The Mammon of Unrighteousness

emekrus

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Many a Christian are against any preaching that makes mention of prosperity. As a matter of fact, I did write an article about divine prosperity; and someone in her unscriptural zeal attacked and said; “The give to receive garbage gospel, is just that--garbage”.

I quickly made her understand that with such statement, she was inadvertently saying, Jesus preached garbage. Because the Lord did say, give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, shaken together shall men give unto your bosom.

For some of the commenters in that article, they daubed divine prosperity, which is one of the tenets of the New Covenant (Ezekiel 36:29-30), “The Gospel of Mammon”.

Hence, this article sets out to scripturally clarify the meaning of “Mammon of Unrighteousness” as used by our Lord Jesus in the bible. And also, this article seeks to point out, who and who is involved and can indulge in “The mammon of unrighteousness”.

What is the Mammon of Unrighteousness?

Before explaining the meaning of mammon of unrighteousness, let’s see where it was mentioned in the bible in the book of Luke 16:11&13:

“If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

The word mammon is from the Greek word “Mammonas” which means, confidence in wealth; or in one word, Avariciousness. In other words, it is the deification of wealth. It is the Love of money referred to by the Apostle Paul in 1Timothy 6:10.

Mammon is the idolatry of money. It is putting the desire for wealth, material or financial gain above God’s commandments. And it is not the vice of only the super-rich. Even the poor and middle class also indulge in it.

Many a believer and preachers, who accuse and condemn rich believers and prosperity preachers of mammonism, are even guiltier of unfaithfulness in the mammon of unrighteousness than they are.

How Do We Indulge in the Mammon of Unrighteousness?

I know with my last statement in the above paragraph, the very next question that comes to mind will be, how do we indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness?

Firstly, mammon has been defined as confidence in wealth and idolatry of money and material gain. We’ve also seen that this idolatry can easily be committed by putting financial and material gain before or above God’s instructions. Hence we indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness in the following ways:

1. Mismanagement of church funds—including borrowing from tithe and offering without paying back

2. Lying about our age to gain employment

3. Refusing to pay our tithes and offerings

4. Shutting up our bowel of love to a needy brother or sister—when we could be of help

5. Closing our eyes to the glaring need in God’s house or for God’s work when we could contribute our own quota

6. Lying in business in order to make sale or gain

7. Using people to work so much and giving them so little. And even sometimes delaying their payments for our selfish reasons.

8. Refusing to answer God’s ministerial call for the sake of business

9. Use of unscriptural tactics to get money from members

10. Refusing to marry the person God reveals to you because of financial status. And also trying to choose a spouse mainly because of financial status.

All these amongst so many other practices, are the ways many Christian indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness. And we really need to judge ourselves along this line and repent of our sins as quickly as possible.

The Lord multiply on us the grace to be faithful to him concerning money and material possessions in Jesus name.

Remain Blessed!

Emeke Odili
 

timewerx

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The list you gave is a very good list of things NOT to do with money

However, Jesus was addressing His disciples in Luke 16:9-11 when He told them how to "righteously" use their "unrighteous wealth".

Jesus is clearly saying money is unrighteous regardless how you made and spend money.

The verses of 1 John 2:15-16 supports such context:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
 
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timewerx

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In the beginning, everything is free as God intended. But Adam's sin corrupted this premise.

In the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, everyone is compensated equally which is one of the many things Jesus described how the Kingdom of God works.... You won't be able to make a profit (money) if all of you, from factory worker to CEO / owner is paid the same. Or at least, no one will be richer nor poorer if everyone did that.

This is why money or the concept of profit (which is where all the money of the world comes from) is called "unrighteous" because it deviates from the God's principles.

Strong's Greek: 93 (ἀδικία)

93 adikía (a feminine noun derived from 1 /A "not" and 1349 /díkē, "justice") – properly, the opposite of justice; unrighteousness, as a violation of God's standards (justice) which brings divine disapproval; a count (violation) of God's justice, i.e. what is contrary to His righteous judgments (what He approves).

Strong's Greek: 93. ἀδικία (adikia) -- injustice, unrighteousness
 
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emekrus

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The list you gave is a very good list of things NOT to do with money

However, Jesus was addressing His disciples when He told them how to "righteously" use their "unrighteous wealth".

Jesus is clearly saying money is unrighteous regardless how you made and spend money.

