Weddings, Baptisms and Tithe

Weddings are momentous occasions. They are fraught with serious and far-reaching consequences. There is, of course, much happiness and joyful celebration, but along with this there is some serious business going on. Some very solemn vows are being exchanged. A man is solemnly promising to love, honor, cherish, and be faithful to a woman, and the woman, in return, is solemnly promising to love, honor, cherish and be faithful to the man.

Please notice that the wedding vows are mutual, two-way, reciprocal vows. They are not individual, isolated, personal vows. They are fulfilled in a life of mutual, faithful continuance by both parties. As long as both parties remember their mutual vows and honor them and remain faithful to them, all will go well.

The Bride Forgets Her Promise

But what if the bride forgets her promise and violates her wedding vow by entering into illicit relationships with other men? Does she still have the right to require her husband to be true to his wedding vow? Does he have to support her in her adulteries? “That would be ridiculous,” you say. “In that tragic circumstance, the husband would be free to do whatever he thought best, within the law.” You are right. The woman, by her violation of her wedding vow, has ended her husband’s obligations to her. They no longer exist.

Exchanging Vows

Baptisms are also momentous occasions. They are, like weddings, fraught with serious and far-reaching, even eternal, results and consequences. They are occasions of great joy and happiness, but along with these things there is some serious business going on. Solemn vows are being exchanged. A baptismal candidate and a church are exchanging vows. The church is promising to keep on telling the truth about God. The candidate is promising to keep on giving financial support to that truth-telling by his tithes and offerings.

These baptismal vows, like the wedding vows, are mutual, two-way, reciprocal vows. They are not isolated, individual, personal vows. They are fulfilled in a life of mutual, faithful continuance by both parties. As long as both the church and the church member remember their respective vows and honor them, all will be well.

But what if the church forgets her promise and violates her baptismal vow by entering into illicit relationships with other churches, accepting some of their false doctrines, and so inter-mingling those false doctrines with her message that it can no longer be said that she is telling the truth about God? Does she still have a right to require the member to support her with his tithes and offerings? Does he have to pay for her adulteries? This would be ridiculous. By her spiritual adultery she has canceled out all such obligations. They no longer exist. The member is free to do what he thinks best with his tithe, within the limits of Scriptural instructions about the proper use of tithe.

The Heart of the Matter

This is the heart of the tithe question. This is the central issue upon which all other tithe issues depend. It can be expressed in the simple question, “Does God require us to pay for the preaching of false doctrines?” The only right answer would have to be “No. That would be utterly ridiculous.” Apostasy has no rights and no authority, either to tell us what to do or to collect tithes and offerings from us.

False Doctrines That
Have Crept In

We pause to mention some of the false doctrines that are being taught in many Seventh-day Adventist churches and educational institutions today. The list would include, but not be limited to:

  • Rejection of our Sanctuary message
  • Rejection of the Spirit of Prophecy
  • Rejection of the authority of Scripture
  • A false doctrine of Justification. That we are saved by justification (forgiveness) only.
  • A false doctrine of Sanctification. That Christians cannot stop sinning, even by the power of God. Ellen White testified against this false doctrine more than 2,000 times.
  • A false doctrine of the nature of Christ. That Christ came to earth in the human nature of unfallen Adam. Ellen White bore testimony against this false doctrine 400 times.
  • Celebration (Satanic) worship services

And so we ask again, does the church yet have a right to require our financial support for the teaching of these false doctrines? The very idea is preposterous! Some may wish to argue that the church is not teaching all false doctrines but only a few. This is like arguing that the unfaithful bride is not having illicit relationships with all other men but only a few. Does this make sense? Surely not!

The Bottom Line

This is the bottom line, the bedrock principle upon which all other tithe matters must rest, and according to which all tithe questions must be answered. We must keep it in mind as we look at some of the peripheral questions.

Did not Ellen White write that the church is the only treasury of the Lord? No, she did not! In the year 1905, she wrote a letter to an Elder Watson, who was then president of the Colorado conference. In this letter she made three significant statements.

  1. She stated that for years she had been sending her tithe to places of her own choosing.
  2. She spoke of other persons, whom she knew, who were doing the same thing, and recommended that they be left alone. Here are her words: “If there have been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 99.
  3. She stated clearly, “the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury.” Ibid. How could she make that statement if the church is the only treasury of the Lord? Obviously she could not.

A Position Apart from God

Another insight into Ellen White’s thinking regarding financial matters is provided by P. T. Magan, who with E. A. Sutherland, was a co-founder of Madison College in Tennessee. From Magan’s copious diaries we excerpt a few lines:

May 7, 1907: Talked with Sister White regarding attitude of General Conference toward us . . . Told Sister White about the administration view that we had no right to go and get money unless we were owned by the conference. She replied: ‘You are doing double what they are. Take all the donations you can get. The money belongs to the Lord, and not to these men. The position they take is not of God. The Southern Union Conference is not to own or control you. You cannot turn things over to them.’

