Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Jun 6, 2017

News Letter 5853-012
The 1st Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 22nd year of the Jubilee Cycle
The 14th day of the 3rd month 5853 years after the creation of Adam
The 3rd Month in the First year of the Fourth Sabbatical Cycle
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines and Pestilence

June 10, 2017

 

Shabbat Shalom to our Family around the world[

In the Mail

 

It was the strangest thing the other day when I had my first full salad. All harvested after the Shmetah had ended this year. Someone wrote me to say a similar thing. That we felt guilty for not eating it out of a can or from a frozen bag in the freezer. LOL

Now with the Wheat Harvest having begun, I am now going to return to eating bread which I have not done since I threw out all my bread before Passover. Now I wait for the new potatoes before I can have potatoes or chips this year and then apples in the fall. Again I am honoured to have shared this Sabbatical year with all of you.

You begin to plan for the weekly Sabbath the very 1st day of the week. You should all be planning on how you’re going to keep the next Sabbatical year in 2023. Trees should be planted this 1st year. The fruit of them is considered uncircumcised for 3 years. In the fourth year, all the fruit belongs to Yehovah. In the 5th year, you can then harvest it for yourself.

Lev 19:23 “When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the Lord your God.

 

In the mail, this week is the following letter.

Thanks for this newsletter and each and every newsletter.  You hit the nail on the head and I also enjoyed reading your testimony of your progression to where you now are today.
Only you understand the dreams and their interpretation, but as I read it I see something different.
You are the only one in the outer court, which I interpret as the Court of Women, where teaching to women and others takes place or maybe in the area of sacrifices.  The HRM teachers have flocked inside to a position of status that includes conferences, TV shows, videos, books, any means by which they can sell the message for profit and gain in popularity.
You are in the Women’s court.  A humble place to be and freely teaching your message to those who will listen. No pay. No apparent reward. You have persevered freely giving the message at a great cost to you.  You’ve endured hardship, threats from those inside and threats from bullies resenting your growing popularity and seemingly hostile message of the Kingdom. You’ve endured years of teaching, freely giving the message of Truth with lots of your own income.  You’ve persevered while having to maintain a full time secular job in order to freely give as commanded to do so.  You provide and earn income from sells, but everyone has the option to either freely get from Internet or purchase if desired.
YOU are the Free Will Offering to Yehovah!  Your giving of yourself day in and day out in producing these newsletters and answering questions IS your sacrifice to Yehovah.  You are doing this in the Women’s court and if you haven’t noticed, you have a very large following of women!  As you are given the opportunities to go to Israel and teach of what you’ve been shown, you are not only offering sacrifices again of your teaching, but also your numerous whole body Thanksgiving Offerings to Yehovah throughout the land as well as in Jerusalem AND in the sight you know to be the site of the Temple.
As you’ve remained, persevered, and grown in understanding in this outer court, freely teaching others the truth of HIS Sabbaths, you also came to know and teach Yeshua is Yehovah in the flesh and was killed on the tree. You have learned and taught WHO the door is.  You teach the hard truth of the curses.  You alone teach the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years and in the context of the curses and blessings.
You will find yourself inside when Yehovah is ready for you to go inside. The Rabbi’s and HRM still are not ready to hear and accept Yehovah’s truth! Let them stay inside and reap the attention and money from the masses.  Yehovah needs you to teach FREELY His message of Truth to everyone! There are many who cannot afford the videos, books, or conferences or simply can’t get to them and frankly, they….we…. are rewarded by freely hearing the Truth from you then being inside with the prideful ex-pastors getting nothing but fluff and ear tickling. I spent 10 years and lots of money studying under these HR pastors and received little more then ear tickling.  I’ve learned more in the last 3 years under you “in the Court of the Women” then in a lifetime of prior study.
Yehovah has called and chosen you.  You have chosen Him. I praise Yah for your diligence, commitment, and perseverance in your weekly teaching.  I’m glad you’ve remained in this outer court making your sacrifices to Yehovah of YOURSELF and teaching the Truth of the DOOR.  I’m in no hurry for you to go join the other teachers.  You have nothing to learn from them. Maybe, it will be they who join you when they see the curses hit firsthand.  Then, they will come to you for understanding.  Then those who turned away from this uncomfortable message will seek you out.