The verses of 1 John 2:15-16 supports such context:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
can you please come out clear with the exact scripture that says particularly that money is unrighteous regardless of how you made and spend money?
the scripture you quoted above doesn't say anything about money .

The scripture you quoted above talks about the things in the world we are not to love. Particularly: Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and pride of life. I don't see how it supports your context. can you please be more clearer with your explanation?
 
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timewerx

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can you please come out clear with the exact scripture that says particularly that money is unrighteous regardless of how you made and spend money?
the scripture you quoted above doesn't say anything about money .

The scripture you quoted above talks about the things in the world we are not to love. Particularly: Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and pride of life. I don't see how it supports your context. can you please be more clearer with your explanation?

In Luke 16:9.

Jesus is basically telling His disciples to do good things with "unrighteous wealth"

It's very clear that it says. You can use money to do good things but Jesus still calls it unrighteous wealth.

So even if you do good things with money, Jesus still calls it unrighteous wealth.

Because Jesus says so, I guess we'll just have to accept it :)
 
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timewerx

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I can cite one real world example why the money in this world is unrighteous (Doesn't meet God's just standards).

Most of the money in circulation in the world is made from making people work for little salary like the sweatshops, factories in 3rd world countries (the low working classes often in dangerous or miserable conditions) and making a huge profit from their little salaries.

Such system is already apparent in the time of Christ.

This is why no matter how honest and righteous you made money, money will always be unrighteous.

I'm not saying we should quit our jobs.

You don't sin by making money according to Godly standard. It's how you spend money that could easily tell where one's heart is.

This is why @emekrus , the list you did is very good. It tells some of the key means "unrighteous wealth" must be spent. I think #4 is of utmost importance here as how we treat the least of our brothers and sisters is how we treat God.
 
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dqhall

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Many a Christian are against any preaching that makes mention of prosperity. As a matter of fact, I did write an article about divine prosperity; and someone in her unscriptural zeal attacked and said; “The give to receive garbage gospel, is just that--garbage”.

I quickly made her understand that with such statement, she was inadvertently saying, Jesus preached garbage. Because the Lord did say, give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, shaken together shall men give unto your bosom.

For some of the commenters in that article, they daubed divine prosperity, which is one of the tenets of the New Covenant (Ezekiel 36:29-30), “The Gospel of Mammon”.

Hence, this article sets out to scripturally clarify the meaning of “Mammon of Unrighteousness” as used by our Lord Jesus in the bible. And also, this article seeks to point out, who and who is involved and can indulge in “The mammon of unrighteousness”.

What is the Mammon of Unrighteousness?

Before explaining the meaning of mammon of unrighteousness, let’s see where it was mentioned in the bible in the book of Luke 16:11&13:

“If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

The word mammon is from the Greek word “Mammonas” which means, confidence in wealth; or in one word, Avariciousness. In other words, it is the deification of wealth. It is the Love of money referred to by the Apostle Paul in 1Timothy 6:10.

Mammon is the idolatry of money. It is putting the desire for wealth, material or financial gain above God’s commandments. And it is not the vice of only the super-rich. Even the poor and middle class also indulge in it.

Many a believer and preachers, who accuse and condemn rich believers and prosperity preachers of mammonism, are even guiltier of unfaithfulness in the mammon of unrighteousness than they are.

How Do We Indulge in the Mammon of Unrighteousness?

I know with my last statement in the above paragraph, the very next question that comes to mind will be, how do we indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness?

Firstly, mammon has been defined as confidence in wealth and idolatry of money and material gain. We’ve also seen that this idolatry can easily be committed by putting financial and material gain before or above God’s instructions. Hence we indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness in the following ways:

1. Mismanagement of church funds—including borrowing from tithe and offering without paying back

2. Lying about our age to gain employment

3. Refusing to pay our tithes and offerings

4. Shutting up our bowel of love to a needy brother or sister—when we could be of help

5. Closing our eyes to the glaring need in God’s house or for God’s work when we could contribute our own quota

6. Lying in business in order to make sale or gain

7. Using people to work so much and giving them so little. And even sometimes delaying their payments for our selfish reasons.

8. Refusing to answer God’s ministerial call for the sake of business

9. Use of unscriptural tactics to get money from members

10. Refusing to marry the person God reveals to you because of financial status. And also trying to choose a spouse mainly because of financial status.

