Should the modern church teach tithing?

Prosperity churches today have put a whole new twisted spin onto the tithing concept which has fast gotten out of hand. Here is a wealth of information on the subject:

http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id149.html

http://www.bible-truths.com/tithing.html

I personally have recently listened to tapes by Clive Pick which nearly turned my hair grey - I will elaborate on this.

I have the audio tapes for "The Revelation of Financial Renewal" by Clive Pick and certain statements made me mad - for instance, he states that if the Pastor were to take the full church's tithe (10 percent gross before tax he emphasizes) and if he burns it right there in front of everyone, no-one should object as it is no longer theirs. My objection is that it is not his either, so what would give him the right if it is YHUH's? The exact wording goes like this:

"You are deciding what you are doing with God's money, God says where he wants it in what proportion. Even if your Pastor calls you one morning and says "Well, we are going to do the tithing differently from the offering so hang on to your offerings and you see this big tin basket? Please put all your tithes in." So you will all come through with joy and you put your tithes in the basket and then the Pastor pours petrol over your tithes and sets fire to it. Now some of you will be very offended but in actual fact the pastor has just burnt God's money, not yours, you should sit back and enjoy the show!"

This one is totally unbiblical as RT Kendal states "It doesn't matter if you're deeply in debt, tithe". Tithing was meant to be from your increase - you cannot give from a negative! It is clear that these two so-called pastors have created their own doctrine. This is revealed in each of their own statements that they make during their sermons.

Clive Pick states "...and God spoke to me and said you are not doing anything wrong, I'm teaching you to trust me, I said Lord I trust you, I promise you, I trust you. He said, no, you've got to go through this season because you will have people in your meetings who are financially desperate who are on the verge of bankruptcy and I don’t want you teaching anything you haven't been through yourself, I want you to teach from a place of experience, NOT theology."

RT Kendal states that when he first came to Westminster Chapel he was determined to teach tithing even if it did not exist - for example, he taught tithing from the book of Jonah even though it was not in there, and broke all the laws of hermeneutics. Sadly the congregation at Glenridge Church International laughs out loudly at this.

RT Kendall states "my first series during that six months ...at Westminster Chapel was on Jonah and it actually became my first book and...in my sermons on Jonah I found a place where I could bring in tithing and then when it became a book, and they just typed it from a tape recorder and edited it, and we had to decide whether to leave the section in on tithing because we thought, well lets leave it in, this is what I said, and when it became a book and the reviewers read the book "Tithing" what do you suppose they focused on? They laughed me to scorn, they said "where do you suppose RT Kendall found tithing in the book of Jonah?" Well, it ain’t there but it was because I was determined to preach on everything I believed and I just brought it in, I broke every hermeneutical rule in the book."

It is so ironic that most churches today teach that they are no longer under law but under grace but they sure love to follow the ancient law of tithing as opposed to the Ten Commandments!

Is it not just the same old Medieval Roman Catholic system rehashed of paying indulgences to the church to have sins which have been committed pardoned? The church will often state "Give tithes to keep the devourer (the Devil) away". They prey on superstition and fear and milk the congregation for all that they are worth.

I give as the Holy Spirit leads me - to individual people going through crisis and good causes which I know are honest and legal - I do not put all my eggs in one basket where I do not know if the money I am giving is helping anyone but the church building and staff and a few elect people that are being "groomed". If the church you are giving to cannot account for what they are doing with the money, watch out. It is good to give, but give wisely :-)