A cleric of the Presbyterian Church, in Umuahia Abia State, Rev. Peter Nwoke, has warned his colleagues that his colleagues against accepting tithes from criminal sources.
Rev. Nwoke,who is the minister in charge of Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Solid Rock Parish, stated that receiving tithes and offerings obtained through fraudulent means, amounts to committing crime.
The cleric urged his congregation to cultivate the spirit of paying tithes from legitimate means.
The cleric also urged ministers to always identify the sources from which members bring in tithes before releasing blessings upon such.
On ways of identifying when members are paying tithes from dishonest sources, the cleric said, "The pastor may not know the type of business the person that brought the tithe does. But it is important for the pastor to know his flock and what they do. If you know that your member is a fraudster and he brings in tithe; it is wrong for the pastor to accept that kind of tithe. When you accept it,you are encouraging fraud. It is not acceptable to God. This is why we preach righteousness. This is why every pastor should know his flock, because Jesus said I know my sheep and my sheep knows me. As a pastor, you must not compromise your faith by accepting tithe from fraudulent people.
"As a pastor, you must know that you are called to salvage people from sin through the preaching of the word of God. As a pastor, your faith must not be compromised, God said I will give you pastor, not everybody that is a pastor is a pastor.
"Those who are truly called by God, fear God, because it is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of God. Anybody that wants the right thing to be done should preach righteousness."
He also warned believers against failing to pay tithes, adding it is a means to support the less privileged members of church.
"One of the benefits of payment of tithes is God's preservation of believers' means of income and resources.
"When you don't pay tithe, you open your blessings to devourers but when you pay your tithe, God owes you the responsibility of protecting your resources, health, family, business and everything you lay your hand on. Tithing is a holy instruction. You are robbing God when you don't pay tithe. God commanded us to use tithe to help the less privilege, that's why he said that we should bring it into his storehouse."
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