Other Than Money

Have you ever thought, ‘There just must, must be a better way, a better system for living other than the pursuit of money to pay bills and meet needs’?

Money, it turns out, is likely the greatest test, trial and temptation we encounter...whether and how we pursue it; how we use it; and how we think about it.

Earth is man’s very brief testing and proving grounds where eternal rewards are being determined. God directly orchestrates or allows testing situations designed to expose to the world what we, knowingly or unknowingly, have hidden in the deepest recesses of our heart/spirit. The entire earth realm is designed to receive and crack open seed or seed equivalent, expose the hidden DNA (physical, spiritual or conceptual) therein, and facilitate its growth, development and eventual replication. Look around, read the news, consider your own life and community. As you do, you are witnessing the fruit of collective seeds, planted long ago, whose DNA material has successfully found their sources of growth and development.

How we think about money is likely the primary source for growing and developing our inner spiritual DNA. And the real issue isn’t money at all. Rather, it is what money represents, the ability to acquire goods and services. If money did not exist, there would be alternate systems for doing this, such as barter, raiding parties (as David did before becoming king of ancient Israel), pirating, and attempts at enclosed, self-sustaining communities.  As a result of sin, God’s original need-meeting system on earth collapsed. He was to be our source, literally and comprehensively. In exchange, we were created to love, adore, praise, worship and fellowship with Him to a degree angels could not. We caved; He withdrew. Thus, we needed an alternate god-supplying system. We developed ‘markets’, and money to serve as the ‘oil’ of markets.  Interestingly, money is not only the oil of markets. It also shapes and distorts markets. Consider the unimaginable number of decisions we make daily, solely in response to money, decisions that would be totally different, or not made at all if money was not the issue.

How would you structure your life if money was not an issue? Imagine how this might impact the entire world! How many products and services would be deleted or new ones created because of decisions to restructure our lives around something .... ‘other than money!’ Imagine the new world that would be created if money was not the ‘whip that daily cracked across our backs.’ There might still be markets, based not on money, but on our purest interests and desires as to where and how to spend our days, pursuing our perceived purposes.

We are all blessed with natural talents and interest areas, but these are distorted or altogether ignored in the pursuit of money to pay for goods and services. Our raison d’être or incentive structures have been totally warped by the pursuit of money, rather than the pursuit of our individual God-given purposes. Imagine a world in which we pursue, identify, develop, and then walk in our God-given purposes, undistorted by money. Imagine how things would so easily flow and fit together. Does this sound like a planned economy? You bet, but not one planned and controlled by man, but by God. Selfish pride blocks our potential to desire or even imagine such! Adam’s sin gave birth to iterative ‘me, myself, and I’ generations on planet earth, and God has determined to allow them to run their course, until..... 

Hollywood has conjured up the concept of alternative worlds or universes. Well imagine an alternative economy, one undistorted by money, where the incentive framework for being, doing and consuming is totally different from the one produced by a moneyed economy. What might such an incentive be? The answer lies in discovering the original incentive framework created for Adam and Eve in The Garden of Eden. What if God intended that garden to grow and fill the entire earth, and possibly beyond? Moreover, what if it were possible to restructure your personal life as a quasi-enclave of this garden, a microcosm within our existing, distorted system incentivized by money?

This is possible, and desired by God, just as He established the nation of Israel to be a microcosm in Canaan, specifically, and ‘within context of’ the larger world, more generally; just as He established earth as a unique microcosm to sustain human life ‘within context of’ a vast, inhospitable universe; and just as an eye ball has at its center, a pupil, a hole, ‘within context of’ its mass’, into which a tiny bit of light can escape the outside world, strike a nerve in the back of the eyeball, and send lightning fast signals to the brain for interpretation! wOw!! 

This reveals a clear the Truth -- God IS NOT bothered by the broader contexts. Rather, He focuses precisely on His unique objectives ‘within the contexts’, which He then uses to change the context, slowly over time. Thus, He triggers the contexts to feed His objectives. This is the seed principle. To Him, the circumstantial or situational contexts are like soil, dirt, the supporting structure and resources to incubate, develop and grow His purpose, encapsulated in seeds. His seeds may be tangible or intangible. They are most often words, spoken in an inhospitable context (e.g., an unbelieving community or society), grasped and believed by a human spirit, and then incubated to produce their eventual, good fruit.

Since He has determined to allow our alternative, Godless, moneyed system to run its course until He ushers in His new system, God has established an interim approach that will give us a foothold into His coming need-meeting system. It is tithing a tithe of our income ‘to Him’. In effect, the tithe (10% of our gross money and non-money income) is the equivalent of ancient Israel in Canaan, or the pupil in the eyeball, or earth in the universe! It is a ‘seed planted in the contextual soils of our life’, by which He works His interim system. How?

