Foreword

Greetings from us here at Independent Baptist Church of Siem Reap. We have launched a series of studies
entitled “Analysis of Baptist Practices and Teachings Today.” This is not to undermine Baptist churches all
over the world, but to remind us of what we should be and what are we doing now that is uncharacteristic
to our distinctive. We are not, in any way, launching an attack against a particular group. We are only going
to teach what the Bible is saying about topics that are of importance in our generation.

In this issue, we are going to show what firstfruits is in the Bible and compare it to what is happening
widely now in our circle. Again, this is not an attack against any particular group but a reminder to remain
true to the Word of God, which is our final authority. We are not imposing our preference but we are
proclaiming the truth.

There are different applications of firstftuits offering in the Philippines, so before you stop reading, you
might want to see if this includes you or your church’s practice. We are talking about the firstfruits giving
that is coerced, forced and simply not Biblical.

We are in no wise, claiming that we are better than other churches. God has been gracious enough to let
us see these truths and have this burden in our hearts. We are very humbled by this opportunity, truly,
God is faithful for he counted us faithful and given us this ministry.

We pray that the reader will have an open mind and a humble heart to see the truths that are written here
and be submissive enough to the Word of God.

Intro

Firstfruits giving has gained traction in our generation, different applications are present now and simply
put, there are ridiculous teachings about this. As Christians, we are to study the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15)
and make sure that what we are doing is in accordance to the truth (Acts 17:11) so that we will not be
“tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). At the heart of every wrong
practice in churches are members who are not seeking the truth themselves.

Firstfruits is in the Bible, we are not denying that fact, but the main question we are going to answer here
is: Is it for us today? Did God command us to do this in the New Testament Church age like what other
preachers are preaching today? If not, then why do we do it? Are our good intentions enough to justify this
false practice?

The word “firstfruits” appears both in the Old and New Testament, although with very different
implications. We are going to look at those verses and see what they mean, who are they for and why is it
written there.

In this study, we are widely using this format of study given by Pastor Angel Dueñas of Magnified Truth
Baptist Church. It is a very useful format to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

1. THE "MANNER" OF TEACHING and APPLICATION - 1 TIM. 2:15

2. FOLLOW THE "MODE" OF THE HOLY SPIRIT'S TEACHING, OUR TEACHER - COMPARING SPIRITUAL
THINGS WITH SPIRITUAL (1 Cor. 2:9-12,13-16) (John 6:63).



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 3. BE AWARE OF THE THREE CLASSIFICATION OF THE GROUP OF PEOPLE WHERE or TO WHOM THE
"SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH" (Dan. 10:21) IS ADDRESSED or TO BE APPLIED (1 Cor. 10:31-32):
A. JEWS
B. GENTILES
C. CHURCH OF GOD

4. KNOW THE BOUNDARIES OF THE "NEW TESTAMENT" and THE "OLD TESTAMENT." - Heb. 9:11-
14,15-16,17-20

5. SEARCH and KNOW, BASED ON THE ESTABLISHED RULES ABOVE, WHETHER A TEACHING and
PREACHING IS TAUGHT "BY THE PRECEPT OF MEN" or "ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD" (Isaiah 29:13
with Isaiah 8:20; Acts 17:10-11).

Some important questions to ask yourself when studying a passage in the Bible:

1. Which of these group of people do you belong to?
a. Jews
b. Gentiles
c. Church of God
2. Would you agree that a “truth” taught and applicable to the Jewish people in the Old Testament is
not necessarily a “truth” to the church under the New Testament?


I. Firstfruits in the Old Testament

Firstfruits in the Old testament is a description of an offering, it means “first” and “best.” It is also an
offering that is given to the Jews to be performed at the Passover.

EXODUS 23:16, 19

And the feast of the harvest, the firstfuits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the fiel: and the feast of
ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not
seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

There are three feasts for the Israelites commanded by God, they are: The feast of the Unleavened Bread,
Feast of the Harvest or Pentecost and the Feast of Ingathering. Three times in each year, the male
Israelites will appear before the Lord (Exo. 23:17).

The firstfruits of their labor will be given at the Feast of the Harvest or Pentecost and in verse 19 of the
same chapter, they are commanded to bring the “first of the firstfruits,” which is clearly not all of the
harvest because that will leave none for them. The firstfruits required of them here is but a small portion
of the harvest but the best one. So we can safely say that the “firstfruits” of their harvest here simply
means “the best of their harvest.”

