Materialism

Genesis 11:4, “They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

On Sunday May 19, 2013 Jim Spivey in his blog quoted Glenn Beck on the Tower of Babel. Here four days later I am still convicted by the quote.

“GLENN: So here it is. The Tower of Babel as most people know it is these people got together and the king said let’s build a tower and it will reach the sky and it will reach heaven and then God got pissed off and came down and destroyed them, confused their language and they all scattered. That’s really not the way the story goes, and it’s important that you understand the story. It has affected us do you know that Bugs Bunny actually used to call Elmer Fudd Nimrod? And do you know why? He used to call Bugs Bunny was the one that really made Nimrod really popular because Bugs Bunny was the one that called Elmer Fudd Nimrod, Nimrod, Elmer Fudd was the hunter. He wasn’t a king at first. He’s first described in the in Genesis as a hunter, but not a hunter of animals. A hunter of men. A hunter of people. And the people, after Noah, they all, they get off the boat and they do what two and two do and they make four and six and et cetera, et cetera. And so then they repopulated the Earth. And they’re all focused on God. And that’s when the first time an oppressive government, the idea of a totalitarian leader comes to the forefront, and it’s done by a hunter of men, Nimrod. And what he says is he gets together and he says to everybody, "Hey, let’s build bricks." Why would you say let’s build bricks? Does that sound like anything anybody would want to do? Let’s build bricks? Oh, and then we’re going to build a big tower and it will reach heaven.

If you were really somebody who was an electric speaker, you would say let’s build a tower to heaven. Let’s build this giant tower, and we’re all going to work together on it. Now, what does the tower represent? The tower represents what we were talking about with, like, Elton John. His intentions are good. The average person wants to do the right thing. The average person wants to help the poor. They want to live in harmony. So if you give them a grand idea, people will do it and they’ll do it for the right reasons. It’s why I’ve said be careful on social justice. Social justice has been perverted. It is a perversion of the gospel. The gospel is go help. Not, "Let’s get everybody together and build bricks. Oh, and we’ll build a tower to the sky."

So what is the brick? Bricks especially I live in Connecticut. Stones, those great stone calls, they’re all different and they are all made by God and they are all made differently. And when you build these stone walls or a foundation, all of our churches back in colonial days, they weren’t bricks. They were all stones. Stones are all different and they are all made by God. The stones represent people. So do the bricks. Nimrod says let’s make bricks. He’s talking about people, let’s make them all equal, let’s make them all exactly the same. Because then everybody is equal, everybody will have the same and they will be interchangeable. And what did they use as mortar? In the ancient Hebrew, mortar, the word "Mortar" actually means "Materialism." So materialism. It’s what holds the bricks together.

Let me ask you this question: What is holding us together as a nation? What’s holding us together as a nation quite honestly for a long time has been our materialism. It has been, as Rabbi Lapin said last night on TV, "Hey, let’s all just get together and watch the Super Bowl," but we watch for the commercials. That is what holds us together. What used to hold us together was our common history, our common love of God, our common understanding of freedom. We don’t even understand freedom. We don’t celebrate freedom anymore. It’s all about materialism. If you take away our mortar of materialism, do the bricks stay together? What binds us? Our materialism is about to disappear. That’s why we must replace and put real mortar between us. We must break ourselves out of what they’re trying to build now and that is everyone is exactly the same. We’re all the same. We’re all bricks. No, we are not. We’re all stones. And we can put ourselves together. And it is our common understanding of freedom and the Constitution and values and principles that bind us together and hold us together. That is the mortar.

Nimrod also is a guy who builds this up and he’s building on a grand scale. Well, God comes down and he sees it, and according to Genesis he sees it. But there are two names for God. In the English Bible it’s just God. But in the ancient Hebrew there’s two names for God. One is the happy go lucky God. The other one is the, "you don’t want to see me; I’m in a bad mood" God. The bad mood God is not the one that comes down to confuse people’s language. The benevolent God does, the happy name for God. He’s not punishing the people. He is setting the people free by destroying the Tower of Babel, by confusing their language. Now, what does it mean that I language? Not the same, again in the ancient Hebrew. There’s language and tongue. The tongue is the language, is what we would say is language. The language is the things that make them all the same. The languages are their tribal customs, their you know, it’s like everybody being from New York City. It’s different here. The language New Yorkers speak is different than the language that they speak in Iowa. And so what did he do? He came down and he confused their language to where they couldn’t understand each other anymore. And they were scattered. And they became stones again and not bricks. At the same time one of the big enemies of Nimrod was Abraham. And Abraham brought back the idea that God exists, God is your master, not a king. And if you have that personal relationship with him, if you trust him and have a personal relationship with him, you will be fine.” http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/48240/

In this Glenn Beck is making an argument against government. Jim celebrated his recognition of being stone rather than a brick. And I was convicted of materialism… or was I?

So many things are converging right now in my spirit. For weeks community has been a word I am hearing but if fills me with confusion as it appears to be a direct assault of my “loner” mentality and comfort zone. Overlaid on community is materialism, and the “guilt” I feel as I struggle financially. And a third layer or topic very much alive and calling in my spirit is “redemption.” All three topics are murmurating around me. All my thoughts and questions of God fall on one of these topics. I know what God is doing. He is in the middle of changing my perception and preconceived notions about community, materialism, money, and redemption. What I don’t know is what He is trying to change them too.

