a word to pastors
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Dear Pastor,
I'm writing to make you aware of this tool. It came about through a recent awakening I had with regard to our nation's economy. Throughout my ministry I have had a pretty neat little packaged attitude in my head about money. I felt like my relationship to money came down to being wary of it myself and teaching basic biblical principles of stewardship to my congregation. That hasn't really changed, but I guess I should say that my notion of biblical principles of money has dramatically expanded. |
The Body of Christ at Worship -- a scene that is replicated thousands of times throughout the world every week.
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As you will learn, if you don't know already, great economic consequences are coming upon us as a result of colossal monetary mismanagement, and the Body of Christ really needs to know these things. The purpose here is not to stir up worry, but awareness. We do not want to be either Chicken Little's, squawking about the sky falling, or ostriches with our heads stuck in the sand.
I have come to believe that when Christians speak of 'trusting God to provide', what they often mean is that they are trusting that God will keep the American system going the way they've always known it. We need to take a hard look at whether we are trusting in the system, or trusting in God. The system has failed before and it is getting ready to fail again, very likely in a way we have never experienced in history. Yes, I believe end-time issues could be involved, but it is not my purpose now to go there.
While I have always thought of financial principles in terms of good stewardship, I had never given much thought to the biblical principles behind money itself. What is a monetary system? Where does it come from? How is it supposed to operate and how can it be abused?
In the past I have compartmentalized this very easily. I simply considered it to be somebody else's problem! Those guys that majored in finance, drive BMW's and hold important positions in industry and government have to worry about all those boring things, not me.
In all honesty I suspect I carried a huge amount of spiritual smugness when reading passages like Hebrews 13:5, Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." That surely has to be me, I would often think. A quick glance at my lifestyle should dispel any suspicion about love of money! But being free from the love of money is a different thing than being free from money. No matter what we do in life, we have to do it within a monetary system. Even if we simplify our circumstances to the point of bartering, that is still a form of value-exchange, which is what money primarily is. None of us can be free from money, and I've never met anybody who wanted to be. That includes me and every other pastor I've ever met.
This recent encounter challenged me to think about biblical concepts of money not just as they applied to individuals, but as they apply to MONETARY SYSTEMS.
Now just by using the phrase 'monetary system', I've probably lost you. It certainly had the effect of turning me off for many, many years. But something recently stirred up enough curiosity to goad me into looking under the lid at this issue, and what I discovered pulled me into one of the most stunning and dramatic studies I have ever done. There are great differences in monetary systems and one created free of debt and based on honest value is far more biblical, not to mention far more prosperity-producing, than what we have now. Titanic battles have been fought in our country over this issue, especially by Andrew Jackson, but the 'good' side eventually lost and we're suffering the consequences now.
I know that very few people are going to take the time to digest the amount of material I waded through. I also know how very few understand these things. And we could leave it right there if it didn't matter. But just as we all have to live in a monetary system, we are all affected by the way that monetary system is managed, and sometimes the effect on us and our congregations is very dramatic.
Personally I have come to believe that our responsibility as citizens does entail knowing these things. I was surprised at how much of an issue this was for our founding fathers, so much so that they inserted guidelines about it into the U.S. constitution. This has been a volatile issue throughout the course of American history, although the last few generations have pretty much lost awareness of its significance.
I have come to believe that when Christians speak of 'trusting God to provide', what they often mean is that they are trusting that God will keep the American system going the way they've always known it. We need to take a hard look at whether we are trusting in the system, or trusting in God. The system has failed before and it is getting ready to fail again, very likely in a way we have never experienced in history. Yes, I believe end-time issues could be involved, but it is not my purpose now to go there.
While I have always thought of financial principles in terms of good stewardship, I had never given much thought to the biblical principles behind money itself. What is a monetary system? Where does it come from? How is it supposed to operate and how can it be abused?
In the past I have compartmentalized this very easily. I simply considered it to be somebody else's problem! Those guys that majored in finance, drive BMW's and hold important positions in industry and government have to worry about all those boring things, not me.
In all honesty I suspect I carried a huge amount of spiritual smugness when reading passages like Hebrews 13:5, Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." That surely has to be me, I would often think. A quick glance at my lifestyle should dispel any suspicion about love of money! But being free from the love of money is a different thing than being free from money. No matter what we do in life, we have to do it within a monetary system. Even if we simplify our circumstances to the point of bartering, that is still a form of value-exchange, which is what money primarily is. None of us can be free from money, and I've never met anybody who wanted to be. That includes me and every other pastor I've ever met.
