The bus was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and highway robbers waylaid it. They got on the bus brandishing automatic weapons: “This is a stick-up,” declared the leader of the gang in a menacing tone designed for maximum effect. “Is there anybody here who has been paying his tithes? If you have been paying your tithes raise your hands.”
A few passengers raised their hands sheepishly. He told those who did to move to one side. Then he declared: “Those of you who have not been paying your tithes are thieves and robbers. You have been robbing God. Therefore, we are going to rob you.”
The robbers then proceeded to cart away the money and valuables of those passengers who had not been paying their tithes.
You might not have heard this story before. But, in all probability, you might have heard a similar version of it. Different versions are common in the churches. Those who tell it insist it really happened. But every time you hear such stories know it is a lie. It is surely no more than a figment of the deceitful imagination of pastors.
You need to know that pastors specialise in preaching “another gospel” to con their church members into coming to church, staying in church, and giving them more and more money. That is why, in the story above, they even go as far as to use a thief to preach their own gospel. The intention is to frighten people into paying tithes by implying that if they do not, God will send armed robbers to rob them. But you need to recognise that only a thief would employ a thief to teach the way of righteousness.
Thieves and robbers
Jesus warns believers to be wary of thieves and robbers. He says:
“I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.” (John 10:7-8).
Who precisely are the thieves and robbers of whom Jesus speaks? Is he talking about men who mug us in the streets? Is he talking about highway robbers who snatch our cars? Is he talking about those “yahoo thieves” who rob us blind with a keystroke of the computer on the internet? Or is he talking about those who break into our houses in the dead of night?
Listen and understand. The thieves and robbers of primary concern to Jesus are the pastors of our churches. Jesus’ message is that pastors and other so-called “men of God” are thieves and robbers who “steal, kill, and destroy.” (John 10:10). He re-echoes a lament that first found expression in Jeremiah:
“It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Matthew 21:13).
In many respects, what holds today is no different from the falsehood popularised in the days of Martin Luther, when priests maintained a man could purchase forgiveness of sins for a dead relative by giving money to the Catholic Church.
The Dominican monk, Johann Tetzel, was one of the people sent out by the pope to preach this heresy. His message was straightforward: give money to the church and your sins will be forgiven. Like the pastors of today, he came up with a popular refrain:
“As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”
Robbers of God
Today, the favourite scripture pastors use to fleece their flock is the one in Malachi about tithing. In it, God asks:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. ‘But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me.” (Malachi 3:8-9).
What pastors hide from unsuspecting Christians is the fact that God was not admonishing believers in this scripture in Malachi; he was admonishing pastors. The thieves said to be robbing God were the Levites; the pastors of biblical Israel. As is commonplace today, those pastors were stealing the tithes and offerings of the people, and converting them to their personal use. (1 Samuel 2:28-35).
All through Malachi, God is unambiguous about the objects of his angst:
“It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ You place defiled food on my altar.” (Malachi 1:6-7).
The Levites were replacing the animals brought by the people for sacrifices with crippled and diseased animals. (Malachi 1:8).
God continues:
“This admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honour my name, I will send a curse upon you.” (Malachi 2:1-2).
Unlike Levi, their ancestral father, the priests were fraudsters:
“The lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction- because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble.” (Malachi 2:7-8).
Is this not what is still going on in the churches of today?
The Levites were monopolizing the tithes and offerings; thereby denying the widows, the fatherless and the aliens the portions God expressly reserved for them. (Malachi 3:5). Therefore, God charged the pastors:
“Bring ALL the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” (Malachi 3:10).
God’s people are not the pastors and the priests as today’s clergy would have you believe, but the poor and the dispossessed. Jesus says:
“Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sister of mine, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40).
So it was the pastors who were robbing God and not members of their congregation. But today’s deceitful pastors have led Christians to believe they are the thieves. The actual thieves were pastors stealing the gifts the people brought to God, and not those who were not bringing any or enough gifts.
The Law of Moses did not pronounce curses on those who did not tithe. However, since these same thieving Levites were the ones required to atone for the sins of Israel, their greed and avarice were in danger of putting the whole nation under a curse.
The Redemption
Therefore, God promises to send Jesus; His “Messenger of the Covenant, to:” “purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” (Malachi 3:3).
In that process, God replaced the Levitical priesthood after the order of Aaron, with a completely new priesthood after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 7:11-16). This fulfilled His long-standing plan:
“I will establish ONE Pastor over them, and He shall feed them- My servant David. He shall feed them and be their Pastor.” (Ezekiel 34:23-24).
This one true pastor is none other than Jesus Christ. With Him as High Priest:
“The Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3:3-4).
Thus when Jesus finally arrived, He declared:
“All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the Good Pastor. The Good Pastor lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the pastor.” (John 10:8-12).
Can you see it now? The hired hand and the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy is the pastor. Jesus, on the other hand, is “the Good Pastor.” Thenceforth, says Jesus:
“There will be one flock and ONE PASTOR.” (John 10:16).
That means all those still parading themselves as pastors today are impostors.
With the end of the Levitical priesthood, there should be no pastors still pretending to be Levites; fraudulently collecting tithes. Thereby, Jesus disqualifies the pastorate:
“Do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.” (Matthew 23:8-10).