You are in the outer court, drawing nearer to Yehovah, though the giving of yourself daily as a Free Will offering, constantly making Thanksgiving Offerings as well.  The more you teach us, the more you are shown, and the more you have yet to teach. You know the Door, the Living Torah, more then most. You KNOW HIS Sabbaths and keep them more then ANYONE.  You have taught us this and shown us how to do it.
Keep up the great newsletters.
I forgot to include this:
People find comfort in the masses and always have.  The masses seem to possess more truth and more protection through strength.
Even Caleb and Joshua’s own tribes and followers went with the masses into their destruction. They must have pondered: “Surely these two could not possess the truth when all these others are saying the opposite?”  More significantly even is the fact the masses seemed less dangerous and more safe approach.  Safety, strength,  and protection in the masses.  Yet those two stood their ground and did not listen to differing opinions.  They got their message straight from Yehovah and not their own reasoning.
Peter is the next great example of this:
John 6:65  And He said, “Because of this I have said to you that no one is able to come to Me unless it has been given to him by My Father.”
John 6:66  From then on many of His taught ones withdrew and were not walking with Him any more.
John 6:67  ????? therefore said to the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”
John 6:68  Then Shim?on K?pha answered Him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You possess words of everlasting life.
The other followers and the masses of people who attended his teachings and soaked up his words of truth, STILL returned to the safety, strength, and protection of their families, synagogues, conferences with friends, etc, where a more pleasant message (of tradition) was taught. They were killed by the Romans.
Who do we follow?  The same Rabbi’s that Yeshua condemned?  There is NO difference between those Rabbi’s and today’s Rabbi’s, HR teachers, and the vast majority of Torah teachers. The masses want tradition and safety in numbers and Yeshua explicitly tells us that HE alone is Yehovh and HE alone is the DOOR of salvation….safety.
We….I…..follow you (as a teacher) because you alone are teaching the full truth of the Scriptures.  I analyze everything you say to see if it lines up or not.  The remnant is just that.  It is the tiny few who are always viewed as outcasts and will indeed receive death threats.
Mat 5:10  “Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness’ sake,(d) because theirs is the reign of the heavens. Footnote: d 1Pe_3:14.
Mat 5:11  “Blessed are you when they reproach and persecute you, and falsely say every wicked word against you, for My sake.
Mat 5:12  “Rejoice and be glad, because your reward in the heavens is great. For in this way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
1Pe 3:14  But even if you suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not fear their threats, neither be troubled.”
Please do NOT join with the masses.  Do NOT sit amongst their teachings else we might be led astray.  This is the same reason I do not fret over not attending  conferences or feasts.  I do not believe as they do and their false message embedded in teachings can easily lead one astray. You alone Joseph, possess understanding of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years.  You alone possess understanding of the Shavuot resurrection and the subsequent resurrection of all the dead.  You alone possess understanding of the location of the Temple and Mount of Offense.  You alone possess understanding of the restored calendar for tracking the timeline as well as the true calendar of setting the timing of Passover and all the subsequent feasts.  you alone have the courage, conviction and perseverance to stand in the gap for us all the while suffering from lack of financial resources, time, death threats, and the hatred of many that refuse to listen.
REJOICE and STAND STRONG!
You are giving yourself as a FREE WILL offering and DRAWING NEARER every day.
You have FOUND THE DOOR that leads to Yehovah and His kingdom.
You do not want to go into join the pharisees.  They will join you in time.
I apologize if I am way off base from your dream and your understanding of it.  I do not claim to speak from any revelation of your dream.  I speak only my own words.  If they are from Yah, great.  If not, they simply express encouragement in your day to day walk.

btw….we are all being tested and tried in seemingly horrific ways.  I’ve been shown much more during these 49 days. What I’ve been shown came through a revelation of Job and you expressed it exactly in your newsletter.  I kept asking “WHY is this happening?”  I changed that cry to “I AM GUILTY.  I AM GUILTY.  I AM GUILTY.”

