THEY ARE AFTER YOUR MONEY! Run!!! by Precious C Philip

"They are after your money! Pastors are after your money. They don't care about your soul. They only care about your money." This is what you'll often see flying around social media today. 

But my question is, which public or private establishment is not after your money? The bars, beer parlors, and night clubs that serve you expensive hot drinks, cigarettes and the likes which destroy your internal organs and quickens your journey to the grave, are they not after your money? Do they really care about your soul, let alone the well-being of your physical body? If they're really after your well-being, would they serve you what will destroy your body and end up destroying your soul? 

The DSTV you subscribe to monthly to watch football and other programmes, are they not after your money? 

The Netflix you subscribe to monthly to watch movies, are they after your well-being? Of course not. They are after your money too. 

The doctors that perform abortions, are they not after your money? 

The musicians that sing meaningless songs and display nudity in their songs and the movie producers that produce sexually provocative movies to entice you to purchase, are they not after your money? 

Telecommunications companies like GLO, MTN, Dtac, TrueMove, are they not after your money? 

Porn industries, are they not after your money? 

Companies that produce cigarettes,  tobacco, alcoholic beverages and the likes, are they not after your money? 

The comedians that organize shows and charge high entrance fees to their shows, are they not after your money? 

The lecturers that demand you buy their course materials/textbooks at alarming prices, are they not after your money?

Prostitutes that stand on the streets and the ones that engage in private prostitution, are they not after your money? 

Brothels and hotels, are they not after your money? 

As an employee, are you not after your employer's money? 

As an employer, are you not after your customer's money?

And as an entrepreneur, are you not after people's money? 

So, who exactly is not after your money?and who are you not after their money as a career/business person? Can you still do the job/work you're doing now if you're not going to get any money from it? If you try to defend yourself by saying "I am not after people's money. I just supply my goods/services to them in exchange for money." What do you think pastors/prophets are doing? If they have no service or nothing of value to offer, why then do millions follow them? 

No doubt we have false pastors and prophets today who merchandise the gospel of Jesus, but that does not mean that every pastor/prophet is after your money. When you give tithes and offerings you give it directly to God through your pastor, so why care about what your pastor/priest use it for? That is between him and God; except you don't trust your pastor is called of God, and if you don't, why then are you under his spiritual leadership? It is hypocrisy if you don't know, and you're wasting your time worshipping in his ministry because you'll not get anything tangible out of it. You'll just be experiencing stagnation or retrogression, you'll not progress. So, it's important you worship where you believe the pastor/priest is called of God, to grow spiritually, financially, intellectually, and physically, because you cannot receive from who you do not believe in. 

But come to think of it, what best place should you invest your money if not God's kingdom and His work on earth? Whether you believe it or not, everyone pays tithes and gives offerings, including the critics of tithes and offerings. The difference is where you pay/give yours. Either to God or to the devil; to support and advance God's work on earth or to support and advance the works of the devil on earth. Some pay their tithes and offerings to doctors for treatment of sickness and disease their disobedience to God inflicted on them. Some pay to bars, beer parlors and night clubs, ergo help to advance the ungodly business. Some pay to DSTV & Netflix, thus support the establishment. Some pay to comedians. Some pay to mobile phone companies. Some pay to automobile companies. Some pay to sellers of wigs, make-up, jewelries, shoes, bags, clothes, wristwatch etc. So everyone pays their tithes and gives offerings. No one eats money. We all spend it. 

Now, this is the crucial part you should sit down and give serious consideration to. The tithes and offerings you give to beer parlors, nightclubs, DSTV, Netflix, car companies, mobile phone companies etc, does not give you any right to call them when troubles of life come knocking at your door. I usually see this one perfectly played out in movies, which is a reality; when a man is consumed and weighed down by problems of life and he goes to a bar or a beer parlor to drink away his sorrows and problems, he sits there drinking and they serve him as many drinks as he wants; then he becomes drunk and delays to go home. When it is time for the owners of the bar/beer parlor to close for the day, they would send such a person out drunk, not caring whether he will find his way back home. They just close their parlor and go home. Some men on their way home get involved in an accident and die in the process. Some others sleep in the gutter. Some successfully return home but with their problems tightly hugging them. Some who spend their tithes and offerings on comedy shows -go to the shows, laugh and return home with their problems unsolved. Some go to watch football and after watching football, they return home to meet their problems. 

