O' Lord You're Beautiful!

Oh Lord, You're beautiful
Your face is all I see
For when Your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me

Oh Lord, please light the fire
That once burned bright and clean
Replace the lamp of my first love
That burns with holy fear

I want to take Your Word and shine it all around
But first help me just to live it, Lord
And when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown
For my reward is giving glory to You
Keith Green

A Collection of Sayings...

Fire Bride

I have a contact in Facebook who says the most amazing things about God and spirituality in his wall posts, so I save them. I find the things he has to say very uplifting and encouraging, and they speak to my mind and spirit. Here is a collection of his sayings:

Paul said, "To be carnally minded IS death." So that explains the death that must be cast into the lake of fire. Hell is torment that goes with carnality; all those works of the flesh, jealousy, envy, malice, etc. We should be asking God to cast us into that lake for a real cleansing!

Your old religious heavens, which were your former resting place where you felt so secure in the religious cradle your church mother rocked you in, is beginning to shake and fall, in the light of what this fire-word is revealing. Yes, they are passing away as if being shaken down by an earthquake, a great avalanche of truth. "The ELEMENTS shall melt... Read More with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are there in shall be burned up." "The first man (of our inner nature) is of the earth, earthy." THAT is the earth which is to be burned up, our old Adam nature.

"Awake, thou that sleepeth and Christ shall give thee light." Awake! Learn a great and fundamental truth right here, we must all come through the fire (through the cleansing of God's word). That "lake of fire" of Rev. 20 is where the "death and hell" in everyone of us has to be cast. Fire, being God's word, is surely enough to burn out all the wood, hay, and stubble within you, and anybody else.

The rewards are surely wonderful for those who dwell with the devouring-fire, with everlasting burnings, because the devouring fire, that everlasting burnings is none other but our God who IS a consuming fire.

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isa. 43:2 Remember that God loves you just as much when you are in the lake of fire, as when you are on the mountain top of God.

The Cross of Christ deals with our false identity and the influence it has had on our lives. Jesus Christ said that if we wanted to follow him, we had to do two things. One is that we must deny our “self,” because it has no existence in reality, for God did not created a SELF. The imaginary “self” we thought we were came from Adam, and is a sinner that has got to die.

The religious systems of the world have made SIN the centre of their theology, and then formed a humanistic solution for dealing with the problem. John records for us the truth saying, “For God sent not his son into the world to CONDEMN the world, but that the world through him might be saved." Jn 3:17. The sending of the “WORD” into the world had nothing to do with condemnation but to giving life to all mankind.

One of the most important things you will ever see is that God is not holding you accountable for your sin. You may say that’s impossible, but listen to the Word: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19).

God is impartial. He has, therefore, the same design in creating all men, that he had in creating the first man. God is good; and no good being can act with a bad design. The design which he had in creating man, and the design which He has in creating all men, must therefore be good. To create beings for misery, would be to create them with a bad design.

If we think we can escape the fire, we are in the greatest deception. There is no other way to become the temple of the Lord. "But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap; and He shall sit as a purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver...(Malachi Chapter 3)

God Himself is a consuming fire, and His ministers are also like a fire. "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord." Jer. 23:29. Again He says, "Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, because ye speak this word, behold, I will make MY WORDS IN THY MOUTH FIRE, and this people wood, and it shall devour them." Jer. 5:14. "If any man's work ... Read Morebe burned he shall suffer loss." Oh, yes, you may wonder if anything is going to be left. And often times there isn't very much, if anything, to leave. "But he, himself, shall be saved; yet so as BY FIRE. Yes, if he is willing to separate himself from those dead and worthless religious words and let God's fire (word of truth) reveal them and burn them up, he can be saved.

As Jesus walked we ought to walk with the same mind and relationship from God. We need to come to that place in our life where we are able to instruct the young in mind into the deeper revelations of God. We should not continue as sheep throughout our entire life. There comes a time and a season when we must elevate our standing and move into the heart of God.

All I am truly doing is watering and nurturing that seed (Christ) that is in every man. Then everything that is contained in the seed can begin to grow and as it overtakes you in the garden of your soul, your "old man" is suffocated and killed and thus Christ is produced in your life.

