Ave Maria Purissima…
I reflected on the messages of Mahal na Ingkong thru the lips of our Beloved Patriarch, and I found a sublime truth that I once ignored, – His teachings about ‘TITHES and TITHING’.
Many ‘tinatakan’ including myself have made so much explanations to reason out and discard the idea of Tithing. Until, in my bible reading and reflection, I came across the following verses from the Prophet Aggeus 1:3-11:
3 And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, saying: 4 Is it time for you to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie desolate? 5 And now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts to consider your ways.
6 You have sowed much, and brought in little: you have eaten, but have not had enough: you have drunk, but have not been filled with drink: you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed: and he that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes.
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set Your hearts upon your ways: 8 Go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, saith the Lord. 9 You have looked for more, and behold it became less, and you brought it home, and I blowed it away: why, saith the Lord of hosts? because my house is desolate, and you make haste every man to his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens over you were stayed from giving dew, and the earth was hindered from yielding her fruits:
11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon all that the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon all the labour of the hands.
The verses says that while the people are having good and nice houses their table is empty or lack of food despite the fact that they planted many crops. They are not satisfied with what they earned from their labor, and even loses as if they put it inside a holed basket. They worked hard yet they earned less. They have good clothes but it did not help them during winter. They have good houses, their children are studying in good and reputable schools yet their family is broken.
In short, their seemingly bountiful appearance cannot hide the real suffering of not only material but also spiritual poverty. Most material poverty is rooted in spiritual poverty. Once you turned away from the life-giving source you cut yourself off from true life, from the true kingdom and reign of God.
There is nothing wrong in fulfilling our needs and satisfying our wants. What is wrong is that we switched the original priority ordained by God the Father, and of God the Son, and now God the Holy Spirit. What is that priority? Let us continue, please read what God the Father said through the Prophet Malachias 3:6-12:
6 For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are not consumed. 7 For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we return? 8 Shall a man afflict God? for you afflict me. And you have said: Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits. 9 And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole nation of you. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to abundance.
11 And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be barren, saith the Lord of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.
FIRST CAUSE: We worked so hard to satisfy only OUR-selves, build OUR houses, clothe OUR selves with good clothes, buy OUR selves with all things we say NECESSITIES but in reality are vanities and wants that we can still live without. AND WE FORGET THE HOUSE OF YAHWEH, we departed from the ancient ordinance of keeping His House and His priests through Tithes and offerings.We turned our priorities of fulfilling and satisfying our needs and wants from fulfilling our primary obligation to return to the Lord the first fruits and tithes of our labor.
We say we worship and follow the Holy Trinity yet we rationalize and explain things away that monetary or financial tithes are not needed by God because He is Spirit and that we need the money more than Him. And we say that it’s our hearts that matters in Him. And Beloved INGKONG asks for our sins and not for our money. It is true Ingkong is asking us our sins and sinful hearts but let us not lose sight of the fact that He in return, asking us to prove our love of Him by taking care of His House and His priests.
King Solomon, whose riches and wisdom is unsurpassable by anyone living or will live in this planet once said:
24 Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer: others take away what is not their own, and are always in want. 25 The soul which blesseth, shall be made fat: and he that inebriateth, shall be inebriated also himself. 26 He that hideth up corn, shall be cursed among the people: but a blessing upon the head of them that sell.
King Solomon says, ‘Others take away what is not their own, and are always in want’. The tenth percent of our gross income is NOT IN FACT OURS but to God, and since we keep that which is not ours WE ARE ALWAYS IN WANT. We are hiding the seed that is ordained to provide us the bountiful blessings we desire.
King Solomon added:
9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and give him of the first of all thy fruits: 10 And thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy presses shall run over with wine.
Honor the Lord with thy substance, honor him with the fruits of our labor. And what is that fruit of our labor? It is our income, our salary, and the profits we derived from our business. And the promise is said, OUR BARNS SHALL BE FILLED WITH ABUNDANCE.
The Poor Widow in the Gospel of Saint Mark 12:
41 And Jesus sitting over against the treasury, beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And calling his disciples together, he saith to them: Amen I say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all they who have cast into the treasury. 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want cast in all she had, even her whole living.
The Lord praised and blessed the poor widow for her intention of providing the temple and the priests with what they need through the very amount she have – two mites ‘dalawang kusing’. The Lord did not praise the amount but the intention, the motive and the love she put in those two mites. He praised her for she gave all what she have since she cannot extract the tithes out of the two mites.
