Sabbath 9/9/27/120
Dear Friends,
As we are aware the Sixth Year is drawing to a close. Many of us have been confronted with problems in our lives and circumstances. Many of you have lost employment and wondered how this is supposed to be a double harvest year, only to be confronted with new employment and new prospects, which in hind sight will show to be more beneficial than the previous situations in spite of the trauma and rejection things like this cause. We are told in the writings of Paul that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). We are called according to the purpose of God and work for God in the faith to His ends and not to our own. Many things appear puzzling as we walk along the path of the faith.
This year is a year of endings and new beginnings. It is one of preparation and organisation for the faith and the Seventh year Sabbatical rest. This year coming is a non-tithe year. This year we are not to tithe and the Church is reliant on our freewill offerings. Without them, we as a church cannot survive. We cannot do the work and we cannot assist others. We must keep this in mind.
To this end I will run through your obligations in tithing so that we are all clear on this aspect. The full details of the tithe system are covered in the paper Tithing (No. 161). Please read that paper.
The tithe system runs as follows:
Year of Cycle |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
| 1st Tithe |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| 2nd Tithe |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| 3rd Tithe |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
In the Third Year of the cycle the second tithe is donated to the poor through
the Church’s Third Year welfare fund. Three tithes are never paid. The law is
quite clear that in the Third Year the second tithe is donated to the poor and
needy, and this is done through the Church. We are all required to save our
excess second tithe to carry us over this year and the seventh year of the cycle,
where we are not required to amass our second tithes and use them for the purposes
of attending the Church feast pilgrimages.
The Seventh Year is thus a year of great freedom for the individual within the faith. The Church is thus totally dependent upon the generosity of each individual. The poor are also dependent upon the generosity of the individuals.
This Seventh year a great many will require assistance to attend the Reading of the Law. To that end, we would ask that all those who have excess second tithe and who would like to help an individual, please send the donations to the secretaries marked as “For Third Year account assistance.” In that way we are able to help those most in need.
Next year 2005 is the Seventh Year of the cycle. Thus, the years 2012, 2019 and 2026 are all Seventh Years. 2027 is the Jubilee Year of the 120th Jubilee since the closure of the Garden of Eden and the cursed earth. Soon the time will be over.
In each year we are also to assist with the funds for the Feasts and Sabbaths/Holy Day meals and this is covered under the Terumah levy which, in days gone by, was given to, and was the responsibility of, the Princes of Israel.
The requirement of the tithe system is mandatory and is not dependent upon the Temple system. We are the Temple of God and the Temple has thus never ceased to exist, and the system of administration has never ceased to function. Those who do not tithe are thieves. Administrations purporting to be Churches of God that teach against the tithe are false teachers and diminish the Law of God.
Do not be deceived by those who seek to destroy the Church of God and the Law of God. By attacking the tithe they attack the capacity to work in the last days. In these days immediately ahead of us, the last and critical function of the gospel of the kingdom of God is to be performed, and then the end will come. To this end we were called.
In the last half of the 20th Century the gospel was corrupted and a false calendar and a false system were preached. It was compromised by a false God structure of Binitarianism or Ditheism that had insinuated itself into the Churches of God. For this reason the system had to be dispersed and reorganised. The Churches of God were dispersed. As we see in the paper Gideon’s Force and the Last Days (No. 22) the Churches of God were sent home, section by section, and the work was done in smaller and smaller packets until a pure restored doctrine could be preached to the whole world, in all nations and ultimately in all tongues. The Internet was allowed for that very purpose. In preparation for that event Bibles were distributed. Those who did not understand or obey what was written in what they distributed, often did the distribution.
Arguments are tested against fact. The Word of God does not come back void and the Word of God is of no private interpretation. The society in which we live is undermined by an anti-Bible mindset. The entire structure of the family is being broken down. Those who seek to destroy the current social fabric wish to redirect it. The Laws of God have no part in that agenda. The people who seek to misdirect the Churches of God are part of the same social agenda. They are not of us because if they were of us they would have not gone out from us. They would work with us to achieve the promulgation of the gospel of the kingdom of God. They do not do that and in fact seek to corrupt the Law and the Testimony because there is no light in them.
This year is important in the preparation for the Reading of the Law next year in the Sabbath Year of 28 of 120, or 2005. In the Sabbath year we must read the Law of God in its entirety according to the Law itself. In order that all nations might more readily see and hear that Law being read, we must have it translated and read in the major trade languages so that all may see and hear. This is a major effort and costs money. We must all prepare and organise to help. We must not forget the work in the Sabbath Year and we must all work now towards that end.
Paul said if you don’t work, you don’t eat. That is every bit as true now as it ever was. If you are not gainfully employed get off your backsides and start work. If you are between jobs, ask what you can do for the faith, not what it can do for you. If you are underemployed get a decent job and help by tithing. If you are not tithing you are robbing God. The work is done on widow’s mites and by the sick and the lame, but not the lazy. God will get the work done and if it is not by us, the very stones will cry out. Do your part.
We work very hard and all of us give what we can either in prayers or funds or effort. Each does what they are able. Don’t pole on the others. Plan ahead. Work according to direction and plan. Don’t be a loose cannon. Do what you can and pay what is your due. You can’t love God by robbing Him. If you love God do the work He sent us to do. This is the motto of the Churches of God: My meat is to do the work of Him who sent me and to finish His work (Jn. 4:34).
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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