All these amongst so many other practices, are the ways many Christian indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness. And we really need to judge ourselves along this line and repent of our sins as quickly as possible.

The Lord multiply on us the grace to be faithful to him concerning money and material possessions in Jesus name.

Remain Blessed!

Emeke Odili
Paul wrote to Timothy:
1 Timothy 5:8 (WEB) But if anyone doesn't provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.

If my parents need my extra money for financial support, it is better I not attend church, nor donate money to the church, but use this money to help my parents instead.

Matthew 15:3 (WEB) He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” 6 he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.
 
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emekrus

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Paul wrote to Timothy:
1 Timothy 5:8 (WEB) But if anyone doesn't provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.

If my parents need my extra money for financial support, it is better I not attend church, nor donate money to the church, but use this money to help my parents instead.

Matthew 15:3 (WEB) He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” 6 he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.

Suppose God specifically lays it in your heart to give to the Church instead of your parents? And suppose you've already given to your parents?
 
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Hermitus Solitarum

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Many a Christian are against any preaching that makes mention of prosperity. As a matter of fact, I did write an article about divine prosperity; and someone in her unscriptural zeal attacked and said; “The give to receive garbage gospel, is just that--garbage”.

I quickly made her understand that with such statement, she was inadvertently saying, Jesus preached garbage. Because the Lord did say, give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, shaken together shall men give unto your bosom.

For some of the commenters in that article, they daubed divine prosperity, which is one of the tenets of the New Covenant (Ezekiel 36:29-30), “The Gospel of Mammon”.

Hence, this article sets out to scripturally clarify the meaning of “Mammon of Unrighteousness” as used by our Lord Jesus in the bible. And also, this article seeks to point out, who and who is involved and can indulge in “The mammon of unrighteousness”.

What is the Mammon of Unrighteousness?

Before explaining the meaning of mammon of unrighteousness, let’s see where it was mentioned in the bible in the book of Luke 16:11&13:

“If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

The word mammon is from the Greek word “Mammonas” which means, confidence in wealth; or in one word, Avariciousness. In other words, it is the deification of wealth. It is the Love of money referred to by the Apostle Paul in 1Timothy 6:10.

Mammon is the idolatry of money. It is putting the desire for wealth, material or financial gain above God’s commandments. And it is not the vice of only the super-rich. Even the poor and middle class also indulge in it.

Many a believer and preachers, who accuse and condemn rich believers and prosperity preachers of mammonism, are even guiltier of unfaithfulness in the mammon of unrighteousness than they are.

How Do We Indulge in the Mammon of Unrighteousness?

I know with my last statement in the above paragraph, the very next question that comes to mind will be, how do we indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness?

Firstly, mammon has been defined as confidence in wealth and idolatry of money and material gain. We’ve also seen that this idolatry can easily be committed by putting financial and material gain before or above God’s instructions. Hence we indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness in the following ways:

1. Mismanagement of church funds—including borrowing from tithe and offering without paying back

2. Lying about our age to gain employment

3. Refusing to pay our tithes and offerings

4. Shutting up our bowel of love to a needy brother or sister—when we could be of help

5. Closing our eyes to the glaring need in God’s house or for God’s work when we could contribute our own quota

6. Lying in business in order to make sale or gain

7. Using people to work so much and giving them so little. And even sometimes delaying their payments for our selfish reasons.

8. Refusing to answer God’s ministerial call for the sake of business

9. Use of unscriptural tactics to get money from members

10. Refusing to marry the person God reveals to you because of financial status. And also trying to choose a spouse mainly because of financial status.

All these amongst so many other practices, are the ways many Christian indulge in the mammon of unrighteousness. And we really need to judge ourselves along this line and repent of our sins as quickly as possible.

The Lord multiply on us the grace to be faithful to him concerning money and material possessions in Jesus name.

Remain Blessed!

Emeke Odili
 
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Hermitus Solitarum

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The most Destructive Force now Active upon this Planet is Greed, indeed, Never have so few had the Power to Take from so Many. Greed Creates Poverty Worldwide, Greed is Causing the Extinction of Many Creatures, Greed Destroys our great Forests and Jungles, Greed is Poisoning and Destroying the Ecology of the World and its Oceans. Greed Creates Hunger and Injustice, In fact such is its Power in this Age this writer Believes it to be the spiritual Manifestation of a Fallen Spiritual State called Wormwood.