This recent encounter challenged me to think about biblical concepts of money not just as they applied to individuals, but as they apply to MONETARY SYSTEMS.
Now just by using the phrase 'monetary system', I've probably lost you. It certainly had the effect of turning me off for many, many years. But something recently stirred up enough curiosity to goad me into looking under the lid at this issue, and what I discovered pulled me into one of the most stunning and dramatic studies I have ever done. There are great differences in monetary systems and one created free of debt and based on honest value is far more biblical, not to mention far more prosperity-producing, than what we have now. Titanic battles have been fought in our country over this issue, especially by Andrew Jackson, but the 'good' side eventually lost and we're suffering the consequences now.
I know that very few people are going to take the time to digest the amount of material I waded through. I also know how very few understand these things. And we could leave it right there if it didn't matter. But just as we all have to live in a monetary system, we are all affected by the way that monetary system is managed, and sometimes the effect on us and our congregations is very dramatic.
Personally I have come to believe that our responsibility as citizens does entail knowing these things. I was surprised at how much of an issue this was for our founding fathers, so much so that they inserted guidelines about it into the U.S. constitution. This has been a volatile issue throughout the course of American history, although the last few generations have pretty much lost awareness of its significance.
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The issues, terminology and concepts make grasping the full economic picture something of an arduous task. Along the way I developed a burden to package this information in a way that would make it clear and accessible to the average American. This website and the material it contains are the result of that effort. I offer it to you as a tool that you can use for your own benefit as well as to pass along to others. There is no cost for it and I'm not selling anything. I have been impressed at how much effort many financial guys are expending trying to awaken the American public, and I want to offer this piece to that effort.
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Much of what you see on this website comes from sources that are far from Christian in their orientation. The people championing a sound money system today tend to be conservative or libertarian in their financial views, but are all over the map when it comes to spiritual, religious and social issues. Neither I nor you will agree with everything the links will take you to see, read or hear. Frankly, some of these guys can be a little rough. But it is amazing how many financial experts are in agreement about these issues. Many of them are literally screaming about it, but their voices are not being heard outside of a fairly small circle, and barely at all in the mainstream media. This is an effort to get this message out to those not likely to hear it otherwise.
Because the financial voices you will encounter here represent a unique sub-section of our culture, and because this website will likely circulate there, I have worked an outreach component into it which you will notice --- one that I hope will work its way into some of these circles. I have not intended for this to be a 'Christian' website per se, but to be a simplified and organized source of information where the average American can come up to speed on these issues, find credible sources and then dig into them on his or her own. A big part of the outreach component is found in the link to the LifePlace.org website, which you can use independently from the financial material as an evangelistic tool if you find it helpful.
I hope this information will help average citizens wise up financially and avoid being caught in the down-draft of our culture's economic collapse, but more than that I hope there is enough seed sown into the content for people to hear the eternal message of Christ --- that while we should know the times and be wise, our ultimate security is not in gold, silver or any monetary system, but in a living faith in the living God.
May the Lord's blessings be upon you and your particular ministry situation in these strange days, and the stranger ones yet to come.
Sincerely,
Bud Fox
NOTE: The website is designed so that you move deeper as you move through the tabs toward the right. For maximum benefit, starting from the home page, go to the INTRO page, then DIG DEEPER, and so forth to the right through the tabs.
Because the financial voices you will encounter here represent a unique sub-section of our culture, and because this website will likely circulate there, I have worked an outreach component into it which you will notice --- one that I hope will work its way into some of these circles. I have not intended for this to be a 'Christian' website per se, but to be a simplified and organized source of information where the average American can come up to speed on these issues, find credible sources and then dig into them on his or her own. A big part of the outreach component is found in the link to the LifePlace.org website, which you can use independently from the financial material as an evangelistic tool if you find it helpful.
I hope this information will help average citizens wise up financially and avoid being caught in the down-draft of our culture's economic collapse, but more than that I hope there is enough seed sown into the content for people to hear the eternal message of Christ --- that while we should know the times and be wise, our ultimate security is not in gold, silver or any monetary system, but in a living faith in the living God.
May the Lord's blessings be upon you and your particular ministry situation in these strange days, and the stranger ones yet to come.
Sincerely,
Bud Fox
NOTE: The website is designed so that you move deeper as you move through the tabs toward the right. For maximum benefit, starting from the home page, go to the INTRO page, then DIG DEEPER, and so forth to the right through the tabs.