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GOD’S BANKING SYSTEM

THE REWARDS OF INVESTING IN GOD’S KINGDOM

by Buddy Harrison

Harrison House
Tulsa, OK
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King
James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are taken from The Amplified Bible, New
Testament. Copyright © 1958, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation, La Habra,
California. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible: New
International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by
International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing
House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (MESSAGE) are taken from The Message: New
Testament with Psalms and Proverbs, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995 by
Eugene H. Peterson, published by NavPress, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado
Springs, Colorado 80935. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from The New King James
Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Author emphasis in Scripture quotations is italic.

12 11 10 09 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

God’s Banking System:

The Rewards of Investing in God’s Kingdom
ISBN 1-57794-418-6
Copyright © 2002 by Patsy G. Harrison
P.O. Box 35433
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153-0443

Published by Harrison House, Inc.

P.O. Box 35035
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved under International
Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in
part in any form without the express written consent of the Publisher.
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CONTENTS

Foreword by Jerry Savelle ....................................................vii

1 Prosperity..........................................................................1

2 The Purposes of Prosperity ............................................27

3 Tithes = Checking Account ............................................51

4 Offerings = Savings Account ........................................87

5 Alms = Giving to the Poor = Loans ............................111

6 Making Deposits in Your Heavenly Account ..............129

7 Making Withdrawals From Your Heavenly Account....141

8 Planning for Money......................................................155

9 Revelation, Consistency, and Confession

by Pat Harrison ............................................................177

Tithing the Tithe — Your Confessions ..............................185

Scriptures for Further Study ..............................................187

Endnotes..............................................................................193

References ..........................................................................195
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FOREWORD
by Jerry Savelle

B uddy Harrison was not only one of my dearest friends

for more than twenty-five years, but he was also one of
my mentors.

His keen insight and unique manner of sharing biblical

truths was a tremendous blessing, not only to me personally but
to thousands all over the world.

Many times he, Pastor Happy Caldwell, and I spent hours

together discussing “the things of the kingdom,” and Buddy
would always have a nugget of truth that would amaze and
inspire us.

His insights into God’s Banking System blessed me then

and still do to this very day. That is why I am so thrilled that
this book has been published. Now you, the reader, have the
wonderful privilege of gleaning from Buddy’s wisdom.

As you read each page, I pray that the Holy Spirit will illu-
minate your spirit and give you greater comprehensive insight
into God’s plan for your financial destiny.

Thank God for men like Buddy Harrison who have shown
us the way to God’s best for our lives.

Sincerely,
Jerry Savelle

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PROSPERITY

I n 1765 John Adams wrote the following words in his

“Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law”:

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general

knowledge among the people, who have a right, from
the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great
Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them
understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this,
they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, inde-
feasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied
kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and
conduct of their rulers.1

The founding fathers of this nation considered knowledge

vital to the life and health of the Republic. In that sentiment,

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they were imitating their Creator: “Then said Jesus to those

Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free” (John 8:31,32). Jesus said that
knowing the truth, having an intimate knowledge and experi-
ence with the truth, makes one free.

One area where many Christians are not free is in their

finances. They are bound by lack and debt. They may have
enough to meet their needs, but they don’t have enough left
over for numerous and generous kind acts to others. They are
not blessed; therefore, they cannot be a blessing. I believe they
are in bondage for one of two reasons: one, they may not know
the truth; or two, they are not acting on the truth they know.
Either way they are in bondage.

Our heavenly Father told Abraham that He was Abraham’s

exceedingly great reward — El Shaddai, the lavish, extrava-
gant, gift-giving God who is more than able and always willing
to supply beyond our expectations.

Both the world and God have financial systems. When you
invest money based upon the world’s financial principles, you
expect a return. However, the world’s financial system is unsta-
ble, ever-changing, and often left to chance. When you operate
in God’s financial system and “put your money in His bank,”
you are depositing it where the thief can’t steal and where moth

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and rust can’t corrupt. (Matt. 6:20; Luke 12:33.) Therefore,

God assures you of a tremendous return.

