|
Here is a very special piece for the 4th Watch cult. Tithing is the giving of money, usually as an obligation such as a tax or fee, and usually consists of the value being a tenth of a total value amount, though it can also be treated as a donation and of any amount. In religion, tithing refers to giving money to the church as an obligation to God, and a tenth is often the minimum requirement. There is certainly nothing wrong about donating money to an organization, most especially a charitable one. In fact, such practice is considered admirable and is welcome in civilized societies. The money given is used to help keep organizations running and to help individuals. In the case of a church, such money is used to help with operating costs, paying the salaries of employees, and perhaps to set up charitable events, or is sometimes just given to those who need it most.
Surely donating money is not a cultic feature, right? While the general idea of donating money to deserving organizations is good and just, church tithing might not be. If someone runs a legitimate church in which such an organization lives off of donations and/or acts as a charity to others with special needs, and tithing does not call for any unreasonable requirements or consequences for not meeting such requirements or for not giving anything, then the practice is okay. However, most churches are not charitable organizations. If giving money is seen as an obligation, with any ridiculous requirements, and if there are consequences to anyone who doesn't give, or if the importance of tithing overshadows charity itself, then such tithing becomes a cultic practice. If you add additional facts such as the money going to a greedy cult leader who uses the money for itself, who also doesn't even pay its employees, then tithing becomes an even more cultic practice.
Of course, all churches are different. In a prosperity church, it is taught that God awards those who he likes and punishes those he dislikes. In order to be awarded, you must do whatever the church teaches to please him. Likewise, you must not do what the church teaches against in order to avoid punishment. One of the more common teachings is that those who tithe will be awarded and those who do not will be punished. Often, the more you give, the more you are awarded. The less you give, the more you will be punished.
The 4th Watch is a prosperity church that teaches tithing as an obligation, and preaches that tithing brings awards while not tithing brings punishment. The church imposes the one-tenth of all your income standard for tithing, though as you will see, this is hardly what satisfies the church. They teach that if you do not give your tithes, bad things will happen to you, as God will not favor you. If you do not tithe, God will see to it that your life will feel empty and that you will experience great losses, or that you will suffer and live in misery, depending on how little you tithe, combined with all of your other sins. Of course, death and eternal torture in Hell are also part of the punishments for not tithing. However, the 4th Watch also teaches that if you do tithe, good things will happen to you, as God will favor you. If you tithe, God will make sure that your life will be fulfilled, provide you wealth and riches and great abundance, and that you will live in joy and pleasure. Just as well, as long as your sins are not too great, a long life and entry into Heaven are also part of the awards you will receive. And add to that, the more money that you give, the more great things God will give you. Basically, if you pay God money, you buy his love, and if you don't give him money, then he hates you. This is also basically paying for miracles. In the 4th Watch religion, God loves money, and apparently, he needs it more than you.
Tithing is the most prominent cultic feature of the 4th Watch church. In fact, the 4th Watch's reputation of their relentless teaching of giving tithes is what makes them most recognizable as a cult. Just ask any victim of this cultic church, and they will tell you that the church is brutal with forcing its members to give money. The 4th Watch church focuses more on tithing than salvation, which is normally the most important aspect of the Christian religion. Most likely, this is because making a profit is the most important thing to the church's Apostle and head pastors, and they will try to get as much money as possible from both members and non-members alike.
You must understand that the 4th Watch cult is not technically a church, but a business, and a scam at that. It's only real focus is to make money and to gain power. That is why they try so hard to extract as much money as they can from you. Sure, much of the money goes into keeping the church buildings working, along with other necessary expenses and the occasional treat, but ultimately, all of the money belongs to the leader and it is he who decides how to use it. On top of that, the kicker is that he demands that all of his employees work for free so that he doesn't have to pay anyone in the cult with the exception of his family pastors. And the leader and his head pastors are free to spend the money on all the expensive and fancy gifts that they want, such as nice houses, fancy cars and clothes, and servants. Or, they buy more buildings to use as churches to make more money.
