Money – Part 5

Good day to you reading this article on money and how it profoundly effects each of us on a daily basis.

I hope that you have been reading the first four articles on money, the gold standard and the effect that it has on our daily living. So the question comes up from various groups: Should we be under a gold standard? How will we ever be able to pay for the national debt? When money goes into circulation, why is it a debt? Which is better, financial or industrial capitalism? What is usury? What would happen if a constitutional money system were put into place and that money would be created debt free and interest free?

Do you remember Paul Harvey and the rest of the story? What a storyteller and a man who loved his profession and his country. I went on you tube and found the following topic, freedom to chains for your review– https://youtu.be/n0FF13u13WE.

I urge you to download freedom to chains and listen to this enlightening lesson on money, taxes and the rise and future fall of the United States of America. Yes, we will fall because taxes and the deficit will be too much to bear for each of us, the taxpayer.

We have established that the gold standard is not the answer, the national debt will never paid off or even a debt put into this debt, that deficit finance would keep mounting and that the United States will follow the same paths of the Roman Empire, the Chinese empire, Spanish empire and Greece empire.

This is not doom and gloom, as history does repeat itself, but the warning not to do or to repeat what other empires have done. Will our country stand for something or will we fall for anything?

So what does the Bible teach us about money? When one looks at the word, money in the Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the word appears 140 times. Jesus uses the word money seven times in the New Testament. We find the word money is found 117 times in the Old Testament and 23 times in the New Testament.

When looking at the concordance, it is so fitting that the last reference found in the New Testament is 1Timothy 6:10 (FF) For the love of money is a root of all these evils, some going mad for which, have wandered from the faith, and surrounded themselves with many distresses. The conclusion, love of money is idolatry.

Nowhere in the Bible can I find that it is a sin to be “rich” or “well to do”, but if one is “well to do” he or she is to use the talent or talents that they have been give to glorify God and not use it as an idol.

Jesus, in Matthew 17:24-27, says to pay your tax to the king or back in the Roman day, pay the temple tax for the upkeep of temple. Jesus supplied the tax payment, thus showing each of us that we must cooperate with the authorities and be responsible citizens. There was never any intention on Jesus to overthrow the Roman government, but there was always intent on the Pharisees to try to catch Jesus in some form of a lie or sin.

Jesus, in Luke 19:11-27, uses a parable of the King’s Ten Servants to speak on the matter of money and talents. As I read these verses, the following points came to me—If we were to compare this directly to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 the servants were treated equally with ten minas. God has given each of us a talent or multiple talents to utilize to his glory and prepare for the kingdom.

How is money a talent? Many Christian people are “rich” and utilize their talents by giving and not just tithing, giving time, utilizing their talents, helping those who are less fortunate and advancing the kingdom for this is a preparation or “schooling” before Jesus returns. We are getting our training for there is much responsibility for what we have been given.

Money was created to be debt free and interest free for God wants his people to prosper, enjoy life and to love thy neighbor as thyself. We were not placed on this earth “to keep up with the Jones” or to be envious of what our neighbor has.

Look again at 1Timothy 6:10 (FF) For the love of money is a root of all these evils, some going mad for which, have wandered from the faith, and surrounded themselves with many distresses. Are you going mad or driven for more, more, more money? And what about stress, quotas, making more to meet ends meet, and for what? Have you wandered from the love of God, love of your family and love of your brother to obtain physical things? And why, for the love of money is a root of all these evils.

Now for the cure in Matthew 22:37-38 (NIV) Jesus replied: “Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.

Luke 16:13 (NIV) No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

As a dual witness, Jesus repeats the verse in Matthew 6:24 that you cannot serve both God and Money—this is your choice for the gate is narrow and the road wide.

I hope you have enjoyed the writing s on money, taxes and thoughts on the economy—As Paul Harvey would say, Good Day!

May God Bless you and please remember to read the Word daily to start your day off with Vitamin B—The Bible—now that’s the book for me!

Jeff