Since Jesus is the resurrection, we have to be in Him in order to be in the resurrection! If we have been born of the Spirit, we are spiritual beings. We have been raised out of our death in Adam, and we have been put into the life of Christ! If Christ is in us, resurrection is in us; if we are in Christ, we are in the resurrection!

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?'' He is not the God of the dead but of the living."(Matt 22:32) The fact that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive today proves that they are no longer dead. Although the bodies of the fathers are still in their graves, yet the fathers are alive.

When Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies," He gave us a new concept of resurrection. Notice that Jesus did not say that He was bringing resurrection, or that resurrection was a future event in history. Instead, He brought us a new understanding of resurrection when He said, "I am the resurrection". When Christ, the resurrection, dwells within us, we don't need to wait for what we already possess. Our physical death cannot stop the continuation of our resurrection life.

Do you THINK or FEEL that God condemns you ? According to the scriptures, God DOES NOT CONDEMNS US. "God was in Christ, reconcialing the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them." [2 Cor. 5: 19.] '' Therefore, there is now NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST because through Christ the law of the Spirit of life SET ME FREE from the law of sin and death'' [ Rom. 8: 1 -2 ].

If the wages of sin is death, then Jesus did pay the price for the sin of the world in being made flesh, overcoming all things, dying on the cross, and being raised again on the third day. He experienced the spiritual aspect of death ( the carnal mind ) and the physical aspect of death ( His crucifixion ).

There is only one God and only one life - His life. All else is only a manifestation of that life. God's life can never be separated from Himself, or given to another to make him a god. In Jesus Christ we have the revelation of who God is and what He is. He is the One who comes into our understanding and awareness of spiritual things, to cast down all our imaginations, idols, or wrong ideas of God.

Sin in man has its origin in the flesh, or in his animal nature, and this animal nature is destined to be destroyed. Nothing but the spiritual nature of man can survive the tomb. Hence, in a future state of existence he will be free from those passions, appetites and desires, which in this world lead him astray and entice him from the path of virtue.

Do you believe that you have a choice in salvation? There is a great difference between offering to give a thing, and actually giving it. Nothing is said about offering to give eternal life; but on the contrary, it is said, "The free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." This free gift is to result in justification of life to all to whom it came.

Predestination. This comes next. . . and it is not a frightening word. It simply means "to mark out beforehand." When I seek God and live for Him and seek to walk in His ways, I am not framing my own destiny. I am rather fulfilling a destiny that was predetermined from the foundation of the world. That is why "there remaineth therefore a rest [a sabbath] to the people of God" (Heb. 4:9). Once we recognize that He foreknew and predestinated us, then we know for sure that His call was a creative Word, and not a mere invitation. There is a cause behind the call that reaches back and beyond the foundations of the world. And the cause is hidden in His own heart of Love—He doesn’t tell us why He loved us so.

I can assure you that hell is right here on this very earth. Odd that not one reference to hell in the Bible refers to any other place. Mainly I believe that torment and suffering are more between the ears of man. To escape is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then and only then are you free. Otherwise the flames entrenching the lost is a necessity for some will be saved so as by fire.

The fire of God is His judgment in our lives that consumes the refuse in us, which is WOOD, HAY, AND STUBBLE! God’s fire is for PURIFICATION, NOT ETERNAL TORTURE! Nothing was tortured in "Gehenna", only consumed and changed into another form. Your FIERY TRIALS are the process in which God is consuming your carnality and CHANGING YOU INTO THE VERY IMAGE OF THE SON OF GOD.

"Gehenna" was the city dump of Jerusalem, the Holy City, where every unclean and unnecessary thing was burned and consumed. The antitypical "Gehenna" to which our Lord alluded in His teaching is the process of PURIFICATION by which every unclean and unnecessary thing in the lives of His Holy People is purged and consumed by the fires of His judgment.

If God prepared a place in which He was going to torture billions of the human beings He created, how could He say it never entered His mind? (Jer 19:5, Jer 32:35, Jer 7:31)

To move from something that is only a noun to something dynamic and unpredictable, to something living and present tense, is to move from the law to grace.

