Did Ted Cruz Steal From God And If So, Why Is He Blessed? Rafael Cruz Teaches on Tithing

The more I look into this revelation that Ted Cruz declared less than one percent of his income to charitable causes from 2006-2010, the more interesting it gets.
By any measure, Cruz has been blessed. His political career has been on the fast track. In 2012, he upset a conservative Republican for the GOP Senate nomination and then won an easy victory over the Democratic candidate in the 2012 Senate election. He currently is one of the leading candidates for the GOP presidential nomination. Financially, he has done incredibly well.
However, according to his own father’s teaching on tithing, such blessing should not be.
First, let’s establish from Cruz himself that he acknowledges not tithing. In an interview with CBN’s David Brody, Cruz implied that his meager charitable giving was primarily early in his marriage. Watch:

Transcript (from the Brody file):

Listen on the question of tithing, all of us are on a faith journey, and I will readily admit that I have not been as faithful in this aspect of my walk as I should have been. That article focuses on ten years. We don’t have the ability to go back and change what occurred ten years ago when Heidi and I were newly married and we’d just started a family. But at the end of the day, being a Christian is not about holding yourself out as righteous. It’s about beginning with the understanding that we are flawed sinners and we are saved not by deeds but by Christ’s redemption. I am grateful that God is a patient and forgiving God and this area, as in many areas of my life I am working to do a better job walking in my faith.

As Mediaite writer Tommy Christopher points out, Cruz didn’t address the facts in a straightforward manner. The tax returns in question covered 2006-2010 (now removed from the Texas Tribune site – the numbers can still be viewed here). In 2010, Cruz reported just over $2 million in income while only declaring $22,337 in donations. In 2010, he wasn’t a poor, struggling newlywed. Obviously, the blessings were flowing, even though the tithes weren’t.

This is serious business to evangelicals who view tithing as the pathway to God’s blessing. Let’s listen to Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, describe what not tithing means to God (source video).


Rafael Cruz says that someone who is not tithing shouldn’t expect God’s blessing. He interprets Malachi to say that a non-tither is stealing from God. He adds that the devil will attack and perhaps devour one’s income. Rafael Cruz and others have expressed the opinion that Ted Cruz has been blessed because he has been faithful. How can this be if Cruz has been stealing from God?
Ironically, Ted Cruz is evidence against his own father’s teaching on tithing. Or perhaps Cruz isn’t really anointed. Or perhaps this whole dominionist business is just a way to provoke a great transfer of wealth, but not the kind Rafael Cruz preaches about. The main transfer of wealth of interest to prosperity preachers is from the congregation to their pockets.
For those who don’t believe tithing is for New Testament Christians, the amount given isn’t going to be the main problem. For them, what might generate concern is that Cruz has used the sincerity of his faith as an argument for his fitness to be president. The tithing issue exposes a potential problem with that narrative.
For those who view tithing as a mandate with dreadful consequences for lack of compliance, this revelation could be a deal breaker. Cruz has complicated matters now by telling David Brody a less than believable tale that is different that what his campaign said in 2012. Then they said Cruz volunteered a lot.
Cruz may hope the Brody interview will lay the matter to rest. He may be right. Such theological matters may not be of the same level of interest outside of the Christian nationalist camps of Iowa.
Even if this matter goes away as a political problem, it remains a problem for those who believe Cruz was blessed to rise rapidly through the political ranks all the while stealing from God.

New Iowa Attack Ad Highlights Ted Cruz's Meager Charitable Giving

Ted Cruz’s evangelical strategy may not be working as well as he hoped.
New polls show a dramatic drop in evangelical support among evangelicals for Cruz and he is facing renewed criticism over his meager charitable giving in this new attack ad:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0gWmYQxbYU[/youtube]
Mormon Glenn Beck and activist David Barton may feel Cruz is the one but increasingly evangelicals may be moving toward The Donald.
 

Ted Cruz "Really is the Guy" Glenn Beck and David Barton Have Been Praying For

Some readers will focus on David Barton praying over LDS member Glenn Beck.
Some readers will focus on Beck and Barton’s certainty that Ted Cruz is really the anointed candidate.
Some readers will wonder why Ted Cruz, if he really is the guy, only gave 1% of his income in charitable deductions from 2006-2010.
Some readers will question David Barton’s role in the Cruz campaign while he is the leader of one of Ted Cruz’s Super PAC.
Some readers will question if the Holy Spirit’s job in the world is to be “turned loose” to energize a political campaign.
Some readers will marvel at the pious prayers while at the same time Beck and Barton mislead the public about why Barton’s book The Jefferson Lies met such criticism.
Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOM6JeXKkFw[/youtube]

David Barton: Thomas Jefferson Would Like Ted Cruz for President

Over at World Net Daily, David Barton says that

[Ted] Cruz is the candidate who comes closest to Jefferson and what he believes were the third president’s principles on “debt, religious liberty, and the war on Islam.”

Barton has been elevated to “historian and Thomas Jefferson scholar” and uses his WND platform to assert that the Founders are relevant to politics today. Barton says Cruz and Jefferson hold similar policy positions.
It now seems clear why Barton and WND brought out The Jefferson Lies now. This rather transparent attempt to claim Jefferson as a Cruz supporter comes just as Iowans caucus next week.
Jefferson might have a reservation about Cruz that Barton failed to mention. Cruz’s wife has a significant position with the massive investment bank Goldman Sachs.* Jefferson didn’t think much of banks.

And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. (Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, May 28, 1816, in Ford, 10:31.)

Jefferson also expressed misgivings about taxing the poor and suggested that employment be provided to those who had no land. I doubt Cruz will be promoting those ideas on the stump.
I call on Cruz to go on record to say that he will act independently of the Constitution when it is in national interest, as Jefferson did by sending the Louisiana Purchase treaty to Congress.
*As an aside, I think Heidi Cruz has a better resume to run for president than her husband. While she probably has similar Christian nation views, she has a better foreign policy and business background. 
 
 

Will Ted Cruz's 1% Charitable Giving Hurt Him With Tithing Evangelicals?

As the Iowa primary approaches, Ted Cruz is facing criticism from rivals over his lack of tithing as indicated by tax returns for 2007-2010 disclosed when he ran for Senate. The Cruz family reported donations which amounted to about 1% of their income.
Some Christians who have spoken quite favorably of Cruz believe God requires Christians to give 10% to the church. For instance Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris has preached that Christians are cursed if they don’t tithe (see the video at the end of the post) and Gateway Church doesn’t allow non-tithers to volunteer. In late December, Morris attended a meeting in Texas along with other evangelicals for a meet and greet with Cruz, arranged by David Barton, the head of one of Cruz’s Super PACs.

Robert Morris and Ted Cruz Wilks Bros
Robert Morris’ Twitter Feed

Presumably, Cruz would not be allowed to volunteer at Gateway. If he is cursed, as Morris teaches, what kind of curses might Cruz bring to the White House?
To my knowledge, Morris has not endorsed Cruz and I reference his teaching because Cruz’s lack of tithing might matter to evangelicals who believe Morris’ teaching is correct.
Some Christians believe tithing was an Old Testament requirement but that Christians are not under that law. It may be that Cruz’s low level of giving would register but the effect might be less extreme.
Video of Morris describing Ted Cruz:

Robert Morris on the curse of not tithing.

More on tithing. Morris says at 17:14 that non-tithers are arrogant and have opened themselves up to demons.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/UE9wjBKzET0?t=17m14s[/youtube]