Titus on False Teachers

Titus 1:10-11 says, “There are many men who will not listen or will not obey the truth. Their teaching is foolish and they lead people to believe a lie. Some Jews believe their lies. This must be stopped. It turns whole families from the truth. They teach these things to make money (New Life Version).”

Take this phrase in Titus 1:10, “There are many men who will not listen or will not obey the truth.” Generally, I can honestly say that I may know a few men like this description. They are cowards, afraid to confront scriptures about what they really say. And, when I say “what they really say,” I’m not talking about some sort of weird interpretation that what I think it means. I am talking about what it says at face value, within the context provided in Scripture.

Titus 1:11 says, “They teach these things to make money.” My question is, “what” kind of things to they “teach” in order to make money? Could it be about circumcision? I don’t think so: there’s no money to be made in teaching circumcision is there? The only thing I can think of is that they may charge a price for the circumcision; are there really back alley circumcisions, as they might say?

No, seriously. I don’t think it’s about that. I believe it may be more about how to gain money or financial profit through deceptive teaching. In other words, they probably twist Scripture in order to make it sound true, but it really isn’t. It’s kind of like the false teachers we have these days that do the same thing. They teach that tithing is actually money and you must “tithe” 10% of your on-going income every week in order to:

1. Appease the anger of God
2. To receive financial blessings back 100-fold.

 A false teacher these days will tell you that a “tithe” is actually 10% of your income when actually it’s not. That is a lie. Some false teachers today have even named this tithe money as “seed money.” Don’t forget what Titus said, “Their teaching is foolish and they lead people to believe a lie.” It’s foolish. Why? Because it’s not true and it’s foolish to think that it’s true when it isn’t.

Believe me when I say that out of the entire New Testament, there is not one recorded event of any Christians “tithing” money to a church or a ministry. As a matter of fact, no where in the entire New Testament is there any recorded event of any Christian ever “tithing” anything at all!

I sincerely challenge you to find out and do some research for yourself. Tithing is what Hebrews (Israelites, Jews) did under the Mosaic Law in Israel. Surely, you do not have to believe me but you should believe God’s Word when it says that “holy tithe” MUST be from all the produce of the land in Israel.

Leviticus 27:30 - “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD (KJV).”

Deuteronomy 14:22 – “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year (KJV).”

According to Strong’s Lexicon the English word “seed” mentioned here in Deuteronomy 14:22 is the Hebrew word “zera,” which actually means “seed” as in “to sow seed, scatter seed, produce.” Can you imagine that? In other words, it doesn’t mean MONEY!

Not only did the holy tithe include produce from the land but it also included all cattle and flocks that ate from the land of Israel. Notice that the Scriptures do not say ten percent but the “tenth.” In other words, if you only had nine cattle, you would not tithe but only when you gained (increased) to the tenth one.

Leviticus 27:32 – “And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD (KJV).”

Conclusion

There was a reason for this topic to be in God’s Word. If your pastor is trying to get you to “tithe” by giving more sermons on money, tithing or stewardship then he probably needs more money to pay his bills, remodel his house or pay his Lexus payment.  Your pastor should not desire to make money. His payment should be just as Paul’s was; which was, the opportunity to preach the gospel; that, should be his payment. If he really wants to live by faith, then he should do just that and allow the congregation to freely tithe give what God has laid upon their hearts in order to help the priest pastor.