An Evangelist of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Evangelist Isaac Kwaku Obeng has disclosed that modern day pastors are hiding behind their supposed truth to rob their followers of huge sums of money through tithe, whilst making themselves rich beyond imagination.
Evangelist Isaac Kwaku Obeng who is the leader and founder of In The Name Of Jesus Ministry International at Awutu Breku, referred to pastors who continue to collect tithe as “thieves,” stressing that it is an act of fraud for men of God to continue insisting that the salvation of believers of Jesus Christ depends on tithe paying.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, he indicated that he had a message from God to the effect that any pastor in that act is a thief because whatever law that bind people in the Old Testament to tithe paying had long ago been abolished.
According to him, during the Ministry of Jesus Christ, He made a new covenant with his followers of which people who call themselves as Christians must follow.
He quoted Hebrews 8: 7, 8 that “For if that first covenant had been faultless, and then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,” and explained that Jesus, finding fault with the old covenant made a new one with his followers.
He said: “If there was no fault or problem with that law, there would be no need for a new covenant or law. So by this, we could see that this law in the Old Testament/Covenant had become invalid and therefore we are not bound by it.”
He also explained that in every situation, even in governance, new laws have authority over old laws and therefore there was the need for Christians to understand that the law governing tithe was long abolished and for that matter they are not bound to follow any order from any man regarding that.
Enumerating further, Evangelist Obeng said at the time of old, the Sons of Levi were allowed to take tithe considering the work they did in the house of God as contained in Hebrews 7: 5-8 where the bible said “And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham.”
According to him, the authority to collect tithe was also given in Romans 18: 2, where it was stated that “And behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.”
He went on to explain that the children of Israel were ordered not to collect tithe else they would die.
He said And, the bible made it clear in Numbers 18:21 that “behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation” and in Numbers 18: 22 it was stated that ‘Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.”
Evangelist Obeng said, when the priesthood was changed to that of Jesus, the law also changed, hence the new covenant as stated in Hebrews 7: 12 of the Bible “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”
He said this, was stopped when Jesus took over the ministry of the Gospel because the Sons of Levi were no more and for that matter any laws that were binding them have all been lifted and declared null and void.
He said because the law at the time allowed only the sons of Levi to collect tithe, Jesus being the son of Judah did not collect tithe, and so every believer that is following Jesus must follow his examples and respect the new covenant He made with his disciples.
According to him, it was stated clearly in Romans 7: 1 that a law was binding only when that person was still alive but when he dies, the law seizes to have effect on him.
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?” he said.
Evangelist Obeng also pointed out that there is a biblical illustration which explained the differences between the old and the new law stating that “Romans 7: 2 says, For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.”
“This means that we have been released from this law and now we have found a new husband with the New Testament/Covenant under Jesus Christ. The new law has authority over us, the old law is gone so whatever the new law says is what must stand,” he said.
“So I want to declare that any pastor who is working in the name of Jesus but continue to collect tithe is a complete thief. Anybody who is doing so is not following Jesus because all the people who followed Jesus did not collect tithe,” he stressed.
He also challenged the payment of tithe on monthly and sometimes on weekly basis. According to him, even in the time of old, when the old covenant was in full force, people were obliged to pay tithe annually.
Evangelist Obeng stressed that forcing Christians to pay tithes, which in itself is wrong, on monthly and weekly basis is a great deviation from the new covenant which Jesus made with his people.
“Who ordered them to collect tithe monthly and weekly?” he asked and stated that the there is nowhere in the Bible where it was stated that physical cash was used or must be used as tithe.
He called on pastors to speak the truth, preach the truth and desist from blindfolding their followers into believing that their failure to pay tithe would spell their doom.
He said: “Because of deception pastors of today refuse the truth and are being led by worldly things.”
Meanwhile, Evangelist Isaac Obeng said Christians do not really know the God they are serving, whether the Father or the Son.
According to him, there are many instances in the bible where emphasis was placed on the fact that Jesus Christ is God.
He said during his days in ministry, the Pharisees were gathered together and Jesus asked them “What do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? And they said unto him, The son of David. But Jesus asked them if David then call him Lord, how is he his son.”
He said the answers from the Pharisees could be said to be true because physically, Jesus Christ is the Son of David but Jesus was looking beyond the physical into the spiritual and in Isaiah 45: 5, He had proven to His disciples who He really is “In Isaiah 45: 5, Jesus said ‘I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.”
He said Jesus is God and for that matter everybody who believes in Him must worship Him alone and no other God.
