Josh McPherson is the ‘Lead Pastor of Preaching & Vision’ of Grace City Church in Wenatchee, WA, as well as the founder of Stronger Man Nation, a website dedicated to providing resources to men to help lead their families.
We last covered him after he defended his partnership with Paula White.
During a his March 2025 sermon ‘The blinding power of damning greed,’ McPherson argues that Christians are obligated to tithe their ‘first fruits’ to the church, and that those who don’t should be likened to the homosexuals facing damnation in 1 Corinthians 6.
Do not be deceived-Blindness comes from deceit- Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the what? Greedy. Nor the drunkards, nor the slanderers, nor the swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
That’s a strong word. And Paul intends it to be strong. And here, some of you have been claiming to follow Jesus for years and years and years, you’re coming to this church and you don’t give a dime or you tip God when you remember to.
And as God is my witness, men, with all the love in my heart, you know I love you. You know I love you. You may not like what I say, but you cannot say I do not love you.
If you’re sitting here and claiming to be a Stronger Man’ and wearing the gear and you are not tithing to God through this church, and you’re some alpha male that likes to look down on all those ‘gay sex men,’ just know that God views you and those men as the same.
He concludes:
Don’t sit here on your high alpha male horse, looking at all these perverts out there having sex with men, when you withhold from God his tithe. God views that man and you as one in the same.
You’re like, ‘you trying to shame me?’ A thousand percent I’m trying to shame you. You’re like, ‘is that biblical?’ You’ve never read the book, have you? Verse six, ‘I say all of this to shame you.’ That’s a verse in the Bible.
2 responses to “Grace City Church Pastor Josh McPherson likens Non-Tithers to ‘Gay Sex Men’”
There is something to be learned from the fact that admonishment concerning lawsuits is right in the middle of condemnation of sexual immorality. The word “pleonektés” (Strongs 4123) is also used in Eph. 5:5, there again associated to sexual immorality, and explicitly defined as idolatry. The word used there for idolatry is “eidólolatrés” (Strongs 1496).
“Strong’s Greek 1496 designates the person who gives devotion, service, or allegiance to any substitute for the living God. In Scripture the word exposes both overt pagan worship and more subtle forms of misplaced trust, so that “idolater” functions as a spiritual diagnosis rather than a mere sociological label.”
“Strong’s Greek 4123 describes the person whose appetite for gain overrides moral boundaries. It is more than momentary desire; it marks a settled character trait that reaches for what belongs to another and refuses to be satisfied with sufficiency. English renderings include “greedy,” “covetous,” and “extortioner.” The term is always negative, aligned with vice lists and warnings of judgment.”
What all the sins listed have in common is discontent. Enslavement to sin. Nothing is ever enough. The scripture is speaking directly to the wickedness that is at the root of those sins. The sins that lead to those worse sins. Scripture is talking about the wickedness of the heart, from which those sins are produced.
So greed/covetousness is indeed very similar to sexual immorality. HOWEVER, the lack of tithing is not necessarily indicative of such discontent or enslavement to sin (that is one worst-case possibility out of many possible reasons). Bellyaching about people not tithing directly to him and his ministry, levying accusations without two or three witnesses, not having a clue why a man does what he does, on the other hand, very well could be a matter of wicked discontent.
The matter of first fruits also needs to be addressed. This is not what Jesus teaches in Matt. 15. The first priority, Jesus says, is to honor the commandments of God. So we see ordo amoris.
He goes on there, to talk about wickedness of the heart, and that what defiles a person is what comes out of the heart. The root of sin. The cause of sin. What’s underlying the sin. The wickedness that produces the sins. Mark records the same event in Mark 7, and there gives a list of sins that Jesus specifically gave as an example, in Mark 7:21.
And there, Jesus also lists sexual immorality along with covetousness. And he lists “pride” specifically. If you look back at the definition of “eidólolatrés” (idolater) (Strongs 1496), it all begins to fit together. And we begin to see a description of the wickedness He and the Apostles are talking about. The discontent. Distrust in the Lord. And other attributes. The sinful nature. Not just the specific sins that manifest from it. But the sinful nature of the heart at the root of it all. The corruption that is inherited from Adam. The reason for the sin.