Greed is a State of Ignorance for there is Nothing Here that Any Mortal can Keep. Greed Creates Corruption and the Distortion of Politics and Society. Greed Creates Laws whereby its Power is given Precedence above the Needs of Any Human Being. Profit is the New God for we Worship that which Occupies our Time and Minds the Most.

Needs and Desires are Created by those who wish to Gain from that which they Invent, thus you are Constantly Surrounded by the Images and Idea's Greed Creates to Profit by them, Violence and Unrest will Grow as those who have All the Wealth grow fewer in Number. In the UK the Ideology of the Greedy hid behind the idea of what they call Trickle Down Wealth, Few understood the Danger behind this idea, for no one considered what would happen if those Making all the Money could not Control their Greed and did Not Pass it Down.

Imaging Dying and Standing before the Throne of God with the Ability to Feed and House and help Millions of His Children Hanging out of your back Pocket, what manner of Excuse could you Give when you Die Knowing that you had No Chance of Keeping that which you had had gained to the Cost and Destruction of so many Lives. There are Apologists for Greed, invariably these are Already Captured by its Nature...
 
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dqhall

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Suppose God specifically lays it in your heart to give to the Church instead of your parents? And suppose you've already given to your parents?
Suppose God taught, "Honor your parents." Can you not become a better student of Christ's teachings and reach people outside the church with God's plan of salvation?
 
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emekrus

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Suppose God taught, "Honor your parents." Can you not become a better student of Christ's teachings and reach people outside the church with God's plan of salvation?
So you mean to truly follow the teaching of God about honouring our parents, we shouldn't give to anyone else or the work of God except our parents?
 
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dqhall

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So you mean to truly follow the teaching of God about honouring our parents, we shouldn't give to anyone else or the work of God except our parents?
Of course not. You may give to whomever you want to give. When a man works he gives to his employer, those his employer serves, and receives wages or salary for himself. He may need to support his wife, his children, aging parents, siblings, the community, the tax authorities, charities, church, missionaries, etc.
 
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From the book "Why America is being Judged"


The Systematic Oppression of the Poor


Psalms 10:2 KJV
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

We are appalled to hear and read in the news that the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer and more numerous than even. The greed and the avarice we are seeing is beyond anything ever seen in history.
Let us review some of the facts about the new slavery in America. I say slavery because today it is possible that a husband and wife, both working together at full time jobs, can no longer make enough money to support a family of 4.
Here are a few findings delivered to us by David DeGraw in a two part article entitled “The Economic Elite Have Engineered an Extraordinary Coup, Threatening the Very Existence of the Middle Class” on AlterNet.

“Over 60 percent of Americans now live paycheck to paycheck.”
“The economic top one percent of the population now owns over 70% of all financial assets, an all time record.”(another study states that the top 10% owns 74% of the financial assets) - author
“America is the richest nation in history, yet we now have the highest poverty rate in the industrialized world with an unprecedented amount of Americans living in dire straits and over 50 million citizens already living in poverty...”
“we have over 50 million people who need to use food stamps to eat, and a stunning 50 percent of U.S. children will use food stamps to eat at some point in their childhoods. Approximately 20,000 people are added to this total every day. In 2009, one out of five U.S. households didn't have enough money to buy food. In households with children, this number rose to 24 percent, as the hunger rate among U.S. citizens has now reached an all-time high.”
“1.4 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2009, a 32 percent increase from 2008.”
"Personal debt has risen from 65 percent of income in 1980 to 125 percent today. ’Over five million U.S. families have already lost their homes, in total 13 million U.S. families are expected to lose their home by 2014, with 25 percent of current mortgages underwater.’”
“Deutsche Bank has an even grimmer prediction: ‘The percentage of 'underwater' loans may rise to 48 percent, or 25 million homes.’”
“There are also a growing number of employed people who, despite having a job, are still living in poverty. There are at least 15 million workers who now fall into this rapidly growing category. $32,390 a year is not going to get you far in today's economy, and half of the country is making less than that. This is why many Americans are now forced to work two jobs to provide for their family to hopefully make ends meet. “
“In 1970, CEOs made $25 for every $1 the average worker made… (A)n in-depth study in 2004… revealed that, including stock options and other benefits, CEO pay is more accurately $500 to $1.”
"From 1980 to 2006 the richest 1% of America tripled their after-tax percentage of our nation's total income, while the bottom 90% have seen their share drop over 20%... Between 2002 and 2006, it was even worse: an astounding three-quarters of all the economy's growth was captured by the top 1%."
“… the wealth of the 400 richest Americans… total combined wealth to $1.57 trillion, which is more than the combined net worth of 50% of the US population. Just to make this point clear, 400 people have more wealth than 155 million people combined.”
“…2009 was a record-breaking year for Wall Street bonuses, as firms issued $150 billion to their executives. 100% of these bonuses are a direct result of our tax dollars, so if we used this money to create jobs, instead of giving them to a handful of top executives, we could have paid an annual salary of $30,000 to 5 million people.“