JS

 

Updates from the Philippines and Burundi

I also want to share with you brethren what is going on in the Philippines and the work Brother Aike is doing. He continues to go to many other churches and groups to share the Torah with them. Please read his last two letters to me.

shalom brother Joseph,

Hope and pray all is well with you. Thank you for your last email and about Bishop Telesphore.
Last Saturday/sabbath I attended Bishop Butch Belgica Birthday celebration celebrated among his congregations and elders as well as among other Bishops from different provinces that I met there.
Bishop Butch had introduced me to some of the Bishops that were present among his guests.
Bishop Butch introduced me to the bishops and had told them that I am partner in making the 7 Biblical Feasts as national holidays a reality.
That’s how he introduced me… Thou our hope is in YHVH to make this happen.. YHVH uses people to accomplish His will.
I believed I with one heart with the Belgica’s in this big Miracle making the 7 feasts a national holidays in Phils. a reality.
When will it be approved , I don’t know….. Greco Belgica and attorney Jeremiah Belgica had drafted the bill already and had submitted it to the Malacanang palace… According to Greco senator Manny Pacquiao is interested in sponsoring it in the senate.
Senator Pacquiao is a devote christian leader  also.

As for me , I just keep myself busy with reaching out to more and more Torah keeping groups that are sprouting everywhere now in the Philippines. Greco gave me a task to contact all the sabbath keeping leaders in the Philippines. and one day invite them over to the Malacanang palace.
Im so amazed why YHVH chose even to be a part of all these. It makes me smile in my spirit. That YHVH gave value to my life..
Remember, I am a nobody from the far flung province of Mindanao.
But here I am its  miracle that YHVH can use  nobody’s.

Thank you and may YHVH bless you , your family and friends and your ministry…
I know in my heart your ministry is special. and it will also grow in a magnitude that you have never imagined..\
I can sense it in my spirit since I came to realize that the SHEMITAH is a big thing in the Torah.
Its a huge thing….just what you have already discovered.

shalom in Messiah Yeshua
Honor and praise to the GOD OF ABRAHAM ISAAC AND ISRAEL YHVH IS HIS NAME..

BROTHER AIKE AIZON
SERVANT OF THE MESSIAH
MESSIAH THE LIVING TORAH CENTER
MANDALUYONG CITY , PHILIPPINES

Brother Prophet Joseph Dumond,

I can feel the beat of your heart, my brother. It’s the same Spirit of YHVH that is stirring both us and all of us in the body of all the twelve tribes of Israel.
look whats happening now in the Marawi City Philippines.
Its a muslim dominated city. ISIS militants from malaysia, Indonesia , Singapore?
According to the news reports. 90 people only were killed thus far.

The Message that YHVH has given us.
If the Philippines will not keep Holy Torah of YHVH , will not keep the covenant
the dark opposite will happen here.
In the Pre-Amble of the Philippines Constitution.
Who is the GOD in the Preamble of the constitution of the Philippines.

http://www.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-Philippines/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-preamble/

the GOD OF ABRAHAM ISAAC AND ISRAEL THRU HIS SON YESHUA.

Do you remember when YHVH led you to speak to the military generals In the Philippines back in 2015? I think it was on Yom Kippur day?
Coincidence on  the Day of Atonement the SABBATICAL YEARS message were given by you? Bishop Butch Belgica was there also.
I love you brother, you are a brave man like king David. I am your brave little brother here. Together in the future with this end time message  we will
prophetically be delivered again in the Philippines as more and more people are keeping the biblical feasts…. time will tell…… YHVH have seen the Torah keepers of the Philippines.
Those who try to obey the Shemitah last year. The small MLTC family. The thousands of Intercessors for the Philippines the IFP group who will be celebrating the feast of Shavuot ( sadly on the tradition Jewish day?
Is May 31  really the wrong day of the feast of Shavuot? If counting the 50 days to the Feast of Shavuot begins with the Feast of the First fruits , then this is seemingly a big issue when it comes to the actual day of the Moedim?
I believed He has seen our genuine hearts willing to do His bidding, to obey His great Will, His Torah HIs Covenant.
I remember you spoke to the military christians fellowship. on Yom Kippur? coincidence?
I only realize just right  now that you were prophesying about what’s its going to be like when God’s covenant people does not respect, honor or  break the covenant that YHVH gave?
It reminds me of what you taught brother Joseph, about the cycle, the cycle of war. Is this it?
Its a mixture of excitement because of YHVH ‘ words are true and scary because its real… its war zone back in Marawi city righ now.  And it had only just began. I think this get worse and will multiply in other places in the Phils.
MAUTE GRUP NAGSALITA NAH! BATAS NG DIYOS LANG DAW ANG KANILANG PINAIIRAL! PANOORIN
Look at what this terrorists are saying. In the Pilipino language, this terrorist is saying he is just implementing the laws of  their god Allah !
In the above video, the terrorists group have burned a catholic church and had held the priests hostage with hundreds of others.
What will be next? burn the Protestant churches? Its scary…

