Originally Posted by Originalist
In the Spring of 2012 I filled out my paperwork to be a missionary to Mexico. Soon after that, a major split occurred within the UPC of Mexico and headquarters decided to call all missionaries home. My pastor was actually very supportive of our desire to go on the mission field and encouraged us to go in spite of the UPC’s decision. He was sure that everything would be resolved soon. However, after several months nothing had been resolved in Mexico and headquarters began to assign the missionaries from Mexico to other countries. If God really wanted me in Mexico, it would not be with the UPC.
After much consideration, my sisters and I decided to sell the property where I was living, which we all three jointly owned. Incredibly, we found a buyer without even having to list it! My uncle, whose property bordered mine, agreed to buy it for 100,000 dollars, which was higher than the appraised price. He was going to put 30% down and finance the rest. It seemed like a miracle was in the making. We’d have money to make the move to Mexico without having to do allot of fundraising first.
My brother-in-law in Mexico told us he would actually GIVE us a house if we moved there!! Even my pastor thought God was doing a miracle. So in April of this year I quit my job at Walgreens so I’d have time to finish cosmetic repairs on the house before I handed the keys to my Uncle. Since we expected the closing to be soon, and because we were planning to go to Mexico for the Summer, I did not start looking for a Summer job.
Then everything came crashing down. For one reason or another, the my uncle’s financing fell through. We would not have that financial cushion we were expecting. Thankfully some saints helped us get to Mexico anyway, but once we got there, as I posted previously, all hell broke loose against our finances. If it had not been for people obeying God, we literally would not have been able to return home. Several saints of God helped us financially.
Keep in mind I intentionally did not share our plight with anyone from our church other than our pastor. With our church’s weakened financial state, I did not want any funds diverted from there towards us. our pastor expressed his concern and was even nice enough to pay my ministerial dues for the Summer quarter (93 dollars). He was concerned that my license might lapse.
In the few days we’ve been back from Mexico, our pastor has been noticeably cold towards us. He did not even welcome us back from the pulpit. Last night he preached, which on “greed”. The first part of his message was great as he railed against prosperity preachers. But then he made reference to another type of greed, “robbing God of tithes and offerings”. He made it clear that those who were weak in this area were just plain greedy. Of course he made reference to Malachi’s reference to “robbing God” and how that he “didn’t like thieves , nor did he want to worship with them”.
While I choose to practice tithing, I have never felt it is appropriate to use God’s commands to Israel as an obligatory system of giving for the new testament church. I see it as a principle of putting God first, but I don’t have the right to condemn people if they feel God is leading them another way. The epistles and Acts do mention giving, but there is no hint that the tithing system mentioned in Malachi was carried over to the new testament church, and it is especially troubling to me when pastors tell struggling people that they are “cursed”. The early church would not have told people things like “If you have to choose between paying your light bill or paying your tithes, pay your tithes and trust God.” The early church would have paid that persons power bill! The bible says none lacked because of the generous attitude and love for each other. Certainly there are times God requires us to step out on faith and give sacrificially, but that is different from some preacher bringing you under condemnation.
Our pastor then repeated the same statement he made several months back,
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My wife and I knew then that we had not misunderstood him those few months previously. He then went on to say,
I thought to myself, I can take you to the place in the Law where certain people were exempt from tithing at all!! Why are we cherry picking which verses we want to beat up people with??
He made it clear that financial difficulties are connected to “greed”. On the way home my wife said, “well, now we know what the pastor thinks of us.” Sadly, she is right. There is no doubt in my mind this message was partly aimed at us. The irony is, he knows our situation, and he knows we were tithing on the gross income of our business. Yet, financial trials still befell us. I had even told him about the prophecy that came forth in 2009 at our former church.
I have fought with everything in me not to become totally depressed these last three years. I struggle not to feel like a total failure. My pastor is too late to tell me that God is cursing me, the Devil already told me that one. God knows my heart. He knows I love to give. He knows I help people whenever I can. This message was a slap in the face and totally out of line.
I will be leaving that church. I just need wisdom on how to go about it. I do not want to have an argument with him, nor do I intend on discussing this with anyone in the church. I just want to leave and fade from their memories. Yet I know that when I do leave, he will talk about me to people when I’m not there to defend myself. On top of everything else, he the Florida District Superintendent. I will be blacklisted in this district and possibly beyond. The two years of staying all day every Sunday meant nothing. The faithful giving meant nothing. I’m hurt and disgusted. My family does not deserve this. It’s like some kind of weird nightmare. We are not trouble makers, but we will be treated as such. I know that trying to reason with him in private will be in vain. He has made up his mind.
please pray for us. Thank you.
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