Sid: My guest is talking about a subject that is so important because we are coming into, I believe the toughest times economically this country and even the world has ever experienced. I can see where Charles Vance has been handpicked to each on this area because he was born and raised in West Virginia. And West Virginia is the poorest state per capita of all the states in the United States. He had a poverty mentality and he would have stayed there except one day a Pastor thought enough of him to share principals on what the Bible says about money and light bulbs went on. And as a result he has become economically, Charles and his wife are in the top 1% of the wealthiest people in the world. His passion is to teach people, especially now, where you can’t depend on the government. What did you tell me Charles, over 50% of the people in the United States are getting money from the government. What happens when they run out.
Charles: Well, I think that they are all ready out. (laughter)
Sid: (laughter) But, I asked you a question. I said what about third world, if you were to teach these principals in a third world country and you started to tell me a story about Haiti. Tell me that.
Charles: We had a friend of ours, a Pastor that is on a board for missions in Haiti’s. A huge mission organization there in Haiti that we interviewed on a local TV program just a few months back when the tragedy of the earthquake hit in Haiti. He said, you should go to Haiti with me and I’m thinking, I love America. I love the pleasures that we have here. He said I’m going to do a Pastor’s Conference in about a month, he said that he would love for you to go and teach the Pastors. Well, they ended up, a long story short, we went, my wife and I went and spoke to the Pastors. And I just felt like I needed to preach on faith, or teach on faith, although I had this insatiable desire to preach and teach on prosperity when I was there. You know, I went to Peru a few years ago and the Pastor that I went with, we did a Pastor’s Conference of about 500 Pastors and he said, don’t preach on this prosperity stuff down here. These people are poor. I thought gosh, that’s kind of like going into a bunch of sick folk and not teaching them on healing. So we taught prosperity and I’ve been in India and we taught there about prosperity. We taught in Haiti just this last February. We taught when we were in Peru on prosperity. My friend taught the principals of finances from the Bible in Haiti and when we got there, we found some of the Pastors telling us what a change it made because they had started teaching it to their congregation. And when they started following those Biblical principles, increase started taking place. When we preached it in India we got back we found that there was a gentleman there that owned a little taxi service, we called it. The little three wheel things. Ended up being blessed so much because he started using these principles that he bought two more of the little taxi cabs and his business just kept increasing and increasing. It doesn’t make any difference Sid, where you are. The principles in the laws of God work the same way if you will work them by faith.
Sid: Okay, I would like you teach a little bit today. For instances there’s a lot of misunderstanding on the tithe could you tell us some of the principles that have been very important in your life in reference to the tithe and the offering?
Charles: First of all, the tithe is means one tenth. And the Bible said in Leviticus Chapter 27 and verse 30, that all of the tithe is the Lord’s and it goes on to say that it is Holy unto him. Which means it is separated unto Him. That means that it belongs to Him. It is interesting, James said that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from God. So everything thing I have, in the beginning comes from God any way. God says, I’m marking 10% of it to see, what you are suppose to do with it. Well Malachi Chapter 3 says to bring all of the tithes and he puts it in plural. Bring all of the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be meat in my house and prove me now herewith he said, see if I’ll not open the windows of heaven. There are several things we’ll get into if we have time today, but somebody said what we do with it at the church house or the storehouse? Well, the scripture says in Nehemiah Chapter 10 that it belongs to the priest. God’s intention was for the priest or the minister to have the tithe so that he didn’t have to busy himself with everything else. That he could be an ear piece for God and then a voice for God. The Bible says actually in Nehemiah 10:38 that the priest is suppose to bring a tithe of the tithe in to the chambers of the house of God. Why was He suppose to do that? Well, every time that we follow an instruction of the Lord. There is a blessing that is attached to it. The tithe does three things. It opens heaven, first of all, people need to understand that the tithe is not yours. I know that rubs some people wrong and there kind of in this possessive thing. When we were kids we use to say that possession is nine tens of the law. But the fact is the one tenth that is in your hand, the Bible says over and over again is the Lord’s. It belongs to the Lord. Tells us specifically what to do with it. We are suppose to place it back into the hands of people that ministered to it. Now we are managers of the tithe. You know, if it is not mine. Sid, if you send me $1,000 and you say “Charles I want you to forward this on to the mission in Haiti that you were talking about. Well, that is not my money to decide what to do with it now. It is your money that you gave me an instruction to manage. If we understand that the tithe doesn’t even belong to us, it actually belongs to God the scriptures said. It’s His and if He gives us an instruction to do something with it you know, I would have no problem at all doing anything that was legal that you would instruct me to do with your money. The problem that we have many times is that we take possession of things that are not ours and therefore we find ourselves doing something with the tithe that God has not instructed us to do. When we do that, we violate His principles or laws and the scripture said that he was talking to the priest in Malachi Chapter 3.