Please help me to pray that I can sell my 7000 square meters farmland… so I can gather funds for our ministry and for the needs of our family and brethren….
The Holy Spirit is leading me to the southern area of Luzon. To spread the Torah revival there and this will be  connecting to the other larger Islands in the Philippines..
You know what , I found out  last Tuesday, in our teaching sessions, that that pastors that we have taught the Torah in cavite and Laguna area have been expelled from their
tradition Pentecostal organization.
But they didn’t blame me, but somehow they were happy that they are free now to serve YHVH and keep His Commandments.

(please note:  That I’m not gifted in writing in English brother did you notice? my gift is to speak to people face to face and tell them the truth in  the LOVE OF YESHUA YHVH.
I think your gift is to write books that will inform people about the hard truth . I don’t have your gift…..But we share the same heart and soul and passion for YHVH because He is our Life, saviour , Redeemer and King.

Anyways, Its all the work of YHVH. He started, He will certainly finish it. He is the author and finisher of our faith.

Resting in Messiah with all my wilderness journey

brother aike

 

Try Me I dare You

Brethren we have written to you and told you about the work Bishop Telesphore is doing in Burundi. He also travels to Tanzania and Rwanda and the District Republic of the Congo. He has now converted over 250 pastors to keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days and learning about the Torah. They, in turn, are going back to their Churches and teaching them. Each church is about 20 to 300 people depending.

Bishop Telesphore just wrote us to let us know about the work he has been doing in the Congo area.

This Bishop and his priests have been preached this truth and have started to spread this truth in DRC. I was there from Monday through Friday teaching his people.

They took a long time to get this revelation from Joseph Dumond. The scriptures and the website newsletters and my intense visits helped them to understand this truth and start spreading it.

Shalom
Bishop Telesphore

You should all be aware that in the past two months Ebola has again broken out in the Congo. You can read the latest update on Ebola at this link. These brethren that are now learning to keep the Torah need your prayers. I sent James Relf to Burundi last Sukkot. James and I both want to go back to Burundi as soon as possible. Telesphore is waiting for us and expecting us. But the simple fact is we just cannot afford to go.

And you should also know that Telesphore and I have both been speaking with certain Kings in Africa about the Sabbatical years and the curses that come for not keeping them.

This week I got very depressed as I watch other ministries harangue their viewers for over an hour to pay for this teaching or this book or if they donated this much per month then they would get this and this and that. I watched another group teach about the Laws of God being done away and how they were free from those old testament laws. And then right after that tell their followers they had to tithe or you’re going to hell. If the law is done away so is the tithing law, is it not?

Many of the ministries now make you join their group for so much money per month or per year in order to access their teachings.

Have you noticed that at Sightedmoon.com we do not charge you to join our group? We do not have a special club that you can join for so many dollars per level. The more you pay the higher the level you get to belong to. We do not have this. We do not tell you-you must tithe to us or you’re going to hell. We give all of our teachings away and we personally respond to each person who writes us.

All our videos that we sell can also be watched for free online. All of our books that we sell can also be found online. The money we raise from the sale of DVD’s and books is used to help the work spread in the Philippines and in Africa and around the world. I work a full-time job to pay my own bills and some of the bills that arise from doing this work. But this spring we have had a lot of rain and work has been reduced to 2-3 days a week for the past few months.

Brethren I have been asked by the Bishop of Manila to come and teach in the Philippines. Brother Aike in Manila and Bro Leo in Ilocos have both asked us to come and teach there again. The bill, the act of Congress, that was started when I spoke there, to have the Philippines declare the Holy Days of Lev 23 National holidays has again been sent to the President for approval as you just read in Brother Aike’s letter. Brother Bishop Telesphore in Burundi is in need of us coming to teach there. And he wants us there for many weeks to help. There are other nations across Africa that would have us come and teach there as well.

I have never charged to go and speak at any of the places I have gone to. I pay for the airfare and hotels if needed. In some cases, I pay for the hall in order to have the meetings. A donation is taken up at these meetings but it barely covers the costs most of the time.

Our problem has always been a lack of financial support.

