All round the globe, and from generation to generation, those who made money their god and their ultimate pursuit; those who stole and looted treasuries, have never lasted in the annals of positive history, much less in pleasing God. And for the church of Christ, it is a matter of emergency to rescue the current and next generation of Christians and ministers alike from the grip of mammon — the god of greed and covetousness.
It was around 3 p.m. in the afternoon that my phone rang to the call of a respected personality, who out of everyone in this world considered me the most suitable beneficiary of this multibillion dollar project. To make the deal irresistible, they dared to shore up my stake to a whooping and a mouth-watering figure that would instantly turn my financial fortunes around. The blood of Jesus! Heaven has finally smiled on you. Building a thirty thousand world class church auditorium is now within your reach. Hosting international conferences and conventions across Africa and around the world with highly sought-after preachers, is now within your reach, whispered the devil to my heart.
This is your greatest chance at “blowing” in ministry. Who would know the source of your wealth?, whispered the devil to my heart. But no sooner had I reviewed the details of the offer than I turned it down, right on the spot. It was a world class fraudulent deal.
Do you identify as a true follower of Christ and wealth accumulation is your lifelong pursuit? Perhaps, you were told by someone or a school of thought you hold in high esteem that the ultimate will of God for you in life is to “accumulate wealth.” You have been misled to toe the most slippery path of life, the same path that has pierced the souls of men with many sorrows and untold compromises. It will interest you to know that both contemporary history and Bible history converge at the same truth: those who make wealth accumulation their sole and overarching mandate in life end up trapped in the vanities of their pursuit. Let us look at the following contemporary history.
“Friedrich Flick used slave labor supplied from Hitler’s concentration camps to build his business, and as the business grew, he channeled the funds back to Hitler’s murderous campaign across Europe. Friedrich Flick was a major contributor to the death of millions of Jews and others that died in the second world war. Friedrich Flick was so rich that he pioneered and built more than three hundred German companies, with business interests scattered across sectors like iron ore, aviation, coal mines, foundries, steel mills, chemical plants, trucks, and rails, among others. Friedrich Flick was self-centered and proud. History has it that he never listened to his wife’s advice or the advice of any of his family members. His level of apathy, ignorance, cruelty, and self-centeredness was so legendary that, when in 1966, his wife died, he buried her at 3pm, and was back at his desk at 5pm. Like other greedy, wicked, proud, and self-centered leaders in history whose main pursuit in life is wealth accumulation, Friedrich Flick died in 1972, leaving a $2 billion fortune behind, which later found its way into other people’s hands, while some crumbled and went down the drain totally.”
Similarly, there is a man in the Bible who became so wealthy to the point that he got drowned in the vanity of his reckless pursuits. His name was Solomon. Truly, God gave him humongous wealth plus the wisdom needed to manage the wealth. However, in Deuteronomy 17:17, God spelt out this instruction to the kings of Israel as far as the matter of wealth accumulation was concerned:
“Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.”
The key words here are these, “nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.” In other words, these silver and gold are not to serve your purpose but should serve a larger kingdom purpose. In other words, those who have true kingdom wealth should not be reservoirs, but channels through whom these riches flow into the building of lives and the genuine expansion of God’s kingdom at large; not the expansion of their personal empires. Hear the voice of Paul in this heart-rending scripture:
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” (1 Timothy 6:9)
Sadly, the operating model of mammon is this: To entrench in the hearts of men an avid desire to acquire and gather as much wealth as possible, using every means possible to gain as much influence and power as possible. This is the vanity of wealth. It promises you the endless supply of pleasure but numbs you to the reality of the pains and pressure it carries. It promises you endless access to power but numbs you to the reality of the corruption of power. It promises you unfettered access to fame but numbs you to the reality of the perils of fame. It is called the vanity of wealth.
At the end of his life, Solomon had veered off the pathway of the fear of God. He had been captured by mammon, the god of the vanity of wealth, the same god that controls the wicked rulers of the earth. They kill to acquire and accumulate wealth. They loot and exploit. Yet, when they die, they are only buried in a small portion of their vast estates and empires. It is called the vanity of wealth. Prior to his death, Alexander the Great told his disciples to place him in his grave with one of his hands, hanging out. “Why should we not close your coffin”, asked one of his disciples? He replied, “so that everyone may know that I brought nothing into this world, and I have taken nothing out.”
Speaking to the graduating class of Vassar College in 2001 about the vanity of wealth, Stephen King said, “We come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we are just as broke.” Warren Buffet? Going out broke. Bill gates? Going out broke.
If this is not startling enough, listen to a similar, but more captivating rendition of the same sentiments by Pastor John Piper:
“Picture 269 people entering eternity through a disaster in the Sea of Japan. Before the crash, there are a noted politician, a millionaire corporate executive, and others. After the disaster, they all stand before God utterly stripped of Mastercard, checkbooks, how-to-succeed books, and Hilton reservations. Here are all these people with nothing, absolutely nothing, in their hands, possessing only what they brought in their hearts. How absurd and tragic the lover of money will seem on that day—like a man who spends his whole life collecting train tickets and in the end is so weighed down by the collection that he misses the last train.”
All round the globe, and from generation to generation, those who made money their god and their ultimate pursuit; those who stole and looted treasuries, have never lasted in the annals of positive history, much less in pleasing God. And for the church of Christ, it is a matter of emergency to rescue the current and next generation of Christians and ministers alike from the grip of mammon — the god of greed and covetousness. You cannot love God and money at the same time. Never claim to be capable of doing both at the same time. Pursuers of wealth can never be faithful pursuers of God.
Ayo Akerele is the Senior Pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com
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