“May 14, 1907: Talked to (Ellen White) about the General Conference position that concerns non-conference owned should have no money. She answered: ‘Daniells and those with him are taking a position on this matter that is not of God.’”

A Statement of Understanding

Other careful investigators have gone before us in examining Ellen White’s teachings on the subject of tithe. Document WDF 213, in the White Estate Office in Loma Linda, is a record of an investigation made by W. C. White, A. G. Daniells, and W. W. Prescott in answer to an accusation that Ellen White sometimes violated her own counsel by sending her tithe to places of her own choosing. Paragraph six on page two of the document is a clear statement of how these leading brethren understood the totality of Ellen White’s teachings and example regarding the payment of tithe.

As to the proper use of the tithe: The outline of a statement on this subject which was agreed upon was briefly this:

“To give extracts from Sister White’s writings as to the tithe and its use;

“To show that her testimonies and her own usual practise [sic] was in favor of paying the tithe into the regularly designated treasury, to be used under the counsel of the committees appointed for that purpose,

“To show further from her writings that when those who have charge of the expenditure of the tithe so far fail in the discharge of their duty that the regularly organized channels for the distribution of tithe become hindrances to its proper use,

“Then in order to carry out the divine plan that the tithe should be expended in the wisest manner for the furtherance of the work, individuals have a right to pay their tithe direct to the needy fields;

“But that this involves a considerable degree of personal responsibility, which must be assumed by those who decide to follow this plan.

“It was thought that this matter could be handled in a way to show that the departure from the regular plans was authorized only when the regular plans failed to be carried out by those in positions of responsibility.” [Sentence division and emphasis supplied.]

We must recognize that these men would have been appalled by the false doctrines being taught in so many of our churches today. They would have been horrified by the spectacle of huge amounts of tithe being paid to non-Adventist lawyers to sue, fine, and imprison persons, who thought of themselves as Seventh-day Adventists, for using that name. The principle that they set forth would certainly apply to our time. We need not wonder where they would send their tithe.

Using Your Own Judgment

Another question: Did not Ellen White say that persons should not use their own judgment in regard to tithe? Here are her words:

The portion that God has reserved for Himself is not to be diverted to any other purpose than that which He has specified. Let none feel at liberty to retain their tithe, to use according to their own judgment. They are not to use it for themselves in an emergency, nor to apply it as they see fit, even in what they may regard as the Lord’s work.Testimonies, vol. 9, 247. [Emphasis supplied.]

What Ellen White meant by the words “what they may regard as the Lord’s work” is made clear in the following pages by these lines:

One reasons that the tithe may be applied to school purposes. Still others reason that canvassers and colporteurs should be supported from the tithe. But a great mistake is made when tithe is drawn from the object for which it is to be used,—the support of the ministers.” Ibid., 248, 249. [Emphasis supplied.]

In Counsels on Stewardship, page 103, she also rejects the idea of using tithe for the poor fund or for church expense.

Persistently Preaching the Devil’s Lies

Ellen White did not contradict herself, either in what she wrote or what she did. Her words here are in full harmony with her letter to Watson (quoted previously) and her own practice. Her own power of choice, like every other person’s power of choice, was limited by the Scriptural guidelines. Well may we rejoice in the steadfast integrity of the counsels brought to us by the chosen messenger of the Lord. And though our hearts are grieved by the rising tide of apostasy in our beloved church today, we may take comfort in the knowledge that our Lord is not surprised by it. He knew all about it, and He gave us ample forewarning. Let us carefully and prayerfully consider our duty in the light of these realities.

It cannot be denied that there are pastors in Seventh-day Adventist churches, teachers in Seventh-day Adventist educational institutions, and persons at all levels of church administration who are persistently presenting as truth the devil’s great lie, that Christians cannot stop sinning, even by the power of God. Ellen White has identified this assertion no less than 35 times as a lie that originated in the heart of Satan. The strongest of her statements is this:

“Satan declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the Law of God, and thus charged upon God a lack of wisdom and love. If they could not keep the Law, then there was fault with the Lawgiver. Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men cannot keep the Law of God. Jesus humbled Himself, clothing His divinity with humanity, in order that He might stand as the head and representative of the human family, and by both precept and example condemn sin in the flesh, and give the lie to Satan’s charges. He was subjected to the fiercest temptations that human nature can know, yet He sinned not; for sin is the transgression of the Law. By faith He laid hold upon divinity, even as humanity may lay hold upon infinite power through Him.” Signs of the Times, January 16, 1896. [Emphasis supplied.]

Apostasy Has No Authority

Apostasy has no authority! In these dreadful times we must be faithful to our Lord, and follow our leaders only as far as they follow the Lord. We must not support apostasy with our tithes and offerings. There are some who are trying to be faithful in word and deed. Let us give our support to them, carefully complying with every instruction that we find in the Bible and in the Spirit of Prophecy. Then we may claim the blessing of the Lord. Settle it in your mind forever, dear friend. The storehouse of tithe must be the storehouse of truth. There is absolutely no way that a storehouse of falsehoods could be the treasury of the Lord, the storehouse of tithe. May God bless you.