Now let me bring you back to the story of Prophet Eliseus (4 Kings 4:1-7) which will give us more understanding about the poor widow of the gospel.
1 Now a certain woman of the wives of the prophets cried to Eliseus, saying: Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant was one that feared God, and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him. 2 And Eliseus said to her: What wilt thou have me to do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy house? And she answered: I thy handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me. 3 And he said to her: Go, borrow of all thy neighbours empty vessels not a few. 4 And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within, and thy sons: and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when they are full take them away. 5 So the woman went, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in.
6 And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil stood. 7 And she came, and told the man of God. And he said: Go, sell the oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of the rest.“
How much ever is our income or our salary, set aside the tithes of it for the Church and for the priests. With that Our OIL WILL NEVER RUN OUT until we are filled with all that we need in this life and in the next. Salvation is not alone in the life here after, but salvation can be claimed here and now – if we will only believe. It is belief and obedience that was lost and forfeited by our first parents, and this until now is the solution to regain the favor of God.
If we indeed believe that Beloved Ingkong is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, God, and deserves obedience as the Father and the Son – so we are bound to serve and exhibit our obedience by fulfilling the need of His church and of His priests [and sisters].
I like to get your attention to vow of Patriarch Jacob to Yahweh
20 And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and shall keep me in the way by which I walk, and shall give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21 And I shall return prosperously to my father’s house: the Lord shall be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall be called the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to thee.
Patriarch Jacob promised God that if he was blessed he will give to Him the tenth part of everything that He gave him, and he did. Many of us tinatakan asked Ingkong of several graces and blessings. We asked employment, we asked for child, we ask for house, we ask to get healed, we ask of so many many things, and we made promise or promises that we will fulfill once we received what we asked for. And when we received what we prayed most of us FORGETS, but INGKONG NEVER FORGETS!
Read the story of Patriarch Abraham:
8 But Melchisedech the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, 19 Blessed him, and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be the most high God, by whose protection the enemies are in thy hands. And he [Abram] gave him the tithes of all.
The High priest Melchisedech blessed Abram which became the foundation of him becoming the father of nations. In return of the wonderful blessings and graces of God through the hands of the High priest Melchisedech, father Abram gave him the tithes of all. What does it mean to us? We as sealed servants of our Beloved Ingkong must return blessing for blessing. The Church and the priest of Beloved Ingkong gave us the ‘hidden manna’ from heaven [the holy Eucharist] and the sacraments and we are EXPECTED, though they don’t say it directly to us, to give them that which was said of God to us – the Tithes, our share to the maintenance of the physical house of God.
Let us not murmur that we are poor, that we do not have anything to give especially to the church of Mahal na Ingkong. Let us be reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:
29 For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. 30 And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It is clear, those who said they do not have will really become ‘not have’ and those who have will remain ‘always have’. Let us not become an unprofitable servant. Let us return blessing for blessing. Let us not worry as do those who do not known Beloved Ingkong.
19 Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. 20 But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. 21 For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.
We are asked not lay ourselves treasure on earth but in heaven instead. How can we lay our treasures in heaven and what kind of treasures is acceptable in heaven? You will say our love of Him, our obedience and worship of Him. Yes, that is right! When we give tithes that’s the material expression of our spiritual treasure that our heart is abounding. What we did to the least of our brother we did it to Him, says the Lord. In the same way, that what we did to the Church we did it to Him.
7 Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone? 10 Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach him a serpent? 11 If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?
Many of us never receive because we never ask, we are waiting for door to open yet we never lift our hands to knock it.
SOLUTION: Set aside the tenth part of our income as our holy obligation to the Church. Include this in the monthly budget. If you can’t make it immediately then you may start from 5% and increase it accordingly until you can fulfill the complete tithe AND OBSERVE THE CHANGES IN YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE AND OUTLOOK. Take the words of God for it as guarantee. The World will pass away but never His words.
SECOND CAUSE: SINS
ABORTION:Killing of the Innocent
11 Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. 12 When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth.
The earth was cursed by God not to yield any fruit for those who killed their brother. We have only one Father and we are all brethren. In the great family of God mother, father, brother and sisters are all brethren. Those who aborted or caused other to commit abortion will never have any real peace – for they killed an innocent and helpless child.
