Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway is a 30-year culmination to unfold a tale of suspicion, intrigue and questions about tithing. The message of the book is that ten percent of a person's income does not represent a biblical tithe. The biblical tithe has always been edible items. A monetary tithe of ten percent represents a tax for religious purposes. A true biblical tithe is narrowly limited to food and clean animals from inside the land of Israel. Kleptomaniac: Who's Really Robbing God Anyway is an educational book that tackles the religious taboo subject of monetary tithing and presents information about an under-saturated subject in the book world. This book is scholastically sound, and a theologically epic work that should be read by those who are skeptic about the truth and accuracy of the modern monetary tithe system which is not contained on the pages of the Bible. KLEPTOMANIAC: Who's Really Robbing God Anyway is a trek through the pages of the Bible to find the untwisted truth about the centuries-old false teachings on tithes and offerings.
This book takes you on a epic theological quest to define the word tithe and then breaks down the differences between giving and tithing as the Bible instructs. The author attempts to expose what most people believe as fact to bring them to what the Bible actually teaches when it comes to true giving. Are the arguments put forth today about tithing fact or fiction? Kleptomaniac, tackles tough questions like, did God ever require a tithe of money? Was the contents of the tithe always money in the Bible? Who is really robbing God today? Did God change the tithe at some point in biblical history? Are first fruits money? Is the tithe food, money or both? Is the church the storehouse? Did Jesus, Paul and the Disciples tithe? Did the early church honor a money tithe system? Are Christians really cursed for not tithing ten percent of their income in perpetuity to the institutional church? These questions will be answered based on scholarship, the land, the language and the literature of the original Biblical people and the Hebrew language. Not only will questions be answered for those confused about whether or not they are required to pay ten percent of their income to religious institutions, they will learn what the Bible really teaches about money and stewardship. The author meticulously examines the word tithe in both the Hebrew and Greek language.
Sometimes a book challenges us on what we think we know or have been taught. On the subject of tithing, many people have opinions, thoughts and interpretations about what biblical tithing means, but rarely have done a complete empirical study on this biblical practice. This book deals, not with theories and opinions about monetary tithing but with well-proven theology, scriptural principles, hermeneutical facts and the Hebrew language to define what tithing really is and is not in the New Testament.
Excerpt
Many Bible verses on giving are removed from their context and given new meaning. People who read the Bible should be familiar with first century believers. Not knowing or understanding their culture, habits, lifestyles, and giving practices can affect your wallet. Many people argue money tithing from the doctrine of first things in the Scripture. The logic is that if something is first mentioned in the Scripture, it is a prescription for a mandated eternal moral principle. It is this concept that drives the tithing doctrine. Because Abram is first mentioned tithing to Melchizedek in Genesis, this serves as justification for churches and pastors to demand tithes as baseline income. However, this belief is out of context because this book has established that Abram’s tithe was a single event for spoils of war. The perspective of first things from the Old Testament establishes how to take care of buildings and it was not with tithes but with freewill offerings. The needs of the modern church, i.e., mortgages, lights, heat, salaries for senior pastors and leaders, outweighs the needs of God’s people, which is quite the opposite of how first century believers operated in the New Testament. The first mention of freewill giving is in Exodus 35:5, 21, 29 and 36:5-6 dealing with the upkeep of the temple. These verses address temple needs and this is where the New Covenant leadership should look when trying to find examples on how to support building funds for church upkeep and not some obscure single tithe occurrence Abram gave when he was eighty years old. Exodus establishes grace giving and freewill giving, and that concept is transferred to the New Testament from the following verses: Exodus 35:5 From what you have, take an offering for the LORD. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze; ... 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 29 All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do (NIV). Anyone with an ounce of biblical intelligence can see the doctrine of first mention in the Exodus text is the principle for New Testament giving. What are the observations from this text? The first point of Exodus is that God built the temple on freewill offerings before the mandatory tithe was established under the law in Numbers chapter 18. There are varying beliefs and theological arguments on whether there were one, two or three tithes in Israel. This chapter examines different tithing practices and will not focus on the number of tithes. Individual study of the doctrine of one tithe in Israel is a must for understanding the tithe practices of the Hebrew people. No matter what position you take on how many tithes, it is important to understand the tithe in Hebrew is always food and never money. This chapter examines a tithe from agricultural production and another from an increase in animals (livestock), which came from farmers and herders who tithed based on Leviticus 27:30-33.
