Money, money, money. How much of it is enough? In this religious-political discourse, we shall attempt to bring to the consciousness of die-hard Mammonites, the missing link in their existence, spirituality In Mathew Chapter 21 verse 12, it is written,” Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.” HIS anger was caused by the activities of “money changers, who turned the house of prayers into a den of thieves.”
In Mathew Chapter 25 verses 14-28, the Bible narrated what happened to the servants of the man, who gave various goods to his servants according to their abilities. The servant, who was given one talent came and said to his master, “Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.” And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours” (Mathew Chapter 25, verse 25). His Lord admonished the servant saying that he ought to have deposited the Lord’s money with the Lord’s banker and upon his return; the one talent would have yielded interest.
Yes, interest! For many centuries, bankers have profited from charging interest for lending out money to those, who, either trade with the borrowed funds or applied them for other purposes. Usury has prospered bankers, through the ages.
Under the Islamic financial system, there are philosophical and religious underpinnings, which dissuade the charging of interest. I hope that Ajman-like modernization in the Middle East has not changed all that and would not.
Before capitalism displaced feudalism as a socio-economic system, people had time to pray and reflect upon moral issues and they accepted the Triune GOD as the Great Provider. Monopoly capitalism preached the gospel of the power of money and when oligopoly fossilized in the centers of manipulation and control, the worship of GOD, the Father diminished as frenzied pursuit of the god of Mammon became widespread.
The notion that “Money is the root of all evils” is ridiculed by Wall Street gurus and the City of London investment bankers, who walk proudly in their Austin Reed and Seville Row suits. They drive their shinny Rolls Royce, Bentley, Ferraris and E-type Jaguars. With this, they have captured the imagination of most young souls around the world as ingenious car-makers bring out latest models every three to five years.
In the West, easy access to loans made it easier to have a hit at big things, show off and be seen to have “made it”, the fact that one was living on borrowed funds did not seem to matter.
People in America have devised ways to offer credits, even to those, who have neither capacity nor even the desire to pay back, as and when due. As result, some people became indulgent; this development saw the raising of the status of some citizens to heights, which they do not deserve. Many have been pursuing money by hook or crook.
The Bible message which asks, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul”, is glossed over. Emphasis is placed more on the fact that you have made it and not on how.
Prosperity pastors no longer emphasize the Biblical saying that “ It is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of GOD, in order, perhaps ,not to scare away their rich clientele. But GOD is not mocked….. (Gal 6:7
After Fairyland was replaced by Las Vegas and Disneyland, people no longer attended Churches but went to The Cabarets. The success of Silicon Valley experts was further enhanced by advancement in the field of semi-conductors, the computer, the internet and fraudulent banking was the result. The computer has replaced Man’s ability to carry out simple arithmetical calculations. We do not even see much of physical cash any more but figures and electronically conditioned plastic cards, which confer drawing rights.
After incorporating a company, a Memorandum of Association spells out how the business of the firm with regard the outside world is to be carried out. The company can now issue a Memorandum of Deposit, Memorandum of Satisfaction and merchandise advances in the normal course of business. Smart MBA graduates entered into international trade as money brokers, money lenders, money market operators and money-shop owners and exploited the loopholes in the international financial system, in their own interests. To calm their consciences, they pay their tithes regularly, to the approval of their spiritual overseers.
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2nd John: 7) Through the medium of fabulous wealth, “… the devil is about to throw some of you in prison…” (Revelation Chapter 2:10)
In the Fish Age, rituals were the common medium of appeasing GOD. So, Levites played a major role in receiving tithes and offerings of rams, goats and oxen to the Most High. The Aquarian Age is the era of spirit consciousness. People can now ask, seek, and knock directly, without the assistance of anyone. However, there is still the need for pastoral guidance to assist the Christian aspirant. Money now plays a major role in where you sit in churches.
Are there false prophets? I do not know but “by their fruits ye shall know them” but I find the greed and avarice now prevalent among some pastors, who promote Mammonic worship unacceptable. Yet, God may forgive them through a “Damascus experience” and turn them around, provided” they are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). For whom He foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom HE predestined, these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (8 Romans 8:29-30). Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is GOD who justifies. (Romans 28:33). The elect of GOD should not be greedy for money. “For ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32) from mammonic worship.
This was exactly the pontifical message the Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict X1, delivered with passion to the world in Paris, France, recently during the papal visit.
It was the greed for money and territorial expansion that led the Nazis to implement the Holocaust. We can never forget the cries and “heart-rending laments” at Auschwitz, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, on 9/11, at Guantanamo Bay and other such centers, where evil thrived and is still thriving.
Pope John Paul 11 once asked, “How could man have such contempt for man? Because he had reached the point of contempt for GOD.”
Yad Vaschem should be replicated everywhere evil had reigned, as a constant reminder of the counterfeit nature of some leaders and how their conquest for gain, had inflicted suffering on humanity,
History is ever so kind to document their ignoble ends and stress to the aspirant the powerlessness of power. Inordinate ambition to make money is fired by mammonic elementals that stoke and fuel the greed in man. In most cases, these forces pave, with gold, the wide way to perdition and eternal regrets.
Intercessors have a grimmer message for mankind. These are the End Times. In the last hundred years, money had taken great power and has reigned through men’s greed, avarice and acquisitiveness. These led to colonialism, imperialism, monopolies and oligopolies and corporate governance. As a result, workers have been exploited, arbitrarily laid off and these have inexorably added to human misery, social dislocation and hardship. Idumean capitalists have held an oppressive sway over the sons and daughters of Yahweh Elohim, in the last three hundred years.
