GOD ON MONEYBy Steve Kovaka<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
 
These days, God's opinion is not often sought on matters of public concern, but perhaps we will soon get desperate enough to do so.  The Enlightenment background of our modern secular society has led to a common belief that "man is the measure of all things."  Practically speaking, we have dethroned God as the ultimate Judge; we have devalued tradition in favor of constant change, and growing numbers of us reject the idea that there are any permanent moral boundaries that might rightfully restrain man's actions.  The question remains, however, whether this belief that man is "the master of his fate and the captain of his soul" is true, or whether judgment will ultimately come in spite of this belief.  Given our current precarious worldwide economy, it might be good to take a peek at its underpinnings and see how they are likely to stand up to the judgment that seems to be rapidly approaching.
 
FIAT MONEY
 
The word Fiat derives from Latin fiat, "let it be done," from fieri, "to be done".  When God created the heavens and the earth, he said, "Fiat Lux" - Let there be light.  The same phrase is used throughout Genesis 1 - "Let there be".  His was a fiat creation, made entirely from nothing at all (ex nihilo), brought into existence by His mere word. It was a demonstration of his Divine power and ability.  Part of God's fiat creation was gold and silver, the money of history, created from nothing in strictly limited quantities.  Their total amount can never be augmented by man.  Merely to locate and extract them from the earth confirms God's curse on man:
 
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground."
  Man must work to live, and honest money can only be produced by man's labor.    Now comes man's creation, The State.  Scripturally, it is allowed some God-Like powers.  Specifically it can make law, just as God did, and it legitimately has the power of life and death over lawbreakers, just as God does.  However, since these are merely delegated powers, they must be exercised in conformity to the will of the One who gave them in order to be legitimate.  This is the theory of government under which the USA declared it's independence from England.    However, the curse of sin has caused The State always to usurp more and more power in an attempt to raise itself from merely accountable government, to GODvernment, accountable to on one.  All through scripture, ever since the Tower of Babel, we find States and rulers corrupted by power, attempting to evict God from heaven and take over his throne of absolute dominion.  This originated with Satan himself, who scripture reports as saying:

"I will ascend to heaven;  I will raise my throne  above the stars of God;  I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,  on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.  I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;  I will make myself like the Most High."
Isaiah 14:13-14
 
 The State has a long and sordid history of counterfeiting God's money, also known as currency debasement.  At first they adulterated the metal with cheaper metal, or made smaller coins of the same denomination.  In fact the State invented the concept of "denomination", as opposed to simple weight – thereby dividing the name from the substance.  "A penny is a penny is a penny."  Uh - even if ALL of the copper is removed???   The invention of paper money, sold with the "sizzle" of convenience, took The State right to the brink of total fiat currency.  Combine this with money of account and banking practices and computers, and The State has actually arrived at the point of true fiat currency.  Ben "B-52" Bernanke is its Prophet - all He need do is to say, "Let There Be Money", and the money (now called "liquidity") appears, literally made from nothing at all.  Now not even paper is needed.  How much "money" can fit inside a laptop computer?  When God looked at His creation, he said: "It is good."  Even today, men accept God's money without any need for compulsion, because it is good.  It is beautiful, it is enduring, it is honest, and it honors man's labor.  The State's creation, however, is NOT good.  It is evil, transient, founded on fraud, and requires legal tender laws and State coercion to keep it in circulation.  It requires lies and deception to prevent public awareness and the resulting price increases.  It subverts free markets because it requires constant intervention to maintain its economic position.  People accept it as a slave accepts his slavery - because it seems inevitable and they feel powerless to change it.  That is, if they think about it at all.  And yet, how much better off we might be if today we really had fiat money as described above.  Actually, we have something much, much worse.  We have debt money.
 
