Impact of the Counterfeit: Enrichment and Destruction

Webster’s Dictionary defines counterfeit as, “an imitation of something genuine so as to deceive or defraud; pretended; sham; feigned; an imposter; a cheat.” Benjamin Franklin designed America’s first money, the continental dollar using a mysterious anti counterfeiting device called “the nature print.”

Consisting of an image of leaves, using a plaster cast of a leaf, a lead plate was made to print the notes. Because of the complex web of veins, the notes were difficult to counterfeit. In a recent ceremony, treasury secretary, Timothy Geitner, and federal reserve chairman, Ben Bernake, showed off the new high tech hundred dollar bill designed to frustrate twentieth century counterfeiting.

With over a half trillion dollars in “Benjamins,” in circulation around the world, the existing hundred dollar bill has attracted the attention of countless counterfeiters. Most have been sophisticated criminal gangs, but there is a considerable body of evidence linking the most dangerous conterfeits, the so called super note, with the North Korean government.

Prior to the Koreans, the Nazi government and even Russia have counterfeited U. S. money. Counterfeits have had a two fold impact. They enrich the perpetrators, and they defraud, producing a destructive impact. Over the process of time, forces have risen up in opposition to God and have defrauded and counterfeited some aspects of the work of God.

The only recorded episode where Jesus became violent, was when he overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. He then taught saying, “Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.” (Mark 11:17)

There was a need for money changers, because there were two types of currencies in circulation at the time: Roman money and temple money. The Roman money had the image of the Roman emperor who was proclaimed to be their God. Because of this reason, the Jewish people would not give Roman money in the temple. They made their own temple money, which created the need for money changers to convert from Roman to temple money, not unlike a Mexican border transfer of dollars for pesos.

However, the rate of exchange was convoluted to such an extent that the worshippers of the house of God were defrauded through a fraudulent counterfeit operation. The money changers were enriching themselves at the expense of the people and the house of God while moreover their actions were damaging the Lord’s intent for his house which was to be a sanctuary of holiness and prayer.

It was probably not coincidental that prior to this episode, Jesus passed the unproductive fig tree (a metaphor of Israel) saying, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” (Mark 11:14) The following morning when they passed by the same tree, the astonished disciples saw the tree dried up from the roots. As the fig tree became lifeless producing no fruit, likewise the spiritual vitality of the money changers had become lifeless even counterfeit.

How did they lose faith and fear of God? What had made the precious things of God commonplace? When had the holy become profane and counterfeit? Indeed, how was their faith destroyed? Was it discouragement, disappointment, disillusionment, despair, an offense, envy, or simply greed that caused these people to lose out with God to the point of becoming counterfeit?

Just as Benjamin Franklin built a hedge of protection within his continental dollar, to mitigate the counterfeit, similarly, our Lord Jesus Christ has a plan for his followers with a hedge of protection to mitigate the mountainous forces that have potential to damage or counterfeit his kingdom work.

He says, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast east into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Mark 11:22-24) When the enemy comes in like a flood, we can raise up a standard of faith filled prayer claiming and receiving the promises of God, living victorious lives in his kingdom, lives that are at the same time, authentic, powerful, and fruitful.

Eight Levels of Tzedekah: Righteous Charitable Giving

For the Jewish community, after the temple was destroyed, the sacrifices ceased. But the destruction has not meant the end of Jewish religious life. Rabbis began to teach that each person was to consider him self a temple and tephillah (prayer) was to be offered as the sacrifice of ones lips.

Teshubah (repentance) became a new means by which atonement was sought, and tzedakah (righteousness in the sense of charity) was taught and encouraged. The twelfth century Jewish scholar and physician, Maimonides, developed and taught the, “Eight Levels of Tzedekah,” (charitable giving). His list was formed from the least to the most honorable.

His list is as follows:

8.     “When donations are given grudgingly) People that give in this way tend to lose the blessing of their giving. Jesus admonishes, “freely ye have received, freely give.” (Matt 10:8)

7.    “When one gives less than he should but does so cheerfully” God loves a cheerful giver but also one who demonstrates faithfulness. The word of the Lord tells us, “every man according as he purposes is his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” However, He prefaces this in verse 6 by saying, “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” (2 Cor. 9:6-7)

6.    “When one gives to the poor upon being asked” Jesus instructed us to “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” (Matt. 5:42)

5.    “When one gives to the poor without being asked” Jesus said when we give to the poor, we are actually giving to Him. He said, “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:40)

4.    “When the recipient is aware of the donor’s identity, but the donor does not know the identity of the recipient” It seems that zaccchaeus gave this type of gift to the poor in his act of contrition and repentance saying, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.” (Luke 19:8) It is righteous to give with no expectation of recognition or of any return favor.