The Lord has called us to prosperity, not poverty. He has

given us the power, favor, ability, and principles to obtain
wealth. He has established a covenant with us and desires to
prove Himself! If we aren’t walking in the exceedingly abun-
dant overflow, either we lack knowledge or we are refusing to
act on the knowledge we have. I trust this book will fulfill its
purpose to fill God’s people with the knowledge of how to walk
in the financial blessings God has provided.

Our discussion of God’s banking system must begin with a

basic understanding of biblical prosperity. Without it, we find it
difficult to accept the need to operate and function within God’s
banking system.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1 clearly tells us that God is the Creator. As the

Creator or Inventor, God knows how His creation or invention
should function, thereby making Him the expert. As Creator and
Expert, God knows about prosperity: its functions and purposes.

We will never reach the fullness of what the Lord desires

for us without understanding biblical prosperity. We may also
pursue prosperity for the wrong reasons and travel off course.

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God’s prosperity has a purpose, and without knowledge

you can miss much of what God wants to do for you and
through you.

W HAT I S P ROSPERITY ?

And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an

officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought
him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him
down thither.

And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous

man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that
the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

Genesis 39:1-3

Notice that Joseph was prosperous. The New King James

Version translates the word prosperous as “successful.” Joseph
was a slave, hardly a successful or prosperous person by worldly
standards. Slaves own nothing. They are totally dependent upon
their masters for everything, including their daily lives and what
they are allowed to do. If the master provides food for them,
they eat. If he doesn’t, they don’t eat. It’s that simple.

So how could Joseph be called successful? The answer is

found in the first five words of verse two: the Lord [Yahweh]
was with Joseph. Joseph and the Lord had a relationship; they

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were friends. God gave Joseph the gifts, graces, abilities, and
favor to ensure his success. He shared secrets (dreams, visions,
and interpretations of them) with Joseph. The Lord was
Joseph’s protection and promotion. In the midst of slavery and
imprisonment, the Lord was with Joseph.

Success and prosperity are possible for us because the Lord

is with us. In our natural or worldly thinking, we equate success
and prosperity with money, power, social status, and posses-
sions. The biblical definition for success is obedience to God in
the “small” things as well as the “big” things. We know from
Matthew 25:21 that if we are faithful in small things, God
makes us ruler over big things.

Biblical prosperity is not based on the amount of money,

possessions, or real estate you have. It begins with your rela-
tionship with the Lord. If you are a born-again child of God,
then the Lord is with you. Jesus told the disciples in John
14:23, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode with him.” We prove our devotion to the Lord by our
obedience as we love Him and keep his Word; thus, the Lord —
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — makes His home in us.

Since God is with us, we are successful and prosperous.

You may be thinking, Sure, I’m prosperous all right. I’m living

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from paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet. I don’t

live in a fancy house, and my old car is leaking oil.

That is what I call “stinkin’ thinking,” a wrong attitude,

because you judge yourself and your circumstances by worldly,
carnal standards. “Stinkin’ thinking” is judging yourself and
your circumstances with the wrong standard.

When you are in Christ, you are successful and prosperous.

It doesn’t matter where you live; the Lord is your protection
and promotion. The reality of that success may not have mani-
fested totally in the natural, but God sees you successful and
prosperous. He sees you as seated in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. (Eph. 2:6.) The Lord sees you sitting with Jesus at His
right hand where “there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).
To see yourself that way, you have to eliminate wrong attitudes
and thought patterns and begin to operate as the king and priest
God has called you to be.

The key to success and prosperity begins with recognizing

who we are in Christ. What is biblical prosperity, if it is not
about the amount of money and possessions one has? Look at
two passages of Scripture:
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house,
unto a land that I will shew thee:

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And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless

thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:1-3

The Lord spoke to Abram and told him to leave his country.
Then He made Abram a great promise. Abram would become a
great nation; He would bless Abram and make Abram a bless-
ing. God promised all the families of the earth would be blessed
through Abram.

The Lord didn’t promise to only bless Abram. He promised

to make Abram a blessing to others, and through Abram, all fami-
lies of the earth would be blessed. We know Jesus ultimately ful-
filled that prophecy. The blessings didn’t stop with Abram, or
even his immediate family. His blessings flowed to others.

