The claim that for a person to be indebted to a lender means that the borrower will, not might, but will will be under the spirit of mammon raises many questions in the minds of many true followers of Christ. One such question will be whether lending and borrowing money is a sin. This indeed is an important question.
In order for one to understand usury for what it truly is spiritually and morally, one needs to understand the spiritual, moral and ethical side of lending and borrowing. This indeed in the first step that the modern Church in the west needs to take in order to abolish usury in accordance to the Ephesians 5:11 mandate to the Church which says "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them", and to fulfill the Great Commission which requires the Church to not only preach the Gospel, but to teach people to walk according to Christ's Commands:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:19-20).
That is why usury is an issue for the Church to understand because it is a sin, against the will of God. Usury is utterly and absolutely against the will of God, and can never ever be in accordance to the will of God. That is why it is a Gospel issue, one which can only be cured by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching people to observe His Commands. It is a matter of the heart, and not in any way to be left to the world's renowned experts on economics, finance, politics, commerce and sociology to deal with. These people, in all their worldly wisdom which is all foolish to God, cannot in no way whatsoever deal with the issue of usury properly: For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness (1 Corinthians 3:19). All their efforts have failed in dealing with usury, for they themselves love mammon and are walking in the ways of darkness. Only the Church who have the access to true wisdom can deal with usury and abolish it.
Abolishing usury is not about seeking a more comfortable earthly life as some western Christians may think, or make it out to be to discredit and hinder the anti-usury movement by righteous followers of Christ. No! Abolishing usury is about loving God and loving one's neighbour. If a person truly loved God, he would hate evil, tolerating no part of it, not even the thought of it one single bit for love hates what is evil. As Romans 12:9 says: "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." He would take all the action he can to fight evil and reprove evil as Ephesians 5:11 commands. The true follower of Christ would also love his neighbour, and seek to help his neighbour to escape eternal destruction.
Usury encourages, not discourages people to serve mammon. It corrupts people further into serving mammon, by charging usury against others, which corrupts those who borrow money into serving mammon through such debt. Owing to the desire to satisfy the appetite of the flesh for more material gain, usurers tempt people into doing the same by borrowing money for temporal earthly things, as oppose to trusting in God, such that the borrowers themselves serve mammon.
Unlike what the world, and many in the modern western Church think, borrowers are not victims. They themselves choose to get into debt ultimately owing to their desires for more earthly security. Seeking earthly security need not mean that one seeks only to buy expensive luxury goods. No! It most definitely includes those who are anxious, even to the slightest, for their basic earthly temporal needs of food, shelter and clothing to be met. This is precisely what it means for many in the modern western Church to be under the spirit of mammon. That is exactly what it means.
Borrowers themselves choose to borrow. If they do not choose to borrow money, they would not be borrowers. To borrow money means to seek a loan from someone who lends the money to the borrower. They themselves cause themselves to be serving debt, and therefore mammon.
Lending and borrowing are not to be taken lightly. For God will hold accountable those who borrow but do not repay and those who lend without mercy (Psalm 37:21; Luke 6:34). Lending and borrowing is a spiritual action, which has a spiritual dimension to it. It is not simply some casual financial transaction between people. By no means!
Usury, being a sin, destroys all righteous lending and borrowing relations by perverting what lending and borrowing was intended to be. Lending and borrowing was intended to be a relationship between people, not to make one's own gain, but to serve and love each other. However, in a fallen world, which has no love, lending and borrowing is perverted into a relationship to make selfish gain, and to serve mammon, instead of God.
As Jesus said:
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again (Luke 6:34).
Lending money and expecting in return is the ways of sinners, earthly, unregenerate people. It is not the way of the true follower of Christ who is regenerate and righteous. It is against the will of God to lend and expect in return.
In order for one to understand usury for what it truly is spiritually and morally, one needs to understand the spiritual, moral and ethical side of lending and borrowing. This indeed in the first step that the modern Church in the west needs to take in order to abolish usury in accordance to the Ephesians 5:11 mandate to the Church which says "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them", and to fulfill the Great Commission which requires the Church to not only preach the Gospel, but to teach people to walk according to Christ's Commands:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:19-20).
That is why usury is an issue for the Church to understand because it is a sin, against the will of God. Usury is utterly and absolutely against the will of God, and can never ever be in accordance to the will of God. That is why it is a Gospel issue, one which can only be cured by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching people to observe His Commands. It is a matter of the heart, and not in any way to be left to the world's renowned experts on economics, finance, politics, commerce and sociology to deal with. These people, in all their worldly wisdom which is all foolish to God, cannot in no way whatsoever deal with the issue of usury properly: For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness (1 Corinthians 3:19). All their efforts have failed in dealing with usury, for they themselves love mammon and are walking in the ways of darkness. Only the Church who have the access to true wisdom can deal with usury and abolish it.
Abolishing usury is not about seeking a more comfortable earthly life as some western Christians may think, or make it out to be to discredit and hinder the anti-usury movement by righteous followers of Christ. No! Abolishing usury is about loving God and loving one's neighbour. If a person truly loved God, he would hate evil, tolerating no part of it, not even the thought of it one single bit for love hates what is evil. As Romans 12:9 says: "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." He would take all the action he can to fight evil and reprove evil as Ephesians 5:11 commands. The true follower of Christ would also love his neighbour, and seek to help his neighbour to escape eternal destruction.
Usury encourages, not discourages people to serve mammon. It corrupts people further into serving mammon, by charging usury against others, which corrupts those who borrow money into serving mammon through such debt. Owing to the desire to satisfy the appetite of the flesh for more material gain, usurers tempt people into doing the same by borrowing money for temporal earthly things, as oppose to trusting in God, such that the borrowers themselves serve mammon.
Unlike what the world, and many in the modern western Church think, borrowers are not victims. They themselves choose to get into debt ultimately owing to their desires for more earthly security. Seeking earthly security need not mean that one seeks only to buy expensive luxury goods. No! It most definitely includes those who are anxious, even to the slightest, for their basic earthly temporal needs of food, shelter and clothing to be met. This is precisely what it means for many in the modern western Church to be under the spirit of mammon. That is exactly what it means.
Borrowers themselves choose to borrow. If they do not choose to borrow money, they would not be borrowers. To borrow money means to seek a loan from someone who lends the money to the borrower. They themselves cause themselves to be serving debt, and therefore mammon.
Lending and borrowing are not to be taken lightly. For God will hold accountable those who borrow but do not repay and those who lend without mercy (Psalm 37:21; Luke 6:34). Lending and borrowing is a spiritual action, which has a spiritual dimension to it. It is not simply some casual financial transaction between people. By no means!
Usury, being a sin, destroys all righteous lending and borrowing relations by perverting what lending and borrowing was intended to be. Lending and borrowing was intended to be a relationship between people, not to make one's own gain, but to serve and love each other. However, in a fallen world, which has no love, lending and borrowing is perverted into a relationship to make selfish gain, and to serve mammon, instead of God.
As Jesus said:
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again (Luke 6:34).
Lending money and expecting in return is the ways of sinners, earthly, unregenerate people. It is not the way of the true follower of Christ who is regenerate and righteous. It is against the will of God to lend and expect in return.
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