BECAUSE JOB DIDN’T TITHE, HIS LIFE BECAME TIGHT

By Akin Ojumu

Being the trust-but-verify guy that I am, while fact-checking a social media post by one of my High School friends, in which Bishop David Oyedepo was quoted to have linked the adversity of Job to his tithing habit, I was shocked, but not at all surprised, to find a 2019 video that did indeed confirm what my good friend shared. 

In Bishop Oyedepo's telling, the real cause of Job's afflictions was his failure to pay tithes. According to him, God removed Job's divine security and allowed Satan to buffet him with calamity because the man was a habitual tithe defaulter. Because Job didn't tithe, his life became really tight.

Here is the Bishop in his own words:

“You can't see anywhere where Job tithed. So, his blessing was not secured. You can't find anywhere where Job tithed. No! He was overly committed to giving liberally to the poor and God was committed to bless him. But there was no security.”

Just so it's absolutely clear. Bishop Oyedepo's assertion is categorically false. Job's misfortune had nothing to do with whether or not he tithed. In fact, when the Bible introduced Job, it says:

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1:1).

In his day, no other man alive was as righteous as Job; he was the embodiment of holiness. Job walked blamelessly before God. He was a good man who faithfully worshiped and served YAHWEH, the true and living God. 

Job’s adversities were not of his own making. The reason for his troubles, the Bible tells us, was because Satan challenged God, and God took up the challenge to prove Lucifer wrong. In Job 1:6-12 we read the story of how Satan went before the presence of God and told God that the only reason Job worshiped Him was because God was good to him, and because of the numerous blessings he enjoyed from God. If God should withhold his blessings from Job, Satan dared, he would immediately curse God.

Being confident of Job’s faithfulness and fully convinced his worship was not dependent on the blessings he enjoyed, God allowed Satan to afflict Job. To prove to Satan that Job would not curse Him, the Almighty God gave Satan the liberty to bring calamity upon Job. And Guess what? Satan lost the challenge. Job passed the test; he was faithful to God to the very end. 

Job lost everything he owned. All his cattle died. His crops perished. His entire family was wiped out. His wife told him to curse God and die. On top of that, his entire body became covered with painful ugly looking sores. A man who, hitherto, washed his patio with butter found himself on a garbage dump, scraping scabs off the boils all over his body.

Then in Jobs 13:15, in the middle of all his suffering, we read these profound words, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” 

When he was going through his trials, Job didn’t know why his life took a turn for the worse. God never gave him an explanation and he received no revelation. Yet, his faithfulness endured. He would not curse God. Unlike many in the Church today, Job did not seek God for what God gives, rather, he worshiped God for whom God is. Job didn't follow God for miracles or blessings.

At the end of his trial, after losing everything and enduring so much affliction, and having remained faithful to the end, the Bible says:

“And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.” (Job 42:10, 12). 

Contrary to Bishop Oyedepo’s claims, just as Job’s afflictions had nothing to do with his tithing habit, Job's restoration did not come about as a result of him paying tithe. God didn’t bless Job with 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys because he suddenly became a ten percenter. It wasn’t because Job turned into a repentant tithe defaulter that made God to bless him with seven sons and three daughters who were the most gorgeous looking women in all the land. And Job did not get to live another 140 glorious years because he started paying tithe.

Sadly, whenever Bishop Oyedepo is called out for his doctrinal errors, his die-hard followers often take to hooking axes around their heads (“won fi ake kori”). They are quick to throw a fit, get furiously mad, succumb to histrionics, and are apt to curse out anyone who dares question or speak an ought against their daddy in the Lord.

Unbeknownst to these incorrigible adherents of Bishop Oyedepo – and of other gods of men – a spiritual blindfold has been tightly wrapped around the eyes of their understanding. This makes it impossible for such people to discern the errors of their spiritual heroes. Even when shown the erroneous doctrines, they rationalize and try to explain what the man of God might have meant to say. When rationalization fails, they flare up in unrighteous indignation, and they let fly the arrows of Psalm 105:15, in the process they compound doctrinal errors with yet another doctrinal error.

It’s kind of sad, really, when you think about the multitudes who have been, and are being, misled by Bishop Oyedepo's erroneous teachings. The unhealthy man worship and deadly spiritual blindness break the heart.