Spiritual Aspect of Prosperity
The economist Max Weber was one of the first
people to systematically study the tie-ups between religion and
economics. Firstly he found that the higher percentage of their
GDP that cultures or nations spent on religion the poorer they
tended to be. That is those that were more religious were poorer
than those that were more secular. Secondly he found that the
Protestant work ethic was part of the reason behind
the success of the Western nations and his first major
publication bore that name. Since then many people have
written about the tie up between religion and economics. From an
evangelical standpoint these statistical facts need to be
re-interpreted slightly since we do not believe that all
religions are of equal spiritual value. It is of no surprise to
an evangelical that Protestant nations are wealthier than
equivalent economies with other religious allegiances. God
blesses those who follow Jesus by faith. However why is Africa so
poor? What is it about the spiritual dimension that makes nations
that follow animism, tribal religions or voodoo so terribly
poverty stricken? Also huge spiritual questions are raised such
as If God loves the poor and is in control of the financial
realm why is there still poverty? This article will answer
that question in eight ways:
- Prosperity
is totally under the control of the sovereignty of God
- There is
a moral aspect to prosperity involving personal character
attributes and right relationships.
- There is
a spiritual realm of blessings and curses that greatly
influences our prosperity.
- Satan
steadfastly opposes Gods prosperity.
- People
become poor because idolatry creates poverty.
- The quest
for luck/fortune creates an irresponsible
mindset that in turn creates poverty.
- The
spiritual realm is used as a means of escape and
illusion, an opiate of the masses.
- The
spiritual world of primitive religion is chaotic and in
need of appeasement not logical, lawful and predictable,
it thus does not encourage long-term planning.
This was Nebuchadnezzar's hardest lesson. On
the rooftops of Babylon he cried out "Is this not might
Babylon which I have made?" For this act of pride he was
punished by God by losing both his might and his mind for seven
years. After his sanity and his kingdom was restored he said:
(Daniel 4:34-37
NKJV)
.and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored
Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. {35}
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does
according to His will in the army of heaven And among the
inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to
Him, "What have You done?"
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works
are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He
is able to put down.
God is sovereign over the most might of
rulers and "does according to His will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth". God is able to
influence both position in life and prosperity in life. The
following five verses illustrate and clearly testify to God's
absolute control over the financial, social and political realms
that influence prosperity: He gives them to whomever He wishes.
(1 Chronicles
29:11-12 NKJV) {11} Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power
and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in
heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And
You are exalted as head over all. {12} Both riches and honor come
from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and
might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to
all.
(Daniel 4:17 NKJV)
..In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in
the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over
it the lowest of men.'
(Ecclesiastes 5:19
NKJV) As for every man to whom God has given riches and
wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage
and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.
(Haggai 2:8 NKJV) 'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of
hosts.
(2 Corinthians 9:8
NKJV) And God is able to make all grace abound toward you,
that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an
abundance for every good work.
Some people are poor because they or the
culture they are part of ignores basic morality and wisdom. This
is not just blaming the victim. It is a real factor
in poverty. The market factors and structural factors that cause
poverty will be the main focus of the book, however, to be fair,
we have to look at all the causes of poverty including those
mentioned in Scripture. Irresponsible behavior such as
getting drunk regularly, taking illegal drugs, gambling or
engaging in promiscuous behavior leads to poverty. A case in
point is the AIDS epidemic that is destroying the prosperity of
South Africa, which is a resource rich nation with generally good
leadership. The working life of many South Africans requires long
stays away from home at mines, and this has combined with
traditional valuing of virility and the availability of
prostitution to produce widespread promiscuity. Also part of the
culture of virility is a deep scorn for the practice of
safe sex. This lethal combination of promiscuity and
folly has led to a vast HIV-AIDS epidemic which according to
South Africas Medical Research Council is causing 25
percent of all deaths in the country and 40% of adult deaths in
the 15-49 age group and which may reduce the life-expectancy to
41 years by 2010 (reported in Newsweek , Oct 29th 2001 p) This is further compounded by a culture of shame
about HIV-AIDS and government refusal to acknowledge the problem.
Such a massive epidemic of course causes deep poverty in families
bereaved of the provider and throughout the nation as a whole.
Just one foolish immoral person can do great damage to their
family and friends. When a nation, city or a sub-culture
disregards biblical morality and wise living then disaster is
inevitable. From the gin-soaked London during the time of Wesley
to the drug addicts of New York the effects of immorality,
ignorance, pride and folly are obvious. In addition to the
sex, drugs cigarettes and booze aspects of poverty
are attitudinal character aspects such as laziness, contempt for
learning and choosing friendships with the wrong sort of
people. These are extensively dealt with in the book of
Proverbs and touched on in the section on prosperity so I will
not discuss them further here. Thus while God desires all people
to be rich the behavior of some people hurls them to destruction
and poverty.