We do not have any corporate sponsors nor do we have a large base of consistent donors. But for each of the ones we do have I am thankful to Yehovah for each of them.

I keep thinking of this message in Revelation over and over.

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

We have so little strength. This word Strength here in this verse is

G1411   dunamis   doo’-nam-is

From G1410; force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself): – ability, abundance, meaning, might (-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle (-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.

Many churches teach you about Jesus and the Bible. Many Messianic groups teach you about Yehshua and the Torah. Many of those groups teach you to keep Holy Days of Lev 23 according to the Hebrew Calendar. A few then teach you that you need the barley to begin the year for the Wave Sheaf offering and the crescent moon to begin the month. Of those few that teach you this, we are the only ones who have been teaching you to keep the Sabbatical years and we have been doing this since 2005.

We are the only ministry that Teaches you to keep these Holy Days of Lev 23 according to the Barley being Aviv and the crescent moon having been sighted and to keep the Sabbatical year from Aviv to Aviv. We have now kept two of them. How many of these other ministries can say that?

Many brethren at first, get excited and join us for a season or two. Then they move on to the next flavour as they seek to be entertained by the next new thing.

We (sightedmoon.com) have no bands, no choral, we have no buildings or property. Our teachings have been copied over and over and now bare the names of others, although they were first learned here because of the Sabbatical years at sightedmoon.com. We have now had close to 10 million hits to all of our teaching tools; News Letters, Podcasts, and Videos. This does not include the reach we had in radio when we were on it. We have also shown hundreds around the land of Israel and opened their minds to understand these truths. And for the most part, we did this for the cost and or for free.

And yet in spite of all of this, we have very little strength in doing this work. Although the things we have been able to do are nothing short of miracles themselves we are not very powerful. Money and numbers of coworkers are power and we just do not have that.

Our message is not one that is popular. No one wants to hear that the things they are doing are a sin. No one wants to hear that their nations which will not obey Yehovah are going to be destroyed because they are sinning. No one wants to hear about the cannibalism that is about to come. No one wants to hear about what the worship of Baal Peor is and how they are a part of it. No one wants to hear about Islamic Jihad taking over their homeland and their wives and daughters being raped and enslaved.

No, our message is not a popular one to teach. Yet we have not shied away from it nor been ashamed to state the facts publicly, even when it offended others.

And we have shown you when these things are to take place and they have been taking place according to the understandings revealed through the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles.

Even so with all of this information given out freely, we still are not able to raise enough funds so that we can then assist those who are now in line for the next phase of the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycle curses and blessings. Judgment is now upon the nations of Israel and about to be executed. This then means that the Gentile nations have this Sabbatical cycle to repent and obey the Sabbath, the Holy Days and the next Sabbatical Year in 2023. After that then they will be judged and punished accordingly.

It is these very nations now, during this Sabbatical cycle, that we must reach. And those in the Philippines and those in Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Congo, Ivory Coast and Zambia are wanting to learn more and are reacting positively when they are taught the truths.

Acts 8:26-40 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”
So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

How can these nations learn these truths unless someone guides them? How can someone guide them if we cannot send them people to do so. It costs money to fly to these place and to stay in hotels and to eat. It cost money to rent the places that are needed to host these events. This does not even count the cost of maintaining the bills at home and families while we are away doing this work and not able to do our regular job.

Matt 10:38-42 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
A Cup of Cold Water
“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

Many assume others will donate so they do not have to. So I looked up the following report. It says that less than 10% of those who claim to be Christian tithe.

Hard Question for Collection Plate: Do Only Rich Folks Tithe?

RICH SMITH, AOL.COM
Apr 3rd 2015 6:00AM
OJO Images RF/Getty Images
“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s… And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.”
–Leviticus 27: 30, 32

“To give 10 percent … [is] the gold standard of charitable donations… [but] less than 10 percent of Christian church-going Americans give 10 percent or more of their income. … Those who do tithe tend to be in better financial shape than those who don’t. Nearly one in three tithers are debt-free vs. 13 percent of non-tithers.”
— MarketWatch “Moneyologist” Quentin Fottrell

Which brings us to today’s big question: If almost no one at church tithes these days, and if among those few who do, many are in better-than-average financial shape, does this mean that “only rich folks tithe”?

That seems to be the gist of what MarketWatch resident financial expert Quentin Fottrell argues. According to Fottrell, people who tithe 10 percent or more of their income to church are a rare and well-off bunch. Simply put, they tithe because they can afford it — but most of us cannot.

