Wealth – A Potential Enemy

WEALTH – A POTENTIAL ENEMY

INTRODUCTION

Scripture clearly states that people who long to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some Christians, who longed for wealth, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:9-10) I would propose that the love of money is not only the ruin of an individual but that it is especially the ruination of corporate America. The evil found in capitalism comes from the greed of aristocrats and from their oppression of the lower classes. Eventually the evil of capitalism will drive the oppressed to seek refuge in socialism; and the goal of socialism is to replace God with government. But please understand, wealth itself is not the problem; and all wealthy people are not disobedient before God. The problem is our attitude toward wealth and what it causes us to do in order to obtain wealth. Even a poor person, who longs to be rich, can fall into all sorts of temptations and desires that will drag them down and destroy them.

INDUSTRIAL WOE

Scripture reveals that one of the greatest evils coming from our desire for wealth is when we exploit others in our quest for money. This is especially true in corporate America. With the industrial revolution came the birth of American corporations and the reality of expanded worker exploitation. During the 19th century, and even into the early 20th century, greedy industrialists built factories where large numbers of people were forced to work under inhuman conditions. All that mattered to these capitalist money-mongers was profit; profit gained through poor working conditions, child labor, low wages, no overtime, no benefits, no health and safety regulations, no worker compensation and by indenturing people to the company store. These were dark and evil times for the working person; and these were times most Americans thought were permanently eliminated by our government. Greedy capitalists did not change because they felt sorry for the worker; they changed because socialist elements in the government forced them to. But, that too has changed! Believe it or not, the ugly specter of capitalistic greed now haunts America, and the rich are once again seeking to enslave the American worker. Which is exactly what the socialist want to see happen. This evil desire for wealth will drive the capitalist to continue exploiting the worker until the worker rebels and the socialist step in to save the worker; and, the government becomes a person’s source of succor and security.

GOVERNMENT WOE

It would be far better to live under capitalism than socialism if it were not for the greed of the capitalists. In the past few decades, Americans have lost many of the worker rights and benefits won for them by their grandfathers and great grandfathers. And, it is getting worse. It is an economic fact that, since World War II, there has never been a worse recovery for jobs and worker pay than what has been experienced in the last 3 years; yet, during the same period corporate profits have sored like never before. Since the recovery officially began in June 2009, almost 90% of U.S. growth has gone to corporate profits, and at the same time wages, salaries and benefits have actually dropped for the working person. We also need to add to these statistics the fact that less that 20% of the people in America possess over 80% of the wealth in America. When you look more closely, you will discover that a mere 1% of Americans hold over 43% of the financial wealth in America. America is rushing toward a rich verses poor situation that rivals France, just before the French Revolution in 1789. The desire for wealth has fueled a movement that, if left unchecked, will destroy America. A time will come, and may already be here, when a rich aristocrat seeking elected office will no longer find support among the masses. As the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer there is no way the working man will vote for a capitalist; this is an injustice God will not ignore.

CLASS WOE

Once again we need to be reminded that just because a person is wealthy it does not mean they are evil. The desire for wealth transcends all social, racial, religious, gender and cultural boundaries. The danger in being a wealthy person comes from the inevitability of wealth to spawn a malignant desire for even more wealth. Then, there is also the fact that being wealthy means you are privileged and if you are privileged you have a tendency to view things from a worldly perspective. If you view things from a worldly perspective you could find yourself losing your Christian perspective. You could even find yourself bonding with your upper class brothers, which probably means you will lose any affinity you had for the working poor. You might even find yourself exploiting the working class; after all, that is a common practice amongst the aristocratic minded. If you are an upper class American it does not mean you are evil but it certainly means you are in a position to lose contact with the classes below you. And, as you distance yourself from the other classes you risk distancing yourself from God.