Tithe In The Advent Movement

If there have been cases where our sisters have appropriated their TITHE to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace. I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this, and AS THE MONEY IS NOT WITHHELD FROM THE LORD’S TREASURY, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best. 2MR 99

The tithe is to be used for one purpose,–to sustain the ministers whom the Lord has appointed to do His work. It is to be used to support those who speak the words of life to the people, and carry the burden of the flock of God. {7MR 135.1}

Instruction has been given me that there is a withholding of the tithe that should be faithfully brought into the Lord’s treasury for the support of ministers and missionaries who are opening the Scriptures to the people and working from house to house. The work of evangelizing the world has been greatly hindered by personal selfishness. Some, even among professing Christians, are unable to see that the work of the gospel is to be supported by the means that Christ has given them. Money is needed in order that the work done all over the world may be carried forward. Thousands upon thousands are perishing in sin, and a lack of means is hindering the proclamation of the truth that is to be carried to all nations and kindreds and tongues and people. There are men ready to go forth as the Lord’s messengers, but because of a lack of means in the treasury they cannot be sent to the places where the people are begging for someone to come and teach them the truth. {9T 52.1}

The tithe is the Lord’s, and those who meddle with it will be punished with the loss of their heavenly treasure unless they repent. Let the work no longer be hedged up because the tithe has been diverted into various channels other than the one to which the Lord has said it should go. Provision is to be made for these other lines of work. They are to be sustained, but not from the tithe. God has not changed; the tithe is still to be used for the support of the ministry.–9T 247-250. {CS 102.4}

Should medical missionaries receive tithe?

Ministers of the gospel are to unite with the medical missionary work, which has ever been presented to me as the work which is to break down the prejudice which exists in our world against the truth. {CCh 310.1}

A gospel minister will be twice as successful in his work if he understands how to treat disease. {CCh 310.2}

Some, who do not see the advantage of educating the youth to be physicians both of the mind and of the body, say that the tithe should not be used to support medical missionaries, who devote their time to treating the sick. In response to such statements as these, I am instructed to say that the mind must not become so narrowed down that it cannot take in the truth of the situation. A minister of the gospel who is also a medical missionary, who can cure physical ailments, is a much more efficient worker than one who cannot do this. His work as a minister of the gospel is much more complete. {CCh 310.4}

Should all the Tithe go to the General Conference?

Do not worry lest some means shall go direct to those who are trying to do missionary work in a quiet and effective way. All the means is not to be handled by one agency or organization. There is much business to be done conscientiously for the cause of God. Help is to be sought from every possible source. There are men who can do the work of securing means for the cause, and when these are acting conscientiously and in harmony with the counsels of their fellow-laborers in the field which they represent, the hand of restraint is not to be laid upon them. They are surely laborers together with Him who gave his life for the salvation of souls. {SpM 421.7}

The arrangement that all moneys must go through Battle Creek and under the control of the few men in that place is a wrong way of managing. There are altogether too many weighty responsibilities given to a few men, and some do not make God their counselor. (TM:321)

God grant that the voices which have been so quickly raised to say that all the money invested in the work must go through the appointed channel at Battle Creek, shall not be heard. The people to whom God has given his means are amenable to him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aid and assistance to missions. It is because of the misappropriation of means that the Southern field has no better showing than it has today. {SpM 176.7}

The voice from Battle Creek, which has been regarded as authority in counseling how the work should be done, is no longer the voice of God.–17MR 185 (1896). {LDE 50.2}

It has been some years since I have considered the General Conference as the voice of God.–17MR 216 (1898). {LDE 50.3}

That these men should stand in a sacred place, to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be–that is past.–GCB April 3, 1901, p. 25. {LDE 50.4

Should unsanctified ministers be supported with tithe?

There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine. I am alarmed for the people of God who profess to believe solemn, important truth, for I know that many of them are not converted nor sanctified through it. (1T:261,262)

As there are woes for those who preach the truth while they are unsanctified in heart and life, so there are woes for those who receive and maintain the unsanctified in the position which they cannot fill.{2T 552.1}

It would be poor policy to support from the treasury of God those who really mar and injure His work, and who are constantly lowering the standard of Christianity.(3T:553)

How did Sister White appropriate her Tithe?

My brother, I wish to say to you, Be careful how you move. You are not moving wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated to the most needy and the most discouraging field in the world, the more sensible you will be. {SpM 215.1}

It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way. {SpM 215.2}

In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers of that field. If there has been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace. {SpM 215.3}

I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this; and as the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon; for it will necessitate my making known these matters , which I do not desire to do, because it is not best. {SpM 215.4}

Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone; and if this matter is given publicity, it will create knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do. {SpM 215.5}

I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that any should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy minister they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated. {SpM 215.5}