This is commanded to the Jews.




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Exodus 34:22

And thou shalt observe the feast of the weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of
ingathering at the year’s end.

This is the Pentecost and is similar to the previous one in Exodus chapter 23.

Leviticus 2:12

As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord: but they shall not be burnt on the
altar for a sweet savour.

The firstfruits oblation here is actually a “meat offering.” Firstfruit here means the “first” and the “best”
should be offered to the Lord. This, again, is commanded to the Jews.

Leviticus 23:10, 20

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you,
and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the
priest:

And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD with the
two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

This feast and offering was reserved for the land of Canaan, when the Israelites will have fields for planting
and therefore, harvest. This was reserved for that for the reason that it would be impossible for them to
have that in the wilderness.

They would be giving that as a thanksgiving to God for giving them a land of their own. It is worth taking
note that it is only a “sheaf” or in simple terms, a handful. They are not commanded to give ALL of the
harvest but only a handful of it. Along with the sheaf will be a lamb of no blemish of the first year. After
offering this firstfuits offering, they are not allowed to eat bread or corn in that day.

This is a covenant between God and His people, the Israelites. This is also a picture of our Lord’s
resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:20-21 calls Jesus Christ the “firstfruits.”

Numbers 18:12

All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall
offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.

Again, this means “first” and “best.” God is simply asking for the best offering, as He requires in any
offering to Him.

Numbers 28:26-31

Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the LORD< after your weeks be
out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work:

But ye shall offer the burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; two young bullocks, one ram, seven
lambs of the first year;
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And their meat offering of flour mingled with iol, three tenth deals unto one bullock, two tenth deals unto
one ram,

A several tenth deal unto one lamb, throughout the seven lambs;

And one kid of the goats, to make an atonement for you

Ye shall offer them beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, (they shall be unto you
without blemish) and their drink offerings

This is the offering for the Feast of Weeks or Passover and this is a meat offering unto the Lord. Similar to
the ones in the book of Exodus

Deuteronomy 26:10

And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou
shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:

This is where it gets more interesting, the context to this verse the offering of Firstfruits and Tithes. This is
God’s command to the Israelites when they get to the Promised Land (Deut. 26:1). God commanded them
to take the “first of all the fruit of the earth,” put it in a basket (note how small of a portion that is
compared to a whole harvest), and bring it to the priest.

When the priest has laid down the basket, the one who offered it should recite a passage which talks of
God’s faithfulness towards them from setting them free from Egypt until that moment of having the
Promised Land.

Most false teachings about firstfruits get their teaching here and the way they do it is in no way similar to
how God commanded the Israelites to do it. Never mind the fact that God gave the command to the Jews,
not us.

We will later compare it to how we give our firstfruits offering in our time.

The rest of the times that “firstfruits” was mentioned in the Old testament means the “first” and “best” of
what was to be offered to the Lord.

Proverbs 3:9

Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

This verse will be used however to argue that we should still be doing this in our time. However, the
meaning of that is still the “first” and “best.” We should honor God with the best of our increase. The next
verse says “so shall thy barns be plenty…” this simply means that honoring God with your substance will in
no wise diminish what you have. This verse is also used as something very similar to prosperity Gospel and
will be used next to Luke 6:38, “Give and it shall be given unto you…” preachers will preach that once you
honor God with your money, God will give back to you even more. Nowhere in the Bible does God teach
that, if that was true, then all of us should be rich by now.

Proverbs 3:9-10 does not talk about the “firstfruit” commanded to the Israelites, it is a principle given to us
to honor God with what he gives us. The way we will honor Him differs on what our faith dictates us to do,
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some may give their one month salary, some may give more but it should be a freewill offering and not
dictated by any preacher. That negates the blessing that comes with honoring God because coerced giving
does not get blessings. All God is teaching us in this verse is to give God the best of what we have because
He deserves that.

Accepting this reasoning will result in a lot of confusion:

- What is the “substance?”
Substance is what you already have with you. Whether it be money or any other material possessions, you
must honor the Lord with them.

