GIVING &
SHARING NEWSLETTER June,
1990 No. 10
Tithing
Booklet Reprinted
With great
pleasure we announce the reprinting of The Tithe in Scripture by Henry
Lansdell. Originally published in 1908,
Tithe in Scripture
thoroughly covers the history and practice of tithing in Old and New
Testaments, as well as secular sources.
We believe in
and support the practice of Biblical tithing.
Even more, we believe the use
of the tithe is as important as the
practice of tithing.
Unfortunately, many of those who say they support tithing are not
faithful stewards of the tithe.
Lansdell
concludes:
“ . . . in the light of revelation and from the
practice of, perhaps, all ancient nations, that the man who denies God’s claim
to a portion of the wealth that comes to his hands, is much akin to a spiritual
anarchist; whilst he who so apportions less than a tenth of his income or
increase is condemned by Scripture as a robber. Indeed, if in the days of Malachi not to pay tithe was counted
robbery, can a Christian who withholds the tenth be — now, anymore than then —
counted honest towards God?”
Strong’s
Lite
Someday, we
might receive a request for a “Strong’s Exhausting Concordance”!
Strong’s EXHAUSTIVE Concordance is a heavy, six-pound
book, the basis for serious Bible Study. The Strong’s numbers are the
springboard for further study into the Hebrew and Greek, such as the
Englishman’s Hebrew and Englishman's Greek Concordances, and the Gesenius and
Thayer’s Lexicons.
If you just
need to look up some scriptures, gather material for a quick Bible study, or you are traveling and need a portable
concordance, an abridged version of
Strong’s Concordance, the New
Strong’s Popular Edition, will help. The Popular Edition
eliminates minor and insignificant words which are not likely to be used to
locate passages, such as “the” and “a.” However, with the “Lite,” or Popular
Edition, you lose the Strong’s numbers so you cannot use it for Hebrew and
Greek word studies.
James Strong
(1822-1894) labored thirty-five years to manually compile his Exhaustive
Concordance, in an age before computers.
These two editions continue his work, and belong in your library.
Sinners
Anonymous
Alcoholics
Anonymous is an organization dedicated to helping alcoholics overcome their
addiction. “Wine is a mocker, strong
drink is raging: and whosoever is
deceived thereby is not wise,”
Proverbs 20:1.
Drunkenness is one of the works of the flesh, and those who continue to
be ensnared by substance abuse shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, Galatians 5:21.
The “Twelve
Steps” of the Alcoholics Anonymous program for recovery are based on Biblical
principles. Although we might not all
have a substance abuse problem, every one of us has a sin problem. These twelve steps can be used in the
spiritual sense to help us overcome our sins:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol
[sin] — that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater
than ourselves could restore us to
sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to
another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove
all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever
possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and
when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to
improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will
for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the
result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics [sinners],
and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Let us join “Sinners Anonymous” and, with the
Almighty’s help, overcome the devastating addiction to sin in our lives. Ω