But those who pay their tithes to God and give their offerings to Him have the awesome privilege of calling on God in time of trouble and God will rescue them. Which do you prefer? If you're with the category of people who say tithes and offerings should be given to the poor and even practice it, let me remind you that you cannot take your school fees and give to the poor and tell your school principal that you have given your school fees to the poor because you believe it is the same thing as giving your school fees to him. If you cannot do that, why then do you think you can take your tithes and offerings God says you should bring to His house (Malachi 3:10) to the poor? It is stinginess that makes many people do this. Because you don't want to remove your tithes and offerings and still remove another money for the poor, so you'll rather save more money to spend on yourself by only removing your tithes and offerings and give it to the poor and brag that you give to the poor. Please brother/sister, there is no reward in such from God, for you're not giving to the poor, you're rather robbing God to receive the praise, admiration and respect of men. Because when you give to the poor, they praise you and you feel good about yourself, but when you pay your tithes and offerings, no human being praises you. Please repent and stop robbing God- it attracts curses. By the way, thieves have no place in God's kingdom (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). 

Pay attention to this: "Then Jesus sat down near the offering box, watching all the people dropping in their coins. Many of the rich would put in very large sums, but a destitute widow walked up and dropped in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. Jesus called his disciples to gather around and then said to them, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given a larger offering than any of the wealthy. For the rich only gave out of their surplus, but she sacrificed out of her poverty and gave to God all that she had to live on, which was everything she had.” Mark 12:41-44

Jesus Himself sat beside the offering box to see what people were putting into it. This is how important your giving of offerings is. If this was done by a pastor today, it'll be all over the social media that the pastor is after the congregation's money. The ways of God are not the ways of men. Jesus cares about what you give Him as offerings. He expects that you pay your tithes and give offerings. Listen to His own words in Matthew 23:23 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things." Notice the words on bold letters and stop excusing this commandment with "It is a commandment in the old testament that is not commanded in the new testament." Don't let social media tithe critics and pastors' abusers corrupt your mind and deceive you. If Jesus commands tithe paying, that means the promise of God in Malachi 3:10-12 to tithers is still valid, working, and obtainable, and also means that non-tithers who rob God will not go unpunished. 

Your tithes and offerings given to God help to promote the gospel of Jesus. It helps to organize crusades and win souls to Christ. It helps to lead evangelical outreach programs to reach out to more people with the gospel of Christ. It helps to build more churches in different places to accomodate, train, teach and disciple new converts, and it helps to reach out to the needy, homeless, sick and the poor. This is what the devil will not want you to do because there is a reward in it for you, both here on earth and there in heaven. He'll rather tell you pastors are after your money and hide the truth that he's also after your money to use it to promote his own mission of killing, stealing and destruction by establishing more bars, beer parlors, disco halls, night clubs (because the more you patronise these businesses with your tithes and offerings, the more they thrive and expand - subtly enticing people into immoral living that'll destroy their destinies and future). Open your eyes and see the deceit of the devil. Stop working for him. Work with God and be rewarded by Him. 

God is after your money because He wants you to use it to serve Him, by paying tithes and giving offerings that'll be used to promote His Kingdom and spread the Good news of Jesus to the entire world. The devil on the other hand is after your money because he wants to use it to perpetrate and further his evil plans. Who are you releasing your money to? Who are you supporting and advancing their good works or bad works on earth? God owns you; the money you have He gave it to you (except you're into devil worship and money rituals). So, God deserves to have your money. Pay your tithes faithfully and give quality offerings to God. You'll be greatly rewarded. 

Shalom!