MY TESTIMONY OF TITHING

My previous post dealt with Cain - who was the prototype of how mankind can fall into the worst of sins.

It started out with Cain seeking to counsel the Lord in how his offering should be instead of humbly following the Lord's prescription of proper sacrifice.  It ended badly for Cain and company.  I am in a dispute of sorts with some sort of apostate clique on LDSFF over how tithing should be given.  I happen to think that it should be offered freely as 10% of gross, not of net.  I would much rather err on the side of generosity, than on the side of stinginess and greed.  Right now, its up to the discretion of the giver.  I have said it before, and I will gladly say it again, that the day soon comes that the wicked will burn as stubble - and that the Lord's clear mandate is that those who will avoid that fire and badness will be a tithed people.  Many of us have made covenants to give it all, including our very lives in sustaining the kingdom of God.  I see that as a covenant of Consecration - or maybe I am just missing something there.....

So, to bicker over the meaning of a word and a few dollars is really a mute point.  If the Lord required everything, I would give it gladly.  Even if it meant poverty for the rest of my days.....  Having lost a son to SIDS, I know very well that the Lord can take everything, including my own life at any time - for whatever reason He sees fit.  I fully understand the concept that I AM NOTHING WITHOUT HIM!  I think that fits the definition of every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus is the Christ.  If you hold back anything, you simply are not fit for the kingdom of God.   Extreme?   Yes.  Do I want to fill the measure completely?  Yes, I do.  Therefore, I hold the views that I do. Simple as that.

Here is one experience that brought me to the place that I am at:

When our kid (that died of SIDS) was born, I was also called into the Elder's Quorum Presidency in our ward.  It was a golden time in the life of my wife and I.  Contentment on so many levels was at an all-time high.  Right after I was set apart, I was filled with the spirit of prophecy and I began to have an unsettling feeling about my employment possibilities.  I kept feeling after the Lord to give me guidance as the patriarch in our home.  My wife chose to end her teaching career in Secondary Ed and I was thrust into the role as the sole bread winner.  Something that has been extremely difficult for me - and brought much pressure as well as satisfaction in my life.  I pressed the Lord and got the strong impression that I came home and told my wife one day after work.  I said, "Something big is going to happen that will affect my employment, it will happen in the next six months and we need to prepare."  She asked me what it was and I did not know.  It was six weeks before Sept 11th and I was employed by a large aerospace company in the Northwest.  My impression was that we needed to control our spending immediately and to double our fast offerings (and continue to faithfully pay our tithing).  We did so.  Six weeks later, we knew what that impression was about.  Within two weeks, our CEO made a company-wide announcement that we would be cutting 1/2 of our work force.  Things were dire - and I had only been at the company around 4 years and the average term of employment in the workforce was around 20 years.  I had no chance with those odds.  Worse, due to my lack of experience, I was put on a simple system that could be taken over by most any other employee with more seniority and experience.  Most people might logically quit paying tithing/fast offerings in order to hedge up the "rainy day" fund.  We did the opposite.

Two months later as the layoff machine began grinding away, I was over at a less-active brother's house doing home teaching.  He worked for a regional airline as a line mechanic.  He intimated to me that it was not a matter of if, but when that company would face a disaster due to less than above-board maintenance practices.  I did not think any more of it until a few months later in February of the next year.  I was riding home after work when I began hearing reports of this airline having difficulty with the very system I was responsible for as a Maintenance Engineer.  Had I forgotten something?  Was I somehow responsible for dozens of lives?  I was glued to the evening news and found out it was related to faulty record keeping and bad maintenance practices - not documentation of my system.  I was relieved, but did not know the mysterious workings of the Lord that were soon to play out.  As the layoff notices were coming out for others around me, I was suddenly in my manager's office being questioned on my previous work history as he was building a case for keeping me around so that I could completely revamp all documentation on my simple system that had been the cause of this crash.  Suddenly, instead of being layoff fodder, I had received a 10% pay bump and a jump in Engineering classification.  I was no longer on the list of those who were going out the door.  For the next two years (during the worst of times in aerospace when indeed 50% of the company went out the door), I was comfortable and able to breath easily while so many suffered. 

It was the hand of God at play once again.  God knows all things and is able to see what we cannot see.  If we will but simply put our faith and trust in Him, we will be led aright.  I know this.  I have never felt the sting of a day of unemployment as I have sought His will and tried to keep the laws associated with His desire to bless His children.  He does not love one more than the other - he just simply must bless those whom He is bound to bless when they keep His commandments.  I KNOW THIS to be true.  As we enter the phase of the final death throes of the American economy, I warn you to follow this counsel so that He may bless His people.  Soon, it will appear that there are no blessings for the righteous or the wicked, jointly.  He causes His the rain to fall on both camps - but remember that after the trial, comes the blessings.  At that point, I have the assurance that payment of tithing will not guarantee a cushy slot in a multi-national as most will disappear in the chaos, but that food storage and self-reliance will be the means of making it through the difficult times until the fire comes.  Another principle will have taken over.  Let God guide your every action and every thought and you will find the right place for you.  In Jesus name, amen.

I have an amazing story I will share in the next post on how I was snatched from the jaws of unemployment and the actions of a wicked and adulterous manager and a black-mailing lead.  God is mighty to save and is mindful of those who seek His will.