February 6th, 2024 Issue
Serving Under The Curse & Bondage Of Debt
This link will take you to a full index of all the Heartfelt Exhortations that were written in previous newsletters. Making it easy for you to go back, and find what you are looking for.
Serving Under The Curse & Bondage Of Debt
I will never forget sitting in my economics class in high school, and having the teacher lecture us on the necessity of getting a credit card as soon as possible, to develop a strong credit score. I was newly saved at the time, and remember having a check in my spirit about what he was saying. It seemed like everyone was in debt. In fact I don’t know at that point in my life if I knew anyone that wasn’t. But something about it just did not settle well with my newly sensitized conscience. As I was reading my Bible, different passages would jump off the page at me. In fact it became very troubling, the more I understood what God actually had to say about it.
As a baby believer, all those many years ago, I could sense that the Lord wanted me to commit to trusting Him to supply everything that I needed. In fact, it had come with a pretty strong warning. One of the things that the Lord was loud and clear about, was the snare that the antichrist system was setting. We know from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians:
2nd Thessalonians 2:9-12 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
So we see from this passage, that this antichrist system is at work and is setting a snare of deception. In fact he said to those that are not lovers of the truth, “11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” In our last study we looked at the concept of money being a deceptive force in peoples lives. Do the scriptures give us any kind of indication how the Antichrist will seek to deceive?
Rev 13:16-17 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
So we know from these passages, that the antichrist system has been slowly developing a snare that will control the worlds economic system, to the point that if someone does not take part, they will no longer be able to buy or sell. I am not at all interested in speculating about all the details that will be involved. I just know that the Lord had given me a very strong warning that those that are not lovers of the truth, and ignore His teachings about riches and money, will be very easily deceived, and fall prey to this system. That is why I have taken a lot of time to study Kingdom Economics, and trying to make practical application of the truths I find, in my everyday life.
Before we get to what Jesus and the apostles had to say about debt though. We need to establish what was already in the minds of those that Jesus was teaching. The Old Testament has some very strong things to say about this issue, and everyone that was listening to Jesus would have been aware of the strong negative connotation that was associated with borrowing and lending money. First we will consider how God presents it as being under a curse.
Deu 28:15+44 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:…. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
This is in contrast to what he said a few verses back.
Deu 28:1-2 + 12 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God…… 12 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.
So it really isn’t debatable whether being in debt is a blessing or curse. Everyone listing to Jesus, that was a lover of the truth, would have known this. In fact God makes it even more clear, as He lays out His expectations in the law.
Deu 23:19-20 Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: 20 Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
If you don’t take time to do a word study on the relevant words to this topic, you miss out on some of the strongest points God is making. Here is an example. This is verse 20 from above, showing the Strong’s numbers. Look at what H5391 means in the original language.
Deu 23:20 Unto a stranger H5237 thou mayest lend upon usury; H5391 but unto thy brother H251 thou shalt not H3808 lend upon usury: H5391 that H4616 the LORD H3068 thy God H430 may bless H1288 thee in all H3605 that thou settest H4916 thine hand H3027 to in H5921 the land H776 whither H834 H8033 thou H859 goest H935 to possess H3423 it.
Charging interest, or usury, is considered basically the same thing as giving a viper’s bite. It can be very important to do word studies in the Hebrew, because the words can be pictures, and if you don’t know the pictures that are being presented to you, you can miss out on the true strength that is there.
So what did David have to say in the Psalms?
Psa 15:1-5 A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. 4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. 5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
What about his son Solomon?
Pro 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Pro 28:8 He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.
Ok, so can we agree that being in debt, and charging usury (interest) to someone, within the context of the Old Testament, was not a good situation. Anyone that would seek to argue otherwise is delusional. So with these truths in mind, let’s take a look at what Jesus had to say about lending in the new covenant.
Luke 6:31-36 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Jesus just loves turning worldly wisdom on its head. We considered this passage in a former lesson. For those that missed it, I will do a little review. Whenever Jesus says “what thank have ye?” He is really saying what Grace have ye. The word thank in the greek is the word for Grace. Grace, being the enabling power to live like Christ. So He is contrasting things that sinners, that do not have the Grace of God, can do over against things that those that do possess the Grace of God, will be capable of doing. For instance: “And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.” What Grace does it take for a sinner to lend to another sinner and only expect to get back just what was given, not even charging interest? Jesus is seeking to make it clear that it doesn’t take any Grace to do that.
