by Graham Bacon

Your bank balance down? Your retirement funds disappearing? Having trouble paying for food, housing, ordinary, everyday things? The financial crash is happening again. The world will never learn. Lending and borrowing irresponsible amounts of money has broken the system again.
The wisest situation is advised in Psalm 15:5 “He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent: he who does these things shall never be moved.” Romans goes further, “Owe no man any thing” [Romans 13:8]. But the Bible does not ban altogether lending money for interest, provided it is done prudently and honestly. The current financial crash was brought about by rash borrowing and hiding risk from investors. It seems every generation never learns the previous generation’s lessons when they crashed.
Money is not the problem. Being rich is not a Bible crime, but debt is a big problem. Being wealthy is not against the teachings of Jesus Christ but lending for interest income can lead to evil outcomes. It is attitudes associated with riches that are the problem. Greed and the love of money are sources of distress and evil, as true in 2008 as it was in the time of Christ.

A rich man supplied the tomb for the body of Jesus but “how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God” Mark 10:24. Note the word “trust”. It is not beyond the wit of human beings to be able to fashion a safe, contented way of living. But don’t count on it. There are always the greedy, the crooks, the swindlers, the thieves, who ruin it for everyone. In the battle between good and bad, in the end, human nature is overwhelmingly destructive. Plainly, wealth brings with it the ability to do so much good and the temptation to fall into evil habits.
You don’t think you are rich? Don’t kid yourself. If you have a job, or three meals a day available, or live in a place with more than two rooms, or have a credit card or a bank account and two changes of clothes, you are wealthier than ninety percent of the people on the planet. But it is also true that ninety percent of people with all those possessions are not evil people. But ninety percent of those people probably have been unaware of the temporary nature of their lifestyle.
Jesus stressed the temporary nature of prosperity in a parable about a prosperous businessman. “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you” Luke 12:18-20. Nothing is guaranteed except dying.

How Do We Cope with a Crashing Financial World?
We need to have a mind that is prepared to accept God’s judgments on a crazy world. It is a matter of trusting in God - he knows best. There are times when God says, “Enough is enough. I will bring it to an end and start at a new beginning.” God does that sort of thing regularly, financially about every 25 to 50 years.
The apostle Paul provides a frame of mind. “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry” Philippians 4:11-12. If Paul could say that after the privations that he suffered and are listed in 2 Corinthians 6 - beatings, stonings, shipwreck, countless dangers from humans, animals and nature - then we should be able successfully to endure our personal difficulties in the confidence that God can give us.
Paul expands this concept in his first letter to Timothy, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” [1 Tim 6:6-10]. Note the progression of ideas. We began with nothing and will end the same way, so be content with enough food and clothing. But riches are a temptation and a snare producing evils and sorrows, chief of which is the love of money [note the word "love"].
Where, then, is the wisdom? Be content with whatever circumstances you find yourself in. Sure, try to improve them but do so in good spirits. If better times come, be honest and trustworthy, and know that they might not last. Share with those less fortunate. Be wary of debt. If debt is unavoidable, be circumspect. And know this: you will never be as poor as a great number of this world’s destitute.

What About the Future?
The words of the apostle James are very sobering as we look out on a world today where the rich strive to get ever richer while the rest struggle in greater poverty. He wrote just before the destruction of Israel and the exile of the Jews that occurred in AD70. But his words are equally applicable to our future. “Next a word to you who have great possessions. Weep and wail over the miserable fate descending upon you … your silver and gold have rusted away, and their very rust will be evidence against you. The wages you never paid to the men who mowed your fields are loud against you, and the outcry of the reapers has reached the ears of the Lord … you have piled up wealth in an age that is near its close … You have lived on earth in wanton luxury, fattening yourself cattle - and the day for slaughter has come” James 5:1-5.
Doesn’t that sound like today? The shares and the banks’ silver and gold have all but evaporated. Proper workers’ wages have not been paid, yet high flying executives walk away from the wreck “in wanton luxury”. But in our near future there are dramatic circumstances coming.
In Revelation chapters 17-18 a rich, luxurious trading system of the future has collapsed and - horror of horrors - the deceived customers have burnt the headquarters of the shonky system to the ground! Can you imagine that happening today? “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them….these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire” [Revelation 17:14-16].This future luxurious trading system, listing a comprehensive 23 items of trade in Revelation 18:12-13, is forecast as having challenged Jesus Christ’s reign from Jerusalem and, therefore, is some way in the future. Today there are clear signs of the foundations of this new system in the European Union and the popularising of the Catholic Church by the latest popes.
This future divine destruction of yet another trading boom indicates that the boom-bust-boom cycle continues into the kingdom age with the world’s financial and trade focus shifting from the USA to Europe. All the fundamental elements are already in place. The Kingdom of God on Earth will break the cycle. The thieves, the deceivers, the shady dealers will be eliminated. There will be no need for money, for the will, the power and the spirit of God will be the kingdom currency. The kingdom citizens will be those who have practised honesty, integrity, open-heartedness, love, mercy, in a boom-bust world of the poor and needy and such admirable qualities will be carried into the Kingdom.

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