How? The way things are in our culture have dictated how many of the decisions of your life were and are being made.
Many of these decisions weren't informed by a Biblical model of how to live and have precluded and distracted from, on purpose, your relationship with God.
Many of these decisions weren't informed by a Biblical model of how to live and have precluded and distracted from, on purpose, your relationship with God.
You were born.
At five you went off to kindergarden. During all your years in school, not only did you go there for at least seven hours a day, but they gave you even more work to do at home.
Sometimes you had two or three more hours of homework, maybe more.
Not only that, but in many cases they were brainwashing you with anti-God rhetoric, seven hours a day, day in and day out.
At five you went off to kindergarden. During all your years in school, not only did you go there for at least seven hours a day, but they gave you even more work to do at home.
Sometimes you had two or three more hours of homework, maybe more.
Not only that, but in many cases they were brainwashing you with anti-God rhetoric, seven hours a day, day in and day out.
Then there was the expectation that you would participate in lots of extracurriculars, an expectation created in large part by colleges pressuring incoming students to show a lot of variety on their applications. So you played a sport, or an instrument, were on the math or debate team or acted in the school play.
In any case, your life was consumed by school, homework and extracurriculars. Hardly any time to breathe, much less provide you with any extra energy to truly pursue God through the reading of His Word and prayer.
This set up of your life was done ON PURPOSE, motivated by SATAN, to keep you distracted from ever knowing and serving God.
You hardly ever had time to stop to think about the deeper things in life, the things God wants and indeed requires you to think about, so that you can know Him. Your mind was literally consumed by all you had to do.
Often times, if you went to Sunday school, it wasn't enough. Too little too late.
Often times, if you went to Sunday school, it wasn't enough. Too little too late.
Then you either went to college for more of the same and in most cases you went to a liberal, God hating/bashing university that made it a point to educate you on everything else but God, and when they did discuss God and His Son Jesus Christ, it was often attempts to discredit Him and to spew blasphemy and hatred for all He stands for.
Finally, after you finished with all your schooling/indoctrination, it was time for a full time job.
You learned fairly quickly that this meant at least 40 hours per week of work.
And more often than not, the number 40 acts more like that of a speed limit number.
What I mean is, say you're driving down the road with the speed limit 55, almost everyone is driving 65.
It's not too different with the number of hours you might work a week. An extra ten hours per week working isn't exactly out of the ordinary in our society. And if you're commuting to work, just add on another hour a day for that.
On top of all this, how many people finish the day with their laptops on the bed in front of them, trying to tie up one last loose end?
It's not too different with the number of hours you might work a week. An extra ten hours per week working isn't exactly out of the ordinary in our society. And if you're commuting to work, just add on another hour a day for that.
On top of all this, how many people finish the day with their laptops on the bed in front of them, trying to tie up one last loose end?
Between travel and the number of hours you work you could easily be at 55 to 60 hours a week focused on work and under the stress of serving your company, all your best energy completely depleted, and nothing left for God.
Again, this is the point of the system from Satan's perspective.
To completely and utterly occupy your time with anything that distracts you from what should be the love of your life: God and His Son Jesus Christ.
So you've become a slave to world.
You've become a slave to a system set up by Satan.
You've become a slave to a system set up by Satan.
And how did you get there? Was it all societal norms driving this?
Not always.
In lots of cases it was your greed coupled with pride.
In lots of cases it was your greed coupled with pride.
Greed for a house, cars, money, a pretty wife.
The real American dream.
Did your dream include God or was He just on the periphery?
Was He just this all-powerful being you went to in an attempt to get your dream fulfilled? A cosmic vending machine if you will?
The real American dream.
Did your dream include God or was He just on the periphery?
Was He just this all-powerful being you went to in an attempt to get your dream fulfilled? A cosmic vending machine if you will?
Indeed, the lusts of the eyes and the lust of the flesh put you on this never-ending treadmill. The love of the world hooked you in.
John the Apostle was careful to write,
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:15-16).
It's that very combination of lust and pride that drew many of you into something that enslaved you even further.
Debt.
But my question is, if you had to go into debt to get something, did you really need it?
Where was the trust that if you really needed something that God would provide it?
The proverbs also declare,
"The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it" (Proverbs 10:22).
How is going into debt not adding sorrow?
How many of us get the thing we want through debt and later on live to regret it?
