The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22:7).
Many in the modern Church think that debt is normal. Of all people, it is the Church who should know that debt is not "normal", in the sense that it is legitimate, but that a person of debts is not spiritually healthy. Even the unsaved know that there is something insidious about debt - but they do not know the spiritual illness that debt brings. For just as the blind cannot know what colour is, how can the sick know what it is to be healthy?
Just as the Church rightly knows that divorce and fornication are not "normal" in the sense of being legitimate, it should also know that debt and usury are not "normal" in the same sense of the term. So, how do I know debt is not "normal"?
Proverbs 22:7 tells us that the borrower is servant to the lender. The borrower is not just serving, but a servant to the lender. The lender is the master over the borrower. By virtue of being owed money, the lender has the just claim under the law to demand from the borrower what is owed to him. The borrower has no liberty to not repay back every single cent owed. He must pay it all, or else he will be sold to the lender to work off all his debts. This is precisely what was done in the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant (See Exodus and Leviticus).
You may say that that was the Old Covenant. That may be true. However does not mean that a borrower is now no longer a debt slave to the lender. A borrower has a moral obligation to repay his debts to the lender (Psalm 37:21). It is precisely because this is a moral obligation that the wicked banking system takes advantage of this, and takes money from the poor, and demand that they be paid for the money they take from the, arguing that it is 'debt' owed to them.
Those who owed debt to others, and could not repay had to sell themselves to their creditors in the Old Testament not merely to discourage people from just profligately borrowing money. That was one purpose it served. It served to teach the debtor that the money that they borrow is not theirs. That is why they were to work to dutifully repay it all off.
The practice of selling oneself as a slave to repay one's debt is symbolic of the relationship between God and each human. Each human owes a sin-debt to God. As long as he cannot repay his sin-debt to God, he remains in bondage. The Old Covenant law which required the creditor to release the slave during the 7th year is symbolic of liberty from sin-debt (Exodus 21:2). 7 symbolises perfection in the Bible. Thus, liberty from the debt is that which is perfect, as opposed to that which is not the way things should occur, but occur as a result of a fallen world. Debt is precisely a manifestation of a fallen world.
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:23-35 uses debt as the key metaphor to demonstrate the sin is owed to God, and only God has the right to release one from the sin-debt owed to Him. He is by no means obliged to release a debtor from his debts. The debt is that which held the servant in bondage in serving the king. This is diametrically opposed to serving a king in liberty. The debt is that which separated the servant from the king, hindering from being able to serve the king out of liberty, and therefore out of love. For love can only come from liberty to serve. Love which is forced is not love at all.
Debt is the metaphor of bondage and not only the absence of love for God, but the inability to serve and love God. A person who is in debt and must work to pay it off cannot truly serve God because of the bondage debt brings. It is because the spirit behind debt is the spirit of mammon. When one serves debt, one serves mammon. There is no other way.
The Lord Jesus Christ says: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). It is not that one will have less love for God in serving mammon, it is that one will not, nor cannot love God. To not love God is to hate God. Simply failing to love God is to hate Him.
Debt holds a person in bondage to serving mammon. He is that wicked demon behind debt who seeks to hold everyone, both unsaved and saved in bondage to serving him, for anyone who does not serve mammon, will serve God.
Debt is a snare. Do not get into debt.
If you are in debt and are a Christian, know that the Bible says:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).
Know that Jesus said:
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:25-30).
Do not believe the lies of satan, or the world who lies in the power of satan. Do not listen to your flesh. Trust in God who provides abundantly for He cares for you. Do not trust in debt, money, or the bank.
Trust fully in God that He will provide and be liberated from the bondage of debt!
Many in the modern Church think that debt is normal. Of all people, it is the Church who should know that debt is not "normal", in the sense that it is legitimate, but that a person of debts is not spiritually healthy. Even the unsaved know that there is something insidious about debt - but they do not know the spiritual illness that debt brings. For just as the blind cannot know what colour is, how can the sick know what it is to be healthy?
Just as the Church rightly knows that divorce and fornication are not "normal" in the sense of being legitimate, it should also know that debt and usury are not "normal" in the same sense of the term. So, how do I know debt is not "normal"?
Proverbs 22:7 tells us that the borrower is servant to the lender. The borrower is not just serving, but a servant to the lender. The lender is the master over the borrower. By virtue of being owed money, the lender has the just claim under the law to demand from the borrower what is owed to him. The borrower has no liberty to not repay back every single cent owed. He must pay it all, or else he will be sold to the lender to work off all his debts. This is precisely what was done in the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant (See Exodus and Leviticus).
You may say that that was the Old Covenant. That may be true. However does not mean that a borrower is now no longer a debt slave to the lender. A borrower has a moral obligation to repay his debts to the lender (Psalm 37:21). It is precisely because this is a moral obligation that the wicked banking system takes advantage of this, and takes money from the poor, and demand that they be paid for the money they take from the, arguing that it is 'debt' owed to them.
Those who owed debt to others, and could not repay had to sell themselves to their creditors in the Old Testament not merely to discourage people from just profligately borrowing money. That was one purpose it served. It served to teach the debtor that the money that they borrow is not theirs. That is why they were to work to dutifully repay it all off.
The practice of selling oneself as a slave to repay one's debt is symbolic of the relationship between God and each human. Each human owes a sin-debt to God. As long as he cannot repay his sin-debt to God, he remains in bondage. The Old Covenant law which required the creditor to release the slave during the 7th year is symbolic of liberty from sin-debt (Exodus 21:2). 7 symbolises perfection in the Bible. Thus, liberty from the debt is that which is perfect, as opposed to that which is not the way things should occur, but occur as a result of a fallen world. Debt is precisely a manifestation of a fallen world.
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:23-35 uses debt as the key metaphor to demonstrate the sin is owed to God, and only God has the right to release one from the sin-debt owed to Him. He is by no means obliged to release a debtor from his debts. The debt is that which held the servant in bondage in serving the king. This is diametrically opposed to serving a king in liberty. The debt is that which separated the servant from the king, hindering from being able to serve the king out of liberty, and therefore out of love. For love can only come from liberty to serve. Love which is forced is not love at all.
Debt is the metaphor of bondage and not only the absence of love for God, but the inability to serve and love God. A person who is in debt and must work to pay it off cannot truly serve God because of the bondage debt brings. It is because the spirit behind debt is the spirit of mammon. When one serves debt, one serves mammon. There is no other way.
The Lord Jesus Christ says: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). It is not that one will have less love for God in serving mammon, it is that one will not, nor cannot love God. To not love God is to hate God. Simply failing to love God is to hate Him.
Debt holds a person in bondage to serving mammon. He is that wicked demon behind debt who seeks to hold everyone, both unsaved and saved in bondage to serving him, for anyone who does not serve mammon, will serve God.
Debt is a snare. Do not get into debt.
If you are in debt and are a Christian, know that the Bible says:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).
Know that Jesus said:
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:25-30).
Do not believe the lies of satan, or the world who lies in the power of satan. Do not listen to your flesh. Trust in God who provides abundantly for He cares for you. Do not trust in debt, money, or the bank.
Trust fully in God that He will provide and be liberated from the bondage of debt!
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