A
Rebuttal of Tony Evans’, No More Excuses, pages 215-231, by Russell Earl Kelly,
PHD; January 21. 2015
Evans:
(216) “God’s will and plan for His people. … God has set up creation to act as
a stewardship. Now He’s not going to revamp His eternal plan …”
Kelly:
Tony Evans lists a Th. M. and Th. D. from Dallas Theological Seminary. Dallas
is a pioneer in conservative theology. A key hermeneutic (principle of
interpretation) is “To whom is the text addressed?” “His people” before Calvary
was clearly national Israel (Ex. 19:5-6). After Calvary God’s “new covenant” was
“revamped” to include Gentiles and the Church which were never under the Old
Covenant Law.
The
founders of DTS include Lewis Sperry Chafer and John Walvoord. DTS does not
teach tithing. My book, Should the Church
Teach Tithing?, quotes from their book to agree with my viewpoint. Tony
Evans knows better.
Evans:
(218) Ps. 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it.” The Bible
declares that God owns it all.
Kelly:
Every tithe-teacher quotes Psalm 24:1! Why? The words “tithe, tithes, tithing”
do not occur even once in the Psalms! This text does not somehow magically
prove tithing. While it is a true statement, tithes in the Old Testament and
during the time Psalm 24:1 was inspired were still only food from inside God’s
HOLY land of Israel which He had miraculously increased and they could only
come from Hebrews living inside that land. Gold, silver, money and income are
never included in 16 texts which describe the contents of the HOLY tithe. Not
even Jesus, Peter or Paul qualified as tithe payers; nobody living outside the
HOLY land qualified, especially Gentiles. Therefore Psalm 24:1 cannot support
tithing of non-food items by Gentiles.
Evans:
(220) “If you are the Creator and you have created something for a purpose, you
have a right to demand that it fulfill your purpose and nothing else. … If God
owns everything how does that relate to the concept of tithing?”
Kelly:
Evans never mentions the biblical purpose for the tithe found in Numbers 18 and
Deuteronomy. He replaces God’s stated purpose with his own opinion.
According
to Numbers 18 (the exact wording of the tithing statute/ordinance) the purpose
of the first Levitical tithe was to reimburse the Levites for their (part time)
service in the sanctuary/temple in exchange for their loss of land inheritance
inside Israel. This real purpose is almost totally ignored by gospel preachers
who also own property. “Part time” refers to the many professions and trades of
both Levites and priests found in 1 Chronicles 23 to 26; they served the king
and the LORD often as government employees. See my chapter on Kings, Tithes and
Taxes from Should the Church Teach
Tithing?
The
total tithe was actually around 23%. Tithe-advocates like Tony Evans dare not
point out this fact as it would be awkward asking for 23%. A second tithe of
10% was required to feed the masses at the seasonal feasts. A third tithe of
10% every third year was kept in the towns to feed the poor and Levites (who
were expected to be among the poor). See my chapter, How Many Tithes?
(www.tithing-russkelly.com).
Evans’
most fundamental error is in failing to define the biblical HOLY tithe as the
word is used by Moses, Nehemiah, Malachi and Jesus in Matthew 23:23 and Luke
11:42. There is no biblical authority to
define the holy tithe as income from Gentiles and the Church.
The
Bible does not tell us why uncircumcised Abram gave a tithe from spoils of war
to Melchizedek in Genesis 14. It neither says he was commanded to do so nor does
it record that he freely chose to do so. Yet tithe-teachers usually assign one
of these two reasons. Abram was most likely merely obeying the common demonstrable
tradition of giving his local king-priest a tithe from the spoils of war. On
the other hand, Jacob’s tithe was a freewill vow. Both were from defiled pagan
sources; neither would qualify as a holy tithe under the law or by Malachi or
Jesus.