Circumstances can change in your life. You may want to do something else for your occupation. You may feel God tugging at you to do something for Him, but you will feel like you can't if you have debt. You are stuck in your current job, one which you hate, so you can pay off your debt. And you can't blame God for being in debt. He told you through His word not to go into debt, and yet there you are, in debt and stuck.
I've been there and done that.
Then there's the question of what if you lose your job or your health fails? You then can't pay off your debt and you find yourself a liar because you signed a document promising to do so. You acted as a false prophet over your own future.
Another negative aspect of debt is how much more people will spend when using debt than when using their own money, which only serves to put them deeper into bondage.
Also, because of this phenomena, when debt is used the seller can charge more for the item, such as is done with houses and cars, than what it is really worth. People get way bigger houses than they need and way better cars, too, when using debt.
I suspect that if they had to write the check out of their checking accounts, the purchase would be much more modest.
Debt, therefore, causes a type of inflation that drives up prices for every one.
And don't get me started on the insurance industry and how in so many areas insurance payouts drive up prices. From the healthcare industry to automobile repair to roofing, insurance payouts drive prices up exorbitantly.
Did that five mile ride in a emergency vehicle really cost $10,000? Please. Would anybody call for an ambulance if they knew it would cost them that much out of pocket? Would hospitals charge that much if everyone was paying cash? No one would make the decision to call for an ambulance with the price on the trip.
Another horrible aspect of modern economics has to do with the fact that nearly everyone on earth is paying on a monthly basis for the roof over their heads.
For example, most "home owners" have a mortgage they pay on monthly basis. Renters the same. So both are in a type of bondage, trapped paying monthly just to have a roof over their heads. Think about that. What an amazing scheme by the banks, to have everyone on earth on the hook to them just to have shelter.
God didn't intend this. When He sent the Hebrews into the promised land, everyone got an inheritance, a portion of land they could build on that would be theirs. Each family had their own place scott free. (See Exodus).
But now the system is setup where only a small percentage of the world's population actually own their property outright. Either the banks, through mortgages, or the tiny percent of property owners who aren't in debt actually own their own homes and apartments outright, while the rest of the population is stuck paying mortgages and rent for almost the entirety of their lives. It's economic slavery. It's bondage. A trap.
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is indeed servant to the lender.
Are you in that trap?
Now I want to address more specifically how pride could have played its role in your bondage.
John the Apostle was careful to write,
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:15-16).
It's that very combination of lust and pride that drew many of you into something that enslaved you even further.
Debt.
Paul wrote, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another..." (Romans 13:8).
The Proverbs declare,
"The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7).
How does debt create a condition of servanthood and really one of slavery you may ask?
Once you borrow money, the future hours in which you work to pay back that money are hours worked for the lender, no longer for yourself.
So if you borrow from a bank, you are basically saying, "These future hours of my life in which I will have to work making money to pay you back are now yours. Part of me is now yours."
Devastating.
You are giving away part of your future for the money you are getting today. You are enslaving yourself for those hours you will have to work to pay it off.
But my question is, if you had to go into debt to get something, did you really need it?
Where was the trust that if you really needed something that God would provide it?
The proverbs also declare,
"The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it" (Proverbs 10:22).
How is going into debt not adding sorrow?
How many of us get the thing we want through debt and later on live to regret it?
Circumstances can change in your life. You may want to do something else for your occupation. You may feel God tugging at you to do something for Him, but you will feel like you can't if you have debt. You are stuck in your current job, one which you hate, so you can pay off your debt. And you can't blame God for being in debt. He told you through His word not to go into debt, and yet there you are, in debt and stuck.
I've been there and done that.
Then there's the question of what if you lose your job or your health fails? You then can't pay off your debt and you find yourself a liar because you signed a document promising to do so. You acted as a false prophet over your own future.
Another negative aspect of debt is how much more people will spend when using debt than when using their own money, which only serves to put them deeper into bondage.
Also, because of this phenomena, when debt is used the seller can charge more for the item, such as is done with houses and cars, than what it is really worth. People get way bigger houses than they need and way better cars, too, when using debt.
I suspect that if they had to write the check out of their checking accounts, the purchase would be much more modest.
Debt, therefore, causes a type of inflation that drives up prices for every one.
And don't get me started on the insurance industry and how in so many areas insurance payouts drive up prices. From the healthcare industry to automobile repair to roofing, insurance payouts drive prices up exorbitantly.
