Last Friday, I noted that some religionists rejected what was written in their holy book about the payment of one-tenth of their income. Yet the same people eagerly accused Pastor E.A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God that what he said about the tithe and making heaven was not written in their holy book. As I had stated, I think Adeboye was right and that he believed what he said about the tithe and making heaven was right. I based my deduction on what he said about disobedience, inferred from the instruction in Malachi 3:8-10, which he quoted several times. This passage reads in part: “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.” From what is written here, Adeboye obviously regards non-tithe payers as being disobedient. Robbers. Thieves.

One can imagine Adeboye asking himself: Shall thieves make heaven? First Corinthians 6:10, where “thieves” are a category of religionists who “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” answers the question for him. And he announced the inference he must have drawn from Malachi 3 and First Corinthians 6:10 – thieves won’t make heaven. This brings me back to a point I made earlier. Everything Adeboye has said is rooted in what is written in Malachi 3. But his critics reject what is written in Malachi 3. How come adherents of this faith dismiss what is written in their holy book? This is the point of departure. Adeboye obviously does not accept human reasoning of “it is in the Old Testament”, which some use to discountenance what is written in Malachi 3. Note that the same people quote and use other passages from the same Old Testament.

Some who reject written instruction on tithe claim tithe is not compulsory. Yet they impose compulsory levies on adherents. If your parents died without paying the levies, some missions would not partake in your parents’ funeral rites until you paid what your parents owed. Malachi 3 is not compulsory, but levies imposed as human tradition are compulsory. Do they think what they say through? Whatever religionists make, could they at least try to make sense? Religionists in this category are among those who criticise Adeboye the most about tithe. It is noteworthy that the originator of their faith warns them against leaving what is divinely instructed in their holy book, only to replace it with human tradition.

There is something Nigerian civil servants commonly say: If it was not written down, it did not happen. Adeboye bases what he says on what is written, and he probably draws his inference that non-tithers – “thieves” – won’t make heaven from what is written in First Corinthians 6:10. So, he has written evidence to back his submission. As for those who reject what is written, they base this on their reasoning that instruction on tithe “is not in the New Testament”. Even in a court of law, we know the person with written evidence is likely to win the argument.

Any human is entitled to ask the question I imagine Adeboye must have asked himself – shall thieves in the area of tithe make heaven? If he believes a person who robs by not paying tithe is a thief and no thief will make heaven, he is entitled to draw such an inference from his holy book.  However, only religionists who have “heaven” as their goal would be concerned about such a question. Never those who treat their membership of a religion like membership of just any other association, and who care nothing about what Adeboye cares about – winning others over. Such religionists have all the time to argue against the payment of tithe from here into tomorrow. If Adeboye thinks that not making heaven will be the consequence of any act of disobedience, including refusal to pay tithe, he is right. This is more so as the point he appears to be making through his submission is, don’t disobey. Don’t disobey what is written about tithe as found in Malachi 3.

Even this can only be understood by adherents who believe it is a grave error for an adherent to disobey instructions written in their holy book, never those who argue that, because the instruction in Malachi 3 is in the Old Testament, it should be ignored. What can clearly be deduced from Malachi 3 and First Corinthians 5 when read together is that non-tithers are thieves, and thieves “shall not inherit the kingdom of God”. Adeboye must have told himself: What if the consequences of not paying tithe are beyond this temporal realm? I think he says what he says about tithe and making heaven because he is unwilling to risk any potential consequences.

Let’s remember, it is said that it is better to err on the side of caution. Nonetheless, religionists who reject what is written, those who do not exercise any caution concerning the probable consequences of disobeying Malachi 3, say Adeboye, who prefers to err on the side of caution, is wrong. This set of religionists can only be right if they affirm that what is written in their holy book can be dismissed, because their human reasoning of “it is not in the New Testament” is superior. I think each person should do what they want regarding tithe and leave the debate alone. This is a needless debate, a distraction. Those who understand the fundamentals of their religion recognise this.

I return to Bishop David Oyedepo’s comment on manna, which I cited last Friday. He said, “Manna still falls from heaven.” It takes only those who think they must work for everything they have to doubt Oyedepo’s assertion. It is either that or some have a misunderstanding of what manna means. Many who experience people giving them good things which they do not ask for know that manna still falls. It is just that it is not in the form of the original white stuff. Manna, from my observation, is whatever one gets that does not follow the process of working to acquire things. It comes from the favour of other people. It may be help from others. For instance, a widow still works and she does not lack, but someone in a high place remembers her and asks her to send her account details. She became a beneficiary of a large sum of money in a scheme the government organised for the vulnerable. She neither asked nor worked for it. Yet, some continue to say manna does not fall anymore.

From what I read, Oyedepo referred to material things when he said, “Manna still falls from heaven.” I imagine that if he had extended his explanation further, he might have added that being alive, or getting what one needs at the time one needs it, is a gift, not a right. It is manna if it is a gift. I read the interview of a public figure who was marking another year of his life. I felt the man was talking as though the good health he enjoyed was his making. I found this off-putting. No human being should take the good health they enjoy as a right. It is a gift. It was less than four years later that the said public figure passed on. We have people who are older than him by 20 or 30 years still with us. So much for thinking the good health he had was by his personal effort, which he kept hammering on when the interviewer asked him for his secrets.

For me, no amount of money spent, or the work anyone does on themselves can actually keep people alive. Otherwise, some of the world’s billionaires should not have passed on at a time they did not want to.  Generally, I have reasons to wonder when people make certain assertions. One would see that their level of exposure, experience, or just a lack of understanding has kicked in. A lack of understanding is more of the reason, as there is no human being who can say they have never been helped or given something for free. One must work, that’s basic. But we all need help from others in one form or the other. In the broadest sense, when we receive what someone else offers for free, we receive manna. Oyedepo is right.