In the name of the Lord, I beseech my brethren and sisters, at this crisis in our work, to come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Withholding from God always brings a curse. Spiritual prosperity is closely bound up with Christian liberality. Hunger only for the exaltation of imitating the divine beneficence of the Redeemer. You have the precious assurance that your treasure is going before you to the heavenly courts.
(CS 49.1)
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Would you make your property secure? Place it in the hand that bears the nail prints of the crucifixion. Retain all in your possession, and it will be to your eternal loss. Give it to God, and from that moment it bears His inscription. It is sealed with His immutability. Would you enjoy your substance? Then use it to bless the suffering. Would you increase your possessions? “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”Proverbs 3:9, 10.
(CS 49.2)
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O, what gracious, full, complete assurances are given us, if we will only do what God requires us to do! Take hold of this matter as though you believed the Lord would do just as He has promised. Let us venture something upon God’s word. In their zeal to be rich, many run great risks; eternal considerations are overlooked, and noble principles are sacrificed; yet they may lose all in the game. But in complying with the heavenly invitations we have no such risk to run. We must take God at His word, and in simplicity of faith walk out upon the promise, and give to the Lord His own.—The Review and Herald, December 18, 1888.
(CS 90.1)
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Many who profess to be Christians provide abundantly for themselves, supplying all their imaginary wants, while they give no heed to the wants of the Lord’s cause. They have thought it gain to rob God by retaining all, or a selfish proportion, of His gifts as their own. But they meet with loss instead of gain. Their course results in the withdrawal of mercies and blessings. By their selfish, avaricious spirit, men have lost much. If they had fully and freely acknowledged God’s requirements and met His claims, His blessing would have been manifest in increasing the productions of the earth. The harvests would have been greater. The wants of all would have been abundantly supplied. The more we give, the more we shall receive.—The Review and Herald, December 8, 1896.
(CS 90.2)
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Duty is duty, and should be performed for its own sake. But the Lord has compassion upon us in our fallen condition, and accompanies His commands with promises. He calls upon His people to prove Him, declaring that He will reward obedience with the richest blessings.... He encourages us to give to Him, declaring that the returns He makes to us will be proportionate to our gifts to Him. “He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”2 Corinthians 9:6. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and your labor of love.
(CS 90.3)
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The Lord has of late given me special testimonies to bear in regard to the warnings and promises He has given through Malachi. After I had spoken with great plainness to the church in Sydney [Australia], and was putting on my wraps in the dressing room, the question was asked me, “Sister White, do you think my father should pay tithes? He has met with great loss recently, and he says that as soon as he cancels his debt, he will pay tithes.” I asked, “How do you regard our obligations to God, who gives us life and breath, and all the blessings we enjoy? Would you have our indebtedness to God continually increasing? Would you rob Him of the portion which He has never given us to use for any other purpose than to advance His work, to sustain His servants in the ministry? For the answer to your question the prophet Malachi asks, ‘Will a man rob God? ... But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee?’(Malachi 3:8)—as though there was a willingness to misunderstand this subject. The answer comes: ‘In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.’Malachi 3:9. After such a statement, would I dare say to you, You need not pay tithes as long as you are in debt? Shall I tell you to be sure to pay all you owe any man, although you rob God to do so?”
(CS 92.1)
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If all would take the Scripture just as it reads, and open their hearts to understand the word of the Lord, they would not say, “I cannot see the tithing question. I cannot see that in my circumstances I should pay tithes.”“Will a man rob God?”Malachi 3:8. The consequence of doing so is plainly stated, and I would not risk the consequence. All who will take a wholehearted, decided position to obey God; who will not take the Lord’s reserved funds—His own money—to settle their debts; who will render to the Lord the portion that He claims as His own, will receive the blessing of God which is promised to all who obey Him.—.
(CS 92.2)
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Let the church appoint pastors or elders who are devoted to the Lord Jesus, and let these men see that officers are chosen who will attend faithfully to the work of gathering in the tithe. If the pastors show that they are not fitted for their charge, if they fail to set before the church the importance of returning to God His own, if they do not see to it that the officers under them are faithful, and that the tithe is brought in, they are in peril. They are neglecting a matter which involves a blessing or a curse to the church. They should be relieved of their responsibility, and other men should be tested and tried.
(CS 106.1)
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The Lord’s messengers should see that His requirements are faithfully discharged by the members of the churches. God says that there should be meat in His house, and if the money in the treasury is tampered with, if it is regarded as right for individuals to make what use they please of the tithe, the Lord cannot bless. He cannot sustain those who think that they can do as they please with that which is His.—The Review and Herald Supplement, December 1, 1896.
(CS 106.2)
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It is the duty of the elders and officers of the church to instruct the people on this important matter, and to set things in order. As laborers together with God, the officers of the church should be sound upon this plainly revealed question. The ministers themselves should be strict to carry out to the letter the injunctions of God’s word. Those who hold positions of trust in the church should not be negligent, but they should see that the members are faithful in performing this duty.... Let the elders and officers of the church follow the direction of the Sacred Word, and urge upon their members the necessity of faithfulness in the payment of pledges, tithes, and offerings.—The Review and Herald, December 17, 1889.
(CS 106.3)
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