Last week, I heard with pain the death of the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. He was well known for his novel, “Things Fall Apart”. I remember reading his book as a young man but above all I recall my mathematics teacher using Chinua Achebe’s expression “things fall apart ” whenever I made a blunder while working on basic arithmetics. I wonder how she would have felt if I told her that 1+1+1=1, 1+1=1 and 10-1=+10. She would have said that things were really falling apart. Naturally I will have to qualify my statement. These calculations are divine. The Bible says that God the Father and God the Son and God the Hoy Spirit equal ONE God. That a man will leave his father and mother and will join his wife and the two will make ONE flesh. The latter calculation is God’s response to how we deal with our finances even in the difficult financial times that we are living. God says that when the budget hurts we should trust and focus on this simple arithmetic calculation: 10-1=+10. Meaning that when we render to God one tenth of our income we are better off. Thus the title of this weekly email : God ‘s Mathematics when the budget hurts! God has an interesting way of doing mathematics. As children of God, we can still trust Him even if we don’t understand completely. Isaiah reminds us that God’s way is as much higher than ours as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isaiah 55:9). For you see, in spite of unparalleled affluence in the western world, personal bankruptcies are soaring. Consumer credit has never been higher. I have learned that the Office for National Statistics estimated in 2011 that 14 million people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and that one person in 20 was experiencing “severe material depression”. I don’t have the latest statistics but I believe that the situation has worsened. I must confess that I have not made any thorough investigation within the church to see how true this statement is. But if the church is the picture of our society, then it means that one out of 20 members is experiencing “severe material depression”. The church is suffering from unemployment, inflation, recession, energy and fuel prices, and rising layoffs. The church struggles when its members wrestle with financial difficulties daily. This situation can drive away the happiness and peace that everyone seeks. I am thinking of the song “In times like these you need a Saviour, in times like these you need an anchor”. The anchor being the Sure Word of God, we therefore have in our hands God’s key to financial prosperity. Indeed, even when we have nothing we are reminded of the story of “Jacob’s Pillar Stone”. Genesis 28: 18-22. All that Jacob had when he fled from his brother’s wrath was a staff in his hand. But he made a vow to God saying if God will be with him, and will keep him in this way that he goes, and will give him bread to eat, and clothing to put on, so that he comes again to his father’s house in peace; then shall the “I AM” be his God: And this Stone, which he has set [for] a pillar, shall be God’s house (Bethel): and of all that You shall give him he will surely give the tenth to You. God naturally fulfilled his part of the deal. We also know that Jacob kept his promise. God is against tax evasion. I am sure that the Chancellor of Exchequer will be happy to hear that. When Christ was asked if taxes should be paid, he said: “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give?” (Mark 12:14-15). Holding a penny to illustrate, He answered, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (vs. 17). Christ taught there are things that belong to man’s government and things that belong to God. Jesus wants us to pay our taxes. Paul , a disciple of Jesus repeated the command to the first Christians. “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers…Wherefore you must needs be subject…For this cause pay you tribute [Greek: taxes or assessment] also…render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due” (Rom. 13:1, 5-7). What belongs to the government are taxes! It is therefore shameful for a Christian to be caught not paying them! Interest, penalties and even prison can result for tax evasion. The guilty have disobeyed not only the laws of the land but also God’s plain instructions. For no government can function without tax revenue. And because God has established authorities and governments, we have to obey them. But God also wants us to pay our tributes to Him. Tithing is an acknowledgement that God is the owner of everything . God says, “For all the earth is Mine” (Ex. 19:5) and “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s your God, the earth also, with all that therein is” (Deut. 10:14) and also “whatsoever is under the whole heaven is Mine” (Job 41:11). King David wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psa. 24:1). I Corinthians 10:26 repeats his words. God also says, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills…If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof” (Psa. 50:10, 12). Finally, the prophet Haggai wrote, “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the Lord” (Hag. 2:8). Therefore our entire income (salary, wages, interest earned, investments, bonuses, commissions and any other financial increase) actually belongs to God. Is God aware of the current financial climate ? Of course, He is . And yet he desires to receive a tenth of our income? But wait a minute! If everything that we have is God’s, then we are not giving God one-tenth of what is ours. God is giving us nine-tenths of what is His! I see here, God’s generosity and love for us. He gives nine-tenths of what He owns and He is claiming back only a tenth, so that he can give us more than what we actually have. In Malachi we find God in a verbal exchange between Him and His people: “For I am the Lord, I change not…Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from My ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me and I will return unto you, says the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 3:6-7). The exchange shifts to a rhetorical question from the people to God: “Wherein shall we return?” Then God answers with His own question: “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me.” Next comes another rhetorical question from the people: “Wherein have we robbed You?” God answers, “in tithes and offerings” (vs. 7-8). When people do not pay God His tithes nor give Him His offerings, God considers them to be robbing Him. Robbing is theft. It is stealing! Not only is it stealing, but it is stealing from God! Stealing from government is serious and evil. But stealing from God is even more serious. All sin is against God, but few things could be more serious than this! It is said that when John Wesley visited his congregations he would question his assistants as to their progress in the faith. He would often ask if their Christianity had affected their pockets? Can we still trust God’s mathematics? Has our Christianity affected our pockets even in times like these? In times like these, we surely need an anchor against Mr. George Osborne’s budget. Pastor Sam Ouadjo