Money and Spiritual Warfare

By David Holdaway

The Bible has a great deal to say about spiritual warfare and also about money but what many do not realise is how closely these are related. When you read through the Gospels and the Book of Acts you discover how often money and spiritual conflict are connected. 
Often times, the greatest opposition to the spread of the Gospel came n

• Language: English
• Publisher: Upfront
• Release date: Jul 2, 2009
• ISBN: 9781907929229

Book preview

Introduction

How Much Can God Trust You?

Jesus connects spiritual authority with our use of money (Luke 16:10-12). He says that if we are not trustworthy with financial and material things then we will not be trusted with spiritual riches. The issue isn’t about whether God loves us, of course He does, but when it comes to ministry the question is how much can He trust us?

Three chapters later in the Parable of the Minas (Luke 19:11-27), Jesus further emphasises this by stating that if we are faithful in what God has given us financially we will be entrusted with greater authority. But if we are unfaithful we will even lose what we have.

I have read dozens of books and heard hundreds of sermons on biblical finance and prosperity some of which have been balanced and helpful while others have been extreme and confused. Two of the biggest mistakes many of these make when they speak about financial increase is that firstly, they tend to quote scripture selectively. Jesus said, "Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." When a half truth is presented as a whole truth it becomes an untruth.

The other major error is that while teaching God’s desire to bless and financially prosper His people they do not put it in the context of understanding the power of money. They focus on the riches while ignoring the dangers that the New Testament constantly warns about concerning them. Entering into God’s financial abundance is not simply about receiving it by faith – it also has to do with a life that is submitted to Gods’ will, walking in righteousness and coming to a place where God can trust us with more because it is the blesser and not the blessing that is our greatest desire.

John Wesley the founder of Methodism, understood well the dangers of money and its connection with spiritual warfare. He could have become a very wealthy man but believed his calling was to live simply and prudently. During his life a great deal of money passed through his hands into the work of God’s kingdom. The sale of his writings alone could have made him rich. In an age when a single man could live comfortably on £30 a year, his annual income reached £1,400.

Yet when he died all he left were a few pounds in money, six silver spoons and 129,000 Methodists. His life was no vow of poverty, he was blessed with and enjoyed many good things but he was constantly aware of how the devil used riches to undermine God’s work and to compromise and take captive God’s people. Wesley was a great giver of himself and his money.

In a famous message on the Causes of the Inefficacy (ineffectiveness) of Christianity he said,

Does it not seem (and yet this cannot be) that Christianity, true scriptural Christianity, has a tendency, in process of time, to undermine and destroy itself? For wherever true Christianity spreads, it must cause diligence and frugality, which, in the natural course of things, must beget riches! And riches naturally beget pride and love of the world. Now, if there be no way to prevent this, Christianity is inconsistent with itself, and of consequence, cannot stand, cannot continue long among any people; since, wherever it generally prevails, it saps its own foundation.

His solution to this paradox,

But is there no way to prevent this – to continue Christianity among a people? Is there no means to hinder riches from destroying the religion of those that possess them? I can see only one possible way; find another who can. Do you gain all you can, and save all you can? Then you must, in the nature of things, grow rich. Then if you have any desire to escape the damnation of hell, give all you can, otherwise I can have no more hope of your salvation, than that of Judas Iscariot.

If money has control over our lives we become ineffective and untrustworthy in God’s purposes. Like a police officer who can be paid off or a judge who can be bought we may function but will never fulfil our calling in God.

A truly biblical understanding of money and wealth can be summed up by:

•You cannot serve God and money but you can serve God with it.

•We are not to serve money but rather money is to serve us. Wealth and wealthier does not equal prosperity.

•Biblical prosperity is not just about your standard of living. It is about your whole quality of life.

Understanding and applying these truths is life changing.

Chapter 1

Money and Warfare

During World War II the Nazis came up with an audacious plan to disrupt and cripple the British and American economies. They called it Operation Bernhard and it became one of the biggest counterfeiting schemes in history. It involved a plot to flood Britain and America with millions of fake pounds and dollars which would cause chaos by corrupting their financial systems and seriously disrupting their capacity to wage war. The counterfeiting was undertaken by professional printers, expert graphic artists and bank officials brought in from German concentration camps, (the story is told in the 2007 film The Counterfeiters). The strategy was to produce £130 million fake pounds and a similar amount in dollars. The quality of the forged currency was very good and almost impossible to distinguish from the real notes. The curious part is that SS officer Alfred Helmut Naujocks came up with the idea by noting the British near-perfect counterfeits of German auxiliary certificates of 50 Reichsfenning notes.

The operations chief was SS Sturmbannfuhrer (major) Bernhard Kruger, for whom Operation Bernhard was named. Thankfully it failed, had it succeeded it could have had catastrophic effects for the Allies. Only a tiny amount of the forged currency made its way into circulation and most was destroyed by the Germans when it was thrown into Lake Toplitz in Austria towards the end of the war.