Did that five mile ride in a emergency vehicle really cost $10,000? Please. Would anybody call for an ambulance if they knew it would cost them that much out of pocket? Would hospitals charge that much if everyone was paying cash? No one would make the decision to call for an ambulance with the price on the trip.
Another horrible aspect of modern economics has to do with the fact that nearly everyone on earth is paying on a monthly basis for the roof over their heads.
For example, most "home owners" have a mortgage they pay on monthly basis. Renters the same. So both are in a type of bondage, trapped paying monthly just to have a roof over their heads. Think about that. What an amazing scheme by the banks, to have everyone on earth on the hook to them just to have shelter.
God didn't intend this. When He sent the Hebrews into the promised land, everyone got an inheritance, a portion of land they could build on that would be theirs. Each family had their own place scott free. (See Exodus).
But now the system is setup where only a small percentage of the world's population actually own their property outright. Either the banks, through mortgages, or the tiny percent of property owners who aren't in debt actually own their own homes and apartments outright, while the rest of the population is stuck paying mortgages and rent for almost the entirety of their lives. It's economic slavery. It's bondage. A trap.
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is indeed servant to the lender.
Are you in that trap?
Now I want to address more specifically how pride could have played its role in your bondage.
You may have found yourself, out of pride, trying to be all the things that society says "A MAN" should be.
You just knew that the culture and the people around you would look down their nose at you if you didn't show that worldly type of ambition and a willingness to work hard in and for the world and to get more money, more toys, a bigger house, betters cars.
And I'm sorry to say, but in America women are a huge part of the problem. They seem to reward the man with that kind of pride and ambition while they could really care less if you love God and want to serve Him.
They're too worried about how your worldly ambition can get them all of the things discussed above, especially the perceived safety of wealth, a nice big home, and an expensive vehicle. Their fear and insecurity which prevents many of them from trusting God means you had better be well to-do if you want a woman these days, even and especially in the American Church.
A lot of their fathers promote this idea as well, saying "My darling girl must be taken care of!"
But let's read about what Jesus had in terms of earthly wealth. Did you know He didn't even have his own house or apartment?
"And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20).
That's right, during Jesus' ministry He walked the earth with His disciples and spent the night wherever He was. He trusted His Father, who owned it all, to provide Him a place to sleep each and every night. And of course, He was always provided with one.
But Jesus wasn't accumulating Marriot or Hilton points and sleeping on king size beds. He was staying at people's homes, probably at times sleeping outside, but He never worried about it. It was all about trusting His Father in heaven.
What about Paul the Apostle? Surely, he accumulated loads of wealth and had an amazing house and a sweet chariot pulled behind two muscle-ripped stallions? Well, not so much.
He wrote,
"For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and HAVE NO CERTAIN DWELLINGPLACE" (1 Corinthians 4:9-11).
Doesn't it seem like the closer one gets to God, the more he lives on a day-to-day basis trusting God to lead and provide for him each step of the way? Having no certain dwelling place is indeed a test, but the follower of Christ does it because he knows that this world is not our true home, and that one day you will inherit so much more,
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country...now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13-16).
You just knew that the culture and the people around you would look down their nose at you if you didn't show that worldly type of ambition and a willingness to work hard in and for the world and to get more money, more toys, a bigger house, betters cars.
And I'm sorry to say, but in America women are a huge part of the problem. They seem to reward the man with that kind of pride and ambition while they could really care less if you love God and want to serve Him.
They're too worried about how your worldly ambition can get them all of the things discussed above, especially the perceived safety of wealth, a nice big home, and an expensive vehicle. Their fear and insecurity which prevents many of them from trusting God means you had better be well to-do if you want a woman these days, even and especially in the American Church.
A lot of their fathers promote this idea as well, saying "My darling girl must be taken care of!"
But let's read about what Jesus had in terms of earthly wealth. Did you know He didn't even have his own house or apartment?
"And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20).
That's right, during Jesus' ministry He walked the earth with His disciples and spent the night wherever He was. He trusted His Father, who owned it all, to provide Him a place to sleep each and every night. And of course, He was always provided with one.
But Jesus wasn't accumulating Marriot or Hilton points and sleeping on king size beds. He was staying at people's homes, probably at times sleeping outside, but He never worried about it. It was all about trusting His Father in heaven.
What about Paul the Apostle? Surely, he accumulated loads of wealth and had an amazing house and a sweet chariot pulled behind two muscle-ripped stallions? Well, not so much.