The
HOLY tithe (as the word is used by Moses, Nehemiah, Malachi, Matthew and Luke)
was always only food from inside God’s HOLY land of Israel. It could not come
from non-Hebrews. It could not come from non-food sources. It could not come
from outside Israel. It could not come from what man made; it must come from
the miraculous hand of God. There are 16 verses which validate this claim. Even
Malachi 3:10 and Jesus in Matthew 23:23 still limit it to food.
Evans
and all other tithe-teachers simply will not be honest and define the HOLY
tithe according to God’s Word. They say that food was barter and used as money.
In doing so, they fail to perform a simple word search in an exhaustive
concordance such as Strong’s. The words “money, silver, gold” are common and
required for temple worship but are never included in any description of the
tithe or firstfruits. Check it out for yourself.
Evans:
(220) God established the tithe with Israel in the Old Testament.
Kelly:
Yes, yes, yes – and only with Israel in the Old Testament. Even then He
severely limited it to food producers who lived inside His HOLY land. The tithe
never did apply to occupations and trades beyond food production. The tithe was
never used to build mission stations and proselytize Gentiles (so there is no
precedent there). O. T. Gentiles could not tithe. Jesus, Peter and Paul could
not tithe. Not even crops grown outside Israel by Hebrews could be tithed.
Evans:
He told the people that he wanted the first ten per cent of everything they
produced, whether the crops in the fields or the animals born to the flocks and
herds (see Lev. 27:30-33).
Kelly:
Evans omits Leviticus 2:34 which limits the instructions to national Israel.
Evans
uses Leviticus 27:30-33 to prove that the tithe was to be given first when the
text limits the tithe to the tenth!
Incredible! Any casual reading of the texts makes it clear that the tithe was
the last tenth. Plus the texts do not
include money, gold, silver or income among tithed items.
Evans:
Now the tithe was not designed to allow the Israelites to say “O.K. God here’s
your ten percent. No, the tithe was a way of saying “God, this tithe is my way
of saying that you own it all and gave it all to me. I realize that the 90% is
yours too.”
Kelly:
These are nice sounding words heard very often but they are not biblical and
they ignore the real purpose of the three tithes as previously discussed. It is
dishonest to teach on tithing and totally ignore Numbers 18. Again, “God owned
it all” in the Old Testament times also, but only allowed the holy tithe to
come from what He had miraculously increased from inside His holy land.
Evans:
(221) The tithe was also to be given first,
to remind the Israelites that God would meet their needs if they honored him.
Kelly:
This is a lie; it has no validation from God’s Word. The tithe is not the same
as the firstfruits! The firstfruits was a very small token offering which could
be carried in a small basket; it was a handful of grapes or olives; it was
several apples or a handful of grain; it was not the tenth of the total harvest
which could only be counted after the harvest was finished. Think straight;
look us “firstfruits” in a concordance.
Evans:
This is a view of stewardship most of us aren’t used to.
Kelly: It is unbiblical to use the principle of God’s ownership to
teach that believers must give the first tenth of their income to the church.
Evans:
The Israelites of Malachi’s day dishonored the Lord by giving Him the worst of
their flock for sacrifice (Mal. 1:7-8). The people would …. (1:9)
Kelly:
Stop what you are doing for a moment, pick up a Bible for yourself, and open to
Malachi, chapter one. It begins with an address to Israel in 1:1. At 1:6 the
writer/speaker begins addressing “you,” the priests. From 1:6 to the remainder
of Malachi, the word “you” refers to priests and not to the people of Judah as
a whole.
Evans
has skipped Malachi 1:6 and begins at 1:7. This is dishonest because he changes
the focus from dishonest priests to the people. It is the dishonest priests who
have taken the worst (of the best tenth, Num. 18:25-28) from their flocks (Num.
35; Josh. 21)
Evans:
(222) Look how seriously God took this insult, “O that one of you would shut
the temple doors that you would not light useless fires on my altar.
I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no
offering from your hands” (Mal. 1:10).
