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Our journey into the Wilderness began in 1999, when a church board illegally fired me from my pastoral position and demanded that I vacate the parsonage. A week later the ushers stood at the door of the church and handed out letters to everyone who attended, letting them know the reasons why I had been fired.

Someone sent me a copy of the letter they passed around. I still have it in my files, and sometimes I pull it out, read it through, and remind myself of the price my family and I paid for being faithful to the truth. I haven’t regretted the decision.

I won’t reveal everything written in the letter, but I will share one thing that may shed light on why this church and this denomination was so anxious to get rid of me. Rest assured it was not due to any moral failure or besetting sin on my part.

I actually took it as a compliment.

Quote:

“Chip Brogden maintains an extensive website where he has displayed attitudes and teachings that demonstrate a compromised loyalty to the church and the leadership…”

This “extensive website”, now known as TheSchoolOfChrist.Org, continues to speak the truth concerning Jesus with an UNCOMPROMISED loyalty and jealously for the preeminence of Christ over all things. That will never change.

But it is true that back in 1999 I did not have as much GRACE as I do now.

One article in particular sealed my doom and made my excommunication virtually assured. The title of that article was “Terminate The Tithe!”

In that essay I attacked everything I had grown to hate about the church, the clergy, the denomination, and the religious system that I was still very much a part of. Eventually I removed it from the website because even through it was true, the spirit behind it was wrong. It was written in anger and bitterness. I didn’t feel it deserved a place with the other Christ-centered essays I had begun to write.

But that didn’t stop people from writing in, begging me to send them the article on tithing!

Well, the article (as far as I know) is gone forever. Probably for the best. But this is still a controversial issue and it is one of the more commonly asked questions we get here at The School of Christ.

With a little more grace, and a little more wisdom, and a little more Christ-centered revelation, I have put together a two-part audio series designed to give you peace of mind and freedom from bondage in this area.

PART ONE: Tithing in the Old Covenant – gives a complete history of tithing, all the commandments on tithing, a description of the different tithes (there were several), why those commandments were given, and why Organized Religion desperately wants you to believe they all apply to you today.

PART TWO: Giving in the New Covenant – shows how a Spirit-led believer in Christ is free from the curse of the Law, including tithing, and gives a complete history of giving from a New Testament perspective so you can experience joy, not fear, when God leads you to give – or, to NOT give.

If you have questions about tithing and you need Scriptural teaching from someone other than the pastor of a church that expects you to pay tithes, this teaching is for you. I hope you’ll check it out, listen to the evidence, and come to your own prayerful conclusion.

But be careful! Churches get nervous when I talk about this.