Greed is Antithetical to Christianity
Greed is antithetical to Christianity at the personal, church, city, and ESPECIALLY the national level. The charges God makes regarding the judgment of the nation of Israel are mostly related to greed and making wealth a priority at the national level. He feels this way about ALL nations.
Ezekiel 7:10-19 'Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! Doom has gone out; The rod has blossomed, Pride has budded. (11) Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; None of them shall remain, None of their multitude, None of them; Nor shall there be wailing for them. (12) The time has come, The day draws near. 'Let not the buyer rejoice, Nor the seller mourn, For wrath is on their whole multitude. (13) For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, Though he may still be alive; For the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity. (14) 'They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude. (15) The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him. (16) 'Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity. (17) Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water. (18) They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads. (19) 'They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the LORD; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
If you agree with strengthening the wealth of the world's wealthiest nation as a main priority and you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, you must know these two concepts are incompatible.
For nearly 200 years leaders in the body of Christ understood this and lobbied for generosity and charity, and taught these things to their congregations as national values. In times past, the US has been the most generous nation on the planet because of this. This fidelity is being broken before your eyes in the name of nationalism.
Can you imagine a family being blessed MORE financially by God if the head of the household decided tithing wasn't in the family interest anymore after years of giving in generosity? Of course not. Come out.
Babylon is fallen before she, or God's people, even know it.
Revelation 18:1-6 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. (2) And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! (3) For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." (4) And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. (5) For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. (6) Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.
What this means is greed and relying on financial security by strong-arming other nations is not in the national interest, any more than it would be in your interest to live your life that way.
Matthew 6:19-24 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (22) "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (24) "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
This has been a growing sentiment for a long time, well before the current president, but it is exponentially growing right now and possibly being overlooked by the church. I am not making a statement about climate change...I am making a spiritual observation. Pride and greed are not ok to support. They just aren't.
https://youtu.be/wTeojAlwL70?t=5155
We haven't "all built" this wonderful place...if you are a follower of Jesus, you believe God did. If you disagree with God, He is faithful to honor your decision.
Babylon:
Genesis 11:4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
https://youtu.be/wTeojAlwL70?t=5272
Ezekiel 7:10-19 'Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! Doom has gone out; The rod has blossomed, Pride has budded. (11) Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; None of them shall remain, None of their multitude, None of them; Nor shall there be wailing for them. (12) The time has come, The day draws near. 'Let not the buyer rejoice, Nor the seller mourn, For wrath is on their whole multitude. (13) For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, Though he may still be alive; For the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity. (14) 'They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude. (15) The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him. (16) 'Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity. (17) Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water. (18) They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads. (19) 'They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the LORD; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
If you agree with strengthening the wealth of the world's wealthiest nation as a main priority and you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, you must know these two concepts are incompatible.
For nearly 200 years leaders in the body of Christ understood this and lobbied for generosity and charity, and taught these things to their congregations as national values. In times past, the US has been the most generous nation on the planet because of this. This fidelity is being broken before your eyes in the name of nationalism.
Can you imagine a family being blessed MORE financially by God if the head of the household decided tithing wasn't in the family interest anymore after years of giving in generosity? Of course not. Come out.
Babylon is fallen before she, or God's people, even know it.
Revelation 18:1-6 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. (2) And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! (3) For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." (4) And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. (5) For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. (6) Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.
What this means is greed and relying on financial security by strong-arming other nations is not in the national interest, any more than it would be in your interest to live your life that way.
Matthew 6:19-24 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (22) "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (24) "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
This has been a growing sentiment for a long time, well before the current president, but it is exponentially growing right now and possibly being overlooked by the church. I am not making a statement about climate change...I am making a spiritual observation. Pride and greed are not ok to support. They just aren't.
https://youtu.be/wTeojAlwL70?t=5155
We haven't "all built" this wonderful place...if you are a follower of Jesus, you believe God did. If you disagree with God, He is faithful to honor your decision.
Babylon:
Genesis 11:4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
https://youtu.be/wTeojAlwL70?t=5272
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