL OF THIS: God will condemn the false prophets on the last day because they have made a merchandise of the gift of the Holy Spirit . God's purpose for prophets is to speak words into the air that will prosper the children of God.  Now His prophets by their own greed has added condition of give me before I speak the Word to you. Jesus did all of HIS work for free without having any property in HIS name.

FINAL VERDICT: Like I said earlier, God will bless and protect you whether you pay tithe or not. Tithing is not among the 10 commandments of God. And if your pastors wears multi million naira designer clothing's, drive multi million naira bullet proof cars, live in multi million dollar mansions, acquire properties in their own names, fix their children in strategic church positions (family business) and they tell you to save for the heavenly treasures while they enjoy the ones on earth; then my brother he is not called by God and there is no need for you to use your small money to finance his flamboyant lifestyle. 

Yes many of you have attacked me for years saying pastors should not be poor and should live a good life. Yes I know that, poverty is never good for anybody, but let the truth be told, FLAMBOYANT LIFESTYLE IS FOR WORLDLY PEOPLE. Any pastor that is living like a rap star is not called by God. even the bible tells us to share our wealth with those in need. No wonder the bible says it will be almost impossible for a rich man to make heaven. Can any of our millioniare pastors sell off all their expensive houses and cars and share the money with the poor in their church? I dont think so.

Jesus taught us to put others first, therefore, I expect Nigerian pastors to put WINNING SOULS FOR GOD and CHARITY WORK ahead of the luxury life they are living. 

Did you learn anything from this post? Or you have something contrary to say? Please let's have your views. I am not perfect and Perhaps we can learn from each other. It's very easy to contact me. My handle on all social media is iykbethany (twitter, instagram, facebook, snapchat, linkedin etc.

Culled From IykBethanys Blog: www.iykbethanygistville.com/2018/03/26/tithing-in-nigeria-the-truths-and-the-lies/