Money.
Quick: what subject in the Bible is so important that there are 800 verses dealing with it? Right! How did you know?
Ha ha ha ha ha.
Hey, do you think any of those 800 verses say, “Thou shalt accumulate riches to maketh your earthly life abundantly cushyfied. A biggeth and biggether house pleaseth me mightily and a car that costeth enough to feedeth a small African village for a year shalt maketh my blessings to raineth down on you almost forever”?
No?
Are you sure?
Then why do so many prominent religious folk and religious organizations behave as if there were such verse? Of course, the answer is that many people who call themselves Christians have bought my lie that you actually can serve God and money, as long as it looks like you are serving God.
Got it? Preach something like the gospel, tell people “give (to me, of course) and thou shalt receive many times over.” Be snazzy, funny, and use some Bible verses, and you will receive “many times over.”
Yes, the business of religion can be very profitable.
Want proof? You should see this fascinating post over at money.co.uk entitled, The Business of Religion. According to the money.co.uk article, televangelists, for example, have an estimated combined worth around £1.5 billion, live in multi-million dollar homes and travel by private jet. And this for preaching the gospel?
Really?
Yes, because I ensure that, although they may look and sound like Christians, in fact I have robbed them of the truth so that they think godliness is a means to financial gain.
Is this what Jesus would taught?
Ha ha ha ha ha.
And it’s not just high-flying TV preachers and mega-denominations who worry about financial gain. In fact, in these last days I ensure that rather than seek Godliness in contentment, many are lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, etc., etc.
In other words, I have almost created Hell on earth for many people, most of whom only love money they don’t have yet.
Here’s the secret to my lie, my servants: God says that godliness with contentment is great gain. This is because God knows that people who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. So I must make and keep people discontented.
I fill people’s little lives with worry about their life, what they will eat or drink, or about their body, what they will wear. I tried to get all of nature including the birds of the air and the lilies of the field to worry, but it seems that humans are the only beings in the universe who respond to my worry lies.
And more than respond–discontent flourishes among humans, including Christians, thanks to me. And a discontented Christian almost always seeks money to bring the desired contentment. “If only you had more . . .” I whisper incessantly in their itching ears.
And, as God and I know, seeking contentment by dollars requires becoming a servant of money, and no one can serve two masters.
But don’t despair, my servants; you can come close. Serve money and you will come very close to also serving me also! And serving me comes with all the good stuff mentioned above, like foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
So a Christian who makes money his master makes religion very good business–for me.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
