Wealth Problem: Rejecting Responsibility, & Opportunity

“…you will become… servants.”

Photo by Tasha Lyn on Unsplash

Where should all the power and wealth of the nation reside?

God gave a specific answer to the Israelite people, before He established them as a nation at Mount Sinai, for their abundant flourishing.

***Any emphasis or paraphrases of bible passages throughout this article are my own.

The King

• Deuteronomy 17:14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.

God did not command the people of Israel to appoint a human king as ruler over them. He simply told them what they will do in the future, and what to look for in a king when the day came.

Limitations For The King

• Deuteronomy 17:16 — The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself (war horses for a large military) or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”
• Deuteronomy 17:17a — He must not take many wives (tangling alliances with other nations through arranged marriages), or his heart will be led astray.
• Deuteronomy 17:17b — He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold (control large portions of the money supply).

Treaties and alliances with other nations are made possible with military might. Military strength is made possible through aggressive financing. The foundation of any big government agenda is access and control over the money supply to finance it.

• Deuteronomy 17:18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

The result of accumulating power and wealth from his own nation would be a superiority complex that would turn his affection away from God, God’s commands, and the people. What a dangerous situation for any person to be in.

But, if God specifically commanded the government NOT to accumulate wealth and power, who did He desire to retain it? WE THE PEOPLE!!!

Israel Demands a King

Several generations later, the people of Israel in fact did demand a king to rule over them as God had foretold.

• 1Samuel 8:4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; 5 and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the matter was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
• 1Samuel 8:7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. 8 Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day — in that they have abandoned Me and served other gods — so they are doing to you as well. 9 Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall warn them strongly and tell them of the practice of the king who will reign over them.”

The description of a godly king that God laid out for Israel in Deuteronomy 17 was not of a typical human king, but of Himself, God incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ.

In their demand for a king, the people of Israel were not only trying to reject their God-given responsibilities, they were rejecting their individual relationships with God as well.

The people DEMANDED a flawed human being be appointed that they could abdicate THEIR responsibilities and opportunities onto, rather than the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who would always do what’s best for His people.

Warning concerning a King

1Samuel 8:10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked him for a king. 11 And he said, “This will be the practice of the king who will reign over you:

• he will take your sons… [to build his armies and supply his food].
• 13 He will also take your daughters… [to care for his household].
• 14 He will take the best of your [production] and give them to [those who serve him].
• 15 And he will take a [personal tax] and give it to his high officials and his servants.
• 16 He will also take your [business endeavors] and use them for his work.
• 17 He will take a [business tax], and you yourselves will become his servants.

1Samuel 8:18 Then you will cry out on that day because of your king WHOM YOU HAVE CHOSEN for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.”

Rejecting God’s Freedom

1Samuel 8:19 Yet the people REFUSED to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, 20 so that we also may be like all the nations, and our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

When individuals intentionally choose to surrender their own responsibilities and opportunities to others, individual freedom is destroyed.

What areas of our lives do we want someone else to “fight our battles” for us? To solve our problems for us?

United States federal executive departments — Wikipedia

The executive departments are the administrative arms of the president of the United States… The heads of the executive departments are appointed by the president and take office after confirmation by the United States Senate, and serve at the pleasure of the president. The heads of departments are members of the Cabinet of the United States, an executive organ that normally acts as an advisory body to the president.

International Alliances

• Department of State — responsible for foreign policy and international relations.

Large standing Armies

• Department of Defense — coordinates and supervises all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. The largest employer in the world, with over 2.8 million employees, including active-duty service members, reservists, and civilians.

Control over Wealth

• Department of Treasury —the finance department of the U.S. government (money supply). The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the largest of the Treasury’s bureaus. It is responsible for determining, assessing, and collecting internal revenue in the United States.
• Department of Interiors — manages and conserves federal lands and natural resources, and administers programs relating to Native Americans.
• Department of Energy — oversees national energy policy and R&D for nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
• Department of Transportation — develops and coordinates policies for the national transportation system.
• Department of Agriculture — regulates farming, forests, and food.
• Department of Commerce — regulates economic growth and opportunities.
• Department of Labor — governs employment safety, health, wages, standards, and benefits.
• Department of Health & Human Services — governs health, safety, and well-being for all Americans.
• Department of Housing & Urban Development — governs housing and home financing.
• Department of Education — establishes, distributes, and monitors federal financial aid, collects data and disseminates research on school’s, and ensures equal access to education. The Department of Education is not involved in determining curricula or educational standards or establishing schools or colleges. The United States government delegates the quality assurance process for school accreditation to private non-profit organizations. However, the federal government is still the top-level architect and controlling authority of school accreditation.
• Etc.

There are currently 15 executive departments of the United State, with thousands of public and private agencies, employing over 9 MILLION people (Wal-Mart is the second largest employer in the U.S. with 2.2 million employees GLOBALLY), that God specifically warned us against.

It is all paid for through taxation of citizens and debt to private central bankers (The Fed), secured by government bond (future taxation), with money that has never existed before (monetary inflation=increased prices=increased taxes).

It’s ok though. Our government is full of the most qualified experts in the world that are only looking out for our best interest… right?

If it was a problem worthy of God’s instruction and warning thousands of years ago, it is a problem to look out for today as well.

WE HAVE CHOSEN to abdicate the responsibilities and opportunities God desires for His stewards to retain, under His authority, to others who do not serve God.

The Golden Rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules.

Just like ancient Israel, it all began with control over the financial/banking system. It can only end when we first take control over our own private financial/banking system on the you and me level.

“Economic problems are best solved by people freely contracting with one another and with government limited to the function of enforcing those contracts. The absolute best way to do so is through the magnificent idea of dividend-paying whole life insurance. It has more in common with banking than it does with life insurance. A better name would have been a ‘banking system with a death benefit thrown in for good measure.’ It has been around for over 200 years and stood the test of time. It is not compulsory. It is not a government sponsored idea. It preceded the income tax idea by a long time. It is Private Property! Also, the only people who participate in this idea are people who truly care about other people. What a great group of people to be engaged in business with.” — Excerpts from ‘Becoming Your Own Banker’ by R. Nelson Nash

God desires for His stewards, who truly love Him and truly love others, to have “the gold” so they can “make the rules” for His glory.