Since the Obama Administration began in 2012, food stamp usage has increased over 45% to almost 50 million Americans. We applaud feeding the poor and encourage more. Yet we question why the most prosperous country in the world has such a large number of poor who require food stamps?
That men would gravitate toward such unparalleled levels of greed and apathy for the poor is not surprising. If left to their own devices such evil men would sell the souls and bodies of men for profit. The true evil in the context of this message is that the rulers and judges have allowed this to happen. That 1% of the population should horde such a huge percentage (some suggest 70%) of the wealth is obscene. That at the same time the families of tens of millions of hard working people should exist in poverty and hopelessness is sin.

What does the Bible have to say about this level of greed and corruption?

James 5:4 KJV
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Gods eyes are not closed to the greed of the rich when it turns to the oppression of the poor.

Leviticus 19:13 KJV
13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

Deuteronomy 24:14-15 KJV
14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
15 At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

Jeremiah 22:13 KJV
13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

God includes the rich who do not fairly pay their servants with sorcerers and adulterers. The cries of their hungry children are accounted against you who live in palaces built by the labor of those you cheated by not paying them fair wages.

Malachi 3:5 KJV
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

You are accounted no better than slave owners and they are accounted as nothing less than slaves as they labor for wages that do not even cover their own cost of living. You will not be found blameless in this.

Proverbs 22:22-23 KJV
22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
23 For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

You have gained to yourself an enemy in the Lord.

He will take up their case against you. Prepare to be spoiled O rich man who exploits the poor. This is the just punishment of those who profit at the expense of hungry children and homeless people who are defrauded from their homes and their employment.

James 5:1-3 KJV
1. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

God Does Not Hate Prosperity

Psalms 35:27 KJV
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

We do not begrudge hard working people to become wealthy, but how much work would a man have to perform to earn 20 billion dollars a year? What job or position equates to $10,000,000 an hour? What possible service or talent is worth such a sum? Has that man worked any harder than his employee who puts in 60 hour weeks and very often does not even receive overtime? By what conceivable standard should one make a million times more than the other? Some may insist that under capitalism this is perfectly legal and fair. Are you a Christian or such a “capitalist” that you cannot see the inequity of this? Do you think that eternal and temporal justice is going to wink while a handful of people become obnoxiously rich at the expense of millions whom they bilk with their overpriced services offered by underpaid employees? Yes, it is “legal” and as we have shown, a nation becomes culpable when it allows by statute abominations and great injustice. What we are seeing is no less than another form of slavery, as families are held in perpetual poverty while their masters profit at their unrecompensed/under-recompensed labor. That a family works slavishly and makes just enough money to survive and to make it back to their job the next week is nothing less than institutionalized slavery. They cannot afford the American dream of a home. That dream is now non-existent for the vast majority of Americans. College Education has become so absurdly expensive that it puts out reach the dream of families to lift their children out of the generation to generation cycle of poverty.
Those who trade in the stock market have to realize that confidence is what drives the market higher. Confidence is an attribute of faith. Those who have contributed to the destruction of the moral core of the nation have cut their own throats. Greed is not enough to drive the market, you must have faith and confidence. With the destruction of the moral core so goes the power of faith and confidence. All there is left is a sociopath corporate entity that that is devoid of faith and care. It cares about nothing but profit and greed.

The Good News and the Poor

Luke 4:17-18 KJV
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Part of the evil that allows such injustice and corruption is the economic model of capitalism. Just as every other form of human government and economic model has been brought down, capitalism and democracy will also fall. These things have to happen as the age approaches the end. All these corrupt humanly devised models will fall. Both political and economic models will fall and Jesus the returning King will institute a divine rule of iron over all. He will return and rule the earth with a rod of iron. Iron is justice and equality, it is hard, but it is fair. With Satan and his minions removed from the environment, the world will no longer be blinded. Truth and freedom will truly reign in Him as it does in the hearts of believers today.

