We Are Leaving The Tithe Paradigm–So Now What?

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Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time considering the topic of supernatural provision and finances. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ve read of how I came to the end of my rope with tithing and much of the paradigm I had been taught about money. It was just a year after my Christian accountant had told me how blessed I would be for giving so much to the church. I soon realized that tithing had undermined the foundations of my Christian faith. I discovered that a huge move away from orthodox Christianity was occurring based on mainstream tithe teachings, to the point that millions of people now believe their eternal destiny–heaven or hell–hinges on their tithes.

For years people had asked me to write a book about tithing, but I didn’t have peace about it yet. It wasn’t time. Then late last year, the Father suddenly gave me the go-ahead. That book, The Trojan Horse Of Tithing, is now free to read on this site or download as a PDF. It will soon be available in Kindle and Paperback.

I received multiple confirmations that God is now putting his finger on this issue in the church and it’s time to deal with it directly. For example, I recently listened to a message in Portuguese from the pastor of a 3,000 member church in Brazil, entitled in Portuguese“Jesus+the tithe?” The pastor hit the nail on the head, highlighting how the tithe paradigm is leading people into bondage, and he boldly proclaimed that faith in Jesus’s work alone puts us right with God. Every speaking engagement he had was quickly canceled and people began taking snippets of his sermons out of context and calling him a heretic. Yet what got my attention was that, in his message, he said he felt for so long that it wasn’t yet time to deal directly with the subject, but now it was time! He preached his message around the same time I got the go-ahead to write my book on tithing.

So we are fully rejecting tithing and some of the related paradigms for how to walk supernaturally in the area of finances. Yet money is a big topic in scripture, and the Bible has multiple stories of supernatural provision. We want to learn how to engage in radical generosity and always have enough–because our God is a Father who cares for us, he is generous, and we have been made participants in his nature.

For so long we’ve heard teachings about finances that were inflated with leaven–human traditions, legalism, and ulterior motives. I know. I can smell them from a mile away! I want to introduce you guys to some good teaching on supernatural finances that will both challenge and encourage you–and without the leaven!

People Teaching A More Biblical Paradigm For Supernatural Provision And Supernatural Giving

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I’ve found three guys in particular who have great teaching on Kingdom Finances which is not tithe-based. All three engage in radical generosity and have great testimonies of supernatural provision. Two of them have literally had angels give them cash.

I already pointed my readers to Michael Van Vlyman around mid-2018 in The Supernatural Grace of Giving. Although he is a radical giver, Van Vlyman believes the tithing paradigm is a human tradition that hinders people from being led by the Holy Spirit and obeying God’s voice as they give. He gives practical advice in his book Supernatural Provision, including an exercise to help people step into giving and receiving supernaturally.

The second guy is Bertie Brits. Just go to YouTube and search “Bertie Brits Money.” It’s all so good that I recommend listening to every one of his messages about money. Not only does Bertie make it crystal-clear why we need to reject the tithing paradigm, but he also has excellent teaching on finances which highlights scriptures we don’t often hear taught. He teaches about contentment and helps people who have been “financially abused” to come out of a place of hurt so as to walk in freedom in giving. Bertie has great testimonies of provision, such as receiving a house that someone decided to buy for him. None of it is based on tithing or conventional “sowing money to reap money” teachings.

The third guy I’d like to point you to is Reinhard Hirtler. In 2017 when I was last in the United States, I visited Life Center in Harrisburg. I wept as I felt God’s love all over me, and I wept because of the need for other people to encounter that love. I talked to the pastor, Charles Stock, about the need for revival in Brazil. He told me about his missionary friend Reinhard and said “email me, and I’ll put you in contact with him.”

Well, I think my email got in Charles’s junk bin, because I never got a response. But about two years later, I got an email from Reinhard, saying “Hey, I saw you’re moving to Goiania. Do you want to meet up and talk?” He was the same Reinhard who Charles had suggested meeting two years before! Someone from Washington had told him about one of my books. After reading my book, he subscribed to my blog and saw in my post that I had just moved to Goiania.

So we got together in the mall and chatted for a few hours. It was really encouraging to exchange testimonies and talk about what God is doing. I was also excited to hear about Reinhard’s work to rescue street children. In the northeast of Brazil, Reinhard’s heart broke as he saw young children selling their bodies for just a few cents. He began opening homes for children. He now has three homes for children running, and he wants to open 100!

Radical Trust In God Our Provider

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Soon after meeting Reinhard, I read his book Provision Of Heaven. Then I listened to a four-part teaching he did on Finances in the New Covenant. Reinhard went through some really difficult times financially, but he eventually learned to trust God radically for provision.

Reinhard has trusted God to provide for the monthly expenses of the three children’s homes without asking people for money. Once, the pastor managing one of the children’s homes called and said, “I need 10,000 reais today or the workers at the children’s home aren’t coming to work.” Reinhard responded “OK. I’m on the road now, but I’ll be back in 20 minutes and send you the money.”

His wife asked “Where will you get the money? We don’t have much in our account.” But he was confident it would be there. He logged in, the money was there, and he sent the 10,000 reais for the children’s home. A few minutes after he responded to the message from the pastor, a couple he’d never met had sent him $3,000 (about 12,000 reais) by Paypal. God had spoken to them! Reinhard has many similar testimonies of financial miracles. And walking in supernatural provision enables supernatural giving.

