Author: Joshua Maynard

While we may be called upon to serve, we are not just SERVANTS.

While God is friendly towards us, we are not just FRIENDS.

While we are “bought with a price”, we are not just SLAVES.

Servants, Friends and Slaves are not the same as FAMILY.

We are God’s SONS and DAUGHTERS.
We are God’s FAMILY.
When you think of yourself as anything else, you settle for less than you deserve.

– Bishop Joshua Maynard

Jesus didn’t come to raise up a Christian government.

The Gospel is not political.

If you are going to bring Christianity into politics and government, you be certain of one thing: Those pushing the agenda are not particularly representing the Gospel or the Kingdom.

– Bishop Joshua Maynard

Man excels at finding things we must DO to BECOME or STAY saved.

Yet God has proclaimed that in His Son, we ARE saved.

SAVED is what we ARE, not what we DO or DON’T DO.

We ARE Him and He is us. We are ONE. We ARE Salvation.

– Bishop Joshua Maynard

Your words have power!
The power to create and the power to destroy!
When thoughts come against you, you cannot defeat them in your mind!
You must speak against them!
Cast down all imaginations that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God by Christ Jesus.
Don’t let your mind become a foothold for the Devil.
Don’t allow your own conscience to condemn you.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Could you trust a doctor to heal your disease if he infected you with it on purpose?
Most of us would say, “NO!”
Yet Christians every day say things like:
“My back is hurting. I must not be reading my Bible enough”
“This headache just won’t go away! I must be bearing a burden for someone.”
“God allowed me to get cancer so He can get glory from my testimony someday.”
God is our Healer and our Deliverer.
God wants you healed and well.
There is no glory in sickness and there is no glory in death.
Death is not a “healing”.
Someone please stop this madness.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
People often say that grace encourages people to go out and sin.
That is a lie.
People never needed grace as an excuse to go out and sin.
But they sure need grace to constrain them from sinning.
You see, the freedom to sin without the fear of God’s wrath is freedom from the sting of sin, which is death.
Your sins are not an issue with God, but they do have consequences.
I am free to sin, but is it a good idea to sin just because I can?
If sin was an issue with God, none of us would ever be clean enough to approach Him as our Father, and none of us could have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
The only people that fear judgment and wrath are those that are still trying to obtain righteousness through works and not faith.
When you apply law and judgment to your actions, you strengthen the hold of sin in your life.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Jesus always pointed to the Father.
Our relationship is with the Father because of the Son.
Jesus is the door, not just the destination.
Am I minimizing what our Savior did for us?
No. Jesus is Lord and He clearly pointed us to the Father and not to Himself.
The Holy Spirit also points us to the Father.
The Trinity does not mean that one replaces the other. Each has their own role.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard

Tithing 101:

giving out of manipulation

Malachi 3:7-12 KJV
[7] Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them . Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? [8] Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. [9] Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. [10] Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it . [11] And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. [12] And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
Tithing as many Christians know it today is in part or in whole based around a few scriptures in the book of Malachi.
Let’s look first at the context by reading the first verse of Malachi.
Malachi 1:1 KJV
[1] The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
This was the word of the Lord to Israel, not to you.
Let’s narrow down the context even more with
Malachi 2:1 KJV
[1] And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
In Malachi 2:1, the context of what comes after it is directly addressed to the priests, not even the common people of Israel. (You are neither.)
Chapter 3 is a continuation of the grievances that are addressed to the priests in Chapter 2.
Let me take a moment to review. Malachi wasn’t directed to you because you are not part of post-exile Israel, and second, you also aren’t part of the Levitical priesthood.
This word of the Lord in Malachi was meant to show God’s disapproval of the religious and social behavior of Israel and the priesthood at the time. It has also been interpreted that Malachi prophecy’s the coming of Christ.
Prophecies that were fulfilled in both John the Baptist and Christ. If then they are fulfilled, why are believers today trying to apply these scriptures as a requirement to live by?
I want to note here that several scriptures of Malachi are referenced in New Testament books of the Bible, and yet none of these references are pertaining to “tithing”.
Malachi 3:7-12 was written concerning the lack of “tithing” support for the priests who worked in the temple.
With that in mind, what does Malachi say about the “tithe”?
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be MEAT in mine house…”
The Levite priests were supported by “tithes” consisting of FOOD. They could not work a full-time job, because their full-time job was to work in the temple.
Pastors and church planters that teach tithing will have you to believe that they are the modern-day priests working full-time in the temple, and therefore deserving of your tithing to support them.
Malachi goes on to say that if the people will tithe this MEAT; this FOOD that they are commanded to give, God will rebuke the “devourer”.
The tithe was corn, wine, oil and livestock.
“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Christians call the “devourer”, Satan.
Scripturally, the “devourer” is not Satan.
The “devourer” is locusts, or fire or disease.
Notice that God is not rebuking the devourer from finances.
He is rebuking the devourer from “fruits of the ground and vines that are ripening before their time”
Did you know that fruit which ripens too early may not survive to make it to market before spoiling?
Those living in the time of Malachi didn’t have the convenience of modern refrigeration or high-speed transport. Early ripening of fruit could spell life or death disaster for those depending on their crops for both food and trade.
I’ll bet you thought that if you tithed that God would rebuke Satan off your finances.
After all, Satan must be singlehandedly responsible for your bad spending habits, right?
What if you are your own enemy?
What if you have a shopping addiction?
What if you just can’t stop spending?
Do you believe your money troubles are going to miraculously disappear if you don’t change your own bad spending habits?
Could God ever change the flow of enough money in your direction to fix your own self-destructive financial issues?
I’m going to let you in a truth that could change your life.
You are blessed whether you tithe or not.
God honors your faith, not your checkbook.
God honors your faith, not your dollars.
God honors your faith, not your credit cards.
Let’s get back to Malachi, and what happens if you don’t tithe MEAT into the storehouse.
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. [9] Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”
It says that by not tithing, you are “cursed with a curse.”
You don’t need to worry about being cursed with ANY curses.
It is not possible for us to rob God of anything today.
The curse Malachi is talking about is not a particular curse, but the curse that was upon anyone that did not follow the ordinances of the law that God has commanded.
We are not under the law and are not bound to the law because the grace of God through Christ has freed us from having to meet the requirements of the law.
Galatians 3:13 KJV
[13] Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
I didn’t hang on a tree. Did you?
Christ hung on a tree and became sin for us.
It may seem that your finances improve when you tithe. That can be attributed to your faith in God to bless and provide for your needs, but not because of the tithe itself.
It is your faith that God honors.
It may seem that your money vanishes when you don’t tithe, but that is called “LIFE” and sometimes it’s because of our own choices.
You are not under a curse for failing to tithe.
Christ redeemed us from THE curse, EVERY curse.
Let us not go around saying that His work was incomplete, unfinished and simply not good enough to cover our lack of tithing to our local church.
Another reason that Christians believe in tithing is because Abraham tithed to Melchisedec.
Hebrews 7:1-10 indicates that not only did Abraham tithe to Melchisedec, but that in doing so, it was as if Levi had also tithed to Melchisedec.
Supporters of tithing theology under Malachi will claim that because of what the book of Hebrews says about tithing, that we should also tithe. They claim that if the Levitical priesthood tithed to Melchisedec through Abraham, then we also should tithe to Christ.
I don’t know about you, but the people of Israel tithing to Levi who tithed to Melchisedec through Abraham who was really tithing to Jesus makes my head and my pocketbook hurt.
However, these scriptures in Hebrews are not really about tithing. They are about the priesthood changing and explaining how Jesus is the greatest high priest after the order of Melchisedec
I should also mention that Abraham tithed to Melchisedec before the commandment to tithe was given to Israel. This was before Moses and before the Ten Commandments were given.
Yet tithing because Abraham tithed does not make for a sound theological foundation.
Abraham only tithed once as far as we know.
ONCE. One time. Uno.
He didn’t tithe from his personal finances, nor from his own possessions.
Abraham tithed of the spoils of war.
