Making a bargain with-the devil

 

Title: Making a bargain with—-the devil

Author: Wesley G. Shaw, PhD

In a recent article in USA Today titled, “Fed expected to make big bond buy; what will impact be?” Ben Bernankil, chairman of the Federal Reserve, was quoted as saying, “Evidence suggests that our previous program of securities purchases was successful in bringing down longer term interest rates and thereby supporting the economic recovery.”

“The Fed,” is expected to give the economy the equivalent a B-12 shot. Many economists question whether it will be sufficient to invigorate the stagnant economy. Others are adamant in their pessimism that this action will accelerate inflationary conditions. In regard to inflation, Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, expressed his trepidation saying, “When you try to accelerate job growth, with monetary policy alone, you are making a bargain, I am afraid, with the Devil!”

This action would be the Feds largest since it bought $1.7 trillion in bonds starting in 2009 in the financial crisis. The goal is to drive up the prices of long term bonds, which in turn pushes down yields. This action results in pulling down rates on mortgages, and other loans, activating consumers to buy homes and cars, and motivating businesses to invest, expand and hire workers.

Word of this action in the market place, has had the impact of raising stocks and lowering interest rates. The yield on the ten year Treasury bond fell from 2.86 percent to as low as 2.38 per cent. The S & P 500 stock index was up 4.7 percent. “The Fed” is under pres sure to act because the recovery from the recession has been so slow, and there is a prevailing fear that a failure to act might result is a “double dip” extension worsening the recession.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moodys Analytics says, “The Fed has little choice: the risk of slipping back into recession is uncomfortable high.” Zandi estimates five hundred billion in treasury purchases would boost economic growth next year to 2.7 per cent from 2.4 percent, create 250,000 jobs, and trim unemployment two thirds of a percentage point.

Brian Bethune, of HIS Global Insight, says it could have a greater impact by raising investor confidence, lowering the value of the dollar, and boosting exports. However, Mr. Hoenig, in his comment of bargaining with the Devil, submits that the probable modest gains are not worth the risk of the deleterious impact of hyperinflation.

In reality, could Mr. Hoenig be correct in his assumption that inflation is somehow devilish of satanic in origin? One has only to look back in history to see the destructive impact of runaway inflation to come into agreement with Mr. Hoenig’s assertion.

Mental images come to mind of Germany’s demise after World War 1, where a wheelbarrow load of money would buy a loaf of bread.

Those perilous conditions gave rise to a demonic young dictator, named Adolf Hitler,

Who found a scapegoat and destroyed six million Jews. The word of God in 1 John 3:10 gives us a measure of understanding saying, “In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil: whoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.”

Any decision that results in the propagation of something as sinister and destructive as inflation is unrighteous. The potential volatility and loss of worth of the dollar was understood by our Lord when He called money the ‘least of things.” In Luke 16:10, He said, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”

Our stewardship is more important to God than money because money has no intrinsic value only the value placed upon it by men and their markets. The dollars value ebbs and flows daily in relation to other currencies and our leader’s stewardship. Accordingly, we should pray for our leaders to make proper long term decisions.

When the persecution intensified against the Jews in Germany, most lost all their earthly wealth and property. Those that were fortunate enough to escape left with three things that would help to sustain themselves: 1. Training in Old Testament principles of financial stewardship. 2. Strong work ethic and determination to succeed. 3. Intellectual wealth (training in trades and professions).

These same characteristic should help us in the most perilous of times should they come. The underlying strong faith of the Jews in the Jehovah in the Old Testament is intensified in us knowing that His spirit now resides in us and will sustain us where ever we go and what ever we face. Amen

USA Today

“Fed Expected To Make Big Bond Buys; What Will The Impact Be?”

Friday, October 29, 2010

 adjunct professor

International Biblical College, Jerusalem, Israel

Deficit Panel Pushes Cuts

The Leaders of a White House commission on deficit spending laid out a new proposal of austerity to reduce the federal budget deficit through target reductions in a variety of areas including: social security benefits, middle class tax breaks, and defense spending. Also included, would be the elimination of the deduction of home mortgage interest. Capitol gains and dividends would be taxed at the higher rates now levied on wage income.

Corporate tax would be reduced from a current thirty five percent rate to as low as twenty six percent while a broad array of deductions would be eliminated. The research and development tax credit would be made permanent. While the U.S. works in developing its plan to reduce the budget deficit, Europe is struggling to contain its own debt crisis.