Hearing Reinhard’s messages on YouTube highlighted to me how I’ve made some financial decisions in the past out of fear instead of trusting in God. Those decisions ended up hurting me.

As I learned from Reinhard, Michael Van Vlyman, and Bertie Brits, I thought about how much good, Biblical teaching about finances we’ve missed due to the widespread focus on teaching human traditions like tithing. These guys talked about scriptures which I’d read many times, but had rarely heard anybody teach about in their messages on finances. The common themes I found in the teachings of these three guys also confirmed some of the thoughts I’ve had as I’ve wrestled to better understand how to walk in God’s supernatural provision. Following are two of the points that really stood out to me:

God Is Our Father

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Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Our expectation of provision is based on our Heavenly Father’s nature as our provider. One of God’s redemptive names is Jehovah Jirah, which means “The Lord Will Provide.” Our trust is in his nature, not in our works. Our provision doesn’t depend on if we’ve paid a tithe or how much we’ve sown.

The foundation for generosity and supernatural giving is trust that God provides for us because he is our Father, and then participation in his nature of generosity. We give because we are in communion with God and we feel what he feels.

Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone, But By Every Word Which Proceeds From The Mouth Of God

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As I studied the stories of supernatural provision in scripture, I concluded that it was a mistake to try to extract principles from them for getting your financial miracle. I wrote about this two years ago in When To Give Out Of Need And Expect Supernatural Provision. The miracles of provision came in different ways, but the one thing they all had in common was that God spoke.

Reinhard’s teaching was a strong confirmation of this. Provision is in God’s voice. It could be God saying “Those five loaves and two fish are plenty for everybody” or “Don’t worry. Just cut up that little piece of ham and pass it around.” God might tell you to speak to the rock or to strike the rock. God’s provision could look like when he spoke to someone’s heart and said “Send Reinhard $3000 because he needs it to care for orphans.” Or God could say something else to you. Just like Jesus’s mother Mary said before Jesus turned the water into wine, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Are You Broken And Hurting In The Area Of Finances?

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I remember when I was so frustrated. I knew God was real and did miracles because he had healed me, but I’d never seen somebody healed through my hands when I prayed. I felt like God had been stingy with me, but he showed me that his heart was generous but some things I didn’t understand were hindering me.

I felt so broken and weak, so unable to have faith, but I got a revelation of God’s nature in that conference. I became totally convinced that he wants to heal people. I decided to keep praying for everybody I could, even if I didn’t see anything happening. And confidence settled in my heart that God could do the impossible by bringing me to the place of being able to believe for miracles. I tell the story in How A Life Of Miracles Began.

I had formed my view of God through my past hurts and disappointments, but the image I had of him was distorted. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and if faith is ever going to settle in our hearts it must be by seeing the true nature of God as revealed in Christ. Instead of looking at our disappointments and painful life experiences, we turn our eyes to Jesus and realize “This is what God is really like!” If we could see an accurate picture of what God was like through our life experiences, Jesus would not have had to come as a man to reveal the Father to us!

Maybe you feel broken and confused in the area of finances, as I felt at that conference where I heard about so many healing miracles. Maybe it feels impossible to really trust in your heart that God is your provider and be free from worrying about money. I pray that you would begin to see past the disappointments and painful experiences of the past and the revelation of God as our Father and Provider would begin to settle in your heart.

I came to a heart-revelation of God as our healer through scripture and testimonies. As I fill my heart now with scripture and testimonies revealing God’s nature as my provider, a new confidence is settling in my heart, bringing me to a place of rest. If you feel broken in the area of finances, do the same. Fill your heart with truth, and then begin to keep track of your wins. Focus on thanksgiving to God, even for the little things. I am doing this. I’ll share more about that next week.

Meanwhile, here are links to some resources to help you grow and experience God’s grace supernaturally manifest in your finances:

George Muller Collection George Muller was a man of faith who regularly experienced miracles of provision as he cared for thousands of orphans. He is also one of Reinhard’s inspirations.

Provision of Heaven: 21 Days To Experience Supernatural Provision This is Reinhard Hirtler’s book in English. I read it in Portuguese. All of the profits from any of Reinhard’s books go to caring for orphans and rescuing street children in Brazil.

Finances In The New Covenant Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. If you click on the links to these messages by Reinhard, you’ll see the titles in Portuguese. However, the whole thing is bilingual with him speaking in English and being translated to Portuguese. This is several hours of teaching, but well worth it. I listened little by little. It’s challenging, but in a good way!

Bertie Brits Money  This is what comes up when I search “Bertie Brits Money” on YouTube. I’ve listened to all these messages and they are excellent. His teachings are especially great for helping people who have been hurt by financial abuse in the church to find healing in a fresh revelation of our Heavenly Father’s nature and come out of a place of hurt.

Supernatural Provision: Learning To Walk In Greater Levels Of Stewardship And Responsibility And Letting Go Of Unbiblical Beliefs This book by Michael Van Vlyman is a great resource for helping people step out of a tithe paradigm and into Spirit-led giving. It contains an “activation exercise” to help you embark on the adventure of trusting God with your finances, partnering with Him in supernatural giving and experiencing supernatural provision.