Or as he summarizes his thinking: You should “give $1 or $1,000, or whatever feels comfortable.” Because no one else is tithing 10 percent, either.

What Is the State of the Plate?

MarketWatch bases this argument on research in a 2013 “State of the Plate” research report sponsored by such organizations as Christianity Today and the Evangelical Christian Credit Union.

This report, currently the most comprehensive research available on trends in tithing among churchgoers, tends to support MarketWatch’s take. For example, statistics cited in “State of the Plate” confirm that churchgoers who tithe do have their finances in better order than those who do not tithe. For example, they are:40 percent less likely (15 percent versus 25 percent) than the average churchgoer to owe significant debt (more than $50,000).
Only half as likely (20 percent vs. 40 percent) to be overdue on their credit cards.
Twice as likely to be entirely debt-free (28 percent versus 13 percent).
But as well off as they may be, there aren’t a lot of tithers. In fact, out of the U.S. population of 315 million (circa 2013), State of the Plate says only 10 million people tithed 10 percent or more of their income.

10 Million Sounds Like a Lot, but It Isn’t

That “10 million” is an interesting number. Gallup polling data show that 43 percent of Americans attended church weekly (or nearly so) in 2013. Out of a population of 315 million, that’s roughly 135 million souls.

State of the Plate estimates 10 million of these people tithed 10 percent of their income, implying only 7.4 percent of professed churchgoers are tithing 10 percent. What’s more, out of the whole U.S. population, this suggests that barely 3 percent of us tithe 10 percent or more.

And yet, State of the Plate reports that these 10 million tithers donate more than $50 billion annually to their churches. How is that possible?

There’s Generous — and Then There’s Crazy-Generous

After all, $50 billion divided by 10 million tithers works out to each tithing an average of $5,000. Yet according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average per capita income in the U.S. in 2013 was just $28,155. Granted, “per capita” data includes data on children, who don’t earn much. But some children also tithe. In fact, State of the Plate says that “28 percent [of tithers] started giving 10 percent when they were in their childhood or teen years.”

So for 10 million tithers to tithe $50 billion, they must tithe an average of 17.8 percent of their income.

Which is pretty incredible. You won’t find that amount of generosity required even in the King James Version of the Bible.

And yet, State of the Plate reports that 77 percent of tithers polled do give more than 10 percent on Sunday. Specifically, 23 percent give 10 percent, but:54 percent give between 11 and 15 percent.
14 percent “tithe” 16 to 20 percent.
and 9 percent give 20 percent or more.
But that still seems unlikely to result in an average tithing rate of 17.8 percent. My back-of-the-envelope calculation works out to a bit more than 13.6 percent.

The Trouble With Tithers

And that’s not the end of the “math problems.” In a married household, usual tithing practice isn’t for husband and wife to tithe separately. Children may be encouraged to tithe individually, to encourage early adoption of the practice. But for parents, it’s more common for the head of the household to deposit “the family’s” tithes in the offering plate.

Now consider: If 10 million households tithed an average of $5,000 in 2013, that’s only 6.9 percent of the average household income that year ($72,641, per U.S. Census Bureau data).

Result: We’re now down to 7.4 percent of professed churchgoers “tithing” 10 percent, or 10 million actual tithers tithing an average of just 6.9 percent.

The Upshot for Tithers

Either way, State of the Plate’s best guess that “10-25 percent” of churchgoing families tithe 10 percent or more doesn’t seem very close to the mark. Either fewer churchgoers are tithing much more than 10 percent, or more churchgoers are tithing less than 10 percent.

Why not put Yehovah to the test that He challenges you to do? The word to try Him is to test Him or to investigate Him and see if He will follow through or not on His part of the bargain. But before you tithe to any one again, read all of this article.

Malachi 3:8-12  “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
“And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

Now I do presume you know that Christians tithe and use the Old Testament to justify them doing so. And I also presume you know that Jews do not tithe and they too use the old testament to justify not tithing. Oh you did not know. Keep reading then.

Reprinted from The Jewish Religion: A Companion, published by Oxford University Press.

The main biblical passages regarding the tithing of produce are: Numbers 18:21-32 and Deuteronomy 14:22-7 and 26:12.

