Where Should the Pastor and the Pastor's Pastor and So On, Pay Their Tithe?
1) Direct Answer
- Every believer pays tithes to the storehouse where he is fed the Word—his own pastor.
- A pastor also pays tithes. He does not keep his own tithe. He sends his tithe to the minister who feeds him the Word, the one who pastors him, or faithfully into the Gospel work through a proven minister.
- The “pastor’s pastor, and so on” simply follows the same order. It stops where a man is actually being fed. Christ is our High Priest; the tithe supports His ministry on earth, not an endless ladder or a headquarters.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house” (Malachi 3:10). The tithe goes where the spiritual meat is served.
- “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things” (Galatians 6:6). Tithe follows the one who teaches you.
- “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:13–14). God ordains the ministry to live by the tithe.
- “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine… The labourer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:17–18). The preaching elder is to be supported.
- In the Old Testament pattern the Levites received tithes, and the Levites themselves gave “a tithe of the tithes” unto the Lord’s service (Numbers 18:21–28; Nehemiah 10:37–39). That shows ministers also tithe onward.
- Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1–8). That points to Christ, our High Priest, receiving tithes through His ministry.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Now notice: the tithe is not for buildings, boards, or programs first; it is for the ministry that brings you the Word. Where you eat is where you tithe.
- You see, a pastor is also taught and strengthened by ministry. So he pays his tithe to the one who truly feeds him or places it faithfully into the active Gospel ministry—not back to himself.
- There is no Scripture for a man tithing to himself, nor for sending tithes to an office that does not feed him. The Bible ties tithing to the storehouse and to the one who teaches.
- So the order is simple and consistent: the flock to their pastor; the pastor to the minister who pastors him or the Gospel work that nourishes him; and it all culminates in Christ’s service, not a human chain without end.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Keep it clean and biblical: tithe where you receive the Word. Let the laborer live by the Gospel, and let even the laborer honor God with his own tithe. That’s the order the Bible sets.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Hebrews, Chapter 7, part 1
57-0915E §64
Listen: And without any contradiction the less is blessed of the better. [Certainly! Watch who He is!] And here men that die receive tithes; [That's the priesthood of the order of priests and preachers and so forth; men that receive tithe, die. See?] but here he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. What would a man take tithings for, if he had any... If he never was born, and never will die, and was from beginning to end, and never had no father or mother or descent, and owned the whole heavens a...
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §91
QUESTION: Should a person pay tithes to an individual, or should a Christian work? Sure he should. He's the one man that will work, is a Christian. "Pay tithes to an individual?" It depends on who the individual is, see. That's right. In Hebrews 7, the first time tithings was talked about in a stand that we... Wait a minute, I believe, number two question. No! Uh, uh. No! For Brother ... Said, "Two questions for Brother Branham." When... In Hebrews the 7th chapter, when Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the...
Questions and Answers (God being misunderstood)
61-0723E §19
QUESTION: "Can a Christian go to heaven if he or she does not pay tithe?" Now that's one that I could not answer scripturally. Now, this "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," if the minister is sincere, just let us know, you see, we'd be glad... Brother Neville and myself, or Brother Beeler, or Brother Collins, or any of these ministers here who are ordained to this ministry, and so forth, can do so. Now, but now, does a Christian not get to heaven because they do not pay tithe? I could not say "yes" or "no" to that. But...
Questions and Answers (God being misunderstood)
61-0723E §49
QUESTION: "Brother Branham, don't you feel that everyone who claims to be a Christian should pay tithes, pay their tithes into the storehouse of the Lord? Please give scripture to this question." All right, if you will... That is right, that the Bible said in Malachi, the fourth chapter, "Will a man rob God? And you say, 'Where have we robbed Thee?' In tithe and offerings. Bring all of your tithes and offerings into my storehouse, and prove me," saith the Lord, "if I will not open up the windows of heaven, and pour...
Hebrews, Chapter 7, part 1
57-0915E §65
Now: And as I may so say, Levi also, who received tithe, paid tithes in Abraham. Now, here's something: For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. What? Levi... Abraham was Levi's great-great-grandpa. And the Bible said here that "Levi paid tithes when he was in the loins of Abraham." Four generations before he ever come to earth, he was paying tithes to Melchisedec. And blessed be the name of the Lord! Then you that can't believe in predestination, foreordination and here, four generation...