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