November 09, 2005 2:38 AM

(~) Prophets of Profit

Where Are Voices Like Jeremiah's Today?

Harold W. Button

I once knew an old former banker who impressed me greatly. His bank had failed in the Great Depression of the 1930s. He and his wife lived comfortably, but not richly. He had used his own wealth to make sure that all depositors who lost money in the bank he directed were reimbursed. That man had a sense of responsibility and the character to act on it, and he was a capitalist!

That was almost fifty years ago. Now we have the multi-millionaire executives of Enron, Anderson, Global Crossings (and many more) who have ripped off their own employees, the taxpayers, and their stockholders. Do we hear any of them speaking in remorse for the damage and hurt they have caused? Do we hear any of them vowing to make good with their own fortunes for the losses they caused? If my banker friend from the 1950s was a capitalist, what should we call these present-day executives? Crapitalists?

Crapitalists grab all the profits and riches for themselves and leave the crap for the majority of the people. The crap they leave for others is: unemployment, low wages, lost savings, huge public debt, tainted food, environmental degradation, energy failures, unaffordable health care, etc.

The land is full of people unfaithful to the Lord: they live wicked lives and misuse their power. Because of the Lords curse the land mourns and the pastures are dry. Do these words fit the present situation in the United States? Jeremiah, the biblical prophet, spoke these words to the people of Jerusalem and Judah about 2,500 years ago.

Why did Jeremiah speak thus to the people of Jerusalem? It was because they worshipped false gods! God told his people through Jeremiah that they were whoring after false gods. They were adulterers; they did not show justice to the oppressed; they took advantage of aliens, orphans, and widows; they were killing innocent people; they do one violent thing after another. Does this sound like a description of life today?

What happened after Jeremiahs exhortations were ignored? Lamentations! The people of Jerusalem and Judah were exiled to Babylon until they had proved their faithfulness to the Lord. Then he restored them to their land around Jerusalem.

What do the prophets of today tell us? They assure us that money is speech; the market solves all problems; there are no limits to technological progress and development; global warming is happening, but it doesnt really matter; abortion is murder, but killing with sanctions and war is OK; God is always on our side no matter what we do.

Most of these prophets are economic and political prophets. You seldom hear a true religious prophet speaking today. Perhaps that is because religion is expected to support the established order, not to transform daily life or give it new direction. Thus our politicians insist on the words under God in the Pledge of Allegiance to the government, and In God We Trust on our coins. This is done regardless of what Jesus tells us about what God wants of his faithful. (Every once in a while you run into an honest person who puts up a sign that I have seen a few times: In God we trust, all others pay cash. That is a godless statement, but it sure fits modern reality.)

Money is not only a necessary medium of exchange for goods and services, as the prophets of capitalism would have us believe. Money and wealth have become Mammon, a means to power over other human beings who are also created in the image of God. Archbishop Romero of El Salvador said before he was murdered in 1980: Money is good, but selfish persons have made it bad and sinful. Power is good, but abuse by humans has made it something to fear. All has been created by God, but humans have subjected it to sin (The Violence of Love).

These prophets of Mammon often use the Christian jargon of the self-proclaimed righteous ones, the Moral Majority, the saved ones. Yet strangely enough, they all seem to come down on the side of wealth and property, and consequently, power over others. They claim Gods special blessing, but they worship the Golden Calf.

And if things dont go well for our modern day prophets of profit, the solution is to punish or eliminate the bad guys, the evil-doers. Sound simple, doesnt it? They would have us all believe that there are simply bad guys and good guys, and that we know who they are.

Now, if you are a follower of Jesus you know that there are really no good guys or bad guys. All people have the same basic physical needs to sustain life, the same human nature, and the same desires and motivations, such as self-preservation and generosity, sexual desire, and the need to love and to be loved. We are all capable of goodness and sin. We can all be selfish or unselfish, violent or peaceful, loving or hateful, constructive or destructive, compliant or obstinate. As Walt Kellys Pogo has told us, We have met the enemy, and he is us!