Biblical scholars have seen the differences in these sources concerning the recipients of the tithe as due to the social background of two separate sources, each having its own applications. Throughout the Rabbinic literature, however, the sources are harmonized and the following system emerges.

Terumah

The tithes have to be given from corn, wine, and oil by biblical law and from fruit and vegetables by Rabbinic law. The farmer first separates from the yield a portion (a sixtieth, fiftieth, or fortieth at the farmer’s discretion), known as terumah (‘heave offering’ or ‘gift’). This is given to a Kohen (priest) and is treated as sacred food in that it must not be eaten when the priest is in a state of ritual contamination or when the terumah itself has suffered contamination. Nor may it be eaten by a non-Kohen.

Three Kinds of Maaser

A tenth of the remainder of the yield, known as maaser rishon,‘the first tithe,’ is then separated and given to a Levite. The Levite, in turn, separates a tenth of his tithe and this, known as terumat maaser, is given to a Kohen to be treated with the same degree of sanctity as the original terumah, The portion given to the Levite has no sanctity and may be eaten by an ordinary Israelite.

The farmer separates a tenth of the reminder of his yield, known as maser sheni, ‘the second tithe.’ This has to be taken to Jerusalem and consumed there in a spirit of sanctity. If it is too difficult to take the second tithe to Jerusalem, it can be redeemed by substituting for it a sum of money which is then taken to Jerusalem and food and drink purchased with it to be consumed there.

However, every third and sixth year of the cycle culminating in the Sabbatical year, the second tithe is given to the poor and is known as maaser ani, ‘poor man’s tithe.’

Additional Rules
After the destruction of the Temple, maaser sheni was redeemed for a small amount and this tithe could then be consumed by the farmer wherever he happened to live.

Produce from which the tithes had not been separated was strictly forbidden but once the tithes had been separated their actual distribution could be postponed. The farmer could please himself as to which Kohen or Levite he gave his tithes.

Not everyone was scrupulous in separating the tithes. A whole tractate of the Mishnah, tractate Demai (‘Doubtful Produce’) is devoted to the need for tithing produce bought from an am ha-aretz suspected of laxity in the matter.

According to the Rabbis, the laws of tithing only apply to the land of Israel, and farmers in the Diaspora have no obligation to give tithes, although there is some evidence of communities outside Israel, in Egypt for example, having a system of tithing.

Again according to the Rabbis, the full tithing laws apply only when the majority of Jews live in the land of Israel and since, in the absence of the purification rites of the red heifer, everyone today suffers from corpse contamination, the terumah is inoperative in any event. Moreover the purpose of tithing, for the upkeep of the priests and Levites, has no meaning nowadays. The present practice in the State of Israel is to have only a token separation of the tithes.

Some Rabbinic sources make reference to a tithe of money as well as of produce, although it is not too clear whether this was seen as a voluntary contribution rather than an obligation. Nevertheless, many observant Jews today do donate a tenth of their annual income to charity. This is known as maaser kesafim, ‘the money tithe’ or ‘wealth tax.’

So should you tithe 10% of your money and 10% of your crops?

You are to tithe to yourself. How many churches tell you to do this. Take 10% of your crops and if you want 10% of your income and give it to yourself so you can keep the Feast. Read it for yourself. Before you give any more to anyone else give 10% to yourself so you can keep the Feasts.

Deut 14:22-27 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

And you are also to take of this tithe and every 3rd year in the 7 year Sabbatical cycle you are to take care of the Levite and the widow so they can enjoy the Feasts.

Deut 14:28-29 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

So now let us get to the heart of the problem of tithing to the churches or other groups.

Numbers 18:21-32 “Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

Now read Malachi again. Yes now read it and know that the tithe was only for the Levites who took care of the Temple. It was not for those who teach the Temple and the Laws of the Torah are done away. Or for those who have replaced the Levite as they say and that you should send that money to the pastors and priests.

Malachi 3:8-12  “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
“And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

We are told how the Levites forsook the Temple and went back to work in the fields because they were not given the tithes of the land from the other tribes.

Nehmiah 13:9-13 I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.

So if you are tithing to a group that is not serving the Temple then you are sinning. If you are not tithing to yourself so you can keep the Feast then you are sinning. And if you are not taking care of the widows and orphans and the Levites during the 3rd and 6th years of the 7 Years Sabbatical cycle then you are sinning.

Stop sinning and start to obey Yehovah.

