Jesus in Mark 12: 38-40, had just
warned the disciples about the behavior of the Pharisees and
Scribes… "38 Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the
scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in
the marketplaces, 39 the best seats in the synagogues, and the best
places at feasts, 40 who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense
make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation"… As
you can see here these scribles walked around with nice "long
robes" on, and like so many of the gospel peddlers today they
loved to be greeted "in the marketplaces" being called
"reverend" and "father" even "holy father". These
gospel peddlers love to sit up front in the pulpit as they say, and
they ravish getting their "props" as they say at special
events.
Now, notice what Christ says in verse
40, after warning His disciples not to be like these phonies who
"will receive greater condemnation" than others who sin
because they know what they are doing, "they see" as they
claim. This same warning is given in Luke 20:45-47 also just
before Jesus spoke concerning the widow’s mites here in Luke 21 and
Mark 12 above. In verse 40, Jesus speaks of these scribes
"who devour widows’ houses, and for pretense make long prayers".
Now, the same scribes should be kept in mind when Jesus is
speaking the parable of the "widow’s two mites"; because
these scribes were devouring widows’ houses by robbing them of their
livelihood. These scribes required all to given to the temple even
poor widows without any means of supporting themselves. This part of
the story these gospel peddlers always leave out.
Read it again for yourself, in Luke 21:4 it
says… the Widow "out of her poverty put in all the livelihood
that she had." In Mark 12:44, it says, the Widow "put
in all that she had, her whole livelihood". And these scribes
and temple leaders had no shame in accepting this woman’s last; all
they were concern about was everyone putting something in the temple
treasury. Now, do you see why Jesus spoke first on how these scribes
behaved. For the picture of the widow putting in all her livelihood,
takes on a more profound spiritual meaning than the worldly meaning
these gospel peddlers love to use to get you to give more to them.
The Greek word translated here as
"devour" means "to devour i.e. forcibly appropriate:
widows' property, to strip one of his goods". Therefore, this
parable speaks of the scribes "forcibly taking the livelihood of
widows, stripping them of all their goods and money" to support
the temple; something God never intended, go back and read the
Scriptures about tithing. Only those with livestock and land were to
tithe - not widows and the poor (who were the ones who the
Levites were commanded to share the tithes with every three years).
Think about it, if the Scriptures say the
scribes "devour widows’ houses", and we know the
Scripture cannot be broken and God’s word is truth; then do you
think the scribes were going to widows’ homes and dragging them out
and taking their livelihood? Or were these money lovers preaching
that these widows had to give to the temple treasury no matter how
poor they are? Think about what the Scripture is saying here.
Something that is very sad and ungodly about what these gospel
peddlers who get your "tithes and offerings" do is this: they
will tell you your tithes and offerings are for the church to
preach, teach, and the building fund, etc. However, they rarely
if ever say its for the poor in your congregation, which the Bible
preach it should be for the poor and needy.
Evangelist Ron Davis, a Minister of
Christ, of the Kush
Edifying Ministries proclaims the whole counsel of God. This
ministry believes in the command of Jesus to His disciples in Matthew 10:7-8 “As you go, preach this message:
'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have
received, freely give” (NIV). Jesus commands us to “freely” preach the word
without demanding those preached to give to you.
You
may contact Ron Davis and this ministry with your comments at the
below email:
mailto:yourcomments@411TithesOfferings.411-cashflow.com
OR
if you want to debate my conclusion of this matter; if you want to
argue your own “private
interpretation”, then please send it to the below email address
with your Scripture backing up what you say. Thanks, and may God
bless you in understanding His Holy and righteous
word.
mailto:yourargument@411TithesOfferings.411-cashflow.com