While ten percent is what is preached as being required, the church is hardly satisfied with that. The only two reasons that they preach only ten percent is because that is what the Bible clearly says, so it is difficult to change it, plus the apostle knows that the higher they make it, the less willing members will be in paying it.
It is not always easy to convince anyone to give you money, and the 4th Watch is so good at it, that it is interesting to know how they pull it off. The cult is a deceptive one, and it employs a large number of tricks to get members to do and believe in ridiculous things. Tithing is one of those things.
First, the 4th Watch labels itself as being a Biblical religion and they teach that it is important and necessary to live your life according to what the Bible says. Although this is not always the case, as the 4th Watch selects which parts of the Bible to follow, as does just about any church, it does so when the Bible gives them the advantage. In this case, the Bible clearly states that all followers of Christ are to give their tithes. The basic requirement is ten percent of all your income. They go so far as to scare their members into tithing, threatening them with misery and Hell if they do not give their tithes, and actually accuse them of robbing God if they do not comply. Likewise, the church entices its members with joy and Heaven if they give, and the more that they give, the more that they will receive. The church uses the following Bible verses 8-10 from Malachi 3 as one of its primary source of imposing the obligation of tithes and the philosophy of prosperity:
We believe this was only put in the Bible to milk as much money out of persons as possible. But regardless, this is what the 4th Watch believes and follows. And just to clarify, the Bible defines the tithe as ten percent of a whole value. Thus, this is pretty much where they get the justification to require money from Christians. But, there are plenty of other verses which compliment the concept of tithing and prosperity.
So because the Bible says it, and because the 4th Watch teaches a Biblical life, it is already easier to convince the weak-minded to give money to the church. Already, not only are they just following what the Bible says, but they are using fear and temptation to accomplish this. But to increase this accomplishment by getting more persons to tithe and to possibly get even more than the standard ten percent, the 4th Watch also resorts to other techniques as well. This is why they promise miracles for money and that is why they preach that the more money you give, the more good things that God will do for you.
Another trick that works well is a delusional distraction. The cult tells its members that they are giving their money to God, and the thought of the money going to the cult or its leaders does not seem to cross any of their minds. But the truth is of course, God never sees that money. That money goes directly to the cult, through the sub-leaders, and into the cult leader's pockets. But the followers never think about that. All they ever hear is how they are giving to God. God of course is a delusion, and the cult is using God as a distraction so that the followers do not think of the truth...that the money is actually going to them - the cult leaders.
The cult you see, is very clever in how it works to get as much money as possible. While forcing its members to give out of obligation and fear, the apostle does not even pay his employees, keeping all of the money that he scams out of members and non-members. He is able to get away with not paying those who work for him by assuring them that what they are doing is for God and they view it as an honor. They also feel as if by taking money, they are no longer serving God, but themselves. And to help make members comfortable with this, they are made to view their pastors who make no money as servants of God, who sacrifice their effort and time not only for God, but for them. We have no problem with volunteer work, in fact we encourage that, but there is a big problem when the thought of being paid for work is downplayed and the volunteers are tricked into working without pay for a false reason, especially while its leader who gets all the money is out using it for his own pleasures.
But what about the general public? The apostle knows that there are always going to be persons who will rebuke the church for being so greedy with money. One way to minimize this, the apostle doesn't try to hide the fact that they are so forceful with obtaining money from members. The church explains that they are a true church because they are simply following the commands of God in the Bible to demand tithing as he did. Here, the church attempts to make itself seen as a "hero" of the Christian faith by not being afraid to teach what the Bible says, even those things which are unpopular. And it works.