But it does take God’s Grace and power, to obey what He would have us to do as “Children of the Highest”.
“But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest:” Wow!
So don’t lose sight of what we had learned from the Old Testament. They were able to lend to other nations under the old covenant. Now Jesus is coming along and telling them that they should “lend, hoping for nothing again” to their enemies. Now wait a second! It sounds to me like He just turned lending into giving. If I lend someone something, and “hope” not to receive anything in return, that is no longer lending, but giving. I’m going to share a really special story of how this worked out in a practical way.
Many years ago I met a young couple that shared with me how they had come to the point that they were without a vehicle, because the one they had, had broken down to the point that they could no longer put money into it. An older brother in their church saw their need, and came to them and gave them money to purchase a more reliable vehicle. On the condition that they would never repay him. He told them that if they ever found themselves with extra money, that they would help someone that was in need instead. In other words he was lending, but hoping for nothing again. I just love this story, because it is just oozing the heart of my Heavenly Father. This older brother is truly doing for them, what he would have hoped they would have done for him if the situation was reversed. This couple has their need met, without going into bondage, and this older brother uses his riches according to the Golden Rule. AMEN!
So why is Jesus now all of the sudden making a point that we should be giving and no longer lending, even to our enemies? Because He is going to be giving His Life as a payment for the sins of the whole world. There will no longer be this division between the Jew and the Gentile. Those that in the past God would have permitted them to bring into servitude through indebtedness, He will no longer allow. He is intending to make His gospel and Kingdom available to everyone. What is one of the principals of God’s Kingdom? That we should only serve Him. Period! So how can we encourage lending money to anyone, and bringing them into bondage and a curse, when we have the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciling the lost, even our enemies, to an intimate relationship with God.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Plain and simple. You cannot serve God and money. The scriptures are clear that the borrower is serving the lender. Why is the antichrist system doing everything it can to bring people into the bondage and curse of indebtedness? Even indoctrinating children while they are in school? Because this is crucial to his ability to bring you into bondage.
Pretty much everything is leveraged with indebtedness today. The stock market is where it is because of indebtedness. The United States is massively in debt, as the antichrist system has laundered money through endless wars and government contracts. Wake up people! If you are playing with debt, you’re literally playing with fire.
How many of you knew that if all debts were paid off tomorrow, there would be no money in circulation. The only way that money can enter the system, is for someone to go in debt. Whether it is the government, businesses, or private individuals, someone has to go into debt for money to go into the system. No one gets a call from the bank saying, “we need you to come down to the bank today, we need to issue $10,000 into circulation and want to give it to you to use” LOL!! No they have to convince someone to go into bondage to them, or their house of cards collapses. The government especially has a problem, because there needs to be enough money in circulation to pay the interest on the national debt, which is compounding rapidly. If all the sudden everyone, including the government, decided they don’t like this setup and don’t want to go further in debt, and everyone started paying off their debt. The government would be in trouble. Someone has to go in debt for the system to continue.
I have been walking with the Lord now for about 37 years. In all that time I have never had to be in debt, and He has always supplied everything that I have needed. He is a very loving Heavenly Father! But there was a very important reason that He didn’t want me bound by money. He told me early on that I was not to put myself in a place where I was under obligation in any way.
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
That word “owe” literally means to “be under obligation”. The Lord made it clear to me that I was not to put myself in a situation, that if He wanted me to immediately go somewhere for Him, that I would be kept from it, because of some kind of obligation. In fact He made a strong point with me that each rental situation I was in, I was to pay ahead for the month and ask for a month by month lease. When I was younger I had many rental situations, and the Lord always provided an inexpensive rent, that would allow a month by month agreement. I even had landlords that told me they couldn’t believe that they were going to do it for me. But I told them that if the Lord were to ask me to get up, pack everything and go somewhere else immediately, I would have to be able to obey Him. The Lord made it clear that I was His servant, and nothing was to be an obstacle in His way. Even when we purchased the property that our homestead was on, through a land contract from a brother in the Lord, I had to make it very clear that if at any point the Lord wanted me to walk away, I would not be hindered in any way from obeying. Of course that was a great deal for this man, because under a land contract he would have been able to keep all the money we had paid him and all the improvements we had made as well, which were many.