While some may consider their jobs to be a daily battlefield, I don’t think they can call their paycheck “the spoils of war”.
Abraham gave 10% of the spoils of war to Melchisedec. Then he gave the other 90% to the king of Sodom, keeping an unspecified amount of the plunder for his men.
Genesis 14:23 KJV
[23] That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
Abraham didn’t want anyone to say that he had been made rich by the spoils of war or the kings he took it from, so he gave it all away.
This is contrary to what the church teaches: If you tithe, God will indeed bless your finances more.
Hebrews 7:1 KJV
[1] For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
If you are going to follow in Abaham’s footsteps on this one, you’d have to go kill you some kings, steal their stuff and then give ALL of it away.
Let us not forget to mention that while we are taught to tithe so that we will be blessed and not under a curse, Abraham wasn’t justified by his works. He was justified by believing God.
Galatians 3:6-11 KJV
[6] Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. [7] Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. [8] And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying , In thee shall all nations be blessed. [9] So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. [10] For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. [11] But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
If we cannot be justified by the works of the law, then following the methods of Abraham and of the Levitical priesthood in tithing does not profit us through Abraham.
We are sons of Abraham by faith, not by works.
If you tithe because you believe God will bless your finances, you are boasting in your ability to keep one commandment of the law, while ignoring the rest if the law.
If you tithe because you believe God commands you to tithe, you are putting yourself under Old Covenant Law and are actually placing yourself under a curse.
You can’t perfectly fulfill all the requirements of the law, so trying to keep Levitical tithing isn’t going to earn you any blessing from it.
The tithe was always FOOD.
Nehemiah 13:5 KJV
[5] And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests.
When you try and tithe money, you aren’t tithing the way that God commanded Israel to tithe.
It is often taught that the tithe should be based on the Gross Income that is pre-tax and not the Net Income.
Did you know that this is manipulatively designed to increase the amount of money received by the church and keep less money in your pockets?
If you receive $1200 Gross Income, the church will have you tithe $120. But after taxes and benefits, you might only have a Net Income of $700. Instead of asking you to tithe $70, the church asks you to tithe $120, effectively doubling the tax rate on your income and leaving you in the poorhouse.
In fact, the word “tithe” is defined as “a tax collected by the church or a religious sect”.
Pastors will argue that if no one tithed, the church doors could not stay open. The tithes pay for the utilities, fund the church’s operations, pay the property taxes and the salaries of those who work in the church both full and part-time.
Without tithing, the church would cease to operate.
That is a valid argument coming from a business.
Indeed, people do need to give in order for a church to operate.
Yet the church does not present tithing in this way.
Tithing is presented as a requirement of both God and scripture and one that brings along blessings to those that obey and curses to those who do not.
Some say that Jesus supported tithing.
Jesus recognized that the coinage of the time belonged to Caesar, not to God.
The only time Jesus mentions tithing, He also refers to it is FOOD and not Finances.
There is a part of tithing that mentions money in the Bible, but church pastors will rarely mention it to you.
Deuteronomy 14:24-26 KJV
[24] And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: [25] Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: [26] And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,
This is saying that if you couldn’t travel to the place where tithes of food are to be offered, you can sell the livestock or the food and turn it into money. Then you can use that money to buy whatever you want and rejoice in the Lord, including alcohol.
Even if mentioned by a pastor, he would argue that your place of giving tithes (the church you frequent), is not too far to travel to.
Pastors that want to manipulate you into tithing will find many unsupportable reasonings to excuse their fleecing of the flock.
Tithes do support the work of churches, but they don’t always support the work of the Gospel.
Many churches are content to keep their paying members close and spend little or no effort training then up as disciples of Christ to go out and share the Gospel.
People are content to pay tithes for years in a church organization that feeds them spiritual baby food, while the church is taking their hard-earned grocery money.
How then are pastors and churches to survive without tithes?
2 Corinthians 9:7 KJV
[7] Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give ; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
If pastors and churches would just teach their people to give according to New Covenant giving, they wouldn’t have to lie and manipulate.
We should give out of the abundance of our love, but not out of manipulation or compulsion.
You can’t be a “cheerful giver” when you give out of fear and manipulation.
When you tithe money that you can’t afford to tithe and then your bills don’t get paid, it will actually lead you into anger against your pastor, your church and ultimately God.
I would present to you that tithing, just like Old Covenant Law, leads to sin.
I hope this teaching has blessed you, and I hope it has convinced you that God doesn’t want you to tithe, He wants you to give.
God doesn’t need you to give your money in order to bless you.
God honors your faith, not merely your finances.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
All scripture is profitable, but scripture belongs to no one. You can’t claim “words” or promises that weren’t given to you by God.
Trying to claim promises given to Israel or given by the prophets is to try and claim their birthright as your own.
Your birthright is in Christ and Christ alone. Every promise was fulfilled in Him, not you.
If you try and take someone else’s birthright, you are only lying to yourself, and labeling that lie with God’s name.
Let us study the Bible with sobriety and common sense and stop claiming scriptures that don’t belong to us.
We can learn from them, but claim them all? No.
God’s Word to you is what the Holy Spirit speaks to you, not merely the scriptures themselves.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