 
DEBT MONEY 
Many write about fiat money but far fewer make the distinction between fiat money and debt money.  There's a BIG difference.    1) Commodity money such as gold and silver comes into existence only through human labor.  It is valuable in itself and limited in supply.    2) Fiat money comes into existence by decree.  It is nothing in itself, and only valuable by coercion.  It is potentially unlimited in supply.  3) Debt money must be borrowed into existence.  Its issuers derive a permanent income from its use, paid for by society at large.    A Biblical worldview recognizes that debt, like fire and government, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.  A disbelieving world is in the midst of relearning this simple lesson. The general principle is stated in Proverbs 22:7 - The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.  Moses declared that debt is one of the curses on a nation that rejects God's law:   Blessing on Obedience: 12 You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail.   Curse on Rebellion  43 The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.  (Deuteronomy 28)  Today, many of you can still remember when America was the world's greatest creditor, lending to other nations.  Today, we are by far the largest debtor.  Once Upon a Time, the USA was established with a Constitutional money of silver and gold.  That money was taken from us in slow stages, and today we make do with Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs).  A Note is evidence of debt, a promise to repay.  Those who issue the notes can do so in unlimited quantities at no cost to themselves, so these notes are a form of fiat currency.  Those who use the notes must labor to repay the debt.  Is this not a succinct statement of bondage?  There is also interest on this debt, which must be paid year by year.  This represents an economic burden on society at large, and a permanent flow of wealth to those who issue the FRNs.  Does this not sound like a permanent curse?  Here's how one prophet described it: "You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
Haggai 1:6 In recent years, we have seen massive money creation leading to negative real interest rates, low interest rates leading to a desperate search for higher investment returns, and that search for returns (and for big commissions) producing a flood of OTC derivatives that promised higher returns, but instead delivered a flood of losses, with more to come.
 
So where does the federal government (FG) fit into this picture?  The Constitution gave it power to coin money by operating a mint.  This degenerated into a power to issue (fiat) money.  That power was later delegated to a financial/banking consortium in the form of the Federal Reserve Corporation (FRC).  What did the federal government get in return?  Not much.  They sold our birthright for an unlimited credit line with the FRC.  They can borrow by issuing federal debt certificates - bills, notes and bonds - and the FRC then "credits their account" with an equivalent amount of newly created fiat FRNs.  Normally, or ostensibly, the FRC then goes out and resells those debt certificates on the open market.  But they don't really have to do that, and what they actually do will probably become more and more obscure to those few of us who even care, as any kind of accountability and transparency in financial reporting follows M3 into oblivion.    The FRC can also lend newly created fiat money (FRNs) to the private banking system, just like it does to the FG.  This money is subsequently lent out to the people at interest.  Through the miracle of the fractional reserve banking system, this amount of money can be further multiplied and these increases are also lent at interest.  But Wait!  Couldn't the FG just issue the fiat money themselves, directly, without any need for the FRC?  They certainly could.  Lincoln did so with his issues of "greenbacks" to finance the Civil War, and so did Jeff Davis for the Confederate States.  Gosh, then there would be no interest due on borrowed funds?  No federal debt?  Bingo!  At least in theory.  Kind of makes a pure fiat money system seem like the Garden of Eden, doesn't it?  So why do we have a FRC at all?  Excellent question, Grasshopper.  You must seek the answer at Jekyll Island. Take the Red Pill!  Wake up to this!  Today, we have debt money, not pure fiat.  So now there is an easy mechanism for the FG to contract debts on behalf of the people, and spend the money without having to first tax it away from the people.  "Tax, Spend, and Elect" has become "Borrow, Spend, and Elect!"  And there is "Easy Al" Greenspan or "B52" Bernanke on hand as High Priest to mystify and bless the whole process and to take the heat for the never ending round of economic problems.  Everybody is happy, for a time.  Thought questions: How can all this debt ever be retired, if the "money" to retire the debt has to be borrowed into existence???  How does society ever get loose from this fiscal flypaper???  And WHO ARE THESE GUYS on the receiving end of all that interest?    Apparently, rejecting God and going our own way in a Naturalistic world is not quite the trouble free proposition we were promised.
  
Trouble in the water.  Trouble in the air.  Go all the way to the other side of the world - you'll find trouble there.  You can see the writing on the wall inviting - trouble! Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, Nothing but Trouble!
 Bob Dylan