The necessity of money to wage and win wars was one of the main reasons the Germans did not invade and occupy Switzerland during World War II. It needed a neutral banker through which to finance its war effort. Convoys of lorries regularly carried huge amounts of cash and gold from the Axis occupied lands, including the concentration camps, to the banks of Switzerland to pay for the raw materials of industry supplied by other nations. The Swiss National Bank was the largest gold distribution centre in continental Europe before the war and during the war is claimed to have received $440m of gold from Germany, of which $316m is estimated to have been looted.

History is full of examples of countries using their enemy’s currency against them as a means of making war. Napoleon counterfeited Austrian and Russian notes as well as British pounds. He is said to have considered such tactics as unsavoury and attempted to keep them secret, but it did not stop him from doing it because he realised the benefits involved. When the Russian Revolution was over, Joseph Stalin had US $100 notes counterfeited to raise hard currency, but they found the paper was so hard to reproduce they bleached lower denomination US notes, then printed the $100 forged engraving on them. Stalin commissioned American gangsters to disperse the money, offering a 30 per cent discount. Likewise, the United States covert military operations have used forged currency extensively to undermine foreign governments such as during the Vietnamese war.

It was no coincidence that when Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda launched major terrorist attacks on America as an act of war, the targets were centres for the nation’s military and financial institutions.

America’s initial response after the shock and outrage was for Congress to approve billions of dollars be made available for the fight against terrorism and along with them nations around the world started searching for and freezing bank accounts belonging to known terrorist organisations. This release and restriction of money is of vital importance in warfare.

The Acts of the Apostles

The Bible has a great deal to say about spiritual warfare and also about money but what many do not realise is how closely these are related. When you read through the book of Acts you discover how often money and spiritual conflict are connected.

In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison because Paul had cast a demon out of a slave girl and her masters were furious,

When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

Acts 16:19

Note the attack against Paul and Silas was instigated because they had ruined the financial prospects of the owners of the slave girl. In Acts 19 there was a riot in Ephesus because of the effect of Paul’s ministry there. Revival broke out in the city as the people burned their occult scrolls and paraphernalia. Then major opposition arose but it wasn’t from the political or religious quarter but from the commercial sector. It was about money and the associated worship of the goddess Artemis,

About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia."

Acts 19:23-26

Throughout his whole ministry fierce attacks continued on Paul from the pagan business community. In the last letter he wrote he warns Timothy about an idol craftsman who fiercely opposed his message,

Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.

2 Timothy 4:14,15

Sin in the Camp

The first sin highlighted in the life of the early church had to do with money. In Acts 5 we are told about a couple called Ananias and Sapphira who sold some property and gave the proceeds to the apostles for the care and provision of the whole church.

This was all very commendable but Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead by God. Why such a terrible punishment? It was because of the deceit and disdain for God’s presence and purity. Peter made it clear that the money was theirs to do with as they desired but it was the deception of pretending to give the whole sum when they had only given a part that they were being judged for. They were opening the way for the enemy to infiltrate the life and integrity of the church.

If the first recorded sin in the early church had to do with money then there is a parallel with the first recorded sin of the Israelites after they had entered the Promised Land. Achan took silver and gold that should have gone into the Lord’s treasury and hid it in the ground within his tent. The consequences were defeat for Israel against their enemies and death for Achan and his family.

Acts 3

Returning to the book of Acts, when Peter says to the beggar in Acts 3, Silver and gold have I none, he was simply stating he had no money to give because the group’s treasurer, Judas, had run off with it all and committed suicide. There have been many reasons conjectured as to why Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus but the only one the Gospels highlight is that he was a thief and loved money. His words to the religious leaders reveal how much money had taken hold of his life and so become the vehicle for satan’s plans and purposes,

Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Matthew 26:14:16

Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss and for 30 pieces of silver. An apostle destroyed by satan through his love of money.

You Can’t Serve God and Money but you can Serve God With it

We cannot buy God’s favour but meanness of spirit becomes a blockage to what God desires to do. Worshipping God is not just about singing, it’s about a lifestyle of giving, Romans 12:2. It’s not only taking out our song books it’s also getting out our cheque books. A church where the offerings are miserly because the people do not give will never be effective for God. I like the story of the theology student who was wrestling with a question he had on the book of Revelation in chapter five. He couldn’t understand what was represented by the book that no one could open. He went to his minister for advice. That’s simple, said the minister, It must be the cheque book.

In Acts 10 we see the positive side of money through what a godly and generous person can do to advance the Gospel. This was a remarkable encounter when Peter was commanded by God in a vision to accept an invitation to go to the home of a Roman centurion named Cornelius. While he was speaking there the Spirit of God fell upon the gathering and the great outreach to the gentile world began, but notice how we are told it started,

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, Cornelius! Cornelius stared at him in