[By Chief Ita Awak]
The public display of indecorous bickering and acrimonious foul mouthing in the body of the leadership of Pentecostalism in Nigeria on the subject of tithing has not only spotlighted, in my humble opinion, their gross misunderstandings and misapplication of the sacred principle involved in this act; it has also inadvertently given warrant to those outside of their sacerdotal class to proffer informed spiritual insights into the divine law and principle they seem unaware of.
In order to aid my readers get a good grasp of the divine law underpinning the act of tithing, I want to respectfully call attention to one of the esoteric teachings of Lord Jesus the Christ as related to us in the NRSV Book of Luke, chapter six and verse thirty eight. It reads:
Give, and it shall be given unto you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
SIMPLY PUT, ONE HAS TO GIVE AND/OR SACRIFICE SOMETHING TO GET WHAT ONE DESIRES.
The way many of the enlightened minds understand this particular teaching of Lord Jesus is that the universe or the cosmic has an unlimited reservoir of abundance which we all are entitled and free to tap into and benefit from on the condition that we are karmically deserving of the gift in material and health we are asking for. One of the conditions that makes one deserving is that one is a contributor to the Universal Reservoir of cosmic wealth and abundance.
Against this backdrop, we see that tithing obeys the simple law of reciprocity, namely: As We Sow [Give], So Shall We Reap [Get].
Therefore, if you want peace of mind, you must first give peace to those around you; if you want love from your spouse, children, siblings, colleagues and friends, you must first give them love; if you desire promotion in your place of work, you must first render the kind of services that promotes your work place or company and you must recommend and honestly promote those junior to you who are deserving of promotion.
The quarrel that priests like Pastorpreneur Abel Damina appears to have with his priestly colleagues he calls transactional tithe mongers is rooted in his insistence that: i) the coming of Lord Jesus abrogated the old Jewish tradition of tithing; and ii) that Lord Jesus did not advocate it and, therefore, the lucre minded Pentecostal priests who are demanding for tithes and sowing of seeds are engaging in pious frauds.
I want to humbly submit that Dr Abel Damina saying that the advent of Lord Jesus did put an end or a stop to tithing in places of [Christian] worship is awkwardly inconsistent with some biblical texts. For instance, I invite my respected readers to what Lord Jesus said as regards His core teachings being in full alignment with and fulfillment of ancient spiritual laws promulgated by the Enlightened Ones who came before Him, as captured in the Book of Matthew 5: 17:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
Moreover, Dr Abel Damina’s assertion also tends to unfortunately show that the priest is not possessed of the arcane spiritual laws back of this practice. In truth, the science and act of Tithing was long in vogue for tens of thousands of years in the practice of Ageless Wisdom and other more anterior religions of the ancient world before the advent of the relatively young religion of Christianity that is only about two thousand years old.
That said, I fully concur with the repentant priest that a majority of his sacerdotal colleagues have thoroughly abused and abominably bastardized this sacred practice and have unconscionably used it to self-serve, glamorize, and materially aggrandize themselves. I understand Dr Abel Damon’s anger with those he characterizes as pulpit bandits who morally blackmail, cajole and infest the minds of their uncritical and spiritually ill-equipped congregants with superstitious fears, and all in the unholy ploy of making them part with their money.
As was earlier intimated, tithing is patently an act of reciprocity, a gratitude shown in anticipation for an expected blessing. It is something done by way of convincing or reassuring the subconscious mind of our worthiness and/or deservability of the blessing and privilege sort for. If, therefore, one goes to a place of worship to appeal to the cosmic or God asking for divine intercession and the blessing of good health, that one is morally obligated to give some form of services or cash gifts to the church or organization from where or through whose channel s/he is making the request. However, a church leader or any leader of a body places a heavy karmic load upon him/herself when s/he makes a demand on a person to pay an amount as tithe for a blessing that only the Higher Divinities and Omneity can give.
In conclusion, let us again be reminded of what Lord Jesus admonished, namely: Give And It Shall Be Given Unto You… In The Same Measure You Give, It Shall Be Given Back To You.
But note this very importantly. The anticipatory and reciprocal show of gratitude through tithing must not only be in cash to the pastor of the church. Selfless and altruistic services to the church or organization or community and country is a good example of tithing. This service can also be in the form of helping and giving assistance to the needy members of the church or organization one belongs to or helping of the underprivileged, or coming to the aid of orphanages in your city.
Note also that one must be aware and intention that the act of tithing is one’s contribution into the Universal Reservoir of cosmic and divine abundance; and that this tithing makes one a worthy beneficiary of God’s manifold blessings.
With this new understanding, I admonish that we make it a habit to silently and consistently give a token of our earnings for the furtherance of the spiritual and humanitarian good works of the church, mosque, synagogue, temple, and mystical organization we may belong to and from where we get our spiritual succor.
By doing this, we connect to the powerful spiritual egregore of the group or body of our association; and this makes us worthy recipients of the downpouring of the priceless blessings from the hierarchy of its divinities.
I also urge that we give selfless and sacrificial services through our communities and the bodies we belong to for the growth and evolution of humanity for as we give to humanity, so shall we receive from the divine commonwealth of humanity.
MAY THE INDWELLING CHRIST ESSENCE IN US AWASH OUR CONSCIOUSNESS WITH ILLUMINATION.
Chief Ita Awak.