Day’s before Jim sent out this piece from Glenn Beck we met with a group of men in a bi-weekly meeting we have. One of the members is wealthy, and at the end he shared with us a recent trip to a Mecum Auto action and that how he kind of was caught up in the frenzy and the stroking after buying one car, and ended up buying four. From my perspective I heard a man that at the drop of a hat spent $50,000 on a whim, and all I thought is what I could do with $50K, and frankly became jealous. Particularly in light of needing $8500 for an a/c unit and no practical way of getting it, and insufficient savings to pay for it out right. Then as always on Saturday I was jealous again that someone won the $590 million dollar powerball other than me. It makes me wonder if I will ever get past the place of just enough, or worse almost enough.

Is it God’s intent to leave me in a perpetual storm, though the waves have calmed substantially in the past couple years?

Am I a faithless Israelite doomed to live out my days in the wilderness because a giant or two frightened me?

And so I went searching for the origins of this interpretation of the Tower of Babel and found that it originated from Rabbi Lapin the author of “Thou Shalt Prosper.” A book that I bought many many years ago when it first came out, but never ready. (murmuration). Which led me to youtube where I watch a four part series of Rabbi Lapin discussing the principles of the book.

Now I write all of this not for you to glean some new theology, or truth but for you to see the journey I walk with Christ. The confusion I feel is Him having pulled away. Not because of sin, but because He is growing me once again. As I cry out, “where have you gone.” I hear at different times, materialism, redemption, community. All things standing in the way of our closeness.

And it is not materialism that stands in the way, but my preconceptions on materialism. It is not community standing in the way, but my dislike for community and lack of understanding about its importance. Redemption draws us to God, so that cannot be in the way, but my notions of redemption that are wrong prevent this next evolution of my soul and character.

And so I write a little of this process of God drawing, teaching and conforming me.

Continuing... several things popped out of the videos of Rabbi Lapin. Some of which I believe, and some of which I can immediately prove false. Still other things drew me in having never heard them before. For example… “ Money is spiritual.” Oh boy do I see that as its lack keeps me in the constant state of stress relief through prayer. But primarily that money is made not taken. That in transactions money grows. All of which I understand on a GDP level, but something I never really considered from a blessing from God standpoint.

Rabbi Lapin did say prosperity comes when we are obsessed with other’s needs, wants, and desires. And this certainly is true with a product that is successfully marketed, but also compatible with what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these (material necessities) will be added to you.”

Rabbi Lapin says a lot of things that all are mulling in my head. For example, “Money is a measure of what one human being does for another.” And “Money is a mechanism for God to do kindness from one human to another.” And “Work is making things better for other people.”

Something he said that I don’t agree with is that “money turns problems into expenses” and we all know that there are a host of diseases, injuries, and aliments for which no amount of money can solve. There also is nary a relationship that is more than patched up by money. No… money turns money problems into expenses. Yet expenses are why we have problems with money… so now I’m confused.

Rabbi Lapin said that giving is a common trait among the prosperous. And I know that not to be true either. In my profession I look at thousands of tax returns for individuals. Very few of the rich give to charity anything at all. As far as tithers go, I barely remember a few. But of those that I know personally, if I think about it, they are “givers.” If fact, I might even say that their love language is giving gifts as I have seen many buy their employees expensive gifts. I have seen them donate to causes that are not the church, or necessarily tax deductible. So perhaps there is something to this giving aspect that I have lost.

He made another comment in passing. He said, “An essential act of redemption is financial.” (murmuration) There's that word "redemption" again, but without explanation. It also happens to be a key buzz word of the rich car buyer above.

Lapin said God created a world of binding and connection. (Community) (Murmuration). His example was salt. NaCl… individually Sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl) kill a human. But together as sodium cholirde they have wonderful results. Using this he said that “connectiveness” is important to prosperity. In an expanding community of people that “know you, like you, and trust you” there is no lack of prosperity.

Do you think it is a coincidence that materialism/prosperity/money, redemption, & community have ALL been used in congruence by Lapin?

And yet even as I write this the term “prosperity” seems so dirty, disgusting, and evil. And herein lies one issue I know that I must overcome. Somehow in seeing money for what it is… spiritual. If I can see the truth of it's spiritual nature then I can find the place to celebrate with those who God blesses with it. When I see that He invented it back in Genesis, giving it to Abraham then I can somehow understand and see “money is a mechanism for God to do kindness from one human to another.”

But I am not there yet. I know that we have a responsibility to be responsible. I know that He is trying to teach me to sleep in the storm. I know that He is trying to show me the truth about community, redemption, and materialism. I even know that all of this is secondary to knowing Him. And lest I forget He sends Oswald Chambers to murmurate that as well. “Matthew 6:25, ‘…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on… If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, “Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?” And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.

“. . . do not worry about your life . . . .” Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us.”

The destination is never the point... it's all about the journey with Him.

Selah