Curses and blessings are generally
considered to be primitive superstitions but they are taken very
seriously in the Bible. In Genesis 1 we find God's initial
blessings on mankind bestowed three things that greatly affect
our prosperity: Fruitfulness, Multiplication and Authority to
"rule over".
Jesus defines the mission of Satan as
"To steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10). In Scripture
Satan is portrayed as destroying the prosperity of God's servants
such as Job, unleashing persecution, and afflicting people with
various diseases including mental illness. Satan also lays claim
to the commercial and political realms falsely boasting to Jesus
that he could give them to whomever he wished (Luke 4:5,6). In
the "King of Tyre" discourse Satan is seen as
"wise in trade" (Ezekiel 28:5). Indeed there is a kind
of demonic and godless prosperity that is purely financial and
does not participate in God's Shalom. At the end of history the
choice will be between entering a Satanic world of trade and
investment and maintaining faith in God (Revelation 13:16-18).
During the ceremony in which the Law of
Moses was enacted God made it very clear that turning to idols
and following wickedness would result in poverty and destitution:
Those nations that are most involved with
idolatry, such as Haiti, the African nations and those that use
voodoo and magic are also the very poorest nations on earth.
Among Christian nations those that follow an idolatrous form of
Catholicism that venerates statues and Mary- Queen of
Heaven idols are the very poorest. Everywhere you turn
idolatry brings a curse and creates poverty.
Many people do their financial planning by
buying a lottery ticket. They believe that if they win they will
be rich and their problems will be over. But the statistics are
now out and 90% of people who win the lottery are worse off five
years later, the money is all gone and the bills are still coming
in and they have become used to luxury and cannot go back to
where they once were. I believe around 50% actually go bankrupt
within five years of winning a large lottery payout! Why? Because
a lottery win only gives a person money, it does no give a person
the power to make wealth. As we saw earlier the power to make
wealth comes from specific and focused wisdom and knowledge,
applied diligently and responsibly towards a financial goal.
Winning the lottery does not increase a persons wisdom and
knowledge or give them diligence and responsibility. It only
rewards irresponsibility. It gives a temporary increase in
capital without the means to use that capital wisely and well.
This is probably best seen in some of the
ecstatic ceremonies of the Ancient Greek religions, the dances of
the dervishes and in the peyote ceremonies of the American
Indians or even in the use of drugs by the counter-cultural
faiths of the modern city. It is also seen n some cults that
produce altered states of consciousness or which use intense
spiritual experiences as a way of not being involved with the
world. Religion can create an alternative reality that is much
more pleasant than the real world and this virtual reality can
become home to many people. Unfortunately you cannot
earn a living in the world of religious virtual reality. When a
culture sends many of its young me off into monasteries for a few
years of their life or retreats into mysticism and religious
ceremonies or advocates trance states and the use of
mind-altering substances then it is eroding the societys
ability to be fully productive. Europe during the Dark Ages and
Tibet and similar societies today are desperately poor because
their power to make wealth is being constantly diminished by an
over-involvement in other-worldly religion.
Western science (including economics) has
flowed from a view of the Universe that sees it as being
superintended by a single eternal God who is constant in His ways
and rational in His laws. Therefore the search for those laws is
a sensible, rational and noble thing to do. Isaac Newton said of
his discoveries and research I am merely thinking
Gods thoughts after Him. In direct contrast to this
predictable and rational view of things are those cultures that
believe in a chaotic spirit-world of many gods, demons and
spiritual entities. For them the universe appears to be full of
the personal malignancy of hundreds of spiritual agents that must
be appeased. Magic is the only possible science in
such cultures. Without the concept of a basically rational
universe planning and research have no sound basis. Thus,
up until very recently nearly all the worlds great
scientists have been Christian or Jewish or shared the basic
tenets of the Judaeo-Christian world-view such as belief in a
singular, lawful and rational universe. Very few, if any great
scientists, have been committed animists or polytheists even
though hundreds of millions of people still believe in spirits
and many gods.
It is possible to be very, very confused by what I have just said. Firstly I have said that the spiritual dimension and the economic dimension of human life are inextricably linked and that things such as blessings, curses, and idols can greatly affect our prosperity. Secondly I have seemingly said that we are best off ignoring all that and taking a secular and unbelieving attitude tinged with the Protestant work ethic. (But I havent) Well I think I had better explain myself.