Opportunity Knocks 11-22-09
The world was coming to an end. This was due not to some cataclysmic war or staggering epidemic, but because the world was running out of an incredibly vital resource: oil. No, not petroleum oil, but whale oil. This was the middle of the 19th century, and Yankee Whalers provided products for just about every facet of American life, from lighting and cooking oil to whale bone used in women’s corsets. And by 1859 these whalers had become so efficient that the whale population dwindled precipitously. With shortages in every market in the world, what could possibly replace such a crucial resource? Then Colonel Drake drilled in Titusville, PA and America never looked back.* Most people cannot conceive of a world without petroleum-based products, and we have today many doomsayers that cry out that life must come to a screeching halt because we are running out of oil.
It is amazing to me that so many people believe that there are only so many resources, and that if one person thrives then another person must starve. But is that reality? Socialists teach that this is a world of scarcity, that all wealth comes from oppression of labor forces. Atheists believe that man is simply a tool-using animal. And far too many Christians do not realize that their assumptions about life come from the education they received at the hands of Atheist Socialists.
Free market capitalists believe that wealth is created by economic activity and when one person thrives, another person has the chance to prosper as well. Is this reality? Yes, but only in light of a creator. It should come as no surprise that a nation founded on Christianity is the nation that provided the greatest economic prosperity in the history of the world; it should also not surprise us when that same nation stumbles economically as it rejects that same Christianity.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31 NIV)
Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. (Deuteronomy 5:33 NIV)
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. (Proverbs 6:6-8 NIV)
God made the Earth (with man in it) a VERY GOOD place. He created man to have dominion over the Earth, and gave man creativity when he made man in his own image. He also created us to follow his ways, which include industriousness, righteousness, and love for God and man. So the Socialists are wrong and the Capitalists who reject God are fools. This world was created as a world of abundance precisely to show us the love of the Father and to show us his power.
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? … So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:24-34 NIV)
A Godless Capitalist seeks only after money, but a Godly Capitalist seeks to trust in God and to be industrious, laboring in this world while laboring in the Kingdom. There is no inherent righteousness attached to poverty, but rather the righteous are unattached to wealth (either in having it or lacking it). For the righteous recognize that God created this world of plenty to show us that while his arm is long and his power mighty, his mercy and generosity are greater still. The Children of God should marvel at the gracious and bounteous world the Father has given us, knowing that if we will learn his ways and abide in his light, we will inherit a world that far surpasses this one. And so, opportunities exist all around us to create wealth, both earthly and heavenly. I urge you to do both, using the earthly wealth in ways that will create the heavenly wealth.
-Charles Peterson
* Pilzer, Paul Zane. God Wants You To Be Rich. New York: Fireside, 1995.