God’s purpose for prosperity is so that when He blesses

you, you can be a blessing to others. Unless you bless others,
you are not biblically prosperous.
There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is
that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be
watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall
curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that
selleth it.

Proverbs 11:24-26

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Biblical prosperity is not based on mass accumulation. A

person making $25,000 per year or even less can be prosperous
if he is blessing others. Another person can make a million
dollars every month, but he will not be prosperous until he
blesses others. (Deut. 15:14; Luke 12:33; 1 Cor. 16:2.)

We see the Old Testament definition of prosperity is that God

is with you and He has blessed you so you can bless others. This
same definition of prosperity is found in the New Testament.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you;
that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound
to every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8

Notice the all-encompassing words in that passage: all,

always, and every. That means nothing is left out. God is the
beginning, the end, and everything in between. He is the all-
encompassing God.

Here is Moffat’s translation of the same passage. “God is

able to bless you with an ample supply so that you’ll have
enough to meet any emergency of your own and ample besides
for any kind act to others.”2

God doesn’t define prosperity by how much you have but

by what you give. Jesus praised the widow woman for her
giving. Though she gave only two mites, a very small amount

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of money, Jesus said she gave more than all the others because
she gave all she had. (Mark 12:42-44; Luke 21:2-4.) The
widow woman was a giver!

This is where you must change your thinking and your

confession. If you are giving tithes and offerings, regardless of
the amount you give, you are prosperous. If after you have
given your tithes and paid all your bills, you have only one
penny left over, you are prosperous because you can give that
penny! Quit saying, “I’m poor,” and start saying, “God is with
me. I am His home. I am a tither. I’m a giver; therefore, I am
successful and prosperous.”

Meditate on 2 Corinthians 9:8 until it becomes part of your

spirit. When your financial situation begins to look grim, read
that passage and thank God you are prosperous. Write it down
and post it all over your home. Do whatever you need to do to
fully accept God’s promise of prosperity.

It’s more than meditating and saying the Scriptures. You

must also tithe and give, but we will cover that part later. At this
point, it’s important to realize what biblical prosperity is and
that you are already prosperous if you’re acting on 2 Corinthians
9:8. Your success and prosperity are accomplished facts in
heaven. It’s time to appropriate it on earth.

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God can supply you with money without a doubt. The

world and all its fullness belong to Him. (Ps. 24:1.) Your lack
is not about God, His ability, or His desire. He is more than
willing and able. He told Abram He would bless him and make
him a blessing. Through Jesus, as born-again children of God,
we are the seed of Abraham and the children of the promise.
(Rom 9:8.) Therefore, God blesses us and makes us a blessing
if we will receive it and walk in it.

Since God can supply all the money you may need, the
question is, can He get it through you? If you’re not giving your
tithes, offerings, and alms to the poor, God isn’t going to bless
you. It’s not that the Lord doesn’t love you or want to bless you,
but you must choose to operate His way.

Remember, this chapter started by stating that the Lord is

the expert in life and that His way is best. When you refuse to
obey, you are saying that God’s way is not the best way. You
deny God and stop the flow of His blessings to you.

Biblical prosperity is having enough to meet your needs

and plenty left over for blessing others.

K NOW G OD ’ S W ILL FOR P ROSPERITY

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper
and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3 John 2

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The blessings of financial prosperity will only come to us

as our soul — our mind, will, and emotions — prospers.

To come into the fullness of what God has for us, our minds
must be renewed to the Word of God on a daily basis. (1 Cor.
2:6-16; Phil. 2:5.) With minds renewed, we are able to move
into God’s plan and understand His way and His purposes.

The goal of a Christian should be to agree with God’s will.

We can see from 3 John 2 that it is God’s will for us to prosper
in every area. John wrote that we would prosper and be in
health. God is interested in the total man.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous-
ness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

Notice, God adds good things to our lives. He provides

food, drink, clothing, and shelter. However, our priorities
should be in order. We don’t seek Him for things; we seek
Him to know and obey Him, and to bring others into relation-
ship with Him. He then takes care of the material goods on
our behalf.

The Lord is the God of increase and abundance. He always

deals with us on that basis. As I mentioned earlier, He told
Abram, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward”

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(Gen. 15:1). He declared that He was more than Abram would

ever need.

