Dear friends,
In order for Christians to be
victorious, we must defeat nominal, complacent,
shallow religion. The Bible is an authoritative
book--as a matter in fact, the most authoritative
book in the world. It simply requires submission
to receive its blessings. However, when a person
submits to God, whether a child or adult, a
critical action is taken. Obedience unto God is a
critical matter.
We are living in a time when
preachers and teachers are thriving on a
religiously numb--uncritical society. One area of
this spiritual dormancy is economics. There are
many so called "Christian," great
economists and entrepreneurs that are greatly
wrong! Many passive church leaders eulogize them
even though their economic principles are in
contradiction to Biblical teaching. There is a
grave, profound, great and
significant--critical--difference between Bible
economics and college economics. Therefore, say
NO to credit and interest schemes!
Included is my sermon "The
Ministry of Prosperity--'There Should Be No Poor
Among You' (Dt. 15:4)." This Bible study may
awaken you to some startling facts concerning the
economic seductivity and captivity of our nation
and others, and how wayward and uncontrolled
government and its people defy or pervert God's
commandments. It is our Christian responsibility
to assist and encourage one another, and to
cultivate an economy that will prevent the
enslavement of our people.
(This is
not a personal letter.)
The Ministry of
Prosperity--"There Should Be No Poor Among
You" (Dt. 15:4)
Does money matter? Would
you like to earn income while you save? Need
money for a home or an automobile or school? Say
NO to credit and interest schemes!
From the O.T. it can be
easily seen that God desired his people to be
richly blessed. He did not desire any person who
had a need in the land he gave to his people to
continue having that need. He expected an
Israelite to loan to a fellow Israelite without
interest and without fear of cancellation of the
debt due to time, a seven-year maximum limit
depending upon the time of the year of
cancellation, a proclamation of the Lord.
The Lord chose Israel as a
treasured possession from all the peoples (Dt.
14:2). Similarly, today Christians are a people
for a treasured possession, a chosen race, a
kingly priesthood, a holy nation (I Pet. 2:9).
Israel was given
preferential instructions (commandments) that
distinguished them as a holy people unto the
Lord. For instance, they were disallowed to eat
anything found dead, but they were permitted to
give it to an alien living in their towns or to
sell it to a foreigner. Likewise, Christians are
commanded to abstain from things strangled (Acts
15:29).
The Israelites were
permitted to require payment of a loan from a
foreigner continually, but they were not
permitted to require a loan payment from a fellow
Israelite after the year of canceling of debts.
Perhaps Christians should also be willing to drop
loan debts to Christian brothers and sisters
according to the same year for a limit of seven
years so that there will be a recognizable year
of financial release of debt among the
brotherhood. That way, maybe we could get
collectively, as a whole, unified body, our
economic bearings and establish a sense of
financial unity and togetherness for the purpose
of the prosperity and economic freedom as God
instructed his people Israel. The subsequent
obedience of Israel to God's preferential laws
demonstrated in reality the preference of one
Israelite to another. Similarly, by serving one
another according to God's commands, we
Christians strengthen the body of Christ (the
church).
God's people are
potentially an economically prosperous and
authoritative organism. Our prosperity as a
people is dependent upon our response to the
needs of our Christian neighbors. The
administration of loans and rule belongs to us.
God guaranteed [and still does] rich blessings
unto His people for their overseeing providence
of one another: "For the Lord your God will
bless you as he has promised, and you will lend
to many nations but will borrow from none. You
will rule over many nations but none will rule
over you" (Dt. 15:6). This financial
commandment was given for the economic advantage
and benefit of Israel. It also prevented debt or
financial bondage to peoples who did not serve
the Lord.
Analogically, today in the
US you can see how God's people (Christians) have
lost their economic direction and are financially
subject to peoples who do not serve the Lord nor
abide by his interest-free and open-hand loaning
rules. It is awesome to think how many Christians
have been seduced into the economic error of
earning income through bank interest accounts,
stocks, bonds, etc. For instance, banks, credit
card, and other financial institutions disregard,
"If you lend money to one of my people among
you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender;
charge him no interest" (Ex. 22:25). How
many misdirected Christians do you see these days
who choose to belong to and earn income through
an institution that charges interest and
ignorantly does not discriminate in favor of a
Christian's God-given preferential right? This is
an existing inherent evil.
I realize Christians
should not expect non-Christians to initiate this
distinguished principle. But then again, somebody
should. Well then, who? We should! We have to
separate ourselves from non-Christian financial
institutions and make our own. Modern day
Christian financing needs to be turned around.
We should loan to other
peoples, but not borrow from them. However, we
should not charge interest to a fellow Christian:
"Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy
brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury
of any thing that is lent upon usury: Unto a
stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto
thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that
the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou
settest thine hand to in the land whither thou
goest to possess it" (Dt. 23:19, 20). In
order to correct our economic situation we must
not charge interest among ourselves. Since we
would like others to become part of our Christian
family we should not want to charge interest to
anyone. Personally, I will starve myself before
deliberately earning income through interest.