The son looked at his father with tears in his eyes.
This was his first real Christmas to get a lot of toys.
But these weren’t tears of joy in his eyes.
His father told him that if he didn’t give him10% of his toys back that he would take them away and destroy them.
The child winced as his father ripped the arms and legs off his action figures.
He sobbed as his father crushed his fire truck under his foot.
He wept as his father gathered up all the pieces of his toys, called him “ungrateful” and “disobedient” and threw them in the garbage.
What horrible father would do this to his children, and yet this is what the church tells us about God.
They tell us that if we don’t tithe at least 10% of our gross income that God will take away His blessing and curse us by allowing the “devourer” to take away what we have.
Some say that “he takes his 10% in doctor bills by causing us sickness and injury.”
How horrible a lie this is.
How horrible our Heavenly Father would be to do this to us.
He blessed us so that we can bless others and to bless them from our abundant increase; not to take away our grocery money and give it to the church.
You can’t rob God. Everything you have is His already.
Let him guide your heart to give.
Give out of your abundance and if you don’t have abundance, don’t fear the Father.
He loves you with an everlasting love.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
If your Strawberry ice cream melts to nothing under hot water, you can be fairly certain of one thing: It probably had no Strawberries in it.
Religion is the same way.
It claims to have fruit, looks like it has fruit, but often has no fruit in it.
Real fruit doesn’t melt.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
Step #1 – There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Step #2 – Read #1 until you no longer need to move on to Step #2.
There is nothing to add to this truth.
If you are in Christ Jesus, you are not condemned, EVER, PERIOD.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
If you can be convinced of sin, your faith will crumble.
Who can convince you of sin against God?
Anyone?
Is your faith in what Christ did for you so weak that it can’t stand against lies?
Don’t let anyone convince you of sin.
Not strangers, not friends, not family, not clergy, not Satan and especially not yourself.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
Jesus wished no harm on those that rejected Him.
How does that sit with the theology of a literal Hell?
How does that add up compared with the way that Christians today tend to treat unbelievers?
Think about it.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
Many Christians have no issues following a God that puts sickness on people to teach them humility, gives temptations to test faith and kills us out of compassion and some greater purpose.
Show those same people the example of Christ which completely debunks such beliefs about God and you won’t find many that will agree with you.
It is more likely that you will be shown scripture after scripture to rebut your viewpoint, and they will happily give you the “left foot of fellowship.”
Such are those people that prefer to stay a slave to religion.
They do not recognize that they have already been made free in Christ to be sons of God.
Pray for those people to get a revelation of God’s love and grace, for it is those truths that set people free.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
Jesus chose and trained disciples to share the same good news (Gospel) that He Himself shared, for He was the Gospel personified.
He sent them out and when they found someone doing the work of the Gospel that wasn’t part of their “discipleship program”, they rebuked that person.
Jesus told them not to forbid someone from doing those things because if they aren’t against us, they are for us.
I could teach a while on this, but here is the short version.
If you believe in the power of God to save, heal and deliver, God is faithful to honor your faith.
Even if you don’t subscribe to what the majority believes; even if you don’t have every doctrine accurate, Jesus said “only believe”.
God honors those who believe, not just those who are in a discipleship program or Bible school.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard
Friends, we may ask someone to change their habits
We may encourage someone to change their doctrine.
We may implore someone to leave the bondage of religion behind.
But we must endeavor to never require that they change their faith.
When I say “faith”, I’m not talking about their religion.
I’m talking about the faith that they have; the faith that they actively use to connect with God. The very same faith that we all share in Christ which they choose to express differently.
Why is this so important?
Because God honors their faith!
When they are free in Christ, He honors their faith.
When they are oppressed of the Devil, He honors their faith.
When they are torn, worn and forlorn, God honors their faith!
Hear me saints!
Hear me Bishops, teachers, preachers and apostles!
He honors their faith!
When they are wrong, He still honors their faith.
When you and I are wrong, and we’ve got Him misunderstood and we’ve got His Word twisted and warped in our own heads, guess what?
He honors our faith too!
So don’t tell them that they need to change one thing about their faith, unless you seek to destroy it.
You can encourage, you can implore and you can try and present a better way, but God forbid if you present it in such a fashion that you pull the rug of faith out from under them.
It is the only thing that keeps their feet planted on solid ground.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard

It seems almost natural for us to believe that the decisions which other people make are not merely between them and God, but between us and them and God; Even the decisions they make in the privacy of their home which have no effect on us.
It is not natural for most of us to let people make decisions that we believe are harmful to them without trying to put our nose into their business.
Yet God never asked us to fix other people’s issues, or to expose their sin.
In fact, the Gospel has nothing to do with exposing sin, and everything to do with exposing a loving God to others.
It has everything to do with exposing Life, not death.

BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard

The Bible says, “the letter kills”.
Some might say that such a scripture only refers to the Old Testament.
I don’t know about you, but the New Testament in my Bible is full of “letters” too.
The letter kills no matter which Testament you find it in.
Follow Christ, be led by the Spirit and you may live long enough to see God do some amazing things in your life.
BY: Bishop Joshua Maynard