God wants His people, His Church, to be dynamic and

glorious.
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy
Lord; and worship thou him.

And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even

the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.

The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is

of wrought gold.

Psalm 45:11-13

Jesus is the King of kings. We are the children of God. We

can declare we are of God. As the verse says, “The king’s
daughter is all glorious within.” The word glorious here means
“weightiness, magnificence, wealth.”3 God is our all-suffi-
ciency. Therefore, we can be weighed down with all that He is.
That speaks of all His glory, and the fullness of it.

Too much of the time, we don’t perceive God as interested

in our prosperity. The following verse of Scripture establishes
the will of the Lord.
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righ-
teous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be mag-
nified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Psalm 35:27

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This Scripture states clearly that God has pleasure in the

prosperity, or success, of His servants. If prosperity were
against God’s will, He would have no pleasure on our behalf. It
is God’s will for His people to be prosperous and it gives Him
pleasure. In fact, God gives us the ability to obtain wealth.
It is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.…

Deuteronomy 8:18

The word power can also be translated “goods, host, might,

riches, and strength.”4 In Deuteronomy 8, God warned the
Israelites against complacency, self-conceit, arrogance, and
self-sufficiency. Notice God didn’t say if they prospered. He
said when they prospered, they would be tempted to boast that
their own abilities, power, and strength had made them wealthy.

God cautioned the Israelites to remember that everything

they were and had, including their abilities, power, strength,
and wealth, had come from Him. All goods or riches and the
ability to get wealth came from Him.

The Lord is the giver of every good and perfect gift; there-
fore, wealth cannot be evil. (James 1:17.) It is only the perver-
sion of wealth’s use that is evil.

Possibly you are wondering how the translation “He

gives riches or goods to get wealth” makes sense. Every seed

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reproduces after its own kind. (Gen. 1:11.) God will give us
money so we can get money. It takes money to make money.

Christians often interpret the following passage of

Scripture to say the Lord doesn’t want people to be wealthy by
using the argument that wealthy people can’t enter the
kingdom. That is not the point of the passage.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one
running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master,
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There
is none good but one, that is, God.

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adul-

tery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness,
Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have
I observed from my youth.

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him,
One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:
and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for
he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disci-
ples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the
kingdom of God!

Mark 10:17-23

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This man whom Luke and Matthew call the rich young
ruler wanted approval for his life, and he boasted that he had
kept all the commandments. He believed eternal life was his
reward for doing the right things.

However, Jesus always went to the heart of the problem.

The young man may have appeared to have kept the outward
commandments, but he had not inwardly kept the spirit of the
law. Jesus’ test of the young man demonstrated that eternal life
comes by faith in the Lord. Good works are the result of one’s
love for the Lord.

God doesn’t want just the “outward” man; He wants the

whole man. This young ruler had set his affections on wealth,
and in doing so had broken the first commandment: “And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. 6:5). He
didn’t have wealth; wealth had him. Giving is the cure for
greed and stinginess.

Jesus merely pointed out, as He did in the Sermon on the

Mount (Matt. 5:3) and the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20),
that wealthy people tend to put their trust in riches and forget
God is their source; whereas poor people have only the Lord
to trust.

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In Mark 10:25 He essentially said, “Children, how hard is

it for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of
God!” The problem is not riches but trust in the riches.

It may be difficult to be wealthy and trust in God, but Jesus

went on to say, “With men it is impossible, but not with God:
for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). He was
saying it is possible to be saved, love God, and have wealth.

Jesus did not sit in judgment of wealth or poverty. His only

request has always been for wholehearted discipleship.

Since prosperity is equated with money, here are a few

thoughts to consider about money before we move further into
the subject of God’s banking system.

M ONEY ’ S VALUE

At the height of the Civil War, the Union struggled to pay

its bills. With the war costing approximately a million dollars a
day, the Union government was running out of money. So
Samuel P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, came up with the
idea of printing paper money to pay the Union’s bills.

As the story goes, President Abraham Lincoln wasn’t too

excited about printing paper money, but the decision was
made. Chase, being a devout, pious man, was insistent that the

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president establish a wise saying to print on the paper money.

