It Sickens Me How Many Quack Preachers Love to Take Malachi 3:8-10 Straight Out of Its Context!
Malachi 3:8-10 says, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
The problem today is that to make billions, it's very easy to misquote those verses. I have nothing against giving tithes as part of the Christian living but the moment that the tithe is given out of coercion or swindling then that's just plain wrong. I'm really thinking do the prosperity gospel fake pastors realize that they're the ones who are also stealing the tithes and offerings? In the process, these fake pastors have robbed God in tithes and offerings. What should have been used to further the spread of the Gospel, pay bills and pay salaries was used for the fake pastor's worldly enjoyment.
Let me explain to you how the swindling works. If you take the verses into context, the tithes are meant to be meat in mine storehouse. The storehouse was meant to supply the needs of the Old Testament priesthood not for the high priest's personal enjoyment. This money was meant to support the ministry of the world. But what do the pop-off theologians do? They start saying, "Pay your tithes and you'll be a billionaire." Do they even know what it means to open the windows of Heaven? While true God will rebuke the devourer and blessings will come but it doesn't mean you become a billionaire. Just because you read the word "blessing" doesn't mean you become happy, wealthy and healthy all the time.
What blessings can't be stored in the storehouse? It's not necessarily money or material blessings. There's room to receive billions worth of money in the bank. You get a lot of money the banks can still contain them. But the banks can't contain God's spiritual blessings. What can't be stored by enough room? Can you store the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 in any of your barnyards? Can you store the unspeakable joy of rejoicing even in your worst times? There's no room on Earth that can contain the unspeakable spiritual blessings God gives to those who trust Him. If there's no enough room to receive the blessing then it means this world can't contain it. Why expect to live happy, wealthy and healthy all the time in this world if you're not of this world?
In the Beatitudes, don't we read in Matthew 5:11-12 where it says, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Just because you're blessed doesn't mean you won't suffer for Christ's sake. 1 Peter 4:16 also says, "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." Romans 8;18 says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." To be rejoicing in one's suffering for the sake of Christ is indeed a blessing that has not enough room to receive it not that you become happy, wealthy and healthy all the time!