The Lord has always required this response to His arrangements in carrying forward His work in our world. He has never changed His own devised plan. He lays claim to all as His own, and of that entrusted to man, He claims His portion. “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.”Malachi 3:6, 7.
(TM 306.1)
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Those who plead that they cannot understand this plain and decisive statement—which, if they are obedient, means so much to them in blessings which will be received, when even the windows of heaven will be opened and blessings poured out to overflowing—are not honest before God. Their excuse that they did not know the will of God will be of no avail for them in the great day of judgment.
(TM 306.2)
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Let the neglected tithes be now brought in. Let the new year open upon you as men honest in their deal with God. Let those that have withheld their tithes send them in before the year 1896 shall close, that they may be right with God, and never, never again run any risk of being cursed of God. Presidents of our conferences, do your duty; speak not your words, but a plain “Thus saith the Lord.” Elders of churches, do your duty. Labor from home to home, that the flock of God shall not be remiss in this great matter, which involves such a blessing or such a curse.
(TM 306.3)
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Let all who fear God come up to the help of the Lord, and show themselves faithful stewards. The truth must go to all parts of the world. I have been shown that many in our churches are robbing God in tithes and offerings. God will execute upon them just that which He has declared. To the obedient, He will give rich blessings; to the transgressor, a curse. Every man who bears the message of truth to our churches must do his duty by warning, educating, rebuking. Any neglect of duty which is a robbery toward God means a curse upon the delinquent.
(TM 307.1)
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The Lord will not hold guiltless those who are deficient in doing the work that He requires at their hands—in seeing that the church is kept wholesome and healthy spiritually, and doing all their duty in allowing no neglect which will bring the threatened curse upon His people. A curse is pronounced upon all who withhold their tithe from God. He says: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house.”Malachi 3:8-10.
(TM 307.2)
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This is not a request of man; it is one of God’s ordinances, whereby His work may be sustained and carried on in the world. God help us to repent. “Return unto Me,” He says, “and I will return unto you.”Malachi 3:7. Men who have a desire to do their duty have it laid down in clear lines in this chapter. No one can excuse himself from paying his tithes and offerings to the Lord.
(TM 307.3)
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The Lord bestows His gifts abundantly upon us. He “so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”John 3:16. Every blessing we have comes through Jesus Christ. Then shall we not arouse, and do our duty toward God, upon whom we are dependent for life and health, for His blessing upon our crops and fields, our cattle, our herds, and our vineyards? We are assured if we give to the Lord’s treasury, we shall receive of Him again; but if we withhold of our means, He will withhold His blessing from us, and send a curse upon the unfaithful.
(TM 307.4)
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