Pastor Sam Adeyemi, a world-renowned prosperity preacher and leader of the Daystar Christian Centre, who in the past taught that tithing was a requirement for Christians to allow God’s blessings to flourish in their lives, stunned followers and critics in a recent message when he declared the requirement had expired because Jesus freed them from the practice.
Adeyemi’s recent message on tithing stands in stark contrast to his previous message called Convenant System for Increase.
“So I say again, tithing as practiced under the Law of Moses as a regulation has expired. No Christian should feel guilty for not paying tithes, said the pastor of over 20,000-member Church in a video clip obtained by Per Second News.
“Nobody should tell a Christian that for you to be accepted before God first or for you to be righteous you must pay your tithes. When Jesus said it is finished it was finished. There is nothing anybody can add to what Jesus did to be justified before God,” he added. “All anybody needs to do now to be free from sin is to pray and ask for forgiveness.”
Quoting Romans 8: 1-4, Pastor Adeyemi challenged leaders to build hope into the next generation, defended his new position on tithing.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit,” he said.
“God has a unique way or system of prospering people and it is important that we align to that system … There are different classes of giving and the first one is tithing. Many people argue that tithing ended with the Old Testament; is not mentioned in the New Testament and that it passed away with the Law of Moses. However, the tithe predates Moses and the Law because Abraham, while returning from battle, met Melchizedek and gave him a tenth (a tithe) of all the plunder he got from the battle. In return, Melchizedek gave him bread and wine and blessed him (Hebrews 7: 1-9),” Adeyemi wrote.
“Tithing is a deep spiritual principle … tithing helps us to secure God’s blessings. The way you are a citizen of a country and it is mandatory that you pay your taxes to ensure national prosperity, is the same way that, as a citizen of God’s kingdom, you pay your tithe. The tithe is not a gift to God; it is God’s property. He calls it robbery when you don’t pay it (Malachi 3: 8-12). Paying your tithe ensures you contribute to the welfare of the kingdom. As an individual, if you do not play your part, you are contributing to the failure of the community. Organizations and nations should give since the nations who give are the ones who are the most prosperous while those who beg remain poor. When you pay your tithe, no devourer, policy or system can impoverish you,” he said.
Adeyemi’s apparent about-turn on tithing has sparked a major discussion on the subject globally and more deeply in Nigeria where the prosperity gospel has taken root among the poor.
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