Chapter 9 – Magic Money: Wealth without Wisdom, Sacrifice or Work By David Kullberg True money has integrity. It’s an object of real, tangible wealth that can be used as an honest medium of exchange. Therefore, true money can only be created by natural resources, productive labor, and creative enterprise. It cannot be imagined into existence by wishful thinking or human legislation. It is real, grounded in the reality of the Creator/creation distinction. The antithesis of true money is “magic money” commonly called fiat currency. The original intent of paper currency notes issued by banks and governments was for the [...]

Chapter 8: True Money or the Devil’s Deceit The “creation” of wealth, both national and personal prosperity, is attributed in the Bible to the blessings and curses of God (Deut. 28). God determines, in his own way and to his own purposes, the ultimate outcome of human efforts, whether prosperous blessings or scarcity and ruin.1 Christians often find a scriptural perspective of wealth challenging because our culture tends to minimize or ignore the reality that we are not the owners of the earth’s resources – The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it (1 Cor. 10:26). Instead of owners, [...]

Chapter 7:  The Illusion of Possession and Control August 5, 2021 “Christians all profess but find it difficult to bring home to their feelings – the doctrine that they did not create themselves, and that their talents were given to them.”[1]  C.S. Lewis The Christian doctrine that humans are created beings, designed by God to flourish within the parameters of His created world, is foundational to a biblical view of economics. Although Christians readily affirm the doctrine of creation, believers tend to become self-referential and diminish the significance of the Creator/creature relationship. In his novel, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis [...]

Chapter 6: Tower of Babel - Unity as the Concentration of Power July 28, 2021 In his novel, The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky creates a fascinating conversation between a Catholic Cardinal and Jesus who secretly returns to 15th Century Spain during the Inquisitions.1 The Cardinal questions Jesus’ judgment for rejecting the Devil’s offer of the kingdoms of this world during his testing in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8,9). The Cardinal said, “But You might even then have taken the sword of Caesar. Why did You reject that last gift? Had You accepted that last offer of the mighty spirit [the Devil], You [...]

Chapter 5: The Spirit of the World - To Dominate and Possess May 28, 2021 Humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden provided an opening through which dark spiritual powers became firmly entrenched in the earth. Embracing the serpent’s lies and delusion, men and women created identifiable patterns of political, cultural and economic thought and action that strive for independence from God. The Apostle Paul referred to this “world system” as the pattern of this world (Rom. 12:2). Into the world system, Satan poured his power, his throne and great authority (Rev. 13:2) in order to establish spiritual strongholds to [...]

Chapter 4: Consuming All - Satan’s Anti-reality April 28, 2021 An effective means of exposing deception is to follow the line of reasoning through a particular course of action to its logical conclusion. In other words, connect the dots. No one does this more resourcefully than C.S. Lewis in his brilliant satirical novel, The Screwtape Letters. Lewis masterfully constructs a twisted yet ingenious account of hell’s methodology to influence humans and use them in hell’s war against their Enemy (God). With clever wit, Lewis approaches the subject in a light yet serious manner. Lewis states in the Preface: "I (Lewis) [...]

Chapter 3: All in All - God’s Desired End April 16, 2021 God’s Word provides a detailed description of the true reality of his creation. Yet pretentious men and women, under the influence of the spirit of the world, have repeatedly attempted to create anti-realities for their own purposes. The world’s economic systems support this observation. But before evaluating economic systems, it is helpful to consider God’s ultimate goal for his people who have entered his kingdom. We first approach this question by jumping ahead to the end of this age. By means of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to [...]

Chapter 2: Two Kingdoms, But Only One Reality March 10, 2021 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 The reality of life is that men and women, as well as the angelic hosts, are created beings. As with all of creation, we are the product of the Creator’s imagination. He made us and gave us life. Yet Satan, in consummate arrogance, determined that he, rather than God, should be the focal point of creation. He convinced one third of the angels to join his delusion. Although [...]

Chapter 1: Seeking a Christian View of Economics February 20, 2021 Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat... Genesis 3:17. The present world system commonly defines economics as the study of human material welfare from the perspective of money and the production of goods and services.1 In contrast, a Christian/biblical view of economics begins with God’s creative genius (also endowed to human beings) and the wise management of God’s household (the root of “economics” is the Greek work, oikos, which means household and family). But when human rebellion entered in, and beyond, the Garden of [...]