Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. – James
Many times, the wicked appear to prosper much, especially in material and financial wealth. They lavish in their wealth, living a luxurious life. The children of God, on the other hand, appear to be in constant lack or have an intermittent supply of their daily basic needs.
A Christian convinces himself that poverty is piety and money is of the devil.
It is funny that you would give the most important means of exchange of goods and services to the devil while keeping the one thing that can only be owned but never exchanged for God and yourself.
Poverty cannot be exchanged for goods and services.
It cannot be used to buy food in the market, a car, build a house, buy land, or own anything.
Poverty cannot be spent as an exchange for favours, political powers, policy influence, or property acquisition.
Poverty can only be owned by one entity, and the best the entity can do with it is self-righteousness and self-justification that religion likes to wield to keep its adherents from gaining strength and becoming free.
The poor must always serve the rich, the borrower must serve the lender.
The children of the debtor are sold into slavery, while the children of the rich possess the gates of their enemies.
Money is not meant to be in the hands of the wicked, whose only imagination is evil and selfishness.
We recently saw the news of the USA and Israel bombing Iran’s Nuclear project out of fear that if Iran develops a nuclear bomb, it would use it to destroy Israel.
This is how radical the idea of money in the hands of the wicked is
The wicked will use the money in their hands to do evil things, and the poor will end up as the victims.
Haman was rich
He didn’t think of doing charity with the money.
He didn’t think of building roads, funding research, or supporting agriculture.
Instead, he told the king he would fund the extermination of the jews.
That is how money works in the hands of the wicked: it is used to steal, to kill, and to destroy
Solomon was rich
He built palaces and the city of Jerusalem.
He made the citizens of Jerusalem and Israel rich.
He funded expeditions, science and technology, music, and the arts.
He built the temple, promoted diplomacy, and ensured justice in his realm.
He funded no wars, nor did he look for a means to exterminate the enemies of Israel.
Who a man is at his core is revealed when he has resources at his disposal to do anything he desires
An evil person will use his resources to do evil things.
A good man will use his resources to do good things.
if as Christians, we desire to make the world a better place, we must realistically not leave money in the hands of the wicked
The Epstein files have been in the news for a few days.
Even now, in these modern times, we see clearly what some wicked people who are rich did with their money.
They killed, they raped, they destroyed several lives, and ruined several destinies.
Some other rich people who are not wicked did only good with their funds by establishing businesses, charities, funding visions, and fulfilling dreams.
If indeed the Christian has been raised in Christ to be led by the Spirit, it will be remiss of him to leave money in the hands of someone governed by the fruits of the flesh.
Money in the hands of the wicked endangers everybody.
Money in the hands of the righteous is of benefit to everybody.
In recent times, we have seen the wicked sponsor terror attacks, pandemics, war, experiments on fetuses, woke campaigns, and so on.
The world has borne the brunt of the consequences of the decisions made by ungodly men who had money at their disposal.
In the face of all these, some Christians are arguing that money is of the devil, and they deem it better and more religiously appropriate for a Christian to be poor.
This shows a huge deficit in the mindset of such believers.
They argued that they would rather use prayer to defeat ISIS and Boko Haram than possess legal claims in terms of land, church buildings, hospitals, schools, farmsteads, fields, creating employment, and using wealth to buy the resources to preach the gospel for the conversion of the souls of the unsaved.
They argue that Christian leaders are too rich and their prosperity gospel is of no benefit to the body of Christ.
While one can point to the extravagant lifestyle of one or two ministers of the gospel, it would be foolish to assume that those around them and the ministry they represent do not serve the general purpose of protecting the body of Christ due to their names, reputations, and influence in society, which they earned through their wealth.
A believer must be wealthy, not so that he can consume his blessings on himself, but so that he can preach the gospel without any form of compromise.
all the wealth in the world should be in the hand of Spirit trained believer who will deal fairly with the saved and unsaved alike than for it to be in the hand of the unsaved who would use it to kill all those who don’t believe in what he believes (Jihad) and force convert everybody to his worldview because they had no substance, strength, influence or money to resist such wicked confrontations.
It is better to err on the side of blessings than on the side of lack.
-GSW-