3.    “When the donor is aware of the recipient’s identity, but the recipient is unaware of the source” Before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He sent his disciples to receive the gift of a colt from a donor seemingly unknown to them. (Luke 19:30-31) This giving is more righteous in that it allows the recipient to receive a gift with a greater freedom of not knowing the source. 

2.    “When the donor and recipient are unknown to each other” The bible speaks about this type of giving in Matt. 6:3-4, “But when thou doest alms, let not thyleft hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”

1.    “The highest form of charity is to sustain a person, before they become impoverished, by offering a substantial gift in a dignified manner or be extending a suitable loan, or by helping them find employment or establishing themselves in business, so as to make it unnecessary for them to become dependant on others.” The old parable says that we can give someone a fish and feed them one meal or we can teach them how to fish and feed them the rest of their lives.

It is the role of the church to disciple the nations teaching and admonishing men and women along the narrow path of salvation. They attain stability and learn stewardship in their daily lives with an understanding that a life of giving is a life of blessing. Jesus expressed succinctly that reciprocal blessed nature of giving when He said, “Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38)

 

 

Maimonides, The Writings of Maimonides, (Twelfth Century Jewish scholar and physician)

Building Strength: Using Your God Given Talents

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?” For those who have been faithful and diligent in using and developing their God given talents, Jesus made the following statement, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord.” (Matt. 25:21)

The response for diligence was the same whether God’s gift was five talents or two. However, the Lord’s response for the abandonment of using one’s God given talent was horrific, “cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 25:30)

In this serious discourse of the so called, “Parable of the talents,” Jesus uses the monetary example of the extremely valuable golden talent. The talent was the heaviest unit of weight in the Hebrew system. It was used to weigh gold (2 Sam. 12:30). While some analysts place the current value in today’s money at approximately four hundred thousand, it commonly weighed about three thousand shekels or the full weight of gold that a man could carry (2 Kings 5:23).

It was so commonly used as money that instead of referring to a talent of gold, people would merely refer to it as a talent. In his parable, Jesus uses the golden talent as a metaphor depicting a dual meaning of our God given natural abilities and strengths. The late psychologist, Donald O. Clifton (the so called father of strengths psychology) working with the Gallup Corporation over the last forty years developed the Clifton Strength Finder Assessment.

This assessment is designed to help people discover and describe their various talents and is discussed in the current best seller, “Strength Finder 2.0,” by Tom Rath. Since two thousand and one, millions of people have participated in Strength Finder over the internet and have learned their top five themes or talents.

Gallup has surveyed more then ten million people world wide on the topic of employee engagement and only one third strongly agree with the statement, “At work, I have the opportunity to do who I do best everyday.” For those who do not get to focus on what they do best (their strengths or talents), the costs are staggering.

Out of a recent poll of one thousand who strongly disagree with the, “what I do best,” statement not one single person was emotionally engaged on the job. In contrast, people who have the opportunity to focus on their talents everyday are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report an excellent quality of life in general.

These polls and studies, by the Gallup Corp. were done in secular institutions and have demonstrated that continual usage and development of God given talents brings high productivity, success, and contentment on the job. Moreover, it is easy to see the correlation with effectively using our God given talents in God’s Kingdom.

As we engage in the work of God using our talents, and helping others to find and develop theirs, we can together strengthen one another, building God’s Kingdom and giving Him glory, ultimately seeking His words of approval…….”Well done, good and faithful, enter into the joy of the Lord.”

 

Rath, Tom, Strength Finder, 2.0, Gallup Press 2007, New York

Lockyrn, Herbert, Sr., Nelsons Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Money Weights Measures,

Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville 1986

A Good Name and Great Riches

Shakespeare’s Juliet said, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” However, the reality is that the name rose identifies a particular type of beautiful flower that exudes a correspondingly wonderful fragrance. The bible says that names are so important that by comparison, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” (Prov. 21:1) In recent news we have seen rich and famous athletes, financial gurus, and politicians whose names seemed to be pristine and wholesome, until sin was exposed and their names fell into total disgrace.

Of course, when we understand the biblical principal of stewardship, we know that no one ultimately possesses riches, every thing belongs to God. We are simply His stewards for a time. We do, however, possess a name. Not unlike the rich and famous, our name represents a

historical record of our behavior. Special scrutiny and accurate documentation is maintained by various agencies such as credit bureaus regarding our financial transactions.

The collations and correlations of these records culminate in a grading or score such as a FICO score which defines the quality of our financial stewardship. Do we have a poor name, mediocre name, or good name? If we habitually pay our bills late, or have defaulted on payments, we will have a poor name and a consequent low score. If we have paid our bills but less than optimally and not always punctually, we will have a mediocre name and a middle range score.