The Oppressed Poor scream out against you

James 5:4 KJV
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

A Word of Prophecy:
“I hear their voices. Their cry comes up before the throne of my Father. The oppressors will not be held faultless. Those who turn away will be accounted guilty with the oppressors. I am the redeemer of the poor. I will respond to their cries. They will not be alone in their oppression. They will not fall by the devices of the cruel. I will release them from their heavy burdens. I will rise them up above those that hold cruel devices. I will free them from the chains of your policies. I will raise them up before the eyes of their oppressors. I will establish them in a prosperous land. They will come to and fro from my city. They will see my face. They will never know pain and sorrow again. They will always be in the place of safety. Ascending, they will come into it. Justice will make it happen. This is the way of my Father. This is the inheritance of the righteousness.”

Jeremiah 17:11 KJV
11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
 
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dqhall

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From the book "Why America is being Judged"


The Systematic Oppression of the Poor


Psalms 10:2 KJV
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

We are appalled to hear and read in the news that the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer and more numerous than even. The greed and the avarice we are seeing is beyond anything ever seen in history.
Let us review some of the facts about the new slavery in America. I say slavery because today it is possible that a husband and wife, both working together at full time jobs, can no longer make enough money to support a family of 4.
Here are a few findings delivered to us by David DeGraw in a two part article entitled “The Economic Elite Have Engineered an Extraordinary Coup, Threatening the Very Existence of the Middle Class” on AlterNet.

“Over 60 percent of Americans now live paycheck to paycheck.”
“The economic top one percent of the population now owns over 70% of all financial assets, an all time record.”(another study states that the top 10% owns 74% of the financial assets) - author
“America is the richest nation in history, yet we now have the highest poverty rate in the industrialized world with an unprecedented amount of Americans living in dire straits and over 50 million citizens already living in poverty...”
“we have over 50 million people who need to use food stamps to eat, and a stunning 50 percent of U.S. children will use food stamps to eat at some point in their childhoods. Approximately 20,000 people are added to this total every day. In 2009, one out of five U.S. households didn't have enough money to buy food. In households with children, this number rose to 24 percent, as the hunger rate among U.S. citizens has now reached an all-time high.”
“1.4 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2009, a 32 percent increase from 2008.”
"Personal debt has risen from 65 percent of income in 1980 to 125 percent today. ’Over five million U.S. families have already lost their homes, in total 13 million U.S. families are expected to lose their home by 2014, with 25 percent of current mortgages underwater.’”
“Deutsche Bank has an even grimmer prediction: ‘The percentage of 'underwater' loans may rise to 48 percent, or 25 million homes.’”
“There are also a growing number of employed people who, despite having a job, are still living in poverty. There are at least 15 million workers who now fall into this rapidly growing category. $32,390 a year is not going to get you far in today's economy, and half of the country is making less than that. This is why many Americans are now forced to work two jobs to provide for their family to hopefully make ends meet. “
“In 1970, CEOs made $25 for every $1 the average worker made… (A)n in-depth study in 2004… revealed that, including stock options and other benefits, CEO pay is more accurately $500 to $1.”
"From 1980 to 2006 the richest 1% of America tripled their after-tax percentage of our nation's total income, while the bottom 90% have seen their share drop over 20%... Between 2002 and 2006, it was even worse: an astounding three-quarters of all the economy's growth was captured by the top 1%."
“… the wealth of the 400 richest Americans… total combined wealth to $1.57 trillion, which is more than the combined net worth of 50% of the US population. Just to make this point clear, 400 people have more wealth than 155 million people combined.”
“…2009 was a record-breaking year for Wall Street bonuses, as firms issued $150 billion to their executives. 100% of these bonuses are a direct result of our tax dollars, so if we used this money to create jobs, instead of giving them to a handful of top executives, we could have paid an annual salary of $30,000 to 5 million people.“


Since the Obama Administration began in 2012, food stamp usage has increased over 45% to almost 50 million Americans. We applaud feeding the poor and encourage more. Yet we question why the most prosperous country in the world has such a large number of poor who require food stamps?
That men would gravitate toward such unparalleled levels of greed and apathy for the poor is not surprising. If left to their own devices such evil men would sell the souls and bodies of men for profit. The true evil in the context of this message is that the rulers and judges have allowed this to happen. That 1% of the population should horde such a huge percentage (some suggest 70%) of the wealth is obscene. That at the same time the families of tens of millions of hard working people should exist in poverty and hopelessness is sin.