Now, at Sightedmoon.com, we have never asked for tithes of any sort. We have never told you to send your tithes to us. We continue to maintain that once the temple service begins you are going to be expected to tithe of your crops and send them to the Temple.

Having shared this with you, I do remind you that we are the only ones teaching the Sabbatical and Jubilee years and the prophecies they reveal about the end times. So we ask you to consider standing with us and make a monthly donation to support us, so we can book those airlines so that we can go to those African nations and teach the people and the leaders. We ask you to support our partners in this in Africa and in the Philippines as we reach out to as many as we can to teach them the Torah.

There is so much we could do if everyone was to just give a little. We ask you not to be like the Christians who talk the talk but have less than 10% contributing to the work they do. If you know of some who would like to be a corporate sponsor then please encourage them to look at what we are striving to do.

If we are the same as any of the Christian groups then stop reading our material. If we are no different than any of the other Messianic groups then stop reading our material. But if you can see that our perspective is much different and that it comes from understanding the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles then we ask you to prayerfully consider supporting and standing with us in this work.

OK, let’s conclude this by relooking at Abraham and see if he tithed to Melchizedek or not and to Jacob. Because the Christian churches use these two to justify them receiving your tithes.

So read this and tell me who is the one being spoken of here. The subject is Melchizedek and what he is doing and what he is saying. Read it.

Genesis 14:18-20 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

These verses are speaking about Melchizedek and how he blessed Yehovah the most High. It is telling us that it was Melchizedek who gave Abraham a tithe of all that Abraham had recovered. What I am saying here makes, even more sense, when you read the next verses and see that the King of Sodom was trying to out do King Melchizedek by giving to Abraham all the recovered booty. But Abraham was not having anything of it. Abraham knew the corruptive ness of Sodom and would see it destroyed in a few short years time. So he would not take the reward from them

Deut 23:18 You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

The wages of a dog are those of a male prostitute.

But Abraham accepted the tithe of Melchizedek and refused the total amount of Sodom.

Gen 14:21-24 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.”
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, “I have made Abram rich’— except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”

A question must be asked at this time if you believe Abraham gave a tithe of all to Melchizedek. Did Abraham give a tithe of all the booty from Jerusalem that he had recovered because he did not take anything from Sodom? So those who use Hebrew 7 as their justification for tithing are saying Abraham only tithed to Melchizedek what was already Melchizedek’s a few days before it was stolen. In other words, the 4 Kings stole from Melchizedek $10,000 let’s say. Abraham recovers the $10,000 which belonged to Melchizedek and then give Melchizedek $1000 and everyone thinks Abraham has now started to tithe.

No, Abraham recovered the $10,000 and gave it all to Melchizedek and then Melchizedek gave Abraham a tithe of $1000 from our example.

Yes, I am fully aware of what you are told in Hebrews 7. All I am doing is reading Genesis and letting it tell me what it says.

The other example the churches use to cause you to tithe is the verse about Jacob.

Gen 28:20-22 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

You will notice Yehovah never commanded Jacob to tithe. Jacob, on the other hand, made his tenth conditional upon Yehovah taking care of Jacob first. If all the gold and all the silver are Yehovah’s then what was Jacob giving? It is my view that Jacob was giving ten percent of children. We read many times how Yehovah is going to save a remnant of Israel.

Yehovah is not going to save all of Israel in these last days but a remnant only. Is that the 10% Jacob promised?

In either case, there is no commandment to tithe. And if you scour the New Testament there again you will find there is no commandment to tithe. So although the Churches today all say the law is done away, the only law they promote and teach is the lie that you are to tithe to them.

Yehovah commanded Israel to tithe to the Levites in order for them to take care of the duties of the Temple. There is no temple today and the Levites have not been replaced by Priest and pastors or churches.

Now that I have shared this, I do ask that you might consider standing with us and help us to do this work that we have been doing, warning the nations of the coming sword that is about to come upon the world. Ezekiel warns us that if we see the sword coming, we must warn the people. If we do not then we are guilty of their deaths. So we are asking you to stand with us week in and week out to get this message out.

On our podcasts, we have been asking for people to give $5 a month every month. Others have given $10, $20, $30 $50 and more per month. What this does for us is to allow us to know how much we can budget for the Philippines or Africa or other nations or advertising and to just pay the bills. Please do consider standing with us and supporting this work. Thank you to all those who already are.

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