- What is the “increase?”
Is it your regular salary? If so, then following the logic of firstfruits giving today, you should give your
firstfruits offering every time you receive a salary (increase). It then varies depending on the profession of
an individual.

- How are we to honor the Lord with them?
Seems like pastors today has an exact way to do this “honoring” written in this verse. One thing noticeable
is that there are hardly 3 or 4 churches who do this in the same way. They all differ on one thing or
another. If firstfruits giving is now being preached as a doctrine, how come they can’t agree on their
method?

- Why did Solomon write this down?
We believe that Solomon simply wrote this down because it is their practice during their time. Notice that
it is THEIR practice, meaning the Israelaites.

This argument cause so many confusions and is being used by preachers who do not even want to search
the whole Scripture to protect their teaching. They are simply not ready to give an answer to why they
believe what they believe.


Arguing that Proverbs Chapter 3 verse 9 answers to the Law of Firstfuits giving in the Old Testament can
easily be countered by a careful study of Deuteronomy 26 where the most comprehensive passage on
firstfruits giving can be found.


II. Firstfruits in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the term firstfruits takes a spiritual meaning. We will not find any “offering” of
firstfruits here. The mention of the term here is spiritual and symbolical.

Romans 8:23

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

This means that we, the believers, are the firstfruits of the deliverance that God has promised to come.
This is talking about our future glory when the Lord Jesus Christ will come again for us. This signifies a great
joy in that promise of God to us. In this verse, we are the firstfruits.

Romans 16:5
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Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of
Achaia unto Christ.

This simply means that Epaenetus is the firstfruit of Achaia. This means that Epaenetus was won to Christ
in Achaia. We, ourselves have our own firstfruits to Christ and you can think of who that is. The term
firstfruits here is signifying a person.

1 Corinthians 15:20

But now is Chirst risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

The firstfruit here is Christ Himself. He is the first of a great harvest that is yet to come. Christ is God’s “Last
Adam,” and when He comes, the dead in Christ will be raised (1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 4:13-18), Christ being
the first one.

This speaks of the resurrection that is about to come.

1 Corinthians 16:15

I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they
have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)

This also speaks of people who were won to the Lord in Achaia.

James 1:18

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of fristfruits of his creatures.

We, are the firstfruits here. This means that we are the best of His creation and we are! This also means
that we are the “sample” of what is to follow at Christ’s coming (Rom. 8:23).

Revelations 14:4

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and
to the Lamb.

It refers to the 144,00. In this verse, their character is now described, being “virgins” and “not defiled with
women.” They will soon become the “firstfruit” of the harvest to follow.

Looking at these verses, we get the idea of what firstfruits is in the Bible. We are now going to take a look
at what firstfruits is in our time.

III. The Practice of Firstfruits today

Here are some of the ways or “rules” on how firstfruits offering is given today in many churches:

- Equivalent to one month’s pay
- Equal to monthly allowance for students
- Can be given in an installment basis (3 moths, 6 months, 1 year)
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Firstfruits giving is now also a measure of spirituality, if you don’t finish the commitment in the allotted
time, preachers will teach that you are not faithful enough to the Lord. What’s worse is that since Proverbs
3:9 and Luke 6:28 is usually used to teach this kind of giving, prosperity is implied to those who give
firstfruits regularly. Let us look at these methods today and compare it to the Scripture.

Equivalent to one month’s pay/allowance for students:

First of all, firstfruits was never money, not once will we see money being given as firstFRUITS offering. In
that time, people use silver to buy things for themselves but you will never see God requiring them to give
their form of money as an offering of firstfruits.

Second, I just do not see the logic in “one month’s pay” here. The Bible clearly states that the firstfruits
was to be put in a basket and brought to a place of God’s choosing. If firstfruits was part of the harvest
then I can only imagine how small a portion of it is a “basket’s” worth. If the harvest is a few hectares of
land, then what does a basket of harvest compare to it? Some argue that the firstfruits offering in the Old
Testament was 1/60 of the actual harvest. Leviticus 23:17 even says two loaves of bread for a wheat
harvest. It is ridiculous to give the whole harvest because most only harvest once a year and giving all of it
just does not make any sense.

Some argue that they are just giving 1/12 of the whole year’s salary but that is still too much compared to
the Bible times. We can safely say that this “equivalent to one month’s pay” is not Biblical.