But Lincoln didn’t want to be bothered by it and kept putting
off a decision.

One day, Chase walked into a cabinet meeting. The presi-

dent was sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on the
table, something he usually did. Lincoln said to the assembled
cabinet, “Well, if you are going to put a Biblical tag on the
greenback, I would suggest that of Peter and John: ‘Silver and
gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.” In the ensuing
laughter, the president withdrew to his office.5

This humorous anecdote about Lincoln is interesting

because it shows how paper money printed at that time didn’t
represent real value, the same way paper money no longer rep-
resents real value today.

There was a time during the history of the United States

when paper was printed as gold and silver certificates. These
certificates were backed by the hard metals that had real value
fixed by the government. The gold and silver were held by the
government, a fixed amount of gold versus a fixed amount of
currency. The paper money had real value and could be
redeemed in gold or silver.

Today, due to legislation, money has only the value that is

agreed upon by those who are involved in the exchange of

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money: the governments and the citizens of the countries

involved. Therefore, we can no longer redeem the dollar bill for
a dollar’s worth of gold or silver. Money is only a tool.

Why do we pursue something that doesn’t have a real or

fixed value but only an agreed-upon value that can change
daily? Today’s dollar purchases a lot less than it did twenty
years ago because its value has changed. Yet people continue to
pursue money instead of God, who is eternally valuable.

God’s value and the value of His Word never change. If we

would seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
(Matt. 6:33), then all these other things, including money,
would be added unto us. Seeking God rather than seeking
money is the scriptural way to obtain prosperity.

As we have already learned, prosperity isn’t about the

amount of money we have. Money is only a tool. It has always
been a tool that simplifies interaction between God and man,
and between man and man.

We should never pursue money, because it’s only a tool

with no intrinsic value. The Bible clearly tells us we should
pursue wisdom.
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and
with all thy getting get understanding.

Proverbs 4:7

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It tells us plainly that we are to go after wisdom, and Jesus

Christ is wisdom.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

1 Corinthians 1:30

From the first page to the last, God continually tells us in

the Bible that He is all we need. As we discussed, in Genesis
15:1 He refers to Himself as “thy exceeding great reward.” And
He tells us in Deuteronomy 8 that He gives us the power to
get wealth.

First, we remember the Lord. We maintain a constant, daily

communion with Him through prayer, worship, and His Word.
In that intimate relationship, He supplies us with wisdom, and
in that wisdom is the power to obtain wealth.

We must understand God’s attitude toward prosperity, its

purposes, how to obtain it, how to keep it, and our position
of stewardship.

M ONEY D EFINED

As long as we have lived and interacted with one another,

money has existed in some form. There has always been a

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medium of exchange, something used to make payments and to

account for debts and credits, as well as a way to calculate wealth.

The following list includes a few of the goods that have his-
torically been used as money: amber, beads, cowries, drums,
eggs, feathers, gongs, hoes, ivory, jade, kettles, leather, mats,
nails, oxen, pigs, rice, salt, and thimbles.6

At one time a Roman soldier’s wage was paid in salt. In

fact, the word for salary comes from the Latin word for salt.7
Salt is so common now that we wouldn’t dare take it to the
store to pay for our groceries. But in Roman times, salt was a
valuable commodity and an agreed-upon medium of exchange.

The Bible tells us that Abram was very rich in livestock,

silver, and gold. (Gen. 13:2.) Pharaoh gave Abram sheep, oxen,
donkeys, camels, and servants. So we can see that Abram had
both animals and precious metals to trade with others.

When Abraham needed a place to bury his wife, Sarah, he

bought a field from Ephron for four hundred shekels of silver.
(Gen. 23.) From this we can see that commerce, the exchange
of goods and services, existed early in the history of man.

For most societies today, money consists of paper: property

deeds, stocks and bonds, contracts, car titles, etc. With the
advent of the computer and the worldwide web, there is elec-
tronic money.

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What is the purpose of a medium of exchange? No one

person can produce all that he needs. God gave each of us dif-
ferent skills and talents.

For example, I have managerial, administrative, and leader-

ship skills. But I can’t build a house or fix my car. If I need remod-
eling done, I hire someone because I don’t have the expertise.

