Cult of Mammon

There used to be Christians in England who made a sincere effort to follow the example of Christ in word and deed. These Dissenters could not be buried in the same graveyards as the good Anglicans. They were poor as Christ himself.  Pilgrims, Puritans, Ranters, Muggletonians: dissenting against the Anglican church because they thought the King of England was trying to buy his salvation, and they hated the idea that a person's goodness could be reduced to his wealth. For centuries they had taken Christ's ideal of poverty seriously. They didn't believe in amassing worldly wealth, did not lend money at interest. They stored their treasures in heaven.

And today we have come to the place where we so misunderstand the central message of Christianity that we believe God wants us to be wealthy in the worldly sense, and the way to affect God's wish of worldly wealth for us is to give money to mega churches or to commercial evangelism. (Do you think God wants to listen to Christian rock? God has been listening to cathedral choir and pipe organ music for a thousand years, and although he does not like Christian rock generally, he does have kind of a soft spot for Petra).

God wanted us to be poor and happy. Instead we've become opaque to his vision, and enslaved ourselves to Mammon. Those who don't worship Mammon directly are still made to serve in his factories--to drive his cars across his bridges, buy his gasoline, drink in his bars, gamble in his establishments, and borrow from his banks. 

In the Cult of Mammon, if you are in want of wealth, then what you should do is discern which aspect of your personality is not wholly dedicated to the pursuit of money and KILL it. Perhaps its your love of music, or poetry that is standing in the way of financial success. Once you have proven that you are completely dedicated to the stewardship of wealth, wealth will be stowed upon you..