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Posted on 07/01/2026 8:30:19 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The central question Scripture asks is not “How much do you have?” but “Who has your heart—God or your money?”
The prophets roar with indignation against the wealthy who forget God…Their message is a powerful reminder that how we acquire and use our wealth is a matter of worship.
Amos condemned the rich who "trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end" (Amos 8:4, ESV). Isaiah pronounced woe on those who "add house to house and join field to field" (Isaiah 5:8, ESV)…
These prophetic critiques make it plain that God judges not the possession of wealth, but its misuse.
When we open the Gospels, Jesus turns the whole conversation about wealth on its head. He moves the goalposts from earthly accumulation as a sign of God's favor to an entirely different kind of investment: one in the Kingdom of God. These are not just gentle suggestions. They are radical, often jarring, calls to completely re-evaluate where we place our ultimate hope and security.
The logic here is profoundly simple: your heart always follows your investments.
If your security, identity, and hope are tied up in your bank account, property, or 401(k), then your heart is anchored to this fleeting world. But if you invest your "treasure" in the Kingdom of God—through quiet acts of generosity, service, and love for others—your heart will be anchored in eternity.
(Excerpt) Read more at thebibleseminary.edu ...
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I follow a simple process. All the wealth that I have is not mine. I am merely the temporary custodian of it for God.
Thus, I do my best to follow His Will, not my will in spending it.
However, the caution is that we must not PLAY GOD by thinking that we are on His Mission and developing a Spiritual Ego around our wealth.
God uses suffering to teach people who have strayed from Him, to return. What we think is God’s Will may not actually be His Will.
I have helped many homeless people, and have almost always been burned by them.
The key is not to just remove suffering, but to point suffering people toward God so they can build a relationship with Him.
Well even our tithes can be misused. But God is looking at the heart behind the giving.
But if you live in debt, who has your heart? Your fear of drowning in debt will own you. The responsible thing is to save and keep lots of money so you won’t have to live in fear.
Getting into debt is a symptom of greed, it is borrowing what one doesn’t have or can’t afford.
To be able to set aside time to build an Ark big enough for all those animals, Noah must have been rich.
When Abraham went to Egypt he had much gold and silver and cattle and possessions. He was RICH.
David and Solomon were RICH.
They were criticized for many sins. They were never criticized for being RICH.
As a Forensic CPA, I have done many fraud audits for churches over the years. Both church treasurers and pastors steal money from the church.
I specialized in church & clergy income taxes, doing seminars at many seminaries and universities on the subject across the country. Was also on retainer for most of the major religious denominations. At one time, my office did the income taxes for over 300 clergy.
I’m retired now, and away from it. After doing this work for over 50 years, I can say from experience that the more fundamentalist the religion of the pastor, they more likely they were to want to cheat on their income taxes.
Having wealth is not the root of evil, being attached to it is the root of evil.
One of the funniest encounters was the pastor that had “Birth Control Pills” list as a Qualified Housing Allowance expenditure under IRC code section 107 as being excluded from taxable income as clergy housing.
I asked him how that qualified, and he explained that if he didn’t pay for them he would need a bigger house! (true story)
For those of us who feel blessed to have our basic needs met but have never been wealthy, nor will we ever be wealthy,
it’s prudent to remember that the bible says we should not spend a lot of time being envious of the wealthy.
Exactly.
That’s true.
The entire conversation in the bible revolves around how wealth is used or gained, not that how much you have is a sign of greed. The problem with these sermons are always someone has too much, and it’s assumed they haven’t used it correctly.
It is better to worry about your own sins and life than to focus on the wealth of others, We have too much of that already.
The greater sin today, in my opinion is envy of what others have.
You condemn envy of the rich, yet do you condone looking down on the needy?
You can be stingy and idolize money without being in a top income bracket.
Regardless of our income level we are called to be generous. If there is a tendency to envy the wealthy, there is also a tendency to judge the needy. Both are bad.
In that role you must have had very strong neck muscles. I imagine you spent a lot of time just shaking your head in disbelief. LOL
Do not pervert Justice. Do not favor the poor. Do not favor the rich
I did no such thing, you’re putting words in my mouth. I assume you then practice liberation theology which is a heresy.
I suggest you go back and look at the ten commandments where you’ll find do not steal, which covers the rich quite nicely. Then you’ll find multiple commandments about envy as in coveting.
It seems pretty clear, envy is way more. The concern that’s not to excuse a greedy person who does not use their resources for our Lord.
Abraham was likely one of the richest people at the time, and he had the greatest faith, David, also one of the richest and powerful and had a heart like god. We find sin in both the rich and the poor it’s time to recognize that and when it comes to sin, hold both the poor and rich accountable
Discriminating against the rich is just as bad as discriminating against the poor. The reason why the Epstein files bothered so many Americans is because it made clear there is a “laws for me, but not for thee” system at work. Preferential treatment.
The tax laws are very, very beneficial for clergy.
Who else can get a 100% tax free pension (designated as a housing allowance) and still claim the same expenses as tax free income and also deduct them as schedule A itemized deductions? Add to that, It was never taxed when it was put into the pension fund.
The law only excludes two things as not being housing allowance expenditures, maid service and food. Everything else is tax deductible including all utilities, furniture, mortgage and interest, taxes, lawn care, ......
Many years ago I was considering giving a contribution to Shepherd’s Purse, until I checked their IRS form 990 and saw that He was taking out over $600,000 plus benefits, in addition to the money he got from his father’s organization.
Samaritan’s Purse paid Franklin Graham $812,909 salary plus benefits in 2023, according to the organization’s tax filings.
exactly-envy,resentment-and a general sense of entitlement.
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