Can be given in an installment method

Need we say more on this? You cannot find this anywhere in the Bible. Firstfruits offering was given once,
although it can be given anytime between spring and fall but it was never an installment method. This
man-made rule sounds more like a business rather than anything spiritual at all.

Some churches allow members to give their firstfruits in a year, giving a little of it every month, leaders do
not care as long as they finish the commitment.

If the methods we have today of giving our firstfruits offering is not Biblical, then why do we do it? What is
the motivation of believers who do it? Or a better question is “what do these preachers make the believers
think their motivation should be in giving firstfruits offering?”

If you have a need, plant a seed

You’ve heard this too many times, haven’t you? Well, this statement is true but it is being used to
manipulate people into thinking that giving money to the church, yields money back. First of all, God will
provide for our needs (Phil. 4:19). We are His children and God simply does not abandon His children. The
way this phrase is taught is people are promised wealth and financial success if they give their firstfruits
offering. Some even teach that this is the highest form of worship.

If a man will truly believe that he can reach financial success by faithfully giving his firstfruits offering to a
church, that man will give anything. Yes, he can reach financial success but financial success can come in
many ways. Let’s face it, not all rich people are believers, most of them are unbelievers. So if we base the
truth on successful results, then we are no better than this world. Success for us is to do God’s will, if He
blesses us with financial freedom, then praise Him for that but I believe He rarely does.

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The problem with this is that firstfruits offering was given to the Jews and the promise that comes with it.
We are in a different dispensation now and the promises of God to the Israelites and His promise to us
today are different.

Give it as a thanksgiving offering to God for His blessings towards you

Yes, we should all give thanks to God for all His blessings to us, be it financially, health-wise or anything
else but should we be dictated on how we will thank God? Think about it, we can thank God in many
different ways but preachers nowadays are dictating to us one way to thank God for this (firstfruits
offering). There is no blanket policy in giving. Thanking God is an individual decision, if you want to thank
God by giving Him all your salary, then go do it but don’t let anyone coerce you into how you should do
that. You can even thank God by being a good steward of the wealth that He has given you.

These are only a couple of reasons we hear in the pulpit today on why we should give, especially our
firstfruits giving. Some even testify that their pastors preach that God guarantees financial success if we
will be faithful in giving. The Macedonian church gave beyond their power to give but they were still poor.
Nowadays, if God did not give you back some money after finishing your firstfruits, they will simply say that
you did it with the wrong motive when they were the ones who put that motive in your mind in the first
place.

IV. The importance of terms of the Bible we use today.

People will argue that they can use the word firstfruits but are not bound to follow what it really is in the
Bible. The only reason for using the term may be because it is found in the Bible, although they did not
even make the time or effort to figure out what it really is. Our answer to that is this: Our terms should be
a faithful representation of our doctrinal conviction.

Suppose that a preacher is currently preaching a sermon and you hear a line that goes like this: “You put
your faith and trust in Jesus Christ’s work on the Cross, keep doing what is right, read your Bible every day,
come to church every Sunday and give your tithes and offerings, then you will be sure that you have
salvation!”

Now, that man might be saved and he might just be preaching that for some other reason but the fact that
salvation is mentioned in the preaching does not make it Biblical. If you are going to use the term salvation,
you have to teach it the way the Bible is teaching it. Salvation is by grace through faith and works does not
have anything to do with having that salvation. That “salvation” the preacher is shouting about is salvation
according to him and not according to the Bible! You cannot just use that word “biblically” and teach it in a
perverted way. It is the same with other terms found in the Bible, we, in the seminary do a “word study” of
words found in the Bible and we know how important those words are and we are to be responsible to
how we use them.

It is the same thing with firstfruits offering, once cornered, people will say, “well, we are only using the
term, we are not applying the firstfruits of the Israelites.” Well, that’s exactly what firstfruits offering is,
it is for the Israelites and not for us in our time! This argument is one of a person who does not
even know why he’s teaching the firstfruits offering in the first place. He just heard the teaching
and tried and failed to teach it properly to his congregation.

If we, Baptists, stopped being careful with our terms and our doctrine, then we are no different
from the “modern” church today. We should stay true to our distinctive and put a heavy emphasis
on what we say especially behind the pulpit and the practice of our churches.