Any seed does two things, chemically. First, it yields to the soil’s attacks to crack it open and return its components (inside and out) to their basic elements...dirt. But mystically, the seed then changes the immediately surrounding soil chemically, making the dirt work to enable the seed to ‘express’ (push out) the seed’s DNA. Once expressed, this DNA literally takes on a commanding role, forcing dirt to serve it… throughout its life!

As you submit your tithe (seed) to God, and send it into the world (dirt equivalent), you lose control of how it is used (dirt cracking open your seed), but your God-empowered faith (spiritual DNA in your seed) overtakes and ensures God-shaped outcomes, some of which you will know in this life, and many others you will only know in the hereafter!

Receive this typology as a ‘rudder’ to turn around your naturally distorted thinking about our moneyed market system. Changing how you think about money opens avenues for God to create ‘The Garden of Eden’ in your life. As the discipline of living on 90% of your income kicks in, your priorities will be influenced and shaped by His priorities. Your faith in His filling presence to meet your needs and your desires that correspond to His purposes, will then dispel fears about going without. With fears dispersed, you are then increasingly free to help others meet their needs, and most important, encourage and disciple them to ‘see the light’.  Not only is it important to cultivate the image of you as a seed sower, but also as a reaper of bountiful harvests, and not only for your own needs and desires, but also for those of others!

Embrace, apply and share this Truth in your life, and don’t be fooled into judging it by the degree to which your natural mind may assess whether it is ‘working or not working’. Truth is and remains Truth, and is not subject to your or my mere carnal assessments.

Finally, recall that God’s system starts, not with sharing your substance as a tithe, but with repentance of sins, and receiving His Grace-based salvation in Jesus Christ. Simply mimicking His system apart from this is ...futile.

Europe: Iron-Clay Mix (Poem)

There is lots of consternation these days about Europe,

About whether ‘Brexit’ may lead to its formal breakup.

Will the European Union survive

The pullout of the U.K. and still thrive?

Or will Brexit only serve as a draft - a model,

For others who from Europe may wish to uncouple?

And what of the ubiquitous issues of trade?

Will the current strings of world trade become frayed?

From the ashes of World War II, this Union was born.

Through integration, could regional peace be shoehorned?

Was this the first time the concept had been incubated?

Nope! Over eons, this notion has been iterated.

Rome, Napoleon, Mussolini and Hitler come to mind,

Each having his own European integration design.

Some came close, but they all eventually failed.

They all had ignored what The Bible had unveiled.

Long ago, in a bizarre dream... very mysterious,

God showed Nebuchadnezzar something quite precarious.

A statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay conglomerate,

That would speak of world powers to come,

and of the odd penultimate.¹

Gold head, silver chest/arms, bronze belly/thighs,

iron legs, then a gimmick --

A conundrum in the feet where iron and clay

would try to mix!

The iron represents the ancient Roman Empire,

The feet represent today’s European quagmire.²

From Babylon-to-Rome, world powers would rise

and then fall.

Then after Rome, attempts to integrate would always stall,

Though many try, iron and clay really shall never mix,

But from these tries, one will arise with a deceiving shtick.

From Europe’s hodgepodge, a most cunning man will

at once arise,

Deceiving all nations to give him the world leadership prize!

He’ll be greatly honored when he conceives a plot,

To untie the Jerusalem Gordian knot! ³

But after a few years, over him many will NOT be awed,

When, in the new Jewish temple,

he declares himself... as God!

This will start the run-up to the global war, Armageddon,

When Christ returns to govern...

without human approbation.

For decades, there’ve been calls for a European president,

One on whose shoulders the integration quagmire

can be pent.⁴

But just as many around the world now are learning,

A strongman you will get, if strongman you are yearning!

So as you ponder the evolving story of Europe,

Study what The Bible reveals of its final breakup.

It’s the penultimate attempt in human governments,
That signals the coming devilish one Christ shall silence!

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¹ The Book of Daniel, chapter 2

² In many respects, Europe represents remnants of the Roman Empire, nations with significantly mixed political and economic strengths. As related to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue dream, it is interesting that the human foot has 26 bones and 10 toes, compared to the current 28 nations in the European Union, of which only about 10 are generally considered economically/politically strong. See for example: The Top 10 Most Competitive Economies in Europe  and also  Financial and Social Rankings of Sovereign States in Europe.

³ The anti-Christ. See Daniel chapters 7, 8, 9; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; and Revelation 13:5.

⁴ ‘We do not want another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass in which we are sinking. Send us such a man and, be he God or the devil, we will receive him.’ (Paul-Henri Spaak, former Belgian Prime Minister and President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe nearly 50 years ago. Europe in Prophecy)

Lots of Spinning Going On (Poem)

Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens

to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons,

and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament

of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so.   

(Genesis 1:14-15)

  

The Designer, Architect and Maintainer of everything,

Must really love and enjoy things that spin.

Consider how many things there are in life that are spinning.

Ever since the start, that’s how it has been.

Gravitational orbits are the engines of the universe.

Everything out there is in perpetual motion,

And most things are in an axial spin and orbits they traverse.