He wrote,
"For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and HAVE NO CERTAIN DWELLINGPLACE" (1 Corinthians 4:9-11).
Doesn't it seem like the closer one gets to God, the more he lives on a day-to-day basis trusting God to lead and provide for him each step of the way? Having no certain dwelling place is indeed a test, but the follower of Christ does it because he knows that this world is not our true home, and that one day you will inherit so much more,
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country...now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13-16).
Laying up treasures in the kingdom of heaven is real. Jesus said,
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" John 14:2-3).
Jesus is preparing a place for us, a permanent place. We may have no certain dwelling place now, but in the world to come everything will be certain. We will all have the best of the best, and losing this world will seem a small price to pay.
But in this current world you have to rise above caring about or being influenced by people who want you to think in the same worldly way they do.
Maybe ask yourself, did Jesus care about what other people thought?
Definitely not.
The Pharisees once sent unto Jesus some men attempting to entangle Him in His talk, and they said,
"...Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men" (Matthew 22:16).
Even though these guys were trying to trap Jesus, what they said about Him was true. He really didn't change the truth of God based on what men thought. Their opinions mattered not. It was what God thought that counted with Him.
You could see this early on His ministry, too. When people began to believe,
"...in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did...Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (John 2:24-25).
What was in man? An often times fickle, "spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" attitude that kept people trapped in the flesh and serving sin rather than in the freedom and love of serving God.
At any rate, I bring this up to say that no matter the reason for you being trapped on the societal treadmill that keeps you bound to occupying yourself with endless hours of meaningless (at least from an eternal sense) work, if you are nonetheless on that treadmill maybe it's time to recognize that fact and to seek God to get off of it and find the way to His way of life.
The real question is, "Did God intend for your life to be the way it is? Did He intend so many of us to be stuck in debt and working 60 hours a week for treasure?"
I think not, especially when I read Jesus saying,
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
Saints, friends in the Lord, we are entirely too caught up in enterprises meant to build our earthly kingdoms and increase our treasures here on earth. How can our lives line up with this scripture when that's so evidently the case?
And what's more, as the tribulation comes barreling toward us, all Christians soon stand to lose everything, just as the Jews did in Germany at the hands of the Nazi's prior to World War II.
After the tribulation begins, we have 3 1/2 years before the mark of the beast mentioned in Revelation 13 is forced upon all of humanity. No one will be able to buy or sell without it, which means as those who will refuse to take it, we won't be able to pay property taxes, which means we won't be able to own any real property like land, homes, or cars. All taken because we will refuse to come along side and accept the mark. Those of us that do, that Bible declares, will not be able to repent. It will be too late for them and they will inherit the lake of fire that burns with brimstone (Revelation 19:20).
That's why it's so important to begin to pair down your treasures now. It's time to use what wealth you do have to get out of debt, to become free of the system, to help others get out of debt. It's time for you to focus on the things of the kingdom of heaven, to realize that you don't have to seek after the things the world seeks after, that God Himself is your Provider and will provide for you, but you have to seek Him first.
I'll leave you with the most amazing teaching on personal economics ever spoken. It's from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Can you receive it?
"No man 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take not thought for you life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye though for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:24-33).
And what's more, as the tribulation comes barreling toward us, all Christians soon stand to lose everything, just as the Jews did in Germany at the hands of the Nazi's prior to World War II.
After the tribulation begins, we have 3 1/2 years before the mark of the beast mentioned in Revelation 13 is forced upon all of humanity. No one will be able to buy or sell without it, which means as those who will refuse to take it, we won't be able to pay property taxes, which means we won't be able to own any real property like land, homes, or cars. All taken because we will refuse to come along side and accept the mark. Those of us that do, that Bible declares, will not be able to repent. It will be too late for them and they will inherit the lake of fire that burns with brimstone (Revelation 19:20).
That's why it's so important to begin to pair down your treasures now. It's time to use what wealth you do have to get out of debt, to become free of the system, to help others get out of debt. It's time for you to focus on the things of the kingdom of heaven, to realize that you don't have to seek after the things the world seeks after, that God Himself is your Provider and will provide for you, but you have to seek Him first.
I'll leave you with the most amazing teaching on personal economics ever spoken. It's from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Can you receive it?
"No man 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take not thought for you life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye though for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:24-33).
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