Dale Thompson

Hannah Whitall Smith

Because of her long personal search for God out of the strongly non-creedal religion of the Society of Friends, Hannah’s understanding of truth did not always match the formal doctrines of the evangelicalism of her day, doctrines which had been fashioned into evangelical orthodoxy after centuries of theological debate. Most Christians who knew her or of her were aware of these differences. Some had a real problem with her “broadness,” but most did not.

Several factors contributed to the wide-hearing her spiritual counsels received among evangelicals in her time and up to the present time: (1). She never chose to ride a hobby or promote her differences publically. Total submission to God and following Christ were the key notes of her writing and preaching. (2). Her readers and hearers were in a revivalistic tradition which was loyal to basic evangelical doctrine which believed that life not doctrine was the true test of pure Christianity. (3). She had the skill of a spiritual genius in getting to the heart of relational spirituality. Her God was the Omnipotent Lord, but above all, the Loving Father, and she was his devoted child. God was family, like her father, her mother, her sisters and her brother, only so much more.

Hannah’s heresies have not been emphasized in these limited selections from the thousands of entries available. Many today who know her only through her writings know very little about them, or, if they do, like those who knew her best, they still accept her spiritual insights as valid in the same way that most evangelicals of her own generation did and for the same reasons. Like Job, God put her to the test. And like Job she put God to the test. Her ability to tell us about it is what still helps us home to God today.

To a Friend, The Cedars, August 8, 1876

BROAD, BROADER, BROADEST

And now what do you think of it all? I think one of two things, but which one is right, I don’t know. Perhaps you can tell me. Either I was awfully wicked in the whole matter, and God was not in it anywhere and all the success was because of our natural gifts and talents. Or else I was awfully good, so good as to have lost sight of myself to such a degree as to be only a straw wafted on the wind of the Spirit and so consecrated as not to be able to form a desire even, except that the will of God might be fully done. I waver about myself continually. Sometimes I feel sure I have progressed wonderfully, and that my present sphinx-like calm and indifference to everything whether inward or outward except the will of God, is very grand. And then again I think I am an utterly irreligious and lazy fatalist, with not a spark of the divine in me. I do wish I could find out which I am.

But at all events my orthodoxy has fled to the winds. I am Broad, Broader, Broadest! So Broad that I believe everything is good, or has a germ of good in it, and “nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.” I agree with every body, and always think it likely everybody’s “view” is better than my own. I hold all sorts of heresies and feel myself to have got out into a limitless ocean of the love of God that overflows all things. My theology is complete, if you but grant me an omnipotent and just Creator. I need nothing more.

“God is love,” comprises my whole system of ethics. And, as you say, it seems to take it all in. There is certainly a very grave defect in any doctrine that universally makes its holders narrow and uncharitable, and this is always the case with strict, so called orthodoxy. Whereas, as soon as Christian love comes in, the boundaries widen infinitely. I find that everyone who has travelled this highway of holiness for any length of time, has invariably cut loose from their old moorings. I bring out my heresies to such, expecting reproof, when lo! I find sympathy. We are “out on the ocean sailing” that is certain. And if it is the ocean of God’s love, as I believe; it is grand.

But, enough! Now, what will you do with it all?

Reblogged from: http://not1lost.blogspot.com/

The Potter's Wheel

The Potter's Wheel

When you’re troubled and discouraged
In the darkness of the night
When obstruction clouds your vision
And you just can't see the light.

When life’s trials overcome you
And you have nowhere to turn
When you’ve reached the very bottom
There are lessons you must learn.

For the clay is being molded
It’s been twisted, pulled and tossed
It’s been rolled and it’s been pounded
Till the ego has been lost.

He will put you through the furnace
You’ll be tested to the brim
Your life will be in pieces
Till you give your soul to Him.

From blemish to perfection
His hands will form the clay
This human piece of rubble
Must let God have His way.

When you come to Him all battered
In the form of mortal man
When you cry to Him in mercy
You will find the Potter’s hand.

He will grind you, mold and chisel
The friction you will feel
Till He gently carves and shapes you
Upon the Potter’s wheel.