Beloved INGKONG is giving us the way how to lift this curse by offering sacrifices and asking forgiveness for the soul or for each souls of those whom we caused to be aborted. The penance and reparation are thirty days (30) of 15 Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, kneeling, arms outstretched and with lighted white candles on both hands for each child. Thus, if one committed two abortions, she, he, must make it in straight of two months. Along with this daily prayer is the daily attendance of the Holy Mass and confession.
THE SINS OF THE FLESH (Leviticus 18,19
19 Thou shalt not approach to a woman having her flowers, neither shalt thou uncover her nakedness. 20 Thou shalt not lie with thy neighbour’s wife, nor be defiled with mingling of seed.
21 Thou shalt not give any of thy seed to be consecrated to the idol Moloch, nor defile the name of thy God: I am the Lord. 22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination. 23 Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it: because it is a heinous crime. 24 Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, which I will cast out before you, 25 And with which the land is defiled: the abominations of which I will visit, that it may vomit out its inhabitants.
23 “Because it is a heinous crime”… In Hebrew, this word heinous crime is expressed by the word confusion, signifying the shamefulness and baseness of this abominable sin.
26 Keep ye my ordinances and my judgments, and do not any of these abominations: neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you. 27 For all these detestable things the inhabitants of the land have done, that; were before you, and have defiled it. 28 Beware then, lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the like things, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 Every soul that shall commit any of these abominations, shall perish from the midst of his people. 30 Keep my commandments. Do not the things which they have done, that have been before you, and be not defiled therein. I am the Lord your God.
THE SINS OF ADULTERY AND FORNICATION
Leviticus 19:29 29 Make not thy daughter a common strumpet, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness.
Job 31:9-12 If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend’s door: 10 Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her. 11 For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity. 12 It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring.
Patriarch Job said, adultery is a heinous crime and it devoureth and destroy all livelihood and everything that a man have. This sin of the flesh destroys families, destroys the children, destroys relationship. And God also is angry for those husband who is stern upon his wife.
THIRD CAUSE: DISOBEDIENCE
11 I will set my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul shall not cast you off. 12 I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright. 14 But if you will not hear me, nor do all my commandments, 15 If you despise my laws, and contemn my judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by me, and to make void my covenant:
16 I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. 18 But if you will not yet for all this obey me: I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, 19 And I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the heaven above as iron, and the earth as brass: 20 Your labour shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit.
21 If you walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins: 22 And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. 23 And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to me: 24 I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge my covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies,
26 After I shall have broken the staff of your bread: so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and give it out by weight: and you shall eat, and shall not be filled. 27 But if you will not for all this hearken to me, but will walk against me: 28 I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, 29 So that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
31 Insomuch that I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odours. 32 And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. 33 And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. 34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be 35 In the enemy’s land, she shall keep a sabbath, and rest in the sabbaths of her desolation, because she did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt therein.
36 And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, 37 And they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. 38 You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. 39 And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own: 40 Until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed me, and walked contrary unto me.
41 Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins. 42 And I will remember my covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land: 43 Which when she shall be left by them, shall enjoy her sabbaths, being desolate for them. But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected my judgments, and despised my laws. 44 And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void my covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. 45 And I will remember my former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
SOLUTION: Obey the Lord with fear and trembling
Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 3 If you walk in my precepts, and keep my commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. 4 And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. 5 The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear.
6 I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. 7 You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. 8 Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will look on you, and make you increase: you shell be multiplied, and I will establish my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old.
11 I will set my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul shall not cast you off. 12 I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright.
Conclusion: These are some of the causes of sufferings and poverty most of us are experiencing. Praise be the Lord God of the New Israel, the Philippines, and the new Jerusalem – the Apostolic Catholic Church that when we were sealed all our sins including curses were wiped away and forgiven. As He said, we are like newly born child. But this does not free us in our duty to obey and live our life under His laws. What our Beloved Ingkong removed from us is our sins and not our freedom, we can still sin if we like, we can be holy if we like, we can be as we like to become. Beloved Ingkong will remind us but will never force us to obey Him, the choice is still ours.
The key to prosperity is our dedication of the tenth part of our income for the needs of the Church and the priests. Material and financial prosperity is directly connected to our spiritual readiness. Our tithes are but forms and tangible expression of our way of collecting and laying of treasures in heaven – motive and intention also matters.
In closing,” SEEK YOU FIRST THAT GOD REIGNS WITH YOU, and all these things shall be added unto you.” If Ingkong really reigns in our hearts we will start to receive the great blessings we can ever imagine.
Gloria in Excelis Deo Aleluia INGKONG!
