Chapter 17: Myth—Giving 10% Is A Tithe

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Myth—Giving 10% Is A Tithe

I already told you that there were some odd teachings from Matthews

albeit not obviously apostate. For four years I listened to his message of “testing or proving” God. In other words, Matthews taught that when you give God your tithe, God would open the windows of Heaven and pour out such a blessing that you would not be able to contain it. However, on one

fateful day in November 1996, he changed the message. I now know that he had successfully completed his church theft and was very confident that he could say whatever he wanted to about God and money, which is hindsight. As Matthews taught the tithe that day, these were the some of his words.

“I taught you tithing, tithing, tithing, tithing, tithing, tithing. Now, if you tithe and that’s all you do is tithe—you will never have the abundant lifestyle that God wants you to have in being in the land of more than enough. Because the tithe is not yours.

It’s not yours! It’s God’s already. It’s already His! So you’re not giving Him anything except you’re being a good steward of what He’S given you. So you can’t give the tithe and say now: ‘God bless me.’ ” Pastor William Neal Matthews (11/20/96)

He repeated himself at least three times and every time he talked I stared at God’s Word. For four years he gave the message that God would bless tithers with overflowing blessings, but now the tithe blessing no longer

existed. Furthermore, the tithe wasn’t good enough. I still remember sitting in the pew and having God ask me to confront Matthews about his apostasy. I did and the details are in the last chapter.

No More Compromise On God’s Word!

I realize now that God was almost done training me inside the church and was giving me one final lesson about His Word. The message to me

was clear, “Edward, never under any circumstance accept another message that does not fully line up with My Holy Word.” It was also a message that it was time to leave. My assignment to worship and witness at Solid Rock Church was coming to an end. It was over four weeks later. I’ve already taught you how I got here. Now think carefully about what Malachi says.