Author/Written By:
Marilyn Ferguson
©2005

Declare a Fast in the Land?

"Declare a Fast in the land," said the Pastor with microphone in hand, but these words he did not understand.

Just more control is what he wanted to show, the words of God he did not know.

"For four, or forty days, as a congregation we'll pray until God gives us what we say." And so like children the Pastor and his flock continued their play.

Whether only juice, water, or bread, this is the way it is always said when a fast is declared in the land of the dead.

Man takes God's truth and turns it to lies. It all about man's works, not the truth, for the truth they despise.

If this wasn't so the true meaning of fasting they would know. Their spirit would be fed and their understanding would grow. They would stop with the lies, manipulation and control, they would see the word of God in the only thing we can fast from, if the truth be told.

Shall the children fast when their Father is here? Can they ever be hungry when their daily bread is near? Their bread, which is the revelation of God's Word made clear. How can we fast from something so dear? Unless we are ignorant of God's truth and cannot hear.

It's not literal food that feeds our soul, it’s not literal food we fast from, it is the Word of God that is sown. In the wilderness we are tempted with lies and it is hard for God to show the truth we need to know because our minds a filled with the lies these pastors, priests and so-called prophets blow.

Listen carefully before you follow a man made fast. If you follow vain tradition, and ignorant teachers, you follow the wrong teachers down the wrong path.

We are the body and the bread that is broken. The water is the Word we’re immersed in, the sincere milk is the rudiments of God's word spoken. The Fish and the Sheep are women and men that seek. The meat is revelation that is quite deep, the honey is enlightenment that opens yours eyes so you can see. In the Promise Land there is no fasting or hunger for you and me.

So don't be like the disciples of John and those that follow after the teaching of those that are less than the least in the kingdom. The law and the prophets bring death, but Christ brings liberty, peace, righteousness and freedom.

Jacob
www.JacobIsrael.org
"The Truth Will Change You"

I have always wondered why I was never led to 'fast'.. :)

Reconciliation

CLV John 12:31 Now is the judging of this world. Now shall the Chief of this world be cast out.
John 12:32 And I, if I should be exalted out of the earth, shall be drawing all to Myself."

KJV John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

NASB John 12:31 "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
Joh 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

The word 'men' is not in the original Greek.

Jesus said that when He was lifted up He would draw all into Himself. The word men is italicized meaning it was added for clarity. The subject he was talking about was judgment. He drew all judgment for sin unto Himself. He did that by drawing all men unto Himself also. So all men were in Christ when He died on the cross. When He died we all died. When He raised from the dead we all raised from the dead with Him, Holy, Righteous and Perfect in the eyes of God. All men are in Christ, even as all men were in Adam. As sin was imputed to us through the one man Adam, righteous has been imputed to us because of the obedience of the one man Jesus. We really never enter into the equation. It has always been between God and two men. Our receiving of the gift is the kind of receiving you do when you catch the flu. Your body receives the organism whether you want it or not. Your spirit received righteousness through the faith of Jesus Christ. Our job is to reveal to the "world" the righteousness that already exists in them" not to get to become righteous through some work that they might do, which I might add even includes believing. The entire world has been redeemed whether they believe it or not. When that revelation of Redemption is revealed to them and they believe it is when they come into "salvation" which is for the soul which is the mind the will and the emotions.
Tom Tonsky

Tithing ~ is it valid under the New Covenant?

This morning I thought to look at this lesson on tithing that a friend of mine had posted in a particular forum. He'd done a huge study on this topic and I thought I'd post the main points. I left some out to tidy it up as there were quite a bit of 'personal' quotes and quips.

For a long time I have felt the Holy Spirit tell me that tithing was not a requirement in the New Covenant. I'd read a few books about it, and read many articles which were good teaching, but I felt there was something deeper, the postings my friend StevenL had given from his study was that deeper teaching. In fact, I believe it goes deeper still, the scriptures are like that. So here is that teaching, I hope it helps someone to break free just that little bit more from the Law still preached in pulpits around the christian world..

Tithing

That there may be food in My house.