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Frequently Asked Questions

We have encountered many who are genuinely interested to know all about this new doctrine
called Firstfruits Offering and we have noted some of their questions to us. We will try to answer
as much of them as possible and try to make sure that after an individual has read this study,
there will be no questions left in his/her mind.

1. Is it a sin to participate in firstfruits offering?

Let us answer this question considering both sides of the coin. There is a pastor who is teaching
that doctrine and there are members who are listening and just following what the pastor is
preaching behind the pulpit.

First, it is a sin for the pastor to teach that doctrine wrongly. Christians, especially preachers and
elders are to study the Word of God thoroughly and be sure that what they are teaching the people
are truths from the Word of God. A pastor who is teaching firstfruits offering in the way that we
mentioned earlier in the study is committing sin and is not only accountable to God but also to the
members of the church and even to the brethren that are from other places. The Bible is our
constitution and although all local churches are autonomous, we are all accountable on how we
teach the Bible and practice.

A “Baptist” church who is pro-abortion is to be reprimanded by other Baptist churches publicly so

that they will not be identified with that church. A Baptist church who is preaching firstfruits offering
scam is very much responsible to other churches who are keeping the faith and are standing for
the truth. You cannot simply say that it is none of their business because you are going against the
very Word of God.

It is equally a sin to the member who willingly does it without searching the Scriptures. Think about
it, when you face God and are about to answer for your actions here on earth, can you really point
to your pastor and blame him for that? No. Each individual in a local church should have a time to
study the Word of God and discern whether or not the pastor or another preacher is teaching is
true to God’s Word of not. Ignorance is never an excuse. We all have the Bible, we are privileged
to have the Word of God in our hands and to go to It anytime we have doubts in our minds about a
particular practice in our churches. This is the reason why the people at Berea are praised by the
Apostle Paul. They listen to the preacher but will not commit unless they are sure that what the
preacher is preaching is true.

Although you cannot see the exact words “firstfruits offering is a sin” in the Bible … do you really
have to? The same way that you can’t see “do not smoke,” and “do not run a red light” in the Bible
does not mean they are not sin.

To answer the question directly. Yes, it is a sin to participate in firstfuits offering scam.

2. If firstfruits giving is wrong, then how do you explain the blessings being received by
those who are faithfully giving it.

Ah, this is a very good question. One that in some people’s mind is the reason why they continue
on giving it. Let’s first answer this question with questions of our own:

- How sure are you that God is blessing you because of firstfruits offering?
- How sure are you that God is the one blessing you?
- Do you really measure the truthfulness of one thing on the results it produced?
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 - What blessings are you talking about? Money?
- Did everyone who finished their firstfruits commitment get “blessed?”

There are many reasons why God blesses an individual. Contrary to what is in almost every
believer’s mind, the Christian life is not all about giving money to the church. Yes, we are to be
cheerful givers but that is not everything. We wrongly put too much weight on the amount of
money we are giving to the church and forget that God also blesses obedience to other things in
the Bible. Pastors nowadays, especially in the Philippines, are putting too much emphasis on
money. If we are going to consider the authority in local church practices which is the Apostle Paul
and look at his instructions and teachings to the local church and the account of his journeys in the
book of Acts, we will see that money is not even a big part of it. Somehow, pastors today have put
in the believer’s mind that giving money to the church is the best way to be blessed by God.
What’s worse is that they even promise that God will give money in return. God blesses us
because of so many things, not just because of the money we give to the church. Don’t be too
quick to conclude that God gave you that car because you completed your firstfruits commitment.

We, as Bible Believing Baptists, put emphasis on the truth and the truth alone. We base that truth
on the written Word of God. We do not base it on feelings or the results one practice has
produced. If those are the correct basis of the truth then we are better off being called
evangelicals.

If we base the truthfulness of our practice to the building it produced, then the INCs are more
truthful than us. The Catholics with their huge cathedrals must be preaching and practicing the
truth. The Mormon church must be more truthful than us Baptists then. That argument is just idiotic
and lazy. If we, as a church, decided to go to Resorts World Manila and do some gambling and
somehow God decided to “bless” us with huge winnings. We use the money to build a huge
worship hall with beautiful chandeliers, escalators, an elevating podium, carpets all around, gold
plated beams and all these wonderful things, do all those things make the gambling right in the
first place? No. The results does not justify the means. If you’re still thinking that that’s okay as
long as it gets results, then you have another thing coming.