If, however, we are good stewards paying all our bills consistently and punctually, we will have a good name and a high score. Credit scores are understood in the business world to define an individual’s character and a high score or rating has great value when obtaining a bank loan, because with higher scores we can obtain the lowest interest rates. If you presently have a bad name financially, the good news is that right now you can make a commitment to pay your bills on time and over time work to rebuild your credit score to a higher level.

A biblical name change took place when God said he would make Abrams’ name great.

After giving him the name Abraham he spent the next twenty five years developing Abraham’s character to match the name He had given him. In the Shakespearean drama, Juliet told Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention and that she loves the person who is called, “Montaigne” not the Montaigne name and not the Montaigne family.

Romeo, out of passion for Juliet, rejects his family’s name and vows as Juliet asks to “deny his father” and instead be “new baptized,” as Juliet’s lover. When we repent we turn away from our old name and ways and are baptized as a lover of Christ and we take upon a new name, the name of Jesus, a name that is synonymous with faithfulness and power. With the spirit and power of God in us, we can like Abraham, strive to live up to the name wherein we are called, the name of Jesus, the name that is above all names.

 

 

 

The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Greenwich House, Inc., New York, l983

Did Christianity cause the Crash?

The December 2009 issue of the Atlantic magazine highlights an article by Hanna Rosin titled, “Did Christianity cause the Crash?” Rosin’s subtitle answers her rhetorical title question saying, “How preachers are spreading a Gospel of debt.” She defines the problematic, “Prosperity Gospel,” as a, “Somewhat stitched together homegrown theology.”

She analyses it as not within a clearly defined denomination, but a strain of belief that runs through the Pentecostal Church and a surprising number of mainstream evangelical churches with varying degrees of intensity. Rosen dates the roots and the terms and concepts used by prosperity preachers back to Oral Roberts.

His famous concept of, “seed faith,” is still popular today. If people would donate money to his ministry, a seed offered to God, he’d say, then God would multiply it a hundred fold. After a career of raising hundreds of millions of dollars, Roberts retreated into a life that revolved around private jets and country clubs.

Jesus gave the true interpretation of the parable of the sower and the “seed,” saying that He is the sower and the seed is the word of God as that seed takes root in the hearts and lives of His followers, it will manifest itself in exponential spiritual results, some thirty fold, some sixty fold, some one hundred fold. The disgraced Jim Baker was a friend of Oral Roberts and an ardent follower of his teaching. He titled his own autobiography, “I Was Wrong.” Baker said, “For years I had embraced and espoused the Gospel that some skeptics had branded a prosperity Gospel.”

Baker said that, “while in prison, the true impact of Jesus’ words regarding money impacted my heart and mind and I became physically nauseated; I was wrong, I was teaching the opposite that Jesus had said.” However, the prosperity Gospel did not die with the fall of Jim Baker. Rosen makes reference to three of America’s largest churches that are now proponents of the prosperity Gospel; including Tommy Barnet in Phoenix, T. D. Jakes in Dallas, and Joel Osteen in Houston.

Osteen in his best selling book, “Your best life now” says that, “You have to program your mind for success.” The advice he offers is exactly like that found in, “The Secret,” a new age book highly promoted by Oprah Winfrey. In his book, “Something for Nothing,” Jackson Lears describes two starkly different manifestations of the American Dream, both intertwined with religious faith.

The traditional hero is a self made man. He is disciplined and hard working and believes success comes through, “careful culmination of (implicitly protestant) ventures in cooperation with a providential plan.” The hero of the second American narrative is a kind of gambling man, “a speculative confidence man.” Lears calls him, who prefers risky ventures in real estate and a, “more fluid mobile democracy.”

The first self made man imagines a coherent universe where earthly rewards match merits. The confidence man lives in a culture of chance with, “grace as a kind of spiritual luck, a free gift from God.” It is the proliferation of this second model that Rosin believes helped cause the crash. We can agree in part with Rosin that this fallacious teaching combined with the publics acceptance of Keynesian economic paradigm of borrow and spend for prosperity that ultimately led to the economic crash.

However, it was not Christianity that caused the crash, but false teaching. Even the self made man concept is fallacious in that it puts confidence in man rather than God. The true teaching in Christianity is represented in the model of righteous stewardship. The righteous steward is one who knows he really does not own anything. He’s simply a steward of what belongs to God.

Unlike the so called self made man, his greatest goal is not self adulation, but servitude using gifts and abilities to serve others in a way that gives glory to God. He seeks daily to align his life with the word of God and in fellowship with Christ. Rather than being a part of a financial crash, the fruit of the righteous steward brings forth a combination of financial, emotional, and spiritual stability.

 

 

Baker, Jim, “I Was Wrong,” Thomas Nelson, 1996

Lears, Jackson, “Something For Nothing,” Penguin Putnum, New York, NY. 2003