Kelly:
Anybody who honestly reads the Bible in context will realize that Malachi 1:10
is still speaking to the priests (the “you”) from 1:6. Even more so, the text itself (1:10) limits
the context to only priests who are responsible for “shutting the doors” to the
Temple and for “lighting fires at the altar.” This is not a condemnation of the
people for not tithing. Rather, it is a condemnation of dishonest priests for
substituting unqualified sacrificial animals.
Evans:
God says shut the temple, close down the church if that is all we are
going to give him.
Kelly:
The New Covenant Church is never called a “storehouse” in the Bible. In fact,
church buildings were illegal until after A.D. 313.
Evans:
He wants to be first in everything.
Kelly:
Evans again uses the magic trick of equating tithes with firstfruits. In the
Old Covenant neither were non-food items; neither could come from outside
Israel; neither could come from non-food-producing occupations. Sacrificial
freewill offerings is another thing though.
Evans:
When we give God lesser any
priority
in our lives, we are relegating the Owner to the demeaning position below that
of his steward of manager.
Kelly:
Sounds good, but this is not biblical. Consider 1 Timothy 5:8 “But if any
provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house, he hath
denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Modern tithe-teachers want the
tithe first. They want the poor and needy to buy their medicine, food, shelter
and other necessities after the tithe is paid.
Paul
said to take care of one’s own essential family needs first! Yet many sincere
“tithe-payers” are cutting pulls in half and doing without proper food and
shelter for their family in order to avoid an Old Covenant curse for Israel and
escape their preacher’s wrath.
Evans:
(God) would not be satisfied with your leftover time, energy and skills.
Kelly: If there is nothing “leftover” after buying
essential medicine, food and shelter, God will not be angry. Evans has placed
his own words into God’s mouth.
Evans:
That’s the principle of priority we need to understand.
Kelly:
Evans’ “principle of priority” is based on two false assumptions: (1) that
Psalms 24:1 includes tithes from non-food increase outside of Israel from
Gentiles and (2) that firstfruits and tithes are the same thing.
……………………………………………………………
Having
completed Evans’ arguments, let us look at a few facts.
(1)
Evans failed to define the holy tithe as the word is used by Moses, Nehemiah,
Malachi and Jesus.
(2)
Evans fails to point out that those being cursed in Malachi 1:11-14 and 2:1
were clearly the priests and not the people.
(3)
Evans fails to follow the pronoun “you” from 1:6. The priests’ question of 2:17
is answered in 3:1-5 as God’s promise to purify the priesthood. “This whole
nation” of 3:8-10 only makes sense when understood as “this whole nation “of
you priests” –every priest in the nation. In Nehemiah 13:5-10 the priests had
removed the tithes from the small storeroom and forced the Levites to return to
their cities for food. Also see Neh. 10:35-38.
(4)
It makes no sense to teach that the temple in Jerusalem held the whole tithe of
the whole nation.
a) It was too small
(compare 1 Kings 6:6);
b) priests would have to
travel to the temple every time they wanted food; c) there were no large
storerooms for tithes in Solomon’s temple and a crisis was created in Second
Chronicles 31:1-5. The crisis ended when most of the tithes were re-distributed
back to the Levitical cities where they belonged. Again read Nehemiah
10:37b-38.
(5)
It is absurd to imply that God owes believers “overflowing blessings” simply
because they tithed. The O.T. Law was to be obeyed wholly and perfectly before
blessings were dispensed (Gal 3:10; Deut 27:26). God did not bless tithe-payers
who broke the law in other areas.
(6)
The principle and doctrine of the priesthood of every believer abolishes
tithing because every N.T. believer is a priest before God (1 Pet 2:9-10: Rev
5:10).
Mr.
Evans, I invite you to enter an open dialog on this subject. It is far too important
to ignore.
In
Christ’s love
Russell
Earl Kelly, PHD
316
Aonia Rd
Washington,
Ga 30673
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