To us, what great message does this intend to mention?

Rogue things that break away from their orbits

or their parent rocks,

May defy the ‘law of orbital spinning’, but not for long.

They crash into other rocks that obey their ‘orbital clocks’,

Or are captured by another’s orbit where it’ll then belong.

One thing we have learned from science and engineering,

Is that spinning ‘generates’, turns one thing into another.

So what’s generated by universal spinning,

Or what message are we to get from ‘universal clutter’?

God created the heavens well before life on earth.

When creating us, His ‘spinning wisdom’ was still present.

Genesis says God’s ‘sign language’ is the universe!

So what key messages to us via it has He sent?

We know it says He is awesome, vast and immortal,

That planetary positions may correlate with earthly events,

And that He speaks through these, and His nation, Israel.

But are there other points we’re missing,

or must we remain in suspense?

Man has long pondered signs the universe sends to us.

Come, let’s take a short trek across its vast expanse.

All aboard, grab a seat on my celestial bus,

Let’s see if our understanding we can enhance.

As solar systems are ‘building blocks’ of the universe,

Families are the ‘building blocks’ of our societies.

As solar systems integrate into galaxies,

Families integrate into societies.

As solar systems’ planets orbit a common sun,

Children are to ‘orbit’ the ‘God Light’ of their father.

As galaxies collide and merge into one,

Families collide, merge and grow.

Galaxy clusters are clusters of unmerged galaxies;

Super clusters are clusters of galaxy clusters.

Could these correlate to societies and nations?

As galaxies are trapped into the swirling, gravitational pull

of a black hole,

We are trapped into the swirling, gravitational pulls 

of destructive family proclivities.

As suns deplete their energy source and

destroy their solar systems when they implode,

The ‘God Light’ of fathers can be depleted, 

imploding the father figure and, as it spreads, societies.

One part is missing in this, my ‘celestial calculus’.

In my analogy, of it there is not one mention.

To you, is the part that is missing so very obvious?

This celestial part has a stabilizing mission.

A body’s moon(s) help(s) to stabilize its wobble,

As it rotates yearly, and daily on its axis spins

In the darkest part of a body’s spin cycle.

Can you guess its earthly corollary, its human twin?

The moon so closely reflects the motherly appointment.

Their close relationships help children stabilize and mature.

In dark times, children turn to mothers for enlightenment.

Mothers reflect fathers’ ‘God Light’,

as moons reflect suns’ grandeur.*

Spinning ‘generates’, turning one thing into something else.

Out there, spinning generates gravity that sustains an orbit;

Down here, life’s one orbital rotation that God has dealt.

From God’s Spirit we each came,

and each will complete our circuit.**

Each life spins on a good or evil axis,

And each spin is equivalent to a day.

Living your life with a keen ‘God awareness’,
Means in Heaven, God will put you on display! ***

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*   According to God’s original design

**  Ecclesiastes 12:6
*** Daniel 12:3

Hey, Where Did Christmas Go? (Poem)

Seems like every year, Christmas comes and goes so much faster!

Right after Halloween, Christmas lights begin to flicker.

Before you know it, in the Christmas rush we’re all encumbered.

Then we blink, and January is practically over!

‘Where did Christmas go?’, I look around and wonder.

With this question, I remove my ‘Christmas blinder’--

The blinder that blocks that day’s Godly intent,

About His Son Who into our world was sent.

Christmas was God’s first step toward The Lord's cross,

On dusty roads so far from that Christmas gloss.

Into some mean, ugly and hateful parts of our world,

One-by-one, Jesus’ life giving words would impearl.

Then one day, Christmas came to Calvary’s hill.

Where God wrote a story with a blood-filled quill.*

‘I LOVE YOU ALL THIS MUCH!’, began the story He wrote.

Then He sacrificed His Son with one great final stroke.

Ahhh, but to His awesome story, this was not the end,

Look around, take a peek at what His story began--

A Church worldwide, reaching across the ages,

Whose start is recorded on Bible pages!

His story continues today with ink that’s still fresh,*

Writing redemptions of lives that in sin were enmeshed.

Writing our visions of a future so glorious,

And why, in Him, we can live lives that are generous.

...Generous in giving Him all due praise and honor.

...Generous in sharing with our sister and brother.

...Generous in spreading far and wide His Good News,

...Generous in warning others of satan’s ruse!

Into our world, en route to the cross is where Christmas went,

Then into a tomb, doorway to hades, Christmas was sent.

Resurrected from hades, Christmas victoriously raised,

So His Holy Spirit into hearts, one-by-one, would then blaze!

Now it is your turn to tell me, where did your last Christmas go??

Decorations, cards and gifts, is that all the Christmas you know??

If so, may you trade in the outward glitz, glamor and the glow

Of your Christmas, for God’s year-long presence

I have come to know.

For more on Christmas, please see:
Christmas Reflections

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* The blood of Jesus Christ