Sid: I’m going to give you analogy right now. God says to one day a week of rest and if you don’t you can end up having a consequence. He’s not saying take a day a week for rest to hurt you. He’s saying it to bless you, isn’t the principle the same with the tithe?
Charles: Thank you so much what a wonderful wonderful principle to bring out. Everything God tells us to do he tells us to do so that we can be blessed. Not so that we are cursed. He wants to bless us. And blessing comes through our obedience by faith. I just sense the presence of God so strong when we are talking about this, because it’s not God’s intention to hurt someone. God has never had the desire to hurt someone. Gosh look back from the beginning of time even when Adam and Eve sinned and He told them there was going to be a death that took place when they sinned. God didn’t say I’m wiping you off the planet. I’m tired of ya I’m fed up with you. You’ve done something I told you not to do. The first thing that he did was start telling them that there was going to be a seed that would come from a woman that would cause the blessings to come back into mankind. He always gives us instruction so that we can bless and the tithe is the same thing. God is not trying not take something from us. He said that He is going to open the windows of Heaven over us.
Sid: What does that mean? Open the window of Heaven?
Charles: He said out of the window of Heaven He is going to pour us out a blessing. I’m sure your familiar with the word blessing. The word blessing encompasses in it nearly everything good. When you go back to the original Hebrew and Greek. Stuff like safety and salvation and prosperity and health. But He said that He is going to pour you out a blessing from Heaven. Do you know what we thought, what some people have thought at times is if they bring a tithe they are going to become millionaires over night. Well, there is nowhere in scripture that tell you that. I don’t believe there is any US currency in Heaven. I don’t believe that there’s are any Cadillacs in Heaven.
Sid: I hope they don’t have the US currency, but go ahead. (laughter)
Charles: To think that Heaven was built upon US currency.
Sid: Do you mean they don’t have General Motors. No. No I am not going to go there, go ahead.
Charles: What’s in Heaven then? I have to ask myself the question. Were God’s concepts, His insight, His dominion, His power and His authority, and that list is endless because.
Sid: So were looking for God to dump a bunch of counterfeit money into our hands rather than ideas and favor and all of the things that you have mentioned.
Charles: And do you know what happens sometimes when God opens the Heaven over us, like that.
Sid: It would be counterfeit because there is no money in Heaven. But, go ahead.
Charles: (laughter) Exactly, but when He opens Heaven over us and pours out those concepts and ideas and favor into our lives. I’ve heard people say, gosh you know I had all kinds of ideas about this and that and never did anything with it. Well, if you don’t anything with it, then nothing is going to prosper in your life. If God gives you an idea to make money, you should use the idea to make money. If God gives you favor with somebody, Sid we talked about this earlier. Blessings should be coming from the world and a lot of times, Christian people isolate themselves from heathens. People that are without God. When we should be welcoming a relationship with them so that those blessings can flow out of their lives into our lives.
Sid: Your telling me that our money should be coming from the heathen and not from another believer?
Charles: Absolutely, the Bible says that God giveth. Ecclesiastes 2 that he giveth to a good man wisdom, knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he giveth travail to gather up and heap up that he may give to him that is good before God. That’s pretty amazing to me.
Sid: It is, we’ll pick up right here on tomorrow’s broadcast. But Mishpochah these four CDs teaching by Charles Vance called “Prospering in Hard Times” necessary, necessary mentoring equipment.