John 4:32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Why does he want the tithes? So there will be FOOD in His House.

What is His House?

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:9 YOU are God's building. (Read the surrounding verses to see Paul's allegory. We're going back to "God's field"....think "tithe"..... later.)

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

So, His House is the people of God, corporately and individually. It is a SPIRITUAL HOUSE. It's not located in some particular place so that we can "go to the house of God." You can't GO there. You ARE there. It's certainly not in Jerusalem for an antichrist to go sit in.

John 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth;

This House is Haggai's House. Hag 2:9

1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices (think "tithe") acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

HIS HOUSE is a spiritual House.

This House is also a PRIESTHOOD.

God's House is also a Priesthood, a Building, a Field, a Body, a Family, a Temple.

1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices (FOOD!) acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 7:11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.

At the appearing of Jesus, God manifested in flesh, at the end or consummation of the ages, a NEW PRIESTHOOD also was established. The old one, under the order of Levi (Aaron, the High Priestly family) was found to be ineffective and useless. It represented FLESH. ~ The flesh had to be fed with physical food ~ or, of course, they would die or at least be hungry and unable to work. The tithes and offerings (FOOD) of the NON-PRIESTLY tribes were used to feed the physical temple servants so they could be 'holy' (separated to the work).

But the physical temple with its appointments and rituals, law, priesthood, is now GONE. The Priesthood changed, it changed TRIBES. Jesus was born into the world through JUDAH (meaning Praise) and became a Priest after the order of Melchizedek (meaning King of Righteousness) and not Aaron. The Levitical was on the order of and represented FLESH and DEATH. Melchizedek represented the order of Spirit and LIFE! Perpetual LIFE!

So we NOW have a Priesthood after the order of PERPETUAL LIFE, the order of Melchizedek. And Melchizedek (Jesus) has a FAMILY. A holy Family. Holy meaning separated to Him. Come out from among them and be separate says the Lord...... A PRIESTLY FAMILY, A ROYAL FAMILY.

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen

Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons (children) to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

So we are all BROTHERS/SISTERS/KINDRED in this Royal Family of Priests. A Priesthood based on the order of the King of Righteousness, based on Perpetual LIFE.

Previously, in physical fleshly, Israel, there was only ONE family/tribe of priests. God's original intention was that the whole nation of Israel be a priestly tribe.

Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

But we know that Israel failed to obey. Then, at Sinai, when they made the calf and had the big party, God separated LEVI out for the Priesthood because they alone took up swords, sided with Moses, and killed their brethren who had rebelled.

But then, at the establishment of God's New Covenant through Christ Jesus, at the end of the ages, the Ekklesia, God's Called-Out Family, became the fulfillment of God's original intention.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

God's House is now a Spiritual House, A Spiritual Nation, A Spiritual Body, A Spiritual Priesthood. No separated tribe exists in This Nation. The Whole Nation is now holy (separated).

This Holy Spiritual Priesthood has its own Spiritual FOOD. It offers spiritual sacrifices.

ALL THE PRIESTS ARE REQUIRED TO DO IS EAT.

John 4:31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” (Looking for the physical/flesh)
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. (Looking in the spiritual)

What about us? As Priests in God's House are we eating this food? Christ is our example.

1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Our FOOD should be doing the will of God and finishing His work in us.

You can see why He would want this FOOD in His House. You can also see why it wouldn't be good not to have this FOOD in His House.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

If we don't eat this FOOD, we will pass away with the world.

Phillipians2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. <<<<<<PRIEST FOOD

It should be apparent that this food cannot be purchased with money.

1Ho, every thirsty one, come ye to the waters, And he who hath no money, Come ye, buy (paradox?) and eat, yea, come, buy Without money and without price, wine and milk. 2 Why do ye weigh money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which is not for satiety? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat good, And your soul doth delight itself in fatness.
3Incline your ear, and come unto me, Hear, and your soul doth live, And I make for you a covenant age-during, The kind acts of David -- that are stedfast. (Young's Literal)

Here's the only place I think we can connect "tithe" (Food in His House) with money. If God tells me to give money to someone (it's His will) and I do it (His will) then I've partaken of the Food in His House. But even then, the tithe (food) is NOT the money, but my ACT OF DOING THE WILL OF GOD.

