Butchering Mammon or your conscience? Swan song # 8
“Mammon is a term that was used to describe riches, avarice, and worldly gain in Biblical literature. It was personified as a false god in the New Testament. The term is often used to refer to excessive materialism or greed as a negative influence.” Wikipedia
Webster’s dictionary defines ‘Mammon‘ as: 1) the false god of riches and avarice. 2) riches regarded as an object of worship and greedy pursuit; wealth as an evil, more or less personified.
Mammon has corrupted Western Civilization, of that there can be little doubt. Now that the god of this age is shaking and falling, what will you do? Learn to live without this golden calf or fall at its altar, worshipping riches in a bid to revive the idol.
It is easy to point to the abortion industry as a golden calf. After all, it turns little people into economic interests. In the middle ages the dream of the alchemists was to get rich spinning straw into gold. The abortionists get rich spinning the preborn into shekels. But it does not stop there … Hollywood moguls get rich spinning sex into entertainment dollars … modern governments spin debt into paper money to bailout the present at great cost to the future … and … are you ready for this … the Christian Right gets rich spinning yarns into giving units.
Back in the days of Rescue the nationals used to have a saying. You did not hear it unless you were close to the inside. It was something about not beginning to believe your own press releases. The underlying assumption was that press releases tended to exagerate the truth of the matter.
For money, for power, for fame.
Yarns spun into giving units. It was the sad result of direct mail, which is the lifeblood of the Christian Right. I should say was the lifeblood, since reports from all over have been that this strategy, proven to bring in the geld since the 80’s, is now failing.
The Christian Right and its mailing lists were born during the Reagan years, and it is a little known fact that the men behind the letters got really rich. Not only many of the leaders, but also many of the ghost writers. Those men who added the red ink, the person touches, the exaggerations. (Don’t make the mistake of beginning to believe you own fundraising letters.)
Yarns spun into giving units. For money, for power, for fame.
When I was putting ArchAngel together some nationally recognized pro-life leaders gave me advice. One pulled me aside and whispered this:”Do not do your own fundraising letters, hire professionals. Realize that they will have to take a healthy cut and go over the top at times with the appeals.” I felt sick to my stomach. I was then told such was the way things worked in this business, and if I were to succeed I would have to accept that fact. Another prominent leader advised me against focusing upon Fort Wayne. “I have found,” he matter of factly stated, “that you bring in much more money if you keep a national focus, even if operating only locally.”
Yarns spun into giving units. For money, for power, for fame.
On another occasion I was speaking with a pro-life promoter who told me of a pro-life team that bought an abortion clinic and evicted the owner. I corrected him, stating that I knew the facts and that the abortionist had moved out before the clinic was bought out by the ‘lifers. I was told that I needed to realize that there was nothing wrong with embellishing the story for dramatic effect.
Well color me old fashioned, but I think there is something very wrong with all of the above.
Whatever happened to the doctrine of Mammon? Can one serve God and money? Can one live by direct mail and do the Will of the Father? Does an embellishment here and yarn there soon end in a butchered conscience?
Yarns spun into giving units. For money, for power, for fame.
It was all too much for many who watched from the sidelines long ago, even before the pitches got fevered. Consider this social commentary by Queensryche:
“Religion and sex are power plays
manipulate the people for money they pay
selling skin, selling God,
the numbers are the same on the credit card.”
The ArchAngel Institute was not born of Mammon and has not pursued Mammon. We have tried to walk by Faith and live on just what God supplied. We have seen doors open that seemed locked. We have witnessed strange occurrences that strike us as miraculous. Retta just reported another one tonight, look for her to post some good copy next week about a trip to Michigan — just as soon as I finish my swan song.
My views of Mammon and faith were kick started hard back in ‘91, when Susan Hill and George Klopfer’s attorneys relieved me of almost all of my worldly possessions and my career. I wandered west to Wichita, were I learned to live on faith. I had no dependents and it was easy to just look skyward and say “what’s next, Lord?” I did not worry about money and wanted for nothing. I did not live a champagne lifestyle — it has been my experience that God is more proletarian than bourgeoisie in his tastes. He likes us more poor than rich. He knows the lure of Mammon.
As the years passed and the kids came I became more complacent, less faith filled, more trusting in salaries and my career once again. Than, thanks be to God (that was not easy to say) the Left hit me very hard once again. This time I had a wife and four kids. I was again privileged to walk forward in faith. Not relying on a career. Not relying on a salary. Relying on God. He did not disappoint. But it was a great challenge.
Could it be that we are now all, all of us Americans, facing this haunting specter? Could it be that the golden calf of the American economy is falling so that those who call upon the Name of the Lord can come out of a sick world system to walk by faith?
Are you ready for that?
Tonight I bequeath to my readers this advice: Do not fear a walk by Faith. He really is there, He really will hold you aloft. He may want you poorer, that is true. Poor is dependent upon Him. But He can be trusted to see you through.
A depression may be coming. It will not be new to me, I have lived in one since January, 2007, and been persecuted by my government at the same time. Blacklisted and blackballed. But He has met my family’s every actual need. Is our 501 c-3 packed up tight? No. Is our retirement planned? No. Have we lived on less than we thought we could? Yes. Could God be trying to set our priorities aright? Yes, I think so.
Consider our Saviour’s words:
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully;
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Don’t hear these preached often do you? Could it be that we have become “of the nations?” Even the Christian Right?
Yarns spun into giving units. For money, for power, for fame.
As I step down from the ArchAngel Institute we are financially solvent by the Grace of God. But we do not have treasures stored up in barns. Like the children of Israel we have just enough manna for today, and trust in God that more will come when needed. That more manna needs only be enough to keep the lights on, rent paid and Retta given a retainer to staff the Institute.
We need less than $900 a week to keep this ministry open as a beacon of light and hope. Just this week Retta has entertained two women working through the pain of past abortions at the Institute. Stop and imagine that! A former abortion clinic being used of God to bring healing to those deeply wounded by abortion.
We are seeking first the Kingdom of God, as best we can. Pray that we remain true to that High calling. Pray that we always butcher golden calves rather than our own consciences.
I pledge to you in this swan song that the ArchAngel Institute has not given into the temptation to spin yarns into giving units. Not for money, not for power, not for fame.
Bryan
p.s. Here is tonight’s rock and roll nexus. It pretty well sums up my 20 years on the front.
Here is a great American of days gone by saying much the same as I did above.