We often think that a brand new car, salary raise, a new house and all these material things are
the highest forms of blessings. Think about it, go on facebook and look at the posts of the
churches who are practicing firstfruits giving. You will notice that a brand new car is often
connected to being a faithful firstfruits giver, the same goes with having a new house and all these
material things. It might come as a shock but we believe that money is the least form of blessing.
A man can get money in so many ways. A person can be a very clever business man, industrious
in all his dealings or maybe someone just inherited a huge sum of money. All of those things can
get you a car but why are we so quick to relate it to firstfruits giving? Worst of all is that those
people who are getting those cars are full-time office workers or businessmen who do not go soul-
winning, attend Bible studies and are just Sunday morning Christians but somehow God decided
to bless them with material things just because they completed their firstfruits commitment?
You’ve got to be kidding me!

What about those who have completed their firstfruits giving and were not given cars or salary
raise, what does that make them? Prideful givers? We don’t see people who have a perfectly
peaceful life, a clean slate of health and a wonderful and happy family being praised on facebook
for these things. Pastors simply don’t see those things as blessings of God to an obedient
Christian.

We have this thinking that giving God money will get us more money in return (come on now, be
honest, that’s what you thought all along) but if that were the case, all of us should be rich by now!
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There should be no Baptist who is struggling, but that kind of thinking only makes the church
business-like. God blesses the way He wants to bless us, if He gives us financial security then
praise the Lord but this kind of thinking belittles all the blessings God is giving us on a daily basis.
The verse “give and it shall be given unto you” does not mean money. Jesus Christ is teaching the
importance of treating others the way you want to be treated. God does not promise financial
success. Giving much money to the church will not get you more money. The people in Macedonia
gave BEYOND their capabilities but they remained poor. Think about that for a moment.

3. Isn’t it just a matter of terminology? That’s not a big deal, right?

See part 4 of this lesson.

4. Can you limit the giving of an individual? What is wrong with giving my first salary
this year to the church?

There’s nothing wrong with giving that amount of money as long as you did it willingly and
cheerfully but more importantly, you are not coerced into giving it and there is no pressure from
church leadership. You can even give everything if that’s what God is impressing in your heart.
Calling it firstfruits offering however is where the “wrong” comes in. Remember, our terms should
be a faithful representation of our doctrinal stand. Giving to God in the New Testament church has
always been freewill giving.

5. Why do you publicly oppose this teaching? Isn’t every local church autonomous and
you are not to meddle with their practices?

While it is true that we are autonomous, our independence is still in submission to our constitution,
which is the Word of God. Any autonomous church who is preaching anything aside from the truth
is accountable to God, the members and other believers who have knowledge of the error. It is
important to us to make a stand against this because:

- We do not want to be identified with those churches who are focused on money
- God gave us knowledge of this to expose it
- Christians who are being deceived and their Christian lives serving God is wasted on the
deception of pastors with money on their minds
- Pastors who are teaching this are going around the Philippines trying to deceive more
people into serving the belly of their pastors. Someone should take a stand against that
kind of teaching. (Eph. 5:11)
- Staying quiet about this makes us as guilty as those who are preaching about it.

Titus 1:10-13

For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially of the circumcision:

Whose mouths MUST BE STOPPED, who subvert whole houses, TEACHING THINGS WHICH
THEY OUGHT NOT, FOR FILTHY LUCRE’S SAKE.

…wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.

This principle in Ezekiel 3:18-19 applies.

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest
to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his
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iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from
his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy
soul.

1 John 4:1

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world.

Conclusion:

We are not out to get anyone, we are simply exposing what is firstfruits teaching in the Bible. We,
in some parts of this lesson are trying to expose those who are using God’s people as a way to
make money and establish a kingdom of their own.

It is our desire for the reader to be open-minded, search the Scriptures, do not just believe
everything in this lesson either, try to know it by studying the Word of God. We are praying that all
of us will be serving and worshipping God the way He wants us to do it.

We are not perfect, nor do we claim that we are better than most. We are simply blessed to have
seen this and God has placed this burden in our hearts.

May God bless you.

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