A Balanced View of Alms Giving in the Harmony of the Scriptures

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

This is the harmony between all the scriptures that speak of wealth positively and all the scriptures that speak of wealth negatively. There are groups in the broad umbrella of ‘Christianity’ that only read one side or the other side of the scriptures. For instance, ‘television prosperity gospel’ is only focused on one set of scriptures which say ‘Yahuwah wants you to be wealthy’. But that is a lopsided doctrine. We just read in Deut. 15 - the poor you will always have with you in the land, so don't be tight-fisted toward your poor brother.

You've also got groups on the other side of the fence who think that you can't have money or nice things. They focus on only the verses that talk about the poor. True Bible believers focus on all the verses and let them dovetail together to see what they teach in a balanced way. There's some truth in both teachings in each extreme but we don't want some truth, we want total truth. When you read them all, believe them all and then bring them together and harmonize, that's when you arrive at good doctrine. So when we take everything into account. the bible teaches there are rich righteous people, poor righteous people.

In Deut.15 again, there's someone wealthy lending to someone who is poor just before the Sabbatical year. In Luke 14, the person that hosts the banquet's got to have more money than the crippled man that he calls to the banquet – someone wealthy, someone poor. Both of them can serve Yahuwah, both can be Yahuwah's children. Yahushua is not teaching against having wealth, he's teaching to make sure our wealth is kept in proper perspective. Wealth is not to be a master above Yahuwah and it's not to be used just for ourselves. We are to use the resources that Yahuwah blesses us with to help other people. If we're truly mastered by Yahuwah we will be generous and giving of our finances. We will help people, we won't have that evil eye.

In the Easy to Read Version [ERV] the translation is beautiful and it's the only one that brings across the idiom properly.

The only source of light for the body is the eye. If you look at people and want to help them, you will be full of light, but if you look at people in a selfish way, you will be full of darkness and if the only light you have is really darkness, you have the worst kind of darkness. That's a correct bringing over the meaning from the Hebrew evil eye into English. Generosity versus selfishness.

Let us balance this out - this is all true but it does not mean that you have to help everybody that comes along in your life. If you give to everyone that asked you or everyone that you see in need, you wouldn't have anything for your family and Yahuwah commands us to take care of our families.

Unfortunately, there are some people who are looking for handouts to keep up bad habits. These people need to be helped too, however, there comes a point where maybe we might need to practice hard love and not keep up somebody's bad habit. So we need to be discerning in our giving. We pray and ask ‘Yahuwah lead me, lead me to people who I need to give. Be discerning but don't use discernment as an excuse to never give.

There are needy widows, orphans and other poor people in the world today - seek them out – Yahuwah will lead you to them if you ask for his leading. A portion of everything that you make and earn should go to helping somebody that has less than you..

In scripture, part of the tithe that was given to the nation of Israel, went to the widows, the orphans and the poor. Preachers today are not authorized to take the tithe because they're not Levites. Yahushua didn't take tithes - he was from the tribe of Judah so He received offerings but he didn't take tithes because he wasn't a Levite. The tithes were not to be given to Yahushua.

The tithe in Old Testament Israel [three times per year] - some of it went to the Levite, some to the widows, the orphans and the poor, the stranger that joined to Israel. Then some of it went to the tither to have at the feast. So, today you should give offerings ONLY to ministries which teach and practice the full truth of the Bible – and to the best of our knowledge, these may be actually non - existent at his time – please see https://www.worldslastchance.com/about-us/our-beliefs.html

We suggest that you start a home Ekklesia – https://www.worldslastchance.com/home-ekklesia.html

You bring the best of whatever you can afford and you share it with everybody and you rejoice at Yahuwah's feast - https://www.worldslastchance.com/directory#Annual-Feasts

When we do this along with what we've talked about prayer and fasting and giving of alms, when we do all of that, we are storing up treasures in heaven. We will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous, when Yahushua returns and sets up His Kingdom on earth soon – see – https://www.worldslastchance.com/directory#Yahuwah's-Eternal-Earthly-Kingdom

The only way you'll know if money is your master is if you will not give any of it away as this study has revealed from the scriptures.