Jesus had more trouble with the good people of his daythe scribes and Phariseesthan he did with the sinners. In fact, the scribes and Pharisees saw to it that the Roman government killed him. Jesus words and deeds consoled the sick, the poor, and the powerless. He came to minister to sinners, rich or poor. Time after time he told them to repent of their sins, gave them his forgiveness, and told them to go and sin no more. He criticized the elite, the powerful, the righteous people such as the scribes and Pharisees. He admonished them that they put burdens on other people which they would not carry themselves.

Jesus recognized wealth and property as a barrier to love. Witness the rich young man who had done everything God required, but in the end could not give up his great wealth (Mark 10:17-31). Jesus also gave us the stories of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31), the widows mite (Mark 12:41-44), the parable of the rich young fool (Luke 12:13-21), and Jesus and Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:1-10). All these stories show how money gets in the way of love. There is no love for God if there is no love for our fellow human beings.

As the writings of American farmer Wendell Berry clearly show, not only have we lost community among human beings, but we have also lost community with nature and the land. The modern prophets of Progress call man to unhealthy and selfish individualism, as well as a relativism in which everything is permissible and there are no fixed boundaries or principles to live by. Many people live by bread alone, contrary to Jesus teaching. They are becoming sick with the sin of selfishness. As a result we have an epidemic of obesity, while far too many people in rich countries as well as in the poorer parts of the world go to bed hungry. Then theres the growing problem of polluted land, air, and water.

What can a disciple of Jesus do today? How can he or she penetrate the spinthe half-truths and lies of the news and information given to explain events? How do we find the truth in secular things to which we can apply the spiritual truth that will set us free?

One thing a disciple of Jesus can do is to look at the deeds rather than the words of people. Jesus said, By their fruits you will know them. Disregard the labels used: conservative, liberal, progressive, reactionary, left wing, right wing, centrist, Christian, pagan, atheist, terrorist, democratic, authoritarian, totalitarian, etc. Look beyond the rhetoric of the politicians, the bureaucrats, the media, the corporations and the financiers. Look at the results, at what they do and the effects of their actions. Words mean little any more. There have been too many liars in positions of authority.

It will help to ask yourself these questions about all political, economic, and social ideas and actions:

1.Who is paying the bills for this? 2.Who benefits from this? 3.Regardless of the short-term results, what are the long-term repercussions? 4.Does this action or idea empower more people or fewer people? 5.Does this action or idea show respect and care for all Gods creation (both humankind and the natural environment)?

After you have determined the answers to these questions you have a basis for judgment and action. Your first action must be to pray that Gods will be done. Remember that he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. So you must pray for his enemies as well as his friends, just as he did. Look for the hidden Christ in everyone.

Sadly, our political, cultural, and religious leaders, with few exceptions, lead us in worshipping the golden calf and the gods of Baal. Human nature has not changed since the beginning of history. Kings and presidents have not changed much since Jeremiahs time.

Jeremiah called the people of Judah to repent, to change their lives and return to the worship of God, and to obedience to Gods commands for respect and justice for all people. The people of Judah knew and spoke all the right words, but their deeds did not match their words; they sinned and disobeyed God. They were hypocrites.

How is it in the Christian churches of today? How many Christians are their brothers keeper? How many Good Samaritans and repentant tax collectors would one find? How many are willing to share with, and sacrifice for, others, even within their own congregation, let alone beyond? How many of the leaders and role models you hear of these days would do what my old banker friend did for the people who trusted his stewardship of their money?

Perhaps we need to stop and listen to the Jeremiahs of our day. They are there to be found if you care enough for the truth to look for them. But in my experience they are seldom found in the mainstream media. There the corporate bottom line takes precedence over truth. Look for them at the fringes, among the despised and slandered.

Reprinted from http://www.bruderhof.com/, used with pernission