The word
"interest" or "usury" is
interchangeable in these particular verses. The
derivative is the Hebrew word
"naw-shak'." The Psalmist commends,
"Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who
may live on your holy hill? He ... who lends his
money without usury .... will never be shaken
(Ps. 15:1-5). My Oxford dictionary defines
"usury" as:
"1. The fact or practice
of lending money at interest; esp. in later
use, the
practice of charging excessive
or illegal rates of interest for money on a
loan.
2. Premium or interest on money
(or goods) lent."
Nevertheless,
(1) this charge (interest) should be excluded
in loans to Christians;
(2) and Christians should resist and reject loan
temptations from
non-Christian individuals and institutions;
(3) and even if the case may be that both parties
are Christians and only
Christians, the loan should be without interest
and not extend beyond a
period of seven years.
We need to take individual and
personal action that affirms our belief in the
Bible, in economics as well as every other aspect
of life: Let us avoid buying homes or automobiles
upon credit provisions that do not meet these
Biblical standards. It is better to rent than to
buy unless you have the money saved. Beware,
there are many teachers calling themselves
"Christian" who ignore these moral and
commanded economic principles.
Also beloved, do not be
like moneylenders to the needy of our people,
neither directly, nor indirectly as member
beneficiaries of an institution. The church (our
spiritual family upon earth) should be a separate
organism in regard to the state (including the
non-Christian financial institutions registered
with the state), and our financial direction and
exemplification should be submissive and
congruous with the financial specifications of
the Bible.
We have a need to develop
our own collective savings and loan institutions
for the needs of our poor; and large Christian
group enterprises, not entrepreneurships, such as
helping other cities in our own nation or in
another country. One reason I can think of for
this is to provide community housing and farmland
where we can begin to live together and provide
for ourselves. We should also develop Christian
legal and business schools to train students
according to Biblical standards concerning
financing. We are lacking organizational skills
to unify the Christian peoples and to establish
Christian business enterprises, not only
churches, throughout the world for the purpose to
avoid being member beneficiaries and indirect
partakers of the indiscriminate, financial
lawlessnesses of corporations, such as borrowing
or loaning at interest.
One psychological reason
(deception) that so many hearts of us Americans
have been shadowed from enlightenment of the
no-interest-to-other-Christians and the
seven-year rule may be that we were encouraged to
buy US Savings Bonds in elementary school. I know
dear children want to help their country and
invest, but the Lord's direction must have first
place upon every issue, including financial
management and application. Hopefully, in the
future our investments will be in the advancement
of God's people.
We have a need to develop
our own insurance institutions that do not charge
interest to a fellow Christian, nor excessive
fees. That way, for instance, when the state
requires us to be insured such as automobile
coverage, we may be able to provide the
requirement among and for ourselves better than a
profit agency. The sooner we realize that we
should separate ourselves from the world economic
system, the better. Today, Christians spend a
noteworthy amount of money for insurance; compare
it to the amount for tithes and offerings! (By
the way, just because a man wears a black jacket
with a white square notch cut out at the front
collar does not mean that he is a minister of
God. Even if a person wears the most decorative
or most humble sacred attire, if he does not live
by faith who wears it, it does not profit him. A
minister of God will be manifested by his works,
not his attire. When you give to the Lord's work,
make sure that is where it is going. Also, don't
leave your money or equity in a will to a church
denomination that you can be using for God's
purpose today . Many licensed officials who
should be repenting and working with their hands
are drawing a salary because of this. Support
those that minister to your spiritual needs and
labor to teach you how to be a better
servant/minister of God. Ask God to show you if
there is a way He would like you to minister to
someone now--it may require your talent and time.
May God work in your heart that you will do the
things that will make your joy full. Amen. Read
all my sermons; study them with scrutiny and test
them for concentricity with the Scriptures. You
may have to minister for God in a non-official
capacity, even without the support of an
organization; however, this does not mean you are
less close to God. There is really only one
church--the body of believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm not saying that God does not want you
to gather together, but many times God leads his
sanctified people out of the denominational
churches because the people in the church don't
want to repent of their sins--their leaders
condone them. Dependency on the Bible and prayer
is necessary.) Perhaps this money may be invested
in our own insurance institutions, Lord willing
and we should live, and the increase of the
institution and the savings of the beneficiary
may be used for other Christian benefits or
desires at the disposal of the Christian will.
From the perspective of
"rule," it is also evident that
Christians have been swayed aside (Dt. 15:6). The
stars in heaven are higher than the flag of any
nation. God's handiwork is a universal landmark
covering every nation upon earth. We have lost
sight of a very important oracle concerning
policy and economy. Expecting direction from
heaven we should ascend beyond nationalistic
goals, having a prominent theocratic rather than
democratic influence upon government in every
aspect concerning our own institutions.