What does the Bible have to say about this level of greed and corruption?

James 5:4 KJV
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Gods eyes are not closed to the greed of the rich when it turns to the oppression of the poor.

Leviticus 19:13 KJV
13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

Deuteronomy 24:14-15 KJV
14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
15 At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

Jeremiah 22:13 KJV
13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

God includes the rich who do not fairly pay their servants with sorcerers and adulterers. The cries of their hungry children are accounted against you who live in palaces built by the labor of those you cheated by not paying them fair wages.

Malachi 3:5 KJV
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

You are accounted no better than slave owners and they are accounted as nothing less than slaves as they labor for wages that do not even cover their own cost of living. You will not be found blameless in this.

Proverbs 22:22-23 KJV
22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
23 For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

You have gained to yourself an enemy in the Lord.

He will take up their case against you. Prepare to be spoiled O rich man who exploits the poor. This is the just punishment of those who profit at the expense of hungry children and homeless people who are defrauded from their homes and their employment.

James 5:1-3 KJV
1. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

God Does Not Hate Prosperity

Psalms 35:27 KJV
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

We do not begrudge hard working people to become wealthy, but how much work would a man have to perform to earn 20 billion dollars a year? What job or position equates to $10,000,000 an hour? What possible service or talent is worth such a sum? Has that man worked any harder than his employee who puts in 60 hour weeks and very often does not even receive overtime? By what conceivable standard should one make a million times more than the other? Some may insist that under capitalism this is perfectly legal and fair. Are you a Christian or such a “capitalist” that you cannot see the inequity of this? Do you think that eternal and temporal justice is going to wink while a handful of people become obnoxiously rich at the expense of millions whom they bilk with their overpriced services offered by underpaid employees? Yes, it is “legal” and as we have shown, a nation becomes culpable when it allows by statute abominations and great injustice. What we are seeing is no less than another form of slavery, as families are held in perpetual poverty while their masters profit at their unrecompensed/under-recompensed labor. That a family works slavishly and makes just enough money to survive and to make it back to their job the next week is nothing less than institutionalized slavery. They cannot afford the American dream of a home. That dream is now non-existent for the vast majority of Americans. College Education has become so absurdly expensive that it puts out reach the dream of families to lift their children out of the generation to generation cycle of poverty.
Those who trade in the stock market have to realize that confidence is what drives the market higher. Confidence is an attribute of faith. Those who have contributed to the destruction of the moral core of the nation have cut their own throats. Greed is not enough to drive the market, you must have faith and confidence. With the destruction of the moral core so goes the power of faith and confidence. All there is left is a sociopath corporate entity that that is devoid of faith and care. It cares about nothing but profit and greed.

The Good News and the Poor

Luke 4:17-18 KJV
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Part of the evil that allows such injustice and corruption is the economic model of capitalism. Just as every other form of human government and economic model has been brought down, capitalism and democracy will also fall. These things have to happen as the age approaches the end. All these corrupt humanly devised models will fall. Both political and economic models will fall and Jesus the returning King will institute a divine rule of iron over all. He will return and rule the earth with a rod of iron. Iron is justice and equality, it is hard, but it is fair. With Satan and his minions removed from the environment, the world will no longer be blinded. Truth and freedom will truly reign in Him as it does in the hearts of believers today.

The Oppressed Poor scream out against you

James 5:4 KJV
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

A Word of Prophecy:
“I hear their voices. Their cry comes up before the throne of my Father. The oppressors will not be held faultless. Those who turn away will be accounted guilty with the oppressors. I am the redeemer of the poor. I will respond to their cries. They will not be alone in their oppression. They will not fall by the devices of the cruel. I will release them from their heavy burdens. I will rise them up above those that hold cruel devices. I will free them from the chains of your policies. I will raise them up before the eyes of their oppressors. I will establish them in a prosperous land. They will come to and fro from my city. They will see my face. They will never know pain and sorrow again. They will always be in the place of safety. Ascending, they will come into it. Justice will make it happen. This is the way of my Father. This is the inheritance of the righteousness.”