This differentiation of skills and labor is illustrated early in

the Bible. Abel was a shepherd; Cain was a farmer. In Genesis
4, the Bible talks about Cain’s descendants. Among them, Jabal
was a herdsman; Jubal was a musician; Tubalcain was a forger
of brass and iron items.

Since early times, people have traded to obtain what they

needed. A woodchopper could trade an extra amount of wood
for needed items, such as a cow, vegetables, or other necessi-
ties. A farmer often traded his surplus harvest for necessities.

When an individual produced more than he could use or

barter, he would have to convert the extra to a form that
wouldn’t perish or lose value over time. In the past, trans-
portation of produce, animals, or other goods was difficult.
And what was valuable in one society wouldn’t necessarily
be valuable to another.

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In his book A History of Money, author Glyn Davies

cites an example that demonstrates the difficulty connected
with bartering.

It seems that in the 1800s a French opera singer

performed a concert in the Society Islands. Her pay
consisted of three pigs, twenty-three turkeys, forty-
four chickens, five thousand coconuts, and consider-
able quantities of bananas, lemons, and oranges.
Although this assortment of animals and fruit was
worth some four thousand pre-1870 francs, it had
little value to the opera singer, because she had no
way to take it back to France or convert it into some-
thing more valuable to her.8

As society became more complex and personal needs

increased, money replaced bartering for the most part.

In temple worship, the Jews were required to bring tithes

and offerings to the temple in Jerusalem. When the first temple
laws were enacted, the Jews were largely an agrarian society, so
their tithes and offerings consisted mainly of food or animals.

Since not every Jew lived in Jerusalem, and because travel

to Jerusalem was hazardous in many instances and refrigerated
transportation had not yet been invented, the Jews could
exchange their produce or animal offering for a form of money.

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Once they had reached Jerusalem, they could purchase the nec-
essary grain or animal offering with their form of money. This
simplified their transportation problem and made it easier for
them to worship the Lord with their tithes and offerings.

Without such a medium of exchange, a society will not

function effectively or efficiently. So, money is neither good
nor evil. It’s simply a tool that enables us to interact with one
another and with God.

Money doesn’t have its own personality or moral value. It

takes on the personality of its user. People, who are users of
money, determine what happens with it. We can use money to
bless others as God intends, or we can pervert its use.

Unsaved people and carnal Christians often try to use

money to gain stature, prestige, power, and peace, but these
qualities only come from God. Using money to obtain such
things will merely frustrate and hurt those involved, and it
could eventually destroy them.

Money, as a tool, represents

your life. You have exchanged your You would be
time, talent, and energy for mone- mortgaging your
tary compensation. Then, in turn, eternity for the
the money earned, if you are a wise here and now.
Christian, is used to worship God
and to take care of your needs. If

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you aren’t careful, you could sell yourself to obtain posses-

sions. In effect, you would be mortgaging your eternity for
the here and now.

P ROSPERITY I SN ’ T E VIL

Ezekiel 28 is an interesting passage of Scripture. By the law

of double reference, some theologians argue that this passage
refers to Lucifer, the angel who became the devil.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set
thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast
walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee.

By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the

midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I
will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I
will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire.

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast

corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast
thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may
behold thee.

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine

iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring
forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I

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will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them
that behold thee.

Ezekiel 28:14-18

Lucifer was cast out of heaven because he tried to gain

something that didn’t belong to him. By trading his position as
the anointed cherub, he attempted to gain the favor, power,
prestige, and position of God. He peddled what God had given
him to become something he could never be. He perverted the
use of his position to bring attention to himself and attempted
to lift himself above God.

You can’t use wealth or possessions to become something

you aren’t. Money can’t give you life or joy, for God is the
source of life and everything that pertains to life and godliness.
(2 Peter 1:3.)

The Lord is our Creator. We should never let the creation

become our source, for it’s impossible for creation to satisfy the
longing that stems from our need for God. God will satisfy that
longing if we will let Him. As we recognize Him as our Source,
He will give us the wisdom to meet our needs in a godly, righ-
teous manner. He will give us the power to get wealth, so we
can fulfill His purposes here on the earth.

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