I have had many people say to me that there is no difference between a land contract and a bank mortgage. There are major differences. The main difference between the mortgage and land contract, is the bank is giving you money to give to someone else to purchase their home. You received money with the promise to repay. In a land contract the owner is not lending you money. They are basically allowing you to use their property on a rent to own basis. If you fail to make a payment, they get the use of their property back and all the money you gave them. The bank, in a mortgage situation, will demand that you pay them everything back, with the viper’s bite included. You simply can’t just walk away at a moments notice if the Lord wants to send you somewhere.
Some of you are going to say “well if you walk away then the bank can just take the house.” Some people during the last economic crisis found themselves “upside down”. They had taken a mortgage to buy an over inflated home for $300,000 dollars. The economy tanked and the price of homes dropped. Now the home was only worth $150,000. They lost their jobs and couldn’t make payments, so they were facing foreclosure. The problem is they still owed the bank $200,000. If the home was sold for the $150,000, they still have to come up with the remaining $50,000. You can’t just walk away, you are on the hook. Again this could never happen with a land contract, because you never received a chunk of cash, just use of a property as you made payments.
I want to share with you one more story of something that took place quite a few years ago. My family was attending an assembly where someone was moving to the area from out of state, and was looking at houses. The brother wanted the council of the elders and the deacon, before he made a decision. He was looking at going into debt to purchase a home, and I had a great check in my spirit. I let it be known that I felt that this was the wrong decision, and explained it to the elders and the deacon. They went ahead and counseled him to go into debt and he did. I told my wife that evening that the Lord had told me something significant was going to happen because of them counseling the brother contrary to the Lord’s heart. I don’t remember all the timing of what began to happen, but each of these elders and the deacon experienced a fire on a property they owned. The one elder told me the day before his large workshop had burned to the ground, that he had made his last debt payment and was totally out of debt. To rebuild he was forced to go deeply in debt. The other elder had a home that he was renting, experience a significant electrical fire that forced them to gut the home and redo the whole interior at great expense. The deacon had a rental that an arsonist set fire too, and they were forced to gut it and totally redo the inside and roof. All of these fires were totally unrelated and happened over a span of years. But do you realize what the statistical probability would be for all this to happen to those three men. Especially the head elder experiencing it the day after he was able to get completely out of debt himself.
Another thing I want to mention is the idea of saving money. Sometimes one needs to put money aside to purchase a tool for a business, or to start a business. If someone intends to start a homestead debt free, they will need to save some money to make that possible. Remember what I am constantly telling you, this has to be relationship based. The Lord knows your heart better than you do. If you feel like He would have you set aside some money to start a business, that is not just hoarding money and putting your security in it, seeking to take your ease like the rich man in former lessons. I know from having been self employed since I was 16, with many different kinds of businesses, that it takes an investment of time and money to develop something that may not only supply your needs, but also jobs for other people, and the potential to create abundance that can flow into the Kingdom of God. If you are setting money aside out of fear or because you want to create a lifestyle that is affluent, the Lord knows that. You’re not fooling Him.
So inevitably someone will ask me if it is a sin to be in debt? The scriptures tell us that whatever is not of faith is sin. Most people when pressed, will admit it is a curse and bondage, but just want to write it off as just a dumb thing to do. So then from their perspective, there are three possibilities. There are those that walk in the Spirit, those that do dumb cursed things, and those that walk in the flesh. Really?! If you are serving money in any way, you are not walking in the will of God. Obviously from the passages we looked at, being in debt places us in servitude in different ways. Jesus makes it clear that we either serve Him or money. The reason everyone wants to hesitate to call it sin, is because the problem is so systemic, and all the major “Christian financial councilors” say it’s just fine. Yes I realize I will not win a popularity contest telling everyone they need to repent and get set free from the curse and bondage of debt, and that they are to no longer put other people in bondage to them by loaning money. If someone has a need, and the Lord has supplied you with the abundance that you don’t truly need, and could lend it anyway. Just obey the Lord and lend it hoping you won’t get it back. If you are in debt, do what you can to get out of debt quickly, and keep your brothers and sisters in the Lord, from going into debt. I know for certain that God will honor it. He has for me all these years. God bless you as you seek to serve Him, and Him only!
Yes! That’s exactly it! But including more than I’ve read. Thank you for spelling it out. And thank you for your words of wisdom. It’s really true - and very comforting.
What is your take on Leviticus 25? I have followed this for 20 years and it has saved my bacon many times.