You can have the biggest "church" in the country, the most members, with every single one of them giving 10 % of his or her gross income to the "house of God", and still not have one particle of True Tithe anywhere in sight.

MORE ON FOOD..

John 6:27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting (age enduring) life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

John 6:32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

John 6:53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 6:60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

John 6:66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

PEOPLE are still stumbling over the reality of the Good News. Take away all the physical trappings, the temples (houses of god), the pews, the crosses, the doves, the priests/pastors behind their pulpits, the sermons, the money "tithes", the sabbaths, the rules, etc. and most would just scratch their heads in bewilderment and walk away. The church members of today have little, if any, greater knowledge of Spiritual Truth than the religious Jews that Christ Jesus had to face.

Most will mouth the fact that Christ FULFILLED the types and shadows of the Mosaic law (or before law) but then in actuality continue to carry on as if the types were NOT really fulfilled.

Christ fulfilled the law of Tithing by doing what Israel in the flesh would not do. He filled the True Temple Storehouse with the True Food from above.......HIMSELF. A Blessing that overflowed and could not be contained. The Second Adam became a Life-Giving Spirit.

But the blinded keep trying to transform the fulfilled tithe into MONEY and then trying to use the prophecy in Malachi to get financially blessed or to expain why they've been financially blessed. What vanity! What delusion!

NOTE: I did NOT say that God will not financially bless people. I said that God does not financially bless because one keeps the law of tithing. No law of tithing exists for God's children.

A Bit of extra teaching concerning Abraham and his tithing to Melchizedek:

Hebrews 7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. SPOILS. SPOILS SPOILS.5 And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; 6 but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. 8 Here (in ancient Israel with a Levitical priesthood) mortal men receive tithes, but there (in the land around the Salt Sea where the battle took place in the Genesis 14 account) he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. 9 Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. 11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.

So.....the Genesis account says nothing about anyone receiving "tithes in heaven". Melchizedek was definitely on the earth. What else? Scripturally, Abraham tithed ONCE. To the High Priest Melchizedek. ONCE. What did he tithe? His money, his cows, his chickens, his gold.....what? What does the Scripture say he "tithed?" He gave the Priest a tenth of the SPOILS OF BATTLE. THE SPOILS BELONGED TO THE KINGS FROM WHICH THEY HAD BEEN TAKEN. No other scriptural evidence exists that Abraham EVER tithed from his own possessions at any time.

And so from this, church scholars (needing cash) derive a doctrine that "since Abraham tithed church members must tithe." (Meaning church members should pay 10 % of their income to the church.) This is one of the greatest HOAXES and DECEITS of all time.

But wait! Does the High Priest Christ Jesus receive "tithes"? Oh yes He does. But do we send him money into heaven? No. Do we go to battle and kill a bunch of thieves, take their goods, and send the SPOILS to heaven, like Abraham? No. So how does He get His "tithe"? Well, here's one way, if you can hear it.

Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he Jesus shall bear their iniquities.
12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

I wonder why I've never heard it preached that we can buy "whatever our soul desires" even wine or strong drink....and eat and rejoice before the Lord?? Sounds like a pretty good party to me.

Deuteronomy 14:22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, the produce of the field, year by year. 23And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he will choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God continually.

24And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God blesseth thee;
25then shalt thou give it for money, and bind the money together in thy hand, and go to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, 26 and thou shalt give the money for whatever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat (who shall eat?)there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thy house.
27And thou shalt not forsake the Levite that is within thy gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee. 28 At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates; 29 and the Levite -- for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee -- and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.

The tithe was always about EATING AND DRINKING. Somehow this got left out of all the thousands of "sermons" I've heard on "tithing." And somehow they always leave out the part about the booze. I wonder why this is?

Another question: Where is the PLACE now that YHVH has chosen to SET HIS NAME? In order to "tithe" we MUST go to this PLACE. I wonder how many even know where HIS NAME dwells today? That's where we've gotta EAT and DRINK and REJOICE.