Last spring it was the Greek government in crisis that received one hundred and ten billion aid package from the European union and the international monetary fund. Present fears are that the newest debt crisis in Ireland could spread to Portugal and Spain. Axel Weber, President of the German Bundes Bank, said that the cost of bailing out Ireland along with Portugal and Spain could exceed the lending power that European leaders built into the seven hundred and fifty billion, three year plan that was laid out after the initial one hundred ten billion bailout of Greece.

The economic rescue plan designed by the European union and negotiated earlier with Greece and recently with Ireland included budgets framed around severe austerity measures coupled with a variety of tax increases. The result with Greece and recently in Ireland has been violent confrontations in the streets. Over time, the lack of proper stewardship resulted in very painful mandatory measures of austerity along with increased taxes and other expenses.

In Jesus’ parable in Luke Chapter 16, the unrighteous steward was riddled with overwhelming debt, but deemed righteous when he sought to obtain debt reduction. Ultimately, however, the Lord wants more for his people than just a little debt relief. He says in Duet. 28, 9-13, “The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shall not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.”

The question one might ask is how do we become the head and not the tail, the lender and not the borrower? The steward in Luke 16 initially was the tail in that he was over his head in debt and definitely not in control of his situation. When he developed a plan (budget) and began debt reduction, he took control and consequently became the head.

When someone develops a budget and lives beneath their means, they are positioned to be a saver. With savings, they in turn can be a lender to banks in the form of certificates of deposit, and corporation and government municipalities in the form of stocks and bonds. Jesus said in the parable in Luke 16:11, “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”

When we become the head and not the tail, the lender and not the borrower, we truly can become righteous stewards demonstrating stalwart faith in support of the work of God….moving ahead in search of the true riches in His Kingdom.

Nudges and Choice Architecture

The new book, entitled “Nudge,” is presented as “a ground breaking discussion of how we can apply the new science of choice architecture to nudge people toward decisions that will improve their lives by making them healthier, wealthier. And more free.”

Authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein are professors at the University of Chicago and friends of President Barach Obama. The authors speak much about, “libertarian paternalism” (a concept of guidance with freedom} however, the underlying assumption of the book is that the necessary nudging must come from government and not from a free market society. The question remains as to whether the choice architecture will ultimately include a full array of secular humanism and political correctness. Rather than a new science, choice architecture is what God has used in His word, the Bible, for thousands of years. Joshua offered a nudge for choice architecture when he said “Choose you this day whom you will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:17)

The prophet Malachi offered one of the most dynamic nudges in choice architecture relating to financial stewardship, saying, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now therewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the doors of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. (Mal. 3:10-11)

Leviticus 27:28 speaks of this same tithe as a devoted thing. Devoted in Hebrew is “Cha ram” which means something set aside most holy to God, something doomed to destruction or used by God, not to be sold or redeemed by any substitutionary measure. The root word for Char am is qadash, which means to be selected, to be pure, to be holy. (Lev. 10:33, 22:32)

The reality is that if the child of God does not give the tithe, its value shall be destroyed. However, if the child of God is faithful in giving the tithe, it will be the gateway to the miraculous in their life with an outpouring from heaven with blessings that cannot be contained. Some critics have said that the tithe is of the law but Abraham gave tithes to Melchizadek which predates the law given to Moses. (Gen. 14:20)

Others say Jesus said nothing about the tithe. On the contrary, Jesus when speaking to the Pharisees said, “for ye pay tithe of mint and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these (the tithes) ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matt. 23:23)

He validated the giving of the tithe when speaking to the Pharisees and He validates the effectiveness of the tithe in the lives of his faithful stewards who consistently are faithful in the giving of their tithes. Not only do they receive heavens manifold blessings, their lives are a testimony to others of stability, stalwart faith, and commitment to God.

The statistician, George Barna, has stated that his research in Evangelical churches showed that less than ten per cent of their constituents paid tithes on a consistent basis. We know that the percentage of giving would be higher in most Apostolic churches. However, we also know that there are many in our ranks that are not paying tithes. They are not hard to recognize because their lives demonstrate inconsistency and instability.

Jesus spoke of this saying, “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust true riches.” (Luke 16:11)

The role of the church is to provide the loving nudge toward that choice architecture of God’s word encouraging everyone to bring their lives into agreement and obedience with the word of God so that we all might receive the blessings that God has prepared for us.

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)