Jeremiah 17:11 KJV
11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
Something is wrong with society. The U.S. Census Bureau reported median household income was $59,039 in 2016. People earning $30,000 are considered poor.

I think people ought to have pity on those in nations where many earn less than $5.00 a day. The attitude seems to be America first. Make America great. There are so many people that can not be adequately cared for and the population is increasing all the time.

There are empty houses near people who are homeless. Fruits and vegetables sometimes rotted in the fields and the cry had gone out to deport poor migrants. People sit at home living off government assistance and in some harvests fruit rotted for people did not show up to work.
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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A pearl of great price, from "Love Not the World" (available free online in pdf)

"Money is opposed to God. The Word of God speaks of it as the mammon of unrighteousness (Luke 16:9). Since Jesus says, "Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness," he clearly cannot mean to describe it as the mammon that you have obtained through unrighteous dealings. He is therefore saying that the mammon itself is unrighteous. What is being brought before us here is not the unrighteous means by which money is procured, nor the unrighteous use to which money is put, but the unrighteous character of money. Money in its essential character is evil. We talk of "clean money" and "dirty money," but in God's sight there is only dirty money. The man who knows God knows the character of money. He knows that money in itself is evil."
 
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hhodgson

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However, Jesus was addressing His disciples in Luke 16:9-11 when He told them how to "righteously" use their "unrighteous wealth". Jesus is clearly saying money is unrighteous regardless how you made and spend money.

It seems to me that according to the Bible, the DANGER.... is in our relationship to money, not the money itself. It’s okay to have wealth and success, it’s just not okay to be in LOVE with it. You should see your wealth as a tool to be used to help other people. If you want wealth for the wrong reasons, God will not bless you. You are to do it for the right reasons and with the right motives (James 4:3). The truth is, the more abundance you create in your life, the more you can bless others.

There are many ways that God can prosper you [and] there are many scriptures (especially in Proverbs) to support that God definitely wants to prosper us in (all areas) of our life, such as.... our walk with Him, our relationships, our health, and yes, our finances [and], this includes every other area where (our) needs ARE being met with an (abundance) leftover to help others in need. God wants to be involved in ALL of it, even as every father wants to see his children prosper and succeed. How much (more) does our Father in heaven care for His own?

Not all money (earned) today is "unrighteous" wealth. In Jesus's walk upon the earth He was still 100% God, [but] He limited himself operating as (100% human) in which he chose carpentry as his trade, same as his father. Did they get paid for their work? I would say, absolutely! Was his earnings "unrighteous"? The problem was not wealth, money, riches, or prosperity. It's the LOVE of it that produces.... lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, etc.

1 Timothy 6:10
"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

The bottom line is this....

So, WHATEVER.... you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

Welcome to the Word/Faith forum...


Word-of-Faith1_zps3y4drm8y.gif
 
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emekrus

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It seems to me that according to the Bible, the DANGER.... is in our relationship to money, not the money itself. It’s okay to have wealth and success, it’s just not okay to be in LOVE with it. You should see your wealth as a tool to be used to help other people. If you want wealth for the wrong reasons, God will not bless you. You are to do it for the right reasons and with the right motives (James 4:3). The truth is, the more abundance you create in your life, the more you can bless others.

There are many ways that God can prosper you [and] there are many scriptures (especially in Proverbs) to support that God definitely wants to prosper us in (all areas) of our life, such as.... our walk with Him, our relationships, our health, and yes, our finances [and], this includes every other area where (our) needs ARE being met with an (abundance) leftover to help others in need. God wants to be involved in ALL of it, even as every father wants to see his children prosper and succeed. How much (more) does our Father in heaven care for His own?

Not all money (earned) today is "unrighteous" wealth. In Jesus's walk upon the earth He was still 100% God, [but] He limited himself operating as (100% human) in which he chose carpentry as his trade, same as his father. Did they get paid for their work? I would say, absolutely! Was his earnings "unrighteous"? The problem was not wealth, money, riches, or prosperity. It's the LOVE of it that produces.... lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, etc.

1 Timothy 6:10
"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

The bottom line is this....

So, WHATEVER.... you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

Welcome to the Word/Faith forum...


Word-of-Faith1_zps3y4drm8y.gif
You've said the truth my brother.
Such a long time. I have been off but I'm fully back by the grace of God.
 
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