Tithing was More Fun Than we Know

I think I know why God wants me to make beer.

Yesterday, I wrote about the rapture. The birth of Jesus was the first Christmas. The rapture will be the second real Christmas, not just a yearly observation. The second coming, to rule the earth, will be the third Christmas. The Bible says we will know when the rapture is coming. People who don’t read carefully get hung up on a scripture that says only Yahweh knows the day, but the Bible also says it will not take us by surprise, and it’s clear we are expected to know the season, meaning we will have a good general idea of the timing, and this will help us prepare.

Look, Jesus told us there would be signs. That proves we are not to be taken by surprise. It serves no purpose to tell people about signs of an upcoming event if you want them to be ambushed.

So if we will have a pretty good idea that the rapture is nearly here, we will have reason to celebrate, and what did the ancient Jews celebrate with? Alcohol. Yes, they did. Stop with the legalistic teetotaling sophistry. What was the first miracle Jesus did?

I won’t tell you. You should know.

His first miracle took place at a wedding. The rapture will take us to heaven for the wedding of Jesus. It will be a celebration. There will be wine. Jesus said he would drink wine in heaven. The Song of Solomon, which tells about a man gathering his fiancee to him, is about the rapture. It makes sense that we would celebrate here on Earth before we leave.

I believe God told me another reason why he wants me to make beer. He wants to pick a fight.

I can hear people yelling at the screen. “The Prince of Peace doesn’t pick fights!” Sure he does. You should read the Bible some day. God picked a number of fights in the Bible, to glorify Himself. Read Exodus, if you want an obvious example. Let me spell it out. He picked a fight with the false gods of Egypt and their followers. He humiliated those spirits one at a time with plagues showing he ruled their supposed spheres of influence.

It appears God is picking a fight with Christians who worship men and rules.

We are supposed to be under the law of the Holy Spirit, not laws carved in stone. In law, there are two principles you need to know about: supercession and preemption.

Preemption means laws from high authorities outweigh laws from lower authorities. Federal laws sometimes outweigh state laws.

Supercession means new laws replace old ones.

The law of the Holy Spirit supercedes the written law, because it is newer.

The law of the Holy Spirit preempts the traditions of men because the source is God Himself, who has the highest authority. A lot of our religious rules are traditions of men with no authority.

What does “testament” mean? It means the same thing in the Bible and on Earth. It means “will.” What do we say in our wills? We say we revoke all previous wills. While the new covenant doesn’t exactly render the old covenant invalid, where it conflicts with the old covenant, the old covenant is superseded. This is why Messianic Jews can eat pork and drive on Saturday.

As for preemption, Jesus came and let the world know fabricated traditions of men had no validity, and when he gave us the Holy Spirit, he put the one who wrote the law inside us. That person has the right to overrule baseless tradition and tell us things that disagree with the written law.

When mom and dad go out and leave a list of instructions on the refrigerator, that list doesn’t have to be obeyed forever. It stays up until they come home, and then they tell the kids what to do in person. That’s the difference between the written law and the law of the Holy Spirit.

We are supposed to be commanded by the Holy Spirit these days. Very few Christians are. Most of us live by wacky traditions and rigid Old Testament laws. If you took the invalid traditions out of Catholicism, there wouldn’t be much of it left.

Jesus healed on the Sabbath. His disciples violated the Sabbath with his approval. He spoke disrespectfully to priests who were chosen by the Romans, not God. He interfered with a lawful stoning. The Holy Spirit told him what to do, so his authority was higher than the authority of the written law.

These days we have Christians who teach tithing, which is wrong. We have Christians who teach teetotaling. Some Christians teach that we can’t serve in the military, which is crazy. Many Christians think you get to heaven by going to church or volunteering. Many think we are supposed to obey a bunch of rules we do not understand, and God will tally up our scores and see who gets in. These things are not Christianity. They are traditions and legalism.

We can be very stuffy and pretentious. We often argue when we have no idea what we’re talking about. “The pope said THIS!” “Daniel Kolenda said THAT, and he works miracles, so he’s right!” “I rode around in Reinhard Bonnke’s bus for two years, so I’m right!” “God is going to get you for criticizing Benny Hinn because you’re touching his anointed!” “If you have a Christmas tree, you’re worshiping Satan!”

Christianity is actually a supernatural relationship. It’s like being inhabited by demons, except you’re inhabited by the Holy Spirit. Just as demons command and influence people who are depraved and make people similar to themselves, the Holy Spirit will influence and command you and make you similar to Him.

We argue because we are not in touch with the one who makes the rules. The Holy Spirit tells us all the exact–EXACT–same things. He doesn’t pit his children against each other. When God picks a fight, he picks it with other spirits and people who listen to them.

If you speak in tongues a lot, you will be brought into agreement with God over time. If not, you’re going to end up guessing, not to mention fighting with people who are right.

I think God is telling me to make beer for celebration and to provoke and expose the ignorant and proud. The rule-followers. The preacher-worshipers.

In the end, some people will win, and those people will be the ones who heard God in the first place.

I was talking to Rhodah about all this today, and she showed me something about a scripture I had mentioned to her the day before. Deuteronomy 14 says that Hebrews who were too far from the temple to take their tithes there (and tithes were not money) were to convert the tithes to money and then give the money to rich priests who could buy fancy chariots sheathed in gold.

NO! It says they were to convert the tithes into “‘anything you want — cattle, sheep, wine, other intoxicating liquor, or anything you please,’ and then feast before the Lord.”

How about that, tithe-craving preachers? God wants us to eat and drink your yachts and $7,000 basketball shoes.

It also says they were to store food and drink so the Levites could come and eat. Nothing in there about giving them money to buy jets.

A lot of Baptists would explode if they read Deuteronomy 14.

Maybe not the Forty-Gallon Baptists. My dad used to claim they existed. He said they were only allowed to drink 40 gallons per year. I think he probably got that wrong.

So this is where we are. I am brewing, and it’s going very well. Just slides along without any real problems.

Obviously, I don’t encourage anyone to get drunk or even to drink. That’s another subject.

I can tell you this: alcohol is perfectly fine. It’s not like tobacco or LSD or mushrooms, which have no place in a Christian’s life. People and demons are the problem. If you can’t drink safely, the problem is you. Most people can be surrounded with alcohol all their lives and never have any trouble, so it’s clear the individual is what makes the difference.

Some Asians can’t handle alcohol, and some can’t process it well. This is said to be a biological thing that can’t be changed. The rest of us aren’t like that. It’s all down to demons and character problems.

My grandfather, who died from drinking moonshine with methanol in it, was an alcoholic and a mean drunk. Family lore says he beat my grandmother on the steps of the courthouse where he lived. My dad was an alcoholic. When I was young, I did stupid things when I drank, but was I an alcoholic? I’m definitely not an alcoholic now. I barely drink, and when I do, it causes no problems.

They say there is no way to for an alcoholic to be free from alcoholism, so either they’re wrong, or I have never been an alcoholic.

The general rule is that when another person thinks you’re an alcoholic, there is no way to change their mind. It is not possible. They can always come up with an argument. I don’t have a drinking problem, and I never will again because it isn’t in me. When I did have a drinking problem, the problem was immaturity, not bondage.

I hope to be imbibing moderate amounts of the results of my labor and God’s grace very soon. Of course, you will read about it here.