Here is what Jonathon Ferriol, the head pastor, sub-cult leader, and son of the cult leader, says about tithing:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tithing is something we only reserve for the members of this church and/or this community of believers. This is something that we emphasize and teach un-abashedly and biblically, that if you are a member of this church, you've got to tithe...because tithing is the responsible way to demonstrate that you are a member of this community of believers of this church. But offering is something that is open to all of us, so if you are our guests or our friends, you may freely give any amount in the name of supporting the work of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The 4th Watch cult attempts to extract money from persons any chance they get. The cult performs church services several times a week in addition to the traditional Sunday service. At each one of these, they perform an "offeratory", where each member is expected to give money. Even if it is just a simple Bible study in someone's home, the offeratory bag is taken with and passed along for tithes. At every Sunday service, which they often have two of, one in the morning and one in the evening, tithes are expected to be given. And before they pass around that bag, every time, right after subjecting members to hypnotic attacks, and when they are more vulnerable to suggestion, the 4th Watch cult dedicates a good five or ten minutes to preaching about tithing.
To give you an example of what we are talking about, here is Jonathon Ferriol again, giving one of those offeratory messages in the church:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
...if you are a member of this church, you've got to tithe...because tithing is the responsible way to demonstrate that you are a member of this community of believers of this church...
This is the believer's path. This is the believer's approach and response to wealth. We do not hoard wealth, we do not store up wealth, we do not enrich our lives here on Earth for wealth's sake, but if ever we want to become well off and influent, we always subject them to the dominion and to the authroity of God. And so rather than allowing wealth to corrupt us, rather than permitting wealth to push us away form the Lord. What we do is we honor God with our weatlh. And I think that this is healthy. We must have a Biblical point of view with regards to weatlh. We must submit our minds, we must submit our lives to the word of God. We must honor the Lord with our wealth.
Now to honor is to put the greatest value on somebody or something. That is what we meant by honor. To put the greatest value. To esteem highest something or somebody. And so what we must do is to honor the Lord or give the most valuable posessions we have for the Lord, becasue God deserves the best. And if ever there is something we can honor the Lord with our wealth here, the author of this book elaborates it must be the first fruits of our crops, and that is where tithing comes in.
Tithing is offering to God the first fruits. It's offering to God our very best, not our left-overs, not our hand me-downs, not our spoils. We must honor the lord with our very best. That's the only thing that will bring honor to God. If a believer gives something less for God, God is not honored. God is not pleased. When we are able to give something good or best but rather we give what is simply something that is secondary or something that is inferior, the Lord is not pleased. The Isrealites did it during the time of Malacchi. This is what they did. They had the ability to honor the Lord with their weatlh, rather they chose to give their second best. And because of that, God was displeased with them. And God said you are not treating me right.
And so this is something we ought to remember, that as believers, and as God's children, as receipients and as beneficiaries of God's best...that is our salvation. That is the best gift you could ever receive. Your salvation from the Lord. We have received that salvation. It is something that we do not merit, but God gave it to us as a gift, and it is only worthy that we must give our best unto him. This is the reason that every week we give our tithes and our offerings unto him because our tithes and our offerings represent the best of what we have received from him. To God be the glory. And the promise of the Lord is this: That he will see to it that we're rewarded, that we are compensated...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Here are some additional quotes from leaders in the 4th Watch that help affirm their belief in tithes and giving to the Apostle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our money is temporal. But where we spend it on could define & impact where we would spend eternity! So spend it righteously & properly!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And a big part is for God!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Holy Scriptures show us, in contrast to the principles of man, the principles of the Bible. For man, in order to receive the greatest return, he must keep all his money to himself. He must use and invest all his finances to benefit himself alone. All for his sake; this is the way to riches. In the Bible, in order to receive, one must give. He who gives more for the work of the Lord, receives more from God, (Luke 6:38). And in doing such he stores for himself great and many riches.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In conclusion to this piece on tithing, it should be noted that being scammed out of money through tithing and the giving of offerings is the most common way that ex-members of the cult feel victimized and it is the most common and most passionate complaint against it. It makes sense because making money is pretty much the goal of the church and its so-called apostle. The truth is, too many persons have given so much of their money to the cult and its leader because of all of the psychological programming that members go through. When they come to their senses and leave the church, they are left feeling not only spiritually raped, but financially raped as well. In the end, it is not God who is robbed, but the 4th Watch victims.
|
|
